A Bite of Alaska: RJ Pastry and Breads

  Picture a dilapidated cottage, its dull yellow paint chipping off its weathered siding. Its unlikely location next to a downtown cemetery and across the street from the Sheraton makes it stick out like a sore thumb. A glance through the windows hints at a compulsive hoarder's dream, random objects pressed against the panes...bags of styrofoam cups here, a bent spatula there...Yeah, I know, I wouldn't eat there, either. It didn't even look like an eating establishment.  It didn't look like any kind of establishment at all. In fact, the first time we turned into the parking lot of the place a week ago, we promptly drove back out.

But, the Cebuana who regularly cleans our TLF unit insisted the food was good.  Remember when I rejoiced to the heavens about a Filipino restaurant in the area? We went there the day after I posted. Have I written about it? No. Have you ever been too disappointed to report on results? Yeah, it was like that. So, with hopeful but wary heart, we approached it a second time. The interior was even scarier than the view from outside. The lady who owns the place has this gigantic mole with wiry hairs sprouting from it like a sea urchin on her face. BUT, the heavenly smell of Filipino food was all I needed to just keep walking in. 

Nilagang buto-buto, ukoy (sp?), bopis, lumpiang shanghai, kare-kare, kutsinta, pandesal. All you can eat for ten bucks.  And you can believe I ate my money's worth.

It was all good.  The kare-kare (peanut stew with oxtail and tripe) was okay.  My mommas is excellent, so any other version pales in comparison. But everything else I had seconds of.  I even had a packet of kutsinta (round orange rice cakes and my favorite) and grated coconut to take home. 

So, if you can get past the surroundings, genuine Filipino food is yours to be had here at RJ Pastry & Bread. If not, then you can enjoy your halo-halo at Angelina's Filipino Cuisine instead.