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Volume CXXXII, Number 20 |
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Servings from Cila
KERRY ELSON
COLUMNIST
"I was getting a little worried! It's got to be almost 2:30 p.m.!"
Still recovering from her bicycle sprint, the Foodie mustered a wave to Cila and the two young women sitting in the store window.
"I put it on the back counter."
To find her meal, the Foodie passed refrigerators of mango juice and coconut milk. She saw noodles nestled in shelf corners while dusty plastic housed dry soup packets. Oyster-flavored crackers sunk into their cardboard shipping boxes and columns of adobo spice stood erect at a shelf's edge.
"$7.44 with tax. Do you go to school here? This is my daughter, Ava, and my granddaughter, (forgive the Foodie's poor memory)."
After polite conversation, the Foodie stuffed her order of Pansit Tagalog into her backpack and sped to class.
Too impatient to wait at least until 5:30 p.m., the Foodie pretended that her twinge of afternoon hunger was, in fact, indicative that she needed her supper. She undressed the styrofoam container from its purple plastic protectant and lifted its lid.
A haystack of Filipino noodles lazily lay before her. The Foodie lifted heap after heap of noodles to excavate the promised chicken slices and vegetables. To add variety to her mouthfuls, the Foodie speared julienne carrots, red peppers, cabbage, green beans and chicken, which were overwhelmed by thin rice noodles.
Each bite seemed to be a combination of garlic, fish sauce, hot pepper and the sweet and sour aroma of tamarind. The Foodie particularly enjoyed gnashing through bundles of the thin noodles to create a soft crunch. At $6.95, this dish was pricey for Brunswick, but portions are so huge that one order may be split among two or three patrons.
Other options include chicken or pork with an adobo sauce of garlic, onion, vinegar and soy, or fried fish in sweet and sour sauce with strips of carrot and peppers. Cila also offers tamarind soup and a dish called gintataan, which includes sweet potato, taro (a starchy root), rice, banana, jackfruit, tapioca and coconut milk. Dessert options include a Philippine egg custard or a sticky, sweet rice cake with brown sugar and coconut milk.
Though Cila only offers takeout, her dishes are worth a try simply for the introduction to a cuisine with which some (including the Foodie) might not be familiar. Perhaps patrons could even sit at the small table by the window and engage in conversation with Cila, who is eager to chat about her small business that has had a home in Brunswick for over three years.
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