MILLIE: Karla and I drove to Clark in Pampanga a few weeks ago for a business meeting with Air Asia officials. The drive was fast and smooth and we arrived an hour ahead of schedule. Luckily, we were instantly accommodated and did not have to wait. After the meeting, we thought it best to have a late lunch before the drive back to Manila. I remembered a friend had talked about New York Pizza on MacArthur Highway but along the way, Karla spotted “C” in a Petron station on M.A. Roxas Hi-way in the Clark Free Zone and we both agreed to finally try it, as many friends have told us to do so.
KARLA: For as long as I can remember, our family has been big pizza fans. My lolo Joe’s The Plaza restaurant back in the ‘60s had an outdoor gazebo serving pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven, which became a favorite hangout of teenagers. Lolo used to tell me that the Plaza pizza was created by our chef Gosta Pettersson, came in solo and family sizes and was topped with lots of imported cheese! I don’t really know how popular it was back then but for people to be able to remember it till now, it must have been good. My lolo was a connoisseur but sometimes he would crave the simplest things like tuyo and would talk about how there was a time in his life where that was all they could afford to eat. Sometimes he would crave ice cream, KFC, a Big Mac and pizza. I remember that there was a time, just before Jollibee had acquired Greenwich, when my lolo would buy a box for merienda or take it home for dinner. Most times, he was more updated on food trends than we were. Like when Pizza Hut first came out with the stuffed-crust pizza, he insisted that we order it during one of our movie nights at home. He would be easily amused at how my cousins would get two slices and put them on top of each other like a sandwich. And that’s the thing about pizza, there’s no protocol on how to eat it. You can use your hands and no one would call you a barbarian for it.
Over at C Italian Dining, mom and I were already starving. We were so hungry that we ended up having an order of spaghetti carbonara and two panizzas. A panizza is basically a rectangular-shaped pizza with a thin crust, cut into strips of about an inch and served with alfalfa sprouts and arugula. The idea is to roll a strip of panizza with the alfalfa sprouts and arugula inside and eat it like a canapé. We ordered a basic margarita with fresh tomato and basil leaves, then I had them add in extra anchovies for that added bite. The service crew said that the panizza was good for two. So it was either we were really hungry or that we got instantly hooked on the panizza, because we ordered a second one and wiped that out as well.
MILLIE: A few days later, we were invited to Len Enrile’s birthday dinner at My Kitchen by Chef Chris at The Oasis Hotel near Paco Park. Arriving quite early, we sat by the pool chatting with Vivian Recio, Marnie Cordova and Dr. Larry Mallari. Chef Chris passed by and greeted us and sent us some panizzas and antipastos. I knew chef Chris Locher when he was a young lad in his 20s. He was my chef at the Asian Development Bank and I remember how he was fond of experimenting on new dishes. The panizza was his creation when he was the chef at C’ Italian Dining. In fact, I thought he owned it, but I was wrong. Rumor also had it that he developed the panizza by accident but chef Chris swears this is not so as it took him about a year to develop the dough. The panizza created quite a stir and others have copied chef Chris’ original creation, so it was good to come face to face with the originator.
During Tita Len’s party, some items chef Chris prepared for us were not even on his regular menu. The antipastos served were roasted peppers topped with olive oil, parmesan cheese and herbs, grilled aubergine marinated in olive oil with fresh mozzarella, tomato and fresh basil, and the Lombo di Maiale Tonnato, which is thinly sliced roasted pork loin topped with delicate tuna sauce, capers, lemon and parsley. Among the panizza selections were Panizza St. Jacques topped with scallops, shrimp and sundried tomatoes and Panizza Kristina topped with bacon, ham, caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes and mushrooms.
Other dishes offered were the slow-roasted lamb ribs with garlic and rosemary rub, accompanied by braised lentils, olive fried potatoes and Italian-style broccoli, which was a big hit! Rene Alcala and my Mom could not help but ask for a second helping. There was also grilled homemade Italian sausage with caramelized garlic in red wine sauce.
It was a fun and exciting evening in the company of Tita Len’s family and special friends, but the panizza experience was quite unforgettable!
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My Kitchen by Chef Chris is located at The Oasis Paco Park Hotel, 1032-34 Belen Street, Paco, Manila. For inquiries and reservations, call 5212371-75, email clocher@aurahotelsandresorts.com or leave a message at www.facebook.com/mykitchenbychefchris.
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