There’s a magical place off Memorial Drive and 28th Street Southeast called Short Pants Plaza. In this wondrous strip mall, there are independent Lebanese, Iraqi, African, Jamaican and Filipino eateries (and a Subway, but let’s focus, shall we?).
In a fit of mania, I drove to Short Pants this week, thinking I would sample one thing from each eatery — in the same visit — and have one big food adventure. I’m obviously delusional.
So instead, I will take my time and break down my ongoing tour of Short Pants Plaza into segments.
Let’s begin with Lolit’s Takeout, which specializes in Filipino foods. As the name suggests, it does takeout only; there are no chairs or tables, just a food counter on one side and a wall of shelves with Filipino groceries on the other.
Open for a year, Lolit’s has a large menu that’s available for catering and pre-orders.
At the counter itself, Lolit’s has six hot specials every day. You can pick two of these with either rice or noodles for just $6.99.
I don’t know much about Filipino food, so I asked the very nice lady behind the counter to tell me what each dish was, and which she would recommend.
Filipino food has a big influence from its Spanish colonizers as well as surrounding Asian countries.
The pork menudo was a stew thick with onions, tomatoes and bell peppers as well as sweet raisins. It’s got overtones of this, but not this.
Lolit’s also has fresh, hot empanadas, stuffed with ground beef. The pastry had an almost sweet aftertaste to it. (There’s no photo because I wolfed it down in the car.)
The lady recommended that I try the bistek tagalog. It didn’t look like much but turned out to be the biggest hit. Beef braised simply in lemon juice, soy sauce and ground black pepper with onions, it’s a rustic dish that’s very tender and tasty.
Another homey special was pinakbet, a popular dish from northern Philippines. It’s loaded with vegetables like eggplant, okra, bitter melon and calabaza which is a kind of squash. Shrimp paste and tiny bits of pork are added for extra flavour.
I liked everything about it except the squishy squash. The texture just wasn’t for me.
I didn’t get the name of the last thing I tried. Pieces of fish in a tomato sauce was refreshingly light even though the fish was battered.
If you don’t want the $6.99 deal, you can order each item separately (typically $3.99 small, $6.99 medium, $10.99 large) to take home. It’s pretty convenient for lunch or dinner, especially for families.
Lolit’s Takeout, 255-28th St. S.E., Unit 302, Calgary, (403) 235-1210. Open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
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