Bad Saint: Heavenly Food

Whenever Regee hears about a new Pinoy restaurant in the D.C. area, she likes to try it out as soon as possible. In this case "as soon as possible" turned out to be precisely 50 minutes after she heard about it from Bonnie Benwick, who is the Deputy Food Editor at The Washington Post.  She mentioned to Regee that she had recently visited a brand new Filipino restaurant in D.C. called Bad Saint. It was very small, did not take reservations and did not have a phone. “If you go, let me know what you think.”

Well, Bonnie, we did go; and we can say, hand on heart, that this is the Pinoy restaurant that D.C. has been waiting for all these years.  It may be called Bad Saint but there are angels in the kitchen!

Bad Saint is at 3226 11th Street N.W. (between Lamont & Kenyon Streets) in Columbia Heights. We got there about 5PM and the place was closed. There was one guy sitting on the step who told us that it didn’t open until 5.30PM.

We got talking to a second guy, a Filipino, who arrived just after us, slightly out of breath. He turned out to be the co-owner’s husband, Ben de la Cruz, who had run three blocks ahead of his party to get in line.  Evidently, his wife, Genevieve Villamora, didn’t want him cutting into the line and upsetting her patrons--no favoritism there.

 The line keeps growing.  Word of mouth works.

In the next half-hour, the line grew apace--impressive for a place that doesn’t advertise and has no phone. Promptly at 5.30PM, a man opened the door, hung up the wooden sign you see above, and in we went.  

Walk into Bad Saint and you will be greeted at the door by the charming co-owner, Genevieve Villamora (below). Sit down at the small two-seat bar and you are within a few feet of a narrow open kitchen that looks out onto the equally narrow restaurant that holds just 24 diners.

Genevieve fills up the water jug.

Take note of a little family shrine, complete with photos and mementos, high up on the wall to the right of the bar; Filipino prints over there to the left; and on the counter in front of you, a wooden bowl of limes, flower petals floating in bowl of water, and a large array of flowers. It all seems familiar and you feel very much at home.  

Amanda wants to give you a drink

Within seconds, another smiling lady, Amanda, appears behind the bar, gives you menus and asks what you want to drink. Why not a glass of that Spanish Txakolina Corrondona? Why not, indeed.  And just look at that menu--everything from ginisang ampalaya and ukoy to inihaw na liempo and inasal na manok. We’ll have them all--and more. How about some of that pancit bihon guisado?

Next behind the bar is co-owner Nick Pimentel who is making some scary complex cocktails (did he major in chemistry?) with names like Balisong (rye, bittermans tepache, coconut liqueur and carpano antica), Manila Sling and Baguio Skin (don’t ask).

Nick makes some powerful cocktails

The kitchen is warming up and coming to life. There is a clatter of pans, smoke, flames leap up, and some enticing aromas are drifting our way. This is like being in someone’s home in Manila, family photos and all. And that’s the whole point.

The kitchen is warming up

Filipino food is intensely personal. Everybody has their own way of making a dish (Lola’s adobo or Tita Nora’s pancit is always the best); and there are endless regional variations on that adobo or pancit dish throughout the thousands of islands that make up the Philippine archipelago.  Food is a family affair and Bad Saint honors and respects that tradition with the cooks channeling their own family recipes passed down from generation to generation.  Amy Besa’s Memories of Philippine Kitchens kept passing through my mind.

The food here doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is: a genuine embodiment of the all the intense (and sometimes outrageous) flavors that you might find back home in the Philippines.  The fact that it is beautifully and imaginatively presented is a bonus.  The real genius is that the food remains real and true to its impossibly varied homeland.  

Nick and Stephanie 

keep the food and drinks coming

So, who is cooking dinner tonight? Well, that’s Tom Cunanan in the red cap, the executive chef; and in the bandana is sous-chef Paolo Dungca. I did not get the name of the guy in the green cap but he was "helping out" that night.

Tom (red cap) and Paolo hard at work

Of course, you don’t get to talk to the chefs; but when they saw that Regee was Filipina they gave her a big smile.  We gave them a thumbs-up and, at a later point, did get to shake Tom’s hand and hear from Paolo.  Both Tom and Paolo have roots in Pampanga, a province in the Philippines renowned for its food.  It is the home of the Tayags’ famed Bale Dutung restaurant that was visited by Anthony Bourdain and featured in his TV show “Parts Unknown.”  You know you’re in good hands when the chefs hail from Pampanga.  Naturally, just like here, all States/provinces think their own cuisine is the best--and so it is!

And, finally, the food.  What did we eat?

Ukoy

First up was the oversized, crunchy Ukoy (fresh water shrimp, sweet potato, purple yam, leeks and herbs), with a perfectly flavored vinegar dip. (Forgot to ask where in the Philippines the vinegar was from--there are hundreds of varieties but home cooks and chefs alike have their own favorites).

Inihaw na Liempo

The grilled pork belly was perfectly cooked--so flavorful and moist--served with tamarind sauce and mixed with acharra (pickled green papaya).  The small bowl of rice rice is, according to Genevieve, a mix of white jasmine and purple heritage rice from the Cordillera mountains up in the north of Luzon.

Ginisang Ampalaya 

This dish is sauteed bitter melon (ampalaya) with eggs and fermented black beans.  I love ampalaya and it loves me too--it is great for fighting gout.  The bitterness of the ampalaya contrasts beautifully with the salty softness of the black beans.  It was delicious but, for our taste, the ampalaya could have  been a little harder (al dente) so that there is a crunch factor when you bite into them.  This is the dish with which the Spanish wine (pictured below) really came into its own and sliced through the various flavors with a somewhat acerbic lemony/lime tang of its own.

The perfect wine to pair with these dishes

Pancit Bihon 

Pancit bihon is one of the great rice noodle dishes of the Philippines and almost invariably one of the big favorites with foreigners visiting the Philippines.  This dish was made up of rice noodles with wood-ear mushrooms, vegetables, shrimp essence (liberally applied), lemon oil and then topped with crispy garlic slivers.  (Regee makes excellent pancit bihon but from a different recipe that includes shrimp and other ingredients not found in the dish we tried).

Ginisang Tulya 

This was one of my favorite dishes of the evening.  There was a lot going on in this dish with littleneck clams in a Chinese sausage and Sichuan chile broth.  Both tangy and spicy with a definite residual kick.  Amazing.

Regee talks to Ben de la Cruz

Looking back towards the front door

Bilo Bilo 

Finally, dessert.  Regee told me that this was an interesting spin on the dish because there were no sticky rice balls.  The purple heritage sticky rice (from the Cordilleras) is cooked in coconut milk, together with pieces of peaches, and topped with rice puffs and shavings of lime rind. We polished off the plate even after everything that had come before.   This is hard core dining.

Paolo goes pyrotechnic

We would love to have tried the other dishes on the menu but there had to be some measure of  restraint.  We will definitely be coming back on many occasions in the future and Regee tells me that the tuna jaw and the deep-fried whole Branzino will top the list for her.  I will gladly join her but would also like to get deeper into that cocktail list and try some of the other wines--with lashings of ampalya to keep my gout at bay.

Family shrine by the bar

We asked Genevieve where the name Black Saint came from.  She said that she had found a book ("Manila Men in the New World") which indicated that one of the first Filipino “settlements" here was in a place called St. Malo in Louisiana. This was back in the days of the Spanish galleon trade between Mexico and Manila when some brave Pinoy souls decided to jump ship and settle down.  The world “malo” in Spanish means “bad,” hence Bad Saint.

It is interesting to think that the Pope will be arriving here tomorrow. So, many people may have heaven on their minds.  All I can say is that we found our own little bit of heaven last night.  Maybe we should try to get Pope Francis down to 3226 11th N.W. Street to check out the Bad Saint who ain’t so bad at all?

Truly, if you want to taste some outstanding examples of Filipino cuisine, drop by Bad Saint.  You will have a warm welcome, smiles all around, the sounds and smells of a busy kitchen.  Stand by for totally delicious food that is made with love, excitement and constant experimentation on traditional themes and recipes.

Opening time--again

Be sure to get there early and be prepared to stand in line. All those friendly people will be waiting to open the door and welcome you into their home.

Thanks for the tip, Bonnie.  We always follow the advice of The Washington Post Food Editors!