With locations on the West Coast and in Canada, Seafood City in North Mayfair brings the Filipino-American grocery store and food court chain to Chicago. While the supermarket is stocked high with Pinoy pantry staples, its food court offers inasal (barbecue) at Grill City, pancit at Noodle Street, lumpia and deep fried delights at Crispy Town, and street food stalls on weekends only. Find kakanin (rice-based) desserts, cakes and breads at the Red Ribbon and Valerio’s Bakery storefronts. Two island-grown, globally-known fast-casual franchises serve their storied favorites: Jollibee’s sweet Filipino spaghetti with red hot dogs, and Max’s fried chicken. Jollibee also has a location in suburban Skokie.

A Subo, a mother-and-son duo — veteran restaurant owners behind the shuttered Three R’s Filipino Cafe — have opened an Albany Park restaurant with a large menu of rice bowls and its signature “Chocolate Meat,” a dark blood stew made with pork butt. Three R’s was one of the oldest Filipino restaurants in Chicago, opening more than 40 years ago. Subo, its casual descendent, is built for the next generation.

Ruby’s counter-service restaurant features a steam-table buffet, known as a turo-turo, where patrons “point-point” to the dishes they want. Nickie Rodica runs the restaurant featuring his late parents’s recipes. They were Manila restaurateurs who started their Albany Park counter-service restaurant in 1997. Ruby’s daily no-frills, high-value menu features richly developed dishes, like beef pares (star anise and soy braised beef), pork binagoongan (pork belly chunks flavored with fermented shrimp paste and lemon), bittermelon sauteed with tofu, and their specialty — crispy pata (deep-fried pig trotters. They have limited availability, call ahead).

Joe Fontelera’s voice has reached a crescendo with Boonie, his friendly North Side restaurant. Fontelera ran the kitchen at Michelin-starred Arami, plating some of the city’s best sushi. He’s diverged from that at Boonie’s which rotates small plates in a come-as-you-are environment. Bistek is made with LA-cut short ribs, talong — Chinese eggplant — is a revelation with a pleasantly aromatic sunflower butter. Boonie’s recently added lunch service where silog stars. 

Head baker and owner Jen Valoices turns out three layers high, light-as-air chiffon cakes by the slice and smaller-portioned, denser cupcakes in signature flavors like mango cream, purple velvet (purple yam cake studded with strips of mutant sport coconut), très leches, and turon (banana cake filled with jackfruit jam, topped with caramel). Valoices, a trans woman of color, intends her Boystown bakery to be a gathering space for the LGBTQ community; expect lines during festivals like Market Days and Pride.

While some may remember their all-too-brief Sheridan Park restaurant of the same name, Pecking Order’s mother-daughter team of Melinda and Kristine Subido serves flaky Filipino-style empanadas, pancit, rice bowls, and tacos with pork adobo, afritada (tomato-braised chicken or beef), and chicken barbecue. Catch the duo farmer’s markets in Logan Square and Andersonville, or order catering via their website.

The Tan family (executive chef Malvin, pastry chef Cybill and general manager Marlon) own this Wicker Park restaurant named after Cebu, the capital of Philippine lechon (whole-roasted pig). Their version is a generous curl of pork belly, the crispy skin encircling the tender hunk, flavored with lemongrass, garlic, and star anise (call ahead, limited quantities). Do not skip the freshly baked pandesal (toasted wheat rolls dusted with crumb, served with a side of whipped butter). Reservations suggested for weekend brunch and dinner, look for Filipino flavors on the pastry and happy hour cocktail menus, too.

With its tasting menu, Kasama presents Filipino food in a manner no one has ever seen before, through a fine dining lens and the perspective of native Chicagoan Tim Flores, a veteran chef who yearned to cook with the ingredients his parents used growing up. Chef Flores, along with his wife, pastry chef Genie Kwon, have molded Kasama into a Michelin-starred restaurant, the first Filipino restaurant that’s achieved the honor. There’s a special lumpia that contrasts crispy and chewy. Another memorable item is an adobo squab. While reservations for dinner book quickly, there’s also a wait for the daytime offerings which spotlight Kwon’s pastries and savory fare like rice plates. Don’t sleep on the breakfast sandwiches and the ode to Chicago’s Italian beef, made with shaved pork dunked in adobo jus. Flores and Kwon won a James Beard award in 2023.

Local celebrity club owner Billy Dec’s legacy maybe Sunda; it’s hard to believe that River North is home to the city’s best halo halo. The shaved ice dessert slurry is served in a frosted tiki glass overflowing with boules of ube, mango, and cheese ice creams, red beans, toasted coconut, and atop thin layers of calamansi granita. Sifting through the pan-Asian menu turns up Pinoy dishes like pancit canton, chicken inasal (barbecue), and silogs (the latter’s only available for brunch). Dec keeps the kitchen open until well past banking hours (midnight Friday and Saturday, 11 p.m. otherwise), often a setting for celebrity sightings. Reservations useful, especially during weekday lunch and dinner. A second location in Fulton Market, with what management is promising “the most beautiful design in the city” is coming soon.

Pig & Fire features a rotating menu for pick up with items like lumpia, pancit, and — of course — lechon pork belly. That’s the star of the game, perfect lechon with teeth-shattering crunch outside and melt-in-your mouth goodness on the inside. Other items include burgers and ube chocolate-chip cookies. Check social media for menu drops and new items.

Since arriving in Chicago in 2018, Kathy Vega Hardy has quickly become known as the “lumpia lady” at the Daley Plaza summer farmers’s market. Lunch favorites include pancit (stir-fry egg noodles), kaldereta (tomato beef braise with carrots) and guinataan manok (coconut milk chicken stew). In addition, Vega Hardy has served twists on traditional flavors like ube waffles and longanisa scotch eggs. Earlier in 2023, the stall closed in Chicago’s French Market, but the food is still available for catering orders. Look out for pop-ups, too.