Wednesday, March 21, 2007 Bop bernie By Leticia Suarez-Orendain
THERE is a bistro on quiet Don Gil Garcia street where you would not think manyaman food (Pampango for delicious) is cooking; a fusion of classic recipes and eclectic ones for a twist.
The place is cozy, and warmed by colorful chairs and a tangerine signage behind the cashier’s counter. It can seat 40; enough for birthday lunches or meetings.
You may nurse your beer or brewed coffee while you hang out with friends any day here from Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. “Sunday is for the Lord,” the owners said.
There are no bands or comedy acts to amuse you. Food is cause enough for anyone to linger in Bop Bernie, a bistro near Verbena Pension House.
Edwin “Bop” Jingco, the first half of a brother-sister business duo, is a mechanical engineer but a chef by avocation. “I do the cooking.”
Bop is not formally trained in cooking. He makes up with researches, travels abroad and consultations with a friend, a renowned chef. He and his sister Bernadette (the Bernie-half of the bistro) pooled their knack in systems analysis, sales and marketing, advertising, and events organization to start the bistro. They also have home recipes, the legacy from their mom and grandmother.
An architect by training, Bernie handles food operations, and sometimes also cooks. Her orange-chiffon refrigerator cake is delectable.
The Jingcos come from a cooking family, so the skill came by osmosis: From their mother, Mamang Odette, who learned from her own mother, Lola Pacita, the matriarch whose roots trace to Pampanga, a province noted for rich cuisine.
But it’s not all method. “Even if you give the recipe, the exact measurement, it’s still the person that matters; how he cooks it. It’s love,” Odette said.
Love is clear. Bop uses a personalized style—chatting with the diners, or custom-making a dish (call three hours ahead), or solving requests for a new way with pork chop, now a hit. He opted for a dry rub of 16 herbs worked into a hulking prime cut and grilled to your liking (it can feed two).
Love is faithfulness to tradition. A doctor said their food tasted like those of Centeno’s canteen near the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, that he frequented as a medical student.
By serendipity, Centeno’s is owned by Lola Pacita. Indeed, the Jingcos have sustained the classic along with their own creations, giving rise to two menus: Mamang’s Corner and Home Specialties.
Aside from the callos, stuffed squid, sisig, pot roast in white wine and tomato sauce; lengua de Bop in white wine and mushroom sauce—some items have stories.
A group of friends like a lot the pocherong Tagalog. They order individual bowls for themselves and nothing else. A little boy can’t have enough of the lechon kawali so his mom orders two servings!
The Ji’s adobo rice is named after Bop’s middle child. Some Sundays when they visit Odette and adobo is served, Ji has her share deep-fried.
It evolved into a bistro dish with fixings, like pickled vegetables so remarkable in taste. One Korean diner liked the pickles. When he learned it was Odette who made it, he offered to marry the widow.
For the daring, the Catering Menu, ordered three days ahead, offers strictly Pampango food, like bringhe (similar to paella) and kamaru (grasshopper).
