Fresh off the heels of Jollibee’s relentlessly buzzy arrival over the summer comes the opening Wednesday of Seafood City, the first Midwest location of the California-based Filipino supermarket chain.
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It’s the latest high-profile business (5033 N. Elston in the North Mayfair neighborhood) to target the growing Chicagoland Filipino population.
Occupying a former Kmart, the sprawling 87,000-square-foot space is a destination not just for hard-to-find ingredients like bangus (milkfish), longanisa (sweet sausage) and aisles of shrimp-flavored snacks, but also a food hall in its own right.
Upon entering from the sure-to-be-crowded parking lot, shoppers will be greeted by a bank of fast-casual counters — three spots were ready for the opening, Grill City, Crispy Town and Noodle Street. “Seafood City? They’ve got a county in there,” said Southern California-based chef AC Boral.
Signs dotting the area say Seafood City “celebrat(es) true Filipino goodness,” and that’s not wrong. The counters echo Filipino turo-turo restaurants (Tagalog for “point-point”), where diners point out their choices to someone behind the ready-made-food counter. Here, though, menus dictate your choices, with staff spooning heaping helpings onto your plate.
At Grill Town, bangus, squid and juicy pork skewers are on offer, with sides of soup or rice. At Crispy Town, frying is the name of the game. You’ll find tempura, shrimp okoy (fritters), bangus (sensing a theme yet?) and bagnet, fried crispy pork belly, a favorite among Pinoys (a term for a person of Filipino descent). Everything at this counter is the same shade of burnt sienna, a counter-scape of audibly crunchy, textural and savory treats.
Only one other Seafood City, in Hawaii, can claim a Noodle Street counter. Expect traditional dishes like stir-fried pancit canton guisado, an egg noodle dish similar to lo mein, and lomi, a noodle soup. Noodle Street also features favorites like lumpia (eggrolls) and siopao, a cloudlike rice bun stuffed with savory pork asado that’s perfect for breakfast.
Seafood City will also appeal to fans of other Asian supermarkets, like Japanese Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights and Korean H Mart in Niles and Naperville. Naturally, seafood is taken seriously here, with an incredible selection that staff members will clean and, if you wish, fry for you on-site. The aisles are stocked with not only Filipino brands but also a pan-Asian assortment of ingredients and products.
Down the line, Jollibee will be opening up here, presumably shortening the lines at the Skokie restaurant. And in a few weeks, look for Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop, which serves treats like ube-filled sweet rolls (ube is purple yam), pan de sal (breakfast/dinner rolls) and bibingka, a rice cake made with coconut milk that’s cooked in a banana leaf.
If all of this sounds like a little more than you can handle, it is. Come hungry and curious. The next few weeks promise to be cacophonous and crowded, but the culinary adventure will be worth it.
Seafood City, open daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., 5033 N. Elston Ave., seafoodcity.com
[email protected]
Twitter @joeybear85
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