Chef Danny de la Cuesta poses in front of the Comida Ilocandia, the newest restaurant along Timog Avenue. Serving genuine traditional Ilocano bagnet, crispy dinuguan, higado, Vigan longganisa, and tinuno, Comida Ilocandia is definitely the place for your cravings.
The doors of Comida Ilocandia opened during storm Gener’s entry last Saturday (July 30) but foodies, business associates, and close friends of fashion Designer turned Chef Danny de la Cuesta and his four partners were undaunted and pushed through with the occasion.
This is because Chef Danny and his partners believed that their mission of bringing Ilocano food and delicacies into Metro Manila is far more important than the weather so they could satisfy those who are hooked to the rich taste of slow- cooked traditional Ilocano meals and even first- timers who eventually get hitched to this gastronomic experience.
Though one can find, here and there, genuine Ilocano bagnet or pinakbet, there is no consistency in the supply, price and quality of these food items. However, at Comida, anybody can order Bagnet, Adobo Seco, Crispy Dinuguan, Tinuno (barbecued ribs) and Higado, in-house or to go dishes for one or in bulk.
Crispy Adobo Seco
Crispy Dinuguan
Higado
Longanisa Laoag
Chef Danny, a gracious host explains to diners the nuances of Ilocano dishes. Bagnet from Ilocos Sur are Chinese-inspired in the way lechon macao while in Ilocos Norte, bagnet comes of Mexican influence and is called chicharones.
Bagnet in Vigan or Chicharon in Laoag
To make these dishes more affordable at P98 per microwaveable box, Chef Danny made sure to prepare and serve value meal sizes also (consisting of any of these meat dishes plus rice and Ilocano- pickled vegetables).
At Comida, there are also traditional Ilocano specialty drinks like Champola- guava or guyabana coolers, and Horchata- rice milk, along with innovations on rice coffee (dark roast) or rice tea (lighter roast) brews.
“Since we started last Saturday we have been selling Bagnet and our bottled pickled vegetables (inartem) so fast, our commissary is hard-pressed catching up with the orders,” Chef Danny said.
A true-blue marketer, Chef Danny explains to his guests what makes his Ilocano cuisine a cut above the rest, is because it is cooked based on universal cooking & tastiness standards. For one, we prepare our meats in slabs after brining, marinating and braising them a day at a time. There is no rush to cooking the meats. At all times, our Adobo are cooked slowly in very low fire for more than eight hours until they are very tender. After that we rest them for a day or two. Constantly, we use natural flavors of sukang Iloko, molasses, lots of garlic, peppercorns, laurel, oregano, pimiento and others.”
“Since adobo are cooked in slabs, we only slice and refry a small portion per meal then we freeze the rest. Only sufficient slices are served per meal. The longer the meat is kept, the better it tastes,” Chef Danny explained.
The process of cooking bagnet slabs is also as tedious as the adobo and so with the Higado and the crispy dinuguan. “We do not resort to short cuts,” Chef Danny added.
"Ilocanos", he gags, prepare their meat in slabs because during every meal, each family member partakes a considerable slice of the meat while the bigger slab is displayed on the table for the members to visually feast while chewing the rice on the plates. This way the meat lasts for other meals, and this traditional joke is very true in Ilocos Norte, Chef Danny chuckles.
Why the meat is made to last long is because of the frequent and prolonged visits of storms in the Ilocos region, making life very hard and families are forced to make their food last until after the storms, he explained.
De la Cuesta, who spent 44 years in fashion designing and selling his brand of ready to wear clothes and made to order gowns before extending into business development and culinary arts, partnered with childhood friends, classmates and associates such that each investor is responsible for a specific aspect of the business. Chef Danny takes control areas on Conceptual & Product Planning, Business & Market Development.
His venture from fashion designing (where he had 72 employees under him) to cookery was upon the advice of his doctor after a heart attack in the United States. He joined a national competition of San Miguel. A short culinary course in Le Cordon Bleu in London that came part of the prize extended to nine months of learning more skills. Upon returning from London, he was consulted for food brands mostly for recipe development, cooking demos and mentoring.
Then he ventured into business development with brands that are now very commercially viable.
