Barb Batiste is a chef I met about 7 years ago. She and her partner Kurt were aboard a food truck called B Sweet that traversed the food truck circuit in LA. Since that time, they opened B Sweet Dessert Bar in Japan Town in West LA. I recently learned that they opened up a Filipino savory restaurant named Big Boi.
Barb cherishes her father’s memory and over the years has named items to honor him. His name was Angel, but he was fondly greeted as “Boi”; hence the restaurant’s name Big Boi. It is next door to Marugame Udon and you can’t miss the sign as you walk towards the restaurant on Sawtelle Blvd.
The restaurant is set up as a fast casual and not cafeteria style like many Filipino restaurants. After placing your order, you have a choice of eating inside or streetside. They will call out your name and if you are outside, they will deliver it so that you don’t have to worry about losing your seat.
The menu is divided up into entrees, extras, and drinks. The entrees available were: chicken adobo and pork sisig. Extras consist of lumpia, sinigang soup, garlic or white rice, pickled cucumbers, pan de sal and housemade ube butter. I was impressed to see calamansi juice and coconut water listed as beverages.
Big Z combo with Chicken Adobo and Beef Skewers
My friend selected Chicken Adobo and Beef Skewers. He started eating his food and quickly nodded. This is his non-verbal way to say that he enjoys the food. Unlike a typical Filipino cafeteria restaurant, the chicken isn’t on a tray with a sauce that is glistening with oil. Big Boi also combines white meat to make the dish healthier.
The “extras” my friend selected were pancit and white rice. The pancit noodles were delicate and delicious and were a nice complement to our meat-heavy selections.
My Big Z combo – Sisig, Tocino, Steamed Rice and Pancit
Tocino is sweet cured pork. It is usually made with cheaper cuts of pork like shoulder or ears. I believe Big Boi used pork tenderloin because the meat didn’t exhibit any fat. The marinade on the pork was quite tasty and paired nicely with the steamed white rice.
My only complaint is that they don’t serve silog. I happen to really like tapsilog and tocilog (beef and pork with fried rice). They have the protein and the garlic rice and all they need to do is to serve a sunny side up egg to create the offering.
Beef Mechado
Crispy lumpia – these were delicious!
The special of this month is mechaco and I was happy that I had an opportunity to experience this dish. It is a hearty beef stew that is apparently simmered for hours with loads of fresh herbs. The sauce is thick and complex and the beef chunks are tender. This is the perfect dish to pair with white rice and was my favorite item that I tried that day.
Ube butter and pan de sal
I purchased a jar of ube butter and spread it across the freshly baked pan de sal. The combination was absolutely delicious. The ube butter was like eating ube flavored cookie butter and I’m sure would spread well with toast and muffins and many other items.
Still hungry? Big Boi doesn’t list desserts on their menu. Fortunately, Batiste’s, B Sweet is located steps away from the restaurant and has offerings to meet anyone’s sweet tooth craving.
I strongly recommend that you visit Big Boi this month while Beef Mechado is on the menu. The dish is absolutely delicious and will compete well against your grandmother’s best beef stew. Tocino is also another item that I would definitely order. I’m happy that I discovered this place as I will definitely return.
Big Boi, 2027 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025
https://www.gobigboi.com/