Bigger is Better

The recent arrival of Teddy’s Bigger Burgers proved that the hamburger is the Philippines’ most popular sandwich, but more than that, it is poised to take eating hamburgers into a whole new experience, boosting the recent trend in gourmet burgers.

            The Hawaii-based burger restaurant offers burgers that are hefty and prepared with quality. Aside from the fat and juicy beef patty, the burger is accented with sauces and other fillings. You are presented with a burger that is beautiful to look at and almost more than palm-size, presenting a problem on how to eat it.

            Ted Tsakiris, co-founder of Teddy’s USA, advised to hold the burger with two hands and gnaw through it. Others would flatten it a little bit to make it manageable to it. But whatever the technique, it does not diminish the deliciousness of the burgers.

            The main thing that makes Teddy’s burgers special is the meat patty. According to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers Philippines executive chef Kirsten Habawel, who headed the Teddy’s Philippines team sent to train in Hawaii, the patty is made from 100-percent, corn-fed U.S. Black Angus ground chuck, shipped regularly from the United States from the same supplier of Teddy’s Hawaii. Also, they don’t use binders or fillers for the patties. Preservatives and artificial flavoring are also not used.

“All patties are hand-pattied daily, with the special seasoning of Ted and Rich, and always charbroiled to order,” Habawel added. 

The shoulder and neck portions of the cow are used for the ground chuck. These are said to be flavorful and has just the right fat content to prevent the beef from drying out when cooked on high temperature.

“We use a formula of 80 percent lean meat and 20 percent fat. This is ideal for burgers because it does not need extenders but retains its shape. Most of all, it makes for a juicy patty,” revealed Habawel.

The patty is charbroiled, thus extra fat drips down instead of the patty swimming in grease. Additionally, Teddy’s make their burgers bigger than most of what is offered around the metro.

“Size definitely matters at Teddy’s,” Habawel noted. “Our burgers are bigger than the average burger. We start at five ounces (Big)— that’s already a one-third pounder—and go on to seven ounces (Bigger) and nine ounces (Biggest) for our Original single patties, and our Monster Doubles (double patty sandwiches) go up to 10 , 14 and 18 ounces.”

            Their patty alone is what makes them outstanding, luring customers to return for more, Tsakiris believes. “If you have a good quality patty, you don’t really need expensive extras like foie gras or truffle oil on your burger,” he said.

            The extras, of course, make the burger interesting. All sandwiches has lettuce, tomato slices, pickles and onions. Customers can choose to add more fillings, and the restaurant offers bacon, blue cheese, jalapeños, onion rings and pastrami, among others. They can also customize their burgers such as adjusting the seasoning or removing it all together, and doing away with the buns.

            Additionally, Teddy’s use a variety of sauces. It has its own signature sauce, used Teddy’s Original Burgers, simply called Special Sauce, whose recipe is kept secret.

            “It’s not your usual Thousand Island dressing. The sauce is yellow, but it doesn’t have any mustard. It is actually an aioli that goes perfectly with our burgers,” Habawel explained.

            Teddy’s also uses a special kind of bread as its buns. The potato buns are yellow and soft with a hint of sweetness. Habawel said that this is sourced locally since bread has a short shelf life, but they had a hard time replicating the bread. “It took us 30 trials. I had to keep sending the buns to them in the US until they approved it,” she related.

           

            Always cooked medium, Teddy’s burgers come in different varieties. The Originals are the cheeseburger, which has a choice of cheddar, American, Swiss and Pepperjack cheeses; the Teri Burger, which has a sweet teriyaki sauce; and the Monster Double Burger with two patties. The specialty burgers are Cajun Burger with Cajun seasoning and Pepperjack cheese; Volcano Burger with Kilauea Fire sauce, Pepperjack cheese and jalapeno; the Blue Cheese Bacon Burger; the Hawaiian Style, which has grilled pineapple and teriyaki sauce; the Western Burger with barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, bacon and onion rings; Bacado Burger with avocado, cheddar cheese and bacon; and Kailua Burger with teriyaki sauce, grilled mushrooms, grilled onions and Swiss cheese.

            The price ranges from P265 for the Big Original to P660 for the Biggest Monster Double, which is 18 ounces. Just add P50 if you want to make it Cajun or P170 Western. 

            Aside from burgers, Teddy’s also serves sides such as French fries, which comes with cheese or garlic butter sauces, and beer-battered onion rings. For drinks, one must try the milkshakes, which are deliciously rich. They come in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peanut butter, root beer, and pineapple flavors. You can combine them actually. You can request form strawberry and peanut butter, for example.

 “Our shakes are 90 percent ice cream and 10 percent milk. Unlike other shakes that are watered down with ice, our shakes have a very rich taste,” Habawel said.

            Because of all these, Teddy’s Bigger Burger is very well-known in Hawaii. The restaurant traces its roots in the backyard cookouts of Ted Tsakiris and Rich Stula, who are both burger lovers.

            “They couldn’t understand why there were no burger restaurants that offered the same quality burger they cooked in their backyards, so they decided to open a burger restaurant to share it with other burger lover,” narrated Habawel. “They decided to ‘reinvent the burger joint’ with a menu that focuses on high quality burgers, where every single patty is treated like the very first patty they’ve ever cooked.”

            The first store opened in 1998. Currently, Teddy’s Bigger Burgers has stores in 11 locations in Hawaii. Recently, they expanded to the United States mainland, particularly in Washington, Iowa, California and Texas. Its first international branch is in Japan. The Philippine store opened last Aug. 23 at Greenbelt 3 in Makati City. The store can accommodate about 80 diners, located near bars and other restaurants.

Teddy’s Bigger Burgers was brought in by the SumoBurger Global Inc., owned by actor Marvin Agustin, Raymund Magdaluyo and Ricky Laudico, and which operates a number of restaurants including Sumo Sam and Akira, all original. This is its first international franchise.

            The discovery of Teddy’s Bigger Burgers can be described as accidental. About three years, ago, Magdaluyo was in Oahu, Hawaii, biking with his wife when there was a sudden downpour. They took shelter at Teddy’s Kailua branch, tried its burgers and fell in love with it. Shortly after that, Magdaluyo brought Agustin and Laudico to a branch in Tokyo, where they met with founders to invite the franchise over to the Philippines.

            Magdaluyo said the coming of Teddy’s provided a break from the flourishing of Japanese-inspired restaurants in Metro Manila. For the Philippine market, Teddy’s Bigger Burgers created a few new items—the Tiki Wings (chicken wings), Chicken Tenders and the Loco Moco.

“The Loco Moco, a famous drive-in food in Hawaii, is basically a burger patty served top of rice with gravy and fried egg,” explained Habawel.

            Also, the Philippine store serves alcoholic drinks.

            “Hawaii doesn’t have alcoholic drinks on their menu, but since we’re opening in malls with restaurants that offer alcoholic beverages, we’ll be offering both imported and local beers as well as some cocktails that were crafted specifically for Teddy’s,” added Habawel.

            SumoBurger Global is planning to open several more stores, about eight in the next four years, including the ones under construction at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City and Eastwood Mall in Quezon City.

            Tsakiris feels optimistic about this development.

“Teddy’s is built from the burger, borne out of a passion for burgers. With gourmet burger restaurants on the rise across the metro, and Filipino foodies clamoring for burgers that go beyond fastfood, we’re looking forward to giving the Filipinos a taste of Teddy’s and what makes it a cut above the rest,’’ he said.

            He expressed that he shares the Filipinos’ predilection for burgers: “Filipinos usually equate burgers with happiness. Eating a burger is a religious experience for me. And nine times out of 10 when I’m eating a burger, I just start shaking my head, my eyes closed, and say 'Wow! This is amazing!”

For more information about Teddy’s Bigger Burgers Philippines, visit the official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TeddysBurgersPH).

            .

Tapella and the Small Journeys into Flavors

My interest in Spanish cuisine was piqued by the television series Spain…On the Road Again, which had actress Gwyneth Paltrow and chef Mario Batali going around Spain, tasting the dishes, and thoroughly enjoying the journey and life in general. I always saw scenes of the two and their friends eating and having conversations. It sounds mundane, but it was actually engaging and quite intriguing. Food became not just something to take in for nourishment, but something romantic, gathering people together and enabling them to experience new sensations.

My own encounter with Spanish food has been haphazard and rare, surprising in a country with a long history of Spanish colonization. Usually, the “Spanish” food I ate had been modified, its spirit trickling into the Filipino dishes inundated with sauces and savored incognizant of its origins. The Philippine dining scene, which is not really vibrant, only offers a handful of Spanish restaurants. Señor Alba’s, Guernica and Casa Armas are among the more known.

As new and more sophisticated malls crop up in Metro Manila, strips of eating places also appear featuring new restaurants that can be exciting. An the Greenbelt mall complex in Makati City, new restaurants have opened around its magnificently manicured garden.

Opened just a few months ago, on May 29, Tapella Restaurant quickly began to attract attention as the best Spanish restaurant in the complex. Its reputation may owe to the fact that it is owned by Spanish-Filipino restaurateur Francisco Cacho Jr. and his chef wife Alexandra Cacho, who operate Gaudí, a much-acclaimed and awarded Spanish restaurant at Greenbelt 3 and Serendra.

While Gaudi is “formal” or fine-dining, Tapella is more casual. Casual can also describe the servings of the food: Relatively small portions that can be shared and without delineation between appetizer and entrée. This is the idea of the so-called “cocina en miniature.” Also the restaurant’s menu is designed for people on the go, who has no time to sit down for big meals.

It may seem that this is not good way to eat. But it is actually healthy — breaking meals into smaller portions and eating throughout the day, breaking the three-meals-a-day format. There is nothing hurried about the place either. The interior is elegant and simple, in colors of beige and white, accented by black-and-white photographs. Overlooking the Greenbelt garden, the restaurant can hold about 50 diners inside and outside where there is an outdoor bar.

Tapella’s food does not scrimp on quality and taste. Its name is an indication of its specialties — tapas, which are roughly “finger foods,” and paella. According to chef Cacho, Spanish food has changed over the years, as well as people’s eating habits. In Tapella, the chef who hails from the Basque region gathered dishes from different parts of Spain, merging the traditional and the modern, and serving them in consideration of the changing lifestyle of people. There is consciousness now on healthy eating, thus the dishes are less greasy. Also, good products are more accessible. But the core of what makes food and its eating great is still intact. The menu, in English and Spanish, shows Cacho’s gastronomic motto: “Start with a traditional base. Pour an infusion of unique contrasting flavors and a spoonful of intense passion, a dash of talent and a sprig of innovation. Finish off with disconcerting textures and illusion.”

In an afternoon before its opening, we got know what Cacho was talking about as she prepared for us delectable samplers starting with an Andalucian specialty, white garlic and almond soup, served in a shooter glass (P70). It can be taken in one gulp, but the flavors — tangy, creamy and rich — coat the tongue like a soft and heavy blanket, offset by bits of almost and hints fruitiness, grapes actually. It is a good complement for cocido meat on fluted bread (P210) and Camembert cheese with caramelized onion on fluted bread (P180), both surprisingly simple and delicious.

Other “soup shooters” worth trying are the cold tomato soup and beef tenderloin salpicao with white beans. The chewy fluted bread is also topped with Cantabrian anchovies; and chatka, mayo and lettuce. You can also have pork loin, pimiento and bacon; and roast beef with Dijon mustard on crusty bread.

Other tapas served were chorizo stewed in red wine (P245) and the octopus with paprika, salt and virgin olive oil (P280). Strong and salty, the chorizo can be eaten with bread or rice. The octopus dish is a curious one. White circles of sliced octopus tentacles were laid on slices of potatoes and sprinkled with salt and paprika. The octopus was surprisingly tender, not chewy at all, with a subtle flavor. The paprika provided the sting. The potato was a perfect base.

Other tapa selections include grilled items (pork, Moroccan chicken, scallop and shrimp skeweres), items with eggs (fried eggs scramble with potatoes and chistorra sausage; fried eggs scramble with fresh duck foie; and traditional Spanish omelet); potages and casseroles in earth pan or plate (tripe and chick pea stew; Asturian white bean, pork and chorizo stew; salted codfish with piquillo peppers and tomato; and certified Angus beef meatballs with almond sauce); traditional fried items in olive oil (cocido meat croquettes; Spanish salami croquettes; vegetable garden shoestring with fried egg; and Serrano ham and cheese bites in phyllo pastry) and miscellaneous items (Rioja style potatoes and chorizo; alioli potatoes; clams in fisherman’s style; marinated fresh anchovies; Iberian cold cuts platter; and Spanish cheese platter).

The heavier group in the menu includes soup and salad combinations, paellas and rice dishes, pasta, seafood and “mountain specials.”

For seafood, we had calamari with black ink batter “el Bulli” (P255) and garlic sautéed shrimp the modern way (P260). The squid was definitely an eye-catcher. Rings of squid were dipped in batter and its own black ink and then deep-fried. The result was a dish that looked like lumps of charcoal and a more flavorful calamari. The “el Bulli” in the name I presumed was the origin of this style of cooking — the famous haute-cuisine restaurant El Bulli in Catalonia.

Try also other seafood items such as batter-coated fried fish with roasted pimiento peppers, Malaga-style fried fish platter and sautéed eels and shrimps with crispy garlic bits.

Another interesting dish is the certified Angus beef prime rib (grilled according to the methods of Villagodio), a “mountain special.” Slices of the beef are grilled on a small hot plate sitting atop a burner, the size perfect for the table, invented by the chef herself. Other mountain specials are garlic chicken; pork ham and cheese roulade in white sauce; and grilled lamb chops with herbs.

Of course there were the paellas. We had three kinds: the picadillo paella (P650), the Greek paella (P485), and the Manchego cheese, chicken, shrimp and asparagus paella (P500).

The picadillo paella had different slices of meats. I saw a connection between it and the Filipino dish picadillo, a kind of stew of ground beef, tomato sauce and slices of white radish, potato or chayote. I haven’t found yet the connection with the word peccadillo, which means “little sins.” The Greek paella is yellowed with saffron and had salmon and white cheese. On the other hand, the Manchego cheese paella had the sheep’s milk cheese melting over rice, chicken, shrimp and asparagus. All paellas were a delight, symphonies of flavors. Other paellas on offer are creamy seafood paella, Alaskan king crab paella, vegetable paella with pesto sauce and black squid paella.

If you don’t want paella, Tapella has pasta: black fettucini with shrimps, three-flavor handkerchief pasta and vegetable cannelloni.

Tapella also has good selection of wines to further smoothen a venture into modern Spain in flavors. End this with dessert such tiramisu, Kahlua mousse, egg yolk custard, banana crepe and traditional arroz con leche, literally “rice with milk,” like champorado without the chocolate but with milk, and spiced with cinnamon and vanilla bean.

The arroz con leche can be a perfect ending, a comfort food that reminds of home. And we are made at home in Spain, if only in flavors.

Contact Information

For more information and reservations, visit Tapella, open 11 a.m. to 12 a.m., at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City or call 757-2710 to 11. Visit www.tapella-restaurant.com, or e-mail inquiry@tapella-restaurant.com.