SFoodie's countdown of our 92 favorite things to eat and drink in San Francisco, 2011 edition.
Lumpia Shanghai are the Pringles of the Fil-Am buffet table. No Filipino party would be complete without somebody's tita (auntie) having made hundreds of the pork-filled, deep fried mini spring rolls ― so many that you eat without noticing, stabbing at the shallow bowl of sweet-sour dip, talking while you cram. Later, after you've stuffed yourself with egg-studded pancit, lechon (roast piglet) with leathery-crisp skin, and oxtail kare-kare, you reckon how many lumpia you've eaten by the dozens. And yet, there always seems to be a foil pan heaped with lumpia leftovers in the kitchen, stacked between layers of paper towels, as if the sprawling, daylong party hardly damaged the gross tally, so everybody has to take some home.
Lumpia, in other words, are totemic.
No surprise, then, that lumpia Shanghai are pretty much the symbols of the new style of Filipino cooking William Pilz is hawking through the window of his Hapa SF food truck. These are lumpia redesigned for a generation that aspires to the Cal-Cuisine minimalism of a Judy Rodgers at Zuni, say, yet moored firmly to Pinoy tradition. Pilz sources shoulder from naturally raised hogs; grinds and blends it with onion, garlic, carrot, water chestnuts, and Thai sweet chile sauce; and rolls up spoonfuls in Asian spring roll skins (not egg roll wrappers, which Pilz finds too coarse ― he buys the ones his mom used). They're fried on the truck, to order, in rice-bran oil ― it has a higher smoking point than other oils, meaning you can fry at a hotter temperature. "Lumpia needs to be fried really fast, really hard, and really hot," Pilz says.
Are the skins too thin? One of SFoodie's Manila-born friends thinks so. Other cooks resort to double-wrapping lumpia, but, Pilz says, even though Hapa's have edges that tend to scorch a bit, his aim overall with nuevo Filipino is to let the essential ingredients shine. That means lumpia with a very pointed delicacy, served with a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce that adapts to seasonal fruit, but often turns up with mango and fresh pineapple.
"It's like bouillabaisse," Pilz says of lumpia. "Everybody has their own method." With apologies to titas everywhere, Hapa SF's method yields some of the best anywhere.
Hapa SF: Truck parks at various locations in S.F.; follow it on Twitter at @HapaSF.
92: Goat tacos from El Norteño
91: Faux shark's fin soup at Benu
90: Esperpento's alcachofas a la plancha
89: Poco Dolce's olive oil chocolate bar
88: Decantr's chicken-liver mousseline
87: Outerlands' levain bread
86: Fraîche's frozen yogurt
85: Gyro King's spinach pie
84: Tandoori fish from Lahore Karahi
83: Braised oxtail and daikon from Namu
82: Golden Gate Bakery's custard tarts
81: Commonwealth's cured foie gras with umeboshi purée
80: Star Stream's Liège-style waffle
79: Mexican hot chocolate from La Oaxaqueña
78: Meatball sandwich from Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe
77: Cheesecake from Zanze's
76: Chicken pepian at San Miguel
75: Macau iced coffee at Vega/Special Xtra
74: Comstock Saloon's Pisco Punch
73: Hai Ky Mi Gia's duck leg noodle soup
72: Sauerbraten at Walzwerk
71: Boudin noir at Cafe Bastille
70: Blackstrap molasses gingerbread at Lotta's Bakery
69: Plow's crispy potatoes
68: Prospect's Catcher in the Rye
67: Pork banh mi from Little Vietnam Cafe
66: Nakaochi at Ippuku
65: Sidekick's chocolate spritzer
64: Farmhouse Culture's horseradish-leek sauerkraut
63: Destination Baking Co.'s challah
62: Cotogna's roasted carrots
61: Hard Knox Cafe's chicken and waffles
60: The Rebel Within from Tell Tale Preserve Co.
59: The Slanted Door's Whiskey Cocktail
58: Carnitas burrito from Taqueria San Francisco
57: Sakura mochi from Benkyodo
56: Birria at Gallardos
55: BBQ pork skewers at Fil-Am Cuisine
54: JapaCurry's katsu curry
53: Vegan flan at Gracias Madre
52: Cinderella Bakery's pelmeni
51: Locavore's maple andouille sausage
Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
