Sisig (Pat Padua).Weekend brunch options in Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights go far beyond the usual chicken and waffles and bottomless mimosas. Beau Thai’s brunch menu offers their take on Thai street food, while Thip Khao’s gives you a taste of Laos. But if, for some reason, you wanted to know what my childhood tasted like, Purple Patch’s brunch menu takes you there.
The centerpiece of this brunch menu (one that turned out to be so popular it’s now on their dinner menu) is the sisig. Originating from the Pampanga region of the Philippines, Northwest of Manila, its name means “to snack on something sour,” and the dish has a touch of citrus to it—Purple Patch’s is touched with vinegar and lemon juice. Filipino restauranteur Lucia Cunanan is credited with developing the dish in the Angeles City, Pampanga restaurant she opened in 1974. The dish grew in popularity across the Philippines and has made its way to Filipino restaurants in the states. But in 2008 Cunanan met a tragic end, the details of which are too lurid to note here.
Sisig is Filipino comfort food. I’ve had three different varieties of it. A now shuttered King Pollo on Route 1 that doubled in Filipino food used a more traditional recipe that included chopped pig’s ears and cheeks; too much cartilage for my western palate. But a version made by Maharlika in New York’s East Village was just fine: chopped pork belly on a bed of garlic rice served in a an egg-sized frying pan. Purple Patch’s sisig is similar to Maharlika’s, but more generous—a huge portion of pork belly and shoulder served on a sizzling fajita-sized plate with jasmine rice (I recommend substituting garlic rice) topped with a fried egg. Take heed if you’ve ordered appetizers, like the delicious lechon kawali (deep-fried braised pork with a liver-based dipping sauce)—this a portion that even my huge appetite can’t finish in one sitting. I still think about the leftovers I left behind the Sunday I ordered it.
Tapsilog (Pat Padua)Sisig is a regional dish that my mom, who was from a different region, never made, but the Purple Patch brunch menu has respectable versions of a few old breakfast staples from the Padua home:
Tapsilog brings one of my favorite breakfast dishes back to Mt. Pleasant (where I grew up): tapa. The slices of cured beef aren’t too far off from my mom’s recipe—she marinated beef in a salt and sugar-based sauce and fried it. Purple Patch serves this with eggs and chopped tomatoes, pretty much like mom used to make it.
Longsilog features longanisa, a tasty, garlicky Filipino sausage. You can also get a side of tapa or longanisa with your order of sisig, but you might not have room for everything.
Finally, Purple Patch puts a Filipino twist on an American brunch staple: their chicken and waffles come with a scoop of purple ice cream flavored with ube, the yam that gives the restaurant its name. And it’s not brunch without mimosas—I highly recommend the spicy ginger lemon variety. And don’t forget your leftovers.
Purple Patch is located at 3155 Mount Pleasant Street NW. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner hours are Purple Tuesday – Sunday, 5:30 – 10 p.m. Bar hours are Monday-Sunday 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
