D’Pinoy Joint Restaurant
Lumpaing Shanghai – Ground Pork and Peas wrapped in Eggroll Wrapper and Deep Fried with Sweet & Sour Sauce
Fish Balls – Deep Fried Fish Balls with Sweet & Sour Sauce
Tortang Talong – Eggplant Omelet
Mongo Guisado – Mung Bean Cooked in Bittermelon and Bokchoy with fried Pork Belly and Shrimp
Binagoongan Crispy Pata with Eggplant – Deep Fried Pork Trotters and Knuckles with fried Eggplant, Jalapenos, Shrimp Paste, Lechon Brown Sauce, Soy
Sizzling Pork Sisig – Grilled Pork Cheek and Deep Fried Pork Belly Sauteed in Onion, Bell Peppers, Jalapeno
Sizzling Bistek – Thinly Sliced Beef Chuck Roll cooked in Soy Sauce and Lemon Juice topped with Fried Onion on a Sizzling Plate
Oxtail Kare-Kare – Beef Oxtail and Tripe cooked in Creamy Peanut Sauce with Veggies and Shrimp Paste
Garlic Rice, Rice, Lechon Sauce
Halo Halo – Sweet Potato, Banana, Sweet Beans, Jackfruit, Ube Halaya, Red and Green Gulaman, Leche Flan, Ube Ice Cream, Cream, Pinipig
Mais Con Yelo – Creamy Style Corn, Corn and Mais Queso Ice Cream
Puto Bumbong – Ube Steamed Glutinous Rice topped with Coconut Flakes, Sugar, Sesame Seeds
Surprisingly unknown to two Filipino friends and one Chef who fancies the cuisine, while another alternatively touted the restaurant at 6820 West Flamingo Road as one of the best in town, it was with five friends and their children that a long table was filled in D’Pinoy Joint at noon on Saturday, the experience both hit and miss as relates to everything from the environment to service and food.
Owned by immigrants to a city known for one of the most rapidly growing Filipino populations in the United States, their goal to serve authentic tastes of native cuisine to those familiar and first-timers alike, D’Pinoy Joint features a sizable menu chock-a-block filled with Pork and other meaty options, most portions appropriate for sharing with a banquet space offered for those hosting parties up to sixty or more next door.
Oddly decorated to say the least, half of the restaurant featuring scenes of daily life or traditional dance in the Philippines while the rest is a mish-mash of aquarium fish, motivational posters and spiritual things, it was several minutes after seating that service was eventually flagged down for ordering, a total of twelve menu items selected and delivered with what must have been at least six cups of rice.
Certainly not fine dining, plates dropped off without descriptions and water glasses more frequently empty than not, lunch began with a duo of appetizers appropriately delivered before several larger options, the crispy Lumpaing and spongy Fish Balls each served scalding hot from the fryer with sidecars of Sweet & Sour Sauce, both readily sharable amongst the group though neither were anything different from what might be found at any local Dim Sum spot.
Making the mistake of adding un-fried $5.99 Garlic Rice to the complimentary mounds of white stuff, the only difference a shake of dehydrated powder and a teaspoon of toasted Cloves, larger plates began to arrive fast and furious just as appetizers were finished, the Tortang Talong far more flaccid than one might expect with a substantial coat of oil while the Eggplant served beneath a hunk of deep fried Pork Hock was substantially more delicious amidst thinly sliced Jalapenos and a thick smear of funky Shrimp Paste.
A bit surprised at how flavorless the Mongo Guisado was, particularly as the smell was particularly off-putting to more than one at the table, far better bites were found in the Sizzling Pork Sisig and plate of thinly sliced Beef Chuck, each emitting an aromatic plume of steam on arrival while the Kare-Kare was easily the best plate on the table with bone-in bits of Oxtail juxtaposing soft Beef Stomach in a Creamy Peanut Sauce.
Ready to drop a bill without suggesting dessert, the wait staff seemingly ready to be rid of patrons at 1:30pm even though the room was less than 1/6 full, it was with Ube Halaya “sold out,” or not yet delivered, that three alternatives were selected, the Halo-Halo a typically bizarre mash-up of crushed Ice, Fruit and starches while the Mais Con Yelo and Puto Bumbong were far more attention-grabbing, the former essentially a Cream Corn Sundae served as a Shake while the latter was something like Taffy in its texture beneath the sweet/savory juxtaposition of Coconut, Granulated Sugar and toasted Sesame Seeds.
THREE STARS: Overlooking the somewhat-expected service issues and décor that seems oddly out-of-place, D’Pinoy Joint offers a good look at Filipino cooking in an environment built for sharing, the majority of the food quite good and said by respected sources to be relatively authentic to the Island’s traditional cuisine.
RECOMMENDED: Oxtail Kare Kare, Sizzling Bistek, Binagoongan Crispy Pata with Eggplant, Mais Con Yellow.
AVOID: Garlic Rice, Tortang Talong, Mongo Guisado.
TIP: Open 10a-10p daily, with lunch specials offered for $7.99 11a-4p Monday through Friday, a second location apparently upcoming somewhere “@Las Vegas Blvd Outlet Mall” per the website.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
http://www.dpinoyjoint.com/
