Fairmount will soon get an interpretation of Outback Steakhouse— that is, if the chain restaurant existed in a Filipino alternate universe. Chance Anies’ Manong, a word that means “elder brother” in Ilocano, the Filipino dialect of Anies’ paternal family, opens to the public on December 5.
Anies, the chef-owner behind beloved Queen Village BYOB Tabachoy, took over the former Tela’s space at 1833 Fairmount Ave. earlier this year. It’s a huge departure from Tabachoy’s miniscule footprint of 985 square feet, and of course, from its origins as a small food truck, which Anies still owns. “Manong’s kitchen is bigger than Tabachoy,” said Anies.
The dining room, which Anies had entirely renovated, seats over ninety people, including nine at its ample bar, at seats painted school bus yellow. There are globe lamps and custom-built booths, backed by forest green shiplap, and resembling the same leather-esque banquettes of a throwback, middle class steakhouse. There are also booths lining the windows, like in every diner movie that has ever been made. The dining room feels industrial, thanks to its exposed ductwork and concrete floor with veined cracks.
The front-of-house and back-of-house staff numbers around 28 people, unlike the eight, mostly part-timers that run Tabachoy.
Manong is a celebration of Anies’ ‘90s youth. Walk in through its enormous glass doors, above which their offerings are painted in orange cowboy-style font (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Coffee, Bottle Shop), and on your left is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, procured from “an arcade guy in Michigan.” At Manong’s photo shoot for this article, Anies carried around a paper sack filled with Beanie Babies, given to him by his mother-in-law, as he tried to decide where to put them as decorations.
As a riff on Outback’s blooming onion, on Manong’s menu there will be a blooming mushroom, consisting of crispy enoki mushrooms tossed in cornstarch, garlic, and powdered, preserved lemon peel and arranged in a pressed glass frilled dish, mimicking a blooming effect with a ramekin of salsa rosada (a mixture of vegan mayo and housemade banana ketchup) at its center. Their Dynamite Lumpia, stuffed with pork, jalapeños, and mozzarella are enormous crispy parcels, unlike Tabachoy’s small, delicate rolls. “They’re like if a jalapeño popper married a lumpia,” said Anies.
Their house salad will feature a green goddess dressing made with canned bangus, or milkfish, a popular Filipino pantry ingredient. Anies is also making efforts to develop versions of Filipino stalwarts that are less processed, like pulverizing red rice yeast for his tocino, a sweet Filipino cured pork known for its bright red hue, typically synthetic in origin. “It’s crazy how red the red rice yeast is,” he said. “It’s like an all-natural Red 40.”
Their Balong Burger — “Balong” is a term of endearment meaning “my boy” or “my child” in Ilocano and what Anies’ mother calls him — has a bun that echoes the pillowy Filipino loaves called pandesal and fashioned into four conjoined pieces. “The bun is sort of like connected King’s Hawaiian rolls,” said Anies. A half-pound burger patty will be sandwiches between the sliced open buns, with an option to add another patty on. It will be served with housemade banana ketchup and white American cheese. “But not Cooper Sharp. We’re not fancy over here,” said Anies.
To finish your meal, there will be homemade ube ice cream, fudgy in texture, and served in little metal dishes, along with a robust dessert menu of frozen treats like calamansi water ice.
Unlike Tabachoy, Manong has a liquor license. Expect local beers on draft from Love City and Carbon Copy, breweries that Anies developed relationships with after vending with his food truck at them for years. But there will also be Filipino Kasama rum in cocktails and served with a bottle of San Miguel beer as a “Quezon City Wide,” a nod to Anies’ father’s birthplace. Bottles of the Filipino beers San Miguel and Red Horse, an extra-strong lager brewed by San Miguel, will also be available at the bar. “But they don’t export kegs. I guess we could pour the bottles into kegs to have them on draft,” joked Anies.
And also unlike Tabachoy, where diners need to exit the front door, make a right, turn down an alley, and re-enter the building in order to go to the bathroom, Manong’s bathrooms (indeed there are now plural “bathrooms”) are accessed through the main dining room. One is papered with old magazine articles and Applebee’s-themed. The other is Outback-themed. And where did he procure the neon decor for each? “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” he responded.
Manong, to start, will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. They will seat guests until 9:30 p.m. as their kitchen will close before the bar does, at 10:30 p.m. Reservations will be available on OpenTable.