{"id":270401,"date":"2026-08-22T23:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/270401\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T23:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T23:34:11","slug":"the-best-thing-beatrice-forman-ate-this-week-breakfast-at-chibanos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/270401\/","title":{"rendered":"The best thing Beatrice Forman ate this week: Breakfast at Chibanos"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a breakfast sandwich snob. I also love rules, which is why there\u2019s rigorous criteria a sandwich needs to meet for me to even consider ordering it. <\/p>\n

Is it served on brioche, a bread that is entirely too soft for a greasy sandwich? Hard pass. <\/p>\n

Is there one of those dreaded rectangular egg patties, which are somehow always dry and a little cold in the center? Don\u2019t even send it my way.<\/p>\n

Does it lack whimsy? Unless there\u2019s some sort of intrigue \u2014 a fun condiment, fresh-baked bread, a flavor combo that gives a sense of perspective \u2014 I\u2019ll just have eggs with a side of bacon and home fries, please.<\/p>\n

A lot of Philly\u2019s breakfast sammies make the grade<\/a>, but I\u2019ve only ever fixated on one: the Chino at Chibanos<\/a>, Washington Square West\u2019s recently opened Chinese-Cuban sandwich shop at 1127 Pine St. <\/p>\n

\"ExecutiveExecutive chef Aya Iwatani (left) and owner Evan Jaroff (right) inside Chibanos, their Cuban-Chinese sandwich shop that opened on July 1 at 1127 Pine St.Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The tight menu \u2014 eight sandwiches plus a handful of snacks \u2014 is an ode to owner Evan Fong Jaroff\u2019s mother, Ana, a Chinese Cuban who immigrated to the U.S. from the island in the 1960s. Jaroff grew up watching her command their home kitchen in Lansdowne, where she\u2019d serve traditional Southeast Chinese fish dishes alongside staple Cuban dishes like fried yucca, beef picadillo<\/a>, and lech\u00f3n (aka shredded and slow-roasted pork). <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think of us as a Cuban restaurant. I don\u2019t think of us as a Chinese restaurant,\u201d Jaroff told me in July<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re our own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chibanos\u2019 menu pulses with nostalgia. That\u2019s especially true of the Chino, which packs fluffy eggs, melted Swiss cheese, and a sticky-sweet char siu-style<\/a> sausage patty between a crackle-crusted bolo bao<\/a> bun smeared with garlicky scallion mayo. <\/p>\n

The sandwich is an adult version of Jaroff\u2019s favorite childhood breakfast: a steamed, custard-filled bao from pretty much any bakery in Chinatown<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Chino breakfast sandwich on a Dodo Bakery bolo bao at Chibanos, a Chinese-Cuban sandwich shop at 1127 Pine St.Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Developed in partnership with executive chef Aya Iwatani<\/a> (formerly of Honeysuckle Provisions<\/a>), the Chino is the perfect combo of sweet and savory. It conjured up my own memories of using sausages to sop up the leftover syrup from diner pancakes. The lightly sweet bao from Dodo Bakery<\/a> \u2014 a Cantonese bread and sweets specialist<\/a> in South Philly \u2014 is equally transportive. It reminds me of the oversized conchas<\/a> that lined the pastry cases of the panaderias in the tiny Hudson River town<\/a> I lived in as a teen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how a single sandwich can take me to so many places. Perhaps I should add another question to my breakfast sandwich checklist: Does it make me feel warm and fuzzy?<\/p>\n

The Chino most certainly does.<\/p>\n

\"Beatrice<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m a food writer who covers how trends are reshaping Philadelphia’s dynamic food scene, from the growth of Philly’s restaurant merch to why venture capital-backed chains can’t stop coming to our city. I also cover labor dynamics \u2014 and changes to the workplace \u2014 within the hospitality industry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am a breakfast sandwich snob. I also love rules, which is why there\u2019s rigorous criteria a sandwich…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[113998,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-270401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-chibanos-chinese-cuban-sandwich-center-city","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}