Ozark Diner: “Grinnin’ like a possum eatin’ a sweet tater.”

Howdy, y’all! Ready to … … read about our Ozark Diner experiences? (Rightie-o, it’s two visits so far because it appears I’m super excited about Southern dishes. Maybe that’s because I want to taste true blue shrimp and grits so bad; darn you, The Taste! Or … maybe it’s because I know I’m getting it authentic from Chef Kevin who hails from Arkansas and balikbayan, Sir Albert. \m/)

As I have mentioned before,  meeting like-minded (and like-tummied) people through this blog is such a huge bonus and this doesn’t just mean people who like to eat but people who love to make good food for these gourmands; so much so that they’ve turned their passion and skill into a business.

Nashville fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits and hoppin John.

Table for Two at Ozark

As soon as I heard about Ozark Diner, my brother and I came ’round the mountain to Bakakeng where we got a taste of Nashville fried chicken, hoppin’ John, biscuits, a packed hamburger with delicious, delicious fries from the diner’s soft opening menu. In contrast to what I like, the flavors of our orders were pretty mild. Takes a lot of getting used to I guess but then I got a bite of my brother’s hamburger with a startlingly spicy pickle. Interesting sensation that was that while eating my biscuits topped with hoppin’ John (more on that later), I thought of asking if they sold the pickles by the bottle too. =D

Apple pie

For dessert, I was hoping to get a piece of the chef’s famous beer cheesecake (one of the special desserts served at the Manila Polo Club, guys) but since it wasn’t available that day due to ‘Murphy’s Law’ cream cheese (there when you don’t need it, unavailable when you do *heeharhar), I went for apple pie. When it was delivered to the table at the end of the meal, my sibling and I just had a forkful each of this pie loaded with juicy apple slices. Ohh, my, sooo fulll. We got this to go with another slice for my foodie loved ones to sample.

 Joyeux Anniversaire a la New Orleans (A Private Dining Setup)

Ozark refreshments: Mango, cucumber and strawberry shakes, rootbeer and the house iced tea. (Hooray for new photo editing features!)

And so we have returned! P3 (yey, together again) +5 started with a wide selection of the diner’s beverages. The shakes were truly cooling; just what we needed for a warm summer evening. The iced tea was another mildly flavored thing but we, especially my niece who dislikes the strongly flavored and sickly sweet teas of the mainstream, all appreciated how real the tea tasted.

Introduction to the dishes that made up our meal by Sir Daniel.

For our first course, we spread rillette, chicken galantine, and mustard on brioche that the Chef and his crew baked. (They bake all of their breads here. Yes, even the sesame bun used for the hamburger.)  Topped with a pickled vegetable or two, this made for zingy appetizing bites. Man, that galantine, an instant fave! ^^,

First course: Brioche and rillette, housemade pickles; and chicken galantine =D

Once every morsel of the first course was gone, we got our second plate: Eggy fluffy pudding with small shrimps (think a sprinkling of okoy) that made Race think about palabok (I wonder why *teehee) . It came with creole salsa and a bigger (adult?) shrimp  that we seasoned with a squeeze of lemon.

Shrimp bread pudding with salsa

… and more buttery crumbly biscuits that I hesitated to touch as I was now familiar with their tummy filling qualities. =)

“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.”

I did zone in on the black eyed peas which was cooked slowly with smoked ham hock.  It reminded me of a regular viand we had at home when my grandmother took charge of the day’s menu. Come to me tender pieces of meat with jelly-like fat. *drooling like Homer Simpson

A pot o’ hoppin’ John

By this time, a few of us were already getting worried about eating more. We wanted to keep on gorging ourselves in the delectable plates that the Chef had planned for us but we started feeling like our stomachs were about to explode.  We bravely soldiered on – such is the challenge of writing about food and places where to eat in Baguio; you’re welcome, my foodie friends. *hihi

Pork chop with two kinds of sides (“,)

For our third course, we each got a hunk of grilled pork that came with two sides, the back and the front. =)) I’m pulling your leg; sides were a delightfully creamy mashed potato and a mix of cabbage shreds and apple slivers.  That was sort of an acquired taste because apart from a seasoning I couldn’t quite place, the cooked apple also threw me. Definitely, something new for most Filipino palates. (I liked it. ~That was my sister speaking.) It was the pork chop that kept all of us munching on despite our impending fullness; masterfully cooked, tender and tasty.

Dark beer cheesecake. ^^, Get a load of that pie crust. Did I hear you say, what crust? Yeh!

Drum roll for the dessert! Yes, it’s beer cheesecake!  Rich, cheesy and to me, the beer tasted like burnt caramel, Y-U-M. Now I know how I want my beer/alcoholic beverage … in cheesecake please! (“,)

With the proprietors of Baguio’s little delectable piece of the Ozarks

The Morning After

For breakfast today are Ozark’s sticky gooey cinnamon rolls that were squishy, soft and dee-lish on the inside.

Today’s breakfast. (Such a pleasure to meet you all, Chef Kevin, Sir Albert, Sir Daniel and the staff of Ozark Diner!)

Sweet and gluey, the way you want it for your cinnamon buns? Et voila, extra cups of syrup. There you go. *drizzle, drizzle

Extra syrup, that did make my hands sticky before taking this photo. =)

X marks Ozark Diner for good food in Baguio. As per the advice of Sir Daniel when we asked him about which bottle of wine to pair with food, he said, we should keep drinking/eating to find out what we like and not be afraid to try new things … especially since Chef Kevin and Sir Albert have brought this dining experience to us. We don’t have to endure a 14 hour flight to the US to try something new and authentically Southern American.  Their food is in the City of Pines for the taking, COME and GET IT! *dinner bell rings

Ahh, we’re as full as ticks on a fat dog. \m/

Food:  and for my new cheesecake favorite,   ***MSG free food! (food offerings are free of monosodium glutamate – as per menu/restaurant staff member.  Please ALWAYS CONFIRM with your attendant/server/waiter to be on the safe side. ^^,)

Service: 

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UPDATE 09/20/2014: After an x number of visits to the diner (many times, with Chef Kevin indulging me with my taste testing requests – making me my own sili labuyo cheesecake, smoking ribs in the oven and preparing a shrimp and grits special, etc.), Ozark has to be filed under the ‘Comfort in the Familiar, X’s favorites’ category.

In and around the diner. Click photo for a larger view of the menu. As for the expanded menu, click here.

Ozark Diner

Bareng Drive corner Bakakeng Road

(Attached below is a screen shot of the diner’s location from Google Maps for your reference.  Behind SLU. Once you reach the bottom of the street where you see the school’s track oval, there’s a little road going left and up. Watch out for the deceptively simple structure with a red door beside the monolithic Arc student accommodation.)

Baguio City, Philippines

0947 445 0873

ozarkbaguiocity.com

Location of Ozark Diner by Google Maps. *click to enlarge photo