Accents
Love & Kisses after Frank
When the snow gets to be knee-high at winter in the U.S. of A., the mind—my mind—simply refuses to be overwhelmed; instead, I focus on the onset of lovely spring, even think of my country's sunny isles and its tempting cuisine to stave off winter chill.
When Frank got me stuck for a week—wind, rain, and brownout compounded—I promised myself hot pizza pies, and just recently made good the treat in the Love & Kisses Pizza parlor at Iloilo City's Jalandoni St. More than just the pizza prop for "stomach development," I wanted to see once again the framed history that donned the place: newspaper clippings of the famed Blue Diamonds of my younger days. The Blue Diamonds were the ace pilots of the Philippine Air Force, the top guns, who made the skies the canvas of their swift formations.
To my dismay, the walls were empty of these memoraibilia which, according to the cashier, were transferred to the owner's home in Jaro only to be victimized by Frank. History gone with the floodwaters.
What to do, but engrossed ourselves in the Love & Kisses price list that is replete with the most romantically named pizza and pasta this side of the country, nay, of the world. Owner Nita Lopez-Kabayao Mapua has a way with words, especially lovey-dovey words. When you knew that Mrs. Mapua belongs to the renown Lopez-Kabayao clan of musicians and artists, you stop wondering how the proprietress could be so innovative with dishes that simply "oozes" with "love" in words and in taste. Savory bites that do the Gibb songsters one better with their "Words are all I have to take your heart away."
In life and in the delectable culinary world, Nita Mapua lives her motto, Happy and Lucky in Love. She has three daughters with retired Gen. Angel Mapua, the lead pilot of the Blue Diamonds: Angela, Victoria, and Felice, nicknamed Happy, Lucky, and Love, respectively.
Customers can choose from different flavors of pizza with names that tempt to say the least: Happy, Love, Kisses, Loverboy, Romance, Tenderness, Angel Boy, Lovergirl, Seduction, Desire. Pasta are Spaghetti d'Amore, Bihon d'Gugma, and Passion on Fire. The provocative descriptions entice customers to visit again, for instance, Passionate Kisses is "a combination of shrimp and mushrooms complemented with a very light dressing which will give the word pizza a different meaning. Oh and by the way, this flavor is passionately sprinkled with our famous heart salad." Heart salad? Gush, whatever that means. Or that other plate—"If the sight won't take your breath away, the taste will." Now that simply fascinates and arouses the gourmet in you, "to tempt even the strongest of wills…"
And who wouldn't go for Love? "Love is truly in the pizza. Garnished with the freshest egg to balance the spiciness of a truly delightful pizza." And what about Angel Boy? This is how Mrs. Mapua introduces it: "Sharp tooth would have enjoyed this if we sold this flavor a million years ago. Meat, mushrooms, a lot of cheese, and the best Italian pizza sauce to complement the most discriminating palette (sic)."
Need some more catchy sales-talk? "Heaven is the TASTE, Down-to-earth is the PRICE!" And how does the imaginative Mrs. Mapua name the house's three Dimsum Delights? Hers go beyond Sio Mai, a too ordinary term you encounter in other eateries. Her "love-filled" dumplings are Sio Mai Love, Pork Lovepao, and Chicken Lovepao.
Loveburger is "grilled over volcanic rocks." For Passion on Fire, you'll have to bring along a companion because the menu specifies that "It is meant to be shared." And just what is this concoction that inflames the passion to be passionately shared with the beloved? "A mixture of the freshest vegetables, shrimp, chicken, and liver, atop a bed of noodles sizzling on a hot plate." Sizzling Romance is "cooked in a bulgogi plate with the best spices and complemented with our famous 'heart' salad…" And we dare say, stormy weather or not, the meat sizzles bringing to fruition that romantic hot bite.
The different milkshakes, with or without ice cream as the customer pleases, are aptly put under Cold Cravings. See how words can overpower the usual appeal of the ubiquitous soft drinks. To be savored on a very special anniversary day is Sweethearts Forever, Mrs. Mapua's "very special 'Homemade Pancakes.' Exactly for two, to be shared by two. Its taste shall be remembered as you remember your first date." Oh, yeah??
Typhoon Frank has drowned fragments of history, but was too powerless to destroy the taste buds, even heightened the longing for "romantic bites." To the gastronomically challenged, happy eating—rain or shine, Frank or no Frank!
(E-mail: lagoc@hargray.com)