Cebu-Style Lechon
Nearly 10 percent of Jersey City’s population is Filipino, and with more than 40,000 new Filipino immigrants arriving in this country every year, the city’s Pinoy population is growing, dynamic and still very tied to the traditions and tastes of their homeland. I love Filipino food. The post-colonial cuisine combines the best of South Asian ingredients with Spanish technique. Thankfully, you can find phenomenal Filipino cuisine at Jersey City’s Legal Beans, a whole-hog rotisserie pit house devoted to Cebu-style lechon barbecue. The spit roasted pigs are stuffed with lemongrass and scallions, rubbed with vinegar and spices, then cooked over hot coals. The portions are hefty, the sides are out of this world (slaw, dinuguan, rice) and the lechon is some of the best I’ve ever tasted.
