Not many events in Juneau call for a line out the door. Those of us in this cozy Southeast community may be accustomed to the rain, but that doesn’t mean we often like to stand in it. However, if any spot can make such a thing happen it’s certainly In Bocca Al Lupo, a restaurant so renowned that it earned one of just 50 coveted spots on last year’s New York Times best restaurant list.
Recently, Bocca (as it’s lovingly dubbed by locals) celebrated Filipino American History Month with a special five-course meal led by the restaurant’s talented Chef De Cuisine, Rachel Barril. With promises of Duck Leg Adobo and Salmon Wing Insal, an excited crowd eagerly gathered below the wolf logo outside the warmly lit space until entrance was admitted when the clock finally struck 5:00 p.m.
The legacy and life of Juneau’s Filipino community began over a century ago when the first waves of Filipino men came to Alaska to work for the territory’s then-budding cannery industry. The American colonial period in the Philippines spanned from 1898 to 1946, and during this time many American industrialists viewed Filipino laborers through an exploitative lens. These migrating workers, however, eventually established rich, dynamic communities all around the United States. Men, women and children created new, thriving Filipino communities all around America driven by hopes of better economic opportunities. In Juneau, those hopes were focused in the canneries and the mines.
Barril, a Filipino American born and raised in Alaska, found herself excited and nervous for the event as it would be her first solo event at the restaurant.
“Filipino food has just been really important to my upbringing,” she said, sharing that many of her culinary seeds were sowed early on by a family that spent a ton of quality time together in the kitchen. “We would get together [for holidays] and everybody brought a dish over, and then we would learn to cook together. Many hands make light work, like while making lumpia, or cutting up vegetables for pancit, that kind of stuff. And as you’re learning how to cook you’re just bonding with your family members as you’re doing it.”
Known for her ever-evolving Filipino, Alaskan and Italian-inspired contributions to the menu at Bocca, the evening’s specially-curated menu was deeply inspired by a recent trip Barril took to the Philippines – the first she’s made in 20 years.
“When I went to my mom’s hometown in Kalibo,” she said, “my uncle would buy pandesal, which is a popular bread roll that most people eat every day for breakfast and throughout the day with coffee.”
On this trip, she was offered a version of it with malunggay leaves, or moringa leaves. That revolutionized the way she viewed the meal and ultimately inspired the opening dish of the evening: malunggay pandesal with peach mango chili jam.
Following this, Barril served up pancit molo, a Filipino-style dumpling soup. The visual masterpiece of the night was the salmon wing inasal served with spiced elderflower vinegar and watermelon atchara. No detail was spared on this dish and it serves as a wonderful example of how Barril is able to flawlessly combine her Filipino heritage with her Alaskan surroundings in her dishes.
“When the elderflowers were blooming we grabbed a bunch of it,” she said. “We had plenty of vinegar in the kitchen, so we let it infuse and added the Filipino touch to it by making a spicy vinegar out of the elderflower vinegar.”
Once the duck leg adobo was enjoyed, Barril served up what she called her favorite dish of the night, the biko with banana semifreddo and sesame tuille.
“I have a lot of memories of that dish because even though a lot of my relatives are very, very good cooks, my grandmother, unfortunately, never cooked,” Barril said. “The only thing she cooked for us was Top Ramen and biko. That was her speciality.” The bananas and sesame added a variety of textures while a soft powdering of matcha gave some brightness to the sweet dessert.
The five courses were enjoyed at family-style, communal tables – a mindful choice by Barril.
“You’re in a space where you’re going to need to talk to the people around you, and it’s a better experience,” she said. “You’re experiencing it together. You get to talk about the food and the drinks that you’re consuming together.”
For Barril, perhaps that’s a good description of what her take on the culinary experience is all about: a process made more meaningful when we learn about it and enjoy it together.
