Skyflakes-Crusted Adobo Fried Chicken by Chef AC Boral

Meet Chef AC:
I am an ambitious, self-taught chef who doesn’t really like to play by the rules. The passion that drives my pursuit of a career in the culinary world wasn’t realized by me after trying several different career paths. I dabbled in cooking multi-course meals, small catering, and creatively re-packaging dishes for years before deciding to fully commit to food. Since hosting my first supperclub in October 2012 to support a friend’s Walk For Hope Team, I’ve staged for several chefs that I admire and showcased my food at several events throughout Southern California. Most recently, I was hired as the Head Chef of a bakery in San Diego just one year from hosting that first dinner. The journey in the culinary world so far has been a whirlwind and I couldn’t have gotten this far without my amazing support system of friend and family. I look forward to becoming a better chef and a better person as I find my voice as a chef.

Hometown: Oxnard, CA
Current Locale: San Diego, CA
Website: So Good & Delicious
Current Gig: finding my place in the culinary world
Instagram: @sgdfood
Facebook:  So Good and Delicious
Twitter: @sgdfood

You mentioned that your father is your greatest culinary influence. What has he introduced you to and do you cook with him now?
My dad’s always been the one the kitchen. Props to my mom cuz she’s got skills too, but my dad always threw down whetehr it was just dinner or a family party. (Look at my pictures. I was WELL FED.) He also didn’t just feed us Filipino food; I got my adventurous appetite thanks to him.

We do cook together. He’s been teaching me a lot of the recipes from his childhood lately, which has been really cool. For parties, we usually split the work if I’m around. In fact, we actually have a catering event we’re working on together in a couple of weeks.

Filipino food has been integral to my personal identity. It’s my way of showing pride in my culture when I didn’t always feel like I knew how to represent it as a Filipino-American.

Tell me about the Filipino food in your area.
San Diego has a Filipino food scene relegated to the pockets of the city with a high Filipino population density, but I’m looking to take it to the next level of exposure. I want Little Italy and Convoy and San Diego’s other food destinations to take note of the great things Filipino cuisine brings to the table.



When you were at school for Advertising/Public Relations at Loyola University in Chicago, did you venture out for Filipino food?
I’d say the seedling of my culinary career was planted while I was in Chicago, since my dad’s cooking was 2000 miles away and I had to learn to cook to uphold the standard of quality I was so lucky to have grown up with. I didn’t really seek out other Filipino food because it didn’t stand up to whatever I would have when I’d come home.

After trying out other fields, why stick to culinary? Do you have video of yourself reciting Shakespeare while dancing the Macarena wearing a basketball jersey, Mr. Macarena Champion 2004?
Food has always been an integral part of my life. My family is notorious for being crazy big eaters. Family parties were no joke.  It took me a couple years out of college to realize that I kept going back to jobs with food, whether it was ice cream scooping in high school to retail at a culinary store to being a grill cook in my college dining hall, I felt at home when I was eating, feeding people, or talking about eating and feeding people. Couple that with my creativity and now my preferred medium of expression is food.  
Editor's note: please note the interviewee's blatant avoidance of the second question. ;-)

So Good & Delicious is your brainchild, what goals and visions do you have for it?
Currently, So Good & Delicious is just my cooking alias more or less. It’s got a really cool story behind the name too, but that’s about it.

But what I really want SGD to evolve into is a brand that is synonymous with unique food experiences. I’d like to work alongside other chefs and creatives to curate concepts that add a reactive or intellectual layer to the traditional dining experience.

It all sounds very vague right now, but really the heart of SGD is education. It was simply my passion for food that pushed me to educate myself about food and food-related things. If I can make one person get as excited about food as I am, or even just to get them to think about what food means to them on a personal level, I’d feel like my job is done.

Name a Filipino food everyone should try:
Oooh. Tough question… But I gotta say…Chicken Adobo. It’s the lowest common denominator for accessibility while still being an authentic and DELICIOUS snapshot of what Filipino cuisine is about. It’s savory, sour, and has sauce to be eaten with rice. Boom.

Also, a great Chicken Adobo is REALLY great. It’s alchemy.

What is the ultimate Chef AC specialty?
I like to say my cooking style is Modern Filipino Soul Food, inspired by the food I grew up eating.



Tell me more about "REFIL."
REFIL is the concept that I’ve developed the most in my culinary career. It’s shorthand for RE-Mixed/RE-Inspired/RE-Configured FILipino food. It’s Modern Filipino food at the core. Sinigang Lumpia and 13-Layer Skyflakes & Ube-Macapuno Cake being a couple of examples of those type of dishes. My Adobo Fried Chicken is REFIL.

Skyflakes-Crusted Adobo Fried Chicken
by Chef AC Boral

What makes your adobo YOUR adobo? 
Both Modern Filipino and Comfort Food, this dish exemplifies my cooking style and love for food. Plus, chicken adobo and fried chicken are two of my FAVEEE.

If you can share your adobo with absolutely anyone, who would it be and why?
Bruce Lee. Because he’s Bruce Lee.

If you had a round trip plane ticket that could take you to ANY 5 destinations in the world, where would you head to? Starting at LAX as your destination point, GO!

LAX > Manila > Tokyo > Melbourne > Istanbul > Montreal. All for the food.


Where do you think Filipino food will go in the next few years?
To infinity and beyond. But really, I think we are all seeing the increased visibility Filipino food has been getting over the past couple years. As more Filipino chefs are coming to the forefront to show off our cuisine, I think our turo-turo joints will see more love from other people, pan de sal sliders will be on happy hour menus, and our flavor profiles will influence the culinary scene.


********************

Would you like to be a part of Project:Adobo? 
Follow this link to submit for your own adobo-file!