The Room 11 family is growing as a new Filipino restaurant is coming to 11th Street.
A few months ago I wrote about the restaurant coming to the old El Rinconcito Deportivo space next to Room 11, shown above. El Rincocito Deportivo was a Latin American restaurant that was open very late on the weekend — a good spot to get some cheap burritos or tacos after a night out. It closed about a year ago, and we learned that its replacement would be owned by Nick Pimentel of Room 11 and Genevieve Villamora. It sounded promising, but there wasn’t much more to report.
But now we have more details about its replacement: it’s going to be called Bad Saint; the chef will be Tom Cunanan, who has run his own Filipino catering company and has cooked at local spots like Vidalia, DC Coast, Zentan and more; and they’re aiming for a winter opening.
As for the name, Pimentel tells PopVille
Our name is a hat tip to the fishing village of Saint Malo, Louisiana. In the late-18th century, Filipino sailors deserted Spanish galleon ships plying the trade between Manila and Acapulco. They settled in Saint Malo, establishing the first permanent settlement of Filipinos in what is now the United States.
Here’s their Facebook page. I don’t have many more details so far, but Filipino food sounds pretty tasty: main dishes include adobo, which is meat cooked in garlic, vinegar, soy sauce and oil, kare-kare, a stew with peanuts, and lumpia, a type of spring roll. There’s also Filipino sausages and some Spanish influence. Cunanan’s catering company only has one Yelp review, but it sounds tasty.
I’m looking forward to it, and will be looking for more info.
