John Avila’s mom and grandma tried to “sneak” some tikus rica rica into his bowl when he visited their hometown in the mountains of North Sulawesi, Indonesia, a few years back.
Avila, who’s 32, has been cooking in Chicago for a dozen years under some familiar chefs. His first job out of culinary school was at Jackie Shen’s erstwhile Red Light before moving on to the Sofitel under Greg Biggers, and the Four Seasons when Kevin Hickey was in charge. A few years back he spent a year cooking in a New Zealand hotel before staging his way across Australia, Japan, and the Philippines, “exploring the wilderness and trying to find myself.”
I ordered the bubur manado another week, ignited with dabu-dabu—Minahasa’s signature tomato and shrimp paste sambal. I didn’t realize the congee, sometimes called tinutuan, was vegan until Avila told me later. It was the full-flavored blanket of complementary starches that I needed as election anxiety began to spike.
