Restaurant 14 in Little Manila in Carson, CA, USA.

14. Tipanan Filipino Cuisine
Carson Western Center (south east corner of Carson St. and Western Ave.)
1648 W. Carson St., Unit F
Torrance, CA 90501
phone 310-782-6855

I tried to go 9/3/99, Friday about 6:30 p.m., but they were closing for the Labor Day weekend. Think the sign said they were closed till Tuesday. Normal hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. They don't have a menu to go. Combo plates with steamed rice and a small soup and 1 item for $2.78, 2 items for $3.50, and 3 items for $4.50. This is towards the back of a shopping center at the southeast corner of Carson St. and Western Ave. It's in the second shopping strip east of Western Ave., which places it in the L.A. strip, just east of Torrance. There was a Japanese Go school a few doors away a few years ago.

I got there 9/10/99, about 12:30 p.m. I asked what they had, and she showed me pork chunks and pork ribs and other stuff. I got both pork dishes, and one was an adobo, but I forgot which. I didn't have time to eat it, I just took a bite of everything and finished the soup, and put it in the refrigerator at work.

I heated it up tonight. That one chunk of pork I tasted needed more cooking to become more tender. I mixed the meats and sauces together and microwaved them for five minutes. I put a few drops of water in a bowl with the rice and microwaved that for about 3 minutes. I cut Chinese broccoli stems in one-eight to three-sixteenth inch thick diagonals, mixed them with oyster sauce and hot sauce, and microwaved them for 5 to 6 minutes. There's still a little crunch left.

I had to ask about soup. Maybe they don't automatically give you soup. It was plain chicken broth, but good. For lunch I just took one bite of the chunks and ribs, and I wanted that chunk of pork to be a little more tender. There were nine larger chunks of pork, and when I heated them, they were tender. The pork ribs were in a tasty sauce with green peppers, but the chunk sauce was rather plain. There was some fat and bone, but lots of good tasting meat. The rice was good. I asked about pickles, and she gave me a real one from a jar.

I'll forget about the not-so-tender-pork chunk. Maybe it was just me. This place deserve to be in the top three, so I'll put them in third place. Third place because these guys give you a little more pork than at second place Vigan Express (13) but for a $1.00 more.