Prubechu, Guamanian at 24th and Mission Street - Chef Shawn Nabuti and GM Sean Camacho's Modern Take on Chamorro Cuisine

[edenman]

Prubechu is one of my favorite restaurants in the entire city.  

• They have an a la carte menu, but we mostly stick to the $65 tasting menu.  If you go with 4+ people, the tasting menu is required.
• Guamanian food (from Guam) food is a delicious mash-up of native Chamorro food, combined with influences from Japan, Spain, and the US, who have all claimed the island at some point.
• The beer bottle/can list is really good, and the guys who work there are total beer geeks, so they'll occasionally have some off-menu stuff or an interesting keg on tap.
• It's right by 24th/Mission so it's super easy to get to via BART, Muni or Lyft.

Our latest meal there:

Guamstyle sweet rolls / Tuba butter / Inarajan sea salt: perfect texture, the tuba/coconut butter on the side a great foil.

Corn soup / spam / fried onions / coconut milk : I am a sucker for corn soup, but this was superlative.  Creamy and sweet, yes, but deeply rich and complex, with textural contrast from the toppings.

Chicken Kelaguen / grated coconut / lemon: this was a fun "make your own taco" style dish.  The house hot sauce saved what would have otherwise just been a good dish.

Coconut titiyas - the house flatbreads, they're about 3" in diameter and fluffy and delicious.  Get some of the hot sauce and the tuba/coconut butter on em, omg. 

Fried thingies (I didn't get the name of this one): tomatoes are in season and this was basically an extravagant excuse to show off how good local tomatoes can be. 

Coconut greens: bury me in this dish plz.

Motsiyas ( chicken sausage ) mint / basil / onions / coconut milk / onion soubise: this is always on the tasting menu, and it's always great. the crispy chicken skin is a great contrast to the herby sauage, and the hot sauce is the third pillar of joy.

Chalakilis ( rice porridge) English peas / maitake mushrooms / fried egg / sesame seeds: the egg is a staple of the tasting menu and it's basically almost always my favorite dish.  panko-coated and fried until the white is set and the yolk is still runny.  The rice is great, and the black sesame was an excellent accent.

Guamstyle BBQ ribs / soy / onions / vinegar / lemon: really good.  soy marinated, with sunchoke chips.  not too smoky, not too fall-apart-y, just wonderful.

Coconut ice cream, fritter: there's a healthy sprinkle of salt on the ice cream and i don't understand why other restaurants don't also do this to every ice cream dish. 

Photos here. 

[DonRocks]

Eric,

I *really* appreciate this write-up - I have a friend looking to buy a gift for her daughter, and dinner here would be *perfect*.

Also, according to their menu, the tasting-menu requirement now has a minimum of 5+ people.