Maypole - Wheaton
Maypole is one of the newest additions to the Wheaton dining scene...and it is very special. At Maypole, you will find a lot of Filipino food, but also familiar American favorites (sometimes with a Filipino twist).
As quoted in the Chicago Tribune, Chef Bridget Vanaman has said, “I want to gather people and expose them to foods that are super important to me and at the same time be approachable and fun for people who might not be too familiar with the flavors of the Philippines or Southeast Asia.” The result is a brightly decorated dining space with brunch, lunch and dinner menus that reflect both the food of the Philippines and the United States.
For breakfast, for example, there's the traditional pancakes, but at Maypole these flapjacks are made of ube, the purple Filipino potato, with a coconut glaze and whipped cream.
For lunch, there are many Filipino-US co-productions: the chopped salad is a standard offering on American lunch menus, but at Maypole, it's dressed up with edamame, puffed rice noodles and a vinaigrette of calamansi, an asian citrus fruit.
The dinner menu is big and open to adventure eating. There's the all-american mac n' cheese, but here it's amped up with kimchee, the spicy fermented cabbage; calamari comes with fried serrano chil, spiced coconut vinegar and chipotle aioli; and the grilled eggplant gains new dimensions of flavor with a fish sauce vinaigrette.
If you enjoy a cocktail, you're going to want to peruse the drinks menu, where many classic mixed drinks are given a Filipino twist. The Margarita is perked up with juices of calamansi, pineapple, and papaya, as well as habanero and jalapeno chilies, and the negroni gets a kick in the pants with bitter melon and bitters. It's fun to see how your favorite cocktails can be reimagined, and Maypole is nothing if not a fun place to eat.