Chef Patrick Alberto to revamp Octane into new restaurant with Filipino cuisine in Rockford
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Chef Patrick Alberto is taking Octane in a new direction in the new year, changing the name and the menu to focus on Filipino cuisine inspired by the city where he was raised.
The new concept will take hold Jan. 10, and the restaurant at 124 N. Main St. will now be called 27 Aluna at Octane. Eventually, Octane will be dropped from the name after a transitional period.
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The name 27 Aluna comes from Alberto’s address in Manila in the Philippines, where he lived for 18 years before coming to Rockford.
“That’s where all the best food was,” he said. “Growing up my grandparents cooked, my mom cooked, my sisters: There’s so many stores and bakeries on those streets — that’s where I’m pulling my inspiration from.”
The future menu will include staples such as Filipino chicken adobo, which is the national dish of the Philippines, and Alberto’s mother’s recipe for pork lumpia rolls, which are a savory mix of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in thin lumpia wrappers.
“The name change and the total pivot to Filipino food is based on finding out who I really am and what I really want to cook,” he said. “For years I’ve been cooking other people’s food. I felt lost. I’m like, what’s the point of doing this if I can’t express myself fully.”
Alberto, who was born in California and raised in the Philippines, started doing Filipino food tastings last year and incorporating more Filipino items onto the menu. On Saturdays, Octane started offering a Filipino brunch, or almusal, which is the Tagalog language word for breakfast. Brunch will be served Wednesdays through Saturdays once 27 Aluna opens on Jan. 10.
The brunch menu includes items such as turon crepe, which comes with caramelized bananas, vanilla ice cream and macerated strawberries. There’s also the hearty pancit umaga — a breakfast noodle dish with sesame chicken, bacon bits and scrambled eggs — and the dessert-like enseymada, which features a house brioche bun, cinnamon sugar spread, blueberry compote and shredded Edam cheese.
That’s just a sampling of the modern take on Filipino food that Alberto will offer.
“There’s a lot of Filipino food that can translate into modern American comfort food,” Alberto said. “We’re introducing the ones that are familiar, and then we’re going to try to get into other cuisine that’s never been done here before.”
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Alberto said recent trips back to the Philippines this past October reignited his passion for cooking dishes from the country where he grew up, but plans to transform Octane into 27 Aluna actually started much earlier.
He started contemplating the idea in 2019 with a goal to launch it by summer 2020, but the pandemic hit first.
“We were waiting until Octane was back on its feet, which is honestly this year – 2023,” he said.
Octane opened in 1997, and Alberto joined the staff as a dishwasher four years later. He was promoted to line cook shortly after, and then in 2006 gained more experience in the kitchen working as a chef for Paul Sletten at what is now Abreo. Alberto became executive chef at Octane in 2012.
In 2019, he bought the business from Dan and Michelle Minick, completing his journey from dishwasher to restaurant owner. He said his father had a similar career path, working as a bank teller at first and eventually running his own investment company.
“I saw that as a huge inspiration to always pursue,” Alberto said.
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Alberto described Filipino cuisine as a mixture of Spanish, Chinese, Malaysian and some American food.
“So it’s hard to pinpoint how it is, and it’s also difficult to cook,” he said. “It’s this whole amalgamation of food.”
He thinks Rockford is ready to embrace more diverse cuisine, which the city has shown over the past year with the opening of an Indonesian restaurant, Korean restaurant and Indian restaurant, among others.
“I’m so proud of this city. For the past few months we’re getting Korean restaurants, Indonesian restaurants, restaurants that wouldn’t have stood a chance 10 years ago,” he said. “I’m sure everybody gets tired of the same thing over and over. We’re ready to introduce a different experience.”
About | 27 Aluna at Octane
Where: 124 N. Main St., Rockford
Starting: Wednesday, Jan. 10
Hours starting Jan. 10:
- Tuesday: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
- Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch (closed 2-5 p.m.) 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner
- Thursday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch (closed 2-5 p.m.) 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner
- Friday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch (closed 2-5 p.m.) 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner
- Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch (closed 2-5 p.m.) 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner
Closed Sundays & Mondays
Online: octanerkfd.com
Contact: 815-965-4012; emma@octanerkfd.com
On social: @OctaneRkfd on Facebook; @OctaneRkfd on Instagram
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
