Bukas Cafe

Bukas means open, or tomorrow, and this small Filipino-owned café off Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst feels like both. The coffee program is the surprise: lattes sweetened with muscovado or calamansi syrup and finished with a grating of Philippine artisanal sea salt, a sweet-salty combination that makes you slow down.

Then the merienda. There is ensaymada scented with calamansi and cinnamon, pandesal, champorado — the chocolate rice porridge of Filipino childhoods — and a pimiento melt dipped in condensed milk. The draw, and the reason for the Saturday line, is the adobo melt: braised pork or chicken adobo pressed into a grilled sandwich.