Latest Posts

Road Trip – Carpinteria Bluffs Trail, Tar Pits Park, Feast: The Cafe at Field + Fort (Summerland)

Road Trip, Sandwiches, Santa Barbara County, Travel

We slept in a bit during our one full day in Carpinteria. At around 7ish we decided to head on out. Like I mentioned in my previous post, we were staying about three quarters of a mile from downtown Carpinteria. On this morning we decided to do sort of a loop……we headed down what we thought was the strangely named Dump Road. At the end of the road is a lovely view of the ocean and the Carpinteria Bluffs Trail. Turns out that there was an actual garbage dump here until the mid-1950’s! Before that there was Asphalt Mining done.

I know….you look at this and think “what the heck”?

Well, Carpinteria is home to natural asphalt seeps….otherwise known as tar pits. Earning the name Carpinteria Tar Pits. One of five asphalt lakes in the world and second in size to the La Brea Tar Pits!

We could see traces of it during our walk along the trail and also in Tar Pits Park.

Though we weren’t going to do any intense “hunting” for tar…..

Use of the tar goes back to pre-European times as the Chumash people, some of the original inhabitants of the area had many uses for tar.

We kept walking along the trail, finally coming to a parking lot, road, then an RV Park…all along the shoreline.

We crossed over Carpinteria State Beach which ended at Linden Avenue which we consider “main street” of the town. We then headed up to Carpinteria Avenue passing all the little businesses…most of them closed at this time, along the way.

I was sad to note that one of the few businesses that I had heard about in Carpinteria, Robitaille’s Fine Candies had closed at the end of 2024.

We made our way back to our room freshened up for a bit and then headed out. I know of a few people whose family had property or would always go to Summerland during the winter. So, I thought it would be interesting to take the drive up there. We took the short drive up and parked on Lillie Avenue. The street is full of little boutiques, shops, and some charming buildings.

The Missus enjoyed stopping in and doing a it of shopping. Things seemed quite mellow, if a bit gentrified.

We decided to stop at Field + Fort and have lunch at the Cafe there named Feast. Field + Fort had some pretty upscale and expensive stuffs to sell…..it was fun to browse and of course, the Missus got JJ some stuffs from here.

The Cafe is right next door. The Missus looked over the menu and had a seat with JJ…..

While I went in to order.

The menu seemed quite “hipster – upscale” in offerings……

Anyway, I ordered a sandwich and one of the salads from the very nice young lady and we sat…and waited…and waited….20 minutes in, the Missus went and did more shopping….She came back out and I was still waiting. 45 minutes later our order was ready.

The Broccolini and Romesco Sandwich ($16) sounded interesting.

This place loves their pickled onions…the actual salad was our favorite thing about this…though the bread….a simple levain was nicely toasted, though it really lacked the flavor of a decent sourdough.

The “crispy” broccolini was just roasted and while slightly crunchy not crispy…and there were two stalks lying in the middle of the bread for the whole sandwich. This was more like and arugula, crisp broccoli leaf sandwich with a overly sour Romesco sauce.

The Missus does enjoy Her cauliflower; so we got the Roasted Cauliflower Salad ($15).

This was fine, though the cauliflower seasoning was on the bitter side. It’s like something I could make at home.

Well, the food Feast was nothing to go out of the way for. Things looked pretty simply put together so that 45 minute wait? But at least it wasn’t a overly heavy lunch! And the Missus enjoyed shopping at Field + Fort.

Feast: The Cafe at Field + Fort
2580 Lillie Ave.
Summerland, CA 93067

We headed back to the car. And there was one more stop I wanted to make on the way back to Carpinteria!

Road Trip – Hayashi Vegetable Stand (Oceano) and Rincon Brewery (Carpinteria)

American/New American Restaurants, Gastropub, Markets & Grocers, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Pubs and Pub Grub, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel

Since we had decided to stop at the Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove on the way to our next destination, I decided to head south in Highway 1 instead of the 101. There was one place I had always wanted to check out; Hayashi Vegetable Stand in Oceano.

It’s a nice and fairly busy shop…with an interesting variety of items for sale…not only fruits and vegetables.

We ended up getting some of our favorite almonds here…..it was even cheaper than what we pay for them in Paso Robles and some other stuff!

I think we’ll make this a regular stop when we’re back in the area.

Hayashi Vegetable Stand
2876 Cienaga St.
Oceano, CA 93445

Back on Highway 1, we just had to stop here in Arroyo Grande….just because….you can see why, right?

From here we got back on the 101 South. Our destination for two nights was the town of Carpinteria, which was just South of Santa Barbara and Summerland. It was recommended to me by one of the folks who often goes to Bay Hill Tavern.

We settled into our accommodations which were a bit out of the downtown area. After settling in, we took a nice 30 minute stroll to the end of Linden Street…basically the main street of the town and got a view of the lovely sunset at Carpinteria City Beach.

We strolled back up Linden to Carpinteria Avenue to our dinner destination. The same fella’ also recommended Rincon Brewery for simple pub grub.

Which had an abundance of al fresco seating…and was dog friendly….

The service was pretty slow….I basically had to go inside to place our orders and such. Still, we enjoyed our brews.

The Missus got the Cetacean Rice Lager, which was quite refreshing, while I got the Dos Arboles Pilsner which was perhaps a bit too light for my taste.

Since it was early, we got two Happy Hour items…one of which was recommended.

We started with the Potato Skins.

These were really dry, the bacon hard, and super salty.

And the Crispy Cauliflower ($9.25) which the fella had also recommended.

These decently spicy, though the “panko” breading really wasn’t too crisp. At least the cauliflower were on the tender side.

Overall, pretty basic pub grub. Which was pretty much all we needed on this evening.

Rincon Brewery
5065 Carpinteria Ave.
Carpinteria, CA 93013

We took a nice leisurely stroll back to our room. We even saw this cat sleeping in the window of one of the businesses on the way back!

We’d have a full day in the area ahead of us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kin Saep (Chollas View)

Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

For some reason, warm weather always has me craving Lao/Thai food….along with the other usual suspects. On one recent hot summer day, I decided to check out a place I’d had on my “list” for a while; Kin Saep. One thing that drew me here was the location….4710 Market Street. Folks who’ve been reading this blog forever will recognize the exterior.

Yep, this used to be Asia Cafe, which I first posted on back in April of 2006! Asia Cafe was the place where I developed my love of Lao Cuisine…which culminated in our wonderful visit to Luang Prabang! Eventually time passes and Asia Cafe changed ownership…Cathy even did a post back in 2017. Asia Cafe then closed and became So Saap, which eventually moved to University, in what used to be Ban Lao and before that Que Huong. Man, I’ve been doing this blogging thing for too long!

Ok, returning to real time, I arrived a few minutes after the 11am opening time and the parking lot was empty…….something that really wasn’t common here in the days of Asia Cafe. The open sign lit up and I walked on in.

For some reason, this tiny restaurant seemed even smaller than before? The nice woman brought me menus, then turned on the music videos while her son watched his own personal tablet.

Looking over the prices, I was shocked at how inexpensive things seemed. I ordered three items off the menu…all predictable dishes for me these days.

First to arrive was the Peppered BBQ Pork ($10.95)…which was pork neck.

While I expected chewiness, this was really bland…whatever marinade they used was quite weak. No caramelization….so not my definition of “BBQ”. That Jeow Som was spicy enough for my taste, it had a bracing sourness, but lacked a savory-umami component.

Of course I got the Lao Sausage ($10.95).

This was pretty good. I enjoyed the “tight” casing, giving things a bit of snap. The filling was adequately moist and tender, with good savory tones, though I like a hint of sour and a more herbaceous flavor.

I had ordered the spicy version of the sausage, but this wasn’t spicy in the least. Still, this was not bad.

And of course, I got the Nem Khao Tod ($14.95). First to arrive was a plate with a huge amount of lettuce!

And then the Nem Khao.

I ordered this medium spicy…but should have gone for more! I liked the amount of sour sausage and herbs in the nem khao.

But there was one short coming. I think you can see it clearly.

Yep….there were no crispy-crunchy bites of rice in this! What the heck? It could have been a winnah!

I took leftovers home and when I heated the nem khao it got really mushy. And when I looked at the receipt I saw that the woman had ordered my sausage “mild”.

But check out those prices! Did I just go back in time to the days before Covid? The owner is very sweet and I enjoy supporting these mom-and-pop places. If we lived closed I’d do a revisit. But unlike the food prices….we’re still in those days of crazy gas prices….so maybe one day. After having my leftovers; the Missus wanted to head back to So Saap….so I guess we’ll be there soon.

Kin Saep
4710 Market St.
San Diego, CA 92102
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 730pm

BibimBoom! Revisited

Korean Restaurants

The Missus was craving some Dak Bulgogi….actually the spicy rendition. She had enjoyed the version at BiBimBoom on our previous visits, so we headed there.

We arrived in time for the restaurants opening at 11am, before any crowds and were seated.

The service here has always been very nice and it was no different on this visit as well.

The Missus went with the Dak Bulgogi ($24.50 – it was $21.50 when we visited in March!) and I went with a hot weather favorite of mine, the Bi Bim Naengmyeon ($16.50).

Soon enough panchan was delivered.

This was interesting. On our first visit they served 5 panchan. Evidence submitted for review your Honor!

On our follow-up visit, it was down to 4.

And now it’s three!

Which cracked me up since we’re talking a mere five months here. On the positive side, the baechu kimchi was not bad….more “sour” than fermented, but pretty good overall.

We were used to things taking a bit of time and our food took 45 minutes to arrive…even though we were the only customers in the place.

While there was a good amount of Tteokbokki (rice cake) in the dish today…something that was missing on our second visit, this was disappointing. The chicken lacked caramelization and was tough and chewy. The overall spice level was lower than on previous visits. The portion has appeared to shrink as well. There were just a few slices of onions on the bottom of the dish and also a pool of oil. Well, at least the rice was ok.

And then for the real disappointing dish…the BiBim Naengmyun…I mean, take a look at it.

The boiled egg was the highlight of the dish as it was nicely done…and then things went downhill quickly. The soup was not cold enough; look, you see any ice in it? It tasted watered down and lacked that refreshing mild, fruity-sweetness. And since this is bibim naengmyun, I was looking for the spicy cho-jang. I actually had to move the cucumber and stuffs.

There was hardly any of it! It really didn’t make an impact on the dish. I also noticed that the naengmyun lacked the typical “four cut”…sliced by scissors to enable one to eat those springy, super chewy noodles. And soon enough I figured out why……egad, the noodles were mushy, lacking in the rubberband like elasticity. Ok, so maybe this is more like Pyongyang style naengmyun, but it was still very squishy.

Overall, this was probably the most disappointing meal we’ve had since we revisited Spicy City. You know, I was quite surprised when I found out that BiBimBoom was owned by the same company as Steamy Piggy, Formoosa, and Viet Nom after our previous visits. Places that were more about concept and decor than about cuisine in my opinion. Owned by a company that seemed to think we can make any type of Asian Cuisine (they are opening Oi-Shiba a ramen shop on Convoy). Our visits to BiBimBoom made me believe I was so mistaken….but now….

BibimBoom!
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd.
110 San Diego, CA 92126

Khao Mun Gai from Kin Len – Thai Street Eats

Dog Friendly, Thai Restaurants

In the comments section of my post on craving and getting some Khao Mun Gai from Me Sen, “FOY” ST mentioned that his sister enjoys the Khao Mun Gai from Kin Len. Which I found interesting since I don’t recall seeing Kau Mun Gai on the menu there. But since ST is of Thai heritage….well, I just needed to do a revisit since it’s been a while. Plus, they have a covered patio so I could bring JJ. Looking at the hours I noticed that they are open to 1am on some evenings……I guess they’re looking for that post “North Park night” population, huh?

So, we found parking fairly close by and walked on over to Kin Len. I peeked in and the nice young man told me to sit wherever I wanted, so I took the covered corner table. He soon came out and brought me a menu and water for both JJ and I. When he saw me giving JJ ice cubes; he was so nice and proactive and brought JJ an entire cup of ice just for him!

So JJ was immediately on “team Kin Len”!

Looking at the menu I realized why I hadn’t noticed the Khao Mun Gai here before.

While many of the dishes feature the Thai name for the dishes….Khao Soi, Pad See-Ew…..many dishes feature English names and the KHao Mun Gai here is “Sous-vide Chicken & Rice”. Which is what I ordered ($17.95).

Soon enough my plate arrived.

Man, those pieces of chicken were gigantic! Of course, the first thing I went for was….the rice! It was on the hard side and not quite as rich and “chicken-ny” as I like.

The bowl of soup that came with the dish was quite large; scalding hot….nice chicken flavor, strong white pepper tones.

Not overly salty….I enjoyed it.

As for the boneless chicken; in terms of texture it was tender, though not falling apart, which I liked. Mild chicken flavor….more moist and tender than the version at Me Sen. The sauce was a lot stronger in terms of sour-tangy fermented soy bean paste, though not as spicy as I enjoy.

I do enjoy hints of ginger and slight herbaceous tones, but this was pretty much straight forward. And yes, those pieces of chicken were quite wide and thick.

Overall, a decent version….though I’m pretty much into the rice and so for that I’ll stick with Me Sen, which is like $4 cheaper as well. Still, this was not bad and service was very friendly and nice…so perhaps we’ll return (if we can find parking) to try some other dishes. It gives us another option to Soi 30th in the area for Thai food..

Kin Len – Thai Street Eats
3934 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Sunday 12pm – 9pm
Mon – Wed 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Thursday 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 1am
Fri – Sat 12pm – 1am

K Bakery Scheduled to Open August 10th, Fujiyame Ramen Appears Closed, and Spicy House Under New Ownership

Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Ramen

Here’s a bunch of updates that I’ve noticed or heard about in the last week.

K Bakery Scheduled to Open August 10th:

While heading to Nijiya to do some shopping; I noticed the “Gae-Up”……a typical grand opening gift next to the door of K Bakery which I first noticed back in June.

Thinking the place might be open, I walked on over and saw this sign.

So, it looks like they are set to open on Monday, August 10th!

3860 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Fujiyame Ramen Appears Closed:

So, “FOY” Matt sent me an email saying he and his friends were curious about Fujiyame Ramen, which I posted on back in April. When they arrived the place was closed.

So, last Sunday I dropped by at noon and the place did indeed look closed. Just to verify, I went again today at 1130 and it was still closed.

I didn’t notice any signage or anything……..so perhaps they just “disappeared into the night?”

4310 Genesee Avenue Suite 108A
San Diego, CA 92117

Spicy House Under New Ownership:

Remember that I mentioned that Spicy House was for sale? Well, I’ve had two people mention that thy are now under new ownership.

It’s been a few years since I last visited; so perhaps it’s time to go check things out?

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

So, there you go! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Galapagos – Gianni Arismendy Environmental Interpretation Center (San Cristobal) and Heading Back to Quito

Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Buffets, Ecuador, Galapagos, Travel

We spent our last evening in the Galapagos heading from Puerto Ayora back to San Cristobal where everything started just a week ago. Though we had seen so much in that time…it was such an epic trip, and yet it was only half of what could be done!

Dinner that last evening cracked us up as it was totally kinda Asian fusion!

From the sushi rolls to the seared tuna….it seemed a bit cliche, and yet we got a kick out of it!

Those won ton strips in the salad!

The langostinos…more like lobster tails were actually quite good!

And morning found us back in San Cristobal.

And after breakfast, we boarded the ferry to take us to the dock.

Several folks were headed back from San Cristóbal Airport fairly early, so they had one of the vans take those folks, while the rest of us had a noon flight. This meant that there was one other stop that could be made. Just a bit out of town is the Gianni Arismendy Environmental Interpretation Center.

The most interesting part of which was the inhabited history of the Galapagos.

The one that I was really interested in; was about a book I’d read and several podcasts I’d listened to about the Galapagos Affair, which has also spawned a documentary.

Floreana is actually on the Southern Itinerary along with Española Island (to perhaps visit Diego??), so perhaps this gives me reason to want to return!

But for now; I could just look at the map of the Galapagos and see all the wonderful places we’d been!

We were then dropped off at San Cristóbal Airport for our flights back to Quito. Unlike our trip to the Galapagos, we had a short, 45 minute layover in Guayaquil before getting to Quito.

Our flight back to San Diego was not until 1130 pm on the following day. I planned things that way on purpose to give us a buffer “just in case”. We stayed at the Wyndham at the airport, which featured an interesting buffet dinner. They had several types of ceviche at the buffet!

Along with some interesting soups….

We had read that the yellow dragon fruit is endemic to Ecuador and though we had seen it at Mercado Santa Clara, we hadn’t had a chance to try some. So, the Missus was happy to be able to sample some…..and actually had “thirds”! She enjoyed it so much.

And since we had almost an entire day…I had booked an day trip for the Missus and I….where we’d have a very memorable experience on a trip full of them!

Stay Tuned!

Galapagos – Charles Darwin Research Station and Fausto Llerena Breeding Center (Puerto Ayora)

Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Ecuador, Galapagos, Travel

After lunch and a short break we headed back to Puerto Ayora. This time we were in the town of Puerto Ayora itself. With a population of over 12,500 Puerto Ayora is the most populous town in the Galapagos. Our destination was the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Established in 1959 by the Charles Darwin Foundation, it’s basic function is that of research and conservation.

There are several areas that are open to visitors. We were first led to the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center, whose purpose is to restore endangered tortoise and land iguana populations. The center collects hatchlings and eggs of the 12 unique species of tortoises, raising them until they can released on their respective islands.

It was quite amazing to see!

There are also adult tortoises that are endangered and are being preserved to keep the species going.

I also got to chat with our guide about Diego. You know that story, right? Back during one of the expeditions in 1934 several tortoises from Española Island were sent to the San Diego Zoo. In the 1960’s, the rather new Galapagos National Park Service from the Charles Darwin Research Station did a survey of the island and found only 14 of this species of tortoises left on the island! The 12 females and 2 males were sent to the Charles Darwin Research Station to start a breeding program. It was then that a male of the species was found at the San Diego Zoo and in 1977 returned to the Galapagos. The rest is history as the breeding program released over 1,800 hatchlings back in Española Island. According to this post by the Galapagos Conservation Trust, genetic testing revealed that the tortoise, now named Diego “fathered almost 60% of all the captive-bred hatchlings”. In 2020 Diego along with the other 14 were returned to Española Island to enjoy their retirement! And according to this Diego is still enjoying his retirement! So there you have it, a San Diego connection!

We were told that over 200,000 tortoises were taken from the Galapagos for food and other purposes.

And then there’s the story of Lonesome George, who was the last of the Pinta Island Tortoises.

Tortoises were taken as food and then goats were introduced to Pinta Island. And by the mid 60’s Pinta Island Tortoises were thought to be extinct. And then in 1971 George was discovered and in 1972 was moved to the Breeding Center. Further expeditions were done and inquiries were made around the world, but no other Pinta Island Tortoises were to be found. Attempts to have George mate with Volcán Wolf giant tortoise which are the closest match genetically to Pinta Island Tortoises failed. And in June of 2012 George died, the last of his kind.

After his death he was sent to the American Museum of Natural History and their team of Taxidermists went to work. He was then on display there until 2017 when we has returned to the Galapagos and the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center where he now resides.

On the panel outside the display are these words: “Whatever happens to this single animal, let him always remind us that the fate of all living things on Earth is in human hands.”

We spent a bit more time checking out the displays and things at the research center.

We then walked back to Puerto Ayora where we did some shopping and explored a bit.

We noticed that folks used cones to mark off where the sea lions were located.

And we headed back to the port at our assigned time for the ferry back to the Evolve.

Back on board we had a nice cocktail hour.

And got to watch the sunset over Puerto Ayora.

Then freshened up before meeting everyone on deck for a lovely farewell cocktail with the crew.

Hard to believe that this was out last evening in the Galapagos!

Bacari (North Park)

Mediterranean Restaurants, Middle Eastern Restaurants/Cuisine

The Missus was having Her hair done in North Park and I was passing time with JJ. We were walking on 30th Street when I noticed the host stand outside what used to be Urban Solace which was a favorite of the Missus.

I recalled hearing of a restaurant with several locations in LA taking over that spot a while back…it just kinda seemed like a hipster-chain so I really didn’t pay much attention. But while waiting for the Missus, I took a look at Bacari North Park on my phone and it was both dog friendly and the patio was covered. They also open at 430 for dinner service….so I figured why not? I made reservations for patio seating and once the Missus was done we walked over for an early dinner.

The patio is nicely covered and JJ was quite comfortable.

It was quite relaxed and empty when we arrived, but the place filled up quickly after 5pm.

The service was quite friendly and the gentleman, who I believe is the manager was super nice and even brought J some water.

We were brought menus, which are just a single sheet, but it’s just crammed with dishes.

All the dishes are designed for sharing and we were told that 2-3 dishes per person is the norm….so we went ahead and placed our orders and the Missus got a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

The first item to arrive was the Salatim ($16.50), a term I actually remembered from when we visited Israel as meaning something along the lines of salad and similar items. This was an interesting array of vegetarian style “dips” which mimic items like pate and muhamarra. The pitas were almost fluffy, seemed so fresh, arriving hot, and were quite good.

My favorite item hands down was the Hazelnut Beet Muhamarra. I really do enjoy traditional Muhamara, the roasted red bell pepper – pomegranite dip…but man, this was so good…it was slightly spicy, tangy, somewhat earthy, with savory tones, and seemed to have a slight butteriness to it. The Tahini Hummus seemed almost ordinary in comparison, but was still good, very rich, not super acidic. The cashew pate was vegan, but still quite savory and nutty. But that Muhamarra was so delici-yoso!

Next up was the Lamb Hummus ($16) which featured ground lamb in what was called a Lebanese Stew placed in some of that nice Hummus.

It came with large crudites….which were kind of unwieldy, the carrots being somewhat past their prime. The lamb stew was quite gamey, nice savoriness, not as spiced as I expected.

The one dish that we really didn’t care for was the Flat Iron Steak ($18), which, while done to a nice medium rare was really tough, lacked seasoning.

Look at the size of those zucchini slices! The bearnaise sauce was creamy, but really lacked that “rich zip” and herbaciousness that I like.

The Missus really enjoyed the Lamb Pistachio Kebab ($17), though I thought the three sauces (kale, tumeric, and beet tahini) were a bit of an overkill.

The texture of the kebab was really good, so tender, while still being slightly gamey. The pistachio added a nice textural contrast and an almost sweet nuttiness to things. Like I said, the Missus really enjoyed this.

We did order a bit too much food for us and had leftovers. Though the lamb kebab in the sauce didn’t heat up well.

We both enjoyed this meal and the Missus wants to return soon. We’ll probably do an early dinner again as the place was getting quite busy and loud as we left. A lot of folks were headed upstairs to the bar. Great service and some delicious dishes. We’ll be back.

Bacari
3823 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Mon – Wed 430pm – 1030pm
Thursday 430pm – 1230am
Friday 430pm – 1am
Saturday 1030am – 230pm, 4pm – 1am
Sunday 1030am – 230pm, 4pm – 1030pm

Having the Toroniku Hiyashi from Santouka

Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

Man, it’s been so hot this year….at least to me. It seems like there’s even less of a marine layer as well. I have to say, I’ve never really craved Hiyashi Chuka much….but for some reason this year…..I just needed something with a bit of an aaahh effect. So, I decided to head on over to Santouka which usually has a version every year…and of course they did.

They’re calling it Toroniku Hiyashi now…even though it’s been on this dish for years…even back in August of 2019 when I last had this here. Back then it was $12.50; these days, the cheapest version with Shoyu Tare is $16.50 for the “medium” size. Still, here I was and there was no going back into the summer heat without some Hiyashi Chuka. I got the shoyu version, medium size. I paid and was given the handy-dandy buzzer thing. And when it went off, I went to pick things up.

First thing I noticed was how much more toppings and garnishes there were from what I’d had before. It now featured corn, “krab”, a lot more eggs and kikurage (wood ear). And those slices of toroniku seemed quite large as well….or perhaps there were less noodles than what I’d had here before?

And since I’m doing this a lot these days – here’s what it looked like in August of 2019.

There was basically little or no strategy this time as I piled all the “stuffs” on.

Then did an initial mix….then added the pungent mustard…a must since the broth while slightly savory is on the milder side. Though this time, it had some nice sour tones, which I found refreshing; though I think a hint of sesame oil would be a big plus. The toppings were quite nice; though I leave the ginger out and use to cleanse my palate between bites. That cucumber, scallions, daikon sprouts were nice and refreshing; the corn added a nice sweet-crunch…the wood ear really added some crunch as well. Though there wasn’t enough tomato to make much of a difference and that fake crab really didn’t bring much to the dish other than an illusion of fancy?

The two slices of toroniku were fairly tender. And were quite large.

The noodles were perfectly cooked, nice and chewy the way I like it. I think it could be that that I preferred the ratio of broth to noodles this time around as well?

I don’t know if I’m getting soft in my old age; but I actually enjoyed it much more than I did when I last had this six years ago. It wasn’t perfect, but it did “hit the spot”.

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd.(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

So, please share what you’ve been dining on to beat this heat!