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Phở Gà Go at Crab Hut Mira Mesa

Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Sometimes I just wait too long to post. Case in point would be Phở Gà Go, which is Crab Hut’s kinda pop-up. I say kinda because it made quite a stir doing just take out back at the end of last year. You’d put your order in online, choosing a pick up time…..between Sunday and Tuesday. On Sundays, the pick up was between noon and 3pm. On Monday and Tuesday from 4pm to 7pm at Crab Hut Mira Mesa. So, not having had decent Pho Ga in San Diego, I was interested and eventually I did place an order. The pick up time for weekdays was a bit of a hassle with regards to traffic and such…but what the heck.

Everything was packed nicely and you just zipped in and picked up your order. Of course I chose the dark meat chicken. The herbs were fresh…there was ngo gai.

The broth was nice and rich, with strong chicken tones……kinda like what your mom would make….if you were born into a Vietnamese Household. Look at the golden color.

Not overly salty, the chicken toothsome, I enjoyed the Banh Pho, which were of the wider variety….it did a better job of getting coated by the rich broth.

It’s definitely the best Pho Ga I can recall getting in San Diego (and no, I don’t care for Cow Cali’s MSG laden version)……which I’d pretty much given up on decades ago.

So, I was going to do a post after doing another take out visit….but I must have taken too long….getting slow in my old age I guess? ;o)

By the time the weather had cooled off, Pho Ga Go was now doing dine in…between 10am and 2pm during weekdays. The time suited me even better, so I decided to grab an early lunch on a Friday. As a bonus, this location of Crab Hut has a patio….so guess who could come along?

The drill is interesting….you walk in and order at the host stand and pay….it’s credit card only right now. The menu is a lot larger than what I recalled online.

And then had a seat on the patio.

As with takeout, the basil, ngo gai, and bean sprouts were quite fresh. It was interesting to note how quiet things were. In fact, one of the security guards driving his buggy drove by and stopped…asking me if they were now open for lunch! I guess he hadn’t noticed?

The Pho Ga came out steaming hot; but looked a bit different.

It was much lighter in color, lacking that yellow tone that I’d had previously. Though it was still nice and rich. In fact, this had nice aromatic/spice tones; anise, clove, coriander, ginger…….even stronger than takeout!

I actually enjoyed it more. Though I did make one mistake….the broth really didn’t need the basil nor lime, which masked a lot of the flavor of the spices to me….I had just wanted to see what the effect would be. Lesson learned; rookie mistake.

Same type of Banh Pho, decent cooked.

Though the noodles seemed to be chopped into shorter strands? Well, no slurping for me, I guess?

This time around; the poultry was a bit more toothsome, but actually had an even stronger savory-chicken flavor.

I found this quite comforting. And I guess I now have a place to get my Pho Ga fix.

I hope they continue making pho ga and perhaps even expand their hours a bit. Especially when winter comes around.

Phở Gà Go at Crab Hut Mira Mesa
8280 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 10am – 2pm
Closed Weekends

Post 5785 – mmm-yoso Makes 21!

yoso-silly

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day long weekend! I just looked at the calendar and realized that another year has gone by, We’re now 21!

And trying to a do a bit of math, we’ve got 5785 posts over 7670 days (252 months)! Go figure!

And so….now that the blog is of legal drinking age!

Here’s a toast to all of you who have read, commented, and emailed me over the years! Even though I look at our posts as being a food and travel diary, I don’t think we’d still be doing posts if not for all of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart (and glass)!

Cheers!

And I’ll be back tomorrow with another food post!

Thien Huong Revisited

Vietnamese Restaurants

Recently, I wanted something a bit “different” for breakfast. It was a Sunday and JJ’s usual breakfast stop doesn’t open until a bit later. So, we walked up to get coffee and I took JJ to the park after, all the while contemplating where I should get breakfast. Being quite hungry on this morning, a place popped into my head; Thien Huong. My goodness, how long had it been since I last visited? A quick check reveals that it was back in 2023! So, I settled JJ in for his morning nap and drove on up to Mira Mesa.

Since it was just past 8am, the place was pretty quiet.

Based on my previous visits; there was just one item I was interested in…..

My favorite item based on my previous visits was the Banh Cuon Trung. I loved the softer texture and the additional flavor egg brings to the usual rice flour wrap. So, I ordered the #7, which was priced at $17, which I thought was quite reasonable for these days.

The drill was the same; order and pay at the counter, if dining in, you’re given and number. You go ahead and have a seat. After a short while, one of the folks working will do their rounds and drop off some water. And eventually, your order will arrive.

The portion size is still quite generous; though I did notice that the banh cuon seemed to have less egg than before? Perhaps I’m imagining things?

I do like the Cha Lua with the black peppercorns, it’s meaty, though not overly rubbery, and the black peppercorns adds a nice sharpness when you crack your teeth on one!

The nuoc mam cham seems to have changed from before as well….though the change seemed quite positive for me.

Even though it edges on the sweeter side; it wasn’t as cloying as before. It also had more chilies, which provided a decent “kick”.

As for the banh cuon.

It’s not quite as fluffy as before, but still not overly stretchy and sticky. I enjoy the fried shallots as well.

Not a whole lot of pork in this, though it was still decently savory.

And I got all my carbs for the day, right? Breakfast of champions…..

It’s still my favorite version of banh cuon in San Diego. And the prices seem quite reasonable. Funny thing, to me it seems like Thien Huong just opened yesterday….but man, they’ve been here for over three years already! Crazy!

Thien Huong
9349 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon, Tues, Thurs – Sat 8am – 5pm
Sun, Wed 8am – 4pm

Friday Fun – Fish With You is Now Yonny Hot Pot, Spicy House For Sale? And Jersey Mike’s Coming to Bay Park

Chinese Restaurants, Sandwiches, yoso-silly

Well, here we go….time to prep for the weekend, right? Anyway, just a couple of quick things…..

Fish With You is Now Yonny Hot Pot:

So, remember my last post on Fish With You? Where we noticed that all the hot pot equipment was going in? Well, back on Tuesday, as I was driving to Nijiya I noticed that the sign for Fish With You had changed to something like “Yonny Hot Pot”. Sigh…. Anyway, that same day “FOY” Xiāng Jiāo texted me saying that Fish With You had closed! And then “FOY” An commented on that last Fish With You post, mentioning that the name of the place had changed, but the logo and the blow up fish was still the same. Sooooo…….on my latest trip to Nijiya, I stopped by to take a look:

And yes, it’s now Yonny Mini Hot Pot. I went and parked the car and walked over to take a peek…..the posted menu on the door looks the same, as did the menu at the counter. I couldn’t take a photo of that with all the reflections and such.

Hmmm……. So, I did some digging and found that Yonny Hot Pot has three locations. One in Irvine and two in Texas. Now for the interesting info…looking at the Yonny Hot Pot website for the Plano Texas location…it looks quite familiar, right? And then the website for the Sunway Square Mall says:

“YONNY is a flagship brand under Beijing Fish With You Brand Management Co., Ltd. Founded in 2017, YONNY pioneered the fast-casual suancai fish market, quickly sweeping across China and leading the suancai fish industry to become a well-known Chinese fast-casual chain brand.”

And even though I might be an online dinosaur….on occasion, even I can do AI…..

So, there you go. It seems like the place has expanded the offerings and concepts. So, at least for now, I can “Fish With Me” at Yonny. For now…..

Fish With You
3904 Convoy St. #101
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks so much for thinking of us An and XJ!

Is Spicy House For Sale?

While at Nijiya the other day, I saw a guy on a ladder putting up some finishing touches to the sign at Spicy House. When I finished shopping and walked back to the car the new sign was up.

I don’t know why I took a photo…I think it was just for the Missus to see if the Chinese name of the place had changed. But no, it had not. Ok, time to delete the photo, right? Luckily, I didn’t do that too quickly as my good “FOY” YummyYummy sent me this screenshot!

Screenshot

Looks like Spicy House is for sale? So weird that I just decided to take that photo, huh?

Times are really hard on restaurants right now…..

Anyway, if you’ve got an extra 280k lying around and want to own a Sichuan Restaurant…perhaps now’s your chance?

3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks for letting me know about this “YY”!

And lastly……

Not a big deal and I’m not too excited about this as I’d prefer more local based eateries in my ‘hood. But the former dentists office in Clairemont Village is becoming…..well, Jersey Mike’s…..

You can read more here at ExploreClairemont’s Instagram.

3065 Clairemont Dr. #C
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Bonchon Revisited

Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

Recently, I had a craving for some K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) and decided to finally head on over to Calvin’s, which Soo has already posted on. Strangely, they were closed…..I was to find out why soon enough….cause, you know why, right? Anyway, thinking of a “plan B”, I decided to head on over to Bonchon. I consider Bonchon, along with B.BQ Chicken (the original location – which opened in 2008), and Cross Street to be the “OG’s” regarding KFC. I drove on over and easily found parking at 1130 in what can sometimes be a chaotic parking lot.

I was surprised to see only one other table taken when I arrived.

The very nice young lady dropped off the menus…but I already knew what I wanted…..

The lunch special. One thing I quickly noticed, is that the lunch special is now $12.99. It was $13.45 on my last visit back in January of 2025. Hmmm……..

I got the Lunch Special with the 6 piece wings….after trying the different flavors, it had been the Soy Garlic for me in the past, so I went with that.

This is what arrived.

The chicken didn’t quite looks as good as what I’ve had here in the past.

Though I still enjoy the pickled daikon….the portion is now a bit smaller than what I’d had on my last visit.

I like that it’s not too sweet and quite refreshing.

As for too sweet….well, as I started noticing on my last visit the soy garlic seems to be straying to the over sauced and sweeter end of the scale and this was even sweeter than what I’d had on that visit! If I recall they brush each wing by hand after frying…..I’d say this was a bit heavy-handed for my taste.

The batter was also not as crisp as I recall. I’m wondering if they’re even doing a double fry like they used to?

As always, I prefer the flats to drumettes.

The flats were very moist and tender.

It seems that Bonchon has gone the way of jumbo drumettes.

Which throws off the skin/batter to meat ratio for me. The drumettes also had a lot of discolored black flesh.

In spite of the price, which was super reasonable for lunch, it seems that Bonchon has slid down my “wing list” and is not a favorite anymore. Quite sad because I really enjoyed Bonchon when they first opened. Now I’m going to need to get my KFC fix done.

Bonchon Convoy
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun – Wed 11am – 10pm
Thurs – Sat 11am – 1am

Roast Duck Revisit to Tom’s Chinese BBQ (City Heights) Seventeen Years Later.

Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

After my last roast duck revisit to Noble Chef, I was wondering how other Chinese BBQ places were doing. And so, I thought of returning to one of those “regular” places…… Until I went and took a look at my Big List. One place really caught my attention. A place I hadn’t been back to in 17 years! So, I decided it was time to roll the dice for a parking spot in the rather crazy corner parking lot in City Heights and head back to……

Tom’s Chinese BBQ:

Man, it’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years since my last visit! Once upon a time, when we first moved to San Diego in the early “aughts”, we used to visit Tom’s once in a while. But, over time the roast duck became more and more bland, the meat dry and after that last visit…well, it basically fell off the radar. Until this day. And no, I was not lucky enough to find parking in that corner lot….I did find a spot further down 44th street though, and I walked on over.

Walking over, well….Tom’s looks the same…..one of those places stuck in time….

No steamed buns or dim sum ready yet on this day.

What wasn’t “stuck in a time vortex” were the prices. A half duck here now goes for $19. It’s also cash only.

Which is what I ended up getting.

This was interesting. Notice the color trends toward a redness; but it lacks any anise-five spice essensc. No jus/sauce either, just a bunch of watery drippings. This was really bland.

I enjoy the fat decently rendered in my roast duck; but this one went too far as there was a lack of richness. The skin had been over-lacquered and was hard and plasticky.

The duck seemed quite lean and chewy; decent gaminess, but really lacking in the additional seasonings, flavor, richness, et al….

Just to think that we used to come here every so often way back when. Kinda sad as a whole, but they seemed to be doing some fairly brisk business on this day.

Tom’s Chinese BBQ
4414 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Mon, Wed – Fri 10am – 630pm
Sat – Sun 9am – 630pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Dark Horse Japanese Nikkei Cuisine

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Latin American Cuisine, Mexican Restaurants

A few months back I read about a place named Dark Horse opening…..no not the coffee shop, but according to Eater a “Japanese-Peruvian” spot in Torrey Hills. Well now. If you’ve been reading our humble little blog for a while you’d know how much I enjoy Peruvian cuisine. And travelling to Peru twice has given me a real appreciation for what I consider Nikkei cuisine. Stuff like tiradito. And we’ve had the “Nikkei Experience” at Maido, which strangely, at least to me, took the title of “Best Restaurant in the World” in 2025!

Anyway, being quite curious, I decided to head up to Torrey Hills Center to search out Dark Horse.

Which I easily found. I noticed the Open sign and walked on over and peeked in. The place was empty…..soon enough a really friendly gentleman came over and I was seated in a booth. He introduced himself as Edgar.

And I was handed the menus……with some interesting dishes.

Of course I wasn’t interesting in the “rolls” and such; but seeing items like Anticuchos, Camaron Al Ajillo, Ahumado, Ceviche, and of course Tiradito. And well…..I love Tiradito…but with salmon? I don’t think so. Edgar came over and started explaining “Nikkei” cuisine to me…a nice gesture. Then I told him we’ve been to Peru and even to Maido and explaining the history of tiradito and things got a bit quiet. He then told me that “our dishes aren’t really Peruvian Nikkei, more of a mix of many cultures.” So, I guess Eater wasn’t quite right in their description? Not that many folks would know….

There were two dishes I was interested in and so I ordered the Mushroom Anticuchos ($14) and the Hamachi Ahumado ($24).

You know me and Anticuchos de Corazon, whether in a rather fancy restaurant or on a street corner in Cusco, I enjoy the texture and the seasonings. This looked quite interesting.

The texture was interesting…it was almost meat like, but perhaps on the mushier side of the scale. Some earthy mushroom flavor, but really lacking in the cumin-achiote, achiote/aji panca flavor and quite bland overall.

The presentation of the Hamachi Ahumado was very, dramatic, with the tabletop smoker cloche….which I’ve been seeing at various places over the last couple of years brought to your table.

Once the top was lifted and the smoke gone the dish was revealed.

Very nice presentation; the hamachi had not really changed in texture and was still somewhat buttery. The overall dish was much too sour, which even nullified any smokiness in the dish. The chili paste, made from morita chilies – smoked and dried red jalapenos had a bit of a kick, but was still overpowered by the sour-acidity.

While the portions seemed a bit on the small side; this was enough for a light lunch, though not cheap at nearly forty bucks. It seemed to be more about presentation-concept to me; but I felt I needed to give the place another try; so I returned.

For lunch again. The very nice and friendly Edgar greeted me once again and I was seated.

I was handed the menus again; but this time I paid attention to the lunch specials.

And no, it wasn’t the poke bowl or teri chicken that interested me. Rather, the Agedashi Tofu ($15) and looking for a more traditional dish I was going to order the ceviche; but noticed the Aguachile ($19) on the lunch special menu so I ordered that as well.

The Agedashi Tofu looked quite interesting.

This was so close to being a good dish. The batter was so light and perfectly crisp. The tofu light and creamy. I didn’t mind the creaminess of the guacamole or the crema.

The biquinho peppers added some fruity sweetness, with a hint of spice.

What was missing in this dish was a savory-umami component….you know…like what the tentsuyu provides for a traditional agedashi tofu and a pungent component like what daikon oroshi would provide.

The dish just seemed incomplete. Bummer…..

My favorite dish by far was the Aguachile.

Though I had to crack up when I saw it was served with won ton chips! I guess they had to keep something Asian in the dish?

Like the Hamachi Ahumado I’d had previously, I saw that the aguachile used the Yuzu Kosho type marinating liquid. But for reason, the bracing, acidic sauce did really good here. I’m thinking that the mild, oceany brininess of the raw shrimp and the buffering of the acidity by the avocado contributed to this dish nicely.

The slices of red jalapeno added some spice and the shrimp had hit that firm, yet tender balance.

Again, not a cheap lunch at nearly thirty-five bucks, but I was quite full when I left and thinking in terms of what a chirashi would cost. Well, this didn’t seem too bad at all.

In Luis Hara’s wonderful cookbook; Nikkei Cuisine : Japanese Food the South American Way, which I do own BTW…such is my love and respect for that type of cusine. Within the introduction is this quote regarding just throwing together flavors and the roll of various ingredients from different cultures : “without this understanding, fusion becomes confusion.” In the end; perhaps I was expecting a bit more as this seemed like “con-fusion” than fusion to me. Perhaps I was expecting a bit too much?

Edgar was very nice, warm, and friendly. Perhaps I’ll return in a couple of months?

Dark Horse Japanese Nikkei Cuisine
4639 Carmel Mountain Rd. #103
San Diego, CA 92130
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 9pm

Mama’s Bakery at Their New Location

Lebanese Restaurants

Well, so finally Mama’s has moved to their new location on ECB. I initially saw the sign back in November of 2024. And from what I understand, they finally reopened in their new location last month. So, I decided it was time to give the place a revisit. It’s now in the rather new One Mississippi Building on ECB, right around the corner from their former abode.

Man, there’s a lot of outdoor seating….I felt bad that I didn’t bring JJ! Since they open at 10, it was a nice option for an early lunch.

I walked around the very modern restaurant to take a look.

Inside I saw a ladder…so I thought they are still building….but no; it was a ladder to water the plants!

As “FOY” Kenneth indicated in my last post on Mama’s….well, with the new location, prices have indeed gone up……but they have everywhere now it seems.

My usual, the Garlic Chicken Wrap, what I’ve been getting here since my first visits back in 2005, is now $13.99. Can you believe that it used to be $4.99 in 2005 and was $10.49 in November of 2024. Though for these days, the price seems rather reasonable.

It’s still quite hefty….much bigger than I recall from the “good ‘ol days“. Check out the size versus the napkin dispenser!

As for the wrap….well, I don’t know if they do things on the “sajj” anymore as the wrap was more chewy and hard than I remember.

Still, I really appreciated how things were proportioned in the wrap. The chicken, to the lettuce, to the most important garlic paste, all was there for every bite. I’ve always deemed the pickles as being quite important to cut the pungency of the garlic paste.

Lot’s of garlic paste this time around which I really enjoyed….even though I was probably socially unacceptable for a while….I can handle that!

I truly believe that Mama’s is a much beloved part of the neighborhood here and I’m glad that they are still putting out good food. The gentleman working told me that they are installing a wood burning oven and will soon have a more expanded menu. For me, I’ll just be happy that they keep doing what they’ve done for over 25 years now.

I went and took a walk to look over their former location after my lunch.

I still miss this location…..it’s a big part of the neighborhood before all the gentrification. And, Mama’s was the first place I’d really seen a parklet way back in 2016, which became such a big thing during Covid.

Mama’s Bakery
2141 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Sunday 10am – 4pm
Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 10am – 10pm

Road Trip – Oakside and Cocktails at De la Nonna (Big Bear)

American/New American Restaurants, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, Road Trip, San Bernadino County, CA, Travel

After a lovely afternoon slumber; we woke and decided to take a stroll and then head to dinner. This was a Thursday evening at the end of October, so things were really quiet and relaxed.

We strolled up the main street, Pine Knot Avenue. There were a lot of cool wooden sculptures along the way.

We saw the sign for this candle making bar, which stated they were dog friendly, so of course we headed in with JJ.

The young lady working was a joy…so very friendly. And she cracked up when we told her we were from San Diego. She used to live in North Park!

The Missus found a few items She ended up purchasing….some tea and other stuffs. Really nice little shop. We didn’t know they closed at 5; but the young lady kept the place open. When we found out we apologized, but she just said “don’t worry, I’ve got nothing else to do right now!”

Mystic Moto | Ritual Provisions Candle Bar
625 Pine Knot Ave.
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

We really don’t get much fall colors here in San Diego; so it was nice to see that.

We walked up to Village Drive and after stopping in a couple of shops, headed to a place recommended by one of JJ’s Aunties, Janeli. Named Oakside. We had a seat on the nice outdoor patio….the heater was already started!

The place was actually bustling, though not many people on the patio, there was a line at the door for dinner.

The menu was had things like pizza/pasta/seafood/steaks…you know, right? Anyway, our wonderful Server after asking for my taste preferences recommended the Monkey on a Mule, basically a Mule with Monkey Shoulder Scotch. A nice version of a Highland Mule, smokey, but still smooth, and not overly sweet.

We weren’t very hungry, so we settled for two appetizers, which was a good move since one of them, the Fried Green Beans was a rather large portion, of fried stuff.

Decent crisp – crunchy batter, lightly “snappy” green beans. We both enjoyed the wasabi ranch dressing….the pungency of wasabi did a nice job of cutting the richness of the dressing.

We also got the Oakside Wagyu Sliders.

The brioche like slider rolls were nice and fluffy. The almost thousand island like sauce wasn’t too thick and it wasn’t over sauced.

The beef was juicy and decently tender. Mild beefiness.

The cheese had been nicely melted as well.

Most of all; the Missus, who is not a “burger person” actually enjoyed this. It qualified for Her “once a year burger”.

Service a bit slow, but heck this is Big Bear and we’re on vacation, right?

Oakside
40701 Village Dr.
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

We headed back to the Marina Riviera and decided to get a nightcap. There a restaurant and bar with outdoor seating. It has a great view of the lake, but of course it was dark by this time. The place was doing some good business. We peeked into the bar and the bartender, named Kinzey waved us in telling us, “come on in, you can see, we love dogs”!

And so we had a seat at one of the tables. I had an Old Fashioned which was a nice way to end the evening.

They made us feel so welcomed that we’d either have drinks or dinner here during the rest of our stay in Big Bear.

De la Nonna Big Bear (In the Hotel Marna Riviera)
40770 Big Bear Blvd.
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

This was a nice way to spend our first evening in Big Bear!

Road Trip – Tropicali (Big Bear)

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Dog Friendly, Poke, Road Trip, San Bernadino County, CA, Travel

Just a month after returning from Tahoe, we were off again. I really didn’t want to be doing that 7 plus hour drive like I’d done the previous month. So, I got the Missus to agree to Big Bear, which we’d never been to, then a couple of nights in Idyllwild again.

I’d gotten us a nice room at the Marina Riviera, perched right on the shore of Big Bear Lake. It had also just reopened a few months before after some renovations and turned out to be very dog friendly.

Our room was ready when we arrived and we were able to check in. We had a nice view of the lake and beachfront from our room.

Right across the street was a restaurant I wanted to check out named Tropicali. You see, the restaurant had just been named as having the best poke in America (not only on the mainland), by that four lettered website. And you know I don’t take all the stuff from that website seriously, right? Though I understand that it did make some major waves, check out this from KHON and Sam Choy! Ho, like beef, huh? Anyway, that was written a few months after my visit; though this one Reddit stuff…….. I just had to check it out.

Anyway, the restaurant has an interesting entrance. You walk in thru the mouth of a shark sculpture.

So, of course JJ had a photo-op…..

They really go all in with the Tiki-ish sterotypes here…… A bit over-the-top……I can see how some Kama’aina’s can get a bit irritated by the cliches.

You order at one of the very colorful kiosks……

Anyway, I placed my order and then joined JJ and the Missus on the lovely deck.

Soon enough my name was called….they try to be funny announcing names, like “Gunnar xxxx” doing pirate themed thing….so of course when my name was called it was “Captain” you know who…..

Anyway, I had ordered two bowls. The rice for both bowls were nicely cooked.

The first was the “Kraken”, which used unagi sauce and was topped with won ton chips.

At least this wasn’t one of those “chi-poke” places. The fish was of decent quality, not too much “sugi”; though the fish was over sauced and the sweetness really overpowered everything. The sprinkled panko was kind of strange as it added a weird grittiness to the dish.

The Pele Bowl was the better of the two. Again decent fish and rice.

The cucumber tasted like Kyuri Asazuke, slightly pickled, which we thought added to the dish. Especially since this was also a bit over sauced and even though was obviously a version of spicy ahi was also too sweet for us. I think some limu and salt would bring back the ocean to the ahi here.

To me, poke is first about the fish, the sauce enhances the experience. Here it overwhelms the dish. That’s probably why I prefer HFS in San Diego to this place. Honestly, it’s not bad; but to me it’s not in the same class as Tanioka’s or Ono Seafood.

Tropicali
40771 Big Bear Blvd.
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

After lunch we crossed the street back to the hotel and took a short stroll along the lakeside.

Before heading in for a short nap.