June 2005 – Page 3

Caffeine Fix – San Diego Trolley Stop Coffee

June 10, 2005 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix

In need of some cash I headed to the nearest local ATM – only to find that the entire bank had moved! As I walked back to my car I noticed this across the street:

My curiosity piqued, I drove across the street, and lo’ and behold it was a real, running, operating trolley-coffee shop on wheels – called San Diego Trolley Stop Coffee! Naturally, I had to stop and have a cup. Today, the trolley was less busy, so I was able to ask John (the owner) a few questions which he happily answered; yes, he did buy the trolley and converted it to a Coffee Cart on Wheels, it took him about 9 months (6 months full-time) to complete the conversion. Yes, it does run, and yes, that is a coffee "degree" from The Seattle Barista Academy!!! So John actually went to school to learn how to make coffee.

Located in the same mall as Save-On on Sandrock Rd in Serra Mesa, John makes a good cup a’ Joe. You may want to drop by and ogle the Trolley. And based on his Certification, John probably makes a mean latte as well!

Rei Do Gado

June 8, 2005 mmm-yoso Brazilian Restaurants, Buffets, Latin American Cuisine

For those carnivores out there…..Rei Do Gado is a virtual meat fest. Located in the Gaslamp, this churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) serves up a buffet "rodizio" style – think of it as a reverse buffet. That is the server(s) comes up to your table with a particular meat offering on a skewer and asks you if you'd like that particular item, after which he'll slice or remove it from the skewer onto your plate.

When you arrive at your table you first go and grab a plate and start with the first course, a very well appointed salad bar and fill up – but not too much, you don't want to miss the upcoming meat-fest! The salad bar has such items as hearts of palm, stuffed sun dried tomatoes, a kim chee salad (delici-yoso), marinated mushrooms, among many others. There are two types of soup (sorry too busy with the salad), and a buffet of various hot foods and starches including fried yucca, white rice, and mashed potatoes.

On each table is a double sided wooden knob, when you're ready for the meat to start coming you turn the green side up. Servers carrying skewers of meat and little oval cutting boards will then start coming to your table with their offerings; sometimes a cheese coated chicken leg or a bacon wrapped piece of filet mignon, sometimes with a larger cut such as a Tri-tip seasoned with only salt. Turn the knob over to the red side – "No Mas"…….

From my seat I could watch all the meat being prepared through a glass window. The cook was constantly moving skewers around or shifting around the charcoal under the meats.

Among the hits; everyone loved the sun dried tomatoes, and I enjoyed the hearts of palm and the kim chee salad. The cheese covered chicken legs, bacon wrapped turkey and filet, and the tri-tip were tasty. The "baby-back"(looked like spareribs) ribs were very flavorful, but hardly had any meat, the pork loin was ok with just a hint of cumin, the home made garlic sausage was a dismal failure, there was heat, but no other taste, and the sausage was dry to the point of crumbling. The food today was much better than on my last two trips here, so things are looking up. Today we were seated in the "new" area of the restaurant, seems that Rei Do Gado is doing so well that they've taken over restaurant space next door! So two salad bars, two "cooking booths", and more space, so business must be doing well.

So how does Rei Do Gado stand up against other Churrascaria's I've been too? The flavoring and variety of cuts are below that of Roda Viva in City of Industry and Greenfields in West Covina. It is however, a great place to visit if you've never experienced a Churrascaria, or for taking visitors. I usually take visiting friends from Hawaii there. Or if you need a serious Atkin's diet boost, this sure is the place to get it!

Rei do Gado – Rei Do Gado
939 Fourth Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
619) 702-8464

HOURS AND PRICES
LUNCH SPECIAL (11:00 am-2:00pm) Monday to Friday $13.75 per person
Except on Holidays
LUNCH RODIZIO (11:00 am-4:00 pm) Monday to Friday $ 22.75 per person
Saturday, Sunday, Holiday $23.75 per person
DINNER RODIZIO (after 4:00pm) Sunday to Thursday $34.95 per person
Friday, Saturday, & Holiday $39.95 per person
SALAD BAR ONLY (11:00 am-4:00 pm) Monday to Friday $12.95 per person
( After 4:00 pm) Monday to Thursday $18.95 per person
Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Holiday $28.95 per person
(NO Salad Bar Buffet on Saturday & Sunday Lunch Time)

Ba Ren

June 6, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Ba Ren has closed

*** Updated and additional posts on Ba Ren – Post#201, an update 06/06/2006, the Huo Guo post, the seasonal menu on 01/02/2008, and other silliness. Sheesh, do you think we eat here enough????

"Forgive me Kitchen God for I have sinned; it's been 3 weeks since I've been to Ba Ren….."

When we first moved to San Diego, we used to make periodic pilgrimages to Chung King in Monterey Park for Szechwan. We lamented the lack of a good Szechwan restaurant in San Diego. We tried a few, but they were utter disappointments, so we would end up behind a steering wheel driving to LA for our Fuqi Feipian fix.

Than in 2003, we turned down Diane Ave, and saw this sign:

It seemed interesting and several days later we visited Ba Ren and haven't stopped since. Some weeks it seemed like we'd be there 2-3 times during the week mostly for take-out. In a few months we had pretty much worked our way down the menu as well as the all important placard:

The last two dishes on this placard, are probably some of the best Ba Ren has to offer; the second to the last dish is Dry Fried Beef Slivers(Gan Bian Niu Rou Si? -12.99) and the last is the Twice Cooked Fish(9.99) that everyone on Chowhound.com raves about. We also got to know Wendy, one of the owners very well, and she would guide us toward new and interesting items. In August, I went ahead and with Wendy and Bill's(one of the other Partners) help set up a Chowhound get together for a 17 course Szechwan "feast" that turned out really well. San Diego Chowhounds at Ba Ren.

We had been busy over the last three weeks or so, and hadn't had time to visit Ba Ren. So having an open evening we dropped by. Being a Monday at 5pm it was really quiet. I also noticed that the infamous Chinese placard now had a second side and even more dishes. So in the end we decided to order two new dishes and two of our favorites – Rice Crust with Sliced Chicken (9.99) and Hot Pepper Prawns (12.99).

Squares of crisp rice is brought out, than the toppings, in this case sliced chicken, cloud ears, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, sauce, and other veggies is poured on the rice crust creating a sizzling sound. We enjoy the chicken version of this dish the best because the sauce has a nice condensed chicken taste. I think Ed from Yuma describes what makes this dish so good when he says "as the sauce and the rice crisps interact, the rice becomes softer, so the dish's textures change as it's eaten". Yes, every bite of this dish is different!

The next dish was from the placard. Fish with soft jelly noodles(9.99). This was fantastic, not quite a soup, not quite a casserole; perfectly marinated and prepared fish with Konnyaku-like Noodles, red peppers, ginger, lily buds, and pickled vegetables. The taste was hot and sour, imagine the most prefect Hot and Sour soup, peppery, with good sour overtones! Delici-yoso!

The Hot Pepper Prawns were next. This is the prawn version of the Chung King Style Chili with Chicken. Battered and fried prawns covered with fried dried red chili's, you'd think that this would literally blow your head off, but the subtle sweet and salty taste made this highly addictive.

The last dish was Dry-Cooked Lamb (12.99), that is lamb slices cooked without broth or water. This dish was a good example of layers of heat, the chili pepper hit the front of your tongue, the chili oil the middle, and the black pepper the back. This dish can be a bit overwhelming, but the herbaceous taste keeps you eating more! This dish also features Chinese celery, shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced garlic, and what was my favorite part of the dish – the mung bean sprouts. The meal was finished off with a bowl of Eight Treasure Black Rice Porridge to cleanse and clear your palate and stomach.

On the placard the Fish dish is the sixth one down. The Lamb is the second. If you want the dish with chicken it's the first one, if it's beef you want prepared in this manner it's the third; frog is the fourth. All in all another successful visit to our favorite restaurant!

Some notes on Ba Ren – Mandarin is the main language spoken, but don't let that dissuade you. I don't speak any Mandarin and am able to do fine! The staff is very helpful and friendly! The chef from Ba Ren originally was a Chef at a Four Star hotel in Chongqing and was one of the original Chefs at Chung King in Monterey Park (wow, the original chef from our favorite LA restaurant, what a coincidence!!!) and has over 30 years of cooking experience with this type of cuisine.

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

BTSD Japan Cultural Bazaar

June 5, 2005 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events

I was searching on the Internet, to see if there were any Obon Festivals here in San Diego. To my surprise, The Buddhist Temple of San Diego has an Obon Festival scheduled for July 30th. I also noticed that something called a Japan Cultural Bazaar was being held today, so not having anything scheduled today (except for cleaning – and that can always be procrastinated away…), I grabbed my wallet and camera and headed down to 30th and Market St. I found parking on the street and could immediately smell teriyaki in the air, one of my favorite smells. I noticed elderly Couples and Ladies carrying boxes of cookies and pastries and followed them into the parking lot of the Temple.

From May through September, there are many Festivals and Bazaars in San Diego. They range from large, like next weekends Greek Festival at St. Spryridon’s to smaller ones like this. There were several food booths, and the classrooms of the Temple had been set-up with Bonsai displays, a bake sale, crafts, children’s games, and a silent auction area. The line you see is for something called "Angie’s Tacos" seemed to be very popular. But the line was too long for me to maneuver.

Instead I opted for the Teriyaki Chicken plate ($6.00). This was half a teriyaki chicken, two musubi(onigiri), and something called cabbage salad, which was a cross between cole slaw and tsukemono. Half of the enjoyment of these little festivals is being able to sit and enjoy the atmosphere, and food is secondary. The chicken was fine, the dark meat portions actually tasted pretty good, the teri sauce had a touch of smokiness. As is common with chickens in the U.S., the breasts were overly large and thus dry. Like I said food is secondary. As I was about to leave I saw a sign that caught my eye:

So what did I do? I followed the signs into the building, and saw a dining area where people where eating(slurping?) up noodles. So I ponied up the 5 bucks and bought a container to go. This ended up being fried yakisoba with some bamboo shoot and shiitake mushrooms. I added some green onions, spam, and shoyu and had a little snack. All in all a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Buddhist Temple of San Diego
2929 Market Street
San Diego, California 92102
Buddhist Temple of San Diego

The Thai Grill

June 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

*** The Thai Grill has closed

In the mood for Thai food we decided to forgo a visit to one of our favorite Thai restaurants, and instead went to a new restaurant we saw a few days ago. The Thai Grill, located in Hillcrest, is very, very small, with only 4 tables in the restaurant, and 2 outside, one of which holds up the menu. Our waitress said that they’ve only been open 7 months.

Not being very hungry we ordered two dishes:

The first was, the top item on the Chef’s specials part of the menu. Crab Fried Rice ($10.95). The dish arrived steaming hot with flakes of real crab, peas, carrots, and bean sprouts. The good; rice was cooked perfectly, there was real crab in this, and the plate looked reasonably appealing. The bad; this dish tasted only of fish sauce, not that there was too much, it’s just that the combination of fish sauce and crab, with no other real flavor to balance the fishiness, made this dish very boring. Other Thai fried rice dishes that I’ve had have always had some flavoring other than fish sauce to add some depth of flavor to the dish, be it garlic, tamarind, sugar, etc…. This was a singularly uninteresting dish. I didn’t even finish this, which for anyone who knows me is an amazing thing, I usually easily finish anything I order.

The second dish was Rice Noodles with Hot Basil and chicken. The good; again this dish was cooked perfectly, the texture of the noodles was perfect, just enough chewiness. The chicken was also cooked very well. The flavoring of this dish was Superior to the fried rice, with nice heat and a nice tomato-ey taste. The bad; as you can see, only about 5 Thai Basil leaves, that means only 5 really “good bites” in the whole dish. I may have a big mouth, but there’s no way I can eat this dish in 5 bites. The heat was easily identified, Thai chili paste, and which adds nice heat, but is usually combined with other flavors to create a better taste profile. Again the dish lacked real depth, very one dimensional, and not enough to really keep you interested.

It could be that we didn’t order the dishes that Thai Grill does well. But I would think that the #1 item under Chef’s Specials would probably be the best the kitchen produces. In my opinion$10.95 is really steep for mediocre fried rice. Try it out and let me know if I’m wrong, or what I may have missed……

The Thai Grill
420 Robinson Ave. Suite E
San Diego, CA 92103
619-683-7725

Indulgence – A Sugar Free Bakery.

June 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

*** Update: Indulgence has since closed.

Hard to miss this place – the bright purple sign beckons on Park Avenue.

They advertise themselves as a sugar free bakery. So we stopped by just to see what this was like. The interior is cafe-like and ecletic, with artwork lining the walls. And there is a large case filled with cakes, cream puffs, and other pastries.

That's a strawberry chiffon cake calling to you…. Though these treats are sugar-free, they're not low calorie! A slice of that chiffon cake is 477 calories. We chose two lemon bars – only a 100 or so calories a piece. The bars had a good texture, but as amazing as this may seem, tasted overly sweet! I enjoyed the slight tang and good aftertaste, but a little too sweet for me.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, so much so, that when I asked if it was ok to take a picture of the cakes, the Gentleman behind the counter, answered brightly, "of course", than proceeded to open up the case for a better picture! Breakfast is served from 9-5! With various egg or egg substitute options, quiche, and other items. Lunch is served from 11am to 5pm, with extensive menu of everything from Boca Burgers to Reduced Carb Pizza to Pot Roast. Indulgence A Sugar Free Bakery. So if sugar- free, low-carb, and organic is your thing, give it a try.

Indulgence Bakery
4207 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 299-3404

Tuesday to Saturday:
9 am – 9 pm
Sunday:
9 am-5 pm
Closed Mondays

The Noble Chef

June 2, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Update, Noble Chef is under new ownership. The folks that used to run Noble Chef have decided to retire. A brief update can be found here.

Sometimes you just gotta go with your instincts….about 3 years ago we were at a store in one of those indistinct strip malls along Balboa Avenue, as we left there was the wonderful smell of garlic and soy sauce, and even better, of something being fried in the air! And we did what that old commercial said, and "followed our nose, it always knows…" up to the humble storefront of The Noble Chef.

As we had already had dinner I added this to our list of places to check-out and moved on. A few months later I decided to try it out. I saw the menu of standard Chinese Fast Food fare out front, but knew for sure that it wasn't beef broccoli or teriyaki chicken that I smelled that night. But I went ahead and started ordering Orange Chicken and such, but a photograph of Chiu Chow Fried Rice caught my eye, and I ordered that along with the other dishes. Well, to make a long story short, the American Chinese dishes were not very good – but that fried rice was perfect, exactly to my taste and texture. I like my fried rice on the "dry" side, and this did the trick! Funny how things like this happen. Had I eaten only the standard Chinese Fast Food, I would've never returned, but for some reason I'd ordered that fried rice.

So for the next couple of months it was Chiu Chow fried rice at least once or twice a week. It got to the point where I'd walk in the door and the ladies working there would know exactly what I'd want – Chiu Chow fried rice. Now I don't know if this is authentic – from what my (very limited) knowledge of Chiu Chow, otherwise known as Chaozhou, is that this type of cooking has alot in common with that of the ethnic Chinese from Vietnam who managed to flee when Saigon fell in 1975. (Anyone with more accurate info-please let me know). So there are alot of Southeast Asian overtones in the cooking. For those in Los Angeles, think Newport Seafood. What I do know is that there's a very generous amount of chopped Gailan, Char Siu, and 5-6 large shrimp in this dish. It's one of the most expensive items on the menu ($6.55), but it's two meals for me. The first day all of the shrimp and about two-thirds of the rice is eaten. The next day I fry two eggs and finish everything.

But the Chiu Chow fried rice is not the best dish. One day we ordered the Shrimp with XO sauce fried rice(also $6.55), and lo' and behold, this is what I smelled that first night months ago. With chili pepper, shrimp, tons of garlic, and XO Sauce (what is actually XO sauce???) this is a a garlic-chilihead dream! You can request the dish to be more or less spicy as desired. Once I brought this to our office and our Administrative Assistant loved this dish. A friend of mine who for a time lived a few blocks away told me that the Chinese food here was unpalatable. So one day I brought him the Shrimp with XO Sauce fried rice, which he loved, and he couldn't believe it came from The Noble Chef. Amazing what a serendipitous event can lead too!

The Noble Chef is a real Mom-and-Pop operation. Your order is taken, than is cooked on the wok stove by "the Noble Chef" in full view, flames leaping in the air! Sometimes he's juggling three woks at once. Sorry 'bout the blurry picture, but the Noble Chef moves really quickly……..The Shrimp Tomato rice is also pretty good. Service is friendly, and really nice once they get to know you. There are alot of people having noodle soup – but I haven't progressed to that step yet.

Sometimes doing one thing real well (thus the One Trick-Pony monniker) is worth it!

The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111
(858)278-8688