Day: October 29, 2005

Local Kine Stuff in San Diego – Oh Poi! A Revisit to Orient Bowl/First Korean Market

Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Markets & Grocers

On one of my recent visits to Dumpling Inn, I decided to check out Orient Bowl Market again, here’s a post I did earlier. On my last visit there were Redondo’s "Winners", yes it’s called "Winners", not wieners, as well as Redondo’s Portuguese Sausage, and S&S saimin. So, I dropped by to see if they still carried all of these. And to my surprise there was even more "local kine stuffs". But the item that surprised me the most was Da’ Poi:

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Yes, it’s poi! It was frozen though, it’s pretty much the first time that I’ve seen Taro Brand poi in San Diego($5.99). So if you’re willing to buy frozen poi, you can find it here.

Along with S&S Saimin, there was Okahara Saimin(79 cents):

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I actually prefer Okahara to S&S, and bought few packages. Boy did this make my day!

And now Orient Bowl stocks more then the Redondo’s Portuguese Sausage. They have Purity(my favorite brand) as well as Gouvea’s($3.49) brand:

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I think I’ll do a Port Sausage comparison in the near future, just to "jog my memory", if you know what I mean. They also have Frank’s and one other inferior brand sausage. Also Keoki’s brand Laulau and Kalua Pork are available, though I really don’t care for "Keoki’s" brand products.

As I walked the isles I kept finding "stuff", Hawaiian Sun and Aloha Maid Juices:

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And even Diamond Soda, Saloon Pilot, and Creme Crackers:

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So I picked up a package of Soda Crackers ($3.99) for the people at work. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without the Guava Jelly:

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Oh, and of course they have Aloha Shoyu($8.99/Gal):

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So a pretty impressive visit, I guess I don’t need to drive to Los Angeles for these anymore. I tried to find out what the Hawaii connection with this place is, but the Cashier really didn’t understand what I was asking so I’ll save that for another day. So, if you’re looking for these "stuffs", you can find it at:

Orient Bowl/First Korean Market
4625 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Lucky Star Restaurant – Unlucky Visit

Blog

This morning we decided to pay a visit to Lucky Star Restaurant:

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Lucky Star is known for reasonably priced Dim Sum, Seafood, and Cantonese dishes. We’ve been here more then a few times. In fact, we call it the "Big Red Barn", due to its large size, and reddish-shingled roof. The interior is cavernous, and there is a stage and dance floor for those ballroom type events and celebrations. In fact, I’ve recommended Lucky Star to more then a few people. But today, they’ll be no food in this post. Why? Well because we never got to that point. Let me explain:

We got to Lucky Star at around 1045 this morning, and were seated promptly. We quickly noticed that the restaurant was less then a third full. Well, the table we were seated at was covered with a layer of oily residue, which meant that it really hadn’t been cleaned well. But heck, I’ve eaten under worst circumstances. So we sat….at 1050 I looked at my watch, I noticed that most of the staff were busy cleaning up tables, even though the place is basically empty. And no had yet even acknowledged our existence. The table next to us with Four Guys sitting there obviously knew someone, because they were getting their water refilled. Next time I looked it was 1053 and the servers were milling around, and it still seemed we were invisible. At 1055, the Missus flagged down one of the Servers and asked for Tea and Water, she was told "Well, what kind tea?" So we said Jasmine is fine. 1059, our tea was dumped on our table with a simple "Here…tea". Funny, still no Dim Sum carts at our table, and where’s our water? 1105, we noticed people who got seated after us are getting served, tea, water, the carts are there…. At 1109 we had seen enough. As we walked out the Missus had a few words with the Hostess, so I intervened. I explained what the situation was, and she asked if I wanted to speak to the Owner. I asked if it would really make a difference, and she said "No, not really". So we left. I also said if your servers think it’s more important to bus tables in a restaurant that is two-thirds empty, then to get tea and water for patrons who have been sitting and waiting for 15 minutes, you’ve got some problems.

To put it bluntly, Lucky Star will never, ever see, another dollar of my hard earned money. period!