March 2006 – Page 2

Update on Vientiane, Dao Son, and Other Mid-Week Odds and Ends

March 15, 2006 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Lao Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

*** Vientianne has since closed….

Just a quick "hump day" post. I created a post on March 6th, about a visit I made to Vientiane Food to Go a few weeks back. A few days ago, the Missus had a craving for the "Fried Rice" (The Lady there called it "Nem") she had eaten there. So I drove down to 47th and Imperial to find the take-out window in Lao Plaza had a "For Lease" sign on it. But luckily, the snack and noodle soup counter next door had taken over the business, and Papaya Salad and sticky rice were still available. Whew!

I ended up trying the Beef Laab:

Fairly tender slices of beef along with tripe, in a surprisingly mild fish-lime sauce. I really was shocked at the mildness of the dish, even when I ate a few hot peppers.

I also managed to get the rice the Missus wanted along with some very good perfectly fried pork rinds. The rinds were cut into thin strips, and almost looked like calamari. They hadn’t the slightest bit of greasiness to them, and were "light"(in relative terms) and crunchy. Delici-yoso!!!

So 2 orders Beef Laab, Fried Rice, Pork Rinds, and Container of Sticky Rice – $15. I did ask where the Woman who formerly ran the "take-out window" had gone to, and was told that business was slow, so she decided to get a regular job. Bummer. Though I didn’t try the papaya salad, both the sticky rice and the fried rice tasted perfectly fine, and so there probably is just the minimum amount of change if any.

Here’s a few photos of a recent visit to Dao Son. I had the Chicken Katsu Curry($5.50):

Very thin, but spicy curry. Flavor was more like a Thai curry then the sweeter Japanese Curry. Katsu was a bit over-fried making the crust rather hard, but the overall flavor of the dish was good.

And two dishes that were on included in my previous post. The Red Chicken($5.99):

Chicken a bit too dry this time around, but oh man that sauce………

Fried Catfish with Eggplant($6.99):

I don’t know why this dish hasn’t been added to the regular menu. It’s always been on the "grease board menu".

Some odds and ends:

I read about the 5lb 7oz mango from the Big Island that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. You can read the article here.

And from the la.food blogging site, a post about Tommy’s Ultimate Fan Free Combo Meal contest. Yep, that is the word "free"….

If you wonder what the ‘Butter Side Down School of Science’ is, you can find out here. Not really about food…I think????

Since it’s close to that time of the year, here’s Colleen’s version of "Silence of the Peeps."

And finally, you can help name Pam’s from Daily Gluttony‘s Baby "Brother".

Oh, one more last thing, please check out the Website of a Movie I’m really looking forward to seeing. I know it’s not really about food, I really was trying to figure how to tie in a link to it, but just gave up…. Looks like a really funny film!

Hope the week is going well for everyone!

Island Boy Grille

March 14, 2006 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Island Boy Grille has closed…..

You could say Island Boy Grille and I have had a star-crossed relationship. No matter how hard I tried I could never make it into the front door of Island Boy. When I was doing consulting work in San Diego in the late 90’s I’d heard of two "Local Kine" restaurants. One being Da Kine’s, and the other being Island Boy Grille, at that time located in the Gaslamp Quarter. But try as I might, I was never able to make it to Island Boy Grille, the one time I tried, I couldn’t find any metered parking, and wasn’t about to pay $5 or more for parking to grab a plate lunch. Once we moved to San Diego, I tried to find Island Boy, but had found that the Gaslamp location had closed down. I did find out that there was a Sorrento Mesa location, so I checked out my Thomas Guide (what we used before Mapquest), and drove up. But alas, it was a Saturday, and they were closed on weekends. On another occasion I drove up after work to find….them closed. They had changed hours and were no longer open until 630pm.

Finally, I recently took a vacation day, and had an opportunity to make to Island Boy Grille during their regular business hours, which are 11am til 230 pm. Talk about Lunch Wagon hours! I arrived at about 1pm and looked over the menu.

During which time the Gentleman behind the counter impatiently waited for me to make up my mind. Talk about pressure, I felt forced to blurt out what I wanted. Funny thing is, right next to the menu is the usual "Please Be Patient" sign; I guess patience goes only one way in this case.

I placed my order and took a seat, and had time to admire the cool Primo Beer memorabilia.

I had ordered the "Wasa" Plate($8.99), essentially a mixed plate with two menu items. The plate comes with rice (of course!), a green salad, and a choice of one "side". I ordered Chicken Katsu and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken as my entree items.

I had forgotten to tell them to not include the pineapple ring on my teriyaki chicken. Those pineapple rings bring back all those negative connotations of when Hawaiian Food was ham with a pineapple ring on the top. Anyway, the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken was very dry and leathery, and was not well marinated, as it also was quite bland. I felt like the chicken was sitting around in a pan for a while. The Chicken Katsu was fine, moist and tender, but because the "katsu sauce" was applied when the plate was put together, the panko crust was soggy by the time I managed to eat it. (20 minutes) This doesn’t really make sense since a container of katsu sauce was included with the plate.

Thankfully, this was Japanese-style Katsu Sauce, not the lousy, gloppy sweet sour stuff that many Hawaiian Barbecues serve.

The best item on the plate was the "side" I ordered, the Chicken Long Rice:

Though short on chicken, the long rice(bean thread) was well flavored. Nice poultry flavor, with a mild ginger taste.

I of course also ordered a Loco Moco($6.95):

If you are a regular reader; you know of my love of Loco Moco’s. I’m also sure you would like to know how this "Loco" measures up. Even though Bruddah James of Big Island Grinds is in the process of modifying His Loco Moco Scale, I’ll use my tried and true "Modified Rubio Scale."

BURGER: The Good; hand formed and grilled patty. The Bad; very dry and bland, also tasted "old" like it had been sitting around for a day or two. 2.0

EGGS: I really "dug" the heart shaped styling, but the eggs weren’t seasoned and were overcooked, with the yolks solid. 2.0

RICE: Good, and cooked perfectly. Sorry to say this was the best part of the loco. 3.0

GRAVY: Nice and dark, but almost totally tasteless. 2.5

STUFFS: The macaroni salad wasn’t bad, the green salad along with the dressing was unremarkable. 2.5

TOTAL: 11.0 Funny thing, this was almost a splitting image of the Loco at Da Kine’s, though the portion size was larger(and priced higher).

In the end I felt like all of the energy expended in my quest to have a plate lunch at Island Boy Grille was for naught. But I’d never had known if I hadn’t tried, right?

Island Boy Grille
10066 Pacific Heights Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours: Mon – Fri 11am-230pm

For those that don’t want a somewhat irrelevant and silly story; it’s time to leave.

Way back when, a group of "us Guys" had just finished an evening of libations and other "activities" at an establishment called "Steel Wings", does anybody remember this place?(I’m really dating myself here) We were having our "post-club" breakfast at McCully Zippy’s, when my Buddy spotted a Young Lady he had been vigorously pursuing at the nightclub sitting at a nearby table. He caught his breath as She smiled, stood up, and starting walking up to us. As she reached our table, she stuck a cigarette in her mouth, and in the worst, fingernail on chalkboard, loud high pitched squeal, asked my friend:

"AAAAY, YOU GET ONE MATCH, HUH?"
As my shocked and speechless friend nodded that he did not. She turned and walked away and concluded the one way conversation with:
"KAY ‘DEN, LATA’S"
Then unsteadily turned to her friends, and said; "AAY, TIME TO BAG OUT….."
I almost fell out of my seat, but I was mesmerized by the cigarette wobbling up and down in her lips as she spoke. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how she could talk so loud and keep that unlit cigarette in her mouth. I felt soooo bad for my Buddy, as I watched his "dream" crushed before my eyes!

Just goes to show, that sometimes the pursuit of a goal is just not worth it!

Sukiyaki

March 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Yes, I’m finally cooking again. I know that one of my "Food Resolutions" was to cook alot more. So I guess I’ve got alot of territory to make up. This past weekend, the Missus decided that she wanted some Sukiyaki, so I broke out my Mother’s recipe. Well it’s sort of my Mom’s recipe. I’ve made a few changes over the years, but overall it’s still Her basic recipe. Some of the items we’ve changed in the recipe are watercress to replace shingiku, and the addition of enoki mushrooms.

Sukiyaki is the ubiquitous Japanese dish, and ingredients and recipes vary. From very simple soy sauce and sugar concoctions, to more complicated versions. I’ve been told several times that the "meat" makes the Sukiyaki, but coming from humble beginnings, I believe that the Warishita (sukiyaki sauce) makes the dish. Luckily, I’m able to get my hands on prime sukiyaki cut rib eye, so I’ll have all bases covered.

Warishita (Sukiyaki Sauce):

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
3/4 Cup Mirin
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Sake
1/4 tsp Dashi No Moto(optional)
1 clove garlic smashed (optional)

Combine Warishita ingredients(except for dashi no moto) and bring to a boil while stirring, turn down heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes to burn off alcohol. Remove from heat and add dashi no moto, if desired. Remove from heat and cool. Let the sauce "rest" at least 20 minutes, or over night. I usually make a double recipe of Warishita for each "batch" of Sukiyaki.

Sukiyaki:

1 lb Thin cut rib eye or sirloin
2 Medium Round Onions sliced
2 Packages Shirataki(Yam Noodles), open packages and place in a colander. Pour boiling water over Shirataki to remove the "smell".
1 Block Tofu drained well, and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 Can Bamboo Shoots – If the smell bothers you, pour boiling water over Bamboo Shoots, drain, then cut into slices lengthwise.
6-8 Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms
1 Bunch Enoki Mushrooms (optional)
2 Bunches Watercress, or 1 bunch Shingiku (Edible Garland Chrysanthemum)
1 Bunch Green Onions(green parts only), cut into 1 inch lengths
4-6 Eggs

1. Lightly oil the bottom of a Tetsunabe (Iron Pot),do not use a donabe(earthenware pot). You can also use a large heavy bottom skillet. Place on a tabletop stove.

2. Arrange items in a single layer on the bottom of the skillet.

3. Heat skillet over medium heat. Pour half of the Warishita over ingredients covering the meat.

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes.

5. Add ingredients and sauce as they are depleted.

6. If you desire, pick out ingredients and dip them in lightly beaten egg right before eating.

You can turn a Sukiyaki dinner into a real social event, with designated rotating "Sukiyaki Chefs". I’ve yet to find decent Sukiyaki served at a restaurant for under $25/person. Most restaurants have use a watered down sauce, with low grade meat, and cheap ingredients like napa cabbage.

Sorry no photo of the finished product – we were to busy eating.

Just to finish up. Here’s an interesting little book/pamphlet my Mother owned.

The Author is someone named "Fumiko" and this 70 page book cost exactly $1.00! Even though our Sukiyaki recipe is not from this book, I found this to be most "interesting":

Yes, it says Hawaii, the 49th state! Guess they got a little ahead of themselves!

Saigon Restaurant

March 12, 2006 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

Even if you’re a neophyte when it comes to Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego, I think you’d know of Saigon Restaurant on El Cajon Boulevard. In fact, other then Phuong Trang, Saigon is the Vietnamese Restaurant that is most often mentioned to me in conversations.

Over the years we’ve visited Saigon quite a few times. Mostly because of the huge menu and reasonable prices. Don’t ask me to have the Pho’ here though! The two times I’ve had the Pho’, the dark broth had an extremely strong anise flavor, and the noodles were terrible.

The interior of Saigon is not huge, but very cavernous, with murals lining the walls near the ceiling.

I need to warn you, though. That if you suffer from "Vietnamese Menu Overload Syndrome", the 340+ items on the menu will send you into immediate convulsions, or at least a severe case of indecision.

On this visit we started with the usual Cha Gio(Vietnamese Egg Rolls – $4.95):

Interestingly enough, in our previous visits here, I’d never ordered these. The Cha gio were served with the usual plate of lettuce and mint. These innocuous looking egg rolls, felt rather cool to the touch, but were molten hot inside, and almost burnt my lips off. In fact I saved one till the end of the meal, and it was still super hot inside! These Egg Rolls were more like Chinese Style Egg Rolls, in that there was mostly stringy shredded vegetables, and almost no meat, or bean thread. The Nuoc Mam(Fish sauce) was really good though, nice and spicy, and not overly sweet.

I was also curious about the "Spicy, Sweet and Sour Shrimp, with Garlic Hot Sauce"($9.95). Sounds great doesn’t it? Well here it is:

This dish tasted exactly like a bland Chinese Sweet and Sour Shrimp, except for some nice julienned strips of ginger. The one thing that saved the dish from being a total loss, were the perfectly cooked, plump, and soft shrimp.

Clams with Basil($8.95):

A bubbling hot pot of clams were delivered to the table. The clams were very plump and fresh, and not overcooked, and falling out of their shells. In fact, the clams passed the Missus’s "clam inventory". The Missus claims that we often get served more shells then clam meat in our dishes, and has now started to keep a "mental count" of clam meat versus shells! Back to the dish. There was a good amount of basil in the "brown sauce". The sliced Jalapeno added some nice "middle-tongue" heat, that is, a non-numbing, quick "burn". The Missus thought the sauce wasn’t salty enough, but I though that there was a nice balance of salty and mild sweetness in the dish. Pretty darn good.

This past Saturday was a very cold(by San Diego standards), and rainy(ditto) day. So we decided to drop by Saigon again.

Of course we got clams again. But this time it was the Clams with Ginger and (Green) Onion($8.95):

Same dish as the basil, except with green onions and the flavor of ginger. This dish also used dried red chilies instead of Jalapenos, which provided heat at the back of my throat(slow burn). I also detected garlic in the sauce today as well. Otherwise, same brown sauce. Again, pretty good.

Earlier in the morning I went to pick up a cup of coffee from Sandwich Emporium, and of course got into a conversation about….guess what? Food of course, with one of the "Twins" (I still can’t tell them apart). I told Him we were probably going to drop by Saigon, and was told to give one of the "Banh Tam" dishes a try. So I ordered the Banh Tam Bo Nuong("Round Rice Noodle" with Char Grilled Beef – $6.50):

What arrived was a bowl overflowing with "stuff", there were seven pieces of beef, rolled tightly around a scallion to create a sausage effect. The beef though maybe a bit on the chewy side, was well marinated with herbs, fish sauce, and the like, and nicely grilled. The Missus kept saying, "Man I wonder what the pork must taste like!". In the bowl was a variety of julienned vegetables, like cucumber and carrots, as well as bean sprouts.

Also provided were bowls of Coconut Milk and the really good Nuoc Mam:

You are supposed to pour the coconut milk and nuoc mam over the bowl, mix it together, and dig in. The Missus however, didn’t care for the coconut milk, so I poured the bowl of nuoc mam(and asked for another bowl, which I proceeded to pour over as well) over the ingredients, and mixed them. I used the coconut milk for dipping. During the mixing process a layer of lettuce and wonderfully palate cleansing mint was revealed.

The noodles though, were very disappointing. They were simply cold vermicelli rice noodles, stuck together to form a "cake". Tasteless and brittle, they brought nothing to the dish. I’d have this dish again though, in spite of the noodles.

On our previous visit, an odd thing happened. Our Server actually struck up a conversation with us. Something that had never occurred to me in a Vietnamese Restaurant before. He recommended this dish:

Can you figure out what it is? In that bubbling sauce is the Sauteed Catfish($6.95).

In the brown sauce (a recurring theme?), were green onions, garlic and lot’s of black pepper, which made this sauce really stand out. I’d have rather had fillets then cross cut fish, where bones can make the eating process messy and somewhat ponderous. The flesh of the fish had a nice buttery texture, but was a bit too muddy for my tastes, but that didn’t bother the Missus at all, who loved it. I just enjoyed the sauce on my rice, which was delici-yoso!!!

Apparently there’s some good eats on that menu of 300+ items. You just gotta keep "digging away" at it.

Saigon Restaurant
4455 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Sun-Thurs 8am – 10pm
Fri-Sat 8am – 11pm

Dede’s

March 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Dedes' has closed

Before there was Ba Ren, we used to go to Dede's fairly regularly for Sichuan Food. Though if we really wanted Sichuan Food we'd still do the 100 plus mile drive to Chung King in Monterey Park. But of course Ba Ren changed all of that. But that's not to say the food at Dede's is bad, it's not. Just perhaps not to our taste.

I believe that "Dede's" inherited their English name from the previous business that occupied the space; a Tea and Boba joint. The Chinese name of Dede's indicates that Chongqing style Sichuan food is served here.

We decided to drop by Dede's, to see what had changed in the last 2 years since our last visit. The colorful interior of Dede's belies it's Teahouse past:

On this afternoon Teresa Teng(the late Deng Li-Jun) videos were playing on the big screen television. We also noticed that, many of the "specials" on the placard had taken a larger turn away from Sichuan Cuisine.

Though all the old favorites are still there:

On this visit we ordered the Spicy Fish Slices with Golden Mushrooms($8.50):

This interesting dish was like a combination of two classic Sichuan offerings, the Water Boiled/Boiled in Hot Sauce and Pickled Pepper type dishes. This was a nice hot, but not numbingly hot dish, though the amount of oil was fairly low. Battered and lightly fried fish lay on a bed of Enoki Mushrooms and was covered with "Hot Sauce", Zhacai and other pickled vegetables were also featured in this dish. Good, but not great.

I also ordered one of my favorite Sichuan snack type dishes Spicy Cold Noodles($4.99).

This was pretty horrible, a failure from all angles. The noodles tasted like they were uncooked store bought noodles, very hard and brittle. The sauce lacked sugar, and almost tasted like just Black Vinegar. Usually there would be at least a mild sesame paste flavor as well, but not this time. Not even a bit spicy to me as well. The peanuts were half peanuts, and not coarsely chopped. This was just bad eats!

Luckily, we ordered my favorite dish from Dede's; Cumin Flavored Lamb($8.50):

As far as I know, this isn't a Sichuan dish, but it's still good eats. Fragrant, slightly nutty cumin dry fried with thin slices of lamb and onion, and topped with cilantro. Delici-yoso!!! You can tell that high heat was used very successfully in the creation of this dish by the lack "oil" that would be created if the lamb was stir fried in a conventional manner using inadequate heat.

Dede's offers an alternative to Ba Ren; most of the dishes do not use quite the same amount of oil, and is not as spicy. We do think that the flavors at Dede's are not as complex as Ba Ren's. There is also a lack of the layering of heat that we appreciate, and Ma-La(numbing hot) is lacking in many of the dishes. All the "usual suspects" of Sichuan food are available, and we've tried most of them; Rice Crust dishes, Dishes Boiled in Hot Sauce, ChongQing Red Pepper dishes, as well as Cold Dishes like Fuqi Feipein. We also noticed that in the last few years Dede's has added Sichuan Hotpot(Malaguo) to their menu, with a Buffet available at $20 per person.

Dede's Teajuice City
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

The Fruit Stand

March 8, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers

Just a quick "Hump-day" post about our "local" produce stand, called…..The Fruit Stand. If you’ve ever driven on Morena Boulevard, maybe to or from Costco, you may have seen the signs.

Today the Missus decided that she wanted to make some Guacamole, so we decided to stop and grab some produce.

The Fruit stand used to consist of a group of stands sitting outside in the parking lot, but I think last year’s rain kind of pushed them indoors. It also seems alot easy to not have to move all the stands indoors every night.

Now The Fruit Stand has expanded into selling nuts and dried fruits, as well as produce. Another great thing about the Fruit Stand is that much of the produce is grown locally.

On this visit, in addition to all the "fixins" for Guac, the Missus couldn’t help but pick up 2 3-packs of locally grown strawberries.

This being a "drier" year, the strawberries seem to be much sweeter.

So support your local farmers, and go ahead and check out those neighborhood produce stands!

The Fruit Stand
4330 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Sorry, no photos of those avocados(camera-shy) or the Guac(laziness on my part). But here’s the "quick and dirty" recipe:

The Missus’s Quick and Dirty Guacamole
(All quantities are estimates)

3-6 Ripe Avocados
1/2 Onion Chopped
2 cloves garlic
2-4 Jalapeno Peppers – roasted till the skin is charred. Remove skin and slice. (For a milder Guac make sure to remove seeds and "veins"
1/2 tomato seeded
1/3 Cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Salt to taste

1 – Combine onion, garlic, cilantro, tomato and jalapeno in a food processor and finely chop
2 – Remove avocado from skin and place in a bowl, and mix in chopped items from the food processor(you may want to do this slowly), and taste on occasion. Use a fork to mix the avocado for a chunkier texture.
3 – Slowly add lime juice and salt to mixture, and check for taste.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes to let the flavors fuse together.

I Finally Got Around To….Original Tommy’s

March 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Burgers, Hot Dogs

**** After a long run Tommy's has closed

Well a sign is worth a thousand words:

Especially if you live in SoCal. "Tommy-burger" has a real following here in SoCal, you either love it or hate it. As with most burgers of a similar vein, there are stories of the effort that people will go through to get a "Tommy's chili or burger." We had a "Tommy's" right down the street on Fullerton when we lived in LA, and I had a friend come and visit….He had to have Tommy's for breakfast…for 3 days straight! That's right, Chiliburgers; it ain't just for breakfast anymore…..

Tommy's has finally opened here in San Diego, with little mainstream fanfare, but alot of "rumbling" on the Internet. Those who love Tommy's must first profess unrequited love for grease, but delici-yoso grease. The Missus loves Tommy's chili. Alas, the chili does not love Her back, it gives her heartburn! Her inability to painlessly digest Tommy's chili will then make her look upon the chili in a negative light, with the liberal use of that horrible culinary four letter word; "lard". As in "it must have lard in it…." I, on the other hand do not suffer from any immediate adverse reaction from Tommy's, thus to put it into the words of the Missus, "Next life, you be me, Ohhh-Kay!"

I finally got around to Tommy's on a recent weekend. In order to "earn" my Tommy's, I first swept and mopped the house, scrubbed and cleaned the bathrooms, raked the backyard, did 6 loads of laundry, and other various sundry tasks. All self-imposed. As I entered Tommy's the first thing I noticed was that even though it was 3 in the afternoon the dining area was pretty full. The second thing I noticed was that there were several "Guys" eating a Tommy Burger with a fork and knife! Say what! Hey, fork and knife Guy, be a man! You eat the burger like a burger, with no regard for personal hygiene, with your hands. Overwhelmed by my presence in a real Tommy's in San Diego, I had problems even deciding what to order. Yeah, I should have a problem at a place called Tommy "BURGER". I eventually just ordered a #2 combo($5.70):

A double chili cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. I of course ordered the burger the way I wanted it – no pickles, extra onions….but received my burger with pickles anyway. Not that it made any difference. I felt like my burger was a little short on the chili though! The chili on a Tommy's is a gloppy, fairly mild chili "con carne", that has a texture similar to refried beans. I enjoy the acid that tomato provides on the burger, though I wished I had a bit more chili. I hope you enjoy the sheen of grease reflecting off the burger photos:

Though I don't crave Tommy's like many Angelinos, I enjoy a Tommy Burger every once in a while.

The fries I received sorely missed chili, cheese, and onions:

I felt I was committing a crime by eating these without the requisite "parts". I'll make sure to correct this next time!

There's a part of me that believes that burgers have supplanted hot dogs as being the quintessential American food, though that may be heresy to some. But think about it, be it White Castle, Krystals, In and Out, or Fatburger(my fave, though San Diego's Fatburger's have been mediocre); we all have our favorites. I still have fond memories of my beloved W & M Burger. Be it sitting in the car, on the curb, or wondering what wine to match with a Tommy's, burgers have become an obsession for many. I distinctly remember the first time I had a Tommy Burger, though I don't even express a great fondness for them. So strangely enough, Tommy Burger is on that "first time I tried list" along with Foie Gras, Peking Duck, Escargot, and other items….go figure!

And there ain't nothing wrong with a Tommy's once in a while…….

Original Tommy's
7415 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Postscript: I've been assured that there ain't no Tommy Burger, like the one served at the "Original" Original Tommy's at Beverly and Rampart.

Vientiane Food To Go

March 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants

*** Thai Garden Restaurant (Serves Lao Food) is now at this location.

*** Vientiane is now Imperial Thai Cuisine. You can find a post here.

*** I've posted an update on Vientiane on March 15th ***

I had heard about a Laotian Restaurant called Vientiane from one of Sam's (of Sammy Sushi) Assistants. After a brief discussion and some Otokoyama he gave me directions to Lao Plaza on the corner of Imperial and 47th Street.

Blink and you'll miss the very non-descript building, that is Lao Plaza. If you manage to snag a parking spot you'll see the sign.

There it was, Vientiane Food To Go. I believe Vientiane is also the Capital of Laos. This small building holds a few "stalls" that sell everything from sunglasses to jewelry, to Laotian video rentals. The people here were also extremely "camera-shy", so I refrained from taking photos. We did get the "you're not from around here are you" feeling as we walked past the various stalls.

At the South End of the Building there is a small doorway, walk through the doorway and you enter Vientiane. To your right is a kitchen area, and we could smell the scent of soup simmering. In the middle section is a refrigerator, which is a snack and drink stand. To the left is a simple window, with various fried and hot table items. The dining area is a bit worse for wear, with Laotian Music Videos playing on the television mounted above the doorway.

I was totally lost trying to read some of the menu. I know that "Tom" are soups, as I believe "Keng" are, but as to the details, I really wasn't sure.

Luckily, the Lady working the window was so very nice and helpful. And after brief discussion we placed our order, and the lady started working on Her Mortar, preparing our Papaya Salad.

The Papaya Salad was very spicy, the papaya fresh and crisp. What I have found with Laotian style Papaya Salad, is that the sauce for the salad is very dark, and the fish sauce flavor is fairly strong. This was no exception. There was a small amount of salted blue crab at the bottom of the salad. Not bad, I'd have this again.

We also had two orders of "Sticky Rice":

To go along with the Fried Quail, that looked like they were about to up and run right off the plate.

I love steamed sticky rice, somewhat nutty in flavor, though the quail was on the dry side and fairly bland. I think I'll try the Beef Laap here next time.

The Missus also got some Fried Rice with Sausage(very delici-yoso!!!) for later, and a drink, all for $15, not bad!

My experience with Laotian food has been limited to Papaya Salad, Laap(yummy Beef Laap), and Laotian Sausage. But I'll be trying a few more dishes at the various Lao Restaurants in the area.

Some Notes: The Lady working "Food to Go" was so nice and helpful. The neighborhood can seem a bit scary, but we've never encountered any problems and you'll get a neat little cultural experience walking among the stalls in Lao Plaza. There is additional parking in the rear of the building.

Vientiane Food To Go
Located in Lao Community Plaza
110 47th St
San Diego, CA 92102

Intersection of 47th St and Imperial Ave

Gunco Ramen/Kanpai

March 5, 2006 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

Ever since we moved to San Diego, I’ve been searching for a good Ramen Shop, not that Chopstix or Tajima is bad. But I want something along the lines of Daikokuya or one of Shin-Sen-Gumi’s Ramen Houses. During a recent visit to Hogetsu Bakery, I asked the Friendly Lady there about a a place I’ve passed on every visit. Gunco Ramen:

I was told, that the clientele and style was "very Nihon", and to give them a try. So that very afternoon I paid Gunco a visit. The first thing I noticed when I entered was that Gunco, and Kanpai, as basically one restaurant, separated by a doorway. They even have 1 menu.

The Server was very nice, and brought me my tea and ice water immediately. I decided to order something that I hadn’t had in years; Champon($7.50).

Now, the variations of Champon I’ve had in the past, were basically a fiercely boiled pork-chicken bone broth, very rich, topped with stir fried vegetables, and some boiled seafood, usually shrimp and squid. Champon itself, was supposedly invented in Nagasaki, and Chinese in origin; created by a Chef originally from the Fujian Province named Chen-Pingshun, in a restaurant called Shikairou. Or so they say……. Today, the Champon, was a bit weak in flavor, not rich at all, causing all the stir fried vegetables and seafood to be flavorless. The one saving grace were the noodles, which were a perfect ‘al dente, both elastic and mildly chewy.

And despite the rubbery shrimp(pretty much a norm for champon IMHO), I enjoyed the dish enough to give Gunco another try.

On my return visit, I was seated on what I think is the "Gunco" side, facing a "Bar Counter".

Again, the service was excellent, and a Gentleman, who I think is the Owner, engaged me in some conversation, starting with the familiar(to me) question; Are you Korean? "Ummm, no…"

On this visit I ordered the Tempura Appetizer($5.50), and the Hakata Ramen($5.40). To my surprise, the Ramen arrived at my table first:

I’ve had what was described as "Hakata Ramen" once before, in a now defunct Restaurant in Honolulu. The broth was Tonkotsu-style, that is the deep-boiled whitish pork bone based broth. The noodles, which were supposedly imported from Hakata, were quite thin, and very straight. This variation had basically the same broth as the Champon, but today the broth had much more flavor, and a nice quantity of oil. The interesting addition of "gari"(pickled ginger), added a nice palate cleansing element to the ramen. The two thin slices of Charshu, though a bit fatty, had some flavor. The noodles were exactly the same as the Champon, and again I enjoyed them.

Though the bowl of Ramen was on the small side, I still rather enjoyed it, though I wished that the broth had a richer "tonkotsu-shiru" flavor.

As I was in the process of eating my Ramen, my tempura arrived:

All in all quite mediocre and forgettable, and a bit undercooked(except for the broccoli, which was scalded), the batter being very pale. Not worth the $5.50. Kind of sad, on my last visit, I saw an Older Lady demolishing a very delectable looking plate of tempura.

What was interesting was a "side door" to my left. Apparently, the tempura was made in the "Robata and Sushi" restaurant next door, also part of the Gunco/Kanpai "complex".

Overall, great service, reasonably priced food. Though it seems "Your Mileage May Vary" here.

Gunco Ramen
305 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Kanpai
301 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Brians’ American Eatery

March 2, 2006 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Diner

*** Brian's has closed

The Missus isn't really a "breakfast person" in the conventional sense. That is, She sometimes craves breakfast for dinner. And on a recent evening She had a craving for Wheat Germ Pancakes from Brians'. And Brians' serves breakfast all day.

Yes, it's called Brians', not Brian's, after the two Owners, who are both named Brian. I did a quick "handbag check", the Missus had rotated out the "Dior" and replaced it with a Fendi, so hopefully the Dior curse hadn't followed us. We drove up to Brians' which is located on busy Washington Street in Hillcrest, and is one of those popular and sometimes very crowded neighborhood diners.

We have always had very friendly service at Brians', and today was no exception. Since it was still fairly early for dinner, and the sun was out, we decided to sit on the patio.

The Missus ordered Her Wheat Germ Pancakes, but they were out, so She had the Whole Wheat Pancakes instead($5.99).

The full stack of whole wheat pancakes consist of 3 plate sized ground wheat pancakes. The pancakes were slightly nutty, and not overly sweet. The texture was slightly dense, but not as "chewy" as regular pancakes tend to be. With whipped butter, and maple syrup, the Missus stated that these were delici-yoso!!!

I've had a few dishes at Brians', and have found that the portions are always generous, but it's been hit and miss. Though today I decided to pull out all the stops, and order something interesting from the menu.

Yep, I got a Frankie Burger($9.89)! A 1/2lb burger topped with bacon and jack and cheddar cheese. But most of all it's got peanut butter on it! The menu says; "Don't be afraid!"

I'd say that you'll either immediately like or hate this burger, there's no middle ground. Though I'm not a peanut butter lover, I enjoyed the burger. The not overly sweet peanut bitter added a nice creamy richness to the burger, which was pretty darn good on it's own; seared on the outside, moist and tender in the interior. The peanut butter balanced out the saltiness of the bacon and cheddar cheese. The acid from the tomato helped cut through the richness.

The burger came with two sides and I chose fries:

The "natural style" fries, were "bleh", okay, but they got real soggy very quickly and needed alot of ketchup.

I also got the potato salad.

Red potatoes with a light coat of mayo, the salad had a huge amount of "pickle juice" that would have been off-putting on it's own, but in this case, the vinegar helped cleanse my palate of the peanut butter-cheese-bacon richness. I don't think I'd enjoy these as much with anything else. After eating all this I was stuffed silly!

I have always enjoyed the service at Brians', I also like the no-nonsense stuff. For instance we ordered coffee, and of course had ice water. And instead of having to flag someone down for refills they always leave a pot and a pitcher for our refills.

There are items on the menu at Brians' that I do not enjoy, but overall I consider Brians' to be a pretty good neighborhood diner, and the Missus loves those pancakes.

Brians' American Eatery
1451 Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Postscript: In case you're wondering why I ordered a Frankie Burger, it's because of our own little "Frankie Burger" – meet Frankie(burger….):