July 2006 – Page 2

Road Trip: Malan Noodles – Hacienda Heights(Los Angeles)

July 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Set in another of the multitude of strip malls, on the corner of Haliburton Road and Hacienda Boulevard is Malan Noodles.

Malan Noodles is the Hacienda Heights outpost of a chain of fast food outlets based in Beijing. The claim to fame are the fresh hand pulled noodles, and the Lanzhou-style Beef Noodle soup. Lanzhou is the capital of the Gansu province, and located in Northwest China.

As we entered Malan Noodle we noticed that the high-ceiling, brightly colored interior, did feel somewhat fast-foodish.

The drill goes as follows, you either pick up an order sheet, or sit and someone will bring you an order sheet(we’ve seen the two distinct style of ordering here), and check off what you want. Then you either drop off the sheet at the counter OR, somebody will come and bring you some water and pick up your sheet.

They are very flexible here….

In case you have some noodle indecision, samples of noodle size are available for your review as well.

We placed our order, and soon enough, the young Hispanic Gentleman in the back pulled of a hunk of dough, and slammed it, kneaded it, separated it into two portions, and started pulling, eventually forming noodles for the dishes we ordered.

The Malan Cold Noodles($5.50):

First off, having eaten enough of this at home and with the In-Laws, I first wondered, where’s the cucumber, where’s the green onions…..but maybe it’s a different regional style. The peanut-sesame sauce was very one dimensional, and really salty. And pouring vinegar, and chili oil on it couldn’t save it. To me, it was missing a sweet component to balance out the flavor. The noodles, served in this manner, were just" ho-hum-bubble-gum", and lacking the slight amount of "chew" I desired.

The Malan Beef Soup(small – $5.00)

So, having no previous experience with supposed Lanzhou-style Beef Noodles, here’s what I thought. The broth was on the clear side, and not oily in the least bit. The flavor of the broth was mildly beefy, with a nice onion flavor provided by the green onions and yellow chives. I really couldn’t taste any additional flavor provided by the daikon, and strangely, even the taste of the cilantro was muted. Overall, a decent mild and clean tasting broth. The thin slices of beef(looked like brisket), had a good, strong beefy flavor, along with hints of……well, I’ll let the Missus take care of this, "enough with the cinnamon, and anise thing, OKAY! It’s five-spice. And not the junk stuff, real five-spice." Okay? I still thought the noodles were on the brittle side, and made up my mind to get small flat noodles the next time. And at five bucks a crack, you can try all the variations for under $40(I’ve included tax).

There are a few more interesting items on the menu, and most are very reasonable. And no, it’s not Niu Rou Mein, but worth a try, who knows this could be the future of Mickey D’s…..

Malan Noodles
2020 S. Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Open daily 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Midweek Miscellanea

July 12, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I thought I’d do a post about a few items, that I’ve been waiting to mention. So here goes….

The Brunch Master hits the Big Time!

I enjoy Jim’s(aka The Brunch Master) site San Diego Sunday Brunch. Talk about dedication! Jim and His lovely Wife have been to 44 Buffet style Sunday Brunches, and have started in on Menu Brunches as well. Jim’s site is not a review site, but is dedicated to informing us about prices, food, and other useful information. I know that I’ve used His site when trying to figure out which Brunch spot to hit.

So it’s only appropriate that Jim’s hit the "Big Time". On Friday, July 14th, News10, the local ABC affiliate will run a spot featuring Jim and His Brunchmaster Site. After the spot runs, there will be a live in studio section as well. So don’t miss it. The spot is set to run during the 4pm News time slot.

That’s Jim and his Wife with the Guys from News 10.

Congratulations Jim!

Howie hits a Half Million!

600,000 actually. That’s how many recipes you can access on Howie’s Foodieview Recipe Search Engine. Geez and I thought 330 posts was alot.

Curry House Coming to San Diego.

If you haven’t read the post on Chowhound, here’s the info. About 2 weeks ago, I heard that Curry House was coming to San Diego. So to confirm, I sent an Email to House Foods Corporation, the parent company of Curry House.

Here’s the response:

"Thank you for contacting us.

Yes, it is true that we will be opening a Curry House in San Diego. It is planned for its grand opening sometime in the middle of September.

Furthermore, the address of the location is as follows:

-Sunrise Town Center

3860 Convoy St. #102

San Diego, CA 92111

If you have any further questions or need further assistance, please contact us back."

So good news for those Curry House fans in San Diego.

So where’s the food, you may ask?

Okay, just for the heck it:

It’s the Com Tam Nhu Y(i.e. Com Tam Dac Biet – Broken Rice special – $6.45) from where else, Nhu Y Restaurant. Not bad, the steamed egg was quite moist and good, though the slice was on the small side. The fried "tofu-cake" was crisp, though on the bland side. The BBQ Pork Chop was okay, moist, but very mild, and the shredded pork actually had some flavor, and was relatively moist.

Hope everyones week is going well.

Road Trip: Mei Long Village – San Gabriel(LA)

July 11, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

We had to make a trip to Los Angeles this past weekend, and I just had to have some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings). Don't ask me why. I just had to have it. So we headed out to good old Valley Boulevard and Mei Long Village.

Mei Long Village is a Shanghainese Restaurant located on the boulevard of a thousand Chinese Restaurants(Valley Boulevard), and has survived. That says alot, since many restaurants, such as the next door "Homestyle Restaurant", serving Shenyang style cuisine is no longer there. We arrived at 2pm on this Saturday afternoon, and Mei Long Village was filled to the brim.

Not in the mood for for major entrees(like Pork Pump, or 3 Cup Chicken) we decided on some cold appetizers and Xiao Long Bao. We started off with the classic Smoked Fish($6.50):

This non-smoked, but marinated, than deep fried dish was really bad. Well, unless you consider a sweet aspic and mud flavored appetizer being good. Really very bad, I've had five versions of this dish, and this was the worst I've ever had.

The Wine Chicken($6.50):

Again a disappointment. A perfectly steamed/boiled chicken, with a flavorless, watery sauce poured over it. From what I know, true Wined Chicken should be have a slight cured flavor and texture. this was none of the above.

The Missus ordered the Radish Pan Cake($4.95):

These little flaky pastries contained moist strips of radish along with pieces of ham, which I enjoyed. The Missus thought they were too moist, and just ok.

Finally, the Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.95):

I thought these were really good, just the size of a soup spoon, with a wrapper just translucent enough to view the broth. Very nice!

The Xiao Long Bao(Shanghai Steamed Dumplings – $4.95):

For me, these were excellent. Let me explain. The wrapper was thin/thick enough to view the "soup", and yet retained the chewy, "al dente" texture that dumpling wrappers should have. In addition, the tops of the wrappers where the dumpling wrapper is turned upon itself is still tender, and not hard. The soup to meat ratio was also very good, with a very nice sweet-porky flavor. The Missus thought the XLB soup was too sweet for Her, but I enjoyed these XLB, with wrappers just right, thin enough to see the soup, and thick enough to stand up to the cooking process. And better yet, thick enough to be a part of dumpling, it's just not filling you are eating!

In the end, the Missus said She doesn't think she'll be back. So that means I'll have to sneak away for my Xiao Long Bao when I'm in LA…..

Mei Long Village
301 West Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Sun-Thurs 11am-930pm
Fri-Sat 1130am-10pm

Boo Cho – A Revisit Part II

July 10, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Boo Cho has another set of new owners who have changed the name of the restaurant to Dae Jang Keum. An updated post can be found here.

A few days after my visit to Boo Cho, the Missus and I decided to drop by again, for a fairly late (9pm) dinner. As we walked in, we quickly noticed the place was packed.

We managed to snag the last available table, and watched the heads from the other tables bob up-and-down. Reminded me of that arcade game….you know the one, you hit the gophers(might be something else – not quite sure which rodent) with a mallet as they pop up and down from their burrows. The staff was running like crazy, with clean grills, banchan, and plates of meat flying past us. We managed to place our order, and soon after the banchan arrived.

As with my previous visit, the Baechu Kimchi was quite good. In fact, even the Missus, who’s not a fan of Baechu Kimchi enjoyed it.

The Oi(cucumber) Kimchi, fishcake, and Namul(marinated beansprouts) were quite good as well.

Even though it’s been quite hot, the Missus ordered Yookaejang(Spicy Beef Soup – $8.99):

The slightly clear beef broth sprinkled with chili powder, had a nice flavor, and the soup was full of Gosari(fernbrake), egg, green onions, and some melt in your mouth tender slices of beef.

Along with the usual bowl of rice, this was quite a meal.

I ordered the Bibim Naengmyun($8.99):

I’m a sucker for spicy cold noodle dishes, and this did not disappoint. The thin noodles were superbly elastic and chewy. We had what the Missus calls the "more you eat, the more there seems to be" syndrome, that never ending bowl of noodles. The garnishes were more of afterthoughts; the beef was flavorless, as were the slices of Asian Pear. But the sauce was so very "beany" in flavor, and the heat level was perfect.

In spite of how full the restaurant was, we had very good service. We were asked twice if we wanted our banchan refilled, of course we got more Napa Cabbage and Cucumber Kimchi. And in what we thought was a very nice touch, the Young Lady brought out even another plate of the Cucumber Kimchi, telling us "sorry, we didn’t give you enough the last time!"

I guess you could say Boo Cho is back on my list…… I’m hoping Boo Cho manages to keep the quality and service consistent over time.

Boo Cho Restaurant
7905 Engineer Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

Boo Cho – A Revisit Part I

July 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Boo Cho is now Dae Jang Keum, and an updated post can be found here.

On a recent trip to Sammy’s next door, I noticed that Boo Cho had changed owners again. This would make the third set of owners in the last three years. Though it’s disheartening to see a revolving door of ownership for any restaurant location, a part of me was a bit happy. You see Boo Cho used to be one of our favorite Korean BBQ Restaurants in San Diego. But under the last set of Owners, I thought the food had gone steeply downhill. As fate would have it Ed from Yuma was making one of His trips down to San Diego. So we decided to give Boo Cho as shot. You can read Ed’s Chowhound post on Boo Cho here.

As we entered on this evening there were only two other occupied tables in the restaurant. But it was only 6pm, and with the recent hot weather, people are eating at a much later time.

We were seated and given our menus, which did reflect on a few slight changes. Soon enough we placed our order. We decided on the Special BBQ for 2($49.99). Now we understood that there were 3 different types of meat, I’ll try to remember what they are, but please forgive any inaccuracies, I usually don’t take notes. In a few moments our sauces arrived.

As did the rice paper wrappers, mesclun, and thinly sliced daikon radish, for creating your own dumplings with the BBQ.

Our brazier was prepared, by first placing a container of charcoal into the receptacle built into the table, then laying the cast iron grill on the top.

One thing I quickly noticed was the very large amount of flaming charcoal being used, a very good sign.

We also had our first "surprise" of the evening. It seems that the special for two comes with a bottle of Soju, that mind numbing alcoholic beverage that brings to mind vodka. For some reason, the evening really started "brightening up".

Soon enough the banchan arrived.

To be perfectly honest, banchan had never been Boo Cho’s strong suit, and I didn’t expect this visit to be much different. How wrong I was. Not that the banchan was outstanding, but it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the Baechu Kimchee(Napa Cabbage), I mean I really enjoyed it. Things were really looking up, when our meat arrived:

Now if I recall, the 3 types of meat provided were; San Galbi(unmarinated beef ribs), Chadolbaegee(a thinly sliced fatty beef), and a nicely marbled, lightly marinated beef, I believe it was Joo Mool Luck. And we got cooking……

About this time we got our next "surprise", a boiling casserole was delivered to our table. The special came with a vegetable "soup":

The broth was quite beefy in flavor, and the soup was full of tofu, daikon, and other veggies.

By this time all of the flavors started to blur, with the banchan, the soup, the various meats, and of course, the Soju. I did think that the meat was a step up from the previous Boo Cho, though still a step down from Buga Korean BBQ. Still, there’s nothing like the flavor of charcoal. At this point, the grill was soiled, and I was beginning to think that our next course would be the Fire Department.

Just then one of the Servers stepped in, and replaced our grill. Perfect timing!

In the end Ed and I devoured everything, and remarked how Boo Cho was back on our list. Ed enjoyed Himself so much, that He returned a few days later. Funny thing, the Missus and I returned a few days later as well. I’ll post that in Part 2.

Some Notes: The main thing to remember is to not wear anything that you DON’T want smelling like charcoal. As Boo Cho fills up, even the heavy duty ventilation system can’t quite keep up.

Part II tomorrow!

Boo Cho Restaurant
7905 Engineer Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

Huffman’s Bar-B-Que

July 6, 2006 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants

*** Huffman's has closed

Huffman's BBQ is a Logan Heights institution, established in 1967, Huffman's has been around for nearly forty years! So they must be doing something right.

Though I've been told by a few former and current residents of the area that the food at Huffman's is not quite as good as it used to be, we still decided to drop by.

On this day, the Missus had been craving some homestyle "soul food". Don't ask me to explain how a Girl from Qingdao can crave Fried Okra and Hush puppies, after all this Guy from Hawaii loves good collard greens…..

The interior of Huffman's is always clean, though very spare. Drive-In style furniture is placed around the dining area, along with signed photos of various celebrities.

The Missus, in a state of full soul food frenzy, walked up to the counter and started ordering: "Can I get the Gumbo, a half dozen hush puppies, an order of fried okra, a Red Snapper sandwich, and 1 dozen chicken gizzards….and a Diet Coke!"

The Lady behind the counter: "This'll be to go?"

The Missus: "No I'LL be eating this here"

The Lady: "Okay your total will be…"

Me: "Oh, ummm, excuse me, but that's just for Her…..I'll take a Center Cut Pork Rib Dinner, for here, and 3 pieces of Fried Chicken to go"

The Lady: "I see……." I guess she did understand; you never mess with someone in the midst of a soul food frenzy.

We knew there would be a short wait for our food, since Huffman's is a real Mom-and-Pop type operation. Soon enough our order was ready(except for the Fried Chicken which takes 20 minutes). The "Creole Gumbo" ($8.55):

A generous portion of gumbo, with lots of shrimp, and a good amount of crab, real crab! I thought the flavoring was a bit on the mild side, and the gumbo was slightly watery, but the Missus enjoyed it.

1/2 Dozen Hush Puppies($1.95):

For some reason I thought the Hush Puppies looked like Falafel. These were on the small side, and not as moist as I would have enjoyed them to be. But again, the Missus loved them, so they must be pretty good.

An order of Fried Okra($2.15):

The Fried Okra was excellent, nicely breaded, and perfectly fried. Great texture, good okra flavor, not over seasoned…..good Okra!

The Red Snapper portion of the Red Snapper Sandwich(with 4 slices white bread and stuff – $5.95:

We both agreed that the snapper was borderline terrible; dry and fishy. I'm thinking the fish was on the old side. The Missus, bless Her heart tried everything to make it edible. She even used some Tartar Sauce, which She hates. Nothing worked.

Worth the trip! Some of the best Chicken Gizzards(1 dozen – $5.25):

The chicken gizzards were worth the trip to Huffman's. Battered and fried, chewy but not hard, these were delici-yoso!!! Not only did the batter taste great, but the large sized gizzards had a good amount of flavor as well. (Do they marinate them?)

The BBQ Pork Ribs Dinner (Center Cut – $11.55):

The ribs were a bit of a disappointment, a bit on the tough side, not a hint of any smokey flavor, and a very uninspired tasting ketchup based sauce.

I did enjoy the Collard Greens which had just the right amount of bitter, along with a slight spicy "kick".

The Candied Yams, were not so candied, they were blander than orange colored mashed potatoes.

We also ordered 3 pieces of Fried Chicken($4.90 – chicken only) while we ate(yes, this was one meal), because there's a 20 minute wait.

I enjoyed the Fried Chicken, which had what seemed to be a corn meal based coating. It is worth the wait. And it never did see the next morning, as we had them as a snack.

I had thought about a Hot Link Sandwich as well, but we needed to show some restraint…..

We'll be returning to Huffman's in the near future; the Missus is already craving for those Gizzards, and looking forward to possibly some fried oysters. I feel another soul food frenzy coming on…….

Some Notes: Like I mentioned, there is the very strong possibility that you will have a bit of a wait. So if you're in a rush, I think it'll be wise to phone in your order. Remember, the Fried Chicken takes 20 minutes.(whaddaya mean Huffman's isn't on speed-dial???) Parking is very limited as well. We've always experienced pretty good service, and the other customers always crack up to see 2 Asians chowing down all this food. The menu is not large, but we're certain that you will find something you enjoy.

Huffman's Barbeque
5039 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92113

Sala Thai Restaurant

July 5, 2006 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Recently, the Missus asked an acquaintance of Hers, who happens to be Thai, for some Thai Restaurant recommendations. She came back from work, and told me this person recommended Sala Thai. My response: "huh, are you sure?" She responded with: "Well He said first off, that the Owners and Kitchen staff are Thai"

"So what did he recommend?"

"The Pad Thai?"

"Really?"

"Yep, really….."

And so we made our way to Campus Plaza, up the street from San Diego State University. I knew exactly where Sala Thai was located.

We arrived for an early dinner, and was shown our table in the small, and simple, but very clean restaurant.

As we looked over the typical San Diego Thai Restaurant menu, with Americanized dishes such as Crab Rangoon, Shui Mai(!!!), and the usual "pick the meat, pick the sauce" stir fry options, I tried to remain positive. Finally, we found a few items and placed our order.

The Som Tum(Papaya Salad – "Papaya Pok Pok" $6.95):

The Papaya Salad was nice and crisp, but very "flat" in flavor. We ordered all our food at a medium heat level, and the spice level was adequate. But the salad was very tame, lacking in salty, sour, and sweet flavors. The shrimp were fine, but we could have done with stronger flavors, such as dried shrimp or salted blue crab. I started wondering if they make things different here for their Thai clientele?

From the "Wok" portion of the menu, we ordered the Chicken with Garlic Sauce($7.95):

This was the "pick he meat, pick the sauce" item. Slices of fairly dry white meat chicken, with a light sauce, tossed with fried garlic, and various peppers. Not very good, plus the garlic tasted burnt and bitter.

Pad Thai($6.95):

Ah yes, the recommended Pad Thai. On the positive side, this dish used the thinner style rice noodles, which were cooked to an excellent texture. The shrimp and all of the accouterments were fine. The Pad Thai had a decent salty-sweet flavor, but tasted a bit off. We requested some lime, which rounded out the flavor. In retrospect, the Pad Thai was also short on egg and bean sprouts, but was not a bad dish.

Catfish Red Curry($8.95):

I thought the chiffonade of Kaffir Lime leaf in the curry allowed this dish to be thought of as decent. The curry was thick, though not heavy in coconut milk. The heat was very mild for "medium heat", and the sprig of basil was not enough to provide flavor for the curry. The fish was over-cooked, nearly black, making it quite tough. The portion size was pretty small as well, three 1/4" cross-cut fish slices. The curry was okay, the fish not very good.

Based on this meal, I’d say that Sala Thai is your basic San Diego neighborhood Thai restaurant. Nothing wrong with that, but not worth an out of the way drive. The prices are in line with other San Diego Thai restaurants, and service is very nice as well.

Sala Thai Restaurant
6161 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Mon-Sat 11am-930pm
Sun 4pm-9pm

Happy Fourth!

July 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Blog

Best wishes for a safe and happy 4th of July!

Kealani’s

July 2, 2006 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

*** Kealani's has closed

It's been a while since I did a plate lunch post, and even longer since I've had a decent plate lunch. On a recent Monday that I had taken off, I decided to drive on up to Encinitas and have some grindz at Kealani's. Kealani's is pretty easy to find; once you hit the Encinitas sign you turn West on D Street.

And tucked away on West D Street is Kealani's.

We had visited Kealani's when we first moved to San Diego in 2001, and really didn't enjoy our plate lunches, and hadn't returned since. But several people have mentioned how much they enjoy Kealani's, so I decided to make an effort and return.

When you enter Kealani's you'll notice a little shop to your left, among the knick-knacks you'll find Kauai Kookie and Lion Coffee.

The menu is full of "local" favorites, like Chicken Long Rice, Kalua Pig, Pipi Kaula, and others…

I decided to go with the 2 item combination called the "Mt Ka'ala"($7.50). Now why can't they just call it Mixed Plate, like back home? Today, I decided on the Sweet n' Sour Spareribs and Chicken Katsu as my meats.

The plate came with the requisite "two scoops, rice, one scoop mac salad". I thought the macaroni salad was pretty good, just enough mayo, and some celery, for texture and flavor. It also was NOT the usual bland mac salad that I've come across, with nice amount of pepper in the salad.

The Sweet n' Sour Spareribs, were not the usual spareribs per se' since they were boneless, so there's no mess here! The pork had a nice soy-sugar flavor, much like Okinawan Roast Pork(Think sweet adobo). There was almost no sour flavor, which really didn't hurt the dish very much. The pork could have been more tender, but I still enjoyed it.

The Chicken Katsu was lightly coated with panko, and the chicken was nice and moist. A decent version. The sauce was the ketchup based, "local-style" katsu sauce which I enjoyed.

I also ordered a Mini Teriyaki Chicken($4.50)"all-rice", to go, for the Missus:

The Missus's critique? "Pre-cooked, then dipped in sauce. Tasted ok, but the chicken was dry."

Kealani's serves a pretty decent plate lunch, better then most of those Hawaiian BBQ places popping up everywhere. The service was fine when I managed to get some. I'd return if I were in the area. Well, I need to, I still haven't had the Loco Moco here.

Kealani's
137 W D St
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 94-ALOHA

Mon-Tue 11:00AM- 8:00PM
Wed 11:00AM- 6:00PM
Thu-Sat 11:00AM- 8:00PM
Closed Sunday

also at

207 N Coast Hwy
Oceanside, CA 92054

Portland: The Saturday Market

July 1, 2006 mmm-yoso Portland, Oregon, Travel

For my last post on my trip to Portland, I thought I’d do The Portland Saturday Market, on a Saturday. Established in 1974, by a group of local Artisans, the Saturday Market takes place on every weekend(including Sundays) from the end of March, through Christmas Eve. The listing of Artisans is quite staggering at over 350. I took the Max light rail, which stopped right under the Burnside Bridge, and what was an empty parking the previous day(I rode Max around, just to check out "da’ haps…."), was now buzzing….

As was the area across the tracks.

I took a walk up the steps to take a photo of the famous "Made in Oregon" sign, but the Burnside Bridge was closed for repairs, so this is what I got:

Back at the market, there seemed to be everything from Neon…..

To calligraphy.

To Tie-Die.

Needless to say; I managed to get quite a bit of shopping done for "Da’ Boyz", and the Missus. But in the end it always comes down to…..

Yep….food. The food offerings at the Saturday Market Food Court are quite varied.

Even Plate Lunch…well sort of. Mostly Yakisoba and "stuff".

Some really fun signs.

One sign that caught my eye was this:

Okay, I give….what the heck is a Himalayan food booth going to serve?

So having been reeled in, I ordered the "Tour of Asia"($6.00):

Quite a bit of food here. Most of it was kind of "daal"…… Most of the dishes seem to borrow heavily from Indian Cuisine, from the mild Chicken Vindaloo(the potatoes where much better tasting then the chicken), to the Curried Vegetables, to the "dull" daal. The best item on the plate were the 2 dumplings, called "Momo", which had a nice amount of flavor, think of a Jiaozhi with some Middle Eastern spices. I ate most of what was on my plate, but was somewhat unsatisfied, and looked for something else.

Which turned out to be an order of Garlic Fries from the Wing-N-It booth. (I didn’t keep track, I think it was like $3.50) Could have used a bit more garlic, but the fries were made from potatoes freshly cut to order. So I grabbed my fries and sat across the Rogue Brewery booth. I think the description "Food Court" is pretty accurate, though I think the food is maybe a step better than the usual, "same chicken, with a different sauce" that is the norm at most food courts.