August 2006 – mmm-yoso

Hoai Hue Deli/Food To Go

August 31, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Hoai Hue has moved a couple of blocks west. You can find and updated post here.

I first heard about Hoai Hue during a conversation about Bun Bo Hue, that wonderful Spicy Beef Noodle soup originating from the city of Hue in Central Vietnam. In fact, several sources have told me that Hoai Hue makes either the best, or second best Bun Bo Hue in San Diego. So about 3 weeks ago, I finally made it to Hoai Hue Deli.

Much like the instructions I received for Chinese Kitchen, I wasn't given a name, just a general location, with one really good piece of information……it was downstairs from Hung's Tattoo Parlor and a AA office. I think this tells you about the neighborhood. The location is rather seedy, and the parking lot is full of double and triple parked cars(I park on the street). A Vietnamese coffee shop, Cafe Viet occupies the area fronting the street. Notice the bars on the windows. I immediately knew that Ed from Yuma would love this place.

The interior of the restaurant is small, with 7 little tables. There is one copy of the small (20 items) menu on the counter. You place your order, and declare whether you'll be doing take-out, or be eating on the premises.

On the table sits the standard plastic tray of condiments, a napkin dispenser, and eating utensils. I placed my order for a bowl of Bun Bo Hue($5), and had a seat. I had lucked out, and gotten the only open table in the place, and watched a steady flow of customers picking up take-out orders, all the while mentally rubbing my hands together in glee thinking, "man, all these customers can't be wrong, this place must really be good."

At last my Bun Bo Hue arrived, along with the garnishes.

As you can see, the garnishes left much to be desired; a sprig of mint, lettuce, some bean sprouts, 2 whole chilies, and a wedge of lime.

The Bun Bo Hue, was a whole 'nother story:

The broth was good, very balanced between the flavor of beef, spiciness, and just a hint of sour. The pungent flavor I enjoy in Bun Bo Hue was missing, but I added some of the shrimp paste from the condiment tray to bring it up to my taste. The thick slices of beef were tender and had a good flavor. The tendon was served in pretty thick chunks that were borderline inedible. But the star of the show was the Pork Hock.

There was a good amount of soft and flavorful meat, instead of the usual, "inner tube on a bone" that most places serve. I also enjoyed the vermicelli, which seemed to be a bit thicker than the noodles served in most Bun Bo Hue. Overall, a pretty good bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

At that point I thought, I'd just do a Bun Bo Hue Dossier post, except that a few menu items caught my attention. Well, there can be only a few menu items, since the menu was really small. So, I decided to return in a few days, only to be derailed by a nasty virus. In the interim Ed from Yuma managed to pay Hoai Hue a visit. His post on Chowhound can be found here.

So this past week, finally recovered, I talked the Missus into having dinner at Hoai Hue. As we arrived and parked on the street, the Missus turned to me and said: "You have got to be kidding?" Ah yes, we had arrived. We entered and walked up to the counter. This time, when we tried to order, there was a communication problem….that is, no one spoke any English. Finally, someone from the kitchen who understood what we were ordering was found. There seemed to be at least 5 or 6 people working in the kitchen. Ordering done, we sat, and soon enough our food started arriving.

Banh Beo($2.75):

10 discs of rice cake smothered with ground shrimp, and topped with pork rinds and green onions, these had alot of flavor, and were much better than the version at Pho Tu Do. The Missus thought them a bit too fishy, but I enjoyed the texture and flavor.

Banh It($2.75):

These very filling balls of steamed rice flour were filled with shrimp and ground pork, and were not as oily as the version at Pho Tu Do. Our only complaint would be that these were served cold.

Banh Bot Loc($2.50):

Delivered steaming to our table were these tapioca starch dumplings wrapped in banana leaves. Those leaves imparted a smoky, tea-like fragrance and flavor to the Banh Bot Loc. The dumplings themselves were filled with shrimp and pork, and were the hit of the meal.

The Missus and I also split the Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet($6), the house special Bun Bo Hue, which came in a huge bowl.

The Missus has started enjoying Bun Bo Hue, Her favorite being the version at Pho Ca Dao. The difference, other than the quantity of ingredients, is the addition of two thick(3/4") slices of Gio Lua(Lean Pork Sausage). On this occasion, the three huge and thick slices of tendon were too tough and inedible, and the beef dry. I was wondering if the crew was just finishing up for the day, and perhaps things were just slowing down. The Missus enjoyed the noodles, She is not a fan of the vermicelli in most bowls of Bun Bo Hue, but enjoyed this version, though She found the broth lacking in rich saltiness and added fermented shrimp paste as well.

We ended up taking home about half of the appetizers, and enjoyed them a bit later on. As we were leaving we spotted two Women thoroughly enjoying themselves, they were having the same items we were, except they each had their own bowl of Bun Bo Hue. At the pace they were keeping, don't think they were going to have any leftovers……

Hoai Hue Deli/Food To Go
4776 El Cajon Blvd Ste 106
San Diego, CA 92115

Open Daily 8am – 7pm

Western Steakburger

August 30, 2006 mmm-yoso Burgers, Diner, Greek Food

*** Western Steakburger has closed

I'm not quite sure if Western Steakburger is a franchise or a chain, but I know that there are at least two of them in San Diego(the other in Serra Mesa). I'll often stop by the shop on University Avenue when I'm in the area and grab a burger. Though with this food blogging thing, not often enough, since I haven't been here in a while……

This Western Steakburger, which an acquaintance of mine calls "Western Steakburger West", has a real Mom-and-Pop feel to it.

The Owners are usually hard at work, with Maria(I think that's Her name) manning the counter, and "Gus" manning the grill, at this Greek-Burger joint. The drill goes like this; you order at the counter, pay, and grab a seat. When your order is ready, you pick it up, and proceed to devour it. Here's part of a menu for RONW's reading pleasure. I know I haven't posted one in a while.

Bring the "stick in the mud" that I am, I usually go for the same thing. 1/2 pound Western Deluxe($5.85), no mayo, no ketchup, with grilled onions(add $1.25). Today it dawned on me that I'd never had the fries here, so I added fries(add $1.35), as the Missus says; "whoa, living on the edge, huh?". All burgers are grilled, and you can sometimes watch the flames rising in the air, I keep what it would take to set off the Halon(or whatever they use nowadays)…..

The patties here are formed into a sort of oval shape, and the meat is course ground. And yes, that is Gyros meat on the burger. The burger is always fairly moist, in spite of the grilling, though I sometimes find the burger very under-seasoned. I enjoy the taste of the grilled onions, but on this visit I found the Gyro meat to be very bland. Though this burger beats any mass produced burger by miles….

It is quite a mouthful. I found the fries to be nothing special, and they were not salted. I don't think I'll have them in the future. One last item, I enjoy the well toasted bun. Still that flavorless Gyro meat gave me some concern, since I saw them cut it fresh…..

So on my next visit, I ordered the Gyro Sandwich($5.65).

I don't think I've ever had a Gyro Sandwich with so much meat in it. The sandwich itself must have weighed in at three-quarters of a pound. Unfortunately, the meat was on the mild side, and the flame grilling left it dry and hard. The Tzatziki also wasn't to my taste, being quite mild, with no herbs, and very little flavor.

So I think I'll stay with the burger. During my visit, almost everyone ordered the Teriyaki Burger, which I guess is a popular choice…..

I think that Western Steakburger really isn't worth a special trip, it's not the best burger in San Diego by a long shot. But if you're in the area that I call the "Dead Zone", the area between Hillcrest and North Park, Western Steakburger isn't a bad choice.

Western Steakburger
2730 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

Golden City: A New Beginning Part 2

August 28, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

After a satisfying meal at the “new” Golden City(and quite a bit of leftovers as well), we decided that one good turn deserved another. This time we decided on 2 items that were “kept” from the old menu, and 1 new item that caught our fancy.

We started with an old favorite the Peking Duck, 2 courses, at eighteen bucks, pretty much a bargain. To our surprise, instead of the slices of duck skin lying on shrimp chips, surrounded by “buns”, Golden City now does their Peking Duck “cart style”.

The Young Man wheeled our friend out on His own little cart and made short work of Him. After trimming off most of the skin, Mr Duck was taken to the back room and worked over.

Though I found the duck to be better flavored than the version from the Old Golden City, most of the rich subcutaneous fat had rendered off, and thereby losing some of the richness I enjoy. The Missus, not a fan of duck fat, thought these were very good. The duck was served with shredded Scallions and Hoisin Sauce. Only one small complaint; the scallions apparently had been lying around; they were tough, dry, and tasteless.

A steamer insert of buns was brought to the table, steaming hot. I thought these were much too thick and large for the petite slices of duck. Overall, not the highest quality duck, but a bargain at eighteen bucks. And let’s not forget the chopped duck in lettuce cups, the second course.

I daresay the Missus enjoys this more than the duck skin. Duck is stir fried with Scallions and Jicama, creating a great contrast in textures. The taste is a rich sweetness, to go along with hints of 5 spice.

One of my favorite dishes is Kwai Fei Chicken, a cold chicken dish(half chicken $8.95):

This version was much different than what I’m used too; first off, instead of the usual pale white color, the skin of the chicken was a light brown. The chicken also had a very nice 5 spice, wine, and soy flavor. I really didn’t need the minced ginger-scallion oil for flavoring at all. The chicken was cooked perfectly, no hint of blood dripping from the bones, and the meat was moist and tender.

The most satisfying dish of the evening was the Chaozhou Beef Stew ($12.95):

A Chiuchow version of the standard Beef Brisket with Turnip Hot Pot. The soup was brought to our table in a stainless steel hot pot, with flammable gel in the chamber below. Unfortunately, the Server forgot to light the gel, no big deal. The light broth was full of flavor, and much more complex than its color would indicate. The meat was a very flavorful brisket, the cut of meat also included the fat cap and the connective tissue, which could be somewhat off-putting to some, but not for us. Buried under then meat were matchstick sized slices of radish(daikon), along with preserved vegetable, which added to the flavor of the broth. All of this topped off with basil, cilantro, and scallions.

Man that was good!

It seems that the new version of Golden City serves up some pretty good food. I’m hoping that they can keep it up, and give us another option for Chinese Food in the Clairemont area.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am – Midnight

We recently did a revisit post on 12/17/06, it can be found here.

Dragonfruit

August 27, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Well, I’m feeling much better, and should resume regular posting tomorrow. In the interim check out this scary dude:

Almost seems like if you tried to bite it, it would bite you back, doesn’t it? It was given to me by friends from their Mom’s back yard. It’s called Dragonfruit, and I’d never tried this before. Here’s a look at the interior of the fruit.

Funny thing, after reading about it, I realized we had this type of "creeping cactus" in our yard when I was growing up, but for some reason I don’t remember any fruit.

According to the Missus, the flavor is similar to Kiwi fruit, the texture is somewhat grainy and gritty. And yes, you eat the seeds and all, just cut in half, and scoop out the flesh. You learn something new everyday!

Golden City: A New Beginning Part 1

August 23, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

Since the “New” Golden City opened back in September, I made the restaurant a little “side project” of mine. The intent was to see how the “New and improved” compared to the original restaurant, where we were pretty regular customers. I must admit; my excitement took control, and I was the first customer when the doors opened on Sept 26th, 2005. At that time, I thought that doing a series of posts on a particular restaurant and watching how the food developed would be interesting, sort of a “life cycle” of a restaurant thing. Little did I know how true to life this life cycle thing would become. My second post covered the late night specials. And it seemed like the food was not as good as the original. The third post covered a dinner and a lunch where I had the exact same dish as I ate on opening day.

Unfortunately, Golden City could never carve out it’s niche on the Chinese restaurant front in San Diego, and in July of this year, the restaurant changed hands. And so awhile back, the Missus and I decided to pay a visit to the “new” Golden City.

Well, the signs looked the same, and the interior was basically the same; maybe a bit more “freshened up”, and posters of various Chinese dishes lined the walls. In what was another change, the tanks in the rear of the restaurant were full of crab and lobster, quite an ambitious sign.

We found that the menu was very similar to the previous Golden City, except for some strategically placed dishes. We also recognized our server; he used to work at China Max, we thought that a good sign. After all, who would leave China Max for a new restaurant, unless the prospect seemed positive.

The Missus seemed smitten with a few of the items on the posters, so we placed our order.

Since I was recovering from a cold, we started with a soup; Shredded Duck w/Chinese Chive soup (large $12.95):

The soup arrived piping hot, much to the approval of the Missus; She has a thing about soup being really hot. The broth had a wonderful color, and the texture was a perfect velvety texture. Unfortunately, everything else about the soup came up short; the flavor was terribly unbalanced, you could taste nothing but chives, unless you bit into a piece of duck. The chive flavor overwhelmed everything in the soup, even white pepper couldn’t damper the tastes of chives…and I love chives…except when there’s duck involved!

The Sizzling Lamb Chops($15.96) was my choice:

The one thing that stood out about this dish, was how tender the lamb chops were. The chops were melt in your mouth tender, and I do mean melt in your mouth tender. I could have done with a more rich lamb flavor, but the Missus enjoyed the sweet-soy flavor. We’ve had the Lamb Chops with Black Pepper Sauce several times at China Max, and they have never been as tender as these. The presentation, and flavoring at China Max may be a bit more sophisticated, but the flavors(overdone peppercorn, with no sweet overtones) are not as pleasing to us as these Lamb Chops.

In a surprise pick, the Missus went with the Steamed Crab over Rice. By surprise, I mean that the Missus is pretty picky about crab; having grown up in QingDao, She is used to fresh and flavorful seafood; be it crab or crawfish(yes, crawfish). She still doesn’t understand the purpose of drawn butter with seafood, other than to disguise a lack of flavor. I think that when we were told that the new Owners were originally from Hong Kong, and that the cooking “Crew”(that was the choice of words) were from LA, She felt emboldened. Soon enough our dish arrived (Crab at Market price $12/lb – 2lb crab, plus $6 prep and rice = total $30):

We had seen our Server (His name is Alan, for those who knew the Servers at China Max) wrestle out the crab from the tank. It was delivered in a Lotus Leaf lined steamer insert; the crab had been steamed on a bed of rice that had been mixed with various Chinese Herbs, Egg, and fish eggs, so that the flavor of the crab had permeated the rice. We both thought the crab had been slightly over steamed, but the Missus still thought it was quite good, though very messy. Golden City needs to invest in some crackers and other implements. I had a few pieces of crab(in deference to the Missus who really does enjoy it more than I), and destroyed the crab flavored rice, which was so rich, so flavorful, and so filling. For us, on this evening, well worth the price. Little did we know, we’d be back within a week.

Some notes: Golden City has maintained the Lunch and Late Night menu, though it sounded as if it may be changed in the future.

Part 2 coming up…….

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am – Midnight

Updates can be found here and here.

The Bun Bo Hue Dossier – Thien Thanh

August 22, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Update Thien Thanh has since closed, you can find that post here.

In stark contrast to the hottest July I can remember, we’re having a pretty mild August. So in spite of the bad case of conjunctivitis(since resolved), and a nasty respiratory virus that needs to run its course(I sound like I’m trying out for a Barry White tribute band), soup’s on the menu.

Recently we made another trip to Thien Thanh. While the Missus stuck with Her usual Bun Cha Gio(Cold Noodles w/Egg Rolls), I decided to try out Ed from Yuma’s favorite bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

Though most items on the menu are more expensive than other Vietnamese restaurants in the area, there are several things which set Thien Thanh apart. One of which is how very bright and clean the restaurant is.

Another are the really fresh herbs and garnishes that are provided. So fresh, that they seem to have been picked right before your bowl of soup hits the table.

On this day, it seemed like the garnish plate was a bit on the skimpy side. But I understood why when my bowl of Bun Bo Hue hit the table (Large – $6.50):

A good amount of Rau Ram(Vietnamese Coriander), and Basil had already been torn up and sprinkled on top of the Bun Bo Hue. So with just a touch of Tiet To(Purple Perilla), and some mint, I went at it. The broth was quite interesting, spicy, yet the usual "fishy"(fermented shrimp paste) element was muted. I also noticed that the broth was on the sour side; I had the Missus confirm that there was a very distinct lime-citrus component(think Tom Yum) to the Bun Bo Hue. The noodles were the standard spaghetti-like vermicelli, provided in abundance.

Along with the standard Pig’s Feet and thick cut Beef, were a few slices of Gio Lua(Lean Pork Sausage). The fat on the beef were really tough, and the beef was dry. On the positive side, the pork hock had some flavorful meat on it, and not only the inner-tube like layer of skin.

Overall, I thought this was a very filling, decent bowl of Bun Bo Hue. Not the best I’ve had but pretty good.

Thien Thanh has quite an interesting menu. In the near future I’m hoping to make my way through the Bun Cha Hanoi(can you imagine how good those veggies will be!), Curry Lamb, Bun Mang Vit, and the Bun Mam. I don’t know, anyone interested in seeing posts about those? Or would you like me just to move on????

Thien Thanh Vietnamese Restaurant
4658 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Sun-Thurs 8am-9pm
Fri-Sat 8am-10pm

Silver Ark – Revisited

August 20, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

*** Silver Ark has closed and is now Siam Nara Restauant

We first visited Silver Ark several weeks past, and arrived at the end of Dim Sum service, since I thought the service was quite good, and the food showed some promise; I used the photos from that visit as the "Guess the Dim Sum" post. So in order to see if the promise was fulfilled we arrived at 11am on a recent weekend morning.

The smaller than it looks dining area was about two-thirds full.

Because of space and staff limitations, there are only two carts circulating through the dining area at any given moment, though the Servers will take orders for specific dishes.

We started with the dish we found so promising on our previous visit. The porridge with pork and preserved egg:

And what we had thought about the really great bowl of Jook we had on our last visit was true. Though there was a very generous amount of preserved egg, and strips of pork, rather than ground pork, the porridge was not as rich and full of flavor. I guess having it simmer for several hours really made the difference. It was still pretty good.

The Wu Gok(Deep Fried Taro Balls):

These had way too much taro, and not enough pork, which threw the flavor off. Just okay.

Shrimp and Scallop Dumpling:

By far the best Dim Sum dish of the day. Lot's of shrimp flavor. The only downside was that the wrappers were too thick making the skin tough and dry.

The Stuffed Bean Curd Skin:

These were overcooked, the bean curd skin were tough, and almost crunchy in places. Terrible.

Shrimp and Chive Har Gow:

We both enjoyed the good chive flavor, and the shrimp was pretty good. These dumplings suffered from the same ailment as the Shrimp and Scallop dumpling, the wrappers were too thick and dry.

We had also ordered Cheong Fun with Dried Shrimp, and as our meal was ending it arrived.

This was a very strange dish. I don't know what the reason was for pan-frying the Cheong Fun was. Perhaps it was sitting around? But pan frying the Cheong Fun ruined the dish, the noodle had a crust, and the interior had melted and were molten. Pan frying had also changed the flavor, and not for the good. In addition a little dish of Hoisin was provided instead of the usual sweet soy. I dunno, but this ain't what I ordered.

Still the price was right. All this came out to $20. Not bad.

Here's a little postscipt. We were in the area again recently and dropped by for a recent late afternoon "snack".

We started with the Thousand Year Egg and Fish Fillet w/Cilantro soup($9.99):

The broth was was quite good and rich, though the soup was short on preserved egg, and the fish fillet were on the tough side. It felt like the fish was a bit on the older side.

With some apprehension I ordered a Half Roast Duck($9.99). I say some apprehension, because I had seen the ducks hanging in the take out area, and they looked a bit on the dry-scrawny side.

What we got was a quite generous serving of roast duck. And the first thing the Missus did was check under the duck. Restaurants sometimes use beans to "prop-up" the slices of duck, to make the serving look larger. Well no beans here. The duck was meaty and tender, and the skin a perfect crunchy lacquer. The meat was a bit short on flavor. But a dip into the "duck juice" on the plate(not the horrible sweet-sour duck sauce provided) corrected the flavor short coming. By no means the best roast duck I've ever had, but pretty good. I'd have it again.

In the end, our initial impression stands. Silver Ark, is a notch below the better Hong Kong style restaurants in San Diego. Still not a bad choice.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Chinese Kitchen (Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang) Part Deux…..

August 18, 2006 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

As I mentioned in my brief first part of my posts on Chinese Kitchen; I had finally found the restaurant after being given some general instructions…."On University, East of College" and a phone number.

Now had I not paid attention to the various dishes posted on the store front window, there is no way I'd have entered the little restaurant.

After checking out the very extensive listing of Chinese "take-out" dishes, I noticed the small menu on the South Wall.

And there it was, Bun Mang Vit. Mang is Bamboo Shoot, and Vit is Duck, so basically a Bamboo & Duck Noodle Soup. I walked up to the window (aka the hole-in-the-wall) and placed my order with the Young Man manning the window. After I ordered he started asking me questions in Vietnamese. At which point I had to say, "ummm, sorry, I don't speak Vietnamese." And He started laughing. Apparently I'd pronounced the dish well enough for Him to think I was Vietnamese. He was also quite shocked, first wondering how I found the restaurant(I told Him someone had recommended the place), and second if I knew what I was ordering. At which point I asked Him about some other items on the "other" Vietnamese menu with no prices.

I mentioned that I enjoyed Bun Mam and Bun Rieu. He told me that those items were only available for "catering" or large orders. Since I had nowhere to go, I had a seat at one of the 4 small tables in the restaurant.

And soon enough my Bun Mang Vit($5) arrived. First, the herbs, vegetables, and the sliced duck:

Included on this plate were shredded banana blossom, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and even Rau Ram(Vietnamese Coriander) which I don't recall seeing at too many other restaurants in San Diego. The sliced duck was very good, surprisingly good, soft and tender, and when dipped into the accompanying sauce, sort of a sweeter Nuoc Mam Cham with minced garlic and ginger, the duck was heavenly. I mentioned this to the Young Man who said, they get their poultry "very fresh"(I'll just leave it at that), and prepare the duck. Thus it is never frozen.

At this point my bowl of soup arrived.

It was brought out by the Young Man's Mother, who I'm assuming is the "Chef". She sat the bowl down, and started to explain to me what should be eaten with what, which I found to be very kind and sweet, She wanted me to get the maximum enjoyment out of the soup. And I'm sure She is very proud of what comes out of Her kitchen, as any cook would be.

The soup was a very light poultry broth, low in oil, and quite plain, cubes of blood were also provided(not my favorite thing in the world, but I didn't know they were included), The standard "Bun" vermicelli, and shredded pieces of reconstituted bamboo shoot, that added a "woodsy" flavor to the broth, and provided a crunchy counterpoint to the noodles. All in all quite a filling and satisfying meal.

A few days later I found myself in the area, and decided to grab something to take home. This time I decided on the Mien Mang Vit($5). The same large amount of veggies, and sliced duck were provided, along with the Mien(Bean Thread) in a separate container.

Here's a closer look at the Rau Ram(at the top of the photo) in case you've never seen Rau Ram before.

The soup was kept in a separate container, which I poured into a bowl when I got home, and placed in the microwave for 1 minute to heat up.

And while I inhaled the duck along with sauce(provided in a little container on the side), I placed the veggies and herbs in the broth. And ended up with this.

I thought that this time around, the broth was a bit darker, and richer in flavor. Also, because the dried bamboo shoot had further time to "steep" in the broth during the drive home, the broth had attained a more "Earthy" flavor. I enjoyed the Mien more than the Bun, though I thought the duck was not quite as good as on my previous visit.

Overall, an interesting Family Run Hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese/Chinese joint. I've been told the American-Chinese fast-food isn't bad, but I've got my eye on the Banh Canh Tom Cua for my next visit.

Some notes: Unless you're really familiar with the neighborhood, you'd probably want to visit during daylight hours. People have the bad habit of driving on the sidewalk here, I've seen it during both my visits. The restaurant may seem a bit on the shabby side, but they got an 'A' DOH rating. There is parking on the front of the restaurant, along with a few stalls on the side of the restaurant.

Chinese Kitchen
6160 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92115

619-286-8778

Open 10am – 10pm Daily(Or later…..as the Young Man said, "If we're busy we'll stay open as late as we need to")

Chinese Kitchen Part 1 – ?????

August 16, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Over the last year, I’ve gotten many really good recommendations. And a recent recommendation came from the Guys at Sandwich Emporium. The problem was no one could remember the name of the restaurant, so they called their Mom(when in doubt, call Mom). Just so happened, She didn’t remember the name of the restaurant either, but She had a phone number, and also the street, and some general directions. And so I ended up on University Avenue, in the gritty and slightly run down area East of College Avenue. And there was only one place that even matched the description. It was called Chinese Kitchen???? Say What!

As I parked and walked into the tiny shop, the menu gave me pause.

It was a listing of every single Cantonese Fast-Food dish ever created. A scary combination of Chop Suey, Chow Mein, and Kung Pao Chicken!

I had not come to this tiny hole-in-the-wall, and there is a literal hole-the-wall, for Chinese Fast Food.

So even though the Chinese Food was really inexpensive, darned cheap actually, would I find what I came for?

Stay tuned………..

Kim’s Korean BBQ

August 14, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Kim's has closed

Located in the Jumbo Strip mall, at the corner of Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue, next to a Hometown Buffet and Chuck E Cheese in National City….yep, National City, is Kim's Restaurant. A Korean BBQ in the most unlikely of all places.

I'd been in the area several times, but always thought the doorway to the restaurant seemed a bit uninviting.

But today, I took a walk down the dark hallway lined with a few doors, and past a "private" BBQ room, to the front desk, and met with a slightly surprised look. Perhaps I looked like a refugee from Chuck E Cheese's next door. After the surprised look faded, a smile appeared, and I was guided to a table, and brought a menu. The interior of the restaurant is fairly large, and really contrasted with the slightly run down exterior.

As I read through the menu, full of the usual suspects, BiBimBap, Dofu Jigae, and various meat both marinated and unmarinated for BBQ, I was told that a minimum of 2 orders of meat was required in order to use table top cooking. I really didn't feel like smelling like a piece of grilled meat myself, so I had no problem with not cooking my own. I placed my order, and proceeded to get hooked on the Korean Soap Opera playing on the plasma television.

I know it's cheesy, silly, and predictable, but I kept watching the show.

Soon enough my panchan arrived, 8 little dishes all told, along with a plate of sliced romaine, and thinly sliced radish.

The panchan was consistently unremarkable, and nothing stood out. The Baechu(Napa Cabbage), and Oi(Cucumber) Kimchi were very mild, and one dimensional, lacking any any sweet, slightly sour, fishy, or spicy flavor that would make it memorable. The same for the pieces of Gochu Pajun(green onion pancake), Namul(Ban Sprouts), Sliced Mushroom, etc. If I had to select one that was the best, it would be the spinach with garlic.

I had ordered the "full order" of Bulgogi($16.95). There is a "smaller" order of Bulgogi for $10.95 on the menu as well. And soon enough a large sizzling plate of Bulgogi was brought to my table. Along with the usual metal bowl of rice, and a small bowl of watered down Miso Soup(!).

Once the Bulgogi had settled, it was time to get to work with the greens and sliced radish.

Never having read the "manual" on eating in this manner; I was once shown the correct way to eat, by placing a small piece(s) of Bulgogi on my plate, place some of the greens on top, cover with the slice of radish, and ta-da!!!!

You got yourself some "insta-dumpling" action going on. I enjoyed the slightly pickled flavor of the crisp radish, the greens were drenched in a dressing that was way too sour, and covered with chili powder, the Bulgogi was very soft and tender, though coming up short in the flavor department. Still the Bulgogi was light years better than the version at another restaurant that I had eaten recently. After eating about 6 of these, I started on just the Bulgogi and Rice, and in the end had quite a bit to take home. Overall the Bulgogi and the Panchan were nothing to write home about, and gave me no reason to make the a trip out to National City in the future. If in the neighborhood during lunch, I may give one of those $5.99 lunch specials a try.

But then again, they must show that Korean Soap Opera every night, right??? Hmmmm……not that I'm hooked mind you; just an interested spectator.

The prices at Kim's BBQ, is about par with most Korean BBQ's. Galbi runs about $19-21, and most items range from $10.99 to $20. I thought the plates of panchan were on the small side, but there were 8 different types. The portion of Bulgogi was more than satisfactory. The service was adequate, and once the Young Lady realized that I wasn't a wayward Hometown Buffet customer she was very nice. I'd say the food is several notches below Seoul BBQ in flavor, but just as tender. And I don't think there are too many other Korean restaurants in the area. If you know of one, please let me know!

Kim's Restaurant
1141 Highland Ave
National City, CA 91950