January 2007 – mmm-yoso

Island Town…inside First Korean Market

January 31, 2007 Cathy Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy feels like blogging and Kirk doesn't. Thanks for reading my meal adventures.

Hi. Cold again…. If you lived in San Diego forever ago, you remember Woo Chee Chong. It was the first Asian market I ever went to. There were three locations and all of them had a small deli/hot food area where you could buy Peking Duck on Fridays and hot food to go, usually sold by the pound all week long. I remember we would buy the 5 spice BBQ pork for $3.99 a pound…

So, anyhow, they all closed in 1993 and the one on Convoy Street remained a market. Its in the same parking lot as Dumpling Inn and technically the same one as Jasmine Seafood. First Korean Market. I have no idea what the "Orient Bowl" sign is about. It is not as large as Zion, but it has a good variety of foods, fresh meats, fish and vegetables.

On the far Northernmost wall there is a large refrigerator section filled only with Kim Chee.

…and the area where the deli counter used to be is just inside to the right of the front door. There is a menu above it, with photos and also this take home one The Mister brought home for me to look at.

So, you know, I had to go.

There are six (6) CHAIRS total in front of two tabletops configured at a 90° angle from each other at that front door area.

The people working there are all family. They take great pride in making each meal, with mom bringing it around the corner and placing it in front of you, even though they could hand it to you over the counter.

So, I me The Mister here after work one evening and I had to try # 19, the shrimp tempura udon ($6.99)

Three tempura'd shrimp, nice and crispy, topped with the dried seaweed powder. A nice, rich broth and very chewy udon that remained chewy through the whole bowl. The Mister tried the #4, Galbi combo ($8.99).

A nice portion of galbi marinated beef ribs, rice, miso, 4 California rolls and 3 pieces of sashimi. The beef was excellent, and so was the rice. The miso was OK, not too watery and the California roll was with real (not fake) crab. The tuna sashimi was sliced thin and good and the shrimp was not bad. There was a lot of food. We also got hot tea from the hot pot next to the cash register.

On another day, I asked The Mister to bring home something for dinner…and, of course he did. I had a craving for # 24, the spicy tuna and vegetable bowl (Chirashi) ($7.99).

The Veggies(and there were a lot; its heavy and I imagine would be served in a large bowl, as Chirashi is at Happy Meal and Nozomi) are mostly cabbages with some sliced green onions and then it is topped with fish roe and also some tempura crunchies. Rice is sent separately in the "to go" box and there were two servings of what is probably Sriracha, although I did not see any Sriracha at the restaurant. The tuna was fresh, tasty and plentiful, and all at the bottom of the cabbage. I uncovered a bit so you could see, but there was a lot. Like pretty much the whole bottom of the box a lot…which was also part of the weight of it all.

The Mister wanted to try 9, the Shrimp Tempura Roll ($5.50) .

There were two tempura'd shrimp in here, real crab meat and lots of crunchies on the outside . It was refreshing and not as expensive at other places.

The Mister also wanted to try the Cutlet Combo (#13) ($8.99) and it came in two packages. They knew it was a 'to go' and clipped the corners on the Styrofoam box transporting the fish, shrimp and pork cutlet that were fried, so they arrived home still crispy. (If you recall, both Kirk and I complained about the soggy tempura on the "To Go" meals from Chopstix Too….this is the solution). The fried fish was excellent, as was the shrimp and the pork cutlet was juicy and had a good flavor. The combo box also came with four pieces of California Roll (real crab; not bad), shredded cabbage, rice and plenty of the various sauces necessary for a good meal.

Island Town does a lot of catering/makes trays to go. We saw some people picking up a tray of 110 California Rolls ($30) on a Friday night . (I counted: 14 by 7, plus 12 on top: I have no idea how they cut the original rolls).

As I said, its family run, and its inside the grocery store, so they kind of have access to the foods that may be either on sale or close to being thrown away anyhow. There are no lobster dishes on the menu, but they were being cooked on the grill when we walked in…

Island Town, inside First Korean Market 4625 Convoy Street, San Diego 92111 (858)571-7183

Closed Sundays. No credit cards, no checks!

Road Trip: Viendong Restaurant – Garden Grove(OC)

January 30, 2007 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Vien Dong has closed

The day after our aborted vacation, we decided to take a drive up to Garden Grove and check out a restaurant that was included on a list that the ever knowledgeable Wandering Chopsticks so very kindly provided for us. The name of the restaurant is Viendong, and is located on busy Brookhurst street.

The restaurant was fairly large, very bright, clean and roomy. With many large parties having a late lunch.

The menu was full of various dishes that I longed to try, from the Goi Mit(Jack fruit salad) to the Bun Bung.

We ordered some hot tea while we tried to decided what to order…now this is what I call a teapot!

We started with the Banh Tom($5.50):

We ordered this mainly because it was on almost every table…plus it looked really good. Some quick research showed that Banh Tom is "Deep Fried Sweet Potato and Shrimp Patties". Strips of sweet potato(think sweet potato fries) and shrimp are deep fried in a lacquer like batter, and served up with Nuoc Mam Cham and a generous amount of Lettuce, Mint, and Cilantro. We noticed that there were two different "schools" of eating; one set placed everything in a bowl, and ate the Banh Tom out of the bowl, another group did the "wrap" thing…so we tried a little of each. We found that the sweet potato had a very nice and delicate sweet flavor, so delicate, that it was lost when mixed or wrapped with herbs and dipped into the Nuoc Mam…though the textures were interesting. So we kinda just ate them like fries…..

The shrimp had a good crunch and flavor, though there really weren't many of them in the dish. the portion size was quite substantial…and the leftovers were still pretty good!

The Missus went according to character and ordered the Bun Rieu($4.95):

This was a nice looking bowl of Bun Rieu. The first thing we noticed was that the instead of a Crab/Shrimp "cake", the crab and shrimp were scattered about the soup. The Missus prefers the condensed flavor of a cake. The broth was very balanced, though quite mild in flavor, and needed the addition of lime and shrimp paste to bring it up. Not a bad bowl, but lacking in the depth of flavor that the Missus desired.

I ordered something I don't ever remember seeing before, Bun Gia Cay (Northern style Pig's Feet Stew – $5.50):

You can tell can't you? Man this was delici-yoso!!! Thick and rich, full of flavor, such a hearty stew. There was a generous amount of Pork Hock, and a plate of "Bun" (Vermicelli) was provided, along with a bowl on the side.

There was a mild curry flavor, and well…..it was just plain good stuff! I'll leave to someone else to describe. Let me just say, it made my day!

The service at Viendong was very good, friendly and helpful. I'm hoping to try some other items on the menu soon.

Thanks for the recommendation WC!

Viendong Restaurant
14271 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843

(714) 531-8253

Green Noodles, kim chee, teriyaki and, well a fusion-Nozomi

January 29, 2007 Cathy Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation, and apparently never was…but I have a few posts to put up because, well, I eat daily and am now used to documenting each meal. Oh, this is Cathy, BTW.

Hi. You drove by Nozomi…either in Carlsbad, that little corner in La Jolla or probably saw the one on Convoy Street, in the same mall with Convoy Noodle House…and you thought…what??? A Japanese place inside a mall with mostly Korean restaurants (and the Vietnamese Convoy Noodle house) Yep, me too. . .well, it turns out Nozomi is Japanese-Korean.

So, the menu…its extensive…with sashimi, sushi rolls…all kinds…like about 50 different rolls. There are photos in the front window, there are photos over the sushi bar inside..but not the take out menu, which is photocopied…and besides, we didn’t get any rolls. Nope. Soft shell crab was on the menu. We had to ($6.95).

Lightly breaded, crispy, quite large; not like the frozen soft shell crabs sold…in freezer sections of various stores. This reminded The Mister and I of soft shell crabs we’d get fresh back in Virginia. Then we were brought out two bowls of Kim Chee.
The kim chee on the left was more finely chopped, had a soy/salty base…basically was pickles with some red pepper interspersed and very good. The larger bowl was mostly with bok choy and other veggies and had a nice heat. Bowls and spoons came out with it. It was our "salad". The Mister ordered the Green Noodle soup, which we were warned came in a LARGE bowl ($8.95). Oh my… the bowl was 12 inches square…as large as a BIG old floor tile!
This photo was to show you what was in the bowl, after The Mister had removed one large bowl (that was for kim chee) of broth. The broth was *very* light…barely chicken flavored…it ended up needing the kim chee to be added to it. The noodles, by themselves were nice, chewy and a good texture…they had a nice not too deep but discernible vegetable flavor flavor. The soup had 2 full shrimp, one mussel, a lot of small chopped (canned) clams, potatoes, onions, squash and mushrooms in it. Way much food. Way filling. I ordered the dinner Bento Box ($9.95) with BBQ’d pork.
Salad, rice, 4 pieces of California roll (with real crab), tempura’d vegetables, one shrimp and one piece of fish. Oh the pork. First of all, it was a *huge* portion…and the flavor was superb. Grilled just enough to get some smoke into it and a light, not too sweet of a teriyaki sauce…saltier more than sweet sauce.
Lots of food, lots of flavor if you add the kim chee, fresh food, lots of different rolls and good service. Try it.

There are donburi and curries on the menu also.

Nozomi #1 4637 Convoy #104 San Diego 92111 (858) 569-7773
Nozomi #2 4159 Regents Park Row #190 La Jolla 92037 (858) 452-7778
Nozomi #3 3050 Pio Pico Drive #A Carlsbad 92008 (760) 729-7877

Vacation Interruptus, Sushi, and some other updates

January 28, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, Travel, yoso-silly

“ok Kirk give it up.. you’re not going to Washington” – from Andy The ABC.

I had to chuckle when I read that comment on my impending vacation post. Little did I know how close to the truth Andy was…so he can either see into the future, or he put some double voodoo hex on us.

To give just a summary of events:

First off our cab was 40 minutes late, I had to call the cab company twice. Maybe we should have just pulled the plug right then.

We manage to get to the airport, check in, and get to the gate just as our 820 Flight to Seattle is set to board. Great timing, or so we thought!

We board, and our flight never leaves….all power to the aircraft is turned off. Soon comes the announcement that there is a problem with the aircraft’s hydraulic system. First thought in my mind is, “I’m glad they caught it now”. So we sit for 45 minutes in an aircraft with no A/C, lights, etc, while technicians checked out the problem. Several minutes later we are asked to exit the aircraft, and the plane is whisked away…never to be seen again. We are asked to wait in the boarding area.

We wait……at about 10 am there is an announcement that the plane is being checked on further. At 1030, we are told that there will be an additional update at about noon, so please return to the gate then. At 1130, we are told that a part is being flown in, and it may just be a case of replacing that part….BUT, just in case, a top notch repair crew from LA is driving in!??!! We are given $6 meal vouchers…funny, but at sandwich costs $7.99, but hey the gate crew is very nice and apologetic.We check and all afternoon and early evening flights are “overbooked”, and I mean overbooked….and of course the standby list is growing. Poor folks who have connecting flights…. At 1230, we are told the part has arrived, a big cheer goes off in the boarding area. Lady next to us is calling around on her cellphone trying to find some other airline that has available seats…to no avail. I hear someone talking about driving to LAX to attempt to make the 5pm flight. It is getting surreal. At a little after 2pm, we are told the flight has been canceled, that we need to return to the ticket counter, to rebook….the mad stampede starts. In line at the ticket counter, one of the agents tells us to first go to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. The Missus and I both go “no way”…we’ll get ticketed first, if possible, than claim our luggage, which I’m pretty sure hasn’t been delivered to baggage claim yet, and return to check in. At a bit after 3pm we finally get to the counter, and the very apologetic agent tells us that the only flight available will be the 845pm flight, it will arrive in Seattle at 1130pm. I do a quick calculation…we’ll be cooped up at the Airport for another 5 hours. Get into Seattle, claim our luggage, by the time we catch the shuttle it’s be at least 1230am, get to the hotel and check in, by then it’ll be at least 130am….which means we’ll be dead tired and settled at maybe 3am…..no thanks. We’d have lost almost half of our vacation, be dead tired, and not enjoy ourselves. So we canceled. I went and waited for our luggage, which at this point still had not been delivered to baggage claim. The Missus started making phone calls, first She called Sammy and Frankie’s trainer, with whom we board Da’ Boyz. She then called the airline’s “Customer Care”, who gave Her a claim number, and basically told us, because we used an online service to book our vacation, we need to contact them. I know who’s going to get an interesting letter about things like contingency, planning, and a word called proactive…..I mean everyone is nice and apologetic, but how many times can you hear “I’m so sorry”, it starts to ring hollow after a while. We catch a cab back home, during which we make calls and manage to get refunds on the airfare and hotel. I also call the restaurants and cancel our reservations. Still, we lost out on cab fare, boarding costs, and other miscellaneous items. Not including the 8 hours of vacation I’ll never get back, at the end of the day we paid about a $100 or so for the pleasure of sitting in, and milling around Lindbergh Field for over 8 hours. Not quite the vacation I though of.

I’m just glad we didn’t need to be in Seattle. If this were a business trip, I would have just sucked it up, and soldiered along. I have done consulting work that required extensive travel in the past and have had my share of delays(it once took me 36 hours to get home), but I have never really written down a blow by blow account like this.

We picked up Da Boyz, and had to decide on dinner(this is a food blog after all, so you know I have to do something about food). After milling about with the mass of humanity, we really didn’t want to go to anywhere very crowded. The Missus wanted sushi…so we decided on Restaurant Yakata down in National City. In my previous posts on Yakata, I noted how the Itamae, Makoto told me that Friday and Saturday evenings are His slowest. So we arrived, and indeed, there was only one patron at the sushi bar, and one table occupied.

As usual, it was Omakase all the way here. We started with a nice combination sushi:

Just a quick rundown. As before the Hotategai(scallop) was fabulous, in fact the Missus requested another order. The real winner was the Albacore Belly.

So soft and rich, I thought it was Hamachi Toro. The Hamachi was good, I thought the Maguro to be on the dry and tough side.

I thought the Uni was good, but the Missus thought it was excellent, “sweet and creamy”.

The Missus and I shared a tempura appetizer(not pictured), and along with the second order of Hotategai(Makoto gave us the last of the Albacore Belly), Makoto made us this interesting gunkanmaki.

Uni and Tobiko(Flying fish roe) were put into a bowl, and mixed to a creamy consistency. Ika (squid) was sliced and combined with the Uni/Tobiko mixture. Whoa, good stuff, great combination of texture(crunchy tobiko, slightly chewy ika) and taste(sweet from the Uni, a slight briny flavor from the tobiko, some mild heat from the restrained use of wasabi).

Makoto than brought out a spring roll wrapper, moistened it, and created this:

Toro was then scraped and instead of mixing with Negi(green onion), it was combined with minced Jalapeno. Cucumber and Lettuce were added for texture, and to help “cool things down”. The sauce was a combination of Ponzu and Sriracha…a “Spicy Ponzu”. It was good, perhaps a bit too much going on, the flavor and texture of toro was kinda lost. Lot’s of flavor though. I asked Makoto what the name of this was…and he just shrugged…so we called it the “Makoto Burrito”…..

The last item was this:

In the middle of all of this was a shrimp tempura. The Missus didn’t like the combination of cool fish, with the still hot tempura. I thought the textures were interesting, but the flavor of the fish was a bit lost.

Overall, a very nice, relaxing meal. All told, which is what you see, plus the extra Hotategai, Tempura appetizer, and 2 large Sapporos was about $65.

**** Yakata has closed

Restaurant Yakata
2424 Hoover Ave
National City, CA 91950

A few updates:

Da’ Kine’s

I’d been told that Da’ Kines in Pacific Beach had closed, so I dropped by to check it out myself. And yes, they have closed:

And yes, they are closed. As I was walking away, I ran into a nice young man wearing a Da’ Kines sweater, and we struck up a short conversation. According to Daniel(I’m hoping I remembered His name correctly), Da’ Kines in National City and Mira Mesa are still open, and a new location at Liberty Station in Point Loma will be opening in the near future.

Chef Tony

“StR” left a comment on my post on Chef Tony, here’s the info:

“I just spoke with the owner on the phone. They have been closed for ~3 months (the building is going to be torn down), but they are planning to reopen at a new place (to be decided) within 1-2 months.”

I drove by ealier this afternoon, and yes, the entire mall is empty, including Chef Tony.

I’m hoping they have a successful reopening soon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A quick breakfast and free wifi-Panera

January 27, 2007 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Chains, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is vacation. Cathy is blogging away…Kirk is on a mini vacation with The Missus. Perhaps he is researching something for a more interesting post than this one…

Hi. Just thought I’d do a short post on …oh, carbs…keeping with the ‘forget about that New Years Resolution’ theme I seem to be running on. Panera is a national chain that bakes breads and sweets inside each store and sells pretty much fresh made carbs from 6 a.m. to about 10 p.m. daily, along with having free wifi available.

Many people go there for lunch to get sandwiches, soups, salads in various combinations. The Mister and I go there for breakfast…bagels, scones, mini quiches and coffee…The Mister reads the paper and I go on line.
The bagels I like here are the French Toast one…its a little softer and fluffier and has only a slight cinnamon mixed with vanilla flavor..and the Asagio Cheese bagel has just the saltiness I crave. I just get a toasted bagel and butter (89¢), no cream cheese…that doesn’t seem to add to the flavor (and costs more…I think the butter is a nice compliment to the fresh toasted bread flavor). The ham and cheese scone has a great texture and just enough herbs, small pieces of chopped ham and shredded cheese to make it satisfy the cravings I have in the morning.

The bear claws cost $1.99 and are, of course, freshly made with a nice filling…it is a sweet marzipan with more chopped almonds added….but I like the crust edges (the "claw" parts) with a little frosting and the sliced almonds that are toasted. My brother craves the bear claws from here.

Then there those little quiches. They make three types, one with spinach and bacon (shown), one with spinach and artichokes and a four cheese quiche. Each costs $3.69 and are kept on a warming tray and have the time two hours after they were taken out of the oven written on the bottom, so you will never get an old one. The crust is a delightful, light, buttery puff pastry and the filling is fluffy with eggs and cream and the fillings.

We usually buy a loaf of fresh made rye here. The small one costs $2.30 and I get it sliced. It is just wonderfully rye flavored with seeds and a nice crisp crust….and, yes, that’s my little iBook….with some very old Colorforms decorating it.

Really, we’ve never had soup or sandwiches here. Just bagels, scones, sweets, the small quiches and coffee. They have a coffee card, you buy 8 cups and get the 9th free. If you are eating in, get the coffee in a ceramic cup; it tastes better and doesn’t cost extra.

Panera, multiple locations Click here

Its cold, you know I don’t really crave sweets, but…Niederfrank’s Ice Cream

January 26, 2007 Cathy Desserts, Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is on vacation so you get to see what Cathy has been eating … in this weather.

Hi again. I know, its been, like, freezing out here in Sunny Southern California…well for 4 days in a row, last week, anyhow. I know better than to complain, but it’s something to do while the rest of the United States is having "their" Winter.

Ah, I blog about food, not weather…Oh…yes…OK. I will confess, when I was young, living in Detroit, we lived a few blocks from the Good Humor plant, and I could get all the ice cream novelties I ever wanted (toasted coconut and strawberry sundae on a stick being my favorites), Senate Sweet Shop and Sanders for banana splits with Dad…and I also went to that newfangled Baskin Robbins because they had those free cones on your birthday (always a sugar cone, always that ‘extra charge for the French Vanilla’ flavor)…and occasionally, I have a craving for one of those Original Drumsticks…but really, when it comes down to it, its the salty peanuts I want more than anything.

Today, I found myself in National City, at I-5 and Eighth Street. Go East, through the light at National City Boulevard, one more block, to "A" Avenue, make a left (north) …there it is on your left: Niederfrank’s. 100% Natural. It’s been there for 59 years, this coming May. 100% Natural. Ice Cream. The real thing. Quality. Small, unassuming, wonderful. As you know, I don’t have cravings for sweets…but gosh, I am here and I know I will like it…again…
There is a website with all the flavors also listed. This is what it looks like when you walk in.
The website has photos of the current (since 1995) owners, the founder and Al Roker…they must have shown this on one of those Food Network Shows I haven’t seen (I must confess, I only watch "Good Eats" with Alton Brown, to learn stuff…and what I like to call "The Lazy Chef Show" with Sandra Lee…good God, have you seen how she makes stuff????!!? She buys it ….and then rearranges it…. and calls it ‘semi-home made’).

ANYHOW… Niederfrank’s. Everything here is made of natural ingredients, extracts, real fruits…and all is made in the building. They also provide ice cream to a few other shops and restaurants around town. Check out the website listings before you tell me the best is from someplace else….it may actually be from Niederfrank’s.

I will admit I went a little crazy today and got two scoops (Its $2.35 for one scoop, $4 for two). Coconut and Lemon Custard. Excellent! The coconut is not too sweet, has flakes of real, not toasted, not dehydrated, coconut which are chewy and flavorful. The lemon custard has a crisp fresh lemon flavor and the custard texture that I crave. They also have sundaes on the menu, but I like the pure flavors of the ice cream. It isn’t aerated…its old fashioned, real, natural. A joy. Even for me, someone who doesn’t crave sweets.

Niederfrank’s 726 "A" Avenue National City, CA 91950 (619) 477-0828 fax (619) 477-0876 Opens at 11 a.m. daily. Click here for website.

A short weekend getaway, and an update

January 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Travel, yoso-silly

The Missus and I are getting away for a short weekend trip. It’s to one of our favorite cities that we used to visit yearly. But for some reason we have’nt been back since Thanksgiving of 2003.

Where is it? Here are some very easy clues….photos from our last trip there:

So I’ll leave you in the most capable hands of Cathy for a few days!

An update….

Just the latest on our fine furry friend that we found and turned into the Carson/Gardena Animal Shelter about 12 days ago.

I called on Tuesday for an update, and though no one has come to claim her, there is a waiting list of perspective "families" waiting for her. So it looks like everything will work out fine. We hope she is placed in a loving home with a great family. Good luck, girl!

One last thing….

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. It seems that "possibly" the Owner of a restaurant that I didn’t care for called Bambu Bistro (see now it’s free publicity), has basically called me "gutless", over some "harsh" criticism, and says I’m "bashing" their restaurant. I really don’t think that person actually read the post, I mentioned what I enjoyed(nice attentive service) along with what I didn’t(I didn’t care for the food). Check out the comments….tell me what do you think? I call it honesty……some call it gutless. Of course, some like Jay of the Linkery have a better handle on it. Please read the comments on his post here.

"I think the food blogs are a great source of serious food writing in town, between the fact that the writers are unpaid and that they have no space limitations, as a reader I get great insights into the bloggers’ experience."

"Let me add this thought: the best possible event that could increase restaurant quality in this town would be the emergence of twenty or so popular, critical, honest, prolific food bloggers, each with unique tastes, persepectives, and budgets, blogging about all their restuarant visits. In an environment like that, all restaurants would be heavily incented to provide great quality and value at least to a certain segment of the eating-out community."

Amen, brother! Personally, I think people are smart enough to know what the difference is between a food blog and a full blown restaurant review is. And so I share my meal with you, warts and all……

Difference between blog and website here.

She also calls this "underground"…..whatever that is. I don’t know, I’m here for everyone to see.

So do you only want to see positive posts? There are blogs out there that do only positive posts. I don’t think that will be very likely, at least with me, since I don’t think I can live with myself, with fake, rose-colored cyber-glasses on.

Oh, one more thing, Bambu Bistro, if this is really you….I guess that anyone who didn’t care for your food should not say anything…but if they do they suddenly have no guts? I guess by the same token, if someone disagrees with you….they are the enemy??? It’s this way of striking out, before looking within that bothers me….sigh.

Road Trip: J & J Restaurant – San Gabriel(LA), and the San Gabriel Foot Fetish…….

January 24, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** J & J Restaurant has closed

Right before the New Year, on one of our road trips to LA, we were in the mood for some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings), but instead of Mei Long Village we decided to check out J & J Restaurant. We've always found it somewhat interesting that both J & J and Meilong Village occupy the same strip mall, and co-exist just a few doors down from each other.

On this day the tiny, simply furnished restaurant was hopping……

The Missus and I always appreciate servers who work with no wasted motion, and the two women working today were working with efficient precision. Containers for leftovers were brought to the table with the check, and tea was dropped off on one table as the server walked to the table directly next to it to take an order.

We looked over the menu even though we knew what we were going to order.

We started with the Xue Cai Rou Si Chao Nian Gao($5.25):

We didn't care for this much, the Chao Nian Gao(stir fried rice cake) had been over cooked and was mushy, the Xue Cai(mustard greens) had no flavor, and the dish had a sort of "fishy" aftertaste.

Of course we were here for Xiao Long Bao, and in case you think I needed any help in selected which XLB's to get…something like this will usually seal the deal. Crab being prepared for the XLB.

So of course we started with the Pork and Crab XLB's($5.95):

The 8 good sized XLB arrived perfectly steamed. I found the wrapper to be a tad thicker than the wrapper at Mei Long Village, the very tender filling had a mild flavor, that leaned a bit toward the sweeter end. I thought these were good except for one thing; the soup to meat ratio was way off…we both thought that the XLB had too little soup in them.

Not satisfied with one order of XLB, we also got the Pork XLB($4.95):

These come 10 to an order, and were steamed and served in perfect condition. The Pork XLB had a bit of a stronger flavor, that went well with the soy-vinegar-ginger dipping sauce. But the meat-soup ratio on these seemed to be a bit off as well. In the end, I guess we enjoy a bit more soup in our Xiao Long Baos.

Still, because of the close proximity of the two restaurants, and the very reasonable prices, you can probably do a XLB "crawl" and make up your own mind as to which XLB you prefer.

HC of LA and OC Foodventures has a nice post on J & J Restaurant.

J & J Restaurant
301 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

An interesting observation…..

I don't know if anyone has noticed this….in fact I'm surprised that the ever observant Andy hasn't mentioned this on his blog, The ABC. After our meal at J & J we walked over to the snack shop in the strip mall next door, so the Missus could get Her shaved ice. While walking we simultaneously looked at each other and went…"what is the deal, with all of the Foot Massage places?"

So what is the deal? I decided to take photos of the Reflexology/Foot Massage shops we found just from walking from one strip mall to the next….less than a block. And here's what we found:

There's even a little price war going on in this strip mall……on one side of the mall, it's $20/hr:

Directly on the other side, it's $15/hr:

I know that with all the restaurants, and other businesses, that workers in the SGV are probably on their feet alot….but man, that's alot of tired feet.

Or maybe San Gabriel has a foot fetish??? We call it the San Gabriel Foot Fetish.

There must be over 30 Reflexology/Foot Massage studios on Valley Boulevard….for some reason we found that to be rather odd…….

Its on Convoy and not pho…Rosa’s Pizza…but, don’t get the pizza

January 23, 2007 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Kirk is not blogging, Cathy is.

Click here to see my re-visit to Rosa’s

Hi. You’ve seen this place, and so have I. There was a coupon, The Mister was leaving work, I was hungry, blah, blah, blah. If you go to Nijiya then walk to Sakura…well they are in adjoining malls, and this place is right between them…behind the Mexican place that is in the Nijiya/Curry House parking lot and also next to the Wings and Things in the Sakura/Original Pancake House parking lot…directly facing Convoy.

Since we have been to Italy, The Mister and I are always looking for the “correct” flavors and smells that remind us of those fun times we had (well, I had a fun time, The Mister was attached to the USS. John F. Kennedy and technically working while we were there, but at least there was only one airfare to be paid)… so far, as close as we can get is the Filippi’s on India Street, with the grocery store in front…still.

So, the menu here at Rosa’s is a sort of everything Italian deli place: pizza, hot and cold sandwiches, pasta…oh and buffalo wings.

So, this being the first time, The Mister ordered a one topping pizza and chose mushrooms ($9.99 regular price). Pretty much cheese pie is what we usually get. Its hard to mess up…but boy, if I had only bought myself a Lottery ticket that night… odds are I would not have hit a jackpot, not even one number! It looks like a good pizza, right?

Lots of cheese, a hand tossed crust with the edges tightly rolled, fresh sliced mushrooms…and no salt, no herbs, no olive oil flavor, no flavor at all…the sauce was more or less salt free tomato sauce. The cheese was real- it was stringy, but no flavor. The mushrooms were fresh, not canned. The crust was not too thin and not thick, not chewy and…no flavor. It was odd. I ended up putting anchovies, garlic salt and Parmesan on the plate, just to rub chunks of the pizza in to get some kind of flavor. When I had a leftover slice reheated in the toaster oven the next morning…still nothing. Rosas_002 ..and the crust was way crispy and cracker-like.

But, the saving grace was the buffalo wings The Mister had the sense to also buy. One dozen for $6. HOT wing sauce….and a good size portion of a blue cheese/ranch dressing dip. Meaty wings, not too fried or crispy and coated with a lot of the hot sauce. I could have eaten a few dozen of these. The best wings I have ever had were from Foggy’s Notion, across from Kobey’s Swap Meet, but Foggy’s is long gone. The ones here were darn good.

To be fair, I have to go back and try the sandwiches, you can get two 16 inch sandwiches for $12.75, but I really don’t want the pizza again.

Rosa’s Pizza 3860 Convoy Street, #100 San Diego 92111 (858) 278-1223

Suzuya Japanese BBQ

January 22, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

*** Suzuya has closed.

Suzuya Japanese BBQ opened quietly a few months back, with barely a whisper. Suzuya specializes in Yakiniku, a style of cooking very similar to Korean BBQ. In fact, it is thought that Yakiniku evolved from Korean BBQ.

You can tell it's a Yakiniku restaurant by the heavy duty ventilation systems.

Right before Christmas our very own Cathy and I met for lunch. We even found parking in the much too small lot on Kearny Villa Road that Suzuya shares with Osaka Kitchen, and several other restaurants. I found the interior of the restaurant is adorned in a very simple tasteful manner.

The lunch menu consists of about 15 items, and we selected the lunch size portion of the Beef Yakiniku ($7.95), and the Pork Bulgogi ($7.50). All lunch items came with a very generic salad, an adequate serving of rice, and the usual weak miso soup.

The Beef Yakiniku was marinated in a slightly sweet sauce, and tasted pretty much like Bulgogi, Korean BBQ'd beef.

The meat was very moist and tender, and the meat was pretty well marbled. The portion size was a fairly good value for the price.

The Pork Bulgogi, was a version of Daeji Bulgogi. I thought the spice level to be fairly mild, and though the pork had a nice flavor, it was a bit on the dry side.

The ventilation system for the gas grills was excellent, I left without smelling like I'd been grilled. For what it's worth, there were only 3 other grills going at the time, so I don't know how bad it would get if the restaurant was going full tilt.

Unlike Korean BBQ, there is no panchan served, though you can purchase side orders of Kimchi for $2.50. Still the lunch menu seemed overwhelmingly Korean, with items like Dolsot Bibimbap.

So here's the juicy inside info, I don't know if it's 100% true….so for what it's worth, I've been told that one of the Owners is Ichiro…as in Ichiro's Restaurant. Apparently, he and his wife divorced, and she got Ichiro's. He on the other hand met and married a Korean lady….the very nice woman who runs the front of house during lunch, and viola! Suzuya Japanese BBQ.

I recently returned again for lunch, and because I was badly in need of carbs, decided to check out the Kimchi Fried Rice($6.50):

Don't be fooled, it's more food than you think! In this case a decent sized portion of rice was stir fried with Baechu(Napa Cabbage) Kimchi and the Pork Bulgogi, and topped off with a nice runny, easy over egg. The dish was milder, and hence a lot less salty and spicy(lack of spam would lower the sodium level alot). What pork there was in the dish was very soft and tender. Overall, an okay dish….though give me Spam and Kimchi fried rice any day!

I did manage a peek at the dinner menu, and noticed that there were many more conventional Yakiniku type offerings….various cuts of meat, unmarinated, and served with different Yakiniku Tare (dipping sauces). I noticed that some of the prices were pretty inexpensive and was told that most portions are about 4 ounces, so you can get a good variety. Shabu Shabu is also served, and costs $18.95 per person. We'll probably drop by one night for dinner…and I'll make sure to post further information.

As mentioned, the parking lot can be crazy during lunch hours. The service has always been very nice and accommodating.

Suzuya Japanese BBQ
5447 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 505-0611

Lunch – Mon-Fri 1130am – 230pm
Dinner – Daily 5pm to 11pm

From the when it rains it pours department:

So I'm driving this past weekend when I see a sign that catches my attention. I pull into the strip mall that houses Izakaya Sakura, and wouldn't you know it. We suddenly go from no Yakiniku restaurants in the area…to two, in 8 months!

They are not yet open, but I'm wondering if it's an expansion of Tsuruhashi restaurant in OC? BTW, Tsuruhashi District in Osaka is well known for their Yakiniku, so things are getting more interesting………