February 2007 – Page 2

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Curry!

February 18, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) Japanese Restaurants, What Vicky Eats

“Hi! This is Vicky posting about her latest meal. She is extremely honored to be invited by Kirk to blog on mmm-Yoso!

Hello readers! I’ve been a reader of mmm-Yoso for over a year now and it was probably due to this blog that I started doing Yelp.com last year. I found that maintaining a blog and doing posts took up an immense amount of time that I didn’t have if I were to continually update it. So after 300 some reviews on Yelp, I’m trying out my hand at this posting dealio. I’m still getting used to this so bear with me if my pictures aren’t coming out the best or if my meals don’t seem that interesting. So my little cousin is visiting from UCI, I drove up there to pick him up so I could feed a hungry poor college student for the weekend and we hit up all of our local favorite joints. Being that we’re both Curry lovers, we swung by Curry House tonight on Convoy Street (it’s in the same plaza as Nijiya and Shanghai City). It was our psuedo-Chinese New Year’s eve celebration.

A little background on Curry House; they are operated by the same corporation that makes the packaged cubed curry blocks that you can find at your friendly local Japanese supermarket, but somehow, the food here just tastes a bit better. I’m guessing it is due to the fact that they have an amazing deep fryer in the back and after all, they are called Curry House. I usually order some kind of katsu or fried shrimp… something about paring the crisp panko crumbs with the smooth curry sauce. Tonight, since there was three of us, I ordered a spaghetti dish so you wouldn’t get 3 different pictures of curry.

Cousin H ordered the Hamburger Curry over spaghetti, H had the menchi katsu curry (one of my favs!), and I decided to be adventurous and ordered the Tarako and Ika Spaghetti. Lunch at Curry House is usually around 2 dollars cheaper but the entrees don’t come with a side choice of salad or soup. So we all got the corn potage, which in essence is Cream of Corn soup, which was silky, creamy, yet spackled with the occasional chewy kernal to balance out the texture. It’s one of my favorite things on the menu, I think it goes back to my childhood when we would have corn potage on the cold nights.

One this visit, we did notice a that they added a new item to their menu – Stone Pot Curry, which in essence, is a dolsot-bimbimbap but with curry sauce. S said he would be adventurous and try it out next time. So after a short wait, our entrees came out. The hamburger in the hamburger curry was nice and moist, well flavored with the occasional onion in there. In essence, it was like a meatloaf patty sitting atop a bed of spaghetti noodles.

The noodles were al dente, which was a relief since I ordered a whole plate of it. I’ve found that asian places that offer Asian/Italian fusion tend to overcook their pasta. Thankfully the chefs back there knew what they were doing.

Here’s H’s menchi katsu curry over rice. The menchi katsu was the hamburger/meatloaf that was breaded with panko and fried. It was rich, moist and the panko texture was great against the curry sauce.

Lastly, my tarako and ika spaghetti arrived. Tarako is cod roe and ika is squid. It didn’t sound too appetizing on the menu but I figured since my favorite onigiri is the spicy cod roe flavor, cod roe over spaghetti couldn’t be too bad. I was pleasantly surprised. The ika was cooked well, tender and not too chewy and the cod roe added a nice salty texture to the overall dish. The spaghetti entrees are definately to be ordered with an open mind since they tend to have strong Japanese flavors. In

my opinion, this dish was a wonderful success, combining the cod roe with spaghetti. Service was pleasant, with the servers and busboys coming around to refill glasses and to check up on how we were holding up. With our bill we were given a frequent diner/vip card, which was 20% the entire bill for the next 4 visits. Nifty! 🙂

Curry House – Japanese Curry and Spaghetti
3860 Convoy Street #102
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-2454
Hours: M-T 11:30-14:30 Lunch
17:30-21:00 Dinner
F 11:30-14:30 Lunch
17:30-22:00 Dinner
Sat 11:30-22:00 (open all day)
Sun 11:30-21:00 (open all day)
Curry House Website

Gong Xi Fa Cai – Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy (Chinese) New Year!

February 17, 2007 mmm-yoso Blog

Just a quick post to wish everyone a wonderful Year of the Pig. Even more important, this is the Year of the Golden Pig, something that happens every 60 years. According to what I understand, children born this year will be prosperous and wealthy.

This healthy looking fellow was found here:

The Monterey Park Floral Street Fair, which run through tomorrow. It was packed and we didn’t spend much time there. But in case you’re interested, click on the link above, starts at the busy corner of Garfield and Garvey in Monterey Park. Not much food on display, but lot’s of other stuff.

So just for the heck of it….some photos of Nian Gao(Chinese Steamed New Year Cakes):

All taken at Yi Mei Deli in Rowland Heights.

Happy New Year!

Ch Ch Chain/Franchise-Red Brick Pizza. Healthy and good.

February 15, 2007 Cathy Italian Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Red Brick Pizza has closed.

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is back to blogging about what she eats.

Hi. You do know, I am merely researching everything in sight, for your sake. Sometimes The Mister and I go to Starbucks and get some beverage and sit and read for a while. There is a Red Brick Pizza in the same mall as one of numerous Starbucks on Clairmont Mesa Boulevard. This one is near the Registrar of Voters Office (one block east of it). I will admit we have been curious. There were coupons online, so…that clinched it for us. (click here for lots of coupons)

So, the concept is the old brick oven to cook pizza dough…and the Red Brick people have superheated the oven ( I would bet with ceramics) so that it will cook the dough at 1000° in 3 minutes… hmmmm…fascinating. I love the concept of superconductivity. We decided to try a medium Chopped Italian salad ($6.49), which included artichoke hearts as well as salami, mozzarella, olives, tomatoes, pepperocinis, Parmesan and croutons. The lettuce was mostly Romaine and stayed crispy. There was a lot of cheese and meat on the salad. Easily it is for two people and could be a meal in itself. The dressing was a very good Italian.

The Mister decided to try a Fhazani™…a creation of the Red Brick Pizza people. Its a Fire roasted gourmet Italian sandwich basically the fire roasted pizza dough, cooked with toppings and then stuffed with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and served with salad dressings (Italian and a Ranch) on the side…so you can top or dip. ($6.50)
As you can see, its cut in half and seems quite large. The Mister got just the basic cheese Fhazani™, so we could see how it was.
From this view of the open dough, you can see it was stuffed quite well. It was very different, the hot and cold and fresh dough. It was quite good. Unique and tasty.

The best part about Red Brick Pizza is…the Italian ode to dessert- Gelato. They have a selection of about 50 gelato flavors and make 12 different ones fresh a day. This is a one serving cup ($2.60) but with two flavors in it- coconut and green apple.
Both flavors were *so wonderfully* concentrated and rich. I know I will stop in here in the summer just got a cup, if nothing else.

They sell "Party Paccos ™- party packs: A Sides Pacco™ is $9 and has 28 bite size appetizers (Breadsticks, mozzarella breadsticks, and Fire Roast Toast™); The Pizza Pacco™ is five nine inch pizzas with any one topping cut into 20 slices and costs $30; The Salad Pacco™ is a choice of any two chopped medium size salads for $12; The Fhazani Pacco™ is a choice of five Fhazani™'s cut into 20 pieces and the Gelato Pacco™- $12 for fresh packed gelato. All of these Paccos™ serve 6 to 8 people

The "Italian party!" which includes the Sides Pacco, the Salad Pacco, your choice of Fhazani™ or Pizza Pacco and the Gelato Pacco for $60 seems like a great bargain (especially with the gelato)

Red Brick Pizza,website, numerous locations.

Road Trip: Deerfield Restaurant – City of Industry(LA)

February 14, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

*** Deerfield has closed

I'd read on Chowhound about a branch of Deerfield Garden that opened in the City of Industry, so recently when we were in the area, we decided to drop by for a light lunch/snack. Now finding Deerfield Restaurant was not that easy; you see the address listed was 167 South Hacienda Boulevard, but the actual location is on the far side of a strip mall that really resides on Valley Boulevard.

This location of Deerfield restaurant is actually two restaurants in one. On the right resides a Chinese fast-food restaurant, with a cast of the usual steam table items. On the left is a sit down restaurant, which is what we were looking for.

The dining area is well lit, and quite clean. And on every table is a plate of appetizers.

I started in on the peanuts, before I remembered to take a photo. We looked over the menu, and on the back page were a few items that got our interest.

Unfortunately, several of the items we wanted like the Vegetable Bao were not available.

I ordered the Xin Jiang Lamb Noodle Soup($4.95):

Now this seemed to be a typical fast food noodle soup. The broth had very little flavor, and the noodles were brittle. The lamb had no flavor, it could have been beef for all I know. I had great hope having read about Xinjiang cuisine, I'm thinking that this is probably not a good representation. Overall, not to my taste.

In need of another item, we ordered the Niu Rou Chuan(Beef Roll – $4.95), something we've seen in almost every Northern style Chinese restaurant. To our amusement, it was on the menu listed as a "Chinese Beef Burrito".

Man, this was pretty large! And not bad at all, the 5 spice beef was moist and had good flavor, and the scallion bread was not too oily, and cooked to a crisp perfection.

Not bad, I'd have it again.

We received very nice service at Deerfield Restaurant, the prices are quite reasonable. It's too bad that they were out of a few items we wanted. The lunch crowd there was quite interesting as well, a combination of local business people eating Americanized Chinese food, and Mandarin speaking Chinese eating Jiaozhi and soups.

Deerfield Restaurant
167 S Hacienda Blvd
City of Industry, CA 91745

Kudo's to Captain Jack!

This is a bit late, but I wanted to send out congrats to my Buddy, Captain Jack, who does San Diego Restaurant Reviews. CJ recently had his 1500 Ocean post published in the Blog Diego section of The Reader. You can read the article here. And there's even a link to Alice Q Foodie to boot!

Revisits to Various Vietnamese Restaurants – Thien Thanh, Saigon, and Da Nang Food to Go

February 12, 2007 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I guess you could say we've been eating alot of Vietnamese food recently…..not much Pho, but alot of other "stuff". It also seems that I've got a terminal case of food photus obsessia, and can't help but take photos of food. I think I need to seek some help for this…what do you think? In the mean time, here's few updates on a few of the Vietnamese Restaurants along El Cajon Boulevard.

Thien Thanh

*** Unfortunately, Thien Thanh has since closed. What a bummer.

I've already posted on Thien Thanh twice, on our first visit, and on another visit when I tried the Bun Bo Hue. I hope you don't mind this third post, which is actually comprised of several visits. I excluded anything that I've posted on before. So let's get started.

The Banh Mi Bo Kho($5.50):

Yes, during our cooler evenings a nice bowl of beef stew with french bread sure hit the spot. The version at Thien Thanh is chock full of herbs and seasonings, I pulled out large pieces of cinnamon and other stuff from the medium thick broth. The oil content was not overly high, and I enjoyed the flavor….I needed another loaf of french bread to help me finish this. Currently my second favorite Vietnamese Beef Stew next to the version at Lucky Pho.

One of the reasons we enjoy Thien Thanh is that along with the good service, the garnishes and vegetables are always fresh. So it almost goes without saying that the Bun Cha Ha Noi($5.95) at Thien Thanh is our favorite.

The meatballs may be kinda tough, but the sauce is nice and mildly sweet. And the veggies are always fresh.

Of course the Missus loves her Bun Rieu($5.50):

As with the Bun Bo Hue at Thien Thanh, the Bun Rieu has a more assertive sour-tangy flavor than other versions, with the pungency level on the low side. The Missus wanted to make sure that I took a photo of the large shrimp-crab cake in the Bun Rieu.

The noodles were okay, on verge of being too soft, but passable.

The Bun Mang Vit(Bamboo and Duck Noodle Soup – $5.50):

The Bamboo was under hydrated and tough, and the duck much too bony. The broth had a decent flavor, but because the bamboo hadn't fully steeped, the earthy flavor that the bamboo brings to the soup was hidden in the background.

Can't beat the garnishes though:

A generous portion of Rau Ram(Vietnamese Coriander) for my soup.

There are still several dishes that I need to try at Thien Thanh, the Bum Mam, Bun Nuoc Leo, De Nuong(goat), and the Canh Ga Chien Bo(chicken wings), so I may end up doing another post in the future. I hope you don't mind……

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

Saigon

I'm pretty sure most people know Saigon, it's pretty much a fixture. With the huge menu, and inexpensive seafood it's favorite of many. Here are a few other dishes we've had at Saigon recently.

The Ca Ri De Banh Mi(Curry Goat with French Bread – $7.95):

Too much coconut milk, too little curry flavor, and too watery for my tastes. There was a good amount of goat meat though.

One of our favorite dishes at Saigon is the Thit Nuong(BBQ Pork with Rice Paper – $8.95):

Thinly sliced marinated pork is rolled into a tight "roll" and grilled, it is served on a bed of vermicelli noodles, and with a huge plate of pickles and vegetables, and a plate of rice paper. It's one of those, "make your own spring rolls" kinda thing. All served with Nuoc Mam Cham for your dipping pleasure…we always make a huge mess and enjoy ourselves, though on occasion the pork has been very tough and sinewy, that is the exception and not the rule.

The Bo Bia(Chinese Sausage Spring Roll – $3.25):

This has got to be the tightest stuffed spring roll in San Diego, it should say "contents under pressure", I was sure it was going to explode when I bit into it, but it didn't. Pretty good overall, with a ton of filling.

Now what do you think the Missus ordered? One guess…

Bun Rieu($5.50) of course! The Missus enjoys the Bun Rieu at Saigon, it's tied for second with the Bun Rieu at Thien Thanh. Her favorite is served at Mien Trung. The broth is a bit more fishy in flavor, and the Missus enjoy the seafood cake, which has the texture of almost being steamed. The two things which bring this bowl of Bun Rieu down are the over cooked noodles and the Missus would rather have fried bean curd, instead of the just plain old tofu in the dish.

The Bun Mang Vit($5.50):

My least favorite Bun Mang Vit, from the mushy noodles to the hard bamboo, to the almost flavorless broth. As with most of the soups at Saigon, the Bun Mang Vit had a generous amount meat in it, in this case duck, even though it was mostly bones.

Still, with over 300 items on the menu, you're sure to find something you'll like at Saigon. Though according to this sign, you should make sure that you'll eat it.

My original post on Saigon.

Saigon Restaurant
4455 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Da Nang Food to Go

*** Da Nang Food to Go has closed

During a recent conversation with John from Sandwich Emporium, he mentioned that he had heard that the Bun Mang Vit at Da Nang Food to Go was really good. So of course I headed down there as soon as I had a chance. I arrived early(they open at 7am) on a recent weekend morning so I could snag one of the few available parking stalls in the strip mall.

I was amazed at the take-out traffic the place was getting. I looked over the menu and ordered the Bun Mang Vit($5.00), and my garnishes arrived in but a minute.

Pretty much status quo…I felt bad for that lonely chili, all on it's own.

The Bun Man Vit took a while to arrive, but it was piping hot when it hit the table.

It was a very surprising bowl of Bun Mang Vit. Instead of the usual clear broth, this version was quite spicy, in fact it tasted almost like Bun Bo Hue! The coarse ground pepper also added a alot of flavor. I thought that the spicy flavors overwhelmed any of the woodsy-earthy flavor that the bamboo shoots add to the dish, and this ended up tasting like Bun Bo Hue with dried bamboo shoots and duck.

There were some very meaty pieces of duck in the Bun Mang Vit, which tasted fine with the Nuoc Mam Cham that was provided. But still, it didn't seem like I was having a bowl of Bun Mang Vit. Still it was different, and maybe you'll enjoy this version.

On this morning I had a short but very nice conversation with the owner, we mostly spoke about the Gio Lua he makes. Right now he's selling a ton of the stuff because of Tet. I still have to pick some up for my own use…if I can find a parking stall!!!

My original post on Da Nang Food to Go.

Da Nang Food to Go (aka Quan an Da Nang)
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Thanks for indulging me(as always), I hope you all didn't mind some revisits.

Hey what's for dinner?

I'm starving!

Say what! Vietnamese again!

DietChiliCheeseFries is right, all you ever eat is Vietnamese! You better get this fixed soon or I'll report you to Aunt Passionate Eater! And she'll fix your wagon!

Sheesh, what does it take to get a dog something good to eat around here?

Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ

February 11, 2007 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ is now Sieu Sieu BBQ. You can find an updated post here.

A few months back I noticed that the little Japanese Restaurant in one of the many strip malls on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard was gone. And a few weeks later, a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant called Maui Maui had taken it’s place.

Yikes, another Hawaiian BBQ? Seems like they’re everywhere nowadays, but this is the first one in this area. So on a recent weekend, I decided to check it out.

I like the interior, very bright and clean. The menu is typical Hawaiian BBQ in nature….BBQ Chicken, BBQ Short Ribs, blah, blah, blah…… a typical L&L knockoff menu, I wish I could get some other plate lunch fare….like Beef Stew, and other stuff, but it looks like these Hawaiian BBQ places all want to serve the exact same food.

Maui Maui does offer Combination Plates, mixing items like Lau Lau, Kalua Pork, and Seafood, with BBQ Beef, Chicken, Short Ribs, or Chicken Katsu.

So I decided to try the Lau Lau and BBQ Chicken combination($7.95):

The plate came with the typical 2 scoops rice, 1 scoop macaroni salad, 1 small piece BBQ chicken thigh, and a Lau Lau. The mac salad was not bad…good ratio of mayo to macaroni, perhaps just a bit short on salt.

The chicken was well marinated in a sauce with a higher soy sauce to sugar ratio, almost like what my Mom made, and thus was more on the salty side. The thigh had good flavor, but was on the dry side.

The Lau Lau was interesting, it was served super piping hot, which was a good start, but the luau leaf wrapping was very mild, and didn’t have the nice smoky-rich-green flavor I enjoy. As I tore the Lau Lau open I made one observation that I expected, and one that I did not….

First off, having had my share of Lau Lau on the mainland, I pretty much knew that there wasn’t going to be any salted fish in the Lau Lau, and expected that. But I quickly noticed that there wasn’t even a piece of fatty pork in the Lau Lau, this really made the Lau Lau fall short in flavor, and made it kind of dry. It was probably the healthiest Lau Lau I’ve ever had, in relative terms of course….. But still, even though I thought this was a bit over-priced, it was not bad.

So you know what that means right? Another visit! One this visit, I decided just to grab a "Mini" Chicken Katsu($4.75), all rice(that means another scoop of rice, to replace the mac salad). I got home and opened the styrofoam container up:

Where’s the Katsu sauce? Oh well, I had a bottle in the frig, and it’s usually much better than the really bad, runny, sweet-sour stuff that most of these Hawaiian BBQ places serve. The Katsu was barely okay, dry, and the breading on the soggy side……

Since my first lunch was decent, not really good, but okay, I thought I’d give Maui Maui one more visit, and get…..what else? A Loco Moco, one of my favorites. I suddenly realized that the last Loco Moco I had was on Maui…….. I ordered a "Mini" Loco Moco($4.95). So check out this "loco" and tell me what’s wrong with it?

Yep, it’s pretty obvious…WHERE’S MY GRAVY? Talk about a gravy malfunction…….sigh! After the Katsu Sauce malfunction on my previous visit, I shoulda known to check my food before I left…. Bummer! The mac salad was also pretty bad on this visit…really runny, and the macaroni was mushy. The patty as I expected was preformed, though the egg was okay….I ate 2 bites, and gave the rest to Da’ Boyz.

Man talk about disappointing. Just in case Maui Maui served some kinda really weird Loco Moco(it would still be heresy!), I checked out the take out menu:

It does say "brown gravy" right? And notice the "salted butterfish" under Lau Lau(it’s "Ti" leaves, not "Tea" leaves, BTW)? Hmmmmm….. I thought about taking it back, but I wasn’t going to drive all the way back to Maui Maui, I tried calling but no one picked up…..

Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

San Diego Tet Festival 2007

February 9, 2007 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Vietnamese Restaurants

Yes, it’s that time again…time for the San Diego Festival. Just as last year, it’s being held at Qualcomm Stadium. I usually feel really bad after doing festival posts, since most of them have come and gone by the time I do my post, and I always receive email and comments from people who wanted to attend….. So this year, I made sure to drop by on my way home from work, on the first day of the festival, which is today!

I arrived at a bit after 3pm, and found that admission had gone up to $5 this year. One thing that admission brings is a more efficient and clean festival, plus parking is not a problem.

Many of the booths, and displays were still being set-up, and the crowds had not yet arrived when I entered.

As with last year, the "heart" of the festival is the "Cultural Village":

And all of the community information, vendors, and rides:

So there you go…..

Oh wait, what about the food you ask? Well, just as last year, food booths line one entire end of the festival grounds:

I do think that there’s better variety of food this year…more than just the Fried(Cha Gio – Eggrolls) and skewered meat that was everywhere last year.

Like this:

As I passed this booth, I saw a pretty nice looking bowl of soup, so I walked on over. One really great thing about arriving early, before the crowds is that you can always strike up a conversation. So, this is a "famous" pork soup from a specific town called Trang Bang. Nice pork belly, there was some meat on the pork hock, the noodles were not very good, chopped into small pieces and mushy…but who really cares. It’s good festival food. The broth was decent, with lot’s of herbs and green onions, and I was glad to have the little container fish sauce and lime. It cost me $5.

After polishing off my soup I walked over to this booth and was looking over the food and menu.

A lady standing in front of the booth started talking to me about the food. So I asked Her if she was working here, her answer, "no, but I enjoyed the food from here…." So I decided to order the Beef Papaya Salad.

Topped off with Sriracha, this was pretty good. Nice and refreshing.

The thinly grated crunchy papaya was topped with lemongrass flavored fried meat and thinly sliced beef liver, not my favorite thing in the world, but it tasted fine in this salad.

Of course you need the ubiquitous fried item, in this case some Cha Gio(Egg Rolls – $2), which I got from this booth.

These were pretty large, and filled me up.

Completely stuffed, I made my second pass, and bought some food for the Missus.

From this booth I picked up a Papaya Salad($4).

The Missus enjoyed this.

And from this booth:

Some Spring Rolls.

And Egg Rolls:

There are just too many food booths, you can’t possibly try everything.

And in case you’re not in the mood for Asian food, there is the ubiquitous Funnel Cakes and….other stuff. Overall, it is festival food, I think the food is better than last year, though it could be because I arrived before the crowds. Still, I enjoyed myself, and the very friendly people manning the booths.

The San Diego Tet Festival is presented by the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance of San Diego. And in case you can’t make it this evening, the festival runs through Sunday.

San Diego Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium.

Friday, February 9th : 2:00pm to 10:00pm
Saturday, February 10th : 9:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday, February 11th: 9:00am to 8:00pm

There are a variety of programs and other entertainment, the schedule can be found here.

Road Trip: Santouka Ramen – Torrance(LA)

February 7, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Ramen, Road Trip

One of my favorite stops when I’m in the South Bay area, is the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court. And of course Santouka, for ramen:

This isn’t the new and sexy Centinela location, covered in this minimalist masterpiece of a post by Daily Gluttony, and in Grand Opening detail by Miss Oishii eats. But the tried and true Torrance location. All food is served in real plates, bowls, and the like; this is probably why I wasn’t too blown away when Kayaba opened in the San Diego Mitsuwa Marketplace….I just consider this serving method the norm.

Most menu items revolve around the 3 basic types of broth at Santouka; Shio(salt), Shoyu(Soy Sauce), or Miso. I’m not a big fan of the Miso broth at Santouka, there’s so much going on, that the broth really just loses all of it’s personality, though I’ve heard the Spicy Miso Ramen is pretty good. My pick for this evening Shoyu Ramen with extra Chashu($8.49):

And as much as I enjoy the nice milky-smooth "porky" tonkotsu style broth(in contrast to the rich, high oil – in a good way broth at Daikokuya), and the decent Chashu. For me, I really enjoy the noodles at Santouka. The noodles have a nice chew, and a bit of "springy-ness", for lack of a better term. The Missus, having forgotten how good a decent bowl of ramen is, sipped at my soup, and went, "mmmmm!" I don’t think I need to add anything more…..

Some notes; Santouka gets quite busy, and does not do take-out. The are a number of combinations, and side orders available, such as having a plate of Chashu on the side. Another favorite is the Ikura-Gohan(Salmon Roe on Rice).

Santouka Torrance
21515 Western Ave.(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court)
Torrance,CA 90501

Open Daily 11:00am-7:30pm

Is it too much to ask for a Santouka location in San Diego???

Scootz Eatz-New-and good-BBQ/Broasted Chicken/Pizza-in Santee

February 6, 2007 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Unfortunately, Scootz has closed. It will be missed. The only place to get boasted chicken in Santee is Jimmy's.

Hi. mmm-yoso is not on vacation, its just Cathy writing about what she and The Mister ate the other day. Kirk just doesn't feel like writing…I'm sure he has eaten, though…

The Old Boll Weevil is gone from Santee, and I will miss it. They *would* cook the burgers medium rare and the prices were cheaper than at, what is apparently the only Boll Weevil left in the county… I immediately called The Mister when I saw the sign for the new place go up, and told him to check out the website. Scootz Eatz. Funny spelling. Sign says BBQ, Chicken, Salads, Pizza. It opened in December, we found a coupon on get one free dot com, so we went.

They are re-doing the facade of the whole mall, so there is not much lighting, just the plastic banner. Its right across the street from the Santee Post Office, if you don't know the area.

Ah, scooters. Suspended from the walls…the decor is kind of old fashioned Service Station, with metal moldings and stainless lamps and the concrete floor is a kind of swirly stained brown, like maybe oil was spilled on it. Clean. A lot cleaner than the old Boll Weevil.

So we walk in and there is a counter, where you order, pay, get a number and then your beverages, condiments and utensils. The food is brought to the table. While you are ordering, someone from the kitchen brings you a piece of freshly made bread, coated in a butter with chunks of garlic topping. Oh yes, good, not too yeasty, a nice crust. Turns out you get some with your meal. With refills, if you ask. (The people working there were way attentive, asking how the food was, being very helpful).

The coupon was for a free 1/4 chicken, your choice of white or dark meat (reg $7.25) with purchase of another meal…a BROASTED chicken. Oh, the best place we have had broasted chicken is at Jimmy's the next block over. You have to use a special broaster contraption to call it broasted chicken….oh yes. Crispy thin browned crust, juicy meat. (There is an addendum at the bottom of this post explaining what broasted means.)

It came with the aforementioned bread and a choice of one of two salads. This one is the "San Diego", which has a variety of lettuces, feta, grape tomatoes, cucumber, olives, onion slices, and a slice of green and red pepper in a "zesty"balsamic dressing. There is a *lot* of salad in that bowl. The flavors worked very well together.

For our other meal, we chose the 1/4 rack of ribs ($8.75) with the Caesar salad. To be honest, I did not expect much.

Wrong. 4 baby back ribs, meaty, a good smoky meat flavor, light BBQ sauce coating that was not overpowering. Excellent. We asked the Owner and he said he smokes it in the oven. He also asked us if it was too smoky or not, a nice touch. The Caesar salad was all romaine, fresco cheese and topped with tortilla strips and had a very nice creamy lime Caesar dressing. Again, a lot of salad in that bowl.

We were curious about the honey baked beans ($4.25) as a side dish and ordered it.

It was in a large bowl, same size as the salads came in, and so there was a lot, but the price was steep. We did fill out the comment card and that was our only complaint-the price was too high. The flavor was excellent, the beans not mushy, I could taste the honey.

Also on the menu, for only 95¢ were in store made potato chips. Oh, yes. I am from Detroit, where the largest amount of potato chips are consumed per capita. I would eat a bag of chips with chocolate milk for lunch on days when I did not bring a lunch to school. Still, to this day, both my brother and I give out small vendor size bags of chips to the Trick or Treaters on Halloween because we remember how good it was to not get all candy.

These chips- not hot, but oh yes, freshly made that day, crispy and not thin..nicely burned. Salted, but not too much. Excellent. So much that we took the extra home.

This was a nice surprise and right on Mission Gorge Road. They also smoke a tri-tip, which I will get next time…oh and they have pizza, burgers, wraps, gourmet sandwiches …that also next time, and the next time. There is a menu on the website and they are available for catering. It was surprisingly excellent!

Scootz Eatz 9535 Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (619) 562-4200 website

After I wrote/published this post I got a few questions about what "broasted" means. It is a combination of pressure and deep frying in a machine made by the Broaster Company of Beloit, Wisconsin. Both the equipment and ingredients are available only to the Food Service and Institutional Industry Customers, not the general public. The result of broasting is a rapidly cooked crispy skinned chicken with a moist interior and it is less greasy than traditional fried chicken.

Arirang House

February 5, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Arirang House has been replaced by Honey Pig, you read a post here.

I had eaten at Arirang twice several years ago, and really didn't think much of the food, it seemed fairly mediocre, though the service was always nice and friendly. So what brought me back to Arirang House all these years later? Well, a few things, first off there were a few comments on another post asking about Arirang, by Jenne and clayfu, another was that a friend of mine mentioned that Arirang was under new ownership, and the final straw was when Sam's(as in Sammy's Sushi) roommate mentioned that they serve some decent Heuk Yum So(or is it Hook Yum So? Maybe Hukyumsoo? I've seen it spelled a bunch of different ways). Black Goat? We are so there!

And yep, there it was, the "Grand Opening Sign"…funny thing is, we've been coming to Jamillah Garden and Tajima next door, and never really noticed the sign! Shows you how observant I am….

On the first evening we visited, over half the tables were occupied, and the place seemed fairly busy. Checking out the tables we saw some type of BBQ and at least one "bowl" of Kimchee Chigae(Spicy Kimchi soup) on each one.

The Servers, two very friendly and helpful ladies showed us to our table and answered any questions we had about the menu…which were many! After a while we managed to determine what we wanted, and placed our order. At which time I noticed the chopsticks on the table:

I don't know if this means anything…I just thought it was kind of interesting. Soon enough, the panchan arrived, you can check out all of the panchan on this post. But in case you need just one more photo of the panchan……

The panchan wasn't outstanding, but the portion size was generous, and everything had a good amount of flavor.

The Missus started with the Dolsot Bibimbap($9.95):

A large stone bowl(Dolsot) full of rice various vegetables, some well flavor Bulgogi, and topped with the ubiquitous fried egg. This was quite good, and tasted even better as the rice crust formed along the sides of the bowl. The Missus ended up eating most of this with a minimum of Gochujang, She really enjoyed it, saying that this was the best flavored Dolsot Bibimbap She's had in a while.

I ordered something I've never had before Chunchaon Dak Galbi($13.95). I'm guessing this is Dak Galbi (Chicken) prepared in the manner of Chuncheon?

This resembled and tasted like a mildly marinated, slightly spicy, homestyle stir fried dark meat chicken and vegetables dish. The chicken was on the dry side, and the flavor lacked depth. Edible, but not great.

Of course we got the Hukyumsoo Jungol(Goat Stew – $15.95), when the Missus ordered this, the Lady smiled and said "ooh, that is so very healthy":

A large stone bowl arrived with a generous amount of tasty goat meat, green vegetables, onions, and other goodies. Along with the garnishes, this was very delici-yoso!!! It is now our favorite version of this in San Diego. This is also much more inexpensive than other restaurants. We managed to take a good amount of food home.

As the Server helped us pack our food, She turned to the Missus and said, "oooh, this is so healthy, it will make you strong, it is good for women!" I think we got the point. It is not only very tasty, but it will "make you strong……."

As we were leaving we noticed 2 Korean business men in suits working on a large hotpot, with plates of various meats…they were really going at it. We asked and were told it was "Budae Chigae", that spicy hotpot with Spam, Hotdogs, and other meats. Ah yes, the infamous Budae Chigae, otherwise known as "Army Base Stew". We were told that it's one of the "specials" that is not on the menu.

A few days later we returned, and again had the large variety of panchan(always 8), and ordered a few things……

We started with the Haemul Pajun(Seafood Pancake – $10.95):

Other than squid, there wasn't much seafood on this pancake, though we enjoyed the way it was cooked; nice and crisp around the edges. Again, very much a homestyle type of dish…..

I had a case of major vapor lock and again ordered a chicken dish, the Dak Bukum ($11.95):

I dunno, but this tasted almost the same as the previous chicken dish I ordered…except the vegetables were different…kind of low on the flavor scale, chicken kind of dry….but to be perfectly honest, it tasted really good the next day.

The Missus wanted something hearty so she ordered the Sullung Tang(Suhllun Tang – $8.95), the milky "bone soup":

The Missus loves the smooth, rich, and velvety bone soup, and enjoyed this version. The only complaint was that only regular table salt was available, and not sea salt.

The addition of Yam Noodles was a bonus that the Missus enjoyed as well.

For some reason we found ourselves at Arirang House during a recent evening…and we were greeted with "hello, nice to see you again….." I guess we've been coming here waaay too often!

On this visit, the Missus gave me the directive, "no chicken, Ohhh-kay?" So following the directive I decided to order the Bulgogi($15.95):

This was the largest portion of Bulgogi that I can remember having in San Diego…we couldn't finish it, and were full before getting to the other dishes we ordered. Flavor-wise it was good, a nice balanced salty-sweet. The meat wasn't of the highest quality, and there were some tough and rubbery bits, but man that was alot of meat, and much cheaper than most other Korean BBQ places.

I finally got around to ordering the Kimchi Chigae($8.95) that I saw on every table:

Now I've had spicy, but this version of Kimchi Chigae was pretty darn spicy, and the next day it was even hotter! I thought that the heat overwhelmed everything, and couldn't even get a hint of the savory flavor from using "older" kimchi that sometimes accompanies the dish, nor any faint sweetness, that is sometimes found. It was fine, but lacked depth.

The Altang($12.95), in this case it was code roe and "seafood" soup:

In this dish, I've finally met my match…the broth was very spicy, and had some nice "oceany" flavor. But the cod-roe was seriously dry and rubbery, and had a strong "liver" flavor that I didn't enjoy.

The little baby octopus was very tough, as was the one mussel in the soup. I think I'll cross this dish off my list of "to try" items.

On all of our visits the service was very nice, in a nurturing, motherly sort of way. It seemed like extra care and attention was taken with us since we aren't Korean. I don't know if I'll try the Lunch Buffet ($7.95), but these folks are very nice, and the prices are very reasonable. We'll be coming back for the Goat Stew, the Missus likes the Dolsot Bibimbap here, as well as the Bone Soup…and who knows, maybe I can convince the Missus to try the Budae Chigae, and the food seems to be a good homestyle in nature. As for BBQ, Arirang House is on that second tier of Korean BBQ's, but the portion sizes are quite generous.

Arirang House Restaurant
4681 Convoy St Ste B
San Diego, CA 92111

(858) 277-8625