April 2007 – mmm-yoso

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ

April 29, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

I was overjoyed a few months ago when I learned that we now have not one (Suzuya Japanese BBQ), but now 2 Yakiniku restaurants in San Diego. That would be a 200% change since this time last year. I was especially excited about the opening of Tsuruhashi. Why, you may ask? Well, if this Tsuruhashi is in any way affiliated with Tsuruhashi in Fountain Valley, I was in for a taste of pretty good Yakiniku. Yakiniku for the uninitiated, is translated to "Grilled Meat", and is basically the Japanese version of Korean BBQ. Yakiniku back home in Hawaii can mean many things, it could mean a regular Korean BBQ, or a version of a more traditional Japanese style BBQ. Tsuruhashi itself is a district of Osaka well known for the large Zainichi (ethnic Korean residents of Japan) Korean population. Tsuruhashi is also well known for….what else, Yakiniku.

I had been trying to get someone to check out Tsuruhashi with me for a few months, but to no avail. It seemed that everyone familiar with Korean BBQ, like Ed from Yuma balked at the fact that most Yakiniku meals came without the "free" Panchan. In most traditional Yakiniku restaurants, panchan is ordered off the menu, and you are charged for it. Problem number two…..a few people mentioned how "expensive" this place was….so what I’ll do, is not detail how much we paid, until the very end.

I also did a bit of "research". I knew someone whose roommate worked at Tsuruhashi, and he provided some advice, which in one case turned out to be pretty handy, and in another case might have been useful, but was not.

We arrived a bit before the usual 5pm opening time. Piece of advice #1, either get there at opening or be prepared to wait. Tsuruhashi is a fairly small restaurant.

There are only 11 tables in the restaurant, and in one section, 3 of the tables are "movable" for large groups. Since Yakiniku is a leisurely experience, and Tsuruhashi does not accept reservations, the wait for a table can be pretty long if your timing is not right.

The Manager who runs the place is a really stoic, serious Gentleman, who can come across as downright stuffy….unless you speak Japanese, or are a regular customer. This was the only time I saw him smile the entire evening, so I had to take a photo.

In some ways I don’t blame him, I’m sure he gets a variety of questions and queries from people who have no clue. There were two older women who sat across us, who obviously didn’t have a clue, asked a ton of questions, made demands, and only ordered two plates, one of which were vegetables, before hurrying out.

A quick word about the "grill". Because the two ladies hurried out post haste, we got to see the hard working Servers replace the "grate", and low and behold…the gas burners are supplemented with charcoal. I’m not quite sure if it was Binchotan, but it was without a doubt lump charcoal and not briquettes.

Piece of advice #2…get there early(sound familiar?), Tsuruhashi will often run out of what they call "top tier" meat. When you peruse the menu, the cuts of meat are divided into sections, and items like Short Ribs have several "grades", each priced differently. This piece of advice was not of any use to us on this evening, as the restaurant was out of the top two tiers of "Kobe" Short Ribs, and "Kobe" Cap Rib Eye. So we had to "settle" for USDA Prime Grade Meat (insert sarcastic "poor thing" here).

One more thing before I (finally)get on to the meat. With this style of Yakiniku, some of the best quality meats are served unmarinated(though there are many exceptions), and unsalted, unless specified. In the case of Tsuruhashi, you are provided 2 "sauces" initially, and additional dish-specific sauces are provided as necessary.

I had a notion of dividing up this post into two, since it is very long….but the Missus told me to "stop being a tease, and show them the food…o-Kay!" So here we go.

We started with some Kimchi….well since, I just had to have some.

And though I think this was fine, you can get better in most any Korean Restaurant…or even out of a bottle in some cases.

Pork Cheek.

Looks a lot like Toro(fatty tuna belly) doesn’t it? This was served with spicy bean sauce and lettuce for wrapping. The meat itself was served with only a light sprinkling of black pepper. In retrospect, we should have gotten the Pork Belly, as this was on the tough side, but still if grilled to a crisp state, it was decent. It was also the cheapest meat we had all night, so I’m not complaining much.

Prime Cap Ribeye.

This almost qualifies as food porn…. In case you’re wondering, the "cap" is the small bit of meat right at the top portion of the Rib Eye. This came unseasoned, and was very tender. It would be an absolute crime to over cook this piece of meat. Just think, this is what is considered "second tier" on the menu.

Salted Prime Tongue w/Shiso:

Four wonderful rolls of thinly cut and well marbled prime beef tongue wrapped around Shiso. This was so soft I almost thought it was thinly sliced prime rib eye! This was served with a little bowl of Ponzu sauce. The Missus would have wished that this tasted a bit more "wild"…but it’s hard to complain about beef that melts in your mouth.

Seafood Combination.

Where to start? Everything was ultra fresh. I enjoyed the Tako (Octopus), when grilled it reminded me of days at the beach, spearing Tako, turning it inside out to kill, pounding it against the lava rock to tenderize, and simply grilling over charcoal! The Ika could almost be considered entertainment, as it would "puff up" when placed on the grill. The very fresh salmon was problematic as it stuck to the grill, and tended to break apart. The shrimp were very good, fresh and sweet, we devoured it shell and all.

But the best item were the scallops.

These were sashimi grade, you could just have eaten them raw. We just barely grilled them. I did cook one a bit more to see if they shrank, a good sign that they had been injected with brine. These kept their size and shape. Good stuff!

Beef Tongue Marinated in Miso:

The Missus’s favorite of the evening. A thicker slice of beef tongue marinated in a Aka(red) Miso marinade. Nice flavors, and more of a chewy texture.

Prime Short Ribs:

To think, this is the lowest grade of Boneless Beef Rib Meat on the menu. To be honest, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated, so I’m still looking forward to the first or second tier choice.

Beef Tail(Oxtail) Soup:

To be honest the Missus was disappointed in this. She thought the broth way too salty, and the Oxtails way too tough. We had kind of ordered this as an after thought, and should have left it that way. It was a bit cheaper than similar versions at various Korean Restaurants though.

Quite a bit of food, huh? Before I reveal the bill, why don’t you take a wild guess……

Kimchi – $2.50
Pork Cheek – $5.50
Prime Short Ribs – $6.25
Prime Cap Rib Eye – $8.25
Salted Prime Tongue w/Shiso – $7.95
Beef Tongue Marinated in Miso – $5.95
Assorted Seafood – $8.95
Beef Tail(Oxtail) Soup – $7.25
Rice – $3.00 !!!
Hot Tea – Free

With tax about $60. It might seem really pricey….but come to think of it, our recent dinner at Seoul BBQ was just about $4 cheaper! That doesn’t mean that everything is very cheap…the tier 1 Kobe Short Ribs are $14.95, and the Kobe Cap Rib Eye is $16.95, and I’m assuming that the portion sizes are the same. The seafood combination is a bargain in our eyes, as are the pork offerings, most are priced at $5.50. Beef heart, tripe, liver, and intestine, are priced under $5. Chicken Leg meat, either salted or miso marinated is $4.25, and there was a large group of young men who ordered maybe 10 orders of the stuff with beer.

The service was very good, efficient(our tea and water refilled) and friendly(except for the Boss), and rather unobtrusive. This location of Tsuruhashi is affiliated with Tsuruhashi in Fountain Valley. I’d advise going early, as we left there was quite a long waiting list.

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ
3904 Convoy St (In the same strip mall as Sakura)
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours: Thurs-Tues 5pm-Midnight

Closed Wed.

I’m thinking we’ll be back very soon……

Thanks for hanging in there, I know this post was really quite long!

Do-Over: Rosa’s Pizza

April 28, 2007 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Kirk is somewhere around town and Cathy is doing her first re-blog of a place she didn't like the first time around.

Hi. On January 23 of this year, I blogged about Rosa's Pizza. I did not like it. At all.

First of all, Rosa's is a Pizzeria. It's ON Convoy Street,( across from Home Depot Expo), the Mecca of All Asian foods…what is an Italian based food source even *doing* down there?

I got a few comments telling me how wrong I was. In particular, Dave wrote to tell me how the pizza he had in front of him *did* have spices in the sauce, he was crunching on garlic bits and that it wasn't as bad as I spoke of it being. I remember the sauce that was on the pizza I ate tasted just like canned tomatoes, the crust was nice and crispy but flavorless and I did like the wings. Michelle had written in also, telling me how much she loved Rosa's and did not understand my comments.

In any other case (like, if I was not blogging as one of my various little hobbies in life), I would not even bother going back. But feel I must be fair, and see what it is that Michelle and Dave are talking about. Also, The Mister was reading their comments and told me I should. (I think he just was hungry for carbs).

So, off we went. A nice, chilly, after the rains of Friday -now a Saturday- jaunt to Convoy Street. The new construction of the old Olehausen Billiards place was going on: the carpenters couldn't work in the Friday rain, so they were going to get as much done on Saturday as possible.

This time we ordered a sausage pizza ($6.99)and also tried the 16 piece breadsticks ($3.99) with cheese ($1).

When we parked, a car pulled up behind me and an older gentleman ran into Rosa's to pick up two pizzas…we ordered, were told it would be about 15 minutes, so walked over to Nijiya to get some beverages. {I like getting the hot green tea in a can from the small refrigerator looking contraption on the counter in the bakery section.}

We walked back to Rosa's, to see three other people parking and running in to pick up pizzas. There was a brisk business and that was a good sign.

We sat down and the nice young man who took our order brought out the boxes of pizza, breadsticks and sauce. He asked us if we were eating outside and when we said we were, he went back in and brought us plastic cutlery and paper plates and napkins. That was very nice.

The pizza, looked, good, like the last one did. The crust was nice and layered and crispy, but, again, had no olive oil flavor. It was a nice and crisp bread. I was glad we had ordered sausage- look at the oil. I figured that'd give it some flavor. I was right. It's an excellent sausage. The cheese was plentiful, stringy and, again,had not much flavor. However the oil from the sausage helped tremendously- as did the sauce- it was a nice, spiced, herbed sauce. There was garlic in it and the melding of flavors helped the flavorless, but nicely crispy, crust.

Then there were the breadsticks, with cheese and sauce. Lots of cheese, and eating it this way is why I said the cheese had not much flavor, although it was plentiful and stringy. I think the lack of flavor may have to do with the fact that they leave the items in just long enough for the cheese to melt, but not to brown. If it were left in a little longer, the slightly burnt cheese would probably have more flavor. It isn't like it is fake cheese or anything like that.

Then I dipped one of the cheesy breadsticks into the sauce we were given- AHA! THIS was the sauce that was on the pizza we got last time. Pretty much a plain marinara. Tomato sauce, limited herbs. Plain. Needed salt. Or something.

So that was it. Last time we had gotten a switched sauce. That, in combination with no oily meat topping, the plain, non-olive oiled bread- which, again-is a great crust but flavorless. If I ate it plain, as a bread, it would need a salty butter on it…the consistency is wonderful but it is just missing something.

I grew up in Detroit, the Homeland of "pizza" (Dominoes and Little Cesar's started there). I have been to Italy and know what 'real' pizza is and I know what I like. Rosa's is not as bad as I originally blogged about, but it isn't earth shattering pizza either. It doesn't send me. I will go back again, but maybe not for pizza, I'd like to try an eggplant Parmesan sandwich. The bread will be great.

Rosa's Pizza 3860 Convoy Street, San Diego. Between the mall that has Nijiya/Curry House/Sunrise Buffet and the mall that has Wings and Things/Original Pancake House/Izakaya Sakura

Leocynn’s Lumpia- another hole in the wall

April 26, 2007 Cathy Filipino Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is never on vacation. Someone is always blogging, because one of us has most likely had something to eat. This time, its Cathy. Kirk is too busy with something else today.

Hi again. I was driving about aimlessly one day, sort of near the Spring Valley Swap Meet, just off of the 54, on the edge of San Diego and Spring Valley and saw Leocynn’s, where I remembered having a nice meal quite a long time ago. It’s still there, and the sign on the front is thanking people for patronizing for the last four years. Well, it’s lasted this long, so still must be good.

There is a steam tray and two tables inside, a menu on the wall and some handwritten ‘specials’, all of which consist of the items in the steam tray and all of which cost$5.75. The generic (ground pork/ground beef/veggie) lumpia can be purchased individually from the steam tray for 54¢ each, or certain ones can be made special for $1 each, or you can order in bulk. All are made on site. Nothing frozen here.

I opted for 2 of the freshly made ground meat/veggie ones and the pork adobo/rice/pancit meal. The total cost was $6.83.

Excellent adobo- a nice twang of vinegar. The pancit wasn’t watery and really fresh tasting, the veggies were crispy and there were plenty of pork pieces interspersed and the rice was absolutely perfect and plentiful! When I ordered, the nice lady went in back and told me I would have to wait for the rice. (Less than 3 minutes).

A cross section of the other lumpia.

You can see there is plenty of meat and a small amount of carrot. The crust was definitely fresh and crispy. It came with a home made sauce, more sour than sweet, which complimented the meat well. I would rather have sour than sweet any day. Leocynn’s has withstood the test of time and is great.

Leocynn’s Lumpia 8360 Worthington (at Paradise Valley Road- Take the Jamacha Exit from 54) San Diego 92114 (619) 267-8210.

M-F 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m./ Sat 11:00 am-7:00 p.m./ Sunday 11:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Midweek Miscellanea

April 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Blog

I just thought I do a quick post with some updates…and other "stuff".

Thien Thanh Closes Down:

Thien Thanh, one of my favorite Vietnamese Restaurants has closed. Last week, I decided to check out Thien Thanh, when I drove into the parking lot, the restaurant was closed, and an "opening soon" banner was posted. I guess this was inevitable. We never saw more than one table occupied on any of our many visits.

The name of the new restaurant will obviously garner many laughs….and hey, maybe Pho-King needs to check out possible trademark infringement??????

RIP Thien Thanh, we’ll miss you….especially the Bun Cha Hanoi.

Some Housekeeping:

I recently received two emails asking if I would link to all of my recipes from the main page. Apparently, scrolling through all of my recipes looking for the desired post was inefficient, and I’ve been told that the Google Search doesn’t always work right. So I’ve summarized my recipes on the bottom left hand sidebar. I hope it works okay….but who the heck want to copy what I cook?

Heck, so long that it makes you happy, I’ll do it…. we aim to please!

Not really about food, sort of….

Now for some mid week levity, it’s really not about food…..

A few years back, when we still lived in LA, we were attending a concert at a small club called The Hop in the City of Industry. The opening act was a Country Rock band playing a bunch of covers. During one of the songs, a cover of Can’t You See, by the Marshall Tucker Band, the Missus turns to me with a puzzled look on Her face and asks me,"What kind of music is this?"

"It’s Southern Rock." I answer….

A look of understanding comes across Her face, and she exclaims, "Okay, that makes sense now!"

Now I’m confused…"What do you mean?"

She responds with, "that’s why they’re singing about fried chicken!"

"Say What!!!"

It turns out that I’m hearing, "Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman lord done to me…."

She, on the other hand is hearing this(here’s a hint):

Yes, She’s hearing…."K-F-Ceeeee, K-F-Ceeee"

Shades of "Sam Woo the Killer Whale"……funny, I can’t help but crack up anytime I hear that darn song!

Hope your week is going well! We’ll be back with another restaurant tomorrow!

Seoul BBQ Restaurant – A Revisit. Sometimes it’s all about timing

April 24, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Seoul BBQ has closed

Sometimes it's all about timing…… The Missus was in the mood for some Korean BBQ, something that doesn't happen very often. We had thought about a visit to Buga, but decided on a revisit to Seoul BBQ.

I had thought about Seoul BBQ for a couple of reasons; first off, the marinades at Seoul tend to be on the sweeter side, which the Missus enjoys, and the wide open interior makes for good ventilation, another plus in the Missus's book.

We were seated without delay, and looked over the menu, made our choices, and soon after the panchan arrived.

Along with a small salad with a Asian Pear/Garlic/Vinegar based dressing, which was refreshing, and not short on flavor.

The panchan(8 dishes), on the other hand was very unremarkable, and other than the Oi(cucumber) was very pedestrian overall. I don't know what it is with my luck with panchan recently, but I haven't had anything I've really enjoyed for a while now…….. More panchan left unfinished, sigh……

As is standard operating procedure for Korean BBQ restaurants, in order to use the brazier you need at least two orders of meat.

We decided on the Hyuh Mit Gui(Haemit Gui on this menu – beef tongue $18.99):

Though not as marbled as the version I recently had at Dae Jang Keum, this version had a much stronger gamey flavor, which the Missus enjoyed. Nothing like crisp grilled beef tongue.

We also ordered the Bulgogi ($18.99):

Grilled, and wrapped in a lettuce leaf along with a slice of garlic, this was pretty good. As I noted before, the marinade at Seoul BBQ is a bit sweeter, which is why many of the Ex-Pat Kama'aina's I know like the Kalbi and Bulgogi at Seoul.

Another thing I noticed are that the prices at Seoul BBQ are now in the same range as Buga and Dae Jang Keum.

We also ordered the BiBimBap($9.99):

Which ended up being mostly lettuce, with very little minced, flavorless beef.

Though unlike my previous lunch visits, there was no "dump and duck" going on, there was something which was kind of bothersome. Everytime one of the ladies passed by our table, they would "fiddle" with the gas grill, turning it off a few times, leaving the meat to congeal on the grill. We had to flag down people to turn the gas back on a few times. Though we still think that Seoul BBQ is just a step below Buga, our meal did "hit the spot", it was one of those moments where we had just the perfect amount of what we were craving, at just the right time. As they say…."timing is everything".

Seoul BBQ Restaurant
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Arely French Bakery Cafe- Excellent food!

April 23, 2007 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, European Restaurants, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is just letting you see some of her meals, versus Kirk showing you what He ate.

Hi again. The Mister and I were on a quest for some weird items the other day (among them, helium quality balloons and an Old Maid card game), and ended up at the 99 Cent Only store in Clairemont Mesa mall. When we were leaving, of course I was hungry and I looked over at Woody’s Hot Dogs, where I have enjoyed a few good meals. (I still can’t figure out how to put up a link to the post that Kirk did on Woody’s. Look it up under the "hot dogs" section of the blog on the left column here; and, really, we have heard all the Woody jokes already). I noticed on the corner right on the other side of the parking lot, the old Liquor store was gone and a pick Up Stix was in its place. Then I looked for the Viking Bakery and it, too, was gone and in its place was this signage.

Now for some reason, I have been seeing and going to a number of French Bistro places around the county lately and had intended to go back and blog them, but hadn’t had the time Fortunately, I had my camera with me, so here it goes.

This one, Arely, is the smallest of all I have gone to, but also the least expensive. There isn’t much atmosphere,but the food was *excellent*, and I mainly talk about the food in this blogging forum, so that is what I will concentrate on.

There are 3 tables inside, two tables out in front and the menu is on the wall (in all the other French Bistros I have gone to, there is a menu you can sit down and read, then you go up and order and sit back down again). This way, at Arely, is fine though.

We decided to try some "basics" to see how well it was done.

The Parisien sandwich-ham with Brie, lettuce and tomato on a baguette ($4.50). The bread is fresh made in the store. The ham was black forest, and excellent, and, I dare say, too much ham was in the sandwich…the Brie was not warm, but cut into chunks with the rind and I could taste it, and it was good. I would have been happy with just the Brie and bread, actually…and the lettuce was crispy and tomato slice had flavor (unusual these days).

We got a wedge of the spinach and cheese quiche- only $2.95. A quarter of the made in store quiche, filled with fresh spinach, a nutty flavored swiss cheese, creamy eggy custard, nutmeg and a delightful, light crust. They offer 3 flavors a day the spinach and cheese, ham and cheese and vegetable) and you can buy a whole quiche for $12…of course, I would just buy 4 individual slices…(this is when Basic Math comes into play in real life).

We also wanted to try the French Onion soup ($3.50), since it is a French Cafe… DO NOT be put off by the styrofoam cup. The ambiance is the *only* thing lacking here. You are not paying for it, you are paying for good food, and that is what you get.

The soup was superb; filled with a fresh herb-y, beefy broth topped with slice of fresh bread and more of that wonderful swiss cheese (it tasted close to Jarlsberg, so nutty in flavor).

The bakery items are made in store and are beautiful. I saw one person eating an omelet and it was quite large. I will go back for breakfast.

This place has excellent food. If you are going to the movie theater just on the other side of the mall, this is a place to go to either before or after. They have just extended their hours (used to be open only until 3 p.m.). Give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

Arley French Bakery Cafe 4961-a Clairemont Mesa ( in the Clairemont Mall at Clairemont and Clairemont Mesa; Two places down from Woody’s Hot Dogs) Open 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mon-Sat, 7:30 – 6:00 p.m. Sunday

Breakfast and furniture shopping under one roof- Ikea!

April 22, 2007 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Chains, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is back with documentation of meals she ate and Kirk is taking a breather.

Hi. I seem to have been Missing In Action for a good part of this year, but now am back to blogging.

So, one morning I was in desperate need of ice cube trays, for a small project I was doing, and recalled that Ikea had a nice selection of interestingly shaped ones. Yeah, that’s why we went to Ikea, hahaha!

For those of you who are not familiar with Ikea, it’s a Swedish based company that makes knock down furniture and has a cafeteria that serves Swedish/Scandanavian style food in the middle of every store.

While walking from the parking lot to the main entrance, this sandwich board sign was…yelling out to me…

Well, it includes coffee; that makes it worth it right there. Lets go try it out.

This Ikea store, in San Diego is a Franchised, not company owned, store, so some of the items on sale are different than the corporate sales and the Cafeteria can have its own way of doing things, but,I have been to both types of stores, and am on the email lists for both the local and the corporate stores, and pretty much the selection is similar, and the next closest store to us is in Carson, which is like, a 2 hour drive…which isn’t good if you have miscalculated and have to drive home with an arm holding something on the roof of your car (oh, I could do an entire week of posts of photos showing people who miscalculated the size of their door or trunk opening versus what they were buying both at Ikea and Costco, especially around Christmas…so many cardboard boxes opened and strewn in the parking lot…).

So, anyhow, breakfast. I got the ‘standard’ $2.99 deal:

Scrambled eggs, 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 pancakes, lingonberry sauce and coffee.

The bacon is very thin, but has much smoky flavor. The sausages have a nice flavor and light amount of pepper in them. The pancakes are the traditional Scandinavian ones and are thin, crepe-like and the lingonberry sauce is a nice compliment. This is well worth the $2.99 price tag.

The Mister asked what other options there were, and instead of the pancakes, you can get French Toast sticks or hash browned potatoes. He got both. The potatoes cost an extra $1 and were made of the previous day’s red skinned potatoes from dinner, were so nice, fresh and crispy and wonderful!

The "French Toast" was fried and I really liked those sticks. Not like any kind of French Toast I have had, but oh so good.

We did go back and got a slice of the Apple Cake ($1.99) to go with our all-you-can-drink coffee that you self serve in those tiny cups. I liked the coffee in particular, because you can also get all you can add real half and half for it.

The apple cake is pretty much all apples with some cinnamon (non-sticky, just the spice, no added sugar) joining the apples together in a graham cracker crust and topped with a vanilla cream sauce. I like the non-sugary pastry choices here.

Ikea San Diego 2149 Fenton Parkway, San Diego 92108 ( in the mall with Costco and Lowe’s, just off of Friars Road, about 1/2 mile west of Qualcomm Stadium) open for breakfast 8:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. 7 days

19th Annual Lao New Year Celebration

April 21, 2007 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Lao Restaurants

Yes, it’s that time of the year again…all of the various festivals are starting, it’s a fun and delicious time of the year. Thai, Cambodian, and Lao New Year fall on the same dates every year. I think we may have missed the Cambodian New Year Festival this year, I hope not, but I haven’t heard or read anything about it. "Sao" had mentioned that the 19th Annual Laotian New Year Festival is taking place, and when I asked him about it, he was kind enough to email me the information. The festival is taking place at Martin Luther King Recreation Center on Skyline Drive.

Because of last night’s storm, we initially had some doubts about attending, but today was such a nice day that we decided to check it out. We arrived at MLK Rec Center at about 1pm, and found this little festival in full swing.

I don’t know if it was the really wet weather we had, or if it was the norm, but there were only 2 food booths.

This first booth had a nice selection of grilled items.

Of course we had to have some papaya salad($3), and that grilled sausage($2) was calling to me.

This papaya salad was ordered at medium spicy, but was still quite hot. The gal making the salad was also very generous with the fish sauce, making the salad quite pungent. The sausage? Who doesn’t like grilled sausage?

This booth had a sizable line, mostly for drinks and such.

The Missus grabbed a papaya salad($3) from here as well.

This was ordered "medium" as well, but was also very spicy. This version was a bit sweeter.

If you’re interested, the Lao Festival runs through tomorrow.

19th Annual Laotian New Year Celebration

April 21-22
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Martin Luther King Recreation Center
6401 Skyline Drive
San Diego, CA 921114

Admission $2

Latin Chef Part 2

April 19, 2007 mmm-yoso Latin American Cuisine, Peruvian Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

In my waaaay too wordy first part, I think I spent too much time on "stuff", and not enough on the food, so I’m hoping to rectify that with part 2. After my very enjoyable first visit, I knew I had to convince the Missus that Latin Chef was worth a visit…it really wasn’t very hard!

So a few evenings later we found ourselves having dinner at Latin Chef.

We started with the usual Canchita, and the Missus had a glass of the Chica Morada($1.50), the very sweet drink made from Purple Maize.(Sorry no photo) We started with a bowl of Sopa a la Criolla("Creole soup" – $8.50):

This very mildly spicy, tomato and cream based broth was rich, but not heavy. The soup contained angel hair pasta, and a few pieces of shredded beef. The Missus, as is Her M.O., took ownership of the fried egg…and declared it "delici-yoso!!!"

I ordered the Aji De Gallina("Chili chicken" – $8.50):

This is one of the "standard" Peruvian dishes. The sauce is made with Aji Amarillo(yellow chile). Aji Amarillo is the most common chile in Peru, when young the chile is green, and is used in sauces. At the "ripe" stage the pepper is yellow in color, and is used in Aji de Gallina. When fully mature the chile is a deep orange-red color, and is at it’s most pungent state. Cream, bread, cheese, and usually walnuts make up the rest of the sauce, which is served with strips of chicken. The sauce was thick, and on the mild side, which I livened up a bit with some "Aji", and not as "nutty", nor a spicy as another version I had several years back. The chicken was fine, if a tad on the "dry" side.

The Missus ordered the real "winner" of the evening, the Arroz con Mariscos (The daily special, Seafood Rice – $10.00):

Beyond the nicely flavored rice, and wonderful roasted vegetables, what really impressed us was the preparation of the seafood. The calamari was soft, and very tender, as was the octopus. This was quite good, there was one request that the Missus mentioned to Freddie for the next time she orders this…she asked if next time she could get some chopped Papas Fritas(french fries). To which the always obliging Freddie said; "no problem…we’ll make one up special for you!" You gotta love these mom and pop places!

One thing did bother us on this visit, the place was totally empty the entire time we ate. We started worrying about Latin Chef surviving. But all such thoughts evaporated when we visited on a recent Sunday. On this day, the place was packed to the rafters, with no seats available in the tiny restaurant, but we decided to sit outside and enjoy the sun.

I had designs of starting our meal with some Papa a la Huacaina(Potatoes with Huacaina Sauce), after all the potato was first cultivated in the Peruvian Incas. I was over-ruled by the Missus who loves Yuca, so we ended up with Yuca a la Huacaina($6.00):

The pieces of Yuca were fried to perfection, slightly crisp on the outside, and nice and starchy, without being too dense in the interior. The Huacaina sauce, basically a cheese sauce, with Aji Amarillo and cream, was a bit too cheesy for the Missus. This version was made with Parmesan cheese, which made slightly more salty than what I’m used too.

For my entree, I went with a classic "Chifa" (Chinese-style) dish, Arroz Chaufa a la Carne ($8.50):

If you think this looks a lot like fried rice, you’d be right, that is exactly what it is. This version was a bit more simple than the Arroz Chaufa Especial that I enjoyed from El Rocoto in Gardena. While the beef was on the dry and tough side, the scrambled egg had been mixed with soy sauce, and I believe there was a hint of chile as well, making it very tasty.

On this occasion the Missus again did a fine job ordering the Pescado a lo Macho (again the daily special, Fried Fish with Mixed Seafood – $10.00):

A breaded and fried white fish fillet was smothered with a very mildly spicy tomato based sauce and mixed seafood. Like our previous meal, the seafood was cooked well, the Octopus was especially good, with an almost melt in your mouth texture, without being mushy. Whatever means of marinading and tenderizing is done, it is done well.

After this experience, I’d recommend reservations if you’re planning to have lunch on a weekend. At this time Latin Chef does not have a liquor license, so sorry, no Pisco Sours, if you want a Cerveza, you’ll be directed to the liquor store down the street. The service is very friendly and accommodating, keep in mind that this is a one chef in the kitchen restaurant, so you may have a bit of a wait for your food, but chances are it would be worth it. There are at least 2 "specials" daily that add a nice variety to the menu.

On the bottom of the sign to right it says, "Warning, Peruvian food is addictive!" At the least, the food at Latin Chef does not lack flavor.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
(858)-270-8810

Kudos to Ed from Yuma, another great find!

You can find part1, here.

Midweek Dim Sum-mary…. Silver Ark and Jasmine

April 18, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Xiao Long Bao

We recently had a hankering for Dim Sum, and during the course of one week revisited a few places we've posted on before. So I'll keep the verbage to a minimum.

Silver Ark

*** Silver Ark has closed

I recently received an email from "TerryY" telling me that Silver Ark had a new Dim Sum Chef, and that the prices had been lowered for some items. I recently had a weekday off, and we happened to be in the area. Like a previous visit we arrived on the late side(130pm), so I took that into consideration while eating.

Due to our late arrival there was only one cart, and a fairly limited selection. One lady wanted Char Siu Bao, and was told it would be a 15 minute wait.

Here's what we got. The Shrimp and Chive Har Gow:

Unfortunately, these were cold, and the wrappers too thick. Nice flavor, though.

Bean Curd Roll.

This was served piping hot, and overall was probably one of the better items we had. Nice flavor, moist, great textures.

Shrimp and green onion dumpling.

This was also pretty cold, the wrapper was too brittle, though again the flavors were decent.

Shrimp Cheong Fun(this was a "special" $1.99 – thanks for the recommendation Terry).

Noodle a bit too thick and gummy, very large shrimp, sauce too watery, but not too bad.

We tried finding something else we liked, but the selection was on the scarce side, so we finished up with Har Gow:

Not bad, at least these were hot. Nice plump shrimp, wrappers were a bit too thick.

Still, all of this came out to just $13, with tea. Not bad at all! To be fair, the room is on the smaller side, and we arrived a bit late in the day, so I think a revisit on a weekend is in order. The service at Silver Ark, has always been very nice and accommodating, and that's one of the reasons we'll keep coming back.

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

Jasmine

For some reason, that same weekend the Missus had a craving for Dim Sum……and wanted to go back to Jasmine again. On this Saturday morning, we decided it to give it a go mainly because it was early enough (10am) to beat the crowds. As we entered, Jasmine was fairly empty, and we were whisked away to our table without a word, and water and hot tea were silently delivered(this will be interesting later on). Soon enough the carts arrived, and though the selection was not as large as during peak periods, the Cart Ladies were in a good mood, smiling and even somewhat chatty. And we started on our way.

The Tripe.

Possibly the best item of the day. The tripe was crunchy, yet not hard, the flavor was a nice condensed chicken and mild ginger. I usually enjoy a little chili in my tripe, but this was very good.

Shrimp Cheong Fun.

The Cheong Fun was excellent, neither too thick, nor too thin, soft and velvety. The shrimp may have been on the small side, but the sauce was just about perfect, not too sweet, not too salty. Good stuff, best I've had in a long time.

The Pei Dan Jook(Congee with Duck Egg).

Singularly, the most bland, boring, and thin Jook I've had in a long time. Very, very runny, with hardly any preserved duck egg in it.

The Dried Scallop Jook with Xiao Long Bao.

If there was something even blander than the previous dish, this was it. It was not as thin and runny, though there was barely a whisper of scallop flavor. And when will I learn…never order Xiao Long Bao in a Dim Sum restaurant? Barely any soup, the filling tasted like regular pork dumpling filling.

Chicken Feet.

These "jumbo size 13 chicken feet" were well flavored, with just a touch of chili. The skin was soft, and perfect for sucking all the good connective tissue and such. The size of these made me wonder if they are now raising specially bred chickens just for their feet!

About this time it started getting a bit more crowded, and you could start to feel a palpable tension in the air. The Cart Ladies had also started getting a bit more testy, as in, when asked about a certain dumpling, they'd reply…."it seafood, it all seafood, okay!!!"

Well the Bean Curd Roll was "not" seafood.

The broth was fabulous, but the bean curd was on the hard side. It was also falling apart, and a bit messy.

The Shrimp and Chive Dumpling.

Dry wrapper, but very nicely flavored filling.

The Shrimp Dumpling.

The shrimp in these were very large, and the flavor excellent. But just as on our last visit the wrappers were really gummy and stuck to every thing. Hey, isn't this where I came in last time?

All in all, not bad. The damage? $33. Here's an interesting tidbit, I noticed that every table had tea delivered to it whether it was ordered or not. We had tea and ice water delivered without asking, it just arrived. Now we would have ordered tea, but I thought that was interesting, mainly because most Dim Sum restaurants in San Diego would ask if you wanted tea. Even more interesting was an automatic $1 charge per person for tea. So tea is automatically delivered, and you automatically pay. I have no problem paying for tea, mind you, I expect to be charged. In this day and age, not everyone has tea with Dim Sum, so I've always noticed that Dim Sum restaurants in San Diego ask if you want tea, or even better what kind of tea you want with your meal. Or maybe this is just the first time I've noticed?

Service was professional, if a bit curt, but I expect that from Jasmine.

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant
4609 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

My previous post on Jasmine can be found here.