September 2008 – Page 2

Midweek Meanderings

September 17, 2008 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I haven’t done one of these in a while…so here goes.

The Late Vien Dong III Supermarket:

Yes, Vien Dong Supermarket on Linda Vista has closed.

The most recent info I’ve heard is that the new market will be a "Middle Eastern" style market. So we’ll soon see.

It’s called BBQ Chicken:

Driving on Convoy, you’ll always notice something new.

This used to be Flavor Thai restaurant. Now, it is soon to be something called BBQ Chicken. Just what kind of BBQ Chicken you may ask? After digging around for a bit; I’ve heard that the owner is Korean, and this will be a Korean BBQ Chicken joint. Of course, since it says "BBQ Chicken", I’m thinking Dak Bulgogi…tho’ I’m still waiting for a Kyochon style place to open……

September Special at Little Sheep:

This is very late, so my apologies, but Little Sheep celebrates their first anniversary in San Diego this month. And the offer for the month is 15% off the bill for 4 IF your Birthday is in the month of September. Initially I thought this was a pretty good deal. But Cathy quickly pointed out….that’s like having less than your tip covered!

And our Engrish lesson of the day:

I think we’ve discovered a new species!

I hope you’re having a great week!

mmm-yoso raw! A round-up of dishes from Olivetto, Sab-E-Lee, Asmara, and Buga

September 16, 2008 mmm-yoso Ethiopian/Eritrean Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, yoso-silly

So I’m having a nice chat with a friend of mine….and we’re discussing our favorite sport….eating! And as I went over what I ate over the last couple of weeks, he comments “you sure do eat a lot of raw meat.” Which caught me off guard. But he was right; as I went through what we talked about…there sure was a good amount of raw meat involved. I came home and went through my photos…and sure enough, he was right. So I thought what the heck, this’ll make as good a post as anything…….

Olivetto Cafe and Wine Bar:

**** Olivetto has closed

Recently, the Missus has become one of those “ladies who does lunch.” And has been grabbing lunch at various places with Her friends. One of the favorites of the “ladies who do lunch” is the new Olivetto Cafe and Wine Bar. “The Girls” have eaten there at least 5 times, mostly because of convenience, service, and the place is usually empty, so a 2 to 3 hour lunch is not out of the question.

During one recent lunch hour, the Missus and I managed to meet up for an now all too rare lunch. The Missus went over what She thought was the restaurants strong points……appetizers(except the cheese & salumi plate). She has been less than satisfied with the burger, pastas, etc….. So now She and the Girls just do appetizers.

So that’s what we did. And to start off the “raw” theme, I ordered the Carpaccio($8.95):

The paper thin beef tenderloin was okay, as was the olive oil, nothing special. The Missus loves parmigianno-regiano, and this was nice a milky. So much for Chinese hating the “congealed – curdled milk of an old cow’s udder”. We both enjoy Arugula, and this was a fine middle of the road version of the dish.

What I really came for were the Truffle Parmesan Fries ($4.95):

The Missus told me that Her friend ‘K’, had raved about these, repeating over and over to the Missus, “can’t you smell the truffle oil”. To which the Missus replied, “it smells good, but I don’t know what truffle oil smells like!” I loved the appearance of the thin, almost shoestring fries. The last several times I’ve had truffle fries, they’ve been oily, heavy, and went soggy quickly. These were the polar opposite, and the Parmesan added a nice saltiness to the dish. As for the truffle oil, this dish had an almost buttery smell, and I felt like I could make out 2,4-Dithiapentane. The fries were rich and filling, and even though I’ve rarely met a fry I didn’t finish, I couldn’t finish these.

We also had the Bruschetta Del Giorno ($5.50), the Bruschetta of the day.

Nice, ripe tomatoes bursting with flavor, basil, Parmesan…all would have been working in nice harmony if the bread had not been incinerated.

The service at Olivetto was very relaxed, friendly without being intrusive(according to the Missus this is not always the case), and our waters and drinks were refilled throughout. I’m glad the Missus has a nice, relaxing, and not the least bit stuffy place to grab a nice lunch with Her friends.

Olivetto Cafe and Wine Bar
860 West Washington Street
San Diego, CA 92103

You can also read Gil and Krista’s post on Olivetto.

Sab-E-Lee:

This location of Sab-E-Lee has closed

Next stop on the mmm-yoso “raw tour”, Sab-E-Lee, and one of my current favorite dishes; Koi Soi (Spicy Raw Beef – $6.95). Like I mentioned before, I’ve had this dish at two other places, one was very good (though not as good as this), and the other was very difficult for me to eat. This on the other hand is very easy for me to eat.

Yes, in spite of the heat from the chilies, this is one dish that I find hard to stop eating. A pinch of the salad in cabbage in one hand. A ball of sticky rice in the other. Once you start you dare not lose momentum.

The Missus would not eat this at first, sticking with one of the two other beef salads on the menu. But once She tried it, She was hooked. Good stuff…..

Sab-E-Lee Restaurant
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

You can read FOY Candice Woo’s article on Sab-E-Lee for CityBeat, here.

Geekyfoodie’s post can be found here.

Alice Q Foodie’s post can be found here.

Asmara:

**** Asmara has closed

Ed from Yuma has already posted on Asmara, so I’ll just go over my most recent meal. Guess what I ordered? Well you can be sure it wasn’t this:

It is an actual item on the menu at Asmara. Spaghetti is not very high on the list of items I’d like to try at an Eritrean Restaurant, though please tell me if you’ve tried it, and like it.

While the Missus went for the sampler:

I went for this:

It’s called Kitfo, and is the Ethiopian/Eritrean version of steak tartar; finely chopped (not ground) raw beef, flavored with niter kibbeh (a herb infused clarified butter), mitmita (a spicy powder seasoning), and herbs. It is served with the ubiquitous, carpet-padding-look-alike-eating utensil(you use pieces of it as your eating implement – don’t ask for a spoon), the sour and spongy flatbread Injera.

This version was not as sour as others, and along with what was used to line the plate, we each received another plate with several “rolls” of injera.

Less you think this is a light dish, it is rich, and the injera is heavy, and we both got really full, really quickly. The portion size is more than sufficient, the spiciness of the mitmita is not too bad either .

Emboldened by Her experiences with the Koi Soi, the Missus dug right in, and was stopped dead in Her tracks. She found eating a raw beef dish that is slightly North of warm (from the clarified butter I assume), and the very strong flavor of the herbs to be disconcerting. This dish stayed with me for a loooong time, as did the aftertaste of the cardamom and fenulgreek. I could still taste it the next morning.

If you’ve never had this type of food before, Asmara is a great place to start. The restaurant is very clean, and the folks who work here are friendly. I think the gentleman who served us was a bit taken aback when I ordered, but I told Him I’ve had Kitfo before at a restaurant on Fairfax in Los Angeles, and he was good to go.

Asmara Eritrean Restaurant
4155 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92114

Canine Cologne posted about her visit to Asmara here.

Buga:

I’ve posted on Yookwe (Yuk Hwe) from Buga before. I’ve never gotten a clean shot off, since the ladies always insist on mixing it for when they bring it to my table. I understand that an unmistakable pile of raw meat, topped with a raw egg can be disturbing. But when it’s good, it’s quite good. Unfortunately, the last 2 times, the meat has tasted a bit off, so I think I’ll pass on this dish from now on. Too bad, Buga is about the only place in San Diego that I trust enough to even order this.

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

So there you have it…mmm-yoso, like you’ve never seen it before; from mild to wild, in the raw…….he-he-he…..

Roadtrip: Beach’s Big Little Saigon Food Tour Part 1

September 15, 2008 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Bun Bo Hue, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

I’ve mentioned our good friend Beach, a few times. He’s a force of nature, with the energy and personality to match. It’s really hard to describe him, OC Food Blogger extraordinaire Chubbypanda called him "brash, generous, bold, gregarious, earthy, charismatic, and charming." And he’s well known as The Don of Little Saigon to those OC Food Bloggers. Beach has always been amazingly generous to the Missus and I, in fact, we owe much of our Vietnam trip to Beach, who helped us plan it every step of the way. Needless to say, I don’t think we’d have had such a great trip without his help. So recently, I met up with Beach, I’ve covered one short leg of it earlier, in the post on Be Thui. That was but one short part of a whirlwind 2 hour tour of some of Little Saigon’s little shops and eateries. And being Beach, he focused on some of the items we had in Vietnam.

So hang on….here goes!

1 – Thach Che Hien Khanh:

This busy little dessert shop with a line going out the door, specializes in Che, a coconut milk – tapioca ball dessert…I’m simplifying the definition of Che…there are so many variations!

But we weren’t here for the Che…Beach had his mind on a few snacks that I could take home to the Missus. The selection is immense, and the colors vibrant:

From Black sticky rice to the Green rice:

So what did I Beach suggest for the Missus?

The Green Rice had a very mild sweetness and coconut flavor.

But the Missus really enjoyed the Durian Rice!

Though when Sammy caught a whiff of this, he left the Country! I think She’ll gladly have this again.

Thach Che Hien Khanh
9639 Bolsa Ave., #A
Westminster, CA 92683

For much more info on Thach Che Hien Khanh, please read Elmo’s post and Wandering Chopstick’s post, you’ll be glad you did.

2 – Huong Huong Food to Go:

Beach also recalled how much the Missus loved the Banh Gio in Hanoi, so our next stop was Huong Huong Food to Go.

For us it was 2 Banh Gio to go. The restaurant has a ton of steam table type dishes…the smells are really tempting. You can read about Huong Huong’s offerings, albiet the Westminster location in Elmo’s post.

But I was saving myself. When I arrived home the Missus eagerly went for the Banh Gio, heating it up in the microwave.

So how was it? These were much more substantial than what we had in Hanoi. It was much heavier, and the rice flour "wrapper" had a more solid texture. The filling, was well…..very filling, and featured a Quail Egg as the "cherry on the top".

But it was close enough to bring back memories of having breakfast, sitting on kiddie stools, on a street corner of Hanoi.

Huong Huong
9892 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844

3 – Cho Ben Thanh Market:

Stop number 3 was Be Thui, you can read that post here.

4 – Thai Binh:

Beach recalled the Pork and Green Rice Patties we had in Bac Ha, and our next stop was Thai Binh. One of those little shops on Brookhurst. From the name, you could tell they specialized in various sausages.

So what did I get here?

According to Beach, it’s called Cha Com. This was the defatted lean pork sausage, studded with green rice, which gave it a mild, sweet, nuttiness. It wasn’t quite what we had in Bac Ha, which was more crunchy, not as lean, and had a stronger pork flavor. This was a sausage, what we had previously were more like fried fritters. That’s not to say this wasn’t good….it was quite tasty, if a bit on the oily side, and made some pretty good sandwiches. In other words, if you’re selling this…sign me up.

Thai Binh
14186 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843

And would you believe we still had 2 more stops! Let me tell you, Beach has more energy than a mallrat with a brand new credit card! I know Beach will call me a tease, but I’ll be stopping here for the night, and let you tell me about some of your favorite places in Little Saigon……

Part 2 to come!

BBQ Express Teriyaki Hawaiian BBQ

September 14, 2008 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Plate Lunch

*** BBQ Express Teriyaki has closed and is now Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori.

BBQ Express Teriyaki Hawaiian BBQ (whew that's mouthful), recently replaced the Convoy location of Extreme Pita. My first thought was, just what we need, another Teriyaki joint in the area, or is it a Hawaiian BBQ, or maybe …..???

You've got to give them some points for creative use of a former locations sign….just check out the sign from Cathy's post on Extreme Pita. I guess it's not that far a stretch from Extreme Pita to BBQ Express Teriyaki Hawaiian BBQ (I sense some redundancy).

One quick look at the menu, the crew, and the "salads", and you'll know right away this is a Korean owned and influenced restaurant.

So what is the food here like? I walked in and ordered a Teriyaki Chicken Plate ($6.95):

The chicken was taken from a portable steam-table unit sitting on the back counter, chopped, placed on rice, and covered with a too sweet teriyaki sauce. Very mundane.

You get to choose 2 salads, and among the choices was a dangmyeon dish, reminiscent of Japchae, it was in fact the best thing about the whole meal. It also had me wishing for something along the lines of Gina's BBQ, or even a Yummy's Korean BBQ. Now that's a Korean style plate lunch!

This on the other hand…….

Still, thoughts of perhaps getting just the side dishes with rice, brought me back. And I asked if I could just get the Japchae, macaroni salad, and rice….and got a smile, and a blank stare in return. I asked again, and got the same response. I'm guessing that was a "negatory sir"…… So I splurged and ordered the BBQ Kalbi plate ($8.45):

This time the very thinly sliced cross-cut ribs were cooked to order, but I could have done without the very liberal amount of the same bad teriyaki sauce poured over the ribs before serving.

Again the Japchae was the best thing about the meal.

And though the macaroni salad was on the runny side, it wasn't terribly sweet as Korean style mac salad tends to be, and was actually not bad.

In the end, nothing really compels me to return. In spite of the long name…..BBQ Express Teriyaki Hawaiian BBQ…I felt the place fell very short. And I'm still wondering what part the Hawaiian BBQ is? To me, it's just another teriyaki joint. Maybe you'll have better luck.

BBQ Express Teriyaki Hawaiian BBQ
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It’s what’s on sale this week.

September 12, 2008 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food, written by a bunch of friends. Cathy is taking her turn blogging today, because Kirk and ed (from Yuma) have lives…

HI. Back again with another easy meal for two for $5 or less…buying ingredients which are on sale this week.

Let's just get this out in the open- I have *never* made the same meatloaf twice in my life. Never. I don't expect you to, either. Instead, I am giving you some general instructions so you can make meatloaf in your own way, to your own taste. The one I am showing you is *very* basic and tasty, without any added spices…

Start out with meat. You don't have to, but I mix 3/4 ground beef with 1/4 something else- in this case, ground pork. The 80/20 ground beef is $1.69/lb at Vons this week, the ground pork is always $1.69/lb at 99Ranch. I ask for one of my size handfuls of pork when I go to the butcher counter.

Then you need fillers and binders. Today, I used an egg, raw mushrooms, stewed tomatoes and panko breadcrumbs.

Take the juice from the stewed tomatoes and soak the breadcrumbs in it. Stewed tomatoes have garlic, onion , celery and green pepper in it. No need to add any more flavor.

Mix all the ingredients together-lightly. I mix the meat, with my hands, first, then incorporate the wet breadcrumbs, the stewed tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. Form into loaf shapes and place on a cookie sheet with edges (a jelly roll pan). Bake at 350° until internal temp is 170° if you are cooking ground pork, 160° if you are using ground beef only. About 45 minutes for 1 pound total meat.edit: You don't really have to hit 170° these days, but I cook until the thermometer hits 155° and then let it rest and it continues cooking and it should be fine. Well, I'm not dead yet anyhow…

Get an instant read thermometer. That, along with good knives are the kitchen tools you will need and use regularly. The rest of the things for your kitchen should all be multi-use items.

While the meatloaf is baking, assemble the following: potatoes-red skinned, Yukon golds and new potatoes have thin skins that don't have to be peeled. Unsalted butter, salt and white pepper are all else you will need. Nothing fancy. Potatoes are good.

Cut the eyes from the potatoes, then chop into relatively small similar sized chinks, so they will cook at the same time.

Immerse potatoes into cold water-they were grown underground. (You put vegetables grown above ground into already boiling water).

Turn heat on low, let potatoes boil until fork tender. Turn off water and drain-Do Not Rinse!

Put the potatoes back into the pot, add the stick of butter, some white pepper and some salt (you can add more after you have a taste). Mash.

Taste and see if you need more salt or pepper.

I use white pepper so you don't see black specks, plus it tastes kind of nutmeg-gy…you can buy white pepper in any Asian grocery store.

When the meatloaf is done, take it out of the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes. The juices will stay in that way and the cold leftovers will be wonderful in a sandwich tomorrow.

If you want to splurge and really enjoy your meal, (the regular price of this is about $1.49), get this can of Dawn Fresh by Giorgio mushroom steak sauce. SO worth it…just open and heat.

Slice the meatloaf, cover with potatoes and gravy. A meal.

OK, that was a very general recipe. You can fancy up the meatloaf with all sorts of things, you can fancy up the mashed potatoes, or you can do it this way and not have to think about anything. All the flavors work and you don't even have to add salt.

Cathy's Meatloaf

Meat: 3 parts ground beef to one part ground pork or ground turkey

Binder: breadcrumbs, soaked in some sort of liquid; egg

Flavor: stewed tomatoes, spices, garlic, sauteed mushrooms, chili sauce, Worcestershire, capers, olives-open up that pantry

Stretchers: fresh vegetables, including shredded potatoes and/or carrots, ground nuts, dry cereal, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, bulgur

Cook at 350° until internal temperature of 160°is reached. Take out of oven to rest, it will continue cooking.

Cathy's mashed potatoes

One handful of raw potatoes per person, one stick of butter, salt and white pepper. If for some reason there is not enough butter, add some milk sparingly to help mash.

This is how I cook. Really.

Gobo Salad

September 11, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Man was last weekend hot! Those hot days sure do put a damper on your appetite. Except if you’re the Missus. Asked what She wanted for lunch; She answered "Gobo Salad". When I broke the news that Okan is not open for lunch, She was undeterred: "We can make it, I don’t think it’s too hard." After all these years of marriage, I’ve developed my own internal translation engine, which deciphered that little phrase thusly: "I’m here stewing in my juices, so you better make this for me, or you’re in for an ugly death. And try not to make it suck too much".

You remember the salad I’m referring to, don’t you? If not here’s a photo to jog your memory.

So off to Nijiya I marched, and wouldn’t you know it Gobo (Greater Burdock Root) and Mizuna were both on sale. Ah yes, the Missus’s power ranges far and wide……

This recipe should actually be called Mizuna with Sesame Dressing, topped with Fried Gobo. But I guess that’s a bit too long. Right before doing this post, I googled Gobo Salad, and wouldn’t you know it, the first recipe that displayed was from none other than the wonderful FOY (Friend of Yoso) Kat, who does one of my favorite food blogs Our Adventures in Japan. It’s a bit different than this version, but definitely worth a look, so check it out.

So how did it turn out?

Not bad at all……

Gobo Salad a la Wa Dining Okan

1 Large Stalk Gobo
1/2 Bunch Mizuna
1 Tb Sesame Seeds

1/2 Cup Dashi
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tb Sesame Oil

1 – Heat oil in a wok or dutch oven
2 – Peel Gobo. Once Gobo is peeled, use the peeler to shred the Gobo into strips. Rinse well, and keep Gobo in Sumizu (Vinegar Water – 2 tsp white vinegar – 2 cups water) or plain water to prevent discoloration.
3 – Rinse Mizuna, slice off root sections, place in colander and put back into the refrigerator. The salad tastes best with ice cold Mizuna.
4 – When the oil reaches a temperature of 370, drain Gobo well, pat off excess water with a towel of paper towel, and deep fry until golden brown and crisp.
5 – When the Gobo reaches desired doneness, remove from oil, drain, and place on a plate lined with a towel or paper towel.
6 – Mix together the first 4 dressing ingredients until sugar has dissolved. Add Sesame Oil and mix briefly. Taste and adjust flavor.(always check the flavor)
7 – Place ice cold and dry Mizuna in a large bowl, and dress with 1/4 of the dressing. Coat Mizuna well.
8 – Place Mizuna on a plate, top with fried Gobo, drizzle 1/4 of the dressing on the salad. Top with sesame seeds.

Really easy, huh?

Some notes: There are unlimited ways of "riffing on the dressing", so go for it. If you really want a nice sesame flavor, you can bust out the sur ib ac hi and grind up 4-5 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds. After making dashi I really didn’t feel like it. And what to do with the dashi and all that left over oil? The Missus also wanted agedashi tofu, and there was one more stalk of gobo and enough dressing for another salad in the refrigerator……..

I’m not quite sure if you want that recipe, because I’ve changed it a bit to suit the Missus. But here’s a photo:

Island Style Cafe

September 10, 2008 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

I must admit I was in a bit of a rut for a while. I was getting stale; and a bit bored with the places I had sampling. I have a pretty good collection of meals to post about, but could not muster the energy to post about them. But just like that; things would turn around. Starting first with Sab-E-Lee, followed by Wa Dining Okan, I’ve regained my enthusiasm. Fast forward to about a week ago….. I received an email from FOY "Shawn", who mentioned a new Hawaii kine grindz place that had opened up in Tierrasanta. Having read about my obsession with Loco Mocos, Shawn had taken the time out to send me an email about Island Style Cafe. With nice folks like TanyaS and Shawn keeping an eye out for me, it’s almost as if I have my own Loco Moco Patrol out there! And I appreciate the effort. Shawn had even done my research for me: "The restaurant is owned by a husband and wife. The husband cooks while the wife takes care of the tables. The husband worked as a chef at the Four Seasons prior to moving here. The wife worked for Aloha airlines until they went out of business. They had initially planned on helping their brother/brother-in-law start a restaurant and commuting back and forth from Hawaii. Well, once Aloha went out of business they said what the heck and moved here to make a go of the restaurant business." After reading that story, I made it a point to check the place out.

The interior of the restaurant is spartan, but very clean. The menu is interesting to say the least; all the regulars are represented; Teri-Beef, Hamburger Steak, Korean Chicken, and Chicken Katsu, are on the menu. What really stands out on the menu are the presence of crepes! Crepes? There are 4 "sweet crepes", and 4 "breakfast crepes" on the menu. This place is really into breakfast, as breakfast items comprise almost half the menu.

The other thing that stands out is Teri, who handles the front of house. She exudes warmth, and has the most sincere, wonderful smile. Once She found out that I’m from Hawaii(they are from Kona), the pidgin starts leaking out…from the both of us.

The Loco Moco-ish item on the menu is called the "Kaloko Moco". Unfortunately, the menu says it’s served until 11am, and it’s a bit past that when I entered the restaurant. But with Teri; all things are possible, and getting my Kaloko Moco($8.75) is not a problem. This is one pretty original Loco, I’ll say that much!

It is very pretty, at least to me. If there is ever anything that I’d want a plastic version of, a la Japanese Plastic Food, it would be this.

This Loco came with the standard equipment, 2 eggs easy over (nice and runny), a hand formed hamburger patty (grilled with great flavor, but dry and tough), and gravy (Ono-licious, tasted like it was made from scratch). In addition, it was upgraded with Fried Rice, which I’ve had with a Loco Moco before. The fried rice had a generous amount of chopped Spam and Ham, and if a bit on the mushy side, had really good flavor, without being too salty. The item that was really different was the crepe! Yes, all of this cholesterol goodness was placed on top of a savory crepe. I wasn’t sure if this would work; but the crepe was studded with chopped Spam and Ham, and even though there was a very mild sweetness, it didn’t detract from the overall flavor. In fact, I thought it was a nice combination. And in a nice touch, Teri recognized I was a Kama’aina, and brought the required condiment to my table, a bottle of Tabasco, without a single utterance from yours truly. And though I’ve really cut down on my Loco Moco consumption, I’ll have this again, without doubt.

On another visit, I decided to try out some of the items on the Plate Lunch menu. I went with a "mix plate" of 2 items ($9.75). I chose the Chicken Katsu – Korean Chicken combination.

A bit on the high side price wise, but this was pretty good. The Katsu was chicken breast, and very moist. The cutlet was fried to perfection, the panko crust crisp and light. The Katsu sauce was very "local style", ketchup based and tangy. The Korean Chicken was nicely marinated, and had obviously not been laying in a pan, and reheated. It was moist and tender, I enjoyed the marinade, which had a nice flavor, if a bit on the sweet side. The macaroni salad was spot on with regards to the amount of mayo used. It was also nice and cold, which is exactly the way I like my mac salad. I’m not a big fan of tuna in my mac salad, which is a personal preference, so this version is not my favorite.

As I’m writing this post, I’ve come to the realization that these folks get it, with regards to the food they serve. It is well made, the little things matter (the temperature of the mac salad), they care about what they serve, and it comes across as not just being "a business". At least that’s what I think so far. It helps that Teri is warm and welcoming. The menu has several salads, and I overheard that some of the dressings(Mango Vinaigrette, Papaya Seed) are made in house. Burger are also featured prominently, and I think Dennis will be happy to know that there’s Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich on the menu, though I gotta talk to them about the pineapple ring!

Even though the menu lists the hours being 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, I don’t think they’re open for dinner yet.

You know, 2 out of the 3 of the restaurants that I’ve enjoyed lately have happened because of recommendations. What would I do without you all!

Island Style Cafe
5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124

Thanks for the recommendation Shawn, this place is a winna!

Cambodia: Kbal Spean, Banteay Srei, Pre Rup, Sra Srang, and “meeting” our Prahok

September 8, 2008 mmm-yoso Cambodia, Siem Reap, Travel

Kbal Spean:

After our filling breakfast of Num Banh Chok, and a short stop to check out how palm sugar was made, we were on our way to our next stop, Kbal Spean. Kbal Spean is not a temple in the typical sense of the word. Located about 25 kilometers from Angkor Wat, Kbal Spean is a sacred site in the jungle. As we drove it started to rain fairly hard. This made Narin turn to us and say, "you are good luck, we’ve been waiting for the rain." After a bit of sliding and mild hydroplaning, we arrived at a large field.

At the rear of the field is the trail to Kbal Spean.

The hike takes about 20-30 minutes through the jungle. The trail was a bit slippery, but except for a few steep areas pretty easy. The humidity and the moisture made me feel like I was back home in Hawaii hiking.

The main feature of Kbal Spean is the river, which contain carvings that have been done in the bedrock. According to some of the literature we read; these carvings were originally made in the 11th century by hermits who inhabited the area.

Many of the symbols are "Lingas", sacred symbols.

And fertility symbols abound.

We had arrived right after a very loud group of Young Japanese Tourists who were making a racket and walking back and forth over the stone carvings. Soon enough, a little Gentleman wearing a blue shirt emblazoned with a badge restored order. Seeing that there would be no more jumping over the rocks and walking across the river carvings the group soon left. The Gentleman, seeing that the Missus was interested in the carvings, gave us a little tour.

It was a neat encounter; neither of us spoke the other’s language, but somehow we communicated and understood each other through gestures and sign language. And of course, there are gestures that are universal…..especially the ones used to explain which of the carvings were fertility symbols!

The water that passes over all of the symbols is supposed to be Holy Water. And of course you know the Missus had to get some of that!

Luckily we had packed our raincoats! As I always say, we need all the help we can get.

The hike down seemed amazingly short, and I felt refreshed by the change of scenery. And so we headed off to our next stop.

Banteay Srei:

About 20 Kilometers East of The Bayon; Banteay Srei is unique for several reasons. The first becomes apparent at first glance:

It’s the wonderful red color of the sandstone used for this temple.

Making some of the carvings quite stunning.

The other unique bit of information about Banteay Srei is that it is the only temple in Angkor not built by royalty. It was instead built by two brothers; Yajnavaraha, the court physician and trusted confidant of King Rajendravarman II, who granted them the land, and gave the brothers permission to build, and his younger brother Vishnukumura, who was a wealthy landowner.

Whatever the history, this is a beautiful site, and quite deserving of it’s modern name Banteay Srei, which I was told means "Citadel of the Women". The temple itself is small, and can be covered fairly quickly, but chances are you’d want to take your time.

I can’t say the same about our next stop…..

Pre Rup:

This place gave me the heebie-jeebies. It just looked ominous…..and frankly kinda spooky.

The place was also very empty. As I climbed up the temple stairs, I could imagine flying creatures with fangs swooping down to prey upon us from the crumbling spires.

The Missus later told me that the current name, "Pre Rup" means "turning of the body", and many Cambodians believe that cremations and other funereal rituals were carried out here. This story is fiercely debated. But, I can see where the stories come from….

And while the Missus was standing on the third level looking for Angkor Wat, I couldn’t wait to get the heck out of the place. As I scurried down the tiny stairs, the Missus had to keep reminding me to watch my step. One false step could be my "Pre Rup"……

We got back to the car, and a more pleasant subject came up. Lunch!

Meet the Prahok:

Unfortunately for us, we stopped at one of the many tourist eating spots that line the edge of Srah Srang (The Royal Bath). We did convince Narin to eat with us. The menu was a uninspired collection of Thai, tourist-Khmer, American, and European dishes. Wouldn’t you know that the Missus ordered Fish Amok…sigh…..

I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it….

I ordered some very routine Lemongrass Chicken:

What did Narin order? Narin ordered in Cambodian, so it remained a mystery, until it arrived. He had ordered Hamburger and Fries!!! The Missus and I looked at each other in astonishment. It was a platter of mystery meat disks, that by the two handed effort (no buns, Narin held the fork with 2 hands to bite, nay tear a piece off) necessary to eat it, must have been closer to jerky than meat. There were strips of soggy looking shoe-string potatoes on the plate as well. Later the Missus postulated that Narin had never had a chance to have a burger and fries, so he probably took this opportunity to sample "American food". After eating that garbage, I wondered what he thought of the American diet? Regardless of what he thought of what Americans eat, there’s no doubt in my mind that he must think we have the strongest teeth and jaw muscles in the universe!

There was one bright spot of the meal. Narin had noticed that we enjoyed eating the local food much more than the tourist food, and brought by a little dish.

It was Prahok, the crushed or pounded fermented fish paste, a staple as important in Cambodia as cheese or butter is here in the States. At first taste, it was very pungent, the fermented fish flavor made me tilt my head back in surprise. But with the addition of some lime juice to take the edge off, I rather enjoyed it on my rice. I mentioned the crunchy texture, and the distinct sour flavor to the dish. This made Narin smile……if you enlarge the photo above, you’ll find out why…..

He told us, "it is the ants". Say what? As I focused my beady eyes on the little dish of half consumed Prahok, I could make them out. And yes, there they were, red tree ants, dozens of them in the dish….they were indeed crunchy, and added an interesting sour flavor to the dish. I took one of them out for a photo-op. So say hello to my ant:

Srah Srang:

One of the good things about this restaurant was that is was right across the street from Srah Srang, the Royal Bath. Not really understanding the magnitude of Srah Srang, we crossed the street, and dodged the grazing animals:

And walked to the edge of Srah Srang:

Boy, this was some bath…….

More like a lake. And the breezes coming off the water gave us some relief from 100 degrees plus temperature.

A few minutes later; sufficiently refreshed, we headed off on the last leg of our tour of the Temples of Angkor……..

Wa Dining Okan – Part 2

September 7, 2008 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Japanese Restaurants

As I mentioned in Part 1, Captain Jack and I had already consumed almost all of the first 5 Kozara Ryori (small plates). At this point, CJ turned to me and said; "ok, it's time for some meat!" Opening the menu, I started ordering items from the Grilled Dishes and Side Dishes potion of the menu.

The first dish to arrive was the Grilled Beef Tongue (Gyutan – $5.50):

5 slices of Grilled Beef tongue, served with a lemon wedge and a sprinkling of Shichimi Togarashi, the standard Japanese chili and spice blend. If I may digress for a brief moment; the translation of Shichimi Togarashi is basically "seven spice chili pepper". Whenever I use it around the house, I will often show the bottle to the Missus and tell Her; "your people may have 5 spice…but we have SEVEN spice!" At which time I need to duck and scamper away quickly…very quickly. I thought the slices of tongue would have been better off texturally if it were sliced a bit thinner, and grilled a bit more crisp. As served it was a bit more rubbery than what I prefer. Still, the flavor was excellent…..and a good sign of proper preparation was evident. The Gyutan was permeated with the unmistakable fragrance of Binchotan, which adds a distinct smoky flavor to whatever is being grilled.

Next up was something not on the menu. But seeing that there were a few Yakitori style items on the menu involving various cuts of chicken, I asked if they had Tori Kawa (chicken skin). Nanase pointed to the Japanese menu over the doorway to the kitchen, and said yes. So this was a no-brainer.

Served in a ponzu style sauce, and topped with a good, mildy, sweet-pungent Negi (green onion), this dish delivered as expected.

Off the side dish menu, we ordered the Spicy Chicken Karaage ($5.25):

The Karaage was decent, but nothing special. What was delici-oso good was the "spicy sauce" which was more tangy than spicy, and tasted great on the Mizuna…..they should bottle the stuff.

Grilled Chicken Wings (Tebasaki – $4.50):

Not the largest chicken wings you'll ever see, but these were grilled to perfection. And the smoky Binchotan flavor came sailing through. And even though I haven't met very many chicken wings I didn't like, I thought these were especially good.

What was called 1-Bite Deep Fried Pork on the menu($5.50).

This was basically 2 bite Tonkatsu nuggets. The pork was fried to perfection and had a good amount of fat, but was on the tough side. The katsu sauce was really good, very tangy, and I think it's made in house.

I saw a plate of tempura pass by….the color and shape caught my eye. So of course, being with CJ, I had no fear of unfinished food…we ordered the Okra Tempura, which I didn't see on the menu.

This was fried with a skilled hand; the okra still had a nice bite to it, and had not wasted away into mushiness, and the batter was light. What really caught my attention was the Tentsuyu, the dipping sauce, which had a nice dashi flavor, without being too salty.

As we were finishing the okra, CJ turned to me and said; "we need one more thing…." Which gave me the opening to order the Asparagus Wrapped with Pork ($4.25):

Under any other circumstances, this would be plain-Jane bacon wrapped asparagus. It was the addition of grilling over binchotan that added an additional layer of flavor over everything. Overall, this was a decent dish.

12 dishes, along with a small Tokkuri of Kubota Manju came out to a tad over $70. Not bad at all.

Funny thing, a day later I was craving that Gobo Salad. And knowing how much the Missus loves all those nimono (simmered) dishes, I talked Her into having a nice light dinner at Okan. Unfortunately, the Sataimo, Kabocha, and Nasubi dishes weren't "on the table". Of course the really bad tuna-daikon salad, and the strange sweet-sour chicken were…. But all was not lost, for tonight there were a couple of items the Missus enjoys.

We started with some Gobo Kinpira (sauteed than simmered gobo):

Man, this was good, and motivated the Missus to order some Gohan (rice). All the textures were perfect…..this was much better than anything I've tried to make at home.

The Hijiki Nimono (simmered Hijiki):

Nice and crisp, but very mild in flavor. The Missus preferred the version I make at home.

I was surprised when the Missus ordered the Simmered Saba (Simmered Blue Mackerel) from among the specials lining the counter.

Inability to handle the high oil content and the texture, Saba has never been one of the Missus's favorite fishes. And this was no exception. Saba had never been one of my favorite fishes either……but I really enjoyed this. Nice oil, fairly dense meat from the preparation, not as fishy as I had expected.

We also ordered one of the Missus's favorites, Agedashi Tofu ($4.25 – fried tofu in a broth).

The Missus loved the tofu, perfect in texture. The tentsuyu, the sauce for the tofu was very mild, except for the flavor of ginger, which over-powered the otherwise delicate flavors of the dish.

Along with all of those dishes, we had the wonderful Gobo Salad I had been craving, and the Okra Tempura. The Missus had a Calpico Sour, I had tea, and the meal came out to $35. Not bad at all. Many of the dishes are really home-style, and I'm sure many of us makes at least some facsimile of them at home. But some of these dishes take a good amount of time, and to make many small plates…..sheesh!

As we were driving home, we started discussing the salad. The Missus mentioned the textures and also the flavors…..in the very Chinese way She said, "suan, tian, ku, xian." Suddenly, in a moment of clarity I understood, "Okan" (Mom) was teaching us about life in this dish. Life is made up of sour(suan), tian (sweet), bitter (ku), and xian (salty) moments, and we must devour it with zeal. Of course, She may just want us to eat our greens……..

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours:
Mon – Wed 530-11pm
Thurs – Sat 530pm – 12am
Sun 430pm – 9pm

Part 1, can be found here.

BLT Chicken-yet another $5 Friday meal

September 5, 2008 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is this blog. Just a diary of food that we eat. By "we", I mean Kirk and ed(from Yuma) and sometimes Miz Ducky and sometimes Omar and even sometimes me, Cathy. Today, another meal made at home with food on sale.

Hello again. It is Friday and time to get another recipe. This one is *so* easy and *so* inexpensive and *so* good.

I try to make most of my recipes easy to cook and be tasty and to make the ingredients easy to remember. BLT: Butter, lemon (or lime) and tarragon.

Chicken is on sale for 69¢/lb at Vons (with your club card), This 6 pounder was ~$4. Lemons are not on sale, but I bought one anyhow. One whole stick of butter. About 1/4 cup of dried tarragon, (1/2 cup fresh) which was 30¢ when bought by the pound at Henry's.

Melt the butter, squeeze a whole lemon into the butter, put the tarragon in and let the flavors sort of meld-without letting the butter get cold again…

Pour it over the chicken and bake.

I heat the oven to 450° until I put the bird in, then turn it to 350° and bake 20 minutes per pound. (Inner temp should be 185°)

Photo when it was almost done…

Sorry, I apparently started eating and stopped taking photos.

Easy, tasty side dish.

Broccoli is on sale 50¢/lb at Henry's this week.

Broccoli, olive oil, kosher salt (not as salty)

Slice broccoli into small florets, put into bowl, cover with olive oil and scant tablespoon salt (you can add salt later if you wish).

Spread out thinly on baking sheet, even the small leaves and stems…try to have everything cut pretty thin/small.

Put the baking sheet into the oven about 10 minutes before the chicken is done.

You'll hear the sizzle of the oil. The florets will burn and be nicely crisp.

Tasty! Addictive!

Cathy's BLT Chicken

1 each: Chicken, stick butter, lemon

1/4 C dried tarragon (or 1/2 C chopped fresh)

Melt butter, add juice of lemon, add tarragon. Let flavors meld (about 5 minutes) while heating oven to 450°.

Pour melted mix over chicken, put into oven, lower temperature to 350°.

Cook 20 minutes per pound, until internal temperature (taken at thickest part of breast, not touching the bone) is 185°, or until juices run clear.

BROCCOLI SIDE DISH

Finely chop broccoli into florets, stems can be sliced finely also. Put into bowl.

Pour olive oil over broccoli, put about 1 T Kosher salt and mix.

Place all, spread flat, onto baking sheet. Put into oven about 10 minutes before the chicken should be done. When broccoli starts to brown and oil sizzle, remove.