January 2009 – mmm-yoso

Yum Cha Cafe – A brief look…..

January 31, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Yum Cha Cafe has closed

It seems that a whole bunch of FOYs (Friends of Yoso) have been on "Yum Cha Cafe watch". A few days back, FOY Trent email'd me saying that he saw equipment being moved into the space….and like a good YCC groupie, I was there that afternoon to take a photo.

Walking up to the window, I peered at the menu…..and felt funny. This was getting a bit out of hand. There's a fine line between groupie and stalker. So I backed a-waaay from the window, leaving behind the gathered condensation left by my nose and hands, walked away, and decided to tuck Yum Cha Cafe back into the far reaches of my mind.

Until……. I received an email from another FOY, Fred, who informed me that Yum Cha Cafe was open. A perfect storm had formed. I had gone in to work at 6am and been so busy that I skipped lunch, I was hungry, the Missus had also been "shopping" so She had skipped lunch. Yum Cha Cafe here we come…..

There are two ways of ordering…you can either fill in one of the order sheets and hand it to someone….or elbow your way in line and order from one of the ladies, who may hand you off to another lady, who in turn, will pass you off to the cashier. One other thing, Vietnamese is the language of choice for many of the employees at this location of Yum Cha Cafe.

Compared to the San Gabriel location, the prices here are about 40 cents to a dollar more here in San Diego.

And there was a full complement of Chinese BBQ, but no Rice Porridge today.

Yum Cha Cafe in San Gabriel serves up decent quality food at good prices, how would the new San Diego location hold up? Well…… we'd like to make a few more visits, so you'll have to wait for a bit. But that means that you be able to visit, and form your own opinions, right?

But just as a tease, here's some chicken feet ($1.39):

I'm showing these with the express purpose of tempting FOY and fellow food blogger CAB.

I think the Missus kinda enjoyed these…

Even though the prices here are 40% higher than LA, the Missus and I filled up for a total (including tax) of $8.78. And because great minds think alike, I think we saw Cathy's Husband (The Mister) walking into the place as we were driving out!

Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Open Daily: 8am-8pm

Wandering Chopsticks writes about the San Gabriel location of Yum Cha Cafe in this post.

A white bean and sausage Cassoulet-ish meal

January 30, 2009 Cathy What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food we (Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy) eat. We like to talk about it. You apparently like to read about it. Welcome back.

Hi. Cathy here, making a meal for two for less than or equal to $5 out of stuff I found on sale this week.

Casseroles are communal meals- one dish meant to be shared. Cassoulet, a French casserole meal, is based with white beans, meat and herbs. Essentially, it is a peasant dish said to date back to the 14th century siege of Castlenaudary during the Hundred Years' War, fed to the soldiers to keep them strong and send the invaders away. If you win at Trivial pursuit by knowing this little fact, you owe me.

The French can make cassoulet kind of very fancy, using duck confit or smoked duck as a protein, but you can use chicken, or sausage, smoked pork, pork rind, pig knuckles or a combination of meats. White beans are the key ingredient.

It so happened that Vons had the smoked sausage marked down to $1.99 and the one pound of beans was 49 cents at Food 4 Less, so this was going to be an extremely inexpensive couple of meals.

I'll mention some optional add ins as I go along.

Rinse and clean one pound of white beans and put into a pot with 8 Cups of water.

Let boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat, cover and let stand one hour.

Next, put in one whole small onion, one whole carrot and the center of a celery stalk (you know-the feathered part that you usually toss out). I also put in a couple of sprigs of thyme and two bay leaves.

Let simmer until the rest of the water is absorbed and the beans are mostly tender and fully almost cooked, about an hour.

(You want all of these ingredients whole, because you will be removing them).

While the beans are cooking, chop up the onion, carrot and celery and put into a hot pan with olive oil. Let the ingredients sweat on low heat for about 20 minutes. Until the onions are translucent (not burned).

Add the sliced sausage and some Herbes de Provence and saute until warmed through, about 5 minutes.

Now add some liquid (beef or chicken broth or stock, and-or some red wine, or just water-but add some more seasoning if you only add water) and simmer for another five minutes-to get that flavor infused in the meat and vegetables.

Remove the whole vegetables from the cooked beans, which should have very little (if any)water in it and add the vegetable sausage mix. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the liquid is also absorbed into the beans.

You could serve with a salad or piece of crusty bread. The flavors get deeper overnight.

Cathy's Cassoulet

1 lb white beans, 2 small onions, celery and carrots, smoked pork sausage, broth or red wine, Herbes de Provence.

Optional: smoked ham, pork, pork rind, chicken or duck. Brown the chicken or duck if you are using it.

Quick soak the beans. (add 8 C water, boil for 2 minutes, cover, remove from heat and let soak for one hour.

To the beans, add one whole carrot, one whole small onion, a few celery stalks to the water and simmer until the rest of liquid is absorbed, about 50 minutes. (optional: add fresh thyme and 2-3 bay leaves) Remove those whole vegetables (and herbs).

In another pan, with about 2 Tbs olive oil, on low heat, sweat a chopped onion, celery and carrot until the onion is translucent-about 20 minutes. Add the sliced sausage and some Herbes de Provence and stir, heating through the meat (about 5 minutes).

Add liquid (broth and wine or water and some Herbes de Provence) to cover the vegetable/meat mix, bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable/meat/liquid mix to the cooked flavored beans. Mix well and return to a low heat, covered, until the liquid is absorbed into the beans (about 15 minutes).

Luang Prabang: Tat Kuang Si, Boungnasouk Restaurant, and the Night Handicraft Market

January 29, 2009 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Laos, Luang Prabang, Travel

For us, one of the must visit sites around Luang Prabang is Tat Kuang Si, Kuang Si Waterfall, located about 20 miles South of Luang Prabang. Why? Well, because of this:

It's pretty easy to get to…you hire a "Jumbo", who drops by a "ticket office" and get admission to falls for you.

The Jumbo will park in a parking-shopping-eating area, and you can take one of either two routes. One is a well paved asphalt road, and the other is a pretty easy forest trail that meanders it's way up to the falls.

Some of it was mildly reminiscent of Kbal Spean in Cambodia.

You could hear the water rushing down alongside the forest trail. There were a few areas where folks can swim in the crystal clear water. Also along the trail is the Luang Prabang Bear Rescue Center.

All the bears here have been confiscated from poachers, and they all looked to be in good shape. Adriactic Black Bears (Moon Bears) are endangered, mostly due to Habitat Fragmentation, and the market for bear parts and bile.

You can find more info here.

Funny, there are two things that I've never, ever done on our international vacations…… one of them is buy a t-shirt. But Laos finally broke me, I ended up buying a "Free the Bears" t-shirt, as well as a BeerLao t-shirt. I also broke the other rule, more about that later……

As we walked up the trail, we passed a few "mini-falls".

And to tell you the truth, I had not expected much. I've seen more than my fair share of waterfalls. But I already thought this excursion was well worth the time. There were the bears, and I was enchanted by the pristine looking water.

But as we walked in the clearing and took a look at the falls…..

I realize that my lousy photography skills really doesn't do justice to the falls. But for a scale comparison, check out the guy in the photo to the right.

The falls are 180 feet of crystal clear water. There are no liability issues here, you can walk pretty much right up to the falls. And cross on wooden bridges in various states of maintenance.

Boungnasouk Restaurant:

Lunch on that day was at a restaurant we passed on our way back from Somchan Restaurant. Just like the afore mentioned restaurant, Boungnasouk(the restaurant is owned by the guest house across the street) was located with a view over the Mekong.

We had looked over the menu, and thought it would be a decent alternative.

Not being very hungry we ordered just a few items. Very predictable items…..

Of course I got the Khai Pene:

This version of the dried, pressed, and fried river moss was thinner than the version at Kheam Kong Restaurant, and had more "stuff" going on.

The Jeow Bong came on the side, and was by far the best version we had on the trip.

Nice garlic flavor, with a mild spiciness. The water buffalo skin pieces were a bit big, but not too tough.

Of course the Missus got the Luang Prabang Salad:

The Salat Nyam was not very good, the dressing lacked any great egg flavor, though the watercress was nice and tender. Boiled Egg slices were also omitted, and while the cucumbers were decent, the tomatoes (strange for Luang Prabang) were under-ripe, and lacked the "flavor of sushine".

To finish things off, we had the Cucumber Salad:

This cucumber version, of the more well known papaya salad, was nicely pungent, but the heat had been gringo-ized, and the seeds were not removed before shredding.

Over all, mediocre……

The Night Handicraft Market:

Around 4pm there is Luang Prabang's version of evening "traffic". Sisavangvong, from the National Museum until the intersection of Kitsalat becomes a bustling beehive of activity.

Part of it is due to folks heading home, but most of it is because the street is undergoing the transformation to the Night Handicraft Market.

The sandwich and fruit drinks booths, move from the area on the corner of Kitsalat, across the main street.

Electricity is set-up via a tangle of extension cords on the street.

Food stalls are set-up along the side streets. This woman specialized in pig parts, especially heads. Over several days I spotted her method of keeping herself "nourished". For every three or four pieces she chopped, she ate one!

At sundown, the main street is closed, and Sisavangvong becomes a huge market…..of handcrafts of infinite variety.

And while the parents sell and socialize, the children study under the glow of the lightbulbs.

And the food stalls do a bang up business.

Usually having our meals fairly early, we didn't eat much at the stalls. But one night, the Missus saw a vendor making the Lao version of Kanom Krok.

And couldn't resist. But these weren't very good, the flavor was off, as was the overall texture.

I'm sure if we spent enough time in these alleyways, we'd have found some pretty good, and cheap eats.

One of the most entertaining little encounters happened at the Night Market. On our first night in Luang Prabang, walking through the night market, we noticed that many of the women vendors, had branches in their hands. On top of these branches were a nut like fruit. They were cracking away, just going at it. The Missus, who has loves sunflower seeds, was determined to find out what this was. And so we were off on a mission!

The Missus finally cornered a woman who was munching (cracking) away.

Not being able to find these…..the Missus was determined to buy them off the woman. Now the Missus fancies Herself as being quite the bargainer, and when the woman said 8,000 Kip, the Missus responded with; "no-no, 4,000 Kip." And so the great deal was made.

The Missus felt proud and quite smug….She had been "Queen of the Deal…Baroness of the Bargain." Of course we turned the corner and found out that a bunch of this stuff went for 2,000 Kip! We also noticed that the woman had already eaten half the bunch!

So what was this? I was told it's hops! As in beer hops!

And so, every evening, under the heat of the lightbulbs, the Missus became a "hop-popping" machine. "Oh (crack) this is (crack-crunch) sooo (crack – pop) good! I'll (crack-pop-crunch) really miss (crack) it!"

Ka Ti Thai Cuisine

January 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

**** Ka Ti Thai has closed

I was driving past Montgomery Field on Aero Drive, when I noticed a tiny sign posted on the grass in front of one of those non-descript grey colored strip malls. Craning my head to read it, I almost drove right off the road! Sheesh, if you thought texting or cell phones were major driving hazards…… But there was a payoff for my pulled neck muscle. The sign read "Thai Food". I took a right on Glen Curtiss Road, and another right onto Gibbs Drive, which, along with running parallel to Aero, is the only way you'll get in to the parking lot of these strip malls.

And lo' and behold, what was once a pizza shop, was now a Thai Restaurant! In the oddest of locations. Unfortunately, the place was closed.

Luckily, I found myself in the area around lunchtime several days later. I parked and entered the tiny restaurant.

The first thing I noticed was the decor………wow, lot's of lace. It looked more like a Southern Tea Room than a Thai Restaurant.

I had spied a list of Lunch Specials ranging in price from $6.95 to $8.95 on the billboard outside.

I was greeted, and seated by a smiling Young Lady and was handed the menu. I was positively famished so I ordered a few items.

I started with the Som Tom (Papaya Salad – $7.95). In keeping with the S(tandard) O(perating) P(rocedure), I was asked for a "heat level". My reply of "Thai spicy please", was met with a gasp, an uncomfortable smile, and a "please, one moment". At which time the young lady, scurried to the kitchen. I could overhear a discussion, and there was some moving noises…perhaps preparing the defibrillator, and maybe the fire extinguisher? The Server returned, and obviously concerned with my survival, verified that I indeed wanted my Papaya Salad spicy. After reaffirming my commitment to chilies, she gladly placed my order.

The Som Tom arrived, nice, bright, and fresh. The young lady thoughtfully included some extra napkins for me, which came in very handy. As for the salad itself, it was very "HWOP", that would be "hot with out pungency". I enjoyed the sweat inducing spiciness, as well as the good amount of tart-sour lime in the dish, but there was a lack of fish sauce; and no other component (dry shrimp, salted crab) to add that umami bang to the dish.

I also ordered the Spicy Noodles with Chicken (lunch special price – $6.95). It arrived looking pretty good.

This was pretty much a drunken noodles type of dish. The chicken was moist and soft. The noodles sorely needed a bit of "wok hay" as it presented itself as flaccid edging on mushy. The dish was very tamarind heavy, making it too tart….. you know the phrase, "too much of a good thing….." The heat level was decent. I took my leftovers home, and the Missus had a taste of it, and responded with a "whoa……..puckery." Still, the service was very friendly, and I wanted to give this place another shot.

So, with the Missus occupied for the evening, I dropped by Ka Ti for take-out. I had wanted Nahm Tok, but they were out, so instead I went with the Marinated Pork Ribs ($12.95). Which, according to the menu, were pork ribs marinated in Coca-Cola. While waiting for my order, I heard the microwave pinging, not once, but three times, which did not bode well for my meal. When I arrived home and removed the plastic cover from my tray, this is what greeted me:

The ribs looked very pale, I had expected something with more caramelization. The flavor was very reminiscent of braised sweet-sour pork, and was not bad. The texture of the ribs were very soft, too soft, again much like something braised. My first thought was that they could have just used pork shoulder with a Coca-Cola braise and achieved something better than this for less. The veggies were very routine broccoli and carrots. I was provided with a good sized container of Jasmine Rice as well.

You know, I like the staff at Ka Ti, they are warm and pleasant folks from just outside Bangkok. I want them to do well, especially in this location. But I found the food to be mediocre Americanized Thai, though I've done much worse, and paid much more for Thai in San Diego. Still, this is the best, if not the only Thai for at least a mile, and adds more diversity to what is offered around Serra Mesa.

Ka Ti Thai Cuisine
8690 Aero Drive #114
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Mon – Fri – 9am – 7pm

View Larger Map

Yuma: Jeannie Wah’s Chinese & American Bistro

January 27, 2009 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

It's ed again, over in Yuma, not Kirk or Cathy. You are warned.

This old school Yuma Chinese restaurant has closed.

Shortly after I moved to Yuma, I decided to try every Chinese restaurant in town. It wasn't that hard — there weren't that many. Several old time Yumans recommended a Cantonese steakhouse named Gene's. It was the oldest Asian eatery in town.

So I stopped by one lunchtime and ordered a lunch special: chicken chow mein. What I was served looked a lot like this:

As soon as I began eating, I flashed back to my small town childhood and the "country and western" Chinese restaurant that was my parents' favorite in the 1950s and 60s. Every thing seemed exactly the same, from the combination of vegetables down to the predominant flavor of American soy sauce.

And like the memory from my childhood, this chicken and vegetable melange topped a thick pile of crunchy noodles, just like you could get out of the can:

For me, this flashback was not the resurrection of a pleasant memory, though to be fair, I should mention some friends who moved to Arizona from Boston and are so happy to find these old-school dishes that taste "just like the Cantonese food back in Massachusetts." In any case, Gene's was never my favorite, and I considered it a typical and ordinary ABCDE (Kirk's coinage: American Born Chinese Dining Establishment).

Gene's no longer exists, but the friendly woman who was its last manager has recently opened a new dining establishment, Jeannie Wah's Chinese & American Bistro:

She has a tough task in this economy, but she is trying to attract new customers with new dishes while still satisfying the old customers from Gene's with American food, snickerdoodles, and dishes like that old-school chicken chow mein ($8.50).

New note: I must say that the version of the chicken chow mein at Jeannie Wah's is better than the old version for 3 reasons. 1. The soy sauce is real soy sauce – not a complex flavor, but not bad either. 2. The Chinese greens mixed with the bean sprouts add a slight balancing touch of bitterness that works well in the dish. 3. The noodles are fried on premises and have real flavor and real crunch.

On my first visit to the very nicely decorated new eatery, I got lucky and ordered one of the lunch specials, the Wah's Up Today Noodle Bowl ($7):

This was really good, much better than any picture can convey. The broth was densely flavorful and rich. The chicken and barbecued pork were adequate as were the plentiful Chinese cabbage pieces and chopped Chinese mushrooms. The real highlight of the dish, even better than the outstanding stock, were the noodles. They had a perfect chew to them, with great mouthfeel and good flavor.

In fact, noodles seem to be one of the strong points of the restaurant. I recently ordered Gene's Cantonese Panfried Noodles ($11) to go:

Again the noodles were toothsome and flavorful. Notice the plentiful wok hay. The vegetable selection was also good. In addition to the usual suspects, there were sugar pea pods and plentiful crunchy baby corncobs. The only bummer in the entire dish were the shrimps. While their flavor was unexceptional, I never realized that it was possible to cook a shrimp to the point where it was as tough as sirloin steak. As tough as it is to believe this, that's how tough those shrimps were.

I also have picked up their version of Kung Pao chicken ($9.50):

The dish was good. I appreciated the plentiful topping of cashews, and the amount of chicken was generous as well. Providing texture and flavor contrast were more baby corns, onions, red bell peppers, and some type of mildly spicy chopped green pepper. As the picture shows, this dish was not super picante, but the red chili flakes and the chopped green chilies did provide a one/two capsicum punch.

Perhaps because of my central European roots, I love various combinations of pork and cabbage. At Jeannie Wah's, I was pleased to see double cooked pork on the menu ($8.50). And of course, I ordered it on one of my first visits to the restaurant:

The version here is very basic, but certainly adequate. Compared to the dish at Mandarin Palace (my favorite version in town), this one was very simple — just cabbage, barbecued pork, and chili flakes. The pork here also lacked the fatty richness that makes the rendition at Mandarin Palace so outstanding. Nonetheless, I could eat this again happily.

I'm glad that this restaurant opened. This is such a wonderful change from the Chinese buffets that dominated the Asian food scene here in Yuma just three or four years ago. Prices seem fair, and portions are generous. Istill need to explore more of the noodle dishes here, as they seem to be a real strength of the place. Nonetheless, Jeannie Wah's is not going to replace Yummy Yummy as my favorite local Cantonese place, nor does the menu offer the diversity of Mandarin Palace. Still, it fills a very flavorful niche out here in the desert.

Jeannie Wah's Chinese and American Bistro, 1360 4th Ave (actually off 14th St close to 5th Ave), Yuma AZ, 928-783-0080

You know by the line…….

January 26, 2009 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

At 815 in the morning at Sam Woo:

It's not any ordinary day. Granted, it ain't Thanksgiving at Honeybaked Hams…….

Anyway, whether you say, Gong Xi Fa Cai‏, or Chúc Mừng Năm Mới, or whatever you might say, we'd like to wish you all:

Happy Lunar New Year!

Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

January 25, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Walking along the meat department of 99 Ranch Market, I was in search of something to make for dinner. Something easy and low stress…..when my eyes happened upon these:

The humble chicken drumstick. As I stood and stared(obviously mouth agape – good thing there were no flies around) at the styrofoam tray of poultry, my mind took me back to the joys of the drumstick. Has there ever been anything more perfectly designed than natures own "meat-on-a-stick?" And as a child, I adored them. So on this day, instead of the chicken legs, or whole fryer that I had been contemplating, I returned home with 8 drumsticks.

But what to do with them…….would it be a simple "fry-job"? Or perhaps a dijon based baked drumstick? There seemed to be a infinite number of options…… As I put away my groceries, direction became pretty clear. I had purchased some Gailan (Chinese Broccoli), so the direction would have to be Asian. And so I settled on doing a basic "Soy Sauce Chicken" recipe. Something I've been making for years. After all, I was doing drumsticks, so isn't there anything more basic than doing a simple soy sauce braise?

So here you go, a simple, Sunday, soy sauce, dish. You may want to make it on Saturday, and heat it on Sunday, it will taste better.

Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

8-10 Chicken Drumsticks, or 3lbs various chicken parts, ORRR 1 whole fryer.
2 cloves of garlic smashed
2 3/4" pieces ginger smashed
2 star anise
4 scallions, white parts only, bruised
2 cups water
1 cup light soy sauce
2-3 Tb dark soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Shao Xing Wine

1 – In a wok or dutch oven combine water, ginger, star anise, garlic, and scallions, over medium heat.
2 – When water starts to boil, add soy sauce, sugar, and Shao Xing. Stir to dissolve sugar. At about this point, I always taste my braising liquid….if you've never done that before, please do…it may taste "yuck", but after making dishes over time, you'll be able to better predict how things will turn out, and make adjustments.
3 – Add chicken to wok, turning several times to make sure chicken is fully coated for about 5 minutes.
4 – Turn heat to low, and simmer chicken, turning every 8-10 minutes until done. These drumsticks took only 20 minutes. Do not overcook, the chicken will fall apart and get mushy.
5 – Serve with a little dish of the sauce.

You can take this in many directions….soy sauce eggs anyone? I found this to be close to the salty edge, so I made up a Ginger-Scallion Oil, just like what I make for my cold ginger chicken, which cut the salt and fat real well:

I hope you had a great weekend!

Tilapia is on sale, and so is spinach. What’s for dinner?

January 24, 2009 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog you are reading. Let's pretend today is $5 Friday (but really it is $6 Saturday). A meal for two for about $5…

Hi. This is a fast meal I make without really measuring.

Tilapia is on sale for $2.77/lb at Henry's. Four fillets weigh almost exactly one pound.

Spinach is also on sale, two bunches for $1. Buy 3 bunches, wash and remove the bottom stems, leave the water on the leaves. That will help steam cook this casserole. The spinach collapses so much and the extra is just tasty…

Drain a can of chopped tomatoes, shred some Parmesan Cheese, and chop a couple of garlic cloves.

Oh. I sprayed some non-stick coating on the bottom before I put the spinach in.

I also sprinkled some Herbes de Provence on top.

Cover the pan with foil, put into a 350 oven for about 25 minutes if the tilapia was frozen, 20 minutes if thawed then uncover and continue cooking for about 10 more minutes.

When the fish is not translucent and flakes, it is done.

You can serve with rice or noodles or crusty bread.

You can substitute frozen shrimp, other fish or boneless chicken.

Cathy's Tilapia Casserole

1 lb fish fillets or shrimp or boneless chicken

~1 lb spinach, washed/rinsed and *not* dried

1 can (14.5 oz)chopped tomatoes (or at least 1 Cup of fresh tomatoes)

1 Cup (or more) shredded Parmesan (or other hard cheese)

2 chopped garlic cloves

Spray casserole dish (I use a 10×10) with nonstick coating, put spinach on the bottom, top with the protein and tomatoes, cheese, garlic and some Herbes de Provence.

Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking until the fish is flaky.

There will be a lot of liquid in the bottom which you can remove and mix with flour and salt and pepper in a pan to make a sauce. Serve with rice.

San Diego Tet Festival 2009

January 23, 2009 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Vietnamese Restaurants

Wow, where did time go? It's time for the San Diego Tet Festival again. The venue this year, is the same as last year, Balboa Park.

I decided to check things out on the way home from work, so that I could get a post in tonight. That way, if you're interested, you'll still have tonight, Saturday, and Sunday to attend.

This year, it didn't look like the weather was cooperating, but by the time the Festival opened at 4pm, the rain looked to have moved on, and the sun was shining.

Things were a bit wet, but I'm hoping that doesn't dampen spirits.

As with all the previous festivals, various vendors, businesses, and community organizations are represented.

And of course all of the rides.

Of course, I know you're really interested in the food, right?

It was nice to see some of the old regulars, who are here every year.

And many that I don't recall seeing before.

To me, it seems that every year, there seems to be an interesting food theme. In 2006, it was Cha Gio everywhere. In 2007, it was salads. Last year, it was Nem Chua and Banh Kot. This year, in keeping with the weather, it's soups, stews, and rice porridge (Chao).

And every year, there's something a little more adventurous.

Here's a closer look:

And just in case you aren't in the mood for Vietnamese (gasp!), there's the usual Kettle Corn, Hot Dogs, Tacos, and maybe a few not so usual suspects:

The meat grilling in back of the booth smelled heavenly. Too bad they weren't quite ready.

Only a few booths were open, and this booth was the busiest:

And though all folks ahead of me were getting Eggrolls (Cha Gio), or Fried Bananas, I had my sights dead set on something else…. Bun Rieu!

I ordered my Bun Rieu($5), and the very friendly young man manning the booth asked me to wait a few minutes. And what should appear, but a large fast-food plastic tray, and a proper large bowl of Bun Rieu. I was shocked…..

I had expected a small styrofoam bowl, but this was larger than many bowls of Bun Rieu I've had in restaurants. No garnishes other than lime, but this was better than expected. And while it was a far cry from Mien Trung, the Bun Rieu sure hit the spot on such a damp day. I was so stuffed after finishing this off, that there was no room for anything else.

Which might have been a good thing, since many booths, like this one, which will be serving Banh Kot, were simply not ready.

So if you visit, let me know what you enjoyed!

Fourth Annual San Diego Tet Festival - Balboa Park.

Fri 1/23/2009: 4pm – 10pm
Sat 1/24/2009: 10am – 10pm
Sun 1/25/2009: 10am – 8pm

LV Sandwiches and Restaurant

January 22, 2009 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** LV sandwiches has closed and has been replaced by Toan Ky, you can find a post here.

While I was paying too much attention to the opening of Thuan Phat Market and the soon to open Yum Cha Cafe, LV Sandwiches opened right under my nose last week.

LV Sandwiches has opened in the spot formerly occupied by Le's.

We'd have never noticed except for the grand opening sign….

And buy 2 sandwiches, get 1 free is a great deal in my book!

Other than the sandwich menu, not much has changed.

And the restaurant has kept Le's Vietnamese-Chinese-Thai menu, along with the mediocre food, like this combination Com Tam. Underwhelming and overpriced at $7.95.

I had never been a big fan of Le's, and holding over the old menu items, which seem to number in the hundreds….

But of course we were here for the sandwiches! On our first visit, things were a bit disorganized, but the folks, and especially the woman who looked to be running the place were very nice. We had a seat, and ate our sandwiches inside the restaurant. Of course the Missus ordered the Banh Mi Bi (shredded pork – $2.75):

The Bi was mildly flavored, but on the dry side, I likened it to eating sawdust. The bread on the other hand was good, warm, crusty, but not hard, and airy. Instead of slicing the baguette in half, adding margarine, than toasting, creating what I call the "crouton effect" (I'm sure we all love croutons…but try chewing on a baguette sized crouton and attempt to preserve the skin lining your mouth), LV toasts the whole baguette. Also, as we were to find later, eating in, has its benefits.

Strangely, the Missus ordered the Banh Mi Chay (vegetarian – $2.75):

Turning over a new leaf for the New Year? hmmm… When our sandwiches arrived, they were cut in half for consumption……and I really couldn't figure out what this was. It tasted pretty darn good….with not a hint of the usual deep fried tofu, nor "plastic meat" in sight. There was some nice flavor, the addition of fried shallots and garlic gave the Banh Mi a nice kick. What was the most surprising, and impressive was the quality of the "faux" Cha Lua (defatted pork sausage – think bologna!!!). The texture was pretty good, and it didn't have an artificial flavor. When we inquired about this, we were told that they make their own "mock meat" in house. The Missus had found Her favorite at LV.

We took the Dac Biet (Special – $3.25) home with us.

I was surprised at the amount of meat in this sandwich. The Thịt Nguội (Ham – Jambon) was lean, and the Cha Lua had a mild smokiness to it. I believe they make this inhouse as well. The Pate had a strong livery "funkiness"to it, which ranks up there with BaLe on University, but went well in this sandwich. The bread had gotten chewy, and the crust hard by the time I arrived home. Still, we had gotten 3 sandwiches for a tad over $6. A great deal in these cash-strapped times.

A day later, the Missus wanted another Banh Mi Chay, so in addition to the Dac Biet, I got a Trung Lap Xuong (Egg and Lap Cheong – $3.25):

Not much in the egg front, but a lot of sliced sausage. The sweetness of the sausage, along with the pickled vegetables was a nice combination.

And soon enough, it was another day, another Banh Mi Chay for the Missus. This time we decided to have our sandwiches at the restaurant. And we verified that the sandwiches were much, much better eaten ASAP. The bread for each of the sandwiches were a bit different quality wise. The Missus's was a bit more mealy, close to getting stale.

While the bread for the Banh Mi Xiu Mai (meatball – $2.75), was a bit better, it seemed to have some mileage on it.

The ground pork was very rich, almost oily, and combined with the Pate sent the sandwich into pungent overdrive. It was a bit much for the Missus, and was too rich for me. Even the pickled vegetables, which are cut a bit on the thicker side, and tend toward the sour side of the spectrum, didn't cut the richness.

The bread for the Banh Mi Ba Chi (cured pork belly – $2.75), was about as good as it gets in San Diego. Light, and pulling almost to the flaky, instead of overly crusty, this was some good bread. We still miss the airy baguettes we had in Vietnam. For us, they seem more suited to the Banh Mi, than the dense and heavy baguettes we sometimes encounter.

I didn't enjoy the tough and stringy cilantro in this particular sandwich. T LVSandwich14 he pork belly was very mild in flavor, and it was almost all texture. The Missus though the texture was similar to eating raw bacon. And though I really enjoy some versions of this sandwich, I had to agree with Her.

So what's to like at LV? First off, they aren't heavy handed in the use of Mayo and margarine. Second, I like the Thịt Nguội and Cha Lua. Third, when the bread is right…it is right. Fourth, the folks here are really nice. Fifth, the sandwiches have much more flavor than their "Gringo-ized" brethren. Sixth:

Can you really beat buy 2 get one free?? And it's not like Paris Bakery where you have to get all Dac Biet. So check them out………

LV Sandwiches and Restaurant
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Did you think we ate enough Banh Mi????

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