March 2009 – mmm-yoso

Pan Fried Cucumber with Perilla – Zi Su Jian Huang Gua

March 31, 2009 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

Yep, we're still "veggin' out……" Here's another recent vegetable dish. I'm always on the look-out for something a bit different, perhaps the use of an ingredient that I'm familiar with, but had never thought of using in a type of cuisine. I saw a recipe in Fuchsia Dunlop's tome on Hunan cookery, The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, that caught my attention because it used Perilla. The original recipe uses zǐ sū (紫苏), purple perilla, but the only perilla I could find in the quantity I wanted and in good shape was Korean Perilla, which I substituted for purple perilla. What little info I could find on the use of Perilla in Chinese cuisine was a reference to Perilla Leaf Porridge as a remedy for common colds, and its many medicinal uses.

This turned out to be a remarkable dish. The cleansing flavor of the cucumber, along with the spice of dried chilies and chili oil (substituted for fresh chilies), the salty umami of soy sauce, along with a touch of sour from the clear Chinese rice vinegar. The vinegar also added a bit of sweetness to which I added a touch of sugar(my own addition), sesame oil added a nice rich nuttiness to the dish, which was all wrapped up with a good amount of minty-anise-herbaceous perilla, which really cut through the spice.

In her book Fuchsia Dunlap calls the cooking method used for this dish as "jian", pan-frying, versus "chao", stir-frying. And indeed to get the best result, you begin by laying the cucumber in a single layer in the wok to attain a nice golden color. Be aware that the yield is about 60% of what you started with.

As usual, I've taken a few liberties with the recipe.

Pan Fried Cucumber with Perilla

1 Large English Cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise, seeded, and cut crosswise into 1/4" slices
3-4 Cloves fo garlic chopped
2 tsp Premium quality light soy sauce
1-2 tsp Clear Chinese Rice vinegar
1/2 tsp white sugar
2 dried chilies deseeded
1 Tb Chili Oil w/flakes
1/3 Cup of perilla leaves, cut into a chiffonade
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 Tb peanut oil

– Heat wok over high heat until smoking
– Add oil and swirl around wok. Add dried chilies and scald, but do not burn.
– Add the cucumber slices in a single layer around the wok and fry until the cucumber slices start turning golden brown
– Turn cucumber slices as necessary.
– Once slices start developing color, add sugar, garlic, and chili oil, and stir fry.
– When dish becomes fragrant, splash in soy sauce and vinegar, and mix well.
– Remove from heat and mix in perilla leaves. Stir in sesame oil and serve.

Some Revisits: Do Re Mi House and Leilani’s Restaurant

March 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

**** Both Do Re Mi House and the Serra Mesa location of Leilani's have closed

Do Re Mi House:

Hard to believe that I hadn't been back here for over three years. Sometime during that period the lettering on the windows have been redone, and now in addition to the Korean Food, it says they serve "Japanese Traditional Food"?!?? The menu looked pretty much the same, as did the restaurant, though they've removed the back partition to the place. And lunch is still pretty cheap, the Bulgogi Lunch Special at the time of my visit (December) was still $5.99. Looked exactly the same as well.

Funny how tastes change, I found the Bulgogi to be on the sweet side, though it was fairly tender, and the mandoo were better than on my last visit. Still, not bad, if the price is still $5.99.

And I still love the potatoes here. If this visit is any indication, service has now become the typical "dump and duck"…..

Do Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111

My previous post on Do Re Mi House can be found here.

Leilani's Restaurant:

Also from back in December. I got my Loco Moco fix from Leilani's Restaurant. This of course meant a Hilo Loco for me:

In some ways it was the same dependable Loco……nice gravy, hand formed patty, lean, and perhaps on the tough side, but the same as usual, as were the eggs, which could have been a bit more crisp, but were decently runny……

And there was a good amount of gravy over everything. But on this visit, I felt like something was missing…….there was a good amount of Kielbasa and Portuguese Sausage in the fried rice, which was cooked just right, but the entire package tasted strangely bland…….like they forgot to season things……

With this costing ten bucks, maybe I'm just expecting more, or maybe it was just an off day? Though the mac salad was really, really, good on this day…so good I forgot to take a photo! Maybe I need to head back to PB, and see how Leilani is doing?

Leilani's Hawaiian Restaurant
3232 Greyling Drive
San Diego, CA 92123
858-565-4637

My previous post on Leilani's can be found here.

Dry Fried Green Beans – Gan Bian Si Ji Dou

March 29, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I've received emails in the past about various meals that have been posted. Most of those meals are family-style Chinese in nature, and those emails comment about the paucity of vegetable dishes. I'll let you in on a little secret….we love leftovers. The Missus also believes (perhaps a little misguidedly) that I can stir fry vegetables pretty well. And since we bought the Big Kahuna the Missus has problems with spending $$'s on vegetable dishes She believes we can do just as well at home. So we'll stretch our leftovers adding vegetable dishes along the way. Works well for us, so I thought I'd start posting on a few of those dishes, all of which are very simple, so I hope you don't mind.

Here's a dish that you don't need a Big Kahuna for, a classic Sichuan dish that you'll find everywhere, even in Americanized Sichuan Restaurants.

I've changed this dish a bit over the years. To be able to create this dish on i GreenBeans04 mpulse, without too much planning, I replaced the ground pork with dried shrimp. Also, instead of deep frying the beans, I've adopted the "dry-frying" technique that Fuchsia Dunlop uses in her wonderful cookbook, Land of Plenty. It takes a bit more time, but there's no wasted oil, and instead of adding more oil to the dish after dry-frying the green beans, I add my chilies and other ingredients directly to the remaining oil, and this creates even more flavor. I'm also pretty specific regarding a few other items in the dish. I'll use drinking quality Shaoxing wine, it has a mellower and smoother flavor. If you can find good Tianjin preserved vegetable, or really good Ya Cai (Sichuan pickled mustard green leaves), I'm sure it'll make this dish even better. I just used what I had in the cupboard, canned shredded Sichuan preserved vegetable. I've made the Sichuan Peppercorn optional, since the Missus doesn't care for the flavor in this dish. I've also made a similar dish using asparagus. I'll blanch the asparagus first, than do a brief "dry fry", before finishing the dish in the same manner as the green beans.

So here goes…..

Dry Fried Green Beans

3/4 Lb green beans, rinsed, trimmed, and de-stringed, cut or broken into pieces about 2" long.
3-8 Dried Chilies, deseeded
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tb Sichuan preserved vegetable chopped
2 Tb dried shrimp chopped (if necessary)
2 tsp Shaoxing wine – drinking quality
2 Tb Premium quality light soy sauce
1-2 tsp ground Sichuan Peppercorn (optional)
1-2 tsp (or more) Chili Oil (hopefully you make you own at home)
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3-4 Tb Peanut Oil GreenBeans03
Salt, if necessary.

1 – Heat your wok until it smokes.
2 – Add peanut oil, and turn heat down to medium.
3 – Add green beans and stir fry over medium heat(4-6 minutes) until the skins start to pucker.
4 – Remove the green beans with a slotted spoon(drain off excess oil) to a plate lines with paper towels.
5 – Add dried chilies to remaining oil and scald, add dried shrimp and stir fry until shrimps start to crisp.
6 – Add Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and stir fry.
7 – Add preserved vegetable, and stir fry until the vegetable is heated. Add Sichuan Peppercorn if desired.
8 – Toss the beans back into the wok and combine. Add chili oil. Taste, and adjust flavoring. Add salt if desired (you probably won't need to).
9 – Remove from heat and add sesame oil.

There you go…….

To tease your tastebuds a bit further, Wandering Chopsticks makes her own version of this dish. You can find that post here.

Saturday Snacks: Camau Bakery, Cheeseballs Perhaps?, or for something a bit more savory……

March 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats, yoso-silly

Just some "snacks" for Saturday…..

Camau Bakery & Deli:

This place had caught our interest a while back. We'd seen the prepackged Banh Beo, and other snacks with the "Camau Bakery" label on them. But the place always seemed closed. But on this morning, I noticed the shop was actually open! At least the open sign was out. So we stopped immediately, and found some parking. And walked on over to the door……

And it was locked!!! But the nice lady inside waved at us, opened the door and let us in. I kinda got the feeling that Camau really does catering, large orders, and wholesale orders. Nothing was out, and there were pans of covered snacks waiting for pick-up. But after passing by so many times, the Missus wasn't to be denied. She pointed at one of the containers, and said…"I want that!" The woman, who was a bit amused at the Missus's antics, told Her, "this is for an order, but since they're not going to be picked up until later this afternoon we can make more." Her name is Kieu…so thank you so much!

So what did the Missus get?

Well, a bunch of styrofoam containers of course…..

Just kidding. She got a large order of Che Xoi Nuoc. It's a "sweet soup" of sorts, flavored with sugar and ginger. In the "soup" are large dumplings made of rice flour, and stuffed with mung bean paste, much like the Chinese Tāngyuán. These also had scallions in them, and was more savory than other versions we've had before. Still, after being chilled ice cold, and covered with the accompanying cocunut milk and sesame seeds, it was pretty good.

I just wish they had regular hours…..

Camau Bakery & Deli
4857 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 583-2904

Some Cheese Balls Maybe???

One of my favorite lines from the movie, I Love You to Death. Recently, "MG" brought these to work. I had never seen them before.

Apparently, these were the "newest thing" at Valerio's. Buttery, sweet, and a bit salty….maybe a bit too oily for me….none the less, not too bad. If you like buttery…….

And how's this for the kicker….it's filled with cream cheese….

Apparently, it was Valerio's in Mira Mesa who first started selling this…..and now it's being sold at other locations. This one was from the National City location.

Valerio's City Bakery
1631 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-8588

And for something a bit more "savory"….

You can get this:

Need a closer look?

It was nice breaking bread (and other things) with two of my favorite people, Howie (please check out his recently redesigned Foodie View) and Candice. And this was one of the dishes we sampled.

If you're wondering about the main ingredient, I think the food labeling may be very accurate in this instance:

Fishing Feed? = Bait???? It's all on the label!

Hope you're all having a grest weekend!

Which Wich ? – Hillcrest

March 26, 2009 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

**** This location of Wich Wich has closed

After reading this post by Paul Jamason of SD Urban, I've been following the progress of a new Sandwich Chain setting up shop in San Diego. But apparently, I hadn't been following close enough, because I didn't know the place had opened until I read another post by Paul in late February. Located on Fifth Avenue, in the Guild Theatre location, this chain asks the eternal question, "Which 'Wich?"

And even though the "sandwich assembly line" looks pretty generic….

But the concept is a bit different. Only sandwiches are served, and all sandwiches are priced the same, $5.25. There are 10 categories of sandwiches, ranging from "Turkey" to "Seafood" to a "Comfort" category(more on that one later). Doing the math that's 50 basic sandwiches. And there are only two types of bread available, white or wheat, and 8 different types of "cheese".

From there it can get a bit crazy…..there are what seems to be an endless combination of spreads, veggies, spices, and oils. All of which (or 'wich) you fill out on a brown paper sack. Once you've designed your 'wich, you hanedthe bag to the person at the register who clips it to a line and it makes its way down the assemble station. When your name is called, your 'wich is ready.

Pretty neat concept, huh? Kinda fun, maybe a bit entertaining…. Which 'wich says it creates "Superior Sandwiches", which (or 'wich) leads to the question, what is a superior sandwich? All I could get from the Which Wich website is a bunch of marketing babble, about being superior because of the innovative ordering "system", and employees commitment to 100% satisfaction.

On this day, I got a BLT on white with provolone, and just for kicks horseradish mayo. All the sandwiches come in one size, and is toasted. In fact, it does look a lot like a Quizno's sandwich, in shape and size:

So what's to like? It's a decent sized sandwich, and I like the hot pepper mix, and the horsradish mayo had some kick. I'm glad the nice gal who made my 'wich cut it in half because it was pretty messy.

The bread was meh, the turkey was pretty much the same semi processed stuff as Quizno's and Blimpies, and the bacon was chopped into bits that fell all over the place. They had also slathered a bit too much mayo over everything. It was better than Subway, perhaps a bit better than Quizno's…but not by much. In the end, it seemed more a nice concept than anything else.

But oh what a concept it is…….. There's a whole section of 'wiches called "Comforts".

And you can see what I saw, right? It's right there……not just Spam, but in case you're worried that you're getting some inferior canned meat product like Treet (you should never name your canned meat product something that rhymes with 'feet'), or even, god forbid, gasp… SPAM® Lite, you can take comfort in knowing you can get the one and only, SPAM® Classic.

The question remains, how do I complete this superior sandwich masterpiece? Feeling a bit of guilt, I checked off the "wheat" column. But when faced with the selection of cheeses, I just couldn't resist….. what do you do when the world is your oyster?

After all what could possibly be a more perfect partner for a canned meat product, than a processed cheese spread? I finished off the sandwich in a likewise schizoid manner, partnering the "crispy onion strings"(deep fried onions) with "fat free mayo", and finished the sandwich off with lettuce, tomato, and pepper mix. To her credit, the gal on the register didn't bat an eye when she saw what I ordered. There was a bit of a confusion finding the SPAM® Classic from the guys in the assembly line. But I did receive my sandwich.

I'm not going to go into detail about this "superior sandwich", other than to say that it was a mess, and made a mess because it wasn't cut in half, and the 5 slices (!) of SPAM® Classic(I'm thinking they had some canned meat they needed to "Spam-off") didn't look nor feel like it was heated.

Some Whiz on my Spam….a truly superior sandwich indeed!

All kidding aside, Which Wich may not be a bad choice if you're looking for a quick, inexpensive sandwich. Just remember it is a "chain sandwich". The concept is fun, and as you see you can be pretty creative (or a knucklehead), and get whichever 'wich your heart desires.

Which Wich
3825 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

(619) 574-9424

Las Vegas: Rincon Criollo and Luv It Frozen Custard

March 25, 2009 mmm-yoso Cuban Restaurants, Desserts, Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt, Las Vegas, Road Trip

After dropping the Missus off in the morning, I took a 4 hour "stroll" around the strip. Things looked pretty much the same on the strip since my last visit. I had to laugh when I passed the Bellagio…….

The last time I was here with the Missus, She was attending a class as well. The venue for the class was Imperial Palace (ick), and while I had Steak Frites at Mon Ami Gabi for lunch, overlooking the Lake at the Bellagio, the Missus was served Baloney Sandwiches (true story) for lunch! I'm not quite sure if She was exaggerating, but the Missus told me the baloney had a green tinge to it….. Luckily, this time the venue was a bit better.

By the time I hit the Wynn, I was starting to get hungry, so I headed back to my car. I had one lunch in Vegas, and there were many choices. But I knew what was ruled out….

No cheap drinks…..

And no buffet…..

And in keeping with our eating "theme", nothing on the strip…..

I had more than a few choices to consider. Perhaps some Filipino Food? Salo Salo Grill had been recommended, and good ol' Elena's Restaurant had set up shop in Vegas as well. There was Yun Nan Garden for Yunnan and Sichuan. But I thought some Cuban food sounded good. Way back in the days "BB" (before blogging) 'Jorge' had recommended two Cuban Restaurants in Las Vegas. One of them was Havana Grill , but that was a bit more of a drive than I wanted. Which is how I found myself driving North on Las Vegas Boulevard, past the Little White Chapel, "Where Joan Collins and Michael Jordan were married!" (Not to each other I hope) And farther out, past the shadows of the Stratosphere. An drove into a parking lot with some pretty colorful art work:

I parked, and walked past the Reggae Lifestyle store….

And the "Adult Superstore"……

And to my destination……

Rincon Criollo Cuban Restaurant:

When I arrived, the place was starting to get busy, an older woman stood, and pointed me to a table in the corner. Most of the customers there had the rapport and body language that told me they were regulars. Most of the conversations were in Spanish……

The menu here is located under the plate glass covering each table.

Jorge had recommended a couple of dishes to me……the two version of Puerco Fritas came highly recommended, but that would have wiped me out for the rest of the day. We still had dinner plans for Lotus of Siam, so I decided on something other than pork.

As I was reading over the menu, some bread, toasted in the "Plancha" (Cuban Sandwich Press) arrived.

I had decided on the Boliche Mechado ($9.99). Boliche is a Beef Roast (usually rump roast), stuffed with Chorizo sausages, simmered in a tomato based sauce. And when it arrived at the table, it looked just like photos I'd seen of the dish:

It's very hard to see in the photo above, but there are two chorizo sausages stuffed into the slices of beef roast. The beef was nice and moist, firm, but not tough. The sauce was quite nice, tangy, with a mild garlic flavor. My only complaint would be that it was served lukewarm. I'd have preferred it a bit hotter. It came with some plain, and very mild tasting black beans and rice. The chorizo added a bit more "zing" to the dish, but not much.

Of course it seemed like every other customer had ordered the Masas de Puerco Fritas (deep fried chunks of pork) or Chuletas de Puerco Fritas (pork chops), both of which looked wonderful. Talk about food envy. Still, this was a pretty good lunch.

Rincon Criollo
1145 South Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89104

(702) 388-1906

Later that evening, the Missus wanted something "sweet" to freshen Her palate after dinner at Lotus of Siam. One of the really nice Servers recommended Luv It Frozen Custard, which is also located North of the strip, right off Las Vegas Boulevard. We arrived to a pretty crowded parking lot.

There are lots of locals that will give you advice here…..the gentleman in the photo told us he's been coming here for over 35 years…since 1973! When I first saw the sign saying "frozen custard", I warned the Missus. She is not a fan of "eggy" desserts. She ended up purchasing a combination Pina Colada/Raspberry cup.

This frozen custard was less "eggy" and lighter than the versions I tasted in Madison. The raspberry tended toward the sweeter side, and had almost an artificial flavor. The pina colada flavor was less sweet. We thought this was okay, but nothing we'd rush back for. In fact, for the rest of the evening, everytime I mentioned the place, the Missus would repeat, "it was ok…..but I didn't LUV IIIIIT!"

Luv-It Frozen Custard
505 E Oakey Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89104
(702) 384-6452

Tue-Thu. 1:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 1:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

You should check them out if you're in the area….who knows….you just might LUV IIIIIT!"

Birrieria Don Rafa

March 24, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Don Rafa has closed

Brrrr, it was a pretty cold weekend! The first day of Spring (March 20th this year) brought in some cold, wet, and windy weather. I really needed something to warm me up, and I think I knew the spot. On my visit to Pho 888, I noticed this sign:

No, it wasn't the Mobile Auto Glass shop that caught my attention, but the colorful little shop in the same strip mall.

As I entered, the wonderful and intoxicating smells of Birria filled the air. The menu was small, with just three basic items Birria de Res, Birria de Chivo, and Menudo. The sign also says "Estilo Jalisco"……."Jalisco style." It is said that the Mexican State of Jalisco is the birthplace of birria. This made ordering easy…..Birria de Chivo of course($8). Well not that easy, the two really nice ladies working the place didn't speak English. They understood "Birria de Chivo", but then asked me a few (probably) basic questions, which was answered through pointing and nodding. The hardest one was when I was told to have a seat, and pay after my meal…… Finally, they called upon the very nice, tall gentleman in the back, who explained everything to me.

I took a seat on one of the stools, and soon enough, all the accouterments arrived.

Finely minced onion, chopped cilantro, lime, a "muy picante" salsa, and a shaker of oregano. Some pretty decent corn tortillas, nice and warm, were dropped off as well.

And soon enough a steaming plate of Birria de Chivo arrived….the brime of the plate spilling over at the edges. It smelled heavenly. I did notice the beans were also totally immersed in the broth along with the meat.

I knew instantly that I was going to enjoy this. Rich and hearty, with a wonderful gamey flavor, a hint of smokiness, with onions and the upfront heat of the salsa to cut the richness this was a perfect remedy for a cold day. For my tastebuds, no lime or salt was needed.

I even enjoyed the beans!

This was one hearty meal. And unlike some of the Birria de Chivo I've had in the last year, this one didn't fall short. Watch out for the sneaky bones though. It could have been the perfect dish at the perfect time, but I really enjoyed this. Also, not having been to Jalisco, I couldn't tell you if this was the real deal or not. But it sure hit the spot. It's just a matter of time before Masa Assassin eats here, and I'm looking forward to hearing his opinion.

Not much English spoken, but everyone is very nice and helpful. Only a few items on the menu. Generous portion sizes. I can only tell you that after this meal, I was ready to tackle my first really big chore of the weekend……a nice nap!

Birrieria Don Rafa
631 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Road Trip: Tianjin Bistro – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

March 22, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Tianjin Bistro has closed

*** Additional posts on Tianjin Bistro can be found here, here, and here

I'll put off my last post on Vegas. Instead, I thought I'd post on our lunch st.op on the way home from Vegas. We were ready to leave Vegas after our meal at Lotus of Siam, really. Things had started getting pretty crowded, and folks were up to the usual antics on the strip. We woke the next morning, and hit the road by 8am. We did of course, intend on stopping in the LA area for lunch. My initial intent was on stopping at Earthen Restaurant in Haci enda Heights since I'd heard so much about it. And we made pretty good time, rolling into the plaza on Azusa at 1130……but Earthen was already packed, with folks waiting in line, and a 30 minute wait. Plus, the Missus looked over the menu and wasn't particularly moved….not moved enough to wait at least 30 minutes. Better to be on the move, than to wait smelling food for a half an hour. So digging into my "black book" I came up with another choice; Tianjin Bistro in San Gabriel. If you are a long time reader off our blog, you may recognize the location, as being the former Mei Jia Deli.

Mei Jia Deli was a roller coaster ride for us. The place looked like it was always in the weeds, the nice staff being run ragged, the customers down right rude and demanding…. But still, the Missus kinda liked the place. And when "Andy" who used to have a wonderful blog called "the ABC" (we miss you Andy!) told me this place became a Taiwanese Restaurant, no one was more sad than the Missus. It seems this place has a hard time holding businesses, now, a year or so later, it's a Tianjin restaurant again.

The interior looks much neater, but who decided on the pepto-bismol pink paint job? On the good side; perhaps pink will calm the nerves of the high strung and demanding clientele that once visited Mei Jia Deli! Another item of note. The tables are lined with inexpensive pink tablecloths, which is itself lined with plastic that looks like garbage bag material.

The atmosphere was also different; very laid back and friendly. The owner, a very nice gentleman, gave us a good amount of attention from the beginning. The menu, was itself different, and the posted specials on the wall added to the confusion. It didn't help that we weren't really well versed in Tianjin Cuisine. Though Tianjin is a scant 2 hour trip from Beijing, the Missus wasn't too familiar with the cuisine, other than knowing that Tianjin was well known for their snacks and street food. The menu itself seemed to be an interesting combination of various dishes, many of them familiar (as you'll soon read). And it could very well be Tianjin Cuisine, since Tianjin is known to be a port city, and thus perhaps the food has had many varying influences over the years. About the only thing I remember about eating at Mei Jia Deli, other than the Gua Ba Cai, were the Gou Bu Li Bao Zi (Stuffed buns that dogs are not interested in"). I did notice that the menu contained a great number of Lamb dishes which made me very happy.

There was one other thing that the Missus enjoyed. While chatting with the owner in Mandarin about the various dishes, the woman on the table behind us suddenly started chiming in, and than the woman behind the front counter! The Missus was laughing and smiling. She later explained to me that this was "just like Beijing. You could have a seat, and folks would just start talking……" She was in Her element. The woman had told Her, "don't listen to him(referring to the owner), listen to me, I'll tell you what is good here!" There's a straight forward, without being rude attitude to this place and the customers. The Missus told me this is a trait of Northern Chinese, they call "shuang liang" (sorry not sure of the piniyn), being honest, non-pretentious folk. You gotta love it……

We started with the Cumin Lamb($8.99):

One thing I quickly noticed was that this restaurant uses a lot less oil for cooking. As for the lamb, it was much more tender than it looked. It lacked a strong cumin flavor, and the lamb was only mildly gamey. We were both worried that the amount of cilantro used in making this dish would just overwhelm all the other flavors, but it did not. I really loved the large slices of garlic that had been caramelized during cooking. Not a bad dish.

We also ordered the Yang Rou Chuan (Lamb Skewers – $4.99):

Lamb skewers…..one of the ultimate examples of streetfood if you ask me. These were a bit different. Usually the meat is grilled, which helps develop the flavor of the lamb. These were deep fried, so you gained the wonderful texture of deep-fried meat, but it seemed like all the flavor had been lost. We both found this to be quite bland.

While eating, we enjoyed the view of the great pyramids of Tianjin! Beautiful, aren't they?

Pyramids? Tianjin? Ha……these are called "Wo-Wo Tou" , a steamed corn based "bread" (I use the term bread very loosely). The Missus ate this on occasion while growing up….but it is my Mother In Law who misses this. During the hard times of the Cultural Revolution this was a staple in Northern China. I guess there's a whole lot of memories tied up in the humble steamed corn "bread".

Lest you think this in any way resembles American Corn Bread, you're in for a big surprise! It is not sweet nor moist. These cakes while very fragrant are dense, very dry, and very hard to swallow. When the owner of Tianjin Cafe asked the Missus how these were, She said, "I like the taste, but I can't swallow…."

After eating one of these, and almost feeling it sitting in the bottom of my belly, I can understand its usefulness during hard times. It has bulk to it, and will fill you up and "hold you" for a good amount of time.

For my In-Laws, and many of the same generation of Chinese, I'm sure wo wo tou represents many of the hardships, and the good times, of their youth. There's a bit of nostalgia tied up in this and the Missus enjoyed this.

We also ordered the Suan Cai Yang Rou (Preserved vegetable with lamb hot pot – $6.99), Suan Cai Bai Rou (preserved vegetable with fatty pork hot pot) is also available. I was surprised at the portion size, which was very generous.

Suan Cai is a pickle made from Napa Cabbage. It is blanched in hot water, salted, and a weight is placed on it. The fermented cabbage smells just like sauerkraut, and tastes very similar, except in this case it is much more sour. The Missus, knowing of my love for pickled veggies ordered this.

This is a very simple hot pot, made with suan cai, water, frozen tofu, which managed to act like a sponge for the broth, and fatty parts of lamb.

More from my MIL; "this is a winter dish. During the winter, when a pig is slaughtered, nothing is wasted. The fatty parts of the pig is used along with suan cai to make a hot pot." Which is pretty much what this was. The flavor was rather mild, but just as with many soups, stews, and hot pots, it tasted much better the following day. A simple, but satisfying dish. While we were eating this, the owner came by and asked how we liked the food. And added the phrase, "now do not lie….if you lie to me, you lie to your stomach!" I was really starting to like this place.

Last, we had the Pan Fried Dumpling (Tianjin Baozi – $6.99). Which looked just like…..

Shengjian Bao!!! These arrived upside-down on the plate. I noticed a lack of the lovely crust of a SJB, again, much less oil was used here.

The top portion of the bao was pretty fluffy, and enjoyable.

The filling was more firm than other versions, and drier, but not in an unpleasant way. It did have good flavor, porkiness with a nice sesame oil flavor.

It reheated pretty well the next day. Now if it had a better crust…….

There was one more thing the Missus wanted me to taste:

Beijing style yogurt. Bluecherry Yogurt Bar is a Alhambra shop, which looks like it's trying to push fro-yo for the young clientle. But this was a little carton of Beijing style yogurt. At Tianjin Bistro, it cost $2.25. This is a drinkable style of yogurt, which is lightly sweetened, and very tart and sour.

I really enjoyed this………now this would be a fad I can get in to! It reminded me of the refreshing and restorative yogurt we had in Cusco.

The owner of Tianjin Bistro told the Missus that he wanted to serve the kind of food he missed when he first came to America. As the sign says in Chinese, this is homestyle food, some of it simple, most of it hearty, some of it pretty good. I think we'll be back……

Tianjin Bistro
534 East Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Open Thurs-Tues 11am – 10pm
Closed on Wednesday

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$5 Fry-Day (Really) – Convoy Sushi and Fish Market

March 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Seafood, Sushi and Sashimi

*** Convoy Sushi is now Sushi Yaro.

Meet my friend Abe:

Things have been kinda tough recently, we've been seeing lots of Abe's going out, with less arriving in return. Sheesh, in most cases you can't even get a bowl of Pho for five bucks anymore. Even Banh Mi's are topping out at over three bucks! Solutions? Sorry to say, I don't have any…..but maybe there are still a few reasonable options out there. I'm not asking for anything ridiculous. I just want to feel like I got my money's worth. You know what I mean?

When I first saw that Convoy Sushi and Fish Market had opened, I wasn't really moved. In fact, I found the $5 lunch to go sign, along with the mention of "Sushi Rolls, Fish & Chips, Ceviche, and Ahi Salad" for five bucks to be downright scary. Luckily, I have folks like FOY (Friend of Yoso), Trent, to set me right. A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Trent telling me that while the food may be nothing amazing, it is fresh, prepared decently, and you feel like you get your money's worth.

Hey, if it's good enough for Trent…….

This little shop looks fresh and clean…and most of all smells, fresh and clean.

On one side is the fish market portion, with Catalina Offshore Uni, sides of maguro, dried squid, a tank of live prawns and abalone, and pre-packed sushi.

Next to the packaged items is a small table of whole fish. As you can see, some look fresher than others…..some are suffering from "cloudy eyes".

But I was here for the lunches. Deciding to "play it safe" I ordered the Fish, Ika, and Chips, parted with my "Abe" and change, and soon enough received a large styrofoam container with the cut out corner oozing steam.

Unpacked in the car, this is what it looked like.

Wow…this was five bucks? Three white fish filets…moist and fresh. Three pieces of Ika – squid, soft, and not bad at all. The fries were totally routine. I thought the batter to be rather "gummy", and these are best eaten right away, as they get soggy pretty quickly. One more reason for eating it at one of the tables in the market….my car still smells of fry-o-lated fish and squid!

Still, from the value standpoint, this was not bad. It was good enough for me to have the Missus check this place out. So armed with a couple of "Abe's" we made our way back to Convoy Fish…..

The Missus decided to order the Grilled Ahi Salad.

This didn't look bad for five bucks. Six slices of seared, lower grade maguro, slices of avocado ad cucumber, on mixed greens. Frankly, I expected iceberg lettuce. I don't know how this salad was since the Missus scarfed it all up before I had a taste. But to quote the Missus, "the tuna was on the dry side, but not bad, the sesame dressing was okay, the greens and avocado were very fresh."

She also wanted to try the Ceviche…so bye-bye Abe…..

The ceviche was really packed into this container. Now usually I'd hesitate in ordering this, but the Missus had just had some "pretty mediocre ceviche" when dining with Her "ladies who do lunch" group. It cost Her nine bucks, and "was only half this, and not even close to being as good." This was a fairly straight-forward ceviche, good amount of shrimp and fish. It came with a large container of chips.

As we dug deeper into the container, it tasted better and better. The jalapeno started kicking in. This was not bad…pretty generic, but worth the five bucks. The Missus enjoyed it.

So what did I get?

It was the Pound of Mixed Seafood…also five bucks. This was just dusted with flour, which made it lighter than the Fish & Chips. The seafood was fresh, with lots of good sized shrimp(unshelled), and tasty baby octopus. The bay scallops were pretty much an after thought, and I thought this could use a bit more seasoning. I'm not a big fan of the tartar sauce…but the ketchup-y cocktail sauce is okay….in a tastes bottled kinda way. This was well worth my hard earned "Abe".

So is this worth it? I think you need to ask yourself. What would you rather have, a $5 sandwich from Subway, or a pound of fried seafood? The food won't set the culinary world on fire, but we think it's worth it.

This Korean owned business is starting to get busy. Lots of folks buying sushi. You may want to give it a shot for yourself. Lunch is served Monday through Saturday from 11 am through 230 pm.

Convoy Sushi & Fish Market
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Mon-Wed 11am – 230pm
Thurs-Sat 10am – 7pm
Sunday 1pm – 5pm

Lunch Served 11am – 230 pm Mon-Sat(!)

Postscript: Earlier this evening I found the Missus just sitting, doing nothing, just sitting as if waiting for something……very unusual as the Missus is usually pretty much in constant motion during this time of the day. When I inquired as to why She was just kinda sitting around, I was told, "I'm waiting for the diarrhea to start…..it was so cheap, something must be wrong with the food!" What a pessimist!

Thanks again for the recommendation Trent!

Pho 888

March 19, 2009 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Pho 888 has closed

In my Pho Hiep and Grill post, "Joe" mentioned another Pho restaurant in Chula Vista named Pho 888. I'd had another email mentioning the restaurant back in January, so on the weekend before our Vegas trip, I took the drive down the I-5…took the H street exit, turned right on Broadway, there I was.

The interior belies the strange "giardi-ish green" color of the exterior. It is large and fairly clean.

In addition to the Pho at '888', both Joe and the email mentioned the Cha Gio (eggrolls), so I decided to get 3 pieces ($3.75, 5 pieces are $5.75). Man, Cha Gio ain't cheap eats no more, are they?

When these arrived I wasn't too thrilled. I prefer my Cha Gio to have the crisp and thin rice paper wrappers. The Nuoc Mam Cham (dipping sauce), though a tad on the sweet side was adequate, and provided a bit of heat. Not expecting much, I bit into one, and was pleasantly surprised….these weren't over-wrapped, and had a light, pleasant crunch to them. The filling wasn't too dense, and was moist and tender. Lot's of cloud ear fungus, and some, but not too much filler.

I was very pleasantly surprised, and couldn't wait for my bowl Pho (combination – small, $5.75) to arrive.

First things first. The garnishes were routine, fresh basil, limes, jalapenos, and bean sprouts. When I asked if they have Ngò gai, I was given a bit of a weird look, and the really nice young man told me they don't carry it. As much as the Cha Gio was a pleasant suprise, the Pho was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't bad, the broth was much too "salty", and just a bit more beefy than the version at Pho La Jolla. This was a very "middle of the road" bowl of Pho, and the broth lacked any nuance.

The noodles were done right, not too mushy.

The meat was the biggest disappointment. I'm used to really dry Tai (rare beef) which this was, but the rest of it was dry and tasteless as well.

Too bad. I really like the Cha Gio, and the service was very friendly, the young man was quite nice. So perhaps this was an off day? I understand that the place will undergo a name change soon, I was told that it'll probably be called Pho Kim. Having the egg rolls made this visit "a wash", and I also found another place close by that I'll post on later.

Pho 888
635 Broadway St
Chula Vista, CA 91910

(619) 585-0886

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