As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
The Missus's parents are scheduled to visit in a few months. And just to tempt me, they emailed these photos to us.
Now, you all know I love my Mother In Law's Jiaozi. But being the great Mother In Law that She is…once She found out that we enjoy Shengjian Bao…. This was their first attempt at making it. Like I always tell the Missus, dough is Her "destiny." So we're now counting the days…… I guess the entire family takes food photos now!
We had given "Spicy City" a break after watching customers exhibit some really terribl
e behavior on our last visit to the "New" Spicy City. But recently, the Missus was craving the chicken feet, and I, the Chongqing La Chao La. This time we decided to visit right at 5pm when they started dinner service. And as you can see, not a creature was stirring…….and thankfully so.
The menu looked like it had been changed a bit since our last visit, which made us even more interested. Of course the Missus started with some cold appetizers.
And of course this included the Missus Pao Jiao (pickled pepper) flavored chicken feet. Tonight these were a bit on the chewy side, but this did not stop the Missus from gnawing away.
On this visit the Fuqi Feipian was still on the tough side, but had more Sichuan Peppercorn, which added to the overall flavor. The Bean Curd Skin Noodles were exactly the same as before…….dry and bland.
I wanted to see if the Fried Lamb with Cumin($9.99) had changed since the last time I had it, and indeed it did look different:
This time the meat was on the tough side and was lacking in Cumin. Also, the flavor of the lamb was so mild that it was almost beef like. On the good side, it wasn't the least bit greasy, and except for the lack of cumin, was perfectly seasoned. It was also a pretty large portion of lamb.
We also ordered one of my favorite dishes, the "Chongqing Saliva Chicken" (Cold Chopped Chicken w/Spicy Sauce – $9.99). We were surprised at the rather large portion size:
The first time we encountered this dish was at ChungKing Restaurant in Monterey Park, in what seems ages ago. I remember that the server told the Missus that, "the chicken looks and smells so good, that you can't stop drooling…." This version was pretty good, the minced topping included pickled vegetable, which came through clearly. The texture of the chicken was just the right combination of firm but moist. The dish was not as spicy as it looked, and lacked a real deep and complex flavor. Still, we enjoyed this.
Looking for something to order on the menu, we came up with the Fish Filet w/Szechwan Sauce (Actually, this is supposed to be fish fragrant fish filet – $10.99). Again the portion size was very "family style":
This was more like a sweet-sour fish dish, with the emphasis on the "sweet". The fish was fried well, moist, with a crisp, almost tempura type batter. The Missus enjoyed this much more than I did.
On our last visit, the dish I enjoyed the most was the Chongqing La Chao La, also called "Spicy & Spicy" on the menu($8.99). I had been craving this dish.
Even though the dish looked exactly the same as what we had last time, I knew when it hit the table that something was wrong. It was simply not fragrant. The dish was salty, but lacked the sour and spicy flavors. It was funky, and a bit "off tasting". I just ran to the fridge and a had a few spoonfuls of our leftovers, and it does taste a bit flat, lacking the sharp and direct pickled heat. It is pretty salty though!
And this being Spicy City, our meal just couldn't end without observing an "interesting" customer. While eating, a Middle Eastern Gentleman walks into the restaurant, and plants himself at a table. He opens the menu, and asks the ever patient server where the Black Bean Fish was. The server didn't quite understand him, but luckily another server just happened to arrive. This young lady had a better grasp of English, and figured out what the customer wanted. As she takes his order, he goes, "WAIT…WAIT, is spicy?" The young lady explains that this dish is not spicy. The guy looks flabbergasted, and goes, "I WANT SPICY, must be SPICEEEE!" Of course the young lady says they can make the dish spicy. At that point, the dude starts talking really loud on his cellphone. When the dish arrives, the guy, still talking real loud on the cellphone shouts at the server, "WAIT, WAIT, where's my FORK, where is it, I must have it!!!" So…..for those folks who get irritated when they visit a Asian Restaurant and get the "fork treatment", you know why…some folks "must have it!" What is it with the customers this restaurant attracts. The servers here are pretty nice, and yet they have to put up with stuff like this. Oh well…….
Anyway, my chicken feet and I wish you all a peaceful week!
Si Chuan Garden Spicy City
4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Our previous posts on Spicy City can be found here and here.
*** Both China Chef and Dedes' has closed
It's supposed to get pretty cool by San Diego standards over the next few days, so I thought I'd do a Sichuan food post…and finally use some photos that have been sitting around.
Even though I grumble about lack of variety in "America's Finest City", I'm the first to say that San Diego has come a long way in the few years since we moved here. Now, you can get Mongolian Hot Pot one day, good Issan food the next, drop by an Izakaya on "hump day", get some good Bun Bo Hue on Thursday, and even finish off the week with two decent choices for Peruvian food to boot. Of course, I'll still grumble about the lack of a good Northern Vietnamese Restaurant, "real" Hunan food, and we do need better choices when it comes to Jiaozi, Xiao Long Bao, and the like. What is quite interesting is that there are four pretty good choices with regards to Sichuan food in San Diego. WellSpicy City is a Yunnan-Sichuan hybrid, which used to be a Beijing-Sichuan hybrid,but I'll let that slide. And like they say, "variety is the spice of life" in this case literally. So I thought I'd start with revisits to two Sichuan Restaurants…..
China Chef:
Our favorite dish at China Chef is the Spicy Tea Smoked Duck, which I think has made it on to the regular menu:
China Chef makes a good smokey, mildly salty, yet still soft tea smoked duck. And done in almost a "twice-cooked" technique, stir fried with chilies and Sichuan Peppercorn, this dish is a winner.
On this visit, the Missus ordered the Water Boiled Fish (Fish Boiled in Hot Sauce):
In spite of looks, we didn't find this to be very spicy. The fish was more flaky, than buttery-smooth which we prefer. The dish also needed a good dose of Sichuan Peppercorns. It was decent, but not great.
We finished things off with a stir fried lamb dish from the specials menu:
The lamb was cooked well, soft in texture. But it lacked the gamey flavor we enjoy. In other words, this could have been beef. It was not greasy, but could have used a bit more heat.
The food at China Chef is not bad….in fact, if I worked in the area, I'd drop by once in a while. We like the tea smoked duck here, it is prepared well.
China Chef Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #110
San Diego, CA 92126
Previous posts on China Chef can be found here and here.
Dede's Chinese Cuisine:
It was the first thing I noticed on the menus, it's no longer Dede's Teajuice City. The second thing were all the specials.
Another new touch, many Chinese Restaurants start with some pickles (or if you're Gringo-ized fried won ton strips), here at Dede's they started with a small sampling of cold appetizers.
And even though we found these to be fairly mediocre, it was a nice touch.
Going against our usual ordering pattern of not ordering a vegetable dish (because most of it I can make at home). The Missus ordered the Sour Chili Napa Cabbage ($7.99):
Growing up in Shandong province, without electricity, the vegetable that got families through winter was the humble Napa Cabbage. Stacked in a cool, but not an area exposed to too much frost, and covered with burlap, Napa Cabbage was it during the cold months. It's no wonder that the Missus never, ever asks me to make anything with Napa Cabbage. As to why She ordered this, who knows? It was much like a home style dish, nothing special, needing perhaps a bit more Chinkiang vinegar.
We also ordered the Dry Cooked Duck (Duck Dried Pot on the specials menu – $11.99):
This was a good sized plate of chopped tea smoked duck, stir fried with chilies, sliced garlic, red bell peppers, and onions. The duck was fine, but lacked the real smoked-cured flavor we love. This dish could have used a good dose of Sichuan Peppercorns. It was not bad, but the version at China Chef was much better.
I told the Missus I was craving La Chao La, which for me is minced preserved pork, smoked bean curd, and chilies….often called "Spicy-Spicy" on menus. The Missus ordered La Chao La, and the really nice lady serving us, ordered it, and came back to ask how spicy. The Missus said "very spicy" in Mandarin. I guess something was lost, because we got La Rou Chao La:
La Rou (wax meat) is smoked or preserved pork belly (think bacon), stir fried with chilies, in this case dried and jalapenos. For some reason, this wasn't that spicy. The pork was hard and lacked a good smoked flavor, maybe I'm spoiled because I've had good Hunan smoked pork belly. Merely, meh…..
Of course I had to order the Cumin Lamb ($9.50):
At Dede's they used cumin powder, so you''ll get a nice cumin flavor without the hard seeds. I love the salt to cumin to gamey flavor of this dish. It is not Sichuan, more Uyghur in origin, regardless, this is my favorite version in SanDiego. The meat is perhaps not as smooth and buttery as other places, but the flavor overcomes. The lady working told us that most people don't like this dish because of the strong flavor.
One other thing about Dede's; you'll find that the dishes use much less oil. So if that is a concern of yours, you may want to check this place out.
Dede's Teajuice City
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
You can find my previous posts on Dede's here and here.
So if you need to warm up over the next few days………
**** Wok and Noodle has closed
The reason I'm saying "I think", is that for the life of me, I couldn't find an English sign for the place. Googling the address 828 West Valley Blvd brought up a huge listing for a place named "Wok and Noodle", so that's the English name until someone tells me otherwise. We had finished our, not so great lunch at Kingburg Kitchen, and feeling unsatisfied, decided on a drive down the "old side" of Valley Boulevard. We hadn't been down here in a while. Right past the Boiling Crab, we noticed a large group of folks exiting what looked to be a restaurant. The Missus read the signage and told me, "this is a Shanghainese restaurant." Which sounded good to me….I swung around, and parked the car.
Upon entering, we noticed 2 things, many large families, and lots of older Chinese. This was a sure sign of "value pricing" and sure enough, looking over the menu, we found the prices to be very, very, reasonable. The 2 waiters here cracked us up….they were very nice, but just kinda did things at their own pace(S-L-O-W). One guy constantly hummed and sung while cracking what I thought were sunflower seeds. Every so often he'd spit the shells out into the tray holding the dirty dishes. The other guy just loved to whistle. You gotta love places like this.
Realizing that we had just eaten an hour earlier, the Missus and I decided on just a few cold dishes and some "bao".
So of course we ordered the Shanghai Smoked Fish ($4.25), one of the Missus's favorites.
This was a decent version, not too bony, not overly sweet, but maybe a bit too "wet" and mushy. But the Missus wasn't complaining, especially after having the really lousy version at Mr Dumpling recently, that was allwrong taste and texture-wise, over twice the price ($9.95!), and less than half the portion size.
I wanted the Salt Cured Duck($4.75):
Can you say "duck ham"? I really enjoyed this salty, duck-y(is there such a word), mildly salty cold dish. The meat had a semi-dense and ham like texture from the curing, though the Missus said the look of it kinda turned Her off.
Just seeing Xiao Long Bao on the menu means we have to order it($4.95):
This was not a particularly stellar version of XLB, the pork filling was decent, nice pork flavor and not overly sweet. The soup to meat ratio was a bit off, in my opinion, not enough soup. The wrappers were the weakest part, too thick and gummy. I probably won't be coming ordering Xiao Long Bao here next time.
And then of course, we had to have the Missus's latest obsession; Shengjian Bao (6 for $4.95):
The Missus said these rather rustic looking SJB, most closely resembled what She recalls eating in High School. Though the bottoms of these Bao were nice and crisp, the bun was more gummy than fluffy. The filling was a simple pork meatball that was on the bland side.
I think we'll be back for the cold dishes, and a few other items we saw being served at the other tables. After all, you can't beat the prices.
The service is pretty slow, though the staff is nice, it just seems like they're eternally day-dreaming. We saw one rather impatient older lady walk up to the service window and grab what I'm hoping was her dish and take it to the table herself! The restaurant is smaller than it looks, and full of large parties. Two can stuff themselves silly for under $20.
Wok and Noodle
828 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803