April 2009 – Page 3

Crêpes ‘n Cafe: French Cuisine in Yuma

April 5, 2009 ed fromyuma European Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

This is Kirk's wonderful foodblog, mmm-yoso, where Kirk and friends share food experiences that range from ohso yummy to ohso different. Today ed (from Yuma) wants to share a place with you folks that is both yummy and different.

[Sad to report that this place is closed. Supposedly, the owner is looking for a restaurant location]

Great News!! The truck has moved out to Foothills and is now at 11350 Fortuna Rd. It's open 7am to 7pm Tuesday through Sunday with much the same menu. 928-785-7581.

March 2011 update: The truck has now gone permanently. Too bad.

The most recent news concerning the culinary scene in Yuma is the grand opening of our first authentic French restaurant, one with an actual French person as the chef. Who would have thought such a thing was possible here? And who would've thought that our first French restaurant would look like this?

I recently pulled into the parking lot outside the Del Sol Market at the corner of 16th St and 4th Ave, hungry for breakfast. Almost instantly after placing my order with the waiter/chef/owner, I received a cup of the coffee deluxe($2):

This cup of powerful and dark coffee was topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips and dusted with a generous shake of cinnamon. But the beverage was just the introduction, for soon I was presented with this crêpe, adorned with whipped cream and fresh blueberries: The first time I ordered a meal at Crêpes 'n Cafe, I was surprised to receive a squarish packet because all of my previous (limited) experience with crêpes was with the rolled variety, the ones that look something like enchiladas. I have since learned that this rectangular style of crêpe is very popular in France and is called crêpe de Bretagne since it is a specialty of the Brittany region.

But one does not discover the real joy of any of these tasty treats, until one cuts into them and exposes the secret interior: This one was filled with fresh blueberries and blueberry juices ($6). The flavor match was nearly perfect as each bite began with sweet blueberry goodness, but finished with a slight tangy tartness that refreshed the palate. A perfect breakfast — way better than a Danish.

But crêpes are not just breakfast food, and in fact, the majority of items on the small menu here are savory crêpes. Unlike the sweet crêpes, these are made with a buckwheat blend flour and are always accompanied by a little lettuce for textual contrast:

In fact, this is the first one I ate at the restaurant, and it is called the Jacky ($5). As you can see, it contains mushrooms, cheese, and garlic:
As I started tasting this wonderful concoction, I realized it was love at first bite. The classic flavor profile of cheese and garlic made my mouth truly happy. So happy, in fact, that I went for hours without brushing my teeth just so that taste would not go away.

Very similar in flavor is the crunchy ($5), which gets its name from the breadcrumbs that accompany the cheese, garlic, and olive oil:

Another favorite is the Popeye ($6), in which the cheese is complemented by sour cream and spinach. After finishing this one, Tina's first words were, "we've got to go back to this place again." "Soon."

Another savory variation is the blue potato ($6), a combination of potatoes, blue cheese, mushrooms, and sour cream. The chef has mastered balancing the ingredients, so that the cheese flavor extends throughout the crêpe without stifling the other tastes:

Another style of crêpe is what I call dessert crêpes. Of course, they would be great for breakfast too. One of the most beautiful is the "no comment," a delightful combo of whipped cream, white chocolate, and sliced fresh strawberries:

It tastes as good as it looks:
A good way to end this post is by a look at another true dessert crêpe, the bourse ($6), which means purse in French. The word also means stock market, but clearly the healthy shape of this treat precludes that meaning: This particular crêpe is always filled with ice cream and whipped cream. While sometimes done with chocolate syrup, the day I ordered it, the bourse was covered with strawberry syrup and tied shut with a whip of red licorice, making it almost as attractive as it was sweet and flavorful.

Cut into, this purse spilled its contents over the paper plate:

Now that looks more like the stock market!

For the most part, I think this little crêpe cart is a wonderful addition to the Yuma dining scene. Everything I have eaten from this place is well prepared and very tasty. The flavor combinations are classics, and are classics for good reason. Except that sometimes the line of customers and the wait for the food get too long, the place has few shortcomings. Opening daily at 7 am, it seems to stay open through the dinner hour. Crêpes 'n Cafe is both very good and (at least out here in the desert) very unique. Vive la France!

Saturday Stuffs: United Oriental Food Market closed, what’s going on in the Osaka Kitchen location, and I salute our FOYs.

April 4, 2009 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

United Oriental Food Market is closed:

This one was from FOY, Saya, who mentioned in passing that United Oriental had closed. I always drive past this location, but I guess I wasn't paying much attention.

The sign doesn't say much. Too bad…….

More about the old Osaka Kitchen location:

In an earlier post, I mentioned that the folks who own Okan are taking over this spot. I recently had the pleasure of grabbing a bite with Ed from Yuma and Cathy at Okan. At the end of the meal, I had a chance to speak to Nanase, the young lady who does a fantastic job of managing Okan. I mentioned the Osaka Kitchen spot, and was told that this location will specialize in Nabe and grilled items. And was most surprised to learn that they intent to open this month! No wonder the place is being worked on during weekends as well.

From the it's right under my nose files:

This place has opened in Diane Village shopping center.

And being the bozo that I am….I didn't even notice until recently. Well, that's to be rectified soon…a post is coming right up.

A salute to all our FOYs:

I had notice something interesting a while back………. the mention of oatmeal in the wonderful comments. At first I thought it was just "Judy", but after reading through some older posts, I noticed that Oatmeal seemed to be the FOY's (friends of yoso) breakfast item of choice. It all came to a head in the comments of this post. So let's hear it….. am I correct?

Anyway, to all our oatmeal eating FOYs, I salute you:

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Simple Sardine Linguine: Ed’s $5 Friday

April 3, 2009 ed fromyuma Cooking, Recipes, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Cathy's busy, Kirk's busy, so today it's ed (from Yuma) sharing a favorite recipe. And yes, ed sometimes cooks on a budget.

These days we are all looking for cheap and tasty eats when we can find them. Stuck out here in the desert, I crave seafood, but craving seafood on a budget these days is tough anywhere. Today, however, I'm going to share with you an inexpensive and tasty seafood dish that can be made in Yuma and darn near anywhere else in the world. And this week, the ingredients to feed two people cost me only about five dollars.

Here's what the ingredients look like:

I will use both cans of sardines in olive oil (on sale this week for $1 each), about two thirds of a pound of linguine (figure $.65 worth), a bunch of flat leaf parsley ($.79 if memory serves), one yellow onion and a head of garlic (around a dollar total), one lemon (this time of year, given away free), four anchovies and a little of their oil, less than a tablespoon of Korean style crushed red pepper, and three tablespoons of capers (together they should bring me up to around $5).

Here's the list of ingredients:

One medium onion (sliced into strips)
One head garlic (chopped)
One bunch flat leaf (Italian) parsley (destemmed and chopped)
3 TBs drained capers
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 cans sardines in olive oil
4 anchovy filets (and maybe some oil from can)
2 tsp crushed spicy red pepper
2/3 lb linguini or other pasta
Some pasta water

I begin by frying the onions in the oil from the sardines and anchovies:

After the onions are properly fried, I add the chopped head of garlic and the four anchovies, cut into small pieces:
Before too long, I put in the crushed red pepper, the destemmed flat leaf parsley, and the capers.

Toward the end of the process, I mash up one of the cans of sardines and break the other up into large pieces, adding them to the pan:

As soon as they are properly stirred, I dump in the zest of the lemon with about half of the lemon's juice:

If I've synchronized things correctly, at this point the linguine will be slightly aldente and ready to eat. I add the linguine and a little bit of its pasta water into the pan, turn off the heat, and mix everything together. Because of the fishy oils and the dissolved anchovy, even those noodles that aren't covered with fleshy bits are full of the flavor of the sauce.

When the sauce does not fully integrate with the noodles, I place a clump of noodles in the middle of the plate and put extra sauce across the top of it. The finished dish (this is about one quarter of the complete recipe) looks like this:
I don't like to brag on my own cooking, but doggone this is good. Even Tina likes it. The sardine taste is upfront, deep, and thorough. The lemon, red chili, capers, and abundant parsley contribute flavorful background notes. Of course, none of my recipes is set in stone. Heck, some aren't even written down on paper. If I want more hot spice, more salty fish flavor, more lemon caper tang, or even more green herby parsley, I know what to do. But no cheese never.

Feeling frugal, Tina and I accompanied the pasta with a bottle of Rene Barbier Mediterranean White, which was a nice match – though it doubled the cost of the meal :-( . But for the truly frugal, I'm sure that this dish would make a bottle of Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio taste better too.

Give this recipe a try. Then mangia!

The Torta Factory

April 1, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches

*** The Torta Factory has closed.

This little shop on El Cajon Boulevard opened up about three weeks ago. The balloons, and "Grand Opening Banner" beckoned me in.

The menu is simple, but growing everyday. On my first visit it had Tortas, Quesadillas, breakfast items, and Cemitas. They have now added tacos and huaraches, and I watch with glee as the ball of masa is formed and a tortilla is pressed out for its destiny as a huarache (huarache = "slipper", and is a slipper sized "tortilla" of sorts, topped with any number of items). The restaurant is pretty clean, and simply attired.

The salsa bar is standard, with all of the usual suspects.

My first visit was fun, the gentleman, who I believe is the owner is very friendly, and is eager to please. The prices are a bit higher than your regular taco shop, and watching the tortas being assembled, I knew this wasn't "just another taco shop."

I had Torta Milanesa de Res (breaded beef torta – $5.29):

What struck me about this torta was the bolillo (bread), it was light and airy, the crust was, well crusty, without being hard, and it was not overtoasted.

The milanesa was light and moist, but very mild in flavor. The smear of beans was just right, and most of all, this wasn't dredged in mayo.

It was a very balanced sandwich, one in which the sum of the parts worked together well. I can't say if it was the best Torta I've ever had, but I really enjoyed it. I left feeling satisfied, not like I'd been weighed down by a ton of grease and saturated fat, which has it's own rightful place in (and around) my heart, but this was very pleasant.

Which meant that I had to bring the Missus along on my next trip. The Missus wasn't very hungry, and is a bit picky about the amount of cheese (minimal) and sour cream (none) on Her Mexican food. She decided on the Quesadilla de Flour de Calabasa (zucchini blossom quesadilla – $3.99), and requested it light on the cheese, and with no sour cream. I watched as the tortilla was again formed by hand. It was a simple, but delicious looking dish:

And it was a good idea to get this easy on the cheese…since it was mozzarella cheese. The Missus loved the Guacamole, and told me She could really taste every ingredient in the Quesadilla clearly.

This time I went for the Torta de Bistec Ranchero ($5.29):

Thin sliced beef (a la Carne Asada) browned, than simmered in a mild tomato based sauce. the flavor of the onions and garlic came through. And the beef was very tender. As you can see this was dressed a bit differently from my previous Torta:

No chredded lettuce this time, and the cheese was pretty much an afterthought and added nothing to the sandwich. Again the bolillo was light and airy. In fact, I enjoyed this more than the Torta Milanesa. It could be because the gentleman told me to try some of his "chili paste", which is not on the salsa bar. He gave us a small container of what I believe is a Chipotle based paste.

It was smokey with a nice slow burn…….

On my last visit, I was determined to try something different, and went with the Cemita de Pata ($7.99). Cemitas are a type of sandwich which differentiates itself from Tortas mainly by the type of roll used. It is a round sesame seed crusted roll. The cemita I had previously was toasted, but nice and fluffy. This one was toasted, and on the crumbly side. It was pretty big……

The roll was also fairly dry, I prefer the bolillos here. If you read the menu, and think this is beef shank…be aware…..this is gelatinous, tendon like material from cows feet.

It had been cooked low and slow in a very potent vinegar and citrus mixture, making it very puckery and sour. There was a good deal of bitterness going on as well. On this day, all the customers were Hispanic, and one of them took an interest in what I had ordered. when my Cemita arrived, he asked me what I ordered. when I informed him that it was the Cemita de Pata, he laughed and told me that he is from Puebla, where Cemitas originated. He loves his Cemitas, but even he won't eat this. He did tell me that, "this place makes good stuff." So I'll take his word for it.

To me, The Torta Factory is not the place to revive yourself with a greasebomb from an all day drinking binge, or to kill your hang-over with protein overload. It does a nice job with light and well prepared food. For the other stuff, perhaps you'll do best grabbing your California Burrito from one of those 'Berto places.

The Torta Factory
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115
Open Daily – 7am – 8pm

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