June 2009 – Page 3

The 2009 San Diego County Fair- Part one- almost ready to open.

June 6, 2009 Cathy Festivals & Events, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog. Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy write about what and where they ate. You get to read and enjoy vicariously.

Hi again. The 2009 San Diego County Fair opens this Friday, June 12 at 10 a.m. I have blogged about the Fair in prior years. Last Saturday, it was just beginning to be set up.

Some vendors had placed their booths.

Some rides were being set up.

What I like to call "The Heart of the Fair"-the reason State and County Fairs exist…for farmers to show the fruits of their work, the Home Arts section of the Fair, had entries brought in and and judging has been happening.

The judges of Preserved Foods- Fruits, Vegetables, Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Conserves, Soft Spreads, Honey, Syrup, Vinegar, Pickles, Relishes and Sauces…spent a grueling four hours tasting the variations in those categories (for example, apricot, apricot-pineapple, berry (other than listed), boysenberry, low sugar, mixed fruit of two or more berries, mixed fruit of two or more non-berry, peach, plum,raspberry, strawberry and other than listed Jams) Each judge got about 45 jars of preserved something to check for proper labeling, proper preparation, taste, compare against the others in that category and then decide which entry was good enough to be awarded a First, Second or Third place ribbon, given an Honorable Mention, or not awarded any prize.

Then all the First Place winners in each category went up against each other, to determine the "Best in Show"

All so that you can walk in on Opening Day and see ribbons on everything.

This year there are many ways to save on some of the more expensive parts of the Fair, like admission, parking and food from some of the vendors.

Go to the website www.SDFair.com for details. If you enter a daily contest, you get in free. If you plan on going more than twice throughout the run (it closes July 5) you can pay $22 for a pass good every day. If you come on a Tuesday, almost every food booth has some good sized $2 samples.

The Theme of the Fair is "Music Mania" and there will be many small shows going on all day and night concerts.

Don Diego will be at the Front Gate.

And I have my work cut out for me.

See you at the Fair!

The San Diego County Fair

June 12-July 5, 2009

Sang Dao – A revisit (sort of)

June 4, 2009 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

On May first, Sang Dao opened in new digs on the corner of 54th and El Cajon Boulevard. A week later, I decided to check them out. It had been a while, but now since they've a bit (just a bit) closer, I really had no excuse.

Though located next to one of the "check cashing" places, the interior of the "new digs" is much different from the Sang Dao I knew on National Avenue! Bright and shiny like a new penny…..

And since my post back in 2005, I think I've learned a little bit about Lao cuisine.

The menu at this new location, looks the same, though I decided to stray a bit, and started asking about a few items. I think it's unfortunate that dishes like Or Lam, Mok Pa, and Kaeng Nor Mai Som aren't represented on the menu. In speaking to one of the young men, I was told that items such as those would not sell, though they make them for their own family meals at home. There are a few items that aren't on the menu, one which is the Raw Beef Larb:

Though you'll often hear folks say that "Issan Food is the same as Lao Food"(though often said by folks with a political agenda), and I do believe that in general, the differentiation is one of borders, not cuisine, I do note differences. And one of the dishes where this is reflected is in the Raw Beef Larb. There's an interesting Lao saying that you'll see everywhere on the Internet, something along the lines of "sweet makes you dizzy, but bitter makes you healthy". Funny thing was, I was told just about the same thing at my cooking class in Luang Prabang. In those restaurants where you find the cook/chef is from Issan (Northeast Thailand), such as Sab E Lee, you'll find the Raw Beef Larb to be more citrusy, the dish a bit lighter.Here at Sang Dao, it is full on Lao, except in heat, I think that even though I ordered this spicy, they took it easy on me. First, was the inclusion of offal, which added an earthiness to the dish. Second, was the addition of a good amount of beef bile, which adds, at least to me, a nice bitterness to the dish. Sab E Lee and Lotus of Siam, will add it to your dish, but not in large amounts.

For me, the addition of those notes made this dish much more substantial, and along with the required sticky rice, it can be treated like a proper entree of sorts.

As I was taught in Laos, no meal is complete without a soup, which is not to be treated as a soup in Western terms, that is, as a "starter", but to be eaten along with the meal. I really didn't feel like having the recommended Tom Kroung Nai, Intestine Soup, so I went with the other recommendation, the "Jungle Curry':

A curry without coconut milk is termed a "jungle curry", though this was more of a soup. It was pleasant, and I enjoyed the eggplant and other veggies in the soup. Not overly rich, this was a nice foil to the larb. It tasted like a nice "homestyle" soup. I brought the remainder home, and though She declared it to be weak in the heat department the Missus enjoyed it.

If you visit Sang Dao, remember to spend a minute or two at the take-out counter, you'll find a good selection of Jeow (Dips). I think one of these days, I pick up a variety, along with some sticky rice. On this day, I bought the Naem Khao from the take-out counter. This may look a bit different from say, the version at Asia Cafe.

The dish is sold deconstructed, though they'll mix it for you if you want. The Missus said this was good, though She still prefers the version from Asia Cafe.

Even though the location of Sang Dao has changed, the food has not, many of the dishes are distinctly country-homestyle. And in case you're not in the mood for Raw Beef Larb, or Intestine Soup, many of the Curries and other dishes are quite good. Ed from Yuma, Howie, and I had the pleasure of sharing a meal at Sang Dao with Candice Woo, some of which is included in Her article, so please check it out.

Sang Dao Restaurant
5421 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 263-0914

Mimi’s Café: Meals at the Faux Château (Yuma)

June 3, 2009 ed fromyuma American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Chains, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk eats at chains; Cathy eats at chains; today ed (from Yuma) will let you know that he sometimes eats at chains too.

After Mimi's Café opened a branch here in Yuma, I kept getting reports from friends who liked the food. So about a year ago, Tina and I descended on the restaurant to try a dinner.

From the outside, the place looks like a rustic châteaux (containing one or two small warehouses) plucked from the banks of the Loire and dropped into the middle of a large asphalt parking lot:

Inside, this same cultural/architectural mishmash rules. You have the parque ceiling (I believe this is the correct term) like a 19th-century French bistro in the main room: you have open beamed ceilings and a fake balcony (not shown) in the New Orleans room (a New Orleans room?): and then you have a Romanesque barrel vaulted area that would bring to mind a medieval monastery with electric lighting, if of course the bricks were real:
Nonetheless, some things about our first meal were very good. Along with rather ordinary French bread, we received two slices of savory whole-wheat nut bread: Tina's Mediterranean Chicken Fettuccine, though containing numerous ingredients, was focused and tasty:
The creamy asiago sauce, though a bit greasy, was not as heavy and rich as an Alfredo and didn't overwhelm the other flavors. There were just enough chunks of chicken, and the pasta, while not aldente, was not overcooked. Spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and marinated artichoke hearts added complexity to the flavor and color to the presentation. A few chopped fresh tomatoes cubes and shreds of domestic Parmesan lay across the top of the noodles.

My chicken piccata was an attractive plate: As you can see, the two slices of chicken breast, showing grill marks, and four well prepared grilled and moist asparagus spears were the culinary stars of this dish. What this picture barely shows, however, is that the poultry and the veggies lay atop a large mound of mashed potatoes. Now I love mashed potatoes as much as the next person, but I really couldn't understand combining spuds with an Italian style main course. In addition, while the flavors of everything worked fine, this entrée seemed to me to be as much a product of an accountant as a chef. The mushroom was very thinly sliced, only three capers dotted the meat, and the amount of lemony piccata sauce was slightly less than would be needed to flavor the two chicken slices. No sauce for the potatoes — though to be honest, they had a nice buttery flavor.

The side salad with ranch dressing was also decent. The nice lettuce mix had shredded carrot, a couple of cucumber slices, a few bits of diced fresh tomato, and three large mass-produced croutons. The amount of dressing seemed calculated to moisten the greens and veggies with nothing left over: I selected a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from the minimalist wine list and was pleased to see that the restaurant had figured out the glass-of-wine conundrum: What I mean is that serving a single glass of wine presents a restaurant with a problem. If it uses small glasses, the wine must be filled up to the brim, which all of us winos know robs the wine of fragrance. On the other hand, large stemware is much more expensive, and some customers feel cheated if the wine doesn't fill the glass. Here the wine was served in a small carafe so that no one would feel cheated, the restaurant could use inexpensive stemware, and a customer could swirl the wine around in the glass.

The service on this (and every subsequent visit) was competent, professional, and friendly–clearly the staff is well trained.

As you can probably tell by the tone of this report so far, I was both amused and impressed by the ambiance, the businesslike way that Mimi's was managed, and by the generally competent cuisine.

On subsequent occasions, we have visited the restaurant for breakfast, mostly because my favorite local breakfast place has gone out of business (RIP Arnie's). In general, our breakfast experiences at Mimi's have been hit and miss. A good illustration of this was my recent order of waffles with sausage and egg: The two sausages were large and good, with standard breakfast sausage spicing and a firm meaty texture — no greasy mouth feel at all. The waffles, while nice looking, lacked any crispness and were dense and heavy. The over-easy eggs were well past easy: However, their fried eggs here usually have a nice crispy edge to them: On the other hand, some of the items on the breakfast menu are truly mediocre. The orange juice is generic at best, the latte substandard, and while the blueberry muffin looks good: It is a reminder that at Mimi's sometimes looks are deceiving: The bran muffin, on the other hand, was outstanding (bran must be cheaper than blueberries): When Tina ordered the Cajun sausage with scrambled eggs and potato, the whole dish didn't quite reach okay. The sausage had a peculiar taste (to my mind at least) and the home fries were flavorless and crunchless: My Monterey Omelette (with which I had "fresh fruit" instead of the potatoes) looked very pretty, but was pretty disappointing: Instead of being light and fluffy, the eggs were two dense slabs separated by a slice of flavorless jack cheese dotted with bits of real bacon. The visible part of the omelette was covered with more of the mediocre cheese, the only slice of avocado on the plate, and an additional strip of bacon (which looked better than it tasted). The best part about this breakfast was the outstanding roasted tomato salsa.

Even the attractive fruit left something to be desired: The pineapple was still in its rind, and a couple of the almost hidden grapes were rotten instead of fresh.

On the other hand, some of our breakfast experiences have been more positive. The eggs ranchero bowl, though containing some of the mediocre potatoes, has been a really a nice take on Huevos Rancheros: The beans are black beans, the tortilla is crunchy, and the two salsas (one chipotle and one tomatillo) add two good flavors.

My favorite breakfast item has been the cinnamon raisin French toast: While the toast is not especially eggy, its whole-wheat raisin bread with cinnamon is very good. Unfortunately, on my last visit, this great item was missing from the menu. Who knows why.

Obviously, if this restaurant were truly bad, I wouldn't continue to try it again. I find the ambience and the decorations to be amusing and am impressed by the consistently good service. Occasionally the ambience, which seems like what you would find in an independent eatery, is almost enough to make me forget I'm eating in a chain: And then I remember that the wine advertised on the poster is not available at the restaurant and the homey photos on the wall are just stock pictures. All is as real as the bronze fiddler. At Mimi's, there often is less than meets the eye. More surface than depth. This is a restaurant run by illusionists and bean counters — but it must be said, very competent ones.

Mimi's Cafe Yuma, 1690 South Pacific Drive, 928-783-2680

Robataya Oton – A first look

June 2, 2009 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

I'd been following the opening of Oton fairly closely, and when FOY "Fred" emailed me informing me of the opening, the Missus and I made plans to drop by.

I really enjoy the "atmosphere" and set-up of Okan, what I'd usually call Oton's "sister" restaurant, but since Okan means "Mom"and Oton means "Dad", I guess we'll need to call it Okan's "spousal" restaurant? Part of the curiousity for us is what the Restaurant's Ownership/Management/design team would come up with. And I must say, they've done a nice job. From the stylish ingredient display, and "bar":

To the rustic Nabe ("hot pot") rooms. The restaurant is perhaps a bit claustrophobic for Western tastes.

Even though "Robataya" is prominently featured in the name, I was more interested in the the Nabe. Unfortunately, all the booths were booked solid. My first impulse was to return on another day, but the Missus was curious, and we decided to sit at the stylish bar, and have dinner. The menu was a smattering of items, including fried courses, sashimi, and of course Robatayaki. I saw several items on the menu I was interested in, and was read a list of daily specials. Again, unfortunately for us, they were out of several items and ingredients, such as Kamo (duck) and Kushikate.

We started with some Ankimo with ponzu.

This Ankimo was high on the "fishy" end of the taste spectrum. Not a bad thing, as the ponzu and the memji oroshi (grated daikon with red chili) muted the fishy flavors, and cut the richness. I've had worse.

Grilled corn was one of the specials:

The corn was nice and sweet, though the Missus wanted a nice brushing of Tare (sauce) like She had at Raku. At this point,I knew that comparisons with our meals at Raku were inevitable. I think that based on price point (Oton is a bit more expensive) it's hard not to compare. But then, Raku was a James Beard nominated aburiya and robotayaki, and this was Oton.

I wanted to try the Shiokara (fermented squid). This was the smallest dish of Shiokara I've ever had.

Flavorwise, the Shiokara was very mild and tame, the toughness of the strips of squid, along with the absence of the bitterness from the liver and innards of the squid, made me think that perhaps this hadn't been "fermented" long enough. It was no where near as deep in flavor as the version at Izakaya Sakura. It didn't help that the Missus bit down on a piece of the quill bone. If anything, if fermented long enough, this would make for a good "beginner's" Shiokara.

Next up, the Gyutan (grilled beef tongue):

The marinade was decent, and the tongue was cut to a decent thickness for grilling. I'd have preferred more of a "char" on the slices making it crisp on the edges. I didn't catch a hint of Binchōtan, which was a pity. The wonderful smoky flavor Binchōtan adds to whatever it "breaths" on and takes it to another level. I recall the scent of Bincho at Okan, why not here? Or was it that this just wasn't grilled long enough?

Next up, the best dish of the night, the Shishamo Tempura.

In what was possibly the "cutest" moment of the evening, when I ordered this, the young lady proceeded to explain to me what what Shishamo was. After a few seconds, I mentioned that I knew that Shishamo was smelt, and that I've had it many times, which gave her pause, a very short pause, at which time she completed her explanation. She was going to get that description in no matter what!

The Shishamo were fried in a light crisp batter, and wrapped in nori. Crisp, light, and wonderful.

My "go to" item at Yakitori-ya and Robatayaki-ya, Kawa (chicken skin):

What I call "crack on a stick". The portion near the top and in the middle of the skewer were grilled perfectly. The portion at the bottom, which was much too large, was barely grilled, and therefore rubbery. I think this is an illustration of what made our meal a bit frustrating. The decor is very nice, with attention to detail, detail which seems to be lacking with regards to the food we were served.

The Missus wanted to try the Saikyo Miso Black Cod.

The Missus eats this sometimes two to three times a month, and just by looking at this when it arrived, we knew this wasn't going to be very good. First, it didn't look like, nor did it taste like it had been marinated-cured-steeped, or whatever you call it long enough. There wasn't enough of the miso flavor. It also was not broiled long enough, there was very little caramelization. The middle of the slice of fish was barely lukewarm, which would be ok if this landed in a bento, provided it had been cooked through, but not in this situation. The Hajikami Ginger was a nice touch, which again outlined our frustration……attention to detail to everything but the food. As a point of measure, try the Saikyo Miso Black Cod at Sakura. In a traditional Robatayaki-ya, folks sit around a counter much like this, and items are grilled in front of you……lukewarm food is a no-no.

At this point we decided to call it a night and return some other time. Our bill came out to a shade over forty bucks.

We loved the decor, the service was maybe a bit too attentive, but was to be expected since this is a newly opened restaurant. The young folks working here are friendly, helpful, and very nice overall. We also noticed that at least one of the employees was a holdover from Osaka Kitchen which we thought was nice. It appears that they are trying very hard, but this wasn't a very satisfying meal. Of course, Oton just opened, so this may be straightened out in the future. Plus, I haven't tried the Nabe yet….but this is a Robatayaki-ya……. I'm hoping my future visit(s) are a bit more satisfying. Oh, and make reservations for the Nabe rooms.

Robataya Oton
5447 Kearny Villa Road
San Diego, CA 92123
858-277-3989