September 2009 – mmm-yoso

Tacos Yaqui – San Ysidro

September 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Tacos Yaqui has closed

During a recent lunch with FOY Candice, she mentioned a Taco shop in San Ysidro named after a very well known Taco Shop in Rosarito Beach called Tacos El Yaqui. Curious, I inquired as to the location, and was told San Ysidro. After coming home and doing a bit of research, I found that Tacos Yaqui specialized in Sonoran style Carne Asada.

So on a recent weekend morning, I made my way down the I-5, and took the second to the last exit before the border, at Via de San Ysidro. A couple of blocks later, I spied Tacos Yaqui…….

As I entered the restaurant, I noticed how busy they were….even at 9am in the morning, there was a steady flow of customers, all Hispanic, ordering at the counter. The picture menu had 8 basic tacos, and by the hand written sign behind the cashier, I noticed that Tortas, Mulitas, and Breakfast Norteno were also available.

No one seemed to speak English, but ordering was no problem. I took a two taco combo for $5.99, and a Diet Coke. I was given a number, and in a few minutes some very hot chips made its way to my table. I grabbed some salsa from the little bar, and crunched away at the thick tortilla chips.

There are few things that stimulate your appetite than the smell of animal flesh charring on the grill; and this little restaurant had it going on all cylinders.

By the time my tacos hit the table, I was ready to chew my arm off. Determining a "must eat" taco didn't take the use of much brain power. I had to try the Sonoran style Carne Asada, in this case it's called a "Taco Perrones". Perhaps a FOY (Friend of Yoso) like Masa Assassin can tell me the history of the name….because ummmm, "Perro" means "dog".

If you're like me, and used to TJ style carne asada tacos, you'll be surprised…. and it's a pretty pleasant surprise at that. First off, the tortilla is flour, though very thin and griddled. Cheese has been melted on the bottom of the taco, making a nice stringy-mildly milky bed for the carne asada. In this case, soft and tender grilled flank steak, which was mildly flavored, letting the beefy flavor of the cut take the lead. The beans threw me off, but for some reason did really well in this taco adding a nice earthy flavor. Along with the pico de gallo and guacamole, this was a pretty damn good taco. The word balance comes to mind. I had gotten a few various salsas, but ended up not using them. Instead, I just enjoyed my taco.

My second taco was something called the "Monster":

This one came with doubled flour tortillas prepared much in the manner as the other taco. It was chocked full of nice, plump shrimp, prepared in a mild tomato based sauce. As good as the shrimp were, it was the stuff on the bottom that made this taco…… it was chiccharon, pork that had been deep fried to a crisp. Very nice…..

Overall this was nice meal, the tacos were good sized, not the small TJ style versions. It was quite a hefty meal. I'll definitely be back! Maybe I'll see you there….. I'll be the one inhaling the fumes from the grilling meat!

Tacos Yaqui
111 W Olive Dr
San Ysidro, CA 92173

Thanks for the tip Candice!

Mystic Grill and Bakery-Mediterranean Cuisine

September 29, 2009 Cathy Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog which Kirk, ed (from Yuma), Cathy and a few others write about food they eat. Today, Cathy ate.

I have had occasion to drive past this corner- University and 70th- on the border of La Mesa, oh about 20 times since last December. I saw the old Auto Parts place turn into Mystic Grill and never took the time to turn into the parking lot. I wish I had stopped here sooner.

020

It is pretty large inside, about 14 tables. Clean.

The food is Halal. Made from scratch.

The falafel appetizer ($3.95), six of *the best* garbanzo vegetable deep fried delights- made with *fresh* garbanzo beans, not that powdered stuff and served with *fresh* made hummus, is absolutely a wonderful, filling starter.

They advertise a $5 pizza (includes two items) on the sign out front, it is only for "to go" unless you order other items, then you can eat the pizza inside at the tables. (I suppose they don't want a bunch of kids taking up table space with one $5 pizza…) We had it one day, cheese only- thin, tasty, chewy crust, light sauce. Very good.

The spinach pie appetizer ($1.95) is in the display case up front and is made with fresh baby spinach, olive oil, lemon and sauteed onion in a light dough crust. Served with lemon wedges. I could eat three of these as my meal.

The grilled salmon plate ($8.95) is fresh salmon served with a lemon/garlic sauce, not too heavy in flavor, with pita, rice and salad with chunks of cucumbers. Very filling and fresh tasting. That is sumac on the edge of the plate- give a nice citrusy/salty 'zing' to the other flavors.

On one visit, The Mister wanted gyros and also wanted pasta. It's there on the menu- $8.95. You have a choice of penne or spaghetti. You can see what He chose. I doubt it's healthier than pita bread, but it satisfied his cravings. The pasta had a light alfredo sauce. The Mister really liked it.

Of course, they serve Shawarma ($4.95). This one is carved fresh off the spit chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion and a pickle with fresh tahina sauce wrapped in warm fresh flatbread. It is served with a small salad (and very large tomato half…)

All the food here is high end fresh made, quality and served with a smile. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

Mystic Grill and Bakery Mediterranean Cuisine

6990 University (70th and University) La Mesa 94941 (619)461-1985

Website

Silver Ark three years later

September 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Silver Ark has closed and is now Siam Nara Restaurant.

Man, three years, time sure does fly………

I'm not quite sure why Silver Ark always slips my mind. Perhaps it's the location, tucked away from the street. Or maybe because I usually have something already in mind when we hit Mira Mesa Boulevard. Still, three years between visits is pretty long. And it would have been even longer, had I not seen this banner on my visits to Manila Fast Food.

It was enough to pique my curiosity. Were the buy three dishes get a "live lobster" for $1.99 a sign of a desperate restaurant grappling to stay alive? If anything the banner was enough to get us into the doors of Silver Ark a few weeks ago.

To illustrate how long it's been since we've visited Silver Ark, the back wall used to be partitioned off, and housed a Chinese BBQ take-out area. That along with the weekday dim sum (Dim Sum only on weekends) are long gone I guess.

Sadly, we were the only customers in the place during the entire duration of our dinner.

After looking over the menu, and learning the "rules" - rice, soup, and noodle dishes do not count toward the total to qualify for the specials. We placed our order, and requested a crab ($5.99 special)….. but were told, "no crab today". So we decided to see what a $1.99 lobster looked like.

The first dish we ordered was the Salted Fish with Chicken and Tofu Hot Pot ($11.95):

This was one bland dish, with barely a hint of the salted fish fragrance. Not much chicken either. The dish was much better as left-overs the next day.

The best dish of the night was the Pork Intestines with Preserved Vegetable ($12.95), which was on the specials menu.

A bit short on fermented black bean, but there was a good amount of the sour and sweet preserved vegetable and a good amount of fairly well prepared intestine.

Actually, the Stir Fried Clam with Basil ($13.95) had potential.

This really coulda' been a contender….. The short comings are readily apparent. As in where's the basil? I found one sprig. No gravy/sauce? This was much too dry, and basically unseasoned in any manner. Too bad since the clams were of good quality, and were cooked to a perfect doneness. The green bell peppers were severely under-cooked.

And last….it's the $1.99 crawfish Lobster. We really didn't expect much, and in that vein, this more or less met our expectations.

The lobster was on the "cool" side, but was decently flavored with ginger and scallion. The sign does say "live lobster", and I'm sure that once upon a time this was without a doubt "alive". Perhaps during the last lunch hour? At least the meat was still meaty and tender, and hadn't seized yet. The sign should probably say "Recently Live Lobster"……

Overall, our meal was uneven, but okay, the portion sizes (except for the lobster) were generous. As for the specials, I think maybe the shrimp may be the way to go since you'll pay by the pound. We both felt that the food was under-flavored, though the quality of most ingredients was decent.

Dim Sum is now served only on weekends, and I noticed a couple of pages of lunch specials ranging from $5.95 to $7.95.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Eating on the hood of your car: Mariscos El Pescador

September 27, 2009 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

A while back FOY "SomTommy", the very same individual who first told me about Sab E Lee, emailed me about a Taco Truck in the Parking Lot of RTA and Toys R Us in Chula Vista. There's wasn't much in the email other than the simple sentence "try the fish tacos……."

I filed away that bit of information, and a few weeks ago, I found myself in the area, and took the L Street offramp, followed by a quick turn on Industrial, past the stop sign, and you really couldn't miss the truck.

It really looked promising, the truck was doing steady business.

Following "ST's", instructions, I ordered a Taco de Pescado, along with a Gobernador. Things were looking up, as I was immediately passed a cup of tongue scortching consomme, a savory seafood broth that promised the upcoming meal will deliver the goods.

The consomme kept me occupied until my tacos were ready.

I grabbed my two tacos and headed off to….what else, the hood of my car, and dug in.

I started first with the Fish Taco ($1.25). The pretty large piece of fish was sizzling hot, the flesh was moist, and even had a mild sweetness to it.

I loved the ratio of white sauce to the other ingredients. The tortilla wasn't the best or freshest I've had, but it was the fish that would keep me coming back.

The Gobernador was also very good.

Perfectly stir fried shrimp, green bell peppers, and red onion. All of this lies on a bed of a tortilla that has been griddle slightly crisp, with a layer of melted cheese, which allows the tortilla to build up a resistance to the juices of the shrimp and veggies. Though I still prefer the version at the Mariscos German Truck, mainly because of the addition of tomatoes, this is still a heck of a delicious taco.

Good enough for me to return with the Missus in tow……. Along with my Tacos de Pescado, the Missus got a Tostada de Camarones (Shrimp Tostada):

Gone in a minute, the Missus assured me this was good. i'll have to take Her word for it!

The Missus also got a Campechana, a mixed seafood cocktail. Full of the usual coctele suspects (shrimp, oysters, scallops, octopus), it was the tart and sweet tomato influenced liquid, with just a touch of picante. It was the perfect foil for the heat of the day.

After these visits, I've been dropping by whenever I'm in the area…. like on my way home from my regular visits to Hogetsu Bakery. I guess there aren't too many Asians eating here, since on a recent evening, one of the guys working at the truck, came up to me, and mentioned that the truck was moving. Moving! Before I got too excited, he told me that because of some city ordinance, the truck was moving closer to RTA! Whew……..

This past weekend, quite curious, I dropped by to see where the truck was now located. The truck has now moved to the "Customer Pick-up" parking lot, right next to RTA.

In order to enter the area, you'll need to either go thru RTA, or walk to the left of the orange netting, and detach it from a hook on the wall. There are now a couple of tables set-up under the tarp as well. This puts the various sauces within easier reach……

Just in case you don't want to eat on the hood of your car…….

Either way, it's good stuff.

Mariscos El Pescador (In the parking lot pf RTA/Toys R Us)
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

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Chon Ju Jip

September 24, 2009 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

I was pleasantly surprised when FOY, Vicky emailed me and said she had a post ready! It was sorta like an old friend popping in for a surprise visit. It also seems that Vicky has a few posts in the pipeline, so I'm sure we're all looking forward to that! So I thought it would be appropriate to do a post on a restaurant Vicky first posted on back in February of 2007, Chon Ju Jip.

We used to grab a meal here when the restaurant was named Ko Hayang Jip, it then became Go Ba Woo, and now Chon Ju Jip. I've been told that even though the name(s) and menus have changed, the main cooks have remained the same. I'm not certain, but I can say that this place does some major bang up business later in the evenings. Go a bit early on, and the tiny place is usually pretty empty.

There are several dishes we enjoy, and though you won't see the hot pot, because it's been too darn hot for it, there is a decent variety represented on the menu. For us the dishes run from good to some fairly mediocre items. So I think we'll start with a few of our favorites, and work backwards.

But of course, no proper meal at a Korean restaurant can start without some panchan!

The panchan varies on each visit, so I won't go into each item. I will say that you'll probably find something you enjoy. We did notice that the panchan is on the salty side. One of our favorites is the Sesame Leaf (Kaennip – Perilla) panchan:

In a salty bean paste, this is really good with rice.

As I mentioned before, there's always a good variety, usually eight items, and we've been offered refills on each visit.

So let's start with the good. The Missus really enjoys the Kimchi Chigae.

Spicy and salty, with a good amount of pork belly lining the bottom, what's not to like?

It's a well put together version of this comfort Korean Dish, with a nice savory component you can taste beyond the spice.

I was surprised at the tenderness of the Daeji Bulgogi (Spicy Pork):

Melt in the mouth soft without being mushy, this was a pleasant dish. It was perhaps a bit short on the spicy end of the spectrum, but with a nice slightly sweet and fruity finish, I really couldn't complain.

But of all the dishes, our favorite is the Bossam:

Though I would rather have had lettuce as my wrapping tool instead of the hard slices of Napa, you won't have too many more complaints from me. After all, tender, well flavored pork belly, on a leaf with daikon kimchi, a smear of bean paste, chilies, and a slice of raw garlic, what's not to like?

Whether its Buta Kakuni, Dong Po Rou, or whatever, I have a special place in my heart for velvety pork belly dishes.

The dish also came with some pretty low quality oysters, which were pretty much an afterthought in my opinion.

We ordered the combination Bossam and Den Jang Chigae ($19.95).

The Soybean Paste Stew was quite salty, and had a fishiness to it that caught you by surprise. After a few sips it seemed that our tastebuds adjusted. This was ok.

And here we start on some other dishes that were ok, but nothing special, like the Hamul Pajun (Seafood Pancake):

Fairly gummy in texture, and not very much seafood, this was fairly mediocre.

The Kimchi Jun suffered from the same gumminess:

This was also strangely bland and suffered from not enough kimchi. The center was not fully cooked as well.

Unlike the Daeji Bulgogi, the Bulgogi tasted under-marinaded, and the quality of meat used was very low, as it was rather tough.

Much like it's predecessor, the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap is served on a metal plate rather than a stone bowl. Dolsot means stone bowl………

For some reason, the crust that forms on these metal plates is not nearly as good as what is formed in a stone bowl. Overall, other than the egg, there was nothing of interest about this version of Dolsot Bi Bim Bap which was topped with a skimpy amount of namul, shredded daikon, and what seemed to be a tablespoon of Bulgogi.

Our overall least favorite dish we've had a Chon Ju Jip was the Dduk Bokki (rice cakes in spicy sauce – $7.95):

To be fair the Dduk (rice cakes) were cooked perfectly, and the sauce was spicy, but sorely lacking in salt, or any other savory flavor. The boiled egg was a nice touch, but what's up with the mushy, overcooked, packaged ramen noodles? There were hardly any pieces of Dduk in this dish, and we were less than satisfied with this.

Like many of these places, YMMV – your mileage may vary, it's mostly a matter of watching what other folks are eating, and just trying various dishes to see what works out for you. I would encourage you to check out the Bossam though. And the various hot pot casseroles look really good, so I'm sure we'll be back for those.

Chon Ju Jip
4373 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 368-0835

Wednesday wanderings – Sab E Lee 2 opening in November and Thai Cafe closes

September 23, 2009 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Sab E Lee 2 Coming Soon:

I dropped by and had an early lunch at Sab E Lee this past Sunday. Koby, the owner greeted me with a big smile, and told me, "I have some big news for you." Koby told me that he had found a space for a new restaurant, but wouldn't be sure until Monday. Koby then gave me his cellphone number and told me to call him. Instead, I told Koby that I'll drop by on Wednesday. So today, while I nosh'd on my Grilled Duck Larb:

Koby filled me in. So here's the scoop; the new restaurant will be called Sab E Lee 2 and is opening in Santee. The address will be:

9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

Luckily for us, he is keeping the Linda Vista location of Sab E Lee open. The new restaurant will have most of the items on the current menu, but will also add some more "Americanized" Thai dishes. I dunno about that, but I'm happy that my favorites will still be on the menu. According to Koby, the Chef of the restaurant in Santee is a good friend of his that has a lot of experience and used to be a chef at a four star hotel in Bangkok. Target opening day is the first Monday in November. I'm happy for Koby, they sure have come far in a bit over a year.

A Sab E Lee story:

I thought this was pretty funny. Sab E Lee is a very tiny restaurant, and because of the closeness of tables, sometimes you can't help but hear what everyone else is saying. On this day, a woman was seated with who I believe was her young son (maybe four or five?), a smart looking blond haired young man. I give the woman credit, they were eating Papaya Salad and Grilled Pork Neck, and the young man was digging in like a trooper. Out of the blue, the little one tells the Mom, "do they eat horse-ies here?" The Mom tells him, "I don't think so…..why?" The boy points to the lettering on the windows and exclaims, "it spells, I eat hoof!"

I snorted so hard, that I could feel my Beef Salad coming out of my nose! I guess it kinda looks like "I Eat Hoof". What do you think?

Thai Cafe closes:

Unfortunately, with the current economic unrest, more restaurants are closing than opening. And for every new restaurant opening, there seem to be two or more closing. Thai Cafe on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard is the latest casualty.

RIP Thai Cafe……

Lark Creek Steakhouse – My favorite source of protein…

September 22, 2009 Vicky (SF Bay Area) San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Steakhouse, What Vicky Eats

Hello! It's Vicky again. With another installment of another fantastic meal available up here in the beautiful SF Bay Area.. (Man I need to think of another tagline… That's getting old.)

As of the the writing of this post, I am finishing up my 2 week trip wandering around Taiwan. (Hopefully I'll be able to go through my 2000+ pictures of food and scrounge together a post in the future.) Right before I was to leave for my trip, Sam got us tickets and treated me out to the SF Taiko Festival. I in return, treated him out to Lark Creek Steak. Which is now my FAVORITE steakhouse. Ever. Even more so than Donavan's. I have to say though, Donavan's is still my favorite steakhouse in San Diego. (I have an extensive review on Yelp, so I won't go into great detail here.) But it has lost its place as my favorite steakhouse. The reason? Lark Creek serves Dry Aged Steaks. Yes. I will say it again. Dry. Aged. Steak. *puddle of drool.* Ever since purchasing the dry aged babies from Bristol Farms and grilling them up in my kitchen when I was living in La Jolla, I've become a steak addict. I question my servers at steakhouses like we're in Guantanamo Bay about their aging processes.

I was very happy to hear that Lark Creek served up a fantastic NY Strip that was dry aged in house around 30 days.

It was delicious… and nutty… and everything a hunk of meat needed to be. It was cooked to my perfect medium rare, without butter, spices, toppings, etc. It was just a piece of meat that was cooked the way it should be. (To this day, I still don't understand why Morton's and Ruth's Chris slathers their beef with butter… it may explain why the plate's like a gazillion degrees… so all that butter doesn't congeal!)

In any case, here is a pictur eof the lovely steak I had:

Lark creek

Ahh… Served with some nice organic mixed greens and a dollop of Cabernet butter (ON THE SIDE!)

Sam ordered a burger… Yes… A burger… Equally delicious… Probably one of the best burgers there are. It also came with a gourmet chocolate shake. Behold:

Lark creek2

Yum!!!

If you're in the Bay Area, come by Lark Creek and check it out… At least the dry-aged stuff is AMAZING!!

Lark Creek Steak
845 Market Street Emporium Rotunda Area
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.593.4100

You can drool at their menus here: www.larkcreeksteak.com

Pete’s Quality Meats

September 21, 2009 mmm-yoso Italian Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Sadly Pete's has closed

I hadn't been to Pete's Meats in Little Italy for a very long time. In fact, Cathy, who posted on Pete's Meats last year has probably been there way more times than I. When we first moved to San Diego, I enjoyed Pete's for a nice simple Sausage Sandwich. Or for something even better, a Spitini Sandwich, basically a breaded veal roll, which was some awesome sandwich. I hadn't been to Pete's in at least five years, and was sad to notice the Spitini was no longer on the menu:

Other than the increased prices, and the removal of my beloved spitini, much looks the same.

The place has a real divey feel, and things are pretty much stuck in a rather pleasurable time warp. Pete's hearkens to a time before all of the condos and upscale restaurants made it's way to Little Italy. It oozes personality…..

You simply order, and they get to work on your sandwich. Since there was no spitini, I went with my other stand by the Italian Sausage Sandwich. The sausage is made inhouse, and I've picked bought the spicy sausage a few times in the past. It is prepared simply; cooked, in this case heated on the grill, topped with onions and peppers, and placed in a good roll. I believe they use Solunto's bread. It stands up real well.

On this visit, I think the sausage had spent a bit too much time "in the drawer" before reheating, and had seized a bit. It still tasted great, nice, mild, herbaceous flavor, but was kinda tough. Perhaps I shoulda just picked up a coupla sausages and some rolls from Solunto's……

On my next trip I decided to check out something I hadn't had before…… a Meatball Sandwich. The meatballs are kept simmering in a huge pot on one of the stove-tops. The sauce was much too runny, and mild for my taste…..

But those meatballs were melt in the mouth tender, and had good flavor. And combined with a good roll that added a nice contrast to the meatball, this was a good sandwich. Though I'd still take the Sausage Sandwich on a good day over this.

Pete's is one of those places that have stood the test of time, it is no frills, and I'm happy it has endured. The menu is gratefully simple, and you also have Pete, whose personality is worth an entire post of its own.

Pete's Quality Meat
1742 1/2 India St.
San Diego, Ca 92101

Eating on the hood of your car: Internacional 2000 Taco Shop – Al Pastor

September 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

There’s something about eating off your car. You know what I mean, getting something from a food cart, window, or truck, and placing it on your hood, and having a nice messy old time. There’s just something visceral about it. So I thought I’d do a short series of posts, of stuff I’ve eaten off the hood of my car.

I found out about the Al Pastor from Internacional 2000 totally by accident. I was waiting for my order from the Mariscos El Pescador truck (another upcoming EOTHOYC post) when a young lady asked me what I’d ordered (tacos de pescado and gobernador). We both chatted while we waited, and pointing South, she mentioned really good tacos on the weekends from “International Mercado”. She loved the price, a dollar, then really got my attention when she said it was Al Pastor, right off the spit! Returning home, I started doing searches on “International Mercado”, and came up with only one match, Internacional Mercado 2000 in Chula Vista.

I couldn’t miss the plumes of smoke rising in the air as I entered the parking lot of the mercado. As I drove up the parking lot, I noticed…. well how could I NOT notice, the area set-up outside a window, with Pollo Asada (grilled chicken) grilling on one side, and Al Pastor on the trompo (vertical spit) on the other.

I mean really….you can’t miss it….

The drill was fairly easy. You ordered at the portable cash register, “quatro al pastor por favor”, paid ($1 each) the man, was handed a receipt, and you moved to the next line. The really nice guy manning the flame spitting vertical spit device takes your receipt, and he asks (and luckily for me points) to all of the accompaniments, and you go yes or no. And he goes to work.

Corn tortillas were thrown on the oil laden griddle to the right of the trompo, and when ready were put in front of the spit. I noticed that after serving the woman in front of me, the gentleman waited to complete two sizzling spins before he started carving the sizzling meat. Holding the double tortilla at an angle, the Al Pastor was caught as it was trimmed.

As a “coup de grace” the gentleman added a few pieces of the saturated, caramelized pieces of meat sizzling on the bottom of the trompo pan on top of the trimmed meat. Topped off with cilantro, onions, and sauced, the plate was handed to me……

But he wasn’t done yet….as I walked away, he waved a hand at me, and made a wiping motion over his mouth, and pointed at the window of the taco shop. Now how did he know I’d be making a mess? I grabbed a few napkins, and headed off to my car……….

Biting into the tacos, the first thing that struck me was the balance of flavors and textures. Nothing over-powered anything else. The crisp pieces of Al Pastor were wonderful. The Al Pastor had a mild sweetness, from the drippings of the large slice of pineapple placed on top of the Al Pastor as it was turning on the spit. It reminded me a bit of mild Char Siu. The meat was very moist and tender. Enough words from me, the pictures say it all.

You know, I’m not a very religious person, but I’m just wondering of that young lady was my “parking lot guardian angel”. Here I was, leaning on my car, eating tacos in a busy parking lot, a slight breeze blowing in my face, watching the sun set. It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Some notes: The young lady told me that Al Pastor was only done on Fri-Sat-Sunday. Maybe someone who speaks Spanish and visits can confirm. These tacos are $1, though it looks like a whole range of tacos are offered, along with that delicious looking Pollo Asado.

Internacional 2000 Taco Shop (Window in the parking lot of Mercado Internacional 2000)
1415 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

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More on Homestyle Hawaiian

September 18, 2009 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

About two weeks ago, I mentioned that Mo was back with Homestyle Hawaiian. So here's the second part….sorta…..

Two weeks is but a blink of an eye for a new business, and Mo's still making adjustments, some long term, some like this temporary(click to enlarge):

The good thing is, you can kinda keep up with things with Homestyle Hawaiian on Twitter.

It does look like the menu is pretty much set, but it's just like Mo to keep his "old time" customers happy.

One of my favorite things are "mixed plates" aka "combo plates", after all everyone loves variety, right? It does run two bucks or so (depending what you get) more, but the portions are slightly larger, and like I mentioned before, you get variety. Like this Chicken Katsu, Korean Chicken mixed plate:

As with Mo's Island Grinds, our favorite overall dish is the Korean Chicken, and the Missus loves the sauce aka Korean Sauce that Mo uses for that dish. Mo mentioned that while on hiatus, several other Hawaiian BBQ joints actually offered to but his recipe.

Those that know me are also aware that I love my Katsu…. in all forms. Breaded and served with Katsu Sauce, Mo's is almost "local kine" which is more ketchup based, than the "Bulldog" and other similar Japanese sauces. At Homestyle Hawaiian, add some Korean Sauce, and you have Lava Chicken, and even though it's not on the menu, you can request a Chicken Cutlet($5)…… in this case it's Katsu covered with gravy:

A nice touch was the gravy on the rice, and the scoop of rice under the chicken smothered in gravy.

Even though Mo wasn't born and raised in Hawaii he seems to understand the changes in tastes. We once had a discussion of "Local Kine Plate Lunch Kalbi" which tends to a more sweet flavor, probably because many of the early Lunchwagons and "Drive-Ins" that served this in the Islands were of Japanese ancestry. My tastes have changed since moving to the Mainland, but if you enjoy a sweeter Kalbi, you'll love the version here.

That's not to say that things always stay the same. I've never been a big fan of the Macaroni Salad at Mo's, and now at Homestyle Hawaiian. On my last two visits however, the salad is less heavy, and has more flavor:

And then there are the "works in progress" such as Meat Jun.

Apparently, it's still being developed……. I haven't found anything close to decent since leaving the Islands. Meat Jun is pretty much a Hawaii thing (BTW, my favorite was from Choi's Family Kitchen), so it'll be interesting following the progress of this dish.

And then there's this:

Need a closer look?

Recognize it? Probably not, since it's not served at Homestyle Hawaiian…. well not really. I've always joked with Mo, telling him that the Missus's favorite thing is the Korean Sauce, and it seems that She relishes the drippings from Korean Chicken on the cabbage garnish on the bottom of the plate! When I've mentioned this to Mo, he's always laughed and shakes his head. And though it's kinda embarrassing, I always ask for some extra sauce when I order Korean Chicken, and Mo being a nice guy, will always give it to us. So we saved up our Korean Sauce, until I had enough. I shredded some cabbage, sliced some cucumber, and topped with some mint. I heated the sauce to wilt the cabbage a bit……. and I had that! Of course it was missing the nice protein-fatty flavor from the chicken, but the Missus wiped the whole thing out. I normally wouldn't mention this except…… on a recent visit, I was sitting and eating my plate, when a couple came in to order some food for a small catering thing. During the discussion, the gentleman also wanted to get an order of "coleslaw". Mo told the guy he "doesn't serve coleslaw"….. Like a schoolkid trying to score points with the teacher I raised my hand, "oh-oh Mo…. I know exactly what he wants, Exxxx-xactly what he wants…." When I mentioned this to the Missus, She gave me the ultimate "I told you so look".

As I write this, Homestyle Hawaiian is still sorta a work in progress; it's still cash only, the hours are changing from week to week, etc, etc….. So I guess we'll need to follow things on Twitter for a bit. Hopefully, it'll all be worth it in the end.

Homestyle Hawaiian Island Style Food
7524 Mesa College Drive
San Diego, CA 92111

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