December 2009 – mmm-yoso

Happy 2010!!!- a sneak peek at the Rose Parade floats and Pastrami at The Hat for a final meal of 2009.

December 31, 2009 Cathy Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog, mostly about food, but sometimes also about how we managed to get around to eating that food. Tonight, Cathy is writing about how she and The Mister spent the last day of 2009. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are probably busy with other stuff.

Hi. I am writing this in the late evening of December 31. The Mister and I were awake at about 5:30 this morning (after having spent a long day yesterday with 100 of my closest friends, in light, steady rain, tailgating and watching the Holiday Bowl game). We were exhausted and had to get up and leave. Things happened slowly, dogs needed walking, coffee had to be consumed and we were out the door at 6:30. In the fog. Needing to be in Pasadena by 8 a.m.

Well, that didn't happen. But we did manage to get to the Historic Green Street Hotel
in Old Pasadena by about 8:30. (The Castle Green is now condos and apartments and no longer a hotel).

You can see some of the preserved elements in this public area, and maybe imagine the elegance of this building in its day.
The old Ballroom was where we had breakfast with Lions from all over the world, including the new President from Germany.
Breakfast is a buffet, which is not varied. Fruit, muffins, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausage and ham along with orange and cranberry juices and coffee. There are formalities and that sort of thing and then we get on a bus and drive about a mile South on Raymond Street, to the Phoenix Rose Palace Float Barn.
Which looks like this about December 26.

But is like this on the 31st, an hour or two before judging. The Tournament of Roses Parade is going to start in less than 24 hours. (That is the Farmers Insurance float, Salute to Marching Bands) (the black shiny boots are seaweed)
This is the Ronald McDonald House float. (More seaweed to make the black parts of the space shuttle).
The first float you'll see, sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank, has the theme of the parade- "A Cut Above the Rest". It is one of the smaller floats. Here are some of the details- click and enlarge. Every inch of every float has to be covered with something that is or was alive.

You can see beans, leaf, live flowers, pulverized dehydrated flowers…
Volunteers spend hours cutting and placing some flowers into vials.
Or wrapping the flowers onto wires, so that each can be carefully placed onto the proper part of the float.

This Young Lady is gluing dried marigold petals which have been processed in a blender onto the signage of one of the floats.

The work put in this year was exceptional. Those realistic looking rocks on the Oddfellows and RRebekah's float are covered in a mixture of black and white rice.
The Lions Club International Float.

The City of Alhambra float.

Here is the back end of the Lutheran Hour float, celebrating it's 60th anniversary in the Parade. The Petal Pushers help to decorate this and the other Service floats in this Barn.
All in all, these last few minutes before the judges show up are busy and intense. The parade will start soon and you can see the floats lined up end to end on Sierra Madre Boulevard Between Paloma and SIerra Madre Villa Avenues), at the end of the parade route, from 1-5 today and from 9-5 on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $7. A fun weekend thing to do. By February, the theme for the 2011 Tournament of Roses parade will have been decided and planning and work on the floats will begin again.

We were exhausted, starting the drive home, hungry and stopped here on Lake Avenue at Villa.

The Hat is now 58 or so years old, starting out in the Los Angeles area in 1951.

We got a Pastrami dip:

Kind of huge…dipped Pastrami in a soft French roll with mustard and pickles.
The Pastrami Burger ($6.99) It's there- look. A half pound burger, topped with cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles and a *lot* of freshly fried up pastrami. The last meal of the year. The Resolutions start tomorrow.

We wish you all the best for the future. Happy New Year!

Lists and more lists: Our most memorable meals part 1

December 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Cambodia, Laos, Peru, Travel, Vietnam

This is the time of year for lists….. and more lists. First there's the Christmas shopping list, then the post Xmas return list, followed by that all too inevitable New Years resolution list, and so forth. I often get asked to do lists, stuff like Pho restaurants, eating itineraries for visitors (which I love to do BTW – it's just that I'm kinda slow on the email thing), and other stuff. Recently, Dennis asked me if I was going to do an updated 10 photos post, and I thought about it, but after a bit of pondering I gave up. You see, we average somewhere around 300 or so posts a year, and picking a few photos out of those…… well you see what I mean, right? And yet, because it is the time of the year for lists, I just felt I needed to do one. And so I pulled out an often requested list, of our most memorable meals, not in any order, and kinda off the top of my head. Now note that that is "our" list, which is, the Missus and I, which automatically excludes places like……

Urasawa, which was a ginourmous three part post……

And even though we've had some very memorable dishes like the Roasted Whole Sparrows from Highway 4 in Hanoi……

Which was really delicious….. or even sannakji (live octopus), which I thought was less so….

Or even Prahok, a fermented Cambodian fish paste, made more interesting by the sour little crunchy things….

Which turned out to be little red tree ants. The list is memorable meals, not memorable dishes….. hey, that could be another list!

And there were those stories, like the young lady in Siem Reap named Akin, who came to work in the city at the age of 9!

Akin, an orphan who never knew her parents nor siblings, felt the need to comfort us when we were so touched and distressed by her story by sharing with us her philosophy on life: "no worries, no worries, I'm Happy-Happy every day!"

And since it's meals, not drink, I need to exclude the Chicha de Jora from a dirt-floored roadside shack in Calca.

Frothy, yeasty, and light, it's a wonderful beverage. There's just one thing you need to understand about Chicha de Jora, to quote: "In order to start the fermentation process, the maize is moistened in the maker's mouth…..the digestive enzymes in saliva helps to break down the starches and start the fermentation process. In fact, it is thought that the modern name for this drink is based on the Spanish word "chichal", which means to spit".

I'd also need to exclude the best "hootch" I've ever had, Snake Ruou (rice wine):

From Quoc Phuong Ecological Farm in Le Mat, outside of Hanoi:

We've found that there's no way to get to know the folks than by trying out some of the local "beverages":

After all, if it comes out of a rusty old barrel, through a bamboo tube, it's gotta be good, right?

Hmmmm….. another list! I'll stop now, and leave this list for later. But I'm wondering, how many of you have been reading for the last four years or so. And if you have…. first I'd like to thank you so much for reading! Second, are there any posts which stand out in your mind…. or perhaps you'd like to take a stab at what you think were our most memorable meals?

Thanks for reading!

The Fishery: Eating Well, Learning Something, and Tasting 10 Fishes

December 29, 2009 ed fromyuma Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso is the blog. It's based in San Diego. Of course, Kirk and Cathy post about San Diego often, but even ed (from Yuma) eats sometimes in America's Favorite City.

Coming over to San Diego from the desert, Tina and I often have a deep desire for seafood. This holiday break, we decided to go to one of my favorite seafood houses in town, The Fishery:
That picture of the restaurant's exterior shows only two things very clearly. 1. The restaurant is nearly hidden on Cass St. in Pacific Beach; and 2. I'm not an especially good photographer.

My lack of talent and training in photography was even more evident as Tina and I were enjoying first courses at the restaurant. My crab Louie (half-size, $13) was a pretty good crab salad. Although lacking any large chunks of claw meat, the crab was exceptionally fresh and had a nice Dungeness flavor. I also appreciated the mix of lettuces, romaine and frisee predominating. The Louie dressing was nicely balanced and complemented both lettuces and crustacean. My picture of that pleasant salad is, unfortunately, not very pleasant at all:
Even worse was my picture of Tina's appetizer of black mussels with linguica sausage($10):

Trust me, there really is a black mussel appetizer hiding in this photograph of what appears to be a coal mine shaft at midnight with the lights off.

At the time, this presented me a dilemma because I really wanted to post about this marvelous dish we were eating. The musssels themselves were absolutely superb. Each little critter was perfectly fresh, totally tender, and wonderfully flavored. While the sauce presented hints of fennel, the predominant tastes were mussel broth and linguica sausage. The combination was irresistible. As tasty as the shellfish themselves were, the addition of the sausage brought the whole dish, bivalves and broth both, completely over the top.

As we were eating this wonderful food, Tina had to listen to me bewailing my inability to take a good picture.

"It's not that dark in here," she said. She was right. Although not bright like Denny's, The Fishery has plenty of lighting, and one sees the food clearly. The wooden walls, beams, and tabletops were not surfaces that sucked up light, and the restaurant overall does not seem dim, dark, or dank.

"Well it's too dark for good photos," I insisted.

"What setting are you using?" She asked. At this point I should add that Tina has actually taken courses in photography and has been known to get up before dawn to get just the right light for a photo.

"Automatic, just like all my pics." She gave me one of those "men are so clueless" looks.

"It should be easy to find a better setting," she said. So as we ate away at those marvelous mussels, dipped bread into their broth, and scarfed down full soupspoons of the that heavenly liquid, I kept trying various settings.

Finally, I was finally able to locate a basic setting that allows me to actually take adequate pictures in restricted light. By then, however, the salad and the mussels were long gone, and we had already started on our main courses.

This is linguine and white clam sauce ($19):

Like this photo, the dish was adequate, but nothing spectacular. The clams were very fresh, the linguine was not overcooked, and the very light sauce did not interfere with any of the flavors. Nonetheless, I would've preferred something more creamy and/or more assertive.

Tina's order of fish (cod) and chips ($10) was, on the other hand, as good a fish and chips as I've ever had:
The three filets of cod, in particular, couldn't have been done better (yes, at one time, there were 3 pieces). The cracker crumb crust crunched with each bite, but the fish flesh inside was moist and tender. Better deep frying is simply not possible. And only truly fresh cod can retain that high level of moist fresh flavor after frying.

The thinly cut french fries were very good, if not extraordinary; the cabbagey coleslaw (no mayo) was fresh and mildly flavored. If the tartar sauce was anything special, that fact escaped my attention.

Overall, we had been pleased with the meal. Everything had been fresh, a few things had been superb, and the bottle of Four Graces Pinot Gris from Oregon's Dundee Hills ($34) was an outstanding match for the food. In fact, I was generally impressed by the reasonably priced and well-chosen selection of wines on the wine list.

So we decided a second visit was necessary. That way, we thought, we could try some different entrées and eat more of those black mussels while I could get a picture of the dish.

As Burns wrote, the best laid plans of mice and ed and Tina oft go astray. When we arrived at the fishery on December 22, we were each given an additional menu for that evening — A Feast of the Seven Fishes ($35 per, wine pairings not included).

Sometimes you just got a go with the flow and give up preconceived plans. And the four courses (plus a dessert) seemed intriguing and we could accompany each course with a suggested wine pairing (available by the glass or half glass).

Before our first course arrived, we received a few pieces of crunchy sourdough and brown bread accompanied by a ramekin of whipped butter:

The first course was called a seafood cocktail, but it looked nothing like my vision of seafood cocktails:
The poached shrimp sat atop a seaweed salad and was sauced with some sort of standard mayo/ketchup combination. Somewhere there was a hint of jalapeno that added a nice picante note to the finish:
As nice as its presentation and garnishes were, the shrimp itself was nothing special.

The next part of the first course was a chunk of grilled octopus tentacle sitting on a remoulade:
The mollusk itself was my favorite part in the combination. The chef had managed to transform any chewiness in the raw material into a pleasurably dense texture. The char from the grill added a nice smoky touch.

Tina and I agreed that the scallop was the center of the first course in more ways than just appearance:
While the light cream sauce didn't bring much to the fried piece of shellfish, the breading and frying were perfect:
In addition to the complexity of textures, the scallop here had a good fresh clean flavor. The Gruner Veltliner that accompanied the first course was crisply dry and a good pairing with the simpler presestation of the various seafoods.

Next came cider steamed clams:
Much like the clams from the previous dinner, these were fresh and had a nice flavor. What's more, Tina and I both loved the brothy sauce. It opened with the sweet flavors of the cider and the ocean flavors from the clam juice. The tastes of garlic and white wine added complexity and contributed to a long smooth finish which ended with light spicy touches of red chili. Overall, the course was almost as outstanding as the mussels from the previous visit. The wine pairing, the Four Graces Pinot Gris, was a great complement.

The next course was perhaps even better:
Well cooked linguine was topped with flakes of wonderful oak smoked salmon and leaves of cooked spinach. The menu also noted that preserved Meyer lemons were involved, but whatever subtle flavor they contributed was undetectable to either Tina or I [after reading this, Tina reminded me that we could taste the lemon, but we couldn't detect any actual lemon bits – as usual, she's right]. Nonetheless, this was an outstanding dish — the smoky flavor of the salmon pervading everywhere. The course was well matched with a creamy Russian River Chardonnay from Fritz.

The last savory course was called Stewed White Sea Bass:
The perfectly cooked piece of fish was covered in a tomato caper sauce and was served on a small pile of salt cod flavored mashed potatoes. Again, the kitchen had hit a home run. While the salt cod seemed AWOL, the other flavors of the various items went together extremely well. In addition, the Foxen Santa Maria Chenin Blanc was an ideal match. In fact, to my tongue, it is one of the best Chenin Blancs that I have ever tasted.

The menu listed tiramisu for dessert, but the apologetic waiter explained that the tiramisu just wasn't right that evening and was too heavy for the other courses. Instead, we received a couple of slices of manchego cheese, surrounded by slices of Granny Smith apples, the whole dessert being drizzled with fresh honey. I have no idea what the tiramisu would've been like, but this light dessert was a fine, if somewhat pedestrian, ending for the meal.

All in all, Tina and I were pleased with the restaurant and the meals that we had had. My only major complaint about both meals is that The Fishery could serve better bread. While the room gets a little noisy, we thought that the atmosphere was fine, particularly for a seafood house. Prices, while not cheap, seemed very fair for the quality of the fish. The service was generally good, the small wine list was excellent, and I was especially impressed by the wine pairings on our second visit. And the restaurant clearly knows how to serve fish with a range of tasty preparations.

Plus our desertified taste buds got to savor 9 or 10 different fishes in just two meals.

The Fishery, 5040 Cass St., Pacific Beach, San Diego CA 92109, (858) 272-9985

Road Trip: Kang Kang Food Court – Alhambra (Los Angeles)

December 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

A pretty long while back, uber Foodblogger Wandering Chopsticks mentioned that she thought that Kang Kang Food Court in Alhrambra made the best Shengjian Bao in LA. Kang Kang Food Court…… So I made a note, and on one of our road trips we decided to drop by, and check out the SJB.

Though the storefront is right on Valley Boulevard, you drive to the rear and find parking in the parking lot. Once down the hallway, you enter the world of Kang Kang….

Bare bones and very cafeteria like, Kang Kang offers both steam table and cold items, in addition to various menu items. The word "menu" kinda understates "THE MENU" which takes up the top of an entire side of the place. It's one thing to have a book-sized menu delivered to your table….. and another to have to look at what seems like an unending number of items lining a wall…….

And it seems like that entire side was just not enough room to contain this "menu on steroids" as various banners around the place display other "specials".

But we were here for only one thing:

Which became a non-starter, since we found out the SJB cook comes in at 11, and it was 10. So we decided to check out the Xiao Long Bao, and return at a later time for the SJB.

As far as XLB are concerned these weren't very good. First off, a couple had leaked….. so "no soup for you". Second the folds of the Bao were hard as rock, and the wrapper too thick. Not enough soup, which was flavored pretty neutrally, not too sweet. The meatball was too hard and "squeaky".

Usually, food like this would pretty much ward me off. But in this case, there were a couple of things I kinda enjoyed. First, when you place your order, you give the cashier your table number. And in a few minutes, you get a pot of tea delivered to your table, along with the standard black vinegar based dipping sauce. I admit that this place goes a bit overboard with the styrofoam, and the tea is basically tea colored water, but it's a nice touch. Second, the cashier is very nice, a step up from the perfunctory, sometimes rude service you get at the other Shao Mei's and Sam Woo's. And in fact, some of the steam table stuff looked pretty good. I'll say this much, the stuff at Sam Woo's take-out here in San Diego looks pretty bad in comparison.

So on Christmas eve, the Missus and I decided, to drive up, and kinda do a semi-crawl, very leisurely going back to a few places we enjoyed, maybe try a new place, and do some take-out for calm Christmas Day. So why not stop at Kang Kang and try the Shengjiang Bao? Which is what we did.

We followed the drill, and after about 15 minutes, our Shengjiang Bao arrived, glistening under the fluorescent lighting.

So how did we enjoy it? Well first off, these were blasting hot, and full of juice. They'll literally explode when you bite into them. The "soup" has a strong pork flavor, which the Missus thought was too "porky", for me, the porkier the better. I love the crust on the bottom, but thought the rest of the Bao had not risen enough, and we were left with gummy dough. I want the tops of my SJB or Lu Bao to be somewhat fluffy. Again, I had a problem with the filling, which was a hard and squeaky meatball.

I guess if we could get the crust and soup from this SJB, and cross it with the filling and semi-leavened breadiness of the SJB at Food Cabin we'd be happy. As it was, this was not bad, and soon enough it was time to move on to our next stop.

Kang Kang Food Court
27 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

Dubai Restaurant – (It’s in El Cajon, next to Sultan Baklava)

December 27, 2009 Cathy Desserts, Iraqi Food and Restaurants, Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Dubai closed. In the same location, it is now a restaurant named Sultan and is part of Sultan Baklava

mmm-yoso!!! is this. What you are reading. A blog about food. Today, Cathy is writing.

The other day, The Mister and I were in El Cajon, at Sprouts market, and a sign kitty corner from that location caught our eye. We had to check it out.

We had already had lunch, so went into Sultan Baklava and bought a few things (Turkish pistachios as well as some fresh made dessert treats)

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Everything here is sold by the pound, and *really* good. The sweets are made with a sugar-water mix, not honey…they are Turkish. You can taste the nuts and other fillings. Really, really good.

We got a menu from Dubai and went back last night.

Six tables, four set for six each and two set for four each. Small, cozy, clean. The owners are Chaldean.

We ordered Baba Ghanouj (Large, $4.95)
A nice serving of fresh made, creamy baked eggplant, pureed with tahini, garlic and olive oil. Really good. Really fresh. Served with fresh flatbread.

We also ordered the Dubai salad (large, $5.95). Fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and lettuce with a light olive oil and vinegar dressing (vinegar and olive oil are also on the table) and lemon wedges can be added for more flavor. The plate was double the size of the Baba Ghanouj plate.
The Mister ordered a lamb shank ($13). Don't be put off by the photo. It was not burned or tough. It was marinated lightly and was moist and tender- flaking off in a good way from the bone- and you could taste the lamb flavor (at many other places, there is so much marinade that the meat has no flavor). There was a choice of Biryani or Basmati rice- The Mister chose Biryani: the cumin and cardamom flavors were wonderfully pleasant. The rice had roasted potatoes, peas and raisins in it. The plate also comes with a stew and picked turnips, onions, parsley and tomatoes.
I ordered the chicken schawarma sandwich ($3.95). The chicken was moist and flavorful and the sandwich was filled with cucumber, yogurt sauce and onion, parsley and lettuce. It was wrapped in fresh flatbread.

All meals come with hot tea. Served this way. Strong tea (4 bags in that pot)…beautiful teacups.

Dubai also has a buffet on Wednesday and Saturday, with most hot sides available and kebabs made to order for $8 per person.

Sultan Baklava 131 Jamacha Road El Cajon 92019 Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily (619)440-1901 website

Dubai Restaurant 133 Jamacha Road El Cajon 92019

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2009 mmm-yoso Blog

Boy did Christmas come around quickly this year! Of course this being San Diego, it really doesn't look much like Christmas….

Other than the lights you'd never really know……

By the dearth of recent posts, I think you can tell things have been pretty hectic for us. So yesterdays, the Missus and I decided to jump in the car and drive on up to the SGV. That 'post will be coming up, as we managed to revist a couple of favorites in addtion to checking out a few others. We did take-out from Tianjin Bistro. Ever since I mentioned Suan Cai Yang Rou Guo to Cathy and Ed from Yuma, I've been craving it.

After a week of richer food, this was comforting and cleansing. The Suan Cai (preserved vegetable) has a flavor like a mild sauerkraut.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm sure having a chauffeur sure makes things easier!

Something warm to tide you over…….

December 22, 2009 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

It's been a pretty hectic week. So let's have something nice and warm to tide us over, until tomorrow if you don't mind.

So what are you eating to keep warm tonight?

Thanks for visiting; I'll do my best to have a post tomorrow!

Kitsune Udon

December 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The holidays is a pretty busy time of the year for folks. It's also a fairly stressful time, everyone seems in a rush, and tempers sometimes seem short. Earlier today while driving to the market, I noticed a Saab coming up pretty quickly on me. The car was weaving a bit from side to side, by the time the Saab started tailgating me, I could see that the young lady behind the wheel was chatting away on her cellphone, and not paying much attention to the road. It all almost came to a head when I stopped at a red light, and was almost rear-ended by the Saab which came to a tire-squealing stop. So what was the woman's response to almost hitting me? She proceeded to honk her horn at me, than flashed me the "bad half" of the peace sign…… so much for peace on Earth, and good will to mankind, I think folks just want you to get the heck out of their way right now. Sigh……

Time for something warm and comforting….. like maybe Kitsune Udon???

Now using some prepared Tsuyu is very easy and convenient, and heck I even use hondashi (soup base) when I need a small quantity of dashi or dashi flavor. But making your own dashijiru is not that hard, nor time consuming. Unlike many recipes, I enjoy a strong kombu flavor in my dashi. So I will usually steep the kombu in water at least four hours, and overnight if possible. Today I steeped the kombu for about six hours, from 10 am, to just after the football game. The rest was done in about twenty minutes. In other words, you could get the process going by placing the kombu in water before going to work, and make the dashi when you return home.

Dashijiru

1 8×6 piece of Dashi Kombu wiped with a damp cloth or paper towel
8 Cups of water
1 1/2 cup Kezurikatsu (shaved Katsuobushi)

– In a large container steep the kombu in water for at least 4 hours, or overnight if possible.
– When ready to prepare, place the kombu and water over high heat.
– When small bubbles start to appear remove the kombu (do not boil kombu).
– When the liquid begins to boil lower the heat and add bonito flakes.
– Simmer gently for two minutes, skim any foam that develops, and then remove from heat.
– Let the shaved bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot.
– Strain the liquid through cheesecloth or fine sieve. For this use, do not squeeze liquid out of the bonito flakes, this will make the broth cloudy.

Udon Kakejiru – Udon Broth

8 Cups Dashijiru
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/3 Cup Shoyu (Soy Sauce – Use a decent quality soy sauce)
1/4 Cup Sake
Salt to taste
Dash of White Pepper
Other items if desired (dried shrimp, niboshi, sugar etc….)

– Bring Kakejiru to a simmer
– Add soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Simmer to burn off alcohol.
– Taste and adjust flavor with salt, more soy sauce, other flavorings, etc.
– Bring back to a simmer.

Putting It Together:

2 pieces Aburaage
Udon Noodles
Green Onions thinly sliced
Kaiware (Daikon Sprouts)
Other items as desired…….

– Prepare Udon Noodles in boiling water as specified.
– Pour boiling water over the aburaage to remove excess oil, and cut diagonally.
– Drain noodles, and place in the bottom of a bowl, pour kakejiru over noodles.
– Top with green onions, aburaage, kaiware, etc….

Aaaahhh………

I hope everyone had a great, low-stress weekend!

The India Palace in Yuma

December 18, 2009 ed fromyuma Indian Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk, Cathy, and Vicky have shared many of their favorites with the rest of us over the years. This post, however, is ed (from Yuma) sharing one of his.

After having a couple of way-too-salty meals, I have quit eating here. Reports are that the place has declined.

Although I am delighted to have Das Bratwurst Haus over here in the desert, for me personally, the most positive change in the Yuma dining scene in the past six months has been the establishment of a new Indian restaurant in Yuma, India Palace:
I know that one or two of you who are familiar with Yuma will think that this is not a new restaurant at all–since Yuma has had an Indian eatery at this location on 4th Ave now for several years. In fact, you have to look closely to realize that this is a different Indian restaurant — and to my taste buds at least, a much better one.

The chef was born in Nepal, but she is skilled in cooking a wide range of Indian dishes and has spent many years sharpening her culinary skills by cooking for her Indian husband. Often, in fact, when I eat at the restaurant, I feel like I can dining in somebody's home because the food is made with love and with great attention to detail.

Even though the buffet has shrunk in size, the quality of the dishes is very high, and the variety of flavors never ceases to amaze me. For example, on one visit, the buffet had both chana masala (chick peas) and rajma masala (kidney beans) as well as mixed vegetables and a dish featuring large chunks of curried zucchini:
On another visit, the star items were a chunky eggplant curry, aloo matar (peas and potatoes), and the fiery onion chutney:
One never knows what one is going to find on the buffet. I have had a standard daal maharani, a yellow daal, and most recently an herbed daal unlike any other I can recall tasting elsewhere.

Similarly, there is usually a chicken curry available as well. Most of the time, it is pretty standard (so standard I realize I've never photographed it), but recently the chicken curry was a bright yellow color:
This curry, was primarily spiced with the subtle tastes of turmeric, roasted cumin seeds, and garlic — all of which serve to accent the wonderful flavor of the chicken.

Dishes cooked to order are also prepared well. One of my favorites is bhel puri chaat, a fried patty of dough, topped with yogurt, spicy sauce, and more:
This dish featured layers of flavors, with the curry spices offset by creamy and tangy yogurt. The textures of the dish also ranged from soft through chewy to crunchy.

Another time, I tried the masala dosa, a South Indian style pancake rolled around a potato and vegetable filling. It was served with an incredible coconut chutney and a traditional shambher made with yellow daal:
Here you can see the filling in the pancake:
Every item on the plate was outstanding, and they went together perfectly. When the chef came out and asked me how I liked it, I was full of complements, because it did taste so wonderful. She then pointed out the black flecks that were across the top of the South Indian soup:
"Curry leaves," she said, "but you have to burn them to get the right taste." And you know what, she was correct. The touches of burnt flavor contributed to the overall balance of the shambher.

I have also gotten several different items off the menu for dinner. Usually Tina and I will have them for take out, matching them up with one of our favorite gewürztraminers. One of my favorite items has been the chili chicken: This is very simple. The chicken is prepared in a spicy sauce with chunks of green chilies. What's not to like? The chili lamb is equally good and filled with numerous large chunks of slightly gamy lamb:

Bhindi Masala was outstanding on another occasion, the okra being perfectly fresh and slightly crunchy. The sauce and numerous onion slices just made everything better:
We've also loved the karahi fish palak, catfish chunks swimming in creamy spinach:

On that night, we also had an outstanding bengan bhartha, the roasted egg plant adding a smoky depth of flavor to the well seasoned and deeply flavored vegetable dish:
Is everything at the restaurant perfect? Well, no. The two times I've had a biryani, the flavors and textures have been largely monochrome, the rice dish crying out for cashews, raisins, and/or various other items. A couple of times dishes were too salty for my taste (though I am very sensitive to sodium, and I suspect that the dishes were seasoned in a traditional fashion). I also wish that their take-out containers were not so plastic, though these containers do resist spilling very well, even when they turn upside down on the ride home:
My main concern with the restaurant, however, has to do with its survivability. We all know that having a skilled and creative chef is only a small part of the battle that every independent restaurant faces. I worry that too many locals and winter visitors alike associate India Palace with the defunct India House, a restaurant that was uniformly mediocre for the last few years of its existence. I also worry that some lunch diners will associate the lack of quantity and daily variety with a lack of quality. I just hope that more people appreciate the unique flavors that India Palace brings to the Yuma dining scene. I hope.

India Palace, 2071 S.4th Ave., Yuma, AZ, (928) 782-0799.

Sab E Lee Santee – More dishes

December 16, 2009 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

**** This location of Sab E Lee has closed

I realize that Cathy and I have done posts on Sab E Lee 2, but I thought you’d like to see a couple of other dishes.

First up, Miang Kum (เมี่ยงคำ – $7.95), a simple, but wonderful appetizer:

These are basically leaf wraps, and though I’ve read that the classic Miang Kum uses Betel Leaves, all of the variations we’ve had uses spinach leaves. At first the combination of perfectly diced red onion, galangal, slivered lime, peanuts, dried shrimp, and thai bird chilies, topped with roasted coconut and a tangy and sweet, tamarind and palm sugar “sauce” seems a bit strange. But take my word for it, the sum of the parts is a wonderful melange of flavors…. it seems that each one is jockeying for position.

When working with such basic ingredients, freshness is the key, as I’ve had several versions (and one terrible version in San Diego) featuring dried out galangal and limes, and low quality shrimp. Everything here was shiny and fresh, and the tamarind dip brought everything together for us.

Bags of Gold ($7.95):

Think of these as Sab E Lee’s fried won tons if you will. These “bags” are full of minced pork, shrimp, shiitake mushroom, and water chestnuts. While the portion of the “bag” holding the filling is almost crepe-like, the top portions are light and crisp.

Pretty nice to look at too.

The Superwild Shrimp ($8.95) is a shrimp salad of sorts:

It is dressed with a fish sauce – chili – garlic – palm sugar sauce. Though we prefer the Plaa Shrimp, the shrimp in this dish was cooked to a “just well” doneness.

Of course I had to try the Koi Soi/Koi Nua (Spicy Raw Beef – $7.95), one of my favorites at Sab E Lee 1:

First off, this version is not nearly as spicy as SEL1. In fact, after tasting a few of the same dishes, I’d say that the dishes are about %30 less spicy here in Santee. I usually get a’9′ on the heat scale, this was more like a 5. That’s not to say that this wasn’t good, it was. Less spicy, but the inclusion of raw garlic added pungency and bite. This version is also a bit more citrusy and herbaceous. The nutty flavor provided by the roasted sticky rice powder is a bit more muted.

The Larb Duck($7.95) is another similar but different dish.

This version was a bit more herbaceous, and truth be told, we enjoyed this one more since the flavor of the duck came through very clearly.

Since the Chef had cut his teeth cooking in Bangkok, a version of the classic Bangkok Red Curry Duck was a necessity. Here it’s called Royal Duck Curry ($10.95):

In all honesty, of all the dishes we’ve had here, this was our least favorite. It seemed that all of those reasons we don’t enjoy the overly-Westernized Thai food in San Diego were in display here. The curry was too sweet, too fruity (via pineapple and grapes), and used too much coconut milk for our tastes.

The flavor off the duck was overwhelmed and buried in our opinion.

The Missus loved the Three Flavored Fish (Halibut – $14.95):

The fish was put panko crusted, and put together just as the Pinecone Fish we encountered on our previous visit. This time it was fried even better if that was possible. The fish was moist, and almost sweet. The sauce is a tamarind-palm sugar based sauce, was perhaps a bit too sweet for me, but the Missus just plain loved this. I can’t say anything bad about that fish. My perfect solution is to order the Pinecone Fish, and request a little dish of the Three Flavor Sauce on the side.

Fish Garlic ($12.95):

A classic Thai sweet-spicy-garlic preparation. I loved the sauce, and in fact ate up all the cabbage, and even the carrot garnish. Unfortunately for me, the fish used was catfish, and it was a bit muddy for my palate. The Missus joyfully scarfed the whole filet in minutes…….

On one visit we ordered the Fish on Fire ($16.95):

Two large Halibut Filets covered with a red curry sauce and served with a flambe of rum. One quick piece of advice for this dish, let the alcohol burn off before sampling, otherwise the rum adds a rather strong astringent flavor to the dish. The halibut was moist and tender. There was a bit too much going on for me in this dish, but again the Missus loved it.

One of my favorite menu items at Sab E Lee 2 is one of the cheapest….. the Garlic Rice ($3):

Those regular readers know that I love garlic anyway…. but this was so very good. Much better than any version of Filipino Garlic Rice I’ve ever had, as there was golden sauteed garlic and crisp fried garlic and shallot in this. The herbs added some great flavor…. and the rice being prepared well didn’t hurt things…….

By now, most regular customers of Sab E Lee know Koby….. his wonderful demeanor, gentle, kind, and always helpful just makes the whole experience better. He obviously loves to please his customers. On one occasion, I ordered the Garlic Rice, and mentioned an egg and pork street food dish we had in Bangkok, and how it would be just the perfect item with this. Koby smiled and told us, “I know what it is, we’ll make it for you!” And just like that, we had a classic Thai omelete, which we were later told is called Khai Jeaw:

Wonderfully savory, fluffy, omelete, with a quick dip in the Nam Pla Prik(fish sauce and chili) which helps cut the richness, followed with a bite of garlic rice…. There are few things better in the world.

And for a second, I was here:

The crazy streets of Silom in Bangkok…….. You know, they say in America, the streets are paved in gold. In Bangkok, the streets are paved in food! Looking at this makeshift food stand, you wouldn’t know that it’s in front of massive financial buildings in Silom, which is Bangkok’s business district.

Sometimes a smell, or just a taste can take me back…….

And Koby was nice enough to provide that for me.

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071