August 2010 – mmm-yoso

Jinan: The Banquet

August 30, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Jinan, Memorable Meals, Travel

We arrived in Jinan after what seemed a pretty quick 2 hours and change. My Mother In Law, Fifth Aunt, Second Aunt, Second Uncle, their Granddaughter, Fourth Aunt, the Missus and I made up the group. We were met at train station by one of the Missus's Uncles. The Missus's Grandmother's Sister had married and moved to Jinan decades ago. I have often been told that the Missus's Great-Grandfather had ensured that his children married well, and they all had fruitful lives. While the Missus recognizes the names, She has very little recollection of Her Uncles. On an interesting note, while the Missus Grandmother had six daughters, this sister had four sons! I could tell by the chatter that there was quite a bit of catching-up going on as we headed off to lunch……

And you guessed it! It was a banquet, of course! So are you ready for another banquet post?

As soon as we arrived, so did the food, at impressive speed.

The Missus's Grandmother's Sister, all of Eighty-Five years young, looked decades younger, and seemed full of energy. There was much animated discussion, and of course, laughter.

The crowning course of this banquet were the braised pig's feet. And one of the Uncles showed us how it was prepared for serving.

As luck would have it, though the entire family is really into food, we ended up sitting next to the Uncle who was the most serious "foodie" of the group. He spent much of the meal graciously telling us about the dishes, and pointed out which could be termed as traditional Jinan preparations. Truth be told, I had no idea what Jinan Cuisine was going to be like, and we were both pleasantly surprised at this arm of "Lu Cai" (Lu Cuisine). The flavors in Jinan were big, and the food hearty.

The Missus's Uncle gave us so much information, that I wish I could spend a week with him. And of course there was so much food. As with the other banquet post, I'll just comment on a few things here and there.

While the Pig's Feet we had at our Pig's Feet Banquet in QingDao was to be enjoyed for the gelatin and texture; this one was chock full of flavor.

The Missus still talks about the Cucumber Jiaozi. It was so unexpected, with the refreshing and palate cleansing flavor of cucumber coming through. According to the Missus, this restaurant is known for their dumplings, and I can see why.

My favorite dish of the meal, was of all things the kidney.

I'd never had a kidney dish I enjoyed, ever….. until this day. The flavor was like the essense of offal. Meanwhile, Uncle explained to me the short comings of this kidney; the color and sheen was wrong, by the looks and texture he could tell that this kidney had probably been refrigerated for a while. Like I said, these folks are serious about their food, not only do they know the "what", but the "why" as well!

I was told that this dish featuring tendon is a traditional Jinan preparation.

And you know how much I love tendon.

This was another traditional Lu Cai dish.

We were both surprised at the wonderful flavor of the dried red chilies in this dish.

The peppers had been stuffed with sesame seeds, and was crunchy, nutty, and floral, with just a slight bit of back of the throat spice. We were told that we'd be running into this preparation of pepper in Xi'an.

This interesting looking dish were slices of eggplant "stuffed" with shrimp, battered and deep fried.

There were three different types of Guotie (potstickers):

Shandong Guotie is very unique. The Missus told me that the ends are not pinched shut, and of coarse there's the "crust". Crunchy, light, and delicious.

I know I've missed a couple of dishes……

But I made sure to take another photo of that kidney dish…..

The amount of knowledge the Missus's Jinan family displayed made me even more sure that China was a country full of foodies! If there was one thing I learned in China; it was the importance of family. The flavors of the food may have been totally different from QingDao, but the warmth, humor, and generosity were in full display. I remember telling the Missus that I wished we were spending more than one day Jinan. To say we enjoyed the food and company would be an understatement. What an amazing family!

Say Cheese……Steaks, an addendum – Voltero’s, Sodhi’s (Letty’s??) Bean Shack, and Jersey Mike’s

August 29, 2010 mmm-yoso Cheesesteaks, Sandwiches

*** You can find Part 3 here.

I hope you don't mind another cheesesteak post to go with my original. These are more like sloppy seconds, with nothing that really compares to my favorites. I will say that I got some interesting emails from that post, so here's one that was a recommendation (thanks Derek!), one that I had forgotten about, and one out of nowhere.

Voltero's Pizza:

**** Voltero's has closed

I'd been to Voltero's a couple of times before, but had forgotten that they sold cheesesteaks. For me Voltero's is typical of the neighborhood pizza joint; good prices, friendly staff, and pretty hefty portions.

The cheesesteak at Voltero's comes with either fries or a green salad…. guess which I selected? It's also priced right at $6.95.

I noticed that the roll was not an Amoroso right off. It was a nice, crusty Italian that did not bad, but was a bit too much bread. At least it was slightly toasted and warm.

The cheese was nicely melted and decently gooey, which I believe was provolone. The meat was on the dry side, but the flavors along with the bell peppers and what I call "pizza mushrooms", (thinly sliced mushrooms usually used to top pizzas) was pretty good. This was pretty close, but not quite.

The funny thing was, I enjoyed the fries…..

And then I realized that I hadn't had fries since the beginning of April. So these hit the spot.

Overall a good value…… and much better then the Philadelphia Sandwich Company, which is kinda depressing if you think about it.

Voltero's Pizza
5650 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Sodhi's (Letty's) Bean Shack:

**** Sodhi's has closed

Well, the sign says "Sodhi's", and the menu says "Letty's" so I'm trying to cover all bases on this one. Located on a side street across from UCSD Medical Center; I'm guessing this place makes a living on giving folks an alternative to Hospital food.

The Cheesesteak here also comes with fries, and is even cheaper than Voltero's at $6.75:

The biggest surprise for me was that this sandwich came on an Amoroso roll! The portion of meat was bit on the small side, and the meat had been placed on the flat-top with onions, topped with cheese which melted nicely, the roll was then placed on top of everything and it was scooped up and put into the styrofoam box. Of course, this meant the roll was still cold, and had not benefited from any toasting.

The sandwich was also a bit dry for my tastes. Cold Roll + small portion + dryness = mediocre cheesesteak.

A generous portion of "steak fries" were served with the sandwich.

These were fried golden brown…. or should I say double, or even triple fried??? The fries were already cooked and still in the basket. When the order was placed, the fries were dumped back into the oil for reheating. They didn't seem to suffer any ill effects…..

Letty's Bean Shack
4229 Front St
San Diego, CA 92103

Jersey Mike's Subs – Rosecrans:

FOY "Derek" asked me to try out the cheesesteaks at Jersey Mike's. So, of course I did so at my earliest opportunity. I do have to apologize about the poor quality of my photos…. I don't know what the heck happened that day. I've already done a post on Jersey Mike's Rosecrans location, so I decided to return to that shop for my cheesesteak.

Even a regular sized sandwich looks pretty huge…….

The bread, with an almost cracker like flavor, does well with Italian Subs, but for me, it tends to interfere with the flavor of a cheesesteak.

It was also cold and the ratio of bread to filling was off…. too much bread in this case. In fact, there was too much of mostly everything, peppers, bread, onions, to meat for my taste. I pulled out some of the meat and had a taste, and the right flavor was indeed there; but it was just overpowered in this case.

On one interesting note; the #13 "Original Italian" has kinda grown on the Missus and I. It's still pretty much a "salad in a bun", but we sure do prefer it over Subway, and other of shops of that ilk.

Jersey Mike's Subs
3670 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA 92110

You can read my original Cheesesteak post here.

Revisits: Pho Ca Dao (El Cajon Blvd) and Homestyle Hawaiian

August 27, 2010 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Pho, Plate Lunch

Just a quick post on a couple of revisits for Friday:

Pho Ca Dao – El Cajon Blvd:

I don't know what's up with the Missus…. but summer has finally truly broken here in San Diego… and She wants Pho! Go figure. We were in the El Cajon area, and decided to stop by Pho Ca Dao. Nowadays with locations in both Mira Mesa and Rancho Bernardo, you really have to specify. One thing I've noticed about the other locations of Pho Ca Dao…… the broth seems to have less "oil", and is not as rich.

I've posted on this place a couple of times before so I'll keep it short and sweet. On this day, the broth was on the "scummy" side, which is a no-no for Pho. The flavor was decent. What Pho Ca Dao does best, at least for me, is tendon. And on this day it was as good as always.

The noodles, in the standard clump-in-a-bowl was fine.

I tend to visit whenever I'm in a tendon mood…… ;o)

Pho Ca Dao
5223 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Homestyle Hawaiian:

I hadn't been back to see Mo at Homestyle Hawaiian in over six months! So I decided to see how he was doing, and ordered a combo plate – Chicken Katsu and Korean Chicken.

Geeez, I'd forgotten how huge his plate lunches are. The katsu sauce here is ketchup based, and though not quite like Grace's, it does bring back memories of home.

Even though Mo gave me extra sauce for the Korean Chicken, it didn't quite taste the way it used to.

It was still good, but milder in flavor…. perhaps it hadn't marinated long enough. Still, you sure get your money's worth here. Much like Tita's, I've never been able to polish off a plate solo. Luckily, on this day I split it with my coworker. This was more rice than I saw on my entire trip to China!

Mo is still nice as always, though I wish he'd give the place a good scrub down. I do understand that he does it all, takes orders, cooks, and serves the food, so I tend to cut him a bit more slack.

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

Happy Aloha Friday to everyone:

Chamorro Grill – Chicken Kelaguen

August 25, 2010 mmm-yoso Guamanian/Chamorro

Back in May when we were on vacation in China, Cathy did a post on Chamorro Grill. I hadn't had anything that could be remotely called Chamorro for a while, my last few visits to Islander Grill were less than stellar, so I hadn't been back in two years or so.

So naturally, after reading Cathy's post (and please check out her post) upon our return I dropped by Chamorro Grill.

The interior is spartan, but very bright and clean. During my visits I tried a couple of dishes that Cathy has already covered, so I didn't bother to take photos. I will say, that on my most recent visits, the Garlic Shrimp in Crab Fat Sauce has been replaced with Garlic Shrimp.

If there was one dish I had to try, it would be the Kelaguen Manok…. now it would be nice to have something like Kelaguen Katne (Beef Kelaguen), a dish I would liken to Koi Nua or Lao Beef Larb; basically beef "cooked" in lemon juice. Or perhaps, Kelaguen Uhang (Shrimp Kelaguen), which was described to me as being like ceviche the first time I heard of it, but would probably say perhaps even Aguachile nowadays. I was pretty sure that this Chicken Kelaguen would not match what a friend's Mom made for us over a decade ago, finely chopped chicken, a good amount of heat from red chili peppers, onions, scallions, and most interestingly, grated fresh coconut. All made wonderfully addictive with the juice of calamansi. See Santos' recipe as a point of reference.

Of course, after ordering the Kelaguen Rice Bowl ($5.99), I really didn't expect that, and of course that's not what arrived.

Here, as with Islander Grill, it is grilled chicken, or as it is called, "Barbecue Chicken", which has been chopped and mixed with scallions, and flavored with a mildly spicy and sour sauce. It was more moist than the last few versions I had at Islander Grill, but very similar. The red rice, calrose rice colored with annatto/achiote/achuete/bijol or whatever you want to call it, was well cooked. Many versions are too mushy, but you could count every grain. What really makes this dish for me is the Finadene, a salty-sour-spicy sauce that I could pour over cardboard and enjoy. While the dish is packed into a little styrofoam container, it ain't so little. I could barely finish 3/4 of this before having to call it quits, and take it home…. along with about ten little containers of Finadene.

While not stellar, it did fine by me.

A couple of notes; there are always specials written on the small greaseboard next to the cash register. Everything is made to order, so sometimes food takes a while.

Chamorro Grill
6628 Mission Gorge Rd
San Diego, CA 92120

QingDao: Some last minute explorations……

August 24, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Markets & Grocers, QingDao, Travel

Before heading off to Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, we had a short amount of time. And there would be no lounging around the hotel room for us! So we set out up the various hills in search of anything interesting…. and maybe some breakfast as well.

As we approached the top of one of the avenues, you could here what sounded like incessant buzzing. We walked toward the noise, and soon enough we could make out voices. It was all coming from a large walled lot…… I was pretty sure what was going on as we turned the corner.

It was a morning market of course……. over the years, I've been to many of these, and even though I haven't found anything that quite tops the exoticness of Luang Prabang's Morning Fresh Market, I'm still fascinated by what these markets offer. I think it really teaches you a lot about the people and culture; insight that staring at the world from inside a tour bus could never provide.

Like this machine making sesame paste and sesame oil.

Here are where you get those breakfast staples You Tiao (fried cruller) and Soy Sauce Eggs, among other things.

Fresh vegetables and herbs galore……

Though there's always something interesting and exotic to be found…..

A reader emailed me mentioning that folks in my photos look a lot larger than what he considers typical Chinese in his neck of the woods. I wrote to him saying that the Chinese up North are bigger boned, and many of them like the Missus's Boy Cousin who towers at somewhere around 6'4" are quite tall.

Some folks were surprised when I mentioned that tomatoes are very popular….. they are eaten literally by the truckload……

But are consumed more like a fruit, than a vegetable.

Right down an alleyway from St Michael's Catholic Church, was another street lined with vendors. This one stretched for blocks, literally in the shadows of the downtown skyscrapers.

As always, there were tons of fresh and live seafood……

And other stuff……

Near the bottom of the hill, right across from and next to yet another truck full of tomatoes……

Where a few eating places….

The prices are very reasonable. All the food is cooked outside, and you eat in the cave-like, dark and dingy, and even perhaps a bit scary looking dining areas. I grabbed a seat while the Missus did the ordering…..

Of course there was You Tiao….

Both Millet and Red Bean Porridge……

As you can see; a plastic bag is placed around the bowl, and the porridge is poured into the plastic surrounded bowl. Once you are finished, and the bowl is returned, the plastic bag is removed and discarded, and a new baggie replaces it…. ready for the next customer.

We also had a variety of Baozi……

On the soggy side……

Overall nothing to write home about, but it sure did fill us up…..

We walked back out to the street realizing that we needed to get back to the hotel and head to the train station. Looking down the road, I noticed that we were just two blocks from Zhongshan Lu, one of the main streets, and pretty close to our hotel. It was time to make a beeline for our room, grab our luggage, and walk on over to the train station.

And Jinan was two and a half hours away……

Well, that's it for my QingDao posts. I hope you've enjoyed them, and as always, thanks for reading. Here is a listing of those posts:

Post #1 – Lunch and Dinner at Fifth Aunts

Post #2 – Morning in QingDao, Tianhou Temple, and Zhongshan Park

Post#3 – Our first visit to Pi Chai Yuan, and Banquet #1

Post#4 – St. Michael's Catholic Church and Banquet #2

Post#5 – The original family home and banquet #3

Post#6 – Pi Chai Yuan again

Post#7 – An abundance of seafood

Post#8 – The Wedding Banquet

Post#9 – Beer Street and the Tsingtao Brewery

Post#10 – Dinner at Sixth Aunt's

Post#11 – Donkey and Brain Tofu (Doufu Nao) for breakfast at Pi Chai Yuan

Post#12 – The Children's Park (Chu Shui Shan) and going shopping

Post#13 – Dinner at the Original Family Home

Post#14 – Beer in a Bag

1 Strip Mall, 3 Banh Mi – Tan Ky Mi Gia, Ba Le, and Express Deli – Mira Mesa

August 23, 2010 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

If there ever was such a thing as Banh Mi weather, it would have been this past weekend….. man has SoCal turned me into a weather sissy. Anything over 85 seems just plain scorching. Not feeling like eating anything real heavy, I decided it was time….. for another Banh Mi post. But not just any other Banh Mi post. Last year, I noticed that Tan Ky Mi Gia had started selling Banh Mi. This brought the number of places selling Banh Mi in the strip mall on the 9300 block of Mira Mesa to an uneven three, something I thought was quite unusual. I know that Cafe Dore and Saigon Sandwiches and Deli coexist a few doors from one another, but I couldn't think of another location that had three places selling Banh Mi within fifty yards from one another.

Curious, I thought I'd check out all three during one visit, and kinda see how they lined up side by side. I decided that even though I have my own favorites at Ba Le and Express Deli, I'd go with the good 'ol #1, what's usually the Dac Biet (special). I started at Express Deli in Lucky Seafood.

Hit up Ba Le, then ended things buying my last sandwich from Tan Ky Mi Gia. One of my assumptions was crushed before I even walked to the car and ate my Banh Mi. I'd thought that prices would be pretty much in line because of competition…. I could not have been more wrong. The sandwiches ranged from $3.25 at Express Deli to $4 (gasp!) at Tan Ky Mi Gia. Ba Le came in at $3.50. So here goes……

Express Deli:

Is the little fast food stand in Lucky Seafood which I last posted on in March of 2006. There was nothing defined as "Dac Biet" here, so I got the Thit Nuong, which they call their "French Sandwich". The Banh Mi here was the least expensive at $3.25, which may not be something to celebrate. Back in 2006 it was $2.25!

Not surprising was the fact that this Banh Mi had the least amount of meat, which are cut in thin slices. What most surprised me was that I enjoyed this Banh Mi the best out of the three. If all remains the same, I believe the bread is from Le Chef Bakery. It was toasted fairly well. Initially, I thought there was too much "spread" on the sandwich, but it was a decent amount. The jalapenos weren't overpowering, and the pickled veggies had a nice crunch in addition to a good sweet-vinegary flavor.

I could have done with a bit more meat(especially since I like Jamon) and even more pate. There's a tendency for the staff to go a bit crazy with the Maggi, but today it was just enough.

Express Deli
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd (inside Lucky Seafood)
San Diego, CA 92126

Ba Le:

Over the last couple of years, I've been pretty disappointed in the Banh Mi from Ba Le. I wasn't very enthusiastic about getting a Banh Mi here. Especially since I went with the Dac Biet instead of Nem Cha Lua. Ba Le has a tendency to toast the bread to death, until it feels like you're eating a giant crouton that rips your mouth to shreds. So I opened my Dac Biet($3.50) with some reservation.

Also, the pickled veggies tend to be very thick and crudely sliced. On this day, the bread(thankfully) wasn't over toasted. It was however, a bit on the stale and dry side. This sandwich had the most amount of meat by far, but that BBQ pork was very bland and terribly dry as well.

The jalapeno peppers in this sandwich were pretty spicy….. which means you played that always fun game; jalapeno roulette.

I'm still not particularly enamored with Ba Le's sandwiches. More filling doesn't mean that much when proportion and texture means much more to me. To me, a Banh Mi isn't a over-stuffed sandwich.

One interesting note; it seems that Ba Le serves up Bun Bo Hue on weekends……

Ba Le French Sandwiches
9396 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Tan My Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia is no longer

You really couldn't miss the fact that Tan Ky Mi Gia now made Banh Mi…..

I think I've mentioned how much this place loves signs before. One interesting thing…. even though they have a huge Banh Mi sign hanging from the back of the restaurant…. I didn't see any prices listed. So when the always "interestingly" attired and made up young man told me "four dollars" I was a bit surprised. Oh my, Banh Mi has crossed the four dollar mark! I was brought back to planet Earth when the young man snapped his fingers and held out his hand…. I was taking to long to pay I guess….

Honestly, this sandwich had potential. I enjoy the long baguette more than the usual Banh Mi, but this wasn't toasted enough. In fact it was kinda cold, even though I bought this last, and ate it first. It was just not crustly/flakey enough for me.

There was just a scant amount of pate, and the veggies weren't pickled enough. Also, there were almost no jalapenos, but maybe they thought I was not up to the task. The amount of meat in contrast to Ba Le was positively endangered. On the other hand, I enjoyed the choices of meat for the Dac Biet. And you could actually make them out in the sandwich.

Which is why I enjoyed this more than what I had from Ba Le.

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Perhaps the next time you want a Banh Mi fest, and don't want to make multiple stops……..

Easy Easy Ceviche

August 20, 2010 Cathy Cooking, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is about food. The handful of us who write on this blog enjoy eating. We also enjoy cooking. Today, Cathy is 'cooking'.

Hi. We have had some hot days lately and I just do not feel like turning on the stove inside or even cooking on the grill outdoors. In this kind of weather, I also seem to have cravings for ceviche, but don't want to drive and look for a restaurant. I know I can cook, and this is one of my 'usual' lazy day recipes. Last week, I showed you the two pounds of whitefish fillets I got for $12 from Catalina Offshore and two meals I had made from one fillet. Here's another meal (and snacks) I made from one whole fillet.
I took one whole fillet (so about 2/3 of a pound) and chopped into bite size pieces.
Then I squeezed the juice from six limes (from my backyard, hence the imperfectness) (limes are also on sale, 10 for $1 at most grocers right now) into the bowl with the chopped fish, covering the fish.
I put the whole bowl into the refrigerator for at least four hours (you can let it go overnight).
Drain out the lime juice (don't rinse). See how the fish is all cooked? Chop tomatoes, cilantro, some onion, one garlic clove and add about one Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix. Taste, if you need salt and/or pepper, add it and mix again.
It is ready to eat. You could chill it before eating or chill any leftovers…
I eat it with whole grain Saltines and sometimes add some hot sauce.

You can make it with raw shrimp also. Cut the shrimp and tomatoes and onions into similar size pieces.

Cathy's Simple Ceviche

You don't have to measure; use what you have. For this recipe I used:

2/3 lb raw seafood, chopped, cover with juice from 6 limes (enough juice to cover the chopped seafood). Put to chill in refrigerator at least four hours.

Drain the seafood (do not rinse). Add:

Four Italian plum tomatoes (chopped), 1/3 bunch of cilantro (chopped), one thick slice of red onion (chopped), one garlic clove (minced) and two Tbs Extra Virgin Olive oil.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Ready to eat or can be chilled and consumed later.

Serve with Saltines and hot sauce….and a cold beverage.

I hope it cools down soon! Have a fun weekend!

COMC: Hakata Ramen from Izakaya Masa

August 19, 2010 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

I know, I know, a ramen post on the hottest day of the year…. have I lost it or what? But this post is from all the way back in May…… there are so many COMC (Clearing out the memory card) posts, and I'm trying to catch up.

I hadn't been to Izakaya Masa in quite a while. In fact, the last time I visited, Masa was still serving lunch. For some reason, I always appreciated the place when it was still Teriyaki Cowboy. I always knew what to expect, decent, reasonable, semi fast food Japanese. When they became Masa, I found the lunches to be reasonable, but for some reason, I've never thought the place to be worth the special trip for dinner.

So when I read Dennis's post after returning from China regarding Izakaya Masa's weekend lunch, and the Hakata Ramen in particular, I made sure to drop by. I had heard about Masa's Hakata Ramen from several acquaintances, as well as "sammusubi" in a comment on my Ramen Comparison post. Not much had changed at Izakaya Masa, things look basically the same.

A bowl here is priced reasonably at $6.95, and you can get various combinations (with gyoza or fried rice, or both) from $8.50 to $10.50.

I decided to kinda go my own way, and started with something I think Masa does well. Chuka Kurage (Jellyfish Salad – $3.95).

Normally a great dish to have with drinks, I enjoy the refreshing vinegar-soy flavor, and the nice crunch.

Of course I went for the Hakata Ramen ($6.95):

The Tonkotsu style broth, usually the product of rapidly boiled pork bones, resulting in a rich, milky looking broth, was on thin side, missing the tongue coating richness I enjoy. I love regular straight up shio or shoyu ramen; but this is tonkotsu broth so my expectations are different. There was a strange, almost metallic tinged aftertaste that made me think that perhaps a "base" was being used to perhaps help things out? The chashu tasted a bit on the mild side, but were sufficiently tender and moist.

From my experience, one of the signatures of Hakata Ramen are the thin and straight noodles, these noodles had a decent "crunch", but were thicker than what I would consider Hakata style noodles to be.

Overall, this was a decent bowl, priced right, but not outstanding. Still, it's nice to have options in the Mission Hills area. Funny thing, just like Dennis, most of the folks who recommended the ramen from Masa to me personally, usually consumed it while, ummmm…. how should I say it? Well perhaps the lyrics to this song say it best:

"I'm just a little impaired
I know, right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me….."

And heck, it's probably better than a greasy California Burrito from Santana's up the street right? Right?

Izakaya Masa
928 Fort Stockton Dr
San Diego, CA 92103

Weeknight Grilling times two – Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak and Grilled Vegetables

August 17, 2010 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

We grilled the last two evenings, so I figured I'd do one last weeknight grilling post. We've been enjoying weeknight grilling…. it's all about timing, and objective is to get everything to the table in less than an hour. I've already done a post on skirt steak, so I hope you don't mind another. On Monday, I picked up some skirt steak and a ciabatta on the way home…….. I thought I'd do the simple grilled skirt steak, but when I got home I decided something else.

I was inspired by something I had in Xi'an……

They call it Rou Jia Mo…… you can call it a sandwich if you want to…….

Basically heavily seasoned meat stuffed in bread. And Xi'an being the end of the Silk Road, you can bet this was wonderfully cumin, salt, and chili heavy.

I was also itching to use the very potent five spice from QingDao that Fifth Aunt sent home with us. It's the same five spice that she uses in her own home made sausage. First I got the hardwood charcoal going in my chimney starter. This was basically a retread of my Cumin Lamb and Grilled Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Lamb Chop recipes. And you all know how much I love cumin lamb.

I marinated the skirt steak in shaosing, premium soy sauce, premium dark soy sauce, five spice (just a pinch, a little of this goes a long way) and cumin. I was out of sweet bean paste, so I used some sambal olek to add some zip.

I sliced three cloves of garlic lengthwise and sauteed them over medium-low heat until soft. I added sliced green bell pepper and sliced onion. I was going for a bit of color, and wanted the natural sugars to develop. I didn't want it too sweet, but I added some shaosing, sea salt, cumin(of course), and a dash of premium soy sauce.I'd use this as the veg for my sandwich. Figuring that this was going to be pretty strong flavorwise, and perhaps teetering on the salty side, I decided to grill some tomatoes along with the meat to add a bit of "acid" to the dish. Once everything was ready to go I seasoned the skirt steak with more ground cumin, ground Sichuan Peppercorns, sea salt, and ground chili.

Grilled medium rare, stacked on the bread toasted on the grill, all finished off with scallions and cilantro.

Maybe if this was a weekend I could talk the Missus into making Dan Bing…. but heck this was a weeknight.

This evening I thought I'd want something a bit lighter. I stopped by Seisel's with nothing in mind, and ended up leaving with just a couple of Veal Bratwursts……. and weeknight grilling on my mind. I picked up some local asparagus from the fruit stand, went home, got my charcoal started…. and came up with this.

I tried to use stuff we had on hand. While prepping the vegetables, I simmered the Brats in Killian's Red…. because there was a bottle in the fridge. The eggplant was coated in olive oil, oregano, and salted. The tomatoes in oil I had leftover from making garlic confit and oregano. Same oil for the asparagus, along with sea salt, and finely ground black pepper.

I grilled the vegetables…. the asparagus were thin so I didn't have to peel them. We still had ciabatta left so I sliced it, grilled it slightly with the garlic oil, and spread a little Boursin I had in the fridge.

I got my vegetable peeler and shaved some leftover imported parmigiano reggiano, and I had dinner. Funny thing the brats was my least favorite part of the meal. And it was done pretty quickly…..

I realize that these really aren't recipes per se, so thanks for hanging in there and reading. But it was fun grilling over charcoal and getting the table in less then an hour. I'm going to continue doing stuff like this over the summer and fall, but I'll get back to writing out regular recipes in the future.

Chicken Wing Thing: 777 Noodle House, Olde City Grill, The Original Sab E Lee, and Que Huong

August 16, 2010 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here's a post to add to my Chicken Wing category, an additional Chicken Wing Thing post. As regular readers know, I love my chicken wings……..

777 Noodle House:

I've already done a couple of posts on this bargain of a Chiu Chow Noodle House. And since they also own the "Louisiana" Fried Chicken shop next door, it was only right that I try their chicken wings.

On the good side, this was very juicy and lip melting hot! On the not-so-good, the batter was pretty crumbly, and it was a pretty bland wing overall. I enjoy a few dishes here, but this is not one of them.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Olde City Grill:

*** Old City Grille has closed

Of all the Cheesesteaks I posted on, Olde City Grill in Pacific Beach was the best I had hands down. A week or so later, I visited again to confirm my findings. I also decided to have some wings….which are sold "by the pound". I decided to go with some pretty straightforward "Buffalo" wings.

I was surprised to find that a "pound" here consisted of 6 wings. I've often mentioned the "Kyochon line" when it comes to pricing. Anything over, say a dollar a wing should be darn good. From the sauce point of view, it was pretty routine… fairly tangy, decent heat, but nothing special. From the size point of view, these were some fairly hefty size wings. I am however, a fan of smaller wings, since the skin/crust to meat ratio is much better. If I wanted plain meaty…. I could get drumsticks, right? There was one other item I didn't care for…. the Bluecheese dressing was more like mildly flavored Bluecheese Mayonnaise (or if you really want to be fancy aioli).

Personally, I'll stick with the cheesesteaks…..

Olde City Grill
967 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

The Original Sab E Lee:

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

Actually, I've had the wings at TOSEL a couple of times, but have never thought of it as something the place does well.

I recently returned just to have the wings……. and it confirmed that even though there is much to like at TOSEL, and I do mean a lot, I don't think chicken wings are on that list. The wings just don't have that spicy-sweet-savory flavor or crisp, yet sticky texture of the good wings in Thailand.

The bitter burnt garlic did not do the dish any favors…….

Don't even ask me about the neon orange sweet-sour sauce…..

The Original Sab-E-Lee Restaurant
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Que Huong Restaurant:

**** Que Huong has closed

I recently had a wonderful lunch with one of my favorite FOYs (Friends of Yoso), Dennis. As always I enjoyed the company, and you can read about our meal here. I'd first eaten at Que Huong back in 2005, and have been going back off and on since then. I never did try the Fish Sauce Chicken Wings until FOY "Yummy Yummy" mentioned it to me in 2008. I gotta say, it was love at first bite…. and yet, there are several different version of wings on the menu, and I wanted to try the Tamarind Wings……. and Dennis was nice enough to help me through a meal. I ordered a half and half… a half order of Fish Sauce Wings, and a half order of Tamarind Wings.

No these aren't gigantic wings….. they are "small but mighty"… you know folks like that. They may be diminutive, but are full of attitude and flavor. The Fish Sauce wings delivered that sweet-salty punch that they always do for me.

The Tamarind Wings……

Were like the Fish Sauce Wings' weaker cousin……. I wanted something with a tangy "punch", but these were fairly mild. I still gotta try the butter wings…… and other stuff……

Thanks for putting up with me Dennis!

Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

So there you go, a few more wings for my collection.