August 2011 – mmm-yoso

Pho Tay Do- a year later

August 31, 2011 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hi. You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Cathy has a post today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are post-less at the moment.

Kirk wrote about Pho Tay Do last July and The Mister and I stopped in that following weekend. It is in the same 'parking lot area' as Vien Dong III (if you drive West within it and then head South to University). We really liked what we had ordered in the heat of the summer then, as well as in the cold wetness of 'winter' and this year have returned for our 'not wanting to cook at home' meals.

As you can see, there are pho "Happy Hours" here now. (It looks like you get a large bowl of certain flavors for $4.95 between 5-9 p.m., daily, but I am not certain of all the details)

The bamboo decorated interior is bright and clean…

Table condiments are pretty standard.

I feel I must comment on the sugar. Every time we have been here, I notice at least one person pouring sugar into his/her bowl of pho. I've never seen this anywhere else and don't quite understand it…

On this day, The Mister ordered the grilled pork chop, tan hu ky and shrimp broken rice plate ($7.50). (Tan hu ky is fried bean curd -stuffed with chopped shrimp; always a favorite). This plate is a filling meal and always done just right- the shrimp and pork chop are moist and grilled just right.

This warm day, I did want to order bun (pronounced 'boon') (cold noodles on top of salad), which comes with a variety of choices of toppings. I was going to order bun with cha gio, but not for the pork flavor as much as for the crunch. When I saw the many vegetarian options on the newer menu, I chose the tofu filled cha gio as my bun topping…($5.50)

You can see the finely minced tofu pieces inside the roll. It was very good. All the flavors in the bun were complimentary. The base of the bun here is more cucumbers and bean sprouts than lettuce, and I find that very refreshing. Mint, scallions and peanuts do round out the flavors. If you notice the sauce bowls in the photos, that darker colored one came with mine, the 'vegetarian sauce'. It has a wonderful deeper flavor. Another good choice in this part of town.

Pho Tay Do 5296 University Avenue San Diego 92105 (619)582-0603

Tender Greens- and a Point Loma visit

August 30, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! It's a food blog. Kirk is having internet problems, ed(from Yuma) is busy with coursework starting, so today, it's Cathy blogging.

Hi again. It was yet another day of walking for The Mister and I, this time with a glorious view of San Diego with the Bay, the Navy Submarine base and Naval Air Station Coronado…

All a magnificent view from Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. A very serene, cool walk on one of the days when the temperatures in East County were almost unbearable.

As we drove down the hill, The Mister and I were thinking of what we wanted for dinner. The idea of going home to cook was daunting and since we were in the area, we decided to stop at Tender Greens.
The unassuming exterior belies the wonderful meals to be found inside. I have posted about Tender Greens on one occasion and mentioned another visit in the middle of one post.
The menu is right above where you order…

You'll give your name and walk along a glassed kitchen prep area, seeing all the ingredients and watching your order being assembled…
The in House made charcuterie, fresh figs…
roasted vegetables,
The various proteins offered. At the end of the walk is the cash register where you can also order a desert and get your beverages and your order, all presented on a jelly roll pan which is your tray…you find a seat and can enjoy your meal.
We decided to share a bowl of rustic chicken soup ($4) Mostly dark chicken meat (the flavorful stuff) and a myriad of vegetables- the bowl was packed with potato, squash, carrot, onion, fresh herbs- lemon thyme is so complimentary. Always a good bowl of soup.

The Mister decided to try the Craft salad ($10.50), there were six slices of the house made salumi, Feta cheese, roasted peppers, olives, pickled onions, pickles, capers mixed in the 'young lettuce all erfectly mixed with the right amount of Cabernet vinaigrette.

I decided to try the 'Happy Vegan" this time.($10.50) What a wonderful choice! The greens were topped with a lemon vinaigrette and the scoops of salads, each with its own flavor, were individually wonderful- From the right- A farro/spelt/wheat grain mixed with dried cranberries and hazelnuts tasted rich and had a nice 'tooth'. The green hummus was fresh and had an underlying green onion flavor. The third is mostly red quinoa (you can see the quinoa 'tails' in the photo) mixed with cucumber and yellow beets and tasted creamy. The tabbouleh all the way on the left was a wonderful bulghur and had peppermint as it's green, making it sweet (to me).

The combination of vegan tastes was perfect and the overall salad was filling and refreshing, not at all what I expected vegan food to be. I want to try other vegan meals now.

Tender Greens 2400 Historic Decatur Road, inside the old Naval Training Center/Liberty Station San Diego 92106 (619) 226-6254 Website

Cafe Cabaret- a coffee shop with food.

August 29, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Caffeine Fix, Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hi. You are back at mmm-yoso!!!, possibly a bookmark on your Tool Bar, or perhaps you got here by Googling. In any case, Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are not blogging today, Cathy is.

The other Friday, again after one of our walks around a body of water…

Lake Murray on this day…

The Mister and I started driving and somehow got to Adams Avenue. We saw this sign. I rounded the block and parked.

It was the "French Crepes" sign which attracted me, because I still hadn't had any since my quest for crepes went unrequited a few weeks ago…

However, just the beverage menu here was filled with choices and when we saw menu items (sandwiches, salads, kabobs), breakfast items(omelets, scrambles, waffles, pancakes, French Toast) and some of the daily chalkboard specials, the crepe was soon forgotten and we ordered, paid and found a place to sit.

An outdoors-brought-inside decor with many tables inside the building as well as on the patio, apparently offering free wi-fi and community setting, we felt comfortable here.

The nice young lady who took our order brought out the regular coffee we had ordered. I found out the owners are Ethiopian, explaining some of the menu items. {Yes. Too many beverage choices has me wanting to see if a place can make a regular cup of coffee. (Cafe Cabaret can.)}
The Mister had ordered the Vegetable samosas, a light snack ($4.99) which came with a salsa dip as well as a yougurt sauce and some carrots and cucumbers.

These pockets of just baked flaky triangle shaped dough were filled with a delightful blend of peas, lentils, potatoes, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, onions, perfectly seasoned with cumin and coriander.
I ordered the chalkboard special falafel sandwich, which came with salad, hummus and whole wheat pita ($4.99). The salad dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette and the dipping sauce was yogurt based. The fresh hummus was topped with a nice-hot Harissa sauce. The falafel inside the wheat wrap were probably made from a dry mix, had and interesting garlic flavor on their own and were cold (!) inside the wrap filled with lettuces, onion, tomato and cucumber accompanied by a sauce which seemed to be a mix of the yogurt and harissa. There was a lot of falafel in the sandwich and the meal was quite filling and very tasty, although I ended up using all of the other sauces on the table and not the raspberry salad dressing for the salad- it tasted too sweet to me.

This was another lucky find for us. We'll stop by when we are in the area again.

Cafe Cabaret 3739 Adams Avenue San Diego 92116 (619)284-1819 Open 6:30-10 p.m. 7 days. Breakfast 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Website

Xi’an: The Muslim Quarter

August 27, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

In my post on the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San, I mentioned the Muslim Quarter. Located behind the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter and the Xi'an Mosque was first mentioned in imperial records dating back to 742 AD.

Walking past the Drum Tower and down Bai Yuan Men Jie, the main street, you'll start to notice as subtle change in dress, women with their hair covered in scarves, men looking a bit less "Han" in appearance. The Missus notes that even the language here was different.

Bai Yuan Men Jie is lined with shops. Many of them selling dried fruit, nuts, and other items that Xi'an is well known for….being that Xi'an was the Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, perhaps some of these items have a long history.

In one of the shops I came across the sesame and nut stuffed dried peppers we had in a dish in Jinan, One of the Missus's foodie uncle's had mentioned we'd be seeing this in Xi'an. I had a taste and man, this was pretty spicy….back of the throat spicy that got me coughing pretty good.

Quite a few snack shops along the street as well.

This one served up a bunch of different fried dough……..

Which was actually pretty greasy and tasted rancid!

If you really want to see the "real action", it's all located on the side streets that branch out from Bai Yuan Men Jie.

This is where you'll see all of the produce, meat, and other vendors. We were told that there are folks who are raised, married, and die, who almost never leave this tiny enclave…… I'm not sure it's true, but it's quite a story.

The smells are intoxicating, there always seems to be a pot of something simmering or boiling over some pretty rustic stoves putting out some major heat.

And there were times where it didn't seem like we were in China…..

And of course, this was where most of the food stands were….like this one making Rou Jia Mo, often called "Chinese Hamburger" in signs, but more like a meat stir fry in pita bread. This stand was quite popular…..

It was pretty amazing the amont of heat that came out of this stove…….it looks simply like charcoal in a hole, but there is a fan contraption underneath.

As well as a bellow set-up……so things can get pretty hot.

I kinda enjoyed the Rou Jia Mo…

Though things get a bit crowded in the Muslim Quarter during the day, it was still pretty relaxed .

However, when the sun started going down……

Things behind the Drum Tower start heating up…..the crowds descend on the Muslim Quarter and it gets quite crowded.

I had to find areas to take a break from the mass of humanity at times.

I'm not a big fan of crowds, but we had to check things out because this was when all the grills came out!

The alleyways were full of little stands, all in turn filled with customers chewing away on skewers of yang rou chuan.

It was really amazing and somewhat alarming watching cars attempting to drive down the packed alleyways, but we saw no accidents.

I guess we enjoyed the Muslim Quarter, as we returned there on every day of our stay in Xi'an…….

Getting lost and wandering down the small streets that were like branches growing from the trunk that was Bai Yuan Men Jie.

Midweek COMC Post

August 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

Just to catch my breath….a little COMC (clearing out the memory card) post……. If you’re a regular reader, I’m sure you’ll know the places. Aaaaahh….

***(update 08/25) Ok folks are wondering where…so here goes

Wa Dining Okan:

Izakaya Sakura:

Sushi Yaro:

**** Sushi Yaro has closed

I feel so much better now that I’ve gotten this out of my “system”…..the week is looking better already.

Here’s two more “orphan photos” that’s been taking up space on my hard drive…..

My house (LOL!)

Happy Wednesday!

Luang Hai Ky returns to Convoy

August 23, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** LHK on Convoy has closed again

Back in July I noted that Luong Hai Ky had returned to its former spot and had considered dropping by. But it was just too darned hot for Mi for me (no pun intended). I also figured that the fare would be about the same as the Mira Mesa location and the last few visits to the Convoy shop. If you are at all familiar with how the broth used to be before the original owner past away, you'd probably be as blase' as I was…..

Still it was only a matter of time before I visited……

There was a certain eeriness to entering the restaurant and seeing it looking exactly the way it was before……like nothing changed.

That may be comforting to some; but to me it was just kinda strange.

LHK had always been on the high side with regards to Mi Gia, so I was surprised to see $4.99 lunch specials on the menu.

So I decided to order the Won Ton and Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($4.99).

The broth at LHK has always been on the saltier side, but before there used to be a touch of savory, almost seafood flavor to it……which is no longer. Still, it doesn't lack for flavor….it's only that it is now mostly salty which is better than bland. The won ton and dumpling are the status quo for these type of shops, worked and hard, something I've grown used to over the years. I'm not going to go all (as my friend Peter says) "dumpling Nazi" over the stuff here. It's cheap eats….. and I'd say worth $4.99. The portion size did strike me as being a bit smaller than the usual…but then again, LHK was never known for huge portions.

A couple days later the weather had cooled even more, so I decided to drop by and try the Beef Sate noodle dry ($6.80).

I'd had the Beed Sate Noodle Soup at LHK before, an underwhelming experience, but felt that I should have it dry (Kho) just to see. This was an error on my part. Other than a mild spiciness the flavor fell flat…there was so little of that savory sate flavor going on, the meat was on the tough side….too much Thai basil killed everything else…. I ended up removing it. Some tomatoes and more onions replacing all that iceberg lettuce would have been nice as well.

And at almost 7 bucks, I just didn't feel that this was a good value at all being on the small side portion wise.

I'll stick with the $4.99 lunch special for now……

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

You can read Kirbie's post here.

SSALT for dinner…….actually Smoked Salmon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato….

August 22, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Heh…..maybe I'm getting a little too cute for my own good…… The Missus has been bugging me to make some smoked salmon since She had the smoked salmon sandwich at Kitchen 4140.She's applied a bit more pressure since returning there and having an uneven meal…different bread, standard tomatoes, etc, etc, etc….. So on the way this evening I stopped by Nijiya Market and picked up some Cherry Blossom white bread, medium cut, next stop the Fruit Stand on Morena for some tomatoes, and finally a little comparison between Bay Park Fish and Seisel's to see who had better salmon…… on this day, the Scottish Salmon from Seisel's won out. The rest of the stuff we had at home…..

Seasoned with some fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and some smoked salt, 20 minutes in the stove top smoker (can't believe I've had the thing for over six years now!) and that's it…… took about forty minutes total, not bad for a week night.

Actually, I cut the veggies……and most importantly made this while the fish was smoking:

The Missus is a closet mayo lover….. She keeps telling me how much She hates mayo…. but I guess a dill-caper mayonnaise is a different story, especially with salmon.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 Tb chopped dill
1-2 Tb chopped capers (you should rinse, but the Missus likes it briney)
lemon zest

Chill to let the flavors meld before serving….

That honking piece of salmon is perhaps a bit too much for a single sandwich….but if you want to take even further over the top; perhaps a couple of slices of crisp bacon might do it???

But heck then you could call this a SS-BLAT??? Or even B.S. SALT???

Happy Monday everybody!

Cappadocia – Goreme: Goreme Open Air Museum and Dibek Restaurant

August 21, 2011 mmm-yoso Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey, Turkish Food

The flight from Izmir to the large (1.2 million) city of Kayseri seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. The hour and a half ride from Kayseri to Goreme felt a lot longer, though the views were sometimes quite stunning. Goreme, a town of about 2,500 resides in Cappadocia an area renowned for "fairy chimneys, underground cities, and it's moon like terrain. The unique landscape was reason enough for us to include the area in our itinerary….who can resist the pull of fairy chimneys?

I chose the Arch Palace Hotel for our stay in the area.

No, it's not four star or even three star, nor located in a fairy chimney. The rooms were large and priced right at 50 Euros per night…no lift, but the best shower we encountered during our trip.

The main reason I booked our stay at the Arch Palace was the reputation of the owner, Mustafa Yelkalan. He is just about everything you'd ever want in an owner of this type of hotel. All the great reviews and recommendations you read online are correct, Mustafa makes wonderful recommendations and is a one man tour guide, concierge, you name it. More on that later……

When we arrived, Mustapaha met us on the terrace of the hotel, looking at the view of Goreme really gave you could not help but feel that you were in an exotic locale.

After getting squared away, Mustapha suggested that we head off to Goreme Open Air Museum, also known as Goreme National Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site. Mustapha told us that we should do it this afternoon since there was some major rain headed our way…. it was already pretty darn cold, temps in the fourties, so we could imagine what freezing rain would be like.

We headed off in the direction of Goreme Open Air Museum oohing and aaahing at the sites along the way…..

It was already getting pretty windy and chilly….. but that really didn't deter us. We headed through the gauntlet of tourist shops and hawkers in the parking lot…… the one that really made us laugh were the folks selling Turkish Ice Cream, dondurma. They screamed out what they were hawking at the top of their lungs in English……. but instead of "Ice Cream", they all seemed to inject a pause after the "I", and it sounded like "I SCREeeemmmmm, Iiii SCREeeeeemmmmm", the ironic absurdity of it all still makes the Missus and I crack up.

Goreme National Park is a monastic settlement carved into the eroded rock formations. This large complex of churches, chapels, refectories, and a convent is dotted with frescoes, many quite well preserved.

Our favorite was the Elmali (Apple) Church….. photos aren't allowed in most indoor areas, so you'll have to take my word on how beautiful and for me, quite haunting the whole experience was.

There is some climbing to be done here……

Many of the areas are lit only by natural light…. like the eating area within the refectory.

So when groups of tourists enter the place becomes almost pitch dark.

The sky was quickly turning dark and it started to drizzle, so we decided to hike down and head back to the hotel.

Of course the sky unloaded on us……

Then in a moment of what can only be called temporary insanity, he Missus stopped on at the sign for Zemi Valley and said, "let's check this out"! The trail was a river of water, it was raining cats and dogs, heck, it was raining lions and pitbulls….. After a couple of minutes, I convinced the Missus that we still had a couple of days left, and perhaps we would enjoy it a bit more if we didn't have to worry about swimming for our lives!

Returning to Arch Palace, I was ever so thankful for the wonderful hot shower. We dried off, rested for a couple off hours….night falls quite suddenly in Cappadocia, and we headed off to dinner. Getting dinner was one of those situation where Mustafa proved his worth. I told Mustafa that I really wanted to try a "real" Testi Kebab. A Testi Kebab is a stew, not a kebab, that is sealed in a pottery jar and cooked over an open fire. According to Mustafa, there are only a couple of places that do justice to the testi kebab. Earlier in the day he wrote down a list of five places…. I recognized the name of one of them; Dibek Restaurant. Mustafa immediately got on the phone and ordered a testi kebab for us for dinner…….an advance reservation is needed to get one of these at Dibek.

Later that evening we headed down the hill, dodging raindrops to the location of Dibek. You get a feeling that the restaurant actually envelops you as you enter, and the mild mustiness belies the age of the building, which is 475 years old. This floor of the building used to be stables and a wine storage area…..

We walked down the passageway to the front desk and eventually someone took notice of us.

The serious looking gentleman walked over and asked, "did you call…did you make reservations?" I started by saying "no….." and never got to "but", before I was told, "sorry, we are full…..we are full every night this week, maybe you write your name down and we can call and let you know if we have space." At this point I mentioned, "Mustapaha (who happened to be his cousin), called and reserved a testi kebab for us." Ah, instantly the clouds parted and the sun began to shine through. "Ah, Mustapha, lamb test kebab, right? Follow me this way….." We were lead past all the crowds to an area in the rear of the restaurant and to a sunken dining area.

The food started arriving soon after….starting with the standards, Coban Salatsi (Shephard's Salad), et al…..

Then a very friendly older gentleman arrived at the table carrying at ceramic container. He placed it on the table, left and brought back a plate with pickled cabbage and rice on it.

Holding the container firmly with one hand, he gave the pottery a good whack while turning around in a circle. Eventually, the top gave way…. we could literally smell the wonderful fragrances as he poured the stew onto a plate.

There was quite a large portion of the stew in that container, and it was very tasty.

A wonderful, almost smokey flavor had permeated everything in the piece of pottery. The lamb was still fairly chewy, but very tasty…you knew you were eating lamb. The vegetables literally melted in your mouth. This was one of the more memorable dishes we had during our trip.

I'm glad we took the time to make sure we ordered this; the rest of the dishes at Dibek were average at best….most of it sorely lacking in salt.

That testi kebab made up for any other shortcomings the meal may have had…… we could not stop dipping the bread (and since this was Turkey, there was a lot of it!) in that wonderful sauce! We left satisfied and ready to hit the sack.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day!

Scenes from the Linda Vista Farmer’s Market

August 19, 2011 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market

A couple of weeks ago, my good FOY (friend of yoso) Candice forwarded an email to me…. lots of info there. One of the items that caught my eye was the announcement of a farmer's market in Linda Vista from 3pm to 7pm on Thursdays. A few weeks went by and I finally managed to drop by this past Thursday. This small farmer's market is located in the parking lot of the strip mall that houses Thuan Phat (Shun Fat) Market, Flavaful Yogurt, Pho Hiep, Pho Hoa Huong, et al….

And even though the market didn't look particularly packed at 430pm…..

The parking lot sure was. I ended up finding an open space down by the library.

Though were just a couple of produce booths, I ended up spending much of my time at two of them. The one Asian vegetable stand was predictably the busiest, with some major elbowing going on as women jostled for position.

Even though it was only 430, much of the choice greens and herbs were already gone.

I managed to sneak my way in and get some eggplant, getting out mostly unscathed.

There also was a organic vegetable stand, manned by some really friendly folks…….

After inquiring about some of the more interesting vegetables…. I picked up two types of kale and some pretty interesting cucumber.

There was also two stands selling Asian type fruits, rambutan, jujubies, and jackfruit. There was also a stand selling different varieties of heirloom tomatoes from Valley Center.

There were a couple of food stands present…..

But I had to be on my way home………

I'll have to leave the other stands for my next visit.

And I will be back. Even though the offerings seemed a bit limited at first, I appreciated the quality of what I did purchase…..some really good grapes, nice, fresh eggplant, these…..

Can you guess what they are???

They call them Lemon Cucumbers……

And of course the kale……

The Missus wanted them simply sauteed…… so that's what I did. Sauteed in bacon fat, with some red chile flakes, garlic. salt, pepper, and a dash of sherry vinegar…. the Missus loved them.

So I guess I'll be back for more kale……

Linda Vista Farmer's Market

In the parking lot of Thuan Phat Market

Thursdays from 3pm to 7pm.

Roasties-Breakfast in UTC

August 18, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Roasties has closed

You're here, mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk usually blogs, ed(from Yuma) sometimes blogs and today, Cathy is blogging.

The other morning, after our walk, The Mister and I drove West in hopes of finding less sun. We were thinking of breakfast at Wired Bistro and as we walked toward it, were looked at the closed and new (to us) places in the Renaissance Center (just Southeast of UTC mall).

Wired is to the left in this photo (the faded red umbrellas cover the tables in front) and by the green awnings to the right-

we saw this blue awning with breakfast advertised. We looked at the menu in the window then decided to try the food here.

There is plenty of outdoor seating (this location used to be a pretty busy crowded breakfast and lunch place called Le Peep). We decided to eat inside; it was a weekday morning and not crowded. The menu had some interesting choices and I went went the two eggs any style and chose seared ahi as the protein ($7.95) this comes with a choice of toast and potato choices or fruit. (I have chosen fish as a breakfast protein for another breakfast you know).

Of course, the style of eggs I chose were poached (done nicely) and rye/pumpernickle toast was also a natural choice. I was being good and ordered fruit (since The Mister ordered the Roasties potatoes). The ahi was moist and flavorful without needing any additions. I guess the bonus piece was a just because or to make up weight, but the large piece was substantial. The toast was good when warm, with a nice rye flavor, but when it cooled it got to a weird light crispiness. Not complaining, just noticing. If the same bread is used as a choice for sandwiches, I'd ask it not be toasted. Oh, every piece of fruit (strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes and melon) was wonderfully flavorful…all at their peak. {we asked for the Coffee Mate coffee lightener product instead of half and half for the morning coffee}

The Mister chose a make your own omelette/scramble ($6.95), opting for the omelette with chicken (the place is called Roasties, and there is rotisserie chicken on the menu), Feta and broccoli. It was the rotisserie'd chicken- there was some skin…great flavor. The Feta gave it all a nice saltiness and the broccoli was just steamed and a nice crunch. He also got the Roasties potatoes- roasted with herbs(there was Rosemary and definitely pepper in the mix) and squaw wheat toast, which suffered the same after-toasting cool down crispiness…however had a definite molasses flavor in the bread. It's a good bread which for some reason did not hold up to toasting…

A nice find. Roasties is open from 7-4, has rotissiere chicken, sandwiches, salads and smoothies and is advertised on its menu as a Locally Owned Family Restaurant. The owner is part of a California Restaurant Family and lives in La Jolla. There is online ordering and a cash register next to the serve yourself beverage area for pick ups.

Roasties 8915 University Center Drive 92122 (858) 412-0785 Website