September 2011 – mmm-yoso

Santee’s Pizza

September 29, 2011 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

Santee's Pizza has closed. It will be missed.

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. For the most part, Kirk , ed(from Yuma) and Cathy share what they ate with you, the Reader of this blog. Today, Kirk is busy, as is ed, so Cathy is blogging.

Hello again. The other day, The Mister and I kept our "staycation" (and daily walk) close to home, at the Santee Lakes, a 194 acre preserve which is completely sustainable, with five miles of walking trails, and a campground which has a 300 hook up campsite as well as cabins you can rent and has identified 178 species of birds in the preserve area. There are six playgound areas, many picnic tables, grills and areas which can be reserved for larger parties and has paddleboats to rent. They sell permits for fishing (most places make you purchase a State permit to fish). The South end of the Lakes houses the Padre Dam Water District offices, where I can walk in and pay my water bill every two months.

As you can see, it was a beautiful, perfectly clear morning.

After a walk around five of the seven main lakes, we went to the Santee Library (three blocks from the South end of the Lakes, where we had parked in lieu of paying admission to drive a vehicle into the Lakes) and decided to try the "new" Pizza place in the same mall.

Simply named, and one of eight places where we can get pizza in this small city in East San Diego County, we were not expecting much and ordered "any two slices and a drink" for $5.50, also ordering one extra slice of just cheese pizza for $2. We took it all home.

This is a slice of White Pie: a no sauce pie, topped with Mozzarella, Ricotta, garlic and Parmesan.

Here is a photo of the Cheese pie slice and the Hills Trio- topped with pepperoni, sausage and Canadian bacon.

These were good. Really good. We made it a point to return.

The owner recognized us as the ones who had ordered a slice of Cheese pie. He asked how we were doing, how we liked it , was very friendly and interested. That is a rarity these days. We asked to order a whole Cheese Pie. 18 inches, $12.50. Only one size. {There are five tables inside and two tables out front, but we took the pizza 'to go'.}

Bottom of pie. Perfectly baked.

THIN, THIN crust. The sauce is home made, very tomato-y, with oregano and just the slightest touch of heat from red pepper. It is perfect.

In addition to six other pies/topping combinations, the menu also includes a House garden salad ($3 or $5; this is the large) with a choice of dressings…

and calzones. The basic calzone (filled with Ricotta, Parmesan and Mozzarella) is $6.50. Additional toppings are $1. You can see the calzone is half the size of a pie (same size box). The sauce is the same basic sauce, which, again, has just the right amount of red pepper heat and the oregano is the only spice the tomato needs…

Here is maybe a better photo of the calzone- and its thin, thin delicate crust…and cheese fillings.

To me, this is the best pizza I have had outside of Naples. High quality, hand made, Santee's Pizza has very friendly people working and makes an excellent product. We are lucky to live here.

Santee's Pizza 9225 Carlton Hills Boulevard (same mall as the Santee Library, at the corner of Carlton Hills and Carlton Oaks) Santee 92071 (619) 749-9949 Website

Xi’an: The City Walls, Rou Jia Mo, and some other stuff

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

Each city that we visited in China had its own personality of sorts, and Xi'an was no different. For instance, being dog lovers, we can't help but notice dogs during our travels. I've even included photos of the various dogs we see in various posts, and China was no different. The Missus had already noticed how many people had dogs for pets in Her hometown of QingDao, a sign of growing wealth and prosperity. Most of the pooches we ran into were small, poodles, schnauzers, terriers, and mixes of all of the above. In Xi'an however, folks seemed to enjoy larger dogs, we even walked past a couple of rottweilers during our stay.

One thing Xi'an had in common with all the other cities we visited in China was that folks didn't pick up after their dogs. Thus, the Missus's Fifth Uncle's advice of usually needing "to look six ways, and listen eight….. but nowadays, you need to look seven! Make sure to look straight down to make sure you don't step in dog poop!" Though i'll say that it's easier to spot poop from a German Shepherd than a Chihuahua!

The Missus decided that the morning would be a great time to visit the Xi'an City Walls. Xi'an is one of the few cities in China where the entire city wall still stands and you can circle the inner portion of Xi'an in a good four hours or so. Four hours! We'd be needing some sustenance. But of course this is China so during the "breakfast rush" doorways and windows that are shuttered are oen for business.

And a doorway becomes another business opportunity……

This guy was frying up Xiar Bing….stuffed flatbread.

Which seemed like just the the thing…….

These were huge, but very greasy and not very pleasant to eat. They were cheap though, if I recall 2 or 3 RMB.

We'd had an early start and the gates to the city wall weren't open yet, so walked over to the park area outside the wall where we'd enjoyed walking the previous evening. The place was buzzing with folks getting there morning exercise, be it jogging, dance, or Tai Chi:

Then it happened….we came across all the exercise equipment…and the Missus just couldn't help it.

Some of it seemed odd, like this thingamajig….I'm guessing it loosens your shoulder?

I was a little slow on the trigger on this one…right before I took a photo of the Missus running on these stumps a line of middle aged women ran over the stumps like a little centipede…giggling like school girls.

The city walls of Xi'an cover a perimeter of 14 kilometers and is 12 meters (about 39 feet or so) high. If you think that's impressive, the original city walls of Chang'an which was what Xi'an was named before the Ming Dynasty covered 83 square kilometers, basically seven times the amount of this wall which was built in 1370. Instead of going into too much detail, I'll just post this photo which you can click on and enlarge.

The morning was overcast and the pollution was bothering me a bit, but walking on the nearly empty city wall in crowded Xi'an (population 8.5 million) seemed very strange…..

The missus still had the adrenaline going and suddenly told me "I'm going for a run!" And took off…..

Since my foot was still screwed up I just waddled along.

In some ways, the views from the gate was more interesting than the gate itself…..

Eventually the Missus had turned around and headed back toward me. As She stopped I could heard a huge amount of noise and chatter coming from below us. I peered over the wall and noticed a large market! I snapped the photo to my right which for some reason is one of my favorites of the trip.

As we hit the halfway point we had gotten hungry, at which all attempts at walking the entire wall were aborted…with no complaints by either of us.

We took a stroll through the Muslim Quarter and headed back to the area around the Bell Tower. The Missus was looking for one of the places recommended to us….I was really looking forward to another Rou Jia Mo and Fan Ji La Zhi Rou Jia Mo (樊记腊汁肉店) came highly recommended. Rou Jia Mo is often called "Chinese Hamburger" in signs around Xi'an. It is a Shaanxi speciality that is often credited to Muslims, but I've read that this style of eating, in a "Mo" (basically a flat bread like a pita) was started by the Han Chinese with pork as the main meat. All the versions I've had so far had lamb and though I adore lamb, some fatty pork sounded quite good.

We found the shop on one of the side streets and though the place really didn't look busy from the outside, there was quite a line inside.

While the Missus waited in line, I managed to snag us a table.

There are several grades of pork used in the sandwich and the Missus selected two, the cheaper version came in at 4 RMB (about 60 cents), the superior version at 5 RMB (70 cents or so). With such prices the customers ranged from guys in suits to students to working stiffs……

The bread wasn't as dense as I expected and was a bit crackly on the exterior. The cheaper one was quite greasy with a good amount of gristle. I was amazed how much grease those simple looking brown paper wraps can absorb! Still it had a very nice pork flavor. The more expensive version was very good….I can only describe the flavor and texture as being between pulled pork and pork confit. It was like the essence of oink cooked in its own fat. But also quite rich and one of these was more than enough to keep me until dinner. Which reminds me, I gotta make pork confit again one of these days when the Missus allows it…..

We really enjoyed our time in Xi'an, but were itching to move on…….

Thanks for reading!

Boys night in: Pan Seared Pork Chops stuffed with Chevre, Olives, and Sun Dried Tomatoes

September 26, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The Missus has a "girl's night out" tonight and I decided just to stay home with Da' Boyz. I thought it would be a nice evening for some pork chops so I dropped by Seisel's on my way home. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the Kurobuta Pork Chops I enjoy, so I decided to just get a thick cut pork chop…..the "other white meat" version. I knew this was going to need some help (no time to brine), so I decided to stuff it with what I had on hand. I had some fantastic pork chops stuffed with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes in Crete….it was soooo good. I decided to just go for it.

I won't win any awards for food styling, but this was pretty tasty……

It turned out pretty well…I did the usual sear and finish in the oven, but perhaps a minute or ttwo too long. Still it was tasty. Unlike the really over-stuffed ones (mostly breadcrumbs) you see in the market, these weren't super-stuffed.

About an ounce of Chevre, two-three kalamata olives, one re-hydrated sun dried tomato. As you see in the photo above, it will still ooze. I used a wooden skewer cut at each length to keep things together. Don't forget to remove them after cooking. Cut a pocket into the pork chop (at least 1 inch or more thick) and stuff.

I'm used to searing off beef, so I think I'll go with a lower temp next time, though the crust was very tasty (just sea salt, pepper, and a touch of oregano).

I made the basic mushroom ragout, but used dried thyme and marjoram, making for a more intense flavor (along with more minced onion, garlic, black pepper, and salt) that I needed for a pasta sauce. Instead of butter, I used creme fraiche to thicken the sauce. You can't beat the flavor of porcini mushrooms and an aged parmesan. You know, I just realized how much stuff I have in fridge…..though I used up all the creme fraiche, olives, and my stash of dried porcini to make this.

Not bad for a last minute Monday dinner…….sometimes it's nice eating in…..

Revisiting Villa Manila

September 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

I'm getting this done rather quickly because FOY (friend of yoso) "TammyC" was wondering what we ate.

It had been at least three years since I last visited Villa Manila, and really hadn't posted on the place since October of 2005, so I figured why not. Come to think of it, I hadn't had Filipino food in quite a while. I pretty much knew the dishes I wanted, but there was no way I'd be able to eat all of that wonderful fried food and come out in one piece, so JohnL, PeterL, and Ange were nice enough to accompany me.

The place looks essentially the same as it did a three years ago, though the menu has a couple of new dishes, lunch specials, and so forth. So why don't we get right down to the food and the one item that arrived first and thus nary a remnant of it saw a doggie bag…the Chicharron Bulaklak, deep fried intestines, delicious……

Crisp, with a slight "stickiness" to it, these went down quite easy when dipped into vinegar and garlic.

I've always enjoyed the Nilagang Baka – Beef shank soup. At $17.75 it ain't cheap, but the broth is pretty rich.

There was a good amount of meat under what seemed like half a head of cabbage. What I didn't know is that you get free refills of broth….they refilled this twice and John left with what seemed like an entire container of Nilagang for later on.

One of my favorite dhishes at VM has always been the Bicol Express and was a bit dismayed when I couldn't find it on the menu. But when I asked the gentleman informed me that they still make it. For those uninformed critics of Filipino cuisine (you know who you are) this would be a surprising dish, with origins in Bicolandia, the dish utlizes coconut milk, bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste made from krill), and surprisingly for many, chili peppers.

The pork was very tender and the sauce tasted great on rice….of which we had ordered the bagoong rice and garlic rice along with the steamed version (Are you reading this AZ?).

For me, I thought the fried chicken wasn't particularly good.

It was pretty dry and though nicely seasoned, there was no crispness to it. It seemed severely over-cooked.

For me, the meal (the world and my heart literally) stopped at the Crispy Pata.

Man, I love the crisp skin, a couple of bites of the fat and gelatin kind of makes me light-headed. But hey, a pata every couple of years…….that's not bad at all! I was pretty much wiped out after this. I'm not used to eating so much rice anymore either……

Peter and John kept on trucking with the Daing Bangus – fried (yet again)whole boneless milkfish.

And Angela also ordered the eggplant salad…………

The prices at Villa Manila are not cheap, but we ended up payingabout $24 a head, which I don't think was too bad. After all, it was fun ordering a huge spread of food (tons of leaftovers), eating and "talking story"…good friends, good food……good times, always.

Villa Manila
500 East 8th Street
National City, CA 91950

Xi’an: A visit to the Big Goose Pagoda, Hunan food from Friend Restaurant, and a typical evening……

September 22, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Xi'an

After our visit to the Army of Terracotta Warriors and the requisite nap, we awoke refreshed and ready to go again. Well, the Missus was ready to go….my foot was still not in great shape, but I was easily "coaxed" into getting out and about. Also, just as quickly as the rain had arrived, it has melted away during the afternoon and it looked like it had never rained at all! The Missus decided that since we were right at the South gate, we should catch the bus to the Big Goose Pagoda area. It wasn't a very long bus ride……..

The area North of the Pagoda and Da Ci'en temple is very popular, with a huge pool (someone told me 20,000 square meters). I believe this is where the musical fountain show takes place at night….sorry, it's not really our kind of thing. There were a good amount of people milling about, but the square and surrounding gardens is so large it really doesn't seem that bad.

We ended up just walking around the gardens and shopping area. If you take a look at this photo you'll notice a couple of things. First, there's a walkway across the pool. If you're on the North end, it looks like folks are walking through or on the water.

Of course we just had to this, right????? Which we ended up doing with about ten thousand other tourists. Second, if you look at the photo above, you'll notice the air pollution that was creeping in. The somewhat uncomfortable smog made its way back pretty quickly in spite of the rain earlier that day.

During our travels, we'd often come across statues or locations that the Missus instantly knew. Such was the case with this statue. I had no clue, but the Missus instantly told me, "it's Lu Yu….the Sage of Tea." The sage of tea? Yep, that's what She said…… Lu Yu is famous for authoring the first writing solely dedicated to tea, called "The Classic of Tea". He is considered the grand master of the tea ceremony.

My favorite statue was this one…..

It is called "Gongsun Flying sword", and for some reason I was fascinated by it. During the Tang there was a sword dancer in Emporer Xuanzong's court who was the greatest of them all named Gongsun Da Niang. Not much is known about Gongsun Da Niang, other than a mention in a poem by Du Fu of a sword dance by a pupil of Gongsun's, which hinted at her greatness. You gotta love stories like these……

By this time dusk was starting to settle in and we decided to grab something to eat and walk back to our hotel. This was an interesting walk back….the sights, smells, and sounds came at you from everywhere.

We had thoughts of heading back to Jia Shan for even more Guan Tang Baozi (which we did later anyway), but we decided on something a bit different. And how decided was a bit odd…..in what was a somewhat alarming site, we saw a girl of about ten or eleven drop her drawers with the help of her mother and urinate right on the sidewalk….right on the main street in public. Actually it was right in front of this restaurant.

The Missus and I walked along for a bit….but we really felt bad for that restaurant(that really didn't deserve someone walking by and just urinating in front of it) and the Missus said it was a Hunan restaurant…..which grabbed my attention. I mean really, there are very few restaurants that serve "real" Hunan food…and a couple of them are among my favorites. I recall feeling quite proud back in the late '90's taking my Father In Law(who is from Hunan) to Henry's Hunan in San Francisco, only to have the Missus tell me…"this isn't real Hunan food." Boy have I learned a bit since then.

This little Mom and Pop joint that seemed to sell a good amount of beer to wash the spicy food down had all the Hunan standards on the menu.

The stir fried pickled green beans, one of our favorites, stir fried with chilies was quite good.

The green beans were quite good, briney and sour……though this wasn't very spicy at all.

We also ordered the La Rou (waxy meat) Chao, the smoked pork that is a staple in Hunan cuisine in a stir fry.

We both thought the pork was good, smokey, with the right sort of decadent waxiness we enjoy. The dish had the right amount of saltiness, but was again a bit short in heat. We both came to the conclusion that even though the ingredients were right, the spiciness was probably toned down for the Shaanxi palate.

The last dish was something the Missus wanted, a simple soup with greens.

The Missus enjoys the somewhat chlorophyll – medicinal flavors in these type of soups. I've just never developed a taste for them. She finished the whole bowl! Not in the photo was the rice we had with this meal…….we hadn't had rice in about a week.

We rolled on out of the restaurant and headed back to the hotel. As we arrived at the South gate we could hear music playing, with the chatter of voices rising above the music. There was giggling coming from a portion right outside the gate that was cordoned off and covered in tarps. A series of parks line the perimeter right outside the city walls of Xi'an….and there was a whole lotta' socializing going on. In the part that was covered for "privacy" there were folks dancing, some ballroom style, others…well, I'd best call it pseudo-free form I guess.

The Missus really enjoyed this……it's part of the normal routine for folks to go for a walk, socialize, and other activities during the evening. And we were seeing part of the social fabric that holds China together. Though we did notice that it was the young, as in children under twelve and folks before the tail end of Generation X taking part in these activities.

I really enjoyed strolling along….there seemed to be a vibrancy and sense of community that I really didn't feel during the day going on here. Plus, I thought the city walls looked quite pretty during the evening.

Thanks for reading!

Que Huong revisted yet again…….

September 20, 2011 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Que Huong has closed

It had actually been a while since we've been here…… a couple of weeks ago I met PeterL and his lovely wife Ange for dinner at Que Huong. Strangely, Peter nor his brother John had ever heard of this place. We had a fine meal and there was something I noticed that evening at Que Huong. I've been coming here since 2005, when the current owners had just taken over the place. (Geeez….I've been doing this blog for waaay too long!) Because I'll usually visit in flurries, with long gaps between visits, I've started noticing something about Que Huong….a good thing. The place has slowly evolved from mainly a hot pot, drinking place, with karaoke and all that stuff, to a place where folks still come to drink a bit later on in the evening, but with more of a dinner crowd. I've seen birthdays and other events; one of the owners, a burly young man named Jay, told me he's even done a couple of weddings! Good for them. It's nice to see a place hitting its stride…there's no more "specials" haphazardly written on the mirrors.

You just have to take a dish like the Ốc len xào dừa, the snails braised in coconut milk. The presentation of the dish is not much…well, prettier.

It's now a totally different dish. less sweet, a bit more spicy, you're not overwhelmed with too much "coconut water". Because they serve mainly Vietnamese, the cook is not afraid to provide a nice amount of Rau Ram.

Jay told me that they went through several cooks before finding good matches who could make the dishes of the Central Vietnamese Coast the way he and his sister wanted.

On this evening we had both the Jackfruit salad…..

And the version with Wild Boar……

And a dish I used enjoy, but with some hesitation…the Catfish Clay Pot. You see, I love Nuoc Mau, Vietnamese Caramel sauce, one of "mother sauces" of Vietnamese cuisine. It is sweet-salty-savory-pungent….you name it. I also love the slices of pork belly used to line the clay pot and how it basically bubbles with joy as it arrives at your table.

What I didn't enjoy was the muddy flavor of the fish…….but on my last two visits there was nary a hint of muddy flavor. Yes, it's not a huge dish, quite small honestly, but there's a lot of stuff going on here, most of it good.

And of course there are those Fish Sauce Chicken Wings, as I've mentioned before, flavorwise, these are my favorite wings in San Diego hands down.

It doesn't matter who I bring here one taste of the wings and they're sold (right Dennis, Peter, Candice, Josh, etc, etc, etc……). I'm glad these haven't changed.

I guess because the place is tucked away behind Burger King on University, it just kinda slips my mind….it really shouldn't. My bad……..

Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Postscript: A couple of weeks later, Peter took his brother John, to dinner. I received a text message that evening "Wow, fish sauce chicken wings….delicious!!!" He didn't even need to tell me where he was….

Chicago: Ttowa (Arlington Heights)

September 19, 2011 mmm-yoso Chicago, Korean Restaurants

On my way back from Madison, I decided to drive back to the Chicago area and stay in the Arlington Heights area again. Arriving at about lunchtime, I decided to drop by a place that was recommended to me by the same person who mentioned Johnnie's Beef and Peep's, a place that supposedly made their own Mandu by hand called Ttowa. I did a quick check before I left and noticed that the restaurant had moved to sort of the downtown/old town area of Arlington Heights, which looked nothing like the strip mall dominated area where my hotel was located, along with Mitsuwa and other shops.

Under a large multi-level building stood the little shop…….

It just seemed a bit out of place looking, but as I entered I could see the kim bap (aka sushi bar) in the back of the restaurant, which was spartan but very clean looking.

A very nice and friendly young man greeted me upon entering the restaurant and guided me to a seat. Unfortunately, I decided upon visiting during lunch and the menu was limited to starters, various Bi Bim Bap, and what they called their "Boonshik" (which if I recall means something like comfort food – homey restaurant or something like that) combo. I didn't find out until later that if I'd have wanted the Ssam Gyup Sal (pork belly) or Bo Ssam that they'd have made it for me.

I went with a combo which featured Dduk Bokki (I choose kimchi dduk bokki), Kim Bap, and the traditional mandoo ($9).

While waiting for my food, the young man, by the name of Terry came by and chatted. Terry had returned to Arlington Heights from New York, where he was working as a restaurant manager to help his parents who decided to move their restaurant to this space. Because of the varied clientele, he described the food as "Korean with a twist", which automatically sent alarms ringing thru my cabeza. I've always approached places that do "fusion" with caution….there's much more "con-fusion" than good fusion out there. After all, it's one thing to approach a cuisine with respect and understanding, another to throw almost disparate flavors together in a mish-mash. Though I do really enjoy when it works and after all, I'm from Hawaii…home of chili-spaghetti-hot dogs with rice and mac salad.

The panchan got me kinda worried……

Other than the baechu kimchi (napa cbaage) everything was on the very mild side. But I changed my mind when the bone soup arrived, which, when some salt was added, coated my belly and just made me feel all warm and comfortable.

Soon after the rest of the meal arrived.

The Kim Bap was, well, Kim Bap….I'm not much of a fan as I usually see it as second rate maki-sushi. At least this wasn't stuffed silly with rice and nori was crisp instead of rubbery. The mandoo was quite good, the filling was nice and had good flavor and the wrappers were nice with a good pull, but not brittle and overly sticky.

What was the real winna' was the dduk bokki.

Man this was good….the only way I can describe this is by how rich it was….it was almost like a dduk bokki bolognese, but had no meat in sight. The rice cakes had a perfect chew to them and while it wasn't very spicy, it had enough to let me know…… When I mentioned how nicely rich this was, Terry told me what made this so good, but made me promise not to tell, so I won't. Let me just say….this ain't vegetarian, ok?

As I was eating my meal, Terry approached my table and dropped this off saying, "I know you enjoy food, so this is for you on the house."

He seemed truly surprised when I said, "ah, it's a Wang Mandu." I told him this was the reason I came to Ttowa, but I didn't see this on the menu. This was very nice, the steamed bun fluffy, the filling substantial. And it is on the menu; I just didn't see it….old age you know.

As my meal was ending, Terry came by with a cup of tea, telling me: "thanks for visiting all the way from San Diego."

You know, Terry doesn't know I have a food blog. Nor did he see me take any photos (there's a reason my photos aren't very spectacular I guess), those were done while he was tending to other customers (I counted 70% Asian/30% not). He just thinks I'm someone from San Diego who enjoys eating. I believe he is a wonderful ambassador for his family's restaurant and makes me want to return. Not everything was a home run, but his attention and manner makes up for all the minor details.

Ttowa
161 W Wing St
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:30 am – 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11:30 am – 10:30 pm

Sunday Salad: Spring Salad with Crusted Lemon Chevre

September 18, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Yep, we're still kinda just eating at home….well if you call making a salad eating at home. This time, the Missus wanted something light, full of flavor, yet satisfying. I've always thought about crusting goat cheese with panko, then deep frying, and today was the day.

I cut 1 ounce slices of Lemon Chevre, rolled it into little balls, did the egg wash, then panko with a bit of granulated garlic. Let sit to come closer to room temp, then deep fried. Man was this good, why doesn't everyone do this? We needed to use up all the baby arugula in the fridge, which I supplemented with 20 cents worth of spring mix. Sweet and slight spicy pickled red peppers, kalamata olives, sliced grape tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts completed the salad.

The Missus simply drizzled on some of that "liquid gold" olive oil we bought in Crete and She was good to go. Man that cheese was fantastic, light, a bit of "goo", hints of lemon, savory, all wrapped in a fried crust. This was fast too. In the time it took me to bring the oil up to temp, I had everything prepped. The Missus did comment that a raspberry vinaigrette might go nice with this….. it also sounds like a pretty nice starter salad as well. Add another dish to my list…..

Cook anything new and different this weekend?

Saturday Stuffs: Yakyudori’s Lunch combos and Hinotez Japanese Restaurant coming soon

September 17, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

Yakyudori's Lunch combos:

I dropped by Yakyudori for lunch this past Thursday and was given a lunch combo menu to go with the standard menus. It seemed like a pretty good deal so I ordered the Thursday combo.

the combo is a small ramen of your choice, chicken karaage, shumai, rice, and kimchi. It turned out to be enough food for me….. In fact, it was too much to fit into one photo.

In all honesty, the shumai tastes like the deep fried frozen stuff you buy at the market and the kimchi is not very good. But even though the chicken karaage is par-cooked…they have it precooked in bowls alongside the fryer and just dump it back in to heat up, it's not bad. Though it's not something I'd like to have my customers seeing….but Yakyudori really doesn't have a choice.

On this visit, the shio ramen was just a bullseye……broth perfectly balanced.

Oh, and before I forget, it's basically all the rice you can eat…….if you really do need more rice….

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hinotez Japanese Restaurant:

During a visit a couple of days earlier I noticed a couple of fliers posted around Yakyudori announcing "Restaurant Hinotez" coming soon. I didn't even know that Honey;s Cafe had gone under, but I'm not surprised. While driving past the location – 7947 Balboa avenue I did notice the sign up for the restaurant……

And I took a photo. I made it a point to take a look everytime I dropped by, and there really doesn't seem to be much going on……September's over half gone, I'm wondering if they'll actually open this month?

The location is 7947 Balboa avenue.

Yes, we’ve been eating at home a lot…….

September 16, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I don't know what "Dark Thursday" did to us, but we've sure been eating at home a lot. Nothing fancy and perhaps some a bit strange….I dunno, I'll let you decide.

This past weekend was recycle day for us. I used part of what I got for our old cans and plastic to buy some skirt steak from Seisel's. I had though about doing a Charcoal Grilled Skirt Steak or perhaps a Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak, but I just too lazy to get the charcoal going. So for lunch I made a simple pan seared skirt steak with some crumbled Danish Blue Cheese which I combined with a orzo and arugula salad.

For dinner I used the rest of the skirt steak to make what I call my Wa(t da) fu Steak.

I call it that because it's basically Wafu Steak, but I just kinda use what ever I have on hand. It's the three plus……soy sauce, mirin, and sake (the three). A tablespoon of white sugar, lemon juice, 1 dried chili, and two cloves of garlic (the plus). I like Shizuo Tsuji's method of salting (sea salt) then letting the meat stand to "extract the juices". I lightly sear the meat, remove from the pan, add onions, deglaze with the "sauce" and place the steak back into the pan to glaze.

It turned out rather well…….

Since I had blue cheese left from my first meat dish and creme fraiche from my mushroom ragout, I made the Missus's favorite Blue Cheese Dressing, fried up some bacon, and made a wedge salad.

Oh, and I made some tater tots…topped with a bit of aged white cheddar and truffle oil……..

So, what have you been eating this week?