November 2011 – mmm-yoso

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery- a revisit

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

Hello. You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food-centric blog. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are not blogging today, and Cathy is.

Are you still trying to find a 'normal' way of doing things? With the return to Daylight Savings, and darkness upon us at 5 p.m. combined with the short work week and long weekend and having to catch up with everything…and neighbors putting out Christmas decorations along with the receipt of three Christmas cards in the mail, I feel very discombobulated. Having a nice lunch in a quiet neighborhood helps to sort of return to 'normal', or at least feel that way for a moment. I posted about breakfast at La Mesa Bistro and Bakery last October, and promised to follow up with a lunch post. Quick like a bunny, here's that post.

Still nestled in the far corner of an "L" shaped mall on La Mesa Boulevard at Glen Street, one signal light South from Jackson Drive (the next block over from the BMW repair shop, if you have had to go there), La Mesa Bistro and Bakery has established itself as a regular Breakfast and Lunch spot in this quiet part of town.

It's a place where you order, pay and find a seat. You get a number and food is brought to your table, in this room, an adjoining room or the outside patio. We usually grab a menu and sit down then go back up and order since there are also a few Chalkboard Specials which tend to tempt us and we tend to change our mind as to what we were planning to order. But we usually come with it is not crowded here. On weekends, there is a line waiting to just walk inside to pay. As you can see, there are ten hot pots of regular and two hot pots of decaf coffee to choose from. There are also smoothies and espresso beverages offered. Water is also self serve here. Quite a few people order a coffee or tea and bakery item to go some mornings. But, again, we were here for lunch.

Since the restaurant is open from 6-3, breakfast is served all day on weekdays, so the table condiments are reflective of all the possible choices.

I ordered a Reuben sandwich($6.99), because I was craving both sauerkraut and the rye bread baked here. As you can see, two cheeses and a lot of thin but not too thin sliced corned beef on the grilled, seeded rye bread. I did choose cottage cheese instead of fries, knowing The Mister was getting fries with his lunch choice.

Yes, a Chili Size ($7.99). Basically an open face half pound burger, topped with chili. Both The Mister and I grew up eating Chili Size with knife and fork, not lettuce or tomato. Anyhow, The Mister tried to assemble this like a regular burger, picked it up for one bite, then cut it up to eat. The burger was done to a light medium, not quite medium rare, very juicy. The bun was lightly toasted and very fresh(baked here). The coarse meat grind makes a very good burger. The chili, made the way we like it, is without beans and had a nice spicy 'kick'. (The fries here are season-salted and very good).

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery is a good place for breakfast and lunch; its just down the road from Grossmont Mall, Grossmont Hospital and the La Mesa Trader Joe's.

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery 8697 La Mesa Boulevard La Mesa 91941 (619)589-0806 Open seven days 6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. website

Chicken + Greek Cuisine (Sid’s Place)-(Escondido)

November 29, 2011 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

You have just stumbled upon mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Today Cathy is blogging. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are just too busy researching about places and meals.

Hi again. The other day, The Mister and I found ourselves in Escondido on Mission Avenue between Escondido Boulevard and Centre City Parkway.

This was the view from Mission while we were stopped at the signal light. Actually, that little green sign attached to the flag pole (on the right in the photo) caught my eye. We had to pull into the parking lot in this oddly shaped strip mall to see what this was about.

After we parked, I walked back to snap this photo of the full flaming rotisserie.

We walked in and were asked if we wanted to order "to go" or eat in. I noticed a lot of people ordering and picking up 'to go' orders. We found a seat and menus were brought to the table. There are only 11 tables inside and a handful on the patio outside. It is neat and clean and bright. Everyone working there came by the table at some point, including Sid, the owner. It felt like a family run place. (I noticed on the website that Chicken Plus has been in Escondido since 1990. That's a good thing these days.)

We ordered, noting that the menu did state items were freshly cooked to order. The food was not brought out immediately, but the wait was not 20 minutes either.

I had asked for hummus($2.50) and pita (99¢) as an appetizer. The hummus was fresh made (i.e., not chilled and I really think freshly ground in the kitchen based on the sounds I heard as our waitress called our order in through the door seen in that photo) with garlic and tahini. The warm pita bread was really nice- a bit thicker and more 'hearty' flat bread with a good 'tooth' and chew. It was warm and had flecks in it, making me think it was made with wheat. I really liked this bread.

The Mister ordered the half chicken meal ($7.49) which came with either breadsticks or tortillas and two sides. He chose the breadsticks (light and airy and hot; nice) and cole slaw (made with a light sauce which was not overpowering and the way I like it) and the potatoes au gratin. Look at those potatoes. They are fresh peeled potatoes, cooked to a nice tenderness and topped with what looks like a gravy poured over them. It is a very old fashioned (I mean *very* old school) recipe for au gratin…using chunks of potatoes (not thinly sliced ones) and topped with cheese sauce, unbaked. This was *really* good. Unexpected.

Oh- the rotisserie'd chicken is fresh, juicy and flavorful. Really good. Really, really good. The chicken is not Costco/Chernobyl sized; it is a normal size bird.

I decided to try the chicken gyros ($4.99), mainly because the salad choices were topped with gyros meat (and if you've read other posts, you know that I have decided that nobody makes their own gyros and all of it that we can get in restaurants is sourced from the same Distributor) and the name of the place has 'chicken' in it. The menu did state this sandwich was made with 'spicy' dark meat chicken topped with what you see above, and I figured that would kind of be like a salad. It was…

I did try to take a bite of the sandwich all rolled up and a lot of the fillings fell out, so I did eat this as a salad, using the house made tzatziki sauce as the dressing. The 'spicy' powdered mix topping the shredded dark chicken meat had quite a kick of heat and did taste good, but the bites of The Mister's chicken were also very good, without the added seasoning.

This was a great place we stumbled upon. We will be back for a dinner (Moussaka is on the menu!)

Chicken Plus Greek Cuisine (Sid's Place) 309 W. Mission Avenue Escondido, CA 92025 (760)480-1348

Mon-Sat 11-9 ;Sun Noon-8 Website

Phuong Trang-COMC

November 27, 2011 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! It's still part of a long weekend and, like you, all of us here are busy with family and friends and food. Cathy has a short post today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are researching their next contributions to this blog.

Hi again. I was COMC (Cleaning Out my Memory Card) early this morning and realized how much I photograph every thing we eat, even if I have no intention of posting…then I thought I could share these meals with you. The pictures came out quite well, and we really like the food here.

Phuong Trang is sometimes referred to (by Kirk) as "middle of the road" or "Vietnamese Denny's" Vietnamese cuisine (by others). As I said, The Mister and I like it here. We are Caucasian and think the food is good. I think it's a good place to take friends who have never had Vietnamese food, offering a good selection of fresh, tasty and mostly common (read: not scary parts of animal) choices. Plus, it's centrally located on Convoy just South of Clairmont Mesa. Between the Kick Boxing place and Big Joy Family Bakery in the mall just North of the KFC.

The Spring rolls here are very good-the wrap/skin seems to be made with a different paper than from other places; it's always bubbly. The filling is more ground meat than noodles and finely chopped carrot and cabbage in the meat filling also. This is one of few places where you get the wrapping for the rolls including mint and cilantro in addition to lettuce leaves.

Broken rice with ground shrimp wrapped in tofu skin and fried. (I forget the Vietnamese name, but always order this whenever I see it on a menu). ($6.75)

A cross section of the ground shrimp. You can see the tofu skin is very, very thin. I crave the version here.

Vegetable Summer rolls ($3.95). The tofu is slightly grilled and warm/room temperature. Lettuce, noodle and a piece of cooked egg rounds out these rolls. This is a nice choice if you don't want the fried (Spring) rolls, or want to eat vegetarian.

Jellyfish, shrimp and pork salad ($7.95). Served with the fried shrimp chips. Refreshing on a hot day.
Grilled pork, broken rice($6.25) Add egg($1) and it's a 'breakfast'. This is always soooo good.

Chinese sausage Summer rolls ($3.95)

A cross section. You can see the piece of cooked egg, lettuce and all vegetable filling. These could be a light meal with tea (50¢).

Another jellyfish/shrimp/pork salad with shrimp chips.

Something 'new' to me- grilled chicken Bun ($6.50). This became particularly addicting this past summer. I realized after I had ordered it the first time that I usually don't order-or see on the menu at Vietnamese places- grilled chicken, much less as a bun topping. (Bun (pronounced 'boon') is some sort of protein on top of chilled rice noodles on top of a salad, in this case, shredded lettuce, fresh mint and shredded cucumber) served with a fish sauce based dressing.

I hope everyone is enjoying this extra long weekend!

Phuong Trang 4170 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 (858)565-6750

The day after Thanksgiving. Breakfast at Sam Woo BBQ.

November 26, 2011 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

This is mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food. This short week and long weekend may be overrun with food and visiting with family, friends, Black Friday shopping (and perhaps preparation for a football Saturday) for you. It has been for the mmm-yoso gang. If you are checking the blog, here's a short post -with a glimpse of food- written by Cathy. [Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are recovering from Black Friday.]

Hi. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving Day. The Mister and I shared a meal with our neighbors. Here are some photos of some of the food.

The top photo only shows the fried turkey and the ham. The second photo shows the 24 pound turkey…There also were brussels sprouts, candied yams, mashed cauliflower, ten pounds of mashed potatoes, about as much macaroni and cheese, dinner rolls, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauces, a salad and a whole table of appetizers in addition to that partially filled table of desserts. There were few leftovers.

Needless to say, we did go home and experienced that 'food coma' which happens after spending a day cooking and consuming copious amounts of carbohydrates as well as the tryptophan from turkey. When we woke on Friday, neither of us wanted to cook and our list of "Black Friday" shopping deals was short -waiting in line to get into any store was not going to be necessary, so we went to Sam Woo BBQ for breakfast.

We always order the coffee (30¢). It is strong and served with sweetened condensed milk. (Hot tea is also 30¢ at breakfast; it is free with the other meals of the day)

It was a chilly morning and we decided to share a bowl of fish porridge ($3.25). (I did not even run across the hall to 99Ranch to buy a cruller donut bread to put into the soup- it would be a walk, it would be chilly and …I was saving on carbs). The porridge was excellent.

We also shared the #1 from the 33 item breakfast menu ($3.25). Stir fried rice noodles with vegetables (sprouts and onions) egg and lunchmeat (fake SPAM). This was also satisfying and was more than enough food to get us going.

I know you have all been busy and enjoying this unusual week of the year, preparing for the rest of the upcoming holidays while doing everything else. Thanks for stopping to visit mmm-yoso!!! in your spare time.

Sam Woo BBQ 7330 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard 92111 (inside the 99Ranch building)

Hail

Thanksgiving Eve

November 23, 2011 Cathy Cooking, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome to mmm-yoso!!! the food blog written pretty much regularly and mostly by Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy. Everyone is busy today, but Cathy has a bit of free time at the moment, so she's writing today.

Hi. It's a hectic short week for a lot of us and tomorrow will most likely be a day of thanks, reflection, meals with family and friends, after a morning of cooking. The Mister and I have been planning for the day and its meals by practicing various cooking methods and recipes we might share. Today and tomorrow will be busy with cooking and preparation. We do need two days though.

Today for breakfast we made Oven Pancake with crispy bacon. (You can click the links to see the oven pancake recipe and how the bacon is cooked.). The greens are pea pods (from our garden), fennel stems and mushrooms sauteed in butter. Those are gala apple slices…

We bought a few stalks of brussels sprouts (@$2.99 each) from Trader Joe's.

We plan on cooking some of the sprouts according to the recipe in the middle of this post, and using one whole stalk and some other uncooked vegetables as a centerpiece for the table (instead of flowers).

Because I deliberately finished up all the bread in the house, lunch today is a square hamburger with sliced pickles, onions and tomatoes. That's a fennel, broccoli and bok choy stir fry on the side. (That's blue cheese residue from The Mister's burger on top of my burger…).

Here are some of the fruits and vegetables I plan on using for sides. Hm..where are the potatoes, onions, eggplant, asparagus and broccoli??? Gotta go cook. See you tomorrow. Have a Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Valley Foods Mediterranean Market- lunch in the store

November 22, 2011 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

See other posts about Valley Foods here and here.

The mmm-yoso!!! gang (Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy) all are busy finalizing details for Thanksgiving Day, while tying loose ends at work and making plans for seeing family and friends for days of meals, thanks and visiting in just a few days. Cathy has a short post.

Hi. The Mister and I have been busy planning some meals we are going to share this week and dropped in to Valley Foods, a Mediterranean Market, twice in the past week to grab a quick lunch (and some fresh flat bread, sammoon bread, kebabs, chicken, canned fava beans, chickpeas, fruits and vegetables). Here are some photos.

Falafel Plate ($6) Fresh made fluffy falafels, served with pita and pickles and fresh hummus, tabouleh and pickled mango sauce. I always buy the falafel here.

Schawarma Cheesesteak ($4.99). Yes. The beef schawarma is heated on the grill with onion and green pepper and cheese. It really tastes good this way, with the schawarma seasonings. This was unexpectedly wonderful.

.Here is a cross section view of the fresh falafel, so fluffy and delicately crisp. It's a meal or an appetizer (or a snack if there are leftovers to take home).

The other day we decided to get the kebab sandwich($4.49) and some polo rice($2.49)- there was about a pound of saffron rice topped with sliced almonds and raisins in one *large* styrofoam box, which we ate with both the properly seasoned, juicy, grilled kebab sandwich made with the fresh house made sammoon bread which was topped with onions and sumac. (and we had leftover rice for breakfast the next day)

This is the Schawarma chicken platter ($7.95) Pita, tahini, hummus, pickled turnip, shredded lettuce, red bell pepper slices and a huge portion of fresh hot chicken schawarma. A meal for two or two meals for me.

There is a fountain serving pomegranate juice and other beverages at the register, but sometimes I don't want sweet, and after Kirk mentioning ayran, a yogurt drink he enjoyed on his vacation adventure in Greece and Turkey this year, I was curious as to what that flavor point was and began drinking (and craving and eventually making my own) ayran this past summer . Buying 'Yogurt Drink' sold here is very similar- salty and sort of watered down yogurt. The mint flavor is not predominant in this brand (and the blue bottle by the same company is labeled as ayran) and these beverages are found inside the store- we have been trying something new with each meal we eat here. I do think the salty yogurt drink is complimentary to the foods we get here.

Now, more planning for Thanksgiving!

Valley Foods 1275 East Main Street El Cajon, CA 92021 (619)749-8355 Website

Sunday Stuffs: Revisits to the Original Sab E Lee and Pinoy Fiesta, Sakura temporarily closed.

November 20, 2011 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, yoso-silly

I hope everyone is having a dry Sunday…this one has been a cold one!

I dropped by Izakaya Sakura this past week and they were closed. They had this sign posted:

I guess the place suffered some smoke damage from a fire next door….. I hope they reopen soon!

**** This location of TOSEL has closed

About every two weeks or so I drop by the Original Sab E Lee for take-out. I decided after my seventh post on the place in April 2010 to cut back on posting about the place. Over the course of the last year and a half, we had some really take out meals and some that weren't quite as good. I found that it's all about who is in the kitchen. Last week, the Missus told me that we should drop by the place and actually have a meal there……….which turned out to be quite nice.

There's something about getting everything fresh from the kitchen……

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

This past weekend, I happened to be in the National City area at around 10 or so. I thought I'd drop by Pinoy Fiesta since I hadn't been there for a while.

So here's the two item combination…. Menudo(which tasted like Mechado) and Sisig.

Breakfast of champions……

The menudo was nice and tangy, the beef was fairly tender, there was a nice bit of pepperyness to it. The sisig was like before, gummy, waxy, bland, and this time ice cold to boot. I'll make sure to show some restraint and pass on it next time. Like everywhere else, prices have gone up and is now in the high six dollar range.

Pinoy Fiesta
550 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950

Chengdu: Long Chao Shou (龙抄手) and what seems to be the favorite pastime in Chengdu

November 19, 2011 mmm-yoso Chengdu, China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel

Our next stop after Xi'an was Chengdu….and boy, when I first planned this stage out, I was excited! Apparently, one of the Missus' cousins lived in Chengdu so we'd be visiting….then I found out that we wouldn't exactly be staying in Chengdu, but Jianyang a smaller city (of course "smaller" is a relative term as the population of Jianyang is about 1.5 million!) about 80 kilometers from Chengdu. Oh well, I'd have to wait until next time to try all the places listed in Food and Drink Chengdu. We got off our flight and crossed the street to wait for the Missus's cousin to pick us up. While waiting the Missus and I noticed this woman just stop and squat, derriere hanging over the road to take a text message…..I mean really, was that message so important that you had to stop right where you were to take it?

Eventually, our ride arrived and introductions were made. I quickly surmised that this cousin was deeply involved in the "new" China……business and commerce was king. And even though he wasn't familiar with the restaurants in both Chengdu and Jianyang, nor very interested in eating out, he'd made quite an effort for us during our stay. Maybe too much of an effort as the Missus and I would have managed fine ourselves, but we really appreciated the effort.

He had asked around and found a place for us to have lunch. The car was parked near Tianfu Square which is considered the center of the city.

This was once the location of the Imperial Palace which was destroyed after the Cultural Revolution. A huge status of Chairman Mao now overlooks the square.

A couple of things we noticed right away. The pace here was pretty leisurely, at least in comparison with Beijing, Qingdao, Xi'an, and Hangzhou. The sky seemed quite overcast and the temperature mild. We were told that this is pretty common weather for Chengdu, and the mild weather, overcast skies in combination with the hot and spicy food was why the complexions of the women from the area were so beautiful!

We walked through the shopping district and to the Chengdu institution called Long Chau Shou (龙抄手):

The restaurant is huge and cafeteria like.

The restaurant specializes in "snack" type dishes, of which there is quite a variety….and of course Long Chao Shou, which we know as wonton soup. I could clearly see the trays of wontons stacked up in the kitchen area.

I'm still not wuite sure of the system, but it seemed like you walk up to one of the counters and order, pay, then hunt down a table. You aren't given a number, placard, or anything. I truly had doubts that our food would find its way to our table in this mass of humanity. But I would be proved wrong as the blue clad workers had no problems finding us.

There were only two items that I really concentrated on during the meal. The first was the Long Chao Shou. I had chosen the spicy version.

This was quite good. Long Chau Shou's wontons are famous for their "kou gan" – mouth sensation, a combination of textures and a slippery, noodley-ness (is there such a word), and these were really nice. For me, it was all about the thin wrappers. The "soup" was interesting, I had been told and have also found that there was definite difference between Chengdu and ChongQing style food. And the meals we had in Chengdu and Jianyang pretty much confirmed it for me. The food in Chengdu is lighter and less spicy. In fact, I really didn't think this was very hot at all. What did surprise me was the intensity of the "ma", the Sichuan peppercorns were very floral and numbed me from the tip of my nose down my neck. This made getting Sichuan Peppercorns from Chengdu a must have for our return. (Which of course, I did)

I also had to try the Sichuan Liang Mian – the spicy cold noodles…….

This was ok, we've had versions here in the states that are every bit as good, if not better. But again, that wonderful numbing feeling was great…..I'm sure that shipping and irradiation does something to what we get here in the US.

Some of the other dishes:

Not much into sweets…so I passed.

After lunch we were driven to an area known as Jinli Old Street, an area that dates back to the Qin Dynasty and was once known as the "First Street of the Shu Kingdom".

Chengdu was the capital of the Shu Kingdom (221-263).

The street is full of cafes, shops, and little stands plying all types of crafts, knick-knacks, snacks, do-hickeys, and thingamijiggies.

It was a nice area to stretch our legs, browse, and wander around for a bit.

We were headed for a specific spot. This was where I first learned what one of the favorite pastimes in Chengdu was…… socializing in a tea house.

A coworker told me that her dad tried to discourage her from going to college in Chengdu, telling her "you are going to spend all your time in tea houses and not learn anything."

Folks ante up an purchase a cup of tea, hot water is refilled upon request, snacks are purchased…the young folks play cards, older folks read books, socialize, or like this guy, have a major nap.

This guy was sleeping when we arrived and was still napping when we left over two hours later!

The funniest site was watching the monks bum off cigarettes from folks in the tea house…they would sit down, have good smoke and chat with folks……I've seen a monk smoking a cigarette in a tea house in Chengdu…now I've seen it all!

Chicago: Johnnie’s Beef (Arlington Heights – again), Mr Beef (Dunning), and Superdawg

November 17, 2011 mmm-yoso Chicago, Hot Dogs, Sandwiches, Travel

Johnnie's Beef again:

I had the television in my room on, but my mind was elsewhere. Even after my meal at Kurumaya I was still thinking about food! Specifically, an Italian Beef Sandwich….especially since Johnnie's Beef was a couple blocks away. Finally after about an hour of rumination (and digestion), I jumped in the rental car and headed for Johnnie's. They were pretty busy as usual, but things move quickly, and really all I needed to say were three magical words when it my turn at bat; "beef……juicy….hot". Translated, Italian Beef Sandwich, " juicy" means it's left in the broth a bit longer than "dunked", and "hot" stands for the hot peppers (giardinera). It's just about the only time you'll get away without being slapped for uttering those three words at a restaurant counter.

The sandwich was just as good as my previous one was. It's not huge, so I didn't feel too bad about having it as a snack.

It was indeed "beef….juicy….hot….."

You can find more details on my previous post on Johnnie's.

Johnnie's Beef
1935 South Arlington Heights Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Mr Beef on North Harlem:

This was actually the first place I had an Italian Beef many moons ago. The Missus had made a request, so I checked out early and made it down to the area on the Northwest side of Chicago known as Dunning. I knew that Dunning was a traditionally Italian neighborhood, but after reading this I found out it that the area has a very strong Polish influence as well.

I wondered how my tastes had changed since I last ate an Italian Beef from this unassuming shop. I had arrived a bit before the posted 1030 am opening time, so I sat in the car checking text messages and such. I was concentrating a bit too hard as a little old lady knocked on my window scaring the daylights out of me! She lifted a sack up and told me "they're open already….you're late!" Which really cracked me up…..

Things looked exactly the same as I remembered……and the same really friendly guy was working the counter as well. I ordered my beef, juicy, hot, and we chatted about where I was from, the weather, the heavy flooding a couple of nights ago while I waited for my sandwich.

When my sandwich arrived I looked at it in stunned silence. I didn't recall it being as large and I don't remember being given a fork along with my napkins either. As you can tell….it was indeed quite juicy.

Man this thing was humongous. It basically sprung open as I unwrapped it…..

The beef was very tender but was not quite as herbaceous as what I had the evening before at Johnnie's Beef. I was just amazed that the roll made it to the last bite….can you imagine if I ordered it "soaked"? The giardinera was also much milder than what I recalled.

What was not up for debate was that this was indeed a two-fisted, juice dripping on your feet sandwich.

I guess I need to make it back to Al's to see how that Italian Beef holds up…..

Mr Beef
3917 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60634

Superdawg:

The Missus' request? She wanted me to bring home a hot dog. Yep, all the way from Chicago on the six hour flight to San Diego…a hot dog…..I tried to convince Her that it would be a cold, soggy mess, and a total waste of time, but She insisted. Ok, you want a hot dog, you get a hot dog….but not just a hot dog…. but a Superdawg! I had thoughts of just grabbing a Vienna Beef dog in the standard issue Mary Ann poppy seed bun, dragged through the garden, but since was here, why not check out this iconic shop. I'd had a Superdawg before, it was a terribly limp dog, served up in a soggy bun with cold greasy fries. At least I pretty much knew what the Missus was going to be getting! Of course, that one was from Midway Airport…… This one was going to be from the location on North Milwaukee.

What was pretty amazing was that I plowed through my Italian Beef sandwich and drove up from Mr Beef, making it to Superdawg before 11am! And there were people in line waiting for the place to open!

The menu is pretty compact, so I don't understand how the folks in front of me had such a hard time ordering, after all, they had a good long time to check out the menu while waiting. And furthermore, this place is called Super "dawg", right? So of course they ended up ordering burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, and fish…..

If you're used to typical Chicagoland hot dog prices, you may go into sticker shock here as the Superdawg costs $5.25. Of course it comes with crinkle cut fries. Gene and Jude's this ain't.

The entire set-up of the place is very neat, part 1950's car hop drive in, part roadside attraction. There's a glass enclosed dining area next to the ordering window. With folks peering in at what I was eating, it felt like I was on display….

And what I was eating….was a superdawg of course. Yes, even after devouring that beef sandwich. You gotta love the packaging…..

The dog was tucked in nicely with fries lying to one side.

The hot dog is a bit different from the usual all-beef Chicago wiener. It is made by Vienna Beef using a proprietary formula with a different spice blend. There seemed to be a bit more more garlicky-ness and the dog was larger in circumference than the standard issue stuff. It did have a bit less snap than what I'm used to, and frankly I still enjoy the generic Veinna Beef dog more. What I did really like was pickled green tomato, the firm and crunchy sport peppers, and the very tasty fries. Looking at the fries I suddenly realized that the heat from the fries would end up making the entire thing into a soggy mess. But what the heck, She wanted a hot dog right?

There was quite a line as I made my way to the car…check out the dude with the camcorder…..

So, I sealed the Superdawg in a ziploc bag and stowed it in my carry-on. The Missus picked me up at the airport and when we got home She got Her hot dog….She did love the pickled green tomato and even enjoyed the hot dog, sogged out bun and all. Of course She went and put ketchup on the thing….yikes…..

Superdawg Drive-In
6363 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60646

Bellying up to the Belly of the Beast at Underbelly

November 15, 2011 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Ramen

Say that fast five times! I recently had the pleasure of grabbing lunch with one of my favorite people, Candice. And as always, I had a great time as she told me about her recent travels. Of course, eventually the conversation got around to food. During that conversation Candice asked me if I'd been to Underbelly yet. Underbelly? When she explained that it was basically a ramen bar that opened in Little Italy a few bells went off. I'd heard that the owners of Craft and Commerce were opening up a ramen bar in Little Italy, but had not heard that it had opened. A part of me wasn't really excited or thrilled as I had visions of what "hipster ramen" would look like dancing through my head….which is patently wrong. I think we sometimes suffer from reverse discrimination when it comes to food, thinking that non-Asians are not capable of pulling off Chinese, Japanese, or Vietnamese dishes. And then we go home and make our lasagne, risotto, or BBQ claiming it to be darned good, the match of anything a good cook anywhere would create. I do have problems when something is dumbed down for the sake of revenue, the product is bad, or when something lacks soul and is not true to the dish it is named after. Sliced processed turkey in a baguette is not a banh mi, even if it is in fresh baked bread. There is a place that does that….it's called Subway, ok? Enough….time to put away the soapbox. what really caught my attention was when Candice told me of something called the "Belly of the Beast"…….and I really couldn't get that out of my mind.

So, of course I just had to check the place out. The shop seats maybe 30-35 people and is located on the corner of West Fir and Kettner.

The restaurant has a very slick design. The glass windows open and fold over to become counter tops for the restaurant.

There was a line when I arrived at opening, I don't think I've stood in line for lunch since my visit to Hot Dougs.

Often times, great form has functional pitfalls. If you happen to sit on the street side of the counter be careful as the counter will tilt if you lean on it….like what happened to the poor guy sitting a couple of feet from me who almost fell off his seat as the counter tilted….he did save the glass of flowers and his dignity though. I'm hoping that the folks here will find a way to secure those dual purpose panes of glass before someone has a few too many local craft brews and upends an entire counter of hot ramen on customers.

The drill here, at least for lunch is much like Santouka, you stand in line, look over the menu, order at the bar, and end up with a metal numeric placard to identify you. The menu is focused, not a mishmash of mixed parts which I like. The topiary of Chairman Mao is not focused and I'm wondering what part it really plays in the theme of the restaurant. I thought it kind of bizarre….

This uber al fresco theme is a mixed plate as well. It's going to be great eating here during the fall and early spring when the weather is still cool and crisp enough. It was kind of breezy where I was sitting, and though I enjoyed it, the folks sitting facing Kettner quickly retreated. I hope the place has some plans for when it rains….

OK, enough about all that stuff, how was the ramen. I got the Belly of the Beast ($13) with the additional of Pork Belly Chashu ($3)…..$16, or about three usual lunches for ramen. It's served in a large white bowl, but only comes up about 3/5 way up the bowl. In other words, this place ain't for the Santouka price and portion haters.

First things first, for me the broth was super oily, even beyond that bowl of Kotteri broth I had a Daikokuya years ago that seemed to wrap around my tongue and not let go. This one is for those who think they can drink straight nuoc beo (beef tallow), as it is indeed rich. If you think regular tonkotsu broth is over the top, this is on another planet. In spite of how rich it was, the broth was pretty mellow and really seemed low on the sodium scale. The noodles would be fine for many, but was a bit overcooked for my taste. I'm glad I ordered the pork belly chashu, in my opinion it was much better flavored than the two beef cuts….I couldn't taste any smoke on the smoked beef brisket(though it was super tender), nor could I make out any savory beany sweetness from the hoisin glazed short rib. The pork belly was cooked well, not falling to pieces, but still velvety enough to melt in my mouth. Oxtail dumplings sound like a great idea, but just like when I tried kalua pork won tons (these were pretty much won tons), lack of a contrasting texture made these kinda mushy.

The boiled egg was excellent, the yolk a golden orb that called to me. It could have been more aggressively soaked in a stronger flavored sauce, but perhaps not, as I could make out the wonderful flavor of the yolk as a ate it.

In the end that broth did me in as I couldn't bring myself to finish it. I'm thinking that perhaps having the kimchi version might do better as perhaps a bit of acidity or pungency might help cut the oil in the soup.

In the end, I appreciated the effort. Even though they are kind of off target for me (remember, I'm more hip-replacement than hip), I don't think they're doing anything that resembles something from the "springroll of the month club". Perhaps time will tell, heck, I didn't enjoy Santouka when they first opened, they needed to iron out a couple of things to bring it up to snuff. So maybe in a couple months…..if I can find a seat…..

UnderBelly
750 W. Fir St
San Diego, CA 92101