January 2012 – Page 2

Pie N’ Burger (burger, no pie)- Pasadena Road Trip

January 19, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

Hey, you found mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Welcome (back). Cathy is posting today, while Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are resting…or something.

Hi. I mentioned that we've been busy daily since Thanksgiving and have a bunch of meals to share. One of the days in December, The Mister and I returned to Pasadena to visit Rose Parade float decorating and stopped at a Starbucks and I was checking my email and had a note from Dennis, who writes A Radiused Corner. I mentioned where I was and he told us to go to Pie N' Burger, where he used to go when he was at University in Pasadena. I used the handy dandy "maps" app on my iPhone, found we were 1.1 miles away and that became our lunch venue.

When we got here, we found out that Pie N' Burger also sells breakfast and bakes their own white and wheat bread as well as pastries other than pie. They also serve fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices and items other than burgers. PLUS- when you order a soda, they pump syrup into the glass, then soda water…real soda. Mental notes were made for our return visit.

Located inside this rectangular building, with a small streetfront presence, Pie N' Burger has been in this location on East California Street since 1963.

The menu on the wall, above the pie display, near the back of the building, has current prices. The Formica counter with chairs and swivel stools runs from the front of the store all the way to the back- about 20 seats. Near the front of the building is the grill, which had the seats I coveted (and did not photograph, since so many people were sitting around it).

The Mister, in his quest for a great chili,ordered a Chili Size ($11.50)- two patties topped with chili, cheese and onions (of course The Mister did not order onions…) This comes with a toasted bun on the side. In this article about the history of chili, the 8th paragraph from the bottom describes the origin of "chili size".

This was my hamburger ($6.75). You can see the patty is hand-formed and not at all perfect.

We ordered all of our burgers to be cooked medium rare. The burgers were seasoned, although the bean-filled-chili with deep flavor overwhelmed the burgers on The Mister's plate. The meal itself was very filling.

Here is my burger in my (small) hand. It comes on a toasted bun with Thousand Island (made fresh here), pickles and lettuce as well as onions (I got both raw and grilled onions, to make up for The Mister's misguided belief that onions are evil). I found out later that you have to ask for tomato (which does not cost extra…you just have to ask).

As you can see, they cooked this fresh ground, hand formed burger perfectly. I did add salt at some point, but it was at the last 1/4 of the burger and I wanted to 'spice up' the lettuce and onions. Plus, I had eaten all of the pickles…

We plan to go back (when hungrier) and try out other menu items. Thanks for sharing your hangout, Dennis!

Pie N Burger 913 East California, Pasadena, CA (626)795-1123 Website

COMC: Bangkok

January 17, 2012 mmm-yoso Bangkok, Thailand, Travel

For some reason, I had never finished my posts on Thailand…sheesh. I suddenly realized this tonight as the Missus mentioned something about our stay.

So here's a super-late COMC (Clearing Out the Memory Card) post of mostly photos of the city that always smells like something;s cooking….really, it does. On our way back from Chiang Mai, we stayed in the Silom area of Bangkok, in what was the business district. Silom Road seems to be in constant traffic jam mode. Here if you pull yourself away from all of the food stalls, which by the way are right outside all these major business buildings, you can see the infrastructure of the Skytrain. It's sort of like having main street paved with food vendors…one long food court if you will.

The juxtaposition of skyscrapers to the tons of food carts and stands made this quite an amazing sight.

We entered one of the malls, only to come across a large snack and food stand right by the escalators……

Check out this counter….that's piles of pork sung, one of my least favorite foods……

But this was different. The pork looked like they were candied and as the woman offered me a sample in her gloved hand I couldn't resist! But she stopped me before I put it in my mouth……and handed me a ball of sticky rice! God forbid I forget the sticky rice! It tasted like pork candy…pork candy….need I say more? Pork candy……

Back on the street we passed a couple of duck restaurants……

Roast Duck and Rice for 40 Baht ($1.25/US), are you kidding me??? So follow along kiddies, candied pork sung, nam prik, and roast duck and rice so far…..

Then we hit the motherlode , this little stand right in front of a huge bank was this stand.

It was a mother and son team making what looked like Khai Jeaw Mu Sap – Pork and Egg omelete…..

And at only 20 Baht (65 cents US), are you kidding me? So if you're keeping score….candied pork sung, nam prik, roast duck and rice, corn on the cob(from I dunno where, I was hypnotized by me egg), and Khai Jeaw Mu Sap.

As we headed back around…….

The Missus couldn't help but pick up more sweets……

Now our hands were full, ….candied pork sung, nam prik, roast duck and rice, corn on the cob, Khai Jeaw Mu Sap, and various sweets……

But that wasn't the end of it. As we headed back to the hotel, we noticed that the kanom krok stand in the alley was now making sausages…..so guess what?

Why not, right?

That pork sung tasted mighty fine and ended up being my dessert…..

The nam prik makhua was not bad…..

The corn on the cob was meh….

The sausages were pretty good…..

As was the roast duck on rice…..

Can't tell you about the sweets, but for me, the winna' was the Khai Jeaw Mu Sap…..the photo doesn't do it justice…..man was it good.

In fact, this is what inspired me to ask Koby, who was then still at Sab E Lee 2 to make this for me.

Good thing we only stayed one evening…a week here and I would make Paula Deen look like Twiggy!

We still talk about the abundance and availability of food everywhere, at all hours in Bangkok. Like I've said before, "they say in America, the streets are paved in gold. In Bangkok, the streets are paved in food!"

Monday Meanderings: Shabu World Opens, Izakaya Sakura Reopens, a visit to the new Northgate Market, and stuff recently consumed

January 16, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Japanese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

My list of odds and ends is just getting bigger and bigger so I thought I'd better do one of these posts.

SwabShabu World Opens:

I swear to god, the first time I saw the sign, I thought it said "Swab World". And doesn't it look like the place swiped the Nike Swoosh?

I gotta say, this place opened rather quickly. I recall emailing Dennis about just maybe two weeks ago. For some reason, the Missus wasn't too keen on checking the place out…..I guess I'll have to wait and go solo.

Here are the menus:

Shabu Shabu World
3904 Convoy St #117
San Diego, CA 92111

Izakaya Sakura reopens:

Perhaps the reason that the Missus didn't pay much attention to Shabu World is that after closed for repairs for over a month Sakura has finally reopened. I actually knew about it for almost two weeks, but made the Missus wait…..I wanted the place to work out any "kinks". So the Missus was really trying to scratch Her Ten Don itch. I guess we'll be back eating here once a week again.

The place looks much brighter and clean, making it look larger and more spacious.

A bar/counter area now occupies the window area across from the sushi bar adding more seating.

And my Negi-Maguro-Natto Don was as good as ever…….

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

A visit to the new Northgate Market on University:

I'd heard this place opened so one morning, after doing some shopping at North Park Produce and Minh Huong Market, I drove down to the corner of 54th and University to check the place out. Look at the vans for the free shuttle service offered by the market:

The place is not as humongous as the store on 43rd street, but it is big enough.

You gotta excuse me if I spent most of my time in front of all the prepared food……

This stuff just seems to be trying to speak to me….I gotta find myself a "pork whisperer", though I'm pretty sure of what it was saying to me.

I managed not to turn to stone at the sight of the fried medusa and went over to the meat department to pick up some beef liver for Da' Boyz…… but it doesn't mean I wasn't sorely tempted.

Don't fret my fair chicharron, I'll be back to free you on another day….

Northgate Market
5403 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Recently consumed at home:

Just some simple stuff…don't even know why I took photos. But I was pretty lazy over the holidays…..

I made some kalua pork for a pot luck and saved some, which I ended using for a sandwich or two.

Earlier in the year, the Missus and some coworkers were eating at Sipz a lot. Curious, I wondered what the heck they enjoyed so much and was shocked to find out…..and then they told me the prices. I told the Missus that the dishes they enjoyed were no big deal…really, for ten bucks and up??? So She told me to prove it….which I did. But now I'm stuck making stuff not only for Her, but some of the folks She works with too….here's a black-bean tofu dish…the ingredients (other than the oil) cost about $2.50……

I didn't even have to use the Big Kahuna for this. I've made fake pepper steak with broccoli and other stuff as well. As for the oil, I'll filter then reuse for as long as I can. Start with tofu and in the end do your fish and shrimp dishes…..

And of course, not wanting to waste some leftover baguette…..here's a SPAM™ fritatta sandwich….

Silly, I know…but it tasted pretty good……

And finally, just some other silliness:

I'm not sure you know this, but I enjoy some music now and then. I've got a bit too much of it, like about 5,000 songs on my iPod…a bit crazy I know. A good amount are from the thousand or so CD's I own, but I'm always on the hunt for music. The list is slowly shrinking; every year I find a couple….this past year was no exception. I'm really dating myself, but here are a couple that I'd been hunting for years and finally found this year:

I was stoked when I found out that Seawind's music from the mid-late 70's was finally released. I guess the music was tied up…… But man, I saw them play several times and really think they were ahead of their time.

I'm not sure why I really like this one by a band named Q…….but I remember it fondly:

Lastly….well I hated the movie this was from, Xanadu. I remember seeing it and calling it Xana-du-du. But I really enjoyed this piece by Olivia Newton John and the Tubes.

Kinda Embarassing…but heck, I'm too old to really care anymore! The Missus hears this stuff and doesn't quite know what to make of it…….it's kinda funny. Though at least these have words…you should see the look on Her face when I listen to Hank Garland or The Haggis Horns…..

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara

January 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

*** Birrieria's la Guadalajara has closed.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a Birria place had opened on Third avenue. I always glance at that new strip mall since there seems to be a location of Tacos el Gordo that is taking forever to open. A couple of days later, I was chatting with one of my co-workers, Karina, about, well what else…food! Both her and her husband's family are from the Guadalajara area, so I happened to mention how much I enjoy Birria. She told me that their current favorite place for birria in the South Bay area was Birrieria's la Guadalajara…….which send that light bulb blinking. I knew exactly the shop she was talking about. So on that very weekend, we headed off for some birria….

The place had only one table going when we arrived and we were qiuckly seated by a really nice young man.

First thing I noticed was the wide open look, making it really seem like birrieria ……. second thing was the fragrance of the consomme dancing in the air, a mixture of herbs and chilies that really get your stomach going…even at 9 in the morning. Yes, birria is breakfast food for many. Third, there was a woman behind the glass partition making fresh tortillas.

The menu is a single sheet and focused, on birria of course. I'd be somewhat worried if the place started serving up California Burritos……though there is Carne Asada and Arrachera on the menu.

As soon as we were seated salsas and the typical accompaniments arrived at the table.

The gentleman who delivered this and took our order was tall and quite dignified, happy to answer any questions. Though there was no question as what we were ordering…..birria de chivo ($9.60 – 1 order) and birria de borrego of course….goat and lamb.

Both arrived steam rising in a plume over the bowls, looking just about the same. The protein looked nicely roasted and tender. We really could not tell what was what at first glance. But after quick tastes we could easily make out the two.

The birria de chivo was more stringy, but to our surprise more mellow in flavor than the lamb.

The broth was just mildly spicy, but not too oily, and there was a bit of flavors form various herbs, but so much that we couldn't tell which type of meat we were eating. There was much more goat than lamb and I ended up taking leftovers of this home where I poured it over rice and reheated after the rice had soaked up all the juices……..add onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime….

The lamb (borrego) was the better of the two, more tender, stronger in flavor, and fattier as well.

What was really good, were the freshly made tortillas…..

A bit thicker than I'm used to and so hot you barely hold one in your hand for more than second or two, these stood up to the birria real well. I caught the Missus just eating tortillas straight a couple of times…… These really had some heft to them.

We had enjoyed our meal so much that we returned the following week. There were a couple of menu items we wanted to check out. The same young man greeted us at the door with a "welcome back". I guess there aren't too many Asian customers…… I found out his name is Jorge and that this restaurant used to be located on Main Street, but they moved to this location about seven months ago. As we were seated, the same older gentleman brought over the salsas and our menus….

I was surprised to see two salsas and radishes this time around. Jorge came around to explain; "we are a work in progress, trying to make everything better…..in fact, in February we can start serving cervezas."

The Missus and I ordered one each of the Taco Rojo, one goat and one lamb ($2.90 each). A freshly made tortilla was dunked into the consomme, then placed on the flat top for a short while to let some carmelization take place, but still keeping it pliable and moist. It was then filled with meat and arrived looking quite beautiful in my opinion.

There was a slight crispness to the tortilla, but man this was good, perhaps a bit on the salty side, but adding some lime really cut the saltiness. The onions and cilantro went together so well with the rich meat.

Even though they serve the taco with a fork, we went at it with our hands………making a lovely, delicious mess.

I had also wanted to try the Borrego a la Plancha ($10.20), roasted lamb that is then placed on the flat-top. Creating wonderful crisp edges adding some wonderful flavor and texture to the lamb.

Served with consomme and rice on the side, I added a touch of consomme to the meat, then put the meat (later I started adding rice), onions, cilantro, lime, and a touch of the more spicy of the salsas into the tortillas. Another brief dunk (which later I just plain stopped doing because this was so good) and I was good to go…..

This was a nice Sunday Brunch for us…..for under twenty bucks. It was also nice to go home and take that Sunday nap after.

We'll be back again soon….I want to try the Cabeza de Res En Su Jugo….beef head cooked in its own juices, man does that sound good.

Birrieria's la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Open Daily 8am – 7pm

When you have Lamb, you make…..Lamb-aide??? Nah, you make Lamb Hash and Lamb-Bulgur Soup

January 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Shades of my What to Do kinda Ali Nazik Kebab post. A couple of weeks past I decided to roast a leg of lamb.

Not wanting too much, I bought half a leg fro Seisel's, though in retrospect I should have gone to one of the many Halal markets in the greater San Diego area to pick this up. I rubbed the lamb with a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. Same with the potatoes….I also threw in some leftover daikon as well. I decided to roast everything in my cast iron pan letting the fat from the lamb render off onto the root veggies.

Man, did the root veggies taste great….unfortunately the flavor lamb wasn't strong enough for the Missus. It was too tame and She refused to eat it. Then She uttered those fateful words…"I'm not eating it, but you better not waste any of it!"

Ohhhh-kay….there were a couple of pounds of lamb left after I had my fill, so what to do????

Duh…..one of my favorite things to do with leftover prime rib, ham, rotisserie chicken….not so much turkey though, is to make a hash. However, I wanted to roast more potatoes…so it was 86 on the potatoes in the hash. In the end, I minced up a bunch of the lamb, added minced onions, garlic, cilantro, oregano, and thyme. I used a couple of tablespoons of Greek yogurt as a binder and it crisped up pretty good. Finished with some salt and pepper, it was delici-yoso…..

Roasted some red potatoes, sauteed off some collard greens and used the rest of the yogurt in a sauce, combining it with dill, lemon juice, garlic juice, salt, and pepper. Topped with a poached egg (of course), this was a heck of a brunch. For some reason the lamb flavors came through much better when caramelized in nice crunchy bits. I can't believe I've had years of cold lamb sandwiches (pretty darn good though), when I should have been making this.

I didn't stop there, though. Based on the Missus criticism, I decided to take this one step further and saved a small amount of meat and the lamb bone. Recently, I had been leafing through Jaque Pepin's latest cookbook, the huge Essential Pepin. I recalled the lamb-barley soup recipe.

So into the pot went the lamb bone, no beef broth for this version. Of course, the Missus requested it done to Her taste so no barley in this one. I replaced the barley with bulgur, which I added during the last half hour of simmering.

Flavored with some leftover fresh thyme, cilantro, and celery hearts (freeze the buggers instead of throwing them away – they have great flavor). This ended up being quite good, with no complaints from the Missus.

The Missus often takes credit for "inspiring" what I make in the kitchen……and She's probably right.

Chengdu: Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and some lunch…..

January 12, 2012 mmm-yoso Chengdu, China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel

I'm thinking I should have put "some lunch" in tiny letters here….so I wouldn't mind at all if you're not interested in Pandas, if you came back another day……but otherwise……

Even though the San Diego Zoo has had a long love affair with Pandas, the one place on my list for Chengdu was the "Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding", whew, that's a mouthful. I'm not quite sure why….but I really wanted to check the place out. And apparently, so did a host of other folks….

The base itself is a bit over 200 acres…making it quite large. There are different trails to take, a large lake, a museum, panda food processing center, etc, etc…….

But of course, we were here to see pandas….. so we headed off, past the ponds….

We thought we saw something as we turned a corner……

But no, these were Red Pandas…cute in their own sense, but nothing like the giant pandas we wanted a glimpse of.

In my reading I found that red pandas belong to the family musteloidea, more closely related to weasels and skunks than the giant panda.

As we meandered along the trails, past the empty nursery (it was not quite the season for little ones), I was prepared for not really seeing a giant panda….which wouldn't have been such a bad thing as I could always go to the San Diego Zoo to see them. Then as we walked down one of the trails we saw this…..(feel free to click on the photos to enlarge)

Laying down, lazily munching on some bamboo……

Suddenly the Panda decided to sit up…….possibly recalling that mom always said never to eat lying down…"you might choke on something!"

All the while having a firm grip on bamboo….never missing a beat, all done in a leisurely fashion.

Only to decide that supine was only way to eat………I'm sure this one approved of breakfast in bed.

As we walked pass the pandas, the Missus was totally gaga over them, it made me wonder…..

What made pandas so cute….was it the head to body proportion? Or perhaps the white and black color and the black around the eyes that made them look larger? Or perhaps the somewhat ambling movement that made the panda seem to be eternally dawdling?

For some reason, I really enjoyed watching them grasp their food, in an almost human way……I guess I could really relate to that. I recall seeing something on one of those channels once, about how the pleasure center of the brain got going after just a brief glimpse of something "cute"…..

Heck maybe fellow blogger Lynnea can tell me why………..

Because in the end……

I decided that knowing the why's would take all the fun out of it…….it was better just to forget about it and enjoy……

Which is what we did at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base.

It was a bit past normal lunchtime when we left the Panda Center and the Missus' cousin here was really not food-centric…so we could really understand the effort he had put in during the past two days…heck, we'd be bushed too. So we didn't blame him at all for choosing one of the tourist type restaurants right across the street from the Panda Breeding Center for lunch.

And the food, unlike many tourist centric restaurants in other countries (including our own) wasn't too bad.

Here's another item that folks living in the Western world sometimes find strange…remember, cucumber is a gourd and it is treated as such….

Remember my $1 cucumber recipe or Zi Su Jian Huang Gua?

Some of the dishes seemed to be part of the parade of Sichuan's greatest hits……

Though that Mapo Doufu wasn't bad at all…….

Needless to say we didn't leave hungry. It was onward to our next stop Wenshu Temple.

Thanks for reading!

Scenes from Jianyang, Sichuan

January 11, 2012 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Jianyang, Markets & Grocers, Travel

This is pretty much a COMC (Clearing Out the Memory Card) post. During our time in China we stayed in Jianyang for one evening, here are some photos we took during that time.

The hotel provided a buffet style breakfast, that looked quite typical, but had quite a few breakfast items that were interesting.

Sure there was rice porridge and the like…..but there were a number of spicy Sichuan dishes as well. I had really never given thought to what the typical Sichuan breakfast would be…..the thought of having some "ma-la" (numbing hot) dishes first thing in the morning seemed very different to me.

Just as tomatoes are often treated like fruits in China, potatoes are treated like true vegetables. It's not uncommon to see them stir-fried.

I wasn't sure how my body would react to having this stuff early in the morning….but it turns out that I enjoyed it to some extent.

Even though the population of Jianyang is pegged at 1.2 million and I'm assuming growing as the local textile industry does, the streets in the area where we stayed were wide and pretty much empty. Perhaps everyone had already gone to work……

This seems really great, but as anyone who has tried to cross the street in China knows……other than driving on the correct side of the street (something which is rather flexible in its own right), the "rules" here are different. Because there was no traffic, cars and trucks were driving as fast as they could on these streets….shades of Phnom Penh!

Many of the smaller businesses were located on the side streets…..

I heard a familiar buzz as we passed the Baozi stand…..I immediately knew what it was, as we turned the corner I found that my hunch was correct.

It was the local morning market……

For me, the most entertaining set-up were all the meat hanging for display, it was a literal "meat curtain".

The meat did look quite fresh……

The market itself wasn't too crowded, so after a cursory walk-through we headed back down the street to a bit more exploring. Daily life in Jianyang seemed a bit more laidback, though the speed of things in Chengdu seemed quite relaxed as well.

You never know what you'll see wandering down the street in a city that you don't reside in.

You see things that are unfamiliar, greeting them with almost a child like wonder…..

I loved the makeshift "ramp" built from rebar. You relaly couldn't make out the rebar from a distance. You'd suddenly see a jug zipping across the sidewalk!

We saw this hanging in front of a Jianyang Mutton Soup shop(luckily no carcasses of wild dog in sight), we saw a typical display of how the Chinese stretch the law a bit….

There was an older man with a large cutting board squatting on the sidewalk chopping and hacking at the mutton. Imagine if you will, someone doing this on a major four lane road in your city! He was dressed in the typical stained white teeshirt, white paper hat (after all there are hygenic standards, right?), cigarette dangling from his mouth, hacking away. Suddenly, a police vehicle drives to the curb and one of the guys starts yelling …..I'm assuming telling him not to portion his mutton the the sidewalk. The "chef" ignores the officer. So what does the guy in the car do? He grabs a megaphone and starts using the darn thing, loud enough to shake the leaves off the trees (which are falling on the chopped mutton meat). He screams for about five minutes, but is just ignored. So what does the officer do next? Does he and his partner get out of his vehicle to enforce the law? Heck no, they just swear at the guy (so the Missus says – through the megaphone) and drive off. Jianyang's finest on the job!

Later that morning, the Missus' cousin took us on the short tour of one of the lakes in the area. There are islands in these lakes that house hotels and resorts. You can get to them by boat.

We ended up having lunch at one of the hotel restaurants. Nothing particularly memorable.

Like I said earlier; potatoes are treated as a vegetable…..

Actually, the "saliva chicken" (so good you can't stop drooling) was decent. Not very spicy (La), but it numbed half your face (Ma).

As a whole, like we were told, the food in this part of Sichuan isn't as spicy-hot.

For dinner we were taken to a Hot Pot place.

Which was more of a "hip" hot pot shop, where the young folks seem to going for hot pot and socializing.

Actually, the broth was pretty good, though again, more numbing than spicy.

It was a nice side trip for the Missus as She got to meet relatives…….

Country Kabob Restaurant #2- Point Loma

January 10, 2012 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to your bookmark of mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kir is busy today and ed(from Yuma) is busier. Cathy has a post about one of her meals.

Hi. As I may have mentioned, the days from Thanksgiving until this past Monday have been filled with some sort of appointment/event/errand. I've felt like Sisyphus just trying to accomplish something each day, only to have to start over the next morning. Fortunately, I do know the importance of taking a bit of a break to reconnect with friends, usually over a meal (or at least a hot beverage). One day in December, I found myself in Point Loma, on Rosecrans near the former Loma Theater, now a Bookstar.

Look over there to the right; you can see the tables and umbrellas out in front of Country Kabob.

Yes, we were there in December. The interior of the restaurant is clean, with tablecloths, even for lunch.

It was a chilly day, and my meal came with a bowl of lentil soup. Unlike any lentil soup I've ever had, this vegetarian version was smooth/not as chunky, with the lentils almost falling apart in the very flavorful broth. I liked this soup very much (and will order it again, even if it isn't part of a combination plate).

We decided to share the fried zucchini appetizer ($3.95). It wasn't outstanding, but was fried perfectly and not too greasy; pretty much standard. If I were to rate the meal items ordered on some sort of scale, this would be last, but only because everything else was outstanding. The sauce to dip the zucchini was home made, yogurt based with cucumber and fresh garlic and really good.

My friend ordered the gyros sandwich($5.95) and it was A. Huge. 2)Fresh-with a wondrous fresh/hot pita bread and tasty, moist, lamb and beef. iii. Topped with sumac(!) and the *really wonderful* home made tzatziki (which was the fried zucchini dip) as well as tomatoes, onions and parsley. Honestly, this was one of the best gyro sandwiches I have ever tasted and I've tasted a lot.

I decided to try the spanakopita-falafel plate ($9.95), so that I could try a bunch of items, in a sort of appetizer-ish way. The Greek salad had a very, very good dressing. It was olive oil based with fresh as well as dry herbs, the Feta on top had a nice tang and was fresh; a bit different than 'standard' restaurant Feta; it made me want to go to Vine Ripe Market on my way home to buy one of the imported Feta cheeses they sell, to try and find this Feta. [As a side note, the imported, more expensive Fetas are wondrous.] The falafel were made from fresh garbanzo beans -and parsley- and were light and flavorful. The spanakopita was with flaky filo, creamy (I think Ricotta cheese was mixed with the Feta, or it was a really different Feta in this version or maybe there is egg.) (Oh, there was some rice in this spanakopita also) and the spinach just tasted fresh…there were fresh herbs flavoring this also (definitely dill and parsley). As I was leaving, I asked about the pita bread, and found out it is parbaked and then heated when ordered, explaining the soft, freshness.

Yet another great find. So glad we stopped here.

Country Kabob Restaurant #2 3145 Rosecrans Street Suite A San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 226-2524 Website

Mariscos Monday: Oscar’s Mexican Seafood

January 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** This location of Oscar’s has closed

Man, it was almost like summer for a couple days there, wasn’t it? I don’t ever remember it hitting 80 degrees around New Year! The weather put the Missus and I in the mood for some mariscos. And though we thought of heading to La Playita, or even down to Godoy. We simply wanted a couple of tacos and it was well past the time of El Pescador or El Prieto. Then I recalled that FOY (Friend of Yoso) Candice had mentioned that a mariscos place had opened near the border or PB and La Jolla called Oscar’s.

Getting there was interesting……when going North on Mission you take a left at Turquoise and the place comes up rather fast. If going this route, you might have to figure out where to take that u-turn. Only street parking is available as far as I could tell. The restaurant is tiny, located right next to a smoke shop…or as the Missus says, it’s right next to the “Hoo-kar” (Hookah) store. He-he-he…..

There are literally 6-8 seats in the place and a small counter area outside. The kitchen is bright and shiny and the young man running the place friendly and most helpful. We saw grilled snapper tacos on the greaseboard, but they had run out for the day when we arrived. The menu is compact, with many of the “regulars” you’d see at one of those mariscos trucks.

The Missus started with the Smoked Marlin Taco ($2.75 – tacos de marlyn):

In terms of price, this was cheaper than most trucks, though it wasn’t nearly as stuffed. I never got a shot as the Missus polished it off in no time. She told me the fish was spot on in terms of flavor, but there was a bit too much cheese on it. I dunno, She cleaned this out pretty quickly.

I ordered a Fish Taco ($1.99)

Very routine, nicely fried, though a bit on the smaller side. The batter was fine, though I prefer mine a bit more crisp. There were some hidden what tasted like habanero in the pico, though the salsas are served on the side…a pretty nice touch. The tortillas were massed produced, but decent.

The “Fish Stew” (small – $1.50), was probably the weakest item we had. Served in a 8 ounce styrofoam cup that you’ll usually get the gratis consomme in at most mariscos joints. There were two shrimp and a small scallop or two along with a not so tasty piece of fish in this.

This caldo was just too weak, tasting mostly of celery and lacking the deep flavor of what you’d get elsewhere.

To finish off, I ordered the Cucaracha ($7), also known as camarones a la cucaracha……cockroach shrimp.

The shrimp were headless, but nicely fried before being put to bed in very bracing, spicy-sour, tomato-chile sauce, which was more like a broth. The shrimp were cooked well, the meat tender, the shells adding a nice crunch…making the sounds that you would get when you step on the unofficial Hawaii state animal. This definitely called for some tortillas since there was so much sauce. I ordered some tortillas….which they nicely never charged me for (though I’m thinking it should some with them). But man, it was too sour and spicy for me….man, my tolerance is getting real low, I think I need to head back to Hunan Chilli King to build my resistance and get maced by my food again. The Missus on the other hand, went through this like a hot knife through butter….though She told me “that sauce is burning a hole in my stomach” on the way home.

While really not quite up to par with our favorite mariscos joints, this place wasn’t bad and is a nice addition to the neighborhood. The folks here are very friendly and the prices not bad at all for the area.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood
703 Turquoise St
San Diego, CA 92109

Roasted Parsnips and Kabocha with Caper Dressing

January 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

The Missus has been trying to cut down on meat consumption over the last year and I'm really trying to support Her. However, there's just so much roasted vegetables, which we make twice a week one can really deal with. This started me off on trying other vegetables and greens, stuff like Chard, Kale, Celeriac, Rapini, even sauteing Collard Greens. Mushrooms now is a big part of the Missus' diet. I'll often now make protein for me and a large shared veg dish for us, or even something just for the Missus. We're also trying not to waste as much….and I had half a Kabocha staring me in the face. For New Years I'd made Kabocha Nimono using half the squash…..now I needed to do something with the other half. I'd also bought a bunch of parsnips most of which I roasted with potatoes….

Looking for some inspiration, I opened Yotam Ottolenghi's wonderful cookbook, Plenty. I really trust this cookbook, ever since I tried out the Mushroom Ragout with Poached Egg recipe and it turned out to be one of the best things I made all year. As fate would have it, I opened up the book to a recipe for roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette…….I guess it was meant to be. I basically subbed the kabocha for the sweet potatoes and adjusted the cooking time.

For me, cookbooks tend to be a set of ideas and guidelines, though many times I'll follow the written recipe the first time through, making adjustments later. To me, Ottolenghi's book is more of an idea book. Using items I had on hand and adjusting for taste, this came out real well. The adjustments? I used 12 cloves of peeled garlic rather than a split bulb, kabocha for the sweet potatoes of course, replaced the fresh thyme and rosemary with dried thyme and oregano, two fairly large red onions instead of four, two vine ripened tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, and I used honey instead of maple syrup in the vinaigrette. The recipe times the addition of the vegetables into three stages to make sure that everything is cooked, but not overcooked.

Speaking of the vinaigrette, the Missus initially didn't want me to use it, but I eventually wore Her down and She ended up loving what it added to the dish…..just a slight acid and mild sweetness, not enough to interfere.

Roasted Parsnips and Kabocha with Caper Vinaigrette

About a pound or a bit more of (peeled)parsnips cut into 1 1/2" – 2" long by 3/4" pieces
2 medium-medium large red onions cut into wedges
12 cloves garlic peeled but left whole
1/2 kabocha pumpkin sliced into pieces about the same size as the parsnips (leave the skin on)
2 tomatoes cut into eighths
Dried Thyme
Dried Oregano
3/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used Spitiko)
Salt and Pepper

– Preheat oven to 375
– In a bowl coat the parsnips, onions, and garlic with 1/2 cup of the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano.
– Spread on a baking sheet or roasting pan
– Roast for about 20-25 minutes.
– Coat kabocha with more olive oil and add to the pan, combining with the other ingredients.
– Roast for about another 30 minutes
– Add the tomato wedges to the pan and roast for about another 15 minutes. You may want to give everything a gentle stir then finish off. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

After adding the tomatoes put together your dressing.
Combine:
4 Tb Capers chopped
1 Tb Honey
1/2 Tb Dijon mustard
3 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil – I used a low acidity Picholine Olive Oil for this
2 Tb fresh squeezed Lemon juice

Whisk ingredients together to emulsify.

Remove vegetables from the oven….I put everything into a nice cast iron pan which I intended to use at the beginning bt proved too small.
Pour dressing over the veggies and lightly mix.

This turned out well….I can only imagine what other combinations of root vegetables and herbs can be done in this manner.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!