September 2012 – Page 2

Ramen Yamadaya

September 18, 2012 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

**** Yamadaya has closed

It's finally cool enough for me to actually do a post on Yamadaya without breaking into a sweat! I first recall reading about Yamadaya in a post on Dennis's blog. Unfortunately, I was on Oahu when they first opened. I kind of dilly-dallied for a short while, but finally made my way there….even though it was a boiling hot day.

Man was the place hotter than heck……I figured that they had just opened their doors and perhaps the A/C wasn't dialed in yet.

I was seated at the counter, which I would have really enjoyed hadn't it felt like I was being simmered instead of the chashu. The folks working here are very amiable and really took time to explain what was up to the folks who really didn't know what was up.

What was up is that Yamadaya serves up Hakata style ramen…which means that the "in" style of tonkotsu, basically a pork bone broth is featured, along with the thin and straight Hakata style noodle. Living and working close by means that I can take my time and get a "feel" for a place. So I decided to start up with the basic straight up Tonkotsu Ramen. Somehow, I talked myself into bumping it up to a combo, which goes for $14.80. That's pretty hefty for a lunch….but what the heck.

First off, I loved the noodles……I had doubts when I didn't order them extra firm, but I should not have worried. These were perfect. They do soften rather quickly, but I really didn't give it time to soften. Much better then any other place that "claims" to do Hakata ramen in San Diego. The broth was surprisingly mild, with almost no nose, just lightly salty. The egg was done well, but the chashu was terrible, lacking in flavor, dry, and my goodness, still cold! Not good eats, but I put that off to the place still finding their footing.

I also got some chicken karaage, which was pretty good, crisp, a hint of ginger, and not bad.

What I really enjoyed was the curry rice bowl. The curry had a very nice distinct flavor, with hints that seemed like Wocestershire.

The texture was nice and smooth….this is something I'll have again.

A few days later I was in the area and decided to stop in again….man, it was still pretty hot in there. This time, I went with what I had my eyes on the first time, the Kotteri Ramen($8.45). If there was any bowl of tonkotsu that would benefit from a touch of extra fat and more flavor it would be this one.

Along with confirming that the A/C in the shop was not up to the task, there were a couple of other reaffirmations; the noodles were indeed prepared well and the chashu was still dry and lacking in flavor.

The broth really benefited from the black garlic oil, which gave it a sweet-pungent lift in flavor. In fact the whole deal was getting to the upper limit of my sodium tolerance but was still good. The extra richness really gave the broth that smooth, tongue-coating richness I enjoy as well.

Nice bowl, minus the chashu……

So of course I wanted to move along a bit more….which was great since "MrZ" was thinking about grabbing some lunch. The day was a bit cooler, but it still is pretty warm in the shop. This time, to see if the kakuni was the cure to the chashu, I ordered the Kakuni Ramen ($10.95). I had thoughts of asking for it kotteri, but decided to see how the buta kakuni fared in the ramen.

Let me just say this; the kakuni is the way to go. While not as great, it was tender and well flavored…oh, and moist. I also believe that some of the braising liquid for the pork was put into the bowl as I sensed a nice background sweetness to the broth this time around.

As usual it was great seeing MrZ…and here's a shout out to the newest addition to the 'Z' family…well, I'll just call him "little Z" for now!

So, there you go, three bowls, and I've got my ramen here dialed in. As simple as Kotteri with Kakuni. We're done, right? Well, not quite….there's one more item I wanted to try. Not feeling like dealing with the heat and man it was scorcher for a couple of weeks there, wasn't it? I went during a weeknight evening. Having been here enough, I started noticing a couple of things. One of them was, it seems like only the dudes who handle the noodles have "Ramen" written on the back of their t-shirts…..I know, I'm probably just a little bit slow, duh……

Since it had been pretty hot and the shop gets pretty hot, why not try the Tsukemen, basically "dipping noodles". I got the 7 ounce noodle portion ($7.95 – carb lovers can get 14 oz for $9.95).

This was way to salty, to the point of being unpleasant. Loved the noodles, meh to the chashu, but even dipping the noodles into the shiro was not a happy time. It also got cold real quickly and the amount of fat in this started concealing and feeling kind of greasy. Again, way too salty. There were bits and pieces of pork in the bottom of the bowl, so I'm not quite sure how they make this….black garlic oil as well.

I recall talking to Dennis about this a couple of days later…..I'm sure he'll chip in his opinion in one of his posts. YY and her husband send me a text message last week telling me they were having ramen here. Before I could warn them off the tsukemen, MrQ had gone ahead and ordered it. I heard he wasn't very happy…..oh, and they told me the place was super hot! So well, we know they're really consistent, right?

Ramen Yamadaya
4706 Clairement Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

You can read Dennis's post here.

Kirbie's post can be found here.

Gastrobits post can be found here.

Shopping and eating in the Market-99Ranch

September 17, 2012 Cathy Markets & Grocers

Welcome back to our blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is still a bit overwhelmed with things happening, ed (from Yuma) is also dealing with whelming. Cathy is underwhelmed so has blogged this post for you.

For some time now, I've posted about local grocery stores where I shop which have in store prepared food areas. All of them do, you know. 99Ranch is no exception, other than it is also a very large chain, with 36 stores in Northern and Southern California, Washington, Nevada and Texas.

There is only one location in San Diego on Clairmont Mesa Boulevard, just East of the 805. It's pretty much a compendium of Asian canned and bottled foods and condiments, snacks and sundries.

It sells the usual and unusual fruits and vegetables and fruits, dairy products, meats, rice, noodles, soy based 'meats' and pickled everything.

There are eight live fish tanks,

a very good variety of whole fish and

also fish steaks are available.

The store is currently undergoing a step by step remodel, with new flooring, adding open freezer areas, new doored freezers…

The bakery area has temporarily moved (where the Soup Lady used to be) and is much nicer than the old area, with new display cases. We've notice new shelving and a rearrangement of the regular grocery aisle, which have been shortened to allow for the new freezers parallel to the meat and seafood cases.

In any case, the Steam Tray/ready to eat area is not yet updated. I posted about the food from this steam table area in 2007 and suppose it's time for an update, although not much has changed.

Nor has the Dim Sum area.

The roast chicken and duck area remains next to the cash register…

There are still Monday thru Friday combination specials, now $3.49. You can see they are subject to change.

This area, where beverage and soup orders are made and the open refrigerators have snacks is now the temporary bakery area from the above new bakery photo.

One day the soup was on special for $2.99. It had five shrimp and pork dumplings along with the noodles and bok choy, all cooked after you had paid and presented your reciept. It was very good. I hope the nice Soup Lady area returns; it was sad to not see her the other day.

This was a Monday Special ($3.49) the fish filet with sauce (the sign says tomato sauce, but this was a sweet and sour sauce) with rice. Good and crisp. Turnover is very quick here and nothing from the steam trays is ever old or stale.

This was a Friday Special ($3.49) and was supposed to be beef stew, but I don't think that meat is beef. In any case, it was a very good sauce over nice (not mushy) vegetables (the sauce is not sweet and not too salty/does not need any condiment added).

I always like the chicken roll wrapped in tofu ($3.50). It's quite large in the tray and is cut to fit into the box once you order it. Perfectly seasoned. No carbs!

One of the grab and go snacks, the Vegetarian Spicy Sauce, is usually a take home item, but one day I decided to buy it and have it as a side, with an a la carte…

Fried whole tilapia ($3.50). It made a nice meal.

Here's my obligatory fish carcass photo.

99Ranch is in a good, central location and the in store food court area serves some very good food. Shopping here is always an adventure, with so many items available. I hope everyone is having a good week!

99Ranch Market 7330 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard, San Diego 92111 (858) 974-8899 website

Summer is almost over-even in San Diego. Meals change.

September 16, 2012 Cathy Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are reading. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are still busy this weekend, so Cathy is continuing to blog.

Despite this crazy hot weather we've had the past few weeks, the clock tells me that days are getting shorter. Waking at 6 a.m. with darkness broken only by the light of the moon (if there is a moon) and the sun not peeking over the horizon for another half hour or so means the chill I am enjoying only for another hour now will be the norm in a few weeks. A look at the calendar reminds me that menus will be changing. I thought I'd post about some meals and/or snacks enjoyed over some of the warm Summer days.

One June day when I was volunteering, I chose the Pesto Chicken box lunch, thinking it would merely be the least offensive choice.

This was the most surprising, delicious flavor combination and sandwich I have had in a very long time. Not only was the chicken a full grilled breast half, served with lettuce, tomato and a mild cheese along with the pesto, but a grilled red pepper completed the flavor points. I learned to roast peppers over an open flame at home, pop the peppers into a plastic bag to steam and easily peel off that skin and have peppers available in the fridge to satisfy cravings and use on sandwiches made at home.

Starbucks re-released their green coffee based beverages called Refreshers (originally San Diego was a test market in the Summer of 2010), the Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus flavors are available in packets and cans or can be made for you in the store- fresh mint leaves compliment the lime and small berries are in the very berry flavor. Neither has a hint of coffee flavor or bitterness, and neither is overly sweet…they are refreshing Refreshers, but I think they will again go off the menu when other seasonal beverages are back in the rotation.

Cold noodle plates, like this Hiyashi from Yakyudori Yakitori, will be leaving menus soon. So simple, refreshing and filled with flavor. I always wait to see the signage on the walls of Japanese restaurants announcing the return of cold noodles. Must get one last meal of these in before they disappear.

These most creatively delightfully flavored, thick and crunchy Lays potato chips, made in Canada and given to me from caninecologne after her vacation there this past summer are but a mere memory and now on my list when I will be able to visit Canada later this year.

This ingredient list shows you how creative the meld of flavors are to make the chips 'merely' ketchup flavor. Radish concentrate, dehydrated garlic, black current concentrate? Who would've thought?

The small shave ice bowl at Big Joy Family Bakery is only purchased one time a year, even though it is available all the time. The shaved ice is topped with a very good vanilla ice cream, sweetened condensed milk, small mochi and sweet bean powder, surrounded by fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberry, kiwi and banana) for less than $5 makes this an affordable treat.

I hope everyone made it through this hot (but not not humid) weekend and Summer. Another week begins and Autumn will be here on Friday!

Delicias a la Lena- Oaxacan (El Cajon)

September 15, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You have somehow navigated your way to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk as well as ed(from Yuma) are both busy with those end of Summer things and today Cathy writing and sharing another local wonderful eatery.

Well. I've mentioned before that everyone has a 'favorite' taco shop, close to home and close to work. People tell me about their favorite place and favorite items sold there. There's a long story as to how The Mister and I found Lena's; know we had this adventure on our own. The condensed version is we walked into the Liquor Store next to Kaelin's Mi Pueblo Market that had the words "carne asada" on the door, thinking they made tacos, found out they were selling carne asada in a freezer next to bags of ice cubes, asked the clerk if he knew of a place to buy some good ready to eat food and he directed us here:

Garcias Puebla Mercado. It's been here since 1995(I'll do the math for you: 17 years).We ordered two burritos, each weighed almost two pounds (there was a scale at the checkout). While we were waiting, we looked around the small store, saw many people coming in, picking up hot tortillas out of the wooden box on the floor, noticed ready made carne and chicken asada, signs for carnitas meals on Wednesday as well as barbacoa and birria meal specials on Friday, house made mole, salsas, hot carrots and fascinating other items. When we did go to the front to pay, the nice lady told us for really good food -Oaxacan Style- to go to the shop just across the street, about a half block North. Both the store and the shop are family owned and run.

Now, in this crowded strip mall, at the very North end, there is an orange and yellow striped taco shop; that's *not* where you want to go.

This is where you want to be. Notice the grill out front. Every day around 2 p.m., mesquite grilled chicken is ready.

For $10.99, you get a dozen hot tortillas, rice, black beans (nicely flavored, mostly whole and without lard), a choice of red or green salsa (I do like both; house made and a blend of complex flavors) and quite a large chicken. The chicken has that delightful mesquite smoked flavor, even the next day.

When you go inside the small restaurant, a large 99¢ menu is above the cash register,

as well as the 'regular' menu above the kitchen area. Order, pay and have a seat. The food will be brought out to you. There are five tables, 16 chairs. Small, clean and friendly.

On one of our visits, we ordered two each of the carnitas and carne asada tacos ($1 each). You can see the tacos were quite full with the meat, guacamole, cilantro, onions and Cotija cheese and both the red and green salsas were brought out. The fresh corn tortillas, which are from Garcia's across the street, are thick, layered and so very fresh.
Also, we tried the 'less than $1 menu', choosing a quesedilla and memelita – a small memela, a toasted masa cake , with a choice of red or green sauce) topped with more Cotija cheese.

The quesedilla, though small, was quite filled with melty white cheese- Oaxaca cheese.

One of my favorite items here-from the 'regular' menu, #17, a gordita ($1.99). This is a fresh made masa cake with a few black beans in the mix, fried then cut, filled on the top and bottom with those luscious black beans, a lot of shredded creamy Oxaca cheese, crema, lettuce and tomatoes. Crunchy, fresh, and something I never expected.

On one visit, we ordered a $1.99 memela (this time topped with red sauce; much larger than the 99¢ version, although I don't have a reference point in this photo to show you the sense of scale) and a 99¢ Tlacoyo (an oval shaped baked masa, filled with a layer of black beans, topped with a choice of sauce and Cotija cheese)

You can see the thin layer of beans in this cross section view; this simple 99¢ snack is just perfect. It's larger counterpart on the regular menu, the Tlayuda ($6.99), includes a choice of meats and is more than a meal for me.

We noticed "Tostilocos $2.99" sign in the front window and tried the version here. It's a vegetarian version- no cueritos. Good to satisfy a crunchy, salty, tamarind, spicy chamoy craving. (here's a link to my post about my favorite Tostilocos)

Here's a photo of another gordita ordered; you can see the fried then sliced crispy 'bun'. The other item is another tlacoyo, this time topped with the red sauce.

From the regular menu, #14 Mole negro ($5.99). We have been on the lookout for great home made mole ever since Los Pueblos had closed in May. We found it. Lena told us that it takes three women (all relatives) all day to make the mole used here and sold in the small market across the street. You can taste the variety of spices and so many flavors with every bite. The chicken leg had the smoky mesquite flavor which complimented the sauce. The enchiladas are also topped with this mole.

So many items all made from scratch, just like at home. Another great find in El Cajon.

Lenas is not your average Mexican restaurant, not a taco shop. At all.

Delicias a la Lena 1398 East Main Street (between Sultan Baklava and Kaelin's Market, other side of Main Street) El Cajon 92021 (619)590-1138

Garcias Puebla Mercado 1354 East Main Street 92021 (619)590-1416

A Plethora of Tomatoes-easy and quick meal

September 14, 2012 Cathy Cooking, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You have found the blog mmm-yoso!!! -it's about food. On this hot day, Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are doing things other than blogging. Cathy is your blogger du jour.

It's getting close to Autumn and our garden, which started from seed, has begun to ripen at an alarming rate. We planted a few different varieties of tomatoes:

These French cherry tomatoes have produced more than 25 stems like this one.

These are Genovese tomatoes, before changing color; six hidden in this maze of leaves. The plants are taller than me!

We planted strawberries in three hanging pots this year, and picked whenever we wanted a snack.

Sweet peppers and Purple German tomatoes (that's how the seed packet was labeled) are in a total of five regular and hanging pots in our front yard.

These are Japanese Momotoro tomatoes. A 6 inch plant was being sold for $1.99 in front of Nijiya Market in April. The plant is now more than 7 feet tall and has produced 24 of these extra large-egg size tomatoes.

We've also planted eggplant, yellow squash, green beans and peas which have already been picked and enjoyed.

There are also eight more ears of corn which will be ready this weekend. Fortunately, we spaced the planting of those. We also planted basil, dill, sage, tarragon and mint which are regularly used when we cook. There are also 6 artichoke plants and 3 cardoon which have not done much but produce silvery leaves.

For a long while, we'd have two or three tomatoes ripe and ready to eat each morning. Then it got to about six a day…then last Monday morning, and almost every day since, this happened:

The International Tomato Festival began: French, Italian, German and Japanese tomatoes, ripe and ready to eat each morning. What to do?

Some shredded Mozzarella, a bit of onion, basil and tarragon are always used. This recipe can vary depending on what else is available.

You can make this with no added ingredients, starting out with olive oil and onion along with the tomatoes in the pan…

Or put some olive oil in a hot pan with the onion and tomatoes (and in this case spinach, sometimes chopped peppers, sometimes squash) and leave on medium heat, uncovered.

The above photo is what the only tomatoes look like when they have cooked down, after about ten minutes on medium.

I remove some of the juice, making small 'wells' in the tomatoes, and put an egg in each well. Cover the pan.

After about a minute (and less than two minutes) the eggs are almost cooked.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the eggs (you can also put fresh herbs on top now) and cover the pan. Turn off the heat. The cheese will melt and eggs will finish cooking.

Pretty easy and the results are wonderful. The concentrated tomato flavor is simple and complex at the same time. We've had variations of this recipe for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it never gets old.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. Stay cool!

Revisits to Grandma Tofu and BBQ (aka Halmouny/Hal Mu Ni)

September 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

It had been a while since I'd visited Halmouny, our last couple of visits were less than stellar and the Missus hated Her Seolleongtang. After over a year and a half, I wanted a dolsot bi bim bap and decided to revisit Halmouny.

The place looked virtually the same, now with a lunch menu, but I went with the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap which is not on the lunch special menu.

This was quite good; the best I'd had in a while, the rice nice and crusty after a couple of minutes in the dolsot; the cho-jang had that nice combination of spicy-savory-sour-sweet that enhances any dish. I was more than satisfied with this.

The panchan on the other hand was fairly pedestrian. The baechu kimchi was especially salty and not very pleasant.

I did enjoy the meal enough that I returned a couple of weeks later to try something off the lunch special menu.

I went with the Ttukbaegi Bulgogi something that I'd had here before. I really didn't enjoy it too much, but wanted to see if it had improved.

It was nice t see that the whole array of panchan, be it ever so humble was included with lunch specials. The Ttukbaegi Bulgogi however didn't fare as well.

When I tried the Ttukbaegi Bulgogi before, it was way too sweet. This time it had hardly any flavor at all…perhaps a dash of soy sauce and a faint sesame oil flavor. The meat and everything else was fine, but man, this was bland.

During this visit I noticed that all rice was now served in a dolsot….stone pot. There's now some nice crusting action going on here.

Which all leads up to tonight……the Missus was craving Korean food, but not really BBQ. Did I dare mention Hal Mu Ni? And yet, I thought why not?

We both ordered dishes that we'd had before….and had been very good one time and not so good another. One really funny thing is that the Missus now knows that panchan is traditionally meant to be consumed with the meal and is not an appetizer….this understanding sure has made our meals in Korean restaurants much smoother.

The Missus decided to order the Seolleongtang, a favorite of Hers, but was one of the items that had us stop coming on our last visit here together.

I usually grab for the sea salt on the table whenever we get Seolleongtang, but this was well flavored and didn't need any help. The beef was tender, with a good bovine flavor. The Missus also enjoy the dolsot bop, which She let sit until She was half done with the Seolleongtang. By this time the rice had developed a nice crust. The Missus was given water to make Nurungji, but decided to pop the crusts into the bone broth. She also saved some up because I ordered this:

Man, this was good, better than the first time I had this here. The gul, steamed pork belly was moist, oinky and mildly sweet. This almost got Ed from Yuma doing the delici-yoso dance during a visit with hime two years ago. Had he been here tonight, it would have been a full on electric bugaloo…… The jokbal, pig trotters were nicely prepared, a symphony of textures, mildly sweet and savory, with a background anise flavor. Though we prefer lettuce as the delivery system, the napa cabbage did alright. Well, Ms "I don't eat pork" developed Her own way of eating this. She'd get a piece of meat, lay on a good quantity of ssamjang, that wonderful fermented bean-chili paste they make inhouse here, place a slice of raw garlic and jalapeno on top, making Her perfect bite. I'm more of a purist using the spicy, yet refreshing mul (radish) kimchi and oyster mixture along with ssamjang and cabbage leaves. i'm not a big fan of the salted shrimp dipping sauce though. We actually went through two dishes of ssamjangand two dishes of sliced japapenos and raw garlic….needless to say, there would be no public interaction for a good amount of time after this meal.

This turned out to be one of the better meals we've had in a while. With (hopefully) cooler weather coming up, I'm sure we'll be visiting for the soups and stews. I hope the days of inconsistency is a thing of the past here.

Grandma's Tofu & BBQ (Halmouny)
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

A revisit to Slaters 50/50

September 12, 2012 mmm-yoso Burgers

**** Slaters has closed

I forgot I had this little post in the pipeline for a while, but had forgotten about it until “CC” reminded me of the place. Anyway, the Missus loves the Veggie Burger here as well as most of the fried items…..health nut that She now is.

I received a couple of suggestions for “building” my burger after my post on Slaters and I really took them to heart….so much so that I’ll probably need a new one, heart that is, after eating this monstrosity:

Egad…….anyway, I was told to get my burger with “Vampire Dip” basically the super rich garlic artichoke dip and I decided to top things off with anchovies. That’s what the burger looked like and it was only a 1/3 pound burger….which was so over-the-top and rich it finished me, before I could finish it. The flavor of the garlic sauce and anchovies just killed everything else….I could have eaten one of my old shoes and would never have known…heck it might even make the burgers here palatable. This just felt sinful and wrong….I guess I prefer my burgers without an extra helping of guilt.

Honestly, it’s a nice burger without all the “stuff”… I really needed a shower after this, maybe even a cigarette…. I’ll stay with “just a burger” next time.

As much as I like the burgers here, this was just too much.

Slaters 50/50
2750 Dewey Road
San Diego, CA 92106

You can read my previous post on Slaters here.

Revisits: China Max for lunch

September 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

Another revisit coming at ya'…….

China Max:

A couple of weeks back, before things started getting really crazy at work, I managed to meet the Missus for lunch. If we manage to meet, the usual place would be Izakaya Sakura, but on this day, I was craving pan fried noodles and the Missus was craving something….well kinda weird in my opinion…just read further.

To me, China Max does the best pan fried noodles in the area….it has gotten pretty pricey though. The seafood pan fried noodles are now $16.95 and that's the lunch special price! Yikes!!! However, in this case we get the best of all worlds…..

The Missus gets the shrimp, fish, etc…..I get all the seafood She doesn't want and all the noodles I can deal with. Love this dish as the slow metamorphosis begins…starting at the crisp edges and the portion under the "gravy" which slowly becomes a "wet" noodle dish. Love the contrasts of textures, the flavor of the sauce isn't too salty, nor does it overwhelm anything….though I will say the quality of the fish has sometimes wavered.

The Missus had a weird craving for Shrimp with Lobster Sauce….which I just don't care for….

I think of it as shrimp cooked in pasty egg drop gravy….the Missus on the other hand has a strange affection for this.

I guess we needed some greens so the Missus ordered Gailan….nicely done, but we usually don't order vegetables when eating out unless it's something special….I can usually pull all of this off at home.

I've been a bit down on Dim Sum in San Diego…..for the last, say……four or five years. The lack of consistency, which to me, often appears to be a lack of effort, has kind of gotten old. But I always want to have my mind changed and over the last couple of years, I think China Max has done the best with regards to dim sum in the area. So why not try a couple of items since were here….

The Pan Fried Shrimp and Chive Dumplings looked good…..

But was barely lukewarm inside…it didn't look it, but was also on the greasy side. These dumplings always have a bit oiliness to them, but when not right, they edge to greasiness.

On the other hand, the wrappers to the Shrimp and Spinach Dumplings were dry and brittle.

The shrimp had good flavor, accented by the greens, but this is a dumpling and the filling is just half the story.

I'm wondering if and when dim sum in San Diego will catch up with what's going on twenty-first century. I guess as long as mediocrity can buy the children of these restaurant owner's Mercedes Benz's things will stay the same. I do enjoy traditional dim sum when it's done right….but it has been a long time since I have had dim sum where I thought that 2 out of every 3 dishes were ok. 1 of 3 might be ok in baseball, but not in dim sum…..

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111

Revisits: No Pho at Pho Ban Mai, Pho Lucky, and Que Huong

September 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here's a round-up of revisits……

Pho Ban Mai:

Man, I hadn't been here since September of last year. I was thinking of having some Banh Xeo and this seemed just the spot. Not much has changed since my last visit…very clean, tables a bit too close together…..

I was quite hungry and thought some Bi Cuon would do as a nice start.

The wrappers were done a bit too thick and wrapped real tight. Actually, not much in here, the Bi really lacked flavor and was on the dry side. The nuoc mam cham is still good here, not watered down and not too sweet.

Then of course, my "crepe" appeared. It looked pretty much the same as on previous visits, perhaps not as crunchy, but still pretty good.

Overall, still the same…..not too much filling, but what's there is done nicely. The pork tender, the shrimp not overdone, and not too greasy.

As with previous visits, the service here is quite "modern"…..no dealing of the menu with someone standing over you, water was refilled, etc….. I would probably visit more often if we lived closer.

Pho Ban Mai
8991 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Pho Lucky:

Yes, yet again. The Missus was still a bit bitter about the nem nuong cuon at Dat Thanh and wanted to use this as a sanity check. It was quite busy when we arrived, I had never been seated almost at the west end of the restaurant before.

I had decided on getting the Banh Mi Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew with Bread), but suddenly shifted when I sat down. After chatting with the Missus, I thought why not do about the same thing we did at Dat Thanh…..

Starting with Goi Cuon (spring rolls).

These were wrapped a bit too thick, but did have a good quantity of herbs for flavor. The pork was quite tasty overall. Of course, texturally, I was missing that nice crunch that fried egg roll wrappers added to the spring rolls at Dat Thanh and Brodard, but these were nice….the Missus loves the peanut sauce here….She went through three and a half little bowls!

Next up, the Nem Nuong Cuon……

In terms of flavor, this was nice…the grilled pork "sausage" was decently flavored and caramelized….good flavors from the herbs, not as heavily wrapped as the goi cuon. Kind of one note in texture. Still, this was better than I expected.

To end things up, I decided to order what I think is the most expensive item on the menu, the Com Tam Dac Biet – house special broken rice, which is something like $9.65. I'd never had that here and really didn't expect much, but it was a rather pleasant surprise.

The Missus thought the pork chop was pretty good, I thought it a bit too salty and not sweet enough. The grilled shrimp were overcooked and under flavored. The Bi was decent but mostly just skin, without enough rice powder which adds so much to it. The cha, steamed egg was nice…I'd expected it to be dry, but it was pretty good, nice flavor. The Missus loved the sugar cane shrimp….She just loved it and I think has a new favorite here. The broken rice was moist but not very fragrant. Not in the same league as the top notch com tam places, but better than I expected.

Is it just me, or has service here gotten a bit nicer….other than the woman who runs the register, over the years? Or perhaps I've just gotten used to it.

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Que Huong:

**** Que Huong has closed

Actually, about a week before this, Cathy, Carol, Dennis, and myself had one of our all too rare get togethers. We gathered because one of our favorite, now quite inactive (with good reason), fellow food bloggers, Sawyer was visiting. As always it was a great time….though you'll have to depend on someone else to post about it….. The place Carol and Cathy choose was Que Huong, a perfect place for a family style meal….and those wings, of course….which I hadn't had in a while.

Funny thing, about a week after that meal, I was craving those wings. The Missus had a girls night out, so I decided to head to Que Huong and have some wings. Which I had all to my greedy self….

I've heard folks tell me that these were on the small side….but I like the skin to meat ratio…you can have all the fat meat laden wings you want…heck, why not just have a thigh while you're at it? These do fine by me. The other thing is, you need to eat them here right when they get to the table; it's maximum crunch and peak flavor….

Anyway, Jay, one of the owners told me he's going through a thousand pounds of wings a month now…sheesh. Jay also told me that his mom was in the kitchen and seeing that I was looking for something lighter to go with my wings, she had made a simple salad of roasted chicken with rau ram and onions. Hey, if mom's making it, I'd better order it, right?

This was pretty good, lots of black pepper, very simply put together, an entire leg – thigh and drum of chicken stripped topped some lettuce. The combination of the citrus-pepper-cilantro flavor of the rau ram, the pungency of the onions, cut with lime for that nice acidic touch was really good. I'm thinking of making this at home…….so simple, yet it really livened my palate.

As did those chicken wings….

Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Tunisia: Tozeur – Oases in the morning, around Tozeur, Camel for lunch, wine in the afternoon

September 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

Man, it had been a full day….our morning started at the crack of dawn, with a walk through Kairouan's Medina and some "real" brik for breakfast. After packing up, we met Ben and we toured the Great Mosque, the Medina, and bought some makroud to bring home. We then headed to the ruins of Sufetula outside Sbeitla and had lamb on the side of the road. It was getting close to dusk when we completed the last leg of our drive….man, I bet Ben was bushed, but he didn't show it at all. Driving up the hill to our hotel, the Tozeur location of the El Mouradi chain, I noticed quite a few abandoned resort/hotel properties, things weren't doing too well with regards to tourism after the revolution it seems.

The town of Tozeur is the largest city right before the Chott el-Jerid, the vast 5000 square kilometer great salt lake that we would cross to get to the city of Douz, then Ksar Ghilaine and the Sahara. Like almost all cities and town in the area, Tozeur sprung up around an Oasis, which before the advent of tourism provided the main means of work in Tozeur, farming.

The El Mouradi in Tozeur was perfectly fine, in fact, if you took into account that we were, by most definitions visiting a strip of almost desert in the middle of two large salt lakes…..this is not quite what you think your accommodations would look like.

Of course, dinner and breakfast were included…..the food here was actually better than at Le Kasbah and we started getting into a habit of having some of the local wine, most of it very light with dinner. Tunisia is a Muslim country, but while alcohol consumption in public is frowned upon, years of French rule has ingrained the wine culture here.

After dinner, the Missus just had to get Her constellation app back out and walk around staring, not at the sky, but at Her iPhone…..

The next morning, we got up very early as we usually do and the Missus went for a swim while I checked through emails. We found out that the restaurant actually opened at 5am….I found out that folks heading back to Tunis left really early in the morning. Ben met us at exactly 8, we jumped in the all-terrain vehicle and headed off. Today was going to be an "easy day"…..

We were headed out to the very popular Mountain Oases (I just found out that Oases is the plural of Oasis – you learn something everyday). I loved this sign by the side of the road.

Heading west, you'll soon see mountains arise from the barren landscape, then a swatch of green. This is Chebika.

Soon you pass square looking buildings…..this is "New" Chebika which was built after a huge flood in 1969 wiped out the original Berber village up the hill. We arrived at the entrance to "Old Chebika" where a ton of cars and SUVs were parked, with a bunch of souvenir, coffee shops, and restaurants were clustered. This looked like a big tourist mess, something we hadn't run into since we arrived in Tunisia. Ben introduced us to a rotund and jolly gentleman named Mohammed…..who is born and raised in Chebika. With Mohammed we were able to go off the standard tourist trail leading to the spring that fed the oasis…..

There were some tight squeezes and some rather slippery steep sections, but the effort was worth it.

Because the sun shines directly on the oasis in Chebika, with the two mountains walling off the palmeraie, the oasis has earned the arabic name of Qasr el-Shams, which means "Castle of the Sun". One can easily see how it earned that name.

You could see the ruins of the old village clearly, with the new village in the background from here.

After making our way back down, we walked down the trail and to the spring which is the source off all of this…….which was surprisingly modest.

All of this, the birds singing, the frogs croaking, the dates from the palm tress, came from this little pulse of water flowing from the ground. It was humbling experience for the both of us. We've always heard the phrase "water is life", but never had it hit home like it did here.

After making our way back to our vehicle, Ben told us we'd go all the way to Mides first, since that's usually the last stop for tourists and it wouldn't be quite a busy when we arrived. Mides is a small oasis village, just a kilometer from the Algerian border. When we stopped Ben displayed his cellphone…he was getting hits from Algerian cell towers. As we stopped in the small palmeraie to take some photos, we heard a chorus of "clop-clop-clop" coming from down the road…soon enough we could see a shepherd and his sheep headed toward us.

It was really neat…..not even a look in our direction as they walked past us.

The view of Mides, perched above two gorges is quite dramatic.

The village here was also abandoned after the flood of 1969. If some of this looked familiar, I'm told the gorges were used in the movie the English Patient…..unfortunately, I've never been able to sit through the whole movie, so I can't tell you which scene it was.

The gorges also provided protection for the village….though not from flooding.

We then headed back and stopped at Tamerza, which was a rather modern looking city with ruins of the old village a bit east of the new town. We stopped at one of the man-made waterfalls for a quick look.

Heading back to Tozeur, we stopped at the public market and the medina….most of the action was occurring outside the public market as most of the stall inside the market had already closed for the day.

By this time, Ben had kind of figured out that we were interested in food….thus, for our lunch, he took us to a place that served….well, this.

The name of the place was Restaurant de la Republique and Ben told me he usually eats here when in town. Looking over the menu, the did have Dromadaire on the menu in several forms and also had it available today.

So why not, right?

The Missus ordered the Steak de Dromadaire, I ordered Brochettes (kebabs).

As you can see, it's pretty dry stuff. Also, tough…and did I mentioned pretty mild in flavor?

Not a big deal, unlike donkey or cuy, not something I really want to have again…..

After lunch, Ben drove us to Tozeur's huge palmeraie. Depending who you talk to there are between 200,000 (guide books) and 600,000 (folks in Tozeur) palm trees in the oasis of Tozeur. It was pretty amazing, driving through all those trees. In the palmeraie, it felt almost humid. In addition to all the date palms, we saw figs and other plants and trees.

There are over 200 springs pumping water into this area. A very complex system of equitable irrigation and conservation is used. That system was designed in the 13th century and is still used today, by the man whose statue you see to the right, Ibn Chabbat, a mathematician. Pretty amazing stuff.

It was getting pretty hot and Ben dropped us back at the El Mouradi. The place was pretty empty; I think the afternoon sun had chased people indoors and many were probably still on tours.

The pool area had some of the best wifi reception and it seemed like a good idea to head to the bar and buy a nice bottle of wine, which we had along with some kindly provided olives poolside.

I even finished a post while sitting poolside having a nice light, fruity, and crisp glass of Tunisian Muscat.

After a nap, as is our habit, we headed off to dinner early……we tend to sit in the same area of the restaurant, as strange as that may seem.

It was again the usual suspects for dinner, though the mechouia here wasn't too bad, especially when we poured over a nice amount of the local olive oil.

We had also learned that the most popular brand of wine in Tunisia was Magon, named after the Carthaginian Agronomist Magon, who wrote his famous works on wine making during the time of the Phoenicians. It was a decent bottle, but we were finding that we enjoyed the crisp blancs more as they tended to go better with the food in Tunisia.

After dinner, we took a walk, then drifted off……we would need our rest!

Thanks for reading!