As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
I recently got an interesting email from "JB"…….who basically said, "you sure eat a lot of guts"….. Really? I didn't think so, until I looedk in my COMC (Clearing out the memory card) folder and it became all too clear…….
Sigh….I guess I do. Think I'll go get a cold one….and maybe some guts now…..
I hope you're having a great week!
It was fairly cold and rainy a couple of weekends ago and I found myself in Santee. It was still too early for Sab E Lee 2, but I was kind of hungry. So I decided on heading down the street a bit. I had never been to Pho Ca Dao in Santee, so I thought "why not"? Though I didn't make that decision without some hesitation since my recent luck, with pho hasn't been that great. Still, there wasn't much else that I really wanted in the area at 9 in the morning.
The place was a lot larger than it looked from the outside and the fragrance….or should I say the pho-ray-grance of soup hung in the air. Nice,bright and clean. The young lady who showed me to my table was very nice as well.
I decided on the eternal #4….everything but rare steak.
Though there was but a single sprig of basil, there was Ngo Gai (Culantro), and the young lady told me if I wanted more basil.
The broth was pretty neutral, slightly beefy, not as much anise and clove hints as I had experienced at the other locations. Still, it was not bad.
The noodles were fine…typical clump and all.
What was really surprising for me was the amount of tripe….well prepped tripe, crunchy, without soapy or foul flavor. The tendon was good, though not quite as tender as the ECB location.
All in all, I thought this place better then the Mira Mesa location. Even more surprising…..I thought this was better than any Pho I've recently had on Convoy. Kind of sad actually……
Pho Ca Dao
9535 Mission Gorge Rd
Santee, CA 92071
Mon-Thu, Sun 9am-9pm
Fri-Sat 9am-9:30 pm
If you're from Hawaii, I'm sure you heard Vegas called the "Ninth Island". I'm pretty sure that ore ex-pats from Hawaii live in Vegas than the rest of the United States combined. I'm not sure what the allure is, but I do remember folks I know packing up and moving back in the 90's, drawn by the gambling and the lower cost of living. Bozo told me that Vegas gets over 250,000 visitors from Hawaii a year and you really can't help but run into them. You'll run into them every which way you turn if you stay at the "capital of the Ninth Island", the California Hotel in downtown.
It was quite a phenomenon, how Sam Boyd and the California Hotel developed such a beloved relationship with local folks. In fact even been a book written about it
I didn't think I'd get the Missus to the Cali; there's so much else to interest Her. I could have lured Her with the oxtail soup from Market Street Cafe, but they only start serving that from 11pm. So while the Missus was occupied elsewhere, I decided to visit for old times sake. The crowd and believe me, it was pretty busy, looks a lot older nowadays. But Market Street Cafe is still going strong with folks waiting in line at 915 in the morning.
It was nice wandering around a bit…..great memories of those really 
cheap junkets we used to take. I've had many a meal at Aloha Specialties which wasn't open yet on this morning.
I don't really gamble anymore….the Missus gets major chest pains watching me lose perfectly good money which could have gone to Her next pair of Christian Louboutins. But I thought I'd part with a twenty for old times sake at the slots. Two pulls later I was up over $550! You always get the better odds at these type of places. I played it down to $500 and cashed out quickly. The folks working here have always been very friendly….probably because of the Hawaii connection.
I took a quick walk down Fremont Street, which looked really depressed……
Then it was time to hele……
I headed back up to Spring Mountain Road. I thought I'd treat myself to two medium size lunches, the first was to grab some poke at Hawaiian Style Poke.
Now the thought of eating fish in the middle of Nevada might seem a bit odd to you, but with all the transplanted locals….well, I was curious. I initially thought of hitting up the popular Poke Express, but Bozo told me that this little, fairly hard to find shop near the corner of Wynn and Spring Mountain Roads was the way to go….so I did.
The shop is tiny, with a fish counter and trays of small batches of fish. There are different "seasonings" on the fish, but it looks like they pour on the same shoyu based "sauce" on everything. Fair enough, as the fish looked pretty fresh. I drove across the street to the plaza that holds 99 Ranch Market and had at my poke under this…..
Both the spicy garlic and shoyu poke were ok.
The spicy garlic wasn't very spicy and though there was some garlic flavor it was pretty salty from the shoyu. The shoyu poke was also on the salty side and you could tell the fi
sh wasn't really "A" grade….though I gotta say, the prices aren't bad, $14.99 a pound if I recall. There were a couple of pieces with fibrous "sugi" and a few that were plain tough.
I think I'll check out Poke Express next time.
Hawaiian Style Poke
3524 Wynn Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89103
Mon and Wed-Fri 10am – 6pm
Sat-Sun 10am – 5pm
Closed Tuesday
Still, I had 500 bucks burning a hole in my pocket and another lunch spot to hit!
Until this past weekend, I hadn't been back down to Chula Vista in a while. On Saturday I made a trip to Hogetsu Bakery and since I had a bit of time took a drive around. I saw at least three trucks that I hadn't seen before. One of them was of particular interest, so I made some time to return the next day. In the lot of the liquor store where Third becomes Beyer and intersects Main was this truck.
Just the barbacoa sign would usually be enough to lure me in. I did enjoy the sign for some of the more "interesting" tacos and though fish tacos were priced at a dollar on the sign, they were going for 75 cents on this day!
So I placed my order and received a cup of consomme of the barbacoa type. Hot and soothing.
And of course I had to try the Barbacoa de Res Taco. It was worth the $1.75 as there was quite a bit of meat.
Loved the fact they brushed one side of the tortilla with consomme and put it on the griddle….I still haven't bought into having beans in these though. The salsa roja had some kick and the lime added some nice acid, but as a whole, the barbacoa was a bit too mild in flavor for me.
Still, I was really here because I saw this sign on the previous day:
In this case Caguamanta, a soup made with re-hydrated, dried manta ray. I love the intense, briney, ocean flavor of mantarraya, ever since I first had it while visiting Ed in Yuma back in 2005. It's not something very common; Mariscos Godoy sometimes serves Manta Ray Machaca, but other then that it's pretty slim pickings….
I ordered a "chica", the small size, not cheap at three bucks. I had it with cilantro and onions with crackers instead of tortillas. It arrived steaming hot.
The broth was pretty straight-forward and nothing fancy. I loved the addition of avocado which added an interesting creaminess to the whole deal. I was surprised at the amount of shredded mantarraya in this little cup! The flavor is not what you think; think of less salty bacalao meets less intense dried scallop. I've been told that mantarraya is a good substitute for sea turtle dishes…..though I can't really say from experience if that is true. As Ed from Yuma says, there a "Manhattan Chowder-ry" flavor to this.
I ended up buying the large size….which was a bargain at six bucks for the Missus who loved it.
The woman who took my order was quite nice as was the rather serious looking young man who replaced her. It seems like this is a family operation. It's good to have some variety amongst all the taco trucks in the area and I hope they keep the mantarraya on the menu.
Barbacoa & Frutas El Vaquero Truck
On the corner of Main and Beyer.
Current hours are from "about" 830 to as late as 5pm. The nice woman told me that they are currently in this location daily, but are thinking of taking Sunday off.
*** Update: Sadly, both of these places have closed.
A couple of porky sandwiches for a Sunday. I tried to make this a trio, but could never get to Bencotto on a day when they had the layered and rolled swine. I'm hoping to try it in the near future. Still, I did have two nice sandwiches recently.
Ariccia Market:
Well, being named Ariccia, the "home" of porchetta gives it away….you pretty much better have said rolled swine. There's actually a Porchetta festival in the town of about 20,000 every year in September. I had visited the market a couple of times before trying out the porchetta, I like the brand of French Harissa they sell.
Finally, a couple of months back, I had a chance to try the Porchetta Sandwich ($9):
I really enjoyed the balance of the sandwich, the moist pork worked well with the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the acid of the balsamic based sauce. The peppery-bitterness of the arugula really cleared out the richness and the lightly yeasty, almost rustically crackly bread made this a joy to eat. Nothing fancy here, just a combination of ingredients prepared properly, used in perfect context and proportion. Very nice. Consumed at 9 in the morning, it's a heck of a way to start your Sunday, I'll say that much.
Ariccia Italian Market
7441 A Girard Ave
La Jolla, CA 92037
There's one other tidbit about Ariccia you might not know. Ariccia has the distinction of being one of the places whose mention is banned by Chowhound. From what I recalled, this very sandwich was mentioned in a Chowhound post and the owner posted to thank them…and boom, any mention of the the place is removed by the moderators. I know, it's hard to believe….though CH does have a policy – noted here. I think the one thing that bothered me about the whole deal is that there's another restaurant owner, who has replied to posts on Chowhound, using his own name, defending policies, etc….. So he goes totally free while other one gets life in solitary. If you're going to have such severe policies, at least be consistent with them. 'Nuff said. CH has a way of being quite vengeful and condescending….it once called Ed from Yuma "one of those idiots and miscreants" when he questioned why a post was deleted. So I'm wondering what'll happen to me the next time I try to post on CH?
Roseville Cozinha:
About a week after the porchetta from Ariccia, we dropped by Roseville so the Missus could get Her cioppino fix. I hadn't realized that they had a version of porchetta on their menu as well. So of course I had to order it ($10):
In terms of heft and price, this was a nice deal. Even though the classic porchetta sandwich is a panini, I love the way Roseville simply salts, brushes with olive oil, then grills the wonderful breads from Con Pane. This ciabatta is no exception. The addition of fries made this a bit more than I could eat.
I can't say that the sandwich had the same harmonic balance as what Ariccia serves, but it sure did satisfy me.
Sadly, this was off the menu during our last visit….but hopefully they'll have it back on the menu periodically.
Roseville Cozinha
2750 Dewey Rd Suite 104 (Liberty Station)
San Diego, CA 92106
So there you go! Do let me know if you see more porchetta popping up elsewhere….so I can get my weekly dose of swine!
Just a quick post of what we've been eating at home recently.
We recently bought a Himalayan Salt Block, so we've been playing around with it.
The best thing so far has been heating up the block and quickly searing some thin sliced Wagyu Beef….too long on the block means some really salty stuff.
The Missus is still lovin' Her fish….here's a Pan Fried Hake with Dilled Vegetables and Marsala Mushrooms.
But the Missus's newest thing is having me make kebabs and kofte. Here's a Lamb Kebab with Turkish Spices. We also made all the meze as well.
It was quite good. Trying to keep those carbs down, we used butter lettuce to make lettuce cups of a sort.
But the Kofte I made from ground lamb and veal was even better.
Very juicy and tender. I also added thinly sliced eggplant that I roasted in the oven. This came together pretty quick for a nice weeknight dinner.
Here's some Red Cooked Oxtails.
From my old recipe.
Along with some Dried Fried Green Beans, which I hadn't made in a while.
I've got a couple more dishes, but I think I'll save them for full on recipe posts.
What have you been eating recently?
Like I earlier, it's almost like we've been stalking the place. But honestly, it seems like forever since I first noticed the coming soon sign back in September. So this afternoon, on my way home from work….I took my usual "stalker's glance" and saw folks walking into North Park Produce with shopping carts!
So the Missus and I stopped by on our way to dinner. I found out that they opened today, though their official "Grand Opening" is a couple of days away.
The shelves were full, but some of the produce bins are still empty and there's a section with a brick oven and kitchen area that's not ready yet. I'm thinking fresh baked breads and hopefully prepared food are soon to come.
Like every other location of NPP, this one seems to have it's own focus. I'll take a couple more visits to confirm. So here's the rest in photos.
And as usual….there's always something interesting that I had never noticed before.
They were quite busy, so I didn't have a chance to get their hours….I'll do that next time.
North Park Produce
4220 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117
Our little road trip took us from the Keauhou Farmer's Market, through Kamuela, with a stop at Village Burger. Just outside Hilo, we made a stop at one of those "old familiar places", Akaka Falls State Park….which actually has two waterfalls; the smaller Kahuna Falls….and the "Big Kahuna", Akaka Falls.
The trail here is really easy, about a half mile total and was a good opportunity for the Missus and I to get out and stretch our legs.
Not much has changed here….except there's now a $5 parking fee.
There's something about bamboo that cools me and gives me that relaxed "aaaahhh" feeling.
Before heading to our hotel, we drove into Hilo, near the airport and hit up Big Island Candies.
I've often recommended visiting Big Island Candies when in Hilo, but always add on…."make sure to bring money." They'll start serving you samples from the time you walk in the door, don't be surprised if you've done the ol' credit card damage before leaving. I was surprised not to see a tour bus or two in the parking lot while we were there.
Instead of staying around Banyan Drive, we opted for the Dolphin Bay Hotel, in a semi-residential area, right across the Wailuku River from downtown Hilo. The place reminded me of those 60's-70's apartments I grew up in. No A/C, but there was a kitchenette….so we decided, as we often do, to self cater.
I'm lucky enough to remember the fish auction at Suisan, long gone now. Suisan is still the major food and seafood distributor on the island and of course the shop on Lihiwai Street is still open for business.
The Missus was shocked when She asked for samples they'd give Her a couple of pieces of fish to try. I was surprised at the quality of fish for the price.
We ended up buying some "stuffs" for dinner.
If you're staying on Banyan Drive, Lihiwai street is close by.
It also seems that if you buy fish from Suisan, you can take it to the shop next door and they'll fry it up for you.
Suisan Company Limited
93 Lihiwai St
Hilo, HI 96720
We were happy to arrive on Saturday, because Suisan, like most of the other shops in Hilo is closed on Sunday…….we often joke that everyday feels like Sunday in Hilo, so Sunday feels like Christmas Day without the festivities!
We wanted to hit up one of our favorite places in Hilo, the Hilo Farmer's Market. We'd be leaving early the next morning, so even though the place was winding down, we wanted to see if things were as we remembered.
Even though the Farmer's Market runs 7 days a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays are the busiest, with the most vendors. You can get everything from rambutan to musubis here. The Missus loves the papaya from the market.
Located on the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Mamo Street, you really shouldn't miss it if you're in Hilo.
Hours:
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sunday 7am – 4pm
Wed and Sat 6am – 4pm
It really seemed like Hilo hadn't changed much……. After driving back to the hotel, the Missus decided on going for a walk….a loooong walk. We'd pretty much seen most of Hilo during our previous visits, so I thought why not.? We walked from the hotel right off of Puueo Street onto Kamehameha Avenue, drifting in and out of businesses, finally stopping on Bishop Street….here you can see a bridge over the Wailoa River.
It hard to believe that this area was once Shinmachi "New Town", a "thriving community" which was wiped out in the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960. If you ever have the chance, check out the small, but interesting Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo.
It was getting a bit sticky out and we headed back….stopping at KTA to refresh ourselves in the A/C and pick up some liquid refreshment. Dinner itself was quite satisfying, all the great veggies and the saussicon we bought at the Keauhou Farmer;s Market.
Because we had samples of the poke from Suisan, we knew we'd enjoy it. Though there seemed to be a lot of "sauce", the two poke we had weren't salty. The Missus preferred the wasabi poke.
There was just enough wasabi in this with a touch of sweetness.
The furikake poke was also good, though not quite as good as the wasabi version.
We both really took to something they called "Hawaiian Candy" at Suisan. It's very crisp, dried fish….crunchy like candy, salty like dried fish, it has an addictive quality that we both enjoyed.
Since this doesn't need refrigeration it lasts and we snacked on it during the rest of our trip. Good stuff!
We had tried the Mehana Red Ale earlier in the trip, so we opted for the Pale Ale, which turned out to be a bit too "hoppy" for the Missus. I still enjoyed it though. I would have enjoyed visiting the brewery, but we were in Hilo outside of their hours…..we'll get that in next time.
Of course, we had to have some boiled peanuts which the Missus just couldn't get enough of. I think She would be perfectly happy if all we ate was poke and boiled peanuts the entire time we were home.
We also finished up the tamarillos…..
Because we'd be getting an early start the next morning, we crashed early….but man, those coqui frogs, an invasive species of tiny, quarter sized frogs from Puerto Rico which make a very loud "KOOO-KEEE" sound kept me awake. I don't recall it being this bad before. Yikes! Oh well, we were on vacation, so what a couple of million frogs mating outside our window, right? Perhaps things had changed in Hilo since our last visit after all…….
Ramen has been picking up a good head of steam in San Diego the last couple of years, now it seems that just about everyone is serving the stuff. I call it San Diego's Ramen Renaissance…so I thought I'd go and grab some ramen. In Part 1, I revisited Underbelly for some hipster-ramen. In Part 2, I checked out Tec Chan, a Yakyudori wannabe. Now part three gets kinda boring as I revisited three places….a couple of which I've probably posted on ad nauseum in the past. My apologies….but it's kinda ramen weather out there tonight, right? So why not?
RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen:
It seems that the place is blowing up, at least according to The Eater, which has RakiRaki as one of the 19 hottest ramen shops in the US.
I did enjoy the Tsukemen and love the noodles, but have been less than happy with the really salty broth and the rather skimpy; even for ramen portion sizes. The menu seems to be ever changing and living partially on the alkaline water hype.
Every time I visit, there seems to be another page added to the menu. On this visit, there's now a line of "Super Deluxe" ramen? Which of course, I just had to try. So there went $11.75 for the Shoyu Tonkotsu, with flame blistered prime XO Underbelly Chasiu. Man, these guys are really hyping it up……which is what it ended up being, as I wasn't too impressed with "Super Deluxe".
The noodles were just wonderful as always, nice crunch and all. The chasiu slices were as thin as playing cards, slightly dry, and very low on the flavor scale. The broth was served at too low a temperature, giving it a slight greasiness, rather than being rich. For me, the most disturbing thing about the broth is how salty it was….man I just blew up like a gorged tick. Now for all the we use alkaline water, health benefits, and all that, I'm wondering, do these folks use MSG?
Still, I decided to return yet again. And guess what? Another handy, dandy, new page to the menu! It seemed like a good deal, ramen combined with a rice bowl. What really struck me was how they like to associate "names" with everything here. Now I don't know who the poster boy Chef Takeo Araki is….but I have heard of Junya Watanabe….at least, Junya Watanabe the fashion designer. Well, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that. I'll go turn in my "man card" tomorrow. Based on the size of the ramen, there's almost no doubt that this was created by someone who needed to keep his models slim and trim. For a scale perspective, compare the amount and size of the bean sprouts to everything around it.
The piece of charred lean pork, tasted like charred lean pork. The noodles were perfect and this wasn't nearly as salty as what I had before, though still pretty high on the sodium scale. The broth has some seafood tones to it as well.
The rice bowl had a good quantity of rice, making this a bit of a carb bomb.
I enjoyed the texture of the chicken karaage which was crisp and light. I really don't think it should
be burdened with what basically amounts to a cloying sweet chili sauce, but that's just my opinion. Just as it's my opinion that the folks working here are really nice and getting more efficient with every visit.
Personally, I'm going to give RakiRaki a rest….when the weather gets a bit warmer I'll drop by for the Tsukemen. I'm wondering how large that menu will be by then? How many different types of "premium super-duper delux-a-rooney" tsukemen will there be on the menu? Be still my heart……
RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Ramen Yamadaya:
**** Ramen Yamadaya has closed
So the Missus was asking me why I've been having all this ramen and She hasn't? Well, She's kind of ummmm… shall we say selective? But after being married all these years, I have an understanding of Her tastes and preferences.
She loves Santouka, but I finally knew there would a bowl to compete with Santouka's Tonkotsu at Yamadaya. It's the Kotteri Tonkotsu with Kakuni Pork and extra firm noodles.
This clocks in at about the same price as RakiRaki's "Super Deluxe" ramen. The Missus loves a rich tonkotsu style broth, with that wonderful think broth that coats your tongue and tummy. This is also one of the least salty tonkotsus out there as well. When the temp of the broth is right, all the Missus can say is "aaaah".
The problem is that the Missus is not fond of the standard issue Hakata style straight noodles. Even though we order it extra firm, it just never holds texture for the entire bowl.
The kakuni is preferred over the chashu, though it may seem a bit over the top to some.
I've had it when it just wasn't right here, waxy and a bit tough, but most times it's decent.
Speaking of temperature….we were speaking of temperature, right? The place is nice, warm, and cozy right now, though based on my previous experiences, I'm wondering if they have the heat under control, because it got really hot in here during the summer and fall. Well, at least they've got the outside seating squared away. Service has been ok, sometimes things are forgotten, on occasion you get the idea they are trying to get you out the door…..well mainly because of the mass of humanity waiting outside in the wind and rain, so that'sunderstandable. This is another place to hit up early on in the evening if possible.
Ramen Yamadaya
4706 Clairement Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Santouka Ramen:
Which leads to the shop which I think got the ball really rolling on this ramn-mania back in 2008. I really wasn't too impressed on my first visit due to broth temperature problems. Luckily, things got straightened out and I've never had a BTM…."broth temperature malfunction" since then. and of course, the Missus' favorite version at Sanotuka is the shio toroniku style, with fatty pork on the side. So of course after requesting and eating at Yamadaya for the second time I just had to ask Her which She preferred…..Yamadaya or Santouka. This led us to grabbing some ramen at Santouka, for research purposes of course.
Shio Toroniku Style……..
I kind of know which way this tree is falling, so to put it in the Missus's words. "The noodles at Santouka are much better, firm, with a slight crunch, they also hold texture for the entire meal." The pork for the toroniku style ramen has a better flavor, more porky, though tonight's pork is on the tougher side, it is usually much more tender." "I prefer the broth from Yamadaya, because it's less salty and also almost velvety. But the broth at Santouka seems to retain heat better; perhaps it's the bowl, but that makes it very comforting." "I guess it depends on what kind of mood I'm in." "We're going to have to find my perfect bowl." Uh-oh, that sounds like a never-ending quest.
Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111
I'm sure you folks have a ramen place that's your favorite for whatever reason. I think it's great to have choices!
It's quite easy to fall into a routine, going back to those places that have proven to be "tried and true" or convenient. This year, I'm trying to make it a point to revisit some of those places that had kind of slipped from my mind for one reason or another. Here are two places that I last visited in….are you ready? 2006……man, I've put a whole lot of miles on the odometer since then. What were you doing in 2006?
Da Nang Food to Go:
**** Da Nang Food to Go has closed
It's easy for this place to just kind of slip your mind. Located in a teeny spot next to a 7-11 and a jewelry store on El Cajon Boulevard, it's one of those blink and you'll be past it kind of places. Add to that the fact that there now only seem to be five parking stalls(down from 7) now available…….
The place looks just about the same as our visit back in 2006. Same wood siding, same tables, same chairs…..
Menu prices seem to have gone up about a buck….not bad really.
The food is based on Central Vietnamese specialities; Bun Bo Hue, Banh Beo, Banh Bot Loc, that kind of thing. Feeling kind of hungry I started with some Banh Bot Loc ($4); which I thought were pretty good all those years ago.
These were huge by Banh Bot Loc standards and the tapioca flour based wrappers were way too gummy for my taste. There was a nice piece of shrimp inside, but these dumplings were just too much wrapper.
Of course I had to try the Bun Bo Hue ($5.95), which arrived appropriately steaming hot.
Strange, but I noticed that the usual pork hock was MIA in this bowl. The noodles were pleasantly slippery and firm, and the herbs, sprouts, and vegetables were fresh, though it was mostly bean sprouts, lettuce, and cabbage.
The soup seemed a bit odd to me; it was very sweet and lacking in spice. The thick cut meats were in attendance, but there was nary a piece of tendon to be found…… I wonder if they "gringo-ized" this? I still enjoyed the Gio Lua here, the nice peppery flavor and meatyness makes it one of my favorite versions.
I do want to try other items on the menu, if I can remember to return. Funny thing, I mentioned this place to MrQ…..even though he grew up near by, he hadn't a clue this place existed. Da Nang Food to Go is funny in that way I guess.
Da Nang Food to Go (aka Quan an Da Nang)
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
Pho Viet Cali:
*** Pho Viet Cali has closed
Here's another place that I visited back in 2006. I really didn't care for the Pho, but I was on the West side of Mira Mesa Boulevard, so I thought why not?
Like Quan an Da Nang, this place looks just like it did in March of 2006.
Pho Viet Cali has remained in my memory because it was the first place where I saw Pho for over six bucks….a threshold that's long been passed by most places. So now a $6.95 bowl of pho doesn't faze me.
I got the #4 – Well Done Steak, Flank, Brisket, Tendon, and Tripe.
Man, other than the noodles….and the soup being hot, this was pretty bad. The soup was on the unpleasant side, bitter, and quickly gave me the MS heebie-geebies…..I've got a decent tolerance of the stuff, but this was too much. I recall the bowls having a good amount of meat, but things have apparently changed.
I guess the tripe and tendon were out sick on this day and the flank had that stale "ice-box" flavor that made it inedible.
Instead of going through this in excruciating detail….I think I'll stop here. I'm sure you get the picture, right?
Pho Viet Cali
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd. #113
San Diego, CA 92121
I'm hoping for better luck next time……