April 2013 – Page 2

Big Island: South Kona Green Market and Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company

April 18, 2013 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Hawai'i - The Big Island, Markets & Grocers

After a nice lunch at The Manago Hotel, we noticed a "farmer's market" across the street.

It was the Sunday South Kona "Green Market".

There weren't too many produce stands, but lots of health food and "new age-y" type booths.

It was quite amusing. I turned to the Missus and told Her; "the sixties never ended, it just moved to South Kona". Seeing the all health products made me feel kind of guilty having eaten that nice pork chop across the street, but that didn't last very long…….

We jumped in the car heading toward Kona. But instead of stopping there we ended up all the way in Kawaihae and the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company. The reason I remembered the place was because of the last photo in this post.

Part store, part factory, part tour, samples galore.

Like the sign says…."welcome to the nut house"………

After sampling just about everything they had out and chugging some samples of Kona coffee, I pretty much decided that the best items were plain nuts, the Spam flavored(more like bacon), and some of the glazed stuff.

All hail the shrine of Spam nuts……

There's a production line behind the window…….

you can even get your, ahem, nuts cracked…..

We had the whole place to ourselves and the nice ladies working here were a hoot!

As we paid for our stuff a minivan of tourists arrived and they were organizing a short "tour"….our que to hele on.

Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company
61-3251 Maluokalani St
Kawaihae, HI 96743

A Happy Hour Revisit to The Lion’s Share

April 17, 2013 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

The Lion's Share is another one of those places where the starters and apps had always seem to outshine the entrees. Though I've only posted on the place once, I'd eaten there a couple of times since. The Missus had never been to the Lion's Share, so I thought it would be a nice place for an early happy hour. The place can be fairly pricey, but with $2 off draft beer and 20% off appetizers, I thought we could have an interesting meal. A wild cad in the whole situation was that this "gastro-lounge" had changed chefs a while back and I hadn't visited since.

Since there was no one else in the place, we sat in the well lit front area. The bar can be rather dark. There had been an art show during the previous weekend and the work of that artist, somewhat bizarre and dark was still up on the walls. I'm pretty sure it made for some interesting conversation……

We started with the Deviled Eggs ($8 – I'm listing all regular prices, I'm sure you can do 20% off, right?).

These seemed a bit dried out and the first one, with the piment d'Espelette was on the bitter side, like not so great smoked paprika. But it got better as we went down the line. The second is black tobiko caviar, briney, but not too salty, the truffle and prosciutto, the third deviled egg was ok. It was the Quail Confit devlied egg, the fourth one, that was the best.

I was glad that the Antelope Sliders ($14) were still on the menu.

Cooked to a perfect past medium, these are still my favorite here, though on this visit it was a bit on the salty side.

We both enjoyed the mild gamey flavors, which melded well with the sweet caramelized red onions. Having cooked with antelope has given me a better appreciation for how they manage to keep this moist and fairly tender.

The Duck Meatballs ($14) were our least favorite dish of the evening.

First, the brown on brown, on brown color really didn't look appetizing. Second, though the meatballs were very tender and moist, it was very finely ground, which made it kind of mushy. Third, and the main reason we didn't enjoy this was the over-powering sweetness of the dish. We couldn't get past that.

Much like the deviled eggs, the Exotic Sausage board ($16), got better as you went down the line.

We both enjoyed the charred bread and the rather mellow whole grain mustard. The pheasant sausage (left) was our least favorite. It was very cumin heavy; this coming from someone who loves cumin! It smelled like armpit and sort of tasted like what I think armpit would taste like. The duck sausage (middle) was nice, mild sweetness, and I enjoyed the spices they used in it. The elk sausage was our favorite, slightly gamey, with an enjoyable savory-sweetness. I was told that a port wine reduction is used in making the sausage. Two out of three ain't bad.

Even at happy hour prices, a night of starts and apps at the Lion's Share ain't cheap. The food is on the rich side and on this occasion hit and miss. I'd still return for those antelope sliders and perhaps some kangaroo tartar, or maybe Lamb Tacos de Lengua. Our Server was mellow, friendly, though not overly so, and efficient, though we were the only people in the place.

The Lion's Share
629 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92101

Hours:
Open daily 4 pm – 2 am

Rocky’s Crown Pub six and a half years later

April 16, 2013 mmm-yoso Burgers

Yes, it's been almost seven years since my post on Rocky's burger, which along with Hodad's are probably the two iconic, old-school burgers, in San Diego. I'd still take Rocky's, because, well, Hodad's just ain't the same without the bacon.

It had been a while since I'd visited; but my good buddy Candice suggested grabbing a burger at Rocky's for lunch and I couldn't resist.

The lunch special ($10.50), 1/3 pound cheeseburger, a ton of "natural fries", and a drink is simple burger bliss. In fact, I think it was more juicy and much more satisfying than I recalled. Maybe I''ve become a bit cynical over the years. Grass-fed, knowing the name of the cow who laid its life down for the "burger with a mission" is nice and all that; but I find much of it is just hope and hype, many times "stuff" is piled on for marketing sake, and in the end, the burger ends up being not even close to what Rocky's serves. Give those places seven or eight years. Chances are, they won't age as well as Rocky's.

A good "pub burger" is harmonic simplicity to me, burger, cheese (depending on how I feel that day), lettuce, tomato, onion, with your choice of condiments; usually as simple as red (ketchup) or yellow (mustard) provided on the side.

Maybe it's my blue collar background, I'm the only person from my group of grade school/high school friends to not work in the trades, but I love "food of the people".

And Rocky's does it well……good friends, good conversation, a good simple burger, and the potential of wiping burger juices running down your arm. It doesn't get much better than that.

Rocky's Crown Pub
3786 Ingraham St
San Diego, CA 92109

(858) 273-9140

Soup weather returns, time to head back to Mien Trung

April 14, 2013 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

What the heck is going on with the weather? Overcast for this time of the year is semi-normal, though it usually doesn't get that way until the end of April. But what's with the morning drizzle? It's not "cold" per se, but the breezes kind of chilly…..at least to my wimpy San Diego bones.

The Missus was craving some Banh Nam and I some Bun Bo Hue, so we headed on over to Mien Trung, which was doing pretty good business on this Sunday morning. Seems we weren't the only ones craving some soup.

We've really come to enjoy Mien Trung over the years, it's been a good seven years since we first visited. There are some inconsistencies we've noticed over the years. Sometimes the Bun Bo Hue will be too MSG heavy, at times too spicy, but for some reason, the place never fails to satisfy.

I gotta say, by my reckoning, some of the dishes have improved. Specifically the Hen Xuc Banh Trang, a chopped spicy clam dish that has evolved from somewhat fishy and gritty, to a spicy Cinderella of sorts.

This dish has definitely improved over the years. Served with Banh Trang Me, sesame crackers that have been slightly toasted this is delish, salty-spicy-pungent-savory. It doesn't look like much, but there quite a bit of in the little bowl. I especially enjoy taking the left-overs home and having it over rice.

For some reason, the Missus has been craving Banh Nam.

Ever since we visited Ngu Binh back in February (I know, I'm really late with that post), She's been asking for this every other week or so.

This one is a bit on thicker side and is more tender and less elastic than most versions. The Missus loves the light smokey flavor that banana leaves impart. It's also a plus that Mien Trung doesn't water down their Nuoc Mam.

The only complaint the Missus had about the Bun Rieu is that Mien Trung changed their noodles maybe a year or two ago. It's now ultra-thin noodles, not the thin rice noodle that is standard for Bun Rieu. Not sure why…..

And of course, my Bun Bo Hue. Didn't get the Dac Biet this time, we had the other stuff.

There's nothing to add that I haven't written before about the Bun Bo Hue on this blog, or elsewhere. There's something very comforting about this soup that just gets me going "aaaaah".

It's always fun watching folks who enjoy spicy food have the bun bo hue here for the first time. Recently, my co-worker YZ joined me for lunch at Mien Trung. She mentioned that the Bun Bo Hue (Dac Biet) was too large, but proceeded to finish everything off…..down to sucking out the marrow from the pig's feet! Now here's someone who can eat with me anytime!

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Recently Consumed

April 13, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking

Here's some stuff we recently ate at home.

Man, it was almost like summer there for a couple of weeks, wasn't it? Last weekend, I really didn't feel like cooking so I dropped by Con Pane for some baguette and Bristlol Farm for some Truffle Mousse. Combine that with some Blue and Gorgonzola Cheese, vegetables, olives, and a nice Saison……..

The next night, the Missus wanted Ebi-don. I thought it was a bit too hot for that. The Missus got Her rice bowl, I made myself an Ebi-Furai sandwich using the rest of the baguette, vegetables, and I even made some Russian-ish dressing.

Tommy Gomes at Catalina Offshore is a great guy. He's really funny in a gruff kind of way….but we all know he's a pussycat, right? Anyway, he's always making recommendations of new stuff to try, like this.

The problem was….what to make? This screamed for crab claw cocktails, but that seemed like the easy way out. I thought of doing something like my Smoked Portobello Mushroom with Crab, Avocado, and Smoked Corn salad, but there was no corn to be had.

In the end, I did kind of take the easy way out, making a very basic Sherry Wine Vinaigrette for a chopped salad of sorts.

This is one of few times it would be appropriate to bring a hammer to he dinner table with you….

I'm not sure what's up today. It's sort of the "May-grey" a couple of weeks early. Wasn't quite sure what to do with some halibut I got today. The Missus was craving Mok Pa, so why not. It tasted much better than it looked.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Plate Lunch Week: Chris’ Ono Grinds Island Grill

April 11, 2013 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

***Unfortunately, this location of Chris' was lost to fire in 2015. Here's a post on the North Park location.

Here's one that I heard about a while back, but just didn't have a chance to visit until recently.

The location can be a bit challenging; off of Mission Gorge Road, head east on Mission Gorge Place in sort of a business park area. Once you go down Mission Gorge Place a bit you can't miss the sign….unless it's not out. Then it just looks like one of hundreds of business strewn around the area.

The interior is interesting, though kind of cold, looking more like an Hawaiian themed bar serving food, than an actual restaurant. Here's where I noticed some interesting things. A decent beer selection, but nothing on tap.

The really nice gal told me to sit anywhere I wanted. Menus are simple take-out type pamphlets. Here's the next observation, I couldn't find anything fried on the menu, which might not be a bad thing, so I'm thinking this place doesn't have a fryer. Lot's of fusion-hip type of things like sliders, guava BBQ wings, "street" tacos, and nachos, along with tuna melts, BLTs, and smattering of plate lunch type items under "entrees".

I went straight for the artery and ordered the Loco Moco ($9.49), to add to my loco moco collection.

Though it doesn't look it, this was a good amount of food.

Let's start with the eggs, which were over-cooked….I do love my runny yolk. I fully understand how folks can be with runny yolks, but places who serve eggs that way will usually ask me how I want my eggs. Which is over easy, with a little char on the edges.

The burger looked real good, but noticing how it had been grilled, I could tell it was going to be pretty tough, which it was. The flavor was decent though.

I thought the gravy was kind of odd. First, it was runny and thin, almost like a bisque. Second, a flavoring, like French onion soup mix over-powered the whole thing and there was a bit of a metallic-sour finish to it.

The one saving grace and a big one at that was the mac salad. It was very simple, but mac salad should be simple. It wasn't over-dressed, the macaroni was cooked to perfection, there was just enough other flavors to keep me interested, and most importantly, it was seasoned well and nicely chilled. This might be my favorite mac salad in San Diego.

So the mac salad and the really nice young lady was enough to get me to return. I looked over the menu when I got home. There was another interesting item on the menu; Huli Huli Chicken. Huli-huli means to "turn-turn". Ernest Morgado, head of Pacific Poultry is credited with creating the "king of fundraisers", at least when I was growing up. You can read more about it in Mr Morgado's obit here. Let me just say, I loved this stuff when I was growing up…..so I was interested in what Chris' Ono Grinds Huli Huli Chicken ($9.49) was like:

Most Huli Huli Chicken recipes I've seen use a good amount of ketchup. Funny thing is; I don't recall it tasting strongly of it.

The sauce on this version was more like a barbecue, not as in "Hawaiian BBQ", but BBQ sauce. It was more of a sticky glaze than a nicely charred huli huli chicken grilled over Kiawe. That doesn't mean it wasn't good. This was pretty decent, perhaps a bit too fruity and sweet, but other than the piece of bone, in the supposedly boneless pile that nearly cracked my teeth, this was decent. The chicken was decently moist and fairly tender. Not bad.

The best thing was, the mac salad was the same as before.

I may not been chasing down this place like I did fund raisers back in the old days, but I think Chris's Ono Grinds has some potential and will probably return one of these days. Mainly because I used to make Guava BBQ Chicken (Hawaiian style BBQ) and he has chicken wings with Guava BBQ sauce.

Even though the feel of the place (and some of the menu) is rather "Mainland – local themed", don't want to use the "H" word, it looks like they are trying to make good food here. This is not another shibai Hawaiian BBQ money grab. That and the nice folks here are enough for another visit.

Chris' Ono Grinds Island Grill
4651 Mission Gorge Place
San Diego, CA 92120
Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 9pm

Plate Lunch Week: Ohana Cafe

April 10, 2013 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

**** Ohana Cafe has closed

I'd heard about this place a while ago, but took my sweet old time getting there. The little shop is located on Pearl, right past La Jolla Boulevard. I've never been a big fan of getting there and the parking situation, but I gotta say, on the days I visited this little corner it was pretty quiet.

Though the other side of the shop fronts the busier side, I like this area by the one parking stall.

The interior is quite larger than what this little storefront would make you think.

The breeze really goes through the dining area…..so it's probably great during the late spring/summer, but kind of chilly on the days I visited.

On my first visit, the yong lady manning the counter seemed like perhaps the owner's daughter? She was very nice, even though there were probably a thousand other things she could have been doing. I ordered the loco moco and much like much of Honolulu, Ohama Cafe offers brown rice and even coconut rice for an upcharge. You know me……..unless the Missus is breathing down my neck, it white rice all the way. By the way, you won't forget that this is La Jolla, as this is what you get for $8.50.

Still, we're all trying to exercise some portion control nowadays, right? As a loco moco, this wasn't bad, the egg was nice and runny, with some crisp edges, the gravy a little short on flavor, and a bit of "powderyness" to it, and was just barely ok. The rice was cooked well, but I really didn't take to the burger. It was crumbly and it tastes like they add something to the meat made it taste like onion soup mix.

Perhaps I should call this a "petite loco"…….but I guess "small crazy" sounds kind of strange, as if loco moco didn't sound weird enough already. The woman who came out of the kitchen was very nice, telling me hello and dropping off some brownie samples.

So I thought that I should return. This time around I ordered the "mix and match" with Kalua Pork and Teri Chicken.

This time the rice was on the dry and hard side. It was by-the-book oven kalua pork, something I make a couple of times a year. The pork was on the dry side and could have had more flavor. The chicken was decent, not too dry, but on the bland side. The drizzle of over-reduced, again by-the-book teriyaki sauce could have been a spitting image of Kealani's.

The mac salad was plain, but nice made, he macaroni was done perfectly, and the seasoning and he amount of mayo was good as well.

I really like the folks here, they are really a nice group. But it takes a bit more than a shade better than L&L level food with petite portions and La Jolla pricing/parking to get me to return. Though the breakfast menu (Sat/Sun) looks decent, so maybe…….

Ohana Cafe
456 Pearl St
San Diego, CA 92037
Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 8pm
Sat – Sun 9am – 8pm

Plate Lunch Week: Revisits to Island Style Cafe and Kealani’s

April 9, 2013 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

Here's a couple of revists for plate lunch wee;

Island Style Cafe:

Man, has it been almost five years since Island Style Cafe opened? Time usre has flown by. In preparation for plate lunch week, I thought I'd do a couple of revists. Though I really enjoy the Kaloko Moco here, the plate lunches have just been ok.

For this post, I decided to put my biased choices to the side and actually try another plate lunch here. After all, it is plate lunch week. Good thing it's not loco moco week….I might not survive that one!

Island Style Cafe had renovated since my last visit; nice booths giving the place a warmer feel.

I ordered the Korean Mix ($10.95), a combo with the Kalbi and Korean Chicken. I quickly noticed that the portion sizes seemed to have gotten a bit larger than I recalled.

Having not ordered a plate lunch here in ages, I'd forgotten about the mac salad. They put tuna in this; not my favorite version, but at least it was nicely chilled.

The kalbi is sliced very thin, which made it quite crisp, and perhaps a bit too charred. Still the flavor wasn't bad and the crisp char makes you forgot about how tough this can be.

The flavor for the Korean Chicken, which is pretty close to Dak-Galbi, is nice.

The chicken was cooked perfectly, personally, I'd prefer something with a bit more of an interesting texture to it. There's a component of many version of Dak Galbi that creates a bit of a mushy texture, which was also the case here. Still, this was not bad.

Personally, I think the food is getting better, as is the decor. Still, this won't make me forget about ordering the Kaloko Moco next time……….which, according to my arteries is quickly approaching.

According to the signs, the menus have been revamped a bit, so if you haven't checked them out in a while, you may want to see if there's anything you'd find interesting.

Island Style Cafe
5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124

Kealani's:

**** Kealani's has closed

Talk about a long time between visits. With Kealani's it's been almost seven years! So I made it a point to truck on up (when was the last time you heard that?) to Encinitas to check out Kealani's.

It seems that the place hasn't changed much in the last seven years.

Since the place seemed stuck in time, I decided to order two of the items I did last time. They call the mix plate Mt Ka'ala here. For you trivia fans; if I recall Mount Ka'ala is the highest spot on Oahu, part of the Waianae Range. I guess just saying "mix plate" is too boring. So my two protein combo ($8.50) consisted of the teri chicken and sweet sour spareribs.

Even though it doesn't quite look like it, there's more than enough food here. There's another scoop of rice and a good portion of pork under the two pieces of chicken.

I recall thinking the sweet and sour spareribs, even though it looks like pork butt, and is more sweet-salty, than sour to be not bad. The flavor is heading more toward rafute than sweet-sour spareribs, which isn't a bad thing. Unfortunately, this was super dry….I mean really dry.

I know they serve up what we call "dipped chicken" here. The trick is to not make it seem like precooked chicken that is reheated and dipped in sauce.

This didn't. The flavor was decent, not too sweet or salty, but like the pork, it was quite dry and tough. That teriyaki sauce on the side had been reduced too far and had a bit of bitterness to it.

Personally, I'd still take Kealani's over most of the L&L's…..probably over all of the L&Ls on the mainland.

Kealani's
137 W D St
Encinitas, CA 92024

Plate Lunch Week: Homestyle Hawaiian opens in Chula Vista

April 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

I thought I'd get back to my roots this week and do just "local kine grindz". One of the main reasons for starting the blog back in 2005 was to list all the places you could get local "stuffs" and food. Of course, soon enough L&L tried to take over the world, often with a very low quality product, and the intent seemed more of a money grab then anything else. Gladly, time has weeded out many of these places. I recall Eddie Flores Jr, the founder of L&L once stated in a interview that:

“In five to 10 years, we won’t call it plate lunch but Hawaiian barbecue,” he says. “Only old-timers will remember the plate lunch.”

Not so fast charlie……

Sadly, the last time I did a plate lunch week was almost 6 years ago! And all of those places have closed! Of course, Mo's has moved and become Homestyle Hawaiian. Still, six years since my last plate lunch week? I think much of it is due to, well, age. I just can't put it away like I used to, nor do I really want to eat that much food anyway.

The real impetus for this week occurred when I did drop by Homestyle Hawaiian and saw this sign on the register:

I recall slinking away with my Chicken Katsu plate in hand thinking, "my coconut wireless sure don't work like it used to!"

I even did some catering with Mo and he didn't say anything to me? What's up with that?

Anyway, I jotted down the address and I finally had some time to get down there this past weekend.

I guess this used to be a hot dog joint? When I arrived the place was already busy. Mo was happy to see me and told me it's been crazy busy since opening. He's training an all new staff….though he's got some pros with him. His two daughter's were there to help out. I remember when they were in diapers! I've been doing this blogging thing for too long now. Anyway, Mo mentioned that they've been selling out of everything daily and he's trying to get a handle on things….

The place was chaotic, but I got my order in and things settled down soon enough. Mo's little one had no problem with taking my order, a combination Korean Chicken and a Chicken Katsu with Gravy (aka chicken cutlet in local terms).

I saw Mo make my plate so I knew it was going to be what I was used to getting at the other location.

As I closed my plate, taking a good half of it home for dinner, Mo asked me what I thought. I told him from what I understand of the demographic in this location, "if you can keep up, you'll do great!" Hopefully he'll be able to do that.

Homestyle Hawaiian
1558 E H St
Chula Vista, CA 91913
Hours:
Monday 11am – 330pm
Tues – Fri 11am – 7pm
Saturday 11am – 330pm

A handy hint. Mo is a slow starter and takes a bit of time to warm up. I'd recommend getting there at about 1130, especially since he's training all new staff.

Roadtrip: Brodard Restaurant – Garden Grove (Orange County)

April 7, 2013 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

The Missus and I got up pretty early after spending the night in Hacienda Heights. After some contemplation, we decided to head on to Little Saigon for some breakfast then head on home. The Missus was missing Da' Boyz and all that.

We decided to stop in at a place we hadn't been to in years, the renowned Brodard's.

We always think about stopping in when we're in the area, but the place is usually packed to the gills with several lines, folks practically tripping over each other, the service being very perfunctory as the folks working here often seem like they are just trying to survive. Frankly, I'm too old for the circus.

But, since it we got there right when they opened (8am), the place looked like this. I bet you've never seen Brodard's this empty, have you?

There used to only be one reason for coming to Brodard's. It was for the Nem Nuong Cuon and the Chao Tom Cuon, the pork sausage and the shrimp paste spring rolls.

It had been years and I wondered if Brodard had aged well. We ordered the combination ($7), which included two of each.

There was of course, the signature crisp egg roll wrapper in the center of the spring roll, which adds wonderful texture and is also a sign that these are made to order. The wrapping is done perfectly, neither too tight and stretched like Joan River's face, nor too loose and falling apart.

There was one thing I did notice. For some reason, both the shrimp paste and the nem nuong seemed really bland. It seems like something had changed over the last, oh, almost a decade. I can't put my finger on it, but these were nowhere as tasty as I recall.

The Missus really wanted to try the Banh Khot ($6.95) and I'm happy we did.

The Banh Khot were light and crisp, the shrimp moist and plump. The Missus went crazy with the greens and herbs and really enjoyed Herself. I thought this was an enjoyable version of Banh Khot. I'd gotten used to dry and tired looking Banh Khot and this was definitely not that. I'm thinking that arriving before the mad crush of bodies may have been to our benefit this time around.

We had a decent meal and made it back home before lunch.

Brodard Restaurant
9892 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92844