June 2013 – Page 2

Lisbon Day 1: Up to Chiado & Bairro Alto, dinner at…..Super Mario? And other stuffs…..

June 20, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

I felt so satisfied after that wonderful bifana and a beer, that I didn't even complain when the Missus decided that we hadn't done enough walking for the day. She had decided that we needed to get on up to Chiado and Bairro Alto, Lisbon's bohemian and nightlife district. Luckily, the Missus didn't insist on climbing up that hill and we just walked past Rossio Station and the Avenida Palace Hotels…..

And catch a ride on the funicular, the Elevador da Gloria, using our Viva Viagem Card.

Which I was told has been snaking up the hill linking Baixa with Bairro Alto since 1885. A bunch of other tourists jumped on, the guy asking me "where is this going?" I told him, "up the hill….." He smiled and told me, "I really don't know where this is going, but it looks like fun…."

To the right of the funicular stop is the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara. One word I learned rather quickly was "miradouro" which meant viewpoint. Anytime we saw that word, we followed the signs….. usually ending in a wonderful sight like this.

This little park/garden was a nice place to check out the views of the city. It also helped to get us a little more oriented with our surroundings.

The narrow and rather congested streets down to Chiado are lined with Churches(of course), boutiques, and theatre's. This seems to be the place where the hip hang out.

At the end of Rua Garrett is a multi-floor mall. You exit head to the Sportszone and go downstairs to exit back in Baixa (thanks Rick Steves!). We did make a stop at H&M. We travel light. I personally had less than 6 kilos of clothes and shoes. My strategy is to pack light and if necessary, buy a jacket or something. Since there were Zara and H&M stores everywhere and it was in the 40's at night, I bought a hoodie for 10euros and the Missus a sweater for about the same price. We were set for the rest of the trip. We dropped by Pingo Doce and bought water….we were set.

We had booked our room at Lisbon Short Stay Apartments, which was basically a conversion. The room was decently sized with a kitchenette and there was even a washer and dryer on our floor. However, the place was rather dark and a bit funky, with kind of an industrial feel.

The staff was nice, but really couldn't provide a whole lot of information nor recommendations. Though they did provide a tiny map that included the metro routes which we kept the entire trip. It was time for dinner…….

There are a couple of things you need to know about eating in Lisbon and Portugal in general; folks don't eat until at least 730pm. You will be enticed by a bunch of "appetizers/bread/olives" put out in front of you. Note that these are not free, you will charged for whatever you touch; feel free to put them to the side and not eat. You won't be charged…we found that many places will ask if you want these and take them away if you tell them no. There are often two portion sizes offered on menus; dose and meia dose. We found that meia dose, literally a "half order" is usually enough to feed one as an entree.

We had dinner reservations for the next two evenings, so one this night we just wanted something simple and easy. We headed back up to Chiado, past some really touristy looking places, up stairs and a mildly steep climb. In a little alley on a side street we found a place I read about on Chowhound called Super Mario….really, it was named Super Mario.

Into that doorway past the little sign was a simple tiled restaurant.

Tables were simply covered with paper……this was just a nice and homey place.

As we peeked into the door, we saw three gentlemen having beers and pub grub. We weren't sure if they were "really" open, but the guys waved us in and pointed to a table and called out to the back. They also gave us bread with slices of pork on them….sharing their food with us! I really liked the folks in Portugal! We later offered to buy them a round, but they refused, telling our Server that they had to head home. We had lucked out….it started pouring right when we sat down.

We started off with a bottle of Vinho Verde….the verde doesn't really mean "green" in terms of color….it refers more to how "young" the wine is. This was light, slightly fizzy, and more sweet than dry.

The food at Super Mario can be best described by the locals who told us, "very typico……"

The Missus wanted to try Caldo Verde, a simple, but hearty soup thickened by potato, containing thin slices of kale.

For my first sit down meal in Portugal, it just seemed right that I had bacalhau. I hadn't had anything made with salt cod since I was a teenager. So I went with the Bacalhau Frito, fried bacalhau.

Nothing fancy, perfectly decent, salty, but not overly so, perhaps a bit too many bones for me. The rice….well, I never had decent rice in any dish in Portugal, that's just the way things went.

This was sardinhas (sardine) season, so the Missus would get that whenever She could. It looked fresh here.

The sardines were fresh, very nice….but man, those potatoes….in fact all the potatoes in Portugal taste, well, like really good potatoes…..possibly the best other than what we had in Peru.

We had killed the first bottle of Vinho Verde, with no problems, nor affects, so we ordered a second.

About this time a Korean woman who looked to be in her 30's entered the restaurant….this was pretty much a first for us. We always see Korean tourists traveling in tours or packs. This was the first time I saw one traveling solo. We shared a glass of wine with her. It just seemed like the right thing to do. She was very nice and indeed travelling solo. She told us, "I like to travel and don't have friends…." I'm sure she didn't mean literally. She was from Seoul and travelled all over Europe because, "I like to drink…." then telling us about how good Porto was. She had dinner at Super Mario's the night before and enjoyed it so much she decided to return.

While the food was nothing to write home about, we enjoyed our dinner at Super Mario. The service was nice, so was the vinho verde, and the Missus enjoyed he caldo verde. It was relaxed, the guys having drinks in the place were very warm and hospitable. It was a good first dinner to get things started.

Restaurante Super Mario
Rua do Duque 9
Lisbon, Portugal

There was still fading daylight left when we finished dinner and walked down the hill. Lisbon seemed very safe, so we strolled around a bit, taking in a bit more……

We found a bakery run by Chinese and got some Pastel de Nata……

The crust was just wrong and the custard was too sweet and eggy. These were the worst of our time in Lisbon.

We headed back to our room, opened the window….. the immediate area was very urban and dark. We watched the street scene below. Folks heading home, dodging the drizzles, then the next wave of folks heading out for the evening.

I'd come to find that Lisbon sleeps and wakes late. I woke to folks laughing and yelling a couple times during the night….the last at 330am. Still, we were exhausted and the sleep did us good! We'd be having another full day tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Grill Break!

June 19, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Cooking, yoso-silly

The weather's been so nice here the last couple of days. I hope you don't mind if I break up the week and take a grill break. We busted out the konro grill and the binchotan and like we do every so often decided to grill up some stuff. It takes some time and we take our time and savor the process and the flavor.

Last night it was Pork Toro, basically pork collar…..

Chicken wings, shishamo…….with a nice salad.

The Missus enjoyed it so much, that She wanted to do it again this evening….so we did.

More chicken wings, Berkshire pork belly, shrimp, shishito peppers……

There's something almost cathartic about the process…it makes us slow down, appreciate. It's simple, bincho imparts such great flavor that all you need is some good quality salt, pepper, and maybe some Shichimi Togarashi.

The smell is intoxicating…..as you can tell by our "neighbor" spying on us.

Looking for a possible "sample"…..

Of course Frankie was waiting for his share……

So pardon me while I take a mid-week charred animal flesh break.

We'll be back tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping by!

Gala Chicken – The new K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) stand in Zion Market opens

June 18, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

**** Zion Market has moved and Gala did not make the move with the market

The item that seems to have gotten the most attention on my recent Saturday Stuffs post was the closing of BBQ Chicken. I received a couple of emails about it. I guess even though I wasn't a fan, other were. I did mention in Saturday's post that I had seen what looked like a "KFC" stand in Zion Market that evening……so I returned to check it out.

The place only does chicken, nothing else….no starches….

The menu also seems to only feature wings, drumsticks, and boneless crispy pieces, though I could be wrong. The older woman and gentleman were nice, but really felt more comfortable speaking Korean.

The prices didn't seem to bad, even thought it's take-out and chicken only. And heck, anyone that knows me understands that I love my chicken wings.

Anyway, I ordered a regular "Wings" ($7.99) and Sweet Soy ($8.99). I was told that my chicken would take fifteen minutes, which meant it was cooked fresh, a good sign. What was not that great was when I returned after about 10 minutes to find the guy constantly fiddling with the wings in the fryer. He kept taking pieces and cutting them with a knife to make sure it was cooked. C'mon, wings make up about 40% of your menu, that looked real amateur. Plus, all the cutting means that juices escape and my wings would be drier than they should. I know this place is new, but I'd think if you opened a place that only makes fried chicken, you'd know how to make without having to cut into every piece to make sure it's cooked then dumping them back in the fryer…… One of the great aspects about KFC chicken is the double fry. It's a technique I use myself. I didn't notice that happening here…..

Actually Gala does give you some Mul Kimchi, "water kimchi", a traditional accompaniment of KFC, which is on the extra sour side, but at least crisp and palate cleansing.

I work just a few blocks away and the chicken did smell pretty good. Opening my package I noticed that the take-out containers are kept open to prevent the chicken from getting soggy. I also noticed that I got what looked like "Spicy" wings instead of the Sweet Soy like I wanted.

So for those who keep score on the Kyochon-o-meter, there are six good sized wings per order. Though I prefer smaller wings which mean a better skin to meat ratio. Anyway, that's $1.33 per wing for original and $1.50 for Spicy……kind of on the pricey side, more than Kyochon if memory serves me.

And this ain't no Kyochon.

I found that while the batter was light, it was not as crisp as it looked. It was also very lightly seasoned, at least for my taste, and it had a greasiness to it. The drumettes were on the tough and dry side.

The Spicy really was more sweet and sticky than spicy.

The wing weren't really coated very well and I noticed that this batter goes soggy pretty quickly. The flavor was almost the same as the Sweet and Spicy chicken of BBQ Chicken, perhaps not as cloyingly sweet, but close. In fact, the chicken here just seemed like "BBQ Chicken lite", a step backwards from BBQ Chicken. Ditto for the tough and dry drumettes here.

So, you know I wasn't a fan of BBQ Chicken. You also know that I don't think the chicken here is not as good as BBQ Chicken was. You get the picture, right? Perhaps my friend Jenne is right; I'm just too darned picky. Anyway, I'm hoping that all of this are just grand opening issues and will be resolved. I'll try and visit in a couple of months and see…….

Gala Chicken
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd (Inside of Zion Market)
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Tues – Sat 11am-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

A Cafe

June 17, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** A Cafe has closed

I recently was asked if I'd ever been to A Cafe. I simply answered with a "no". I explained that I'd really never been a big fan of HK Style Cafe's, even when we lived in the San Gabriel Valley. To me, a non-boba/milk tea lover, who never enjoyed riffs on spaghetti and other items, eating in an Hong Kong style cafe meant a couple of items depending on the joint, congee here, fried pork chop there, RH Garden Cafe was just a block or so from where we used to live in Rowland Heights and it just never appealed to me. Though I gotta say, we did spend many an evening eating at Supreme Dragon, so go figure.

And after Cathy's post, I was even less motivated. Still, I'd eaten in just about every restaurant in the mall with the parking lot from hell so why not?

I wasn't too thrilled to hear that the folks from Imperial Mandarin had taken over the place. If you've ever noticed, I've never done a post on IM, though I've eaten there…..put in the broadest terms. The last three times I've to eat at IM, well, lets just say I suffered from "unlucky returns".

Still, different location, different luck, right?

The place does have that "diner" feel and typical of HK style cafe's, the food is reasonably priced.

I did see something on the menu that interested me, so I placed my order.

Next up came a watery insipid soup that, after the first taste, I just couldn't consume. This, along with the gratis soup that comes with lunch at Dede's falls under the category of "why bother".

The item I went with was the Stir Fried Beef Tongue with Green Onion ($5.99):

This was pretty good. The beef tongue was perhaps a bit too tough, but wasn't too waxy. The flavor was slightly smoky, teetering on the line of liver. But as a whole, it wasn't too awfully offally, if you know what I mean. The onions were stir fried decently and retained some crunch. It wasn't seasoned too heavily either. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but not inedible.

To put things into perspective, this was cheaper than a sandwich.

So I returned a couple of weeks later. Famished, I decided to start with the deep fried mushrooms.

Like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This was the latter. In all fairness, the mushrooms were nicely fried, the batter not too thick….though you better watch it because the liquid content of the mushrooms will squirt out and give a nice burn. That does not make up for an absolute zero in the flavor column….as in no discernable seasoning. Plus, this is served with mayo. To me, it needed something a with a bit of ooomph. Even hot sauce really didn't lift this.

I did order a standby dish,the salt and pepper pork chops ($5.99):

To me, an HK style cafe can live off its frying and seasoning skill. This dish was an "oh fer two", like the mushrooms it was very bland….where was the seasoned salt? Where was the pepper. The topping of green onions and peppers was raw. The batter was on the gummy side and not my cup of tea. To add insult to injury, the rice was really dry…….. 'nuff said.

So does an decent dish get erased by a (two) terrible one(s)? The prices here, at least the lunch specials, are reasonable and the folks I had serving me were nice, though I was the only customer in the place on both occasions. I think I'll just keep on with saying HK style cafe's really aren't my thing and this place would be on the bottom of my list of those places.

A Cafe
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

2013 San Diego County Fair: Part Two: It’s open!

June 16, 2013 Cathy Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

This is a food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy try to write the reasons/situations about trying/preparing/eating food. Today is one of those posts: Cathy is writing.

The San Diego County Fair, largest (by attendance) in the State of California and fourth largest in the entire United States opened last Saturday. I wrote a short post about what to expect before the Fair opened.

This post is about our FIRST visit this year. We could not stay very long on this day to see (or eat) all the Fair has to offer and there will be a follow up. For now, lots of photos to give you a taste of what is happening.

The Midway rides are pretty much the same as always.

The Preserved Foods, cookies, breads and decorated cakes have been judged and are on display in Home and Hobby.

Quilts, Crafts and Collections are on display with their respective prize ribbons.

The Agriculture Education barn is open for visiting.

Many of the garden displays and entries emphasize the Theme of the Fair ("Game's On!")

Then there are the "County Fair Food" booths.

Chicken Charlie's has three stands and the center one does offer grilled and healthy choices, like these chicken and vegetable kabobs. The stand to your left fries everything. and around the corner (to your right as you face it) is Chicken Charlie's"Pineapple Express" and offers different, but mostly 'healthy' (in comparison) items.

So, What did we eat?

Yes, the carb-free selection of bacon wrapped jalapeños ($7.55 including tax)from the "Bacon A Fair" stand(formerly the "Heart Attack Cafe", which must have been a bit too blunt of advertising). These are **fresh** jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese, then wrapped with bacon and grilled. The pepper is spicy hot- in a good way to me- in a not so good way to The Mister's tastes…

To make up for this 'healthy' Fair food, we headed across the Midway.

The "Grilled Cheese A-Fair" stand.

The Monte Cristo ($9). Ham and Cheese, grilled (on a very hearty, fresh white bread) then dipped in batter and fried, served with strawberry jam. This was really good, fresh and 1/2 of a half sandwich was enough for me.

There are some atypical Fair/common food booths here too.

Then there is the question of…Where do people who work here every day for the 23 days of this Fair eat? Sure, they get some sort of discount at the various booths, but there is only so much sugar and oil in the world…

Located on the outside of the Racetrack, just in from the Midway is the Paddock area.

On the North side of this semi-enclosed (beer-centric) area you'll see this:

It was not crowded when we were here for two reasons: 1. The regular prices for beer are around $8. B) There is a "Happy Hour" at 5 p.m., when you can get a beer and a taco for $5. We didn't care about beer.

$3.50 tacos and $4 sopes! Adobada and barbacoa!

The display.

The cook.

Our order. Adobada taco and a Barbacoa sope. Each meat was moist and well seasoned; excellent. Both servings were generous.

Here's a photo showing the (very fresh, crispy edged) sope. The beans, toppings…everything was extremely fresh and good.

The parking and transportation to and from the (free parking area) Horse Park this year is *much* larger and easier to navigate. We were there early and parked in horse corral #10 (the main parking lot is #1 and the bus stops and picks up at various areas). There was a very visible security presence, with Mounted Sheriffs in the regular parking lot and bicycling Sheriffs throughout the Fairgrounds. There is a lot of information about how to save money on admission, rides and food items when going to the Fair. Check out the website.

Hope to see you at the Fair!!! Remember, it's closed on Mondays (except that July 1 Monday). July 4 is the last day.

Saturday Stuffs: La Playita and BBQ Chicken Close, Chaba Thai Kitchen replaces Gyro n’ Kabob Cafe, and Isa.Bella replaces Bollweevil

June 15, 2013 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Pizza, Thai Restaurants

Sheeesh, have I been gone that long? So many upcoming openings and even recent openings (more on that in future posts) and a couple of closings. So here's a quick round-up.

La Playita closes:

I'm kinda sad about this one. Cathy emailed me when I was away telling me that La Playita had taken down their website. So naturally I dropped by and found them closed.

Man, I was looking forward to a nice, refreshing, Vuelve a la Vida when summer got into full swing.

5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

BBQ Chicken Closes:

I was never really impressed with B(est of the) B(est) Q(uality) in San Diego. Even after they started opening for lunch.

The version of K(orean)F(ried)C(hicken) served here wasn't my cup of tea, and I'm not really the type to be happy just "to finally have something" in San Diego.

I do believe I saw what was perhaps a KFC joint in the new location of Zion Market?

4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Chaba Thai replaces Gyro n Kabob Cafe:

I went for a Lamb Gyro and found that Gyro N Kabob Cafe had closed. It's to be replaced by a Thai Restaurant called Chaba.

Like I've said before, we can always use a new Thai restaurant, but really don't need yet another Ameri-Thai restaurant in the area……so we'll see. Though some of the folks I work with loved the "Thai Burrito" from Dusit….yuck….

8010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Bollweevil in Bay Park being replaced by isa.bella artisan pizzeria & beer garden:

Yep, it's all lower case….how hip and modern!

I'll readily admit to thinking that this is a Bay Park money grab.

So I asked a friend of mine who is really on top of the brewpub scene. The response was "just jumping on the craft beer and brewpub train". I'm hoping I'm wrong….so we'll see.

4015 Avati Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

So that's it. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Lisbon Day 1: Orienting ourselves, mucho Pastel de Nata, Ginjinha break, and beautiful bifana from Beira Gare

June 14, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

I'm going to try to do a better job in getting these posts done. This means that the posts will probably be rather long and jam-packed, I hope you don't mind…..

So this year we decided on Portugal, Rome, and Malta. Why? I'm not quite sure. Things usually start out as just throwing out a couple of places. We had given thought to heading back to Istanbul and perhaps the Greek Islands again, but in the end decided not to. And based on the recent happenings in Istanbul, we probably made the right decision. It was while having some linguica (Portuguese Sausage), that the Missus came up with Portugal. We also wanted to visit an island. If we had gone to Turkey, I'm pretty sure we would have headed to Cyprus. The previous year we had visited Rhodes and I was fascinated with the story of the Knights of St John, who were driven from Rhodes by the Ottomans, ending up in….you got it, Malta. So Malta it was. The Missus wanted another destination and somehow that ended up being Rome. After that, it was all about planning………

Which is how we ended up getting off our flight in Lisbon. We'd come to find that it's really easy to get around in Lisbon. We bought a Viva Viagem card which covers all matters of public transport. You can charge it up by trip, by day, or do what we did, called "zapping". We loaded 15 Euros on each card and needed to add just 2 Euros added for the rest of our trip. The metro "red line" goes from the airport and intersects with all the other metro lines. We transferred to the green line at Alameda, getting off at the Baixa-Chiado station. I admit to being less than impressed as we walked out of the metro station. There was a ton of construction going on so the sidewalks were all dug up. The thin sidewalks and small worn streets and the aged buildings gave the place a dated urban look and feel. We were staying on Rua de Sapateiros street just a short walk from the metro station. Sine these were short stay apartments, I expected no sign and got none except a call button on a doorway on the rather dark street.

At 930, it was much too early and our room wasn't ready, it wouldn't be so until after 2pm, so we had a rather long day ahead of us.

I wasn't getting a real great vibe from the city. Though things started lifting as we passed a strange looking tower like object one block over. This was the Santa Justa Elevator. We really hadn't noticed it yet, but Lisbon, like Rome is built on 7 hills. The climb up these hills can be rather steep. This elevator, completed in 1901 links the Baixa district with the Bairro Alto district, and provides some great views for folks who decide to take the ride up. Even though you can use the Viva Viagem card to pay for access, we just never went for a ride….too many folks standing in line, plus the Missus would usually rather walk up the damned hill!

My dark, dank(it was drizzling off and on), and gritty opinion of Lisbon totally changed as we walked through the gate at the top of Rua de Sapateiros which opened up to lovely and bright Praca da Rossio (Rossio Square).

With the bronze fountain at one end, crowned with a column with the statue of King Dom Pedro IV, it's a wonderful bit of open space. Strangely, the Missus was most taken with the stone designs on the ground. She read that looking at these designs can actually make you seasick!

Close by was Rossio Station, which we were told was a representation of Neo-Manueline style, popular in the late 19th century.

We really weren't checking out local architecture though. We usually follow a certain pattern when arriving in a new town/city. Find our hotel, stow our luggage, and find water. We were told that there was a outlet of Pingo Doce supermarket close by and we were trying to find it. After walking around in circles for a while, I stopped and asked a young man having a smoke outside the back of a shop. He looked at what I had written, laughed, and displayed his name tag…..it said "Pingo Doce". It was right around the corner….we'd actually walked right past the rather discrete entrance to the market!

While in the market, we decided to have a cafe express (espresso) and a small pick-me-up snack. This would prove to be a rather important event. You see, the snack we had was a Pastel de Nata, a Portuguese Egg Tart.

Ever had an Egg Tart with Dim Sum? Does this look familiar? Portugal, along with Spain once divided up the world. Their reach extended to Macau and it's quite apparent that the Pastel de Nata evolved into the standard issue dim sum egg tart….which by the way, is not a favorite of ours. Thus we really weren't too excited about trying Pastel de Nata…..but damned if this wasn't too bad, even if it was from the counter of a market! The crust was light, crisp, like filo. The filling wasn't too sweet, nor was it too "eggy". It was the perfect foil for the espresso. From this point on, the Missus would make it a point to get Pastel de Nata, until She flamed out.

Energized by caffeine and sugar we headed back across Praca da Rossio to Praca da Figueira.

And up the street to the side. Here there were a couple of charcuterie shops and especially pungent shop.

It was a shop selling that iconic Portuguese ingredient; bacalhau, salt cod. I'd read that there are 365 different recipes using bacalhau, one for each day of the week. I was later told that there are actually exactly 1,095 recipes using bacalhau….one for each meal of the year!

At the top of the street we passed the Church of Sao Domingo, which we visited later on the trip. This area, called Largo de Sao Domingo is the gathering place for immigrants from Portugal's former African colonies.

Also located in the square was a place I just had to try……even though it was 1030 in the morning.

A Ginjinha is a well known "bar", I use the term loosely as it's basically a counter, that sells shot of the sour cherry liqueur called ginjinha. Mildly sweet, with a bit of a burn at the end, you can't leave Lisbon without trying one. I got mine without cherries, the Missus with….it turned out to be a bit strong for Her. But She enjoyed spitting out the cherry pits like everyone seems to do on the sidewalk in front of the place. I've heard that folks start drinking this stuff for breakfast, like at 7 in the morning…..

A Ginjinha
Largo de Sao Domingos 8
Lisbon, Portugal

Fortified, we decided to head on down to the Rio Tejo, the Tagus river. But not before stopping here…….

For what else? Pastel de Nata…..the place was really hopping and just as is typical in Portugal, folks eat and drink standing up.

The Pastel de Nata here was the second best we had on this trip. The crust was light and flaky, the custard not too sweet, but rich. The espresso helped ward off any side effects that could have lingered from the ginjinha.

I'd come to learn that Confeitaria Nacional was once the royal bakery and is still run by the same family since they opened in 1829. We'd end up revisiting again since it was so close to where we were staying.

Confeitaria Nacional
Praca da Figueira 18B
Lisbon, Portugal

We ended up walking down Rua Aurea, "gold street", dodging the passing showers, to Praca do Comercio, the huge open square right across the street from the Tagus.

Unfortunately, the statue of King Jose I and the Arch were both undergoing maintenance and thus covered and surrounded by scaffolding. Regardless, we crossed the street and took some photos of the Tagus.

I was starting to get hungry and had a place in mind. So we headed back up to the Rossio area via the pedestrian only Rua Augusta……

Right across from Rossio Station was a restaurant I'd read about.

There are tables in this rather small restaurant, but the Missus and I walked up to the counter where all the locals were lined up. We'd eat standing up….this just seemed like the right thing to do.

There was just one item that I wanted here and the really friendly guy behind the counter knew exactly what it was…….he smiled and pointed to what the guy next to me was having and said, "you want that!" And he was right…..

He also asked, "beer?"….heck why not? It was noon somewhere in the world, right? Here in Lisbon it's usually Sagres. I did notice that in places like Porto and Sintra, folks preferred Super Bock. Sagres is really light and easy to drink.

What about the bifana? Well, it did seem kind of odd that folks enjoyed their sandwich with yellow mustard, but what the heck. I gotta say, this was simple, yet so good. The meat just ooozed porkiness. It looked tough, but was fairly tender….man the flavor was so good.

The bread was paired nicely with the pork; not too dense, slightly yeasty, but without interfering with the star of the show. The anti-pork Missus even loved this; though the yellow mustard grossed Her out. She preferred the spicy piri-piri sauce, basically a chili oil.

We watched the guy cooking the pork for the bifana on the way out and noticed that it was indeed fried. But it looked like it wasn't fried at a high temp. The next morning we walked by Beira Gare and found out an additional flavoring component; in the pot where the pork was fried up was a huge block of lard……..

Even though we had some pretty good meals in Lisbon; this humble, but super tasty sandwich was my favorite.

Beira Gare
Rua 1 Dezembro 5
Lisbon, Portugal

As we left the restaurant, the Missus told me, "it's time you paid off that pork, let's get going…." Like we hadn't already walked enough!

Postscript: After getting home I saw a rerun of Anthony Bourdain's Lisbon show. I cracked up, during the end of the show he's having a bifana….from Beira Gare….with yellow mustard!

For those who hung in till the end. Thanks for reading!

Nijiya Market – snacks that make a meal

June 13, 2013 Cathy Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!

Yes, you are reading mmm-yoso!!! the blog about food. Kirk is gradually acclimating to this time zone. Ed (from Yuma) has already returned (to Yuma) and had no acclimatization problems. Cathy has been here all along and has had no changes in her environment, so she continues sharing posts about food.

My first encounter with this blog was more than seven years ago, when I was searching for more information about one of our favorite ethnic markets, located on Convoy street. So much time has passed, and I've only written one post while I can see over 500 mentions of Nijiya on this blog. The Mister and I shop here for basics, since almost everything sold in this market is organic. We also enjoy dropping in to grab a quick snack and purchase ready made items, sold in refrigerated and covered heated tray areas along the West wall of the store. There is also a new item sold along the counter there.

Noodles with dashi! ($3.50) Tell the nice person behind the counter which noodle you'd like (udon or soba) and they will turn around and go to the back wall of pots and cook up the noodles, bring a bowl of noodles back and give you a choice of four toppings (seaweed, green onion, bonito flakes and those tiny fried wheat balls that will expand in the broth) which you place on top of the noodles yourself, in any amount. The broth is placed in a separate container. You can also optionally add fried tofu (50¢), mixed wild vegetables (50¢), curry sauce ($1.50) and/or seasoned beef with onion ($1.50). We've had this several times, trying the various ingredients.

The above is a bowl with soba and the included toppings as well as the optional mixed vegetables (50¢) before the dashi broth was added.

The above photo is after the dashi broth was poured. For $3.50 plus the 50¢ added vegetables, this is a really nice meal.

Of course, fried foods are available here…and make a nice, quick snack. The above area is covered croquettes and patties of wonderful handy snacks.

This is the $1 vegetable croquette. Always crispy, never greasy and a medley of slivered carrot, squash, onion and potato.

Chicken Karaage (fried boneless chicken) is pre-packed and on the table in front of the covered croquettes. It's $7.99/lb and this container was $3.76. It's always fried properly and is juicy and usually crispy (we are usually at the store when they are placing the karaage out for purchase)

The Ika Geso Karaage (fried squid) is $12.99/lb, (this much was $2.53) and was a good amount for me to snack on. Crunchy and chewy, I do enjoy this squid when it is hot or cold.

This is called an "Edamame Salad" ($2.49) and yes, that's tuna on top. There are also red kidney beans and corn on top of the lettuce-cabbage mix. The dressing is peanut butter and soy based and really goes well with the various flavors.

There's also a sushi and sashimi area (of course) and this is called "Diamond Chirashi" ($6.99) Plenty of various fish and shrimp pieces, cucumber and egg on top of organic rice, all topped with large fish roe.

There's a small refrigerator at the counter and also near the cash registers that has both a cold and a hot section. I always grab a can of hot green tea (~$1) when I'm here.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Nijiya Market 3860 Convoy Street, Suite 109 San Diego 92111 (858)268-3821 Website

Sammoon Bakery and Restaurant-El Cajon (revisit)

June 12, 2013 Cathy Iraqi Food and Restaurants, Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

It appears that Sammoon has closed.

Well here you are, back at mmm-yoso!!! looking at posts about food. Cathy still has places to talk about while Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are trying to get back to normal after each of their whirlwind vacation jaunts.

Yes, I've posted about Sammoon, a Mediterranean restaurant owned and run by Iraqui immigrants which makes its own breads, in El Cajon twice already. If you've ever had Jury Duty in El Cajon, you probably have been here, since it's within walking distance of the Courthouse.

This is the entrance from the Parking lot. From the street, you'll see it's next to the Panda Express.

Once inside, you'll see the menu and the former pizza oven, which is now used to create the wonderful, fresh samoon shaped breads made here throughout the day.

You may also notice the rotating spits of beef and chicken schawarma, and additional menu offerings over the rest of the open kitchen area.

One day, The Mister tried a Lunch Special ($5.99) which was choice of schawarma with a choice of bread and included fries and a salad (this day was a roasted eggplant salad). The bread choices are either a samoon bread or saj bread. The above is a chicken schawarma saj sandwich. There is pickle and tomato wrapped in the saj before the bread is grilled. This is very, very good. The fries are standard and crispy, not greasy and that roasted eggplant is really great.

One day, I noticed on the menu the "Sajj beef burger" ($4.49) and decided to order it. It came wrapped looking like a sort of American hamburger, with fries. Then I opened the paper…and you can see the Saj bread folded so perfectly tight. It was then cooked on the grill, sealing in the already cooked burger (you can click onto the small photos which will enlarge).

When I cut through the delicate yet crispy after being baked/sealed closed Saj bread, the inside of the tightly folded bread revealed a very nice sized ground beef burger, tomato, pickle, onion and a sweet sauce. The burger was not as spiced as the kabobs here, but was still the coarse ground beef used for the kebabs. The meat was moist but apparently drained, so no grease softened the Saj to make it fall apart. A very good non-traditional, yummy burger.

One day, we noticed a separate ad on the outside window (on the left side of the first photo)-a "Feast for Two" ($18). We ordered it.

First out was a basket of three hot, fresh samoon breads, along with a platter of hummus, tzatziki and baba ganouj. All fresh made here and very refreshing.

Since everything here is made to order, there was a less than ten minute/more than five minute wait for this GIANT platter to be brought out. Clockwise: pickled cabbage, roasted tomato, chicken schawarma, fresh falafel, beef schawarma, fresh tomato. On top of the fresh long grain yellow rice are a beef kebob, chicken tikka and chicken kabob with fresh cucumber slices and raw onion topped with sumac (a citrus/salty spice). We had leftovers which were enjoyed that evening.

Always good and always fresh food at Sammoon.

Sammoon Bakery & Restaurant Mediterranean Cuisine 190 N. Magnolia Suite 103 El Cajon 92020 (619)441-2823 Open seven days, 10am-10pm

Tea Station (revisit)

June 11, 2013 Cathy Caffeine Fix, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! This food blog is a compendium of road trips, vacations, food store shopping, events, meals, snacks, events and general food-centric posts. Kirk usually posts here, but is catching up from his recent vacation. Ed (from Yuma) is also recovering from his recent San Diego vacation. Cathy is writing today, about another meal during her staycation in the County.

I discovered Tea Houses and Boba places several years ago when one day a friend took me to one and realized that snacks were served in addition to beverages. It was so fascinating as well as tasty. Since then, I've written two individual posts about visits here. It's simple, good and a nice place to share a snack or meal with friends. (I'm the White girl on this blog and there were no Tea or Boba places when I was at the Unversity of Michigan…heck, there was no Zingerman's when I was there).

The exterior and expanded interior have remained the same; neat and clean. Once you order, a basket of utensils, bowls and napkins are brought to the table.

The teas and all beverages are made to order here, (which is why you can get a beverage with half, quarter or no sweetness added-something you can't always ask for from other boba shops because they use pre-mixed syrup bases) and this pot of Kuan-Yin (monkey picked) tea ($5) actually was brought to our table last, perfectly brewed. We usually ask for a bit more water to be added after we finish the first serving; the tea leaves are just about as strong on the second pour. (A brief explanation of 'monkey picked' meaning premium tea is here.)

One order of Taiwan sausage ($5.50)…my 2013 obsession (see this post ). Served with slices of raw garlic, the combination of the sweet in the sausage with the slight bitter of garlic is amazing.

Inside the menu was a "monthly special" card -the 'fried shrimp roll' ($3.99) was really a version of Vietnamese Tau Hu Ky (beancurd wrapped shrimp paste), which I order with bun at Vietnamese restaurants. You can see this is a large serving and that there were pieces of whole shrimp as well as paste inside the delicately fried tofu skin. This was excellent.

We were handed a "Daily Specials" ($6.50) card with the regular menu and the day we were here, the special was chicken curry (quite a bit of chicken, onion, carrots, potatoes and green pepper in a not spicy but a sweet, medium-hot Japanese curry). The football shaped mound of rice divides the curry from the three daily side dishes (which change). This day it was green beans with slices of dry tofu, delicate (rice) noodles with beef pieces and pickled vegetables with pork pieces. A tasty variety that complimented the semi-spice of the curry.

Another nice visit with good food and a really good pot of tea.

Tea Station 7315 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 268-8198 Website