April 2014 – mmm-yoso

Roadtrip COMC: Lunch at Shunji in photos

April 30, 2014 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Sushi and Sashimi

Man, it's so hot today…….I started doing this post and decided that the pictures speak for themselves. During my extended roadtrip to LA in February, I decided to get the $40 lunch from Shunji…..let me just say, it's worth every penny.

Last time I was in the area, this location was Mr Cecil's California Ribs….let me just say, this is beyond a major upgrade.

Enough chatter…….

Like I said….worth every penny…..

Update: So now that's it's getting cooler here's the listing:

1 – Madai

2 – Megina (Opal Eye)

3 – Wild Hamachi

4 – Miso Soup with Crab

5 - Blue Nose Snapper

6 – Marinated Salmon

7 – Maguro

8 – Inada

9 – Hirame

10 – Kanpachi

11 – Kinmedai (One of the best things I've eaten so far this year)

12 – Ikura

13 – Uni (Santa Barbara)

14 – Blue Crab Handroll

Shunji Japanese Cuisine
12244 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Hope you're keeping cool!

Spicy House revisited

April 29, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

So Spicy House is now under…what; it's third set of owners since 2010? I had some friends in town recently and they wanted to eat at Spicy House…mainly because our good friend Samuelo says it's the best Sichuan in town. Now, I take that with a grain of salt since "S" has all kinds of self imposed restrictions…he eats pork, but no intestines, pork ears….no tendon, no lamb, no poultry of any kind…..no fun! He also is not super fond of Sichuan peppercorns and is mostly interested in straight up spicy and salty….he should really eat Hunan. Our friends who were visiting….well one of them can't really deal with seriously spicy food and our other friends, a wonderful couple really just want vegetables! Though MsA eats here often, I found out that it's mostly the Americanized "lunch specials". Sigh…..such is life….

So we all ordered dishes, with my objective of introducing these folks to other flavors and such….well Akira knows how I operate, having shared more than a few meals with me and his wonderful missus Diana is game for anything. As for Samuelo…..well at the last minute

I went ahead and ordered some Liang Cai….cold dishes, which Ms.A, in spite of eating here a couple of times a month had never even noticed….she and her husband really enjoyed these dishes.

Actually, these were among the better dishes of the evening…..

Of ocurse we had some vegetable items….like the very basic napa cabbage with black vinegar…..

Which I actually make better at home…..poor wok skills here as the cabbage really lacked any of the texture of something cooked over very high heat. The chilies really didn't bring anything to the dish…..a typical home style dish that seemed like it was cooked in a typical home.

Ms,A's husband decided to order the roasted peppers…..

Good heat(it had Akira turning a bright vermillion in color and coughing) and garlic, but not enoguh salt for me.

Akira, in spite of his low tolerance for heat, always enjoyed the Hot Pepper Prawns at Ba Ren, so he ordered the version here.

I'm not a big fan of this new style of batter, which is artificially sweet and almost cake like. This really needed more Sichuan peppercorns and in spite of looks was not very spicy….it had just been mixed with partially scalded chilies, rather than taking the time to actually stir fry the chilies with garlic and Sichuan peppercorns then removing from the heat, adding the shrimp and mixing well to coat the shrimp and batter in the fragrant seasoned oil.

The Ko Shui Ji was surprisingly tame and lacked a nice depth of flavor……a hint of black vinegar, ginger, garlic….

It was like cold chicken in weak chili oil………

The surprise of the night was the Zi Ran Yang Rou – the Cumin Lamb. Ms.A's husband had never eaten lamb before and he loved the flavor of this.

The lamb was on the tough side, but this was seasoned fairly well….it could have used more cumin, but I really enjoy a lot of cumin so take that with a grain of salt. This was a decently prepared and cooked dish.

In end the end, it was great seeing old friends, the jokes and laughter…..the food was secondary. Which was probably for the better. I've got to get Samuelo here to find those "really good dishes" he tells me about…….

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Carin de Ria – A quick first look

April 28, 2014 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

**** This location of Carin de Ria has closed

Soon after Eater San Diego's announcement that a new Filipino "fast casual" concept restaurant named CARiN de RiA opened in Escondido, I had couple of folks ask me if I'd tried the place. I'd pretty much had my fill of "concepts" and fast-casual style places at that time so I just waited for a while. Recently, I found myself in the area and decided to drop by and check them out.

I liked the lay-out of the restaurant….on the small side, but very clean and simple. I especially liked the gentleman manning the counter, who I believe is the owner; very warm, but also very professional. He just seemed like someone who has a restaurant background and also really cared about his customers.

The menu is pretty tight with 5 "braised/stew" style dishes, 3 items off the grill, plus pancit (of course), and lumpia (of course…of course) and a couple of other items.

I started with some lumpia ($3).

It becomes immediately clear that you're not in a "turo-turo" ("point-point") steam table joint. First the prices….which are definitely in the "fast-casual" range. The lumpia were very small. However, they were hot, freshly made,light, and crisp. The filling also had very good flavor…..I could even make out some garlic-porkiness. This was probably the favorite item I had.

Now for most folks, the first item they's try would be either Adobo, Bistek, or Inusok…..what most places call BBQ Pork. One of my favorite dishes is Kaldereta….here it's Kaldereta Baka, basically a beef stew. Well actually, it's Caldereta ($8) on the menu and comes with two sides. I like that you have a choice of brown or white rice, but you know what I choose, right?

For my sides, I chose the "charred corn salad", which was the better of the two sides, even though it didn't have much charred color, nor the development of the sugars that a good grilling of corn would. Good salt and the tomato added a nice acidic touch to it. The eggplant and tomato salad; basically ensaladang talong. Good garlic flavor here, but it was pretty flat overall, the eggplant was too hard and chewy, and versions that I enjoy have a touch of vinegar, which was lacking here.

The rice was a tad hard for my tastes as well.

The caldereta was nice and tangy, but needed a bit more salt and lacked the complex flavors of a long braised dish. The carrots were almost raw and hard and some of the pieces of beef were really dry, like both items had been cold stored and added at the end. I also missed other ingredients I'd find in various versions of this dish; olives, red or green bell peppers, that kind of thing. It seemed like a caricature of the intended dish.

Like many other of these "fast casual" concepts; there seems to be that "soulful" component missing; though I enjoyed some of the dishes here a lot more than say, Green Shallots. As a plus, that gentleman behind the counter was very pleasant, so I'm hoping they do well. This is not the place to get your turo-turo fix; but if you want something a bit lighter you might want to give them a try. I'll probably drop by again if I'm in the area in a couple of months.

Carin de Ria
3440 Del Lago Blvd
Escondido, CA 92029

You can read Lynn's post here.

Roadtripping mmm-yoso style – revisits to some of our favorites: Song Long (Westminster), Tasty Noodle House and Hunan Chilli King (San Gabriel) and take out from Shufeng Garden (Rowland Heights)

April 27, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

I've taken folks on various roadtrips before and have even explained my strategy to folks….you need to have a basic plan of eating….what needs to be consumed right away and what you can take home, something that might even taste better later. You have to approach things with a rather balanced approach….you can't be like PeterL, who tasted a beef roll for the first time and just went after it,even when I told him we'd be getting another; possibly an even better version later…..which of course, he was too full to eat, along with the Xiao Long Bao, Shenjian Bao, etc, etc…. Just because he got greedy.

A recent, really fun roadtrip is a good example of the fun we have. We did a good deal of shopping in between meals and the Missus and I had a blast….and lots of left-overs to boot. I won't delve too much into the food since these are places I've posted on at least twice before.

Song Long – Cha Ca Thang Long for breakfast:

So this is enough for the two of us………

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this place has become a favorite of the Missus. They open early; we hit them up at just after 9am and the place was empty. For some reason the Missus really likes the Banh Trand Me here and will eat it up before the Cha Ca arrives.

We like this version of cha ca thang long…..but it really won't keep so we had this for breakfast.

The one thing being that the mam nem is the gift that keeps on giving….as in every time you burp, you'll be reminded of what you had for breakfast….until lunch of course.

Song Long Restaurant
9361 Bolsa Ave Suite 108
Westminster, CA 92683

Tasty Noodle House – for my favorite Tianjin Baozi:

So, in my mind jiaozi, xiao long bao, and to a certain extent shenjian bao will not keep. Baozi is kinda iffy; it won't be quite as good, but can be passable. For me; the version at Tasty Noodle House is my current favorite. After going about taking care of shopping and stuff we made it to this part of San Gabriel….even with all the detours and road closures by 11am. It's a tiny restaurant, so it can get filled quite quickly.

For me, the item here is the Tianjin Baozi….but the Missus felt guilty about just ordering one item for the both of us, so we started with some Fried Intestine….hey, who doesn't love fried intestine?

Somewhere between 2006 and 2009, I really developed a taste for deep fried pork rectum…to the point that the Missus says when I die, I'll be headed to the "giant chitlin in the sky". These were crisp and easy to eat; though I'm not a big fan of dipping it into hoisin sauce.

There's something wonderfully yeasty about these that just takes me back to China. The bun is light and not too sweet; there's just a bit more than a smear of meat but it is also very light…..there's a nice ginger flavor that comes through which really refreshes the palate.

Tasty Noodle House
827 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

When we start thinking in terms of "what's next", it's items that can either: keep real well, or have really assertive flavors. On this trip it meant…..

Hunan Chilli King – almost five years later:

It's been a while since we'd been here…….this is where I first understood what the term "big spicy" really meant. I also remember getting "maced" by the leftovers that I heated in the microwave. I'd been craving spicy food recently; the Sichuan in San Diego is quite timid and doesn't cut it, so it was time to return.

We started with the basic "three steamed meats"…..

See the chili seeds? This was kind of spicy and was what we called a two out of three…the smoked pork (la rou) was excellent; the chicken (how lamented that they don't seem to serve duck anymore) was good, but the fish was really hard and chewy…..it was actually better then next day.

The one dish we were wondering about is a favorite of the Missus. It was a dish simply called "steamed eggplant" on the menu, but was so good that I've made this a couple of times. It has not quite reached the heights of the dish as made at Hunan Chill King though. However, it had been quite a while since we had it and wondered if it had withstood the test of time.

Well, it has….though it wasn't quite as salty as we recalled. It was also really spicy when we had the leftovers the next day…..still a great dish though.

As a bonus; we got our fun "San Gabriel sign" fix here as well.

Hunan Chilli King
524 East Valley Boulevard
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Shufeng Garden – my take-out go to joint:

**** Shufeng Garden has closed

We had to stop by Rowland Heights on the way back to San Diego….so it made sense to stop by a take-out favorite of mine; Shufeng Garden. For some reason, it was really quite on this day.

There are basically two dishes I get from here….and perhaps some Liang Cai (cold dishes), we really need to stop by for a sit down meal again someday, but it's always the situation of "so many places to try….so little time".

Anyway, for us it's the Tea Smoked Duck:

And the Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce.

This makes for some really good take-out….though I think Sammy may disagree…….

I guess he doesn't have quite the same taste in spicy foods as we do!

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Thanks for reading!

Road Trip: Mi Quang from Huong Giang (Westminster)

April 25, 2014 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

Things have been a bit crazy for me since October and when my birthday rolled around in February, I was….well, not really in the mood for a party or anything, I just had a nice low keyed evening with friends. Later in the month, I took holiday time…I had worked through a couple, and decided to just get out of town…the Missus totally agreed….so I went up to LA for an evening. I was meeting friends for dinner; a very special meal of sorts and I had lunch planned out, so I decided on trying a place someone had told me about several years back……

Huong Giang occupies space in, what else, a strip mall off of Brookhurst in the complex that houses Stater Brothers and Pho 86. Having been in this strip mall before, I had no problem finding the place.

As you can tell by the sign, the restaurant specializes in Central Vietnamese style dishes….banh beo, bun bo hue, and the like. Half of the restaurant looks like a catering business, folks coming in to pick up catering and take-out orders. There was a pretty steady flow of customers picking stuff up.

The other half of the place looks like just about any other Vietnamese joint in the area. At this time of the morning it was just me and a couple of old-timers having their morning coffee and gossip.

Speaking of coffee….being somewhat inspired by the setting, I decided on a cafe den da, black coffee. I really don't drink much coffee nowadays (though I've started up again recently) and this was really strong! It really got me going…….like Dr Hook said, this thing wanted to "make my pants wanna get up and dance"…..

Now, knowing the heritage of the place you'd automatically think Bun Bo Hue right? Well, not quite….you see, I can't remember who recommended this place to me, but I was told to try the Mi Quang – Quang style noodles. I hadn't had a good version since we left LA.

In total, this was pretty good, the tumeric colored noodles had a good stretch, the proteins passable, the pork cake dry though well flavored, the shrimp over-cooked. The broth was nice and fragrant, the flavor very nice, though it had a greasy tongue-feel to it.

Still, this was a load of food and better than anything calling itself Mi Quang in San Diego.

It was a nice, filling start to the morning…..with enough carbs and caffiene to keep me going.

Huong Giang Restaurant
14564 Brookhurst St
Westminster, CA 92683

And for those who wonder were the heck that Dr Hook line came from….here's the song. And yes, I have a special place in my heart for a good hook (no pun intended) and cheesy lyrics. Have a great weekend!

Beef ‘n Bun (revisit)

April 24, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk's been in a rut, working long hours to be able to get up and leave it soon. Ed(from Yuma) is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and working as quickly as he can to get out of it. Cathy's finally out of her cave and is enjoying being able to share yet another meal involving chicken and fried zucchini.

I wrote a post about Beef 'n Bun back in 2006, have returned to this 40 year old East County institution regularly without taking photos or writing posts. It's about time to remind you of the consistency of a menu of good food served here.

It's always fun to drive over to Beef 'n Bun to see the changing window designs.

Since my 2006 post, the interior has been upgraded to include a bar height table in the middle, complete with non-bolted down chairs.

Here's a better view of the inside menu.

This is a photo of either a banana shake or a chocolate-peanut butter shake; the only two I order here ($3.19). I do occasionally order a peanut butter coke float, but that's only when I'm feeling all wild and crazy.

Here's the grilled chicken sandwich ($4.05) served on the wonderfully soft, fresh, lightly toasted bun and accompanied with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. The chicken is lightly marinated and always moist.

Since my most recent posts included chicken as well as fried zucchini…

This is a side order of fried zucchini ($2.79) (not a typo). There are FIVE pieces in this basket. You can see the standard cup of accompanying ranch dressing for a size comparison. This IS a meal in itself. The zucchini is freshly fried in a light batter. Crispy and topped with Parmesan, the inside pieces of this fresh vegetable are hot if you try to bite in right away.

Here's a bacon cheeseburger ($3.69). It's served on the same lovely, soft cornmeal topped bun which is, again, lightly toasted. The combination of flavors is really nice.

You may have noticed the 'breakfast' part of the menu. Beef 'n Bun opens at 7 a.m. daily. The above biscuits covered in homemade country gravy, served in a quite large styrofoam box ($2.89) consists of three half biscuits topped with a nice, smooth peppery gravy mixed with a lot of chopped breakfast sausage. Another meal in itself.

The bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich ($2.89) along with a side of Monterey potato cakes ($1.69) is an inexpensive, wonderful meal.

The Monterey potato cakes are cheesy, herb infused hash browns and *really* good.

Here's a cross section of my breakfast sandwich. You can see the cheese and bacon…and that perfectly cooked, orange, not runny egg yolk…

An East County institution. 3rd Thursday of every month, this is a meeting place for the Motorhead Misfits and their classic, custom, muscle, lowrider cars as well as scooters and many old friends. (Link)

Beef 'n Bun 2477 Fletcher Parkway El Cajon 92020 (619)465-0767 (nope, no website) 7a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sun-Thurs, open to 11:30 p.m. Fri and Sat.

Greek Chicken (El Cajon) (revisit)

April 23, 2014 Cathy Greek Food, Salads, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this blog. Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy share blogging responsibilities. Today, Cathy is responsible for yet another East County chicken and fried zucchini post.

Yes, I have posted about this restaurant before, in 2006. I wrote another post, in 2008 showing similar food items consumed here. So, there's been a time lag, new signage, a website and yet the quality and menu of items offered has remained unchanged. (Prices have increased though.)

This restaurant used to be a Foster's Freeze stand-alone location for more than 20 years and the footprint of the store, including the front counter, drive through, ice cream machine, kitchen and dining area remain unchanged. A nice change is that there are people cleaning and bussing the tables; you don't have to clean up after yourself.

A recent order: the medium Greek chicken salad ($10.25)(accompanied by the fresh, warm pita and house made tzatziki), an order of fried zucchini ($2.75) (accompanied by a nice Ranch dressing)…

and a gyros sandwich ($6.45). This was a large, filling, tasty meal which ended up with leftovers we took home for a later snack.

As always, the chicken is marinated, juicy, tasty. It is grilled and served warm on top of a Greek style salad (lettuce, tomato, onion, Feta, herb dressing). The zucchini sticks are breaded with a fresh herb-breadcrumb mix and fried just right- crispy and not oily and served with a Ranch type dip. The pita bread and gyros is consistently fresh and tasty and served with the house made tzatziki.

Another local place that has been here more than a decade.

Greek Chicken 1468 Graves Avenue El Cajon 92021 (619) 401-0700 Website 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m., daily

J-K’s Greek Cafe (La Mesa)

April 22, 2014 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog, written interspersedly by Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy. Today, it's Cathy's interspersion.

J-K's, tucked in the corner storefront on University Avenue, has been in this location for more than 20 years. You might miss it if you aren't keeping your eye out for the signage.

The little sign "Greek Style Whole Chicken $7.99" to the left of the door is take out only.

Above, the signage you'll see when driving on University.

When you step inside, you'll be greeted by someone working the grill behind the counter. If you say you are eating in, you can take a seat at one of the eight tables. There are also two tables out in front.

If you come in Monday-Saturday at lunch time, you will be handed the Specials as well as the regular menu.

We enjoy the Greek salad here; cold, crisp lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion topped with a house made herby dressing and Feta.

On this day, I chose the chicken souvlaki sandwich lunch. Served on soft, warm pita, unrolled in the photo, the marinated grilled chicken is surrounded with lettuce, tomato and onion and served with a house made tzatziki (yogurt-cucumber sauce) on the side.

The Mister ordered the Grecian Burger lunch, which was an absolutely wonderful lamb-ground beef mix, cooked to a light medium. So flavorful and served on the toasted fresh sesame-seeded bun, with lettuce, tomato and more fresh tzatziki, it was large, juicy and tasty.

We also ordered a side of fried zucchini ($4.95) to share. Fresh, crispy and not greasy, the fry here is done right. There are some herbs in the batter, which makes dipping in the tzatzki sauce a complimentary flavor.

Above, the $7.99 Greek Style chicken to go. Marinated (lemon and oregano are the predominant flavors), rotisserie'd, not as large as a Costco chicken, but oh so good…the meat falls off the bones. The Mister picked this up one evening not too long ago.

The fresh tabouli ($4) goes well with the chicken. It's made with parsley, onion, tomato and bulghur-the dressing of olive oil and lemon is on the side when it's a "to go" order. I usually save some for the next day.

Fresh made (smoky tasting eggplant) baba ghanouge ($5.50, comes with pita) is a side I always enjoy.

J-K's has withstood the test of time and is still going strong.

J-K's Greek Cafe 7749University Avenue, La Mesa 91942 (619)464-1915 website

Halal Pollo Asado from Casa Medina

April 21, 2014 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Casa Medina has closed

A couple of months ago Casa Medina replaced I believe, Bismallah Restaurant….which I recall (reading the sign)served Pakistani, Indian, and yes, Chinese food. I had actually wanted to check them out several times, but the Missus, probably with good reason, always vetoed the suggestion.

Still, for some reason, the name intrigued me…….Casa, is fairly straight forward….obviously "house" right? But was the Medina, the Andalusan surname….very Spanish….or was it the Arabic "Medina"? Against my better judgement, I decided to find out.

Man, this restaurant is huge and was totally empty for my entire meal, making the meal kind of an eerie experience. So the theme is obviously Mexican, but the food is Halal…..

This would have seemed like such a strange experience if not for two things; first, the young lady working the counter was so sweet, friendly, gracious, and overall great.

There is a bar with serve yourself chips and various salsas.

The chips were hot as they were just brought out. The salsa roja was really weak, but then I found the stuff in the squeeze bottle; a chipotle based sauce with what tasted almost like yogurt/lebni in it. It was really good….that was the second thing, because from there, everything took a nose dive.

Since this was Halal, I ordered the two piece chicken plate, not cheap at $9.99. Even though the leg and thigh were really small, flavor trumps all….except when the chicken has no flavor…and is dry….and tough……

Let's not even go into the dry and hard tortillas (2), the very bland beans and the mushy and very salty rice…..well….let's not…. As I was eating, I looked around the empty restaurant, wondering if I was a victim in some kind of strange, "punk'd" like show….it was that bad. Once, many years ago, a barbershop opened up in my neighborhood. I walked by one day to see a good friend of mine giving some poor dude a haircut. I say poor dude because this friend wasn't a barber…..he was a cop! I looked at him and he gave me a nod and I kept on walking….. A couple of months later; there was a story in the paper about a sting which used a barbershop as a front….that poor unwitting customer. That's kind of the feeling I had.

Was it as bad as the Turkxican Doner-rito? No, not nearly….but that's like saying which you prefer, being electrocuted or run over by a bus. I'll take none of the above. In all honesty, if the food was halfway decent, I'd give the place another try; the young lady working the front of house was so very sweet. But as things stand….sorry to say this "ain't no Halal El Pollo Loco".

Casa Medina
5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Sunday Sandwiches: SuperNatural Sandwiches – the brick and mortar shop

April 20, 2014 mmm-yoso Sandwiches, Seafood

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches is under new ownership

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

No one was happier than I was when I heard that SuperNatural Sandwiches finally had a brick and mortar locaton pinned down. I've had my share of their sandwiches, seen them at Catalina Offshore, gotten to know Anthony(the Talking Head) and Tony(the Food Geek) a bit, since I'm kind of a regular customer and they're friends of friends….as I noted in my previous post. Which is a two-edged sword…..but in this case, I can be fairly brutally honest, it helps that they have a good product, they're nice guys, and that I run very fast when folks throw stuff at me.

I really love the fact that their location is pretty much in the pathway of one of the sites I visit in the course of work, so stopping by once in a while for lunch is great.

There is of course, the entire Nautical/Seafood theme…..a bit over-the-top for me, but so are the sandwiches. The current shop is relatively tiny and I've seen it get packed quickly…..

The two different folks I've run into manning the counter have been great….very friendly.

They've expanded the menu to include what they call the "Sinister Seven", more land based sandwiches. The original sandwiches, which have been served at Farmer's Markets and events around the county is known as the "SuperNatural 7". See kids, this is what happens when you grow up reading too many comic books.

I decided to have one of my favorites, the "Siren" on my first visit. I've had this sandwich a couple of times and love the interplay of the Mexican White Shrimp, sweet and plump, the rich aioli, the crunchy, buttery, mildly sweet, brioche type lobster roll. that shrimp is delish…..it's good stuff…I know because they cut in front me in the shrimp line at Catalina Offshore once before….

My other favorite is the bacon-scallop combo called the "Neptune".

Loved the sweet-smokey flavors, the interplay of textures, there was a mild zip from the sauces,

And while the amount of shrimp in the Siren seemed to be a bit less than what I recalled, this was exactly the sandwich that even the Missus….who is not fond of buttery-sweet brioche and aioli style sauces, enjoyed.

A couple of weeks later I returned….Anthony told me in passing, "why don't you try some of our newer sandwiches?" To translate, "we heard you're a really boring guy, but why don't you live on the edge for once and try something different?" Sheeesh, sounds like the Missus.

So I went with the Chimera, a combination of Bulgogi like beef and shrimp.

For me this was a textbook example of "too much of a good thing". You could barely make out the flavors of the Korean BBQ style beef, you could not make out any of the shrimp, either in flavor or texture….all the sauces and the buttery toast cancelled each other out. I'm sure there are folks who love this, but it was a bit too much for me.

On my most recent visit, Tony suggested the Encantado, a "Baja influenced" fish sandwich.

I had my doubts, the fish was corvina, not one of my favorites, but in terms of flavor, I enjoyed this. The escabeche really made the sandwich for me, adding just the right amount of acid-zip that it needed. I'm really not a fan of the bollilo they used, it's too much bread and too crumbly, like really cheap banh mi. I'd prefer something more crusty. Still, I'm glad they didn't use the regular brioche style roll/bread for this as I feel it would have over-powered the other flavors.

So in the end, just like in the comic books, the good guys (the SuperNatural 7) were victorious over the bad guys (the Sinister 7)….until next time, of course!

I'm happy for this really nice bunch of guys. Since I'm more of a quality/flavor over quantity kind of guy this works for me. I even think those togarashi shrimp chips aren't bad either….though I don't think I've met a shrimp chip I didn't like.

There's one last little critical item I have….please remove this somewhat embarrassing eyesore from your front door…please….

Why don't you replace it with Blogged about by "This Tasty Life"?

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 7pm