What the heck? What’s the tie in with these two places? Well, read on and I think you’ll see. Mostly photos in this one….I’ve posted on these places before. So let’s C(lear) O(ut) the M(emory) C(ard) shall we?
Golden City for the billionth time:
**** Golden City has closed
I actually hadn’t been back to Golden City in a while. But after reading Lynn’s post, even though she ordered things that I would never have at Golden City. I thought it was time for a revisit and yet another post to see if they have gone severely downhill. I had thoughts of picking up on my Golden City Hot Pot project, but man, it’s been so hot. Anyway, the photos kind of speak for themselves.
My favorite – the Kwai Fei Ji. Also a favorite of Dennis.
Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable.
Macau Roast Pork……on one visit, with my buddy Candice, it was too salty. On this visit, with my coworkers YZ and Lily, it was quite good…..
YZ, from Shanghai and Lily from Shanxi (“I’m from Taiyuan, not Taiwan, ok”) really know the questions to ask whenever we eat Chinese food…. where are the owners from and what is the style of food. I think of Golden City as basically a Guangdong (Cantonese to you) style restaurant that pulls ever so slightly toward Chaozhou (Eastern Guangdong), though many of the dishes that reflect that are no longer on the menu .
Like the Beef Stew (actually a braise) with Radish. I’ve had it when it was quite good. On this day, it wasn’t quite ready for prime time; the beef was nice, tender, moist, yet not falling to pieces, but the daikon was still too hard.
The food can sometimes be uneven. The Fish in Black Bean Sauce had me asking where the fish was during a lunch with Reza.
The textures and flavors were right, but the ratio of onions to everything else was off.
The dishes we order occaisionally draw stares from the gringo ordering customers, as I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t think ordering dishes from the Easternmost Regional Chinese Cuisine….. that would be ABCD (“American Born Chinese Dining”), is what they do best here. And I think folks like CAB, Dennis, and even Kirbie would agree. Nothing fancy, but decent grub.
Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Carnitas Snack Shack:
**** This location of Carnitas’ Snack Shack has closed
The Missus had been fighting a cold during the super hot week we had recently. She doesn’t handle being sick very well. And the heat just made things that much worse. So, while on the road to recovery, the Missus told me She wanted to visit one of Her current favorite places, basically for this.
It didn’t look quite right, but the flavor, the sweet-porkiness was still right on. And the Missus just basically inhaled the thing.
Carnitas now has a second location in Del Mar, which Kirbie, Jinxi, and Faye have posted on…man, it’s Food Blogger Central! I was wondering if there was going to be a drop off at the original location, but no, things were good as ever. It’s really nice that things have really been fine tuned since my first visit back in 2011.
Carnitas’ Snack Shack
2632 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92104
So how’s this for a pork-a-licious COMC post?
love these comc posts!
I don’t go to a Golden City as often anymore but when I do, most of the time I do enjoy the dishes. We always joke that the fill-in cook must be cooking when the dishes aren’t at their best. Seems like one of the cooks is also heavy handed with the salt too.
At Golden City, we usually stick to our tried and true favorites, like Kwai Fei Ji, Roast Duck, Peking/Mandarin Pork Chop (Cantonese style lol), fried fish in corn sauce, seafood tofu pot, stir fry beef with preserved/sour vegetables… Not sure exactly how they write those dishes in English on the menu as I read the Chinese when ordering. When we venture outside of our comfort dishes, we were usually disappointed.
Thanks Kat!
Hi Carol – Yeah, I call it the “B team in action”.
Hi Jess – I usually stick to the regular rotation too; though, if you’ve read my previous posts on the place I will try something new once in a while.
Hmm, I was at CSS last week, and thought that the carnitas were bland and the fries overseasoned.
Double Hmm Hao – I’ve had some uneven dishes at Carnitas, but none of the items I’ve had would have earned the adjective bland…
Yes, very strange. I’m not surprised by the overseasoned fries, but I can’t recall anything being bland before…
I had the pork burger at CSS in North Park first and it was da bomb. Then I had it at Del Mar and it was way too salty. The fries were reverse… overseasoned in NP and better in Del Mar. Consistency? *shrug* At least the LINE was such an improvement (5 minute vs 1 hr). Not sure about now since I went 2 weeks after opening.
Hi Hao – Well, I think the Missus wants to go this week so we’ll see how it is.
Hi Lynn – Interesting…….
Friday 11:20am. Del Mar. Nobody in line. Food came out in less than 10 minutes. Carnitas tacos overflowing the tortilla with carnitas. Same excellent flavor as always and dripping with juices. 🙂
Geez Soo….do you want us to synchronize our watches? ;o) LOL!
Definitely enjoy the Kwai Fei Chicken at GC. As you say, for the price a lot of the plates are pretty decent. Sill haven’t been to CSS after all this time (and I live minutes from them)…
Hi Dennis – Every so often I gotta get my Kwai Fei Chicken fix! Give Carnitas’ a try. Some of the stuff is a bit over the top, but we like a couple of items.