September 2017 – Page 2

Ban Lao Cuisine

September 12, 2017 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

**** Ban Lao Cuisine has closed

Ban Lao opened up a couple of months back. Located next to Que Huong, I believe this used to be a taco shop if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, the place sure took its sweet ol' time opening up. Since their opening I've visited about 6-7 times.

The interior is bright and clean….and nicely air-conditioned; a big plus over the last couple of months.

On one of my visits, I looked up…..and noticed that they'd built a little platform for their offerings and such. Interesting.

The menu is diverse; with all the usual suspects.

So of course on my first visit I ordered the Nem Khao ($8.95) and Lao Sausage.

The Nem Khao was decent; better than the version at Mekong Cuisine in my opinion. Though it was a bit more chewy than I enjoy; I could actually make out the hints of coconut in this, there was also a good amount of sour sausage as well. Strangely, the dish was served on the cold side and there were only two leaves of lettuce provided.

The Lao Sausage ($6.95) was decent, nicely charred.

The sausage had a nice chew, though it didn't quite have enough lemongrass and herb flavors. So in this case, I think Mekong Cuisines version is better. That jaew; the dipping sauce had a nice citrus kick to it.

I really liked the folks working here, they were mellow and friendly. So, I ended up coming back quite a few more times. Here's a rundown on some other dishes.

Kha Pao Thousand Year Old Eggs ($9.95).

This really had me wistfully thinking of Yai Cuisine, as the eggs weren't fried right, the batter had turned gummy and the eggs were rubbery and still slightly cold inside. Not enough basil to really give this umph.

Sour Sausage Fried Rice ($9.95).

The rice was a bit more "wet" than I prefer, but man; there was a ton of sour sausage in this. Nice flavors, though some of the chunks of sausage were on the large side and could have been chopped a bit better and more evenly incorporated into the fried rice. Not bad though.

I'm on the fence with regards to the Crying Tiger ($9.95).

At this price point I don't expect a really good cut of beef, but this was better than I expected; a bit toothsome, but not too bad. The beef, while still lacking in a good amount of seasoning (I'm looking for sweet-savory flavors), had a nice crust. And darn if this didn't go real well with a dip in the jaew and a ball of sticky rice.

Lao Style Papaya Salad ($7.95) was cut much too thick.

Man, this was pretty heady stuff; even more pungent than the version at Thai Papaya. It was bit too rustic for my tastes and wasn't very spicy (I ordered spicy). Strangely, I find the pungent flavors from whatever they use for Padek here in the states to be mainly pungent, sometimes almost bitter and lacking in the savory nuances like what we've had in Laos. Of course at the markets in Laos, there are many different versions on Padek available; at different stages of "fermentation". There was a good amount of preserved blue crab in this as well.

The Chicken Wings ($7.95) was another dish that came close.

The wings were nicely fried; though there was a good amount of blackening around the bone, the meat was tender, the skin fairly crisp. Seasoned "salt and pepper" style. I really didn't care for the bitter fried lemongrass that topped the wings.

The Beef Jerky ($7.95) though, was good.

The Sien Savanh, though not totally dried, which might have been a good thing, was pleasantly chewy, the flavors had permeated the meat nicely. This was delicious with sticky rice…and it didn't even need the jaew.

The Stir Fried Pak Bong with Garlic (Ong Choi/Water Spinach) looked over-cooked, but it was not.

Nice and crunchy; with the perfect amount of salty-savory notes and a light hint of sweetness.

By now, I thought it was time to just go for it. I went ahead and ordered the Beef Larb ($10.95). The really friendly woman working was shocked when I said "Lao style" and nodded yes, when she asked me if I wanted it "rare".

As you can see; by "rare" she basically meant raw. There was a good amount of nutty rice powder on this, though I wish it was more spicy. What really made this "Lao" for me was that it had no citrus, but a good amount of puckery-bitterness, which goes really well with the mint and other herbs. I'd learned of the importance of beef (water buffalo) bile in koy and larb during my cooking class in Luang Prabang. Though no one else in the class would even try the stuff, I found the flavor quite interesting. Here, I could have used a touch of citrus as well; I'll have that done the next time I have the dish. As for the bitterness? Well, I had a nice discussion with the woman working and was told they pick up fresh beef bile from a specific farmer once or twice a week.

In the end I enjoyed several dishes from Ban Lao and will gladly have them again. when the weather turns cooler, I'll try some of their soups as well. While it's not quite on the level of Vientiane in Garden Grove, it'll do in a pinch.

And sometimes, because I try not to do "just one visit", things turn out well for me.

Ban Lao Cuisine
4126 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Open Daily
11am – 930pm

Quebec City – A Quick Trip to Lévis, Dinner at Le Lapin Saute, and the Secret of the “Red Door” (A K-Drama Tie-in)

September 11, 2017 mmm-yoso Canada, Canada Food and Restaurants, French Restaurants, Quebec City, yoso-silly

We took a short break after our wonderful lunch. Getting back up, the Missus was itching to "do something….anything". I asked the concierge about taking the Ferry across the St Lawrence to the city of Lévis. The very friendly concierge said that just the views of Quebec City was worth the $7.10 CAD (about $5.75) round trip. So off we went. The rather cloudy, rainy weather made for a rather dramatic view of Chateau Frontenac and Terasse Dufferin from the river.

When we arrived at dock, we just walked out and took a look around. The Missus saw these stairs and of course we ended up walking up.

We felt a bit odd when we reached the top; it was almost like we walked into someone's yard.

There were some nice looking homes on this side of the river.

And the views were wonderful.

This is Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire de Lévis Church.

We took a loop, before heading back down to the dock via the not so picturesque street. And then headed back to QC. We took another break before heading off to dinner.

The place I selected for dinner was on busy Rue du Petit-Champlain. A place named Le Lapin Saute and yes, lapin means "rabbit" in French. The restaurant looks really colorful from the outside and was totally packed! Folks were eating out on the patio in spite of the drizzles.

Luckily we had reservations.

I had been wanting to try a beer and ordered the Anne Baillargeon from Microbrasserie de l'ile d'Orléans.

A very light, fizzy, blonde lager….nice and refreshing.

There was one item I really wanted to try here; the Rabbit Poutine.

You are given a choice of gravies; we chose the version with mustard and it did not disappoint as it added a nice touch of pungent-sweetness that cut the richness. We love the potatoes in Quebec; this version was crisp, but all the fried potatoes seemed to be quite dark, but very sweet. The braised rabbit was very moist and tender, very clean tasting, with a slight almost chicken flavor.

The Cassoulet however, was a mixed bag.

While the sausage was wonderful as were the lardons; the beans were tough and undercooked, the rabbit dry and tasteless, and the duck confit dry and very salty. There was a lack of thyme-garlic flavor and the dish, other than being salty was a disappointment. The Missus started requesting my cassoulet immediately after.

The service was very friendly, even though the place was slammed. You gotta love Canadians, they are always so polite!

I'm certain we'll return; if only for that poutine and perhaps one of the nice looking salads next time.

Le Lapin Saute
52 Du Petit-Champlain St
Quebec City, Canada

Before heading back to our room; I decided to take a photo of the Red Door.

What's up with the Red Door you might ask? Well, while walking on Rue du Petit-Champlain during our first afternoon in QC, we noticed a preponderance of Korean tour groups and everyone was taking a photo next to this door. So, when we returned to our room I Googled "red door quebec city" and oh my! Apparently, a K-Drama, known as Goblin, was partially filmed in Quebec City. The series was the second highest rated drama in Korean cable history. And it's made Quebec City a destination for Korean tourists! The Red Door is the portal from Korea to Quebec City and plays a rather large role in the K-Drama. Who'd have thunk? We'd actually run into another Quebec City Goblin filming location before we left the next morning. I texted the photo of the Red Door to our friend and K-Drama junky, "Xiāngjiāo" and got a really excited response "oh-my-god…how did you find the door"! Funny thing, we didn't find the door, the door found us.

I guess that's how Quebec City works!

Thanks for reading!

Clearing Out the Memory Card, Brunch Edition – Luce, Red Card Cafe, And Tiger Tiger!

September 10, 2017 mmm-yoso Breakfast/Brunch, Gastropub

Man, finally a wonderful Sunday here in San Diego. Still a bit humid, but I really can't complain. The Missus has the weekend off so we did brunch….which made me remember I had a bunch of photos "collecting dust". So without further ado; is "COMC – Brunch Edition". As with all these COMC posts, mostly photos, little verbiage…

Luce Bar & Kitchen:

Braised Lamb Hash ($14)

Wished for more veggies; lamb nicely flavored, but on the tough side. Decently poached eggs. Enjoyed the dill in the Hollandaise.

Luce Bar & Kitchen
1959 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours
Mon – Fri 11am – 10pm
Sat 10am – 11pm
Sun 10am – 930pm

Red Card Café:

**** Red Card Cafe has closed

Chicken Confit Hash ($14).

Enjoyed the potatoes; hefty portion, eggs too cold, chicken confit good, but on the salty side.

Red Card Café
4140 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Brunch
Sat – Sun 9am – 3pm

Tiger ! Tiger!:

**** Tiger! Tiger! has closed

I've done a brunch post before. Still enjoyable.

I still love the smoked potatoes. Something I should make more often.

Cheese omelet; more like a cream cheese omelet.

The Pastrami hash was quite good; though the hot sauce was overkill.

Man, if they used the smoked potatoes in this….I'd totally lick the plate.

Summer Squash Tostada.

Loved the beans in this; the flavor of epazote came through nicely. Nice vegetarian option.

Woodfired Eggplant, another vegetarian option.

A fairly small portion size; the eggplant nicely roasted, the hummus creamy, but on the "sweet" side.

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104
Brunch
Sunday 1030am – 2pm

Hida-Takayama – Hida Folk Village and Lunch at Maruaki

September 9, 2017 mmm-yoso Hida-Takayama and Gifu Prefecture, Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Steakhouse, Travel

Sitting right behind the Engineer made our 2 hour and change train ride from Nagoya go by rather quickly. It was very interesting to watch the Engineer and the different hand signals he used. We arrived at Takayama Station and made our way to the rather humble Hotel Hana. I'd read a bit about Takayama, or to be more precise when talking to Japanese about the town; Hida-Takayama to differentiate the town from others named Takayama. There's a rather well known Old Town, some charming sights, but I had the town on our itinerary for one specific dish….more on that later.

After dropping off our bags. It was too early for check-in. The front desk person didn't speak a lick of English, so you gotta love Google translate. We headed off, stopping first to take a look at the marbled Hida Beef. Hida Beef, especially "Hida-gyu" (versus Hida Wagyu) is considered by many to be even more delicate, with thinner muscle fibers than Kobe beef and is much treasured. We stopped at Maruaki to take a look.

I gotta say; the beef looked quite impressive. This coming from a guy who has had A5 Kobe Beef in said city.

We did stick around very long since I wanted the Missus to check out Hida Folk Village (Hida-no-Sato, 飛騨の里), which was, according to the friendly woman at the TI stand; about 45 minute to an hour walk, or a ten minute bus ride up the hill. Guess which the Missus choose?

Actually, it was a very nice walk. In spite of the sun it was fairly cool. In fact, the day before we arrived I checked the temperature for Takayama and this is what I saw.

I sent this to a friend of mine in San Diego and she said; "oh, it's about the same in San Diego!" And then I mentioned this was in Fahrenheit not Celsius!

It had actually snowed two days before we arrived! During the first week of April. The air was crisp and clean; it was a nice walk as we got to take in the sights along the way.

Including the Teddy Bear Eco-Village. For real…….

And yes, that's snow….. And no, we didn't stop here. Though perhaps you might if you visit Takayama.

There's a certain charm to Hida-Takayama that, combined with a cool weather really put us into a good mood.

In fact, we were in such a good mood when we arrived that we decided to take the touristy photo…..

So who's that charming red faced character….no not me, the other three? Well, we had no idea! We saw this character everywhere, so later in the afternoon, I went to the TI and asked. Turns out, these little fellows are known as Sarubobo (さるぼぼ), which literally means "Monkey-baby". Traditionally, grandmothers in Gifu Prefecture would make these doll for their grandchildren. It's a good luck charm and both of us wished that we'd actually bought one for us….a Sarubobo of our own! Next time for sure.

Hida Folk Village is an open air museum; with 30 structures, some close to 500 years old, many of them moved from their original villages to preserve them.

Of note are the gasshō-zukuri styled houses, thatched roofs built at a steep angle like hands joined together in prayer (gassho).

The farmhouses are beautifully preserved and we get a look into how daily life was in these villages.

And the traditions…..

The snow on the structures and the fact that we had the place almost all to ourselves really added to the atmosphere.

Just think; if we'd arrived just two days earlier, we wouldn't be walking around quite as much.

We took a short break and got some drinks from the ever present vending machines.

And bade our farewell to Hida Folk Village. If you're ever in the area; a visit is highly recommended.

We headed back down to Takayama. The walk had done its work on our appetites. While walking back, we decided to head back to Maruaki and check out the restaurant. Which is located right next to the shop.

The place was doing some major business and the crowd seemed mostly tourists of all nationalities.

On the wall are photos of the farmers who provide the beef for Maruaki.

And while most folks were ordering one of the set meals of Hida Beef; there was one item I was after – Hoba Miso Yaki.

This dish from the Gifu area is meat and vegetables, with local miso grilled on Magnolia (Hoba) leaves. The Missus loved the version we've had at Okariba in Kyoto, so when planning this trip, I added Hida-Takayama to the itinerary.

The meat was very tender, the beefiness mild, as was the miso, beany-nutty, but not too salty. It almost felt criminal to eat such good quality beef this way; mixed with miso and vegetables.

The meal came with a simple salad; very crisp and refreshing, a light sesame dressing.

Salads can be quite expensive in Japan and I think the Missus was missing this; so we ordered a Beef Salad. Man, the seared beef in this was very tender and tasty.

Service was so-so, fairly professional, quite detached, probably a bit jaded with having to work with tourists all the time.

But we enjoyed our meal.

Hidagyu Maruaki
6-8 Tenmanmachi
Takayama 506-0025, Gifu Prefecture

Now it was time to check in and take a load off.

Thanks for reading!

Tip Top Meats (Again)

September 8, 2017 Cathy German Restaurants and Food, Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog, originating in San Diego County, which is 4200 square miles large. Cathy is writing today's post because both Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) haven't much to write about.

It's been nine months since I last wrote about Tip Top Meats, even though The Mister and I have stopped here about once a month. Didn't want to bore you. ( Here are links to other posts: 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015).
This time, it's a lunch. The lunch plates come with a choice of soup or salad. The salads are pre-wrapped and generic, arriving with a packet of salad dressing…nothing special, but the soups are made daily and always interesting. Clam Chowder is a new choice here, primarily because of neighboring Top Choice Fish Market and Eatery, also under the same ownership. It's a nice chowder, not overly creamy, with diced bits of potato, fresh herbs and chopped clam pieces. The 'Lentil soup' did indeed have lentils as well as a beef filled gravy 'broth' and large potato pieces. Unique (and tasty). The Smoked Pork Chop plate ($10.98, with $1 off that day, a whiteboard special) came with a choice of cabbage on the side (got both white and red) (white kraut has bits of bacon in it and is sour; red kraut is sweet and has apple, no meat) as well as choice of potato (mashed, fried or (our choice)German potato salad) and a fresh roll. The potato salad is warm, has a vinegary component and is a good choice with these two large smoked pieces of pork. What a meal! There were leftovers(one whole pork chop), enjoyed with breakfast the next day. The Schnitzel plate, topped with an over easy egg ($10.98) is a wonderful meal. The pork cutlet (German style is made with pork, not veal) is stuffed with ham and cheese, breaded and fried. Topped with gravy and the egg, each bite can be a combination of textures and flavors. You can see that the mashed potatoes and gravy as well as the combination of krauts were the sides chosen for this. Meaty, savory, crispy, smooth, sweet, sour and savory. Always a good choice.

Tip Top Meats and European Delicatessen 6118 Paseo Del Norte Carlsbad, CA 92009 Website open daily 6 am-8 pm The largest licorice selection I've ever found that wasn't online!

La Miche Kabobgee Revisted

September 6, 2017 mmm-yoso Lebanese Restaurants

**** Sadly, La Miche has closed

I'd been wanting to revisit La Miche for a while, it's a favorite of ours during hot spells. For some reason, I'd had bad timing and gone when the place was closed. Finally, with a normal lunch hour at hand, I was able to return.

It seems that La Miche has done away with the lunch specials menu. So, I would be able to order mezze during….though mezze for one just didn't seem right, so I went through the menu and ordered the Makloubi (Makloubeh).

As is the norm, things started with a nice refreshing salad.

And hummus with flat bread. I think the bread here has gotten better over time, but it's still not in the league of, say, Alforon as it gets hard quite quickly. The hummus is very mild in flavor, but perhaps that's how folks like it.

The main course is quite substantial. Makloubeh literally means "upside down" in Arabic and this dish is presented in that manner.

The dish is a nice mélange of flavors and textures. The base of cauliflower and a very tasty eggplant is quite good; the rice is moist and full of flavor. The chickpeas, peas, and almonds add a nuttiness and a nice textural contrast to things. The lamb; well, I thought it the weakest link in the dish, decent gamey flavor, but it was dry and in all honesty, if the rice was cooked in the lamb stock, I could have done without it.

The portion size was pretty large so I brought the leftovers home. The Missus loved he veggies, but said She said the lamb was too dry.

In the end, I was happy to see La Miche had their regular menu available all day; I'll be bringing folks over to share mezze. I still believe it's those dishes that shine here.

La Miche Kabobgee
9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Red Card Cafe Revisited

September 5, 2017 mmm-yoso European Restaurants, Gastropub, Salads

** Red Café has closed

A few months back; Red Card Café brought on a new chef. Looking at the Chef's Bio we were intrigued at some of the places mentioned. We had enjoyed our New Year dinner at Red Card and was already happy to see things were looking up in our neighborhood. So with this news we decided it was time to head back to Red Card. Instead of making just one or two visits; we've been back almost ten times as we found the menu interesting, at times a bit strange, but with some really good dishes.

The current menu; which was fully implemented in August is much more grown up. It also seems more seasonally focused.

Over the last five or six years, we've often found that appetizers and small plates are the way to go for us. Kitchens will often take a bit more chances and stretch out a bit. Our strategy at Red Card was no different.

So, what are our favorites?

The Missus's numero uno, to the point that She's had it probably four times is the Braised Spanish Octopus ($13).

The octopus has always been perfectly fork tender, though on one occasion it was too salty. The Missus is a big fan of puy lentils and these have always been cooked to a pleasing texture, holding their shape well, with a slight green-peppery flavor. The Romesco sauce is nicely balanced; not too much garlic, but very nice. The only thing we think is just okay are the toasts which have been really hard on several visits.

We enjoy the salads….pick one; we've enjoyed them all, though I think the Missus's favorite is the Arugula & Stone Fruit ($9).

Perfectly dressed; the white balsamic dressing had that hint of sweetness, the crisp arugula and the frisee balanced the scales with peppery bitterness. I'm not a big fan of fruit in my salad; but I thought the nectarines really added a bit of tart-sweetness to the salad. I'm also glad that feta was used with some restraint.

I realized that I said I'm not a big fan of fruit in my salad; but my favorite is the Prosciutto and Fig ($10).

Great salty and complex fruity-sweetness, along with the wonderful nuttiness of the pistachios made this very enjoyable. The cheddar wasn't too sharp and added a little milky-smokiness to the salad.

We also enjoyed the Beet Salad ($10).

Sweet beets, tart-sour-anise-crisp pickled fennel; frisee nicely dressed.

I mentioned how much we enjoy the salads here and was told the produce comes from Chino Farm.

An item on the menu that caught my attention was the Watermelon Poke ($10). I've seen it floating around on websites; a trendy take for vegetarians on the poke bowl. Frankly, I didn't expect much, but this was better than I thought it would be.

Kinda looks like fish, huh? The cubes of watermelon had been transformed and the flavor of sesame oil and a touch of sourness (ponzu sauce) had been infused into the watermelon. Seems like perhaps sous vide at work? The watermelon ends up being only slightly sweet with nice savory tones. The Missus didn't care much for this…….the texture and the flavor kind of threw her off. Hence, you know why there's not too much molecular gastronomy going on in the mmm-yoso household.

The Duck Liver Mousse ($8), seemed perfect for us.

There is however, the concept of "too much of a good thing". The mousse was very rich with a pronounced sweet-livery flavor.

A bite or two would have been perfect. A jar of it was way too much and it became a bit of a chore trying to finish it.

Also having only four crostini for a jar of this size was too little….you'd be basically having to eat one-fourth of a jar of the mousse on every slice of toast.

Fine at first……way too much at the end….even when trying to use the cornichons and cherry jam (the mousse was already sweet and the jam took it too far) to cut the richness.

The Umami Wings ($9) were a bit interesting.

Actually "strange" might be more apt since the "secret" seasoning really tasted like some versions of Guai Wei Can Dou (guai wei = "strange flavored") I've had.

The powder seemed to detract from the crispness of the wings. These were also a bit too salty.

As you can tell, these are smaller wings, which I don't mind since the skin to meat ratio is increased.

On one of my solo visits I ordered the Cauliflower Gratin ($10).

There was too much cheese for my liking in this and the overall dish came across as too salty. In fact, the overall milky saltiness reminded me of the Mousse tiede d'epoisse we had at Aupres du Clocher in Pommard. Again, too much of a good thing. As luck would have it, I also ordered the Beef Tallow Fries ($6). Which when dipped or mixed into the gratin tasted really good. How ironic; my dish ended up being sort of a potato gratin in the end. This was so rich that I finished only about a third of the dish.

There's only been one item on the menu I totally didn't care for. The Spam Mususbi Arancini ($9). Now, coming from the islands, I was kind of interested to see how this would turn out.

First off, as you can tell, these were fried too "hard". To me arancini should be crisp with a certain lightness to it. The breading was hard as rock. Second, I couldn't taste the Spam….I really didn't like the salty-teriyaki flavor. The sriracha mayo just made things worse as it covered up all the other flavors…….pass.

Still, once we've found the items we like at Red Card, it's been smooth sailing.

Red Card Rev 17 There's a nice neighborhood feel to the place. The owners and staff are very friendly. The food sure has risen to another level. It's great to see things in our neighborhood are looking up.

Now, I'm wondering if they're going to have New Year's dinner this year? I hope so…..

Red Card Café
4140 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Szechuan Impression (Alhambra)

September 4, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

So, work has me going up to Irvine occasionally these days. It makes for a long drive, so recently, I had sessions all day and the Missus was off, we decided to head up and spend the night. I had wanted to stay in our old 'hood, Hacienda Heights, but the Missus wanted to be fairly close to my location so She wouldn't have to drive far to drop me off and then could do whatever She wanted. turns out She'd been working so hard and slept thru my texts when all my meetings were over. So I ended up having a nice 2 1/2 mile walk to the hotel. Which wasn't too bad; though it was pretty hot on Chapman.

And things seemed a bit seedy as well….I kind of stood out walking up the street and two different guys asked me if I was interested in "stuff". Strange.

Anyway, I got back to the hotel and we headed off for dinner. The Missus was really missing good Chinese food, specifically Sichuan. My first thought was a visit to Chengdu Taste, but since I'd recently checked out the Rowland Heights location, I thought we should visit Szechuan Impression, which has been creating quite buzz since opening a few years back. Yes, it's been that long since both the Missus and I have been able to take our time visiting our old stomping grounds. And yes, we've really missed the food in the SGV….but really haven't missed the traffic. A whopping 75 minutes from Garden Grove to Alhambra, without an accident to be seen.

I had actually planned well for this as we arrived right before Sichuan Impression opened.

This restaurant is on the small side; though there seems to be outdoor seating. Like the nice clean and well lit interior. We also enjoyed the rather professional service….we watched a couple come in with a young boy and the Server actually brought a little child's bowl for him.

We decided on a couple dishes from the menu. I love Sichuan Liang Mian, but have struggled to find anything like the version at Ba Ren, which closed in 2012. So, I had to order that here, since I'd heard good things about this version.

This was a disappointment. The sauce wasn't bad; though it was spicy enough, not enough vinegar tones, not enough sweet, not enough garlic….not enough. The noodles were a disaster; really hard and crumbly, with no "pull" at all.

Of course we had to have the Toothpick Lamb, which was better than what I had at Chengdu Taste in Rowland Heights.

The meat had been cooked at least twice, since the interior was pleasantly toothsome, which indicates some sort of braise and the exterior light and crisp. Good amount of cumin going on; with some spice, and a touch of the Sichuan Peppercorn signature numbing effect. I appreciated the cilantro, still don't enjoy the toothpicks, and the Missus wanted a bit more salt on this.

I miss the winey-porky-slightly sweet Chinese style sausages that Missus grew up eating in China. The closest facsimile we've had in the states had been at QingDao Bread. It was pretty hot out; so I ordered the "Impressive Sausage".

I enjoyed these a lot; nice cured pork flavor, decent wine, nice heat. The texture was a bit on the crumbly versus the nice waxy side and it wasn't salty enough. There was a smokey component to this that was seemed strangely reminiscent of paprika to me. The Missus wasn't going for this; as Her "Northern Sausage genes" kicked in….not enough wine, no sweetness, not salty enough, wrong texture. Still, I really liked this.

I didn't care for the Mapo Tofu.

There seemed to be a rather medicinal taste to this dish that was somewhat off-putting to me. It hit the Missus as well, but the more She ate it the more She enjoyed this. Loved the texture of the tofu; good "ma" (numbing), but not enough "la" (heat).

As we ate, we noticed that all the customers, save the couple with the young child, coming in were young. It seems that this is the new wave of Chinese regional restaurants, catering to the younger, "hipper" crowd of Chinese. The dishes aren't as salty, use less oil, and isn't quite a spicy. The Missus and I enjoyed the portion sizes as it seems that trend of "quantity over quality" is coming to an end. Cuisine isn't like the Mona Lisa, it's not a moment caught in time, it is constantly shifting. Though our meals are moments caught in time and we keep reaching for that moment…….and to be honest; for now I prefer the more traditional.

So, as it seems that another trip to China is not in the works; I'll keep searching for some good Sichuan Liang Mian.

Szechuan Impression
1900 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803

Arely (Again)

September 3, 2017 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, French Restaurants, Salads, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!! on this sweltering day. I hope you are staying cool! Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) are busy today. Cathy is writing this post.

Beginning in 2007, I posted twice about Arely, then waited until 2014 for an update, with Kirk writing his observations in 2016 and I chimed back in most recently in June 2017. Well, here we are again…because A) We like it here, and 2. It's convenient with recent events bring us to this part of town. One morning, the Breakfast ClubSandwich ($10.50) was a choice. The fresh baked (here) whole wheat bread, in three slices, is filled with fried egg, ham, bacon, avocado and Romaine. It's a wonderful sandwich and is quite large. This Ham and Cheese Crepe ($8.20) is filled with ham, eggs and cheese. It's wonderful! "Monkey Breakfast"($7.49) {listed as a whiteboard special, behind the cash register} was priced slightly less than the 'regular' French toast (which is $7.75), so we ordered it, thinking it was just a banana sauce over regular french toasted bread- but it was the most delightful use of leftover banana bread turned into French Toast! I'm quite fond of various quick breads and to have slices dipped in egg then fried to a light crisp, with the center still being a (quite great version) of banana bread…wow! Unexpectedly wonderful. One visit here was on a Friday (when I don't eat meat) so the Brie Cheese Salad ($8.25) was my order. A quite large salad of various lettuces, fresh tomato and bell pepper, onions…a nicely tart strawberry balsamic and a split baguette, toasted and topped with melted slices of a quality Brie cheese…just a perfect accompaniment.
A visit here usually includes an appetizer; French onion soup ($3.50/cup, $4.80/bowl). It's just wonderful-the stock made with fresh herbs, the onions…the cheese…slices of French bread…
The pastry cases, seen when you walk in…leaned against while waiting to order… The almond croissant ($3). A reason to stay seated, relax and enjoy with a cup of coffee. Just delightful.

Arely French Bakery Cafe 4961-A Clairemont Drive 92117 (858)270-1910 Tues-Sat 7:00 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun-Mon 7:00 a.m.-7 p.m.