October 2018 – mmm-yoso

Anchorage – Glacier Brewhouse and a Haunted Hotel?

October 31, 2018 mmm-yoso Alaska, Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub, Travel

I guess it's just fitting to do this post on Halloween; after all we were staying at a haunted hotel, one that is actually the only hotel in Anchorage that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But first, we had to get there. It was just a simple 230 mile drive from where we were staying at McKinley Creek to the rental car return in downtown Anchorage.

Of course the views in Denali State Park were stunning……

While we stopped to take in the views, other than another stop to put in gas, we drove straightaway, without stopping for lunch. All in all, with road construction and traffic it took us about five and-a-half hours to get into Anchorage. After returning the rental car, we walked over to the hotel we were staying at and dropped off our bags. We then decided to do some shopping then grab a bite to eat…..actually several bites. The Missus eschewed making reservations at more of the upscale places; instead, we'd end up hitting three places during this day. First we decided to explore downtown Anchorage for a bit and do some shopping.

We started at an apropos spot; the Statue of Balto the Wonder Dog; who was one of the lead dogs during the amazing 1925 serum run to Nome, which also inspired the sled dog race we know as Iditarod.

The sculpture also marks the starting point of the Iditarod.

We wove our way through a myriad of souvenir and gift shops; with names like "Big Ray's", "Grizzly's Gifts", and "Once in a Blue Moose". The kitsch level was high and we really had a blast at all the humorous shirts and other "stuffs".

Taking a turn at the Visitor's Center.

We arrived at our first destination for the day……Glacier Brewhouse.

The place was pretty darn busy; even during the mid-afternoon time. We took a table in the bar area which was hopping as well.

Our Server was really on top of things; efficient and friendly.

I started with a nice Glacier Brewhouse Bavarian Hefeweizen, fruity banana tones, with a slight anise/clove thing going on; light and easy to drink.

The Missus was inspired by something She saw on the drinks list.

Something had "clicked" when She had that first sip of the single malt whiskey at Talkeetna Brewpub.

She pointed at a section of the drinks menu…….

And ordered the Kentucky Whiskey Flight!

I quickly ordered some food from the bar-grub menu. We needed something in our empty bellies or this wasn't going to turn out well.

Regardless; we really enjoyed the whiskey.

I'd ordered the Seafood Crostini; which featured both King Crab and Dungeness Crab on grilled Rosemary Bread. This was pretty good in bar food terms…..after all, how often do you mix the phrases King Crab and "pub grub".

It was quite clear that the less fussy; the better food seemed to turn out for us in Alaska.

The tomatoes were nice and ripe and added a decent acidity to the dish.

The Missus, with some help from me, really enjoyed the whiskey flight…..so She ordered another! This time the Rye Whiskey flight….

The Missus had enjoyed the Smoked Salmon Dip during our previous dinner….in fact, it was the only thing from the dinner She deemed edible, so I ordered that.

More toasts, more seafood, a lot of yogurt in this and a bit too sour for my taste. Still, mayo would have been worse; it surely would have put us down.

Like I said, we really enjoyed our Server, she was a joy to work with and even stopped by and chatted with us a bit. We headed out with something in our stomachs other than alcohol. While the food at Glacier Brewhouse has a definite corporate feel (as most other places here do too), it wasn't too bad….and the Missus got Her whiskey, right?

Glacier Brewhouse
737 W 5th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501

We headed on back to the hotel.

We were staying at the Historic Anchorage Hotel.

As we got to the hotel I noticed this sign posted outside.

Haunted, huh? While we waited a few short minutes for our room to be ready in the period piece bar area…..

We notice this this in the bar area….a listing of "encounters".

Some of them; like "lots of mold grew on their beer box overnight, and the curtains moved around on their own" kind of made us laugh….."Guest in room 203 came to the front desk to request a different room. The previous night the light in the bathroom kept turning on by itself and he could hear laughter and smell tobacco smoked from that room. He was not disturbed by this presence, but preferred a "less active" room so that he could sleep through the night." Yeah, for real….

And there was this one; which seemed more like a heart attack than a haunting.

Wow, so many stories. This was going to be an interesting night……

But first; we needed to freshen up, take a short nap……then grab some dinner!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Halloween!

Fernside

October 30, 2018 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub

I recently had some time to catch up with my good friends; it had been a while and I really missed the good times, laughs, and all the crazy fun we've had over the years. During one of the conversations; I mentioned how much the Missus enjoys the cocktails at El Jardin. Well, the all knowing Candice quickly mentioned Fernside. Christian Siglin, who designed the cocktails at El Jardin had done the same for Fernside, which opened at the end of September. There was one caveat however; the always diplomatic Candice did warn me about our, ahem, somewhat picky taste and the menu.

Still, once I mentioned Fernside to the Missus, we just had to head on down to the corner of Grape and Fern. The place doesn't even have signage up yet.

We enjoyed the casual, neighborhood vibe of the place, and really love sitting outside and counting the number of dogs being walked past us; or who have their heads sticking out of cars as they drive past.

While the beer selection is nice; but not very wide ranging, the Missus has come to really enjoy the cocktails here. It's like they've tailored them to Her taste; not overly sweet, just stiff enough for Her…and She does love Her Bourbon.

Her current favorite is the Mr Robinson; with the smoky-peanut tones of the Peanut Infused Bourbon, the nice citrus acidity of lime, and the perfect kick from the Serrano Bitters. It has those savory-citrus-smoky-spicy tones in a nicely balanced cocktail, at least for the Missus.

We (I say we because if I order this, the Missus will finish it for me) also enjoy the version of the Old Fashion here; the Old Fernside. It's not overly sweet, and has mild anise tones, balanced out with Bourbon.

It gets kinda scary when I start writing about cocktails using food descriptions.

It's even more scary when I think that my favorite drink here is a beer and a shot……called the "Wolf Killer", it's a Coors Light, yes, you read that right, with a smooth and smoky Montelobos (literally "mountain of wolves") Mezcal.

As for the food? Here's what we've had so far from our the Missus's favorite, working it's way down.

The Missus's favorite item here by far is the Crusty Cauliflower ($6).

Simply dusted with cornmeal and fried, it's crunchy and seasoned nicely. The pickled veggies are pretty good here, but that Buffalo Sauce is not a great pairing; it kills any of the mild sweetness of the cauliflower and is way too sour, but perhaps that's the objective; make you think you're not eating your veggies?

The Missus likes the avocado toast ($9), which I think has a nice texture and goes well on Levain bread, but man, I felt this was so bland.

Best thing about this was the pickled onions. This needed some oomph…..

The "Hot Sausage" ($9) wasn't very "hot". In what is perhaps is a homage to an "Ameri-taco" it's lined with iceberg lettuce.

The brioche was very mild; lacking in buttery goodness, the sausage, called "Cochinita Pibil" on the menu, is a very mild, achiote colored, fairly dense, force-meat product. A bit too mild in flavor; I'd have loved a bit of "snap" on this, it might have helped the experience. The pineapple salsa was fine as it did add some much needed flavor and character to things, but in the end; the Missus, well, I've documented Her love of waffle cut fries before, enjoyed that the most. It had a nice and crisp exterior with a creamy interior.

The Spread Plate ($14), was interesting.

The pickled veggies were my favorite thing; the nutty and slightly sweet beet hummus was next, the chicken liver pate was really salty and lacked the nice livery-rich texture and flavor. The Missus liked the "Kale Pesto", which was too bitter for me; it really reminded me of a bitter tabbouleh. The toasted bread and flat bread provided were decent vehicles; it's just the passengers that I didn't care for.

And then we have the wings, I ordered the Spicy Dry Rub version($11). Well, first off the wings were on the dry side and the skin was rubbery.

The rub had too much paprika and not enough salty and sweet tones making it a bit too bitter for me. Too bad, because based on the color of the flesh, this seemed like decent quality wings; no black splotches and such.

So, will we return to Fernside? Well, you might be surprised when I say "yes". You see, we both enjoy the vibe….and the cocktails. The food? Well, I'm hoping I find something I enjoy on the menu. Still, we just love sitting and watching South Park drive and walk on by…..and counting those dogs……

And as long as that Mr Robinson (and "wolf killers") are going strong. Well, that'll have to be enough for us. At Fernside; where the cocktails are a food group…….

Fernside
1946 Fern St
San Diego, CA 92102
Hours:
Sun – Wed 11am – 1am
Thurs – Sat 11am – 2am

Village Kitchen Revisited

October 29, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

The weather had cooled off a bit and the Missus was ready for some Chinese food……just not hot pot or skewers…like all those new places serve these days. Hunan Kitchen had closed and She wanted something with a bit of spice. So we thought why not check out Village Kitchen since it had been a while. We went with a bit of trepidation; we'd heard that they had lost kitchen staff and the cooks were now different.

The service was slow, indifferent, and perfunctory.

We started with what I consider to be the best dish at VK; the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg.

Smokey eggplant; roasted than pounded into a creamy Babaganouj like state; with a decent amount of slightly spicy peppers and pidan this time around.

The Missus's Dad is from Hunan, so She really enjoys dried and preserved vegetables. Thus, we went ahead and tried the Pork with Dried Cucumber Skin.

The pork was hard and chewy and this wasn't very spicy though the salty-soy flavors were tempered with an interesting finish….that lightly briny cucumber flavor, which really helped to refresh and cleanse the palate.

The Missus loves Her La Rou; Hunan preserved meat and dried bamboo shoots, so we had to order that. We had started to notice that the portion sizes seemed to have increased.

I'm not the biggest fan of the smoked pork here; it's a bit too hard and has a bit of an artificial taste to it; but I do enjoy the crunch of the dried bamboo shoots. This was hitting the peak of saltiness which was amplified by the smoky tones. It was slightly spicy; but man having it sit overnight made it pretty hot the next day. This is a dish where you'll need a lot of rice.

The last dish was an old favorite; the Preserved Long Beans with Chicken Gizzards.

This was really greasy and gloppy and really salty as well. The gizzards had been sliced thinly giving it a nice crunch; but the long beans were much too salty…..the preserved green beans should be very briny; but man, this was just a greasy-sodium bomb.

So how's VK doing almost three years down the line? Well, the service is a little worse, there just seems to be a bunch of young people working with no supervision. The food now is not terrible there are several pretty good items on the menu, but it doesn't seem to be made with the same skill and attention to detail, though the portions seem larger. VK is basically all we have when we want Hunan style food; so I guess we're kind of stuck with it.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Sunday Sandwiches – Al Calozzi’s Cheesesteaks

October 28, 2018 mmm-yoso Cheesesteaks, Sandwiches

**** Calozzi's Cheesesteaks has closed

After my last couple of Cheesesteak posts; I got a couple of recommendations. Strangely, both of them are in PB. I thought I'd try out Calozzi's first.

Calozzi's is a tiny little shop squeezed in right next to Latin Chef. There's basically two sets of counters with chairs; inside you can watch your cheesesteaks being made.

Or you can dine outside and watch PB roll on by…..

The menu is simple and straightforward; a handful of cheesesteaks, in Philly style they come "wit" or "witout" (fried onions). The folks working here; especially the young lady are very friendly.

Of course I just went with "The Cheesesteak" ($10.75). Man, this was totally a meat-bomb.

When I broke apart the two pieces; "meat-shrapnel" flew in all directions. Of course, much of the meat was piled on the top. The White American Cheese provided just enough of the volcanic creamy-gooey texture to provide enough lip searing moisture and milkiness to the sandwich. There was a decent beefiness; with little seasoning, which was just fine in my book. Since I had this "wit"; I quickly noticed that the onions were really stringy, not a big deal, but still noticeable.

For me; it was that bread, there was just too much of it, that took away from this sandwich. I'm fond of the crusty, with gritty textured Italian Hoagy bread of places like Amaroso, which have a nice yeasty flavor, and stand up to all the meat juice and gooey cheese.

In the end; just too much bread.

Still, not a bad sandwich. And you'll need to familiarize yourself with the "condiment" rack….not necessarily for the peppers and such; but that's where the napkins and forks (should you need them) are assembled.

After this meat-bomb; I needed a month to recover. So, I recently revisted and had myself the "Donnie"; Calozzi's version of a Mushroom Cheesesteak.

This version; with provolone was much drier; the meat much more caramelized. It was a bit too dry for my taste as there was so much bread. The mushrooms were chopped in large pieces; I'd have preferred a more finer chop and more integrated into the cheesesteak. It was again; a huge amount of beef, so I'm sure it'll impress those who love this portion size.

For me, Calozzi's, which also has a location in Seattle, is more about quantity….you will get your money's worth here. If you want that "meat-bomb" this might be the place.

It's not necessarily my favorite cheesesteak as proportion and the right "roll" matters; at least for me.

I will say; I don't think you'd go hungry here.

Recently; I went searching for photos form that long ago trip to Philly; waaay back in the nineties; when we still used a thing called "film" for photos. Hopefully, I'll find those one of these days. I'll surely scan them and perhaps do a post.

Al Calozzi's Cheesesteaks
1146 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
Open Daily:
11am – 9pm

Paris – Délices de Shandong and Yet More Croissants

October 26, 2018 mmm-yoso Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Croissants, France, Paris, France, Travel

You could tell the Missus needed a break from hotel breakfasts. Instead of partaking with the usual fairly good breakfast at the Hotel Monge, She just went with some coffee while I arranged our transfer to the airport. Our flight to Copenhagen wasn't leaving CDG until 730 pm, so we had some time to kill. So, we arranged our transfer, checked out, stowed our bags, and headed out. The Missus had decided that we should try a few more croissants, since She had not found one that truly appealed to Her yet.

So, we headed back to Rue Mouffetard.

And the very popular Le Fournil de Mouffetard.

A got a croissant au buerre.

Which we took to the side street and consumed. This was nice and flakey, but too dry and without enough butter. Pass…..

Le Fournil de Mouffetard
123 Rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris, France

The Missus was a bit bummed; but I told Her I'd seen one other (last) place to try; right down the street. I knew it was a chain; so this was no Artisan Boulangerie, but I thought why not give it a try.

This places was also quite busy; though the folks here, and even the customers, a few of whom wanted to make sure we'd get our order right, were really nice, decent folks.

So, we got our croissant and walked on over to Square Saint-Medard where we took a seat on one of the benches.

And wouldn't you know; this was a pretty good croissant; flakey and light, just enough butter and salt….from a chain!

Oh well; I'm not to complain about the Missus finally finding a satisfying croissant.

Saines Saveurs Paris 5ème
2 Rue de Bazeilles, 75005 Paris, France

We then went about killing time around Saint Germain before heading back to the Hotel.

As we reached the hotel, the Missus told me She was getting hungry, but really didn't want French food. I told Her I had an idea and after a quick explanation She was all for it. Using Google Maps; we wove our way thru side streets and slowly up the hill, until we came to this restaurant.

**** Délices de Shandong has closed

A tiny shop; I told the Missus that it's now under different ownership and doesn't have much Shandong style dishes; but it had two items that She might enjoy.

And so it came to pass; for our last meal in Paris; we had jiazi and suan cai.

They were out of the pork and suan cai dumplings; so we just went with the standard pork and cabbage. You knew right away this wasn't a Qingdao style establishment since it was just black vinegar and chili oil; no pounded garlic. But these weren't bad at all; like decent home made jiaozi; the wrappers tender and pillowy, the filling a bit on the saltier side. These were still better than anything comparable in San Diego.

The Missus really enjoyed Her Suan Cai, ahem, "charcroute"…..

Man, that fermented cabbage did smell like…well, "Sammy's Feet", it really wasn't salty, with just a cheesy-fermented flavor, just like we make at home. The Missus asked the owner where she was from…..Shenyang….well that makes sense. The Missus enjoyed most of this; except for the pork which was dry and had a funky flavor. It was just simple comfort food. Just what we needed on a cold, damp day.

Délices de Shandong
88 Boulevard de l'Hôpital
75013 Paris, France

From here we took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel.

That's the Arts et Métiers ParisTech above.

And the Manufacture des Gobelins, the tapestry factory that has supplied the French Monarchy since the 18th century.

We got back to the Hotel Monge and waited for our shuttle in the reception area; the Missus watched Netflix, I did some reading. Soon enough we were at the airport, reading for the final leg of this three week trip. It was back to Copenhagen!

Pho La Jolla Revisited

October 25, 2018 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

My 3 hours of meetings ran a bit late, I was starving, and wanted something to eat before heading back to the office. It was then that I recalled that Pho La Jolla was close by….and I hadn't been there in nearly half a decade. Some pho sounded good, so I decided to grab some lunch.

The place was empty when I arrived; though folks quickly came thru to pick-up take-out orders. The Hispanic guy working the front of house was really nice to the "regulars"…..but quite, ahem, perfunctory to me. I was somewhat relieved to know it wasn't personal as he was the same to anyone who came in to eat that he didn't "know".

What I wanted to order was quite simple; well-done steak, flank, tendon, and tripe….except there was a problem; they don't serve tendon and tripe anymore. It's been replaced by meatballs. Ok, how about the bo kho….nope, that's off the menu now as well.

So, I finally settled for the Bun Bo Hue….that would be the "Vietnamese Spicy Beef Soup" on the menu; not the rather strange sounding (in a Vietnamese Restaurant) "Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup" (well, maybe not since there weren't any Vietnamese working on this day as my order was called back in Spanish to the kitchen).

The sprouts and company was pretty much what I expected; sparse, but fresh. The BBH arrived in a rather large bowl; I took a sip and holy ms-heebie-geebies Batman! Man, it was super salty; I ended up using the two slices of lime trying to temper the saltiness. I had expected doctored up pho (obviously no pork tones) broth, but this was kinda funny….basically slightly metallic tasting pho broth with chili paste and voila, Bun Bo Hue! No deep savory flavors from shrimp paste; no lemongrass tones….lots of onions though. I guess they tried to balance the scales by using a ton of cilantro and scallions.

The beef and there was plenty of brisket and well done steak in this was decent; quite beefy, no off flavors. The cha lua of the "ga" (chicken) variety was passable, except for being cold. Of course there was no pork hock. But man, that bun was over-cooked and really mushy.

I've had some mediocre bowls of Bun Bo Hue over the years; but this might have been the worse. And with a $11.75 price tag and unfriendly service. Add no tripe, tendon, bo kho, and who knows what else? I don't think I have any reason to return.

Pho La Jolla
3211 Holiday Court #102
La Jolla, CA 92037

Paris – Au Passage

October 24, 2018 mmm-yoso France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

Ever since reading (and doing a bit of cooking from), Jane Sigal's wonderful book (it more than a cookbook in my mind); Bistronomy: Recipes from the Best New Paris Bistros, I'd been wanting to try one of the places mentioned in the book. In case you're not familiar with it; think of it as "bistro + gastronomy", at its best; it is affordable food, made with excellent ingredients and technique, without over-wrought processes, in a casual environment.

After doing a bit of research; I'd managed to get reservations at Au Passage in the hip and trendy 11th Arrondissment. So, after a nice afternoon nap, we headed off….we actually walked to the 11th from our hotel in the 5th.

It was about a mile and a half from the hotel and while it was a bit of a hazy evening; it was still quite beautiful.

Located in a little side street (passage) Au Passage has a rustic, vibrant, somewhat hip, vibe to it.

The place fills up pretty quickly. The Missus partook of several of the wines by the glass; the listing is on the chalkboard.

The menu, on a single sheet of paper changes frequently….we immediately knew what we wanted to start with…..

The House Foie Gras (8€). This was well made, very smooth, quite balanced in flavor between the earthy livery flavors with a touch of sweetness. It was also quite a large portion.

Next up; "St Pierre" Sauce XO (10€). Basically, John Dory in a version of Chinese XO Sauce.

If you've ever had "matodai" at a sushi bar; you'd know what this is; a mild, lightly sweet, and tender "shiromi" (whitefish). The XO Sauce (which seemed to have quite a bit of lardon), while quite mild in terms of spice, was still overkill for the lovely and tender fish.

We particularly enjoyed the Endive Moutarde Oreille de Cochon (9€) – some really bitter and yet sweet endive, with a nice mustard based sauce and crunchy delicious fried pig ears.

The Veal Sweetbreads with a wonderful, lightly tangy, sunchoke sauce was also quite amazing.

The perfectly seasoned and cooked sweetbreads were wonderful, a light crust, gave way to a soft and creamy interior.

These Vielle Rouge; which I believe is grouper; was fine, moist, with a crisp skin.

Quite simple in prep.

The Beef was served "blue" and was on the tough side and under seasoned. The greens were quite good though.

Overall, a nice meal, quite solid, and a decent value. The service was a bit shakey as the place got busier we were kind of forgotten.

Still, it was fun trying one of these neo-bistros, the proclaimed "new wave" of bistros.

Au Passage
1 bis passage Saint Sébastien
75011 Paris, France

As we crossed the Seine, we stopped to watch the Eiffel Tower shine it's light on Notre-Dame de Paris, we stop to reflect on just how lucky we were to be able to enjoy the freedom of travel….the sights…sounds…and of course the food!

And to be in Paris……the Missus's favorite city…..

Thanks for reading!

Post #3951 – It’s Back to the Beginning: China Max, Sandwich Emporium, Bay Park Fish, and Another One…..

October 23, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Sandwiches, Seafood

Recently I was asked via email if I'd hit 5,000 posts yet…..well, I knew I wasn't even close since I've only been around since May 26, 2005, which, if we count forward until today would be a total of 4898 days. Of course there's no way we'd be doing more than one post a day. But, I was kind of interested in counting our posts and saw we were getting close to 4,000. But, I didn't want to burden myself with keeping track so I chose to do something; well today.

I had noticed something interesting; all of the places listing in my first five posts are still in business! What are the chances? So, I decided to revisit four of those places; the other Sushi Komasa is still going strong, at least as far as I know.

I think we've been to a good number of places over the years. I once had a page I called the "Big List" which listed places, included those which had closed, only in San Diego, with a few photos I'd never published….well, the page got too big for Typepad to handle and it wouldn't load anymore. So, it's back to the drawing board with that one.

Anyway, I'm not going to go too much into detail, after all, I've probably posted on these places a few times before.

Post #1 May 26, 2005; China Max:

Which I visited with the Late, Great, Ed from Yuma; I miss you my friend! The Missus humored me and was actually wanting some Gai lan….and I was craving the Seafood Pan Fried Noodles. The drill is that the Missus gets all the seafood, except for the squid which is usually on the chewy side, and most of the noodles and "gravy" is mine. I usually want this about every year or so.

Time sure does fly; this is now $20.99; man can you believe this used to be (with more noodles) $14.99 ? Anyway, having grown up eating what we call "cake noodle" (sam see mian) – "Mr Z" if you read this; Kin Wah used to make a nice version! Anyway, the shrimp was nicely cooked, at least that's what the Missus said. I just loved the always evolving texture of the saturated crunchy noodles.

The Missus got Her gailan.

We also ordered some dimsum.

We got two items that had usually been fairly dependable here; but you can easily see the holes in the wrappers of the Pan Fried Chive Dumplings:

The Chazhou Dumpling's wrappers were really sticky and tore when we removed them from the tin.

Still the flavor of the fillings for both were fine.

For what it's worth China Max still might be the best dim sum in the area. Which pretty much tells the story of dim sum in San Diego.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111

Post #3 May 28, 2005 Sandwich Emporium:

I've long mentioned my affection for those mom-and-pop sandwich shops. Though SE has pretty well for themselves over the years with locations in Rancho Penasquitos, Escondido, and Mira Mesa. Though I don't drop by nearly as much as I used to; it's still my neighborhood sandwich shop.

And "say hello to my little friend"…..

This one is called the "Spicy Julio". I believe one of the "twins"; John told me they make the roast beef inhouse these days? Anyway; a toasted roll, a sauce with pickled jalapenos, guac….this was quite nice on an especially warm fall day.

Sandwich Emporium
3054 1/2 Clairemont Drive
San Diego,CA

Post #5 May 30, 2005 Bay Park Fish:

Though I really only bought some seafood on that day. This was way back when Bay Park Fish used to sell seafood…..interesting story; that seafood case eventually ended up at Catalina Offshore.

It had been quite a while since I last visited; for some reason, the Missus and I just aren't thrilled by the menu, prices, etc….

I recently dropped by for a beer and the one item I enjoy here; the smoked fish, though there seems to be a bit more "filling" than on previous visits.

Still this wasn't too bad.

And with a nice cold .394 I was full.

Perhaps one of these days; I'll drop by and start retrying other items on the menu.

Bay Park Fish Company
4121 Ashton St
San Diego, CA 92110

There is one place conspicuously missing; it's from Post #4 May 29, 2005. So here's the deal. I actually drove up to the College area on a recent weekend for a revisit. It had been about three years since my last visit and a decade since my last visit before that.

So, I actually dropped by……

I walked in and there was….shall we say a "fragrance"…….it was pretty tough, even for someone who has had some interesting and wonderful things over the years, and some unknowingly disturbing items as well. I mean, it was bad…….even worse than what you'd think trout smoked over…well, you know what. I had to leave….sorry, just couldn't do it.

Regardless; I'd like to thank everyone who have visited over the years. We're flattered that you'd even take the time to visit. It's been an honor to sit and do my "stream of consciousness" posts. Frankly, I didn't think I'd last a year. So, thank you once again!

Popcorn Chicken

October 22, 2018 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

**** Popcorn Chicken has closed

Interesting how things go. One day I noticed this place had opened in the same strip mall as Lolita's and Katsu Café.

The sign said "Taste of Taiwan", so I was somewhat intrigued. I did a brief search online and figured out that this is a Taiwanese "snack/street" food chain with two other locations; one in LA and the other in the OC. So, I decided to walk in and check them out.

They seemed to be doing some decent business; also looked like sort of a Taiwanese Fast-Casual place in the same vein as any number of Tea/Boba shops that are scattered around San Diego. It seemed even more strange that Tea Station was just a few doors over.

The menu consisted of various Taiwanese snack type dishes; chicken wings, sausages, a whole slew of fried stuffs, and basically many of the same dishes with rice and veggies, called "bento boxes".

The prices of the bento boxes seemed quite inexpensive, like six bucks, so I ordered the namesake Popcorn Chicken Medium Spicy Bento Box along with the Chicken Wings Spicy ($5). This is what I picked up when my number was called.

That little bag held the popcorn chicken, fried a bit too hard, more crunchy than crisp, unevenly breaded and seasoned. I actually enjoyed the fried basil the best, the crisp, with anise tones. The seasoning was quite simple and the spice level was decent. Very straightforward.

In that plastic "box" was a very generous portion of rice, with a drizzle of a soy sauce – pork – mildly sweet sauce. And a few small pieces of meat.

The boiled egg was on the over-cooked side for my taste, the yolk was d-r-y, but it was mildly seasoned and not terrible. The veggies were simple steamed zucchini, corn, and a green bean and carrot mixture….the corn and the carrots seemed fairly straight from the frozen food isle.

I was looking forward to trying the chicken wings which was decently fried, but on the dry side.

I really didn't care for the powdery, bitter, seasoning….it was fairly one-dimensional, just adding spice to the chicken and not much else.

Still, I thought this was well worth the price; six bucks for the popcorn chicken and five for the wings (well, maybe not the wings).

I happened to mention this to a few of my coworkers…..they love fried food, donuts, Chik-fil-a, you get it. So, they wanted to check the place out and I said ok.

By this time the Bento Boxes had gone up by $2 and was now eight bucks. I got the fried pork chop.

I noticed that the zucchini and corn had been replaced by sautéed cabbage. The boiled egg was much better this time around and there seemed to be even more rice.

That breading on the pork chop would have been fine if most of it hadn't peeled off the meat when placed in the bag. The seasoning on this was decent, enough salt and pepper, and probably a good amount of MSG. The pork chop was a bit on the chewy side but not bad.

The folks from work, especially "Pam" really enjoyed the place. We returned a few weeks later.

I tried the Popcorn Chicken Bento again.

The chicken was even drier than before though I preferred this to the spicy versions as you could actually taste the chicken. The breading was more crisp and lighter than before, though there was less fried basil than before. Notice that it's just a drizzle of pork based broth on the rice now; no hint of meat or anything else. The rice was moist and there was a lot of it. The egg, while decent on the previous visit, was back to being over-cooked.

Still, my coworkers……

I figured I'd had enough, but with things cooling down a bit here in San Diego, I was in the area at around 1130 on a recent weekend, so I decided to try the Niu Rou Mian….which they didn't have on this day. So, I went with the Braised Beef with Rice ($9). Man, did they give me a lot of meat.

Which was barely lukewarm, bland, and on the drier side. At least it wasn't tough, but could have really been braised in a more flavorful liquid. The egg was really nice this time around, while hard boiled, it wasn't dry and didn't have that ugly purple ring. The rice was moist, fluffy, and the best I've had here. And guess what? Zucchini was back in style; at least for today.

The most surprising item was the broth….well stew or more appropriate "gravy" as it was quite thick and almost gluey; not the most pleasurable texture, but it had a nice peppery tanginess; with a hint of spice, and was hot. It edged on being too salty (with a mild sweetness – MSG?), but that actually helped all the beef which I plopped into the stew. The carrots were a bit undercooked, but not terrible.

After this visit; I think I'm done with Popcorn Chicken for a while. I'm sure Kirbie is laughing about these visits as I'm probably the wrong demographic. I will say this; yes, it's basically fast/snack food and in spite of the uneven cooking, seasoning, serving, and the ever changing portions, if you're more about quantity over quality, this place might do it for you. And to be perfectly honest; I'd take this over food from one of the corporate mega-chains any day of the week…..just not for a while……

Popcorn Chicken
7309 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 1130am – 930pm

San Francisco – Z & Y Restaurant

October 21, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, San Francisco and Silicon Valley

After making that fairly long hike along the bay and up Lombard Street, I was left with trying to find a place to eat in Chinatown; there were places like R&G Lounge where there was nothing available….so finally, we decided upon Z&Y Restaurant. Especially since, I've been missing decent Sichuan food in San Diego.

So we made our way there.

Of course there was a wait; but since we didn't want to share table. it wasn't too long, maybe 20 minutes or so.

We ordered a couple of things off the menu, some smaller "snack" type items I've been missing and since we needed to finish everything up without leftovers, nothing extravagant.

First up was the Sichuan Liang Mian; which was pretty disappointing.

I'll readily admit; I enjoy the Chongqing version of Sichuan Liang Mian and this was pretty weak in the vinegar-spice-garlic-savory-sweet department. Remember "suan tian ku la Xian", this was pretty mild in terms of flavor and the noodles while decent in texture just didn't do a decent job of holding onto the "sauce".

The pork with garlic looked wonderful; and the cucumber rolled in the pork really helped to clear out the richness of the dish.

Our basic problem with this is how lean and chewy the pork was and the temp as it was nearly hot. The sauce, in spite of the look of it was quite mild and lacking in spice, at least for us.

The best dish of the meal was the fish filet with preserved vegetable.

There was that nice fermented-sour flavor in the broth, along with a good amount of spice and white pepper. The fish filet had been nicely "velveted", it was so tender and moist, the broth had a wonderful bracing, but not over-the-top sour-spicy flavor. This had that "aaah" thing going for it.

The last item we ordered were the won tons in hot sauce…….I'm still looking for that "kou gan" (mouth-feel) for the won tons we had in Chengdu, that wonderful mouth-feel, slippery and yet tender…and this was almost there.

And the pork filling was light and moist, very pleasant to eat. The sauce however, was much too sweet, too light and thin, without substance and spice, that made the dish a bit disappointing.

The staff here works really hard with the crowds; they are efficient and do a nice job. We both thought the dishes had been "adjusted" in terms of spice and taste.

Z & Y Restaurant
655 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94133

Still, we were having a nice time just wandering around……