**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed
For my next "noodling around" post, I decided to start on ECB and move West from 54th. The first place from there is the discreetly located Tan Ky Mi Gia; which used to be Hinh Ky Mi Gia, 
which used to be Tan Ky Mi Gia….if you're keeping score. The menu still says Hinh Ky Mi Gia……
I mentioned during the post on my last visit, that it seemed the placed hadn't aged too well.
During this visit, I noticed that the light for half the restaurant weren't even turned on.
Instead of ordering what I usually would here; I recalled that the Missus actually enjoyed the duck when this place was still Hinh Ky and I promised to try the duck again during my previous visit, so I went with the Egg Noodle with Flavor Duck; which is steamed rather than roasted. To be perfectly honest; that duck looked pretty spooky; due to the almost totally black color when it arrived.
But it was not bad; I expected really salty, but it had a strong anise-five spice flavor and was tender. It did a fairly strong offal-gamey flavor.
The simple broth was better than what I'd had previously; not so much MSG this time, decent richness, with a mild savory-seafood finish.
The rather generous portion of noodles were firm, with a slight "crunch" to them.
During my visit there were no less than five take-out orders and some guys from the, ahem, "coffee shop" next door came in for soup as I was leaving, so I'm guessing they are doing ok business. The owner; is same from my visits over a decade ago; so it seems they just keep rolling along.
Tan Ky Mi Gia
5237 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115