December 2021 – Page 2

Valerio’s Bakery (Mira Mesa)

December 9, 2021 Cathy Bakery, Filipino Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Since 2005, mmm-yoso!!! has been a blog about food. Today, Cathy is writing while Kirk and His Missus are gathering good memories together.

Tucked in the corner anchored by Lucky Seafood (no, Lucky Pho has not reopened) and next to Tim Ky Noodle is one of four locations of Valerios City Bakery (two in the LA area). The original location, "Home of the Finest Oriental Bread and Pastries", family owned and operated bakery opened in 1979 in National City.
When you walk in, you'll be greeted by one of the nice ladies who works here. You'll see a wall of some ready to grab pastries: some sweet, some savory. To the left, there are steam trays with a menu just behind. This is our excuse to stop here; for a meal.
Valerio's opens at 6 a.m. There's breakfast, XXX si-log. Some sort of meat and eggs and garlic rice for $7.99 (meats to choose from are Longanisa (a Filipino sausage), Spam, Tocino (thick cut bacon), Daing Na Bangus (fish) or Hot Dog) (for $8.95, you can get Tap si-log, beef jerky). This is Long si-log, with a *great* garlic rice, perfect over easy eggs and a wonderful sweet longanisa (there are several varieties of longanisa, savory as well as sweet, depending on the region of the Philippines.). Breakfast is served all day, or until ingredients run out. A two item entree with rice is $9.99. Chicken adobo was placed in the box with the (plain) rice and pork menudo was in its own container. Each had excellent flavors.

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Filipino adobo is a cooking process. The meat (or vegetable) is browned in oil then simmered in a mix of five items: vinegar, garlic, soy sauce (or fish sauce or salt), whole black pepper and bay leaves.

Filipino menudo is a tomato based stew. In this case, pork was marinated in lemon and soy then stewed in the tomato sauce with potato and carrots (tediously cut) and bell pepper.

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Also available on the steam tables, depending on the time of day, are empanadas($1.99) (this is chicken) and Turon (85¢) (banana in a fried wrapper). Always fresh.

On the other side of the cash register is a bakery display case. The merengues (five for $2) are crisp, light and are vanilla flavored-delicious.
There are ube (purple yam) Bibingka ($3.99) sold here. The dots of white are cream cheese. The rice cake treat is made fresh daily and a great mid-afternoon snack.

One day, The Mister and I were having breakfast and in walked cc and Bert, (who are friends) and they ordered some treats and offered some bites. This sweet, soft bun had ube jam filling. This sweet cheese roll is also soft and a great snack. A great place to drop in for a meal and a snack.

Valerio's City Bakery 9396 Mira Mesa Blvd San Diego 92126 (858)527-1834 Open daily 6 a.m.-5 p.m. Website

Filipino shops have an image of Santo Niño somewhere in their establishment.

2022 Rose Parade Float decorating, dinner at Costa’s

December 8, 2021 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog with some reasons as to how the meal occurred. Cathy is posting today.

I've posted about Rose Parade float decorating for the parades of 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Last year, there was no parade to celebrate 2021, but things are a bit more 'normal' and this past Saturday, the first 'Dry Decorating' day happened at Phoenix Decorating Company, where The Mister and I volunteer with hundreds of others as Petal Pushers. The Kiwanis also coordinate volunteers for decorating at Phoenix). They need volunteers, so if you aren't doing anything this Saturday or next, sign up now-it's fun and an easy way to cross something off of your 'Bucket List'.

Since you've seen some 2022 float road tests (all linked on this post), I'll try to be a little different this year with photos. Some floats are not ready to be decorated. At all.
But by the end of the day on Saturday, quite a bit was accomplished on the Rotary float. Many materials were used for this owl!
Lentils had been tediously applied on this 'urn'.
Cotton for the polar bear fur.
The Mutual of Omaha/RFD-TV float "Wild Kingdom" had every other feature being decorated, even the Burmese python.
Shriners had a few volunteers. Tedious work!
The dark purple statice petals were carefully applied.
More beans!

The Lutheran Laymans League (and organizer of Petal Pushers volunteers) has their 71st float in the Rose Parade. It's the only Christian themed float in the Parade, this year themed "Jesus Teaches".
You Are Invited! by Trader Joe's has so many features to be decorated.

So many floats, so many details, so much more work to be done!

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After we finished for the day, we were cold and exhausted and drove to a close, familiar place for a meal, Costa's Family Restaurant. The last time we were here was after our visit to the Showcase of Floats, following the 2020 Rose Parade, unaware of what the year had in store for us. We were seated when the sun was still out, but it was dark when we left.
Starting the meals with a bowl of house made vegetable soup and beet covered salad had us reminiscing the familiarity of this home style restaurant and we are happy it has survived.
Just a simple side of dinner rolls with butter.

Beef and Gravy ($12). Served with wonderful, lumpy, mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day. Tender meat, thick brown gravy, comfort food. As was the Liver and Onions plate ($12). Tender calves liver, thin, light crusted, pan fried, caramelized onions and the same mashed potato and vegetable sides. We really enjoyed this.Each meal includes dessert. I chose tapioca pudding, The Mister chose chocolate pudding. Both were made here…and were wonderful.

Costa's Family Restaurant 851 E. San Bernadino Road Covina, CA 91723 Open Daily 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Website

Pho Time PB

December 7, 2021 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog. Kirk usually writes here, but today, it's Cathy's turn.

I have written a bit about why The Mister and I venture into Pacific Beach on a fairly regular basis (we pick up par-baked rolls at Charlie's Best Breads) and usually grab a quick meal while in the area. In the corner a few doors down from our destination, since 2009, the family owned and run Pho Time has been able to thrive, even during Covid.
Some tables have been moved for distancing.
There are menus on an outside window as well as at the front door. The menu is 'Americanized' in descriptions. There were many people picking up 'To Go' orders while we were eating. A very tasty hot tea is served here.
I ordered the "crispy crepe" (Banh Xeo) ($11.25) as soon as we sat down, because I know it takes time to prepare. The version here is great! Crisp pancake filled with pork, shrimp, bean sprouts and mung beans; flavor and freshness and when eaten with the accompanying lettuce, mint and pickled vegetables dipped in fish sauce, quite a perfect bite.
From the Appetizer part of the menu, the "Vietnamese Chicken Salad" (Goi Ga)($10.95) is a great choice. Poached white meat chicken, on top of a bed of cabbage mixed with pickled carrots and topped with mint, basil and peanuts in a vinegar/fish sauce dressing is a perfect blend of traditional Vietnamese flavors. This is particularly refreshing on a hot day.
The Pho here is remarkable. A wonderful beefy broth, great (non-clumped) noodles and bright flavors overall makes this "eye round steak" (Tai) ($10.25) bowl a satisfying meal with bright flavor in each slurp.

Another family owned restaurant that has continued quality.

Pho Time PB 1820 Garnet Ave San Diego 92109 (858) 203-2109 Website Open daily 11-9

Lemon Grove Thai Food

December 6, 2021 Cathy Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today. Kirk and His Missus are out of bandwidth.

The Mister and I drove into this parking lot on Broadway in Lemon Grove one afternoon, after seeing the "coin laundry" signage on the street. We know there are always a few good spots within walking distance of laundromats. The generic name was intriguing.

The menus taped in the window looked good.
We stepped inside, ordered, paid and waited for our food to be prepared. The nice ladies working were polite and helpful. They said they have been open since February 2019 and are grateful to have made it through the worst of times.
Pork Larb ($9) was a large portion; easily shared. We asked for a spiciness level of "2" out of "10" and the heat was definitely there, but all ingredients could still be tasted. The tender, grilled pork (still warm because it had been freshly grilled) was moist, had the char that I look for and contrasted with the coolness the other salad ingredients. Mint, cilantro, onion, fresh lettuces and cucumbers along with lime juice and crunchy roasted rice bits had every bite a wonderful mix of textures and flavors. Very, very good.

The large Tom Kha soup with chicken ($8.50) was served hot and 'to go', even though we ate most of it inside. Coconut based, with all of the ingredients seen here-bell peppers, carrot, tomato, onion, enoki mushrooms, lemongrass and lime leaves and plenty of chicken were a wonderful combination of flavors and spices and spiciness (we asked for a "1").

We will be back to try more of the menu. A great little neighborhood spot. Amazing food.

Lemon Grove Thai Food 7975 Broadway Lemon Grove 91978 (619) 439-5360 Open Daily 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. website

Zizikis Street Food (Sky Deck, Del Mar Highlands)

December 3, 2021 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is happy to have you visit and read another post. Cathy is writing while Kirk and His Missus are taking a vacation from both blogging and California.

At the Southern end of the parking lot of Del Mar Highlands Town Center, which is at the South East corner of El Camino Real and Del Mar Heights Road, I saw the Sky Deck being built earlier this year and wrote it on a piece of paper. so I could remember to check it out once it opened.

Just found the piece of paper.

Decorated for the holidays, it's easy to spot. The upper deck is a 'restaurant collective', with nine curated culinary destinations, each with its own exclusive dining area and a cocktail bar in the center. It's not a 'Food Court", even though there are no walls. The glass ceiling above the second floor is why it's called the 'Sky Deck'. Beautiful light in daytime. The 'Brewers Deck' currently houses three of San Diego's top craft beer and kombucha brands. There's a nautical theme in decor.
When we arrived around noon during Thanksgiving week, only three restaurants were open. We checked out menus and decided on Zizikis Street Food. This third generation, family owned and run, Greek (not Middle Eastern; there's no falafel on the menu) take on the "modern-classic" recipes and "fine-casual" dining has a focused menu of Shareables, Salads, Sandwiches and Sides (as well as an extensive choice of adult beverages). The same chef-owner (and shared kitchen) is the restaurant "J", next door. Ordered items are walked over.

Zizikis cheese bread ($7) was one of our choices. Fresh, fluffy, warm pita topped with a mix of cheese and Greek spices (oregano, parsley, basil and dill..?) with a side of the house tzatziki sauce. (Flavorful and the reason for the name 'Zazikis').
We also decided on the Hummus Pita ($8). More fresh, toasty pita along with a wonderful artichoke based hummus.
The salad we immediately agreed we both wanted to try was lamb ($15). Grass fed lamb, grilled perfectly (still moist and tender) topping mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, onion and Feta had wonderful flavors. Tzaziki is the salad dressing here and it really is a great sauce that goes with everything.

We will be trying more of the menu. Soo was here in April, when Sky Deck first opened.

Not noticing there was a small, two item dessert menu, the central restaurant, Le Parfait Paris, was where we ordered a Nutella crepe ($8) for a nice end to our meal.

Zizikis 12841 El Camino Real, Ste 206 San Diego 92130 (858) 925-7595 Open Sun-Th 11:30-9, Fri-Sat 11:30-10 Website

Carnitas y Mariscos Las Morelianas (Breakfasts)

December 2, 2021 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!welcomes you back to our little blog. Kirk and His Missus both have days off from work at the same time-so it's vacation time for them and Cathy is writing a few posts.

In October, I wrote about Las Morelianas and the various carnitas as well as seafood choices available at this longtime (since 1997) family owned, locally operated restaurant. At the bottom of the post, I added the breakfast menu, mentioning we would return. Here's that post.

It opens at 7 a.m.. When we walked in around 7:30, two men were eating, at separate tables and talking to each other. There was menudo and beer involved. A 'regular' (carnitas and seafood) menu was brought out. I had to ask for the Dasayunos Menu (breakfast). We each asked for Americano (regular) coffee. ($2.50, or $3.99 as an add on to any meal for coffee plus fresh squeezed orange juice or fresh fruit).

Powdered creamer and sugar packets were the condiments accompanying. This is one serving of the fresh fruit that arrives with the $3.99 add on to any entree. There is a little fruiteria in the back of the eating area, there are juices, licuados, aqua frescas available all day.
The Mister ordered chilaquiles with chicharron prensado ($10.99). Pressed fried carnitas are easily made here at the 'meat side' of the kitchen. Fresh chips, rice and beans as well as a variety of cheeses and toppings with a healthy amount of the prensado. A wonderful savory breakfast.
I always look for molletes on the menu at Mexican restaurants ($5.99). The simple, open faced bean and cheese sandwich on a fresh bolillo roll is made a bit fancier here with a choice of meat. I decided to try the chorizo, which is another really tasty unique meld of flavors.

I mentioned it was empty when we walked in. When we were leaving, around 8:45, not a single table was empty indoors and only a few tables remained empty outside. The juke box was blaring with traditional music. More people were ordering beer, menudo, carnitas and seafood. Yet, the parking lot was not packed. People from the neighborhood enjoy weekend breakfast and socializing here.

Las Morelianas/La Bahia 2121 Imperial Avenue San Diego (619)239-6284 website Open Mon-Sat 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

China 1968 (El Cajon)

December 1, 2021 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog, writes about a variety of places in San Diego County (as well as around the world). Kirk is usually posting here, but for now, it's Cathy.

Located in a strip mall fronted by an El Pollo Loco, with a pizzeria on one side and next to a laundromat, China 1968 has been here since 2014. Family owned, family run, everybody who works here seems to remember you, if not your 'usual' order. It's a regular stop when we don't want to 'venture West' for Asian food. There are 14 Lunch Specials on the menu, ranging from $9.49 to $11.49. Each is served with rice, (vegetarian) egg roll and cup of soup (either egg drop or hot and sour). This is the Kung Pao Chicken ($9.49). You are asked if you would like it medium-hot or hot-hot in level of spiciness. It is made to order, as is everything on the menu. This is quite good with the fresh mushroom, onion, zucchini, peanuts and smooth, spicy/vinegar-y/lightly sweet sauce with a perfect amount of heat (I asked for "medium plus a little more" in spice level). You can taste each of the vegetables as well as the juicy chicken.
The chicken corn soup (medium $7.49, large $9.49) is wonderful, tender and meaty chicken, plenty of flavorful corn bites and egg swirled in a tasty chicken broth. The large size is great for sharing.
Our "must order" at every Chinese restaurant- House Egg Foo Young ($16.99). Beef, chicken and shrimp are mixed in with the (very fluffy) eggs and the crust formed on the large pancake was remarkably lightly crisp. It's all topped with a variety of fresh vegetables (and no bean sprouts!) and a good brown gravy. The EFY here is my absolute favorite and the eggiest version I've ever tasted. One day, we saw another table ordering this and on our next visit, it was a 'must try'. Salt and Pepper Shrimp ($17.99). That is a large tablespoon with a single (no shell) shrimp in it. Plump and juicy shrimp, a wonderful, perfectly fried light and crisp salty/peppery batter with garlic and scallions and a few red peppers mixed in. This plate is a meal in itself with some white rice.