mmm-yoso!!! welcomes you back to our little blog. Cathy is writing todays post, while Kirk is enjoying the start to a three day weekend.
As you know, I do not 'regift' any gifts received, including gift cards. I have one particular client (who knows that I write on this blog) and the random gift cards received from him indicate places he would like to see me write about. PKG is a Southern California chain advertising itself as a "True Scratch Kitchen". Established in 1997 in Corona Del Mar, this chain only recently (since Covid-19) has expanded into San Diego, with locations in Mission Valley, Carlsbad, Carmel Valley and soon, University City. 
The location in Mission Valley, across the parking lot from the Trader Joe's (at the Northwest corner of Interstate 8 and Mission Center Road), inside the former Fuddruckers, is closest to home, so we stopped here for lunch. 
Clean and organized, with indoor and outdoor seating, it is spacious. Link to menu (I forgot to take photos)
I decided to try a cup of the Green Lentil Soup ($3.99)-wow! Made with organic lentils, tomato, garlic, carrot, onion, parsley, mint and a vegetable broth, this was a *wonderful* version! All flavors can be tasted, even the mint. I definitely will get this again.
I chose the Falafel Appetizer plate ($9.99) as my main dish. Again-wow! The falafel are made with fresh ground garbanzo beans and various herbs, lightly fried so there is a crisp crust and flavorful fluffy interior. It's served with hummus (also fresh made with garlic and lemon juice) and tzatziki (made with yogurt, cucumber, dill, parsley, mint and garlic) and grilled pieces of pita. So fresh and filled with flavors, plenty for a meal or to share. 
The Chicken Brie Panini comes with a choice of standard salads or soup for $13.99, but you can choose the strawberry date salad for an additional $1.99…and The Mister did just that. 
The sandwich is on grilled artisan bread, made with chicken tenders, tomato, basil and Brie. It is a large, tasty sandwich.
The strawberry date salad is so very flavorful! Mixed greens and strawberries are tossed with candied walnuts, chopped medjool dates and Gorgonzola. This 'side' portion was more than enough for us to share and experience the flavors and freshness.
We will be back to try more of the menu. The food here is is quality.
Panini Kabob Grill. 891 Camino De La Reina San Diego 92108 (619)299-9220 Open 10a.m.-9 p.m. daily Website
Park in the fairly large parking lot in front of this building and step inside. It's open to the public. The Pro Shop is to the left, the restaurant to the right and straight ahead is the Nine Hole Golf Course, which opened in 1955 and was re-designed in 1981.
It's a challenging course that you get to walk twice. 
The restaurant has seating inside and outdoors. Menus are on each table, in the condiment rack. Many people walk in to 'Grab and Go' food and beverages for the course, or just to take home. A local place.
Breakfast here is pretty basic. Coffee is $1.86. It's a good coffee.
The Meat Lovers Omelette was listed on the black board as a special this day ($12.95) and was made with three eggs, bacon, ham and sausage and topped with cheddar. Quite large. It was accompanied by toast and fried potato squares. A very tasty and filling breakfast. 
The French Toast Combo ($12.75) was just the right size for me- one slice of thick French Toast: crisp on the exterior; fluffy interior. It was served with two eggs (poached) and a choice of two bacon, two link sausage or one sausage patty- which was excellent in flavor. 
We came back for lunch one Friday, hoping to try the Friday ONLY Special of Fish & Chips, but the fryer would not be ready until about 1 p.m.. 
The Chowder of Clam- we each had a cup (the photo is deceptive; it's a deep cup and filled with many clam pieces, potato and celery). An excellent New England style clam chowder.
I had ordered a half sandwich and soup ($10.50) and the sandwich was tuna salad-mostly tuna, very light mayonnaise and great quality-on toasted rye with lettuce and tomato and a pickle spear. Quite enough food. 
The Mister chose the Grilled Fish Plate ($15.95). Seasoned white fish served with rice pilaf and mixed "Normandy" vegetables. This was a very unexpectedly great meal! A very large, thick piece of fish, nicely char-grilled and kind of fancy. 
The eggs were nice and runny, though it needed salt. The country style potatoes were on the dry side, though I did like the beans. The shredded beef which in this case was stir fried with red and green peppers, onions, and a scant bit of tomato were fine; though I prefer the more salty, beefy, toothsome, and intense flavor of the Machaca Sonora.
The the outrageous price of NT$45….yes, I'm kidding, this equates to about $1.45/US we got a bowl with a large dumpling which was fried before entering the thick miasma of a sauce. The wrapper had a pleasant, somewhat glutinous chewiness. The sauce was thick, quite savory, with a hint of sweetness. The meatball was very tasty, though a bit on the tough and chewy side. The combination of flavors was excellent. And this was pretty filling.
Does the presentation of the sashimi look familiar? Well, it should. When I sat, I was told "Sashimi Kirk-san…." it wasn't a question, more of an affirmation.
my 
And this was just what I needed at this moment. Don't get me wrong, this would be just decent poke back home; but it sure beats all those "chi-poke" places out there. And it made for a nice lunch.
The opening gate looks a little different, going with the theme:
'Explore the outdoors and get s'more of what life has to offer' is the idea behind the simple entrance decor.
The Theme building, to the right when you walk in, has a friendly looking entrance.
Not much was set up as of last Wednesday. The rides and food booths had been at the Los Angeles County Fair during most of May until Memorial Day and all had been packing up for the move to San Diego.
Home Made (formerly Home and Hobby, formerly Home Arts) was setting up.
Displays are finalized after judging, so as to focus on the Competition participants and winners.
2023 San Diego County Fair June 7-July 4. Closed Monday and Tuesdays in June. 
The Theme of "Heroes Reunite" was a continuation of the canceled 2020 Fair with the "Heroes Unite" theme. 
It turns out that every booth on Thursday had a $3 special. There were pieces of paper, most handwritten, with a $3 Thursday special listed and taped to the booth behind the cash register. There was nothing written on the Website nor on the Daily Fair Events handouts listing this pricing. I highly suspect the same will be happening on Thursdays during the Fair this year and will update asap. If you notice, most of the $3 specials are small (battered veggies, mini cream puffs, mini Dole Whip, fried pineapple and fried Oreos), but that fried pineapple from Chicken Charlie's was the whole $9 item! I hope that remains the Thursday special. (Remember there are five Chicken Charlies booths; each had a different special).
Of course, we also purchased our 'regular' items, which included fried pickles, grilled vegetables, the artichoke sandwich and an apple tower.
I enjoyed sitting right outside the shop. The view of the plantation style houses reminded me of our trips to Honolua "small kid time" to see my grandparents.
We had enjoyed the fact that everything from the pasture raised beef, to the brioche buns, to the mushrooms in the mushroom burger is local. The Missus had really enjoyed the mushroom burger the last time and of course, this being Parker Ranch territory, I needed to have that Big Island Beef Burger.
This was cooked a bit past that, but the burger was so beefy! I requested just a touch of mustard, which combined with the wonderfully sweet and acidic tomato really helped to balance out the beefiness. The beef was a bit toothsome; but that's the deal with pasture raised beef made from cuts like chuck and brisket.
