January 2026 – Page 3

White Elephant Asian Kitchen

January 8, 2026 mmm-yoso Dog Friendly, Thai Restaurants

In my search for dog friendly Asian Restaurants in San Diego, I came across White Elephant Asian Kitchen in Hillcrest. Looking at the location, well, it brought back memories….not all of them good of Amarin Thai Restaurant, which was here for like 20 years? We ate at Amarin way back in the early 2000’s and even did a post on the Mira Mesa location way back in 2005! Still, when in the area, we preferred Bai Yook, which closed around 2013. How’s that for old timer memories?

Anyway, I noticed White Elephant was dog friendly and I hoped that the place wasn’t stereotypical Thai based on the location…so JJ and I headed over.

We arrived right past opening time and I peeked into the restaurant to get us an outside table.

The woman working was very serious, though that would change a bit later. JJ did well, since the area was nicely shaded.

The menu cracked me up as most of the dishes were “translated” into English…..

Along with the menu, an “anti-fly” device was also brought to the table.

I asked the woman if the “Crispy Rice Salad” was Nem Khao and the Waterfall Beef was actually Nam Tok and things immediately got friendlier. I got both dishes at a “7” on the spice scale.

The Nem Khao was a non-starter, there was no crisp, crunchy rice and it was really weak in spice.

The sausage lacked the sour tones of a good Thai/Lao sausage and no strips of pork skin either. The dish as a whole lacked that sour-spicy-herbaceousness and textural contrast of a good Nem Khao.

I was starting to understand that this was truly Ameri-Thai when my Nam Tok arrived.

Again, hardly any spice and really lacking in the toasted rice powder, fish sauce, and lemongrass flavors. It was in fact pretty mild overall, perhaps edging on too sweet. The one positive note was that the beef was quite tender and there was a decent amount of cilantro. As you can see by the amount of mixed greens; this was more of a salad, than Neua Nam Tok.

The woman was quite nice and came to ask me what I thought. So, feeling that she was really sincere, I told her. She smiled and said, “yes, I understand” and nodded in the direction of the other folks in the place. She then told me “please come again and say you want real Thai spicy, and I think you’ll enjoy it more.”

So, I decided to return one more time.

The really nice woman wasn’t working, but I decided to try my luck. Not being super hungry, I just ordered the Crispy Duck Salad, spice level 10, also indicating that I’d like it “Thai spicy”.

I didn’t know how I’d take to having pineapple in this; but it went fairly well with the dish, adding tart-acidic-sweetness. I liked the crunchy chunks of battered duck, good flavor and texture. While this was indeed more spicy that what I’d had on my previous visit, it was still lacking in bright-pungent-savory tones as a whole.

Oh well, JJ still enjoyed the shade.

In spite of being heavily Ameri-Thai, I’m glad we were able to try things out. I understand that places must appeal to their customer base and location. And of course, one never knows unless you try, right?

White Elephant Asian Kitchen
3843 Richmond St.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 1130am – 3pm, 430pm – 9pm
Friday 1130am – 3pm, 430pm – 930pm
Saturday 12pm – 930pm
Sunday 12pm -9pm

Momo Sando & Omakase

January 6, 2026 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

Momo Sando & Omakase just opened in the spot that was occupied by Kumo Japanese Sando in the Plaza Sorrento Food Court. I heard that there was a “soft opening” period before the announced Grand Opening date of January 5th. Being curious about this “grab and go” sandos and sushi, by a former Executive Chef at two Nobu locations…and also, what made this concept different from say….Nijiya and Mitsuwa, I decided to drop by. Thinking that there might be some crowds based on the hype, I had a Plan B of Sue’s Korean Kitchen, which is located next door.

I arrived at a quarter to 11 and there was a short line waiting. So, I got into the queue.

The line grew exponentially as the minutes passed, so if I had arrived even a minute or two later, I’d have gone to Sue’s. Soon enough the door opened and we entered the small shop, with display cases of prepacked sushi and sandos. The woman working the register was like a Carnival Barker yelling out what each customer was purchasing! The line moves pretty quickly.

There are some special, limited offerings. On this morning, there was some uni available, but it was gone after the third customer!

As for me, I used the chance to peruse what was available and in the end; unlike the $90 purchases being made by the two customers in front of me….I just wanted to test the waters….

And simply got a Tonkatsu Sando ($15).

Check out the line as I walked to my car!

As for the Sando.

The shokupan, the bread, was on the drier side, lacking the mild, buttery-sweetness that I enjoy in that type of bread. On an interesting note, some of the crust was sliced off, and some left on?

The Tonkatsu, was pleasantly toothsome, the panko crust still had a good amount of crunch. I enjoyed the crisp-crunchy cabbage and the by-the-book katsu sauce. The bread was starting to get soggy by the time I got to the last slice seen above.

The sando was not bad, better than many of the other versions in San Diego. So, I decided to return the next day to try out the fish. I had the same strategy, which worked out about the same.

There’s quite a selection of fairly standard sushi/sashimi options and stuff that is on the “fusion-y” side…of course, dealing with a former chef of Nobu’s that’s to be expected. To be perfectly honest, we’ve been to Matsuhisa when we lived in LA back in the 90’s, and it was fine; we’ve been to several locations of Nobu and have always been a bit disappointed.

Instead of going with a standard futomaki, nigiri, or chirashi offering, I decided to getting something a bit different. There’s an option with black truffle on toro, but this one caught my attention.

As you can see….this ain’t no Nijiya sashimi set, being priced at $35! Yikes! Miso soup and the shoyu-wasabi-ginger are included.

This is what it looked like unpacked.

The miso soup was decent, not watered down.

Real fresh wasabi is provided, though as you can see, it’s starting to oxidize and brown.

The fish was of good quality; though I wasn’t a fan of the nakaochi – the tuna scrape which was really mushy and had a metallic finish to it.

The akami (maguro) was decent sushi-bar quality, nice texture, but in my opinion didn’t need the chili crunch.

Strangely the rice was hard and chewy……not a great standard to set.

The shari…sushi rice seasoning seemed quite aggressively seasoned, very vinegar forward which wasn’t too bad.

As for the toro….as you can see; much like the wasabi, the fish was starting to brown.

Still, it was very fatty and tender; quite good with the wasabi and shoyu.

It was quite interesting. It seemed like most of the customers were late generation Millennials or GenZers. I felt like jichan again. The quality of the product seems pretty good….though it’s very “concept heavy” to me. That “grab and go” toro was more expensive than the last 4 chirashi I had in actual restaurants. But perhaps it’s the perfect place for the tech crowd and that population who can afford $30+ for lunch. As for me; I need to wait and recover a while before visiting.

Momo Sando & Omakase
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 4pm

Ju Feng Yuan Revisited

January 5, 2026 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I had fully intended on returning to Ju Feng Yuan after my not so great visits to Super Dumpling in Carmel Valley. It had been a while since I last visited and though I think Lucious Dumpling’s Outpost in Eastlake is now my favorite, I needed to revisit JFY, which was my previous fave for jiaozi in San Diego. So, I set out with a visit to JFY in mind…but got sidetracked to Dumpling Inn…..a big mistake on my part.

I know “FOY” RD mentioned the Popcorn Chicken and Julie is a big fan, so I had my agenda set! I would not get sidetracked this time!

I arrived on a weekend at opening time and was the first in.

I did the iPad ordering thing from my table. The Pork and Chinese Cabbage Dumplings ($11.95) and Popcorn Chicken ($9.99).

The Popcorn Chicken was actually the first to arrive.

Fairly crunchy, a bit on the chewy – drier side, but not bad. Decent mild five spice tones. Good salt and pepper. I’m fairly certain they use potato starch, based on the texture.

Proper popcorn chicken; though a step below my favorite, which is from Soup du Jour….strange; I thought I did a post on the place which I’ve visited like 8-9 times since getting back from Taiwan…but I guess not??? I need to do one more visit to catch up then get me post done.

I mentioned previously, that I’m not a big fan of the sauce that accompanies the jiaozi, but of course they do have Black Vinegar.

I did enjoy the Pork and Chinese Cabbage Jiaozi – 8 decent size dumplings.

The wrappers were adequately tender, with a decent stretch to them. I do like mine a bit more “fluffy”, but this was fine; better than most anything you’ll find in SD.

The filling was textbook pork jiaozi, nice savory tones, seasoned well, not overly minced and tender. Good porkiness. Would not be amazing in the SGV…..but in SD……

I wish JFY was closer to me; though it is a faster drive than Lucious Dumplings…which I need to return to! Thanks for always thinking of us RD and Julie!

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm
Friday 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Sat – Sun 1130am – 330pm, 430pm – 9pm

Road Trip – Sweetie Pies Bakery (Napa) and Special Noodle (Santa Cruz)

January 4, 2026 mmm-yoso Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, Sandwiches, Travel

We had a great night of sleep at the Napa River Inn…and no, we didn’t have any “spooky” visitors as I had heard about earlier in the evening at The Fink. Before we left for our next destination, I decided to grab a quick Breakfast Sandwich from Sweetie Pies Bakery which is right next door to the hotel.

This place has quite a selection of treats for your sweet tooth. We had gotten a sample delivered to our room for breakfast the previous morning.

I ordered a Fried Egg Sandwich to take back to our room.

A basic toasted Ciabatta, with creamy avocado, and pesto.

The bacon was basically a single slice lining the middle of the sandwich, on the burnt side, and a single fried egg. Again only enough to cover two-thirds of the sandwich.

My guess is that “Sweetie” is mostly about the pies as the name indicates?

Sweetie Pies
520 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

After devouring the sandwich, we checked out and headed to our next destination; Santa Cruz. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to arrive at our accommodation, the Hotel Paradox. We were early for check-in so the hotel let us park and we went to explore Santa Cruz for a bit. The hotel was on the other side of the San Lorenzo River from downtown Santa Cruz and we were next to San Lorenzo Park. On the map, it looked like a nice “green space”. Unfortunately, it was taken over by the homeless population while we were in town. So, instead of having a nice green space for JJ to explore, well…..

We did think the Dragon Archway, which faces the last Chinatown in Santa Cruz across the river. And you can see the two folks hanging out under the archway as well. This made the Missus somewhat uncomfortable crossing the bridge at night. We ended up using the busier Laurel Street Bridge when it was dark.

Regardless, the Missus and I really enjoyed downtown Santa Cruz. It had a kind of Hipster-Artsy-Hippy-Surfer vibe to us. Very mellow and laid back; at least when we were there.

We dropped by Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting for our caffeine fix. It was recommended by one of JJ’s Bay Park Coffee “Aunties”, Marissa who used to work there and went to UCSC.

Cold Brew and Latte fortified we headed on to do some shopping.

Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting
1330 Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

The Missus loved wandering thru the “eclectic” shops.

And bought quite a few items during our stay.

It seems that tarot card reading, and various psychic readings are big business here.

My goodness, check out the name of this shop! I wonder….

Yes, it was quite entertaining here!

We decided to grab an early dinner….by this time, the Missus was sorely missing Asian food…well, Chinese to be specific. I did some research before the trip and found a place that was dog friendly and basically two blocks from where we were staying. Now, I did have my doubts because the place served everything from Orange Chicken to XLB to Chow Fun to Sichuan/Hunan and has multiple locations, named Special Noodle. But I thought we’d give it a shot. Now if I had my doubts…imagine the Missus!

We arrived and I expected us to be seated on the patio; but the very nice gentleman escorted us to one of the back dining rooms!

He also spoke Mandarin….which eased some of the doubts the Missus had. The menu was huge….talk about “Vietnamese Menu overload” times 2!

Yep, this place tries to cover all bases.

It was a huge portion of rice for a single order.

We decided on some typical Hunan style dishes. Starting with the Pickled Beans with Minced Pork.

While kind of mild in the spiciness department, this was a pretty legit dish. Nice soy flavor, the long beans had a nice crunch adding that mild salty-sourness to the dish. The pork wasn’t overly chewy. Nice savory dish!

And of course I had to try the Intestines with Chilies.

Made with a combination of sliced jalapenos and dried chilies, this had a nice smoky kick. Nicely seasoned with soy sauce-garlic-white pepper and a touch of numbing Sichuan Peppercorns. The pork intestine was fairly tender, with a pleasant initial toothsomeness. Nice funky tones and a really good dish.

And of course……

What we did notice as the place filled up was that the Chinese customers were seated in the same area as us. While the “other” customers were seated in the front dining area, which we named “Eggroll Land” ! Kind of funny….

The Missus was pleasantly surprised at the food and even though She got Her “fix”, we’d end up returning the next day for lunch!

Special Noodle
415 Ocean St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

We were enjoying Santa Cruz. In addition to the “vibe” we had gotten decent Chinese dishes as well!

Road Trip – The Alston Park Loop, The Riverfront Promenade, Dinner at Angele Restaurant, and Returning to the Fink (Napa)

January 3, 2026 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Road Trip, Travel

Our one full day in Napa started with pastries being delivered to our room in the Napa River Inn. These are from Sweetie Pie a bakery – sandwich shop located in the Old Mill Complex next to the hotel.

A bit too much sweets for me; but we saved most of it to have as an afternoon snack.

We then headed out to Alston Park and spent the morning doing an easy walk along the Alston Park Loop Trail. A nice walk along the meadows, groves, and of course alongside some vineyards.

Of course we had to finish before things got too sunny/hot as JJ does not do too well under those conditions.

After which we headed into downtown and found parking on 1st Street….man, it gets pretty busy here, where the Missus did some shopping.

For some reason, the Missus just didn’t find Napa to be much fun….She thought it was on the boring side???

We returned to the hotel and finished off the pastries and had a nap. After which, the Missus just wanted some time to read, so I decided to take JJ out for a walk along the Riverfront Promenade which basically cuts thru downtown Napa. Here’s a view of our patio which was right along the promenade.

It was a nice little walk.

We walked all the way to the First Street Bridge which has a nice view of the promenade.

And there was shade for our fragile, heat sensitive, little squirt.

Check out this mural in front of a Tiki Bar named Wilfred’s……kinda sterotypical, yeah?

JJ and I took Main Street back to the hotel.

I kind of enjoyed some of the architecture.

I saw this church on the way back and walked over.

This is the First Presbyterian Church, built in 1874 in the Gothic style.

When dinner time rolled rolled around, we had noticed a French restaurant named Angele located just a few steps from our accommodations in the Historic Napa Mill.

So, we dropped on by and there were a bunch of al fresco tables available out front. The menu was quite interesting; a nice variety of dishes. As is our usual, we went with three apps and one main.

The baguette was nice and crusty, though a bit “doughy” for my taste.

I was fascinated by the Potato Beignets.

These were interesting. The exterior was crisp, though we weren’t big fans of the overly pasty and sweet filling.

The Pate de Campagne was “by-the-book” and quite good. Very porky, slightly offaly, hint of boozy sweetness-pungency.

The much needed cornichons and mustard allowing for some pungent, palate cleansing counterpoints.

The Beef Tartare was a bit on the mushy side.

And the use of capers was a bit on the heavy-handed side, though not bad overall.

The piece of Veal Sweetbread was huge!

It looked like it was overdone, but was quite tender-creamy. The jus was quite winey, though not unpleasant. The sweetbreads were a bit livery, but overly “metallic” in flavor.

The service was friendly and welcoming. And while not in the same league as L’Escargot in Carmel which we dined at a few days earlier, it was a nice meal overall.

Angele Restaurant
540 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

It was still light out when we finished dinner, so we took a walk along the Promenade.

There’s so much public art in Napa. This one is named Grateful Harvest.

After crossing the 1st Street Bridge, we came across this.

This is the China Point Overlook and Park.

Did you know that Napa once had a Chinatown? From this park you can see the location of Napa’s Chinatown, which was razed in 1927 to make way for a Yacht Club. Which by the way was never built.

We then headed back to the Napa River Inn. From the sign at the door to front lobby it seems like “Ember” had checked out with only JJ and Nola being the two “VIPs” left.

After relaxing a bit, as I did the night before, I headed next door to The Fink for a nightcap. This time I took JJ along.

The woman working smiled as we entered and said “oh, I’m so glad you brought the pup along this time!”

And the owner…”the Fink” himself asked me if I had noticed anything strange the previous evening. When I said “no”, he told me the story of the hotel being haunted!

Yikes, it was time for a cocktail!

JJ was indeed treated like a “VIP” here as several customer came to pet him!

It was a really cool cocktail bar!

The Fink
530 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

Odds and Ends – The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong, What’s up with Oxtail Prices, what Made my Xmas Day, and Other Stuffs

January 2, 2026 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, yoso-silly

Just a couple of things as we recover from New Years.

The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong:

Remember how I was mourning not ordering the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings during my last post on Taste of Hong Kong? Well, last week we did a revisit to ToHK…I decided to not take any photos since I’d just done a post. But then the chicken wings came out.

My goodness, these were terrible! Something has changed with the batter as it was too wet-mushy and had an almost mealy texture to it. There were fried (burned) slices of garlic incorporated into he batter, which had a strange sweetness. The wings had been overfried and while the exterior was saturated, the meat was tough and dry. What a bummer!

This is what it used to look like.

Well, I guess we can cross this dish off my “favorites” list.

Taste of Hong Kong
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

What’s up with Oxtail Prices:

The Missus had thoughts of me making my oxtail soup for New Years, so I went to Zion to see if they had oxtails….I found them, but look at the prices!

I guess I haven’t made oxtail soup in ages? I don’t remember paying this much for oxtails! I need 4-5 pounds for my soup….but yikes! I did go to other places, but all the oxtails were over $14 a pound!

Is this the norm?

What made my Xmas Day:

On Christmas day, I took JJ up the street to visit the local donut shop and grab my usual. Like I wrote back in 2020, I think these businesses are part of the “fabric” of the neighborhood and I try to support them. Especially if the place has such wonderful owners as the Cambodian couple who run TK Donuts. So, I try to visit at least once a week and I guess because I used to go there like 4-5 times a week during Covid to help them stay open, they still remember me!

And on Xmas day, after I got my usual, they asked me to wait a minute and handed me a bag with something wrapped in foil. They told me that “this is something that just finished cooking for Christmas”, it’s a traditional family recipe. What was it?

My goodness, it’s Cambodian style roast chicken! It was still hot when I got home. Actually, the Missus loved it and took most of it to work for lunch the next day!

They are so nice! And this beautiful gesture made my day and really touched me!

TK Donuts
3095 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Please be careful out there!

The major storm that hit us on Christmas must have made international news? Because fellow blogger and good friend Kat sent me an email wondering if we were ok! Bless her…Kat, you’re amazing! I emailed her back saying I didn’t think it was too bad. Then a day later, I took JJ to Western Hill Park after having my usual morning coffee and my goodness!

There were actually three trees down in the park! Yikes!

So please, be safe out there and take care!

Happy New Year

January 1, 2026 mmm-yoso Italian Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

Well 2025 is in the books! Hope everyone had a fun and safe NYE!

Things were pretty much the status quo for me….I started NYE shopping for some Osechi at Nijiya. Something I’ve been doing since 2005!

These days the selection is pretty straight forward as I think many folks preorder their stuff.

Still, knowing that Nijiya opens at 8am on NYE helps as I don’t think too many folks know that. It was pretty empty at that time. I’m making some of my own stuff these days, so I just got something simple to have with lunch/dinner on New Years Day.

To be honest, most of this is for sentimental reasons these days…..

One thing I did notice was how much cheaper the Hamachi Kama was!

So, I immediately sent the Missus a text! She told me to get one…..and I got a really good looking kama.

Of course, when I got home I found out who this was for…..it wasn’t us. Shades of Shishamo!

As for NYE…..we decided to have dinner locally and made reservations at Romanella which had a special New Years menu. At $65 it seemed quite reasonable.

We basically had one of the regular apps – the lamb chops; and the NY dinner, with oxtail meatballs (of course), the Chilean Seabass, with the Limoncello Cake for dessert.