What’s My Craving? Wa Dining Okan and Chicago Fire Grill Revisited

It’s funny what triggers a craving. Sometimes, it’s not even food……

Like I was organizing my drawer of favorite t-shirts and came across this one.

You know where this is from?

Yep, Hot Doug’s, which I visited all the way back in 2010! The owner Doug Sohn closed up the Avondale shop in 2014, but the place is still fondly remembered by many. After all, this was the shop that Anthony Bourdain declared has “the best hot dog on the planet”. I’m sure New Yorker’s would disagree; but those who read our little blog know that I have a thing for Chicago Dogs (though that foie gras dog from Hot Doug’s was awesome). So of course after staring at that t-shirt fora while I had to head to……

Chicago Fire Grill:

It’s been a while since I’ve been here…like 2 1/2 years! The place seemed a lot busier than I recalled and the owner George (who always cracks me up) was super busy behind the griddle…he’s got two folks working for him now as well.

I was somewhat surprised to see that the Chicago Dog was still nine bucks?

Which is a bargain these days. No wonder the place is bustling. A few months back there was hot dog cart in the parking lot of V Outlet next to Bay Hill Tavern and they were selling hot dogs for $10!

Anyway, I got my order to go. When I got home, I was still pondering the nine dollar price. Perhaps it didn’t come with fries anymore? However, upon opening, I was proved wrong.

I would have been fine without the fries, since, although they are “hand cut” are usually soggy and dry. The one thing that was missing from this were the sport peppers. Now really, can we call this a Chicago Dog without those pickly-spicy-briny peppers? Hmm…..I would have easily traded my fries for those peppers.

Other than that; this was as expected.

Snappy Vienna Beef hot dog; the necessary fluorescent green relish, the slices of tomato, pickle wedge……

Chicago Fire Grill
8935 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122

And then JJ and I were having some coffee at Bay Park Coffee and chatting with one of the regulars there. He had just returned from Japan and even though we weren’t discussing food, I had a sudden craving for Tori Nanban? What the heck????

Anyway, I had been meaning to return to…..

Okan:

I recall seeing outdoor seating and “FOY” Junichi also reminded me of this. I just visited solo for lunch to check things out and get me “fix”.

So yes, there’s still outdoor seating for lunch, but I had my usual place on the “bar”.

The Tori Nanban lunch special has gone up two dollars since my last visit in July of 2024. It’s now $16. Sitting at the counter made me miss those days when Okan had those huge bowls of Oozara Ryori on the counter…man, those were the days!

Soon enough my lunch arrived.

I enjoyed the miso soup as it wasn’t “watered down”.

The rice was steaming hot, though very mushy. I think it had just finished cooking.

The chicken was moist, tender, good seasoning and flavor, though not as crisp as on previous visits.

For some reason, I really like the rich, sour tartar like sauce, which balances out the savory-salty flavors from the chicken.

This was a nice lunch. Perhaps I’ll bring JJ along next time to eat outside when I get my tori nanban craving.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So, have you been craving anything recently?