Cathy – Page 33

Anthony’s Fish Grotto (La Mesa) -revisits

July 9, 2018 Cathy Salads, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

Thank you for stopping by to read this food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is still very busy with work and Cathy is writing another post.

The Mister and I have had a vacationing relative with us for a few months and we've enjoyed showing her around. She's not very food-adventurous, but does enjoy simple meals. I showed her my first, second, third and fourth Anthony's posts and she wanted to try lunch here. We've now been here twice.

There's a tall sign you can see from the interstate, but the parking lot dips down to the magnificent entrance of Anthony's.
Walking to the front door, you sort of feel as though you are under water.
Once seated inside, the feeling remains.

There's a small Fish Market area to the left of the entrance door, where you can pick up items to take home and cook, or even order "To Go" from the menu. It's open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

There's also outdoor seating along the man-made lake (dogs are welcome).

We ordered from the lunch menu (bottom of this post) and soft, warm roll and garlic butter was brought out. These are wonderful.
The simple Quick Catch Fish and Chips ($12.50) was quite large and perfectly fried, fresh and tasty.
The Quick Catch Shrimp and Fish (with slaw) ($12.75) was just as perfectly fried; the fish and the shrimp were large, meaty pieces. The dressing is on top of the slaw and you can mix it in or not.
The Wedge Salad with Bay Shrimp ($11.95) was surprisingly large and the Bay shrimp were quite meaty. The Louis dressing brought all the flavors (there were hard boiled eggs, chopped tomatoes, avocado and bread crumb 'croutons') together.
The Cobb Salad ($15.25) was (of course) seafood based: Bay Shrimp, albacore and salmon were the proteins on this. The usual 'Cobb" ingredients (tomatoes, carrots (multi colored), cheddar, bacon and avocado) were present and the choice of Blue cheese dressing (made in house) was just excellent. We did enjoy the flavors.
The chilled Tuna Salad sandwich ($10.25), served on a large (soft) French Country roll with lettuce and tomato. The tuna salad is made with albacore and is mildly flavored and unique. It ended up being disassembled after the first half was consumed; a bit large in the bread department.
The Quick Catch Chowder Combo ($10.95) was a wonderful surprise. I wanted the famous clam chowder (of course)(and it was great; creamy, clam filled with diced potatoes). There was a choice of a chilled tuna salad sandwich or a petite tuna salad. Since we had ordered the sandwich, I chose the salad. It was just that- a salad: lettuce tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and a lot of shredded fresh albacore tuna. This was probably my favorite 'Soup and Salad' combo I've had all year.

Another few great, memorable meals.

Anthony's Fish Grotto 9530 Murray Drive La Mesa, CA 91942 (619)463-0368 Website Sun-Thurs 11:00 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

The Village House Kalina -Ukrainian and Russian (La Mesa)

July 8, 2018 Cathy European Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is where Kirk and Cathy write about food. Today, Cathy is writing while Kirk finishes up some important things at his job.

The first paragraph of Kirk's "Back to the Routine" post was true for The Mister and myself in a lot of ways; the past half year has been filled with changes in schedules and habits and jobs. The Mister and I have been wondering when we could get back to having a 'regular' day. For us, this means driving and stopping when we see signage that looks interesting. We dropped in to The Village House Kalina one afternoon a few weeks ago. "Ukrainian and Russian Cuisine", reads the signage. I had read about The Village House Kalina in 2012, on cc's blog and am glad we finally got around to trying it. (She wrote another post in 2012 also.)

A few tables, eclectic decor, friendly greeting when you walk in and lunch specials( Pick a soup, a salad and an entree for $10.99)
Soft crusted fresh bread, heavy thin slices of rye and garlic butter is brought out.
There are three soups to choose from- this vegetarian borscht is wonderful with its beet/celery/cabbage/ carrot/onion/bell pepper/potato base flavored with fresh herbs.
The Ukrainian borscht is has the same ingredients plus beef and is also wonderful. The third soup, a sour cabbage vegetable based choice has smoked sausage and beef in it. No photo, but I heard it was excellent.
There are five salads to choose from and the Vesna is the 'plainest'. Cabbage, carrots, onions, cranberries and apples with fresh dill make this a flavorful simple salad.
Kavkaz salad: Beets, walnuts, garlic and mayonnaise. This was my favorite.
The Olivier, a traditional Russian potato salad with chicken, potatoes, carrot and mayonnaise could be a meal… it’s refreshing and a perfect blend of texture and flavors.
For the main course, Ukrainian Vareniky (Pirogy) was chosen by our guest. Hand made dough filled with mashed potato and cheese then boiled. Just a topping of sour cream is needed; these were light, fluffy and delicious. Chicken stroganoff: mushrooms, onions, creamy sauce, mashed potatoes. Such comfort food.
"Georgian Eagle" – skinless chicken cooked with onions and tomatoes, basil and mint and a few other herbs. So much flavor. The noodles went well with this.

We want to go back to try the other salads and entrees. This was a great stop I wish we had made sooner.

The Village House Kalina 8302 Parkway Drive La Mesa, CA 91942 (619) 461-1100 Website Open Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat-Sun noon-10 p.m.

Sage Cafe-inside Barona Casino

May 29, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog you are reading, has been around for more than 13 years. It's a compilation of meals enjoyed. Cathy is writing today; Kirk is relaxing after his vacation.

So, we have an out of town guest who has never been to a casino. It was lunchtime and the closest casino, Barona, came to mind. The Mister and I haven't been here in years and noticed how much things had changed. There's a hotel and more parking out front as well as in the covered garage. A sort of 'farm' theme is the exterior decor.
Look at the beautiful view East from the fourth floor of the garage.

I avoid taking photos of people and am pretty sure I couldn't take any of the casino floor, so just know it's beautiful, light filled, exciting and caters to just about any vice you may have, except for alcohol (the road to get here, Wildcat Canyon, has only one lane each way and up until a few years ago, no alcohol was allowed in the casino or any restaurant but now the Steakhouse does serve alcohol). There is a food court area as well as an All You Can Eat buffet and several restaurants at various price points.

The restaurant we headed to, Sage Cafe, is open 24 hours and basically right next to the hotel; the farthest point from the parking garage.
While perusing the menu, a basket of warm rolls and butter was brought to the table. The toasted ones were (a good, sour) sourdough and the brown ones were a soft yet chewy wheat. Both went well with the salted butter. One of our meal choices came with a choice of soup or wedge salad and this was great. The thin sliced onion and cucumbers as well as the tomato wedge and bits of Gorgonzola went well with the (iceberg) lettuce, which was tender and trimmed free of any hard, white leaves or parts.
One of the soup choices was green posole- pork and hominy filled, the tomatillo based soup was just so tasty, with a bit of chile heat creeping up at the end of each taste.
The chicken tortilla soup was also meaty and cheesy. Chicken, jack cheese, avocado and tortilla strips, along with a bit of chile heat, made this soup memorable.
The El Capitan French Dip ($9.95) with a side of onion rings (there was a choice of fresh fruit, fries or creamy slaw as well as the rings) was plentiful and had good quality beef. The warm French roll was soft and held up to a dip in the au jus. Those onion rings were quite perfect- the fry, the crisp, the whole onion slices…
The Sage Custom Cobb ($12.95) was presented in this non-traditional way.
The bacon, avocado, Gorgonzola, tomato and eggs in a formed mound made it a shame to have to split up and mix in. The 'custom' part? A choice of chicken breast, broiled salmon, New York steak, chilled shrimp or grilled tuna. As you can see, the grilled tuna was grilled to a nice medium-rare; a great choice. The mixed greens were plentiful and fresh and there were quite a few olives mixed throughout.
I only took one photo of "Mom's Fried Chicken" ($11.95) and it is a blurred, non-flattering photo. Just know the batter on this was very crispy and had a nice, light spice. The meat stayed tender and juicy even after the leftovers were chilled. In addition to the choice of soup or wedge salad, this meal came with both creamed corn and baked macaroni and cheese. Wow. The flavor of the sweet, fresh corn mixed with cream was so very, very decadent…as was the baked with sharp cheese macaroni.

We will return and try more of the menu.

Sage Cafe at Barona Resort and Casino 1932 Wildcat Canyon Road Lakeside Ca 92040 1-888-7BARONA open 24 hours website

Tommy’s Restaurant (San Clemente) after a visit to the Mission San Juan Capistrano

May 27, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Diner, Orange County, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for reading this food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk has been away for a few days, resting and Cathy has been taking some 'staycation' time and is writing today.

Having an out of town guest is always a reason to also do something out of the ordinary. We want to show friends how and where we live and not do too many typical touristy things. The Spanish Missions in California are a strong part of our history and always fascinating as well as educational. We thought a short drive up the coast would be fun. Mission San Juan Capistrano, the "loveliest of the Franciscan ruins",provided us with insight as to how the missionaries and indigenous natives lived and built their self sufficient compound, with gardens for food, vineyards (for wine used during mass), a baking area, stables and all in all a small city
with a church next to the cemetery. (This is the second church built on the grounds, the original 'Great Stone Church' with its Greco-Roman style architecture was felled by an earthquake on December 8, 1812).

A great day of walking, listening to a well recorded self guided tour and learning so much.

Mission San Juan Capistrano Website

We left just after 1 p.m. and although hungry, didn't want to stay in town, instead driving a few exits south to the signage we had seen so many times over the years.Yep. Tommy's Restaurant. We had always been curious but usually were 'almost home' so had never stopped.
The view from the parking lot is of the ocean.
Inside…well..look for yourself…

A 50's diner with beautiful upholstered booths and a fresh flower on each table. We had just missed the 'lunch rush'.
The menu accommodated each of us. The "2x2x2" breakfast ($8.99) had some really great, sweet fluffy and tender pancakes along with perfectly over easy eggs and two slices of quality, thick meaty bacon.
The Monte Cristo ($9.99 plus $1.50 for substitution of onion rings) was really well made, with plenty of ham and turkey (and melted Swiss) on a nicely fried eggy french toast. The rings were surprisingly good; whole onion slices in the crispy corn batter.
The 1/2 sandwich (with soup or salad, $7.99) was a wonderful choice. The clam chowder (soup of the day) was definitely made from scratch, had a clam juice based broth, filled with clam pieces as well as finely minced (yet still crispy) celery and with several (but not too many pieces of) skin on diced potato. Tuna salad on marble rye bread with lettuce, tomato and pickle was a great sandwich. It wasn't a 'solid' tuna, which meant it accommodated the various ingredients and had more flavor.

We will definitely stop here again.

Tommy's Diner 1409 El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 (949)498-7000 Open Daily 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Website

Golden City (still underrated) another revisit

May 26, 2018 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a blog centers around food. Kirk and Cathy write posts here. It's Cathy's turn today. Kirk is on vacation.

Kirk first wrote a three part post about the original Golden City in 2005. New owners took over in 2006. I first wrote a post in 2014, even though there had been many visits, trying the menu. About a year ago, I wrote another post. Golden City is really part of our 'regular rotation', where we bring friends and out of town guests for a good meal.It's an 'anchor' business of the mall at the SouthEast corner of Claremont Mesa and the 163, which also has Anny's Fine Burger and Pho Duyen Mai (which Kirk has posted about several times now).

The interior is spacious and a good place for large groups/families to have a meal.
We ordered from the 'Lunch and Late Dinner' menu (available seven days) and each of us received a fresh fried vegetable egg roll served with that tangy-sweet red sauce along with our complimentary loose-leaf tea.
The large bowl of chicken-corn soup ($9.95) was indeed large and we had to take home leftovers, which heated up quite nicely the next day. {Usually with a lunch special, a choice of egg flower or sweet and sour soup is offered; not necessary with this choice, which could be a meal in itself}
The soup was thick with egg, sweet corn kernels and minced chicken, all in a chicken broth. It really hit the spot on this overcast day.
The Mister craves egg foo young, chicken, $8.95) and really likes the version here. The omelette portion -beaten eggs mixed with bean sprouts, cabbage, carrot and onion is fried perfectly and placed on a (very large) platter then topped with the gravy and minced chicken (same as in the soup, above) as well as some green onion. The crispiness of the omelet is what I like, along with the taste of gravy and chicken on the 'soggy' parts. Such a great meal.
The lemongrass fish filet ($9.95) is always good here. Served with a bit of matchstick cut pickled daikon and carrots, the flavor meld is just right. The batter fried crisp over the meaty fish portions is just a perfect amount of textures in a bite.

We have never been disappointed with the food and are always happy to be able to bring others here.

Golden City Restaurant 5375 Kearny Villa Road San Diego, CA 92123 (858) 565-6682 open daily 11 a.m.-midnight

…everything has to have nutrition facts these days, even the fortune cookies…

Hans & Harry’s Bakery (Bonita) a quick snack

May 24, 2018 Cathy Bakery, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Cathy is writing today; Kirk is busy doing other stuff.

Located in an obscure inner corner of a rather large shopping center anchored by Starbucks and KFC, Hans & Harry's Bakery Corp. has been open in Bonita since 1991. I wrote a short post in 2012.

Trained in baking and European cake design in their native Holland, Hans Zandee and Harry Eijermans worked onboard cruise ships and for various worldwide hotels before opening their retail store. Hans retired to Florida in 2015 and Harry partnered with the former owner of Sumi's Oven, continuing the tradition of making old world European quality crafted cakes and pastries.

The door just under the sign is the entrance into the narrow display/shopping area.
There are a couple of refrigerators to the right and some freezers to the left, then the fresh item/bakery pastries and cookies are just beyond. Pull a number from the paper roll and wait to be called. I couldn't take any decent photos inside, but you can see some online.
Always old fashioned professional service, my selections were placed in a box (even though we would be eating at a table outside).
That's a nut cream on the left and a bear claw on the right. Total price with a small cup of coffee was $6.24.
Fresh, light, delicate layered pastry; two types. The bear claw filled with the sweet almond paste was a bit 'flatter' but oh so perfect with the filling and toasted almond topping. The cream filled pastry, a bit more risen, but not fluffy, was filled with the most light and flavor filled Bavarian cream and had a thin (just enough; almost too much) layer of chocolate-hazelnut on the bottom as well as some on the top of the pastry, making each bite flavor filled and such a blend of flavor as well as texture.

A great place to stop for a treat.

Hans & Harry's Bakery Corp. 5080 Bonita Road Bonita, CA 91902 (619) 475-2253 Website Open Mon-Fri 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat 6:30-5, Closed Sunday

The Hat (Murietta location)

May 23, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Ontario/Riverside/San Bernadino, CA, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! never takes a vacation, but sometimes Kirk or Cathy leave the general San Diego area and food is involved. Today, Cathy is writing about a place just North of the San Diego County line.

In 2006, I wrote about The Hat, with another post written on the last day of 2009. This longtime (since 1951) casual, Los Angeles based diner, open for lunch and dinner, known for 'World Famous Pastrami', opened a location in Murietta in September of 2015.

The architecture mimics the original locations,
even the wallboard menu. Hot and cold sandwiches, chili and a few sides along with beverages are the offerings.
Order, pay and your number is called. The bag on the left is filled with a small french fry order ($3.19).
Three of us shared the fries (and we each ate a lot) and this is what we ended up taking home.

The roast beef dip ($9.99). The bottom piece of the bread is dipped in au jus before the meat is put onto the fresh French Roll (you can get au jus or gravy if you want to dip more of the sandwich…or your fries…) is my favorite item here. Thin sliced, tender, lightly seasoned beef is great in its simplicity. (Although I am spoiled by Philippe The Original, this location and the dip sandwich is close enough to satisfy.)
The World Famous Pastrami ($9.99) with mustard and pickle is what The Mister always chooses. The peppered smoked corned beef is deeply flavored, sliced thin and served on the same French Roll, unless you ask for it to be served on rye bread. Either choice is going to be great.
The side by side of the two sandwich halves shows the dipped beef sandwich was not filled with as much meat as the pastrami, but had only one sandwich been ordered and not knowing the possibility of more filling, the beef dip is satisfactory in size.
This side order of chili ($1.99) was quite large, meaty (no beans) and spicy (in a good way). It went well with the fries as well as on its own.

It's nice to have an outlet of a longstanding traditional restaurant so close. Mary has been to The Hat.

The Hat, 11 locations. Website open 10 a.m.-11 p.m. daily

San Diego Chicken Pie Shop (revisit) 80 years in San Diego

May 22, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Once again, we thank you for stopping and reading mmm-yoso!!! This blog is about food and today, Cathy is writing because Kirk has things to do and places to see.

You might have seen the news story last weekend, or perhaps you recall one of my first posts, or the second post or just the most recent post (from 2016) of the San Diego Chicken Pie Shop. This locally owned well established American classic diner type restaurant just celebrated it's 80th year in San Diego. There were t-shirts, throwback pricing deals and crowds galore. We skipped all that.
Over the years, the store location moved, the menu changed while keeping essentially the same 'basics'; there is now breakfast (served all day) and rotating daily specials (including rolled tacos); wild and crazy, adapting with the times. As always, the baked items (crusts, dinner rolls) are made in-house.

There are chicken themed knick-knack displays in every nook and corner, items donated by longtime patrons.

The Pie dinner ($9.99) includes the chicken and turkey meat with gravy filled pot pie, served with mashed potato, gravy and vegetable of the day.as well as cole slaw (a lightly dressed, finely chopped, very tasty slaw) and a dinner roll. The soup is part of the
deep fried chicken liver meal($10.99) (it was pea soup and thin/watery this day). You can also order the livers sautéed…which is a difficult choice to make on some days.

With every meal, a slice of fresh baked pie is included. The banana cream, cherry and rhubarb are pictured here. The crusts are exquisite-flaky light, so very fresh.

We seem to stick with the basics here and enjoy the comfort food flavors. Soo has been here. So has Mary.

San Diego Chicken Pie Shop 2633 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego 92104 (619) 295-0156 website Open Mon-Fri 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat-Sun 8-8
The dinner rolls which come with each meal…so perfect of a white bread basic; soft, slightly dense, always baked just right with a thin crust. $3.09 for a half dozen-perfect for sandwiches.

Tom’s Famous Family Restaurant-Burgers (#23)(Escondido)

May 21, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a long running blog about food; it's what you are reading. Cathy is writing today because Kirk is resting and relaxing.

Driving around the Southern California Counties, we've seen a number of restaurants with the signage of 'Tom's Burgers' and finally decided to stop. This location in Escondido on 5th Avenue, is #23. Upon some investigation, I found out the real restaurant name is 'Tom's Famous Family Restaurant", the first restaurant opened in 1962 in Los Angeles and there are 19 eat in locations and four express locations. Tom's serves breakfast, lunch and dinner (breakfast all day).
The menu is fairly extensive, with some options unique to each restaurant, White Board Specials and various posters on the windows showing deals and Happy Hour prices. You order, pay, grab some condiments and the food is brought out to you- on ceramic plates (the only disposable items were the napkins, paper wrappings and fountain drink/milkshake containers). When we were here, only two vehicles used the Drive Thru and I only saw three people order and take food 'To Go". Every seat inside the restaurant was taken; families having meals on a Saturday afternoon.

The Classic Cheeseburger ($4.69) at first looked dwarfed by the bun, which was in reality very light and fluffy, toasted and had the usual accompaniments (lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and homemade thousand island). The burgers here are char grilled and have the flavor that I crave. This 1/4 pound cheeseburger was a good choice for our friend.
I wanted to try the 50/50 burger ($4.99). 50% ground bacon and 50% ground beef. This was 'juicer' than the Classic burger, but, because of the char grill, the bacon flavor was not distinctive. Still, I enjoyed the (quite large) patty (it seemed larger than the 1/4 pound cheeseburger patty).
One of the window specials was a Texas Bacon Cheeseburger combo ($7.99). This had such a meld of flavors and was quite large…the amount of fries was tremendous…steak fry cut, light and fluffy interior with a crispy exterior, sprinkled with a seasoned salt.
Since this was our first visit and we didn't know how much we were ordering, the Tom's Sampler ($5.20) was a choice. More fries (we took home a lot) along with zucchini fries (more vegetable than crispy breading; good) and onion rings (really good; light and crispy breaded whole rings of sweet onion).

A lot of food for a small price. We will be back (or will stop at another location) to try breakfast items as well as dinner platters. When my craving for char-grilled burgers returns, it's good to know Tom's has a few San Diego County locations.

Tom's Famous Family Restaurant #23- 505 W 5th Ave Escondido, CA 92025 (760) 737-2377 Open Daily 6 a.m. Closes at 10 p.m. Sun-Thurs, 11 p.m. Fri and Sat Website

Pegah’s Kitchen- Escondido- breakfast (again)

May 20, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Back reading mmm-yoso!!! are you? Well it's (another) post from Cathy; Kirk is still relaxing. Elsewhere.

I wrote about Pegah's Kitchen less than 14 months ago, but have been back a few times since, but did not take photos. A few weeks ago, we met up with a friend for breakfast. Since 1987, this family owned business has been thriving (just about one mile East of the Ninth Street exit from the I-15, along with two other locations (in San Marcos and in Vista)).
The family style diner has several eating areas (tables, booths, counter) inside as well as an outdoor patio. There is a white board with specials at the door when you walk in.
The basic breakfast of two pancakes, two eggs and four bacon strips ($8.99) is more than enough to satisfy. The house made batter is slightly sweet and makes thick yet fluffy light crispy edged cakes. The bacon was thick and had a nice, smoky flavor.
On this day, the whiteboard special was chicken and waffle ($10.99) and it was unexpectedly wonderful. A thick (yet not heavy) Belgian waffle-made with a different batter than the pancakes- topped with three freshly fried, crispy light battered pieces of chicken. More than a one meal serving.
I noticed French toast on the menu…with the option of raisin bread… you know I had to. The plate ($9.99) with two eggs and two breakfast sausage patties was quite filling and so very tasty. The breakfast sausage patties were standard, mild flavored, and added just enough of the 'savory' flavor needed to balance out the sweet of the raisin bread French toast.

All in all, a great place to stop for breakfast which is served all day.

Pegah's Kitchen 912 S. Redwood Street (at Ninth) Escondido 92025 (760) 739-9265 Open daily: 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Website