ed fromyuma – Page 13

Das Bratwurst Haus – German Cuisine in Yuma

December 14, 2009 ed fromyuma European Restaurants, German Restaurants and Food, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Luckily Kirk and Cathy and Vicky have been sharing their meals with you yosoers since ed (from Yuma) has been busy working (and eating). So today it is time for something completely different, something echt deutsch.

March 2011 update: Although this place closed for the summer, it is still going strong. It now has a liquor license and offers an excellent selection of unusual and satisfying German beers — but that means that diners cannot bring their own (weird AZ law).

I should make it clear from the start that I rarely seek out German restaurants, even though my ancestry is 50% German and my maternal grandparents emigrated to the US in 1923 and always spoke with an accent. Nonetheless, too many German restaurants in the United States are long on fake gemutlichkeit and oompah music, their food being heavy, fatty, and salty. All the better, I guess, to sell beer.

So it was not my idea for the lunch bunch to try this new German restaurant located in the same space at the corner of Second and Madison that once housed Mustard's:
It was hard to tell what to expect from the menu as it contained most of the usual suspects — sausage plates, schnitzel, rouladen, saurbraten, and sandwiches. We were all pleased to see that the entrées were available in a lunch portion that came with two sides for only $7.50.

I ordered the pork schnitzel "Weiner Art" (in the style of Vienna) with a gurkensalat (cucumber salad) and a kartoffelsalat (potato salad):
I was impressed — no make that blown away. The pork cutlet was absolutely perfect, seriously crunchy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. The mild pork flavor was perfectly accented by a squeeze of lemon.

The sides were good as well. The potato salad, truth be told, was unlike any that I had had in my family or in Germany, but it was still very good with a mild vinegary flavor and just a hint of mustard. The thinly sliced cucumbers were spiced with dill weed and swam in a tangy sour cream sauce. It was a perfect salad, both creamy and crunchy.

At this point I need to thank my friends who are used to my peculiarities and automatically allow me a chance to photograph their meals and even let me taste them sometimes. For some reason, they still dine with me.

Here is a lunch sized serving of rouladen:

The little rolled beef roast was tasty and I was very impressed by the perfectly cooked blaukraut (red cabbage), though the cabbage was not accented by cloves or allspice the way my grandmother did it.

My family prepared sauerbraten peasant style — strongly marinated and then cooked like pot roast. At Das Bratwurst Haus, the dish is made with a better cut of beef and receives a more sophisticated treatment:

The marinade flavor, and hence the sourness, was mild, and the meat was perfectly balanced between the beefiness of the flesh and the slight sour tang of the marinade. The accompanying sauerkraut had been perfectly prepared so that it reached a degree of sweetness. I can't do it any better. This lunch made me want to return soon for dinner.

So soon Tina and I sat down in a corner table to sample some German dinners. We were pleased to see the friendly and competent server we'd enjoyed at Mustard's (he joked that he came with the property). Service at dinner was especially good that evening.

Tina ordered jaegerschnitzel, the pork schnitzel topped with mushroom gravy, red cabbage (oddly enough, called blaukraut, blue cabbage, in German), and spaetzle (sorry about the nighttime lighting in the photos):

Again the schnitzel and red cabbage were very good. Although shaped more like mini dumplings than noodles, the spaetzle were tender and flavorful, the lightly flavored mushroom gravy allowing the taste of the pasta to shine through.

That evening I opted for the rouladen:
Notice that the dinner sized portion contained two of these little rolled roasts. Each roast is like a large slice of beef round rolled around bacon, onion, and in the center, a thin slice of dill pickle. A classic German dish prepared well here.

In addition to more of the addictive cucumber salad, I chose semmelknoedel (bread dumplings) as my other side dish, getting two slices from a larger dumpling as my portion:
Although Tina thought they weren't heated through quite fully enough, we both certainly enjoyed their flavor, which is much like a savory turkey dressing.

Speaking of turkeys, we were both stuffed by this time, but we had admired the pastries coming into the restaurant and just had to have some desert (only because I wanted to do a complete post — really, that's the only reason).

So we sampled the apple strudel, which was good, but not breathtaking:

The Black Forest cake, on the other hand, was breathtaking:
The combination of dense, dark chocolate cake, sweet and fruity whole Bing cherries, and plenty of homemade Schlagsahne (whipped cream) was just about perfect. The range of sweet flavors and the overall richness were outstanding. This desert was a perfect ending to a good meal.

As we finished dining, we learned that the older gentleman at the next table (who had been listening to us critiquing the meal) was the owner/chef's husband, and he explained that his wife was from Bamberg in the far north of Bavaria (Franconia), which has its own cuisine, and that this restaurant grew out of a popular catering business she had. This explains why the food seemed so authentic, but not exactly like what I grew up eating.

The local paper recently announced that Das Bratwurst Haus has received its BYOB license, so diners may now bring a bottle of wine or up to 24 ounces of beer per customer for a five dollar set up charge. Can't beat that either. Prost!

Das Bratwurst Haus, 204 S. Madison Ave, 928-329-4777. Open 11 – 8 daily.

El Viejo Loco in Yuma

August 25, 2009 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk and Cathy have both been in Yuma, but today, ed (from Yuma) wants to talk about a restaurant and restaurant owner there.

March 2011 update: Sadly, Viejo Loco has closed. I have been told that Danny is battling some health issues. I hope he recovers and finds a new location. I miss him and spinach enchiladas.

I'm not sure if the name of the restaurant means the crazy old guy or the old crazy guy, but Danny Mendoza is certainly not old — at least by my standards.

He's operated a restaurant by this name at three different locations, first outside of town on Highway 95, then hidden on the back side of a building facing Mervyn's, and now at the cursed location on east side of 4th Ave just before the Big Curve: This spot has been home to TJ's Marisqeros, Small Fries (with two separate owners), Mi Playita, and I can't remember what else in the years since I moved to town. So maybe he is crazy.

On the other hand, he is sane enough an do the Mexican restaurant standards very well: This is as good a machaca and egg breakfast burrito as I have had in town, no, make that the best I've had anywhere. There was no filler here, just fluffy egg and extremely good beef machaca. Enough onion and green peppers to provide texture and accent notes. I also appreciated that Danny (who was cooking that morning) asked if I wanted the salsa put inside. Of course I did; I can't roll a burrito as well as he and I definitely want some of his salsa.

After all, this restaurant has the best salsa in town: For all I know, there may be a bit of tomato pulp in here, but the major dominant flavor is fresh red chilies, very spicy, but not burn the skin of your tongue off fiery.

His version of most other standards is equally spot on. Look at this chile relleno plate: While he will happily spoon some excellent red or green sauce on these bad boys, if you wish, they are perfect as is, the expertly cooked green anaheims are wrapped in their eggy blanket, stuffed with creamy white cheese. Simple and tasty: Likewise, the chile verde (green chile) here is perfectly balanced and deeply flavorful, if a bit expensive for the portion size. The pork (sometimes beef is available also) is cooked until it shreds and becomes completely permeated with green chile and touches of tomatillo flavor. As good as it gets: Recently he has been experimenting with different types of tortas: That's a rib eye torta with a thin rib eye steak on the bun. Yeah, a real steak. Great beefy flavors, according to my buddy, Chip, who pronounced it as an incredible sandwich.

Similarly here's his version of a chicken torta: In most ways, a great grilled chicken breast sandwich – though the bolillo roll could have been toasted better. As was, it was a touch crumbly. I also prefer tortas with pickled jalapeno slices, but that's a matter of personal taste. Otherwise outstanding.

Both the torta de pollo and the ribeye sandwich were specials and not on the regular menu. In fact, I have learned always to look at what is written on the specials board because the specials here are often truly special, and the list of specials is always changing.

Recently I got lucky and stopped in on a day when barbacoa was the special. One could get it in a burrito, in a sandwich, as a taco plate, or as a complete barbacoa plate, which looked like this: Along with his standard rice and his frijoles (no lard), this is the best barbacoa (imho) in Yuma. As with many of his other dishes, the meat had been cooked to shreds, so that each shard of meat was full of flavor. In some ways this pot roasted beef shoulder was much like my grandmother's pot roast with the deep flavor of long cooked beef. But unlike anything my grandmother would have prepared, the main flavoring here was mild dark dried red chile with a touch of citrusy tang .

Along with excellent Mexican standards and different and interesting specials, one thing that constantly impresses me about this restaurant is Danny Mendoza himself. He is the only restauranteur that I know in Yuma who is as food obsessed as I am. On several occasions when business has been slow, Danny will pull up a chair, sit down at my table, and talk food with me.

Although he grew up in Yuma, he worked in different restaurants in California before returning to his hometown. And his skills and interests stretch beyond Mexican food alone. For example, one day he just had to share with me a couple of things he was experimenting with back in the kitchen.

So I got this little cup of soup: It was amazingly good. The the rich and flavorful chicken stock had been slightly thickened, fresh crunchy shredded lettuce and diced green onion had been stirred in, and a dollop of sour cream had been added. A perfect little soup, the sort of dish that would've fit in a multicourse tasting menu.

Why this dish? Well, Danny said that he was just playing around, trying to use leftover lettuce in some flavorful dish.

That same day, he served me a small plate of what he called etouffee, even though it was served over noodles instead of rice: But the flavors were great, or at least good enough to fool this non-Cajun diner. The blond roux contained a large shrimp, numerous fresh and tasty crawfish, celery, onions, and little bits of green pepper. The fancy restaurants in town would have been delighted to serve something this unusual and flavorful.

Over the years he has served me all sorts of different and interesting dishes - like a side of spinach and onions, or the best mantaralla I've ever tasted, or maybe just a new chipotle salsa he's experimenting with.

For example, on a recent visit, Danny brought Tina and I little bowls of his oatmeal for dessert: The texture featured bits of chewy oatmeal suspended in a wonderfully creamy liquid. It was slightly sweet and had a pronounced cinnamon flavor. While certainly not the healthiest oatmeal I have ever eaten (I could taste the cream), it was surprisingly rich and flavorful. As served, kindof a desert soup.

Another of Danny's interests is re-creating some of the simple peasant food traditional on both sides of the border in the Sonoran desert. For example, he sometimes does enchiladas del piso, thick corn tortillas (corn cakes?) covered in sauce and topped with cheese and your choice of spinach, chicken, or beef: I can imagine a meal like this — probably without any meat — being served for dinner in poor families. Rice, beans, corn masa, and chile sauce. Truly basic stuff.

A similar meal is Tomasita's Enchiladas, traditional enchiladas made with verdolagas (purslane):
Danny says that this meal was a common feature of his childhood, and to learn how to make it he tracked down a 90-year-old relative (Tomasita) whose specialty this is. Talk about true peasant cuisine. Again we have rice, beans, and tortillas. In this case the tortillas are wrapped around a simple filling made with a local weed, and the enchiladas are then topped with a unique sauce made with frijoles not chilies:
Interestingly, the purslane is also very healthy, full of vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and a lot of omega 3 fatty acids, one of those few things containing the word "fatty" that's actually good for you.

In addition to all this other good stuff, my favorite meals at the restaurant are the spinach enchiladas. They can come with a deeply rich and flavorful red sauce: Cut into, the enchiladas look like this: But I think they are even better with Danny's tangy green sauce: Inside: In either case, the enchiladas are packed full of flavorful spinach and onions, making this another healthy Mexican meal. And a tasty one as well.

I know of no other Mexican restaurant in town that has enchiladas with either verdolagas or spinach filling. The uniquity of these items brings me back to El Viejo Loco again and again.

Yet I am constantly puzzled by one fact. I have never seen the spinach enchiladas (or the chicken and spinach burritos for that matter) on the menu or even written on the specials white board. Never. Yet most of the time spinach dishes are available.

Sometimes I feel like the spinach is some secret hidden ingredient that Danny wants to share only with a few cognoscenti. More secret than In 'n Out's "Secret Menu." Sort of like a sushi chef with a little bit of fugu hidden in the cooler to be served only to one or two select customers. I don't know. But, lets face it, spinach is not a possibly poisonous rarity like puffer fish. Why is it a secret? Personally, I think he could sell several spinach enchilada plates every day if he just let people know that they could order them.

Sometimes I think he doesn't want to be too busy. That would explain why he has never been open evenings. And why he's never had a liquor license. And why he has always chosen marginal locations. But it certainly would not explain why he also works during packing season as manager and short order cook at the T & A Café (no, it doesn't mean that — it's the little Café in the huge Tanimura & Antle packing plant). I guess I just don't understand him.

So maybe Danny is just a little crazy. But OMG, this Loco can really cook.

El Viejo Loco, 4th Ave, Yuma AZ, 928-726-0577

Evening Two at Artisan: Paso Robles

August 12, 2009 ed fromyuma American/New American Restaurants, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Almost everyone likes roadtrips. Cathy and Kirk both travel, but today ed (from Yuma) wants to tell you about a dinner he and Tina enjoyed on their roadtrip north.

Tina and I returned to Artisan on a Monday night after having thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday night dinner. In some ways, we might as well have come back a year later as most of the kitchen staff and waitstaff seemed different. Only the attentive manager and our hard working busser seemed familiar from the night before.

Even the bread that was placed in front of us was clearly different: While decent enough, these slices lacked the thick crunchy crust of the previous bread.

On this evening, we had decided to build a meal around a local red wine, a J Dusi Zinfandel ($40): The Dusi Vineyards have been growing some of the best Zinfandel grapes in the Paso Robles area for many years. These family Vineyards have supplied premium grapes for such outstanding wineries as Ridge. Today, Janell Dusi produces her own wines from the vineyards planted by her grandfather, Dante Dusi, over 60 years ago.

This bottle lived up to its pedigree, and both Tina and I thought it was superb — fruity, deeply flavorful, and incredibly smooth with spicy and earthy notes. It matched the meal well.

For her first course, Tina deecided to try a California Burrata ($13). This type of cheese, based upon Italian custom, is like a combination of fresh mozzarella and cream. It is rich and barely cheesy. In her appetizer, it had been drizzled with olive oil and dominated one side of her plate:
As you can see, it was accompanied by French bread toast, smoked almonds, microgreens, and fresh slices of both white and yellow peaches. Scrumptious and beautiful.

On the other side of her appetizer plate lay paperthin slices of salty old school prosciutto: Her appetizer touched all the bases. Creamy soft and crunchy. Sweet and salty. Rich and fruity.

I opted for the herbed meatballs ($12), which were served with ricotta gnocchi, heirloom tomato ragout, cooked nettles, and grated hard Italian cheese: This appetizer was more focused than Tina's. The herby meatballs were a delight, nicely complemented by the tomatoey ragout, the sautéed greens, and the mellow grated cheese. The gnocchi were light as cumulus clouds in a summer sky and matched perfectly with the other ingredients.

When it arrived, Tina's entrée, from one side, looked like a mushroom and vegetable stirfry: The chard, king trumpet mushrooms, and various pole beans contributed a range of flavors and textures. In particular, the beans were still crunchy and the trumpet mushrooms gave the palate a firm chewy mouth feel.

The main attraction on her plate, however, was the sliced Niman Ranch hanger steak ($26), cooked perfectly — seared but left rare in the center:
It was very tender and flavorful. The bordelaise sauce was a bit salty for my taste, but it was clearly a background note on her plate.

Her entrée was accompanied by a ramekin of what I would call scalloped potatoes, described on the menu as onoway potato gratin: As good as her entrée was, I liked mine even more: This was a pasture raised veal striploin lying on a bed of creamy rich asparagus risotto, topped with asparagus spears, hen of the woods mushrooms, Madeira sauce, gremolata (garlic/parsley oil), and pea shoots ($28) . This tasted so wonderful, that it deserves a second photo: The veal loin was, like Tina's steak, perfectly cooked. The exterior had been seared, but the flesh was still richly pink. The abundant Madeira sauce was sweeter and less salty than the bordelaise. I was blown away!

For dessert, we chose the three chocolate crèmes brûlées ($9): Under the crunchy caramelized skin, each brûlée featured a different flavor of chocolate. The one on the right was white chocolate, in the center Mexican chocolate with notes of cinnamon, and on the left deep dark rich chocolate. The last one was my favorite, but we used our spoons to scrape out every bit of creamy goodness from all of them.

Both Tina and I had thought that our second dinner could not possibly live up to the first. We were wrong.

Artisan, 1401 Park Street, Paso Robles, California 93446, 805-237-8084

Dining at Artisan: Paso Robles

July 28, 2009 ed fromyuma American/New American Restaurants, Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Cathy and Kirk continue eating, but today ed (from Yuma) is not only eating, but he's also inviting you to share a dinner.

I first visited Paso Robles nearly 25 years ago (geez, I'm getting old). Back then it was quite literally a little Cowtown. Maybe there were six or seven wineries scattered around, some of which weren't especially good, and I could find no interesting place to eat in town. Nowadays, over 230 wineries lie within a few miles of the city, and numerous eateries beckon you to sample their gourmet cuisine.

My favorite place for dining in the town had been Bistro Laurent, which features a modern California approach to traditional French cuisine. Memories of dishes like veal cheeks, roast squab, and venison shanks still make me salivate. Unfortunately we were going to be in town on a Sunday and Monday, the two days BL closes each week.

So Tina and I did some research and then walked around downtown Paso reading menus, asking about daily specials, and discussing where we wanted to go. The decision, however, was an easy one to make as soon as we got to Artisan: The dishes on the menu sounded interesting, the wine list was varied and almost affordable, and all that walking around made us hungry.

As we sat at our table looking over the menu, several slices of outstanding crunchy French bread (baked by a small bakery in Atascadero) showed up: This was the best bread on our trip. The rustic half baguette came with a generous pat of soft sweet cream butter. This was a good omen for the rest of the dinner.

We had decided on building a meal around a local white wine. The most interesting wine, at least the most interesting one I could afford, was a Vermentino from Tablas Creek ($38): One great thing about dining at restaurants like Artisan and Passionfish is that you get a chance to try wines that you might otherwise never encounter — particularly if you live in a place like Yuma, Arizona. This Vermentino is the first California grown version of that varietal that I have ever encountered on a wine list. Even in Europe, this type of grape is not common, it being the predominant white grape only on the island of Sardinia — though it is grown elsewhere. The Tablas Creek version was crisp, richly flavored, and smooth.

The appetizers soon arrived. Tina had chosen crabcakes ($16), which were perched on quarter size disks of firm potato, covered in a very tasty, lightly spicy remoulade sauce. A sprinkling of micro greens decorated the golden brown cakes: Although I don't quite understand the potatoes, which to my mind seemed out of place on the plate, the crabcakes themselves were packed with tasty crab meat: I ordered seafood chowder ($10) for my first course:
Having grown up close to the Oregon coast, I consider myself something of a chowder aficionado. This one was quite good. The broth was creamy and richly flavored. Most notably, the predominant taste was mussels, with small chunks of potatoes and halibut studding the soup and providing texture variations. Allegedly, some clams were also present, but any clams were very much in the background.

For my entrée, I had decided on the halibut, which came with lobster raviolis, grilled spring onions, micro greens, ceci beans (fresh chickpeas), and a small side of chard ($28): Halibut cannot be broiled more perfectly. Inside the crisp crust, the fish was incredibly moist and tender: The beans and greens added variety to the platter. The lobster raviolis, unfortunately, did not taste strongly of lobster, although they certainly looked right: As good as my main course was, Tina's selection was the gem of the entire evening. On the menu it was described as "Summer truffle pici, handrolled pasta, piopinni mushrooms, goat cheese toast" ($25). It looked like this: We both agreed that this was as good as a noodle dish can be. The noodles themselves, lightly golden with the faintest hint of truffle, were mimicked by the shimeji (piopinni) mushrooms, which presented the same colors and shapes: Yet the flavors and textures of the two were very different.

The noodles and mushrooms were only one of the flavorful matrices that interacted on the plate. The robust contrastive tastes of grated aged Italian cheese and absolutely fresh peas mingled with every bite of pasta. To those of us bored by standard frozen peas, these freshly shelled nuggets were a joy — and their flavor was accentuated by the pea greens strewn on top of the noodles:
If Tina's entrée had any shortcoming, it was the goat cheese toast: There was nothing wrong with it, but it was unnecessary and played a distinctly second fiddle in the orchestra of flavors set before her.

Even though one or two aspects of the dinner might have been better, we both were extremely impressed. In addition to the creative, interesting, and flavorful food, the service had been friendly and attentive throughout the meal. Just for one example, we both drank a lot of water that evening since we had been wine tasting in the afternoon and then had walked around 95 degree Paso Robles looking at menus. As soon as the waitstaff watched us slurp down our first glasses, a large carafe of iced water was placed on the table. I also enjoyed watching the manager, a young woman who seemed to miss nothing going on in the restaurant. Kitchen and waitstaff totally professional.

This dinner was, by my standards, a pretty pricey meal. It was, however, so tasty and intriguing that we decided to do something that I almost never do — come back to the same place on the next night for a second meal. Stay tuned for the results of that adventure.

Artisan, 1401 Park Street, Paso Robles, California 93446, 805-237-8084

Paso Robles: Lunch at Thomas Hill Organics

July 24, 2009 ed fromyuma Paso Robles/Cambria/San Luis Obispo County, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk or Cathy will be with you tomorrow, but today ed (from Yuma) is describing another meal on his summer road trip.

On our first evening in Paso Robles, Tina and I were walking back from a great dinner, and suddenly we smelled the most delicious aromas wafting our direction on the warm nighttime air. Even though we were stuffed, both of us had to track down the origin of such savory scents. Heading up an alley, we discovered the location of Thomas Hill Organics: The next day at lunchtime, we walked around the central park in Paso, looking at menus and discovering nothing as appetizing as those aromas from the evening before. After relocating the restaurant, we were offered the choice of inside or outside seating. Although it was kind of hot (by the standards of Paso Robles, not Yuma) we opted to sit outside in a small partly covered courtyard that sits surrounded by buildings in the middle of the block: The first dish that arrived at our table was a watermelon gazpacho. And it was a thing of beauty: I can think of no soup that would have been as appealing as this summertime gem. The "broth" was red watermelon juice, with a few pools of extra virgin olive oil on top and minced mint and perhaps a squeeze of lime within. The chunks throughout the soup were sweet yellow watermelon. But as we began eating we discovered more: In addition to these halved dark grapes, we also encountered blackberries and raspberries:
The berries and grapes added touches of tartness to the sweet soup.

Soon after we finished the first course, our sandwiches arrived: Each sandwich was accompanied by a truly outstanding salad. Because the Central Coast is lettuce country, chefs have the ability to blend their own selection of various greens, rather than merely relying onlettuces already mixed. These salads contained primarily green and red oak leaf lettuce, two of the best and most flavorful salad greens available. The leaves were lightly dressed with a tomato vinaigrette, accompanied with cucumber slices, and topped with Kalamata olives, radish slices, and goat cheese. Salads don't get much better than this.

The sandwiches themselves were equally outstanding. One of them was a tuna sandwich: As you can see, this is no tuna sandwich like your mother served you. The seared albacore was topped with a slice of thick smoky bacon. Also, the slices of rich herb bread had been pressed like Paninis, so they were crunchy as well as flavorful.

The chicken sandwich may have been even better: On the same type of bread, the chicken breast slices were accompanied by bacon, melted mild cheese, and slices of green apple — the taste of the whole was flavorful and complex. An outstanding sandwich.

This restaurant has been in business about six months, but it is clear they know what they are doing. If we hadn't already made plans for dinner that evening, we would have returned here because the lunch was outstanding. I'm surprised that I had not heard of this place before my visit. I'm certainly glad that Tina and I followed our noses.

Thomas Hill Organics Wine Bar and Bistro, 1305 Park St, Paso Robles CA, 805-226-5888. Website

Road Trip: Sea Harbour in Rosemead

July 21, 2009 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Not a Kirk or a Cathy Road Trip - This post is part of an ed (from Yuma) Road Trip. Buckle up and enjoy!

It was time for Tina and I to head off on vacation, ultimately arriving in Monterey for a few days. San Gabriel Valley, fortunately for us, is about midway between Yuma and the cool breezes of the Monterey Peninsula. We arrived in Rosemead armed with some recommendations from Kirk for Chinese seafood. At the top of the list was Sea Harbour: (sorry about the drive-by shot)

When we arrived hungry for our 6 p.m. reservation, the stylish restaurant was largely empty, though its numerous fish tanks looked ready for customers: The first item to hit our table was a complementary seaweed salad. It was nothing spectacular, but it was a nice and refreshing way to begin the meal: When we made reservations, I had inquired about corkage fees and was told that I was welcome to bring my own wine for the modest charge of $10. I was happy to learn this as we had come over from Yuma with a special bottle in our ice chest. After I handed the Chalone Chardonnay to a server, it soon reappeared with adequate stemware and a chilled ice bucket. The servers kept our glasses properly filled throughout the meal: Unusually for a Chinese restaurant, our meal was served European style, in courses. First arrived two abalones ($15 each) taken fresh from a tank. Each was prepared in a different style. This one was covered in a slightly sweet soy-based sauce, somewhat resembling a teriyaki sauce:The shellfish was very tender and flavorful. We cut it into small enough pieces so that we could savor each bite; after all, it had been years since I had eaten cooked fresh abalone, and I wanted the maximum number of bites for $15.

As good as that abalone was, both Tina and I preferred the second one: Here the saucing was much simpler — basically just garlic. But that was really all the abalone needed in my mind. It was really good!

The next course represented the only slight glitch in the entire meal. I was hoping for some unusual vegetable, but didn't see anything especially exotic on the menu, so I asked if there was some special vegetable that evening. The waiter said that, indeed, they had a fresh seasonal vegetable, so I ordered it. Like a salad course, it arrived before the major entrée: There was nothing wrong with this order of Chinese greens ($12) at all. As the waiter said, they were incredibly fresh and arrived steaming at the table. The simple preparation showed off the their goodness and impeccable freshness. The only glitch for us was that we had had this very same choi sum at least twice in the previous two weeks at Yummy Yummy. While the vegetable in Yuma was not as fresh as it was at Sea Harbour, I had had hopes for some thing more different.

Our main dish that evening was steamed whole red cod, taken from a tank and as fresh as could be ($36 for about 1 1/2 lbs): This was a beautiful fish, steamed to perfection and presented with a light tangy soy based sauce. Unfortunately, my picture does not do justice to this outstanding entrée because the server was waiting next to our table for me to take pictures before he removed the spine and attached bones, and I felt bad for keeping him standing there.

Now is as good a time as any to mention the wonderful and attentive service. Some online postings at various websites indicate that the service at Sea Harbour is perfunctory and almost rude. Perhaps that is the case when the restaurant is serving its popular dim sum, but Tina and I were treated exceptionally well throughout our meal. While thoroughly professional, all of the servers were friendly. They answered my questions with a smile and generally provided helpful advice. I can't recall better service at another Chinese restaurant.

Now back to the food. I just want to share one close up of the fish flesh on my plate: The taste of the red cod was every bit as moist and tender as it looks in this photo. Each mildly fishy bite melted away on the tongue. It was so good that we consumed everything — cheeks, brains, eyeballs, skin, and anything else we could scrape off the bones.

We were then each brought a complementary bean porridge, which was lightly sweet and slightly savory: I thought that was going to be the conclusion of the meal, but Tina and I both were then given these two desserts: I have no expertise whatsoever with Chinese desserts, but these did taste good and provided an attractive ending for the meal. Thanks Kirk for the rec! The place is definitely yo-so delicioso!

Sea Harbour, 3939 Rosemead Blvd, Rosemead, 626-288-3939

Five Foodies Attack Tacos in Yuma

July 5, 2009 ed fromyuma Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Today ed (from Yuma) wants you to join Tina and him and some others for tacos. Kirk or Cathy will be your tour guide for the blog's next post.

Just like Chaucer's pilgrims headed toward Canterbury, true foodies all make a trip to that culinary Mecca of Yuma, Arizona. Okay, stop laughing – just kidding. But recently we were fortunate to have Rich Kaszeta, a professional bacon photographer (among other careers) and a food blogger from New Hampshire (Offbeat Eats) visit our desert metropolis.

Even though he claimed to be in town for work, it seemed like his real — though secret — purpose was to eat as much Mexican food as he could in a week. Micaela, her husband Brian, Tina, and I joined him for one evening of tacoing on 8th St (Calle Ocho).

Since we wanted to try places that the others had not visited before, we started at Asadero Los Compadres, which Tina and I had tracked down to its new location at the corner of 8th and 20th Ave: After we ordered the tacos, we were given a couple of squeeze bottles and a standard wheel of condiments: Certainly nothing very special here. The best, in my opinion was the pico de gallo (also sometimes called salsa la bandera): The yellow squeeze bottle contained guacamole sauce that was rather thin and not especially full of avocado flavor. The red bottle contained a very fiery salsa.

The only Agua Fresca available was a homemade jamaica: It was decent, but for me, nothing to write home about — but you never know about somebody whose home is in New Hampshire.

We each ordered uno taco de cabeza: uno de asada: y uno de pastor: My favorite was the cabeza, which was rich, soft, and deeply flavored.

Of course that preference may be because I misjudged how spicy the red salsa was, so my other two tacos tasted mostly like fire. Chewy and flavorful fire, indeed, but too saucy for me to discern much else. Kirk would have loved them. The general concensus of the others was that the pastor was good, and Rich and Tina, in particular, said the Asada seemed tender, smoky, and fresh. Perhaps that is a result of the outdoor grill on which the pieces of steak were cooked: After pausing to appreciate the sunset, which made even the parking lot of a service station seem kind of beautiful, we went off to the next place, Corona: (Thanks, Rich, for that photo)

To be honest, I had been a little disappointed in los Compadres, though that may have been partly my own overzealous squeezing. It had been good, but not outstanding, so I approached Corona with some trepidation; after all, I had not been that impressed with it on my last visit.

That just goes to show how little I know because all of us thought that Corona was, on this evening at least, the better of the two. Here, the condiments are lined up on a counter, but unfortunately my picture doesn't show the grilled jalapenos and onions: I started with a chicken taco and an Asada taco: We all agreed that the chicken was outstanding, flavorful, tender, and moist. The best chicken taco I've eaten in Yuma. While the Asada had a nice smoky flavor, it seemed a little chewier than the Asada at the first taco truck. I can't say more.

Before we began eating, someone said "Micaela's tacos are so pretty, you need to take a picture of them." So I did: And yes, those are beautiful tacos. And you can also see how much a person can alter/develop/influence the taste of his/her taco by choosing different combos of condiments.

As we were eating, every one was praising the pastor, so I had to have one of those as well. After decoration, it looked like this: Although the meat was a little greasy, the taste of the pastor was excellent — succulent, tender, smokey and fully flavored. In general, we thought it better than the pastor at los Compadres.

We also appreciated that a free bowl of beans came with each order:
While not the world's finest frijoles, they were still welcome. Of course, we could have added onion, cilantro, and roasted jalapeno etc to the little bowls, but none of us was thinking clearly that evening.

In addition, we all loved the limonada (oops, not pictured), though Brian and Micaela reported that the horchata was a little grainy at the bottom.

While these two trucks may not be the very best in Yuma, Rich assured us that they were better than any in New Hampshire. In any case, we all had a good time, and as Micaela said, "it's so nice to go out with people who don't think that it's weird to talk about food all night." Yup, she's right about that!

Sang Dao through Other Eyes

June 28, 2009 ed fromyuma Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Welcome to mmm-yoso!!! — Kirk's foodblog. Sometimes he lets Cathy post here, and today he's letting ed (from Yuma) post about a meal that you may have read about once or twice already.

On my last trip to San Diego, America's finest city, I fortunately arrived on the same day that Kirk, Howie, and Candice were planning a visit to Sang Dao, a Lao/Thai restaurant recently relocated on to El Cajon Blvd. I managed to finagle an invitation to join them there.

Like many good dining spots run by recent immigrants, it is located in a somewhat dicey neighborhood, between a gold buyer and a payday advance place: I never expected to post about the meal, but it seems that I took the most photos. Anyway, thought some readers might enjoy looking at more pictures of the food. But be sure to read Kirk's account of the restaurant and Candice's too – to get expert opinions.

First, the raw beef salad: In this case, my picture is not especially good although it does show the wealth of greens that accompany the salad. I thought it tasted fine and liked the slight background bitter touch of bile. It was was not as beefy and, mercifully, not as overwhelmingly hot as the version at Sab-E-Lee (prepared Thai spicy for Kirk) which he and I had enjoyed around New Years.

Next we were served spicy offal soup (anybody remember the name?): This was really good. The broth was deeply savory and lit up with chile spices. I kept shoveling various organ meats into my mouth, chewing them up, swallowing them, and going back for more. Even when I had no idea what I was eating: One dish that I wanted in particular was whole fish — which I guess is kind of an obsession of mine. I thought that the tilapia arrived looking very pretty: The taste matched the look of the fish. The first flavor notes that hit my palate were touches of sweetness, but the sweetness was nicely balanced with citrus flavors. The sauce did not overwhelm the flavor of the fish. I was also impressed by the quality of the frying. Though the skin was crisp, this fish remained moist from head to tail: Next to arrive was the offal noodle soup: This soup was less enticing to any of us. The numerous slices of liver dominated the flavor of the bowl. I crave liverwurst sometimes, but this soup proved that I am not a true liver lover. The super soft noodles seemed OK, but added little. I would try a different noodle dish on a future visit.

My only other complaint about the meal - the sticky rice tasted a bit dried out.

Candice insisted we try a red curry shrimp dish that she had had before. I'm glad she did. As you can tell by the brownish color of the curry, the sauce had intense and complex flavors. It was so good I forgot to take a picture until almost the entire serving was gone:
I should probably add that I was the one who finished off the last of this wonderful curry.

The final item served was certainly one of the most impressive. It was a chopped long bean salad prepared with Lao spicing: In some ways, this resembles an extremely funky green papaya salad. Look at the color of the dressing. The pungent flavor of fish sauce (and/or fermented shrimp?) infused every bite of the salad. The diced chilies raised the spice level high. But even with all these other flavors, the intense green bean taste and green bean crunch stood out in every mouthful. A texture/taste treat. For me, this was an amazing and exciting dish. Nothing like it in Yuma!

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed more pictures. And I hope Kirk, or Howie, or Candice feel free to correct or add to this discussion. Compared to most Thai food, this seemed more in your face funky with more salty than sweet flavors. I, for one, appreciated the extensive menu (unlike Asia Cafe), which seems to invite return visits.

When the bill came, we were all amazed at the low cost for the all the food we'd eaten. No need to sell that wedding ring or borrow til payday to have dinner here.

Sang Dao Restaurant, 5421 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115, (619) 263-0914 :

Two Gaijin (and Kirk) at Okan

June 22, 2009 ed fromyuma Japanese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, What Cathy Eats!, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Back in April, ed had the chance to visit San Diego, and Kirk, Cathy, and he realized that we had the same evening free to get together for dinner. The main question was, where? If memories serve, Cathy and ed had the same thought: let's get Kirk to guide us through a meal at Okan.

In general, both ed and Cathy are intrepid explorers of restaurants. But we had read about multiple menus, nightly specials, unfamiliar dishes, and a generally Japanese speaking clientele. For ed at least, the option of going it alone seemed problematic; plus Kirk always knows the good stuff (which is why all of us read this blog).

The only downside to getting together for this meal is that it is harder to concentrate on the food when carrying on interesting conversations — often about great food from elsewhere. Therefore, you will hear from all three of us in this post.

The first dish that ed remembers was a bamboo shoot preparation:

That's shredded gobo root and carrot alongside the big crunchy chunks of bamboo shoot. The flavor, if memory serves, was focused and simple and good. The thick cut of the slices emphasizes the goodness of the shoots.

The first brought out were two dishes, one of bamboo, not pickled, just fresh cooked and chilled bamboo shoots. Pleasant and crunchy. The other dish was non-fried/raw (?) gobo. (Fried gobo will be in another dish further down in this post) Cathy liked both and thought they were refreshing and fresh tasting. She is inserting two bad photos to show portion sizes…sort of. She and ed didn't pull out their cameras at first. Kirk was amused when both of them started snapping away.

Next came eggplant stewed in miso (help, am I right?): Again the preparations seem very basic and simple. Although Kirk and Cathy liked the dish well enough, ed tends to prefer eggplant that is more heavily seasoned since it is so much like a flavor sponge.

Then came some stew with tofu and God knows what else: Hmmm. Cathy thinks it was pork and carrots or yam with kuro konnyaku(yam noodles?) and the tofu. Whatever. She thought it tasted like home. A home that made really good, fancy, deep flavored stew.

When the Gobo root salad appeared, it looked amazing: Of all the things we ate at night, and we ate a lot of things, this was for ed the most memorable and outstanding. Nonetheless, like virtually every other dish, this was extremely focused, direct, and simple. The shredded Gobo root was sweet and crunchy and addictive. The lightly dressed greens (mizuna???) underneath were provided a wonderful contrastive tang, added to different type of crunch, and made the plate truly beautiful.

When this huge salad was first served to us, ed thought there was no way that all three of us could ever finish it. However, throughout the meal, all of us would go back again and again for the salad, using it almost as a palate cleanser and refresher, like gari at a sushi bar.

It was a light, delicate, yet wonderfully flavored crunchy. It also was about ten inches tall in its initial presentation. Cathy could have eaten it all herself but then would not have had the ability to try so many of the other items Kirk had ordered.

Next came (I think) fried chicken skin. That says it all, doesn't it? (I have no memories of this, but it's hard to imagine chicken skin not tasting good):

Cathy could have eaten two dishes of chicken skin. By herself. If nobody was around.

Chicken wings arrived next: Again the preparation was simple and straightforward. Maybe too much so for ed's taste which has no doubt been corrupted by dozens of buffalo wings over the years.

Cathy could taste some sort of marinade for these wings. Not spicy but nice flavor. You know there was no sauce to add to anything, and nothing needed to have the flavor upped or changed for this entire meal.

Coming from the desert, ed insisted on some fish dish. What arrived was a sizable chunk of mackerel braised in soy sauce: ed found the fish to be rich and deeply flavored. For him, this was another hit.

Cathy liked it. Cathy liked everything. We forgot to take pictures of the sake! It was in the cutest little self chilling carafe. It was *really* good. The top one on the sake menu. Kirk said something about it not being able to be purchased in the States. Cathy does not remember details…on with the food.

While the restaurant is certainly not a sushi bar, the one raw seafood preparation that we were served was visually striking and unusual: The octopus slices were paperthin, and the contrast between them and the individual suckers was nice.

Cathy's first taste of sashimi included octopus. She had it on her 18th birthday at work. This was even better because of the presentation. The delicateness made her have to eat it slowly and concentrate on the flavor as well as textural contrast. Here is her photo, and you can see the sake glasses in the background.

The bacon wrapped asparagus again was a study in simplicity: ed's memory is that the bacon was not heavily smoked and the asparagus was still crunchy and fresh tasting.

The bacon was not bacon-y flavored at all and somehow brought out a sweetness in the asparagus. Cathy usually only buys the thinner fresh asparagus stalks and will continue to do so. Those fat ones have to be prepared differently. This is a perfect vegetable. This preparation-and presentation- was perfect.

Slices of grilled duck breast, complete with a tasty strip of duck fat (ummm-duck fat), showed up next: Again the focus was on showing off the quality ingredient and not masking or altering its flavor.

Cathy liked this one also. The duck was on top of grilled green onions which did not impart a flavor onto the duck, but if you ate the onion, the bit of duck grease flavored it just enough to make the simple grilled scallion's sweetness come through.

The well marbled slices of cold steak continued the presentation of rich meaty items: Again, the preparation was simple, allowing the beef itself to show off.

The meal ended with unagi prepared inside of tamago: At this point, ed's mouth was suffering from taste fatigue, and his brain was overloaded with food discussions and perhaps sake as well, so he doesn't remember much beyond a basic sweetness and a certain complexity of flavor.

All in all, all of us enjoyed the meal. The food, in retrospect, seems to ed to be much like a Japanese rock garden or a rural Shinto shrine – simple, focused, beautiful, and rustic. The restaurant repeatedly presents simple down-home preparations that show off the quality and flavors of the ingredients used. Kirk says that Okan means Mom's. Well, it certainly isn't ed's mom's cuisine. Nor did Cathy grow up with anything like this. It was wonderful- and Cathy was so glad to go out and socialize with "the guys" .

Links to Kirk's post on Okan are here and here

Ah So Sushi and Steak: Yuma

June 16, 2009 ed fromyuma Chains, Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Mmm-yoso is Kirk's wonderful foodblog. Sometimes he lets Cathy and others share their meals with you. In his last post, ed (from Yuma) discussed a wonderful Japanese meal in San Diego County. This post is different.

Most of us Yuma locals were excited a few years ago when we got an allegedly Japanese restaurant: Some of my enthusiasm melted away when a group of us came in for a Friday lunch, and somehow my order got lost in the system. At first, the server didn't even seem to notice that one of us had not received a meal. When I finally tracked her down and re-placed my order, the food still didn't arrive. When I finally located a manager — and that required finding the bartender and explaining everything to him — the manager insisted that my wait was not extraordinary since the time on the computerized order was only 20 minutes previous. I had to explain everything twice, before he understood that I had been in the restaurant for nearly an hour and that my friends had already finished their meals and I hadn't gotten a simple sushi combo yet. I was hungry, and when hungry, I get crabby.

Nonetheless, I decided to give the restaurant another chance. I doubt if I will ever forget that visit as I sat at the sushi bar and ordered various nigiri. As the itamae was bragging that the chain had restaurants in 44 different states, he was preparing me an order of saba, pouring vast quantities of sauce over the fish. Why? One foul and nasty taste answered that question and told me that the fish was, like Nemerov's Goosefish,"most ancient and corrupt and grey." The horror. I shudder everytime I think about it. The single worst sushi I have ever been served. Ever.

Hope does spring eternal, however, and when I saw that Ah So had been voted the best Asian restaurant in Yuma, I decided to give it another couple of shots. Maybe it had gotten better.

When I showed up both times at lunch, I tried to come with an open mind. I was pleased that icewater arrives with a lemon slice that I didn't even need to request: The miso soup is consistently thin, light but balanced in flavor, and lacking almost any content except for a couple shards of seaweed, a few thin circles of green onion, and on one visit, a cube of tofu the size of a garden pea. Nonetheless, it was certainly satisfactory: For my first visit, I decided to order something safe, something almost impossible to screw up, tempura: At first glance, this looked okay. There were several sizable shrimps and assorted vegetable pieces nicely arranged into a tower on the plate.

But when I looked more closely, I couldn't see any of the delicate lace like crunchies that typify a Panko crust: Putting aside any concerns, I started with the onion ring; after all, I've liked almost every onion ring I've ever eaten, at least to some extent. Well, not this one. First, there seemed to be no onion, at least none that I could taste. In fact, the only taste the ring had was stale cooking oil and greasy breading. Truly unpleasant.

The next item I tried was a slice of, I think, sweet potato: What I mean is that it looked sort of like it had some sweet potato in at, but the paperthin vegetable was overwhelmed by the greasy coating.

After wiping the grease off my fingers, I attacked one of the large shrimp, biting off the end. But there was no shrimp there. The last half-inch of the shrimp shaped thing I had put in my mouth was simply breading. After I peeled off the dense exterior, my large shrimp turned into something slightly smaller than my little finger, a truly shrimpy shrimp: It was also desiccated and flavorless. Yuck!

When I was finished, I left behind a nearly full bowl of unappetizing breading: To be fair, I wanted to give the place one more chance, so I returned to try a sushi combo. The $12 combination arrived at my table looking very pretty: The chef had done a good job arranging the items so that the colors were balanced. It really was an attractive and inviting tray.

The California roll was decent. While the sushi rice could have been seasoned better, at least the roll was not packed with mayonnaise. In the mouth, I could not detect the flavor of the krab or wasabi, but the creamy avocado was pleasant and the cucumber crunch was a nice contrast.

The tuna, even with its neon pink color, was okay, although it finished with a slight background metallic flavor that I found marginally unpleasant. But mostly, it seemed a bit dried out and had very little flavor of any sort at all: Ditto the whitefish: It is possible that this was hirame, but it could've been any mild whitefish for all the flavor that it had.

One of the highlights of the nigiri was, oddly enough, the krab. This was good quality imitation crustacean and was the most moist and flavorful thing I put into my mouth during the entire meal.

The ebi was okay as well, though a bit dried out and having only a very mild shrimp flavor. Again, however, the item seemed severely underseasoned. This time after I only bit off half of the piece, I lifted the remaining shrimp off of the rice ball and discovered why all the nigiri had been exceptionally bland. There was no wasabi anywhere.

Perhaps the restaurant expects that its customers are going to drown their sushi in the brownish swamp that forms when you stir an entire serving of wasabi into a couple tablespoons of soy sauce. And maybe if I had done that, there would've been more flavor to each of the pieces — but not a flavor I enjoy much anymore.

The worst single piece of fish was the albacore: It tasted tired and a little off. It was also mushy in texture and left an unpleasant aftertaste that lingered long after the meal was finished. I hate bad albacore burps.

The salmon was certainly better than the albacore, but like so many other items, it lacked much depth of flavor, richness, or intensity. No way unpleasant, just passably mediocre: I saved the tamago for last. Mostly, it was sweet and dense. Still, not really bad at all. In fact, the sushi combination was adequate enough that I could eat it again, though most likely, not again real soon.

In other words, I still don't like this restaurant very much. So how did this place get voted #1? Well, it is located at the mall and seems to be a popular dating location. It serves alcohol. Maybe in the company of an attractive friend, after several beers, the food seems pretty good.

Still, I think the restaurant should change its name. Instead of "Ah So," how about "Ah Ful So So," or maybe "So So Ah Ful"? Those seem right to me.

Ah-So Sushi & Steak, 1325 S Yuma Palms Pkwy, Yuma, AZ 85365 (928) 329-7442