mmm-yoso – Page 165

Returning to Mien Trung

February 24, 2018 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

The recent weather has been downright wintery; by San Diego standards. I even had frost on my windshield one morning….for the briefest moment. I'd been wanting to see if the soon to open Mi Quang shop was affiliated with Mien Trung. And since it had been a while since my last visit, the timing seemed right. Things were pretty quiet on this Sunday morning.

I'm wondering if it's just me or has the broth at Mien Trung gotten spicier over the last couple of years. There also seems to be quite a bit more meat these days. Nice spice, slight funkiness, definite lemongrass, and did I mention the spice? Soup was scalding; perfect for getting the sprouts and veggies to the right temp without compromising the broth. Nice slippery noodles and too heavy on the MSG.

One good hint for eating at MT, is to wear dark clothes……because of the red tinge from the annatto in the broth. My good buddy, the late Ed from Yuma would never fail to wear a white shirt when we ate here. He'd end up leaving, sweating and satisfied, but with a pattern of small red dots on his shirt.

There was a time when Mien Trung was a weekly ritual, but a very warm spring and summer had kind of put the place on the back-burner. There was also a rather "rough patch" of time where things weren't up to our expectations, MT has mostly returned to form.

And I really appreciated the place on this chilly Sunday.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Montreal – Au Pied de Cochon

February 22, 2018 mmm-yoso Canada, Canada Food and Restaurants, Montreal, Travel

I decided to schedule one dinner on our return to Montreal. It came down to dinner at Joe Beef or Celebrity Chef and Madman Martin Picard's love letter to Montreal cuisine; Au Pied de Cochon. Since we were staying rather close to the Mont Royal area in Milton Parc, I thought Au Pied de Cochon made more sense.

The walk was a bit over a mile; about 25 minutes.

Our reservations were for 7pm. The place really has no sign, you just kinda figure you're there. And of course it was packed!

While the hostess seemed a bit detached, our Servers were so very friendly in the congenial Canadian way. Even stopping to chat about "stuff", specifically "Duck in a Can", in spite of being completely slammed.

The seating is a bit tight, we were seated near the bar. And it was tight squeeze for the staff.

As you can tell by the photo above. The whole area was blocked when the tableside salad was being made. The wheel of cheese brought on a cart.

The menu was a paean to foie gras and pork, with no less than 7 foie gras dishes on the single sheet menu.

It seemed like the locals were ordering steak and beefs dishes or pasta, while visitors were going for the crazy stuff.

And since we were visitors, it just felt right to hold to that course.

The Missus was focused on the foie here; but we only had one stomach each, so we'd have to choose well. We started with the Foie Gras Poutine ($24 CAD – about $18/US)

We just loved the poutine in Quebec, the potatoes seemed to have a more pronounced flavor and were sweeter, earthier. That young lady in Viti's Liquor in Vancouver was right; when I asked her where the best poutine was in Vancouver she told me "well sir, I personally think that you need to go to Montreal!" The gravy was on the lighter side…..totally against character for this place, but not overly salty, the fries were lovely crisp outside, soft and fluffy inside. The foie gras….well, was foie gras. Not the best quality, but with a good sweet-offal-ly richness, that just made this that much better. There weren't very many cheese curd; which were fine, but nothing special. We'd actually have better poutine the next night, but this was quite indulgent.

When it came to our main; I had thoughts of doing Duck in a Can, but in the end, we decided on the restaurant's namesake, the Pied de Cochon (Pig's Trotters), but not any Pied de Cochon, but one with, well, Foie Gras of course ($54 CAD – $41/US).

If you think this looks like a hot mess, you'd be right. The foie gras was over-cooked, the gravy was nice, but there was just too much of it. The cheese potatoes was just mostly gooey-gummy cheese and too salty. The pork trotters were roasted; then deep fried; but the result was a exterior that was too hard and an interior that was on the dry side. For some reason we didn't find as much lovely gelatinous goodness as we usually enjoy.

Perhaps we had just found the dish that was just too over-the-top for us to enjoy? The prices weren't too bad; about $100/US with beer and wine. The service was amazingly efficient and friendly for a place so busy.

Au Pied de Cochon
536 Avenue Duluth E
Montréal, QC H2L 1A9, Canada

It was good thing we were walking….I needed it after this calorie bomb dinner!

On the way back; we stopped by the local Provigo Grocery. While looking over the beer, I quickly noticed that all Unibroue beers were on sale for $3.99 CAD….that's like three bucks US! There was quite a selection of stuff we don't have here in the states. So, I bought two bottles. On this evening I had the Raftman, a smoked ale.

I really enjoy smoked beer when they are available. This being a Belgian style ale; it had that sweet-booziness, with a caramel nose, and an almost bourbon like smokiness. Being only 5.5ABV, it was really easy to drink as well.

It was a nice way to end the evening. We went to sleep early; we'd have a busy day ahead of us.

Thanks for reading!

Uniboil

February 20, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** UniBoil has closed

It finally feels like winter around these parts. Which means that I'm back in hot pot mode. Starting with Uniboil. I actually first saw Uniboil during one of my trips to Rowland Heights last year in Hong Kong Plaza (in fact its in the 9th photo in that post). Uniboil opened in the old Beauty Hunan location back in August. Sheesh, that place only lasted half a year or so and its predecessor Szechuan Taste only lasted a couple of years. Intrepid Hot Pot lover Kirbie visited right after opening, before the actual signage for the shop went up. I'd thought about it, but man, August was just too hot for me to have hot pot.

So I waited until the weather cooled down, right around the end of December to make my first visit.

Uniboil is based in Monterey Park and has locations in Monterey Park, Rowland Heights, and Davis. The restaurant claims to use no MSG and source most of their proteins from Snake River Farms and the broth base is made from chicken.

Much like other hot pot shops of the same style; there are several "bases" and you choose the protein.

There are also a couple of featured item and various noodle selections…..which I decided to avoid once I saw another table's dish come out. For a place that touts it's quality of product; they served the noodles dish with instant ramen type noodles…..

The item that caught my attention was the Ma-la Pig Feet Soup (lunch price – $14.99).

I got this with the vermicelli noodles, which was a rather small portion. There were three good sized pig's feet in the soup; which were nice and gelatinous, not overly tough, and tasted pretty good. The rest of the items in the hop pot were routne; one lonely clam, two slices of kamabuko, two pieces of surimi, a whole lot of cabbage, a slice of corn, and the item I enjoyed the most (next to the pig's feet) frozen tofu. The broth, while on the salty side, had a nice numbing-spice to it. I just needed a touch of hot bean sauce to adjust the flavor a bit.

This was the best item I had on my visits by far.

Of course I returned a few weeks later. Calvin had recommended the Sate broth with Lamb ($12.99 – lunch). I also ordered the Spicy Lotus Root ($4.99), which wasn't very good.

Not enough spice, way too much sesame oil, uneven cutting technique. Definitely not worth five bucks.

I wasn't particularly enamored with the Sate Broth either. I even added on additional Frozen Tofu ($2.50.).

Can something be both salty and bland at the same time? Perhaps one-dimensional might be the appropriate description. I added at least a quarter cup of sate to this in addition to the hot bean sauce….which helped, but made things even more salty. The thinly sliced lamb was nice and gamey, but other than being hot this wasn't very satisfying at all.

On a rather chilly evening, I decided on a tie-breaker visit.

I was fascinated by the "Healthy Tomato Hot Soup", that I decided to try that with Kurobuta Pork ($13.99 – dinner) with Extra Frozen Tofu ($2.50).

The pork was sliced very thin and I wasn't able to separate the slices. It was also too lean and turned into a white, dry piece of pork.

Man, if I thought the sate was salty and nothing else, this was even more salty and had even less flavor….just a hint of tomato. Perhaps I'm just not lucky with things described as "healthy" on the menu? I added like half the container of sate and a ton of the hot bean sauce, just to be able to consume this. I took most of it home and the Missus had one spoon of it and told me to dump the broth….which is interesting since we hate to waste food. Hey, but at least this time there were two fishballs in the broth versus only one last time.

To be perfectly honest, I prefer the soup at Tasty Pot. And with all of these hot pot places open or opening, I think I've had enough Uniboil (I always accidentally call the place Uni-Brow for some reason) for now.

Uniboil
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 11am – 10pm

Returning to Fernandez Restaurant

February 19, 2018 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

The Missus was working days during this past weekend. So, instead of us heading to our usual winter weekend breakfast destination, I was left to my own devices. Ever since my visit to Birrieria El Primo, I'd been wanting to return to Fernandez Restaurant. So, I headed on down to Nestor. I arrived just after opening time; these days it's 7 am. Turning into the last remaining spot in the parking lot, I had to laugh.

Check out that sign!

I thought it was interesting that on my last visit there was the awning and the host/hostess stand outside. Here's that photo.

Versus how things looked when I first visited all those years ago.

Even the dining area has changed over time.

On my last visit; the photo above; there were very "colorful" chairs which had replaced the old plastic folding seats – the photo to the right. On this day, there were more formal banquet style chairs.

Also new; you paid via credit card or at the register……all iPads! Man, they've really come a long way over the years.

Still, there are things that have been the same on all my visits. The owner comes and visits every table, shaking hands, doing fist bumps, hugging the women. The young ladies here are always so friendly always smiling. I've always enjoyed starting my day here.

And most importantly, the food has kept to a steady course.

A nice hot café olla; the rich, rustic, tongue coating consommé. You bring to taste by adding that squeeze of lime, that touch of cilantro, and some onions.

And my usual; the Tacos de Birria con Nervio. Nice tortillas, dipped and fried (tacos dorados), slightly crunchy, and totally up to the task of being the very tasty vehicle for the birria de res. Beefy and fairly rich, riding that line of heading to oily, nicely seasoned beef, topped with buttery tendon. Crunchy and pungent onions, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and slightly picante salsa.

It is indeed the "breakfast of champions" for me on the weekend.

Fernandez Restaurant and Catering
2265 Flower Ave
San Diego, CA 92154
Hours:
Wed – Sunday 7am – 2pm

Sunday Stuffs – Shu Dao Opens, Hui An Garden Closes, More on Mi Quang Mien Trung, and Shabumi Hot Pot Coming Soon

February 18, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

A bunch of "stuffs" for a quiet Sunday.

Shu Dao Opens:

I was a bit puzzled when the banner said a Sichuan Restaurant was opening in the former San Tong Palace location, right next to Spicy City.

So, when I noticed the place was open, I dropped by a few days later.

Turns out Shu Dao is a Sichuan Hot Pot place. So, yet another hot pot place….in the same strip mall as Tasty Pot too.

4690 Convoy St #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Hui An Garden Closes:

On the same evening as I noticed the lights on at Shu Dao. I noticed the lights were off at Hui An Garden.

So, I made sure to drop by a few days later. And yes indeed, that hand written sign says "closed" It seems the place really never gained any traction.

4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

More on Mi Quang Mien Trung:

I know folks were wondering if this shop, which is replacing DaNang Food to Go is associated with Mien Trung.

So, a few days later, I dropped by Mien Trung. Luckily, the really nice guy who has been working there as long as I can remember was working. So I asked him. He told me that a few regular customers had been asking the same thing. But no, this place is not associated with Mien Trung.

By the way; Mien Trung is basically the name of the Central Region of Vietnam.

It does look like the place will be ready to open soon.

4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Shabumi Hot Pot Coming Soon:

Because we do need yet another hot pot/shabu shabu place in the Kearny Mesa area, right?

I noticed the place when I went to pick something up from CVS. Located in the same strip mall as 85 Degrees, Ototo, et al….

Looks like this one is an "all-you-can-eat" place.

I believe the first indication that this was going to be a Shabu Shabu place was when I noticed something called "Yummy Shabu" was coming to this mall. I guess now it's Shabumi?

So that makes how many of these places in the area….including Shu Dao?

5500 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Road Trip – Irrawaddy Taste of Burma (Stanton)

February 15, 2018 mmm-yoso Burmese Food and Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

During my late November stay in Irvine, I had really wanted to return to Cafe Hiro. But not knowing what time I'd be cut loose, I didn't want to make reservations and not keep them. So, I did return to Café Hiro, but the place was packed. Luckily, I had a "plan B". I'd noticed a restaurant when I drove back to my hotel on Katella.

It had been a while since I'd had Burmese food. So this ended up being my back-up. The place was surprisingly empty on a Saturday night.

The Servers were very friendly and gracious.

I ordered a Myanmar Lager while I perused the menu. Slightly malty. fairly light overall.

I had one item already in mind and searched for another. Because of the hours of work and my leaving straight from the client the next morning, leftover didn't make sense.

But there was no denying the fact that I needed to order the Tea Leaf Salad ($11). I love the fermented bitterness of "laphet", tea leaves that have been fermented.

In terms of being nice and refreshing, this salad was very good. In terms of having the pleasantly bitter-tart-fermented flavor of laphet, this fell a bit short for me. The dressing had a good amount of lime in it and was on the sweeter side for my taste. Loved the seeds and peanuts. Nice salad overall, but not quite what I want in my laphet thoke.

For my main; I chose the Sour Leaf (chimbaung – Hibiscus Leaf/Roselle) Shrimp ($13), in spite of the rather humorous description on the menu.

A very pleasant, if not especially memorable dish. I expected a bit more spicy heat, sour, pungency, and saltiness. This was quite mild. There was an abundance of shrimp that tasted a bit muddy side, but were nicely cooked. My favorite item in the dish was the okra, slightly crunchy with a pleasant gooey-slimy finish. Think of this as a fairly mild, though oily curry, and you'd be right.

This was a pleasant meal and I'd think about visiting again one of these days. Nice service and I thought things were well priced. Not very busy on a Saturday night though.

Irrawaddy Taste of Burma
7076 Katella Ave
Stanton, CA 90680

A Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho Revisit to 777 Noodle House

February 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

My very satisfying visit to Phuong Nga 2 had me wondering about all those places in City Heights that used to be on my rotation. Work had kept me busy since the middle of last year. Things were now a bit calmer, fewer weekend work days, so I thought it was time to start making the rounds. Starting with 777 Noodle House. Man, I've been going here since they opened in 2010. Time sure does fly.

The place was quite busy on this morning. One of the great things I like about 777 is that the prices bring in a nice diversity of folks from the neighborhood. On this day, I recognized no less than four different languages being spoken!

I went with my usual here; the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho, still under seven bucks.

I had mentioned on my previous visit to 777, that I thought the execution and flavor of the food had slipped. This visit was a nice surprise; it was a return to form. The noodles were nice and stretchy; just enough sauce, the shrimp, though not the best quality (whaddaya expect for the price?), was plump and tender. The sprouts were nicely blanched and they didn't forget the lime this time around.

The most surprising thing was the pork bone soup. The broth was very porky, super hot, not too salty. And all that meat; these were rib bones this time around. I could scrape them off the bone with my chopsticks. Very tender, nice pork flavor…..very nice.

I enjoyed this bowl. A while back I mentioned that I believed Ly Heng had overtaken 777. Now, I'm not so sure. I'll need to check. And I'll gladly do so.

It's nice to see 777 return to form. I'm hoping they can keep it up. And of course, there's that wonderful young lady, who is always so nice to us…..she always calls me "sir". The Missus told me she is just sincerely nice. And I do get a kick being called sir……at a neighborhood noodle house.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga 2

February 12, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I am forever indebted to all the folks who send me recommendations. In the comments section of my revisits post on Suppanee and Pho Xpress, "Elle" asked if I had tried the Bun Rieu at the newest location of Phuong Nga. Bun Rieu? I'd seen the new signage for this place when we returned from our last trip in December. Since Van Hoa closed its doors back in fall of 2016; it became, first Pho & Banh Cuon Ha Long, which then became Pho Huong Viet for a few months. I never even had a shot at visiting. Then it became Pho 87 for a brief period.

Since this space had become more or less of a revolving door and having been to the original location of Phuong Nga a few times, I just kinda put it on the backburner. Even though folks have told me that Phuong Nga has gotten better over the years. Well, I didn't know this location served Bun Rieu. So, the very weekend after Elle's comment, I headed over.

The interior of the place remains basically unchanged from the locations last couple of iterations.

Except that the place was fairly busy, on a Sunday morning.

When I opened the menu, I cracked up. There are basically only two things on the menu. About ten different variations of banh cuon and bun rieu. I found this to be quite refreshing. In Vietnam, and many other countries, you do one or two things and do them well; that's all you need.

So, I ordered my Bun Rieu and was quite impressed with what arrived at the table.

As impressed as I was with that rather cumbersome bowl of noodle soup. I was even more struck by the accompanying veggies. It was all there; shredded morning glory, shredded banana blossom, tai to – red perilla, green Vietnamese balm (rau kinh gioi), as well as the usual suspects. And of course, there was a little container of fermented shrimp paste!

The broth was light, at least by my standards and was on the sweet side. I like a bit more heft to my broth along with more tanginess. The shrimp paste helped a bunch. The noodles were wonderfully slippery with just the right amount of pull. I love tomatoes and the fried tofu in this dish.

The "crab cakes" were large, tender, but mostly pork. The cha lua was….well cha lua, squeaky, with a mild porkiness to it. There was one lovely piece of stewed pork rib with some meat on it. It was really good. As I dug deeper into the bowl, I bit on a small umami bomb. Turned out there was some dried shrimp in the broth….these were also quite tasty.

Is this the best bun rieu I've ever had? Well, no. Do I think it might be the best bun rieu in San Diego at the moment? Yes. Why don't you be the judge and check it out. Under eight bucks is not a bad investment for trying this.

Phuong Nga 2
4016 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Thanks so much for the recommendation Elle!

Amsterdam – Rijsttafel at Indonesian Kitchen

February 11, 2018 mmm-yoso Amsterdam, Indonesian Restaurants & Food, Netherlands, Travel

It was already dark when we arrived in Amsterdam. Somehow we found our way to the fantastic apartment we were staying at. We enjoyed the location, walking distance to much of Amsterdam, yet in more of a residential area in the Jordaan. In other words, you wouldn't be smelling the "cash crop" while walking to the corner grocery, if you know what I mean. Our hosts were amazing; they left us beverages and water….and got the Missus hooked on Stroopwafels, even showing Her the correct way to have them with your tea/coffee. We were asked what dining plans we had for our stay. I'd made two reservations for dinner, but not for the eve of our arrival. I mentioned wanting to try Rijsttafel ("Rice Table") the product of Dutch Colonialism in Indonesia. Our host quickly got on the phone and made us reservations at his favorite spot; named Indonesian Kitchen.

It was about a 20 minute walk from the apartment. Which wasn't bad. The Missus thought it was rather cold, but after Tromsø I thought it felt downright balmy. The tiny restaurant is located on the lower level along Herengracht.

It's quite a discreet location, especially at night. We basically found it because of the menu posted along the sidewalk.

The place was indeed packed, but tucked alongside the wall was a small two-top with a reserved sign on it. Our table. Because of the tight confines, I was very discreet with regards to taking photos. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt anyone's meal.

Of course we went with the Rijstaffel. I was later told that the portions here were on the smaller side, but this was more than enough food for us. I was also told that the chef here used to work at Amsterdam's only Michelin starred Indonesian Restaurant.

I started with a Bintang, which predictably tasted like Heineken.

The meal started off with three appetizers. This might have been our favorite part of the meal, especially the scallops which were perfectly seared, still tender and moist inside. And the whitefish which was almost buttery.

The mango salad was refreshing. The peanuts really added that nice earthiness to the dish, cutting the sweet-acidity.

Next up was a fish soup, which was fine. I expected a bit more spiciness and sour tones.

But for some reason we found this to be rather bland.

Next up was a big bowl of rice and the first foursome of dishes arrived.

The Beef Rendang finally had the chili kick I was looking for; the lamb chops were perfectly cooked, still slightly rare in the middle, but the sweet soy just overwhelmed the dish…much too sweet. The chicken curry was quite bland. The second beef dish was pretty mild as well.

The second foursome arrived a few seconds later.

The item on the bottom left was delicious, a bitter vegetable in a wonderful dressing. The prawns were a bit over-cooked but the spicy sauce was indeed nice and spicy, and it had been seasoned quite well.

The vegetable curry that accompanied the dish was pretty bland; though the flavor of the veggies shown thru.

Service was wonderful, friendly and very pleasant. We'd end up taking most of this with us and had it for lunch the next day.

Indonesian Kitchen
Herengracht 287
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

We were glad to have been able to try out some Indonesian food during our all too short visit to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam itself is quite amusing. We really got a kick out of the signage and some of the sometimes oddball things we saw. The Missus could not stop laughing at the blanket placed over the student depicted in the sculpture of the Dutch Teacher and Politician Theo Thijssen off Brouwersgracht. I guess they wanted to make sure the young lad didn't get cold.

Some of the shops were also quite adorable.

This one is called the Cow "Museum"….which was actually a shop.

We got back to the apartment, the Missus set to work making a cup of tea which was nicely provided and of course those Stroopwafels……

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day…….

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday Stuffs – Boiling Passion Becoming Focus BBQ, Emerald Reopens, and Happenings at Taisho

February 10, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants

A trio of things I noticed around Kearny Mesa.

Boiling Passion becoming Focus BBQ:

Well Boiling Passion made it nearly two years. But I'm sure with all of the hot pot places opening, other would be closing.

The Missus told me this looks like a skewer and drinking place.

If you're keeping score since 2012; Viet Bakery and Pho (2012-2014), V Bakery (2014), Pho Paradise (Dec 2014 – Jan 2016), Boiling Passion (2016 – 2018)

3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Emerald Reopens:

I noted in the comments of my post on Emerald closing; that I'd heard they were reopening under new ownership. And so I drove by earlier in the week.

And yes, they've reopened under new ownership. Be interesting to see how things are.

3709 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Interesting Happenings at Taisho:

Without a doubt a favorite of ours. On a visit with the Missus last month, we thought we noticed a familiar face helping Taka out.

And yes, it was this familiar face!

Apparently, the really great guy from Yakyudori in Nagoya got his work visa and will be grilling up here in San Diego! So that means two classically training Yakitori Chefs.

We were so surprised to see him, and he us. Really friendly and nice guy. The last time we were in Nagoya and Yakyudori was full, he called and then walked us over to Hinotez 2.

For now, my understanding is that he is working on his English. Then Taisho is thinking about expanding their hours.

It's great to have him in the mix….though there's that thing about saying, "me better than Taka" when we were in Nagoya! Lol!

Yakitori Taisho
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117