As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
The Missus and I each had objectives for our next stop.
And we managed to do both.
We enjoyed our couple of days in the land of canals…..
Very friendly folks…..the scent of the “cash crop” in the air.
We had some decent meals as well.
Not to get overly cheesy, but we really had fun…..the city had an interesting vibe.
So, of course it was time to move on.
Next up, the Missus’s favorite city.
After all the long hours of work, the Missus and I finally took off for a break.
There were two main objectives on this trip.
I can say that we accomplished the first.
And visited some great places along the way.
And also checked out some of the usual tourist sights as well.
And of course, there was the food.
And learned some new things along the way. About stuff like “Polar Night”….
Which gets pretty darn cold.
We’re now in a warmer (it’s all relative) locale and enjoying the early winter weather.
So that’s it for now…..please don’t “Scream” at me.
And don’t be offended…..
Let’s strike up the band and celebrate the season!
Cathy will be back with another new post soon!
Thanks for stopping by.
**** Pisco has closed
If you've read this blog long enough; you know that I love the cuisine of Peru; which, in addition to unique indigenous foods includes an amazing mish mash of all those who came upon its shores, there's something about the food of Peru that really strikes a chord with me.
Funny thing, I recently had an email asking if I'd tried Pisco Rotisserie & Cevicheria, which opened a few months ago in Liberty Station. I replied that I had eaten there 3 times. I was then asked why I hadn't posted on the place yet. I answered that I wanted one more visit before I did a post. I think Pisco did that to me. Opened by Sami Ladecki in the former location of his namesake Sammy's Woodfired Pizza in Liberty Station. I was told that Pisco was designed as his love letter to Peruvian Cuisine, I was really excited to visit.
And my good buddy Candice was more than happy to humor me.
I liked the interior, colorful, yet understated, the service was very good, except when it came to understanding what the place was serving. When we asked about certain dishes, we got blank and confused looks….which happened on a couple of my visits. Good spirited tries……but no cigar.
The Pisco Sour was decent, certainly, not in the league of what we've had in Lima.
It was bit on the weak side. One of my acquaintances told me it tasted more like a margarita than a pisco sour.
The canchita was spot on; not too salty, nice and warm.
And it was just screaming for some cebiche.
Which is what came out first….the "Classico" of course.
While the portion size was fairly small for twelve bucks; the whitefish was nicely "cooked" by the leche de tigre. Very tender in texture, good balance, leche de tigre not too sour, I enjoyed the chocolo (peruvian corn), but lamented the small portion of camote (sweet potato), which wasn't flavored correctly and was too mushy for my taste.
We'd recently been back in Lima rather recently and had really enjoyed the "Leche de Tigre" styled dishes at places like El Veridico de Fidel, I was intrigued by what the Martini de Tigre ($14) was going to be like.
This was way too acidic, sour, and spicy to enjoy. The seafood was nicely prepared, but it was difficult enjoying the dish.
Up next was the Causitas with Crab ($15). This was a very nice version of the classic causita; the potatoes creamy, the crab sweet, without too much mayo.
The potatoes were very moist, not too heavy and the tobiko added a nice textural and slight briney flavor to the dish. the tomatoes added a bit of acid as well.
Of course I had to order what I consider to be, along with cebiche, the national dish of Peru; Lomo Saltado ($16 + $2 for an egg). Adding an egg was a no-brainer.
I love lomo saltado as you can see if you do a search on the blog. On our last trip to Peru, we were struck at how this dish has seemed to evolved into Lomo saltado con Tacu Tacu. Unfortunately, this dish made me rather sad. First off; the dinner fries just seemed out of place, being too large and dry. The beef was on the tough side and had a slight metallic flavor to it. The overall balance in flavor was off and this was just too salty to enjoy.
The Braised Lamb Shoulder ($25) was very interesting. This seemed to be a take on Seco de Cordero.
We didn't care for the texture of the lamb, which was shredded, making things seem a bit mushy. But they sure didn't hold back on the mildly minty-anise-bitter, yet sweet flavor of huacatay. It just went so well with lamb. I enjoyed the crisp fried kale and the sweet Cipollini onion, even though they seemed a bit out of place in this dish. Overall, a very nice entrée.
The visit was a mixed bag that showed some potential. After all, it was grand opening and all that.
So, a few weeks later, I decided to return for just a Pisco Sour and the Cebiche Classico. This time I sat at the bar and met a nice fellow named "Mike" who was from Peru. We had a ncie chat and I got my cebiche.
This version wasn't nearly as good as what I'd had on my previous visit. The leche de tigre was very sour; the fish tough, with a mild fishy taste. On a funny note; when I lamented the portion size of the camote, Mike told me, "in Lima, we most feed that to the dogs anyway"! Must be some lucky dogs. This wasn't very good….which you can just see…..
Still, I waited a couple of weeks and dropped by during Happy Hour. Since I'd enjoyed the causitas the last time; I ordered the "Grilled Octopus:.
A causita by any other name; the garlic infused mashed potatoes were excellent, as was the tender octopus. Not enough piquillo peppers to make much of an impact, though what seemed to be an aji rocoto based sauce was delicious as it did a very nice job of cutting any of the richness in the dish.
On my previous visit, "Mike" had recommended the Carne Empanada, so I ordered that as well. The creamy huacaina sauce proved to be a nice foil for the onions. The filling had a nice flavor, with a mild sweet-smokiness that I detected.
Unfortunately, the middle of the empanada was barely lukewarm.
Not a bad visit, but not great, I was left with mixed feelings.
And so my photos resided in limbo, just kind of hanging around waiting for me to post. Until that faithful email (thanks ST!). I was almost reluctant to return, but decided that enough time had past and I needed to get this post done. So, last week I returned. I again sat at the bar. The dining room was pretty quiet when I arrived, but quickly filled up.
I sat at the bar trying to decided on what to order. I went back to the first few times I had Peruvian food; back in the 90's, living in LA…..the gateway dish for me was Pollo ala Brasa, rotisserie chicken. It had been a while since I'd had a good version. So why not go with the Half Chicken ($17), which came with two sides. I went with the Choclo Garlic Rice and Canary Beans.
Three sauce were provided for the chicken, which came in handy since, while the skin of the chicken was nicely flavored, the meat was a bit dry and on the bland side. The garlic rice was mushy, very salty, and the cholco a bit too hard. The canary beans were very nice; perfectly prepped, excellent texture, slightly smokey….man, they would have killed it with some tacu tacu. That chimichurri sauce was quite heady; though it had me missing the aji verde that used to be served with the pollo a la brasa we used to eat way back when. 
So, what to say about Pisco? I've got mixed feelings. I enjoy more restaurant choices, but have never been one to be "just happy to have it", if you know what I mean. I think the best explanation of the food at Pisco is what "Mike" told me that day at the bar when I mentioned that what I'd had at Pisco just wasn't quite "there", if you know what I mean. He told me, "look, I think Pisco is Peruvian food for those who never had Peruvian food. It's an introduction." Fair enough; I had my "gateway dish" all those years ago, but have grown and expanded my horizons. Hopefully, Pisco will too.
Pisco Rotisserie & Cevicheria
2401 Truxtun Rd
San Diego, CA 92106
Hours:
Sun – Thurs 5pm – 9pm
Fri – Sat 5pm – 10pm
The Missus had enjoyed our dinner at Fiskmarkadurinn so much, She had me make reservations at their sister restaurant, named Grillmarkadurinn (The Grill Market). I was lucky enough to get reservations and it would end being a nice finish to our trip to Iceland.
The restaurant was fairly close to where we were staying. It is rather discreetly located down a passage and is easy to miss if you don't see the signs.
The place was packed and like other restaurants, you hang your coat on the rack near the doorway. We found a strategic and easy to remember location on the rack…..we saw several folks digging around having not remembered where they hung their coats.
The service here was very good; relaxed but professional. Like the Fish Market, many items had Asian touches. Some sounded a bit odd, but we actually enjoyed this meal more than what we had the previous night.
Man, do we love the bread and the whey butter in Iceland…..
The Missus really enjoyed the Minke Whale the previous night, so we started with the Minke Whale Steak (2890kr – about $27.75 US).
Fashionably dressed with chili threads and served with a ponzu sauce, we both really enjoyed this version of Minke Whale. I really didn't care for the robata version I had the night before, finding it too livery. I thought this was very tender; the crisp oyster mushrooms added an almost sweet earthiness to the tender and mildly offaly whale.
Next up; a dish whose name was so long that I actually wrote it down – Angelica Lamb from Halla at Ytri Fagridalur (2190kr – $21 US).
So, what's in a name? Ytri Fagridalur is the name of the farm where Halla Sigríður Steinólfsdóttir and her husband raise certified organic lamb. During the summer months the lamb are fed Angelica, which is supposed to change the flavor of the lamb. We both enjoyed the lamb, it was quite mild in flavor and surprisingly tender. We thought the Sichuan Peppercorn based seasoning was a bit over-powering.
So, Minke Whale and Angelica Fed Lamb….a bit too much for you? How about some sliders?
Of course these weren't just ordinary sliders. This was Whale, Puffin, and Langoustine "Mini-Burgers" (3790kr – $36.50 US). Not cheap, but quite interesting.
The Langoustine version was very tender and sweet, though the addition of chorizo kind of killed things for us.
The whale was by far our favorite as it went strangely well with the pesto and was very meaty, with a flavor that edged toward grass-fed beef. The puffin had a rather strange livery-fishy flavor; kind of predictable, since it's main diet is small fish. While I won't be searching it out in the future, I was glad to have tried it.
We shared one "main"; the "Fish Gourmet" (5490kr – $53 US).
A trilogy of fish; salmon, cod and redfish served with garlic potatoes and vegetables. The most memorable of the bunch was the cod which was so tender and buttery, unlike the cod I'm used to eating here in the states.
Some of the flavors and presentation (and prices!!!) was a bit over-the-top.
But the ingredients were without a doubt top-notch.
So, if you're doing the math; dinner topped out at about $175; not cheap, but we went mostly with starters and one rather large sized main course. The steaks can go for $70-$100.
Iceland turned out to be quite an interesting eating destination for us. A big plus is that folks here are very friendly and nice.
If I had a choice between the Fish Market and the Grill Market; we'd go with Grillmarkaðurinn.
Grillmarkaðurinn
Lækjargata 2a
101 Reykjavík, Iceland 
I ended my last evening as I often do; with a "cold one" and reflected on all we'd done and the places we had been. Starting in Seattle for an overnight stay. From there it was off to Paris, the city captivated the Missus, and made my credit card scream for mercy. From there it was off to Burgundy where we were entranced by the countryside, the Saturday Market in Beaune, and the food. It was back to Paris and one of the finest meals we've ever had. Being able to visit Iceland was icing on the cake. We had no complaints; even the $70 for three-quarters of a tank of gas didn't phase us. We are lucky to be able to travel like this…….
Thanks for reading!
**** The Sandwich A'Fare has closed
Recently, while checking in to see if Lai Chen was actually open (it wasn't) I noticed a sign for something called Sandwich A'Fare. It was pointing down to the rear of the strip mall we call the "Kearny Mesa restaurant refugee mall" because it houses Abbey BBQ and the Philadelphia Sandwich Company. The shop is indeed discreetly located.
There's no street signage, the interior is quite Spartan, you really wouldn't know it was there unless you really looked carefully or maybe had a appointment at one of the auto businesses on the backside of the mall.
The menu board said that this shop has been here since 1981! That's quite a run. On both my visits there was an older gentleman who sat on a table beside the counter. A few customers called him "Bud", So I'm guessing he's the owner. He seems to be a bit of a curmudgeon, in kind of a funny, grumpy way.
The sandwiches all have "names" like the Cassius Clay – pastrami and swiss; add ham and it becomes Muhammed Ali. Bill Walton is the turkey sandwich, Liberace is ham and salami. Not quite sure what the naming significance is of some of the sandwiches (other than the obvious like the Euell Gibbons - haven't heard that name in ages), but the prices are very nice at $6.25. I did find it humorous that the "club" style sandwiches were described in a more generic manner (ham, bacon & swiss) but cost you a buck more!
I went with owners namesake; Bud's Special ($6.25).
Thinly sliced hot roast beef and cheddar. While the portion size was good, I thought it had too much mayo and the protein was rolled onto one side of the roll. One bite of meat; the next was bread, shredded lettuce, and mayo. It was simple, fast, filled a need, and was nicely priced.
A few weeks later I set out for something rather quick on my way back to the office and dropped by, ordering the "Godfather".
I actually do like the way they thinly slice the meat; though it was again a bit mayo heavy and out of balance because of the way they roll the meat into the sandwich. Yet, I had no complaints about the price.
I have a soft spot for these small, unpretentious, family run neighborhood sandwich shops like Rose Canyon Deli and the Sandwich Place. Often located in a business park, industrial area, or office complex, they fill a need. While there are a ton of "chain choices" around, I prefer spending my money at places like this.
The Sandwich A'Fare
6904 Miramar Rd. Suite 107
San Diego, CA 92121
Open
Mon – Fri 1030am – 230pm
A couple of more working during the weekend breakfasts.
Tim Ky Noodle:
It had been a while since I last visited. And even longer since I've had the Beef Sate Noodle here. So, I decided to drop before having to trudge to work on a Saturday morning.
This was better than what I've had here before.
While still fairly "light" in flavor compared to; say Minh Ky, the beef as fairly tender. The broth had just enough "edge" to it; that it went well with the beef. As you notice; I put a little broth in the spoon a piece of meat, and eat. Not bad at all. I do wish it had a bit more oomph…..and onions; but at least there was a "powdery residue" on the meat. The noodles were nicely prepared and the portion size very nice.
I left satisfied.
Tim Ky Noodle
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Cali Baguette Express:
Sunday has kind of been like the new Tuesday or Wednesday, or even Thursday recently. The days just kind of string together. Though I don't need to go in at 630 on Sundays. I get to have some breakfast. I hadn't been to the Mira Mesa location of Cali Baguette Express since we did our Mira Mesa Banh Mi challenge back in 2011. At that time the Bamh Mi at Cali Baguette tied for the favorite. Since then they've expanded a bit and have taken over the former location of Mama Testa.
Much like the City Heights location; this shop is pretty crowded with "stuff".
And keeping some of the décor from Mama Testa makes things look like a bit of a mish-mash.
I ordered the Banh Mi Thit Nguoi ($3.75).
I'm not sure what's going with all my old favorites falling by the wayside these days; from Izakaya Sakura to Pho Lucky. Amd now Cali Baguette Express? The bread was the biggest problem; pale, dry, lacking crustiness, and almost stale? Poor quality control.
With banh mi, it's all about proportion, when a key part of the sandwich fails; it drags the whole thing down. Maybe I should be happy that K sandwich is reopening.
Cali Baguette Express
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92116
After lunch, we went…well shopping of course. One of the first stops was Icewear. The Missus found a really nice down jacket, I found e style I really liked, but the color I wanted wasn't in stock. Leave it to the nice folks at the shop to find that they had my size and color at another shop down the street! So we headed down the street to pick it up….past some rather interesting shops.
The Bad Taste Record Store and the Chuck Norris Grill? Really! You couldn't help but smile. There were Chuck Norris "facts" posted on the windows of the shop. Who needs the "Most interesting Man in the World" when you got Chuck Norris, right? What I'm wondering is did Chuck Norris ever visit his "namesake" grill in Reykjavik? Now that would be some story, right?
We got back to the apartment, in time to take a short nap. Upon wakening, the Missus was itching to take a nice little walk.
Tjörnin was looking a beautiful as ever.
We took a nice stroll around "The Pond".
And then headed down some of the side streets. Admittedly, I had an agenda……a stop at a place that folks claimed had "the best hotdog in the world", Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur .
This location, on Tryggvagata is probably the most well known for visitors. This is where Bill Clinton was offered and accepted a Pylsur…….not exactly the seal of approval, nor was the visits of other folks who seem to be famous, for being famous. But heck, I was intrigued, so I decided to get one with mustard and remoulade (a mustard, mayo, and caper sauce).
I enjoyed the snap of the sausage; though I found the roll to be too cold and almost stale in texture. I enjoyed the flavor of the hotdog, a combination of lamb, pork, and beef, a mild gamey-wildness, that I found enjoyable, but the Missus didn't like. I found the sauces to be too sweet for my taste….still I had a fun time trying this.
While the Missus wasn't amused, I was happy to have tried this.
Baejarins Beztu Pylsur
Tryggvagata 1
Reykjavik 101, Iceland
What was even more fun was this……
Iceland Airwaves was set to start in a few days. We found that there were many small venues set-up all over town; in coffee shops, bars, retail stores, where performers would also play in addition to the larger halls. Really nice. We enjoyed this kind of heavy-metal, jazz violinist…..amazing!
We were having a great time!
**** This truck is no longer in business
A couple of guys in the office like this food truck that comes by every couple of weeks.
It named "Hana Hou to go". Hana Hou means "one more time" in Hawaiian. While I'm not fully sold on the Food Truck explosion; I grew up eating from lunchwagons, so local kine food from a truck makes sense to me. So I decided to give it a try. Though I gotta say' this ain't lunchwagon prices.
I ordered the Chicken Katsu Plate ($11).
To be perfectly frank; the item I enjoyed the most was the katsu sauce; which was rather thick, but had a nice tanginess to it. It seemed between the typical Japanese style (like steak sauce) and the "local kine" (ketchup based). The chicken was fairly moist, even for white meat; though it was quite bland and cold and the breading was past the point of having very much crunch.
The kimchi was the typical "quick kimchi"; crisp, slightly spicy, but lacking in fermented flavor. I just wasn't a big fan of the macaroni salad; which was really dry; with some hard pieces, and quite bland overall. The rice? Well, that was well done, not too mushy, no hard bits. Only "one scoop" though. Which, these days is enough for me.
This was ok overall. So, thinking that perhaps it wasn't the best strategy to get something basically fried from the food truck (though Tsukenjo's made a mean mochiko chicken and Grace's started serving their chicken katsu from a lunchwagon), I decided to give them another chance. Daniel from Georgia told me to get the "Kalua Cabbage Plate" ($11), which we call Kalua Pork and Cabbage back home.
The pork was rather chewy and stringy; and there was quite a bit of cabbage. Perhaps I was being too picky since I often make this at home. I'm glad it wasn't too salty and the rice was again quite good. I kimchi had more flavor this time around, though I'm still not a fan of that mac salad. Too each his own…..
Overall, okay lunches if I have no other choices. If this was a brick and mortar shop, I'd pass.
The Hana Hou to Go Food Truck
My revisit to Pho Mignon back in September had me wondering about Pho Lucky, which has been a regular stop for me over the years. Recently though I'd noticed that the pho here has seemed to go downhill a bit, which had me sticking to the Banh Mi Bo Kho.
So, a few days after my visit; I dropped by Pho Lucky. It had been awhile; in fact, I don't recall seeing the "No Fried Fish Welcome Sign" on the door before.
I wonder what event triggered that?
I went ahead and ordered my usual; the #4, flank, tripe, tendon, and brisket.
Things looked fine and that tendon was really good as were the noodles, just prepped perfectly.
The problem was the broth……
It was a lot more defatted than I recalled; gone was the nice anise tones I enjoyed, and worse of all, it was strangely "sweet". Egad! Was Pho Lucky joining the ranks of "Sweet broth brigade"?
The main reasons I enjoyed the pho here was for the flavor of the broth and the tendon. This just didn't cut it.
I intended to return fairly quickly to see if this visit was a fluke, but then we entered into that cycle of records temperatures. And then, when things cooled down; the amount of work heated up. My life right now include weekend morning conference calls. But, unlike regular work days; there's a short window of time before my call and I decided to drop by Pho Lucky to see if my last visit was just an off day.
I ordered the #4; went to wash my hands and this is what I got.
What the pho? I didn't order rare steak? Had they changed the numbering on the menu? I had just a short window of time before I needed to be in the office, so I just went ahead and had my bowl.
The rare steak was actually not bad; much more tender than I recalled; though I missed the usual amount of tendon and tripe. The broth was better; a bit richer, but more importantly, not overly sweet not too salty. I do think the days of nice anise and onions tones in the broth are gone though. Sad. The noodles were nicely prepared; the portion of sprouts was smaller than I recalled.
I rechecked the menu while waiting to cash out.
Hmmmm……#4 looks the same to me?
Maybe the Server didn't get enough of a caffeine fix before taking my order? I saw him chugging this down whenever he had a chance.
Well…whatever…it seems to be slim pickins' with regards to decent pho in San Diego these days. I guess I'm back to the Bo Kho here.
Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Red Card Café Closes:
While driving on Morena a couple of weeks ago; I noticed the "For Lease" sign, so I stopped to take a look.
I was quite surprised to see that Red Card Café had closed down. They had just brought on a new chef and revamped the menu at bit a few months back. Things had looked promising.
Sad to see them go.
4140 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Sprouts Opens in Bay Park:
Or if you prefer; Clairemont. It depends whom you talk to.
While I was sad to see Keil's close. I felt really bad about all the employees who had been there since we moved to the area fifteen years ago. I hardly ever shopped at Keil's; or any of the large supermarket chains. So, I guess Sprouts makes sense for us. They opened up on the 25th of October.
Good to see the strip mall filling up. Now, I'm wondering what's going to take the place of the Hometown Buffet and the old Mike's BBQ.
3015 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117
Kroran Uyghur Cuisine Opening in the Former Nazca Grill Spot:
So, I've been working fairly long hours, some of it in the OC. It's often dark when I leave for work in the morning and likewise when I drive home in the evening. I saw a sign in the window of the old Nazca Grill. So, I took a turn into the strip mall for a look.
So, Kroran Uyghur Cuisine, huh? This is going to be interesting. The sign says "Coming in 2018".
4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
