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.
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.
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 .
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.
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!
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.
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
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".
Thank goodness for the recent cool weather. The Missus wanted something "a bit" spicy. She chose Sizzling Pot King. And we ended up going back two more times!
There's something comforting about the simple, just spicy and numbing enough dry pot that SPK makes.
It's pretty much the same thing all the time; the Large Dry Pot ($30.99); we've found that stuff like chicken, beef, and pork just don't hold up well after a while and the portion size here makes for three meals! The tendon had gone downhill over the course of several meals last year. So, we just stick with tripe and pork intestine….oh, gotta have that frozen tofu ($2.99) to suck up all the nice spice as well.
Nice and numbing. Someone mentioned to me once, that cauliflower and potatoes had no place in Chinese cuisine. I told the young man that the Missus grew up eating stir fried potato and cauliflower with tomato….in China! We both wish there was a bit more mung bean sprouts; but I think the majority of "give me more meat" folks would disagree. Anyway, fragrant, generous portions, nice spice, decent flavor, you'll definitely need some rice.
In the course of a week we revisited Village North, Village Kitchen (posts upcoming), and SPK……. this is where the Missus wanted to return to. Go figure.
Sizzling Pot King 8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd San Diego, CA 92111
So, what are you enjoying with the recent cooler weather?
I haven't been able to visit very often; work is keeping me quite busy and fairly exhausted at times. And Taisho recently implemented a "no cameras" rule. I can understand; I've seen folks bring in some major gear and start snapping away in the tiny restaurant.
But on a recent visit, a very slow night, I discreetly took some phots with my phone.
So here's yet another "COMC" post on Taisho. This one will probably be the last for a while.
It was a lovely morning when we awoke on our second day in Reykjavik. This was our last full day and while we didn't intend on driving around and such, we'd have quite a full day. After some coffee and such we headed out.
While it was still overcast; it would drizzle later in the day, it was still quite a nice morning. Tjörnin (aka The Pond) was basically one block away and always seemed to look so picturesque.
On that main street that travels along the banks of Tjörnin, Fríkirjiuvegur (please don't ask me to pronounce any of these) is the National Gallery and a lovely church; Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík – the "Free Church".
We took our sweet time heading further down the street, turned right on Bankastræti, then taking a slight right onto, you ready for this one? Skólavörðustígur. One of Reykjavik's major shopping streets. We swerved in and out of various shops along the way. Though I kept our "brunch" endpoint in sight.
And we did our share of shopping; though no goose or horse for us this time around.
The street basically ends at this statue of Leif Erikson (Leifur Eiríksson).
This statue was actually a gift from the United States! For more interesting facts about the statue and Leif Erikson check out this article. What little I do remember about Leif Erikson from history class was that he was the first European to discover North America, which he called Vinland, 400 years before Columbus.
Right behind the statue is the unmistakable Hallgrímskirkja, whose main tower can be seen from all over the Reykjavik.
Interesting as all this was. My main reason for being here was to visit Café Loki. I'd read that this corner shop did cater to the tourists, but was established with the purpose to serve the traditional dishes of Iceland.
The second floor dining room was half full when we arrived at about 10am. There was a small line of folks waiting for tables when we left at 11. We were looking forward to visiting Café Loki and ended up really enjoying our meal.
The soup was nice and rich, full of flavor. The "Lamb Pate" (Kæfa), looked a bit strange, but it was fairly gamey, and quite delicious. I later read it's made from mutton. I'd have this in a minute again. And the rye bread here is to die for.
I went for the Icelandic Plate, which gave me a nice variety of items.
So, along with the Lamb Pate and Rye Bread, there was Plokkfiskur (mashed fish), Hangikjöt (smoked lamb) on rye bread, Smoked Trout on Rye, Hákarl – the infamous fermented shark, and Harðfiskur (dried fish).
The Harðfiskur was interesting…it was dry, I mean dry, you needed a good amount of the delicious Icelandic butter to soften the flesh a little; otherwise it really was like eating leather. There is chewing involved; the flavor is very mild. I'm used to Saki Ika (Japanese Dried Cuttlefish), so I found this surprisingly bland.
I think the English description for Plokkfiskur – "mashed fish" is totally wrong. This is more like "Buttery Cod Mashed Potatoes". It is very hearty; there a touch of onion, the wonderful smjor (Icelandic butter), on that slightly sweet and dense rye bread is quite a treat. The Missus loved this.
The smoked trout with butter and skyr on rye was good. I never took any photos, but I had skyr, the Icelandic style yogurt for breakfast every morning.
I really enjoyed the Hangikjöt (smoked lamb), with butter on rye. It had a nice smokiness, just enough saltiness, with just a touch of the "flavor of the pasture" for me to really enjoy.
Did I mention how much we loved the rye bread here?
And then there was the Hákarl, the fermented shark that Anthony Bourdain said he would never eat again. C'mon, for real? This little pale white cube?
Which smells like a combination of ripe cheese and urine. In fact, someone jokingly told us that the fish is buried in sand for 6 weeks at which time it's urinated on, before being hung to dry. It's good to know that this is not true (I hope). This was rather anti-climatic. There's a sort of salty, slightly ripe cheese thing going on, the texture is waxy. After that you're hit with a shot of ammonia which you basically exhale. Think of the light ammonia hit you get from Pidan (Century Egg) times like 10. The Missus actually enjoyed this…..of course, She loves cheese that smells like my dog's feet.
We really enjoyed our meal here. It gave us a nice view of some of the Icelandic dishes that I'd heard about before our trip. And, we liked most of what we had! It was also fairly inexpensive; by Icelandic standards. I'd gladly eat here again…….I'd just be happy with more of that rye bread with smjor.
Cafe Loki Lokastigur 28 Reykjavik 101, Iceland
We were now quite satisfied and not quite full. Time to head off and do more shopping!
Iceland sure was photogenic; even during the "off-season", though I've read that Iceland is now facing the mixed blessing of too many tourists, which of course has its own share of problems (ask the guy who grew up in Hawaii about this). We didn't find things (other than our last two dinner restaurants) too crowded, people were very friendly, and the country is ruggedly beautiful.
We stopped the car a few times on the way back from Gullfoss……………. look at the views!
We arrived back in Reykjavik, dropped by a little grocery store (Bonus), then headed back to the apartment. Relaxed a bit, showered, napped, got up, relaxed, showered, you get it, right?
From this point on, we'd basically be hoofing it around Reykjavik, and we walked to our dinner destination, Fiskmarkadurinn (The Fish Market).
I'd made reservations online and was glad I did as the place was really busy. In fact, we had a nice seat in lounge for about 20 minutes or so until a table opened up. One interesting thing about Iceland. There are coat racks….I mean pretty massive racks where everyone hangs their coats. It's really easy to forget where your coat is on the rack, so I made sure to put our coats in specific places.
In the comments of my first Iceland post, "KenB" asked about food and drink prices. Yes, things are fairly pricy. I'm list the prices for this meal, since it's one that I recall.
While waiting in the lounge we decided to have a few local beers. I noticed beer from Borg Brugghús on the list, so we decided to try two of them.
The Bríó Lager was quite nice, somewhat floral, clean tasting, somewhat creamy, and also 1.490 kr – $14.
I opted for the Hans Rauchbier, which had a nice smokiness to it, lightly hoppy, really good! 1.790 kr – $17.
After this we decided to lay off the drinks.
We finally got a table. Sitting we noticed folks were either getting sushi or the tasting menu. There's a bit of an Asian influences on some of the dishes here. We weren't super hungry and decided on ordering a la carte. As is the norm for us, we went with several starters and one main. Of course, things started with a fantastic moist rye bread and the amazing butter they have here in Iceland.
And a nice amuse.
The Fishmarket Lobster Soup (2,900 kr – $27.50)
The soup was prepared using coconut milk, so we had our doubts, but this was really good. The coconut milk gave the dish some rich-smoothness, the langoustine tail was perfectly cooked, so very tender and slightly sweet. Not a big fan of the mandarin oranges in this dish.
Next up was the Bitter Lemon Glazed Arctic Char (3,200 kr – $30).
I love the way they pickle items in Iceland; very crisp, very nice flavors. The artic char was moist and slightly buttery, the rye bread outstanding, the edamame puree interesting but not really adding to the dish.
Of course we had to try the Robata Grilled Minke Whale (2,800 kr – $26.50).
According to the Marine Institute of Iceland, there is a sustainable yearly catch number for Minke Whales. So I thought we should try this. Even though there was a good amount of horseradish grated on the soy and ginger glazed whale meat; I thought it was much too "livery" in flavor for me. The Missus, who loves liver really enjoyed this.
We noticed the main courses looked fairly large, so we decided to only order one; the Grilled Blue Ling (5,300 kr – $50).
We though the Hollandaise sauce actually detracted from the mild flavor of the perfectly grilled fish. There was a touch of smokiness, the fish was nicely seasoned and melted in your mouth. The bit of foie gras was a nice touch as it added a good deal of richness; though it over-powered the fish when eaten together. The smoked cheek of catfish was nice and crisp and added a nice textural counter-point.
This was a nice meal. The Missus enjoyed Herself so much; especially that Minke Whale, that She had me make reservations at the sister (brother) restaurant of the Fishmarket for the next night. In terms of prices, starters go for around $27-$35 and mains $50-$85, the tasting menu is about $115 per person without drinks. Service was very nice though the tables were quite close together.
Fiskmarkadurinn (The Fish Market) Adalstraeti 12 Reykjavik 101, Iceland
So, recently I had some time for an actual sit down lunch. Though not enough time to head down to Kearny Mesa. I wanted some Chinese, of which there seems to be a rather strange shortage of in this area. There's the "one-trick-pony" shop (which I actually revisited for the first time in nearly ten years and Lai Chen, which never seems to be open. My office is close enough to the 805, so a revisit to My Holy Gao seemed to be the most realistic option.
The place was empty when I arrived and pretty much stayed that way during my whole visit. The menu has changed a bit since my first round of visits back in March. Some new dishes added including Di San Xian; a classic stir fry of potato, eggplant, and bell peppers. While I knew the specialty of the shop leaned more toward Sichuan style dishes, I decided to order it. A big mistake.
This was like every bad stereotype of Chinese food out there. The dish was gloppy, too sweet, the eggplant wasn't cooked properly, as in the skin portions were hard and inedible and the interior pieces almost crunchy; lacking the buttery texture of well cooked eggplant. There was a shortage of one of the "three treasures", the bell peppers.
At least they had the Tea Smoked Duck which is the dish I believe they do best. While a bit drier than on previous visits; this was by far the best item.
Not too salty, nice smoke flavor, good texture.
For the final item, I saw the classic Chongqing Dish, Mao Xuewang on the menu. I've usually avoided it because the blood curd used is usually of terrible quality. In this case, I decided to go for it.
I've noticed something about the hot pot and similar type Sichuan dishes here. They seem to lack skill and finesse and the flavors are very simple and lacking in the wonderful layers and complexity of really good Sichuan food. The broth was very thin and in spite of looks not very spicy. The only real "ma", numbingness was provided when I bit into the whole Sichuan peppercorns. The blood was metallic and bitter; the "ham" in this case was faux Spam; the beef was decent if a bit too chewy, the intestine was good, though somewhat lacking in the offal-funkiness that I enjoy.
And like before, the rice here was terrible; with some really hard pieces, followed by strangely gummy grains.
In spite of the tea smoked duck; I'll probably not return for a while.
Mr. Holy Gao 10066 Pacific Heights Blvd San Diego, CA 92121 Open Daily – 11am – 930pm
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?
