mmm-yoso – Page 271

Lisbon Day 2: Frango Assado at Bonjardim and the Church of São Domingos

July 6, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

Close to Rossio Station is a street full of somewhat touristy restaurants, with mildly pushy touts attempting to get you into their restaurants. This is Rua das Portas de Santo Antao. In one of the small side streets leading back to Praca dos Restauradores is one of the most well known and highly recommended restaurants in Lisbon, Bonjardim. There are actually two Bonjardim restaurants across the alleyway from each other….kind of strange. I read that the food at both places are the same so we just picked the newer looking one, sitting outside with a nice view of the graffiti.

Like most places in Portugal, there will be bread and other items placed at your table, if you touch, you pay. There was one item that looked especially good.

I just couldn't resist these Pastéis de Bacalhau, which were piping hot. Loved the flavor, not too salty, but wonderfully savory, light, moist, and tender, without too much filler. Very nice croquettes (4.8 E)

The Missus and I were still not super hungry after our morning pork-fest so we just kept to the point. Plus, we had dinner reservations at Assinatura. Bonjardim is renowned for their Frango Assado, roasted chicken, which borders on legendary. So how could I resist…..call it pollo ala brassa, kai yang, or whatever, I'm fascinated by different takes on spit roasted chicken. I ordered a third of a chicken, which wasn't very hot when it arrived.

The skin was rubbery, the flavor quite salty, but not bad. The meat was very dry, not quite what I was expecting. I loved the piri-piri sauce which I could probably drink. It was decently spicy with a nice kick to it.

The Missus had the chicken soup, which She said was delicious.

Overall, my most disappointing meal in Lisbon. I'd read about rather surly service, but our Server was decent if somewhat detached. Perhaps this was just a bad day/time…..

Bonjardim
Travessa de S. Antao 11
Lisbon, Portugal

After lunch we headed back to Largo de São Domingos and decided to take some time to visit the church there.

This location has a tragic past which is reflected in it's somewhat spooky and haunting interior. Before the church was built, a convent as located here. This was also the site from where sentences were read out during the Inquisition. Even before then, an event called the Lisbon Massacre, where hundreds of Jews were tortured and killed. The site is marked by this memorial.

The church was rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake with material left from the ruins. Part of the church was destroyed in a fire in 1950 and you can still see the scorch marks from the fire on some of the pillars.

All of this adds up to give the church a somewhat eerie vibe.

The church also has as one of it's relics part of the handkerchief used by Lucia Santos during the Fatima Miracle.

Looking toward our left we noted the figure of two children in rather modern looking attire. This chapel had the most candles. We came to find out that this was a chapel to Our Lady of Fatima. The two children represent Jacinta and Francisco Marto, two of the three children, along with Lucia santos who witnessed the three apparitions at Fatima. Both children were victims of the 1918 Influenza epidemic. There are only two children because Lucia Santos was still alive when this chapel was constructed. She died in 2005 at 98.

The square itself is the gathering place for Lisbon's African immigrant community.

We spent a good amount of time in the church. Soon it felt like a good time for a nap.

As we walked back to our room, the Missus mentioned that the sky just seemed so much more blue in Portugal……..

Recently Consumed – influenced by our trip edition

July 4, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking

First off, Happy 4th to everyone!

Here's another collection of stuffs we've been eating at home over the last couple of weeks, starting with today's lunch.

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The Missus has to go back to work soon, so I asked Her what She wanted. It was an easy one, teri-beef, wrapped in lettuce, with green onions, thinly sliced raw garlic, red onions, tomato, sorta ssam style.

She also wanted grilled brussle sprouts and some peppers. I decided to grill up the rest of our chicken wings seasoned with peri-peri chili powder. A nice and easy Fourth of July lunch.

As always, our travels inspire and influence our cooking. The Missus loved the hearty and simple food in Portugal. Simple items, like this black pork grilled over hardwood charcoal, with a "sauce" of vinegar, garlic, and olive oil, stayed with us. This version is from Ze Manel dos Ossos in Coimbra.

And these very tasty potatoes at a fantastic seafood grill joint called Tito 2 in Matosinhos, right outside of Porto.

We ate so much pork that we renamed Portugal, "Pork-y'all". Pork has a stigma here in the states and much of what is sold is called the "other white meat". I don't eat that stuff…….I look for nice tasty and fatty pork, like Berkshire. The Missus never used to eat pork, but after Portugal things have changed. I told Her that the pork I make, the stuff I eat and She doesn't is actually good stuff. It's all about not making a pig of yourself (pun intended). The portions are reasonable, .25 – .3 pounds per person.

So after returning I pan fried a Berkshire Pork Rib Chop seasoned with Maldon Sea Salt, flavored with that three ingredient "sauce".

Along with those potatoes. A single chop seasoned well was more than enough for the two of us. Turns out that the Missus preferred the chop sliced, pounded flat, seasoned, then grilled.

See those mushrooms in the back there? That's another influence. We had mushrooms served that way a couple of times, like this example from Botequim da Mouraria in Evora.

These were always full of mushroom flavor. So I came home wondering how these were made…..it seems so very simple and it was.

These are usually grilled. I use creminis. I place them gill side down on the grill under direct heat. Once it browns I turn them over. As the cap side gets wrinkled, I carefully move the mushrooms to the indirect side of the grill….carefully because liquid starts accumulating in the naturally formed cup of the gill side.

Season with salt and that all purpose mixture of garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. Be careful not to spill that mushroom flavored juice.

The same theme was followed for subsequent meals…….

This version featured a version of the classic Maltese Fava Bean Dip called Bigilla.

Here's a version with an easy over egg on it…..kind of over the top, collards sauteed in bacon fat topped with lardons of bacon, halibut pan seared in bacon fat, and an egg fried in duck fat.

And the requisite drippy egg photo……

Speaking of Malta….we were surprised at how well we ate in Malta. We hadn't heard much about the food. I really enjoyed the tuna sandwiches in Malta….yes…tuna sandwiches, like this one from Cafe Cordina in Valletta.

The traditional breads are fantastic. I had an even better tuna sandwich at a tiny coffee shop off the main street in Valletta. All the older locals seemed to be having breakfast there, it was one of my favorite meals on the island. Here's a version the Missus made for me.

I'd say the Missus did a great job. don't you think?

That pretty dish of quail eggs and linguica is also from Botequim da Mouraria in Evora.

It was a wonderful dish which copied a couple of times in our apartment in Porto with linguica from the local Pingo Doce supermarket.

We've made this after returning from our trip as well. They key is to fry the eggs in the rendered fat of the sausage. We're still looking for good linguica here in San Diego.

So there you go, everywhere we travel we learn something and add something to our cooking repertoire.

I'm wondering if the Missus will let me try this at home?

Jury Duty Day: Ch-ch-chains – Breakfast at Specialty’s and Lunch at Tender Greens, Downtown

July 3, 2013 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Chains, Salads, Sandwiches

Being sort of the old fart that I am, I clearly recognize the importance of that all important civic duty that is Jury Service. Though I don't think that you'd blame me for being a bit tired of it all after having jury service scheduled 9 of my 12 years in San Diego. Heck, I never got called once in LA and only twice after 30+ years in Honolulu! I'm especially puzzled since some of my friends, many whom have lived in San Diego for most of their lives have only been called once or twice, some not at all!

After entering the Hall of Justice so many times, you could say that the "bloom is off the rose". Falling off your routine and falling behind at work doesn't help your attitude, though this year I went with the mindset of making the best of things.

It used to be that I'd park at Old Town and catch the trolley, this year I walked to the bus stop and caught the trolley, though this meant leaving a bit earlier.

After taking so many turns at jury service, I'd been to quite a few places, from Grab n' Go, Currant (10% Jury Duty discount), to the food court at Horton Plaza(what was the name of that burger place that was in Horton Plaza for a blink of an eye?) , Rei do Gado, and Lucy's Taco Shop. You'd think I'd have quite a collection of posts….well, not quite. I felt somewhat self-conscious and, well, a bit weird for having to take a camera to jury service. But this year I had my iPhone, which looked perfectly natural.

I always go a bit early for jury service, this year was no exception. I decided to stop into a place I've been to before while performing my civic duty; Specialty's.

**** This location of Specialty's has closed

This 40+ location, fast-casual type chain was founded in San Francisco in the 80's. I like the fact that it has an almost fully functional Peet's integrated in the place. I don't remember the iPad ordering kiosks the last time I visited, but that was an interesting addition. I was just going to have a coffee, which you can just step up to the counter and order, but decided on getting something to eat just because……

I ended up ordering a Classic Egg Sandwich, customized with bell peppers and red onion, topped with swiss cheese.

It did look a bit too perfect and processed, but this was hot and fresh and the ciabatta was pretty decent. Nice mild milky tones from the Swiss cheese, though it had a bit too much black pepper for me.

I ordered a small Americano, which was pretty weak. After our recent trip to Europe, it seems that coffee in the states is too large, weak, and without character. And Peet's is one of my favorite chains!

Still, this adjusted my attitude, putting me in the right frame of mind for having to sit for who knows how many hours.

Specialty's Cafe & Bakery
101 West Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101
Hours:
Mon – Fri 6am – 6pm

And though I might joke about it, the Jury Lounge and process has improved over the years with wi-fi(on the weak side) and heck, they even changed that pitiful orientation video that looked like it was from the 70's a couple of years back!

Of course, during the whole morning I was looking forward to….well, lunch of course. I had just read in Eater San Diego that the downtown location of Tender Greens had just opened.

It just seemed like a great fit and was only two blocks from the Hall of Justice. So once the lunch break was announced I was off like a bullet. After eating at the Point Loma location a couple of times (you can read Cathy's posts here and here), I figured lunch at Tender Greens downtown would be a zoo.

I got there with just a couple of people ahead of me in line.

I got a nice laugh at the side of "Pardon Peppers", which had a nice poetic tie-in to my jury service, but I think they should probably use the correct spelling for padron peppers since they do claim to sell local produce.

According to what I read on Eater, the unique menu at this Tender Greens location is the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. I decided to get this in a sandwich with a side salad of arugula ($11).

I really don't think one should mess around with fresh, crisp, peppery arugula, and decently ripe tomatoes, Tender Greens really does a nice job here.

I thought the sandwich was over-dressed as my fried chicken got soggy pretty quickly. Bread to protein ratio seemed a bit too heavy on the carb side as well. I poached a couple of pieces of chicken when I sat down. It was nicely flavored and moist. I'd recommend on a hot plate or salad.

After reading the sign, I just had to have a side of those PardonPadron Peppers ($4):

This was my favorite item. While I enjoy padron/shishito grilled, which adds a layer of smokiness while further developing the sugars, this was quite nice. Perfectly salted and tender. Not quite to the level of melt in your mouth Padrons we recently had in Lisbon, but still darn good.

I gotta say that the speed while keeping a good level of service left me impressed. When I looked up from my meal, I noticed that the line was snaking itself around the block!

And while the dining room filled up, things proceeded smoothly, never rushed, tables getting cleared and folks actually having their waters refilled!

I think Tender Greens has a great concept and good food. If things keep this way downtown, who knows….

Tender Greens
110 W Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101

To kind of give you a clue on how quick lunch service was….jury service lunch breaks are long, at almost an hour and forty-five minutes. I had so much time on my hands I didn't know what to do. So I just walked around……here's a shot from Horton Plaza:

So for those who have jury service in Downtown San Diego; what's your pick? The jury-duty discounted Currant? A sandwich, maybe the Hall of Justice Food Court (maybe not….). Perhaps you've taken your chances and run down to East Village? Where do you eat?

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant revisited

July 2, 2013 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Nhat Vy has closed

I first posted on Nhat Vy back in November when they had just opened, and while only one dish stood out, the Banh Cuon, the prices were right and the folks working here were very nice. Over the next couple of months we visited a couple more times. Here's what we found. After a few months they moved things around and even had a grease board put up. Unfortunately, it's hidden behind the palm…..

As you can see, there's a nice representation of items I really enjoy listed, bot chien, banh xeo, and of course, what they make to order, the Banh Cuon.

I brought the Missus right after my initial post and She was sold……granted, not the best Banh Cuon in the world, but good by San Diego standards. That would be thin, slightly stretchy……

The goi cuon, on the other hand is nothing to write home about……

Too much bun…with iceberg lettuce (!). Dirt cheap though at $2.25 for two.

We returned for the Banh Cuon, but were shut out on subsequent trips, which gave us a chance to try other items on the menu.

The Bun Tom, vermicelli with shrimp was quite good according to the Missus.

Shrimp plump and juicy and the bun prepared well.

On this trip I tried the Bun Mam ($7).

In the case of Bun Mam, I expect a rich, funky, complex, almost heavy broth broth, full bodied with the flavor of fermented shrimp paste almost bubbling to the surface creating what I call an "umami bomb". This was pretty weak. The broth seemed to be the kitchen's standard issue soup broth with some mam nem dumped in it. Not much else to say, other than this really isn't bun mam.

We returned the following week, hoping for Banh Cuon…..my pronunciation of certain Vietnamese words can be almost tragically funny. Like I've often said…."I barely speak English and you want me to try a six-tone language?" So I've started typing the words out on my iPhone showing the folks working here what I want. Well, no Banh Cuon on this visit either…….

So the Missus ordered the Banh Xeo.

We were both surprised when not one, but two crepes were brought out. Along with the veggies and herbs, this was quite a bit of food. These were ok, the scant pork really tough and the meager shrimp overcooked and rubbery. If I recall, this was like about five bucks….really cheap. But we'd have preferred a smaller portion with a better product.

I decided to try the simple bot chien, but it was a "no go". So I went with the Bánh canh giò heo ($7) a clear broth soup with pigs feet.

This was their standard issue clear broth with some well prepared and slippery rice/tapioca flour noodles. There were two smallish pieces of pig's feet which was pretty tender, but nothing special. The broth was light on flavor, but kind of heavy on the MSG as I started to puff up a bit after the soup.

After striking out twice on the Banh Cuon, the Missus and I concocted a strategy. I'd park in front, motor running, the Missus would walk in the door and ask if they had Banh Cuon today. If not, She'd thank them and we'd be on our way. That way, we'd minimize wasting time and calories on dishes we really didn't want.

After coming up empty handed three more times we just gave up. The folks here are nice, but there's just really one item on the menu we want, and they never seem to have it anymore. Too bad…….

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

The Missus Yakyudori obsession

July 1, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Cooking, Japanese Restaurants, yoso-silly

One of the side benefits about doing this blog for so long is that I get to document things, how our eating has changed over time, ditto with my cooking, our travels, and so forth. One of the really fun and interesting items I've been to post about over the years are the Missus's food feet-ishes umm, obsessions, some of which are narrowly focus on a single item, sometimes from a single place, or perhaps a dish with a common "mechanical" function, many of have been documented here in detail.

And just as many times, the Missus has "sworn off" things after finding out what the ingredients are, or perhaps how something is made. The longest running "item that shall not pass my lips" was chicken and turkey. Folks have asked for the cause of this. All I have for you is a video of this commercial:

Which somehow traumatized the Missus so much that She refused to eat chicken or turkey (except on vacation). The Missus was very good at keeping Her word as I've noted several times. This, other than the Asian Pear overload (a story for a different day) has been the longest running "I shall not eat"……starting in November of 2009, as I mention here. It only ended a bit over a week ago, though with strict conditions….I do believe turkey is still not welcomed, though.

So, what ended the historic and epic chicken prohibition? It was victory by Binchotan as duly noted in this recent post. It seems that those bincho-tainted wings won Her over….so in essence we've grilled in that manner 5 times over the last two weeks. Always with something interesting; in this case "Kamo", duck breast.

And with chicken wings of course. During one of our sessions, the Missus mentioned how good the wings were, probably among the best She could recall. Instead of showing restraint, I made the mistake of saying that our grilled wings were not as good as Yakyudori's. Thus began the interrogation. All that was missing was the bright light blasting into my face, the water dripping into my eye, and maybe a dentist drill. "Just what makes Yakyudori's wings better!", "Well, it's decent quality wings, second joint only, heavily seasoned with good quality salt, but the main thing is how the wings were skewered." "Well……." Showing no will-power I instantly spilled the beans: "The wings are skewered in such a way to stretch the skin, maximizing surface area. The bones are separated making it easy to pull out without burning your fingers." Yes, such is life in the mmm-yoso household, an entire conversation about stretching chicken wing skin…….what happened to us?

Suddenly, Yakyudori went from a shop the Missus wasn't interested in, to one we just had to go to…..as in the next evening. And of course we had those wings…….

And of course I was right………..it was better than what we made at home.

My gloating was short lived however, as the Missus directed me to Marukai on the way home. You guessed it. To pick up chicken wings.

The next evening, as the Missus prepped Herself for wing surgery, I got the other stuff ready. Lit the binchotan and prepared the shishito peppers, shiitake mushrooms, okra, and some pork "toro"…..

25 minutes had passed and the charcoal was white and hot when the Missus finally finished Her 6 wings. I gotta say, She did a great job.

She basked in the glory of Her wings…..

With a side order of gloating thrown in, "Ha, after 15 years, I finally got a cooking point over you! Fifteen years!"

I gotta admit, these were pretty darn good, and I told Her so. Immediately, the Chinese daughter came out, "hmmm, the bones don't break away as easy as Yakyudori…maybe the skin can be stretched a bit more…."

Remember our drooling "friend" from our previous post? He was back again.

The Missus said he reminds Her of this character from the old series Home Improvement.

As dinner was finishing up, I told the Missus what a good, albeit rather long job She had done. She absently told me, "I don't really remember how I did that……."

She had already moved on, mentioning how much She enjoyed the Tsukune at Yakyudori.

Oh-oh, another obsession coming up?

Stay tuned…….

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Rhodes Town (Greece): Hotel Saint Michel, dinner at Laganis, and other stuff

June 29, 2013 mmm-yoso Greece, Greek Food, Rhodes, Travel

Trying to catch up on our travel posts. This one is from back in 2012.

I'm not sure why we…..though I think it was I, chose the island of Rhodes. When doing some research, I probably got caught up in Medieval, knights, Grand Masters, a walled city! A young boy's dream. It also seemed like a nice change of pace after Tunisia and Istanbul. All that history was a plus as well. Plus, the Missus loves the Greek Islands.

So we arrived on our flight from Istanbul, through Athens. We'd decided to catch the bus from the airport to Rhodes Town. However, one of the cab drivers…you gotta love Greek cab drivers, they are nuts, offered us a deal to split the fair with another couple. So we ended up catching the taxi. The couple got out at a resort south of Rhodes Town and the driver picked up a passenger outside the Old Town. From there we ended up at the cruise terminal dock, all the while listening to an animated conversation between the driver and the passenger in a language we didn't understand! As the driver dropped the guy off he glanced back and gave us a surprised look. He's been so engrossed in conversation that he forgot all about us! He laughed, shrugged, and told us, "sorry, politics you know…." He ended up taking us back up the road and dropping us off near Saint Catherine's Gate…..he pointed through the gate and said, "that way….." Well, it wasn't quite "that way…." Luckily, we had a map and it wasn't that long a walk as headed past the main square and tourist stops down the charming cobblestone back streets of the Old Town.

If your idea of the Greek Islands are those charming bright white with blue trimmed structures, Rhodes will be a surprise. Here it's brick and stone, a fortress, a moat…..

Eventually we ended up at a small square area and gingerly stepped over the snoring dogs…..

We really wanted to stay in the Old Town, within the walls of the medieval city, and the Hotel Saint Michel seemed to fit the bill. The building is over 700 years old, cozy, and while the rooms are nothing fancy, the place has character to spare.

Also, Chris and Vasso were so accommodating, really making us feel comfortable and at home.

We were lucky enough to get the room we call the "penthouse". It is located at the top of the steep stairs on the roof. While the room was rather small and the wifi really didn't work up here, the place was private, cozy, and had one really big bonus……

We had the entire upper deck area to ourselves. Both the door to the room and the door to the deck had locks…

We were to make great use of the deck over our stay……

We really enjoyed the location of the hotel, it was close to everything, but away from the tourist hustle and bustle.

Settled in, we headed out for dinner. Usually, we're really tired after arriving at a city for the first time. Rhodes really didn't tax us much. Still, we thought we'd take it easy and head to a restaurant I'd read about fairly close by, away from the tourist rush called Laganis.

The Missus loves the tin cups that house wine is served in, so we got the house red which was passable.

She also loves horta, the wild "mountain greens", often a type of chicory, so we ordered that as well.

This version wasn't cooked to death as we're used too. It also needed a good deal more seasoning, but was not bad overall. Sadly, this was the best dish of the meal.

Things went quickly downhill with the Fava Skordalia.

This lacked flavor as well, but even worse, the dip had an unpleasant gritty texture as well.

The beets were nice and sweet but on the hard side.

After having wonderful grilled cuttlefish twice at Le Golfe in La Marsa, the Missus wanted to try the cuttlefish.

This had the texture of old tires.

The grilled octopus didn't fare any better……

We were only comforted by the fact that we tend to not choose real well for our initial meal in new cities we visit. I was sure that tomorrow we'd fare much better.

After the meal, we decided to take a walk down the streets of this quieter part of Rhodes Town.

We eventually ended up at Ippokratous Square and the Castellania fountain which is the busiest tourist area of the Old Town, surrounded by shops and restaurants…and tourists of course. Since it was almost evening, most of the day-trippers had left or were in the process of leaving.

Soon, the folks from the cruise ships would be heading back and the place would become pretty quiet. After all the folks in resorts leave it looks like this.

Quite a contrast……

We headed back up the cobble stoned alleyway to the hotel, stopping at the little shop next door. Christos was more then happy to open our bottle of wine and provide some glasses for us. We sat on the patio and heard the horns of the two cruise ships heading out. Soon we toasted as the sun went down in the horizon.

It was a nice sunset, but a few days later we'd see what I can only call an amazing sunset on Rhodes. Things were sure to get better……

COMC: Beating the Heat Edition – Places you know (if you’ve been reading long enough…)

June 28, 2013 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, Thai Restaurants, yoso-silly

**** Sadly, all of these places have closed

Man it's been a hot one. And I read that's it's going to be even hotter this weekend. Here's some "Clearing Out the Memory Card" stuff. If you've read long enough, you'll know where these places are…..

Have a great Friday!

The Original Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Sushi Yaro
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

And I guess I'm having "pork withdrawals" after consuming all that swine in Portugal…..

Kayaba
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd Ste 119 – In the Mitsuwa Marketplace
San Diego, CA 92111

Keep cool everyone!

Comfort Food: Teri Beef Sandwiches

June 27, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes, yoso-silly

A few weekends ago I got what I thought was an interesting request from the Missus. She wanted Teri-Beef…….. Man, what a blast from the past for me! I love teri-beef sandwiches. So while She went with the strange low carb teri-beef in lettuce cups…I just did mine the way I like it.

I've gotten pretty good at actually grilling the soft #2 thin cut rib eye on my Weber. Man was this a blast from the past……it made me long for the Teri Beef King at Jolly Roger Drive-In. The one we used to go to was next to the graveyard near Kahala Mall, it's now a Zippy's. We used talk about how Waialae Drive-In was haunted because it was next to the graveyard and we were told that part of the parking lot was built over half the cemetery….supposedly the movie would go upside down at midnight and there was a faceless woman ghost that haunted the women's restroom……I heard that the ghost moved on to the Kahala Theatre's after the drive-in closed??!??

Anyway, this is basically my "Fourth Grade Teri-Beef" with some grown-up touches. So easy……

Teri-Beef:

1 cup Aloha/Yamasa Shoyu
3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/3 cup mirin
2-3 Tb grated/minced garlic
2 tsp ginger juice
3-4 bunches green onion, white part only chopped

– Mix all ingredients until sugar is totally dissolved.
– Taste and adjust
– You should be able to get 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of meat with this
– I separate all the meat slices and mix well with the sauce before putting into a ziploc
– Marinate for at least 6 hours and no more than 14-16…it will get real salty
– Grill or panfry

Man……..this makes me miss "home"……

Tell me, where is/was your favorite teri-beef sandwich?

And here's a total blast form the past…..anybody remember Hana Chicken?

My goodness……I'm getting majorly old…..before you know it, I'm going to blabbing about Yum Yum Tree!

Thanks for letting me reminisce!

Szechuan Chef

June 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

Just before we left on our trip, I heard that Quoc Te 2 was closing and being replaced by a Sichuan Restaurant, which would bring the total of Sichuan Restaurants (I know Spicy City is sort of Yunnan, but you ever look at the menu?) on Convoy to four. I also heard that the former owner of Dede's was somehow involved, which didn't exactly thrill me since that playbook has become a cliche for me.

Still, just like I believe that we could always use another "good" Thai Restaurant, a decent Sichuan place is welcome.

So upon returning, I decided to drop by Szechuan Chef.

They've done a nice job updating the tired Quoc Te……..

The thing that I found really fascinating is that this was the first time I recalled seeing the "over-sized glossy menu" in San Diego. It's something we noticed in China when we visited and it made it's was to the SGV at places like Shanghai No.1. A real page turner of glamour shots of the various dishes served. It can be perceived as really neat, or a pain, depending on your viewpoint. For me, the scatter-shot arrangement of dishes was somewhat aggravating….trying to find, say, Shui Zhu Yu (water boiled fish), means turning back and forth from page to page…..

In the end, I got tired of trying to find "my standards" and went with the Chongqing La Zi Ji(重庆辣子鸡), the Spicy Chicken with Red Chilies ($10.99).

This actually looked pretty good, but really lacked zip. It would be one of least spicy, spicy-looking dishes I've ever had. It really needed more spice and much more Sichuan Peppercorn. I liked the way the chicken was fried, but the fragrance was slightly rancid and it did taste a bit off. I'm wondering if the oil was a bit past its prime and denatured.

I saw something on the other table and ordered it. The steamed pork with mustard greens. This was a mistake.

This was very salty and had an unpleasant, bitter flavor like burnt soy sauce. Also, while the pork is supposed to be rich and luxurious, this was greasy, which meant that the person making this really didn't have the chops to pull this off or didn't care. Not to be snide but I would have preferred to have taken a bite out of the pretty, glossy photo of the dish than to have another bite of this. I actually had a friend of mine try this……..she couldn't bear to have more than one bite.

Still, the prices were reasonable, and the portion size seemed perhaps a bit too large almost reminding me of Spicy King. In fact, even the flavor profile seemed similar, like it was pulled out from the same gene pool.

I talked the Missus into visiting a week or so later. As we sat and tried to order something, the Missus told me that the two women were talking in Cantonese, not Mandarin, which seemed kind of strange. We also had the same menu paralysis as before….looking over, I noticed that they had Liang Cai – cold dishes…which strangely, we hadn't seen on the menu. Maybe it's there, but we just didn't see it.

The Fu Qi Fei Pian was all meat, no offal, and was cut to a perfect thickness. The flavor was sorely lacking however. Missing light anise tones, a touch of sweetness, I even enjoy versions with a bit of black vinegar. This was pretty bland. The pig year was thinly sliced with a nice crunch, but really had no flavoring what so ever…..luckily that it's consumed mainly for the texture. I saw Kou Shui Ji 重庆口水鸡 - mouthwatering (saliva) chicken in the cold case and we got that as well. Man, talk about lacking any complexity, or even heat. No sesame paste flavor, not enough vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns…. just lacking.

I just had to try the Zi Ran Yang Rou – the Cumin Lamb.

First off, this photo doesn't show just how much lamb this was…sheesh, we ate like crazy and only got thru half! Because I make this at home so often, I enjoy ordering it just to see how things line up. Like the other dishes, there just seemed to be something missing. In this case the cumin flavor was pretty good, it could used perhaps a touch more soy sauce. The lamb was tough and really didn't taste much like lamb. I'm thinking a bit more cilantro might have helped the whole effort as well.

One of the dishes I really miss from Ba Ren was the Beef with Preserved Vegetable, so I was really interested when I saw a "Beef Sour Soup" ($10.99) that looked like it had preserved mustard greens in it. So what the heck, we ordered it.

And while it didn't quite look like the glossy in the menu, this was probably the best item I've had from this restaurant. The sourness and the ginger heightened the spice, the meat was ok…basic huo guo (hot pot) cut, not prepped in cornstarch, but that really didn't hurt the dish. Finally, something that at least hit the "suan-ku-la-xian" (sour-bitter-hot-salty) tones. We saved most of this and had it the next day and it was much better, more spicy, more sour, more better…..

So all of this meant that I give the place one more try. I'd finally got the handle on the menu and decided on one of my favorite dishes – hong you chao shou, basically won tons in hot sauce ($5.99). What I got was a large bowl of won tons in an insipid "broth".

This was just wrong….in case you want to see photos of what this is supposed to look like, you can try here. Or what the heck, how about one from our visit to Chengdu? While the won tons were decent, perhaps the wrappers a bit too thick, I thought the kou gan (口感 – mouth feel) was ok, nice and slippery. But the overall flavoring was watery and not spicy enough.

I also went with the Pork Intestines with Red Peppers ($10.99).

You know what? I'll take back what I said about the Chongqing La Zi Ji. This has got to be the least spicy, spicy-looking dish, I've ever had. A real lack of heat from scalded chilies and almost no numbing sensation from Sichuan peppercorns. The intestines were not fried well, resulting in a rubbery texture. A good version should have a nice fried crunch, before yielding to a decent chew. It's a darn shame that a restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin with a Japanese name can do it better. Well, at least it had the slight offal flavor of intestine.

After this visit, I'm pretty much done, unless someone can give me some compelling reason (dish) to return. I thought the servers here are nice….they are ever so patient with all the "gringo" customers. In fact, I thought the guy's Beef and Broccoli looked much better than my won tons. The dishes I had, except one, pretty much fell flat. It had me wondering, with the beef roll, jiaozi, and other stuff on the menu and the servers speaking Cantonese, whether a "Szechuan Chef" was actually cooking here. I asked the Missus what She thought. Her answer? "He could be from Sichuan….but remember what I said….anybody from China with a wok can open a restaurant saying they're a chef." The son of the owner of Ba Ren once told me that one of the local "Sichuan Chefs" is actually from Chongqing like he says. But back in Sichuan he was a taxi driver! Heck, I could have been eating at Szechuan Taxi-driver Restaurant!!!!

Szechuan Chef
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Noodling Around: Revisits to Pho Tay Do, Santouka, Minh Ky, and having something that’s “just wrong” at Pho Cow Cali

June 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Pho, Ramen, Vietnamese Restaurants

Somewhere at about the half-way point during our trips, the Missus always asks me, "are you missing anything?" And usually, it's noodles. Strangely, on our last vacation we ate so well that I only started missing noodles, at the end of our trip……yes, I realize we were in Rome and all, but it was Asian noodles, in any form….

Anyway, here's a short collection of revisits…..

Pho Tay Do:

**** Pho Tay Do has closed

I first posted on Pho Tay Do back in 2010, Cathy followed up a year later. For some reason my mind just blanks out places in this strip mall; I'm not sure why.

I actually hadn't been back here in over a year and was wondering what the state of the Bun Mang Vit – The Duck and Bamboo Shoot Noodle Soup was.

There were a couple of tables occupied when I arrived, but the interior was pretty dark. I guess they're trying to keep the energy bill down.

I ordered the Bun Mang Vit which arrived in the blink of an eye.

I don't know how business is, nor how the current state of the economy or anything else is affecting this place, but in terms of what I had it seems to have fallen.

The broth wasn't hot and had very little flavor. There was hardly eny of the earthy reconstituted dried bamboo and maybe 2/3 of the noodles of the bowl I last had here. The portion of dipping sauce was smaller and though it still has a nice hint of ginger, it too tastes watered down.

The slices of duck are smaller and very dry. Even though the place never provided an abundance of herbs in their greens, this was just about all cabbage……

This was pretty sorry overall and a mere shadow of what I'd had in previous visits. Sad…..

Pho Tay Do
5296 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Santouka (for the zillionth time):

Yeah, I know…I won't even post the links. A couple of weeks back, I took my coworker, "YZ" to Yamadaya, I was interested in what She thought.

On this visit, the pork cheek was spot on, tender and full of flavor. The noodles were done perfectly as well. Hard combination to beat.

So when I quizzed Her, the opinion was pretty much the same as ours. Pork and noodles Santouka, broth Yamadaya. So I guess it depends on what you're in the mood for, right?

The Missus asked me if the perfect ramen existed? I could only shrug my shoulders……

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Minh Ky:

Yes, Beef Sate Noodle – Dry, again:

Needless to say….it delivered as expected.

Minh Ky Restaurant
4644 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Pho Cow Cali:

Before we left on our trip, the Missus was strangely craving Pho….something that rarely happens as I'm the Pho eater in the family. The craving lasted for a couple of weeks and there's just so many times you can go to Pho Lucky. The Missus can be a rather hard nut though…..once She finds something She likes it's hard to convince Her to try something else. I did explain to Her that Pho Cow Cali's protein was better and that they had Filet Mignon Pho!

Which was just fine for Her….however, once She saw this on the menu:

She determined that I just had to have the Com Tam Dac Biet….without com tam (broken rice). And so it came to pass that I had mine with brown rice.

First, let me explain that I'm not a fan of brown rice. Then to add insult to injury, they charge you $1 more. Of course they probably don't sell too much brown rice, so this took forever……it was also very low quality. The Bi was good, the pork chop and cha ok, the brown rice, just wrong. Nuff said….I tried it once.

Pho Cow Cali
9170 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126