mmm-yoso – Page 287

Antojitos Colombianos

October 16, 2012 mmm-yoso Colombian Food and Restaurants

*** You can find an updated post here

A couple of months back, I was doing one of my "drives" to check out what's new….this time it was on Imperial. I hadn't been around since they started construction on the "Farmer's Market" site which is going to become a Wal-Mart. During my drive east on Imperial, I noticed some of the food stalls that used to occupy the market, like El Guero had set-up shop on the street. Then something caught my eye. Right next to El Salvadoreno was what seemed to be a Colombian Restaurant, called Antojitos Colombianos.

Actually, this was the original location of El Salvadoreno way back when. I mentioned the place to the Missus and even one of my coworkers, "AaronF" who is from Bogota. It took us a while, like three months, the shop closes at 7 pm, so it's hard to hit after work sometimes, but we finally made it there a couple of weeks ago.

There was one woman working the shop that day…doing everything, taking orders, bussing, making the food, but man she worked impressively! She also seemed a bit unsure of us when we entered, but soon warmed up to us. In fact, during our meal, she came by a couple of times to tell us (as much as she could) about how things were made, while still serving the other two tables, cooking, and cleaning….amazing.

We just had to start with the Empanadas ($1.50 each), which were a nice yellow and still sizzling when they hit the table.

The empanadas looked a bit greasy at first glance, but were not. The texture was crisp at first, with a bit of a chew. The filling, a combination of seasoned beef and potatoes, with hints of spices like cumin was very tasty. The aji that came along with the empanadas was more sour than spicy. I enjoyed the extra dimension it added to my empanada, this Missus just loved Hers straight up.

The Missus also loved the Chorizo con Arepa ($2.99).

I half expected the arepa to be stuffed with a chorizo mixture, but even though it was not, the Missus loves Her cornmeal products and that arepa went down in a second. This chorizo was also quite good, more of a firm sausage, with a mild smokey heat from peppers, along with other good seasonings. Had me wondering where they got this from….I wanted some for my own stash!

The Missus also ordered a true Colombian dish Aborrajado ($2.99), basically a fried plaintain stuffed with cheese.

The plantain was very ripe…which the Missus loves. Me, I'm not a big fan of sweet-milky-sour flavors, so this wasn't my thing. On a future visit, the plantain wasn't quite ripe enough and it was very starchy which the Missus didn't care for, but I didn't mind.

I went all in and order the Bandeja Paisa($12.49), the classic Colombian gut busting platter(bandeja) of protein and carbs that many consider the national dish of Colombia. One does not fool around with a plate of food like this.

The first thing the Missus said when this arrived was, "there's nothing green on the plate!" Of course, I quickly pointed out the avocado, which also provides over 20 essential nutrients I might add! As a whole this was much better then the version I had at Tropicafe. I was probably most impressed with the carne de res….the slice of beef, which looked like it was going to be shoe leather, but was surprisingly tender, if a bit under-seasoned. The chorizo on this plate was more of a Mexican style sausage and totally different from what came with the arepa, which we preferred. The Missus poached the plantain, which She loved. The fried egg was a fried egg, the chicharron on the hard side, but still better than Tropicafe's version. This was served with rice and peruano beans which had nicely absorbed all the flavor of it's cooking liquid….which also nicely included bits of pork.

The woman working really made us feel at home as did the food, so we decided to return for another dinner. This time there was a gentleman working the kitchen who greeted us from behind the counter when we arrived. When we sat, a well dressed man brought us menus…we thought he worked there but he was just another customer who wanted us to feel at home….this is the kind of place Antojitos Colombianos is.

Of course we had to have the empanadas, which were even better this time around.

The Missus also ordered Aborrajado which I mentioned earlier disappointed Her as the plantains weren't ripe enough for Her. The Chorizo en Arepa was still good though! The Missus also ordered this baseball looking thing……

Which is the Papa Rellena ($3.99). The exterior was nicely crisped, while retaining the wonderful potato flavor. The filling was rice and chicken, which could have had a bit more flavor. But this was still good. I was told that the filling can vary from day to day depending on what's available.

Meanwhile, a nice tall gentleman whom we saw on our last visit entered. I believe he's the owner…he smiled and came over to shake our hands and chat.

Earlier, I had asked the friendly gentleman cooking what I should order, the chuleta (pork cutlet), sobrebarriga (flank steak), or the lengua? He smiled looked me up and down and said, "the lengua, you will like the lengua". So I ordered the Lengua en Salsa ($11.99)…..

This was indeed the right decision. The beef tongue was very tender, mildly gamey, with that condensed beef flavor that well prepared lengua has. Missing was the waxy texture with a strong offal taste that poorly prepared lengua has. The onions, peppers, and tomatoes added pungency and acid to the dish. The yucca frita was crisp and almost light and disappeared quickly into the Missus's mouth. In fact, the "non-meat eater" in the family loved this as well and almost finished half the lengua!

As we left the place, the Missus told me, "you know, we just had five different starches with this meal. Corn, plantain, potato, rice, and yucca. So much for the plate lunch three starch rule, huh?" In spite of eating a seemingly vast amount of food during our two meals, at no time did we feel stuffed, which is kind of strange.

There's a homey, friendly kind of warmth that we feel when eating here. I'm sure we'll be back again.

Antojitos Colombianos
2851 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92102
Open Daily 11am – 7pm

Sau Voi Deli

October 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Sau Voi Deli has closed.

This is probably the only Banh Mi place in the area I haven't posted on. Mostly because I'm not the biggest fan of the place. But recently, I decided to just go ahead and give it a try again. For those that don't know Sau Voi Deli; it's the little shop inside the 99 Ranch Market structure.

The place is starting to look even more worn recently and the folks who run the place seemed to have aged a bit as well. Things don't go too quickly here, you just order and kick back and wait for your sandwich.

I ordered the Dac Biet just to get some feel of how they're making banh mi nowadays.

To be fair, the sandwiches are pretty hefty for the price ($3.75), the bread seemed pretty fresh and it was perfectly toasted….not toasted to bits where it shreds your palate.

There's a ton of pickled veggies as well, though I didn't care for the flavor.

I think you can tell the problem I had with this sandwich……man, it was so D-R-Y….really. The proteins had the texture of rousong, which I guess is ok if you like the stuff. And you may well like it that way, since I've been told by Kirbie that I'm the only person she knows of who doesn't like the stuff! It's also pretty flavorless. Look, I'm the first to say when there's too much mayo or spread on my banh mi, but this was just too dry. What mayo the sandwich had was spread over one thin line near the edge of the bread. Even the cilantro looked wilted….

Of course, being the glutton for punishment I am, in the spirit of fairness, I returned to try something else. This time the pork (cha lua) and shrimp (cha tom)cake banh mi ($4).

This time along with the bread, everything else seemed a bit fresher, but the cha lua, which has almost a light smokey flavor to my palate was like rubber and the cha tom, while decent, having a mild shrimpy flavor, this still didn't satisfy me.

I'm looking for a certain proportion of ingredients and flavors….I don't want a super-stuffed sandwich, just one that fulfills my sense of balance and this really didn't do it for me. I mean, they'll do a decent job of filling you up, but to me not much more. Kind of sad actually……

Sau Voi Deli
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Eating on the hood of your car: Mariscos El Jefe Truck

October 14, 2012 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

I've been shopping at the Northgate Market on the corner of 54th and University quite a bit. The Missus bought a new juicer and has been some interesting concoctions, several of which use nopales. The most disturbing one was nopales and beets which looked like bloody snot….but I digress. One day, Instead of heading just getting back onto 54th and my way home, I took a right on University and saw a pretty busy taco truck.

The selling point seemed to be the 99 cent fish tacos…which is quite cheap since most trucks, including my favorite have raised prices north of a buck. The seating area is a very small – four chair and no table makeshift looking set-up. So you really will be eating on the hood of your car here! The folks here were very friendly. One of the women started chatting with me….talking about favorite taco trucks…hers being El Kiki, while lamenting the crazy price of gas. The menu is interesting, the top half is in Spanish, the bottom half is the English translation.

I went the cheap route, two Tacos de Pescado.

The batter was on the soft side, with a hint of sweetness, a bit too spongy for my taste. Not much fish in this at all, but what do you expect for 99 cents? The crema had no taste and the tortillas….eh…

So that was it, right? Well, maybe not. I went shopping again this past weekend and was just plain starving. I decided to try some of the other stuff at El Jefe.

By the way, if you're ever looking for the cebollas, limes, and salsas, they're behind the gobernador door!

Speaking of gobernador, I got one of those and one of the spicy shrimp tacos. These looked quite a bit more hefty.

Both of these had things in common, both had cheese melted on the base of the tortilla to prevent the tacos from disintegrating. Both had some kick, though the spicy shrimp was surprisingly spicy. Both were two tortilla jobs, you could tell much more care was taken with these. The gobernador was the better of the two, but nowhere as good as others. The shrimp in both tacos were on the overcooked side as well. The spicy shrimp taco was interesting….I wasn't fond of the very finely diced cabbage mixed with crema. Though it served to buffer the heat, it was like dumping coleslaw all over a taco.

The shrimp were spicy, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they use habaneros for this. The overall flavor was pretty one dimensional.

I'd say that El Jefe, wasn't quite "the boss" of Mariscos trucks in San Diego. Probably not in my top five. But like the woman said, "the price of gas now is so high, we have to find alternatives to driving to South Bay."

Mariscos el Jefe Truck
5599 University Ave

Tunisia: Market day in Tataouine

October 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Desserts, Markets & Grocers, Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

We left Ksar Ghilane early in them morning. We were headed to the final stop on our private tour, the island of Djerba. There would be a couple of stops along the way. We were headed to the town of Tataouine….yes, for those Star Wars fans, there really is a city name Tataouine. We traveled through some pretty inhospitable areas…..and yet, people have been living here for centuries. We passed by several ruins of Roman fortifications along the way.

Outside of Tataouine are several Berber hill villages. The most popular is called Chenini….yep, there's the Star Wars connection again. The village is known for it's distinctive white Mosque up on the hill.

We took about an hour to walk around the village. Many of the older homes built into the hillside had been abandoned and turned into storage.

Soon enough we made our way back to our transport and headed off to Tataouine. Since it was market day, the place was hopping.

Ben walked us to this little bakery.

Like Kairouan and Makroud, Tataouine also has it's special pastry called Corne de Gazelle, the gazelle's horn.

The pastry is in the shape of a gazelle's horn. I thought this was very nicely flavored, almonds and sesame seeds gave the confection a nice nuttiness. Like almost all classic Tunisian desserts the pastry was doused with a nice bit of honey. The Missus didn't care for it….I'm thinking it was the sesame seeds.

While Ben had a seat at one of the coffee shops, the Missus and I started walking around the market area. Here are some photos.

You know what this shop sells, right?

I was really enjoying the coffee culture in Tunisia and we decided to take a break at one of the coffee houses….it was a nice stop and gave us some time to take in the environment and people watch. They call espresso "cafe express" in Tunisia.

It was pretty calm driving from here on out, as we made our way to the island of Djerba. Soon we were driving over the causeway to Djerba which was the last leg of our tour. It had been a pretty hectic couple of days, but I was glad we did this…..there's just so much history in Tunisia.

A “New School”, “Old School” Night Part 2: Old School – Baci Ristoranti and a surprise finish

October 11, 2012 mmm-yoso Italian Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

After having drinks and appetizers at Luce, we headed next door to the "all grown up place", Baci. From the loud and boisterous, to the sedate and quite…..from stool around the bar to lounges, in what else, the small lounge. From tattooed staff to Servers in faux Tuxedos….

The friendly maitre'd….ok, when was the last time Ieven used the word maitre'd? The rather darkish lighting, the slightly formal but not stuffy service, the backlit sculpture of the torso of perhaps Venus de Milo in the background….there's some charm to this in our all Twitter…facebook…what's the latest fad/food truck/trend by the minute world we live in.

All of this calm was brought to you by the surroundings…and a Negroni or two….

The menu is full of old school Italian…. Linguine alle Vongole, check, Vitello Parmigiana…check, and of course Osso Bucco is a must, right?

And yet, there are some interesting items on the menu…….like the local sea urchin.

Hey, it's local uni and they didn't mess with it…….

I followed this up with the Braised Lamb Shank over Truffle Risotto ($28.95).

This was pretty much by-the-book, not heavily seasoned, the lamb wasn't over-cooked, nor tough, with that nice flavor of the pasture. The risotto had a decent texture, soft through and through. I do prefer my risotto a bit more "wet" and the "truffle" (really in quotations there) scent or flavor was really hard to make out.

Some of the other dishes I got to try. Candice's uni pasta was really garlic heavy, you really couldn't make out much of the uni taste, nor was it moist enough. Uni pasta is not my favorite thing, so take it for what it's worth. I thought the best item I tasted was JohnL's Pappardelle alla Tartuffo. The lamb ragu was full flavored and you could actually make out the flavor of truffles in this dish. The pasta was cooked perfectly as well.

While I still can't really recommend any place in San Diego for Italian cuisine, Baci was perfect for this evening with friends. It's an interesting look into what we considered fine dining when I was growing up and that doesn't get old as quickly as I am.

Baci Ristorante
1955 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

After dinner, Candice had one last surprise up her sleeve…..we went for drinks and the place we visited was packed. With folks over 60….who were just having a blast. The only seats available were at the piano bar.

Paintings of topless maidens from who knows when adorn the walls. There's a bit of a legend going around that these were paintings of actual Pan-Am Stewardesses from way back when….don't know about that, but it's a great story. I'd watch as a woman, probably in her late sixties would slowly walk up to the mic to sing at the piano bar…and my goodness, the voice! You could tell she/they were in their element as it would seem that years would slowly melt away and the clock would be turned back a bit. Friends and couples who knew each other for years, or perhaps minutes, would dance in the small area near the bar. All of this was happening while dinner service for what seemed to be tourists and visitors staying at the attached Travelodge was taking place inches away!

Then there was JohnL, who in spite of where we told him we were eating, decided to wear a v-neck t-shirt and jeans. Anyway, John is hunched over the piano bar, so naturally his shirt is hiked up…he's doing his best imitation of a plumber, if you know what I mean. So a sprightly octogenarian walks by, grabs his you-know-what, and tells him "your a$$ is sticking out!" We almost fell off our seats! Heck, JohnL could have had his hands full with…well, what's older than a Cougar? A sabretooth??? Whatever, we had a great time, it was wonderful seeing folks enjoying themselves. A bit later on in the evening, the hipsters start arriving and it gets a bit strange. Thanks to Candice, I got to see a part of San Diego I hadn't seen before. And it was a bit surprising because I've driven past here thousands of times.

This was the kind of place my Dad loved….and the kind of place where he met his third wife too….but that's a story for another day.

A “New School”, “Old School” Night Part 1: New School – Luce Bar & Kitchen

October 10, 2012 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

There are a handful of truly "old school" places in San Diego, not faux old school, but old enough to recall….say the 70's? It's all relative I guess? For me that's barely old enough, though for myfriends who are in their 30's, this is more than old school, this is before they started school! What started as a "hey, how about this…." conversation started to take shape. And since there are a couple of places in our neighborhood…and I don't mean the Silver Spigot, which is in a class by itself, I had thoughts about going to Old Trieste. I was soon convinced not to go, based on a couple of "scary food" statements from some friends. So we we settled on Baci…..meanwhile, the folks at Baci opened up a gastro-pub next door called Luce. The menu looked promising, I saw lines out to the sidewalk when driving by soon after the soft opening, and heck, Bay Park could really use a place like that. My good friend Candice told me an "new school – old school" night might be fun. We'd start at Luce for some drinks and appetizers and move on to Baci for dinner. So even though I usually don't post on these type of places, we had a fun and interesting night…..so why not break character for a post or two, right?

First, though the setting is fairly loud…..boisterous and fun is how your neighborhood tavern/pub should be, right? The decor is nice, the vibe is casual and neighborly, though the space is fairly small.

The bottled beer list is decent and though not large, there's enough stuff on tap to keep me interested. I started with a Ballast Point Calico Amber, which was a great way to start a weekend. Unfortunately, it was the highlite of my experience at Luce.

The menu is full of fairly intriguing items, sorta-kinda hip, perhaps a bit behind the curve stuff, like Pork Belly tacos. But it still sounds fun……and heck, who am I to talk about what's hip?

We started with the Pork Drumsticks ($6), which are a riff on Monkey Paw's Drunken Monkey Bones, basically pork shank pieces cut to vaguely resemble chicken wings.

First the good; these were braised nicely, soft and tender. Not so good; the pork was smeared with a glaze when reheated that was sweet, but that's about it…very one tone, I was wishing for some simple salt and pepper to help these. It looked so good, but didn't deliver.

The Braised Lamb Tacos were also not very pleasing.

Well, just for a value check, guess the price of these two rather scrawny tacos. Would you guess eight bucks ($8)? The lamb was dry, the tortillas seemed very low quality, and were also dry, they just tore apart when you tried to pick them up. Again, these were very low on the flavor scale.

The last item we tried were the Escargot Mushrooms.

This was another dish that could have used more aggressive seasoning. Also, there seemed to be but the tiniest piece of escargot on each mushroom, which really didn't matter much since it was very hard and rubbery. The sauce could have used more garlic and was very watery….give 'em some umph and get 'em to drink another beer!

We had thoughts about ordering more, but decided to cut our losses and just head next door a bit early to see if they had a table ready. On the good side, though a bit overwhelmed, our Server was very sweet as can be. Perhaps I need to order other items, or return after the grand opening period, once things settle down. But if it's anything like the evening we were here; a line of at least a dozen waiting outside when we left, maybe there's no motivation…. so we'll see.

Luce Bar & Kitchen
1959 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

So, would dinner at "Old School" Baci turn things around? Stay tuned!

Escondido: El Tejate Restaurante

October 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

The Missus was really missing the Mole Poblano from Los Pueblos and nothing could really solve the issue. So I thought it was about time that instead of heading to LA for Chinese, we'd just get out to Escondido and El Tejate, a Oaxacan restaurant….no it's not mole poblano, but Oaxaca is known for the complex mole negro, which I've been told several times is the most complex and difficult to make mole. I'd been wanting to go for a while. In fact, my good friends TFD and MrC actually stopped in the strip mall once, where I recall telling them about this place, but we just could never make it.

So on a lazy weekend morning, the Missus and I headed on up to Escondido and El Tejate, which of course is located in a strip mall, next to a Thai/Lao Market, a Thai Restaurant, and a Mediterranean place.

The restaurant itself doesn't look very large, but is fairly big as it is divided into two sections…the walls are painted in bright colors which added a nice contrast to the rather dark furnishings. We were waited upon by a very nice young lady, i'm thinking perhaps the daughter of the woman in the kitchen or the gentleman watching stuff on the laptop? This had the feel of a mom and pop place, the pace is relaxed and like a complex mole, it takes time.

There were some chips delivered with our menus; thick and crisp, though the "salsa" was seemed like straight up chilies scalded on the comal and blended with water.

We ended up ordering quite a bit, with things starting off with the Tlayuda, the folks here kindly made it with mole negro.

For the Missus the mole was love at first bite, we also thought the Quesillo – the Queso Oaxaca was pleasant, stringy like string cheese, with a tiny bit of milkiness like a very mild jack cheese. The Tlayuda is a large, thin tortilla, about 16 inches or so wide. The thickness is almost like the thinnest of thin crusts for pizza. It was both hard and chewy at the same time, and not really our thing. Though the Missus loved that mole.

I got the Enchiladas de Mole Negro ($10.50).

The mole seemed mild at first, but paying attention you'll quickly notice the complexity, first the nuttiness, then a mild sweetness, with clove-cinnamon hints, followed by a light sneaky heat. It was pretty rich stuff, I only finished one of the three enchiladas, but perhaps that's because I finished up the Tlayuda for the Missus. I enjoyed how the pungent onion cut through the richness, but the Missus thought it just interrupted the flavors. The chicken in the enchiladas was white meat and quite dry. The rice was very tasty……I would normally love this, but for some reason, it just didn't seem to go with the mole negro.

The Missus absolutely loved the Memilitas ($5).

The Missus was in masa heaven….these were like thinner sopes, with just a smear of tasty refried black beans and queso Oaxaca. Nicely moist and pliable enough to fold, these were missing just one thing for the Missus, you got it….mole negro. She availed Herself of the mole on my plate and wiped this out.

The last item that arrived was actually one of the appetizers….I just had to try the Chapulines ($8.95):

In case you don't know what Chapulines are, you can find out more here. And in case you want a close-up, you can see one up close and personal….here:

These were very well roasted and quite light…the flavor is like a very mild shrimp, though it was hard to tell because of the amount of tajinseasoning. Salty and puckery flavors, this is good beer food. If folks go expecting something outrageous they'll be disappointed, it's still quite good. We took most of it home and the Missus snacked on it until it was finished. Maybe next time we'll try the pusanos de maguey?

And there will definitely be a next time…the Missus is already craving that mole negro.

El Tejate Restaurante
205 W Mission Ave
Escondido, CA 92025

Open Daily 10am – 8pm

Exotic Meat Monday: Antelope and Wild Mushroom – Polenta Shepherd’s Pie

October 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I'm thinking this is something a bit different. Doesn't really look like much……

We were checking out the "frozen protein zoo" in the back of Seisel's and the Missus had the great idea of cooking up something a bit different….after all, it's getting tougher to come up with stuff for the blog. I've almost exhausted all the basic stuff I've made for years. Actually, I wanted to get the ground kangaroo meat and make burgers….I'd call them "hoppers"….the Missus wasn't amused and immediately said that burgers weren't allowed. So I bought about a pound and quarter of frozen ground antelope, with no idea of what to make.

While discussing potential dishes, shepherds pie came up….well why not? But the Missus came up with the caveat….it couldn't be just any shepherds pie, oh no. So I came up with topping the thing with polenta. In doing a bit of research, I found that antelope was pretty lean….which means dry to me. The Missus didn't want beef stock and I really didn't feel like simmering a bunch of bones on a Saturday. I often use my roasted mushrooms as a base for various dishes and the Missus had bought one of those gigantic bags of oyster mushroom from Zion market. Heck, I had to roast these for Her anyway, right?

So on Saturday evening, I roasted up those mushrooms. On Sunday, I made a double recipe of polenta, 2 cups corn grits to six cups water which I seasoned well. Since butter is persona non grata in our household, I used a good amount of roasted garlic olive oil as a fat. When the polenta was done, I separated off the estimated excess amount, which I formed in an oiled square container. The Missus is having fried polenta cakes with these. The rest I tasted, up the seasoning and fat and mixed in about a cup of thinly sliced scallions, mostly for color. I retrospect, I probably could have added some roasted red peppers or even diced sun dried tomatoes.

As for the base of the Shepherd's Pie, here it is….just a listing. Antelope meat is very lean and very mild with a distinct, almost flat finish. It's easy to come up with a tasteless dish, but this came out pretty well.

1 1/4 lb ground antelope
bacon fat – olive oil – grapeseed oil
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 cups of roasted wild mushrooms
3 cups (or more) mushroom roasting liquid
2 tb dried Turkish oregano
1 tb dried thyme
2 Bay leaves crushed
1 cup red wine
3 tb sherry vinegar
3 tb Worcestershire Sauce
more salt than you think you'll need
fresh ground black pepper

Luckily the roasted mushroom brought a lot to the dish, not only in mushroom flavor, but there's a good amount of garlic and onions as well. If I do this again, I'll not only use the bacon fat, but lardons of a couple of slices of bacon to start as well. I cooked the mess down until it hit the right consistency, but it into a baking pan…topped with the polenta, which wasn't as easy as it seems and baked at 400 for 20 minutes.

It was actually pretty good. Not much in terms of "exotic" flavors, very lean and chewy. Loved the polenta topping. The top was on the crunchy side, while the part laying on top of the ragout was moist and creamy.

Oh, and this is what the bacon was used for.

The Missus actually made this. After all these years, the Missus is starting to find the joy of cooking! I can't help but laugh when I see Her crushing herbs in Her palm to extrude the oils, all the stuff She used to hassle me about! Now it's sharp knives, the immersion blender, and the Dutch oven, go figure…..

Anyway, I'm thinking we'll do something like this every couple of weeks. Any suggestions???

Oceanside: Panca Peruvian Rotisserie

October 7, 2012 mmm-yoso Peruvian Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Panca Peruvian has closed

You didn't think that I'd drive up to see my buddy JohnL and just grab a poke bowl, right? I needed to make use of John's appetite and ability to pace himself for another stop. I'd heard about a Pollo a la Brasa joint up in Oceanside and wanted to try it out. Now in Lima, it seems you can't even walk a block without running into one of those places. The most popular chain is named Pardo's, which was good, but I happen to love the papas fritas made with papa amarilla, a yellow potato with a flavor similar to yukon gold. Along with the wonderful aji aioli it was good stuff.

Located next to a laundromat on Coast Highway, it's easy to pass the rather small sign for Panca. The design and decor is very much "fast-casual" looking, simple with colors and various paintings….love the photo of Aji Amarillo on one of the walls.

Having John here was a blessing; since in addition to the Pollo ala Brasa, we could try several of the interesting sounding sandwiches.

We started with the Lomito ($7.95), which is basically Lomo Saltado minus the papas fritas on a bun.

The meat is fairly chewy, but not unpleasantly so….this is based on lomo saltado after all. I'd have loved a bit more onions and more tangy tomatoes, but I'm sure the place wants to please the meat eaters. Nice soy flavors, this seemed to missing that wonderful anise-mint flavor delivered from Huacatay, but I'm sure that's hard to get. A bit too much bread for me, but it stood up well to whatever juices came out of the meat. I must say that the Aji sauce was pretty one-dimensional, a bit of heat and not much else.

The "fresh-cut" fries were actually quite nice….good potato flavor. And there was a ton of it…..

As you can see with the Chicharron Sandwich ($6.95) we ordered:

Geeez Louise….do you think that's enough fries??? Luckily, they have a decent potato flavor, even if they don't stay crisp for very long.

Now just the word Chicharron, in the context of Peruvian food makes my mouth water. It brings back memories of a street called Pampas de Castillo in Cusco. This was where all the Chicharronerias were located. During lunch, the restaurants would wheel out the fryers to the sidewalk and start cooking up pork and chicken, the fragrance of swine frying could be caught all the way down to Plaza de Armas!

This version was fairly mild, like a tame pulled pork.

The sweet potato chips at the bottom of the sandwich, I'm sure was there to add some sweetness (which it didn't) and a textural contrast, which it slightly did. I could have done with a bit more of the sarza criolla, the onion relish, which also could have used some aji amarilla for some umph. The pork flavor was decent, but this was a bit dry and the large amount of bread did it no favors. Still, I think this is worth the price……..

And finallywe tried the Quarter Chicken ($6.95), which also came with a huge amount of fries.

Now there are a couple of things I need to say first; the chicken was on the small side, but I'm fine with that. In many cases these smaller birds (like they'll use in Peru) have more flavor. Second, from the flavor, I don't think these were roasted over wood, so you can't even compare with Peru, or even LA.

The chicken was very moist, perhaps a bit heavy on the sodium, but with a decent overall flavor. I'm thinking perhaps a bit better than what Nazca Grill serves, who finishes their chicken over wood (or so I've been told), but I've got to get back there again to refresh my tastebuds. It's not something I'd go out of my way for, but I'm glad I tried it.

The service was good, they've got my favorite Peruvian Beer, Cristal, and I'd drop in every once in a while if I lived in the neighborhood. In terms of value, I'd say that it depends on what you order.

Panca Peruvian Rotisserie
1902 South Coast Hwy
Oceanside, CA 92054

Hours:
Tues – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 9pm
Closed on Mondays

Tunisia: Matmata and Ksar Ghilane

October 6, 2012 mmm-yoso Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

After passing through the Chott el Jerid and Douz, we headed up into the hills. It seems there's really not much to see, just rolling terrain.

Until you realize a couple of yards away, dug into a large pit in the ground is something like this.

The area is called Matmata and these are commonly known as "troglodyte" villages. These craters are quite amazing, with quarters built into the sides of the crater and sometimes linked by tunnels.

According to Ben there are about 50 of these "villages" left, many leave for towns and more modern homes with things like A/C and such. I don't blame them, really. This looks like a fairly spartan and tough way to live.

According to what I read, people thought the folks who came out of these mountains to work on the olive fields in the villages were part of nomadic tribes that travelled the region. It was not until 1967, when the area was flooded after 22 straight days of rain, that the villages sent representatives to ask for aid that people finally knew of these villages.

Several of these villages are open to the public and this was one of them. I did feel a bit uncomfortable….entering people's homes and all that, but this is the way they can support themselves and perhaps preserve their way of like a bit longer. There's no admission, you just leave some dinar in a basket….most of the visitors leave a dinar or two. We put ten in the basket and the woman there asked us to come back in. She gave us some bread they make and then told the Missus to try Her hand at grinding some of the grain with one of the older women….who I was told was in her 80's!!!!

The Missus told me that it took some effort to work the grinder and this woman was pretty strong.

We were finally seeing a good number of tourists…..and then stopped at another site, a former troglodyte village that's now a hotel called Sidi Driss. Was this where we were staying the night? No……but I'm sure many of you will know why so many were stopping here…..

Yes, it's the Lars dining room……

This pretty much seals it….

There were literally bus loads of tourists stopping here. It was somewhat disconcerting….. we'd seen so much in Tunisia, with nary a tourist in sight, and here there were hundred of them wanting their photo taken with plywood facades….. Oh well, pop culture and all that, right?

We turned back from here and headed back toward Douz, making a turn to a pretty rough stretch of road halfway back. We actually came to some areas where you really did need a four-wheel drive. Eventually, we stopped at a little palmeraie. The place really had a sort of "you're not in Kansas anymore" look. There were encampments with simple shacks and tent set-ups. This was Ksar Ghilane, at the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental ("Great Eastern Sand Sea"), the Sahara. Ksar means something like fort and outside of the oasis, there is an ancient Roman fort named Tisavar which was part of the Lines Tripolitanus defense line a couple of kilometers away. The fort was actually used in the Second World War by General Leclerc during his campaign in Tunisia.

Ksar Ghilane was our stop for the night, but we weren't staying in any of those shacks ot simple tents…..our accommodation was at the Pansea . We were told these were "five-star" tents…..not that I knew what a five-star tent was supposed to be like. We'd soon find out…..

The tents were set-up in clusters…we entered and were surprised…full king size bed, decent lighting, lounge area, shower and toilet….and what we thought was the best A/C we had the entire trip!

Another thing we quickly noticed was how fine th sand was here….it would get into anything. I still had sand in my shoes and bags after we returned from our trip…..several weeks later!

Down the road a bit, you can stop by and even swim in the hot spring that feeds this palmeraie. The water is pretty warm and knowing what grows in warm water….well, nuff said, right?

A few yards further was the Sahara. Now after really enjoying riding camels in Douz, we had Ben arrange for the same here. The sand of the Grand Erg Oriental is a striking red….perhaps you'll remember it from the beginning scenes of the movie The English Patient. It'sreally like that….I can only speak to the beginning of the film. I could never bring myself to make it through even a fourth of it. Man, talk about a slllooooow movie.

I've done quite a bit over just the last couple of years, but for some reason, this is right up there with all of them. The desert is just plain beautiful. We stopped and walked over and around the dunes while the camels rested. I'd been told, but never noticed until now; when resting under normal conditions, camels do face toward the sun!

I'm not going to bore you with a zillion photos of red sand dunes, but there is something strangely mesmerizing about watching a light breeze lift the fine sand of the Sahara……building the next dune, or perhaps just getting into someones shoes.

There was an Asian couple with us, the guy was Taiwanese and the young lady Japanese. The young lady looked like she was being tortured and was obviously terrified of the sun as she was wrapped like a mummy! She kept trying to get sand out of…well everywhere it seemed. Meanwhile, once the camels stopped, the guy just zipped right past us and was running up and down dunes like he'd hit nirvana! It was quite funny.

At about a hundred wards or so before we got back to camp, the wind picked up, the sky got dark, and sand started whipping everywhere. Ben had been waiting for us and told us…"sandstorm…."

Watching things turn on a dime was awe inspiring. We watched the camels huddle together for comfort.

Of course, it wouldn't have been fun being out there in the middle of things when this occurred.

We got back to our tent, showered and freshened up, and went for a walk around the area. The Pansea actually had built a "faux" Ksar tower, which we would take full advantage of later on that evening.

Dinner was, of course, one of those all too standard buffets…this one was especially poor, but considering where we were, it was expected. There was a desert race group from France and they attacked the buffet like a pack of hungry wolves fighting over the last drum stick.

A couple of them were also pretty cheap dates and seemed like they were pretty ripped after two glasses of wine…go figure.

The main buffet strategy was to stay away from proteins…most are terribly bad and keep with the vegetables and stuff like mechouia. It was also nice that in Tunisia, you could get a decent bottle of wine for pretty cheap…..under ten bucks at times!

After dinner, I picked up a bottle of beer at the bar and the Missus and I climbed the stairs up the Ksar and looked at all the stars….you could see them clearly since there wasn't any light to interfere.

We both slept well and as usual got up really early, before the sun. Though we really wouldn't be able to see the sunrise, we still hiked up the tower. This is what one of those clusters of tens look like at 530 in the morning.

The sun was coming up and after breakfast we'd be on the last leg of this private tour. Though our days were full, time sure seemed to be flying by.

Sorry there wasn't much food in this post. I do appreciate you reading!