mmm-yoso – Page 294

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante revisited (again).

October 30, 2012 mmm-yoso Salvadoran Restaurants

It had been a while since we'd been here and even longer since my last post on the place. The Missus is sure craving Her Latin American dishes. She had been mentioning returning here for close to three weeks before we finally made in back. In my last post, I mentioned how the place had been "freshened up" a bit. Now it's pretty much returned to the look of old….a bit mismatched and worn, but we really don't come here to gaze at the design and furnishings.

The service was fairly unorganized, but very nice….it seems like the customers were more of the problem as one of them kept walking to the counter and shouting to whomever was in the back! Sheesh….

The Missus loves the curtido, the pickled vegetables that accompany pupusas. But not on Her pupusas…She eats them with Her chips! She also misses the large communal container of curtido,which has been replaced by a bowl. I'm figuring code violations probably made this come about.

We started with Pacaya Forradas, basically the the flowering portion("male inflorescense") of a species of palm. The pacaya look much like tentacles of baby corn.

This looked much different then what we had here before. I thought the sauce tasted much like the salsa we had with the chips. It lacked body and didn't have enough of the tangy tomato flavors. It wasn't bad, in fact the Missus still loved the slightly bitter flavor coupled with the nice crunch. I thought it wasn't quite as good as before and not nearly as good what we had in Honduras, though I didn't expect that since what we had in Copan was fresh and this was obviously bottled. Still, it didn't seem too different, perhaps just a bit more tough and bitter. If you order this dish, make sure to get it with hand made tortillas, which are like pupusas without filling.

While I thought the pacaya was not as good as before, I believe the pupusas were better than I recalled. Very moist and well put together. The Pupusa con Chicharron almost squirted molten juice on me when I cut it open. Nice rich pork flavor…a little goes a long way.

And while I enjoyed the pork a lot, perhaps the queso en loroco was even better. Loroco is the green bud of the Fernaldia pandurata, a vine that grows in Central America. You can find jars and bottles of these, as well as pacaya at Northgate Market. I really like the unique, pungent-artichoke like flavor that comes through clearly.

Though it could easily be said that in spite of the cheese, you could really make out all of the different flavors in the pupusas…the Missus had three Herself.

I had a taste of the jalapeno and cheese and thought it as pretty good. The curtido also helps cut the richness of the fillings as well.

Consumption of masa will usually put me into a pre-coma state and my two pupusas were no exception. The Missus took it a step further and had an entire tamale elote en crema….a sweet corn tamale!

After which we headed home for a nice Sunday nap! On the drive home, the Missus mentioned that we haven't been to El Salvadoreno in a while. We always preferred this place….but will probably need to check them out soon….just for comparison sake, right? Especially since the Missus is still on Her Latin American food kick!

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Revisits to The Original Sab E Lee, Sab E Lee Santee and Koon Thai

October 29, 2012 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Here’s a trio of revisits to various Thai places we’ve been to in recent weeks.

The Original Sab E Lee:

**** TOSEL has closed

You know, we’ve been here tons of times since they opened in August of 2008. We miss Koby, who used to own this, then Sab E Lee in Santee dearly. There have been times when our meals…usually when doing take-out has been less than stellar and there seems to be a group of young kids often running the front of house, but they’ve always been pleasant, if a bit inconsistent.

I’ve found that my heat tolerance, once leveled off at “Thai spicy”, a 10, is now about a 7. And what we usually get here is a rotation of our favorites, sometimes throwing in something we hadn’t had in a while. This visit was no different.

We started with the grilled duck larb:

One need to look no further than this for a savory, tangy, sour, and satisfying dish.

The Missus was wanting something like the Shrimp Pla from SEL2, so we went with the Shrimp Larb:

This was pretty weak by SEL standards, not spicy enough at even a 7 heat level, too much lime interfered with any other flavor, and not enough really going on. We thought the Shrimp were a bit overcooked for this type of dish. At the most, we’d prefer shrimp just barely cooked.

But all was right with the Shrimp Pad See Eew.

Nice flavor, shrimp cooked quite well. There’s some “wok hei” going on….. great flavors from caramelization and the combination of ingredients, high heat, a well seasonedwok and the now ever popular and over-used “Maillard Reactions”.

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

Sab E Lee 2 (Sab E Lee Santee):

**** This location of Sab E Lee has closed

After our visit back in May, I received and email telling me the place had gone downhill. A couple of weeks ago, the Missus wanted Her fish fix, so we decided to head back.

The gentleman, whose name, if I recall is something like “Chud” still remember me from the days when Koby was here and our San Diego Beer week dinner in 2010. His daughter is now working there; it’s become a real family affair.

We started with the Shrimp Pla, with it’s spicy-sweet-sour-savory tones, this really perks us up and gets us ready for the rest of the meal.

Instead of my usual Garlic Rice, I went with one of my favorites at TOSEL, the Salted Fish Fried Rice. This version was much more mellow, but really delicious, and less salty. You could make out the fragrance and taste the salted fish, but it really didn’t over-power the dish.

The Missus went with the Volcano Fish, instead of Her usual the House Signature Fish.

This one had a bit too much going on for me, but the Missus enjoyed it, and that was the main thing.

We also ordered one of those typical, you pick the protein, you pick the preparation, Thai dishes…..

Which would be ok from your neighborhood Thai take-out joint, but was nothing special.

We’ll probably be coming again, the Missus enjoys the fish here…..and I want more salted fish fried rice.

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

Koon Thai:

Based on my previous post, you can figure out what I order here, right? The Nam Khao Tod of course.

This is pretty “wet” and I still prefer the Lao version, but the gingery-sour-salty flavors, topped by some spice I find quite refreshing.

And of course that simmered pork leg dish, the Khao Karr Moo (Khao Kha Moo), which, when done well…..about a 50-50 shot during my last couple of visits, takes me back to Thailand.

At least it’s now on the permanent menu.

On a recent visit, the Missus went with the…are you ready….pla nuer onn tod kra tom. Can we just call it crispy whole fish? Anyway, this thing took about 15 minutes longer than both of my dishes….no mention of anything amiss, just dropped my dishes off…and we waited. Finally the Missus told me, “just eat you food….if it takes more than five more minutes, we’ll be getting it to go and never coming back.” Luckily, the fish made it’s way to the table….again, no indication that anything was out of the ordinary….I guess it’s SOP here. We’re used to the “appetizer sin”, which really doesn’t bother us, but this was strange. Anyway, this wasn’t just a whole fried fish….it was 11 whole fishes!

These were sheathfish and the Missus told me they were fried and seasoned perfectly as She ate all 11 of them! She also enjoyed the sauce and asked if we could have more….and they wanted to charge us $2……really? Whatever……. I’ve had some kind of weird service here in the past, I guess that’s the norm.

I will usually come here for lunch when I have the time, not sure the Missus would want to come back, though.

Koon Thai Kitchen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go, three down and a couple of more to go……stay tuned!

Turo Turo Thursday: A Revisit to Conching’s Cafe

October 25, 2012 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

*** Conching is now Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine & Ice Cream Parlor

Over the course of the last twelve weeks I managed to revisit a couple of turo turo places, which I'll post on over the next few weeks. Actually, I dropped by Tita's twice during this period, but they didn't have any sisig, so I decided not to wait in those massive lines. I've heard that they actually changed the sisig recipe when AZ(not you "AZ", the other AZ) visited; I always thought the sisig there was terrible. So it took a television thing to get them to make a better product? I guess even they knew their sisig wasn't up to par….. Well enough of that. Here's enough saturated fat for a week or so.

There was a time not too long ago, when I thought that Conching made some of the best turo turo sisig in San Diego. As of a couple of years ago, I felt that the sisig had slipped a bit. It just wasn't as good. Those thought were percolating in mi cabeza as I parked.

No matter how many times I visit, walking to the turo turo ("point point", a reference to steam table cuisine) counter, I can't help but be amused at the ice cream parlor look. Someone asked me to describe the interior once and the best I could come up with was "Farrell's meets patis". Because I had just come from the long lines and cold stares at Tita's, the stark emptiness of the place really made an impression. There were no other customers during my entire meal.

Looking over the steam table items, I saw something I never recalled seeing before, so I ordered it.

I guess it's the purple tinted red color that got me…plus this had slices of pork belly in it. Well, even more than the color, catching a whiff of it as I brought this to my table really got my nares out of the morning doldrums. I actually liked this; it was salty, in a good way, very savory, obviously from a good amount of bagoong alamang. It was also fairly spicy, a rarity in most Filipino dishes that I've had….the possible exception being bicol express and some versions of sisig. Still, I didn't know what the heck this was and the woman behind the counter wasn't in a particularly chatty mood, so I took a photo and sent it to my former coworker "MG". Who informed me that this was a dish with the catchy name of Binagoongang Baboy. The combination of pungent bagoong, garlic, chilies, tomato, and green bell peppers, adds up to salty-savory,tangy,spicy, and pretty delicious in my book. I have another dish to be on the look-out for in the future.

Of course I had the sisig.

Which was disappointing. Oh how the mighty has fallen. This was soggy, lacked vinegar, and had rather unpleasant bitterness to it.

On a positive note, I have a new dish to look out for. On the flip side, it seems that the sisig here has gone downhill. I asked MG when I saw her a couple of weeks later. She told me that the food at Conching hasn't been very good for the last six-eight months. Sad.

Conching's Cafe
3400 E 8th St.Ste 115
National City, CA 91950

Beijing: Our last day……

October 21, 2012 mmm-yoso Beijing, China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel

Man, it's taken me so long to finish all of our China posts….but I really did want to get it done, so here it is…..

It was pouring like crazy when we left the Wushan fish restaurant, so we decided to take a cab. During the drive back, the Missus talked the cab driver into stopping at a location where She could take a photo of this:

So while the cab driver took a smoke break, the Missus climbed up a median and took Her photos.

Upon first leaving Beijing, the Missus had Her mom talk to Mr Li. We wanted to thank and pay our respects to all the great folks who took great care of us during our time in Beijing. So we decided on having everyone together for a banquet. Mr and Mrs Li picked us up and drove us through the streets of Beijing, where "he with the most nerve has the right of way." And after going through a series of stops and gates ended up on the second floor of an empty restaurant. But this wasn't just a restaurant…..it looked like we were on a military base, and this looked like the VIP/Officers club. It was nice to gather and have a meal with all the wonderful folks whom we had the pleasure of meeting in Beijing.

Once the dishes started arriving, Mr Li asked the Missus why I hadn't brought out my camera….sheepishly I had the Missus explain that "tonight is for friends….no pictures". Which didn't last very long. I did restrain myself and only took photos of two dishes that Mr Li and Mr Doo explained were very special. The first was a very tasty deer tendon dish.

The second this delicious fish and beancurd dish.

It was another wonderful night. I really am indebted to these folks for welcoming me and really making me feel welcome.

The Missus and I didn't sleep much that night. We spent much of the night reminiscing……we'd done so much in our time in China.

From arriving in Beijing and hiking the Great Wall.

And my love for Suan Ni (sour milk – yogurt) and Lu Rou Huo Shao(donkey meat):

And of course the Forbidden City.

There was the visit to the Missus' High School (which is now part of the Hutong Tour!) and of course the wonderful banquet.

The Missus' soul may reside in Beijing; but Her heart remains in Her hometown of QingDao.

It was a great time revisiting all of those places that the Missus held in Her memory.

I was amazed and touched at how the Missus' family just welcomed me into the fold, as if I'd always been part of this wonderful clan. And of course, there were all those banquets…even two in one day! But what I remember most fondly is the soulful cooking of Fifth Aunt.

We had a chance to visit Jinan and meet relatives whom the Missus doesn't even remember.

I got a chance to meet some serious foodies, as the Aunts and Uncles here are really serious about their food.

In Hangzhou, I had a chance to visit West Lake(Xī Hú) which looked post card perfect.

And had a couple of chances to taste what is arguably Hangzhou's most famous dish Dongpo Rou a couple of times.

Suzhou remains one of the places I'd like to revisit. There's an amazing air of delicate artistry to the city. The Missus tells me, even the accent is rather delicate. The canals and gardens are studies in aesthetic design and beauty.

Nanjing, the "Capital of Six Dynasties" was our next stop. A proud city, with it's own unique beauty.

And it's own special dishes…..

There's a saying in Chinese that "two places ten miles apart don't share the same habits". We found that true of food as well.

There are times when grand descriptions of places really don't live up to expectations. I'll say this much, the Army of Terracotta Warriors exceeded my expectations.

As did the food!

I appreciated the the stick to your ribs flavors of Qin Cuisine.

In Chengdu/Jiangyang we met my Father In Laws family. Though we didn't have much time in the area, we managed to have a memorable dinner, with a dish that tasted like no other I'd ever had before.

We didn't know what we ate until we came home and the Missus saw the restaurant's sign…..

But hey, those Pandas at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base are really cute.

The Missus thought this was really funny…..at my expense:

Which led us back to where we started…Beijing.

There was so much we had done….so much we had seen…..we dozed off and before you knew it, the sun had risen over Beijing, morning had broken. The ever gracious Mrs Li took us out breakfast before we left for the airport….the new Beijing, pumpkin porridge.

With the more traditional youtiao…..

In my mind, this is the China I visited…..so much is changing, so new, so quick, and yet, the backbone of tradition exists. I hope that history, the pride in declaring where you came from, the sense of identity, never goes away…..

Djerba (Tunisia): Restaurant Aladin and the Green Palm

October 20, 2012 mmm-yoso North African Food, Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

Our basic travels around Tunisia, except for the last few days in Djerba and La Marsa had come to an end. We were dropped off at the Green Palm by Ben, who would be picking us up tomorrow for a short tour of Houmt Souk and Erriadh. The Green Palm is located, along with what seems like a zillion other "all inclusive" type reports in the Zone Touristique. The objective is to keep you on the property or in the properties clutches the entire time. No outside food or drink allowed on the premises, distances between properties can be a bit of a hike……

The facilities are decent, there are "animation team" (I didn't even know what that was until we got here) events, a large pool, and the Missus started whining from the moment we arrived feeling trapped.

There's a definite lack of atmosphere at places like this…..you can tell, Club Med ain't for us. I will say, the folks here are really nice, more on that later.

So after freshening up, the first thing we did was to go for some lunch…..not in the hotel. We walked about a mile or so and stopped at a place where all the cab drivers were eating called Restaurant Aladin.

You can always count on cabbies, cops, and other civil servants to find places that are reasonably priced with decent fare. And this was not an exception. The food was simple, the lettuce was iceberg, but it was a decent meal, and very cheap.

The brik was a bit overdone, the egg too overcooked.

The merguez was quite good though……

For some reason, the Missus kept wanting more tomatoes…….

It was a decent meal that filled us up nicely.

We picked up some bottled water on the way back to the resort….not knowing at the time that outside drinks of any kind were not allowed…..what ensued when we passed by the guards was nothing short of hilarious. The guards stopped us and spoke to us first in French, then German, the Arabic……yeah, we really looked like we spoke those languages. We kept talking to them in English, which they didn't speak. Finally, they got a clue and asked us, "you…..English?" When we nodded in agreement, they pointed to a sign on the wall……the was WRITTEN IN FRENCH! What? I told them, "no francais, no francais….." By this time, even they were laughing, and they passed us through.

We also came to find out that there was no wifi reception in our rooms, so I ended up getting some "cafe express" in the massive lobby area, while checking email and even doing a short post.

Later that evening, as we were getting ready to go to the dinner buffet, I recall looking out off the terrace at the empty lots and other resorts thinking to myself, "this is going to be a pretty rough two days…."

Crispy Five Spice Duck Breasts aka “Three Day Duck”

October 18, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Here's a fun little recipe, adapted from Cecilia Chiang's autobiographical cookbook, The Seventh Daughter. I've been fascinated by the book, not only are the stories great, but the recipes are deceptively easy. Almost too easy. I finally got around to making a couple of things and I have to say, even though I think the recipes are a bit gringo-ized, the duck turned out very crisp, nicely infused with flavor, though a bit on the dry side. I did bump up a lot of the seasoning, but I was happy with the result.

I'll probably use a glaze like the one for my Char Siu Glazed Duck next time, or maybe I'll come up with something more interesting. Though this duck takes three days to prepare, it's pretty easy stuff……. So here goes:

Day 1

1 1/2 Tb Five Spice Powder (we used the stuff we brought back from QingDao)
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (when using wine of any sort/country, get the drinking variety)
1 thumb size piece of ginger, skin removed (use a spoon), cut into thin slices – about 6-7
2 stalks scallions, green parts cut into 2" pieces, white parts chopped and smashed
1 Tb sea salt
2 duck breast halves

– Mix all ingredients together
– Place duck in marinade and rub well
– Place in a ziploc bag and let marinate overnight

The next day you'll remove the duck from the marinade and take off straggling pieces of ginger and scallions.

Day 2

– Steam these babies for 30 minutes
– Remove from plate and liquid and place on a plate lined with paper towels to cool (I gotta figure something to do with all the oil/liquid that came out of the duck)
– I actually seasoned with a bit more salt and five spice….just because
– Once cool place in the fridge (DO NOT cover) to let dry overnight

The next (big) day these babies will look like they've suffered a bit of shrinkage, which they did.

Day 3

– In my cast iron pan, I heated about an inch and a half of oil to 350 (like I really measured)
– Fry the duck breasts for about two minutes each side

Seemed a bit dry so I served with Hoisin Sauce and sliced scallions.

In her book Cecilia Chiang calls this Sichuan Crispy Duck….but I really don't think that's correct. But whatever you call it, it pretty delicious.

Last weekend when I was bored, I used up five stalks of scallions that were starting to go brown and made some scallion oil. I then used two bulbs of garlic and made some garlic oil…really…I do stuff like that when I'm bored. I served the whole thing up with some Scallion and Garlic Oil Noodles.

Three days, but not much overall time involved…..step 1 I did in the middle of a post when I got bored. Step 2 meant turning on the stove. Step three was tonight……

It was a nice dinner three days in the making.

Midweek Meanderings: Silly Stuff and Recently Consumed

October 17, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

Not much to write, here's a trio of photos that I find somewhat amusing:

In case they're planning a California Burrito museum, I've got an exhibit ready for them.

This photo is a couple of years old…..I don't even remember where this was from.

You can tell we've been spending way too much time at Northgate Market…..we started checking out the various teas, which seems to cure just about anything.

Except for maybe what you'll get if you use this as instructed:

Really? You're actually proud that this compliments MSG and Chicken boullion? But wait, I actually know a couple of Pho places where this might be an improvement.

Here's a couple of things I noticed in passing:

I've twice noticed this at the parking bump in the parking lot in front of Tan Ky Mi Gia:

Which god is this for?

Like I said, we've been spending way too much time in Northgate Market. I noticed this maguey root shaped like an heart.

I was tempted to buy it….but it wasn't Valentine Day, nor do I really know what to make with it, except pulque. Any ideas for the next time we go shopping there?

Recently consumed:

On the day I bought the antelope, I got a nice veal rib chop:

I seasoned it fairly heavily then seared it off….I forgot how fast veal cooks and really had to slam on the brakes, but it turned out really nice.

Even the Missus had a couple of bites!

We had a couple of days of cooler weather a week ago….now it's back in the high 80's! Anyway, it was time to start looking for stuff like baihe and making stuff like this.

I did see fresh chanterelles at Nijiya, but they aren't very fragrant and too firm…perhaps it's too early in the season yet? Hopefully we'll get a couple of good deliveries of it this year.

Anyway, that's it. I hope everyone is having a great week!

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