mmm-yoso – Page 313

Nanjing: Another Dinner and what our T-Shirts said

July 16, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Nanjing, Travel

I figure I'd better get going with more China posts before my memory really fades…….

After our visit to the Sun Yat -Sen Mausoleum, we caught the bus back into the city. My foot was feeling pretty good, so we decided to walk up to the major shopping district of Nanjing….which was packed to the gills with people. Out of curiosity we even walked through……

Which was quite interesting…..

We soon tired of the crowds and decided to walk back to our hotel and grab some dinner on the way back. We had passed this restaurant earlier, another multi-leveled place…..fast food on the bottom, casual restaurant second floor, restaurant third floor, and banquet area on top….

The Missus and I decided to stop here and have dinner. The place wasn't very busy, and the service here was pretty good. The menu was fairly vast with some interesting looking dishes on it. Like this one……

Because I'd already had sprinkles on a dish during one of our banquets in Beijing it didn't have quite the same effect on me…. but I still found it a bit odd. I'm waiting for the day I'll open a menu somewhere in the SGV and see a savory dish with sprinkles on it! If you can read Chinese you might find the story of the dish on the menu interesting.

We ended up ordering a whopping five dishes of the menu, which varied in quality and taste.

The worst was the grilled lamb rib which was really dry and tough….and had almost no flavor….

I didn't think much of the classic Nanjing dish, the bean curd soup.

If I recall, the true classic version of this is supposed to have vermicelli in it…this one had bean sprouts. The Missus thought it was tasty though.

The Baihe (Lily Bulb) with Celery was passable. Not as good as other versions, but pleasantly gooey….

Of course after seeing the "Scrolls with Treasures" on the menu, we just had to try it!

This was actually better than it looked. The sprinkles were really just a garnish…. call it parsley on the plate if you will, and really didn't interfere with the flavors of this dish. The sweet soy and peanut oil mixture was very tasty. This was very much like the "seaweed roll" you'd see served in dim sum places.

The best dish of the night by far was the minced duck served with cups made of wheat flour……which looked like wo-wo-tou.

First off the duck had a wonderful flavor, and the sauce, a mild fruity-sweet, along with a nice salty-soy flavor went well with the minced duck. The vegetables added some nice crunch and helped to cleanse the palate a bit. The "cup" were wonderful, mildly grainy, nutty, with a restrained sweetness that just brought everything together for us. This was one of the most memorable dishes of our trip.

After dinner we walked back to our room….pass the now brightly lit "Disco Palace"….

To get some rest…… my foot needed some elevation, and the next day we were headed out to Xi'an, a city that I was really excited about visiting…..

What our t-shirts said:

On my last post on our visit to Nanjing I had a photo of sort of matching t-shirts the Missus and I bought. I was surprised that folks wanted to know what the shirts said:

Mine on the left said, "I don't eat, but I do the dishes". The Missus on the right says, "I eat all the food, but I don't do the dishes."

Oh, and the one we bought for my Mother In Law, who is very frugal (and proud of it…she sent us a photo after we mentioned the shirt in our post) says, "I make money, but never spend it!"

A Lomo Saltado Comparison: Latin Chef, Nazca Grill, and Tropical Star

July 14, 2011 mmm-yoso Latin American Cuisine, Peruvian Restaurants

The classic and for many ubiquitous Peruvian dish Lomo Saltado has a special place in my heart. It was the first "Peruvian" (the reason for the parenthesis later) dish that really drew my attention at El Rocoto Restaurant in Gardena. It made enough of an impression, that I headed off to the library (the internet really wasn't such a large part of our lives in '97) to try to find out what Peruvian cuisine was all about. There were many aspects of the dish that really resonated with me; the familiar flavors like soy sauce, cooking style, at heart the dish is a stir fry (saltado = to leap) , and yes, the carbs. Coming from Hawaii, many of my friends still say, "it ain't lunch unless it has at least two carbs!" So I found the combination of rice and papas fritas (french fries) enchanting…… Over the years I'd come to appreciate the history of the dish, a fusion of the cooking of the Chinese that settled in great numbers in Peru (Lima has the largest Chinatown in South America) Spanish (onions, garlic) and ethnic Peruvian (potatoes). Though most every version nowadays has french fries in it, I've read that the dish originally used boiled potatoes…. I've got to say that I'd probably prefer fried to boiled.

Anyway, a post comparing the lomo saltado available in San Diego has been a long time coming, so here it is:

Latin Chef ($11):

After a rather lengthy respite, I've been going back to Latin Chef quite a bit recently. So of course I was bound to have the lomo saltado again…..

Latin Chef used to have a prominent spot on our rotation, but for some reason we just kinda stopped going.

On my recent visits, it seems like the food had slipped a bit (I'll go into detail in the future post). The lomo saltado here is still my favorite in San Diego. The meat is the most tender, you can make out the soy, there's a slight tangy flavor, and the rice had always been cooked well. They seem to be depending a bit much on salt and the mild anise-mint flavor of Huacatay is missing. The papas fritas still have crunch which is a plus, as is the amount of sauce. There just seems to be something missing from this dish recently.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Nazca Grill ($10.95):

**** Nazca Grill has closed

As the food at Latin Chef seems to be slipping, Nazca Grill seems to be slowly getting better:

The beef here is tougher than Latin Chef's and the main herb for flavoring seems to be cilantro. Not enough salt and lacking any tangy flavor this version still falls short for me.

Nazca Grill
4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Tropical Star ($8.50):

Over the years I've come to think of Tropical Star as sort of a Latin American mom-and-pop equivalent of those diners that try to make everything. The menu is vast and not everything is really worth a try. Still, in spite of all my visits to Tropical Star, I've always stopped short of ordering the lomo saltado…. there was an inner voice that told me not to "go there". But you know that I couldn't go all these years without trying it out. So recently, I finally ordered the lomo saltado, which was the cheapest of the three….. and holy-moley, it was also the largest portion…. of grayish looking meat…..

Really tough meat, full gristle, perhaps chuck…. it gives new meaning to "2 buck chuck (steak)". My feet also started swelling up pretty quickly as I ate this. I stared at the shelves looking for some kind of packaged lomo saltado mix, since there was a powderiness to the dish as well. Funny, as I walked out, I noticed several jars of Aji-no-moto (MSG) right next to the Aji Panca on one of the shelves….. There are several items that Troplical Star does reasonably welland the prices are just as reasonable. I'd pass on the lomo saltado though…..

Tropical Star
6163 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Typing out this post makes me think we'll need to be heading back to Peru one of these days……

Weeknight Grilling: Grilled Chicken with Ginger – Scallion Pesto – actually Cold Ginger Chicken Sauce (aka Kwai Fei Chicken Sauce)

July 11, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Here's a quick recipe for grilling on a week night. Hawaii has its own style of Chinese food, dishes like "Cake Noodle", "oyster sauce chicken", and a big favorite "Cold Ginger Chicken", were a big part of my youth. We didn't have much money, so Chinese food was something special. As I grew older, and my income larger, I enjoyed meals from now defunct places like McCully Chop Suey (the first air conditioned Chinese restaurant in Honolulu!), Hee Hing, King Tsin, and our neighborhood Chinese restaurant Kwok's. And for special occasions like weddings, there were places like Oceania, a floating Chinese restaurant…. the first place I ever had duck, there's a really funny story, perhaps someday I'll do a post. Lau Yee Chai is still around…. though we considered it very "high maka maka" (snobby) in those days, I wonder what its like now?

Anyway, waaay back when we first moved to San Diego, I was feeling, well, kinda homesick, in a food related way. Having dinner with a friend, "Howard" who has long moved back to Oahu, he mentioned the Kwai Fei Chicken at a place called Golden City, which was then located on Convoy. I couldn't wait to try it out. Over the years, Golden City has moved, the Kwai Fei Chicken has been decent on most days, and I've even gotten the chance to introduce some of my favorite food bloggers to the dish; which may be off putting to some since it's a cold chicken dish where the chicken is an off white in color….looking very pale, and to some even perhaps close to raw?

At this point, I've pretty much taken more time typing this post than it took to get my hardwood charcoal going in the chimney, so I'll stop with the digression. The point of all this is….

Now the cold ginger chicken I make from a recipe on an old index card is chicken that is blanched in hot water with star anise until barely done, carry-over cooking will finish the job, It is then brushed with sesame oil, cooled and refrigerated overnight… and has been hit and miss for me as well. I'm pretty sure that the Kwai Fei Chicken at Golden City is rubbed with five spice and salt and steamed.

Well, it's a weeknight… and even when it's not, I really don't want to be doing the blanch chicken thing….I believe I'll try the steamed soon. So……. I bought some boneless chicken legs from Marukai. Even though the meat takes a bit of work, removing excess skin, trimming off sinew and fat, etc, etc….. the skin to meat ratio is great. If you're not on a diet. All of this can be done while the charcoal is getting lit….as can making the ginger-scallion mixture, all of which I did by hand. By the time the coals were ready, so was the chicken, which had been rubbed with sea salt, white pepper, and five-spice. Oh, and this was also done:

I didn't even use the food processor. I grated the garlic and ginger, mixed in the scallion and cilantro, added the hot (not smoking) peanut oil. By that time the coals were hot, I poured the coals out, arranged them in the typical two level grilling thingy, placed the grate on the grill to heat. Came back in….by this time the oil had cooled enough to taste…I then added sea salt and white pepper to taste…..with the understanding that the flavors will become stronger over time. I put the entire thing in the the fridge to cool (actually in the freezer for a couple of minutes, then the fridge). You could do the whole sauce thing the day before…..

When the chicken was nearly done, I brushed on a coating of sesame oil……

Not quite a work of art…….but it looked, and tasted quite good.

Cold Ginger Chicken Sauce – makes about a cup plus change
2 cloves garlic finely minced
3-4 Tb ginger finely minced
1/4 cup green onion finely minced
3 Tb cilantro finely minced
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and white pepper to taste
1/2 cup peanut oil

One item on my recipe card that I did not use was MSG. I don't keep any in the house. But just in case your sauce is missing a bit of umami……

Combine first five ingredients
Heat oil until hot, but not smoking
Remove oil from heat source and let sit for 30 seconds
Pour over the ginger mixture
When the mixture is cool enough add salt and pepper to taste
Refrigerate completely before using

Now I know all you folks are really observant…….and will notice that I'm not using a whole "cup plus" of this stuff…especially since the Missus still doesn't eat chicken. Remember that I threatened to use the sauce for Char Siu Lamb Chops on chicken? Well, I bought one of those jumbo packs of chicken and actually marinated some chicken that night.

And made Char Siu Chicken Sandwiches (on yet another weeknight – you gotta love the long days!)….which actually tasted pretty good!

So what does this have to do with the cold ginger chicken sauce? Well, the Missus loves the sauce on rice…. but geeez, rice and a sandwich? Maybe for FOY (friend of yoso) "AZ", but I can't do it. So I grilled some potato slices…..real easy…microwave first, slice, brush with canola oil, salt, and grill. The potatoes are already cooked, and pretty darn hot (be careful handling), so grilling will create a nice crust. And dipped into some of this sauce………. 'nuff said. It had the Missus seal of approval.

Don't let my over-long post scare you….. this is real easy stuff….even on a week night!

COMC: Little Sheep in photos

July 10, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

A couple of months back, the Missus requested Little Sheep for Her B-Day dinner. I took some photos as always, but never posted them. A couple of days ago, I got an email from one of my favorite FOYs (friends of yoso) who kiddingly dared me to do a hot pot post….. even though I enjoy spicy food on hot days, Sichuan Liang Mian, a good Koi Soi… man, hot pot would be pretty tough, for me. What about you?

Of course I'm expecting a comment from Ed from Yuma telling what he'd go for huo guo anytime, even after walking over cactus and tangling with gila monsters in the 120 degree Arizona heat running backwards uphill both ways….. (just joking Ed!)

Me on the other hand, I'm not so sure….. even though I know folks looove hot pot in Sichuan and other areas of China during summer.

Anyway, here's to hot pot, but maybe not on a week like we just had. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill
4718 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

The Missus just peeked over my shoulder and told me, "why are you doing a post on Little Sheep, are you nuts???" He-he-he…maybe a bit crazy from the heat?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Saturday Stuffs: Luong Hai Ky returns to Convoy and La Playita tries to bring me back from the dead.

July 9, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** Both of these restaurants are no longer in business

Luong Hai Ky returns to Convoy:

Friend of yoso "Yummy Yummy" told me about this one. Luong Hai Ky has returned to Convoy street in their original location. I guess business just wasn't "phat" enough for Phat Restaurant. It never a good sign when a place goes from menu to buffet…..

Though I don't think the food at LHK ever reached the same heights after the original owner passed away, it still served a decent bowl of egg noodles soup. I had thoughts of dropping by, but it was just too darned hot this past week.

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

La Playita tries to bring me back from the dead:

Figuratively of course….. that's the Vuelve a la Vida ("Back to Life" – $13). Man did this hit the spot… and actually brought me back to life, if only for a short while. The version at La Playita is tangy and a bit sweet….I suspect from ketchup, but I'm not complaining, as there's a generous portion of seafood. It could be a bit more "picante", but I usually add a bit of hot sauce to fix that.

You can find Cathy's posts on La Playita here and here.

La Playita Seafood
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

So how'd you deal with this past weeks heat?

Frankie has his own way off letting me know he's hot….. he lies flat on his side on the floor, usually in the middle of the living room with his tongue sticking out…. quite subtle, don't you think?

Happy Hour at The Dragon’s Den

July 7, 2011 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants

**** The Dragon's Den has closed

I've been "wrassling" with my my thoughts about the Dragon's Den since going there for "happy hour" last week.

Ever since I heard that the owner of the now closed Shanghai City was opening a restaurant downtown with Dumpling Inn as one of the partners, I've been quite…. well, curious might be the right word. I wondered what the menu would look like since the word "fusion" was bandied about. Once the place opened, I checked out the menu, and yes, there was stuff that would make PF Chang's proud like Lemon Chicken and Lettuce Wraps, the inevitable seared Ahi… and even…a sushi bar! But still, the menu's soul looked very Chinese, with English translations of course…jiaozi were of course dumplings, Niu Rou Chuan was Beef Brisket and Hoisin Green Onion Wrap, and Xiao Long Bao…… were Xiao Long Bao! Looking at the menu online, I decided that perhaps happy hour might be my best bet. So, I recruited two of my favorite FOYs (friends of yoso), PeterL and his lovely wife Angela, both have been on road trips to the SGV, and and Peter just can't seem to get enough Niu Rou Chuan. There were just two conditions. Based on the location, there was no way I was going when the Padres were playing at home…. and I sure as heck wasn't having no sushi!

The location of the restaurant is fantastic….literally right across from Petco Park.

The Padres were out of town on this day, so the bar area was open when I arrived, and the bartender, a very friendly and pleasant young lady told me to just sit where ever I wanted.

There are about six beers on tap and San Diego microbrews aren't really represented, other then Karl Strauss.

I had some time to check out the menus while waiting for Peter and Angela…… so here you can see what I saw.

The Happy Hour menu is pretty sushi heavy. Pardon the jailhouse look, but based on our meal I found it somehow appropriate.

I think I need to apologize to Pete and Angela because I'd pretty much picked out what we were eating before they arrived.

I have a hard time resisting Salt and Pepper Chicken ($6 happy hour priced):

I can understand using white meat chicken….. I suppose there's a thought that the general public prefers white meat to dark. But I don't think that, if someone is going to order something battered and deep fried that they'd want a gummy coating that seemed to have been fried at a temperature too low. The seasoning, while restrained would have been passable had the chicken been fried properly.

The Xiao Long Bao ($6 – not happy hour priced) proved to be somewhat (unintentionally I believe) humorous.

These actually looked like the XLB from Shanghai City…. while the wrapper was always too thick, and the fold at the top was too hard, I always preferred them to the version at Dumpling Inn…. such is the sad state of XLB in San Diego. Don't even mention Chin's which I believe gets their XLB frozen from LA! What was really funny is that we were provided with forks and knives….. really….. I'm going to eat a Bao with soup in it with a fork and knife??? That, combined with the obvious lack of soup in the XLB (at least they weren't broken), made me wonder what folks who hadn't had XLB before would think upon eating this? No wonder they thought Dumpling Inn was so good! I asked for spoons, and after an odd look, got regular spoons. Actually, the flavor of the filling wasn't bad, slightly sweet, but there was almost no soup…. I guess maybe we didn't need spoons after all?

Next was the Shrimp and Chive dumplings ($6 – not happy hour priced). Over the years, my "enthusiasm" for jiaozi has been subject for some funny emails and comments…. I've been called the "dumpling Nazi" and parodied in some comments…..which I think are quite funny. But this time, I think the photos speak for themselves.

It's quite telling that we each had only one jiaozi a piece. I had thoughts of just posting photos…. but I think quotes from others will do just fine. Peter, "man, this is pretty bad, it's really gummy…" We took the rest with us when we left and met TammyC and YY, letting them each have a taste. TammyC said it best; "what is this, fish? The stuff in the package with the panda on it is better than this!" 'nuff said…..

The one item that looked really good was the Beef Brisket Green Onion Wrap (Niu Rou Chuan $5 – happy hour price). I can understand the less oily dan bing. it was indeed thinner and more crisp.

It was not bad overall. If I had to go with one item, this would be it. Too much hoisin, not enough bite, beef a bit too dry…..but not bad overall.

I realize that places like Dragon's Den are perhaps not designed for me. But I really don't think I ask for much and I also believe that when one is doing fusion, it doesn't mean safe and dumbed down; there are places that already do that. To me it means taking something to that next level… being creative and moving things forward. To paraphrase a very popular tune, "perhaps I'm more Atari, and this is X box", but I think it's more Commodore 64.

And yet, in the end, I do have a nice recollection of my time in the Dragon's Den. You remember that young lady with the short blond hair who was bartending? She made time to talk to everyone since it wasn't too busy, and she seem to know the regulars. But what impressed me was when she saw two dogs passing by who looked like they were overheating, she called to the woman walking them and brought the two dogs a bowl of water….. in my mind that almost made up for the jiaozi…. almost.

The Dragon's Den
315 10th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101

Char Siu Lamb Chops

July 4, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Happy 4th everyone! It's been a while since I've last had the grill out. Probably February or so…..I guess I'm getting a late start this year, but that's the great thing about San Diego, you can grill year round.

I've been enjoying Alan Wong's The Blue Tomato, which operated much like Thomas Keller's cookbook, giving us insight as to how dishes are developed and put together. Browsing through the book, one of the recipes caught my attention…. first, it was quite easy, second it sounded like something I'd like to eat.…. Char Siu Lamb Chops. It's a riff on the classic Chinese BBQ Pork recipe and made on the grill. I've made Char Siu, so this wasn't much of a leap…and as a bonus, less messy than making it in the oven. This recipe uses ginger, garlic, and kecap manis. Sherry is used instead of Shaoxing wine. It was quite good. I made adjustments to taste, and since I used the very potent five-spice from QingDao I cut back a bit on that as well.

I simply mixed everything together and marinated overnight.

Of course I wasn't making 3 pounds of the stuff so that factored into everything as well. I also hedged my bets and made some simple Greek style lamb chops as well.

The most difficult part of the whole process was grilling the chops. Because of the sugar, you had to watch and move to ensure they didn't burn……..two level grilling is a must.

Char Siu Lamb Chops

Makes 1 – 1 1/2 pound of Lamb Loin Chops

1 Cup Hoisin Sauce
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Honey
3 Tb Sherry
1 Tsp ginger juice (grate ginger then squeeze pulp)
2 cloves garlic grated
2 Tb soy sauce
2 Tb kecap manis
1 Tb Chinese Five Spice

– Mix ingredients together. Set aside 1/4 cup of marinade for basting.
– Marinate lamb chops in the fridge overnight.
– Bring to room temperature before grilling

I served the chops with some grilled shiitake mushrooms and bok choy which I basted with a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, sambal olek, chili oil(the stuff I make at home), and sesame oil. I gotta work on my bok choy grilling technique… the leaves tend to burn too quickly. And no, I'm not soaking them in water as they turn out mushy…..

The lamb chops tasted good, but much of the gamey flavors were muted. The Missus thinks the marinade will work great for chicken; so maybe I'll do that next time. The Greek style chops tasted very good and were super tender…..

It was a nice way to start up grilling again.

While driving back from the market this morning I came across this in the middle of the intersection of Balboa and Clairemont Drive….. looks like a boat decided to fall off its trailer. I'm glad no one was hurt.

Orzo, Arugula, and Feta Salad

July 3, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Take a look at this and you can see why they call orzo "risoni" (big rice). It does look like rice doesn't it? It's actually a pasta made in the shape of rice…… and I'd never really had any desire to make something that, well…. looks like rice. But one day I was puttering in the kitchen with the television on….. there's some "food show"….. I'm not really into "Food TV" anymore, but will have it on as white noise….. minus a few shows I just can't stand. Anyway, a subliminal "Orzo Salad" recipe just stayed with me. I think the original had raspberries or something like that. This version was just the thing on a summer day……

This ended up being pretty good, the Missus really enjoyed it.

The drill went like this; rehydrate sun dried tomatoes in warm water, cook the orzo in salted boiling water, just as any pasta. While orzo is cooking, toast pine nuts in a dry pan to lightly brown. Remove to a plate to cool. Drain orzo in in colander, before it is fully cooked. After the orzo briefly drains, pour the orzo out onto a cookie sheet adding some extra virgin olive and mix well. This will ensure that the pasta doesn't stick together. I actually chilled the orzo in the fridge since I wanted a chilled salad. After draining the sun dried tomatoes, I coarsely chopped them.

Putting the salad together was a snap; orzo, two hefty handfuls of baby arugula, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes in a metal bowl. Mix. Add a chiffonade of basil and mint….. basically two parts basil to mint. I used the best grade of Extra Virgin Olive Oil we had in the house, Liquid Gold 24, which has an acidity of less than .24%, a wonderful oil we bought during our trip to Crete. And combined the whole shebang. A mild crumbled goat feta cheese topped everything off. I served it with sliced of lemon on the side….. I wanted a bit more acid…the Missus enjoyed it just the way it was.

Love the flavors….. the pine nuts (not much, about 1/4 cup) looked very similar to the orzo and were nice flavor surprises. And of course pine nuts and basil is a great combination. The mint added a nice palate cleansing element as did the tart sun dried tomatoes. The peppery arugula added the bitter element to the dish. The fruity olive oil and mildly salty feta brought it all together….. I'm probably going to make this again soon. It's so easy…. just remember to use a good olive oil.

On this day, I served it with garlic shrimp and some bread…… a nice meal for a warm evening!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful long weekend!

A Hiyashi Chuka Comparison: Yakyudori, Santouka, and Izakaya Sakura

June 26, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

This seems like something my good FOY Dennis would do. But with the recent warmer weather, I noticed that I'd been eating this quite a bit recently. Hiyashi Chuka literally means "cold chinese noodles", and looking at it, I can see a slight resemblance to liang mian, Chinese cold noodles. Of course, like just about everything else assimilated into Japanese food culture(i.e. Tonkatsu, Yakiniku, Curry) there are some major twists and turns that makes the dish uniquely Japanese. In some versions, there's the almost western addition of sliced ham. The broth is usually thinner and lighter than Chinese cold noodles. What is has in common with liang mian is the "aaahh" factor on a hot day; the pause that refreshes. I recently tried three different versions, all seasonal, and my favorite was almost unanimous, it was the version from….

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori:

Which was also the most expensive at $9.50.

With regards to portion size, this was the largest. A nice portion of chopped ham didn't hurt, though the chashu was really waxy and greasy in texture. The noodles had a nice chew, but it was the sauce that made it my favorite. This one had personality, an "umph", tangy and slightly sweet.

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

Santouka:

Was my second favorite, basically because I really enjoy the firm, al dente noodles. The portion size was ok for the price of $8.50 (the sign say $9.23, but that's with tax included).

Another plate holds the rather sparse "toppings", as if the folks at Santouka know that placed on top of the noodles it would look rather minuscule. There were two slices of the fatty and rich toroniku, the braised pork cheek on top of the noodles….which looked a bit out of place since everything else was on another plate. In his post, Dennis calls this a tease. The pork was served slightly warm, which was quite nice…. but like Dennis said, this was pretty much there for the "drool effect". The sauce had a strange artificial aspect to it….frankly, I expected more.

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

Izakaya Sakura:

I thought Izakaya Sakura's version was pretty mediocre. Priced at $8.50, this was the smallest in terms of portion, though the chashu was surprisingly much better then Yakyudori. It was also served at room temp which helped.

The noodles were mushy, which pretty much made this a non-starter for me. The shiro was very bland, I even added a bit of shoyu, and it still wasn't very good. I did enjoy the corn which added some much needed sweetness to the whole thing. Much like my experience with the ramen, this one fell short. To me, this is not what Sakura does best…..

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

Saturday Stuffs: Shufeng Garden (Rowland Heights) and updates on MIA San Diego Food Bloggers

June 25, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I was going to do something titled a "quick road trip", but that would be inaccurate…… I had an appointment in our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights, and usually the Missus would accompany me. We'd get things done early and hit up one or two (or maybe three) places. Because of work, this was a solo drive for me…. and it was a darn good thing. I got out of my appointment at 1pm. Now I don't know how many of you notice that we like to eat early to avoid the crowds…. but by 1pm on a Saturday… well, good luck. So I did some quick shopping at Marukai in West Covina, man has this area changed since we moved to San Diego. Someday, I'll do that post. Anyway, I decided to just do some take-out and head on home. I decided on something from Shufeng Garden which I've posted on before. By the time I got home it was 430…… so I guess I had a kinda late lunch, the Missus and early dinner.

**** Shufeng Garden has closed

I wanted to check out the tea smoked duck again($12.99), and this time it was even better.

Though the smoked flavor is still not as pronounced as I would have enjoyed, this was one meaty, and surprisingly moist duck.

I went with a favorite from our previous visit, the Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce ($7.95):

I gotta say, even though I really enjoyed it on our previous visit, it was even better today. I think sitting in the chili-garlic-vinegar-sugar mixture on the drive back to San Diego gave the thinly sliced pork belly, and the cucumber slices below it time to soak up the flavors. Mildly spicy, pungent, sweet with a mild tangy finish, this was nice. Sitting in the sauce also gave this a more "back of the throat" heat. The pork holds form without being too waxy or mushy….. It is one lovely dish.

Wanting to try something I hadn't, I went with the Lamb with Hot Chili ($7.95). Consisting of lamb rib bones and meat… this was almost finger food, though you don't want to be touching your eyes after. Hints of cumin, Sichuan peppercorn (not quite enough), and the flavor of scalded chilies were the key players in this dish.

This could have been a bit more spicy, but was a nice dish overall….. I'd have it again.

The folks working here have always been nice to me….. so I'll probably go back and try some different items. Perhaps the Rabbit with hot sauce, or maybe the Steamed Toad?

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

An update on some MIA San Diego Food Bloggers (aka I've been looking for you on milk cartons):

I guess I've been doing this for a while. And over the years, I've met and traded emails with many of the food bloggers in San Diego….. to paraphrase fellow food blogger Marie, "it's almost like I've known you for ages." Like the tides, there seems to be an ebb and flow…. food blogs come and go, and it's always nice to come across a new one. But there's always a sense of loss when a food blog seems to fall by the wayside and I do tend to wonder what happened. So I will often email folks after seeing no posts for a while…. or even call them if I have their number. Such as the one and only Captain Jack of San Diego Restaurant Reviews Blog. I spoke to Jack recently and he's doing well, still taking photos of food, but has been occupied with work and other hobbies (is World of Warcraft a hobby?). Having a nice stash of food photos, I'm thinking it's just a matter of time before Jack is posting again. I also received an email from Masa Assassin who told me he is doing well, perhaps a bit too well having gotten a promotion at work, leaving him little time for the blog. I'm just glad that he and the Missus are doing well. So there you go, a couple of updates on some MIA fellow San Diego food bloggers.

Hope to see some new posts from you fella's soon!