mmm-yoso – Page 347

Road Trip: El Rocoto – Gardena (Los Angeles)

March 28, 2010 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Peruvian Restaurants, Road Trip

"Ooo and it's alright and it's comin' 'long
We got to get right back to where we started from"……

Right Back Where we Started From – Maxine Nightingale.

Other then showing my age, what does this golden oldie from the seventies have to do with El Rocoto?…. well maybe not much….. perhaps.

Though I had always been interested in food, most of it was based on what I ate back home in Hawaii. The Hekka, Portuguese Bean Soup, plate lunches, etc…….. When I moved to the mainland, a whole new world of eating opened up. Working in Georgia and Arkansas exposed me the "real" food of the South, but it was the diverse cuisines offered in Los Angeles that got my attention. And while Rachel Laudan's The Food of Paradise really covered the food that I was surrounded by most of my life, suddenly there was so much more…….

When talking to folks, I can easily identify those moments that got me going; the first whiff of all the smells permeating the air at Chung King Restaurant in Monterey Park, the huge scallion bread, and lamb hot pots at Tung Lai Shun and VIP Restaurant…. and then there's El Rocoto. By the time we first ate at El Rocoto back in '97, we'd already eaten at El Pollo Inka across the street, but it was just Pollo ala Brassa. I distinctly recall the dishes at that first meal at El Rocoto, especially the Lomo Saltado…. what the heck were french fries doing in this dish… and why did it have so many Asian flavors… and why is part of the menu Chinese? Instead of making fun of the inclusion of papas fritas, like a fairly well known "foodie" in San Diego did(of my Lomo Saltado photos), I went directly to the library to find out why. I've already covered much of this in posts on Latin Chef, and much more ground was covered on our trip to Peru. But what about El Rocoto, that restaurant that helped to stoke my interest in Peruvian food? Thinking that perhaps much had changed since our last visit over twelve years ago, I just seemed to avoid revisiting El Rocoto all these years later. But yesterday, instead of going to the SGV, and hitting Gardena on the way back, we went straight to Gardena….. the weather also seemed perfect for some Cebiche……

The front of the restaurant looked basically the same.

And the menu still has a section for all the "Chifa" dishes, a long one and half pages of items from "Wantan Frito" (deep fried wontons) to Tallarin (Chow Mein) to Chaufa (Fried Rice).

The interior though, had been significantly changed. El Rocoto has taken over the space next door, and looks much more stylish that we both recalled.

First to arrive were some rolls and two sauces….

A spicy Aji Rocoto, and a somewhat refreshing and sweeter Aji Jalapeno.

The Aji also went well on our dishes.

Of course we started with the Cebiche de Pescado ($12.95). The fish "cooked" in citrus was piled high on the plate. The cancha, the fried corn kernals were excellent, light and crunchy…. possibly the best I've had outside of Peru.

The Leche de Tigre ("Tiger's Milk"), the marinade that supposedly has restorative properties was a bit too salty, with a touch too much lime for us. The fish was cut into pretty large chunks, some of which were a bit too fibrous. It wasn't bad by any means, but I prefer the version at Mario's, or even Latin Chef on a good day.

The camote, the stewed sweet potato lacked the tenderness of the version, at say, Pescados Capitales, but the flavor, with just a hint of cinnamon was right on the mark. The yucca was dry and fibrous, and we got regular yellow corn instead of chocolo.

The Missus got the Pescado a lo Macho ($15.95):

Holy smokes, I don't remember the portions being this big! All of the seafood, from the squid to the shrimp (7 of them!), to the lightly breaded fish fillet were cooked to perfection. The Missus even ate the pieces of octopus, something She usually won't. I believe the scallops were among Her favorites, as I never got a shot at them.

The sauce, built on a seafood base, fortified with butter, was too rich for the Missus…. but I loved it. And the leftover were most welcomed.

I went with the Lomo Saltado ($11.45):

Another very large portion. The beef was thickly sliced rib eye, with just the right amount of chew. The dish had a smokiness to it, and the onions added a good amount of light pungent flavor, the tomatoes a tangy note. I could have done with more papas fritas, but hey, I love my carbs. The sauce had a decent amount of salt, but lacked that little zip of herbaceous flavor….. perhaps they don't use Huacatay?

Still it was quite delicious……

We found the service to be very…. "Peruvian", laid back. The ingredients were of good quality, and the dishes done quite well. We'll probably be back a bit sooner than twelve years next time.

El Rocoto
1356 W Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90248

Saturday Silliness

March 27, 2010 mmm-yoso Cooking, Farmer's Markets/Night Market

Man, this daylight savings thing really fools you….. when evening finally arrives you think well, it's still pretty early, and wham….. it nine pm!

Today was a beautiful day, and we decided to drive up to Gardena, and do some shopping at Marukai, and of course grab some lunch (a later post). Because we were a bit early, the Missus suggested that we stop by the Torrance Saturday Farmers Market, which used to be a favorite of ours when we lived in LA.

By the crowds it was apparent that a lot of folks had the same idea.

We picked up a few things, but something caught our eye on the way out…….

It was probably the largest Daikon I've ever seen. The Missus rationalized buying one of these since we'd need some daikon oroshi (grated daikon) for the Karei Karaage I was going to make. Of course this would probably make a ton of oroshi…. so I'll have to come up with something else…..

It's hard to gauge the size of the daikon in the photo, so I decided to compare it against Frankie…. who apparently thought this large creature was his new brother, or something like that.

Playing with my food – more fun with Maguro Tartar:

We liked the maguro we saw at Marukai, and picked up a block, and of course much like my previous post on Maguro Tartar, the Missus wanted something a bit different. So with all the same ingredients, I came up with two more appetizers. You can see my recipe in this post. I built the dishes after getting all my mise together, and built the first one before mixing in the cucumber, tomato, and avocado into the tartar. I grabbed a really old, and kinda tacky glass and built it up layer by layer. A dab of wasabi paste was spread on the bottom, followed by cucumber, tomato, avocado, followed by the maguro mixture.

I had coated the rim of the glass with a mixture of Korean Chili powder and sea salt, and topped the whole thing off with sliced scallions and sesame seeds. A couple of slices of avocado dipped in chili powder finished it off. The Missus made some Strawberry-Peach Sangria, and had that with the meal.

The second item was some slices of cucumber topped with a dollop of tuna tartar. At this point I had mixed in the avocado, tomato, and added some sesame oil.

The Missus actually preferred this.

Anyway, there you go….. we hope everyone is having a great weekend. I think it's time to eat….

Hey, I think Sammy's just asked to see the wine list! "Can anyone get some service around here!"

Toan Ky Restaurant – A (quick) first look

March 25, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Toan Ky has closed ***

A couple of weeks ago, Toan Ky Restaurant officially opened. Replacing LV sandwiches, and before that Le's, from the name and the look, I thought this would be one of those "Mi" shops a la Minh Ky and Tan Ky. Linda Vista could use a good noodle soup shop, since Mi Ngoc So 1 folded its tent, and was replaced by Thai by Tara, and then (thankfully) Sab E Lee.

The main renovation has been done to the entrance area, where the "bar" has been removed, and a smaller counter with the ever present cash register resides.

The menu, fortunately or unfortunately still has some Thai dishes on it, but Banh Mi is still available; and yes, all the standard Hu Tieu and Mi soups are available. The prices at first glance are about in line with other shops of this type….. but hold on for more…..

The Missus went with Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($5.50). When the bowl arrived, I noticed something right away.

The portion sizes were pretty small compared to other shops. This was about the size between a small and medium Santouka Ramen. There were only three dumplings in the soup, but it was supplemented with a shrimp, a fish ball, meat ball, and slice of fish cake. The Missus thought the dumplings were passable, and gave me a taste, which I thought was bland, but much softer than the typical hard packed meatballs of these type of shops. The Missus declared the broth tasty, but light, and believed that only a minimum of MSG was used.

I ordered the Duck Leg Egg Noodle Soup ($6.75):

The broth of this soup was dark, I'm assuming fortified with the drippings of the duck. I usually pour in some of the drippings when I get duck egg noodle soup served with the duck on the side. This duck was braised, and frankly, quite bland, lacking in the richness of say, a roast, or barbecued duck. The soup was fairly good, with mostly a soy sauce flavor. I would have preferred something like what you see here, which is cheaper than this, and twice the size. There were about three to four bites of egg noodles. This was gone pretty quickly.

Our first impressions are mixed. The food is decent, but the soups seem to be snack-sized, and in fact most other tables ordered an additional item with their soups. The Missus has a saying about most of these type of soups…. "the more I eat, the more there is", which wasn't true in this case, as She had almost finished by the time my soup arrived, a mere five minutes. I believe that much of the reason places like Minh Ky and Tan Ky are successful is because of value, this is a bit different. The service was efficient, but indifferent, pretty much what we expected. I dunno……. I'm sure we'll check in again, so stay tuned…..

Toan Ky Restaurant
6925 B Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Open 8 – 8 daily

Playing Chicken: A bunch of chicken posts – Saffron, Nazca Grill, Mercado 2000, Casa de Pepe, Sab E Lee 2, and more….

March 23, 2010 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Peruvian Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Whew, this post has taken me almost five months to get together…. talk about a flocking long time. A while back I thought it would be fun doing a post on some of the different variations of grilled and roasted chicken in San Diego. So here goes….. oh, and why did it take me so long? The answer is at the end.

Pollo Asado from Internacional 2000 Taco Shop – Bargain City:

On one of my previous posts on Internacional 2000, I mentioned the plumes of smoke rising in the air from the chicken being grilled over mesquite in the parking lot. I also noticed that the chicken was mostly precooked, and moved from the taco shop to the grill for reheating. That just didn’t sound promising. But once, while doing part of my South Bay taco crawl, MrQ decided to purchase the Pollo Asado, since it was just $8.50, for a whole chicken a fixins’. The chicken was better than I thought it would be, so on a later visit, I decided to get it.

So for $8.50, you get a whole grilled chicken, beans, rice, salsa, condiments, and tortillas. Man ,what a deal!

I had thought the chicken would be dry and tough as heck, but it wasn’t. Also, because the chicken didn’t have much of a salt flavor, I’m thinking that salt use was minimized to ensure that the bird wouldn’t dry out. The chicken did have a wonderful smoky mesquite flavor. The tortillas, once warmed a bit was decent, the rice was quite dry.

But the beans……

Were quite good, rich, beany, and creamy….just don’t look at ’em after you refrigerate the stuff….. you WILL know why they taste good. Sometimes, it’s better not to know…….

We did use a sprinkling of Tajin Classic Seasoning…. the stuff we call, “This is not a candy” seasoning:

I’m wondering how many complaints the company got from folks who tried to eat this thinking it WAS candy, causing them to label the product thusly?

The verdict? Not the most fantastic pollo asado I’ve ever had, but pretty good, and for $8.50? Bargain city!!! Just as a reality check, to the right is about seven bucks worth of food from the local “Crazy Chicken” joint…. which includes some of the worst tortillas I’ve ever experienced. In all honesty, I don’t mind the chicken……

Internacional 2000 Taco Shop (Window in the parking lot of Mercado Internacional 2000)
1415 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Pollo Asado from Casa de Pepe – No thank you:

On one of my “Sunday Stuffs” posts back in January of 2008, I mentioned seeing Pollo Asado being grilled in the parking lot of a taco shop on Imperial Avenue. This bright, colorful, and possibly luminous restaurant is called, Restaurant Casa de Pepe:

If the bones of this place look familiar; it because this used to be the location of El Comal, before they went “uptown”.

Almost every weekend, I’ve seen the guy in the parking lot grilling chicken.

I crossed the street and took a look at the chicken, which looked pretty good. So I told the guy that I’d be going into the restaurant to pay, when the guy held up a pot full of kinda gross barbecue sauce, and told me; “you want BBQ on chicken, right?” I should have taken this as a bad omen and high-tailed it out of there, but instead I just said “no thanks” and went into the restaurant and paid my $7.95.

Hmmm, they forgot my tortillas. I loved the variety of salsas provided, as well as the cebolla. The chicken was terrible, terribly bland and dry.

The rice was decently flavored, but the beans were very bland, and too soupy for my tastes.

Maybe I shoulda gotten that barbecue sauce, huh?

Restaurant Casa de Pepe
2822 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

Pollo ala Brassa from Nazca Grill – getting better all the time:

In my previous post on Nazca Grill, back when they first opened, I indicated that though the chicken was moist, here was something left to be desired with regards to flavor. I’m glad to say that the last time I ordered it, the chicken was very good. Still moist, and more balanced in flavor. You could tell that even though it wasn’t cooked over hardwood, it had been finished with it.

For $11.95 you get the half chicken meal, which comes with papas fritas (french fries) which usually ends up pretty soggy by the time you get home, and good sized salad.

I do wish they’d just sell the chicken ala carte. Anyway, a picture is worth a few paragraphs……

I still think the Aji Amarilla (yellow chili sauce) is too mild, and needs some zip. But compare that chicken to my previous post……

**** Nazca Grill has closed

Nazca Grill
4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Rotisserie Chicken from Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken – I could never figure out why…..

This place is so popular. When I first ate the chicken from here back in 1998, the first thing that went through my mind was “huh”? To me the chicken here isn’t “Thai Rotisserie Chicken”, it ain’t even close to Kai Yaang. Those were my thoughts back in 2006 when I did my last post on Saffron.

And after eating Kai Yaang in Thailand twice, this ain’t even close. The chicken from Pok Pok might as well be in another universe. Another sad thing is, I really enjoy Su-Mei Yu’s book, Cracking the Coconut. There’s even a Kai Yaang recipe in the book, which features her “Big Four Paste” (coriander seeds, garlic, cilantro stems and roots, white peppercorns), minced ginger, cumin, tumeric, and caraway(strange, no lemongrass). Not even a whiff to be found on this chicken.

I didn’t think you’d be happy with this, a two leg plate ($4.99):

So I went ahead and had a half chicken plate ($7.86):

Instead of my usual Sriracha ($1.29 a bottel at 99 Ranch Market, BTW), I went with the red pepper sauce, which was too sweet, like simple syrup, and the peanut sauce, which was too much coconut and sugar, and not enough peanut.

The best piece was the thigh which was passably moist. The leg however, had been sliced, possibly to check “doneness” and was, as a good FOY once described the chicken here as “petrified”. The breast was worse.

The skin was tough and too chewy. To be honest, that two leg plate I had earlier was better. I’m thinking the earlier in the day you go, the better your luck may be. Someone once told me it’s the sauce that makes this “Thai”, so I asked this person, being of Italian heritage, if I got a supermarket rotisserie chicken, and gave you a teensy container of marinara sauce, if I could call that “Italian Chicken”? And to add insult to injury, I once bought an entire bird from Saffron and a rotisserie chicken from Costco, and provided a bottle of Sriracha. I asked some friends which bird they enjoyed better….. guess which? Well, enough of that. I was told that the chicken here back in the late 80’s and early 90’s was great, but something happened.

I do still enjoy the “Cambodian” salad:

I believe the success of Sab E Lee displays that San Diego does want “real” flavors. So maybe someday……..

Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken
3731 India St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Speaking of Sab E Lee (2):

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

Here’s the Kai Yaang from Sab E Lee 2 .

Not amazing, but solid. Since the chicken hadn’t been sliced into parts and held on trays it was very moist. Nice salty, mild garlic and lemongrass flavors. The sauces, one tamarind and palm sugar based, and the other a nam prik (fish sauce and chilies) were serviceable.

I need to go back and take better photos.

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

So why did this post take months? Well, back in November, the Missus saw this commercial and was traumatized.

So now the Missus won’t eat chicken or turkey…. but will eat duck!

I guess I’ll just have to:

“keep on dreamin’
The thoughts that are in my brain
You just keep on being
The lady I can’t explain “

“Lady I Can’t Explain” by Jimmy Buffett

Hammurabi Family Restaurant

March 22, 2010 mmm-yoso Iraqi Food and Restaurants, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats

*** Hammurabi Family Restaurant has closed ***

One of the wonderful benefits of having a food blog, is that I've had the opportunity to meet (or is meat?) so many fantastic people. Folks who find the same amount of joy in sharing and eating food as I do. Not only does it make me feel less strange about my obsessions, but I've found some great places to eat as well. Over the past year or so, three of my favorite FOYs (Friends of Yoso) and I have been getting together about once a month or so to share a meal, conversation, and some very healthy, and hearty laughs!

This time around, it was Jenne's turn to choose the place, and I was excited. You see, Jenne is quite familiar with the downtown El Cajon area, home of many Chaldean/Iraqi restaurants. I'd already been to Village Grill and Ali Baba, and I was looking forward to checking out La Pita, one Jenne's favorites. Unfortunately, it seems that La Pita has just closed down, so Jenne came out with Hammurabi as a plan B. The restaurant itself is quite interesting, I'm certain that it used to be a diner in a previous life, so think of diner juxtaposed with a kabob house.

After deciding on what to order, I started with some yogurt. Why yogurt…….. well, after having visited a few of these places, and seeing what huge meat-fests they are, I needed to get the tummy squared away.

Every one of these Kabob Houses has "feasts" designed for two, three, four, or five people. Actually, it should be more like three, five, six, or the entire neighborhood. What you're about to see is the "feast for two"($35).

Which starts out with a rather innocuous plate of nice fresh greens tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.

It also comes with a nice plate of Hummus.

This was a good version, nice chickpea flavor without being too heavy on the tahini.

And of course there was the bread:

Known as Khubz, this pizza sized flat bread is a wonderful vehicle of flavor. There were two pieces of warm bread overflowing a basket that was surely not up to the job. Better than what we had at Village Grill, but not as good as Ali Baba's.

Next up was our plate of meat, starches, and pickles…. remember all of this, the salad, hummus, bread, and the platter below is for two!

The pickles, the "Turshi" ranged from pretty good the pickled saffron-curry cabbage, to "meh", I thought the pickled turnips were too bitter.

Here's a rundown on the rest of the plate: Two Lamb Kabobs (nice and moist, but low on the gamey scale), Two Chicken Kabob (pretty good, well seasoned), One Chicken Tekka (also pretty good), Shawarma (fairly moist, but mild in flavor), Chicken Chop (which I enjoyed), Rice (meh), and Bulghur (well flavored, mildly spicy and tangy). Sheesh. I finally had the "cream chop", in this case breaded and fried chicken. It was pretty moist, and very tender.

Since Jenne had picked the place, I let her take some photos, like this one.

And darn if she didn't do a better job than I did! Heh, you'll never touch my camera again Jenne! he-he-he….

I'd wanted some Baba Ghanouj, but they were all out. We went with a small Tabbouli($5) instead.

This was not bad, it was fairly heavy on the acid, but the "green" chlorophyll flavor that sometimes overwhelms the dish was adequately muted.

There was one menu item that grabbed my attention:

It simply said "Birds". When I asked the very friendly young lady serving us about this, she said simply: "it's small whole birds………" Small birds? I had visions of the fantastic whole roasted sparrows we had at Highway 4 in Hanoi dancing in my head. So when our "Birds" arrived, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.

The "Birds" were simply quail! This was a simple preparation, salt rubbed, some lemon, and roasted. The wings and legs were salty, smokey, and crunchy….great nibbling. The carcass was pretty dank and gamey. Howie and Jenne enjoyed them though. Jenne said it tasted like the wild quail her dad used to hunt.

By the time Candice's dish, the Tashreeb, a braised lamb shank served in a huge bowl lined with Khubz soaking up the wonderful braising vegetables and liquid arrived we were all stuffed. I was too full to take photos! I did have some lamb which was soft and tender, but it's the saturated bread, which I wrapped in another piece of bread that tasted really great.

Needless to say, there was a good amount of leftovers. It was another meal made better by the company. I can't wait to do this again soon! As you can tell, the portions are generous, and make sure to check your gout at the door.

During our meal I kept peeking at the back room, which in contrast to the rather worn dining room, was being nicely decked out. The young lady told us that there was an engagement party later that evening….. As we were leaving I saw men dressed nattily in suits arriving. It gave the evening another interesting twist.

Hammurabi Family Restaurant
401 W Main St
El Cajon, CA 92021

"All that meat and nothing for me!!!"

Road Trip: Tianjin Bistro revisited – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

March 18, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Tianjin Bistro has closed

We hadn't had much luck on our recent road trips, so the Missus decided we should revisit someplace tried and true. Her choice? Tianjin Bistro. The Missus really connects with the food at Tianjin Bistro, probably because the municipality of Tianjin (one of four in the PRC, the others being ChongQing, Beijing, and Shanghai) is about 70 miles or so(I've heard it's more) from Beijing, where the Missus went to High School and College. So the flavors of the dishes served at Tianjin Bistro are somewhat comforting to the Missus.

Formerly Mei Jia Deli, and located in the same strip mall as another of the Missus's favorites, Hunan Chilli King, I think that Tianjin Bistro's food is a bit better than what Mei Jia Deli produced.

The interior of the restaurant is small, and pink tinged, and the customary strips of colored paper line the walls announcing various offerings.

The woman who usually works here is very friendly, and enthusiastic. Ask about a dish (in Mandarin of course) and she'll recite to you how it is prepared, and what makes the version of the dish at Tianjin Bistro so "special". The woman's warmth and tact is especially apparent in her dealings with various customers. Even though it seems that Mei Jia Deli's bone-spitting, bossy customers that would just help themselves to the free porridge, and walk into the kitchen and yell out their orders have gone by the wayside. There are still customers like the older man who came in, and when placing his order, took out a sesame cake from a plastic bag, telling the woman "this is how hard it should be", knocking it against the table "tok-tok-tok"……. The woman accepted that in good spirits, and I guess what came out of the kitchen was ok, since the old man made sure to check every one, knocking it with his knuckles, or tapping it against the table. The guy must have mighty massive muscular masseter muscles… and teeth of steel.

The Missus had seen a dish on one of our previous visits that She wanted to order, the Jing Jiang Rou Si (京酱肉丝 – Beijing/Peking Sauce Pork Shreds – $7.99).

The Missus saw that this was served in the appropriate manner, with scallions and bean curd wrappers, so She wanted to try it out. The pork strips were cooked well, not as soft as I prefer, but still tender. The flavoring was adequate as well. I believe it could have used a bit more bean paste for a deeper savory flavor, and perhaps be a tad sweeter.

I loved the process of wrapping my food….it made me feel like I was eating duck! I did think the cucumbers, while adding that wonderful palate cleansing flavor to everything was chopped much too thick, and proved to be a bit cumbersome. But overall, this was an enjoyable dish.

The Missus saw the Shrimp with Fried Gluten ($9.99), and decided to order that as well.

When the Missus had inquired about this dish, the woman really went off on how they make their own wheat gluten, how many times they rinsed it, etc, etc, etc…..

I'm usually not a big fan of Kaufu (wheat gluten), but this was the best dish of the meal. And changed my opinion of what is usually used as a "meat replacement". The Kaufu was so soft it practically melted in my mouth. It was also a flavor sponge absorbing all the salty-sweet-soy flavors of the dish. I almost forgot about the shrimp which were perfectly tender. Man this was good!

We also ordered the Tianjin Sauteed Eggplant ($6.99):

Seared to perfection in a hot wok, the texture was silken, the temperature was molten, and the scent was heavenly smoky. In spite of looks, the flavor of the dish was very mild, lacking "zing". The garlic sprinkled on the top was the only thing that stood out with regards to taste. We took most of this home, and when I added a bit of "acid" (vinegar) the dish woke up a bit. It could have used a bit more sweetness as well.

And yes, there was Xiao Mi Zhou (小米粥), millet porridge.

We left the meal satiated, and with a good amount of leftovers which would disappear fairly quickly.

And were hopeful that this would start us on another streak of good eats on our future road trips.

Tianjin Bistro
534 East Valley Blvd. #8
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Open Thurs – Tues 11am – 10pm

Mr Dumpling revisited

March 16, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Mr Dumpling has closed

Recently, while on my way to 99 Ranch Market, I passed Mr Dumpling and noticed a huge banner.

What really caught my eye was the phrase "Grand Opening Feb 28". I was very interested…. what could this grand opening sign mean. It doesn't say "under new management" and the name is still Mr Dumpling. We'd only visited Mr Dumpling once before and was very disappointed in the dishes which were not prepared well, and over-priced. But now…..

I quickly got ahold of a good "FOY", and inquired. The response was, she wasn't sure, but she had heard that the Xiao Long Bao were the best in San Diego. 'Nuff said, I was there ASAP. I met my good eating buddy, and hit up Mr Dumpling.

I've always liked the interior of Mr Dumpling, warm colors and tastefully decorated gives the place much more style than other Chinese Restaurants in San Diego.

We inquired as to a possible ownership change, and was told, it was the same owner, but a different menu. The lunch menu is more Shanghai influenced, so perhaps it was a change in chef? You can order many small bites as the dumplings are served in orders of four or five, and many snack items are available.

Of course we started with the Xiao Long Bao (four – $2.99):

This could've been pretty good. The wrappers were decent, perhaps the best in San Diego. Not too thick or thin, with a decent pull. There were several problems with the XLB. First, there wasn't enough soup in the XLB. Second, there flavor was off, and I never thought I'd say this, but the soup and the meat weren't sweet or savory enough. Much like the XLB at Dumpling Inn, these tasted like regular dumpling filling. Also, there's black vinegar on the table, but you have to request sliced ginger for your XLB.

We also ordered the Special Five Variety Dumpling (5 – $3.99) and Lamb Meat Dumplings (4 – $2.99). I'm putting these two together.

As you notice these dumplings are steamed, and the wrappers are different as well. Tough, gummy, and somewhat brittle, I believe that these are "hot water wrappers" made with boiling water. It's a totally different kind of wrapper, as boiling water really develops the gluten much differently. I guess I'm not a big fan of this type of wrappers…. they remind me of cheaply made Gyoza wrappers.

The fillings were too finely minced causing a fairly dense and dry "meatball". So naturally, the celery, and the egg dumplings fared better, but were bland. The flavor of the lamb dumplings was pretty bland.

The best item of the day was probably the Leek Pie ($2.25):

My dining partner indicated that this could have been a bit more crisp on the exterior. The flavor was very homestyle, and could have used a bit more salt.

Nothing to rave about, but passable.

The "Pancake of Beef" (Niu Rou Chuan $5.99) looked really good.

The "pancake" looked almost like Jiang Bing, since it obviously had egg involved. The beef was just the right texture, a nice semi-cured tender without being mushy and falling to pieces, but it seriously lacked flavor…. any flavor. There's usually an additional flavor component, a smear of bean paste, or a hoisin like concoction. This lacked that, which meant that the pungency of the scallions took over.

I think this place tries hard, and perhaps over-reaches, as each dish fell short, or flat in one way or another. The service was friendly and adequate. Like I mentioned earlier, I like the set-up, but in my opinion, the food leaves something to be desired. I'm likely to make at least one more visit though. The hot pot menu looks promising, and the folks having hot pot looked like they were enjoying their meal. The prices are also right….. and are also 30% off right now.

I will have a challenge on my hands though…. trying to convince the Missus to give this place another shot.

Mr Dumpling
7250 Convoy Ct
San Diego, CA 92111

Road Trip: Mas’ Islamic Chinese Restaurant – Anaheim (Orange County)

March 15, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

I'd heard good things about Mas' Islamic restaurant. Located in of all places Anaheim, not exactly your hot bed of Chinese restaurants. But I'd been missing Muslim Chinese, not that the late Jamillah Garden in San Diego made out of this world food, but I'd had some good dishes there. The Missus and I have a soft spot for Islamic Chinese. When the Missus was going to school, She worked briefly at Tung Lai Shun, long gone, but not forgotten, as I think they served the best Chinese Islamic I've ever had. When the Missus and I were first dating, I still remember our wonderful meal at VIP Restaurant in Rowland Heights, which is still there, though I think they've gone through maybe half a dozen owners since then. That meal, featuring a humongous "Da Bing", as huge as a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, along with our first meal at ChungKing Restaurant (the original in Monterey Park) really stoked my interest in Regional and various ethnic Chinese Cuisines. So on a recent Holiday Monday, the Missus and I made a drive up to Anaheim, and the fairly odd location of Mas' Islamic, located on a rather industrial looking area of Orangethorpe Avenue.

As you can tell, on a pretty humble avenue, full of generic looking industrial malls and complexes, Mas' sure stands out. The interior is huge, comprised of several large "rooms". The restaurant, empty when we arrived, filled pretty quickly with the Monday lunch crowd, a mixed bag of Asians, and non-Asians. Most folks were ordering lunch specials….there was a whole lotta "orange chicken" going on. Between that, and the standard place setting…. which covers all bases, gave me a bit of a weird feeling.

Luckily, all the Servers spoke Mandarin, and among the Shrimp with Cashew Nuts, Kung Pao Chicken, and Mongolian Beef, we found items that represented Islamic Chinese food. Being a Halal establishment, Mas' is a "no oink" zone, so don't even be thinking about ordering something like Dong Po Rou.

First to arrive was the "Lamb Dough Sliced Chow Mein"($10.95) aka Dao Xiao Mian (刀削麵 – Knife cut, or knife shaved noodles), where noodles are shaved from a block of rolled dough. My photo doesn't do justice on the portion size… those spoons are actually large serving spoons. This could've fed an army!

From a noodle perspective, this was a pretty good job. The noodles weren't too thick and doughy like versions in San Diego (can you hear me Dumpling Inn?). No "wok hay" here, but the noodles had a decent al dente pull to them. The flavor was truly lacking, with only a hint of soy sauce flavor. Not much lamb in this either, egg was used to stretch the protein. The greyish pallor of the dish didn't do much to stimulate my appetite either. There was three meals of leftovers out of this dish, which had to be fixed up with a ton of soy sauce.

The Thin Sesame Bread ($9.95). I saw this thing, a large pizza sized bread being cut and placed on our platter.

This was pretty good, not too oily, tons of sesame seeds, decent light crustiness, but really short on scallions, leaving it on the bland side.

I'll say this much….. Sammy loved the leftovers!

By this time, we were used to the huge portions, so when our Lamb and Pickled Cabbage Soup (Suan Cai Yang Rou – $9.95) arrived in a huge cauldron we weren't too surprised.

I'm a big fan of Suan Cai Yang Rou, and eat it every chance I get. This however, was not very good. Instead of a nice pickled flavor, the broth had an intense, almost pure vinegar sour. It was so unpleasantly sour that my salivary glands are quivering in fear and shutting down as I look at the photos. The soup was big on regular Napa Cabbage, and short on Suan Cai (a simpled pickled made from Napa Cabbage that is reminiscent of Sauerkraut), so I'm wondering if they added vinegar to make it sour enough? We could only tolerate a few spoonfuls of the broth. We did take it home, but the next day, the soup was even more sour…… and we just couldn't bring ourselves to eat it, though I tried. This was not even close to my favorite version from Tianjin Bistro, and would even prefer Northern Chinese Restaurant's version to this.

One of the women who served us, was very nice. The others were pretty military-like and efficient. The portions here are humongous, and we could have fed 7-8 people with what we ordered. The food, however only made me miss Tung Lai Shun even more. I wonder how VIP is under their new(er) ownership…..maybe we'll just have to get back to China Islamic soon.

Mas' Islamic Restaurant
601 E Orangethorpe Ave
Anaheim, CA 92801

Sunday “Italian” Sandwiches: Jersey Mike’s Subs, Grab & Go, and Philly Grill

March 14, 2010 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

Boy, was it nice out there today…… I’m figuring that you really don’t feel like reading about a hot steaming pot of Suan Cai Yang Rou (preserved vegetable w/lamb hot pot), so I thought I’d dig up a few photos, and put together a sandwich post. This time, it’s a couple of local “Italian Subs”, which, depending where you live can be called a “Grinder, Torpedo, Hoagie, or Bomber” among other names, depending on where you live. Here’s an interesting threesome, 1 from a National Chain, one from a Local Chain, and one from a local independently owned shop. So without further ado:

Jersey Mike’s Subs – Rosecrans:

As far as I know, there are three locations of this New Jersey based chain in San Diego proper. The actual history of Jersey Mike’s is interesting. Yet, it’s still a franchised chain.

The interior is full on national sandwich shop generic…..

I will say one thing about this shop; the two times I’ve been here, the young ladies are always cleaning like crazy……. whomever runs this shop must put an emphasis on this.

I usually will go for one of the combinations featuring Italian cold cuts.

On both my visits, the sandwich was lettuce heavy, and you really couldn’t taste the meats. The dressing is a good amount of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and a good amount of an oregano spice mix, which is the key to flavor for this sandwich. It’s still not the basic “salad on a roll” that is a sandwich from Subway, and they do slice your meat to order.

The one thing I enjoy at Jersey Mike’s is the bread, which is slightly crusty and airy, and has a almost cracker-like flavor.

Jersey Mike’s Subs
3670 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA 92110

Grab & Go Subs – Mission Gorge Rd:

**** This location of Grab & Go has closed

A local “chain” with seven locations, I’ve posted on Grab & Go before. A couple of months ago, I dropped by the Mission Gorge shop since I happened to be in the area.

As I mentioned before, my sandwich of choice at Grab & Go is the Spicy Cappocolla, which is toasted, spice added by pickled jalapenos. Toasting the sandwich releases the oil and flavors from the cappocolla, melts the cheese, and makes the roll crusty…. all good things for me.

A couple of weeks later, I found myself at Grab & Go again, and ordered my other favorite, the Italian Village Special, a cappocolla, salami, and pepperoni sub.

On previous occasions, this sandwich had been toasted when I’ve ordered it. This time it wasn’t, and it was truly lacking. Too doughy, lacking in a good contrast of textures. And ice cold……..

Goes to show me that I need to make sure my sandwiches are toasted in the future.

Grab & Go Subs
6435 Mission Gorge Rd.
San Diego, CA 92120

A quick word on shredded lettuce on Italian Subs…… this is the usual way they are made in San Diego……

The Philly Grill:

**** The Philly Grill has closed

Nestled next to El Sol, Philly Grill is a nice little shop that specializes in Cheesesteaks, which I’ll go into in a later post.

Personally, I don’t think the best item on the menu are the cheesesteaks, which are on the skimpy side, and the bread, a very important item when dealing with cheesesteaks just doesn’t cut it. For me, the best thing I’ve had here is also one of the most inexpensive, the Italian Hoagie.

The owner, Suzanne also adds color, with her unbridled enthusiasm, straight forward approach, and sincere concern for what I ate. I’m sure that you, like myself are often asked “how is everything and what do you think” during your meal. I will guarantee you, that 99% of the time, it is just part of going thru the motions. The person asking really doesn’t want you to answer this. In the beginning, I thought that folks really wanted to know “how everything was”, and replied with my opinion. After instances of rapid blinking, “why did you answer”, “did you just slap me in the face” looks, I’ve just stopped. Stupid me, in the beginning I thought that they really wanted to know what I thought. Somehow, when Suzanne asked me “whaddya think”, I just felt she meant it…… so I think she now knows me as the “bread guy”…… And we did have a nice conversation about her bread, her customers, and such. And Suzanne really did really want to know what I thought.

Back to the sandwich. Suzanne asked me how I wanted my sandwich, and I told her, make it the way you like it, but lose the shredded lettuce. What I ended up with was freshly sliced sliced salami and cappacolla heated on the griddle, prosciutto, and provolone, topped with onions, and great pickled peppers.

The balsamic dressing and oregano spice mix added to the sandwich. At this point, it could have been on shoe leather and this would have been great! I do think that thinner slices, with more surface area would add to the sandwich, but I enjoyed this. I was also pretty stuffed…..

This really illustrates the superiority of independently owned and run businesses (and I’m talking about those folks who are hands on). I’m sure if I walked into Philly Grill tomorrow, Suzanne will remember what my preferences were. And in some way, that beats out a five dollar foot long anytime.

Dennis has a post on Philly Grill which you can find here.

Philly Grill
2041 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

Quick note: the hours are sometimes a bit flaky.

Today was a wonderful San Diego day. Yes, the Northwest winds still had a bit of chill to them, but it was a nice sunny day. The Missus wanted to sleep in, so I took Da’ Boyz to Tecolote Natural Park and Nature Center.

The Tecolote Canyon Natural Park is a series of trails, a twelve mile round trip, which stretches throughout the Clairemont area.

Of course we just kinda meandered around for maybe a half mile or so, just far enough so Sammy could smell every bush….

We turned just a bit after passing the back of USD.

The wild flowers are quite pretty after the recent rains…..

Da’ Boyz and I hope you had a great weekend!

Antigua: Our last evening, Lake Amatitlan, and making it home…..

March 12, 2010 mmm-yoso Guatemala, Guatemalan Food, Travel

On our last evening in Antigua, the Missus wanted to have a nice meal…… She was still thinking about our meal at Churrasqueria Momo's in Copan Ruinas, and asked me if I could find something similar in Antigua. I recalled seeing a sign advertising a Churrasca, basically a steakhouse. And ironically it was located right under the landmark we took the most photos of…… The Arch of Santa Catalina:

The arch was built in 1693 to allow the Nuns of the Convent of Santa Catalina to fulfill the conditions of cloister, out of public view and contact, to access a vegetable garden across the street.

There just happens to be a hotel right under the arch. I had read a sign in front of the hotel, and recalled that it had mentioned the restaurant specialized in Churrasca.

since this was located right smack in the middle of 5 Avenida Norte, we both knew that this would be more touristy, and the prices would reflect that.

Still we knew it wouldn't be that bad with regard to prices, and it wasn't.

I had the Puyazo, basically a marinated grilled skirt steak, which came to about $11/US:

The marinade was not as tasty as the version in Copan Ruinas, but the meat was of higher quality, very beefy, moist, and relatively tender.

The Missus went for the Filet Mignon, which came to about $12.50/US.

The filet was wrapped in bacon and topped with a red wine sauce.

It was a nice relaxing last meal in Antigua…. we sure were going to miss the splashes of color of the town.

Now it's on to Mauricio:

When we first arrived in Guatemala City, we headed out to the feeding frenzy of shuttle and taxi drivers. For some reason, we noticed a clean cut young man holding a sign….. and he spoke excellent English. This was Mauricio. We arrived at his mini-van, and immediately noticed a young woman and a young child sitting in the passenger seat. It was Mauricio's wife and son. This immediately put us at ease. From that point on, Mauricio was our driver…… he was always prompt, so friendly, and flexible. We enjoyed many wonderful conversations on a wide range of subjects. As we found in our travels, folks seem to be just as interested in us, as we were in them. On our return trip from Flores and Tikal, returning to Antigua from Guatemala City, we made arrangements for our return trip to the airport. As he was dropping us off, Mauricio asked us if it was okay to pick us up early in the morning. As he explained to me, "we'd like to show you the town we live in, and a bit of Guatemala City, not as customers, but as friends……" How could we refuse? And so on our last morning in Guatemala, a young man arrived in Maurico's mini-van with a note in hand:

And we were driven to Mauricio's hometown of Amatitlan, and met up with Mauricio's family, including his Mom. After breakfast at Pollo Campero, we were given a short tour of Amatitlan. The heart of Amatitlan is Lake Amatitlan, which had almost been reduced to a polluted mess by being the catchment area for Guatemala City. Luckily, the lake is on what will probably be a long road to recovery. Mauricio's Mother told us stories of swimming in the lake when she was a child, and though I don't think anyone will be able to do that for a while, perhaps in my lifetime, I hope that one day children will be able to……

We snapped that photo after taking a ride on the aerial tram. The views are beautiful, and you a get a good view of the active Pacaya Volcano. You also have great view of the town of Amatitlan.

Mauricio had a few surprises for us…. our next stop was Baños Termales Santa Teresita, location of thermal springs and a spa.

A massage and shower later, and we were relaxed beyond words…….

The last stop on the way to the airport was a drive through Naciones Unida National Park. Located within the park are smaller scale models of Guatemala's most famous sites, like Antigua, and even this:

Yep, it's a mini-Tikal! Who needs to go to Flores! And these were much easier to climb too…..

While driving through the park, we came to an area where the road was blocked…. what was it? Banditos, a bad accident, a hold-up??? Not quite……

There were kids dressed in traditional garb, swaying from side to side enthusiastically, with a woman dancing in front of them……

So what was this…… it was a music video being filmed of course!

When the filming was done, the woman smiled, waved, and shouted out her thanks, and all the kids smiled and waved at us as we drove past. Somehow, I just can't see this happening in the states….

As we arrived at the airport, I felt sadness coming over me. We had been blessed again, just as in other trips. Beyond the sights and the food, it's the people we've been blessed to meet that stay with us. I could never thank Mauricio enough, not only for his generosity and kindness, but for also providing us with an anchor, and a sense of security during our travels.

Flying through Mexico City, and "gripe porcina":

This being April of '09, we were around Lake Atitlan when the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic story broke in mainstream media outlets. By the time we hit Flores, and actually had access to a television, things were going crazy… the whole Sanjay Gupta at "ground zero" thing had us glued to the television. The bad thing was, we weren't able to change our flights, as everyone seemed to be in a panic, and we had to fly through Mexico City airport. We were in a state of not really knowing what the heck was going to happen. Mexico City had been pretty much shut down by that point. I had expected the flight from Guatemala City to Mexico City to be empty, but it was packed to the gills. Mexico City airport, usually a mass of humanity had an eerie sober feel to it. And scenes like this were somewhat surreal… as in, is this really happening.

People were making sure not to be too close to one another. And even though we knew that the face masks we got, even doubled up, was no replacement for having TB masks and being fit-tested. We still wore our masks, and took this classic photo of us:

Is that major "sunblock fail" on my forehead or what?

The flight to LAX was almost empty….. only seventeen passengers on a 737!

And even though at first glance it looked like business as usual at LAX, both Immigrations and Customs was a ghost town. We made it through in fifteen minutes….amazing. Two and a half hours later, we were home…….. with some interesting stories to tell.

As always, thanks for reading!