mmm-yoso – Page 352

Huynh Hoa Tuu part 1

January 6, 2010 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

Update: Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.

I had been aware that O Yea! Vietnamese Restaurant had changed ownership, but the last time I recalled driving by, the place was stil named "O Yea!". Then in November mscinda posted on the now renamed restaurant; Huynh Hoa Tuu. After checking out her post, I made sure to add Huynh Hua Tuu to my "list". It quickly moved up my list when "El Grande FOY" (Friend of Yoso) Yummy-Yummy sent me a very enthusiastic email regarding Huynh Hoa Tuu. YY even recommended a couple of dishes….. which is how the Missus and I ended up at Huynh Hoa Tuu.

Walking into the place, it seemed that little had changed except for the name, as the interior hadn't changed a bit…… it's still a bright Pepto Bismol pink.

The menu was a different story, as there was a pretty wide range of dishes from the standard Cha Gio at $4.99 to various "Lau" (hot pot) ringing in at $25.

We decided to start with a favorite of the Missus, the Banh Trang Nem Bo ($8.99), the make-your-own-spring rolls dish. Things looked good as a large plate of bright and fresh herbs, veggies, and fresh pineapple arrived at our table.

The meat provided was the a slightly sour and nicely grilled "Nem" (pork sausage), and thinly sliced beef tightly rolled into cylinders, covered with peanuts.

The beef was less sweet than other places, and on the salty side, but not in a bad way. The Nem was nicely charred, but nothing special. No Bun (vermicelli) was provided, and the rice paper was the large plate sized type.

Which the Missus just couldn't keep Her hands off of……

What was problematic about the dish was that the bowl of water provided was on the small side, so you had to work a bit to moisten the rice paper. Still, this wasn't bad, but we both thought the Banh Trang at Pho King was better.

One of the dishes recommended by Yummy-Yummy was the Green Mango Salad with Shrimp(#109 – Goi Xoai Tom Nuong). At first the price, at $15 seemed a bit high. But when the dish arrived, we knew why….. there were at least ten grilled shrimp, on a huge plate of green mango.

Instead of the usual shredded green mango, this presentation had the mango in slices. The somewhat pleasant (for us) puckeriness of green mango came through… a memory from my childhood, as green mango was often eaten in Hawaii, though with soy sauce and sugar, or bagaoong. The mango was dressed with a tangy, yet spicy sauce, which we enjoyed. The shrimp was perhaps a tad overcooked, but was very fresh, and everything was topped with a good amount of Rau Ram (Vietnamese Coriander) which added it's own punch to the dish. We finished the whole plate and was stuffed.

Leaving thoroughly satisfied, we returned a couple of other dishes. This time I ordered the Braised Shrimp with Pork Belly (#69 – Tom Thit Ba Roi Ram Man):

The menu's English translation says Braised Shrimp with "Bacon", but it's pork belly that has obviously been simmered in a fish sauce based mixture. This time the shrimp had been cooked adequately, and did well paired with the fatty, though not overly soft pork belly, and the salty, and slightly sweet fish sauce mixture. We were worried because the amount of black pepper used seemed excessive, but it did well in this dish.

The other dish I wanted to order was also recommended by YY:

It was not translated into English on the menu, and was simply described to me as #102, the squid dish, Muc Mot Nang Nuong Muoi Ot($15). It was squid grilled with chilies. For some reason, when both the Missus and I were provided with a dish of sea salt mixed with red chilies and a lime wedge, we gad a premonition that this was going to be a good dish. The little plate reminded us of Vietnam.

And it did deliver:

Let me just say a couple of things about this dish. First, the salt, chilies, and lime, is not an optional item, but an integral part of the dish. Second, this was the most tender grilled squid I've had in ages, beating out anything I've had in years. It almost melted in my mouth! The Missus, not being a fan of squid really didn't want me to order this, but She ended up fighting me for the last few slices. Funny thing, Rau Ram used to be pretty rare in Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego, but here it's everywhere!

On our next (yet another) visit, my eyes wandered down the menu, and I ordered the Bap Xao Tom Kho (Corn with Dried Shrimp – $8):

This was nothing that I couldn't make at home on the Big Kahuna. this was also a case of too much black pepper, which killed all the flavors of the dish.

We also ordered the Oc Len Xao Dua (Snails stir fried with coconut milk – $15):

This was a load of snails! At first, the Missus and I kept going, "man this is waaaay too sweet". It seemed very rich and cloying…. but in the end, we had eaten every single snail…. every one. So I'm not quite sure…. I still think this is much too sweet, with too much coconut milk, and yet we plowed through the whole thing, so I guess I'm torn.

Well I'll stop at the snails for now, but there's much more to come…. just in case you're wondering how "Deep Fried Pork Leg with Fish Sauce" tastes, stay tuned!

Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

You can find part 2 of this post here.

Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant

January 4, 2010 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

So a couple of days ago I received an email from someone I hadn't heard from in ages, say about a year and a half. I'm not sure many of you were reading when I did the "Dude, like where's all the Asian Food…." post. Apparently this fellow is here to keep me on the straight and narrow. This time around it was, "ok, the holidays are over, so can we get on with eating in San Diego? Enough with the other stuff and reruns!" he-he-he……. What would I do without folks like this to keep me focused? So here goes……

A few months back, while driving up Mercury to do some shopping at Marukai, I passed the "newer" location of Tajima, and realized, even though I did one of those "odds and ends" posts on the place in 2006, I'd still never been to the place. So it was time to remedy the situation…..

And though I still call the place "Tajima 2", it's actually called "Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant" whew, what a mouthful. First off, the interior is fairly stylish, though the tables are a bit too close together, and things are a bit "wide-open" so you can mind everyone else's business. This is not much different from many Izakaya type places though. On each visit, Jazz was playing in the background, and you could clearly make out the trickling "waterfall" in the background…ambient noise as an attempt to distract you from all the conversation. It is also pretty dark, and all my attempts at taking a photo (I never use a flash) failed.

Enough of that, here's rundown on what we ate during our visits…..

The Tako Wasabi ($4.50) was fine. I'm pretty sure that like most sushi bars, it is bought from one of several distributors, but for some reason, it is a bit more sweet, with less of a sinus clearing wasabi bite, than other versions I've had.

I usually enjoy Tako Wasabi whenever I've gotten it, and this was no different.

The Geso Karaage (Deep fried squid legs – $3.95) didn't thrill me as much:

These were a bit over-fried, as the squid had become really tough, and the batter tasted a bit bitter.

I thought the Chicken Mizore (Chicken Karaage with Tsuyu and grated daikon – $4.50) would be a better choice than the Chicken Karaage at Tajima, which tends to be bland and gummy(see my previous Tajima post) :

The Tsuyu – tempura dipping sauce and the daikon oroshi did liven up the rather bland chicken.

The funny thing is, one of my favorite dishes at Tajima was the Nonkotsu Karaage ($3.95), which is on the menu as "Chicken Gristle", but is actually battered and deep fried chicken cartilage.

I'm guessing that the batter which I think is a bit too thick and heavy for Karaage does well with the cartilage. The cartilage adds crunch to a batter which kinda lacks it. The Missus wouldn't touch it, but I finished the whole thing.

The Missus on one visit decided to try out the Chirashi, which is bargain priced at $11. I tried to warn Her off…. you know what they say about cheap and the words sashimi and sushi, right?

The Missus said that the salmon was quite good, everything else less so. Personally, just from looking at it, I thought the cutting skills of whomever put this together needs some work. It seemed like some of the fish was just shredded. The Missus did say that it was pretty much worth the price.

The Missus always has to order Shishamo ($5.95) whenever She sees it on the menu:

The Missus told me that the skin of the fish was not grilled as crisp as She prefers, but this was pretty good as a whole. One odd thing, the Missus left half of one fish, the one on the far left. As we were leaving I asked Her why, and She told me it was cold, and hadn't been grilled properly. The other four (and a half) were okay.

I also ordered the Buta no Kakuni (braised pork belly – $6.95), and was amazed at the portion size.

Having made this several times, and even having done a post on one of the versions (I guess I should do another post someday), I know that the yield for a good version is fairly small. First off, the Missus loved the boiled egg, which had a wonderful soft yolk. The braising liquid tasted adequately good, but the pork was on the dry and tough (for Buta Kakuni) side. In fact, it reminded me more of Pork Shoulder than Belly. Still, this was a pretty large portion size…… is there such a thing as too much braised pork belly???

Which kinda gets to my point; Tajima is a good place to try a bunch of dishes without breaking the bank. Thinking in terms of economies of scale, it is much cheaper than Izakaya Sakura, and the prices reflect the difference. The funny thing is, that the atmosphere here is probably a bit better than Sakura as well! I think Tajima is good place of you're on a tighter budget, and perhaps looking for stuff like "Kimchi Pork" and "Crunchy Roll", followed by a good dose of Soju.

Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant
4411 Mercury St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2010 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers

Boy did the Holiday season roll around quickly this year…. and for many it seems the faster we get this year behind us, the better. It was a pretty tough year for lot's of folks. I've always found that the availability and amount of Osechi-ryōri on display at various Japanese Markets in San Diego is a good gauge on the kind of year we;ve had. Needless to say, this year it seemed a bit more subdued. Less of the prepared boxes….

And what seems to be more of the items for assembling your own….

Nijiya seemed to have the largest collection of items and fresh seafood.

We just relaxed, and in addition to bought items…..

In addition to the stuff photographed we had some Shishamo, and I picked up some Roast Duck.

I also made a couple of dishes as well, mostly small dishes like Hijiki Nimono….

And what the Missus said was the best Kinpira Gobo I ever made……

I swear I posted on this before, but I can't find it….. well maybe I should do a post?

And also some Gomoku Takikomi Gohan (5 ingredient rice).

You know, I swear I did a post on this as well…… hmmmm, do you think it's worth a post?

And of course, there was Dashijiru ready for my midnight Soba……..

We hope everyone had a great Holiday season, with lots of great gifts…..

And great food as well!

From all of us at mmm-yoso, we wish you a hearty Happy New Year!

Lists and more lists: Our most memorable meals part 1

December 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Cambodia, Laos, Peru, Travel, Vietnam

This is the time of year for lists….. and more lists. First there's the Christmas shopping list, then the post Xmas return list, followed by that all too inevitable New Years resolution list, and so forth. I often get asked to do lists, stuff like Pho restaurants, eating itineraries for visitors (which I love to do BTW – it's just that I'm kinda slow on the email thing), and other stuff. Recently, Dennis asked me if I was going to do an updated 10 photos post, and I thought about it, but after a bit of pondering I gave up. You see, we average somewhere around 300 or so posts a year, and picking a few photos out of those…… well you see what I mean, right? And yet, because it is the time of the year for lists, I just felt I needed to do one. And so I pulled out an often requested list, of our most memorable meals, not in any order, and kinda off the top of my head. Now note that that is "our" list, which is, the Missus and I, which automatically excludes places like……

Urasawa, which was a ginourmous three part post……

And even though we've had some very memorable dishes like the Roasted Whole Sparrows from Highway 4 in Hanoi……

Which was really delicious….. or even sannakji (live octopus), which I thought was less so….

Or even Prahok, a fermented Cambodian fish paste, made more interesting by the sour little crunchy things….

Which turned out to be little red tree ants. The list is memorable meals, not memorable dishes….. hey, that could be another list!

And there were those stories, like the young lady in Siem Reap named Akin, who came to work in the city at the age of 9!

Akin, an orphan who never knew her parents nor siblings, felt the need to comfort us when we were so touched and distressed by her story by sharing with us her philosophy on life: "no worries, no worries, I'm Happy-Happy every day!"

And since it's meals, not drink, I need to exclude the Chicha de Jora from a dirt-floored roadside shack in Calca.

Frothy, yeasty, and light, it's a wonderful beverage. There's just one thing you need to understand about Chicha de Jora, to quote: "In order to start the fermentation process, the maize is moistened in the maker's mouth…..the digestive enzymes in saliva helps to break down the starches and start the fermentation process. In fact, it is thought that the modern name for this drink is based on the Spanish word "chichal", which means to spit".

I'd also need to exclude the best "hootch" I've ever had, Snake Ruou (rice wine):

From Quoc Phuong Ecological Farm in Le Mat, outside of Hanoi:

We've found that there's no way to get to know the folks than by trying out some of the local "beverages":

After all, if it comes out of a rusty old barrel, through a bamboo tube, it's gotta be good, right?

Hmmmm….. another list! I'll stop now, and leave this list for later. But I'm wondering, how many of you have been reading for the last four years or so. And if you have…. first I'd like to thank you so much for reading! Second, are there any posts which stand out in your mind…. or perhaps you'd like to take a stab at what you think were our most memorable meals?

Thanks for reading!

Road Trip: Kang Kang Food Court – Alhambra (Los Angeles)

December 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

A pretty long while back, uber Foodblogger Wandering Chopsticks mentioned that she thought that Kang Kang Food Court in Alhrambra made the best Shengjian Bao in LA. Kang Kang Food Court…… So I made a note, and on one of our road trips we decided to drop by, and check out the SJB.

Though the storefront is right on Valley Boulevard, you drive to the rear and find parking in the parking lot. Once down the hallway, you enter the world of Kang Kang….

Bare bones and very cafeteria like, Kang Kang offers both steam table and cold items, in addition to various menu items. The word "menu" kinda understates "THE MENU" which takes up the top of an entire side of the place. It's one thing to have a book-sized menu delivered to your table….. and another to have to look at what seems like an unending number of items lining a wall…….

And it seems like that entire side was just not enough room to contain this "menu on steroids" as various banners around the place display other "specials".

But we were here for only one thing:

Which became a non-starter, since we found out the SJB cook comes in at 11, and it was 10. So we decided to check out the Xiao Long Bao, and return at a later time for the SJB.

As far as XLB are concerned these weren't very good. First off, a couple had leaked….. so "no soup for you". Second the folds of the Bao were hard as rock, and the wrapper too thick. Not enough soup, which was flavored pretty neutrally, not too sweet. The meatball was too hard and "squeaky".

Usually, food like this would pretty much ward me off. But in this case, there were a couple of things I kinda enjoyed. First, when you place your order, you give the cashier your table number. And in a few minutes, you get a pot of tea delivered to your table, along with the standard black vinegar based dipping sauce. I admit that this place goes a bit overboard with the styrofoam, and the tea is basically tea colored water, but it's a nice touch. Second, the cashier is very nice, a step up from the perfunctory, sometimes rude service you get at the other Shao Mei's and Sam Woo's. And in fact, some of the steam table stuff looked pretty good. I'll say this much, the stuff at Sam Woo's take-out here in San Diego looks pretty bad in comparison.

So on Christmas eve, the Missus and I decided, to drive up, and kinda do a semi-crawl, very leisurely going back to a few places we enjoyed, maybe try a new place, and do some take-out for calm Christmas Day. So why not stop at Kang Kang and try the Shengjiang Bao? Which is what we did.

We followed the drill, and after about 15 minutes, our Shengjiang Bao arrived, glistening under the fluorescent lighting.

So how did we enjoy it? Well first off, these were blasting hot, and full of juice. They'll literally explode when you bite into them. The "soup" has a strong pork flavor, which the Missus thought was too "porky", for me, the porkier the better. I love the crust on the bottom, but thought the rest of the Bao had not risen enough, and we were left with gummy dough. I want the tops of my SJB or Lu Bao to be somewhat fluffy. Again, I had a problem with the filling, which was a hard and squeaky meatball.

I guess if we could get the crust and soup from this SJB, and cross it with the filling and semi-leavened breadiness of the SJB at Food Cabin we'd be happy. As it was, this was not bad, and soon enough it was time to move on to our next stop.

Kang Kang Food Court
27 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2009 mmm-yoso Blog

Boy did Christmas come around quickly this year! Of course this being San Diego, it really doesn't look much like Christmas….

Other than the lights you'd never really know……

By the dearth of recent posts, I think you can tell things have been pretty hectic for us. So yesterdays, the Missus and I decided to jump in the car and drive on up to the SGV. That 'post will be coming up, as we managed to revist a couple of favorites in addtion to checking out a few others. We did take-out from Tianjin Bistro. Ever since I mentioned Suan Cai Yang Rou Guo to Cathy and Ed from Yuma, I've been craving it.

After a week of richer food, this was comforting and cleansing. The Suan Cai (preserved vegetable) has a flavor like a mild sauerkraut.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm sure having a chauffeur sure makes things easier!

Something warm to tide you over…….

December 22, 2009 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

It's been a pretty hectic week. So let's have something nice and warm to tide us over, until tomorrow if you don't mind.

So what are you eating to keep warm tonight?

Thanks for visiting; I'll do my best to have a post tomorrow!

Kitsune Udon

December 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The holidays is a pretty busy time of the year for folks. It's also a fairly stressful time, everyone seems in a rush, and tempers sometimes seem short. Earlier today while driving to the market, I noticed a Saab coming up pretty quickly on me. The car was weaving a bit from side to side, by the time the Saab started tailgating me, I could see that the young lady behind the wheel was chatting away on her cellphone, and not paying much attention to the road. It all almost came to a head when I stopped at a red light, and was almost rear-ended by the Saab which came to a tire-squealing stop. So what was the woman's response to almost hitting me? She proceeded to honk her horn at me, than flashed me the "bad half" of the peace sign…… so much for peace on Earth, and good will to mankind, I think folks just want you to get the heck out of their way right now. Sigh……

Time for something warm and comforting….. like maybe Kitsune Udon???

Now using some prepared Tsuyu is very easy and convenient, and heck I even use hondashi (soup base) when I need a small quantity of dashi or dashi flavor. But making your own dashijiru is not that hard, nor time consuming. Unlike many recipes, I enjoy a strong kombu flavor in my dashi. So I will usually steep the kombu in water at least four hours, and overnight if possible. Today I steeped the kombu for about six hours, from 10 am, to just after the football game. The rest was done in about twenty minutes. In other words, you could get the process going by placing the kombu in water before going to work, and make the dashi when you return home.

Dashijiru

1 8×6 piece of Dashi Kombu wiped with a damp cloth or paper towel
8 Cups of water
1 1/2 cup Kezurikatsu (shaved Katsuobushi)

– In a large container steep the kombu in water for at least 4 hours, or overnight if possible.
– When ready to prepare, place the kombu and water over high heat.
– When small bubbles start to appear remove the kombu (do not boil kombu).
– When the liquid begins to boil lower the heat and add bonito flakes.
– Simmer gently for two minutes, skim any foam that develops, and then remove from heat.
– Let the shaved bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot.
– Strain the liquid through cheesecloth or fine sieve. For this use, do not squeeze liquid out of the bonito flakes, this will make the broth cloudy.

Udon Kakejiru – Udon Broth

8 Cups Dashijiru
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/3 Cup Shoyu (Soy Sauce – Use a decent quality soy sauce)
1/4 Cup Sake
Salt to taste
Dash of White Pepper
Other items if desired (dried shrimp, niboshi, sugar etc….)

– Bring Kakejiru to a simmer
– Add soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Simmer to burn off alcohol.
– Taste and adjust flavor with salt, more soy sauce, other flavorings, etc.
– Bring back to a simmer.

Putting It Together:

2 pieces Aburaage
Udon Noodles
Green Onions thinly sliced
Kaiware (Daikon Sprouts)
Other items as desired…….

– Prepare Udon Noodles in boiling water as specified.
– Pour boiling water over the aburaage to remove excess oil, and cut diagonally.
– Drain noodles, and place in the bottom of a bowl, pour kakejiru over noodles.
– Top with green onions, aburaage, kaiware, etc….

Aaaahhh………

I hope everyone had a great, low-stress weekend!

Sab E Lee Santee – More dishes

December 16, 2009 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

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

I realize that Cathy and I have done posts on Sab E Lee 2, but I thought you’d like to see a couple of other dishes.

First up, Miang Kum (เมี่ยงคำ – $7.95), a simple, but wonderful appetizer:

These are basically leaf wraps, and though I’ve read that the classic Miang Kum uses Betel Leaves, all of the variations we’ve had uses spinach leaves. At first the combination of perfectly diced red onion, galangal, slivered lime, peanuts, dried shrimp, and thai bird chilies, topped with roasted coconut and a tangy and sweet, tamarind and palm sugar “sauce” seems a bit strange. But take my word for it, the sum of the parts is a wonderful melange of flavors…. it seems that each one is jockeying for position.

When working with such basic ingredients, freshness is the key, as I’ve had several versions (and one terrible version in San Diego) featuring dried out galangal and limes, and low quality shrimp. Everything here was shiny and fresh, and the tamarind dip brought everything together for us.

Bags of Gold ($7.95):

Think of these as Sab E Lee’s fried won tons if you will. These “bags” are full of minced pork, shrimp, shiitake mushroom, and water chestnuts. While the portion of the “bag” holding the filling is almost crepe-like, the top portions are light and crisp.

Pretty nice to look at too.

The Superwild Shrimp ($8.95) is a shrimp salad of sorts:

It is dressed with a fish sauce – chili – garlic – palm sugar sauce. Though we prefer the Plaa Shrimp, the shrimp in this dish was cooked to a “just well” doneness.

Of course I had to try the Koi Soi/Koi Nua (Spicy Raw Beef – $7.95), one of my favorites at Sab E Lee 1:

First off, this version is not nearly as spicy as SEL1. In fact, after tasting a few of the same dishes, I’d say that the dishes are about %30 less spicy here in Santee. I usually get a’9′ on the heat scale, this was more like a 5. That’s not to say that this wasn’t good, it was. Less spicy, but the inclusion of raw garlic added pungency and bite. This version is also a bit more citrusy and herbaceous. The nutty flavor provided by the roasted sticky rice powder is a bit more muted.

The Larb Duck($7.95) is another similar but different dish.

This version was a bit more herbaceous, and truth be told, we enjoyed this one more since the flavor of the duck came through very clearly.

Since the Chef had cut his teeth cooking in Bangkok, a version of the classic Bangkok Red Curry Duck was a necessity. Here it’s called Royal Duck Curry ($10.95):

In all honesty, of all the dishes we’ve had here, this was our least favorite. It seemed that all of those reasons we don’t enjoy the overly-Westernized Thai food in San Diego were in display here. The curry was too sweet, too fruity (via pineapple and grapes), and used too much coconut milk for our tastes.

The flavor off the duck was overwhelmed and buried in our opinion.

The Missus loved the Three Flavored Fish (Halibut – $14.95):

The fish was put panko crusted, and put together just as the Pinecone Fish we encountered on our previous visit. This time it was fried even better if that was possible. The fish was moist, and almost sweet. The sauce is a tamarind-palm sugar based sauce, was perhaps a bit too sweet for me, but the Missus just plain loved this. I can’t say anything bad about that fish. My perfect solution is to order the Pinecone Fish, and request a little dish of the Three Flavor Sauce on the side.

Fish Garlic ($12.95):

A classic Thai sweet-spicy-garlic preparation. I loved the sauce, and in fact ate up all the cabbage, and even the carrot garnish. Unfortunately for me, the fish used was catfish, and it was a bit muddy for my palate. The Missus joyfully scarfed the whole filet in minutes…….

On one visit we ordered the Fish on Fire ($16.95):

Two large Halibut Filets covered with a red curry sauce and served with a flambe of rum. One quick piece of advice for this dish, let the alcohol burn off before sampling, otherwise the rum adds a rather strong astringent flavor to the dish. The halibut was moist and tender. There was a bit too much going on for me in this dish, but again the Missus loved it.

One of my favorite menu items at Sab E Lee 2 is one of the cheapest….. the Garlic Rice ($3):

Those regular readers know that I love garlic anyway…. but this was so very good. Much better than any version of Filipino Garlic Rice I’ve ever had, as there was golden sauteed garlic and crisp fried garlic and shallot in this. The herbs added some great flavor…. and the rice being prepared well didn’t hurt things…….

By now, most regular customers of Sab E Lee know Koby….. his wonderful demeanor, gentle, kind, and always helpful just makes the whole experience better. He obviously loves to please his customers. On one occasion, I ordered the Garlic Rice, and mentioned an egg and pork street food dish we had in Bangkok, and how it would be just the perfect item with this. Koby smiled and told us, “I know what it is, we’ll make it for you!” And just like that, we had a classic Thai omelete, which we were later told is called Khai Jeaw:

Wonderfully savory, fluffy, omelete, with a quick dip in the Nam Pla Prik(fish sauce and chili) which helps cut the richness, followed with a bite of garlic rice…. There are few things better in the world.

And for a second, I was here:

The crazy streets of Silom in Bangkok…….. You know, they say in America, the streets are paved in gold. In Bangkok, the streets are paved in food! Looking at this makeshift food stand, you wouldn’t know that it’s in front of massive financial buildings in Silom, which is Bangkok’s business district.

Sometimes a smell, or just a taste can take me back…….

And Koby was nice enough to provide that for me.

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

Tortas Y Mas – Chula Vista

December 15, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Tortas y Mas has closed

On this past rainy weekend, the Missus decided She wanted some manju from Hogetsu Bakery, so I made the drive down to Chula Vista. Unfortunately, possibly due to the weather, when I arrived at Hogetsu at 10 am they weren't open yet. I waited about fifteen minutes, until my stomach told me to grab a bite to eat, and return later. Rather than the usual suspects, I decided to drive around a bit and find someplace I hadn't eaten yet…… so even while I was tempted, Tacos El Gordo was not an option. What I did notice was that the former La Torta location on H street had become Tortas Y Mas:

I didn't quite know what to expect from this tiny, sunny little restaurant.

I guess part of me expected La Torta "regurgitated" and indeed some of the menu was the "torta gringo style" theme, though there are burritos and even Alambres (think fajitas) on the menu. I quickly removed any thoughts of The Torta Factory from my mind.

The Owner, an energetic and very friendly gentleman named Silvio took my order. I went with one of my favorites, a Torta Milanesa ($7.25):

This Torta Milanesa came dressed without frijoles, but with a thin slice of ham and some cheddar cheese which gave it a nice zip. The avocado had a really nice flavor as well. The birote (roll) was very run of the mill, and not nearly as good as what I recently had at La Abejita.

I really enjoyed the potatoes, which truthfully could have been more crisp, but was much more aggressively seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili powder than what La Torta puts out. In fact, I finished the steaming potatoes before anything else.

The best part of the torta for me was the milanesa, beef very thinly sliced, lightly breaded, and fried to a crisp….. the edges were pleasurably crisp like bacon. It was also pretty tender…. I've had my share of gristle filled tough milanesa, so this was very nice.

For some reason, I ate all the potatoes, and could only manage half the sandwich. I asked if I could get my half sandwich wrapped to go, and was told with a smile, "oh yes, no problem". A few minutes later, I was handed a large styrofoam take out container. Surprised I told the gentleman that he didn't need to go through all the trouble, he could have just wrapped up the torta. His response? "I saw how much you enjoyed the potatoes, so I gave you a little more to take with you". How's that for nice……. if anything, just that gesture will have me back when I'm in the area……… Sometimes, simple acts like that can just make your day a bit sunnier, in spite of all the rain and cold.

So maybe next time, before you catch the trolley and you need something to tide you over…..

Tortas Y Mas
730 H Street
Chula Vista, CA 91910