mmm-yoso – Page 395

Seattle: Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant

August 6, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Seattle, Washington, Travel

**** Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant has closed

You can call me late to the party….I know that Seven Stars Pepper is under new Ownership, but since we were here, I thought what the heck. Also, I'd been told that one of the not-to-miss dishes (still) was the Sichuan Crab at Seven Stars. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a strip mall on the corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street that would not look out of place in Monterey Park or Alhambra.

In fact from the graffiti to the dried out pieces of gum on the sidewalk, to the loud and slow elevator that took us to the second floor….this almost had San Gabriel Valley written all over it.

The interior consisted of faux laminated plywood siding and weaved mats, going for the Asian feel. I had even considered the possibility that the tables would be a "San Gabriel Sticky", but they were in fact spotless glass topped tables.

While my Father In Law and the Missus chatted with the nice Server in Mandarin, I looked over the menu board…and there it was Sichuan Crab. Unfortunately, they were out of crab, so we made due.

We started with the Fuqi Feipian($4.75):

Instead of the usual cold appetizer table, everything here was off the menu. Fuqi Feipian, the "Husband and Wife" dish is probably my favorite Sichuan appetizer, usually a combination of thinly sliced brisket or shank, and tendon or tripe drizzled with chili oil, sichuan peppercorns, crushed peanuts, chinese celery, scallions, and sesame seeds, or a combination thereof. This version left me less than satisfied; first off the lack of peppercorns eliminated the wonderfully addictive numbing heat. This version used too much vinegar, which my Father In Law and I didn't care for. The Missus and Her Mother enjoyed the flavor, since it was pretty close to the Beijing-style Sichuan flavors they enjoy.

The Chong Gin Hot Chicken (Chongqing La Zi Ji – $10.75):

Another go to dish that I usually enjoy. In this version, the cubes of chicken were deep fried to a perfect crunchiness. Again I lamented the lack of Sichuan Peppercorns, making the heat(which wasn't very hot) one dimensional. In addition, the "hot sauce" used had an interesting vinegar kick, that the Missus and I kept trying to put our finger on……until it came to me. It almost tasted like Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce! In other words like Chongqing style buffalo chicken cubes with chilies……. It sure was a long way from Chung King in Monterey Park.

Cumin Lamb($10.50):

Not really a Sichuan dish, but I really enjoy the combination of lamb and cumin. I've been told that this is originally a Xinjiang style dish. The Missus has told me of street vendors selling skewers of grilled lamb with cumin in Qingdao where She grew up. I enjoyed this dish, though not quite as much as the Dry Fried Cumin Lamb from Dede's back in San Diego, as it was a bit on the oily side. Still, the nutty cumin flavor, along with a slight chili kick provided by the dried chilies, along with wild flavor of the lamb was nice. One thing I noticed is that the Chef doesn't "scald" his dried chilies, which would make the dishes much more fragrant and release much more of the chili flavor.

The Sichuan Prawns ($12.95):

Much like the chicken, these nice sized prawns were cooked perfectly… the meat moist, with a nice firm texture, the shells crisp, with a nice dusting of corn starch, but not hard. Again, these were not particularly spicy, but this allowed the sweet flavor flavor of the prawns to come through.

Overall, a decent, but not exceptional meal at Seven Stars Pepper. Too bad about the lack of crab. The service was very nice and accommodating, if a bit on the slow side. Perhaps on our next trip, we'll be able to check out Szechuan Chef, the restaurant run by the former owners of Seven Stars Pepper in Bellevue, or another restaurant recommended by one of the bellmen at the hotel, Yea's Wok.

Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant
1207 S. Jackson St. Suite 211
Seattle, WA 98144

Open Daily: 11am – 1030pm
206-568-6446

Oh yes, special thanks to Tohta for a nice list of recommendations for our next trip up to PNW!

Green Papaya Vietnamese Pho & Grill

August 5, 2007 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Green Papaya is closed and has been renamed.

A couple of weeks ago FOY(Friend of Yoso) and Uber Food Blogger Captain Jack, told me about a new Vietnamese Restaurant in Pacific Beach. He mentioned the name of the place was Green Papaya. So that week, I drove down to PB to check out the restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant was very nice, clean, well lit, and tastefully appointed. The restaurant was totally empty when I entered, and after waiting a few minutes, I walked into the kitchen, and surprised a pleasant young man who led me to a seat and dropped off a menu.

With a name like Green Papaya, I had hopes that the menu would contain a few different and interesting dishes. But even though the "namesake" Papaya Salad (Goi Du Du) was on the menu, most of the dishes were standard Pho, Bun, Mi, etc. In addition the prices reflected the "Pacific Beach premium".

After looking over the menu, I just went with the usual. I started with Cha Gio(Egg Rolls – $5.50). The Cha Gio arrived within a minute! On the positive side, at least the "appetizer sin" where appetizers arrive after the main course wouldn't happen here.

On the bad side, when these arrived in a minute, the first thought that went through my head was, "these gotta be reheated". And eating these did nothing to dissuade me. As you can see, one of the Cha Gio is burnt and two of them were soft and greasy.

The Nuoc Mam Cham is described as "a light fish sauce." And they sure weren't kidding, it was a bit under flavored and more on the sweet side. So if you're not into fish sauce, this might be for you.

I also went for the Pho Dac Biet Extra Large (Special Combination – $6.75):

The garnishes were the usual suspects, and were very fresh. I had expected this Pho to be very mild, and generic….boy was I wrong. Though the broth was very low in oil content and light, the strong flavors of anise and clove came through. The noodles were the usual clump on the bottom of the bowl, okay in texture, though the portion size was a bit skimpy for an "xlg" bowl.

The 5 slices of rare steak were very dry and tough and there was but a scant strip of tripe.

In keeping with the clientele there was only one piece of brisket, and a small piece of tendon. It's too bad, because the brisket had excellent flavor, and the tendon was a buttery soft. If I were to ever eat here again, I'd go with something with mostly tendon and brisket.

Overall, the service was very nice, as is the decor, but I prefer the Pho and Cha Gio at Pho Sao Bien up the street. I did ask what the specialty of the house was, and the young man answered with the question, "you don't like our Pho?" He recommended the Bun (Vermicelli dishes), but the thought of the watered down Nuoc Cham…….

Green Papaya Vietnamese Pho & Grill
1820 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Hours: Mon-Sun 10am-9pm
858-273-1664

Midweek Meanderings

August 1, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

Just a few midweek odds and ends, and other stuff….

Just An Observation

I was having lunch at Pho Hoa Hiep recently, when I gave my Com Tam dish (Com Tam Bi Cha Suon Nuong – $5.80) a "break" and came up for air.

As I gazed across the restaurant, I noticed something. Two-thirds of the customers were non-Vietnamese! During a meal a few days later, I noticed the same thing. I recall that when I first started eating here, almost all the customers were Vietnamese. I couldn’t help but smile…… You see, sometimes when I read that the "Best Chinese Restaurant" in San Diego is PF Chang’s(Pick up Stix is #4!), the "Best Japanese" is Benihana (Todai is #6!), sheesh…. This mild change in demographics tells me that San Diego’s tastes are changing, albeit slowly, and people are trying new things.

I think it’s a wonderful thing….

BTW, the Com Tam was pretty good, the pork chop was moist and tender, if a bit shy in flavor, shredded pork is tricky, this version was soft and moist, not the dry and tough stringy stuff. Not bad at all.

Rice Is Nice!

I don’t know what it is….perhaps withdrawals from doing Plate Lunch Week. But I’ve been craving rice. My rice intake had been seriously cut down since moving to San Diego, but recently…I dunno. I’ve been making stuff like Kimchee Fried Rice.

No recipe, I just use whatever’s on hand. The required ingredients are Kimchee(of course!), onions, Gochujang, and another one of those magical "four letter word" ingredients,(others being stuff like L-a-r-d and P-o-r-k) Spam®! I also like garlic in my Kimchee Fried Rice.

It could have been worse, remember my Spam® Katsu Curry?

Which led me to make stuff like this…..

Just an omelet…..

A fried rice omelet. Some left over Portuguese Sausage Fried Rice as filler……

Marukai Coming to San Diego

Check out this building on the corner of Balboa and Mercury.

No big deal, huh? Maybe a closer look….

There it is….Marukai. This looks like a 99-cent store operation, but all the buildings in the complex are being worked on. Daiso is a large Japan based "100-yen" store operation.

I’d been waiting for Marukai to open up since we moved to San Diego. I sent Marukai Corporation an email, and here’s the response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting us.
We are planning to open San Diego store.
Hopefully non-food section will be open in August 2007 and food section will be in late this year.
We will put our upcoming store information at www.marukai.com.
Again, thank you for contacting us.
We hope see you at our new store soon."

Regards,
Marukai Corporation
Tel: 310-660-6300
Fax: 310-660-6301

So there it is…..

Some other posts on Marukai can be found here, here, and here.

Passionate Eater….

Like I’ve said before, I truly feel blessed to have gotten to know some of the wonderful fellow bloggers and readers of our little blog. It seems like mmm-yoso just started a short time ago, so I was a bit startled when Jay, the Proprietor of the Linkery graciously called me "The dean of San Diego food bloggers", kinda makes me feel really old……. But come to think about it, my San Diego Food Blogs typelist has really been growing, with excellent new blogs starting up all the time. I hope you give them a try.

I haven’t been able to meet one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Passionate Eater, but ‘PE’ as we call her, has always filled her wonderful posts with humor, and Her comments have always been so kind and positive. So when PE broke the news that she was leaving San Francisco, I knew that I needed to do something a bit special. This is not bad news per se, PE will be taking on exciting new challenges in New Orleans(another great food city!). Since PE was the one who requested, nay demanded that Sammy and Frankie have their own photo album, I thought this appropriate:

Good Luck PE!!!

"oh-oh, did I do that?"

Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita

July 31, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita has closed

I readily admit that at I will over strategize at times. If I'm not sure that the Missus will enjoy a particular restaurant, I'll usually try it out first. But at times, this approach just doesn't work out. La Nortenita is a good example of that. I first drove by La Nortenita earlier this year, and made a note to check it out. The problem was that each time I tried to stop by, the place was either packed, or no parking could be found. Finally, I just told the Missus about the place, and early one weekend morning we made a drive down to La Nortenita.

As you can see this little restaurant is partially hidden by trees, and if you're driving down Imperial avenue at a fast clip, you might just blink and miss it.

But if you slow down a bit, you won't miss this:

So let's all rub our greedy little hands together, and go "mmmm Barbacoa"!

The little restaurant has a "homey" feel to it, except for the "window" which looks a bit out of place. And the wonderful aromas floating in the air!

Though the menu is written in Spanish, it is pretty easy to understand. The Missus and I have a little joke, even though I won't be able to ask for the restroom in Mexico, I sure won't starve……..

The menu is broken down into tacos, gorditas, sopes, and tortas on one page, and the "combination plates" and guisados on the other. First the condiments were delivered to the table:

Since this is a barbacoa/birria restaurant, ordering was pretty easy. I started with 1 Birria de Chivo and 2 Barbacoa de Borrego(in this case slow cooked lamb) tacos($2.14/ea):

Three large size tacos with a generous amount of meat, wrapped in rustic, steaming hot tortillas that were made to order arrived at the table.

The Birria de Chivo taco consisted of shredded roasted meat, that had been dunked into a chili infused broth, which delivered a nice rich chili "punch".

With just a touch of onions and cilantro, I needed nothing else to enjoy this taco.

The Barbacoa de Borrego consisted of shredded lamb that had been mixed with a bit of the lamb broth/consomme.

Adding a tiny squeeze of lime to balance out the richness, and onion and cilantro to act as a counterpoint to the wonderful mildly wild and gamey flavor of the meat. A touch of salsa roja added a nice bit of smokey heat to the taco, making it mucho delici-yoso…….

The Missus was torn, She couldn't decided whether to get the Birria de Chivo or the Barbacoa….so She got both! Luckily, there were medium sized (mediana) portions available.

The Birria de Chivo was the first to arrive (mediana – $4.95):

Along with the good sized bowl of soup, a warmer with about a half dozen thick and steaming tortillas arrived…so hot you could barely hold them! The actual broth was not as spicy as it looks, and had more of a peppery-spicy flavor, with just a tiny hint of sweetness. The broth was hearty, though not too rich.

There was an abundance of meat in the bowl as well.

The Missus also ordered the Barbacoa de Borrego(mediana-$4.95):

A plate arrived with fragrant barbacoa topped with a steaming tortilla. As was our previous experience with the barbacoa at El Borrego a bowl of lamb broth/consomme arrived as well. The consomme was a light broth flavored with lamb drippings, with small shreds of lamb and garbanzo beans. The flavor was not a pronounced as the version at El Borrego, and a small squeeze of lime added some brightness to the dish. The barbacoa had been flavored with the broth as well.

Here's a better look:

The meat was moist, with a nice and rich lamb flavor. As with barbacoa, there's a salt shaker on the table for flavoring…..which I think is unnecessary. As the Missus started to dig in Josefina Ramos delivered 5 more steaming hot tortillas to the table. Man this was good! The Missus, who believes, but doesn't follow the "Yin-Yang" philosophy of eating (i.e. "hot foods" balanced by "cold foods"), told me that even though She almost finished both dishes, there was no feeling of being stuffed silly, probably due to lamb being "hot" food, thus giving Her invigorating energy! Until we went home and She proceeded to go into a food coma…….

A week to the day later, the Missus had a craving for lamb, and so we drove back down to Imperial, and La Nortenita. We arrived at a bit before 10am so the restaurant was empty, and Josefina greeted us with a large warm smile. I think she recalled the Missus's appetite! Not wanting to stuff ourselves silly, the Missus ordered the Birria de Chivo "grande"(sorry, no photo!), and I ordered the Barbacoa (grande – $7.63):

This time a larger plate! Along with the steaming hot tortillas and consomme. On this day, I thought the barbacoa was even better than on our previous visit. Still moist and flavorful, but this time the meat to fat ratio made this an almost decadent dish. The Missus who thought the birria was better, changed Her mind after tasting the barbacoa.

This was very satisfying, and too much for me to finish. Luckily, the Missus was on hand. By this time the little restaurant was completely filled. And through some restaurant ESP, it seemed that everyone knew that the barbacoa was excellent today since almost everyone had plates of barbacoa in front of them. It was interesting watching the different techniques for eating the lamb. Some made little tacos and dipped them into the broth, some poured the broth over the meat and made little tacos, and those dubbed the "efficient eaters" added the cilantro and onions to the plate, and mixed in the broth, and went to town! The Missus kept telling me…just think if we had some rice! So I'm guessing a rather large take out order is in our future.

For us, the experience of eating at La Nortenita is like eating in your favorite Aunt's home. The service warm and friendly, and if they know you love their food….. As an example, while waiting for our food, the Missus was checking out the various cakes, and other confections. Josefina seems to be quite an accomplished cake maker. As we were finishing, the nice young lady working on this day, brought us both a little sample for dessert, now that deserves an exclamation point! The restaurant can be on the hot side, and the ventilation is not the best, so when this tiny restaurant gets full…. The barbacoa is not as refined as El Borrego, but I prefer the rustic flavors and richness of the lamb at La Nortenita. Though I think the broth at El Borrego is much richer in flavor.

Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita
2455 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA

Seattle: Pike Place Market, Piroshky Piroshky, and other stuff…….

July 28, 2007 mmm-yoso European Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Seattle, Washington, Travel

I readily admit that I am an unabashed fan of that Seattle icon, Pike Place Market. I make a point to visit at least once during every visit to Seattle.

My preferred time to visit this Seattle Icon is in the morning, before the crowds. To me Pike Place Market is almost a living breathing creature, and watching it wake is both relaxing and invigorating at the same time. Yes, a paradox…..

There’s a mild sense of excitement watching Pike Place wake and take it’s first deep breaths of the day.

The variety is quite staggering. From the Hmong flower growers/vendors:

To the wide array of appealing produce:

And of course, the seafood.

I can’t remember the last time I saw Razor Clams for sale…..

There’s always something new, something you’ve never noticed on previous visits. And perhaps you may run into Truman:

According to his "Dad", Truman "helps" with deliveries on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

There are of course many places to grab a bite as well, and I’m sure everyone has their favorite. At times you just need to follow your nose and it will lead you to some good grinds.

In the past, the Missus has literally spent an hour watching the donut machine at the Daily Dozen Doughnut Company…..

In spite of all the choices, it seems that the scents emanating from this shop always draws me in.

This little shop specializes in…what else Piroshky.

Whether you call them Piroshki, Piroshky, or Pirozhki, these Russian stuffed pastries are hard to resist. There over 30 different versions served, ranging from the more traditional beef and onion, to the "Pacific Northwest version", the smoked salmon. Sometimes making a decision can be quite difficult.

After sampling a good variety over the years, we tend to stick to the vegetarian versions, like the Smoked Mozzarella, Broccoli, and Mushroom($4.25):

The Missus didn’t care for the caraway-sauerkraut flavor of the Sauerkraut, Carrot, Cabbage, and Onion($3.25). But i didn’t mind it at all.

The Potato, Mushroom, and Onion, is another of our favorites, but we were getting full.

We ate as we strolled down the Seattle Harbor Steps, and made our way to Pier 52. Why Pier 52?

Pier 52 is the terminal for Washington State Ferries Bainbridge Island route. A ferry ticket costs $6.70(it has gone up over the years), and I call it the cheapest "tour" in Seattle. During clear days the view is wonderful. Even during overcast days like this, the view was fantastic.

The trip is about 35 minutes each way and the fare is for a round trip.

Of course you can’t miss that other Seattle icon, the Space Needle.

Bainbridge Island is a nice place to wander around a bit if you have a chance. But on this day we needed a nap!

The Revised Rotation

July 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Bakery, Bun Bo Hue, Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Lao Restaurants, Plate Lunch, Salvadoran Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

I’ve been blessed by blogging. Through our humble little food blog, I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful, kind, and generous people. It’s also great to know that I’m not the only (slightly…) food obsessed person out there. I’m very happy to call Howie, who does the Foodieview, a friend.

Case in point, over the last year (yes, year…) I’ve received a few emails and comment, asking me when I’m going to update "My Rotation". Those would be the restaurants the Missus and I think about when we make plans to eat, whether it’s the two of us, or dinner with friends, or something similar in nature. I had thought that a post was in order, but didn’t quite know how to approach the whole thing. Suddenly it came to me(though it could have been gas….but we’ll never know), I remembered Howie’s post on embedding restaurant maps in posts. I thought it was pretty neat, and Howie was nice enough to demo what mmm-yoso’s map would look like…..it did look like 300 map links stacked on one another….it seemed like I’ve been eating in the same place like a couple of hundred times! Now, I know Howie’s a really busy guy, but I mentioned updating my rotation to Him, and sent him a list of places on our revised rotation, and to my surprise a short itme later I received a response. And there was a map! You can see a more detailed map with info here. So without further ado, here’s Howie’s work:

Pretty cool, huh?

Tacos El Rico

July 23, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Tacos el Rico is now a location of Tacos el Paisa

I've tried unsuccessfully to eat at Birririeria El Nortenita on Imperial a few times in the last 2 months. Call it bad timing if you will, but the place is always too busy, so I usually just have a meal elsewhere. On a recent trip, the elsewhere was a colorful new Taqueria called Tacos El Rico:

If I recall this used to be Delia's, the Clairemont Drive location of Delia's has closed as well, I'm not sure what happened. One thing is pretty clear, El Rico sure makes good use of the colors red and yellow!

As you can tell from the lively and brightly colored menu, basic taco shop fare is served here. The variety of "meats" is pretty decent, with all usual suspects; Carne Asada, Al Pastor, Lengua, Cabeza, and Tripa, all present and accounted for……… And all served as Tacos, Burritos, Gorditas, or Mulita.

I placed my order, and waited a few minutes, grabbed my tacos, and went to sit outside, under the bright sunlight, and the even brighter red umbrellas.

I had ordered 3 tacos ($1.75 each). From left to right Birria(I was going to get some Birria one way or another!), Cabeza, and Al Pastor.

Please excuse the somewhat unsightly "bloody" tint to the photos. I didn't realize until I downloaded my photos, but the light filtering through the, yep you got it! Red umbrellas gave the photos this strange tint. The tacos were served on double corn tortillas which had a nice flavor, a bit chewy, and not brittle at all. Each taco also had a generous portion of meat as well.

I started with the Al Pastor:

The pork didn't have the caramelized appearance of typical Al Pastor, and was very "wet". I think of this as more of a marinated pork, rather than something spit roasted on the Trompo. The flavor was very mild, with just hints of chili flavor. There was also the problem of the pool of oil at the bottom of the taco, if you look at the photo closely you'll notice it. Not the best Al Pastor I've had.

The Tacos de Cabeza, was more of the solid "chunk" style, rather than the long cooked shredded meat that I enjoy.

This meant that the texture of the meat tended toward a more "waxy" texture. The overall flavor was very mild, not like the condensed beef flavor I enjoy. On the good side, this wasn't oily in the least, and it tasted okay with a touch of the Salsa Roja. As you can tell, there was so much meat, it was falling out of the taco.

And of course, I had to get my Birria.

This was by far the best. The meat had been cooked until soft and moist, than shredded. It had retained some of the "wild" flavor I was looking for, gamey and rich. The onions and cilantro helped to cut through the richness of the meat, and the corn tortilla stood up well to the moist, but not watery meat. This taco made the meal a success….I did get my Birria! Which made me a happy man(call me obsessed – but you know that already…).

The reason I sat outside, was so I could check this out:

Yep, this Taco Truck looks pretty new(where's all the bright red and yellow colors??). Got me wondering where we might be seeing it soon!

I'm not quite sure if I'll be stopping by Tacos El Rico anytime soon, since there are so many choices in the area. But who knows, I may run into that taco truck one day.

Tacos El Rico
2494 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

Plate Lunch Week: Mo’s Island Grinds – Formerly Da’ Kitchen

July 20, 2007 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Update – Mo is back at Homestyle Hawaiian.

*** Mo's Island Grinds has closed

I was just about to do this post last night….when I encountered Internet connectivity problems. I was left hanging and I realized that I've become used to doing posts, and now that I was unable to post I felt kinda lost…..like "what the heck am I going to do now……"

This post is a few months late. Back in November of last year, Mo told me that they were going through with an amicable split with the Da' Kitchen franchise. Mo showed me the updated banner you see on the right. In December, Mo told me that the name change and all of the paperwork was going to be a long process. He wasn't kidding, I'd drop by every so often and Mo would smile, shake his head, and say, "I hope this is done soon…I hope."

So around April of this year all the paperwork had been completed, and viola, you have Mo's Island Grinds.

The sign on the street still says Da' Kitchen, which I'm sure will be updated soon. Of course, everything from the food, to the people, to the menu is the same.

There have been a few items added to the menu, I'm also pleased that since my first post back in December of '05, combination plates have been added.

Of course all the favorites are still available, like the Korean Chicken($7.95):

This sweet-soy-crunchy-mildly spicy, marinated, and deep fried chicken, along with the accompanying sauce is a winna'. Don't take my word for it, here's the Best of LA(aka BoLA) post. In a way, this one dish symbolizes the plate lunch as "melting pot" cuisine. It is called Korean Chicken, but the flavor is an amalgamation of traditional flavors. The batter seems to be Mochiko Flour based, and the sweet and soy sauce combination tips its hat toward a combination of Teriyaki-Soy Sauce-Bulgogi flavors. The dipping sauce here is very good, in fact the Missus will often eschew the Mac Salad, and just get extra shredded cabbage, and use the sauce as a dressing of sorts.

We've only had one not so stellar plate at Da' Kitchen/Mo's. On one Sunday, when Mo wasn't in house, I ordered the Korean Chicken.

Though the chicken was nice and crunchy, it was very light, and had not been marinated long enough. It was very bland. But of all my visits, this was the only time the Korean Chicken was not up to par.

Nowadays, I often get various combination plates. I usually can't finish them, but leftovers are a great thing, aren't they? Here's a Teri Chicken – Chicken Katsu combo plate($8.95):

I've come to the conclusion that my photos don't do the size of these plates justice. The "two scoop rice" is placed one on top of the other, and there were 4 pieces of well marinated boneless chicken thighs. The teriyaki is on the sweeter side, but I still enjoyed it. I always enjoy the Chicken Katsu.

In the theme of the world on a plate, here's the Kalua Pork-Chicken Katsu Combo plate:

There's the Chicken Katsu(Japanese), the mildly smoky and moist Kalua Pork(Hawaiian), and don't forget the Macaroni Salad(Caucasian – aka Haole). Of course, rice is very much a necessity….to the extent that some of my friends back home love Chili-Spaghetti….on rice!

On each of my last few visits, the lines at Mo's has been fairly long, a very good sign that Jocelyn's and Mo's hard work has paid off. They've done it without advertising, mostly by word of mouth….just like "back home". I've always had very friendly service at Mo's, the food may take a while sometimes, but it is always worth the wait.

Mo's Island Grinds (Formerly Da' Kitchen)
9823 Carroll Canyon Rd.
San Diego, CA 92131

Postscript – I've had some interesting questions regarding Plate Lunches, but there is one question that keeps popping up; "Is plate lunch Hawaiian Food?"

Unlike describing someone from Oregon as an Oregonian, "Locals" consider a Hawaiian to be someone of Hawaiian blood. The rest of us are "Locals". Likewise, for me Hawaiian food are items that are traditionally Hawaiian in nature, such as Poi, Lau Lau, Kalua Pig, etc…. So you can have Hawaiian food on a plate lunch, but a plate lunch is not Hawaiian food per se.

Here's an example of a local style menu.

So go get one of these……

Plate Lunch Week: Da Kine’s Plate Lunches – Mira Mesa

July 18, 2007 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

*** As of December 2007, Da Kine’s Mira Mesa has closed

I don’t think it would be fair to do a plate lunch week and not include that San Diego institution Da Kine’s. Nelson Ishii is pretty much the pioneer of plate lunches in San Diego, having started Da Kine’s almost a decade ago. I remember seeing Nelson once at the Da’ Kine’s in PB when I was here for a consulting gig in the late 90’s. I knew it was him because, well, everyone knew him. I said, "hey bruddah, you make a pretty good plate lunch". His response? "Uh…." as he went on his way. After we moved to San Diego in 2001, I noticed that the quality of the food had started to go downhill. And by the time I finally did a post in September of 2005, it seemed that Da Kine’s had hit rock bottom. In fact, about 5 months after that post, I received an email that started with, "Wow, yoso-harsh…..". It was from the manager of the PB Da Kine’s apologizing, and asking me to return. And so I put Da Kine’s back on my "list". But before I had a chance to return, Da’ Kine’s in PB was no more. I felt I needed to keep that promise to return, so I decided on visiting Da Kine’s Mira Mesa location.

It was pretty quiet on the weekend morning in May when I paid Da Kine’s a visit.

In fact the Young Lady behind the counter seemed absolutely bored and going through the motions. So when she asked me what I wanted, I had no problem saying "I like Wop Yo Jaws…." She was not amused…..(BTW, "Wop Yo Jaws" doesn’t meaning anything like what you may think….)

In case you didn’t know, Da Kine’s has named their "mixed plates" somewhat interesting names such as Da’ Bugga, FOB Special, and in this case, the 3 item mixed plate is called "Wop Yo Jaws"($7.95). (You can find the real pidgin meaning here) I guess it’s supposed to be funny and cute, but knowing what these phrases mean, it makes me feel strange uttering them to order a mixed plate.

This is what arrived:

I was pleasantly surprised, take a look at the photos of items I had on my previous visits and compare. It’s like night and day. The Chicken Katsu at Da Kine’s is pounded really thin, creating a greater batter to meat ratio, not something that I really enjoy, but it was fried to perfection. I also like the Ketchup based katsu sauce that Da Kine’s uses. The Grilled Teri Chicken was hot and moist, if a bit under marinated. The Teriyaki Beef was well marinated, and fairly tender. It was a good example of "local-style" Teri Beef which is not overly sweet by nature.

I was impressed with the portion size, having been used to the ever shrinking portions at Da Kine’s in PB, this was a surprise. The Macaroni Salad, as usual was pretty bland, lacking in salt, and in this case too much mayo was used, but it wasn’t too bad.

Overall, this was a satisfying meal….

So still "feeling like one winnah" as I discarded my nearly cleaned plate in the trash, the indifferent young lady, asked me "how was your lunch?" I answered describing my meals at Da Kine’s in PB, and how this compared, and started into a blow by blow description of what I enjoyed about the food, when I noticed the totally blank look on her face….. She really didn’t, or hadn’t wanted an answer to her question, it was the "question asked for which no response is desired", she had probably expected a single yes, or no answer. Yes, I am a food dork. Finally she uttered a single "uh…" As I left I thought, maybe she’s related to Nelson????

Da Kine’s Plate Lunches – Mira Mesa
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 586-0606

Plate Lunch Week: Mahina’s

July 17, 2007 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Mahina’s has closed

The storefront of Mahina’s looks familiar, doesn’t it?

It should if you’ve been reading mmm-yoso long enough. Mahina’s used to be Shaka Hawaiian BBQ, I’m sure you’d recognize the powder blue and bright orange colors.

Same bright(well, now not so bright) orange interior as well.

Something that caught my attention immediately was that this was the exact same menu as Shakas, except that Label Maker Tape with "Mahina’"s on it was placed over "Shakas" on every menu item. If you don’t believe me, here’s a close-up.

So what was a "Shaka Pac" on my last visit was now a "Mahina’s Pac" and so forth. All done with with a strip of label tape….. Because of this, my first impression was that Mahina’s is a bare-bones operation.

This being a bit on the early side of noon, I decided to go with the ~~Shakas~~, ummm Mahina’s Loco($7.99), I placed my order with some difficulty, the Young Lady had a hard time understanding me, and I her. After finally getting through, she relayed my order to the Young Lady in the back in Korean. I had a seat, and in a few minutes my "loco" was ready:

Looked like the typical Loco Moco, the eggs were a decently done easy-over, but the preformed hamburger patty tasted a bit "off", so I set it aside. The gravy was really bland, and had the texture of glue. The macaroni salad lacked salt and had apple in it…..which has no place on a plate lunch, it made the mac salad too sweet, and the salad wasn’t dressed with enough mayo.

What made this loco moco a ~~Shakas~~ Mahina’s Loco was the addition of Spam and Portuguese Sausage. I fished out a piece of Spam, and what I thought was another slice of Spam.

After examining both slices I noticed the color difference. The slice on the left was Spam, in all it’s nitrite glory, some cynical part of me expected Treet(nothing worse than fake Spam!!!) which tastes like really bad luncheon meat, but this was the real deal. I would rather have had my slice of Spam a bit caramelized. The dark slice to the right, is supposed to be Portuguese Sausage(does it look like a slice of sausage?). It had some spice, but no real rich pork flavor, or depth of flavor, the meat had a grainy texture, and there was a distinct lack of fat. It was just plain strange…..

I’m kind of at a loss….I really don’t know what to make of this meal. Could it really be this bad? I really wasn’t impressed with Shakas, but this was worse.

An idea popped into my head as I typed this. Mahina’s can’t possibly be this bad, can it? So, if anyone has any idea of something that Mahina’s does well, please let me know, and I’ll make an effort to try it. So let me know what I’m missing, ok?

Mahina’s Hawaiian Food
1315 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109