mmm-yoso – Page 402

Happy Meal

September 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

No, it’s not a joke, this Korean Food "booth" in the Food Court at Zion Market is really called Happy Meal…..automatically puts a smile on your face doesn’t it?

Happy Meal came recommended by Denver, based on price and portion size, and Cathy, based on the same value criteria, plus She mentioned they used to give out little "toys" when they first opened up. So one evening a few weeks back, I had done some shopping at Zion Market, and my stomach and I decided to have a "Happy Meal". The prices at Happy Meal are very reasonable, and come with a good selection of panchan.

The best was the seasoned squid on the bottom of the photo above. Here’s more.

Overall, a nice, though pretty routine selection.

All this, along with a bowl of fairly bland seaweed soup, comes with your meal. Which in this case was the Bulgogi Box($6.99/lunch, $7.99/dinner).

I had wanted to order the Spicy Pork, but "no pork today…" A pretty large portion of Bulgogi, rice, a green salad with sesame dressing, and 2 mandoo(Korean Dumplings), along with the panchan made for quite a large amount of food for $7.99. The mandoo tasted like packaged frozen stuff, and the salad was pretty much routine. The Bulgogi was quite mild in flavor, and the thin slices of potato and onions mixed in with the beef, almost reminded me of a stir fry. Not great, but well worth the price.

The usual drill at Happy Meal, is to place your order at the counter, pay, and have a seat. The counter person will first bring you your panchan, soup, and drink; than later drop off your main course. This can be a major factor during a busy lunch hour, as I found out on my next visit. Even though it was quite early for lunch (1115am), every table except one(which after ordering and paying I occupied), with plastic number cards on them. Very few customers actually had food in front of them, and I really felt for the Young Lady working the counter, both taking orders and serving each table twice. I shoulda brought a book, it took me 30 minutes to get my food, which started with the usual panchan and soup:

Do you notice something about the panchan? Check out the portion size…..

The Young Lady explained that they accidentally gave me panchan for two, but that was okay since I had to wait so long.

The Japchae(cellophane noodles) tasted really good, everything else was pretty routine, though the radish("Mu") kimchi tasted a bit too sour and off. Still this was quite a bit of food, and I still hadn’t gotten to my main course. Which was the Dolsot BiBimBap($6.99/lunch, $7.99/dinner).

The sizzling Stone Bowl(Dolsot) was brought to my table along with a squeeze bottle of Gochujang, I let the bowl sit for a minute to develop the wonderful crust, and dug in. The toppings were pretty routine, fernbrake, ginger, bean sprouts, minced meat, all topped with the perfect egg. Sorry, not the best photo I’ve ever taken, so let me mix it up for you….

I really enjoy the various textures of the crusted rice, the veggies, and so forth. The flavor wasn’t anything special and none of this is going to stand the culinary world on it’s ear, but you really get what you pay for(In this case $6.99) at Happy Meal. This ain’t no lousy same chicken with a different sauce food court garbage. So after my Happy Meal, with the happy panchan mistake, I was looking for a cool dark place to lie down. Happy, happy, me………

Some Notes: As I mentioned, service may be on the slow side during peak hours. I didn’t notice any difference, except price between lunch and dinner. The food and portion sizes are an excellent value, especially lunch.

Happy Meal
4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks for the recommendation Denver and Cathy!

Home Made Tofu

September 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking

For some reason, about a month ago, I became obsessed with trying to make tofu at home. When I mentioned this to the Missus, she just asked me, "Why"? Good question, I really didn’t know why. So I looked over a few tofu making recipes in books I own, and looked over some online resources like this one. They were all a bit different, and many of the recipes used vinegar, and or lemon juice, which I decided not to use.

So basically the recipe had three ingredients, soy beans, nigari, and water.

Nigari is the coagulating agent used to make tofu. Nigari (literally "bitter" in Japanese) is mainly Magnesium Chloride and a few other minerals. I purchased the bottle of Nigari, and the Organic Soybeans from Nijiya, and had them sitting around for a few weeks. Finally, one weekend afternoon I decided to finally try and make tofu.

I first placed 2 cups of soybeans in a bowl and completely covered with water. I soaked the bean overnight in the frig.

The next morning I brought a pot of water to a boil, and drained the soybeans. I poured 3/4 f a cups into the blender and covered with 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and blended into a finely. I poured this slurry into a pot, and repeated the process until I had processed all the soy beans.

I brought the pot to a boil, than reduced to a simmer stirring constantly. I let this liquid simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes I strained this liquid through a cheesecloth lined colander.

I drained the cheesecloth and set aside the pulp, also known as Okara, the very nutritious pulp. The Missus enjoyed a simple stir fry of okara and green onions. What remained was the soy milk.

I divided the soy milk into two portions; half for tofu, the other half for the Missus’s drinking pleasure. I poured the tofu potion into a pot, and brought it up to about 160 degrees F, and removed it from the heat. Because I wanted a rather firm tofu I added 4 teaspoons of Nigari while stirring the soy milk. I than stirred the soy milk in a figure 8 pattern briefly, covered the pot and let sit for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes were up, I checked for "curd-age", and ended up adding another 2 teaspoons nigari, and covered the pot for another 5 minutes. Satisfied with the amount of curds, using a soup ladle, I strained the liquid through a cheesecloth lined colander(I don’t have a tofu box).

I folded the cheesecloth over the curds, and placed some weights on the curds, and let the whey drain out for 15 minutes. Because I enjoy my tofu cold, and placed the tofu "dome" in a container of water, and chilled for an hour. After which I enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

I found that I enjoyed the extra "beany" flavor of the home made tofu, while the Missus enjoyed a glass of soy milk on ice. Though I don’t know if I’ll do this again in the future, it was a fun exercise. I’ve gained a measure of appreciation for that humble block of tofu…..

Chin’s Seafood and Grill – Part 1

September 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

***This location of Chin’s has closed

Recently, the Missus and I had brunch at a restaurant located adjacent to the Holiday Inn Select in Miramar Road.

Though it’s not quite what you may have in mind. The Restaurant is names Chin’s Seafood and Grill.

And yet, that still may not have you very interested, since there are 10 other locations of Chin’s Szechuan in the greater San Diego area, and most of the Chinese dishes served are very Westernized. As you enter the generic ‘B’ list hotel lounge-restaurant area, you’d still feel as if you haven’t come to the right place for Chinese Food. Though if you take a quick glance around the room you’ll notice that more than ninety percent of the customers are Chinese, and anyone who is not are accompanied by Chinese customers.

One quick look at the menu, will tell you why.

For brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 230 pm, Chin’s has a special Chinese menu. Unfortunately, there is no English version of this menu. Some of the items are available on the regular menu, and I’ll try to indicate what those items are when possible. The prices reflect the special menu prices, not regular menu prices.

The Missus looked over the menu with a smile on Her face. She told me, that there are dishes on the menu that She has only heard off, and never tried, as well as some of Her favorites. The Missus started checking off items on the menu card, and the really nice Server came by to verify. As She and the Missus spoke in Mandarin, I thought She reminded me of someone…..I mentioned this, and the Missus says, “I think she reminds of my Mom.” And yes, she indeed had that friendly, sincere element about her. I had the Missus inquire about the style of food served here, and the Lady said a combination of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, basically Eastern Chinese(aka Shanghainese).

Soon enough the food started arriving.

As is almost routine, we started off with the Suzhou-style Smoked Fish($4.95):

The Missus said that this version, with the rather intense 5 spice and sweet flavor was fairly close to what She grew up eating, though maybe a bit mildly flavored. When we got home and looked over the map of Jiangsu, we were both surprised at how “close” Suzhou was to Shandong province(it’s all relative), which explained why Her Grandmother made this often while growing up. As usual this isn’t a “smoked” fish, it just appears to be so. This fish is first marinated; usually in a soy sauce, wine, and salt mixture. The fish slices are than deep fried in oil; and finally marinated again in a 5 spice and sugar mixture to “cure”. You could eat all the small bones on these slices.

Jiaxing Braised Duck(Chin’s Roasted Cold Duck – $4.95)

Almost like a duck version of the above. Quite tasty, nice duck flavor, but not nearly as flavorful as the fish. But still a pretty good cold duck dish.

Zhenjiang Style Pork(Chin’s Cured Pork – $4.95)

This was probably the “hit” of the meal. Neither the Missus, nor I had ever seen this before. The dish was a sum of tasty parts. The pork was cooked and shredded, and had a nice mild flavor. It was topped with a thick layer of aspic, much like what creates the broth for Xiao Long Bao. A really nice and mild, but not weak flavor. Here’s a better photo of a piece, and no, it’s not pork fat…..

Here’s a little secret……we took most of this home, and made a pot of rice. We scooped the rice steaming hot into a bowl a placed a few pieces of pork on top of the rice and let the aspic melt all over the rice….delici-yoso!!!

Shao Bing with Braised Beef($2.95)

I really enjoyed this version of Niu Rou Shao Bing; really crisp bread, flavorful thin slices of 5 spice beef, scallions, and a bit of Hoisin made for a a very well flavored and texturally interesting treat. The Missus though the Shao-Bing was too thin, and the amount of beef was on the skimpy side. And yet, I thought; “who cares about Banh Mi; give me this….”

Taiwanese Style Glutinous Rice($3.95)

This scoop of glutinous rice was mixed with chunks of pork and shredded dried shrimp(yum). A nice bit of “spicy ketchup” was added. Though the rice was a bit on the dry side, this was certainly not lacking in flavor. Not bad, but I think we’ll go in a different direction next time.

The Flakey Turnip Strip “Cake”(Shanghai Pastry – $3.95)

The Missus said that she has had better. I thought these were very moist, and the texture was very nice, but we’ve had better elsewhere. The taste was almost “buttery”.

Taiwanese Style Won Ton Soup($4.95)

Okay, our Server came by and told us we were ordering too “many dry items” and needed some soup. So we asked for a recommendation, and this was it. Really bland and uninspired.

No need for this……

Nanxiang Style Xiao Long Bao($5.95). Now if you know me; you can imagine how excited I was over these……

But these were not very good, at least for what I look for in XLB. I don’t know how they make the Xiao Long Bao in the city of Nanxiang, but if I were to make a guess based on this, I’d say it was with very thick wrappers and barely a scant amount of “soup”. We’ll take a pass on these…..

So, with full bellies, and being very satisfied, we left Chin’s, only to return. And in fact, the Missus noticed that I was tasting the food based on “SGV” standards, which is a good sign…..

Part 2 coming soon – some old “favorites” and some new……

Part 2 of this post can be found here.

Chin’s
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126

858-536-2300

Odds and Ends

September 3, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

"New" Tajima Restaurant?

I was driving up Mercury Street and noticed a "new" restaurant, so I turned into the strip mall, and was shocked. The sign said Tajima, which is a quite popular Japanese Restaurant residing just a few blocks away.

The sign fronting the restaurant says "Open", but of course, the restaurant was not. I drove a few blocks away to the "Old" Tajima, and it was still open. So I dunno……

The location is 4411 Mercury St, San Diego, 92111.

2006 San Diego Korean Festival

I was reading a local Asian publication, when this flyer fell out:

I know I’ve been lax about posting upcoming festivals and events, so I though I’d just mention this. It’s taking place on Sat-Sun, September 9th and 10th. The location is Engineer Road.

Click on the photo to enlarge. Sorry I just took a photo of the flyer on our frig, nothing fancy here.

Emily’s Back!

I know many of you enjoy EmilyK’s food blog What’s for Lunch. It’s good to know that She was just on Holiday, and is back posting. Welcome back Emily.

The Question of the Day

September 1, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Is…Would you buy this duck????

Parts Missing? What does that mean…like the meat? Or maybe like the Missus says, "perhaps something more precious?" Gulp! And even worse retaining water!!!!

Well it looks like a duck, but I think it’s too late to hear what it sounds like, and I don’t think we’ll be able to see it walk soon. And if it did, I’d be afraid…very afraid.

I really think that there is a better way of labeling this. And I really feel for the poor fellow. After all, I started thinking about parts of me that are missing…I had a piece of my ankle chopped off while being packed on a bike while I was a youngster, 3 discs from my back…..well let’s stop there; I already qualify for this label, lucky thing I’m not a duck, eh?

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Hoai Hue Deli/Food To Go

August 31, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Hoai Hue has moved a couple of blocks west. You can find and updated post here.

I first heard about Hoai Hue during a conversation about Bun Bo Hue, that wonderful Spicy Beef Noodle soup originating from the city of Hue in Central Vietnam. In fact, several sources have told me that Hoai Hue makes either the best, or second best Bun Bo Hue in San Diego. So about 3 weeks ago, I finally made it to Hoai Hue Deli.

Much like the instructions I received for Chinese Kitchen, I wasn't given a name, just a general location, with one really good piece of information……it was downstairs from Hung's Tattoo Parlor and a AA office. I think this tells you about the neighborhood. The location is rather seedy, and the parking lot is full of double and triple parked cars(I park on the street). A Vietnamese coffee shop, Cafe Viet occupies the area fronting the street. Notice the bars on the windows. I immediately knew that Ed from Yuma would love this place.

The interior of the restaurant is small, with 7 little tables. There is one copy of the small (20 items) menu on the counter. You place your order, and declare whether you'll be doing take-out, or be eating on the premises.

On the table sits the standard plastic tray of condiments, a napkin dispenser, and eating utensils. I placed my order for a bowl of Bun Bo Hue($5), and had a seat. I had lucked out, and gotten the only open table in the place, and watched a steady flow of customers picking up take-out orders, all the while mentally rubbing my hands together in glee thinking, "man, all these customers can't be wrong, this place must really be good."

At last my Bun Bo Hue arrived, along with the garnishes.

As you can see, the garnishes left much to be desired; a sprig of mint, lettuce, some bean sprouts, 2 whole chilies, and a wedge of lime.

The Bun Bo Hue, was a whole 'nother story:

The broth was good, very balanced between the flavor of beef, spiciness, and just a hint of sour. The pungent flavor I enjoy in Bun Bo Hue was missing, but I added some of the shrimp paste from the condiment tray to bring it up to my taste. The thick slices of beef were tender and had a good flavor. The tendon was served in pretty thick chunks that were borderline inedible. But the star of the show was the Pork Hock.

There was a good amount of soft and flavorful meat, instead of the usual, "inner tube on a bone" that most places serve. I also enjoyed the vermicelli, which seemed to be a bit thicker than the noodles served in most Bun Bo Hue. Overall, a pretty good bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

At that point I thought, I'd just do a Bun Bo Hue Dossier post, except that a few menu items caught my attention. Well, there can be only a few menu items, since the menu was really small. So, I decided to return in a few days, only to be derailed by a nasty virus. In the interim Ed from Yuma managed to pay Hoai Hue a visit. His post on Chowhound can be found here.

So this past week, finally recovered, I talked the Missus into having dinner at Hoai Hue. As we arrived and parked on the street, the Missus turned to me and said: "You have got to be kidding?" Ah yes, we had arrived. We entered and walked up to the counter. This time, when we tried to order, there was a communication problem….that is, no one spoke any English. Finally, someone from the kitchen who understood what we were ordering was found. There seemed to be at least 5 or 6 people working in the kitchen. Ordering done, we sat, and soon enough our food started arriving.

Banh Beo($2.75):

10 discs of rice cake smothered with ground shrimp, and topped with pork rinds and green onions, these had alot of flavor, and were much better than the version at Pho Tu Do. The Missus thought them a bit too fishy, but I enjoyed the texture and flavor.

Banh It($2.75):

These very filling balls of steamed rice flour were filled with shrimp and ground pork, and were not as oily as the version at Pho Tu Do. Our only complaint would be that these were served cold.

Banh Bot Loc($2.50):

Delivered steaming to our table were these tapioca starch dumplings wrapped in banana leaves. Those leaves imparted a smoky, tea-like fragrance and flavor to the Banh Bot Loc. The dumplings themselves were filled with shrimp and pork, and were the hit of the meal.

The Missus and I also split the Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet($6), the house special Bun Bo Hue, which came in a huge bowl.

The Missus has started enjoying Bun Bo Hue, Her favorite being the version at Pho Ca Dao. The difference, other than the quantity of ingredients, is the addition of two thick(3/4") slices of Gio Lua(Lean Pork Sausage). On this occasion, the three huge and thick slices of tendon were too tough and inedible, and the beef dry. I was wondering if the crew was just finishing up for the day, and perhaps things were just slowing down. The Missus enjoyed the noodles, She is not a fan of the vermicelli in most bowls of Bun Bo Hue, but enjoyed this version, though She found the broth lacking in rich saltiness and added fermented shrimp paste as well.

We ended up taking home about half of the appetizers, and enjoyed them a bit later on. As we were leaving we spotted two Women thoroughly enjoying themselves, they were having the same items we were, except they each had their own bowl of Bun Bo Hue. At the pace they were keeping, don't think they were going to have any leftovers……

Hoai Hue Deli/Food To Go
4776 El Cajon Blvd Ste 106
San Diego, CA 92115

Open Daily 8am – 7pm

Western Steakburger

August 30, 2006 mmm-yoso Burgers, Diner, Greek Food

*** Western Steakburger has closed

I'm not quite sure if Western Steakburger is a franchise or a chain, but I know that there are at least two of them in San Diego(the other in Serra Mesa). I'll often stop by the shop on University Avenue when I'm in the area and grab a burger. Though with this food blogging thing, not often enough, since I haven't been here in a while……

This Western Steakburger, which an acquaintance of mine calls "Western Steakburger West", has a real Mom-and-Pop feel to it.

The Owners are usually hard at work, with Maria(I think that's Her name) manning the counter, and "Gus" manning the grill, at this Greek-Burger joint. The drill goes like this; you order at the counter, pay, and grab a seat. When your order is ready, you pick it up, and proceed to devour it. Here's part of a menu for RONW's reading pleasure. I know I haven't posted one in a while.

Bring the "stick in the mud" that I am, I usually go for the same thing. 1/2 pound Western Deluxe($5.85), no mayo, no ketchup, with grilled onions(add $1.25). Today it dawned on me that I'd never had the fries here, so I added fries(add $1.35), as the Missus says; "whoa, living on the edge, huh?". All burgers are grilled, and you can sometimes watch the flames rising in the air, I keep what it would take to set off the Halon(or whatever they use nowadays)…..

The patties here are formed into a sort of oval shape, and the meat is course ground. And yes, that is Gyros meat on the burger. The burger is always fairly moist, in spite of the grilling, though I sometimes find the burger very under-seasoned. I enjoy the taste of the grilled onions, but on this visit I found the Gyro meat to be very bland. Though this burger beats any mass produced burger by miles….

It is quite a mouthful. I found the fries to be nothing special, and they were not salted. I don't think I'll have them in the future. One last item, I enjoy the well toasted bun. Still that flavorless Gyro meat gave me some concern, since I saw them cut it fresh…..

So on my next visit, I ordered the Gyro Sandwich($5.65).

I don't think I've ever had a Gyro Sandwich with so much meat in it. The sandwich itself must have weighed in at three-quarters of a pound. Unfortunately, the meat was on the mild side, and the flame grilling left it dry and hard. The Tzatziki also wasn't to my taste, being quite mild, with no herbs, and very little flavor.

So I think I'll stay with the burger. During my visit, almost everyone ordered the Teriyaki Burger, which I guess is a popular choice…..

I think that Western Steakburger really isn't worth a special trip, it's not the best burger in San Diego by a long shot. But if you're in the area that I call the "Dead Zone", the area between Hillcrest and North Park, Western Steakburger isn't a bad choice.

Western Steakburger
2730 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92104

Golden City: A New Beginning Part 2

August 28, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

After a satisfying meal at the “new” Golden City(and quite a bit of leftovers as well), we decided that one good turn deserved another. This time we decided on 2 items that were “kept” from the old menu, and 1 new item that caught our fancy.

We started with an old favorite the Peking Duck, 2 courses, at eighteen bucks, pretty much a bargain. To our surprise, instead of the slices of duck skin lying on shrimp chips, surrounded by “buns”, Golden City now does their Peking Duck “cart style”.

The Young Man wheeled our friend out on His own little cart and made short work of Him. After trimming off most of the skin, Mr Duck was taken to the back room and worked over.

Though I found the duck to be better flavored than the version from the Old Golden City, most of the rich subcutaneous fat had rendered off, and thereby losing some of the richness I enjoy. The Missus, not a fan of duck fat, thought these were very good. The duck was served with shredded Scallions and Hoisin Sauce. Only one small complaint; the scallions apparently had been lying around; they were tough, dry, and tasteless.

A steamer insert of buns was brought to the table, steaming hot. I thought these were much too thick and large for the petite slices of duck. Overall, not the highest quality duck, but a bargain at eighteen bucks. And let’s not forget the chopped duck in lettuce cups, the second course.

I daresay the Missus enjoys this more than the duck skin. Duck is stir fried with Scallions and Jicama, creating a great contrast in textures. The taste is a rich sweetness, to go along with hints of 5 spice.

One of my favorite dishes is Kwai Fei Chicken, a cold chicken dish(half chicken $8.95):

This version was much different than what I’m used too; first off, instead of the usual pale white color, the skin of the chicken was a light brown. The chicken also had a very nice 5 spice, wine, and soy flavor. I really didn’t need the minced ginger-scallion oil for flavoring at all. The chicken was cooked perfectly, no hint of blood dripping from the bones, and the meat was moist and tender.

The most satisfying dish of the evening was the Chaozhou Beef Stew ($12.95):

A Chiuchow version of the standard Beef Brisket with Turnip Hot Pot. The soup was brought to our table in a stainless steel hot pot, with flammable gel in the chamber below. Unfortunately, the Server forgot to light the gel, no big deal. The light broth was full of flavor, and much more complex than its color would indicate. The meat was a very flavorful brisket, the cut of meat also included the fat cap and the connective tissue, which could be somewhat off-putting to some, but not for us. Buried under then meat were matchstick sized slices of radish(daikon), along with preserved vegetable, which added to the flavor of the broth. All of this topped off with basil, cilantro, and scallions.

Man that was good!

It seems that the new version of Golden City serves up some pretty good food. I’m hoping that they can keep it up, and give us another option for Chinese Food in the Clairemont area.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am – Midnight

We recently did a revisit post on 12/17/06, it can be found here.

Dragonfruit

August 27, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Well, I’m feeling much better, and should resume regular posting tomorrow. In the interim check out this scary dude:

Almost seems like if you tried to bite it, it would bite you back, doesn’t it? It was given to me by friends from their Mom’s back yard. It’s called Dragonfruit, and I’d never tried this before. Here’s a look at the interior of the fruit.

Funny thing, after reading about it, I realized we had this type of "creeping cactus" in our yard when I was growing up, but for some reason I don’t remember any fruit.

According to the Missus, the flavor is similar to Kiwi fruit, the texture is somewhat grainy and gritty. And yes, you eat the seeds and all, just cut in half, and scoop out the flesh. You learn something new everyday!

Golden City: A New Beginning Part 1

August 23, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

Since the “New” Golden City opened back in September, I made the restaurant a little “side project” of mine. The intent was to see how the “New and improved” compared to the original restaurant, where we were pretty regular customers. I must admit; my excitement took control, and I was the first customer when the doors opened on Sept 26th, 2005. At that time, I thought that doing a series of posts on a particular restaurant and watching how the food developed would be interesting, sort of a “life cycle” of a restaurant thing. Little did I know how true to life this life cycle thing would become. My second post covered the late night specials. And it seemed like the food was not as good as the original. The third post covered a dinner and a lunch where I had the exact same dish as I ate on opening day.

Unfortunately, Golden City could never carve out it’s niche on the Chinese restaurant front in San Diego, and in July of this year, the restaurant changed hands. And so awhile back, the Missus and I decided to pay a visit to the “new” Golden City.

Well, the signs looked the same, and the interior was basically the same; maybe a bit more “freshened up”, and posters of various Chinese dishes lined the walls. In what was another change, the tanks in the rear of the restaurant were full of crab and lobster, quite an ambitious sign.

We found that the menu was very similar to the previous Golden City, except for some strategically placed dishes. We also recognized our server; he used to work at China Max, we thought that a good sign. After all, who would leave China Max for a new restaurant, unless the prospect seemed positive.

The Missus seemed smitten with a few of the items on the posters, so we placed our order.

Since I was recovering from a cold, we started with a soup; Shredded Duck w/Chinese Chive soup (large $12.95):

The soup arrived piping hot, much to the approval of the Missus; She has a thing about soup being really hot. The broth had a wonderful color, and the texture was a perfect velvety texture. Unfortunately, everything else about the soup came up short; the flavor was terribly unbalanced, you could taste nothing but chives, unless you bit into a piece of duck. The chive flavor overwhelmed everything in the soup, even white pepper couldn’t damper the tastes of chives…and I love chives…except when there’s duck involved!

The Sizzling Lamb Chops($15.96) was my choice:

The one thing that stood out about this dish, was how tender the lamb chops were. The chops were melt in your mouth tender, and I do mean melt in your mouth tender. I could have done with a more rich lamb flavor, but the Missus enjoyed the sweet-soy flavor. We’ve had the Lamb Chops with Black Pepper Sauce several times at China Max, and they have never been as tender as these. The presentation, and flavoring at China Max may be a bit more sophisticated, but the flavors(overdone peppercorn, with no sweet overtones) are not as pleasing to us as these Lamb Chops.

In a surprise pick, the Missus went with the Steamed Crab over Rice. By surprise, I mean that the Missus is pretty picky about crab; having grown up in QingDao, She is used to fresh and flavorful seafood; be it crab or crawfish(yes, crawfish). She still doesn’t understand the purpose of drawn butter with seafood, other than to disguise a lack of flavor. I think that when we were told that the new Owners were originally from Hong Kong, and that the cooking “Crew”(that was the choice of words) were from LA, She felt emboldened. Soon enough our dish arrived (Crab at Market price $12/lb – 2lb crab, plus $6 prep and rice = total $30):

We had seen our Server (His name is Alan, for those who knew the Servers at China Max) wrestle out the crab from the tank. It was delivered in a Lotus Leaf lined steamer insert; the crab had been steamed on a bed of rice that had been mixed with various Chinese Herbs, Egg, and fish eggs, so that the flavor of the crab had permeated the rice. We both thought the crab had been slightly over steamed, but the Missus still thought it was quite good, though very messy. Golden City needs to invest in some crackers and other implements. I had a few pieces of crab(in deference to the Missus who really does enjoy it more than I), and destroyed the crab flavored rice, which was so rich, so flavorful, and so filling. For us, on this evening, well worth the price. Little did we know, we’d be back within a week.

Some notes: Golden City has maintained the Lunch and Late Night menu, though it sounded as if it may be changed in the future.

Part 2 coming up…….

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am – Midnight

Updates can be found here and here.