mmm-yoso – Page 410

Bolsaa Vietnamese Restaurant

May 10, 2006 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Update, Bolsaa has since closed. And is now the Crab Hut.

Yep, you read that right; it’s Bolsaa with 2 "aa’s" at the end. Not to be confused with Bolsa on Mira Mesa Boulevard, though I’ve been told that there is a connection. This Bolsaa is located in a strip mall along with several other restaurants on Convoy St.

About a year and a half ago, I had a decent bowl of Pho’ Ga (Chicken Rice Noodle Soup) at Bolsaa, and then had forgotten all about the place. Recently, on a trip to Balboa Tofu House I saw the Bolsaa sign and made a mental note to revisit Bolsaa. And so here I was……

The interior of Bolsaa is alot larger then the tiny storefront would indicate, and is quite clean. There’s also the requisite bar area, that almost all Vietnamese Restaurants seem to have for the express purpose of hiding the cash register.

The restaurant also never seems to be full, no matter what time of day I’ve visited.

On this trip I ordered the typical Pho’ Bo(Beef Noodles Soup) Combination(Rare Steak, Brisket, Flank, Tendon, and Tripe) Extra Large($5.75), compared to the Combination Large($5.25), or just the Combination ($4.75), for some reason I see some humor in this, though I can’t quite understand why. As is the norm, the garnishes arrived first:

I thought the amount of Basil was perfect for my tastes, though the bean sprouts were lacking. What to do about the lemon wedge??????

The large bowl of Pho’ arrived steaming hot to the table.

The rare steak was perfect, thinly sliced, and soft. The rest of the meat items didn’t fare so well, most were dry and tough, and the amount of tripe was negligible. The noodles weren’t in a solid clump on the bottom and were about as good as they could possibly be, not mushy, and not too chewy. The broth was on the light side, and very generic. The oil level was low, and the only very distinctive trait I could really get a handle on was how "salty" it was. It got to the point where I finished the noodles, but couldn’t bring myself to finish up the broth. Who knows, could be a glitch, but man was it salty.

On a recent morning I did manage to make another visit to Bolsaa, and this time decided on a change of pace and ordered the Chicken with Lemon Grass and Hot Pepper($6.95). The dish was delivered on two plates, first, a really "healthy"(or depending how you view carbs, unhealthy) portion of rice:

Then the good size portion of chicken:

The dark meat chicken had been cut into cubes then stir fried with onions. The sauce had a slight sweet-soy/fish sauce taste. There was almost no spiciness or heat, and the dish was on the oily side (even for me….). I honestly felt that I could do better at home. Pass on this one…..

I’ll probably visit Bolsaa again in the (maybe not so near) future. Though I’ll probably have the Pho’ Ga, or check out the Pho’ Bo, just to see if the bowl I had was a glitch.

Some Notes: I’ve been to Bolsaa four times over the years, and it’s always been a pretty quiet, not too crowded restaurant. With current construction in the mall, the parking spaces are always being reconfigured, and during certain hours parking is at a premium. The menu at Bolsaa in not as large as other Vietnamese restaurants; of course it’s all relative if you consider 120+ items to be a smaller selection. So at least Vietnamese Menu Paralysis won’t take over!

Bolsaa Vietnamese Cuisine
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Open Daily 9am – 10pm

If I can get my "act" together, I’ll probably do my Pho’ Retrospective post some time next week.

Asian Stewed Lamb Shanks

May 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

So it’s a week night and for some strange reason I’ve got some thawed Lamb Shanks from North Park Produce sitting in the frig. So what to do? Well it’s time to bust out the pressure cooker and throw something together. I decided to make some Asian inspired stewed Lamb Shanks.

Started at 5 pm, dinner on the table at 645pm. I think the pressure cooker done paid for itself.

Asian Style Stewed Lamb Shanks

3 – 1-1 1/2lb Lamb Shanks
8 Cups Chicken Stock
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
2 Onions skinned and sliced in half
8 Cloves of Garlic smashed
2 – 3" fingers of ginger smashed
5 Stalks of Green Onion – white portion only
1-2 Star Anise

1/3 Cup Cilantro Chopped
Salt & Black Pepper to Taste

1 – Brown lamb shanks in a pan
2 – While shanks are browning, mix together sugar and soy sauce
3 – Place browned lamb shanks in pressure cooker and add all ingredients.
4 – After checking the cooking chart from Lorna Sass’s Pressure Cooker Cookbook Pressure Perfect; I cooked on high pressure for 30 minutes with a 15 minute natural release, followed by a quick release.
5 – Remove shanks to a plate and strain and defat(if desired) "stock". Season the stock with salt and pepper to taste.
6 – You may want to thicken the stock(with a cornstarch slurry), or reduce it. Or do as we did, divide the stock in half. Reduce one half for a sauce. To the other half we added Bean Thread (and would have added tofu, but for some reason I didn’t have any handy), and with some shredded shank meat made Lamb Long Rice. If you love the flavor of lamb, it’s delici-yoso!!!

Notes: I followed the cooking chart in Pressure Perfect, and found that the lamb shanks were almost too soft. I’ll probably cut down the cooking time a bit next time around. To be perfectly honest, we enjoyed the stock even more then the lamb.

Road Trip: Yai Restaurant – Los Angeles

May 8, 2006 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Movies, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

We made a quick "road trip" to Los Angeles this past Sunday, and were really excited about our destination which was in the Hollywood area. Mainly because Los Angeles is the home of the first "Thai Town" in the United States. We had only visited this area two or three times while still living in LA, and we were amazed at the business growth since we last visited nearly 5 years ago.

Our destination was a small non-descript Restaurant tucked away in a slightly seedy and gritty corner mini-mall. Hidden behind and to the right of a 7-11 is Yai Restaurant.

Now to get it straight, Yai, is a no frills, no ambiance, no white table cloth restaurant. The main focus here is the food. And what Yai lacks in any decor, it makes up in very well made and flavorful dishes. The parking lot can be a challenge, because of size, and also the popular Peruvian Restaurant next door. So we timed our arrival, and got to Yai at about 330pm.

At this hour the restaurant was fairly empty, but oh, the smells! We had a very difficult time determining what we were going to order, but after some thought ordered 3 dishes from the menu, and 1 from the "greaseboard" of specials. As we sat and waited we assaulted by all the wonderful smells of our food cooking. We were absolutely famished since we hadn’t eaten anything all day.

The first dish to arrive was the BBQ Duck with Chili and Garlic($7.95):

Now one of the problems I have with ordering these type of duck dishes is that the duck is usually a combination of dry, fatty, with splinters of bones making each bite a possible hazard. But worse of all the rich duck flavor is muted by either lousy duck, lousy preparation, or a really bad sauce. This was none of the above. The duck was moist, not too fatty, and the rich flavor of the duck came through. This was true, even though the sauce had a very strong somewhat sweet, garlicky, salty, and spicy flavor. I could eat this(and a bowl of rice) daily. A really good dish. It made me wonder what the Pork Leg with Chili and Garlic tasted like.

The Jungle Curry with Shrimp($8.95):

For those not familiar with Jungle Curry, I think of it as a red curry that doesn’t use coconut milk, which can sometimes mute the galangal-lemongrass flavor. Jungle Curry in many cases also uses a larger amount of chilies, and boy was that true in this case. Even though we ordered the dish "medium", there was no subtle layering of heat. This one was in your face, burning a path from your lips down your throat. The heat nullified most all the other flavors. What I did enjoy were the perfectly cooked and plump shrimp. I was also over-joyed to find Thai Eggplant in the dish. Now I can tolerate alot of spicy food, but this one was quite hot!

The Black Egg Pow($7.95):

Now I’m not quite sure how the Missus sniffed this dish out, though she loves preserved duck egg. I’d also never heard of this dish before, so we ordered it. After doing this for almost a year, dishes that make me go "wow" are few and far between, but this was a definite Wow. It seems that the preserved egg is first fried to create an outer crust, then quartered and mixed with a stir fry of julienned peppers, then topped with fried basil leaves which give it an additional sweet-herbaceous "crunch". Now the menu says the sauce is a chili-garlic sauce, but it does not resemble the sauce with the BBQ Duck at all. I could just eat the sauce and rice and be perfectly happy. The Missus between bites told me "suan tian ku la xian". In Mandarin a perfect balance of sour, sweet, bitter, hot(we ordered medium), and salty. The duck egg was slightly crisp from the frying, and creamy and rich. A perfect spoonful would look something like:

Delici-yoso!!!

The last dish was the Red Curry with Sole($8.95):

We ordered this dish "medium" in heat, and again it nearly blew my doors off, and the julienned ginger actually made the dish even more hot. I also wished that the sole had been dusted with flour and deep fried better to seal in the the natural flavor and moisture of the fish. As it was served it was somewhat flaky and dry. Though not a bad dish, I’ll skip it next time. It was interesting, all of that Thai, Laotian, and Sichuan food, and the stuff here was probably among the hottest I’ve had!

As we finished up, a large party of students, a large family, and few other parties had arrived, and Yai was hopping:

I’d say they really know a good thing! Good prices, good food, and efficient service….say no more.

Yai Restaurant
5757 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

A quick non-food post-script

The reason we were in LA, and Hollywood for that matter was to see a movie. Now not just any movie. But the creation of the persona we know as DietChiliCheeseFries. His alter-ego known as Ron Co-Directed and Wrote a very, very funny "dramedy" called Asian Stories (Book III), a full length feature that is both funny and touching, and has a great(that’s the Missus talking Ron) ending! You done great, man!

So if you have a chance to see the film, please check it out. I’m hoping it comes to the San Diego Asian Film Festival, so I can check it out again.

You’ll be amazed to know that the film was created by Ron and Kris Chin, who from what I understand graduated from the Barnes & Noble School of Filmaking! Amazing…..

BTW, the theaters at Directors Guild of America are pretty awesome, and the VC Filmfest 2006 made an excellent decision in picking up the film, which did sell out. 600 people can’t be wrong!

Asian Stories (Book III)

La Posta Taco Shop – And a Quesadilla with an Identity Crisis

May 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** La Posta has closed

In my line of work, I sometimes have to work some odd hours. They usually include the words "weekend", "midnight", "Four AM", or something similar. A recent Sunday morning was no exception. Totally buzzed on caffeine, and starving at 530 am I sorely needed some sustenance. But where to go at 530 Am on a Sunday morning in Hillcrest? Well, without question, it's La Posta for some greasy Carne Asada. Just eating a Carne Asada or California Burrito here will make you feel alive….or dead.

I would say that if you lived, worked, or frequented the area within the last 20 years or so, you'd recognize the sign immediately.

I believe the La Posta sign is as significant a local landmark, as say, the Hillcrest sign, or the sign for Jimmy Wong's Golden Dragon. A key phrase in the signage is "Open 24 Hours". Those who live in San Diego know, that though things are getting better, late night eating(somehow I can't bring myself to use the word dining, and La Posta in the same sentence)options are very limited. The best time to grab a bite at La Posta, is undoubtedly between 1 AM and 5 AM on a Saturday or Sunday morning. You'll get the full effect of the "ambiance" and the interesting cast of characters, many of whom you never thought lived in San Diego, or Earth for that matter. On a recent Sunday morning, I just missed the "late-early" crowd at La Posta, which left me feeling disappointed; sort of like arriving at the Opera after the Fat Lady has sung.

Bummer! I'd missed the free entertainment. A person once described the after midnight crowd at La Posta in a single rambling sentence that included, "Goth's, Grungees, Gays, Gargoyles, and the bar scene from Star Wars!" Not this morning though, all that was left was the eye stinging light, and a really tired looking guy cleaning behind the counter.

If there one dish, other then the standard San Diego taco shop fare, that is interesting, it's the "Special" Quesadilla($5.59). So what's so interesting about it? Well, it starts out like a jumbo quesadilla with two large flour tortillas, that is heated on the griddle, along with some Carne Asada. Here's a peek into the world of La Posta:

A layer of cheese is placed between the two tortillas. Sounds like a normal quesadilla, right? Well that's where we take a sudden left turn. The "quesadilla" is then moved to the counter where the large serving of Carne Asada, lettuce, guacamole, and Salsa is placed on the tortilla, and it is folded up like a burrito! I think it it weighs somewhere in the range of 2 pounds. It's pretty large, in fact, I've often thought it's as big as my shoe, so I thought I'd do a comparison.

Not quite there but pretty close. On this morning the carne asada was too salty, and had a bit of a "stale" taste. Probably because it had been sitting for a while, and the kitchen was kind of winding down. I couldn't finish but half of the quesadilla turned burrito. I also don't care for the watery hot sauce that La Posta serves up.

Overall La Posta serves up the type of food that really "tastes better when your drunk, tired, starved", or otherwise craving a greasy calorie-bomb. And we all have those moments. One thing for sure, you won't say the food at La Posta is bland. When the carne asada is fresh and not too heavily salted it is pretty darn good as well.

During a recent lunch hour I was waiting in line for a Carne Asada burrito, when a Young Man in scrubs turned to me and said, "You know, the food here is okay, but it sure tastes better at 4 am!"

Amen, brother!

La Posta De Acapulco #8
3980 3rd Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Saturday Snack – Ono’s Cafe

May 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Desserts, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego

*** Ono's has closed

A while back I heard of a small coffee/tea/dessert shop in the Bonita area called Ono's (love the name) that supposedly served Malasadas. Yep, Malasada's.

Now nothing can make an Ex-Pat Kama'aina as homesick as the thought of hot and fluffy Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery in Honolulu. For those who don't know what a Malasada is; think of it as a Donut without a hole, fried to a nice golden brown crisp on the outside, with a light and fluffy interior. Served piping hot, there is nothing that quite compares to it in my book. Though Portuguese in origin, Malasadas has long been an Island favorite. So naturally, this made Ono's a "must-try".

Ono's is tucked away behind a branch of Well Fargo on Bonita Road. Though hidden from the street, once in the parking lot, you can't miss the "statue".

The decor is a tasteful Asian-influenced tropical, with "New Age" Asian instrumental music piped in. On this day the Cafe was quite full, with people having tea or coffee, and various desserts like Kahlua Cheesecake.

I did find a sign for Malasadas, 9 for $3.50! Now that is very, very inexpensive. I placed my order, and was told that it would be an 8 to 10 minute wait. Soon enough, a small white package was delivered to me. I opened it as soon as I got to the car.

Though the donuts were golden brown, and smelled heavenly, these looked more like donut holes then Malasadas. I guess that explains the price. As I took a bite, I noticed that the interior of this small donut was cake-like and pretty dense. Overall these tasted pretty good, since they were served hot and fresh.

The texture was somewhere between a Malasada and Andagi, the dense Okinawan "donut". These really weren't Malasadas in my book.

Even though I was expecting Malasadas, and these didn't fit the bill, they still tasted good when "hot". Though I wouldn't go out of my way to visit Ono's in the future, I'd probably drop by for a cup of coffee or some dessert if I'm in the neighborhood.

Notes: Service was friendly and efficient. There are a number of desserts, smoothies, and other drinks available.

Ono's
4154 Bonita Rd
Bonita, CA 91902

A Banh Mi Retrospective

May 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

A while back I promised Joseph E, a listing of the various Banh Mi’s I’ve had the pleasure of eating in San Diego. So finally, I’ve gotten my act together and here it is. First off, I need to apologize for taking so darn long. I only recently purchased some removable storage, and finally started copying all my back-up photos from CD to storage.

One of the really fun things I noticed as I dug up all these photos, and looking over my posts, is how much my taste in Banh Mi has changed since I did my first Banh Mi post back in June of 2005. I used to be strictly a BBQ Chicken/Pork Guy, and now I say “bring on the head cheese/sausage/pate!” Anyhow, I’m including links to the original posts, a short note on the visit(s), notes on follow-up visits, and such. I hope you all enjoy, and for those expecting a brand new restaurant/food post, please excuse…..I’ll have something new tomorrow!(Note all prices reflect the cost at the time of the original post.)

June 13, 2005 – A Chau

Impressions: Alot of filling, though I never did get the Dac Biet(special). The bread was too soft and doughy. Nice amount of chilies and pickles. Very filling sandwich.($2.50)

Notes: I need to revisit A-Chau soon. I used to grab a sandwich there all the time, but when I started doing the food blog, I got caught up in trying new restaurants all the time. I haven’t revisited since this post….my bad!

A-Chau
4644 El Cajon Blvd Ste 111
San Diego, CA 92115

June 28, 2005 – Cafe Dore

**** Cafe Dore has closed

Impressions: At the time I had this sandwich, I thought it was the best I’d had in San Diego. The bread was toasted and crusty, and there was a great balance of vegetables, cilantro, chilies, and fillings. Well maybe a little light on the chilies….. I loved that the cilantro was mostly leaves and not tough, chewy, stuck between your teeth cilantro.($2.50)

Notes: Follow-up visits(last one in December of last year) were not quite as good. There is a tendency to “over-toast” the bread making it disintergrate into a crumbs when you bite into the sandwich. I still enjoy the fillings at Cafe Dore.

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

June 29, 2005 – Bale French Sandwich Shop

**** This location of BaLe has closed

Impressions: Before K Sandwich, the most “accessible” Banh Mi. Mild flavors, crusty bread, and very consistent. I’ve always thought that Bale “hollowed out” their bread a bit to increase the crust to bread ratio, but it’s probably the product of a too active imagination.($2.75)

Notes: Still very consistent, I’ve found Bale to be doing very brisk business on my last visit(December 2005).

Bale French Sandwich Shop
6937 Linda Vista Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

July 15, 2005 – Sorrento European Bakery

**** Sorrento European Bakery has closed

Impressions: Sorry, probably one of the worst photos I’ve taken thus far…. Actually, this visit was a mistake, I didn’t follow instructions, and thought that this was the Banh Mi place. Very light, low on vegetables, I felt this sandwich was missing a certain “something”. The fillings were very tasty, but I could eat 3 of these. I did think the bread was nice and crusty.($2.50)

Notes: I was soon corrected on the location of the correct Banh Mi purveyor, I’ve never returned.

Sorrento European Bakery
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd #117 – in the Sorrento Plaza Shopping Center
San Diego, CA 92121

July 19, 2005 – Linda Vista Food to Go

**** Linda Vista Food to Go has closed

Impressions: Hidden away from most of the traffic on Linda Vista Road, this sandwich was on the small side, and had too much cucumber, and not enough cilantro. Very little meat in the “Dac Biet”, and to add insult to injury, the sign at the time said $2.25, but they charged me $2.50.

Notes: I’ve been back for the pretty good spring rolls. Needless to say, I haven’t had another sandwich at this little shop. Nice people though!

Linda Vista Food to Go
2405 Ulric Street
San Diego, CA 92111

August 23, 2005 – Fusion Food & Boba Cafe

**** Fusion Food & Boba Cafe has closed

Impressions: Don’t know what to make of it; lot’s of meat filling, but the ham tastes like the packaged stuff from the supermarket, sometimes the bread is toasted, sometimes not; the rolls differ from time to time too. Alot of people like this place, so it must be me…… The BBQ pork did taste good.($2.50 – $3.50)

Notes: Haven’t been back.

Fusion Food & Boba Cafe
8038 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

November 2, 2005 – K Sandwiches

Impressions: If you’ve never had a Banh Mi before, this is a good place to start. Safe enough even for my co-workers who enjoy them. The sandwiches are also quite large:

And very inexpensive($1.99 – $2.99). Do ask for extra “pickles”(I’ve never had to pay for them), because they can be really stingy with them. The bread is baked on the premises which can be a plus.

Notes: Think of it as San Diego’s version of Lee’s Sandwich’s.

December 28, 2005 – Kim Chan Sandwich Shop

**** Kim Chan has closed

Impressions: A favorite of Ed from Yuma, the BBQ pork was terrible, but the meat in the combination (Dac Biet) is excellent. I’ve had both stale bread, and perfectly toasted bread here, but portions(for the combination) are always well balanced, and flavorful.($2.50)

Notes: When this place is “on” the “combination” is very good. Only a few items in English, but they must have about twenty or so in Vietnamese. A real Mom-and-Pop operation.

Kim Chan Sandwich Shop
4712 El Cajon Blvd Suite N
San Diego, CA 92115

March 19, 2006 – Pho’ Viet Cali

**** Pho Viet Cali has closed

Impressions: This was the sandwich I was supposed to get when I mistakenly went to Sorrento Europena Bakery. A decent sandwich, though on the expensive side($2.95). I enjoyed the pate, though there was way too much mayo all over the bottom of the sandwich. Also, not enough pickled vegetables, though good meat. No hot chilies either!

Notes: I haven’t been back.

Pho’ Viet Cali
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd. #113
San Diego, CA 92121

March 27, 2006 – Express Deli in Lucky Seafood Supermarket

Impressions: Kind of skimpy on the meat, but lots of pickled vegetables. I really didn’t enjoy the bread that much, not crusty enough. Worth the $2.25 price for sandwich, but not much more.

Lucky Seafood Supermarket
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Whew, so there it is. Only ten different shops, I’m a bit disappointed. Well hopefully, I’ll do better in the future!

Shaka Hawaiian BBQ – A Rice-aholic Relapse

May 3, 2006 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

*** Shaka Hawaiian BBQ is now called "Mahina’s"

Now I must admit that I’ve finally fallen off the wagon…..you see we’ve been trying to cut down on our rice consumption. First we cut down our portion sizes, which all led to our going several meals without rice. Now for the Missus, this was not a substantial change. She hails from Northern China, where dough is king. But for yours truly, born and raised on white rice, it was a very significant change. On a normal day, it wouldn’t have been unusual for me to have rice three times a day…..but that has all changed. Call it "Chinese mind control" if you will( courtesy of the Missus), but whatever the reason it has worked. Until now…….

It all started with a record 6 days without rice. We began on our last day in Rowland Heights, and Dim Sum at Happy Harbor, followed by several days of salads(yep you heard right) for lunch and sandwiches for dinner, followed by a couple of days of steamed buns and Xiao Long Bao. By about the fourth day I felt a bit odd, as if a piece of "me" was missing (it was probably the "mi fan"). On the fifth day I was just craving rice, but doing my best to fight it off. Until on the sixth day, some steamed buns in the microwave, I was going over my old Emails. Now one of the really great things about having this little ol’ food blog is that I get recommendations all the time. So I reread an Email about a new "Hawaiian BBQ" in Pacific Beach sent a few months back by Campy, followed by one by Mizducky. A few Emails past that is one from Howie mentioning the same Hawaiian BBQ. Aargh! What’s a rice starved "local boy" to do?

So I drove with a severe sense of urgency down Garnet avenue. All the while thinking of Rice! Rice Hash! Rice Gravy! Rice A La King! Gallons of Rice Soup!(guess where I stole this from) And arrived at the corner Garnet and Fanuel. You really can’t miss the sign:

Nor the very bright storefront. Is orange the new "in" color, or is it because manufacturers are overstocked? It seems that every other restaurant I’ve been in recently has been orange.

Now nothing against the colors, but if I had used these during finger painting class, I would’ve gotten an ‘F’. That said, the small interior of the restaurant was very clean, and ORANGE……

By the time I made it to the counter, my mouth practically foaming, I almost fainted…..the first thing I saw were the "Atkin’s Low Carb Plates"!($4.99 mini/$6.99regular) By this time I was so starved for rice that I felt any protein served on my plate would be like a garnish(think parsley sprigs) for my RIIICE! So I asked the very nice Young Man at the counter about something called a "Shaka Pac" and a "Shaka Bento", and he proceeded to go over the contents, but he left out one thing. "Does it have RICE, man! Lot’s of RICE!" "Ummm, yes, of course, unless you don’t want…" "NOOOO, NO, I’ll take it!"

I got the Shaka Pac($7.99):

So how was it? Well the rice was delicious! Oh, the other stuff? Well this "bento-like" plate had two pieces of butterflied pieces of shrimp coated with panko then deep-fried and lightly salted. Very good, not oily, light, and crunchy. Alas, the BBQ Chicken, was much the same as most of these Hawaiian BBQ joints make them nowadays. That would be under marinated, tough, and relatively bland. Where’s the marinade, bruddah??? The BBQ Ribs, were surprisingly soft and tender, though again not marinated enough. Sufficient food for the price, though it sure won’t make me forget about a Zip Pac or a Surf Pac.

I also ordered a Mini Chicken Cutlet($4.99):

First off, I thought the portion of rice was kinda small – though it could’ve been my rice withdrawals "speaking". Totally routine breaded chicken, with "insta-gravy", though the gravy did have enough salt and pepper in it. The macaroni salad tasted almost exactly like the version I had at Hawaiian Express BBQ except with a bit more mayo. Terrible, too much pickle juice, not enough mayo, just not enough. I did think the portion size was on the small side.

Shaka Hawaiian BBQ along with Lau Lau, Kalua Pork, Chili with Rice, and Loco Moco, also serves up a few other interesting items; such as a "Shaka Moco", basically a Loco Moco with Spam and Portuguese Sausage and Pineapple Chicken (I’ll pass).

One last note on the service. Kudo’s to the Young Man working the counter, he’s fantastic. He would follow up with every table to make sure that they enjoyed their food. I’m sure it made everything taste better. When he thought I’d been waiting too long for my take-out, he came on up to me with a cup and asked me if I wanted something to drink. Just think if I were to add caffeine to my already severely carb depleted state? (He even asked if I wanted a Hawaiian Sun drink)But I thought it was a nice gesture, what a great Kid!

So, I guess I’ve fallen off the wagon…and staying there. Though I did once go something like 4 weeks in Columbus, Georgia without rice(I finally went to a bad Chinese Restaurant, and they served Uncle Ben’s…….), I don’t plan too many riceless days.

Hey, pssssst:

Anyone?

Shaka Hawaiian BBQ
1315 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

also

Grossmont Shopping Center Food Court
5500 Grossmont Center Drive
La Mesa, CA 91942

El Borrego Restaurant

May 1, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** As of 12/28/2025 El Borrego has sadly closed

A few months ago we noticed a new restaurant opening on El Cajon Boulevard. You really couldn’t miss the colorful paint and signs. And finally this past weekend we made our way to El Borrego Restaurant.

And the clean and bright interior was just as colorful as the exterior.

As were brought our menus, a smiling (and very tall) Young Lady came over to our table, and welcomed us. She also asked us “Do you like lamb?” When we answered with a very positive “yes”, she said, “Then I think you’ll like us!” She then proceeded to go over the one page menu, that featured, what else? Lamb! The Young Lady whose name was Rodnia explained that Borrego style Barbacoa was the specialty of the house. She explained that the standard Barbacoa was lamb steamed in a “vaporera”. We placed our orders and soon enough our Tamarindo and Horchata arrived along with the “condiments” for our order:

The condiments were accompanied by a salsa verde, and a red salsa. Rodnia also gave us a taste of the Lamb Broth:

A nice and hearty dark brown broth, full of flavor. Strips of Barbacoa, garbanzo beans, and rice dotted the consomme’. With a squeeze of lime this was very tasty, and really made us look forward to our food which arrived in a few minutes.

First to arrive was the Mixiote($10).

This seemed to be a seasoned Lamb Leg wrapped in a parchment like paper (papel de mixiote?). We stripped off pieces of lamb and proceeded to make tacos with the fresh tortillas and condiments.

First off, we noticed that every table used the salt shaker provided and took this to be the “norm”. The salt was needed because, though the lamb was rubbed with seasoning, the meat didn’t seem to have been salted. As good as the Mixiote looked, we both thought that the “rub” took away all the “wildness” from the lamb. I also found out that the salsa verde had quite a bit of “zip” to it.

We also ordered a half pound of Barbacoa($9).

Now with a touch of salt, these made wonderful tacos. The combination of flavors and textures that the onion, cilantro, tortilla, and lamb provided made for a very rich and tasty taco. I showed extreme restraint by only eating 6 of these.

We enjoyed our meal enough to ensure that we’ll be back. The only item we really didn’t care much for were the tortillas, very mushy and bland, but at least they were fresh.

The people at El Borrego were very nice and friendly, they seemed intent on making sure that we enjoyed meal, and obviously took great pride in the food they served, shown by the amount of time they took in explaining each dish in detail(Of course we kind of stood out). In this day and age when it seems that many restaurants just want to serve you food, really not caring how you enjoyed it, and then get you out the door, the amount of pride that Rodnia and the others at El Borrego have in what they serve was refreshing. I think I’ll have a large bowl of the Lamb Soup($3.75), and a Nopal Salad($1.50) next time, along with the barbacoa of course.

El Borrego Restaurant
4280 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Yoso-silly – The Comment of the Week(And it’s only Monday)

May 1, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Since I started this blog in May of last year. I’ve noticed that as "hits" increase, so do the "flame" emails(some of which I can’t even bring myself to post), the spam, or spam-like comments, and the various trollish comments.

Here’s an interesting comment of my post on Porkyland:

"Doesnt it seem funny that these reviews came rapid fire one after another….. As if an internal person was writing them back to back. Porkyland is ok, but I doubt San Diegans are hammering away at their keyboards over it. Stop using such obvious marketing strategies. They make you look desperate."

Hmmmmm, this was so very interesting that I wanted to make sure to post it.

I mean it’s a masterpiece, isn’t it? A touch of cynicism, sarcasm, even a bit of high-handed condescending attitude……

Most people that know me; and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several of you, understand that I’m a pretty plain-spoken, no-nonsense, and overall, a pretty straight forward individual. So naturally, this oh-so-eloquent and intelligent comment left me in awe!

This individual(troll? trollette?) named "Michelle", worked so hard to sound intelligent, superior, and basically "high-mucka-mucka", that She, He, or It, forgot that one can prepost in Typepad. Also, what the heck is "an internal person", I guess it’s the opposite of "an external person"? Sorry, I’m really not that great at pseudo-existentialistic jargon. "Michelle" also underestimates Our ablility to try new restaurants, new food, old restaurants, and find grocers and restaurants scattered all over San Diego, and points beyond. tsk-tsk….

"Stop using such obvious marketing strategies." So what am I marketing, specifically? Now this one really hurt; I go out of my way to Not put advertising on my blog(except for Amazon, cause I use it all the time). I pay my way completely, and I also pay $149 a year to Typepad, for the sheer pleasure of doing this. I’d still do it, if no one ever read it but the Missus and Myself. I also, never, ever, call my entries "reviews", though many do define it as such. It’s just a "food blog", and will always be such. Sort of a "what we ate for breakfast/lunch/dinner" thing. If anything qualifies as the veritable Pete Wells "cheese sandwich" it’s mmm-yoso!!! And I think most of you "get it."

You know, in the end, I’m not the one who sounds desperate(for attention). Perhaps it’s a cry for help?

Thanks for indulging me(yet again), but I thought this comment was so very funny!

The Xiao Long Bao Experiment

April 30, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I must admit, I’m guilty…..I adore Xiao Long Bao, those wonderful Shanghai style soup dumplings. So here’s an batch of Xiao Long Bao:

Believe it or not, it’s from our kitchen. A few weeks ago, I planted a little seed in the Missus’s mind. One of the sites that I visit quite often is eatingchinese.org, and Gary Soup does an excellent job of finding interesting links and articles on Chinese food. On the site is a link to a Xiao Long Bao Tutorial. I mentioned this to the Missus, who immediately said "uh-uh, no way, don’t know nothin’ about making Xiao Long Bao." But understanding that "dough" and "dumplings" are so basically entrenched in the Missus’s fate, a few weeks later she asked me to print out the Xiao Long Bao recipe….and we were on our way.

So what follows is a very "broad" interpretation of that recipe. There are other recipes out there, but we decided to use the Chinese recipe as a guide. Again, it was just a guide. I’ll be documenting what we did, and what the results were. It was quite "interesting".

There are many variations on the "soup" for soup dumplings. Some use chicken feet, pork "skin", or other items. We chose Pig’s feet. There was also an item in the recipe to "congeal" the soup. The Missus didn’t quite know what it was, but later with some help, we determined it was Agar-agar.

So on Friday we made "aspic".

Pig’s Feet (Hock) Aspic:
2 Pork Hock/Leg(Pig’s Feet)
8 Cups Water
4 Stalks Green Onion(bruised and roots removed)
2 3" Fingers of Ginger Smashed
1/2 Cup Shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine)
White Pepper
Salt
2 Tb Agar Agar

1 – Set a pot of water to boil.
2 – Once boiling, place pig’s feet quickly in the water for 10-15 seconds to allow removal of "scum" on pigs feet.
3 – Rinse and scrub well.
4 – Place in pressure cooker and cover with water. In this case 8 cups.
5 – Add greens onions, ginger, Shaoxing, and white pepper to liquid.
6 – Close pressure cooker and bring to "high heat", once high heat is attained, lower temp to maintain high pressure for 45 minutes.(Approx a two hour simmer on a conventional stove) After 45 minutes let the pressure drop normally for 15 minutes, then quick-release pressure. The meat should just fall away from the bone.

7 – Remove all large remaining portions of pork then strain.

8 – Place broth into a large pot or "wok" and defat. Bring broth to a simmer and add agar-agar. To add agar-agar first get a ladle of broth and add agar powder and start mixing. Slowly lower agar into broth and gently mix until fully incorporated(no "glops" or lumps).
9 – Remove from heat.
10 – Cool, then cover and refrigerate.

Day 2:

So now you’ve woken and are totally "psyched" about making some Xiao Long Bao!

So while the Missus was making the "dough", I made the Ginger-Scallion Water from the recipe.

Ginger Scallion Water:
5 Stalks Green Onion
2 4" pieces of ginger chopped into 1/2" slices
2 Cups Water

1 – Placed ingredients in blender.
2 – Pulse until all ingredients are "chopped"
3 – Strain and place water aside.

The dough? Well, I’m sorry, but the Missus does it all by "feel". What she can tell me is that according to the instructions, she used a combination of high-gluten flour and all-purpose flour, along with cold water. She then kneaded until it formed a "dough" and no longer stuck to your hand. Then allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.

While the dough was resting we made the filling:

The Filling:

1 Lb of Ground Pork
3 Tsp Salt
6 Tsp Sugar
4 Tsp Soy Sauce
White Pepper
Ginger Scallion Water
1 Tsp Sesame Oil
Aspic
1 Egg Yolk

1 – Combine Ground Pork, Pepper, Salt and Sugar (twice the amount of sugar then salt), and Soy Sauce.
2 – Stir Pork mixture in one direction while adding Ginger Scallion water until the filling is saturated and achieves a "pasty" texture.

3 – Remove the aspic from the refrigerator and "unmold". Slice the jell into small cubes.

4 – Make sure the cubes are small – we also added egg yolk to bind.

4 – Mix equal amounts of aspic and pork filling together.

I then left it to the Missus to roll out the dough and form the dumplings. And boy did I feel for Her. You see, in order to form the dumplings, the dough had to be "stiff", to the point it was really difficult for Her to roll out.

When we had enough, I started steaming them.

I thought they looked great, and they also stood up to the heat well.

So what did we learn? Well first of all, I never thought I’d ever say this, but there was too much soup, so we need to adjust the ratio. Also, I don’t think we needed as much Agar, there was enough gelatin in the pig’s feet, we would only need about maybe 1/2 tsp. The Missus was disappointed in her inability to get the dough thin enough, and I felt for her; the dough was so "stiff" and hard to roll out. We’ll work out the kinks in the future. She thought the dough was much too thick, so maybe this is where we get a pasta maker……

I still managed to eat 2 dozen. The filling was tasty. And we had alot of fun making this.