mmm-yoso – Page 431

Ono-licious Hawaiian Style Bakery

August 13, 2005 mmm-yoso Bakery, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego

Update: I’ve been told that as of Christmas 2005; Ono-Licious Bakery is no longer open.

I got to Kaisen’s a bit early yesterday, and they weren’t open yet, but right next to the restaurant was this little shop:

Hmm, Hawaiian Style Bakery, huh? Well I thought I’d go and check it out. And believe it or not, there was Malasada’s, and Guava and Haupia Chiffon cakes. I thought that I may have just hit the "motherlode" here. Talk about a bonus, I’d driven out to Oceanside for Hawaiian Food and found a "local style" bakery to boot! And yes, I could smell the familiar Malasada smell in the air. I’d almost forgotten the mission at hand, and shook myself back to reality. Also, the really nice young lady behind the counter was starting to stare at me. I told the cashier to "not sell all of the Malasada’s" and that I’ll be right back after lunch. She laughed and said not to worry, the bakery’s not going anywhere.

As I ate lunch I watched a few people walking out with cake boxes and a few flower arrangements. Lunch finally over, I entered the bakery and ordered two Malasada’s (0.85/ ea) to go:

While waiting I ogled the wonderful looking cakes:

The gal behind the counter told me that Ono-licious has been open about 5 months, and that business was pretty good. In addition to the cakes Haupia Malasada’s, as well as Baked and Steamed Manapua, among other pastries are available.

At home we bit into the malasada’s. They tasted pretty good, though these were really alot more "cakey" and dense, not like the lighter, fluffy-er, one’s from Leonard’s back home. These are more like Champion Bakery, heavy and cake-like, and not the style I enjoy. But, if you enjoy that style of Malasadas this is probably a required stop. If you’re in the neighborhood make sure to stop by and give some of these ono treats a try. Service is great and the smells are wonderful!

Ono-licious Hawaiian Style Bakery
1906 Oceanside Blvd (next to Kaisen’s)
Oceanside, CA 92054

760-757-7060

Open Daily 9am – 6pm

Kaisen Sushi and Hawaiian Style Grill – Aloha Friday in Oceanside

August 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Hawaiian Food, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

**** Kaisen has closed

Update: I've been told that new Owners have taken over Kaisen, and that the "Local-Style" food is gone. It is now more of a Japanese "Bento" Restaurant – Bumma'

Thanks for the update Clark

I'd been hearing about "Kaisen's" over the "coconut wireless" here in San Diego for several years. I'd also been told that Kaisen's had an "Aloha Friday" special that featured Lau Lau and Chicken Long Rice. So with my back feeling better, and having today off, I decided to take the 30 mile trip North to Oceanside, and got to the little strip mall off of Oceanside Blvd where Kaisen's is located.

I arrived a bit early and the restaurant wasn't open yet, so I had time to peruse the menu:

With lot's of "local kine" specials. But the sign that caught my eye was this:

It was Friday, and it looked like I was in luck! It was no-brainer really. As the waitress brought me the menu, I just pointed to the sign and said – "I'll take dat", funny how the pidgen starts coming out when I'm in places like these.

While I waited for my food I had a chance to look around. Kaisen's occupies a pretty large space, crowned by a sushi bar in the middle of the back area, and lot's tables and booths, and even a small stage. The spacing in this cavernous area is excellent with lot's of "elbow room".

After a few minutes my lunch arrived.

The plate came with a medium sized lau lau, a little bowl of lomi salmon, a bowl of chicken long rice, a slice of sweet potato, macaroni salad, and I decided to forgo rice and had bowl of poi. To bad there was no chili pepper water, oh well, can't win 'em all. Those of you who know me, would probably get a really good laugh out of the poi; it's not among my favorite things, but somehow, time makes the heart (and stomach) grow fonder, and since I haven't had poi in at least 9 or 10 years, I thought what the heck.

Now to the nitty-gritty, the macaroni salad was very bland and plain, needed some zing. The sweet potato was really good, sweet and starchy, and not over-cooked, making it very enjoyable. As for the lau lau, the luau leaf tasted good (and it was luau leaf!), but was under cooked, and somewhat more solid than I'm used to. The pork was kinda dry, but the taste was ok, I think I even spied a little bit of salted fish as well. Overall, not bad, it at least tasted like lau lau, not like what some of those frozen "things" taste like, and was very aromatic. The chicken long rice had pieces of really cooked celery, onions, and tomato (a new one for me!). And a rather large piece of chicken. There was a nice essence of chicken and ginger, with good balance. With a shot of shoyu this was probably the best thing on the plate. The lomi salmon was too mild, and not salty enough. And the poi was really runny and not "sour" enough for me, actually rather bland as a whole. So what's my solution? It's the typical, "local" solution; I mixed my lomi salmon in the poi, and scarfed the darn thing up in a second! I also got the onions (no Hawaiian salt! Auwe!) and dipped them into this mixture! Delici-yoso!

Kaisen's is a bit far for me, and the food really doesn't warrant a 30 mile drive. But I saw some of the other dishes (the chicken katsu and kalua pork looked good) and they caught my interest, so I may make another trip in the near future; I'll drop in for sure if I'm the neighborhood. I've also heard the sushi is pretty good and the service is very friendly. Kaisen's features Hawaiian Music on Saturdays and Wednesdays as well.

Kaisen Sushi and Hawaiian Grill
1906 Oceanside Blvd Ste H
Oceanside, CA 92054

(760) 757-1484

EZ Take Out Burger – 99 cent burger night

August 10, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers

*** EZ Take-Out Burger has closed

I was told a while back that this little burger stand on Genesee Avenue, had burgers "as good as In N Out". And even better, they had 99 cent burger nights on Wednesdays and Sundays from 4pm to closing. So hey, what day is it? It’s Wednesday, and any day is a good day for a burger (or two).

This little retro-looking burger stand features a little kitchen and 3-4 tables outside. There are actually people dodging each other in the kitchen area. I noticed alot of descriptions were very "In-N-Outish", like the "Double-Take" (see Double-Double).

I ordered 3 burgers, no spread (we like to actually taste the burger), with all the produce, and 2 orders of fries – it came out to $5.98! Bargain city! We had also wanted one of their Boysenberry Shakes($1.85), but the shake machine was out of order. Bummer. We sat outside and in a few minutes my number was called and our burgers were ready.

Looks pretty good, huh? Unfortunately looks are deceiving. The burger was pretty dry, even though it just came off the grill, and pretty tasteless. The best part of the whole sandwich were the onions and tomatoes. How does it measure up against In N Out? Not even close. The burger is better than one of those major chain fast food burgers, but not by much. Is it worth 99 cents? If you look at it that way, I’d say yes, but again, not by much. The fries look really good but were under cooked, and got soggy really quickly. It’s still better than In-N-Out’s, I really don’t care much for the fries there. I’d actually been here once and had the fries while I waited for Honey Baked Hams who share the same parking lot, to open and thought they were pretty good. The best fries I’ve ever had was at, of all places, a stand called Y-Not Burgers in Torrance. For some reason all the planets were aligned that day, and the fries were golden, perfectly crisp, soft inside, and with a nice potato taste. I remember standing, and holding the "holy fry" up to the light, and exclaiming, "this is amazing, this fry is perfect"…..and was immediately told to "sit down, you’re acting like a fool, people are looking at you". I guess this galvanizing moment was not appreciated by all.

EZ Take Out Burger, 99 cent burgers (cheese extra) on Wednesdays and Sundays. There is usually a long wait in the drive thru, I’d rather take my chances by parking and going inside. Real ice cream shakes, boysenberry is a favorite.

EZ Take Out Burger
4277 Genesee Avenue
San Diego, CA 92117

Hey, where’s our shake!!!

Ichiro’s Japanese Restaurant – How can you not love a “Happy Restaurant”

August 9, 2005 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

**** After 36 Years Ichiro Closed in 2021

I'd not been to Ichiro's in a while. That's the one thing that Food Blogging does, it really makes you think about where you've been, what you enjoy, and what you're "sticking in your mouth". I've always gotten a kick over the sign, after all, how can you not like a "Happy Restaurant"!

There had been many changes to "Ichiro" since my last visit. There's a sushi bar, and the seating had been changed, and the menu revised. But my old "friends" and former Katzra employees Masa and Tenryu still worked here. It's still a really nice neighborhood Japanese Restaurant, but like many businesses, Ichiro had evolved. There is now a quite extensive "Izakaya" menu of goodies ranging from Tsukemono to Tamagoyaki:

The hours have also changed; Ichiro is now open until 1am, Mondays thru Saturdays, making it one of the few eating places in San Diego that will not "roll up it's sidewalks" at 9pm. My main reason for coming here are the lunch "specials", they range from $5.25 – $6.95, and you get your money's worth. For example, on my first visit, I got the "special" Menchi-Katsu and Tempura ($5.95):

The mechi-katsu was very good, lot's of filler; that's how I enjoy it, nicely battered, and status quo tempura; which is the shrimp tempura, tasted like the expected shrimp tempura, also a slice of kabocha tempura (very good!), and a slice of zucchini tempura, the green mostly iceberg lettuce salad is dressed with a watered down sesame dressing. You also get a pseudo-kimchee tsukemono, that's really not worth mentioning, and a decent bowl of miso soup, with shred of green onions and onions. Not bad for under 6 bucks.

On my next visit I had the Sesame Chicken combination ($5.50):

I had always wondered about this "Sesame Chicken". In a nutshell, the chicken is battered with tempura batter, fried, and covered with teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds. There's a nice crunchy texture, and the teriyaki sauce adds the sweetness to the dish. Again the tempura is purely routine. 1 piece shrimp (nice "shrimpy" taste this time), 1 piece zucchini, and 1 piece kabocha. I actually enjoyed this, and loved the price to boot! Actually, I could've gotten just the Sesame Chicken lunch for $5.25.

I had forgotten all about Ichiro; but now it's back in my sights. Ichiro also has pretty good Chicken Katsu, the sushi is +/-, purely neighborhood standards, the Kaki Fu-rai (fried oysters) were really good. The service is very friendly (what do you expect from a "Happy Restaurant"), and open pretty late.

Ichiro's Sushi Restaurant and Bar

4344 Convoy Street
San Diego, California 92111
HOURS OF OPERATION
LUNCH
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 2:30
Sat 11:30 – 3:00
DINNER
Mon – Sat 5:00 – 1:00am
Sun 5:00 – 10:00

Childhood Memories Meme

August 8, 2005 mmm-yoso Blog

A little over a week ago Reid from ‘Ono Kine Grindz tagged for this meme. He in turn had been tagged by Clare from Eat Stuff. So with sincere apologies for my tardiness in completing this I’ll give it a shot here. This is all off-the-top-of-my-head, so I’m pretty sure this list would be different on every attempt.

The rules of this meme are simple. Write about five foods from your childhood that you miss…what’s the catch? There is none, really. AND so that the people that started this darned thing can keep track of it, here’s something else that you need to do:

Remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog’s name in the #5 spot; link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollination effect. Then tag three people and you’re over and done with it all.

1. Do Or Do Not

2. BeautyJoyFood

3. eat stuff

4. ‘Ono Kine Grindz

5. mmm-yoso!!!

Ohhh-Kay let’s get started!!!

1. For the faint of heart, time to leave. It’s funny but from this humble beginning, I somehow ended up eating what I eat. Mayonnaise and Ketchup, yes, you heard me mayo and ketchup, mixed together. It had to be Best Foods Mayo and Del Monte Ketchup. So how did I enjoy this pseudo-Thousand Island dressing. On rice, of course! Yeah, yeah, yeah, you heard me right. Dressing on rice,very, very nice! Even before my kim chee and rice, there was ketchup and mayo on rice, french fries, plain macaroni, bread, basically any starch. But rice was #1! I hated the lumps though, so would have to smooth out the mayo before adding the ketchup, after all – Ya Gotta Have Standards!

2. Woolworth’s Fried Chicken. This was love at first bite. Remember "You do the pickin’ when you buy chicken at Woolworth’s"? Mom & I used to catch the bus down to Fort Street Mall, and buy the chicken, which they put into a foil bag, than go and sit and eat it on one of the many benches along Fort Street Mall. Years later, before all the Woolworth’s were closed down, I went in and ordered the fried chicken. Unfortunately it wasn’t very good at all. Made me wonder if the recipe had changed, or maybe you can "never go back home again"?

3. Pork Chow Mein. I’m sure you’re wondering, what about Pork Chow Mein? Well, as a youngster, I was a bit of a "pokey" eater, never really ate much. Then, when I hit the 3rd grade a strange thing happened; I developed an appetite, I mean an appetite! This coincided with our patronization of a certain Chinese Restaurant, whose name I can’t remember. If anyone knows the name of this place, please let me know. It was located on corner on Waialae and 10th Avenue, on the Mauka side of the street (in other words it wasn’t King’s Garden – too "high maka-maka" for us). I’m sure the Pork Chow Mein here wasn’t any great culinary masterpiece by any means, but I went from hardly being able to eat a few fork fulls, to eating an entire order in one sitting. I remember that one of the Waitresses would sit and watch me eat, totally amazed! Maybe I missed my true calling in life – Side Show Attraction? So when people would look at my Elementary School pictures and wonder how a sudden" growth spurt" occurred between 3rd and 4th grades, I’d always answer, "pork chow mein". ‘Nuff said!

4. Chow Fun. I guess I have a thing about starch. But there’s a particular Chow Fun I’m talking about. I’ve only had it about 4 times in my life, and again I don’t remember the name of the place. But it was located on Front Street in Lahaina. My Mom, was born and raised on Maui, so we’d get to Maui every so often to visit. There used to be a place that had this wonderful chow fun – they used to wrap it in pink butcher paper. The Chow Fun had pieces of french fries in it, a carb-lover’s dream! There was a 20-plus year gap between my last visit to Maui in the late 90’s and my previous visit in the early 70’s. It felt kind of sad, I didn’t recognize a single thing except the old Banyan tree in Banyan Tree Park.

5. Vienna Sausage. I really can’t stand the stuff anymore. But as a kid I loved to eat Vienna Sausage and musubi! I remember my Mother putting the Vienna Sausage into a thermos, pouring in hot water, than closing the thermos. When we hit our destination, she’d open the thermos and pour the water out; and viola! Hot Vienna Sausage, perfectly sized finger food.

So who am I tagging? A trio of fun, interesting, Food Bloggers – Pam from Daily Gluttony, Elmo from Monster Munching(Elmo – don’t tell me you don’t have any childhood memories, ok!), and another Ex-Pat Kama’aina and Rookie San Diego Food Blogger, Annie from Green Beans in San Diego. Have Fun……

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant

August 7, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Over the last year or so I’ve heard the name Buga pop up on Chowhound whenever Korean Restaurant recommendations were requested. The strange thing was that other than a short negative post on Chowhound mentioning small portions and high prices, the only posts went like….”my Korean friends say…”, “I’ve been told by Korean co-workers…”, and such. I also went that route and asked around and got mixed reviews. God knows that I passed the restaurant nearly everyday. Also, a so-so experience at my favorite Korean BBQ Boo Cho, piqued my interest, and I’d decided to pay a visit to the specter that was Buga in the near future. Mills and Sarah please correct any inaccuracies!

Finally two things set a visit to Buga up, Ed from Yuma was making a quick trip into town, and Annie from Green Beans San Diego, noted that she had the best Kalbi she’s ever tasted at Buga.

Arriving at the parking lot, I noticed a somewhat odd thing. Buga is semi-attached to a Motel 6, and share the same parking lot. Talk about strange bedfellows, needless to say, there’s an interesting crowd milling around in the parking lot. I met Ed at the front door and entered the restaurant, the first thing you’ll notice is that Buga is alot smaller than the facade would indicate. Partially due to the sushi bar located in one end of the restaurant, and the table spacing necessary to support placement of large vents for the barbecue. We arrived at 630 pm and were greeted with smiles and seated immediately. After seating we perused the menu and decided on BBQ – Galbi ($20.95) and Bulgogee ($16.95), seemed like natural choices. Soon after the panchan arrived:

I’ll spare the description in minutiae, just to say that this was the best panchan I’ve had in San Diego. Ed must’ve been enjoying himself, he did what I call the “Ed’s delici-yoso dance” a few times. what happens is he closes his eyes, raised his arms to a perpendicular angle, goes “mmmmm”, and sways back and forth. I thought the servers were going to call 911.

Here’s my favorite panchan:

Also served was a small bowl of deep cooked beef soup with thin slices of mu (daikon). Usually you’d get some watery seaweed soup, or other thin “broth”, but this was very good. I’m actually thinking about ordering Kori Gomtang (Ox Tail Soup $14.95), during a winter visit. The grill was prepared (rubbed with onion) and the meat arrived and was cut and placed on the grill by the server, also arriving were the greens and wrappers (dduk & mu). I realized the reason someone had complained about the portion sizes, was that this was a “dduk bossam” style restaurant. The portion sizes at Buga are more than adequate for this style of eating.

The Galbi was excellent, well marinated, and tender. The flavor was very good and balanced, with the sheen of Malt Syrup, and just enough sweetness. When the well marbled Bulgogee arrived, my initial thought was that it was perhaps a bit undermarinated, but my apprehension was unwarranted, the bulgogee was excellent, soft and tender, and just about as perfect as it gets. To indicate the level of service, the Waitress actually made the first two samples of Ed’s Galbi “wrap” showing him how to prepare it. As the bulgogee was almost done, the Server came by and cut up the pieces of onion and made sure that all was well. The meal was completed with a palate cleansing cold cinnamon tea with pine nuts (sujeonggwa??).

Well,l I went home and raved about this place. So the Missus and I ended up going back to Buga the following evening. We were actually seated at the same table, and the Waitress remembered me, and was so helpful. Again, on this visit the service was superb, as was the panchan, and the soup, though some of the panchan were different, they were all great.

On the previous night I noticed the Hae Mul Pajun ($14.95), and it looked fabulous, so we ordered it.

Topped with a bit of sauce and some rice this was very tasty. The pancake contained shrimp, mussels, small oysters, and artificial crab, and had a nice savory flavor. It was deceivingly filling. I ordered the Haemul Dolsot Bibim Bap ($12.95), basically seafood and vegetables over rice. This was served in a stone pot, allowing for a wonderful crust to form at the bottom. Eaten with a bit of Gochujang this was a great texture and taste sensation.

During the whole meal we watched a Gentleman eating a metal bowl of Bibim Naengmyun ($9.95) that never seemed to end, he kept eating and eating, that just seemed like an eternal bowl of noodles; note to self, you need to order this. The meal was again finished with the cinnamon tea, and we were on our way. I give Buga my highest recommendation, great attentive service and good food. This is a new one for our rotation.

Some notes on Buga – The service is very good, and in this type of restaurant, the servers have alot to do. It seems that Buga may be a victim of it’s own success. On both days, as we left the place was totally packed and the servers almost running from station to station, still providing good service. In fact, we returned a third night and had to leave because of the crowd. This is typical gas BBQ not charcoal, but it’s damned good. Lunch specials are available from $7.95 and up. According to a sign Buga uses Coleman Natural Beef short ribs that are 100% pasture fed.

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Open daily 11 to 11

El Cuervo – Where Half of Hillcrest Eats.

August 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** After several decades, El Cuervo has become a location of Palomino’s

On any given weekday it seems that half of Hillcrest has lunch at El Cuervo, the other half at Bronx Pizza. People from various professions, laborers, “suits”, and “scrubs” from the nearby Hospitals, are all holding a spot in line.

After comments from both Jack (whom I’m sure I must’ve been standing next to in line several times) and Annie of Green Beans in San Diego mentioning El Cuervo were made, I finally decided to get down to business and actually do a post. I guess because of the close proximity to our offices, it’s relatively easy to take El Cuervo for granted. I mean, I could literally just up and walk the few blocks over (over people sometimes sleeping in the alleyway) and grab a quick order of Five Rolled Tacos ($3.20), a favorite of mine. These rolled tacos, or taquitos are smothered in guac and covered with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese, and somehow find a way to stay nice and crunchy when I eat them back at the office. And I can justify it as a pseudo-salad if I need to, after all there is lettuce and tomato on it, right? You can also just get 3 rolled tacos for $1.90.

I prefer the guacamole at “Cuervo’s” to those of most taco shops, the guac here is more on the chunky side, rather than the usual runny, snotty mess that I get. Green is a really bad color for runny food! I think I’ve ordered many of the items on the menu, and today I had a Carne Asada Torta ($3.80). As you can see the veggie’s in the sandwich are really mostly symbolic, sort of to make you better about eating this slipper-sized torta. The one thing I could do without on this torta are the refried beans, they end up making the bottom bun soggy to the point of disintegration, and I have to end up eating this with a fork and knife. I’m at work after all, I wouldn’t want to walk into a meeting with refried bean smears looking like god knows what (I’ll let you decide on your own visuals here) on my shirt. On second thought this sandwich could’ve used a bit more carne asada.

The burritos at El Cuervo are pretty sizable ranging in price from $2.40 (Ground Beef) to $3.30 (Machaca), and for 90 cents more you can get it “wet”, that is with cheese and enchilada sauce on them. The item below is the Pollo Asado (grilled chicken) burrito, “wet”. Grilled chicken, salsa, guac, and cheese, wrapped in a tortilla the size of a hubcap. If there’s one complaint I would have, it’s that there’s too much tortilla, and when wrapped around itself, it can be pretty “tough”, but in this case the enchilada sauce cures that ill. The chicken in the burrito was moist and all the flavors blend well, until you get to the end and it’s only tortilla.

What does El Cuervo got going for it? The fare is not as greasy as other taco shops, good prices, fast service, good sized portions, good guacamole, and good hot sauce. A pretty good list by any standard. Some of the favorites Chicken Tostada ($2.40), Carne Asada Quesadilla ($4.25), Chimichanga ($4.20), and Machaca Burrito ($3.30). I would stay away from the “seafood” here, I’ve found it to be “grease city”. All in all, a good neighborhood taco shop!

El Cuervo Mexican Restaurant
110 West Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Plaza Sorrento Food Court – Greek Bites and Amarin Thai

August 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Greek Food, Thai Restaurants

***** Both of these places have closed

I'm a true believer in Food Courts; not the cookie-cutter shopping mall type, mind you. But those found in areas of the San Gabriel Valley, with interesting variety and decent quality. You'll hardly ever find "great" food in a Food Court, but it's the "hunt" that counts. Two of my favorites are The Quincy Market in Boston and Union Station in Washington DC. The usual program would go like this; we'd each take $20, head off in opposite directions, with instructions to meet at a central location in 15 minutes to share our bounty. Honestly, there are more "clunkers" than winners, but it can be fun. So when we came across the Food Court in the Plaza Sorrento during our visit to the Sorrento European Bakery, we became very interested. And since we were starving, and one Banh Mi would not quench our hunger, the hunt was on.

In this food court is a Indian Tandoori place, a Vietnamese restaurant, and Japanese restaurant. I started noticing that many of the places in this "food court" had it's own dining area, making the description of food court into a misnomer, this collection of eating establishments was more of a "restaurant row". On this trip we decided on Greek and Thai.

From Greek Bites we got a combination platter ($8.65).

This pretty sizable platter was a big dissapointment, even at food court standards. The gyros meat was very dry, the chicken kabobs were dry and tasteless, and the chicken wings were – eh, ok. The salad was short on feta and the dressing tasted bottled. The rice pilaf was over-cooked. The tzatziki was good though, and we ended up slathering it over everything, and even bought another one ($.40). Seems like the name Greek "Bites" was somehow appropriate. At least we had leftovers for Sammy and Frankie.

Our other choice was Thai from Amarin Thai Restaurant.

I asked if this place was under the same ownership as Amarin Thai in Hillcrest and was given a positive nod. I ordered the Thai Sausage ($5.95) and Grilled Beef Salad ($7.25). One quick thing, unlike the speed of most food court type places, there was quite a wait here – even though it was sausage and a salad I ordered.

The Thai Sausage was nicely portioned with all the usual condiments, the sausage was alot milder than I'm used to (i.e. LOS in Vegas), not as salty, a bit more herbacious, and softer in texture. The sausage tasted fine with a squeeze of lime and wrapped in a cabbage leaf, but I could've used a bit more peanuts.

Yum Nuah (grilled beef salad), is one of my favorite dishes, especially on a hot summer day. This version had a generous amount of beef, lots of cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce, and tasty ripe tomatoes. The dressing was a bit one dimensional, I know that sounds strange, but it had too much fish sauce and not enough lime. I ended up squeezing the lime from sausage dish to balance the flavor out. We ordered this dish hot and the heat was excellent, though in spite of the amount of beef, the overall portion size was on the small side.

Best dish of the day – the Thai Sausage. We finished almost everything (Greek stuff leftover), and could have gone for more, but it was getting a little late, so we headed home.

So not quite a food court, The Plaza Sorrento " International Food Court" features a great variety of restaurants, putting everything from Boba and Pho' to Tandoori Chicken within reach. Obviously your mileage may vary in these type of places, but it's fun to be able to grab a good variety of dishes. And besides, there's great sport in the hunt! Do you think there's a future for an organized food court eaters league?

6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121

Golden Chopsticks – Guilty Pleasure

August 2, 2005 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

*** To see how Golden Chopsticks did in the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wing Challenge – go here.

I’ve got a special place in my heart for well made American Chinese food; after all I was literally raised on the stuff back home in Hawaii. If you’ve been to a Filipino Pot Luck in San Diego recently, along with the lumpia and pansit, you’ve probably had these:

Those are salted pepper chicken wings ($5.75) from Golden Chopsticks. These are like crack, once you start eating them there’s no stopping! Crunchy, salty, garlicky, with a slight sweet taste, these are addicting. Luckily for us, Golden Chopsticks is located in National City a pretty good distance away, in the same mall as Ohana Family BBQ and Seafood City. I guess if I had to categorize GC, it would be Filipino-American-Chinese Food.

As with most food in the Filipino community, there’s been great debates and conversations over who makes the best salt-and-pepper wings, there are some who say that Mandarin Canton in Chula Vista makes the best, but the over-riding opinion is that GC makes the best. The first thing you’ll notice when you enter, is that most of the customers are Filipino. Also, no one’s using chopsticks, spoons and forks are the norm here, they don’t bother with chopsticks unless you ask, or if you look like us….. The other thing you’ll notice if you go on a weekend, are the endless stack of trays ($25.00/tray – 60 pieces) and styrofoam containers of wings lined up for pick-up. This weekend we decided to partake of other items on the menu, in addition to (of course) dem’ wings.

We started with the Shrimp “Chow Mein”($6.25):

I’m not a great fan of the style of noodles used, but this dish is nicely flavored, and large shrimp are used. I actually liked these.

The next dish was the Sizzling Shrimp/Beef/Chicken, one of the most expensive dishes on the menu ($9.25), but the very friendly Waitress (she’s Chinese, if you need to know) recommended it:

Flavored with garlic and black bean, and placed on a metal plate and sizzled, this dish was pretty good.

The last dish was the Tofu with Brown Sauce ($5.50):

This was the blandest dish, in need of more aggressive seasoning. This dish actually tasted much better the next day(mmm-leftovers!!!), but I think I’ll pass the next time.

With a large bowl of rice and a pot of tea – $33.00, not bad! And we’ve got lunch and tonight’s dinner with the leftovers. We did finish all the wings though, and probably could have gone through another order….Yes, I’m still the same person who loves Ba Ren and China Max, but I really think that Golden Chopsticks also has a place in there somewhere.

Some Notes on Golden Chopsticks; I’m pretty sure they use MSG, so if you’re hyper-sensitive to it, you may want to take a pass. The service is very friendly, and very quick. Don’t forget those wings….

Golden Chopsticks
1430 Plaza Blvd #E/22A-23A
National City, CA 91950
619-336-1888

I can’t believe I ate it all……

Road Trip – Marukai Gardena and Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey

August 1, 2005 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

I made my way to Marukai Gardena from the Torrance Farmer’s Market. When I got there just at opening time, it was already quite warm, seems like it was going to be a "hot one".

Almost as big as an airplane hangar, Marukai Gardena is located right on Artesia Blvd. I remember the first time I entered this place; it had almost everything I needed. I had indeed reached the Ex-Pat food "Mecca". Redondo and Purity Portuguese Sausage, S & S Saimin, frozen Zippy’s Chili, Diamond Bakery Soda & Creme crackers, and Aloha Shoyu, to name a few, can all be found here. One of the first things you’ll notice when you enter is that for a place so large, it’s really somewhat cramped.

It can really get crowded in here, so we always plan to get in and out ASAP. The "wall of snacks" here is daunting.

There’s just so much here, I won’t go into it in too much depth. Just enough to say, it was a quick stop today, no maguro, no ogo for me. Just some snacks and alot of nice memories. Marukai is a membership market, but a daily membership ($1.00) is available – it’s cheaper than Disneyland, and almost as fun! So I shopped quickly loaded up my bounty, and headed back to my hotel room for a quick rest and to check out.

Marukai
1740 West Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90248
Summer: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Winter: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

*** Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey has closed

I than decided to hit Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey for a quick bite before hitting the road.

The definition of "hole in the wall", with only 6 tables, Harry’s has a small menu featuring hot table combinations (beef stew, fried chicken, etc.), cooked items (chop steak), and Saimin and Won Ton Mein. Call it a case of saimin insanity, today I decided to order what’s probably the most expensive item on the menu – a large size "Super" Saimin ($9.00).

There was a ton of Char Siu, several slices of kamabuko, what probably amounts to half a head of napa cabbage, carrots, and won tons. The best thing about the dish were the noodles, perfectly cooked, saimin (not ramen) noodles. The crunchy texture triggered many a memory of bowls of saimin and teriyaki beef sticks. The broth on the other hand was nothing to write home about, weak and almost flavorless, shoyu was a necessity. The other item I was thankful for was the watery "chinese mustard", just like back home. A swirl with the chopsticks to get a bit of mustard on it, place into the spoon, grab noodles and place in the spoon, consume – delici-yoso! I finished just about everything, enough to get a comment of "you did pretty good".

So great noodles, not the best broth, great service, and everything under $9.00 (actually most items are under $6.50). Not as good as I remember from my last trip here, but still worth the culinary trip down "memory lane". Enough so that I was willing to eat this even though the weather outside was clearly "heatwave" in nature.

Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey
1721 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247