mmm-yoso – Page 440

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

Road Trip – Torrance Farmer’s Market

July 31, 2005 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I decided to break up my return trip from Mountainview, and stay overnight in Torrance. Of course I had an ulterior motive – a visit to the Torrance Saturday CFM. We used to make a 90 mile round trip from Rowland Heights to Torrance every other Saturday when we lived in LA. Our first stop would be the Torrance Farmer’s Market at around 8-830am. The farmer’s market stretches the entire length of the Wilson Park parking lot. In our time in Los Angeles we had been to just about every farmer’s market – Hollywood, Santa Monica, even the Monrovia Farmer’s market. But Torrance remains our favorite. It’s a no-frills, no people watching, no great chef’s out looking for produce, farmer’s market, but there are several vendors selling excellent Asian vegetables, and lots and lots of fruit vendors. When strawberries are in season you can smell them from a block away, even faintly (more like smoggle-berries, though) two blocks away.

Today, the star of the show were these Sugar Lady Peaches, sweet and intense in flavor; ripe and ready to eat. I also picked up some kumquats and ripe figs for the Missus. I then went hunting for vegetables and picked up some long green peppers, Asian Eggplant, and baby bok choy. Sorry no pictures; I just dived right on in and grabbed my veggies.

Once done, my usual strategy is to go back to the car, unload, and wander around and take in the sights and sounds. One of the most busiest stands is this one – they’ve been there since we first started going to this farmer’s market in the late 90’s.

There is usually a "Hawker" pushing the peaches, strawberries, or whatever; and a table of samples. After I took this picture I stepped up and had some samples (breakfast…) and a guy started sampling a bunch of nectarines. When I made the return trip he was still there, now working on the peaches! There are samples at every stand – Costcos’ got nothing on this place! So you can get a nice Saturday Brunch in as well.

On this trip I noticed alot more food vendors – in addition to the old time Sausage, Crepes, and Thai stands, there’s one with Peruvian food, a peanut roasting stand. I decided not to imbibe, but couldn’t resist, the Kettle Corn! But who can?

It was getting hot, and it was almost 9am, so I decided to jump in the car and head to stop #2 – Marukai Gardena.

Torrance Sat CFM
Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw
Sat, 8A-1P

Here’s a pic of Pepper at the filling station in Atascadero – ooops, not in Atascadero (inside joke) – at Atascadero.

A Big Thank You!

July 31, 2005 mmm-yoso Road Trip, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, yoso-silly

To Jo, for providing a wonderful home for Pepper, and her wonderful family. I’ll leave all of the pictures and reports for her to post on her site. Also milgwimper for the great info and conversation. Jo and Mills took me on a shopping tour of Mountainview and the surrounding area – when we left, the sun was up, we got back at 9pm! I had a blast, and there were lot’s of laughs! – Pusit….

Thanks to Mike; he makes a mean cup o’ joe. Jo I still think you need to raze the kitchen and build a coffee drive thru!

Of all of the places we visited, it was Dittmer’s that made the biggest impression. They have the "best Wurst"! Friendly Staff and great service, I’ll be back!

Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus Inc
400 San Antonio Road
Mountain View, CA 94040

Here’s a picture of Pepper in Soledad, sorry, bad joke….at the Soledad filling station.

Yoso Silly: Brand Loyalty Part 1

July 28, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I was having dinner with a group of Ex-Pat Hawaii people a few nights ago, and during the conversation, we were talking about some of the traits that people from Hawaii have; and I blurted out "brand loyalty". Most people who grew up in Hawaii have pretty much developed a strong brand loyalty to either one specific brand of a product, or to one of a few "local" brands of a specific product, mostly through some kind of indoctrination, and almost all with some kind of cautionary anecdotal tale. So I started naming some products and we got into a lively discussion……

What kine Mayonnaise?

Everyone said Best Foods. This brand is so ingrained, that if someone put a jar of Hellman’s in front of me, I wouldn’t buy it. It could have the same label and be essentially the same product, but I still wouldn’t buy it. Why? Because it’s not Best Foods. As one of the guys said; "have to be Best Foods, have to be….."

What Kine Shoyu (soy sauce)? Immediate answer – Aloha Shoyu!

Aloha Shoyu has been around since 1946, you can read a brief bio here. This one runs deep, really deep, there are recipes that specify Aloha Shoyu. In my household if I brought home the wrong shoyu, I’d die an ugly death. I know Yamasa tastes about the same, and honestly I don’t think I could tell the two apart in a blind test. But I’ll still drive to LA for my Aloha Shoyu if necessary. We still use Kikkoman, but mostly for sashimi and sushi.

Here’s an interesting one. All the younger guys didn’t even think about it. But to this day the only canned tuna I can eat is Coral. I’ve been brainwashed to associate all other tunas to "cat food", and believe me this belief is so strong that I’ll get nauseated at the thought of actually buying any other brand of canned tuna. I realize that Bumble Bee Seafoods produces Coral along with a myriad of other brands, but the only canned tuna that will touch my lips is Coral.

The Missus loves this packaged curry with tuna from Trader Joe’s, but I can’t bring myself to eat it, because I know the tuna’s not Coral. Yes, I know, I need major help…….

And what about the infamous:

I wouldn’t be caught dead opening a can of Treet, that would be sacrilege! I know I’ve eaten Treet many times, especially in plates from lunchwagons. But still you gotta have standards! A guy I once knew told me, "I don’t eat meat that rhymes with feet!". "But meat rhymes with feet." "Eh, dis’ is my rules, ok? Dat don’t count!" Same guy used to eat peanut butter and kimchee sandwiches, but well, at least he has standards, you know? Oh, and I love the little "classic" under the SPAM on the can, or as Reid would state – Spam®. Makes me think of Coke and Classic Coke.

I’m sure there are existing Marketing studies and books, but I’ve yet to see anything on brand loyalty in Hawaii. If you know of an article please let me know. For now I’ll just be Brand Loyal Me. I’m sure everyone has some product that they are loyal to, beyond all logic and reason, I’d love to hear what you all have to say! Coming up is Part2 – There was a time I believed that Corned Beef only came in cans…..

Well, gotta scoot, Pepper & I are on our way to Mountain View, CA as you read this. I’m stopping in LA on the way back. I’m hoping to have a few "postable" items on my return. We’ll miss you Pepper!

Hawaiian Island Barbecue

July 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Hawaiian Island BBQ has closed

This clone of L&L is located pretty close to where we live and is the most accessible "plate lunch" place for us. So I usually head on down to Pacific Beach now and then for a plate lunch.

Hawaiian Island Barbecue is located in Pacific Plaza next to a Von’s Supermarket, the local "foodies" will know the mall as the location of the Great News cooking store. I’ve never really ever seen this place full, but there seems to be a steady trickle of customers flowing in and out. The restaurant interior goes for a Hawaiian Hut/surfer kitschy type feel.

The menu features all the usual suspects; Chicken Katsu ($6.29), Loco Moco ($6.39), BBQ Beef ($6.39), BBQ Mix ($6.99), you get the picture. You can also get some items not usually served in many of these places like Lau Lau ($6.99 – previously frozen kine), Limu Poke ($7.99), and Manapua ($1.79 – also previously frozen kine). Mini plates are available from $4.29 – $4.99 featuring 1 scoop rice, 1 scoop Mac, and your chosen protein.

I placed my order, waited a few minutes, and went home, ready to grind!

The first thing I ordered was the BBQ Chicken ($6.29), all rice, which they got right. The thing I forgot to do was to tell them to "86" the pineapple ring. For some reason this pineapple ring sends me into a bout of terrible flashbacks….of when Hawaiian Food was thought to be a Ham steak with a pineapple ring on it! Ugh, just the sight of a little ol’ pineapple ring on top of certain foods send these waves of nausea associated with all those negative connotations! So I removed the pineapple ring and all traces of it’s existence. Oh yeah, the chicken, back to the chicken. In this case it was under marinated, but still ok. I’ve had the same dish here when it’s been perfectly marinated, and I’ve had them almost "white". It’s sort of a crap-shoot, when it’s good, it’s pretty good, when it’s not, well…….it deserves the pineapple ring!

I opened the next dish and it was a beautiful little Mini-Chicken Katsu Plate ($4.29). Only problem was, I ORDERED a CHICKEN CUTLET! Where’s the gravy? The gal as she handed me my package even said "chicken cutlet", I guess she didn’t pass her plate lunch identification test yet? Well back to the problem at hand – the chicken katsu was cooked to a perfect golden brown, crisp state, and had a nice crunch to it. The problem was what to do with the icky, terrible, sweet, mistake of katsu sauce this place and all the L&L’s serve for that matter. That’s the reason that I order chicken cutlet instead of chicken katsu. If I wanted sweet sour I’d pour some La Choy on it, gimme some "katsu sauce" fer chrissake! Katsu sauce into square receptacle, ketchup, Worcestershire, shoyu, and horseradish, here I come. Whoever made the macaroni salad on this day forgot the salt and put in a little too much mayo, but it was edible.

So why did I come here? Usually the foods ok, I usually like the Chicken Cutlet, when they remember to make it right, and the gravy fries ($1.99) and Loco Moco are usually pretty good. Looks like today wasn’t my day……

Hawaiian Island Barbecue
1768 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
858-483-9830

Located in the Pacific Plaza Mall – Pacific Beach

Boo Cho – Say it isn’t so

July 25, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Updated posts on Boo Cho can be found here and here. Another update, Boo Cho’s new owners have decided to change the name of the restaurant. So Boo Cho is no more. An updated post on Dae Jang Keum, which replaced Boo Cho can be found here.

We have been touting Boo Cho on Chowhound since 2003. Probably the only charcoal Korean barbeque in San Diego, and with a very tasty Kalbi and Bulgogi marinade, Boo Cho was a personal recommendation for anyone who desired Kalbi in San Diego. We have not made this a regular stop on our rotation, due to the prices – $20 for Kalbi, $16 for Bulgogi, not something you can have every night. Coming from Hawaii where you can get a decent amount of Korean food for under $12, it was quite a shock when I moved to LA and saw some of the prices.

I had heard that Boo Cho went under a ownership change recently, and I was curious to see if there had been any changes in quality or prices since our last visit. So 2 friends and I decided to give Boo Cho a shot for dinner.

Everything looked the same as we entered other than the usual congratulatory plant arrangements at the front door. One thing I did notice was that it was really empty, but that could have been the recent heatwave or the long daylight hours we’re experiencing. We were seated and our order placed. Like I said, this place in my opinion is for Korean Barbeque, so I ordered Galbi – unmarinated ($20.99), Galbi ($19.99), and Bulgogi ($15.99). Soon our panchan arrived, and I could tell a "difference" immediately. Along with the usual panchan, rice paper wrappers and the "mesclun" salad, garlic paste, and other condiments were delivered as well. A sure sign that this place was changing to a "duk bossam" style restaurant. That is you place the mesclun, daikon slice, barbeque, etc… in a little pile, place a wrapper on the top, grab it with your chopsticks forming a little dumpling and eating it. The panchan at Boo Cho has always been unspectacular, and it was no different on this visit, though the Baechu Kimchee (Napa Cabbage) was fairly tasty.

All faded into the back ground as the charcoal and brazier was delivered, and we were readied for the meat.

The first item to reach the table was the unmarinated Kalbi. I had always enjoyed this for the tenderness, and thought that maybe with a garlic slice and salad, that this would be the perfect dish for this style of eating, but today the meat was rather tough, and not as tender as I remember it being. Also, much of the usual nice meaty flavor was missing – not a good start. Next up was the regular Kalbi, mysteriously under marinated as you can tell by the photo, this made the dish somewhat uneven, as the well marinated portions tasted good, but the unmarinated portions had no flavor. The last dish was the Bulgogi. This dish was very good, just as flavorful and as soft and tender as I remembered, falling apart and cooked to a delicious slight char in a second. It’s quite ironic that the least expensive of the dishes was prepared the best!

I felt quite embarrassed at the uneven preparation and taste of the food, but my companions, not being regular Korean Barbeque eaters, thought all was fine, especially the bulgogi.

As we left, only 3 tables were filled, on a Saturday evening, this doesn’t bode well. I also noticed that the dishes seemed a bit smaller than I remembered. I think that changing to the duk bossam style was possibly a strategic business decision to allow for smaller portions, I hope that I’m wrong. Boo Cho has long been one of our favorite restaurants, I’m hoping that this is just a "little bump", and that when (if) I return everything will be as it was in the past.

Some notes: Don’t wear any clothes that you don’t want smelling of charcoal, when the restaurant starts filling up, smoke will fill the restaurant, no matter how good the ventilation is. Service here has always been very friendly, accommodating, and helpful. For parties of 5 or larger, reservations are requested.

Boo Cho Restaurant
7905 Engineer Rd
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 573-2585