**** Sorry to say that the Pork Lard dish is no longer on the menu at Taste of Hunan. There are some newer good dishes though. You can find an updated post here.
So, the Missus's current favorite Chinese restaurant in San Diego is now Taste of Hunan. In fact, we've already gone twice since returning from Ecuador/Galapagos. Even though it's a bit of a drive, we've enjoyed our meals.
In addition to other items we enjoyed during our previous visits, the Missus likes the Tea Smoked Duck here.
Very smoky, edging on being too salty, with a nice "duckiness" to it.
I have also found a favorite, though I'm only going to order it on every other visit or so…..well, because it's listed on the menu as "Stir Fried Pork Lard with Green Pepper". Leave it to me to find the fattiest dish on the menu!
Yes, this is pork fat, more like cracklins' that I had when I worked in the South all those decades ago. It seems to have been lightly dusted and then stir fried so when served there's a bit of solidity when biting into this swiney piece of heaven. Because of the spice, the black beans, and a good acidity this seems less "sinfull". Though let me assure you, it's worth trying.
Like I said, perhaps once a month or so……I can treat myself.
Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St.
San Diego, CA 92131
So, please share with us your current "guilty pleasure"! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
The fried oysters were an interesting touch, I guess it was there to replace the usual egg yolk, and of course BLC is a seafood based restaurant. but we didn't care for the fishiness it added to the beef which was almost mushy. The horseradish cream was excellent; adding the palate and nasal cleansing pungency to things. It seems like everything was minced too finely. The fries were crisp and lightly dusted with what seemed to be the "BLC Spice". In this instance it seemed to work fairly well.
The wrappers were good when the dumplings were first delivered, fairly tender, but got brittle and chewier as the dumplings cooled off. The filling was tender, moist, nicely seasoned, and full of pork flavor. This was a pleasant surprise. The filling was more finely chopped than many versions I've had recently. I think this compares favorably with 
The pieces of beef were decently tender and nicely flavored, good anise tones, with a hint of sweetness. The soup was of the clear variety and had some five spice and white pepper seasoning going for it, but it lacked beefiness and decent richness. At least it wasn't overly salty. The noodles were overcooked for my taste and lacked the springiness I enjoy.
There were 8 dumplings in all, enough for a light lunch. One of the XLB, the one on the bottom had, ahem, an 
The Missus loved this! And made me have a taste. While more bready than the flakey-crisp of a regular croissant; the exterior was nicely lacquered with a bit of a crunch, the inner layers not overly doughy. The pistachio filling was on the lighter side; with a mild nuttiness and not overly sweet. This was pretty good!
Well, this was pretty good. I prefer my croissant aux buerre a bit more crisp, but this was not bad. It was light , fairly fluffy, and not overly doughy with a nice, balanced butteriness, and a mild hint of salt. While not in the same league as our 
The beef, in this case short ribs was tender, which was a good thing as the bones made things rather unwieldy. I really liked the tart-tomatoey flavors that permeated the beef as well. This went quite well with the mild pungency of the rice.
