mmm-yoso – Page 55

The Croissant Files – Patisserie Melanie

February 29, 2024 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants

**** Patisserie Melanie has closed

Man, has it been over 2 1/2 years since I’ve done a “Croissant Files” post for a place in San Diego? Yeesh. I will say however, that I thought the Croissant from Izola was pretty good. Sadly, Izola is currently closed, though it’s good news that they are updating their bakery!

Anyway, waaaay back in late July/early August of last year “FOY” Kenneth was nice enough to send me an email (thanks as always Kenneth!) mentioning that folks had recommended Patisserie Melanie to him. Now, why did that name sound familiar? Well, I checked and apparently, this is the same Melanie that was operating out of what seemed like a home kitchen on Park Boulevard way back in 2020. In fact, you’ll find mention of the place in the comments of this post if you’re interested. My good “FOY” and fellow blogger “CC” (I know you’re almost exclusively on Instagram these days CC – but we miss your posts!) mentioned that she wasn’t impressed and I then went and tried the croissant and wasn’t very impressed. But that was before the upgrade in location and what I assume is equipment as well. And since I’ve been missing croissants (yes, I have a category for them). Especially from my favorite boulangerie in Paris, I thought it would be a good time to check out Melanie.

Patisserie Melanie 01

The pink highlighted shop is located right on the corner 30th and Gunn, on the same block as Swami’s and Mabel’s Gone Fishing. I was really lucky on this morning, finding parking right on 30th across from the shop.

Patisserie Melanie 02

The shop is bright, with a view of the baking area. There are various coffee concoctions and Viennoiseries available in the morning (this was 8am) and I believe hot sandwiches/tartines/quiches during the day and even a dinner menu as well.

I was just looking for a croissant aux buerre and didn’t notice one in the pastry case…..

Patisserie Melanie 03

Until I looked carefully and noticed it was keeping a “low profile” behind the paparika and cheddar croissants. The young lady working behind the counter was smiling, friendly, and very fast when I ordered my croissant. I was out of the shop in less than 5 minutes!

I recall the croissants from the “original location” of Melanie were pretty small and these did fill the bill.

Patisserie Melanie 04

For perspective, the Croissant Aux Buerre was $5.50. Can you imagine paying over 5 Euros for a croissant in Paris? For a scale comparison, it seems my reading glasses are about the same length as the croissant.

Patisserie Melanie 05 Patisserie Melanie 06 So, how was this? It was more flaky then what I’d had before, though the texture is on the chewy side. Decent salt and mild sweetness, though it seemed to lack a nice yeasty nose and could have used more butter….at least for me. This was decent in terms of San Diego croissants; though I wish Izola was open for a comparison….maybe I need to head back to Wayfarer? And I’ve been promising to return to Asa Bakery and (hopefully)trying their croissant. Thanks again for the email Kenneth. I’m wondering if you had a chance to check out Patisserie Melanie?

Plus, if any of you have a recommendation for a good croissant aux buerre in San Diego, I’d love to hear it!

And you can check out Soo’s post on Patisserie Melanie here.

Patisserie Melanie
3750 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Tuesday 8am – 2pm
Wed – Thurs 8am – 2pm, 5pm -9pm
Fri – Sat 8am – 2pm, 5pm – 10pm
Sundays 8am – 2pm, 5pm – 9pm
Closed Mondays

Valle (Oceanside)

February 27, 2024 mmm-yoso Fine Dining, Latin American Cuisine, Mexican Restaurants, Staycation

After our wonderful dinner at Jeune et Jolie we were looking forward to our meal the next evening in Oceanside at the Michelin starred Valle restaurant. The samples of the tasting menu we'd seen really enticed us, and the Missus really wanted to sample the wines of the Valle de Guadalupe. So, after heading to Garden Grove to have Lao food for lunch, we headed back to Oceanside and checked in at the Springhill Suites. Man, I hadn't been in this area for ages and it had changed a lot.

It was much more developed and commercial. We actually enjoyed staying in Carlsbad a lot more. Though, we did have a wonderful time at Frankie's, cause you know why!

We strolled down the Oceanside Pier and then walked on over to the location of Valle. It was quite a modern setting, it's all tasting menu here, we got the Tierra Y Mar (Land and Sea) which was $180 per person and shared a single wine pairing which was $150. The staff was friendly and professional, though not as knowledgeable and enthusiastic as the folks at JeJ.

Valle 01

Though the one cocktail that was recommended was outstanding; the "Maggie" ($20). Now, the Missus isn't a big fan of Margaritas, but She loved this.

Valle 02

It has so clean, so crisp, and yet had that hint of agave. I asked about this cocktail and was told it was made with Cristalino, which folks really disparaged when we visited Tequila and I can understand why. And yet, this was so good, it used the Milk punch method to clarify the components of the drink. It was lovely; we had two…. We got a single pairing with our meal, which was excellent.

Things started with the Botanas.

Valle 03

We loved the chicharron foam/broth, it was so porky, light, and comforting.

Valle 04

The little mini fish "tacos" were also quite tasty; nice maize flavor.

Valle 05

Then things really started out with the Charred Onion Tarte with Kaluga Hybrid Caviar.

Valle 06

As with many of the dishes, quite an interesting presentation…charred black. Good sweet-almost caramelized onion tones. The caviar seemed strangely muted as we expected more of salty-savory counterpoint. Great texture though.

The eye catching Betabel (beet) was next. It was interesting that both JeJ and Valle had beet dishes as components of the meal.

Valle 07

This dish featured Humboldt Fog, which, since you know how we enjoy cheese excited us. But the dish was overwhelmingly sweet, though we loved the anise-mint flavor of the shiso, the flavor of rosemary kind of overpowered things.

Next up was the Trucha, Nopal y Tuna. We love Nopal and this was described as an aguachile.

Valle 08

It lacked a nice citrusy acidity and the trout was really tough in texture.

The one saving grace was the Chardonnay paired with this dish was a favorite of the Missus.

Valle 08b

In fact, I've hunted this down once we returned.

The Chancla con corte de wagyu was good.

Valle 09

If I recall in my really horrible Spanish, "chancla" means slipper. This was an decadent slice of what I consider wagyu "lardo" topping….well who cares really…..

Valle 10

Good lord, the avocado crema….the earthy-maize chancla!!!

In total contrast, the Tetela de Birria was quite mild.

Valle 11

Perhaps it was because we were in Jalisco recently (I'll get those posts done soon!), but even the Missus said, "this doesn't taste like birria, where's the bold flavors!"

I enjoy Pescado Zarandeano, I even make a version at home. This was an interesting version as it featured, a tasty "pico de gallo terrine". Which actually tasted much better than the fish!

Valle 12

Which was dry and fairly bland.

At this point, there was an interesting move, the Missus got the Cornejo Alegre, the poached and roasted rabbit.

Valle 14

I thought the Missus would enjoy this. Remember how hard I worked to find that the Missus enjoyed Mole Segueza in Oaxaca. But for Her it was overly sweet and it seemed that the gamy tones of the rabbit was meant to be muted.

I did order the A5 Drunken Wagyu Strip which was an extra $50….let me tell you, this was amazing, even better than what we had at JeJ!

Valle 15

So beefy, with an amazing texture….that was at first firm, that gave way…..good lord, can I say I tasted the soul of beef? Perfectly cooked and seasoned. For me; this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

Valle 16

If I were to return…cause the "Maggie" calls to me; I'd sit at the bar and have a couple of dishes. Still, this was a fun experience, though we enjoyed JeJ much more.

Valle
222 N Pacific St.
Oceanside, CA 92054

And after dinner, well, the Oceanside Pier is right there…..

And if you're of my generation; this is called the "Top Gun House".

In case you want to check it out.

Valle 18

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Revisits – Spicy Lao Kitchen (Kearny Mesa) and Vientiane Lao Thai Restaurant (Garden Grove)

February 26, 2024 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

A pair of revisits to Lao Restaurants for your Monday.

Spicy Lao Kitchen:

The Missus was craving the Moo Tod and Goong Nam Pla that we had on our last visit to Spicy Lao Kitchen. So we headed on over.

Spicy Lao vs 01

It was 1230 on a Tuesday, but the parking lot in the strip mall was pretty empty and the restaurant had only two tables of customers when we arrived.

Spicy Lao vs 02

I'm guessing that the soft opening crowds have now gone their way as the sign out front now says "Grand Opening". There was still one person working the front of house, but she did a good job and there wasn't as much of a wait as on our previous visits.

We ordered 4 dishes, three of our favorites here and one new item from the menu.

First to arrive was the Moo Tod thinly sliced pork belly, the crispness gives way to a nice almost creamy texture.

Spicy Lao vs 03

Nicely seasoned, good salt and savory components. For us, the rather salsa-ish Jeow Mak Len, pretty weak in heat and flavor is not needed. In fact, all the jeow we've had here has been pretty weak.

Next up was the Nem Khao.

Spicy Lao vs 04

While still one of our favorite versions in San Diego, this hasn't been as good as what we'd had here on our first visit. The rice was in hard chunks rather than being crisp, there wasn't enough sour sausage nor spice as well.

Of course we got the Goong Nam Pla; the naked shrimp.

Spicy Lao vs 05

This dish was a winnah; good spice, the shrimp tender, nice acidic tones. The shrimp had no off flavors and this was quite a refreshing dish.

We decided to try the Crying Tiger. We were asked how we wanted our beef cooked and said "medium rare". What arrived was definitely not that.

Spicy Lao vs 06

The beef was on the tough side. Though the spice was decent it definitely needed more fish sauce, acid, and more toasted rice powder for that nutty flavor. This was pretty weak.

Still, even though it's still one server manning the front of house, our orders were taken in a timely manner and there wasn't an overly long delay for our dishes as on previous visits.

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Tues – Sat 11am – 9pm
Sunday 11am – 7pm
Closed on Mondays

Vientiane Lao Thai Restaurant:

During our last Staycation, I had made plans to visit a locale in Carlsbad on the morning after our dinner at Jeune Et Jolie. Those plans however fell thru and after having our morning coffee, we had to decide what to do before check in time in Oceanside. The Missus had the idea of heading up to Westminster to visit our current Cha Ca Thang Long place, but we had just been there three times over the last couple of weeks. Then, I had the idea of revisiting Vientiane Thai Lao in Garden Grove. It had been almost 4 1/2 years since our last visit. It would be interesting to compare the nem khao tod there to what we'd recently had at Spicy Lao.

Vientiane vs 01

So we headed on over and arrived at around 1130. The place was fairly busy and we got one of the two remaining available tables. Looking at photos from our first visit back in 2009, the interior looks like a total different restaurant.

Vientiane vs 02

We placed our order and soon enough dishes started arriving. First thing to arrive was a large plate of lettuce and cilantro.

Vientiane vs 03

Which came in real handy for the Nem Khao.

Vientiane vs 04

The rice was crisp-crunchy and not in giant chunks like Spicy Lao, there was an abundance of sour sausage, and even pork skin! A hint of spice, a touch of coconut, perhaps even better than I recalled.

We had never tried the Lao Sausage here, so we ordered that. This was interesting in that it was sliced, then deep fried. Still it was much better than the overly dry and chewy version we had at Spicy Lao Kitchen.

Vientiane vs 05

There were three things we really enjoyed about this sausage; the sausage casing and fried portions were crisp, without being hard or chewy. The rice in the sausage added a wonderful soft, tender texture. And the herbs really gave it some "life".

We also ordered the Lao Beef Jerky, which was on the harder side of the scale, but wasn't overly salty and had an interesting lemongrass-soy-fish sauce-sweet flavor.

Vientiane vs 06

We saved most of this and actually ate it for breakfast! It keeps really well. Of course we need to try the version at Spicy Lao.

The one item we ordered that Spicy Lao does better is the Goong Nam Pla. What arrived at our looked nothing like what we'd had here on previous visits.

Vientiane vs 07

First off, the shrimp were really chewy and gummy. It also had a muddy after taste to it. The sauce was provided on the side and though it had decent heat, lacked sufficient acidity, and the garlic tones we'd noted during our previous visits. Bummer.

Still it was great seeing that the nem khao here was still good after all these years! Funny thing, we thought we ordered a lot, but the couple on the table next to us ordered 6 dishes! Service was friendly and efficient. We need to return soon.

Vientiane Lao Thai Restauarant
10262 Westminster Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Current Hours:
Thurs – Tues 11am – 730pm
Closed on Wednesdays

Vientiane vs 08

So, even though Spicy Lao is improving, we think they've got a bit to go to catch up to Vientiane. Though the shrimp there was much better!

Road Trip – Pecos National Historical Park, Saint Francis Cathedral, and the Bell Tower Bar (Santa Fe)

February 25, 2024 mmm-yoso Chocolate, Cocktails, New Mexico, Road Trip, Santa Fe/Taos, New Mexico, Travel

**** No food in this one; but if you'd like to see photos of what was once considered one of the crossroads to the west, along with what is considered the oldest statue of the Virgin Mary in North America, read on.

After spending the evening in Prescott and visiting Montezuma Castle National Monument and having lunch at a favorite spot of ours, we headed off to our next destination. Taking the 40 East, then transitioning to the 25, we bypassed our next destination for the night, Santa Fe, and went to Pecos National Historic Park. Once upon a time, the Glorieta Pass was considered the most direct route to the west. Everyone from the ancient Pueblo Indians, to the Spanish, to the settlers head to the west used this pass. In fact lest you think that New Mexico was too far west, the decisive Battle of Glorieta Pass was fought here during the Civil War. The park is fairly large and sprawling, nearly 350 acres.

The main area I wanted to check out was Pecos Pueblo.

Here stand the ruins of the Pueblo, with the foreboding walls of the Mission Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles rising up from the area.

There actually a recreated Kiva. Which really stirred one's imagination of how things must have been.

The large eye-catching ruins are of the Pecos Mission Church.

The first church was completed on these grounds headed by the Franciscans who gained permission from the Spanish. Of course, the labor was provided by the Puebloans. To quote the NPS page:

"Construction of the Mission Church and the Convento were supervised by the Franciscans, but Pecos people provided the labor; the Pecos received no pay for their work, raising questions today about the nature of slavery in the Southwest."

In 1680 the Puebloans rejected the religion and rule in the Pueblo Revolt and the church and convent were razed.

In 1693, the Spanish retook the land and reestablished control and the current structure was built.

We had parked, seen the ruins and immediately headed on over. In retrospect, I'd recommend heading over to the visitors center first as it provided history and context.

And we loved this map as it added to what we had learned about trading of the native peoples during our visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City.

Pecos National Historical Park
Pecos, NM 87552

It was a mere half hour drive to Santa Fe from here.

The Missus wanted to make one stop on the way to our hotel at Kakawa Chocolate again.

Where She restocked on some of Her favorites from our previous visit.

Kakawa Chocolate House
1300 Rufina Circle A4
Santa Fe, NM 87507

As before, we stayed at the Inn of the Governors. And as on our previous visit, our room wasn't quite ready yet, but we were able to park and do some exploring.

On our previous trip to Santa Fe, there was a place I wanted to check out but it was closed during our stay; the Saint Francis Cathedral.

On my previous trip, I found the following statue to be fascinating, so I did a bit of research…..

This is a status of Kateri Tekakwitha, the First Native American Saint. If you're interested in a bit more, this entry might be of interest.

As we entered the church, I was struck by how brightly colored it was.

At the Northeast part of the Cathedral is a chapel that was once part of another church that stood on these grounds. It is the oldest part of the Cathedral.

In this chapel resides the oldest existing statue of the Virgin Mary in North America, often called "La Conquistadora".

You can read even more about that here.

We enjoyed our visit and then headed off to our next stop. I've mentioned the architect Mary Colter a couple of times in posts; she the Desert Watchtower and one of our favorite hotels, La Posada in Winslow. I had read that she had also designed the interior of the very popular La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. So, we decided to head on over.

The restaurant looked lovely, but we had reservations at another place for dinner.

There is however, a bar on the rooftop of La Fonda, which is open from 3pm to Sunset during weekdays. The clock had just struck 3 so we headed up the elevator.

And then to the host stand. Luckily, we had gotten there right when the place opened.

There were people who had gotten in before we did! I guess they waited for the place to open?

The Missus got a Frozen Sangria and I got a Spicy Serrano Margarita.

And we relaxed and enjoyed the view.

Bell Tower Bar (in the La Fonda Hotel)
100 E San Francisco St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Open from May – late October
Hours:
Mon – Fri 3pm – Sunset
Sat – Sun 1pm – Sunset

Before strolling back to the hotel to check in. We were looking forward to our dinner!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Hour Revisits to Et Voila

February 22, 2024 mmm-yoso Cocktails, French Restaurants

During our last trip to Europe in November of last year, we managed to spend four nights in Paris. Instead of going for all the Michelin starred places, we just wanted to chill and enjoy; after all we've now been to the city eight times since 2016! Funny thing, the Missus ended up having Escargot four times during our stay! I clearly recalled how much She used to hate snails! My how times have changed! Back in January, we went and did a Happy Hour revisit to Et Voila, something that used to be rather routine for us in those days before Covid. We did manage one very nice HH revisit back in January of 2022, two years ago! We noticed some new dishes on the Happy Hour menu and decided to head on back for HH when we stayed at the Lafayette Hotel and headed on back for one more visit a few weeks back.

We did notice that some of the dishes and drinks had changed a bit and now have pegged our current favorites. I thought I'd go ahead and list our Happy Hour dishes.

Of course, I had always enjoyed the Huckleberry Bourbon (especially when it used to be $7 at HH), though on our last couple of visits it seemed a bit weaker. Still, habits die hard, and I had one on all three visits ($13 at HH).

Et Voila HH 00

On my last visit, I noticed a cocktail called the "Months of 'Ber" ($14) which had Mezcal and Aperol. I was curious and ordered it. I mentioned that I hadn't noticed this cocktail before and Ludo smiled and said "it's because you don't visit often enough these days…" Ah, so French!

Et Voila HH 02

This was nice, slight smoky, lightly sweet-citrusy, loved the hint of anise.

Of course if one is going to have escargot, a baguette is required. The half baguette aux buerre is now $6…..but it's absolutely necessary.

Et Voila HH 03

As for the dishes.

The good.

Well, the Missus does enjoy the Escargot ($11) and the Happy Hour price is reasonable.

Et Voila HH 04

It's a bit parsley heavy for my taste; but the escargot are tender enough. The Missus enjoys these and can easily polish it off in less than 10 minutes along with the baguette.

I've always enjoyed the house made Terrine de Porc ($13 HH) and for some reason, the two times I had it during our recent visits I really enjoyed the porky-winey-slightly sweet terrine.

Et Voila HH 05

I enjoy the pickled veggies which help to refresh the palate and the nasal clearing mustard.

On the fence:

We had the Beignet de Champignons ($10 HH) on every visit. On the first visit, it was quite nice, crisp, earthy, exactly what made the dish a Happy Hour staple over the years. Though on our last two visits, the mushrooms were over-fried, almost burnt, and extremely salty.

Et Voila HH 06

Still, I'm sure we'll keep ordering this.

The not-so-good.

On our first two visits we got another Happy Hour staple, the Raviolis aux Champignons ($15 during HH). Man, they sure foam it up these days, check out what it used to look like.

Et Voila HH 07

There was a tendency in the past for this dish to swing into the "too sweet" territory and on both visits this was even sweeter than before! You really couldn't taste the mushrooms and truffle. I think we're crossing this dish off our "list" on future visits.

We tried one new Happy Hour menu item, the Braised Lamb Belly stuffed with Merguez ($20 HH). We love merguez and harissa, so we were quite excited, but this was a let down.

Et Voila HH 09

I'm not sure where they get their merguez, but man, it was bland, lacking in the sweet-gamy-cumin flavors we love…same with the harissa as this really lacked spice. The lamb belly was overly chewy and bland as well. In fact, the only item that stood out were the raisins, of which there were too many for our taste.

Well, even though we didn't enjoy every dish at Et Voila, we still have our favorites. And I still think we enjoy the Happy Hour menu more than the dinner menu. And of course the Missus will need Her Escargot fix from time to time.

Et Voila HH 10

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Sun- Mon 430pm – 830pm
Tues – Thurs 430pm – 9pm
Fri – Sat 430pm – 10pm
Happy Hour – Served at the Bar Only
Sun – Thurs 430pm – 730pm
Fri – Sat 430pm – 6pm

Midweek Meanderings – Krispy Krunchy Chicken (Clairemont) is Now Cluck n Sip, Moon Night Replacing Otori/O-to-San, and Hi Guest Replacing Khorasan

February 21, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants

So, I go on a trip for a week and return to find so many changes in Kearny/Clairemont Mesa? While taking care of errands before I return to the office here's what I saw.

Krispy Krunchy Chicken (Clairemont) is Now Cluck n Sip:

While doing some shopping at 99 Ranch Market, I decided to take a look at the food court and oh my……this location of Krispy Krunchy Chicken is now Cluck n Sip.

Which has a very popular outlet in Hillcrest that I have on "my list".

The menu is different from KKC, but the staff looks the same. I'll make sure to check them out soon.

5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111

Moon Night Replacing Orori/O-to-San:

I was driving down Convoy when I noticed that Otori Yakitori is going to be something called Moon Night.

Man, talk about a revolving door of restaurants, I went when it was O-to-San and was not impressed. Never made it to Otori, though I really didn't make an effort to visit. Here's hoping this iteration is better.

4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Hi Guest Replacing Kroran/Khorasan:

I knew that Kroran had become Khorasan a while back but never had the time to visit. While driving down Genesee, I noticed a new sign, "High Guest Music BBQ", so I turned into the strip mall. And yes, looks like Khorasan is now Hi Guest.

As to what this concept is……could it be skewers and karaoke??? Your guest guess is as good as mine. Perhaps a FOY will let us know?

4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

So there you go….I leave for week and look what happens! Be back with another post tomorrow!

Where in the world are we?

February 18, 2024 mmm-yoso Honolulu, Oahu

Yes, we're on yet another trip. It was time to head on "home".

This time around, instead of visiting the neighbor islands, the Missus wondered if we could do some more touristy "stuffs". At first, I wasn't too keen on doing that, but after giving it some thought I realized that the places that came up I hadn't been to in ages, like in 2-3 decades or more. So why not?

And it has turned out to be fun.

We even stayed in town for a couple of nights.

And of course, this being the Missus we have gone on a couple of "hikes", of which were kind of "walks" as defined by the Missus.

The longer I'm away, the more I appreciate where I'm from.

And of course, we've been checking out some old favorite places as well.

And we've been eating well.

Hitting up some old favorites.

And even what you might consider an "old school" favorite.

And we made time to visit a couple of "new" places.

Mahiai 06

I really don't want to be "drag-gin" this out……

So, I'll leave it at that. We've got a couple of days left before heading home. Hoping to hit up a few other places and then hopefully catch up on my huge backlog of travel posts when I return!

Until then, the blog remains in the capable (and busy) hands of Cathy.

Thanks for stopping by!

8th and B Poke (National City)

February 12, 2024 mmm-yoso Hawaiian Food, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Poke, Seafood

At the end of May last year, I heard about a poke shop opening in National City, but we were between trips and I never made it until September. 8th and B Poke is located; well, off of 8th Street and B Avenue in one of the new residential buildings.

8th and B 01

I had heard that the shop will sometimes sell out of poke, so I made sure to go before they opened. As a whole parking can be a bit "interesting" in this area as well.

The shop is small, with a small counter and a listing of the poke available posted on the "board". What can be confusing is that different sizes of poke "bowls/plates" are listed, but it doesn't tell you how much poke is involved with each.

8th and B 02

On the counter is a list of what kind of tako poke and salmon is available that day.

8th and B 02a

I figured, correctly that a Medium Plate would have two different poke and since it's really hard to find decent tako poke here in San Diego, I got the kimchi tako along with the ahi limu.

8th and B 03 8th and B 05 The texture of the ahi was good. Not too much connective tissue. The fish was highly sauced, and the sauce was on the sweet side. There wasn't a huge amount of limu and the sweetness of the sauce pretty much overshadowed any of the briny-oceany flavor provided by the seaweed, though the textural crunch provided much needed contrast. The fish was of decent quality and nicely prepped.

The rice had some shoyu based sauce and furikake on it and was decently cooked on all my visits.

There was surimi and seaweed salad; routine stuff. But for some reason what they called "fish mash", tuna scrape looked really familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.

8th and B 04

The tako was just prepped octopus with sauce squirted on it, not marinated at all, thus without much flavor. It was also overly chewy.

8th and B 06

The ahi was not bad at all, better than most other places in San Diego. I downloaded my photos and made a note to return. I must be getting old, because we went on a couple of trips after this visit, and I totally forgot about the place. And then on my last post on Poke Etc, "FOY" Jack mentioned 8th and B! Yikes, I had forgotten about the place. I was off on that Thursday and headed right on down to National City.

8th and B 07

Same gameplan; I arrived right before opening and ordered a Medium Plate. I got asked if I'd like to add some Shrimp Tempura ($3) and I acquiesced.

8th and B 08

I probably should have passed on the shrimp as I saw it pulled from an air fryer.

This time I got the Spicy Garlic Ahi and the Shoyu Ahi.

8th and B 09 8th and B 10 As I walked back to the car, I realized I forgot to ask the folks the burning question about the place I had in mi cabeza. Sigh! Anyway, on this visit, the Spicy Garlic Ahi, wasn't particularly spicy, nor was it garlicky, at least to me. The fish was on the chewy side but decent. As with my previous visit the Ahi was swimming in sauce.

The shoyu Ahi was quite good, not overly sauced, nor excessively sweet, good texture, nice soy overtones, not too salty. Looks like I found a winnah!

8th and B 11

As for the shrimp, well, it hadn't held up well on the drive home. The shrimp was fairly small, though who would complain about $3 these days? It was soggy and really lacked seasoning.

8th and B 12

And so, I was ready for a post….until "FOY" Mar commented on Friday, just a day after my visit telling me that 8th and B had LauLau on Sundays! Ok…… Of course, I miss having good LauLau, so I waited and visited on a Sunday. And yes, there's a LauLau plate ($19), which comes with one scoop of poke.

8th and B 02b

I must say that I understand folks' confusion here, there's no indication of how much poke comes with each plate, nor does it say that the LauLau plate comes with poke…..I did ask and was told I had one choice. So far, my favorite had been the Shoyu Ahi so I went with that.

It was interesting to see a line forming, which stretched out the door when I exited. I guess weekends must be pretty busy here!

8th and B 14 8th and B 15 This time, I didn't forget that question, you see, that "fish mash" brought me back to a place that won the I love poke festival in OC in 2015. Yes, for a time we thought that Zarlitos had some of the best poke in San Diego. Sadly, they stopped serving poke around late 2018 or so.

I asked and was told that this was indeed the same folks. Ohh-kay! That fish mash; think of how the old school places used to take bone scraping and make spicy tuna; it's actually quite tender, not fishy, at least what this place makes….in fact, I asked not to have seaweed salad and they gave me an extra scoop of the fish mash.

The fish in the shoyu poke was quite tender on this visit, but was much more "sauced" and sweeter than before.

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As for the Lau Lau, as you can see, the Luau leaf was undercooked and fibrous. The meat was….well, as expected lacking the salted fish and pork fat.

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It was so lean, dry, and tasteless. I'll pass on this from now on.

But, that poke is pretty good; it's miles ahead of what I'd recently had at Poke Etc. So, if you enjoyed the poke that Zarlito's used to served, here's the remedy. Of course for me, HFS at Centerpark is still my go-to. But I'll definitely drop by 8th and B again if I'm in the area, if only to see what's going on.

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And for even more opinions….because I guess great minds think alike; please check out Denver's and Joy's posts on 8th and B!

And thanks to Jack and Mar for the reminders about 8th & B!

What would I do without our "FOYs"!

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8th & B Poke
806 B Ave.
National City, CA 91950
Hours:
Wed – Mon 11am – 7pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Hualien – A Cheng Goose Meat

February 11, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

One of the places the Missus really wanted to visit was Taroko National Park. It was nearest big city was Hualien, so I hired a driver for our visit to Taroko Gorge and we had a rather easy three hour train ride from Taipei. We stayed fairly close to the train station at the Kindness Hotel, which actually lived up to their name. The folks working were really nice.

The city, at least for us, had a real small town feel, though it seemed to be rather sprawling. Once we checked in, we decided to head out in spite of the damp and drizzly weather to explore and get some dinner.

I had read that a must try in Hualien was goose. I had Mr Goose on my phone. Of course there were distractions along the way. On Jinfeng Street we passed this wonderful looking temple and decided to take a look.

From what I could gather, this is Dijun Temple.

It was something to see……

It was quite impressive, though there's not much in English on this temple. I'm in the process of trying to find a book or publication on these temples of Taiwan.

Along the way we passed a couple of food streets like this one, along Gongzheng Street.

Apparently, this baozi stand is quite well known.

We really wanted to try some roasted goose in Hualien, so we headed over to the very popular Mr Goose only to find it closed for the holiday. So, I had to find a plan B. We did enjoy shopping at this dried veggie/fruit shop.

While shopping, I found another possible goose restaurant so we headed on over.

Right next to the shop and the closed Mr Goose was this interesting looking church.

After "Googling around", I found that this is the Hualien Port Church.

From here, we pretty much headed back in the direction of the hotel.

Out on Jianguo Road was a place I saw as A Cheng Goose Meat on the map, though the English sign said "Happy Town Goose".

The place was empty when we arrived, but slowly filled during our meal.

The Missus placed our order and our "stuffs" started arriving.

The bamboo shoots were simple, but well seasoned, crunchy, and full of flavor.

The goose intestine with preserved vegetable was interesting. The goose intestine was very mild in flavor and quite crunchy.

The Missus had ordered the goose two ways; salted and smoked.

The dish came with two sauces which we didn't need. I expected the goose to be gamier than duck, but it wasn't. It did have some nice gaminess, was super tender and moist, and nice and rich. The "smoked", which was more like roasted to me had a stronger flavor profile, though the salted version seemed more moist. Both versions were tender and I'd have this again in a minute!

We loved the veggies in Taiwan and here was just another example; the wonderful, tender, mildly sweet – chlorophyllic baby fern shoots.

And the very "ong-choyish" stir fried yam leaves. So tender and grassy-nutty. Just simply seasoned and perfectly stir-fried.

When you have good ingredients, simple is probably the best.

We enjoyed our meal at A Cheng and like I wrote earlier, we'd return in a heartbeat!

A Cheng Goose Meat
No. 85 Jianguo Rd.
Hualien City, Taiwan

After dinner we strolled around a bit.

Before heading back. The Kindness Hotel, like other places we stayed at on this trip has a buffet breakfast. But they also serve snacks and drinks during the day, and what we were told was a evening "snack", which was more like a full on buffet dinner. As you can imagine; it was quite popular with hotel guests.

Of course we'd already eaten; but the Missus couldn't resist getting a snack; Taiwanese shaved ice.

After which we took a ice stroll. It was kind of interesting. We hadn't seen too many bars and such in Taiwan; but the area around the hotel seemed to have quite a few bars. I'm thinking it might be all the hotels, thus tourists in the area?