mmm-yoso – Page 72

Yiko Yiko Soft Opening – A Quick Look

April 26, 2023 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

The Missus was looking for some dessert (other than pineapple cake) to go with the tea we brought back from Taiwan. So, She thought we could stop by Uncle Tetsu. I mentioned reading that Yiko Yiko had opened while we were in Taiwan and maybe we should check them out. So, we headed on off to Mercury Village Shopping Center to see if they were open.

YikoYiko 01

And indeed they were.

YikoYiko 06

They're in soft opening mode and unlike what I and many other folks thought, it's not a cheesecake purveyor. I read in the Eater post that the owner is from Xi'an and the menu, at least right now is limited to what's on the hand written list.

YikoYiko 03

And on this evening, they were out of several items as well. The Missus wanted the Sea Salt Caramel Cake, but they were out.

As you can see by the "case", there's not much.

YikoYiko 04

And there were even three people still working in the kitchen at this time of the evening.

YikoYiko 05

The Missus chatted with the young lady working in Mandarin and ended up ordering the Mung Bean Cake ($15).

YikoYiko 07

From left to right, red bean, matcha, and white bean flavors.

The Missus enjoyed this and I had a taste….I enjoyed the red bean the best. These aren't sweet confections and go really well with tea. The ingredients are all organic according to the young lady. Not overly eggy or buttery, these have a nice smooth texture. And since I really don't have much of a sweet tooth (you can tell by the lack of dessert posts, right?), these did fine by me. The Missus thought they went well with the tea we got from the shop of a Tea Master in Shiding, Taiwan.

YikoYiko 02

No, this stuff isn't cheap, but according to the Missus the quality is worth the price.

The shop is still in soft opening mode, so availability of items and the hours may vary.

So, if you stop by, let me know what you think.

Yiko Yiko
8008 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Mom’s Pho and Grill

April 25, 2023 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

As I've mentioned many times before, I always appreciate all the tips, notifications, and recommendations I receive from all of you! And I'll say it again, I don't think this blog would still exist if not for all the wonderful comments and emails I get. Way back in October of last year, FOY "Laurie" mentioned that that the old "ABCDE" (American-Born-Chinese-Dining-Establishment) in Tierrasanta Town Center had closed and was going to be replaced by a Vietnamese Restaurant. Laurie was good enough to keep me appraised on the situation in comments of various posts.

Recently, recovering from the crazy adjustment in weather from 85 degree (not the bakery) and humid Taiwan, to chilly 50 degree San Diego had me wanting some noodle soup. It was time to get back out there and get some pho. Now here's the crazy thing. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of times I actually had pho in a restaurant totals……three! Yes, the guy whose done 150+ posts on pho only had three bowls dining in over the course of the last three years. And one of them was in Montpellier, France!

So, it was time to get back on that pho train and since Laurie had told me that Mom's Pho and Grill had opened back in January, I decided that it would be a good place to have my first bowl of pho in over 6 months.

Moms Pho 01

The restaurant opens at 9am; I got there at 930 and was the only customer in the place, which is spacious, clean, though a bit on the dark side in terms of lighting.

Moms Pho 02

The woman working led me to a table and handed me a menu. I quickly noticed the standard accoutrements laid out on the table.

Moms Pho 03

Not wanting to hem and haw over the menu; I just went with Deluxe Mom's Pho without looking at the price ($16.99).

I was in for a bit of shock when the sprouts and basil hit the table.

Moms Pho 04

Is this the standard post-pandemic plate these days? Good lord, perhaps there's bean sprout supply chain issue? While waiting for my bowl to arrive I counted the bean sprouts, all 16 of them. This was even more shocking since I had gotten us Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga the day before and this is what I unpacked at home for our two bowls.

Anyway, my bowl soon arrived with a nice-looking beef rib floating on top.

Moms Pho 05 Moms Pho 06 The broth looked very light, yet cloudy, and had what I call the "San Diego sweet" pho broth flavor. At least it wasn't overly salty, but it also lacked beefiness.

The noodles were in the typical clump in the bottom of the bowl and was on the mushy side.

There was quite the variety of meat in this. It was supposed to have rare steak, but I couldn't find any. The beef that I thought could have been rare steak at one point in recent memory was dry and tough. The brisket and flank were dry and lacked flavor.

Moms Pho 07 Moms Pho 08 There were two strips with nicely done tripe and some very thinly sliced tendon which also wasn't bad. And of course there was that beef rib. The meat on the rib was quite tough and as you can see trying to get it off the bone resulted in the meat peeling off in one large piece. It did have a decent flavor, but was quite chewy. It definitely wasn't like "Dem Bones from Duyen Mai".

As a whole, I think Laurie summed it up well when she said that it was pho ""not to offend" somewhat toned down".

Still, I wanted to try some other items from the menu and happened to find myself in the area again. This was going to be a takeout visit. I really didn't feel like trying any of the Com Tam, stir-fry, or bun dishes. And since it was, ahem, "Fry-day", I decided to order a couple of appetizers to go.

I went with the Cha Gio and decided to try out the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Both items did well on the trip home.

Moms Pho 09

The Cha Gio (3 for $5.99) was nicely wrapped and because of the layers more hard than crisp.

Moms Pho 11

The filling was slightly porky in flavor and was highly prosessed so you really couldn't tell what was in there. The nuoc mam cham was overly sweet and needed more fish sauce.

Moms Pho 12

The Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings (8 – $11.99) were actually not bad.

Moms Pho 13

More on the crunchy side, these were perhaps a bit over-fried as the flesh was on the dry side. It wasn't overly salty, and the wok'd garlic-chilies-scallions-onions gave it a nice zip. This won't make me forget any of our favorite versions of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but it was decent.

The gentleman working here is quite nice and friendly; the woman working is quite reserved. Perhaps I'll return when I'm in the area to see how the place is doing.

Mom's Pho & Grill
10645 Tierrasanta Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92124
Current Hours:
Daily 9am – 830pm

And thanks to Laurie for letting me know about this place and getting me to pho-rage for pho again!

Thanks Laurie!

Taipei – The National Palace Museum and Lunch at Dian Shui Lou

April 23, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel, Xiao Long Bao

Our next destination in Taiwan was to be Taichung. Usually, I'd arrange for transportation and time our arrival to close to check in time at our destination. This time though, there was a little problem. Apparently, there a holiday Qingming Jie (清明节 – "Tomb Sweeping Day") which is big deal in Taiwan. Traditionally, during this period families visit the gravesites of their ancestors and clean (thus the "sweeping") the sites and present offerings. This was a Saturday and the start of a 5 day holiday weekend where it seems everyone travels. Well, I had a heck of a time arranging transportation and in the end we'd juggle the HSR (High Speed Rail), TRA (Standard Rail), and Private Car hire to get us to our destinations. There were no HSR nor TRA tickets available during regular hours. I finally managed to get us a high speed rail ticket form Taipei to Taichung that left at 545 pm. And our hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage.

So, this gave us more time to explore Taipei. We really wanted to visit the National Palace Museum. There was one item we really wanted to see, the Jadeite Cabbage, dating from the Qing Dynasty, it is probably the most popular item in the museum. In fact, folks I know from Taiwan have called it the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan!

Initially, the Missus wanted to walk the 5 1/2 miles to the museum! But I was kinda bushed from the 12 miles plus we'd walked the previous day and taxis were so reasonable in Taiwan, so I talked Her into getting a cab. Which turned out to be fun. The Missus got some good dining tips from our drivers and some input on the place we had lined up for lunch!

We arrived and paid admission, then headed to where the main treasure(s) of the museum are, only to find that the Jadeite Cabbage was on loan! Oh well, at least got to see this.

Can you guess what it is?

It's called the "Meat Shaped Stone" aka the "Dongpo Rou". Sure does look like it, yeah? Here's the version we had in Hangzhou….

Vacation 2010 02 358

Man, do the Taiwanese have a thing about food or what? So, while we missed the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan, I' dubbed the "Dong Po Rou" the "Venus de Milo of Taiwan"!

All kidding aside, the collection here was amazing.

IMG_6594_02

We were especially impressed with all the jade carvings and vessels. Some were so tiny and of course in keeping with the food theme, see the "eggplant" snuff bottles?

The carvings and designs were so intricate.

There's quite a bit too see here, but we enjoyed the ceramics and jade collection the best.

Of course, in typical fashion, when there's just too much to see, like when visiting the Louvre, we called it after about 3 hours.

I think the next time we visit, we might arrange for a private or small group tour to get the most out of our visit. After all, we gotta see that Jadeite Cabbage right?

It was time to head off to lunch. During our walk the previous day, we passed a location of Dian Shui Lou, a restaurant that specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang style dishes and also serves Xiao Long Bao. According to the Missus, the poster outside the restaurant indicated that DSL had beaten DTF for best XLB in Taiwan! So, we decided to head off there for lunch.

In the basement of the museum is info desk and the friendly folks there will call taxis for you. When the woman asked where we were headed, the Missus replied "Dian Shui Lou, Huaining Street." The friendly woman told the Missus that her family often goes there for celebration dinners!

A cab was called for us and we were given the Taxi's number, clearly visible on the vehicle, and instructed where to wait.

Our Taxi Driver this time around was super chatty and was quite enthusiastic about food. In fact, he made a recommendation for Taichung, his daughter lives there, and for a place we'd visit later in the trip. He said he preferred DTF over DSL though.

The restaurant wasn't very busy when we arrived, though it filled up quickly thereafter. I believe folks with reservations were guided upstairs. The decor is quite upscale.

Of course, after seeing "Venus de Milo" we had to order the Dong Po Rou.

The fat on this was quite velvety, but the meat kind of dry. The flavor was a lot milder, lacking in the sweet-soy, ginger, and slightly pungent tones I'd used to in this dish. It also had a bit too much of a greasy mouthfeel for us as well.

We also ordered the Crab Meat Rice with Egg Yolk.

Lovely looking dish, but the rice seemed to have the texture close to congee which we didn't care for. Not much "crabiness" to this as well. The egg yolk added a touch of velvetiness.

We also ordered the combination Xiao Long Bao. Which in retrospect might have been a mistake.

It's because our favorite was the traditional pork version. First off, the wrappers were too doughy for us, second, some of the dumplings, especially the versions with basil and the shrimp and gourd were really bland. Of course, there was the "19 folds make it better thing"……but as far as we're concerned, you can have 30 folds….if there's a lack of flavor and "soup" and the texture is not to your liking it doesn't really matter, does it? I could go on in detail about each flavor, i.e. the shrimp and gourd didn't have enough "soup" and was really bland, etc……but I won't. I'll only say this wasn't as bad as what we've had here in San Diego. Still, we weren't particularly impressed.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the Bittermelon with Salted Egg.

Nice puckery-astringent taste with the savory-salty flavor of preserved egg. This was quite interesting and satisfying.

We also ordered the Chou Doufu here.

But while being nicely fried; crisp exterior, creamy interior, this was not especially savory and funky.

As a whole this meal was our biggest disappointment of the trip. Still, in terms of damage, at least from the US point of view; at $60 this wasn't too bad.

Dian Shui Lou (Huaning)
No.64 Huaining St
Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100 Taiwan

And we got to see what I call the "Venus de Milo" of Taiwan…..

Taipei – 2/28 Peace Memorial Park and Ningxia Night Market

April 22, 2023 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

After lunch at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles we decided to slowly make our way back to the hotel for a break before heading out in the evening.

But first, we would stop at one of the hundred of tea/boba shops for some light refreshment.

We ended up making 2-4 "tea stops" everyday….these places are so inexpensive….our drinks would usually be 30-35NT$ – think $1 -$1.15! We stopped at so may places that I just couldn't keep up with documenting them.

We made several stops on the way back.

This one is the Taiwan Provincial City God Temple.

This temple is dedicated to the "City God", Chénghuángshén (城隍神).

This was quite a busy and colorful temple. This page has more info if you're interested.

There was one last stop for us. A few blocks away was a large and pleasant park, where the National Museum resides. On this day, there was a group of students looking to take what seemed to be school yearbook photos?

The park was lush, green, and quite pleasant, especially with temps hitting the 80's with the equivalent humidity.

It was fun watching folks enjoying their lunches; or in the case of this pooch trying to get a squirrel to play with it.

This park was established in 1908 by the Japanese; the first European style park in Taiwan. It was then renamed Taipei New Park when the KMT took over. The current name is in recognition of what is called the 2-28 Incident. Which is detailed on this sign (click to enlarge)

Event which led to Taiwan being under Martial Law for 38 years.

Hard to imagine all of this taking place in such a peaceful green area.

We got back to our room and took a nice nap in airconditioned luxury.

For dinner, well, we thought it would be a nice night to finally go to a night market. After doing a good amount of research, we decided on Ningxia Night Market. I know many folks recommend Shilin Night Market, but after doing some reading, it seemed that night market has many more tourists. We'd have our choice validated by several cab drivers during our stay. The best quote was "Shilin is the place where tourist and young people go to spend money on things they don't need. Ningxia has better food and less crowds."

We decided to walk the mile and half to and from the market.

When we arrived, except for a couple of stands, things weren't too busy. Things would start picking up a few minutes later.

Ningxia Market stretches along a single street, lining both sides of the avenue. There are also restaurants on the street as well with any choices.

We decided to walk the length of the market before making our choices.

My first choice was a Scallion Pancake with Salted Egg Yolk.

This was crisp, fairly light, the eggy flavor coming thru quite distinctly.

Of course, once the Missus saw…well, more liked smelled the "fragrances" from this booth Her mind was made up.

The chou doufu was still being fried up, so we were guided to the table behind the booth.

Soon enough, the Missus's stinky tofu was delivered. Man, the smell was quite potent, though nothing like what we had in China.

And in terms of chou doufu, this was "all bark and no bite". It was crisp and smelled the part, but was very mild in flavor. I guess the Missus's rule for me still goes "if you can eat it; it isn't stinky enough!"

As we walked back down the street we saw this stand.

These looked good so we ordered some. After ordering, the mushrooms were refried to heat and crisp up.

Crisp and earthy enoki and two types of oyster mushrooms.

We'd enjoyed the vibe at the Ningxi Night Market, though I think the Missus had gotten Her share of fried food and really wouldn't order much for the rest of the trip!

We also enjoyed the walk back which took us thru some other neighborhoods in the Datong where places seemed open a lot later than where we were staying. There seems to be more younger people and boutiques and other shops the Missus enjoyed.

I was kind of bushed when we got back to the hotel. I guess I was a bit our of shape and not used to putting in the mileage like we do in, say Paris?

Obviously, I slept well.

Thanks for stopping by!

HitH – Bay Hill Tavern

April 19, 2023 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

Strangely, before setting out to do these H(anging) i(n) t(he) 'H(ood) posts, I hadn't actually dined in at Bay Hill Tavern. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it always seemed that the place was super busy, though I did purchase beer to go and then did takeout during the pandemic. But, even though BHT is but three blocks from our house, I never felt the need to visit…until I started this series of neighborhood posts.

HITH BHT 01

BHT does get pretty busy, especially on weekends. The Missus and I decided to pay a visit on a Tuesday night and got some seats at the window. I hadn't been too impressed with the food on my takeout visits and we decided to not order those items. Service was very friendly and even though the place was soon packed, the folks working were very nice.

We ordered two items, starting with the Short Rib Tacos.

HITH BHT 03 HITH BHT 04 This was fine, the beef tender if a bit on the salty side. The guacamole is the "MVP" here as it helps to temper and balance the flavors. The tortillas are standard issue, brittle, and not especially strong in terms of maize flavor. This is a very hipster type of item. The salsa verde has decent heat and acidity.

We also got the "Dirty Fries", the Missus actually enjoyed the beer cheese, which had some nice savory-milky tones, without being overly sharp in flavor.

HITH BHT 05

The bacon added a nice dose of salt and the sour cream actually added a bit of milky-acidity to the dish. This is best eaten with some haste as the fries tend to get limp fairly quickly.

I will often try to make multiple visits before doing a posts. And for a place in my 'hood, well, there's no reason why I shouldn't. On my next visit, which was done solo, I sat at the bar. The folks working the bar, Jennelli, Sam, and Jules were so friendly and welcoming. It seems that this is where the "regulars" sit. What's great is that they also are willing to make suggestions for various dishes with customizations. Like this version of Dirty Fries…..I was told to try it out with a fried egg on it.

HITH BHT 05b

With less sour cream, the gooey egg really added to the dish. Loved the fact that the staff volunteered customizations.

A few weeks later I noticed Roasted Mushroom Tacos on the menu, so I ordered that.

HITH BHT 09

These were pretty good. The earthy, nicely seasoned roasted mushrooms, the pickled onions added a nice sour-pungent flavor, the flavor of the tortillas, while still not quite up to the task in terms of texture did well with the mushrooms, the arugula added some nice peppery-bitter tones. The only thing I didn't care for was the goat cheese, I thought the milky-sour flavor detracted from the overall dish.

On my next visit, sitting at the bar, I mentioned this and was told "lets just order it without the goat cheese."

HITH BHT 10

I was also encouraged to order it with different salsas on the side. Along with the salsa verde, it was suggested to try the habanero salsa as well. Truth be told, these tacos, in my opinion were flavorful enough without the salsas.

While the food was nothing exceptional, I really enjoyed the folks working here. They were really warm and welcoming. In fact, I felt more comfortable and welcomed here than at Fast Times. So maybe, after all these years, I've actually found a place for "pau hana time" in my 'hood.

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm

Taipei – Exploring Wanhua and Lunch at Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles

April 18, 2023 mmm-yoso Niu Rou Mian, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

We decided to spend our first morning in Taipei exploring the historic Wanhua District, which includes the Ximending Pedestrian area.

We walked past Taipei Main Station, then took a left at the North Gate (Cheng'en Gate).

One of five city gates in the city, it is the only one of the gates that still maintains its Qing-era appearance.

As we walked down Yanping Road we quickly noticed that many shops, including coffee houses don't open until at least 11am in the area. It was interesting to see folks doing prep and cleaning work along the way.

We then headed to the Ximending area, called the Ximending Youth Shopping District, and often described as the Harajuku of Taipei. There's some interesting funkiness and fashion in the area. We passed an street that was totally given to tattoo and body piercing shops.

Though it wasn't very crowded; we believed that 9am was too early for the young and hip to be about; especially on a weekday (this was a Friday). Though we did see quite a few "influencers" along the way.

They were easy to identify; Taiwan seemed quite casual in dress and these folks dressed up quite a bit. They also seemed to have a small entourage with them and acted like they "owned" whatever area they were in. It really seemed that it was "all about them". We'd try to avoid them at all costs during our trip.

We decided to head on over to Longshan Temple and passed quite a few red brick buildings. These are said to be Qing-era structures.

We saw a sign that said "Bopilao Historical Block", so we decided to follow the sign, which lead us to a street lined with red brick and wooden buildings that have obviously been restored.

This is Bopilao Historical Block.

You can read more about it here.

We enjoyed checking out these historical buildings. The street was amazingly quiet.

Most of the buildings were closed, but we found one that was open and had some interesting history and photos of businesses that used to occupy the street.

The quiet was soon interrupted by the sound of chatter outside the building. We found Taiwan to be pretty quiet, at least in terms of folks talking. It was definitely more like Japan/France than China on that note.

Well, guess what? A group of influencers and their entourage had taken over the street.

There were actually eight of them in total. It was time to head on out.

Longshan Temple was only about a block away.

We hadn't really read up on religion in Taiwan and were surprised to see how religious people were here!

There's an interesting combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism called Chinese Folk Religion that is the most practiced in Taiwan.

The most popular hall seemed to be for the deity of Love and Marriage.

There's a park across from the temple, but it seemed occupied by homeless folk, which seemed, at least to us, quite a rarity in the city. I later found out that the area near here used to be the "red light district" of the city.

From here, we decided to head to our lunch destination. It was still a bit early so we stopped at a couple of other temples along the way.

This is Qingshan Temple.

Qingshui Temple. You can read about the "Nose Dropping Divine Progenitor".

Our last stop before lunch was at a square with this red brick building.

This is Nishi Honganji Square, once the site of the largest Japanese Buddhist Temple in Taiwan. A fire in 1975 destroyed the temple, leaving the Shuxin Hall and the Bell Tower.

We had decided to get some Niu Rou Mian for lunch. I looked at my "list" of places close by and we chose one. Of course finding it; even with Google Maps was interesting. By now, the Missus came to realize that folks in Taiwan were quite helpful and She asked a gentleman at one of the businesses close to where Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles was located. He quickly pointed into the doorway of the large building we were standing at and told the Missus it was downstairs in the basement. Apparently, the Wan Nian Building is a popular shopping mall and in the basement is a maze of eating establishments. We just did a circle until we found our destination.

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles.

It was just about 1045, the place opens at 1030 and there was just one other party in the place when we arrived.

A table was pointed out and we sat. From our dinner the previous night, we knew to check off what we wanted from the ordering pad. Another wrinkle here was that there were side dishes in the fridge; you just head on over and pick out what you want.

This is what we chose.

Each one of these dishes is 40 NT$ ($1.30/US).

Man, this stuff was so good.

The cabbage was crunchy, yet nicely sour. We had quickly noticed that what we were eating here in Taiwan wasn't overly salty and this meal was no exception!

The Jellied Pork had a nice crunch and toothsomeness.

The young man whisked away the tofu and pidan and soon returned it to the table with a thick soy sauce drizzled on it.

Loved the beany tofu, the soy sauce had a nice umami, with a light sweetness. The Missus loved the pidan.

Based on the previous night's dinner, we also ordered some jiaozi, this time the pork and chive version.

My goodness! This was one of the best versions we've ever had. The wrappers were so tender, with a perfect "chew" to them. The filling had a nice, balanced pungent porkiness to it and was so tender and juicy. This resets the bar for what we now expect in restaurants.

And then it was the Niu Rou Mian.

So, first the good. The knife cut noodles are probably some of the best I've had, al dente, but tender, a wonderful texture. I now have a reference point for what the Taiwanese call "QQ". The beef is wonderfully tender and deeply flavored. Were this fell short for us was the broth. While it wasn't overly salty and the richness and tongue feel was excellent, it was kind of weak in the beefiness.

And since this place is a Michelin Bib Gourmet restaurant, we expected more.

Still, we loved the jiaozi and side dishes and the price for our lunch came out at 430 NT$, think $14/US…… Geez, it's really hard to complain, right?

Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles (in the Wan Nian Building)
108 Xining Rd.
Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan

COMC – EE Nami and De Cabeza El Unico

April 16, 2023 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

Not sure if it's old age or what; but jet lag is kicking my butt. So, I thought I'd just do a quick Clearing Out the Memory Card post for tonight while I clear out the cobwebs.

Lunch at EE Nami:

Our dinners at EE Nami had the Missus wondering how lunch was. So before leaving for Taiwan we made a lunchtime visit.

EE Nami Lunch 02

The Katsu Combo was good, the Missus loved the scallops.

The Missus really wanted to try the Katsu Sando. Man, the portion size was quite large.

EE Nami Lunch 01

The katsu seemed a bit dried out and the shokupan….the Japanese bread lacked the mild sweetness and was on the dry side.

I think we'll stick with dinner from here for now.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Takeout from De Cabeza el Unico:

Temps in Taiwan were in the high 70's to mid-80's with humidity over 80 for most of our trip. So, returning to the current weather in San Diego was a bit of a shock. The Missus was freezing and wanted something rich and comforting. Takeout form De Cabeza was an easy choice.

COMC De Cabeza 01

Since this was the weekend I got there right at 8am to avoid the weekend crowd.

Of course we got the Cabeza en su Jugo.

COMC De Cabeza 02

While the tortillas were on the hard side this time around; Jesus wasn't there so perhaps the QC was falling short a bit.

Still, that rich and beefy soup did hit the spot.

COMC De Cabeza 03

De Cabeza/El Único
1043 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Thanks for dropping by. I'll be back tomorrow with a new post!

Taipei – We Arrive and 93 Tomato Beef Noodle

April 14, 2023 mmm-yoso Niu Rou Mian, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

Our flight to Taipei was about a half hour late. Getting thru customs in Taoyuan Airport was amazingly efficient and since we only had carry-on luggage to deal with, finding the Airport MRT station was also quite easy, as was getting and loading up EasyCards, Taiwan's travel smartcard. Our Airport MRT train left on time and we arrived at Taipei Main Station in around 40 minutes. Now here's where it got interesting…….dealing with Taipei Main Station was crazy. All the floors, all the different lines; the MRT/Metro/HSR/TRA all leave from various tracks at Taipei Main Station. Even with the Missus being fluent in Mandarin it was a beast. We deal and have dealt with train/metro travel quite a bit, heck we even survived Shinjuku Station which claims to be the busiest in the world. But man, trying to find the MRT Blue Line to our hotel, well it just had us flummoxed. Maybe we're out of practice?

Anyway, our hotel was just one stop over on the Blue Line, so we decided to take a cab. Which turned out to be great in several ways; first we discovered Cab Fare in Taiwan is very reasonable with a start at 85 NT ($2.60/US) and 5 NT every 200 meters or so. Cab fare to our hotel ended up being 95 NT, think $3.11. Second, we got our first taste of how friendly cab drivers (as a whole) were in Taiwan. They loved conversations. In fact, the Missus would make it a habit to get dining recommendations from Taxi Drivers during our stay in Taiwan.

We got to our hotel and checked in at around 830pm. The staff at the Resonance Hotel were very professional and accommodating. After freshening up, we decided to head on out to grab something light for dinner. This is when we noticed that many businesses seem to close fairly early. It was 845 and most restaurants in the area were closed. We also noticed that there seemed to be either a 7-11 or Family Mart on every corner. Even more than Japan!

After walking up and down a couple of streets, we settled on this place.

Which specialized in Tomato Beef Noodle Soup! The menu is posted on the wall, you are given a paper to check off your selections. The interior and dining is simple.

We ordered the Beef Tomato Soup and some jiaozi. The Missus had a view into the kitchen and quickly told me; "they are making the jiaozi to order!" And then, "he's cutting the noodles to order as well!" We'd find that this is the norm here in Taiwan.

Our Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi arrived hot to the table.

The Missus walked over to the condiment table and poured us some black vinegar. This jiaozi was very good, fluffy, tender wrappers, tender and nicely seasoned pork filling. Better than anything in San Diego…in fact, just about as good as anything in the SGV!

Then our noodle soup arrived.

Man, the beef was so tender and beefy! The knife cut noodles were a bit thick for my taste, but the texture was very nice, good pull, not doughy or overly chewy. The broth was light on the beefiness and edged on being too sweet. We would have liked a bit more tangy-tomato flavor as well. Still this was quite enjoyable.

And then came my favorite item of the meal, the Fried Pork Chop.

Crisp, yet tender, we loved the porkiness. We'd come to enjoy the pork in Taiwan, it's definitely not "the other white meat here". In fact, the Missus would make fun of me after I enjoyed each pork chop saying; "Taiwan, the land where Kirk never found a pork chop he didn't like!" Which was true. This version was smothered in black and white pepper and we liked the sinus clearing effect of it.

This ended up being a nice, random first meal in Taiwan. And heck, it was just over nine bucks!

93 Tomato Beef Noodle (93刀削麵館)
No. 3-2, Qingdao E Rd.
Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan

We had a nice night of sleep. I woke a bit early, had some tea and just looked out at our view of Taipei.

We decided to head on out and do some exploring. Walking out of the hotel straightened us out! We had left San Diego with temps in the 50's to 60's. Here in Taipei highs were in the 80's with some humidity to match.

We headed out on Zhongxiao East Road, one of the main thoroughfares in the city.

With the sounds, the smells (is that chou doufu I smell?), the lively, yet mellow vibe hitting us. We were so happy to finally be here and couldn't wait to do some exploring!

Thanks for stopping by!

Los Angeles – Far Bar, the Star Alliance Lounge (LAX), and Royale Laurel Class on EVA Air

April 9, 2023 mmm-yoso Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Cocktails, Los Angeles County, Pubs and Pub Grub, Travel

After dinner at Sushi Enya we took a stroll around Japanese Village Plaza.

And wandered in and out of some of the shops in the area.

We also passed by the now closed Sushi Komasa with brown paper taped over the windows. We felt a tinge of sadness as Komasa had always been a favorite of ours. In fact, my second post, way back in May of 2005 was on Sushi Komasa.

Little Tokyo seems to be thriving as the place was pretty busy, even on a Tuesday night.

Passing places like Kouraku, the first place I recall seeing plastic Japanese food brought a smile to our faces.

And seeing places like Fugetsu-do always bring back nice memories.

It was a bit too early to head back to our room and hit the hay, so we decided to grab a cocktail. There's a place called Far Bar that occupies the iconic location of Far East Chop Suey which has it's own long history in Little Tokyo.

Man, it's been ages since I'd been in this building! I recall the mezzanine as a place where the Missus and I saw parties taking place the two times we ate here a zillion years ago.

The folks working here are very nice and laid back. The Missus had the Jade Empire and I had the La Luna y el Sol, which featured La Luna Mezcal and Aperol.

Not overly stiff, quite easy to drink.

We also decided to have something small to snack on and went with the Maneki Tots because, well you know we weren't going to have any rolls and it's never a bad time to have some tater tots.

This was actually not bad. The tots were fried nicely, the bacon crisp, the braised pork a bit too sweet, the wasabi mayo added a nice zip, but the spicy mayo was a bit of overkill. Kind of a lot going on here, but what was I to expect with stuff like various sushi rolls, pozole ramen, salmon pasta, shiitake miso burgers, among others on the menu?

We liked the folks working and had a nice, relaxing end to our day.

Far Bar
347 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

We headed back to our room to catch some shut eye. Just like the last time we stayed at the Miyako Hotel our room overlooked 1st street. And just like that time, we could see the unending line outside Daikokuya.

Our flight the next day was scheduled to leave at just past noon, the flight was going to be almost 14 hours, so we decided to fly in EVA's Royal Class, which meant we had lounge access. Which ended up being a blessing since our flight ended up being delayed.

The Star Alliance Lounge was quite empty and peaceful when we arrived.

It would fill up rather quickly soon after, but by then we were ensconced on the porch area.

Which had a view of Terminal B.

It was basically standard breakfast fare when we arrived, so we just had some coffee, tea, and water.

What was fun was watching the robot "bus boy" do its rounds!

While walking back from the restroom a gentleman had a chat with me. Turns out it was the lounge manager, a really nice guy. I mentioned his "bus boy" and he cracked up and said, "you should hear it sing Happy Birthday in one of about a hundred different languages!"

He also mentioned that I should give the "noodle bar a try, it starts at 1030". And since the lounge staff had just announced our flight was delayed, that's what I did.

Folks rushed the bar when it opened. I got a bowl with the vegetarian pho broth.

Very salty, but I enjoyed the veggies.

Soon enough, it was time to board. The service on EVA is wonderful. The Missus loved the Jason Wu designed pajamas which can be kept and also the Ferragamo amenity kit.

I loved the lie flat seats with a decent amount of space; but wasn't quite sold on the Hello Kitty themed pillows….

Like I mentioned earlier, EVA's service is well regarded and at least based on this trip well deserved. Our meals were also among the best we've had on a flight.

I usually avoid seafood on flights, but that octopus in the salad was so tender.

And the breakfast porridge was also quite good.

Most importantly, being able to get some rest on our flight really makes a difference as we can be awake and alert when we land and can adjust to things quickly.

Our flight departed late, but the pilots made up time in the sir and we arrived at Taoyuan Airport just an half hour late. We then found the MRT to Taipei Main Station and our time in Taiwan had started!

Thanks for stopping by!

Los Angeles – Sushi Enya

April 8, 2023 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Sushi and Sashimi, Travel

When planning our current trip, we decided to fly out of LAX to avoid layovers. The flight was already 14 hours long and we really didn't want to extend our transit time. So, we planned for something like we had done several years back; we'd stay the night in Little Tokyo, then head to the airport in the morning for our flight. It would give us a chance to catch up with one of our favorite little neighborhoods in LA.

Except, this being 2023 and all, we ran into a little problem. We enjoy doing Amtrak to Union Station, then taking the short walk to our hotel in Little Tokyo. On the morning of our trip I received a message from Amtrak, our train had been cancelled and we'd been automatically rebooked to Union Station out of San Juan Capistrano!?!?!? Say what? After spending 45 minutes on hold with Amtrak, our only other option would have us arriving in LA at 6pm, after our dinner reservation. In the end, I made reservations on the FlixBus, which turned out to be a decent option and we arrived at Union Station at 430pm.

Walking to the Miyako Hotel from Union Station in 2023 was a different experience as well, many more homeless, folks with obvious mental health issues screaming at us (it's quite sad), groups of kids on skateboards harassing people acting like they "owned" the sidewalk. Whoa….

Though once you got off Alameda and made that turn on 1st Street things calmed down quite a bit.

We checked in, freshened up, and basically just had to cross the street to get to our dinner destination, Sushi Enya. Actually, we had wanted to check out a place that had been an old favorite of ours. But sadly, Sushi Komasa closed last year when the Itamae decided to retire. Sigh…. Anyway, we decided to check out Sushi Enya and I managed to get us early reservations. We were the first folks in the place and took a seat at the bar.

There were five folks working behind the sushi bar! Our Itamae for the evening was a young man who was quite friendly, it seems like a couple of the folks behind the bar were tasked with making various rolls that folks coming in after us ordered.

We got our order in and our nigiri started arriving. A couple of observations. Enya seems to do a lot of Aburi (torched) nigiri, they also have several tare/nikiri that is used on all the nigiri, so we had no need for shoyu and wasabi, except for a few exceptions. We both didn't care for the quality of the rice used as it was on the hard and chewy side and lacked a nice fragrance. As for the nigiri, well, read on!

Things started with Engawa, the dorsal fin muscle of hirame (halibut) a favorite of ours

The engawa had that wonderful toothsome texture, the nikiri added a nice touch of savory-soy tones with a hint of sweetness. Very clean, great texture!

Next up was the Kinmedai (Golden Eye Snapper).

This was torched changing the texture, adding a layer of creaminess to things. The addition of yuzu kosho gave this a nice salty-citrusy-"zippiness".

I saw Yamaimo "Fries" with Truffle Salt on the menu and had to try it.

This was quite delicious! The exterior crisp, the interior slightly creamy. All the usual sliminess of yamaimo was gone! Not much truffle flavor, but we really didn't need that as there was a delicate starchy-sweetness to this.

Next up was the Albacore.

This was a miss for us as the strong garlic sauce really detracted from the mild flavor of the fish. The sauce overwhelmed the dish.

Things were quickly corrected when the O-toro arrived.

Ethereally buttery in texture…..the fish almost melted when it hit your tongue. Too bad we didn't care for the rice here. The nikiri really added a nice, mild soy-sweet flavor to this.

We also ordered some Uni. When asked whether we wanted Santa Barbara or Hokkaido uni, the answer was quite easy.

The Hokkaido Uni was fabulous, creamy-sweet-briny. As I say, it's like having a creamy taste of the cleanest, freshest water of the Pacific ocean.

From here we decided to order a few more items to complete our meal.

We got some Hotate (Scallop).

With some ginger and the nice nikiri, this did need a bit of shoyu to balance things out. The scallop was sweet and tender.

We both didn't care for the Wagyu Nigiri.

The beef seemed really lean and did not benefit from being torched a bit too much making it very chewy.

We finished with Negi Toro Temaki.

This was fine, though the rice really dropped this a few notches for us.

Overall, a nice meal. Because of being the only folks sitting at the bar it was like we had our own, personal Itamae. Wish we liked the quality of the rice as it would have made our meal that much more enjoyable. As it was, this just illustrated how much we enjoy Tadokoro. We'll have to get our fix there soon!

Sushi Enya Little Tokyo
343 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

After dinner we decided to take a stroll and see what was going on in Little Tokyo.

Stay tuned!