So, I needed to find JJ a groomer. The folks that used to do Sammy and Frankie had a shop in Point Loma, but moved to a home in Lemon Grove which is just a tad far for me to take him for grooming. So, we decided to try one of the groomers in the neighborhood and it's been working out super. What I usually will do is to try and make JJ's appointment for around lunch time; we'll walk down to the Morena area and I'll drop him off. While waiting, I decided to grab something from Superbloom, but the place was, well "super busy". So I walked on back to Morena and went over my options.
In the end, I decided on revisiting a place I hadn't been to in 17 years (!) Offshore Tavern & Grill. I really wasn't too impressed with the chain/corporate style of the place when I visited. But somewhere around 2012-2013 the place went under new, more local ownership, though I just wasn't motivated to revisit.
Well, I guess it was time to rectify that situation.
I walked in and there were already several groups of older gents at the bar having beers. Looking at the hours, this being a Friday, the restaurant opens at 11, but the kitchen hours don't start until 1130. Well, lucky me as it was just past 1130. It was a seat yourself situation and I walked on over to the covered patio.
A nice gentleman came by and dropped of a menu. So, now there's everything from Poke (of course) to Hummus to Burgers and Tri-Tip Sandwiches….to stuff that's so 90's like Seared Tuna. A Chicago Dog here will run you $14. But, there was something that really caught my eye.
Hmmm….. "Hawaiian" plate lunch? I guess they need to make sure folks know….because is there such a thing as a "UnHawaiian" plate lunch? I wanted to know so I Googled "plate lunch" and this is what Wikipedia came up with. Anyway, this did catch my attention….though I wouldn't call "pulled pork & cabbage" typical plate lunch material….though they are obviously faking Kalua Pork and Cabbage. At least they aren't calling it that, right?
I decided to just trying the Chicken Katsu ($16).
This was interesting. The katsu had been sliced lengthwise and were as long as my fork. Rather unwieldy to eat.
The rice was cooked decently.
The chicken had been over fried; the breading on the hard side instead of crisp. The seasoning was fine; but the chicken was super tough and on the drier side.
The katsu sauce was very "local", being ketchup based, tangy and perhaps on the sweeter side of the scale. The mac salad was quite "local" tasting as well, having a touch of vinegar and some shredded carrots. The macaroni was nicely cooked, but unevenly coated. This was probably my favorite item on the plate.
This was ok, not terrible, not anything to go out of the way for. Service was very nice. And of course I managed to kill time while JJ was getting groomed, right?
And there was one other item I noticed when I flipped over the menu that caught my attention.
And no, it's not the Poke Bowl or Grilled Mahi Plate…….. You can figure it out, right?
There's this strange phenomenon going on in Bay Park; the locals are making loco moco!?!? I mean Fast Times has a version, as does the High Dive. Heck, I've even heard that The Pub is making a version? Must be the loco's version of biscuits and gravy? To be honest, it's probably convenient to make rice, hamburger patty, gravy, and eggs, right? But to make it well….that's another story. But, during JJ's next appointment, I couldn't resist.
One big minus was no mac salad, which I kinda liked on my previous visit. One big plus; they have Tabasco! Tabasco sauce has been the condiment I've used for loco mocos since small kid time!
Well, even though this isn't a plate lunch place, I thought I'd go ahead and use the Modified Rubio Scale just for the heck of it. In case you haven't read any of my Loco Moco posts (can you believe I've done 61 of them???), here's a summary.
"The original Rubio Scale measured each item on the Loco, I decided to take the "base" items, the Burger, Gravy, Egg, and Rice. To this I added "Stuffs", that include macaroni salad, Spam, or any other item that comes with the Loco. All items are graded on a scale between 1 through 5, with 2.5 being average."
Oh-kay, here goes:
BURGER: Good sized, lean, but not overly tough. Good beefy flavor. 3.0
EGGS: Decently runny yolks, would have enjoyed some crisp edges, there was a mild fishy aftertaste. 2.0
RICE: Was not good. Undercooked with some hard grains. 1.0
GRAVY: Good consistency, decent beefiness, a by-the-book gravy. 3.0
STUFF: Gotta give points for the Tabasco. Bummah no mac salad. 2.5
Well, 11.5 a tad under average….which kinda describes this. It ain't terrible, but I'm not ordering it again.
In fact, I'm going to hit a different place during JJ's next appointment. Enjoyed the service; looks like lots of older local guys hang out at the bar.
I actually should visit places in my neighborhood more often than once every 17 years, right? I actually saw two folks I know eating here! I'll try to do a better job of that in the future.
Hope your having a great week!
Offshore Tavern & Grill
2253 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
This was a bit different than what we'd had before. The baechu kimchi didn't taster fermented this time around; though the Eomuk Bokkeum, the fishcake panchan had a bit of spice and sour tones and was much better. The heukmi bap was on the mushy side.
The cayenne did bring some decent heat to the dish, but I also did the "typical" loco moco move…..I added a touch of Tabasco; the acidity-spice bumped things up even more. Old "loco" habits die hard I guess?
The hamburger patty was quite lean and chewy, but the beefiness did come thru and completed the dish well.
This was actually not bad. The soup could have used more anise and beef flavor for my taste, but it had a mild peppery spice, a balanced sodium content, good soy sauce tones, and was not bad at all. In fact, I've definitely had 
I will say upfront that my favorite item were the fries, which had been dusted and were perfectly seasoned and still crisp after the 15 minutes drive home.
The rice was on the drier, harder end of the scale. I was asked if I wanted “spicy” sauce with my lunch and I said yes, but I think they forgot it. It’s ok, I’ll leave that to the “soft” opening.
The “pot stickers” were like a very bland, chewy, fried mandu. This was not terrible; very fast-casual in nature, though not my kind of thing.
I'm glad I ordered my dish in this fashion as it was a heck of a lot of JaJang! While it still has a bit of that greasy mouthfeel, this wasn't overly sweet, had some decent umami tones, and some interesting pungency. It was definitely better than what I had experienced at Hong Kong BanJum in the Zion Food Court.
My goodness, this was pretty bad; the soup lacked richness, it tasted like salty "shoyu-water". The thin broth was terrible.
Ok, the beef in the meat jun was nicely marinated, if a bit on the chewier side; sweet-salty-hint of garlic, very bulgogi-ish, the batter was a bit thicker and gritty than I prefer and it had been over-fried a bit. But, the Missus enjoyed the mild eggy-ness and the combination of flavors. She liked the meat jun dipping sauce which also had a hint of vinegar, some spice, balanced sweetness.
Wasn't sure what to expect with the hash browns….there were three to an order, more than I could consume. This was typical Sysco quality, fast-foodish hash browns dusted with a truffle-Parmesan powder. It had a sweet tinge to it, I later found out that it is also dusted with black garlic. Not sure what hash browns are going for these days at your local fast-food joint, but I'm guessing that it's pretty reasonable for $4.50. Not that I would order it again though.
Just having the mix of cheddar-mozzarella which made things nice and gooey and the under-seasoned egg was not enough to overcome the brioche toast. There was a lack of savory flavors to me. I'm sure that some folks might really take to this, but it was just not my kind of thing.
This was a pretty messy sandwich. The bacon, which almost reminded me of "Canadian Bacon" hadn't been crisped up enough and was quite rubbery. Still, the savory-saltiness…it didn't seem smoky to me, really added balance to the sandwich.
The fragrance really got my stomach growling. In terms of portion size, this was way bigger than the takeout I'd had from 
It usually has Sriracha drizzled on the egg, but the gentleman nicely asked if I'd prefer to have it on the side. I really didn't even need it. The egg was slightly crisp and quite fluffy. Nice savory tones; the ground meat used, I'm thinking it may be ground chicken was moist and tender. Nice savory tones; quite "eggy" without any off flavors. Quite nice!
