Chicken Wings – Page 16

Road Trip: Kyochon, Yes Plaza, and What’s up at Hong Kong Plaza – Rowland Heights (LA)

March 10, 2009 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Driving East on the 60 Freeway, car smelling of my bounty of Indonesian Food, I had a few more stops to make. First……

Yes Plaza:

As I previously posted, what is now Yes Plaza, was a pretty dark and seedy strip mall back when we lived a few blocks away. Because of the terribly scary, and always malfunctioning laundry room in our apartment complex, we'd end up at the better lit, but very beat, "Launder Land"…..with the terminal fermented geriatric diapers smells, and god knows what oozing from under the bathroom door (which cost you a quarter...how's that for a double whammy). But boy have things changed.

I'm not sure if I really like the pastel, antacid blue that they've painted the place…..just like the pastel t-shirt and jacket an acquaintance of mine from back in the 80's ……who wanted to be Don Johnson used to wear all the time. The only problem was; that one, he was Japanese, and two, he was maybe five-foot two on a good day. (we nicknamed him, "Miami Mice") It just looks wrong….

I will say that there's a really good array of eateries in Yes Plaza.

And the walkways are no longer coated with gum and various stains of dubious origin. And it seems like the liqour store, Thai Restaurant, and ironies of ironies, the Laundromat (though really cleaned up) are the only businesses remaining from that time.

And since there's no way you can go through one of these malls without some interesting bit of "Engrish", I was on the look-out. But the only sign I could find was in the window of the Indonesian Restaurant:

"Fish Tilapia"…..kinda redundant isn't it? But maybe they were just trying to differentiate it from the "Moose Tilapia" or "Frog Tilapia", or the even more heinous "Kangaroo Tilapia?"

Now why the heck was I aimlessly wandering the walkways of Yes Plaza?

Kyochon Chicken….

Is why. After reading posts from Wandering Chopsticks and Elmomonster, I'd been dying to try the twice fried chicken wings. But the Missus, having tried and not cared for BBQ Chicken, did not want to waste precious eating time on our road trips. Having to make a solo trip to LA gave me the opening I needed.

Now the standard line is "to ensure the best quality, and freshness, the wings are made to order." Which is why I was just kinda hovering around Yes Plaza, with one of those coaster-buzzer thingamajiggy's in hand.

One more thing, how hard is it for a bright, new, and shiny chicken wing restaurant, to get an 'A' health inspection grade? Maybe Kyochon purposely flunked to get some street cred? You know the saying…… in the SGV, 'A'=American Food, 'B'=Better Food, and 'C'=(real) Chinese Food. As I was contemplating that, the coaster went "off", which was a good thing…the next thing I might have started contemplating would have probably been my navel.

I had ordered seven wings with the standard garlic soy, and four wings spicy. Each came in wonderful looking boxes, along with a kleenex dispenser(must be some free gift), in a good quality bag. Talk about some overhead.

The garlic soy wings were nice, light, crisp. As all posts on Kyochon note, the double-frying technique renders off all the subcutaneous fat off. Leaving you with thin crisp skin, and moist meat.

The chicken is "glazed" in a sweet, soy-garlic sauce. That is mostly sweet. Folks from "back home" know this style as "dipped chicken"…fried chicken that dipped into a sauce right after frying. Much like my garlic chicken……with much more finesse of course. I thought these were rather good.

I had two wings and moved on to the sweet-spicy wings:

These were glazed in a slow burning, slighly sour, lip stinging sauce. It had a nice slow burn to it. I ate two and saved the rest for the Missus.

Her verdict? She thought the spicy wings were nice, not too spicy, but good. She enjoyed the texture of the wings, and had thoughts of getting some on our next trip to the area….until I showed Her the receipt:

She quickly changed Her mind. They were good, but not THAT good…..

Kyochon Chicken
18180 E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

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I had one last stop, Hong Kong Plaza, to pick up some Chinese Beef Jerky for the Missus. Curious about what was going on in the space of the now defunct Hong Kong Market. There was this sign posted:

It always amazes me, how quickly businesses close around here:

And how quickly they are replaced:

The market was gone, but some enterprising vegetable vendor had set up shop on the sidewalk this day, and was doing bang-up business.

In spite of the bad economy, there's quite a bit of new construction going on. Our old "dry cleaners" is now a flattened dirt lot, waiting for a new mall or building to spring up.

One thing hasn't changed. On a good day, you can still see the San Gabriel Mountains….I had forgotten how much I loved looking at them. Even from a strip mall parking lot…..

Khan’s Cave Grill & Tavern

December 4, 2008 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

When I first noticed Khan's Cave I really didn't know what to make of it. Somehow, Genghis Khan, and the phrase "Bar & Grill" just didn't seem to go together. This corner of the strip mall location used to be Hsu's Szechwan, an American-Szechwan-Mongolian BBQ restaurant that must've been around since the gold rush. Perhaps a tie-in with the old Mongolian BBQ joint? Who knows…..

After Khan's Cave opened, it became one of those, "oh, yeah, I need to check it out one-of-these days" places. You know what I mean, you drive by, and go "oh, yeah……" And a few blocks later, the image has receded into the nether regions of your brain. which is what always seemed to happen to me. FOY, Rebecca sent me an email at the end of August, telling me of her very positive experience at Khan's; and yet it still took me almost three months to get there!

Before visiting, I had checked out the menu on the Restaurant's website, which was a mish-mash of Asian influenced dishes from all over the map, and more than a few Fusion items, which left me, well, a bit con-"fused". I also noticed that dinner prices ran from $12-24, with lunch being a better deal. But the best deal of them all, was happy hour, which ran 7 days a week, from 4pm to 630 pm.

Appetizers and selected menu items were $2-3 off, and $1 off all beer in the patio and lounge areas. I decided that this would be a nice thing to try out. The restaurant has been renovated, and the warm looking bar area now occupies the former Mongolian griddle area. The selection of draft beers is pretty good, 20 in all, with 25 or so wines available by the glass.

So I got a nice tall "Arrogant Bastard", and looked over the bar menu.

Rebecca had recommended the Pepper Salt Calamari ($7 – happy hour price), which sounded like a nice beer grub type of dish. It would also be a good test of the kitchen…. to see if they could do two deceivingly simple things right; cooking calamari and frying.

When the plate hit the table, I thought it looked kind of greasy, but these were good. Crisp, light batter, the calamari were cooked to perfection (not hard and rubbery), and the squid rings had that nice Chinese "salt and pepper" flavor. Yes, salty indeed, but my kind of bar grub.

I also had thoughts of ordering the Pepper Salt Chicken Wings, but showing much restraint, I went with the Sriracha Thai Chicken Wings ($7).

The wings had a nice texture, with a bit of the fried crunch remaining, and was well coated with a spicy sauce which slowly got hotter and hotter as you ate them. This was reminiscent of Buffalo Wings in flavor(without the margarine fattiness), and like Buffalo Wings, I'd have enjoyed a nice "foil" for the heat and acidity, a la Blue Cheese dressing. These got a bit mundane after a while, but I was glad it wasn't too sweet.

This was more than I could finish, and I ended up taking a bit of it home with me. Overall, it wasn't a too bad experience. I also found out that the Chef was from Hong Kong.

With that experience in hand, I decided to grab lunch at Khan's. And this time I went with one of the ultimate, "it really doesn't exist in the supposed Country of origin dishes"; Singapore Noodles ($9.95). Really, there is no such thing as what we call Singapore Noodles in Singapore(well, maybe now with globalization…) , which puts the dish in the class of Chop Suey, Crab Rangoon, and Sesame Chicken.

That doesn't mean that I don't like it if it is well prepared. The portion size was on the small side, which in this day and age of humongous portions is not necessarily a bad thing. Several nice sized shrimp were provided as well. The vegetables were hard and undercooked, and though there was a nice curry kick, the dish lacked any other flavor, and was badly in need of soy, and perhaps chicken stock to add flavor. The one thing good about the dish was that the noodles weren't overcooked and mushy, and the dish came off as being less oily. At 10 bucks, I thought it was a bit over-priced, and at almost $12 for dinner……

As I've mentioned before, it's a fine line between Fusion and Con-Fusion food. Pulling off Seafood Pad Thai, Yakisoba, Ramen, and Pasta well, is a daunting task. I think the decor in the dining room at Khan's represents the food well:

Everything from decent tables and chairs to barrels(?) used as a table stand, and nice tile work transitioning to cheap looking carpet. Khan's has also kept the original ceiling from Hsu's, which adds even more kitsch to the equation.

That doesn't mean I won't be returning for a $5 – 22oz draft beer or some nice salty fried things during happy hour. I've filed it away as, "Asian TGI Fridays, meets PF Chang"…..

Khan's Cave Bar & Grill
9350 Clairemont Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Thanks for the recommendation Rebecca!

One more thing. For some reason, I think FOY CAB may want to check out this dish:

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BBQ Chicken – B(est of the) B(est) Q(uality)? A first look

October 7, 2008 mmm-yoso Chains, Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

Yep, that's what it stands for, a simple and modest, "Best of the Best Quality". I've been looking for our very own "KFC" (Korean Fried Chicken) joint to open here in San Diego. And lo' and behold, as noted by "Gilbert", on this post, BBQ Chicken is a KFC. And based on Uber-Blogger Elmomonster's post on the Irvine location of BBQ Chicken, and San Diego's own Dennis of A Radiused Corner, who was kind enough to email me scanned menus, I couldn't help but get excited.

If the location looks familiar, it should. This was the long time location of Flavor Thai on Convoy Street. And yes, I did drop by on opening day, October 3rd. And led to one of the tables. BBQ Chicken is sort of hybrid style restaurant, you'll get restaurant type service which meant you are seated if you want to eat in, but you pay at the register. For take out you go straight to the counter. The menu is very brightly colored, and though it looks huge, much space is dedicated to pretty photos of each dish.

Being opening day, I'll skip the somewhat disorganized service, and the all of he other "glitches", and just mention 2 things. First, I was reminded that my chicken will take 20 minutes because it's made fresh, which is no problem. And secondly, I ordered a 2 piece combo ($5.99), mainly because being the masochist that I am, I wanted to taste what Elmo called the WOWFRE (worst of the worst fried rice ever). But 50 minutes later, I was still sitting, having read the label of my bottle of Tabasco sauce several thousand times. Meanwhile, even though they we staffed almost one Server per customer, things looked chaotic. There was one young lady who really looked like she knew what was going on. When I asked her if my chicken was coming soon, she looked shocked, and exclaimed, "you didn't get your chicken yet?" A few minutes later, another Server brought my food to the table.

It wasn't quite a 2 piece combo, but rather 5 pieces of chicken ($9.25 less because I was given a 10% grand opening discount). I was starving and wasn't up to waiting another 20 minutes, so I just dug in. One of the hallmarks of Korean Fried Chicken is the frying technique, most of the fat is rendered off, and the skin becomes one with the batter, very nice crunch, and not greasy in the least. Either to make it sound more healthy, or maybe just a marketing gimmick, the chicken is fried in olive oil, which gives the chicken a distinct flavor, and an even more interesting after taste, which I thought was kind of bitter-fishy. In fact, I brought 2 pieces home, and the Missus's first thought was; "huh, looks like Church's, but it;s twice the price". And after catching a whiff, "ugh, I can't eat this, it smells like fish." The wing and drumsticks fare better overall than the thigh pieces, they are moist, and have better flavor. I found the overall flavor of the batter(before the after taste kicked in) to be mildy nutty with some peppery tones. It was okay to good, but not anything I found particularly outstanding.

But to be fair, I returned for take out a bit later. I ordered the Red Hot Drumsticks(5 pieces – $8.99), but got the Seasoned Chicken, with what I believe was the Sweet and Spicy Sauce (8pieces – $6.50). I don't know what else to call these things other than…well…chicken balls:

The batter didn't take to travel, it had become gummy. These were really tough, and the cloyingly sweet, and only mildly spicy glaze was not to my liking. Couldn't finish them…..

I also ordered the Teri-Q Gold Wings(10 pieces – $7.99):

The batter for these seemed a bit thicker than the regular chicken. It is mildly sweet, but pretty bland overall. It may be just me, but after having tons of Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings, I wasn't impressed with these. I even think my simple ol' Garlic Chicken Wings have more flavor.

I am going to give BBQ Chicken another shot, I do want to try the Red Hot Drumsticks. I just think I'm going to give it a few weeks, or maybe months before I'm back. Give them a shot, and let me know what you think……

BBQ (Best of the Best Quality) Chicken
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

858-571-3333

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Wa Dining Okan – Part 2

September 7, 2008 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Japanese Restaurants

As I mentioned in Part 1, Captain Jack and I had already consumed almost all of the first 5 Kozara Ryori (small plates). At this point, CJ turned to me and said; "ok, it's time for some meat!" Opening the menu, I started ordering items from the Grilled Dishes and Side Dishes potion of the menu.

The first dish to arrive was the Grilled Beef Tongue (Gyutan – $5.50):

5 slices of Grilled Beef tongue, served with a lemon wedge and a sprinkling of Shichimi Togarashi, the standard Japanese chili and spice blend. If I may digress for a brief moment; the translation of Shichimi Togarashi is basically "seven spice chili pepper". Whenever I use it around the house, I will often show the bottle to the Missus and tell Her; "your people may have 5 spice…but we have SEVEN spice!" At which time I need to duck and scamper away quickly…very quickly. I thought the slices of tongue would have been better off texturally if it were sliced a bit thinner, and grilled a bit more crisp. As served it was a bit more rubbery than what I prefer. Still, the flavor was excellent…..and a good sign of proper preparation was evident. The Gyutan was permeated with the unmistakable fragrance of Binchotan, which adds a distinct smoky flavor to whatever is being grilled.

Next up was something not on the menu. But seeing that there were a few Yakitori style items on the menu involving various cuts of chicken, I asked if they had Tori Kawa (chicken skin). Nanase pointed to the Japanese menu over the doorway to the kitchen, and said yes. So this was a no-brainer.

Served in a ponzu style sauce, and topped with a good, mildy, sweet-pungent Negi (green onion), this dish delivered as expected.

Off the side dish menu, we ordered the Spicy Chicken Karaage ($5.25):

The Karaage was decent, but nothing special. What was delici-oso good was the "spicy sauce" which was more tangy than spicy, and tasted great on the Mizuna…..they should bottle the stuff.

Grilled Chicken Wings (Tebasaki – $4.50):

Not the largest chicken wings you'll ever see, but these were grilled to perfection. And the smoky Binchotan flavor came sailing through. And even though I haven't met very many chicken wings I didn't like, I thought these were especially good.

What was called 1-Bite Deep Fried Pork on the menu($5.50).

This was basically 2 bite Tonkatsu nuggets. The pork was fried to perfection and had a good amount of fat, but was on the tough side. The katsu sauce was really good, very tangy, and I think it's made in house.

I saw a plate of tempura pass by….the color and shape caught my eye. So of course, being with CJ, I had no fear of unfinished food…we ordered the Okra Tempura, which I didn't see on the menu.

This was fried with a skilled hand; the okra still had a nice bite to it, and had not wasted away into mushiness, and the batter was light. What really caught my attention was the Tentsuyu, the dipping sauce, which had a nice dashi flavor, without being too salty.

As we were finishing the okra, CJ turned to me and said; "we need one more thing…." Which gave me the opening to order the Asparagus Wrapped with Pork ($4.25):

Under any other circumstances, this would be plain-Jane bacon wrapped asparagus. It was the addition of grilling over binchotan that added an additional layer of flavor over everything. Overall, this was a decent dish.

12 dishes, along with a small Tokkuri of Kubota Manju came out to a tad over $70. Not bad at all.

Funny thing, a day later I was craving that Gobo Salad. And knowing how much the Missus loves all those nimono (simmered) dishes, I talked Her into having a nice light dinner at Okan. Unfortunately, the Sataimo, Kabocha, and Nasubi dishes weren't "on the table". Of course the really bad tuna-daikon salad, and the strange sweet-sour chicken were…. But all was not lost, for tonight there were a couple of items the Missus enjoys.

We started with some Gobo Kinpira (sauteed than simmered gobo):

Man, this was good, and motivated the Missus to order some Gohan (rice). All the textures were perfect…..this was much better than anything I've tried to make at home.

The Hijiki Nimono (simmered Hijiki):

Nice and crisp, but very mild in flavor. The Missus preferred the version I make at home.

I was surprised when the Missus ordered the Simmered Saba (Simmered Blue Mackerel) from among the specials lining the counter.

Inability to handle the high oil content and the texture, Saba has never been one of the Missus's favorite fishes. And this was no exception. Saba had never been one of my favorite fishes either……but I really enjoyed this. Nice oil, fairly dense meat from the preparation, not as fishy as I had expected.

We also ordered one of the Missus's favorites, Agedashi Tofu ($4.25 – fried tofu in a broth).

The Missus loved the tofu, perfect in texture. The tentsuyu, the sauce for the tofu was very mild, except for the flavor of ginger, which over-powered the otherwise delicate flavors of the dish.

Along with all of those dishes, we had the wonderful Gobo Salad I had been craving, and the Okra Tempura. The Missus had a Calpico Sour, I had tea, and the meal came out to $35. Not bad at all. Many of the dishes are really home-style, and I'm sure many of us makes at least some facsimile of them at home. But some of these dishes take a good amount of time, and to make many small plates…..sheesh!

As we were driving home, we started discussing the salad. The Missus mentioned the textures and also the flavors…..in the very Chinese way She said, "suan, tian, ku, xian." Suddenly, in a moment of clarity I understood, "Okan" (Mom) was teaching us about life in this dish. Life is made up of sour(suan), tian (sweet), bitter (ku), and xian (salty) moments, and we must devour it with zeal. Of course, She may just want us to eat our greens……..

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours:
Mon – Wed 530-11pm
Thurs – Sat 530pm – 12am
Sun 430pm – 9pm

Part 1, can be found here.

Mandarin Chinese Restaurant

February 12, 2008 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

Mandarin Chinese Restaurant resides in a super busy strip mall across from Southwestern College. As you can tell by the "Mandarin, Szechuan, Cantonese" lettering, this is obviously what I call an "ABCDE" ("ab-cee-dee" – American Born Chinese Dining Establishment). The type of food these restaurants serves is so far removed from, say, what the late Mei Jia Deli used to serve, that it looks like it comes from another universe. That said, just because this is Chinese food designed to please someone other than Chinese…it does not necessarily mean it is bad.

If the store front isn't enough to convince you, the interior is a dead giveaway; it's ABCDE all the way:

So why did we make the drive all the way down here? There was one reason…..Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Friends of ours told us that they prefer the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings(aka "Crack Wings") at Mandarin Restaurant, to those served at the legendary Crack Wing houses Royal Mandarin and Golden Chopsticks. Now that's saying a lot!

As we were seated, the first thing we noticed was the amount of smoke in the dining area. That kitchen sure was working hard, and the ventilation was not the best. Second thing we noticed, was the Guy working behind the register….I recognized him instantly! After checking out the menu, and a quick our Server, my suspicions were confirmed. Mandarin Chinese Restaurant and Mandarin Canton have the same owners. Still, even though the two restaurants have the same owners, and a very similar menu, we were sure that the kitchen staff was different. So we ordered a few of the lunch specials(priced from $4.75-$5.75).

All the specials started with a small bowl of soup…we went for the Hot and Sour soup….which should have been more aptly called Sour, Sour, and Sour soup! Man this really made the Missus and I pucker, it was stunningly sour.

The Missus ordered the Mandarin Soft Noodles(lunch – $5.75):

First off, whoever cooked this really knows how to handle a wok…..there was even a bit of Wok Hay action going on. And to our surprise the pieces of dark meat chicken was very soft and tender. Mandarin Canton still does a better job with shrimp, but the chicken in stir-fries there are just plain terrible. To me, there should have been a bit more soy flavor, I found this on the bland side.

Of course, I had to have the Chicken Wings with Spicy Salt(lunch special – $5.75):

First off, the version here is better than Mandarin Canton…the batter is not as thick and hard, and it is not as salty. But fear not, you can still make out the MSG crystals. I thought these were good, if a bit short on the flavor end when compared to Royal Mandarin and Golden Chopsticks.

We also ordered the Spare Ribs with Spicy Salt(lunch special – $5.75):

This was a disappointment. The spare ribs(actually pork chops) were on the soggy side, and the marinade was very heavy handed on the ginger, it was also too salty(even for me!).

Even though the sister restaurants may differ a bit, there are a few things that the 2 restaurants have in common; the YMMV factor, very reasonable lunch specials, and overall prices, the crazy parking lot, and the relatively small dining area. With some good timing, and right choices, a good meal can be had here.

Mandarin Chinese Restaurant
945-A Otay Lakes Rd
Chula Vista, CA 91913

Rickshaw Corner in Tierrasanta.

September 27, 2007 Cathy Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is the blog that never goes on vacation, even though Kirk does. Cathy is still here, talking about yet another meal she ate.

So, long story short. The Mister was stuck in some major traffic on 52 last night. He finally got to the Santo Road exit, took it and was looking for a pay phone (keeping it short, don't ask about a mobile phone right now) and eventually ended up at the Vons at Santo Road and Clairmont Mesa, where there is a pay phone in front of a Laundromat.

He told me there was a Chinese Restaurant on the end of the mall and it looked really busy with lots of people doing take out. I should have asked him to see what they were ordering, but it is too late for that now.

It turns out the menu is two sided, Chinese and Japanese. Taking the 50-50 chance, we chose Chinese…because…well

I grew up with this>

as my definition of Chinese food and so, nothing could be that bad…and- AND- and the Japanese Bento meals were being served on -Honest To God- sectioned cafeteria food trays.

Plus, well, if you read the menu, you get 8 Pot Stickers on the Chinese menu for $4.95-(62¢ each), versus the 5 Gyoza for $3.25 (65¢ each) on the Japanese menu.

Chinese it was.

The 10 piece fried chicken wing appetizer ($4.95). Nicely fried, plump and juicy but absolutely needed the Plum Sauce served with them. Soy Sauce also helped.

The pot stickers. Absolutely wonderful.

Plump, meaty, great pork with some water chestnut filling. Just right thickness skins stir fried to a perfect crispiness.

We decided to try the 3 Flavor Sizzling Rice Soup. ($4.95). It was brought out in two bowls, the rice was not sizzling, but was cooked. The broth was cabbage and white pepper based, not at all chicken flavored, even though there was a layer of oil on top and I thought that was an indication it was a chicken broth. The cabbage and peas were fresh and crispy, not canned. The shrimp had good flavor but the chicken pieces tasted old and maybe freezer burned. The beef just had no flavor. It was not good. If I had a cold, I might want it just to get hydration and something into me, but … no. Not really.

We decided to try the vegetable Egg Foo Young ($6.95). I have never seen egg foo young prepared this way. Two pancakes topped with stir fried vegetables and sauce. The vegetables were good and fresh and the sauce was nice and the pancakes were… pancakes, with canned or frozen peas and carrots-no bean sprouts- in them. Kind of thin, kind of tough. Strange.

As were our fortunes. The Mister's says "Great! You're ready for a party." and mine says "You are primed to come up with a creative solution."

Whatever. It was a meal. I am curious as to what they can to do to Japanese food now. The people working are all family, very friendly and nice, knowing the regulars who are coming in to pick up meals …I just wish I knew what they all ordered.

Rickshaw Corner 10428 Clairmont Mesa Blvd (at Santo Road) (Tierrasanta) San Diego 92124 (858)541-1998 (858)541-0877 Mon-Sat 11:30-9:30 Sun 3-9 (Closed M-F 3-4 p.m.)

Quick Sunday Post – Teba Shio and Binchotan

January 14, 2007 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Cooking

Just a quick post for Sunday here. We had to make a trip to Marukai in Gardena yesterday to restock on a few things, and ended up spending more time in the area than anticipated. After restocking on Binchotan and other stuff.

If you've never used Binchotan, which is a very hot burning, long lasting, "white" charcoal, it's pretty amazing stuff:

Binchotan has some pretty unique characteristics, first off, when tapped it makes almost a chime like ringing sound, it is also quite hard, and doesn't break up like regular black lump charcoal, though you can break it by tapping it against the ground. There much more information on Binchotan on Wikipedia. There's one more thing about Binchotan, at over $5/lb, it may cost more than the food being grilled. That said, for us at least a little Binchotan goes a long way, since we only us it on our little Hida Konro(small clay grill). Because it is really hard to "start", we'll break a stick into several pieces and place directly on the flame of our gas stove until "white", than place in the Hida Konro.

It's amazing how something so simple as Chicken Wings flavored with salt(and some Togarashi), aka Tebashio will taste so very good.

Because only a few wings can fit on the grill at any one time, it's really not "fast" food, but a nice and slow process…that goes great with a few beers.

Don't forget the Yaki Onigiri!

One Other Item:

We were a bit delayed on our return from Marukai. While waiting at the traffic light to exit Marukai, the Missus, turned to me and said, "oh my God, look". There was a dog weaving in and out of traffic along Artesia Boulevard, and finally into the parking lot of Gardena Plaza. Seeing this poor little Dog just wandering along a busy street and parking lot we knew we had to do something. Unfortunately, the poor Dog was very skittish and pretty much terrified, and I wasn't able to approach Her with any success. So while I kept tabs on Her, the Missus ran into the Burger King in the mall and bought a Whopper Jr. She figured that the poor animal must be pretty hungry. We were finally able to get within a few yards of the Dog in the parking lot of Albertson's, and I started breaking the burger into pieces and slowly getting closer and closer to Her. I could tell by Her demeanor that the chance She would bite was pretty low. After what seems like forever, I got ahold of Her, and managed to get the dog on it's back and calm Her. I then carried Her to the car while the Missus ran into the Mailbox/Postal store to find the number of the nearest animal shelter.

As you can see, She was in pretty good shape, but no collar, no tags:

She was in good shape, in spite of being covered with loose hairs and dust, Her nails were trimmed and Her ears had been plucked recently. And even though She was quite hungry and thirsty, She was well fed.

The Gentleman in the Mailbox/Postal Shop was very helpful in pointing out the nearest animal shelter. We hoped that Her Owners were searching for Her, or at least maybe She was "micro chipped". After standing in line forever, we managed to speak to the desk officer and had Her checked out….unfortunately, she was not "chipped"…..

So we reluctantly left, hoping Her Owners were out searching for Her and She would be found. We did leave instructions that we should be called if the owners could not be found, and no one was willing to adopt Her. If that is the case, Sammy and Frankie will have a sister. She is so mellow and sweet that I have no doubt that we can either keep her, or find her a nice family ourselves. So in case you're looking forward to a sweet Corgi-Shepard(?) mix, and live in the LA area……She can be found at:

Carson/Gardena Animal Shelter
216 W. Victoria Street
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 523-9566

LA Animal Services

Her ID is – A3620754.

Even though it may seem a bit far-fetched, we thought that maybe someone might recognize her and help find her owners….or maybe someone does want a new family member.

Thanks for reading, I'll be back with another restaurant tomorrow!

Friday “Stuffs”: Recent Updates on Sakura and Sandwich Emporium, and Other “Stuff”

December 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Japanese Restaurants, Sandwiches, Sushi and Sashimi, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Since I'm pretty sure most of us are fairly preoccupied this time of the year, I thought I'd do a post of some "stuff" I've had on the back-burner, as well as a some house-keeping miscellanea.

Back to Izakaya Sakura with Ed from Yuma:

Ed from Yuma managed to squeeze in a short visit to San Diego a couple of weeks back, and we decided to meet up at Sakura. I know I've probably posted on Sakura a couple of times already, but I brought my camera along, so I thought I'd just take a few photos during dinner. Unfortunately the photos really didn't turn out real well…so please excuse the lousy photos. So onward to dinner. Since Ed is a long time Sakura customer, the Itamae, Kazu, knows that when Ed sits at the bar, it's anything goes, and whatever is fresh. So my strategy when eating at Sakura with Ed, is to order a few small dishes, while waiting for the inevitable sashimi. I'll keep the verbiage to a minimum…since we've eaten here before.

So let's see, we started with the Buta Kakuni:

Rich and delicious slow braised pork belly! Sweet soy flavor, and soft melt in your mouth pork….

Tebashio – salted and grilled Chicken Wings:

I had been wanting to try this for a while, mainly out of curiosity since this is a standard Yakitori style dish, I'd been wondering how it would be at Sakura. Nicely salted, with a mild dusting of Shichimi Togarashi to give it some kick, the wings had a nice smokey flavor. As Ed put it, "how can something so simple, taste so good?"

In dire need of a fried item, we had the Chicken Karaage:

As good a Chicken Karaage as I've ever had, just perfectly done.

Now came a few interesting items, stuff that Kazu ordered for us. The first item was a cold fish head "salad" in a sweet-soy sauce:

Sorry, this is only half of the dish, the other half was being devoured by Ed. You see by this time I was too busy eating, that I was a bit slow on the trigger. The Pompano(Ebisu-Shiira) Head had been marinated and stewed for so long that all of it was edible. Ed can correct me, but I don't remember a single bone. This was enough to trigger a "delici-yoso dance" by Ed, the unnatural phenomenon first documented at Buga in August of 2005, where Ed closes his eyes, raises his arms to a perpendicular angle, goes "mmmmm", and sways back and forth. Delici-yoso!!!

Sazae(sea snail):

Simmered sea snail, so very tender, there were a few "gritties", but this was quite good.

And of course the Sashimi:

Excellent Aji(as always), I thought that Aji season was over, but this was great, good Maguro, excellent Hamachi, probably the best Tako I've ever had, we were wondering why Kazu had included Tako! The Ika was good as well. The one item that I'm not really fond of at Sakura is the Awabi(Abalone), it's always been really tough, and on the bitter side.

Kazu also made us a Negi-Toro Temaki(Fatty Tuna and Green Onion Handroll):

This was a rarity at Sakura, I'd never seen a handroll made here. It was very good.

And of course my favorite part, the "Senbei" made from the Aji bones:

All of that, and two large Tokkuri(sake flask) of Otokoyama, came to $140. another great meal at Sakura. I've got some lunch photos from Sakura, but don't know what folder I put them in, if I ever find them I may post on that as well.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

Sandwich Emporium Redux:

I've posted on Sandwich Emporium in the past, but thought I'd give Peter and John a little more "love". After all, I'm in there about once a week, when I need something quick for dinner.

It's a nice simple menu, the sandwiches aren't fancy but are good and well made. And Peter and John (and Angela) are really good people, and have given me some nice restaurant recommendations as well..

Our favorite is the Triple Decker($5.75):

We enjoy ours on Sourdough with pepper jack, with no mayo or mustard, but with jalapenos. A nice sandwich.

Other sandwiches include an occasional special called the Spicy Julio, a spicy Roast Beef sandwich:

And when I need to up my fat intake, the "Jersey" Reuben($5.75):

I must say that the Twins have worked really hard to make Sandwich Emporium into a nice neighborhood sandwich shop. Sure beats Subway any day of the week.

Sandwich Emporium
3054 1/2 Clairemont Drive
San Diego,CA
619-275-1351

Now open seven days a week.

Orange County Food Blogs Launches.

OC Food Blogs is an ambitious collaborative effort project by the intrepid Chubbypanda covering the Orange County Food scene. So check it out, contributors include such esteemed Food Bloggers as Elmo of Monster Munching, ChristianZ of Orange County Mexican Restaurants, Rasa Malaysia, Wandering Chopsticks, and Professor Salt, among others.

A Sammy and Frankie Album.

Passionate Eater informed me that Frankie and Sammy have requested equal time. I don't know how they got in touch with Her, but PE got the message across to me, and now Sammy and Frankie have their own album. And per Frankie's and Sammy's instructions the album is dedicated to PE!

Check out the San Diego tumbleweed blowing across a parking lot in our neighborhood this past windy Wednesday.

Yakitori K-1

September 21, 2006 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Japanese Restaurants

*** K-1 has been replaced by Wa Dining Okan. You can find posts here and here.

I approached Yakitori K-1 with a bit of apprehension, because I really can't remember the last time I had good Yakitori. Still, seeing the sign for Yakitori K-1, every time I shopped at Nijiya finally wore me down.

We arrived at 6pm, and found the tiny, spartanly decorated shop, empty.

The menu was simple, and short, but all the usual suspects were present.

So we placed our orders…and off we went. It is normal to order several different items, and eat slowly, usually with "liquid refreshment", but Yakitori K-1 is still in the process of obtaining a liqour license. I started with one skewer of Momo (Thigh – Momoniku – $1.29), and Negima, Chicken pieces(In this case chicken breast) and Green Onions($1.79).

The Momo is a good test of the Tare(basting sauce), and cooking technique. The Missus thought the Tare was really salty, I thought it was pretty one dimensional, with shoyu overpowering everything else. The chicken pieces were fairly moist, but I'd have enjoyed my chicken a bit more caramelized. In a case like this, I'd rather just have "Shio", or salt on the chicken. The chicken breast was kind of dry, it would have been really nice if the some of the skin was left on the chicken. And just two pieces of Negi(green onions) meant that you were not going to get the flavor of the green onions in every bite, unless you did the sword swallowing thing…..

The ShisoMaki (Shiso wrapped thigh – $1.49), and 2 orders of Teba (Tebasaki – Grilled Chicken Wings – $1.99):

The Shiso Maki, was simple lightly basted thigh, though I really thought it was breast. In this case the minty-basil flavored shiso went well with the lightly basted chicken, which was very moist. It had me wishing for Momo no-Ume Shiso, where minced ume (Japanese Pickled Plum) is mixed with shoyu, mirin, and sake, and slathered onto one side of the chicken. Thinly julienned Shiso is sprinkled on the ume concoction. This is really good stuff! The Teba was by far the best item we had all night. Simply seasoned and grilled, skin crisp, with a small squeeze of lemon, these almost had the addictive "crack like" quality like really good Tebasaki.

Because I needed a bit of starch in the midst of this protein-fest, I also ordered the K-1 Stick(skewered rice balls with tare – $1.49).

These are like mini Yaki Onigiri(grilled rice balls). Excellent texture, crunchy on the exterior, moist and starchy interior. The Tare fell seriously short here as well, just a strong shoyu flavor.

The Missus ordered the Tsukune Bowl($4.99).

Tsukune refer to the Chicken Meatballs. The Missus thought they were very rubbery, and lacked flavor. In fact She traded 3 meatballs for 1 Teba. The tamago(egg), was well, tamago. The ground chicken was sauced with the tare, though here it tasted a bit sweeter. One thing for sure, there sure was enough rice.

To be perfectly fair, Yakitori K-1 was out of two of our favorites; the Sunagimo(gizzards), and Kawa (skin….mmm…skin…). So we weren't able to sample those. As we left, several customers walked in the door.

The prices at Yakitori K-1 are very reasonable, though I'd steer away from the combinations, which have mostly Momoniku and Mune(Sasami – skinless breast). I'm far from an expert on Yakitori, you may enjoy the Tare at Yakitori K-1, it's just not to our taste.

Yakitori K-1
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Panda Palace – Another ABCDE in National City

April 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

**** Panda Palace has Closed

Can you dig the generic Chinese Restaurant name? If it has Pearl, Royal, Golden, Garden, Phoenix, and Eastern or something similar(dragon, ruby, panda?) in the name, it's likely a circa '70's style Chinese Restaurant, something like "Eastern Pearl Royal Golden Phoenix Garden Restaurant", you'll automatically know it's a Chinese Restaurant. Much like Royal Mandarin across the street Panda Palace Restaurant serves a combination of ABCDE ("American Born Chinese Dining Establishment") and Chinoy Food. However, unlike Royal Mandarin, whose Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings are almost legendary in the Filipino Community, nary a word has been said about it. So the Missus and I decided to see why…..

The bright and generic interior screams last century Chinese.

The menu was filled with San Diego Chinoy favorites, and we proceeded to order a few.

Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles($6.75):

Noodles fried to a crisp, topped with shrimp, chicken, beef, and vegetables. First the good, the noodles were excellent, not over fried to a brittle consistency, the noodles got nicely chewy as the sauce soaked through them. The Beef and Shrimp were well cooked, soft, and moist. The bad? This dish had virtually no flavor, even the beef and chicken had no flavor. Combine these noodles and the cooking technique with the brown sauce from the Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles at Mandarin Canton and you'd have a pretty decent dish.

The Missus has a Shrimp with Lobster Sauce($8.25) fixation:

I have an aversion to gloppy, pale dishes studded with frozen peas and carrots. So I asked the Missus how this tasted. Her verdict? B-L-A-N-D. While waiting for our order we watched in amazement, as a Young Boy poured almost a half bottle of soy sauce on his fried rice. I now understood why. In fact, at this point we were pretty close to needing a refill of our soy sauce.

Finally, we had to try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings($6.75):

So how did these measure up to Royal Mandarin or Golden Chopstick? Not even close. First of all, not enough salt, pepper, or green onions and garlic topping. Secondly, not crispy enough. One interesting thing; I could distinctly taste a sweet component, either sugar or honey, that made these wings a bit different.

One thing I will say about Panda Palace, our Waitress was super efficient, there was absolutely no wasted motion, from taking our orders, to bringing take-out containers along with our check. As for the food? If we crave some ABCDE grub, I think we'll stick with one of the "Big Three".

Panda Palace Chinese Restaurant
1105 E Plaza Blvd Ste D
National City, CA 91950

One final item – one day soon I'd like to set-up a "taste-test", purely subjective of course, of several (4-5) versions of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. So Calvin, Howie, and Jack; you Guys game?