So, what would you consider a decent price for lunch close to work that's not a sandwich these days? Maybe under $14? Yeeesh, I never thought I'd ever be typing that. So, since we've gotten back from our trip, I thought about a couple of places……GyroGrill came to mind, but then I recalled that the "Gyro Combo" was $15 bucks when I last visited back in May.
After thinking over things a bit I came up with three places last week and I tried them all in a row. So here goes.
Chung Hing:
I'm not sure why Chung Hing came to mind. I'm not a fan of Chinese fast food, but I drive past the place quite often. Last time I visited; a whole 16 years ago a plate at Chung Hing was barely over five bucks! I was wondering how things were now, so what the heck…..
Chung Hing opens at 1030 and I got there at around 1045. Walking up to the shop, I noticed that "combination plates" are now $10.75, which in terms of the area is dirt cheap.
The woman working was all business. The only item I've found being close to edible here is the char siu; which is kinda their ahem, "claim to fame". So, I got the Chicken Wing – Char Siu plate with Fried Rice. They chopped the char siu fresh for me; I paid and was on my way.
Yes, that's what the plate looked like. Man, those…in very loose quotes "won ton" were like a cardboard gau gee, time didn't do the wrapper any favors as it was quite chewy.
The fried rice was on the mushy side, but decent coated and on the salty side.
The chicken wings were still a crisp-crunchy when I got back to the office, but had way too much MSG and had me gulping down water in no time at all.
The char siu is still the best item here, though I think it has slipped a bit over the years. It's now a bit leaner with many pieces on the chewier side. The pieces that aren't incinerated and bitter have a decent savory-sweet porkiness.
Well, at $10.75 these days I guess I got what I paid for? I have eaten at Panda Express in nearly two decades, how much do they charge now? And in that vein, we may have to wait another 16 years before I eat here again.
You can read about Soo's visit here and Mary's visit here.
Chung Hing
7160 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121
Chicago Fire Grill:
Man, had it been a year-and-a-half since I last visited? I think part of the problem is all the crazy road construction in the area with ever changing traffic patterns. Still, it had been a while since I'd seen George, so I decided to return to Chicago Fire.
The Chicago Dog, which comes with fries is now $9, up a buck since my last visit; but still under ten bucks. The young lady working the register was quite nice and George was busy working the back.
It seems that I had a "shift" in the tomatoes on the drive back to the office. I was just happy to have tomatoes on my dog which were MIA on my last visit. The fries, which were crisp on my last two visits, were soggy and dry this time around; though I kinda liked the pieces that had celery salt on them.
Other than the roll being on the soggy side, it was pretty much status quo, snappy dog, sport peppers, neon green relish, and all……
Still, under ten bucks……
Chicago Fire Grill
8935 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122
Tenkatori:
Well, Tenkatori is an interesting one. I will usually order the Mix Bento Box. But never online. Just for kicks I went and checked how much it was online….$16.30! I will usually call, but this time I drove down and got there right at 1030.
So, would Tenkatori's Mix Bento make the $14 cut-off?
Well, look at the price on the menu; $12.50. Can you believe a $3.80 upcharge just for ordering online, not even delivery? Sheesh…..
All the chicken, both the karaage and the wings were nice and crisp and very moist; nicely seasoned, a hint of soy, but not overly salty. The best I've had from Tenkatori thus far.
The mashed potato was consistent with other visits; though a bit too cold for my taste.
The one item not good on this day was the rice. Holy cow, it was so mushy and sticky, like it hadn't finished steaming. Look at how it stuck to the piece of karaage in the photo above. Maybe I should have been like FOYs Derric and Junichi, just ordering a bunch of chicken and just forgo the starches.
Perhaps next time! I will say that Tenkatori seems to have really "hit their stride" at least with regards to the chicken.
Tenkatori Miramar
6780 Miramar Rd Suite 104
San Diego, CA 92121
When it comes right down to it. For a $1.75 more, I'll take Tenkatori over Chung Hing any day of the week……
That's what things looked like when I opened up the boxes back at the office. I did a quick taste of the tomato topping which was super bland, you couldn't even really taste tomato. The version of Mul Kimchi provided was weird as it had a real strong anise/clove flavor that wasn't very pleasant.
And not a hint of truffle flavor to be found.
The wings had held up better this time. I tried the sides first. The corn slaw was terrible, the "dressing" was really watery and this lacked flavor. Very little corn, you might as well just give me raw coleslaw mix.
The batter had peeled away from two of the pieces, which had been turned face down in the box. The sauce was not overly sweet, but I still would have preferred a bit more saltiness, this was much milder than the versions at other places. The chunks of chicken were on the dry and tough side.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse about that Mul Kimchi. I just don't care for the flavor.
It looked like it needed to be airlifted to a burn center; it was so black. A quick taste confirmed things. The chicken skin was incinerated and bitter. The flesh very dry. The peri peri was quite sour and very mild in terms of spice.
There were two containers involved here. The smaller one consisted of 4 rubbery and overcooked wings, the spicier peri peri helped things a bit, but it still didn't seem very spicy to me. The peri peri was on the sour side and not even close 
And the peri peri came in handy here again….though it seemed to heighten a tanginess of the dish a bit too much. I thought the brioche roll, which looked quite dry, added a bit of buttery sweetness and really helped things out here.
This was actually not bad. The large salad did have some brown leaves, but while the rice looked dry, it wasn't.
A generous plate of fresh-looking bun, basil, mint, et al was provided. The nuoc mam cham was on the sweeter side of things. The sauce for the Bun Cha was on the sweeter end of things but wasn't too bad. Loved the pickled veggies, which helped to cut the sweet and saltiness. There were two good size pork patties, which were on the chewier end of things. The actual pork slices were much more flavorful in my opinion.
While it arrived on the typical sizzling plate….well, it wasn't sizzling. The dill and onions were soggy and wilted, and the fish cold. This was quite strange. Totally a far cry from 
So, the wings usually come tossed in sauce, be it buffalo, BBQ (what was recommended here), or mango habanero. Well, I just wasn't a fan of these. While the wings were of decent quality and prepped well, it was kinda soggy when it arrived. I prefer my wings to have some textural contrast that doesn't include mushy. Plus, it was over sauced for my taste as well.
And I guess I take direction fairly well. The wings not being drenched in sauce was much better. There was still some crispness to them and I got to determine which sauce I enjoyed the best. The habanero edges on a bit too sweet, but there's a bit of spice. The ranch will quell that. So, I will order my wings simply "salt and pepper" with habanero and ranch on the side.
The wings looked lightly battered and fried. In fact, it had a decent light crispness. Until I really bit into them. Man, these wings were seriously freezer burnt. The wings were so gross and bitter. I mentioned this to the folks behind the bar and was told, "it looks perfectly fine to me….."
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.
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 
The wings actually held up better than the Karaage. Don't get me wrong, the karaage was very moist and tender, but that light, what seems to be katakuriko based batter is made for eating quickly. I think of the flavors are very nicely balanced, soy-with a touch of sweetness. I like that the karaage still has skin attached. The "whole" wings (tips and drumettes included) did well. Like I've mentioned before, I like the addition of wing tips as they add a nice cartiligous texture with the addition of the batter of course. I could make out a touch of the shichimi togarashi a lot clearer than the karaage.
The skin on the Roast Pork was slightly crisp, but the flavor was way too sweet and the flesh was too hard and chewy. The skin on the roast duck wasn’t bad, the fat had been rendered nicely, unfortunately this too was quite bland and tough.
Man, this was really good! Crisp, moist wings, perfectly fried and seasoned. Glazed with an umami-sweet salted egg yolk sauce. This as just heavenly to eat. It’s also a great diversion from all of those “KFC” places that have opened up in the area.