As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
I’m not sure which “FOY” mentioned that Zen Modern Asian Bistro had moved from Sabre Springs to the Del Mar Highlands Sky Deck…perhaps it was Dereck or RD?
Anyway, after my rather unsatisfying bowl of NRM from Dao Xiang, along with the cooler weather; I thought it would be a great time to make the drive up the 5 and check out the Sky Deck, which Cathy has been to…but I’ve only visited the Jimbo’s in this mall.
It’s a large if rather dark space; very hip in that “you know it’s Del Mar” kinda way…..
Zen is just to the left of the entrance.
It’s got a bit of a sports bar look to it along with a dining area. It’s interesting to see that the doors to the kitchen area are automatic ones.
The young man brought me the menu; though I already knew what I was going to order.
And oh my, the NRM is now $22 and adding the suan cai is another $1!
And soon enough my order arrived. That bowl of NRM was quite large!
In many ways; it’s basically the same as I had at the previous location.
Not overly salty, mild beefiness, light soysauce, light richness, in need for more aggressive anise-beefiness for my taste.
In what was an improvement over what I’d had before was that the beef was nice and tender and full of savory-beefiness. And there was quite a lot of meat!
The noodles still lacked springiness and also didn’t do a great job of “picking up” the broth.
There’s a good amount of bok choy….in case you’re worried about getting some “veggies”!
As Dereck and RD both indicated; the must have item is the suan cai, the pickled greens.
There’s a bracing sour-tanginess to it. And while it may be slightly on the sweeter end of the spectrum to me, it really boosted the overall flavor of the broth when I dumped it into the bowl.
Overall not bad….better than many other versions in San Diego. And while it may be better than other versions, I’m not sure the price tag and the drive is worth it for me. Still, I’m glad to have tried the NRM here at the new location of Zen
Zen Modern Asian Bistro (In the Sky Deck at Del Mar Highlands Town Center) 12841 El Camino Real Suite 206 San Diego, CA 92130 Current Hours: Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm Friday 10am – 10pm Saturday 11am – 10pm Sunday 11am – 9pm
On my post on revisiting Dumpling Inn; “FOY” Peter mentioned one of his favorite spots on Convoy, Lanzhou Noodlelicious….which is also a favorite of mine as well. Though strangely, I hadn’t been there in a while. So while the weather was still nice and cool….before this weird weather we’ve been having over the last couple of weeks with nights being in the 40’s and days stretching out to the mid and even high 70’s, a few days after revisiting Spicy Noodle, I decided it was time to get my “Noodlelicious fix” in.
Hard to believe that I hadn’t been here in over two years!
I visited during lunch, arriving right after the 1130 am opening time. This parking lot gets packed by noon, so the earlier the better. Man, have I really been coming here since 2016?
Anyway, over time, I have my favorite menu item, the Beef Noodle Soup with Sour Cabbage, which is now priced at $15.99. Not bad for these days.
Instead of waiting around for the “thin flat” knife cut noodles, I just went with the standard knife cut noodles, which they still make by hand.
This looked quite good! I enjoyed the abundance of sour vegetable which gave things a nice bracing counterpoint and crunchy texture. There seemed to be less beef than I recalled, but it was tender.
The broth had a bit more beefiness than what I detected on previous visit and was a bit richer as well.
The noodles were slippery and springy, doing a decent job “picking up” the broth.
All in all; this was a very nice visit! It was flavorful and comforting. The service was “all business”, but I’m used to things being that way.
Thanks for the reminder Peter!
Lanzhou Noodlelicious 4688 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111 Current Hours: Wed – Mon 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm Closed on Tuesday
Well, it’s that time of the year again I guess……mornings recently have been pretty chilly. I’ve been seeing; make that feeling the low 40’s here. And for the past couple of days, the temps soon head up into the 70’s by 10am! Crazy….. Though based on my posting habits; it’s really that “time of the year” as the last time I posted on Spicy Noodle was during last January! Man, I am so predictable, huh?
Anyway, I was feeling a bit hungry as I was driving back from Zion at around 1030am…which is when Spicy Noodle opens. So, I thought why not and headed on over. Lots of available parking at that time of the day, before the lunch rush.
Like many places these days, it’s QR code ordering….except if you’re an “old timer” which I definitely qualify for….but perhaps I’m not that old. Even though my eating habits betray me, I was able to order using the QR code; unlike that party of 3 older gentlemen who came in after me that needed physical menus.
There’s basically one thing I get here. The Fat Intestine Noodle, which I was happy to note is still priced at $14.99….same as last January!
Screenshot
As with my previous visit, things happen quickly once you order. My “fat intestine” (take it any way you want to) arrived within 10 minutes of ordering.
I was happy to note that this was even better than on my previous visit.
While the “bungy”-offaly and tender fat intestine made me wonder if the poor oinker was suffering from perhaps some metabolic syndrome…that thought didn’t last too long as I quickly devoured it.
This time around, the soup was nice and spicy and had me wiping my brow by the end of the meal. The soup was also richer than before leaving me to wonder about my “fatty intestine”. All jokes aside; this was a savory-funky broth, with a decent richness.
The noodles had a nice pull to them, with a pleasant chewiness. The decent richness of the soup allowed the noodles to “pick it up” and coat them.
Can you tell that I enjoyed this? I need to revisit a bit more often. There was only that one other table occupied during my entire meal. I hope Spicy Noodle is doing ok and will continue to stay in business.
Spicy Noodle 8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. San Diego, CA 92111 Current Hours: Daily 1030am – 230pm, 5pm – 9pm
Mom Kitchen recently opened a second location on Clairemont Mesa. I decided to head on over to see if my favorite dish from the Mira Mesa location translated well to the new location.
I went during the first week of December, right at opening time. Mom Kitchen has taken over the space that used to contain an Afghan Market and Restaurant if I recall. This parking lot can be a real horror during peak times, so by going early and before word got out about Mom opening here, I could beat the crowds.
The young man working was so nice and friendly. As I mentioned earlier, there was only one dish I was interested in ordering for this visit.
I thought the Hainan Chicken and Rice was quite good during my visits to the MM location….the one weak link was actually the rice. Now priced at $19 (it was $17 at the MM location on my last visit), I was looking forward to trying this. Especially since “FOY” Jeff, who loves Hainan Chicken said it was quite good during his visit to the MM location.
Soon enough my lunch arrived. I quickly noticed something.
The rice! Instead of having hard grains of plain rice with barely a drizzle of the chicken broth and aromatics; this was well coated!
Decent savory-chicken flavor! I mentioned that the rice here was much better than what I’d had at the MM location and he smiled and said “we have more experience now and the kitchen here is large and better staffed.” Great!
I’ve always thought that the ginger-scallion sauce at Mom was perfect for my taste and this was no different. Not overly oily, great, with good, but not over powering ginger tones.
The one item, that hasn’t changed for the better is the terribly over-cooked boiled egg.
Which while decently marinated….it wasn’t enough to cover the bitter-metallic flavor of that over cooked yolk.
Well, back to the positive. Which was the chicken. Which was so moist, juicy, and tender. It was also deboned.
The skin was also very tender. Nicely cooked and seasoned, so savory, and great with that ginger sauce!
This was possibly the best Hainan Chicken Rice that I’ve had in a while! So Jeff, maybe you’d like to give this location a try and let me know? I’m sure RD will be checking things out soon as well!
You can read about Soo’s visit to this location of Mom Kitchen here.
Mom Kitchen 5440 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Suite B San Diego, CA 92117 Current Hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs 11am – 83pm Fri – Sun 11am – 9pm Closed on Tuesday
Upon waking on our full day in Santa Cruz, we decided to head up Soquel Avenue to a bakery I’d heard about. It was a short 10 minute walk from our hotel. Right past the Shopper’s Corner Market, was the Buttery.
The low key location had a nice outdoor area.
And the Missus watched JJ, while I went inside to get us some croissants and coffee.
There was no one in the queue when I entered and I was pleasantly surprised at the price of the plain croissants – $2.95.
So, I was ready to be underwhelmed at this croissant, but it was surprisingly good!
The exterior looked a bit overbaked, but the laminate was crisp, but not flaking to pieces. The ridges didn’t fall off either.
The interior was nicely honeycombed and fluffy. But most importantly, there was a decent amount of butteriness to this! Not bad at all! Better than what we’d had at Bouchon Bakery a few days previous!
I even gave JJ a taste and he went bonkers! Oh man, did I open up a can of worms here!
The Buttery 702 Soquel Ave. Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Of course we’d return the following morning….
And of course the Missus needed me to “burn off” those croissant calories, so we headed back to the hotel, then set out to Henry Crowell Redwoods State Park. Marissa, the lovely young lady at BPC had recommended the Pipeline Road Trail, though she told me that it was kind of long – 6 miles or so. The big plus being that it starts at the Park Office and that it is well paved and maintained. It is the only dog friendly trail in the park as well.
There a 900 foot elevation gain, but we really didn’t feel it.
There were some nice views.
And of course those lovely Redwoods……
And JJ handled it like a champ. Actually, you can tell by his expression that I’m the “weak link” here…..
It was on the “easy side” for the Missus and JJ, who did really well.
After heading back and freshening up, it was time for lunch. Well, since we had enjoyed our dinner the previous evening at Special Noodle and the Missus was still missing Chinese food we walked on back to the restaurant.
The gentleman from the previous evening remembered us and we were seated in the same area. He even made sure got chopsticks without asking this time!
We decided on some different dishes this time around; starting with the La Rou with Smoked Bamboo.
This usual Hunan style dish was a bit short on chilies and spiciness, but the bamboo was nice and crisp; though the pork was definitely like the stuff I can get at 99 Ranch Market. It was far from bland though with a good amount of soy and smokey tones.
The rice had obviously just been finished as it was steaming hot; but also a bit on the mushy side.
We also got the Braised Pork Belly – Hong Shao Rou, which turned out to be quite good!
Just tender enough, without being mushy, the porkiness came through nicely. Ginger – Soy tones came thru nicely, and more importantly for the Missus, this was much more savory than sweet.
After finishing this; we really needed a nap!
Special Noodle 415 Ocean St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
I guess this will be a regular stop when we’re in Santa Cruz!
I had fully intended on returning to Ju Feng Yuan after my not so great visits to Super Dumpling in Carmel Valley. It had been a while since I last visited and though I think Lucious Dumpling’s Outpost in Eastlake is now my favorite, I needed to revisit JFY, which was my previous fave for jiaozi in San Diego. So, I set out with a visit to JFY in mind…but got sidetracked to Dumpling Inn…..a big mistake on my part.
I know “FOY” RD mentioned the Popcorn Chicken and Julie is a big fan, so I had my agenda set! I would not get sidetracked this time!
I arrived on a weekend at opening time and was the first in.
I did the iPad ordering thing from my table. The Pork and Chinese Cabbage Dumplings ($11.95) and Popcorn Chicken ($9.99).
The Popcorn Chicken was actually the first to arrive.
Fairly crunchy, a bit on the chewy – drier side, but not bad. Decent mild five spice tones. Good salt and pepper. I’m fairly certain they use potato starch, based on the texture.
Proper popcorn chicken; though a step below my favorite, which is from Soup du Jour….strange; I thought I did a post on the place which I’ve visited like 8-9 times since getting back from Taiwan…but I guess not??? I need to do one more visit to catch up then get me post done.
I mentioned previously, that I’m not a big fan of the sauce that accompanies the jiaozi, but of course they do have Black Vinegar.
I did enjoy the Pork and Chinese Cabbage Jiaozi – 8 decent size dumplings.
The wrappers were adequately tender, with a decent stretch to them. I do like mine a bit more “fluffy”, but this was fine; better than most anything you’ll find in SD.
The filling was textbook pork jiaozi, nice savory tones, seasoned well, not overly minced and tender. Good porkiness. Would not be amazing in the SGV…..but in SD……
I wish JFY was closer to me; though it is a faster drive than Lucious Dumplings…which I need to return to! Thanks for always thinking of us RD and Julie!
Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe 12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109 Poway, CA 92064 Current Hours: Mon – Thurs 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm Friday 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm Sat – Sun 1130am – 330pm, 430pm – 9pm
We had a great night of sleep at the Napa River Inn…and no, we didn’t have any “spooky” visitors as I had heard about earlier in the evening at The Fink. Before we left for our next destination, I decided to grab a quick Breakfast Sandwich from Sweetie Pies Bakery which is right next door to the hotel.
This place has quite a selection of treats for your sweet tooth. We had gotten a sample delivered to our room for breakfast the previous morning.
I ordered a Fried Egg Sandwich to take back to our room.
A basic toasted Ciabatta, with creamy avocado, and pesto.
The bacon was basically a single slice lining the middle of the sandwich, on the burnt side, and a single fried egg. Again only enough to cover two-thirds of the sandwich.
My guess is that “Sweetie” is mostly about the pies as the name indicates?
Sweetie Pies 520 Main St. Napa, CA 94559
After devouring the sandwich, we checked out and headed to our next destination; Santa Cruz. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to arrive at our accommodation, the Hotel Paradox. We were early for check-in so the hotel let us park and we went to explore Santa Cruz for a bit. The hotel was on the other side of the San Lorenzo River from downtown Santa Cruz and we were next to San Lorenzo Park. On the map, it looked like a nice “green space”. Unfortunately, it was taken over by the homeless population while we were in town. So, instead of having a nice green space for JJ to explore, well…..
We did think the Dragon Archway, which faces the last Chinatown in Santa Cruz across the river. And you can see the two folks hanging out under the archway as well. This made the Missus somewhat uncomfortable crossing the bridge at night. We ended up using the busier Laurel Street Bridge when it was dark.
Regardless, the Missus and I really enjoyed downtown Santa Cruz. It had a kind of Hipster-Artsy-Hippy-Surfer vibe to us. Very mellow and laid back; at least when we were there.
We dropped by Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting for our caffeine fix. It was recommended by one of JJ’s Bay Park Coffee “Aunties”, Marissa who used to work there and went to UCSC.
Cold Brew and Latte fortified we headed on to do some shopping.
Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting 1330 Pacific Ave. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
The Missus loved wandering thru the “eclectic” shops.
And bought quite a few items during our stay.
It seems that tarot card reading, and various psychic readings are big business here.
My goodness, check out the name of this shop! I wonder….
Yes, it was quite entertaining here!
We decided to grab an early dinner….by this time, the Missus was sorely missing Asian food…well, Chinese to be specific. I did some research before the trip and found a place that was dog friendly and basically two blocks from where we were staying. Now, I did have my doubts because the place served everything from Orange Chicken to XLB to Chow Fun to Sichuan/Hunan and has multiple locations, named Special Noodle. But I thought we’d give it a shot. Now if I had my doubts…imagine the Missus!
We arrived and I expected us to be seated on the patio; but the very nice gentleman escorted us to one of the back dining rooms!
He also spoke Mandarin….which eased some of the doubts the Missus had. The menu was huge….talk about “Vietnamese Menu overload” times 2!
Yep, this place tries to cover all bases.
It was a huge portion of rice for a single order.
We decided on some typical Hunan style dishes. Starting with the Pickled Beans with Minced Pork.
While kind of mild in the spiciness department, this was a pretty legit dish. Nice soy flavor, the long beans had a nice crunch adding that mild salty-sourness to the dish. The pork wasn’t overly chewy. Nice savory dish!
And of course I had to try the Intestines with Chilies.
Made with a combination of sliced jalapenos and dried chilies, this had a nice smoky kick. Nicely seasoned with soy sauce-garlic-white pepper and a touch of numbing Sichuan Peppercorns. The pork intestine was fairly tender, with a pleasant initial toothsomeness. Nice funky tones and a really good dish.
And of course……
What we did notice as the place filled up was that the Chinese customers were seated in the same area as us. While the “other” customers were seated in the front dining area, which we named “Eggroll Land” ! Kind of funny….
The Missus was pleasantly surprised at the food and even though She got Her “fix”, we’d end up returning the next day for lunch!
Special Noodle 415 Ocean St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
We were enjoying Santa Cruz. In addition to the “vibe” we had gotten decent Chinese dishes as well!
Just a couple of things as we recover from New Years.
The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong:
Remember how I was mourning not ordering the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings during my last post on Taste of Hong Kong? Well, last week we did a revisit to ToHK…I decided to not take any photos since I’d just done a post. But then the chicken wings came out.
My goodness, these were terrible! Something has changed with the batter as it was too wet-mushy and had an almost mealy texture to it. There were fried (burned) slices of garlic incorporated into he batter, which had a strange sweetness. The wings had been overfried and while the exterior was saturated, the meat was tough and dry. What a bummer!
This is what it used to look like.
Well, I guess we can cross this dish off my “favorites” list.
Taste of Hong Kong 4428 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111
What’s up with Oxtail Prices:
The Missus had thoughts of me making my oxtail soup for New Years, so I went to Zion to see if they had oxtails….I found them, but look at the prices!
I guess I haven’t made oxtail soup in ages? I don’t remember paying this much for oxtails! I need 4-5 pounds for my soup….but yikes! I did go to other places, but all the oxtails were over $14 a pound!
Is this the norm?
What made my Xmas Day:
On Christmas day, I took JJ up the street to visit the local donut shop and grab my usual. Like I wrote back in 2020, I think these businesses are part of the “fabric” of the neighborhood and I try to support them. Especially if the place has such wonderful owners as the Cambodian couple who run TK Donuts. So, I try to visit at least once a week and I guess because I used to go there like 4-5 times a week during Covid to help them stay open, they still remember me!
And on Xmas day, after I got my usual, they asked me to wait a minute and handed me a bag with something wrapped in foil. They told me that “this is something that just finished cooking for Christmas”, it’s a traditional family recipe. What was it?
My goodness, it’s Cambodian style roast chicken! It was still hot when I got home. Actually, the Missus loved it and took most of it to work for lunch the next day!
They are so nice! And this beautiful gesture made my day and really touched me!
TK Donuts 3095 Clairemont Drive San Diego, CA 92117
Please be careful out there!
The major storm that hit us on Christmas must have made international news? Because fellow blogger and good friend Kat sent me an email wondering if we were ok! Bless her…Kat, you’re amazing! I emailed her back saying I didn’t think it was too bad. Then a day later, I took JJ to Western Hill Park after having my usual morning coffee and my goodness!
There were actually three trees down in the park! Yikes!
Well, the Missus has the “gardening bug” going really strong! We’ve been hitting up Walter Andersen Nursery at least once a week these days! Yeesh….
Anyway, She mentioned wanting to check out City Farmer’s Nursery on Euclid…..well now; opportunity knocks! Since Nate’s Garden Grill is right next to the nursery and my goodness, we hadn’t been to Nate’s since right before Covid! So, with JJ anxious to do some more exploring we headed out for breakfast.
Man, the place was pumping on this Sunday morning!
We got what was an old favorite of ours; the Pulled Pork Hash and an Avocado Toast on Pretzel Bun. The Missus went in to order while I got us a table on the patio.
Where JJ made himself right at home. There was some live music, so I made sure we sat on the other side of the patio out of the way of folks.
The Pulled Pork Hash was a bit of a disappointment.
Other than the crisp, perfectly buttered, and tasty sourdough toast. The pork lacked smokiness and was really chewy, the eggs overdone, and the dish was on the bland side. In a rare move, we had to grab some salt from the condiment table…and then went back for more hot sauce. Too bad, because this was one of our favorites from previous visits.
I’ve always enjoyed the Pretzel Buns at Nate’s and which didn’t disappoint with the Avocado Toast.
Slightly chewy, mildly salty-nutty, and crisp crust. The avocado was really creamily mashed, wish there was more of it. Didn’t care for the bacon which was really thick cut and chewy, rather than crisp like I enjoy.
Overall, not an especially pleasing breakfast. Though the two young ladies loved JJ and asked us if he could have some steak! Good lord……we got bland pulled pork and chewy bacon…..he got steak? What is this world coming to? So, I guess if JJ had his way; we’d be here often…..
It’s become a standard routine that when we return from one of many road trips that the first thing the Missus wants is…….well, Chinese food of course! And after returning from one of our road trips, the Missus was thinking of visiting Village Kitchen. I had thought we had just done take out recently….but no, that was from all the way back in November of last year! Man, time has flown by!
Another interesting tidbit is that She wanted to dine in…..looking at all my posts on Village Kitchen it seems that my last seven posts on the place were takeoutvisits! And the last time we’ve actually eaten in the restaurant was….yes, you guessed it, before Covid!
Over time we’ve noticed that several of our favorite dishes are no longer on the menu. We stuck with one old favorite, one that has been +/- over the years, and one new item from the menu.
Our old favorite, the La Rou with Bamboo Shoots Skin was quite good. We actually wanted the version with radish skin, but they were out.
Though not as spicy as we’d like; the smoked pork was more tender than usual; the bamboo shoots slightly crunchy and earthy. Not overly salty, nice savory tones.
I consider the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg to be the “signature dish” at Village Kitchen, though we’ve had mixed results ordering over the years.
These days it seems to have a lot less chilies, thus making it less spicy…but oh my; so much pidan! Which the Missus enjoyed…She loves that savory-complex umami flavor, with the ammonia like finish! Well, there was a ton of it here! The eggplant was very creamy and smoky, there was a hint of sweetness as well. This was a huge portion.
The one new item on the menu we tried was the Smoked Bamboo Shoots with Pork Belly.
Not enough black bean to really add much flavor to the dish; which was really salty. The pork belly was tough and chewy as was the bamboo shoots. This one is a “one-and-done”. Lacking in spice.
Overall, not a bad dinner….we’ll stick with our old favorites. We’ve noticed that the portion sizes here sure have gotten bigger over the last couple of years. It was good to actually dine in rather than do take-out for a change.
Village Kitchen 4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. San Diego, CA 92117
Kind of sad in a way since we used to go to the old location on Convoy and then this location when the moved here in 2005! I’m sure many of you have dined there over the years!
Man, Cathy, the Late Ed from Yuma, and I have done 27 posts on Golden City!
5375 Kearny Villa Rd. San Diego, CA 92123
Dagu Rice Noodle (Miishen) Coming to Convoy:
During our visit to Eastern Dynasty, I saw this sign up in the location that used to be Dokdo.
Hmmm… Dagu Rice Noodle; Yunnan Crossing the Bridge Noodles, eh? Another big time chain coming to the area. They have locations everywhere it seems; not only in the SGV, but even Madison, Wisconsin and off Buford Highway in ATL….both places I’ve spent time at!
4690 Convoy St. #108 San Diego, CA 92111
And of course I need to have a photo of JJ here, right?
We’ve been going to check out the lights at Clairemont Christmas Park since 2019! We used to take Frankie…so now we take JJ. He was a little squirt last year and didn’t enjoy it as much as this year……
It’s always a fun time. You can even get free home made cookies and cocoa and they had music going as well!
Cross streets of Lana Drive & Jamar Drive San Diego, CA 92117
