Category: Chinese Restaurants

A couple of revisits of places that are inextricably tied together.

Village Kitchen:

After our last ho-hum visit; I thought it would be a while before eating at Village Kitchen again. Well, make that like 6 months. The Missus wanted some Chinese food, actually we tried to go to Woomiok, but there was a 40 minute wait! So, we headed back to VK.

We ended up ordering a good amount of food; which fed us for several days after. Here's what we had best to worst.

For some reason, the Stinky Tofu Stew was especially good on this visit.

It was especially pungent, steaming, hot savory goodness. With just the amount of heat, acid, and saltiness to make this a pleasant dish.

Second place went to the Pork with Dried Cucumber Skin – they now make this with La Rou; smoked pork, which adds an additional dimension to the dish.

Interesting textures; from the fairly tender, not overly waxy pork, to the crunchy cucumber skin. Good heat from the chilies, and the "clean" slightly sweet-briny flavor of the cucumber comes through nicely in the dish. A bit on the greasy side though, but not bad.

The (now) classic Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg.

Not as much pidan (century egg) these days. Still, the eggplant was fairly smooth and quite smoky in flavor.

The Hunan Style Lotus Roots were cut much thicker than before.

Something was off with this dish as it had a weird bitterness to it.

And the worst dish of the and possibly the most unpleasant item I've had to eat at VK; the Wild Mushroom Soup.

It tasted the way it looks…….really bland; no flavor to….and I'm stretching here, calling it a broth. It was like warm tap water with a greasiness to it. The pork had a mild, unpleasant sourness and the mushrooms had almost no flavor. This was really bad.

There's one dish we wish they still had; the Smoked Pork with Dried Bamboo….sadly, no longer on the menu.

Service was lousy as usual. Though they really turn over tables fast. I guess we're pretty much stuck with VK in the Kearny Mesa area if we want passable Hunan. Portion sizes have gone up; while I still think quality and execution has gone down.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Taste of Hunan:

Some follow-up visits to Taste of Hunan. Man, this place is doing some major business these days.

I have new favorite (other than the fried pork fat…..which I hesitate to order, lest I drop dead at the table). It's the Smoked Pork and Preserved Green Beans Fried Rice.

While the La Rou here is not as good as the version at VK; it works in this dish. The pork is fried crisp like bacon, the preserved green beans add a salty component. Most of the rice is coated well in soy sauce and most all the grains are separated. I like the leftovers with a couple of easy-over eggs on them.

The Sautéed Beef Tripe with Pickled Radish is good pick. While we've had times when this dish is on the greasy side and it edges on being too salty.

The symphony of crunchy textures works well. For me; it's the Chinese celery that takes center stage here.

If you like textures, the Sautéed Dried Tofu with Braised Pig Ear might do the job for you.

Slightly soft and chewy dried tofu with the crunchy pig ear and Chinese celery to add that nice palate cleansing component.

The flavor of the Wild Mushroom with Pork is quite good. They obviously use the reduced soaking liquid of the dried mushrooms to make the sauce, giving this a very good earthy flavor.

It's the pork, which has been dry, tough, and tasteless the two times I've had the dish that brought this down.

Of course I had to try ToH's version of the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. Strangely, it was not as good as the version at VK.

It was not as creamy, in fact the eggplant was kind of stringy, and not as smoky as VK's version. It also lacked "kick". It did have much more pidan though and not as much green chilies, which threw off the flavor in my mind.

And the one item I don't think we'll order again. The Smoked Fish Tail.

Bony, hard, and really fishy, the Missus ordered this, but couldn't make it past two bites. It was super salty and personally, it lacked the sufficient crunchy that a good fish tail should have…being more hard then anything.

Service was quite good. I think the food here is less greasy, not as spicy, the flavors, at least of the dishes we like, much cleaner and perhaps with a bit more finesse than VK. The La Rou at VK is much better as is Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. 

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St. Suite E2
San Diego, CA 92131

So, right before Christmas "YZ" and I were having a little chat about a new Chinese restaurants opening……as the discussion went on, I realized we were talking about two entirely different places. I was mentioning "Kangxi is Coming" which opened in the former Village Kitchen location. "YZ" was referring to a place that was just going to open in Mira Mesa named Taste of Hunan. She had seen posts on WeChat about the grand opening. The funniest thing she said was "you should get WeChat…." Heck, I'm not even on Instagram…

Anyway, I did find the photos interesting, so Calvin and I decided to check them out.

It was before the posted opening time of 1130 and the place was already packed!

Apparently all that social media and having some kind of grand opening special (I believe you got credit dollars if you spent over a $100) really pulled people in.

A couple of things I found out upon arriving; first off, I recognized the really nice young man manning the hosts station from Village Kitchen, and he instantly recognized me. I had to laugh. According to him, the owners of Village Kitchen split up and the former partner decided to open this place. I'm not quite sure if I understood clearly, but I was told that either this is the original chef from VK; which will explain why the food there has gone downhill recently, or some other well regarded chef. Also, I saw a couple of dishes that are basically signature dishes at VK; i.e. the  Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg, which by the way I haven't gotten around to ordering yet. And items from my original visits to VK, that are no longer on the menu there.

The menu is that bright and glossy standard; while you use a secondary menu; with photos that you mark off selected dishes on.

The menu is not very large and one interesting thing that you'll find (only in Chinese) on the menu is that you cana bring your own seafood and have it cooked for you.

Interesting touches abound as rice is served in this metal thermos-tiffin kind of thing.

So, I've been here four times already, eating in twice and doing take-out twice. As you can tell; the Missus loved the leftovers, so while not wanting to go out for dinner, She sent me to get take-out….and do some shopping at TJ's in the same strip mall.

I'll go over the dishes from one that I really enjoyed but is kind of a wild card; then to our most favorite to least favorite in order.

With the interesting name of Fried Pork Fat with Green Pepper ($11.99); I just had to order this. The young man who knew me came over and stage whispered "this is the best dish on the menu". This was awesome….as in heart attack…awesome. If you've ever had Chinese fried pork lard; you'll know what I mean.

A light crispness; gives way to soft fatty…well, fat. It is lovely; this was seasoned perfectly; fermented black beans added that nice salty-savory touch. Slightly, but not overly spicy….this rather old-fashioned homestyle dish; the Missus told me how Her Grandmother made this, seemed decadent. Though I wouldn't have it too often and it doesn't hold up well as leftovers. In other words if you order this….go for it!

Picks:

The Sautéed Beef Tripe with Pickled Radish ($14.99).

I've had this three times. I quickly found that the dishes here aren't overly greasy nor gloppy; which does well in this framework. If you love the symphony of various crunchy textures; from the crisp-briney Chinese celery, to the firm and crisp tripe, and very nice crunchy pickled radish, this one might do well for you. The Missus will even eat this cold. On one of the visits; it wasn't quite as good, lacking in the bright flavors and crispness; but the other three times it did well. A slight amount of spice in this.

One of the dishes that was on the original Village Kitchen menu Hunan Smoked Pork with Dried Long Bean ($15.99).

While ToH doesn't make my favorite version of La Rou; on one occasion it was outstanding as the pork was smokey and not overly hard and chewy and the dried long beans had picked up some moisture and flavor and were perfectly crunchy, intensely flavored, and slightly moist. Still; it's a decent version of this dish, better than what I had at VK when it was on the menu. It does tend toward the saltier side though. On one visit it was quite spicy, on the others just slightly so.

Another good dish if you like "texture" is the Sautéed Dried Tofu with Braised Pig Ear ($14.99).

The slightly soft and chewy dried tofu with the crunchy pig ear….again, it's the Chinese celery that makes this dish adding a palate cleansing element and nice crispness to the dish.

And then our favorite veg; the Country Style Boiled Radish Leaves ($11.99).

We've tried this three times and it would have been four; but they were out of it once. I believe radish leaves are blanched, reducing the bitterness and increasing the mild sweetness. While still crisp it is stir fried with a copious amount of garlic and some chilies. Twice it was wonderful; garlicky, crunchy, pleasantly bitter, just the right amount of heat. Once it was mushy with way too much salt….still this is worth trying.

On the fence:

The time they were our of the radish leaves I ordered the Hot and Sour Chinese Lettuce ($12.99); it's "stem lettuce" also known as celtuce.

Nice crunch, but not much heat, nor sour, just way too much salt.

Pans:

During our first visit we ordered the Braised Beef Shank (way too dry and bland), Pig Ear (super salty), and Tofu with Spices (ditto) – $10.99.

Not great eating; but having this dish made me think that the pig ear and tofu might do well in a stir fry; which led me to order the tofu and pig ear on the net visit.

The House Special Pig Feet ($15.99) was also a non-starter.

Too tough and really salty; this just wasn't pleasant to eat.

Over my visits I've noticed that the food here; while being a bit on the saltier side; is not greasy, and attention is paid to textures.

The place has been very busy on all my visits; yet they've staffed well, though the food might take a while. All the folks working here have been pleasant, if not overly friendly.

The menu is an interesting collection of dishes; which made for an interesting little vignette. On one of the visits; while eating by myself a family; two adults and three adolescent/teen girls were sitting on the table next to me. I watched what they ordered, the girls got Honey Walnut Shrimp, Yangzhou Fried Rice, and jiaozi. The parents got Pigs Feet and Tripe. Ah yes, generations……..

So now with Spicy Hut down the street; it might be that Mira Mesa might be the place for Sichuan and Hunan; much like it tops Convoy with regards to Pho! Hope they keep getting better!

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St. Suite E2
San Diego, CA 92131
Hours
Mon, Tues, Thurs 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Friday           1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 930pm
Sat – Sun        1130am – 930pm
Closed Wednesdays