Chinese Restaurants – Page 37

Midweek Meanderings: Banh Mi Bakery and Cafe Coming Soon, Boiling Passion Replaces Pho Paradise, and Mekong Cuisine Replace Sang Deuan

A new shop coming soon and two new places for hump day……

Banh Mi Bakery and Café:

For some reason, this strip mall on the corner of Clairemont Mesa and Ruffin Road always eludes my attention. But on this past weekend, a sign with "Banh Mi" on it caught my eye, so I drove into the parking lot to check it out.

This is the strip mall with Giovanni's. This shop is right next to Palomino's #2, which Cathy has written about a couple of times.

9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Boiling Passion Replaces Pho Paradise:

You can find my post on our visits to Boiling Passion here.

I noticed the sign when driving to pick-up a bento at Nijiya. I noticed that Pho Paradise had closed back in January. Boy did they turn this place around quick. But did they really want to name it "Boiling Passion"?

When I sent off a photo and text to my friends; "John" quickly texted me back asking if this was a massage parlor. I quickly sent off a string of texts about "meat" that isn't really appropriate for this blog…..I'll let your imagination go with that one!

3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Mekong Cuisine Replaces Sang Deuan:

I went up the parking lot to turn around and noticed another change.

I hadn't even noticed this one! Sang Deuan sure didn't last long. Well, another place to try. They kept the "Lao & Thai" portion of the old sign, so I'm thinking the menu is probably similar to Sang Deuan's.

3904 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go….have a great week!

Village Kitchen Revisited – Picks, Pans, and Reruns

March 16, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

After visiting Village Kitchen a few times and trying a good number of dishes, I did get the Missus to visit and also revisited with coworkers Calvin and John.

What resulted from the Missus's visit was that we did take-out a couple of times and found that they pack the dishes quite well in decent take out containers! Yay, no Styrofoam!

Not everything at VK has been to my liking, but some of the dishes we had were especially good. So, I thought I'd go with picks, pans, and reruns.

Picks:

On one evening I ordered the Salted Long Bean and Smoked Pork, but when I came home I realized I had something else.

Turns out this is the Sour and Spicy Chicken Gizzards, something that I'd usually not order. Not that I don't care for gizzards, I love them. But there was just something about "sour" and "chicken gizzards" that didn't sound appetizing to me. I was however, wrong, as this has become one of our favorite dishes. The gizzards are sliced thin, with a mild chew, think thinly sliced beef heart. I do love the pickled chilies in this, while not "Hunan spicy" in my book, the pickled peppers give the dish a nice zip. Very nicely flavored.

A wonderful mistake!

Another dish that has become a favorite of our; minus the not so good steamed buns is the Homestyle Baby Radish Leaves. Love the mild chilies and the bitter stir fried radish leaves. The flavors really work well here; bitter-mildly spicy-a touch of sour and just salty enough for our tastes.

The Boiled Green Pork Intestine was nice; the intestine really clean, and the slightly bitter greens added a nice flavor counter-point.

I think this did need a bit more flavor and as nicely as the intestines were prepped, the funky mild-offal flavor was too mild.

Pans:

When I visited with John and Calvin, I ordered the first dish on the menu; Pickled Chili Chicken.

First off, the cutting job on the chicken wasn't that great. It's okay to have bones with the chicken pieces, but make sure that most of them aren't sharp. There was a bit too much bones for my liking. This was also a bit spicy, but otherwise somewhat bland, and needed a bit more soy sauce and something else to make it less one dimensional.

I've figured out that VK doesn't do pork the way I like it. At least based on previous visits and on these two dishes……

The pork belly with preserved vegetable ("Chef's Braised Pork") was not that great, even disregarding the steamed buns we don't care for. The pork was too lean and on the chewy side and the flavoring just wasn't there.

One evening we tried Grandma's Braised Pork. The flavoring was quite good, great soy sauce flavors, the chilies added a nice "green" flavor to the dish. The pork however, was really tough. like it hadn't been braised long enough. These two dishes, along with the other pork dishes we've tried, have made us a bit gun-shy about ordering swine here.

Reruns:

There are of course those dishes we enjoyed from my previous post.

That Eggplant and Century Egg dish is by far our favorite.

VK has become one of the "I'm really too tired to cook tonight so let's do take-out" options for us.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Clearing Out the Memory Card: China Max, Iron Pig Alehouse, and Tan Ky Mi Gia (ECB)

February 28, 2016 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub

It's almost spring, so time to start clearing out that memory card. Here's threesome from several months back. As with these posts, it mostly photos.

China Max:

For some reason the Missus actually wanted to go on my typical Saturday "rounds" on this morning….I think it was because She was hungry. We had eaten at Zen Peninsula the week before and I guess She was wondering how a place like China Max would line up.

Short answer? It doesn't…….

Chicken feet looked good, very tender, but lacking in flavor.

The sauce/soup for the tripe was good, but it hadn't imparted flavor to the tripe.

The wrappers for the shrimp and spinach dumplings were too thick and this really lacked flavor.

Even my old standby here, the pan fried shrimp and chive dumplings weren't spared. Greasy and portions of the wrappers were splitting and burnt, making this bitter.

We've always thought that the gailan at China Max was done pretty well….this time it was over cooked.

I admit that it's pretty slim pickins' with regards to Dim Sum in SD……

Man, worse than back in 2012 when I thought things were going a bit downhill.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111

Iron Pig Alehouse:

**** Iron Pig has closed

We visited the week we left for Spain. And I think this place is getting better on every visit.

Iron Pig serves one of my favorite salads; the "Man Salad".

The Smoked Wings is one of the two items the Missus comes for; they can sometimes be too salty, or not fried right, but on this visit, things were right.

For some reason the Missus likes the Rib Tips here……I'm not a fan of the sauces at Iron Pig, so we get them without sauce. Now a good rib tip…crunchy cartilage, fatty tissue, man, it can be a thing of beauty. This was very close; it had been smoked perfectly, was moist and tender. The only (big) minus? It needed a more aggressive rub. This was nicely porky, but lacked seasoning.

Nice smoke ring though…….

Iron Pig Alehouse
1520 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Tan Ky Mi Gia (El Cajon Blvd):

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

Yes, TKMG in Mira Mesa has closed, but the ECB location, formerly known as Hing Ky Mi Gia back in 2007 is still around.

Yes, time hasn't been very kind to the place; the lamination on the menus are peeling off and the tables have attained a robust amount of stickiness, but I still drop by every so often, mainly for breakfast, to see what's going on. A simple bowl of Wonton and Dumpling Egg Noodle soup for me on this day. It's gone up 50 cents since my visit last year.

For some reason the charsiu really struck me as not being as good as in the past…..not sure why that's what stuck in my head…….

Tan Ky Mi Gia
5237 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Bund Shanghai in Las Vegas

February 16, 2016 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Las Vegas, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

While Kirk is overseas and Cathy is overworked, Ed (from Yuma) has worked up a post about a place he and Tina enjoyed last June.

On our vacation, we did a lot of lazing about and some good eating. After having modern Japanese food and our splurge meal at Twist, we were in the mood for something more basic, like Chinese, so we took a chance on Bund Shanghai, which seemed like the best bet off the strip.

It occupies a sizable space on South Decatur not far from W. Spring Mountain Rd.:

The dining area with its high ceiling is spacious and attractive:

We shuffled through the large menu, and with some input from our friendly and helpful server, decided on a handful of dishes

The first dish to turn up was an old favorite, called here drunken chicken in clay pot:

The cool tender chicken soaked in strong flavored wine. Nothing subtle, but for my tastes, just right.

The pan fried pork buns, with their pale tops and tan toasted bottoms, looked amazing:

The contrasting textures were a nice touch though the skins seemed a little thick (but that may be necessary for the pan frying). The porky interior was juicy and mildly flavored:

We had no idea what vegetables to pick, so we rolled the dice and went with “asparagus fungus and fresh yam”:

Luckily, the asparagus and fungus were two separate items, but the yam was a white vegetable (mountain yam?) definitely not like sweet potato. The ingredients looked pretty and presented a nice range of textures. The sauce/seasoning was minimal, so the dish was all about the veggies.

For seafood, we opted for Shanghai style carp fishtail braised in soy sauce:

It certainly tasted better than it looked, and that fishtail was huge. On the other hand, it was monochromatic in looks and flavor. Probably better with more folks at the table since the simplicity of the mild fish and the soy-based sauce got boring after a while.

Tina and I wanted to try just one more thing, so we asked the server what she would recommend. "Pork ribs in sweet and sour sauce." Since we asked her, I sort of felt like we had to order it – even though I haven't ordered anything like that in eons, ever since my tastes expanded beyond combination plates with fried shrimp, chop suey, and sweet-and-sour pork.

So we were surprised when these dark pork rib chunks showed up, sprinkled with a few sesame seeds:

This was not your mama’s sweet and sour. No, these were more akin to pork crack. Addictive meat candy. The exterior had serious crunch. Inside, rich sweet, tangy, savory, piggy flavors. I felt like we'd hit the jackpot – and in Vegas that's a good thing.

Celebrating Chinese New Year early – at Sam Woo BBQ

February 7, 2016 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the food blog you are reading. Kirk is not writing today (remember, he needs a vacation), nor is Ed(from Yuma). Cathy has a short post.

The Mister and I usually go out to breakfast on weekdays, but know that if we can get somewhere early on a weekend day, most places are not crowded. Since we also try to get shopping in early, 99 Ranch Market is sometimes a weekend stop.The exterior is decorated for the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, which is Monday February 8 this year. Inside the store are decorations, gift baskets, treats and many choices of red paper envelopes to purchase. Across the hall, Sam Woo BBQ opens for breakfast from 9-11 a.m. Monday-Friday and 8:30-11 on the weekend.

The menu has 31 items (each $4.25). { In 2007, breakfast items were $3.20, in 2009, the price had jumped to $3.50 in 2011, breakfast prices dropped to $3.25. Good times. Still, worth it.}

Hot tea or a very strong cup of coffee, served with sweetened condensed milk is still only 30¢ (hot tea is free at lunch and dinner).We usually order three items, one always some sort of soup or porridge. This time, #11, Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup- yellow eggy noodles and five shrimp with pork stuffed dumplings along with a piece or two of bok choy. The soup bowl is large.

The #23, Roast Duck Lo Mein, served 'dry', with a rich with anise flavored broth on the side is just a perfect breakfast for me. The meaty duck with its crisp skin along with the noodles and broth is fresh and satisfying.The top item on the menu (#1), Stir Fried Rice Vermicelli with Luncheon Meat is another great item. Two types of onion, sprouts and slices of luncheon meat all stir fried in a wonderful seasoned wok has such flavor that either this or the bottom item on the menu (Fried Rice with Luncheon Meat) is always ordered. If we can't finish all of the food, those can be re-heated.

Sam Woo BBQ inside 99Ranch Complex 7330 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (619)505-9888 fax (619)514-8988 Breakfast 9:00 -11:00 a.m. M-F, 8:30-11:00 a.m. Sat-Sun

We wish all of our mmm-yoso!!! readers good health, wealth and luck for the forthcoming year of the Monkey!

This is a link to an amusing article about Chinese New Year do's and don'ts, from Australia (turn down the sound!)

Xi’an Kitchen Revisited

February 1, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Xi'an Kitchen has closed

Recently, I was looking at my post on Tong Sheng Xiang (同盛祥) during our trip to Xi'an. Which had me wondering how Xi'an Kitchen was doing. During my earlier visits, the service was borderline abysmal…..well, kind of like the norm for some of those places in the SGV. My coworker Calvin is game for everything. I know he loves lamb, but his wife just can't stand the smell….so I thought he'd like to join me.

While the service is still somewhat perfunctory, things have calmed down a bit here. The food came out quickly…perhaps a bit too quickly in the case of the Green Beans, which hadn't been cooked the way I prefer.

Undercooked, underflavored….mediocre.

When I mentioned Zhajiangmian to Calvin, he didn't know the dish originated in China…Beijing, he's only had Korean Jajangmyeon. This from a kid raised right around the block from 101 Noodle Express. So I had to order it.

Not impressed with the handmade noodles, it had some pull, but the texture just didn't do it for me. The noodles weren't drained well either. Hard to believe these were hand made. Not enough pork and bean paste sauce, but the flavor of the sauce provided was fine. It was served the classic way with shredded cucumber and bean sprouts.

Calvin loved the Yang Rou Pao Mo.

The bread is still all wrong; but the broth is quite tasty; gamey, with the flavor of the pasture I enjoy. Calvin absolutely loved this, he basically licked the bowl dry……he especially enjoyed the thickness and tongue feel of the broth and the gamey flavor. Now you see why he's always welcome to eat with me.

The Rou Jia Mo was too cold to enjoy.

There was a bit more filling than I recalled, though the pork….much like pulled pork was less fatty than I remembered. We split one, then took the other one back for "YZ"….who got a kick that I took Calvin to Xi'an Kitchen.

It's nice we're starting to get a better representation of regional Chinese cuisine than second rate Sichuan, Hot Pot, or lousy dim sum. I'm hoping that things keep getting better.

Xi’an Kitchen
4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Noodling Around: Tim Ky versus Minh Ky

January 31, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

Man, it's really blowing outside. Cathy sent me a message saying the power out in her part of San Diego. I hope everyone is keeping warm and out of the wind!

Two weekends ago, I went up to Mira Mesa to get a haircut. I'll usually hit up a place for breakfast before my haircut; Pho Cow Cali or Pho Lucky. This time around I thought it was time for a revisit to Tim Ky which I thought was pretty good when I first visited, but was quite pedestrian on my last visit. It was fairly early, so just simple won ton and dumpling egg noodle for me.

This was pretty good, Better than what I had the last time around. The broth was light, pork-chicken, with just a touch of oil, savory, and not overly salty this time around. The charsiu was on the bland side and the two won tons were on the tough side, the 4 dumplings were also kind of chewy. The egg noodles were quite nice, good chew. Nice and simple, a nice breakfast. This got me wondering if this might be better than the version at Minh Ky.

Tim Ky Noodle
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

So yesterday, before the storm moved in; under the overcast sky, I headed up to Minh Ky.

And while I usually order the Beef Sate Noodle – Dry here; I went with the won ton and dumpling egg noodle soup. Which, while packed with stuff, looked quite light.

The differences were quite striking. The egg noodles here were not quite as yellow as the version at TimKy and also thinner. It was also nice and al dente, the noodles probably went to MK as did the charsiu, the dumplings, and the won tons which were much more tender that I ever recalled having here. Perhaps getting here before the crowds descend (0830) makes a difference?

I think the broth at Tim Ky was slightly better, mainly due to the richness, but overall, I still think Minh Ky is better overall.

Minh Ky Restaurant
4644 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

It was fun doing a nice simple comparison which started with going to my haircut appointment. My hair didn't fare so well. The guy who's been cutting my hair for ages; I'd followed him all over the place, Mission Valley to Serra Mesa to El Cajon to College to his uncles house (during a bad spell he was pretty much homeless) to Rolando, to Oceanside, then most recently Mira Mesa. Unfortunately, he had just quit the day before….and I needed to get my hair cut, so I had one of the other guys cut it…..so I now have quite the buzz. The Missus gasped when I got back home….but hey, it's hair, it'll grow back. One of the guys at work asked me why I just didn't shave my head…..looking at him (balding), I just said, "hey, I get to prove that I actually have hair…."

Liang’s Kitchen Revisited

January 25, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

** Liang's has closed

For some reason the beef noodle soup at Green China Grill had me thinking about Liang's. Not sure why, very different creatures, but, in spite of the very bad taste of bleach permeating my NRM the last time, I decided it had been a while, so why not?

I was a bit taken a back when I visited. It was 1130 and not a soul in the place. And it also looks like Liang's has not aged well; several of the light fixtures had no bulbs, perhaps to reduce costs, but the wires were hanging out. What I really noticed was the chipped paint everywhere.

The chairs I recalled had been replaced with very cheap banquet chairs. Kind of sad to see the state of the place in about five years of life.

Service was pretty much indifferent, so that part is consistent. I went with the Tendon and Beef Noodle Soup with the LaPian noodles. The bowl arrived hot and steaming.

First off, there were some decent things about this bowl….first and foremost no bleach flavor. Second, the broth was super hot. Third, that piece of tendon was excellent, holding shape but tender bordering on buttery. The broth had decent richness and the flavor of the preserved vegetable came through, but was pretty one dimensional in terms of overall flavor, low anise, lacking in beefiness, and way too much MSG. The beef was cold in the center and tasted a bit like it had been held in the fridge too long. I should have learned my lesson about the noodles and gone with the regular version. The Lapian noodles were hard and pretty much just tore to pieces when grabbing them with chopsticks.

I'm on the fence about this one. It's mediocre, not terrible, though I couldn't finish the broth because of all the MSG. Nothing really incites me to return….so maybe it'll be another 2 or 3 years, or maybe more….I do hope they spruce up the place a bit.

Liang’s Kitchen
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Green China Grill

January 19, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

Back in September, I noticed some activity in Plaza del Sol, a place named "Green China Grill" was opening up. I asked the Missus to translate the Chinese and was told it really didn't give a clue regarding what regional type of food the place might be serving. The in the middle of December Eater indicated that Langzhou Hand Pulled Noodles aka "Lamian" (牛大碗) was going to be the specialty. My sources indicated that the place had opened up only serving two versions of Beef Noodle Soup and Kirbie's post indicated that was true. Still, when Candice and I decided to meet up for lunch, we decided on checking the place out.

Boy was the interior of the place bright!

And yes, there was basically two beef noodle soups on the menu. From what little I know about Gansu cuisine; other than wishing I could try some "Silk Road Camel Hoof" and the various mutton dishes, it's the clear soup version of beef noodle soup that the region is known for. However, with only two items; other than cold dishes on the menu, we had to try both right?

One more thing. After my initial lunch with Candice, I mentioned the place to Lily, who is from Shanxi and loves her noodles….well, twist my arm and all that. So I ended up going twice in the space of a week. Though I really didn't take too many photos during my second visit. In terms of service; well, it's still a bit unorganized, but the folks are very nice.

So first, on my visit with Candice, there was some Liang Cai available. Very mild in flavor, the best item was probably the cucumbers. Still, nice and refreshing.

The Clear Soup version also had the thinner noodle. During my first visit, the broth was rich, but very mild in flavor.

The noodles? Well, from what I recall, hand pulled noodles usually have a good amount of gluten worked out of it, so having that perfect texture is a real skill. On the first visit, the broth was a bit weak and the noodles on the mushy side.

On my second visit, the broth was much darker.

Perhaps missing that richness from my previous visit, but the flavor was much more assertive, more anise, a nice "ma" (numbing) sensation, though perhaps a bit heavy on the MSG. The noodles were also much better. Not too impressed with the beef which doesn't seemed to be braised in anything flavorful therefore lacking that nice taste. It was also a bit too tough for my taste on both visits.

I do prefer the "brisket" (aka braised beef) which uses noodles which are bit thicker. On my first visit it was much too doughy, but had vastly improved by the second visit.

I enjoy a bit of pull with my noodles and on the second visit it had improved. The broth was decent; while not especially beefy there was nice anise, again slightly numbing, but also a bit too much MSG. There was a light touch of sour which brought things together well. It is not remarkable, but still good by San Diego standards. The beef in this version was much better, more beefy, nice and tender.

So now we wait and see….what else will Green China Grill have to offer.

Also, it seems that the dough is kneaded by machine and then worked through a noodle rolling machine. Then it looks like it's folded and stretched and pulled a few times. Hopefully I'm wrong? Say it isn't so? I'll check more carefully next time. And that overuse of MSG? I hope they cure that….

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily – 11am – MN

Zen Peninsula (Millbrae) and Chocolates from Rue Du Thé/Leland Tea Company (Burlingame)

January 12, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Chocolate, Dim Sum, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Travel

**** Zen Peninsula has closed

We had really enjoyed our time visiting Petaluma and hitting the Cheese Trail, which was a great time. But, all things must come to an end, and it was time head back to SFO. But not before the really friendly cat came by to bid us farewell.

I'd planned a single stop on the way to the airport and we decided to getting Dim Sum at Zen Peninsula which had been recommended to us. A big plus was it was basically on the way to the airport. The small parking lot is quite odd here, since the dining room is one of those cavernous dim sum places.

We were hungry and ended up ordering way too much food….well, it didn't seem to be a lot when we ordered, but the portion sizes seemed quite large.

We were also quite surprised at how slowly this place filled up….a slow trickle of people. The place wasn't even full when we left at 1145. Anyway, on to the food.

The Missus enjoyed the Chicken Feet.

This was decently flavored, good soy, fermented black bean, but nothing special. Still, it was toe-sucking goodness to the Missus.

The Gailan was under-cooked; very crunchy, lacking in flavor.

The flavor of the Pork Neck was nice; sweet and savory.

But the Missus didn't care for the almost crunchy texture of it.

The portion size of the Soy Sauce Noodles was quite large.

This was ok if a bit too salty.

The Missus saw Turnip Cake with XO Sauce and automatically thought it would be like Sea Harbour.

No such luck Chuck. The flavor was on the milder side and the radish cake a bit too mushy for our taste. Still, not bad. One funny thing; we didn't want to waste food so ended up taking this on our flight…….nothing like the smell of XO sauce on Virgin America!

I saw the Mustard Steamed Pork Intestine and decided I needed to try it. It was very fragrant, and the "sauce" tasted good, though I wasn't a big fan of all the scum.

And while there were some bits that looked like part of the Piggy's last meal floating around; the pungency of the dish masked all of that. This also added to the pungency of our carry-on….I really felt bad. In fact, I made sure not to buy any washed rind cheeses so as to not bother other passengers…..and here I was bringing pork intestine along for the flight. Luckily, no one sat around us and the flight was relatively empty. I didn't see anyone sniffing around wondering "what the heck is that smell"……

One last item I wanted to try was the Duck Liver Sausage Bun. Think ducky lapcheong.

While I felt the steamed bun could have been a bit lighter….it seemed to be getting gummy pretty quickly; I liked the flavor. The Missus's Shandong roots betrayed Her as She declared this way too sweet.

In spite of what you might think upon reading to this point; this was a decent dim sum meal; nothing spectacular, but still better, and cheaper than San Diego. Of course the Missus wanted to head to the SGV as soon as we got home.

Zen Peninsula
1180 El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA 94030

We finished lunch a bit earlier than expected, so I decided to head over to Burlingame. I'd heard that one of the Tea Shops also made tea infused chocolates. After finding a parking spot, which was a lot more difficult than I anticipated, then wandering around a bit….the shop isn't the easiest place to find….we got to Rue Du Thé , which I believe is also named Leland Tea Company.

Really friendly folks. And while not on the same level….according to the Missus as Wine Country Chocolates, She did enjoy what She selected. Especially the chili infused chocolates.

Rue Du Thé
1223 Donnelly Ave
Burlingame, CA 94010

We really enjoyed our short trip to the Bay Area. In fact, the Missus is already planning a return….for more cheese!

Thanks for reading!