Chinese Restaurants – Page 43

Luong Hai Ky (Mira Mesa) revisited

January 13, 2015 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Working late one evening, I was craving some Beef Sate Noodle…..of course Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed (I've been to Tim Ky – that post is upcoming), so despite some pretty unimpressive visits, I decided to give them another shot……you know, the place that claims to be the "The Original Chinese Noodles"……which means they'd have been around for like 4000 years, heck this isn't even their original location.

It's was prime dinnertime, but the place looked kind of empty. There I stood, promptly ignored by the three guys milling around, when the young guy practically screams at me "SIT!" pointing to one of the booths. And just in case I didn't hear him, he goes "SIT!" again. Now I may talk this way to Sammy and Frankie once in a while; but they have four legs……

Menu promptly flies onto table and the guy hovers over me. Now the last time I was here, I looked high and low for Beef Sate Noodle and the Server who was hovering over me just like this guy practically ordered me to have something else. This time I was going to find that damned dish even if took all night. Much to the dismay of the guy hovering….who finally let out a sigh and left me to concentrate on my meal. And wouldn't you know….I finally found it on the bottom of the menu. So the guy comes back and simply says "what???" Man of few words, or would that be word……

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory Beef Sate Noodle – Dry ($7.30). By the way; it's on the bottom of the noodle soup page.

It looked pretty decent; until you went to mix it and found all that iceberg lettuce hidden by the noodles, which were basically raw and still sort of powdery. There was not enough sauce and the beef was tough.

The broth was basically MSG water….really salty.

Sad really, since in the good old days LHK did a pretty good job. However, since the MM location opened and the failed attempt at reopening on Convoy, it seems the prices have gone up rather quickly, the flavors have gone down, and the Servers here only speak in monosyllables. Actually, the young man spoke perfect California English….there was a table with a couple of guys whom I'm thinking were his friends….they were talking about football. Which was great for his buddies…..though perhaps I would prefer just single word sentences from him……

So this is my third post on the place. And unless someone has some compelling dish to try, I think that's it for "The Original Chinese Noodles".

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
10606 Camino Ruiz #2
San Diego, CA 92126

Monday Meanderings: Jin’s Pot appears empty, Tan Ky will become Tim Ky Noodle, the Missus favorite coffee, and other silliness.

December 22, 2014 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

During this time of the year, folks are usually quite busy, so here's something short and sweet for Monday.

Jin's Pot appears empty:

Slight pun intended, though I'm not quite sure what to make of the Notice of Non Responsibility….I'm guessing there's a possibility of a lien against the business that the property owner is protecting themselves from. Doesn't sounds good.

It's too bad they weren't even able to last a year.

4690 Convoy St. Suite B109
San Diego, CA 92111

The old Tan Ky Mi Gia will become Tim Ky Noodle:

At least that's what the sign says…..

Cathy mentioned some new signage was up to me in a text, so I went to check things out. Tim Ky?

Anyway, I know quite a few people were a bit shocked when Tan Ky closed at the end of August.

The sign says they are reopening this month…so we'll see. Notice how they kept the same color sign?

9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

The Missus current favorite coffee:

While doing a short Trolley Brewery crawl with Candice; we stopped at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters in Little Italy. They had an interesting v60….with Haraaz Red Maraqaha. At almost $9, whew was it pricey.Though after tasting it; the smooth, berry flavors, the tongue coating richness with a nice clean finish. It's really a bit too smooth for me, but this is exactly what the Missus loves…..so I bought 8 ounces of beans – $21.95! Ouch!

That's ok though, since She really, really enjoyed, well I should say enjoys this as She's sent me back to pick up more. I'm sure She'll savor it while it lasts.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
2295 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA 92101

And then there are the signs…….

Here's the ATM at Toronado.

This sign always makes me smile………

Everytime I see it I wonder…. "Do two-Rongs, do it right?"

And just because….one of my favorite music videos that uses nice mirror work.

Midweek Meanderings: Pho DaKao, Hana Mart, and Voltero’s (I think) closes. The sign for Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon is up and other stuffs….

December 17, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Pizza, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

A fairly large collection for a SoCal winter Wednesday.

Pho DaKao and Grill Closes:

I drove by and noticed the parking lot was totally empty so I drove in. The Eviction Restoration Notice was posted on the door. Man, this place didn't last very long. I think I visited soon after they opened….so they pulled the plug pretty fast.

5296 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Hana Mart officially closes:

Speaking of pretty fast. No surprise really, after seeing how empty the place was. I guess the new owners couldn't pull it off. Too bad the place couldn't gain any traction. I drove past and noticed an auction sign and a couple of days later, the place looks abandoned.

I'm wondering what happened to Happy Family?

4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111

Is Voltero's Closed?:

I'd driven past a couple of times and the place looked closed so I stopped by earlier in the week.

This former Balboa Avenue institution moved to this location back in the summer of 2013. It's too bad that the renovation and creation of chain restaurant hell drove them from their old location and it seems that they barely made it past a year here. Though never a destination for me, I'd eaten at the old location a couple of times and thought it decent…….

So hopefully I'm mistaken? But it sure looks like they've shut down….

4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So here comes the "New" Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon:

Hopefully better than the "old" Dumpling Inn, but I doubt it.

While never great shakes, the place really "jumped the shark" in my opinion after the owner got involved with The Dragon's Den and Del Mar Rendezvous, both of which have been sold. So now we get this…….. I'm told he has a taste for "fusion", which is great, remember, I'm from the home of Pacific Rim Cuisine, so I love fusion…..but it's a thin line between fusion and "con-fusion".

In the old First Korean Market location.

4625 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Other stuffs……

We had some much needed rain over the last two weeks……..and we're kind of enjoying the nice sleeping weather, which would be great if I wasn't working so many long hours.

Still, I actually saw a double rainbow while driving to Target on the way home yesterday. Pardon the bad photos.

Seeing a rainbow in San Diego is rare enough….a double rainbow, well I don't ever recall seeing one here.

So I took a photo….then took photos of other folks taking photos of the double rainbow…..like I said, this is like an event.

Or maybe a celebrity? This guy is having his picture taken "with" the rainbow! No selfies here….though I did pass two couple taking selfies with the rainbow.

You gotta love it!

I hope you kept dry and safe during the rain!

Szechuan Taste

December 15, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Szechuan Taste has closed

I needed to finally get around posting on the place after first seeing the sign go up in September, to actually stumbling in on their grand opening day last month. It's really not like we need yet another Sichuan Restaurant in Kearny Mesa….however, a good Sichuan restaurant would always be welcome. With places like these, I like to do a couple of visits and finally have a few under my belt. For additional info, please read Faye's and Kirbie's posts.

I tried finding out a bit about the place, but my usual network of informants weren't able to find out much…owners supposedly from Seattle via the SGV, the head chef from Chongqing, also via the SGV……

The restaurant itself is quite large……and for the life of me I can't remember what this place was before? It's next to the Bullpen Sports Bar….was it a Men's Wearhouse or something like that? Anyway, the place is bright and clean, the Servers are pretty friendly if a bit slow, overall nothing to complain about.

So here's the rundown on dishes, from the best to the worst….. and no, I didn't order the XLB or the Hongshao Rou.

1 – Shui Zhu Yu – the classic fish "boiled in hot sauce". Called Sliced Fish in Hot & Spicy Gravy ($12.99).

First the good, a decent amount of Sichuan Peppercorn…hallelujah! Really. Nice garlic tones to match the "ma" – the numbing sensation. Not very spicy until having leftover two days later. Lots of oil…I know, I've often said "oil is the pathway to flavor"…but this was really oil heavy with not enough bean paste or stock to balance things out. Which left the flavor a bit on the flat side. The fish was drier and more chewy than the silken texture I prefer as well. That said, not bad. The portion size was quite hefty.

2 – Chongqing La Zi Ji(重庆辣子鸡). Chongqing Hot Chicken ($12.99) on the menu.

Wow, two dishes with a decent amount of Sichuan Peppercorn! Still, "ma" without the "la"…..as in not spicy enough. The chicken could have been fried a bit more crisp. And then there's that odd sweetness that we've been noticing in these fried dishes over the last couple of years. It's like an amount of cake flower or something with this annoying sweetness is being used nowadays.

3 – Zi Ran Yang Rou – Cumin Lamb ($12.99).

Not really a Sichuan dish, but it's something I love so much that I make it at home.

This could have been quite good with more cumin. The meat was decent in terms of texture and it had a slight kick to it. Would have loved some cilantro and more onions. another dish that tasted better two days later.

4 – Sichuan Liang Fen – Szechuan Bean Jelly ($5.99).

The humblest of dishes, but also quite comforting when made well.

This was nice and spicy, with good balance. The problem with the dish was that the liang fen was strangely mushy…..really bad.

5 – Szechuan Won Ton ($6.99).

This was not bad, and for me, it's totally legit to have tons of slippery-noodle-ly wrapper (which this was not) with a nice "kou gan" (mouthfeel) and a small amount of meat filler. This was a bit too hard, tough, and dry.

It had some heat, a bit of sweet, but nothing really remarkable.

And nowhere near this:

Or this……

6 – Pork Intestine with Laba Garlic ($12.99)

Kind of an interesting dish. Laba Garlic is more of a Northern Chinese thing. The garlic is supposed to have a strong vinegar flavor and be green….this garlic was more like "blue" which is normal for pickling garlic, if I recall, something to do with the sulfur comp0unds in the garlic reacting with the amino acids.

The intestine was prepared well, the garlic quite sour, but the dish just didn't seem to some together real well for me. Something was missing…..perhaps a bit more heat….I kept thinking how this would be with Pa Jiao – pickled peppers instead…well, maybe not.

8 – Dry Cooked Intestine Dry Pot ($11.99). I liked the presentation, over a heating element, and my gosh the portion size was humongous.

The heat in this was sneaky and got me good……the intestine was really tough though and the flavor one dimensional. Strangely, this had me thinking of Qi Wei, which ain't no great shakes either, but better than this.

9 – Emei (I guess named after Mount Emei) Mountain Style Beef ($13.99). Another large portion, the beef was nice and tender.

Strangely bland though……

10 – Fu Qi Fei Pian ($7.99). I was having lunch with my coworker Lily. We ordered this and had almost finished the meal when it arrived……strange. We thought they had forgotten about it. This was terrible.

Part of what makes this dish so good is the amount of time it spends marinating….it's also a liang cai (cold dish) and this was warm. The meat was super tough and hadn't really absorbed any flavor.

There is one thing that I had that was worse than the Fu Qi Fei Pian…..I can't really complain because it was free, but the Hot and Sour Soup …it was barely warm, not very sour, not hot at all, kind of insipid.

Overall, I think a couple of dishes have some potential, but right now it's just another Sichuan place in the area…..other than using a decent amount of peppercorns, I'm not sure what to say. Of course, it seems that most customers of these type of places want quantity more than quality, which is kind of sad. The folks working here were very nice on all my visits.

When things warm up, I'll come back for the Sichuan Liang Mian and the Ko Shui Ji and I'm hoping for maybe some nice surprises.

Szechuan Taste
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Midweek Meanderings: Sang Deuan Thai and Lao Kitchen coming to Convoy and Szechuan Taste opens

November 26, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Just a quick little post on a warm Thanksgiving eve.

Sang Deuan Thai and Lao Kitchen coming to Convoy:

I actually saw the sign lit up when driving home from Nijiya a couple of nights ago. This shop will take the place of the long running Philadelphia Sandwich Company. As much as I love businesses who have been around forever, the food at PSC seemed dated and a bit tired, so maybe it was time. As for Sang Devan, well, I'm interested and time will tell….

3904 Convoy St #112
San Diego, CA 92111

Szechuan Taste opens:

I mentioned this place a couple of months ago. I drove by yesterday and the place was open!

And yes, I did stop by. You know how I am. I'll eat here a couple of times before posting.

I will say, the servers are very friendly, there are the usual Sichuan suspects on the menu. The menu is a bit disconcerting….along with the to be expected ABC (American Born Chinese) dishes, usually on the menu as a concession to the lunch crowd; there's the very non-Sichuan Xiao Long Bao and Hongshao Rou……. Not quite what comes to mind with regards to "Szechuan Tastes"…..

So we'll see….

Stay tuned!

Szechuan Taste
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Qi Wei Kitchen

November 18, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Qi Wei in San Diego has closed

Qi Wei Kitchen kinda quietly opened just when we got back from our trip. I asked some coworkers and other folks who are tuned into Weibo and other social media and was warned off. Low quality products, off flavors, long waits (like over an hour), really made me hesitate. In retrospect, I should have done what I usually do, just plow in full speed ahead. The other thing being, it seems that only Sichuan and Hot Pot restaurants are interested in opening in San Diego. Also, unlike how things used to be, it seems to be all about portion sizes now(as in Szechuan Chef)….quantity is in, quality be damned. About 2 weeks ago, "YZ" gave me the all clear on Qi Wei and along with Lily, we headed down the street to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Qi Wewi specializes in one thing; what they call Mala Xiang Guo – Numbing-Hot "dry" fragrant (Hot) Pot, which looks a lot like some of the dry cooked dishes I'm familiar with.

The drill is basically ordering a size of "dry pot"….the $10.99 version is only available for lunch from Monday – Thursday. You then choose the type…well ma-la of course; spice level. The $30.99 special gives you a choice of two protein based items (except for stuff like lobster and fish) to add to the base pot, which has four items….which I thought would be bad luck; but whose counting. Those four items, cauliflower, potato, bean sprouts, and celery. You can add proteins for $10.99 and vegetables and such run form 99 cents to $2.99. I think you get the picture, it can get pretty pricey, pretty quickly.

Anyway, we went with the Combo. Strong flavored and offal type items are a natural for this style, so ordered the duck gizzards and the ox tripe.

This was mostly mushy french fries and cauliflower. What gizzard and tripe existed was very salty. Not very……no numbing Sichuan Peppercorn, very blah. Plus, it took almost 30 minutes to arrive. Not terrible, but quite mediocre.

As it stood, most folks would say "meh" and never return. But you know me…..I just needed to verify. So I returned a while later, solo, since I didn't want to put anyone else through what we'd had before

The woman on this visit was very nice. I ordered the $10.99 deal, medium spicy, with mutton, a favorite of mine. Sadly, what I got was beef……the server was very apologetic and told me, "the beef is very good….my favorite". I'm sure she was embellishing things, but I have to say, the beef, though on the chewy side had some pretty decent flavor….the beefiness and five spice came though nicely. As you can clearly see, it looks much better than on the previous visit.

The celery, which was MIA on our previous visit was here…..the amount of beef was adequate….there was even a some decent heat, though still not enough of the Sichuan Peppercorn numbingness I adore. It wasn't as salty and had some decent flavor. I couldn't finish all that cauliflower and french fries so I took it home. The Missus thought it was decent.

Overall, not a great value, but if you're looking to fill up on potatoes and rice, I guess this might fit the bill. I might try to return for mutton or even better, intestine, though to be perfectly honest, I'd rather have some dry cooked lamb, intestine, or beef from Fu An or even Spicy City…..boy do I miss Ba Ren.

They also have a location in our old neck of the woods; Rowland Heights as well.

Qi Wei Kitchen
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

COMC: Revisits to Golden City and Carnitas Snack Shack

September 25, 2014 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Chinese Restaurants

What the heck? What’s the tie in with these two places? Well, read on and I think you’ll see. Mostly photos in this one….I’ve posted on these places before. So let’s C(lear) O(ut) the M(emory) C(ard) shall we?

Golden City for the billionth time:

**** Golden City has closed

I actually hadn’t been back to Golden City in a while. But after reading Lynn’s post, even though she ordered things that I would never have at Golden City. I thought it was time for a revisit and yet another post to see if they have gone severely downhill. I had thoughts of picking up on my Golden City Hot Pot project, but man, it’s been so hot. Anyway, the photos kind of speak for themselves.

My favorite – the Kwai Fei Ji. Also a favorite of Dennis.

Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable.

Macau Roast Pork……on one visit, with my buddy Candice, it was too salty. On this visit, with my coworkers YZ and Lily, it was quite good…..

YZ, from Shanghai and Lily from Shanxi (“I’m from Taiyuan, not Taiwan, ok”) really know the questions to ask whenever we eat Chinese food…. where are the owners from and what is the style of food. I think of Golden City as basically a Guangdong (Cantonese to you) style restaurant that pulls ever so slightly toward Chaozhou (Eastern Guangdong), though many of the dishes that reflect that are no longer on the menu .

Like the Beef Stew (actually a braise) with Radish. I’ve had it when it was quite good. On this day, it wasn’t quite ready for prime time; the beef was nice, tender, moist, yet not falling to pieces, but the daikon was still too hard.

The food can sometimes be uneven. The Fish in Black Bean Sauce had me asking where the fish was during a lunch with Reza.

The textures and flavors were right, but the ratio of onions to everything else was off.

The dishes we order occaisionally draw stares from the gringo ordering customers, as I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t think ordering dishes from the Easternmost Regional Chinese Cuisine….. that would be ABCD (“American Born Chinese Dining”), is what they do best here. And I think folks like CAB, Dennis, and even Kirbie would agree. Nothing fancy, but decent grub.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Carnitas Snack Shack:

**** This location of Carnitas’ Snack Shack has closed

The Missus had been fighting a cold during the super hot week we had recently. She doesn’t handle being sick very well. And the heat just made things that much worse. So, while on the road to recovery, the Missus told me She wanted to visit one of Her current favorite places, basically for this.

It didn’t look quite right, but the flavor, the sweet-porkiness was still right on. And the Missus just basically inhaled the thing.

Carnitas now has a second location in Del Mar, which Kirbie, Jinxi, and Faye have posted on…man, it’s Food Blogger Central! I was wondering if there was going to be a drop off at the original location, but no, things were good as ever. It’s really nice that things have really been fine tuned since my first visit back in 2011.

Carnitas’ Snack Shack
2632 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92104

So how’s this for a pork-a-licious COMC post?

Midweek Meanderings: Szechuan Taste opening in Clairemont Mesa and other hot stuff

September 24, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

Just a quick note for a beautiful Wednesday. Driving back from lunch at Golden City I saw this sign.

Hmmm….another Sichuan Restaurant, huh? It looks like construction had just begun. Sichuan restaurants in the SGV is having kind of a renaissance, with places like Chengdu Taste and Szechuan Impression opening up. I hope this place measures up…..

8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Check this out…..

Now being that red is nature's warning color, it's easy to under estimate these White Ghost Peppers. Until you cut them open. Not as hot as the Red Ghost Pepper, but plenty spicy.

The peppers that really surprised me were the Carribean Red Habaneros that I grew from seeds purchased from the New Mexico State University Chili Institute. These are very large and much more spicy than the fruit from the red habanero plant I bought earlier in the year.

It's also much more fruity, with a bite that lasts about 8-9 minutes. I'm thinking I'll purchase more seeds from the program next year, maybe even try to get some Carolina Reaper seeds. What do you think?

Guess where this is…… yep, it’s The Noble Chef

September 5, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

Have you seen this place? Does it look familiar?

Anything ring a bell? The decor? Furniture???

How about the Chinese BBQ case, not bad looking eh?

Well, walking in here was a bit of a shock…….the place went from this:

To this…..

Yes, that's right it's The Noble Chef….

Oooops, I mean The Noble Chef.

You know, I've been coming here since 2002, and first posted about the place in June of 2005. I've seen the old owners retire, taking their wok skills with them. And while, the couple of items I thought were pretty good on the menu were never quite the same, it was passable and even improved over time.

Thanks to FOY (Friend of Yoso) "Jess", I found out that The Noble Chef was finally reopening on September 3rd.

Imagine me walking in to a menu full of Cantonese dishes facing a case of Chinese BBQ. I decided to just try out the roast duck; I needed time to look over the menu to see what new and maybe promising, and also to see if my old favorites were still there. So I got a half roast duck ($12). Getting home and opening up the styrofoam container, I felt like there was bait and switch going on. The ducks in the case were a nice, lacquered brown….this was a rather beige looking beast.

Skin like rubber, meat moist, but lacking flavor…skin almost without flavor, where was the five spice, the salty, the sweet? I also question the cooking temp/technique as this seemed greasy, not rich with oil, but greasy. This has got to be the worst Chinese Roast Duck I've had in quite a while.

Let's add insult to injury, it seems that many of the dishes I thought were decent at Noble Chef are no longer on the menu; Shrimp with XO Sauce Fried Rice, Shrimp Tomato Sauce, Shrimp and Egg on Rice….in fact, it looks like there aren't very many shrimp dishes on the menu. To make things even worse; one of the lousiest dishes I'd ever had at Noble Chef, the Hainan Chicken Rice is on the lunch menu.

So what to do? I'm not sure….I guess I need to check out some of the lunch specials at the least. Lunch is served until 4pm, which is great……but I'm not so certain about the food. Really nice folks, they seem to be trying hard, but this just didn't do it for me.

The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111

Roadtrip: JTYH Restaurant – Rosemead

August 23, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

One the way back home from a roadtrip earlier in the year, I finally had a chance to stop by JYTH Restaurant. I'd tried to convince the Missus to stop by before, but She declared havung the specialty of the house, mao erduo – ("cat's ears"), too much carbs. Since this was a solo trip, I was able to stop by.

Since this is the SGV, you just knew the place was going to be in….a strip mall of course. The place was quite empty when I arrived, the woman working here was very nice and friendly.

I was only after one thing….. mao erduo (貓耳朵). Which arrived steaming hot.

Very simply prepared, which is sometimes best, the noodle, which resembles Orecchiette, or as my coworker "Lily" who is from Shanxi, where mao erduo is one of the regional specialties says, "no, Orecchiette, resembles mao erduo." This version is quite chewy, almost dense, and hardens a bit as it cools. Quite substantial, it is stir-fried with soy sauce, garlic, a bit of napa cabbage, and a touch of sesame oil. It is topped eggs scrambled with scallions and wood ear fungus. Quite filling, I could only put away half of this before calling it quits. I thought it was fine, but nothing I'd go out of my way for in the future.

I later spoke to Lily about this type of noodle and was told it should be chewy, but also smooth and clean in flavor. This seemed a bit to dense and over-worked.

One really cute thing happened as I was finishing up my meal. The front door of the restaurant opened; two old-timers in wheelchairs were pushed in by younger women and a table was set-up for them.

The women were wearing scrubs, so I'm assuming there's a senior/assisted living facility nearby. Apparently this is a fairly regular thing as the server saw me smiling and gave me a wink! The gentlemen seemed very happy to have the attention, the women were very attentive….I guess these guys are their favorites! For some reason, I found this kind of cute and charming as all four seemed to be having a great time. Other folks I mentioned this to found it creepy…. I guess it's all based on your viewpoint.

Of course, in spite of the attention of young ladies, one must still be able to focus on the business at hand, right? Which means checking out the liang cai (cold dishes). The menu is quite a collection of everything from Sichuan to Northern Chinese, the prices are quite reasonable. The main item of note here are the noodles.

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

Of course I stopped to get take-out on the way home……

After all, no place even comes close with regard to these dishes in San Diego…

Thanks for reading!