Chinese Restaurants – Page 45

Roadtrip: Xi’an Kitchen (City of Industry) and other stuff

December 16, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

After lunch at Shanghailander Palace we made the short drive to Gale and the City of industry for our appointment. We had thoughts of getting our appointment done and having an early dinner and possibly a later snack. Unfortunately, what is usually an hour appointment became a 2 1/2 hour one. Kind of bushed we decided to just stay in the area. We hadn't been to the area on Gale west of Fullerton Road in ages and I had a choice of two places; Remy's or Xi'an Kitchen.

The choice became rather easy as I've been looking for good Shaanxi food since we returned from Xi'an a couple of years ago. The places we've tried just didn't measure up. We didn't set our hopes too high….I just really wanted a good Yang Rou Pao Mo, unleavened bread in mutton soup.

The place was totally different in terms of service from lunch; the young lady here just wanted to do the bare minimum. She was more interested in talking to her friends on one of the tables than serving customers. In fact, when the older couple on the back table, returned the Yang rou chuan; the lamb skewers, because they thought it was too fatty, she loudly and blatantly mocked them when taking it back to the kitchen.

I was fascinated to see Rou Jia Mo on the menu as "Chinese Hamburger". This is basically a flat bread filled with fatty pork. What's not to like. In my mind, I thought if this was half as good as what we had at Fan Ji La Zhi Rou Jia Mo (樊记腊汁肉店), I should be happy. With that as the benchmark, I guess I should be satisfied.

The filling was rich and greasy, with a good porkiness, just about right. It was however, ice cold, which made it somewhat unpleasant. The bread was over-worked and too dense , repelling the wonderful porky goodness of something like this version from Xi'an:

The Yang Rou Pao Mo tasted almost exactly like the version at Shaanxi Gourmet, so perhaps these two places are somehow related?

In places such as Tong Sheng Xiang (同盛祥) in Xi'an, the dense unleavened bread is brought to your table whereupon you break the pieces up and the hot mutton broth is poured over everything. I didn't expect that here, could you imagine the young lady having her social time interrupted for those annoying customers? Anyway, like Shaanxi Gourmet, the bread was wrong, very waxy and slippery, seemingly over-worked, developing too much gluten. Thus the bread never absorbed the flavor of the broth, which was decent, and the nice and flavorful lamb.

Of course I was wishing for something along the lines of this.

No cilantro, chili paste, or pickled garlic either…perhaps I needed to ask for those standard accompaniments? So, I recall saying that Shaanxi Gourmet didn't quite take me to Xi'an….perhaps to New Guinea; this one took me to Catalina Island…….. Still, the portion size was quite large, and would fill one up quite adequately.

We ordered one other item; called "Braised Meat in Fermented Sauce", basically preserved meat.

We both loved the texture of this cold dish, though it was pretty salty. Still, this was the best dish of the evening.

The prices here are very reasonable, but you get what you pay for. I'll pass next time….should have gotten Niu Rou Mian next door at Remy's.

Xi'an Kitchen
18213 E Gale Ave
City of Industry, CA 91748

After dinner, we decided to drive up Fullerton Road into La Habra, then to Imperial to check out one of the Missus's old favorite haunts; Brea Mall. For some reason, the place just looked dull and uninspiring to the Missus….ah, how times have changed. After walking off dinner we crossed over the 57 and checked out Mother's where the Missus bought some apples….which seemed to be the theme of this roadtrip; the Missus bought apples everywhere; Braeburn, Black Arkansas, Crimson Gold; we got back home with a bag full of apples….go figure!

We ended the evening at Daiso….the Missus bought some trinkets for some friends. If I recall, this used to be a dance studio, which I think has moved further down the strip mall.

In what seemed oddly humorous to me; they kept announcing how many minutes to closing from the time we entered….830 pm, every five minutes! By the demeanor of the staff you could see that they just wanted us the heck out of the store; it was easy to read between the lines here. "Attention Daiso customers, don't go away mad….just go away!!!" After escaping from Daiso, we walked over to 85C bakery, where we soon noticed all the other folks who had gotten kicked out left Daiso had gathered. Daiso refugees one and all!

What was really sad is that the Albertson's, which used to anchor this strip mall is now gone. We hated the Von's in Rowland Heights, which became SF Supermarket, so we used to shop here every so often. I'm not the biggest fan of these mega-chains, but we had nice memories of the place.

So Von's in Rowland Heights is gone, Albertson's in Hacienda Heights, along with Ralph's off of Colima Road in Hacienda Heights, and Ralph's in Diamond Bar. Wow……..

We crashed early, deciding to leave for the next leg of our roadtrip early; like 530 am early. The Missus wanted to stop by Donut King in the same strip mall for a cup of coffee, for old times sake.

When we lived here, Donut King used to be open 24 hours….now they open at 3am. I'm still amazed that the place survives with Krispy Creme literally a block away and all the Asian Bakeries, but there were a couple of folks in the place at 530, so I guess they're hanging on.

It's been over a decade since we left this neighborhood…..we mulled over all the changes as we headed off into the early morning darkness……

Roadtrip: Shanghailander Palace (Hacienda Heights)

December 10, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

I took some time off at the end of last week. We had an appointment in LA and since I'd been working pretty hard over the last couple of months, I thought it would be good to take an extended roadtrip. Our first day would be in our old neighborhood of Rowland/Hacienda Heights and then we'd move further "North" for a few days.

Since this was a multi-day trip, we stopped at HK Plaza to stock up on some snacks and tea for our trip.

We also took the time to see what was going on here…..

We weren't too hungry, but of course we also didn't want to squander a lunch, so we headed to a place that caught the Missus' attention the last time we stayed in the area. According to what I've read, Shanghailander Palace was aiming to be the area's equivalent of Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Restaurant. So we stopped by to have a light lunch.

Arriving at almost 2 pm on a Wednesday, we were shocked to see how busy the place was! The crowd was composed of mostly older folks and larger groups. I really could have done without the middle aged woman dressed almost "cosplay" style in a short plaid skirt, blouse, and schoolgirl like sweater….yikes, it gave me the heebies!

The service was rather slow, but it could be understood since the place was slammed.

We started with the Xun Yu – "Shanghai Style Smoked fish", which as I've often explained, isn't really smoked. In what seems like the "new style" of Hu Cai (滬菜), this is served warm (deep fried after marinating) rather than as a cold dish.

I enjoyed this version as it was light, mildly "winey", not too sweet (though still too sweet for the Missus), with a nice soy flavor. Even though this was obviously fresh water fish; it lacked the muddy flavor I find unpleasant. This was much better than the version at Shanghai Number 1. I also thought the portion size was nice for an appetizer.

I will say that the tea we ordered – Ti Guanyin, a favorite of mine was just plain insipid.

I didn't see one of my favoite dishes; jellied pork on the menu, so we went with the mutton version instead.

I loved the texture, but the sauce provided was just wrong. I ended up opting for black vinegar instead.

Of course we had to get Xiao Long Bao. We went for the Pork and Crab version.

These were average at best. The tuft at the top was too hard, the wrappers ok….no leakage here, if perhaps a bit too thick and gummy. I thought the filling had decent flavor; not too sweet, but you could definitely make out the crab. Not enough soup though…..hardly any soup.

Some of the other dishes….stuff we could order if we could handle left-overs like the Braised Pork looked really good. So I think we'll probably be back.

Overall, this was a nice start to our roadtrip, which would be taking us North, culminating with dinner in San Mateo at Michelin Starred Wakuriya. Man was I going to enjoy this roadtrip!

Shanghailander Palace
1695 South Azusa Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Liang’s Kitchen Revisited

December 9, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

**** Liang's Kitchen has closed

As the year started winding down, I've found myself thinking that I needed to circle back at some of those places that, well, really didn't impress me too much over the years, just to see.

This short and sweet post on Liang's is probably a good start since I hadn't been here in a while. Even though it was perfect soup weather, the place seems a bit slower than when I first visited.

I started with the Stewed Bean Curd Skin.

Not the prettiest dish in the world, this really looked like offal, and for some reason the decorative bit of tomato and cilantro leaf really didn't do much for the presentation. The flavor, though mild, had just enough soy sauce flavor to push this up to decent. The yba was kind of hard in some of the thicker pieces, but this wasn't bad at all.

I went with the Beef Tendon Noodle Soup with handmade noodles. The broth was very slightly beefy, better than on previous visits, which really doesn't say much. But what this terrible was that there was a pervading taste bleach. I tried to explain to the Server who nodded, walked away and never returned. Then I tried to explain to the young lady who brought me my check, but no go…… I just cut my losses. I don't think they rinsed this off after sanitizing, or something of the sort.

Anyway, the tendon was plus/minus, some tough pieces, some pretty good. The pieces of beef were dry. I like the pickeld mustard greens and the noodles, though still too gummy and over-worked for my taste, were actually an improvement over previous visits.

I left and went and had some ramen……..

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

Comfort Food Roadtrip: Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park) and Shen Yang Restaurant (San Gabriel)

December 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

We hadn't been down to the SGV since before our vacation in May. I've been pretty busy with work and had been craving some jiaozi (dumplings) for a while. Unfortunately, there isn't a place in San Diego that makes anything remotely close to a decent jiaozi, xiao long bao, or even dim sum. It's a shame. I was missing jiaozi so much that I actually went to Dump(ling) Inn, which was a big mistake. The Missus also wanted some hearty comfort food as well. So a couple of weeks ago, we headed on up to the SGV.

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Folks that read the blog long enough know that while I love a good jiaozi, I'm partial to the Shandong style; specifically QingDao style dumpling. The wrappers have to be rolled by hand, those edges have to be thin enough so that the texture of the wrapper will be even after folding. The texture of the wrapper has to have a bit of stretch, almost like a good al dente noodle. It should glisten when cooked. I know, blah, blah, blah……

What it basically comes down to is that I enjoy the mutton jiaozi from Qing Dao Bread Food. It's the style I enjoy the best and also the city the Missus is from. The Missus always laughs after talking to the guy here….according to Her; his accent is "totally, one hundred-percent Qing Dao" which has its own unique accent ( "Qingdao Hua" (青岛话)).

Since we were folding two meals into one, this was going to be something light….all the Missus wanted was millet porridge, which is something like 50 cents here.

I'm not a big fan of this, but for the Missus, it's comfort food.

Over the years, we've noticed that there are new specials offered; many of them examples of typical, traditional, Qing Dao style "soul food". On this visit; the Missus and I were amazed to see housemade Chinese Sausage. Not just any Chinese sausage, but stuff that really looked like the style made in Qing Dao. So we just had to try it.

According to the sign, it's a "special, secret recipe". I can say this though, the flavors are pretty much spot on. While I'm not certain if the attributes of this sausage is unique to Qing Dao, or if it is more of a regional style, I will say that the strong flavor of wine in which the pork is marinated in, and the five spice was there. In fact, the five spice had the potent fragrance and flavor of the stuff from Qing Dao; which is what I use at home. Interesting tidbit; in QingDao, you don't go to the market to buy five spice. Rather, you go to the pharmacy to get it! In terms of texture; it wasn't quite as "air dried" as I'm used to, making it more moist. Also, the meat was cut in larger chunks. It was also a bit more salty as well. Still, this was a taste of home for the Missus and comfort food for me. It's obviously hand made and not cheap at $20 a pound ($4 each), but totally worth it.

Of course I had to have the Lamb Jiaozi:

I won't go too much into detail, since I've written about this, several times before. I will say, that on this visit, while still good, it wasn't quite up there with what I'd had previously. That sheen was missing; the wrapper was a bit more brittle, lacking the slight pull I'm used too. It's still among my favorites though.

Qing Dao Bread Food is an interesting shop; they were quite busy on this morning, I think they've found their niche, the soul food of Qing Dao. Lots of guys coming in and buying mantou (which is the classic starch for the sausage) on this morning. I'm sure we'll be dropping by to pick up some sausage on future trips to the area.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Shen Yang Restaurant (San Gabriel location):

**** Shen Yang Restaurant has closed

I'd been wanting to check out Shen Yang for a while. Since we were in the mood for the hearty type of Northern Chinese, we headed up to Shen Yang Restaurant.

There's something very "old school" SGV about this place. The service is pretty much all business, the customers older Chinese….not a single word of English heard from anyone other than us the whole visit.

We started up with the Stewed Pork Bones (Jiang Gutou).

There something so wonderful about picking through tasty pieces of meat, tendon, and other connective tissue around bones. The flavor of the bones have been passed to the meat; the stickiness of the tendon and other connective tissues, along with the varying texture of the "good bits" make this a great dish with a couple of beers. The flavor was straight ahead and I could probably pull this off at home, but this wasn't bad at all.

Since we're talking about Shenyang style food here, I had to try the Suan Cai. So we got the Shredded Pork with Pickled Sour Napa.

Not the prettiest looking dish, but this was very good. The suan cai was prepped well; neither salty, nor too sour. The texture was spot on. The Missus was told that they make their own suan cai, which takes about a month. This was very warming and hearty. The portion size was typical of Northern Chinese, very generous. The pork was tender and the flavors for this type of dish well balanced. Think of it as a sauerkraut stir-fry if you will.

We'll be back to try the suan cai yang rou soon. The prices are reasonable, though I'm not certain that unless you've been exposed to this type of cuisine, you'll really enjoy it. For me; it's hearty, comfort food.

Shen Yang Restaurant
137 S San Gabriel Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Chopsticks Inn Restaurant-La Mesa

October 30, 2013 Cathy Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog. Centered mostly around food, we (Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy) write about various places, recipes, ingredients. Here's a post about a place, written by Cathy.

As mentioned in another post, frequently I meet clients for an exchange of paperwork and often they offer to buy me lunch. I let them choose the location, asking them where's a place they enjoy- knowing they might not be as adventurous as I- and also they are aware of the price point, since they have offered to pay.

Chopsticks Inn has been in the corner of this storefront area in La Mesa since 1988. It's the same corner and shares the same parking lot as La Mesa Bistro & Bakery . The owner of Chopsticks Inn was born in SouthEast China, moved to Hong Kong where she grew up with her Grandmother and eventually moved to the US, learning Japanese and Thai cooking along the way. As you can see from the signage, a multitude of Asian cuisine choices are available.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated in a higher end Asian look. The waitstaff is friendly, efficient and knowledgeable.

We both ordered lunch specials, which came with a choice of soup. Hot and Sour and Egg Drop were our choices. When we were first seated, the fried wonton strips and small plate serving of a sweet/vinegar 'duck' sauce were brought to the table.

The Red Curry Chicken lunch plate ($7.55)- came with the soup, an egg roll (all vegetable), cream cheese fried wonton, steamed rice and a very good size serving of red curry chicken-made with fresh mushroom, red and green bell peppers and celery. Yes, celery, which was very complimentary with the flavors.

The Kung Pao chicken ($7.25) was also accompanied by the same sides, as this was also a lunch special. You can see it also had fresh mushrooms, celery and is topped with peanuts. It wasn't very spicy-hot, but was made with very fresh ingredients and tasty…had just a bit of heat, which was nice.

Fortune Cookies were brought out with the bill. I haven't seen packaged Fortune Cookies in a long time and it was fun reading and exchanging our predictions. (Hot tea was $1 each).

This was a very nice, quality meal. I noticed the Dim Sum is a la carte as well as available as platters, that Bento boxes are available at lunch and dinner prices and many noodle and rice dishes are available along with Chinese "Family" meals (priced per person). A new item they were promoting were Boba beverages.

A very interesting restaurant in an unexpected location.

Chopsticks Inn Restaurant 8687 La Mesa Boulevard La Mesa, CA 91942 open Tues-Sun 11 a.m-9 p.m. (619) 466-4470 Website

Saturday Stuffs: What’s going on in the former B.H. Chung Spot? Ditto Mr. Fish and Chips. LW’s San Diego BBQ coming to Bay Park.

September 14, 2013 mmm-yoso BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Seafood

Just a quick post on a lovely Saturday.

So what's going on with the old B.H. Chung spot?:

On my way to lunch a couple of days ago, I drove by to see what was happening in the old B.H. Chung spot.

I know, doesn't look like anything, right? A closer look reveals a sign:

Both the Missus and "Xiang Jiao" told me it's going to be a "porridge place". I'm trying not to mentioned the lovely parking lot in this post, but can't help myself….

Stay tuned…..

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

What's up with Mr Fish and Chips?:

"Soo" mentioned that a fire closed Mr Fish and Chips in the comments of this post. I believe they were supposed to reopen at the end of June, but the place is still empty. AT least the sign is still up; which is a positive indicator.

This whole strip mall is being renovated and some new structures are being put up as well. I've had some preliminary messages telling me that a Chinese restaurant may be opening in this mall as well.

Mister Fish & Chips
5647 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

LW's San Diego BBQ:

This sign has been up for a couple of months.

This used to be the location of Chinese Garden, an ABCDE (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment) whose main clientele were folks from the assisted living apartments behind the mall. Not quite sure what "SD BBQ" is…though a picture comes to mind of ribs par baked in foil, then finished over mesquite or something like that…….I'm hoping not, so we'll see.

3057 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Ba Ren’s legacy – Fu An Garden

September 3, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Fu An has closed

*** You can find updates here and here

*** The folks that used to work at Ba Ren are no longer here.

*** 07/06/2016 Fu An is now Fuan Seafood

The first real inkling of something happening at the defunct BBQ Chicken site was announced in Eater San Diego. I did a quick post once the sign went up. FOY Candice even told me that she went to investigate and recognized one of the folks there, though she really couldn't remember where. I was pretty much burned out on Sichuan in San Diego once Ba Ren closed, and "Shifu" Chen, yes, he was a certified Master Chef from Chongqing (the original head chef of ChungKing Restaurant in Monterey Park), moved away. All of the places seemed to be serving stuff from the same playbook……..with either Spicy City or Dede's being the source. After having a couple of mediocre meals at Szechuan Chef, followed by a dreary meal at Spicy House with their "new chef", I'd had enough. Still, I thought I'd stop by Fu An Garden and take a look at the menu, when the most surprising thing happened…..

As I walked to front of the restaurant from my parked car, I almost jumped out of my pants when someone started pounding on the window. I looked closely….and my goodness, it was the assistant chef from Ba Ren! Upon entering he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. It was really nice seeing him. I made a promise to return with the Missus the next night, which we did. I returned with friends and solo a couple of times more.

The design is a million miles from Ba Ren…the restaurant is pretty small, but three's a large banquet style area behind some door in the front. The place is rather stylish in a Chinese restaurant sort of way. The place is owned by the family of the former prep cook at Ba Ren.

The menu is the modern, typical many photos scattered about and is sometimes confusing. There are at least a 169 dishes on the menu.

What follows is a listing of what I've had at Fu An Garden over the last couple of weeks, from the good, to the ones that I didn't enjoy as much. I will say, I've enjoyed the food at Fu An Garden much more than any other Sichuan restaurant in San Diego.

Back in fall of 2009, Ba Ren had a dish on the seasonal menu that we just loved. We didn't see it on the regular menu, but I thought the chef might just be able to make it for us. So I had my good friend "YZ" write it down before I went to visit with a group of friends:

We were delighted when our Server, the very friendly "Grace" asked the chef, who agreed to make it for us.

It was called Steamed Fish Filet with Green Onions and Chopped Chilies at Ba Ren. This looked like a carbon copy and was delicious! Though I will say, like many of the dishes, this one is not as spicy as the versions at Ba Ren, even when we order it "La" . Other then that, it's pretty close, the fish is tender, moist, and almost melts in your mouth, the sauce is a complex combination of flavors, there is bean thread on the bottom which adds to the enjoyment. I'm thinking of bringing some ghost peppers so we can get the heat up to snuff, but this is one of my favorites. My friends ended up taking photos of the Chinese name of the dish and have kept coming back to order it. Much like what happened at Ba Ren, I have a feeling this one will end up on the menu.

The Fried Intestines with Dried Red Pepper ($10.99) is also a winner.

Love the texture of these….crisp, giving way to a nice offal chewiness. Like many of the dishes, it could stand to have a bit more Sichuan Peppercorn, but this is one of my "go to" dishes here.

I believe that Chef Hu used to prep a lot of the Liang Cai – the cold dishes and these are a strong spot on the menu.

My favorite here without a doubt is the stomach/intestines which has a nice salty crunch to them. The pig ear is prepared well too.

My favorite at Ba Ren, the Fu Qi Fei Pian is cut correctly, but lacks the zip that I love. It's not bad, but not great.

My good friend "YummyYummy" loves the chicken feet…..

If there were any dishes at Ba Ren that I considered "comfort food" it would be the next three dishes. Each of which were close……

I loved the Sichuan Liang Mian at Ba Ren, it was comfort food to me, when the temperature rose I'd be craving it. So I just had to try it, called simply "Cold Noodle" ($6.99) on the menu.

At first I was thrown off as it looked nothing like what I expected. But as I mixed the noodles all those familiar scents rose in the air. And indeed, the flavor was there, the sesame paste, the vinegar, the mild spice, all the savory flavors melded together. This was almost spot on in terms of flavor….except that the noodles were really bad; hard, brittle, with an almost powdery texture to them. This was so close……

The portion size for the Chopped Cold Chicken with Chili Pepper Sauce ($12.99), Ko Shui Ji – mouthwatering (alright, let's call it the way it is…"Saliva") chicken was quite large.

The flavor was there, but very muted, like there wasn't enough of anything…it needed a whole lot more spice, more everything. This needs a bit of tuning, which I'm hoping will occur……

As did the Won Ton with Chili Sauce ($6.99) – Long Chao Shou.

This was a bit on the water-logged side and the won tons really didn't have the "kou gan", the mouth feel I was looking for.

The Lamb in Dry Pot ($12.99) was passable.

I prefer a thicker cut for dry cooked dishes, this was bit too close to shabu-shabu cut meat. The flavor was a bit too much soy sauce and not enough Sichuan peppercorn and spices.

The Fish Filet with Pickled Pepper (Pa Jiao – $11.99) was similar in lack of a complex spicy flavor.

Of course I had to order the Shui Zhu Yu, the classic "Water Boiled Fish" ($12.99).

The fish was prepared spot on, melt in your mouth tender. The flavor fell short in the "ma" category as it wasn't very numbing, and could have used more spice as well. The sauce was kind of flat and was very salty, but lacked the savory bean paste flavor. This is a favorite; I'm hoping it was only a mild "hiccup".

All of these dishes were edible, some more than the others. The dish I liked the least was a total "Convoy Sichuan" dish; something that everyplace makes….and not very well at that. In this case, they call it Twice Cooked Fish. A part of me was wishing for this, one of our favorites at Ba Ren:

Unfortunately, it was basically the same dish you can get at any of the "Sichuan" restaurants on Convoy – the fried then tossed with peppers dish that lacks real complex flavors.

It really wasn't very spicy and the batter was very powdery and crumbly with an odd sweet flavor that the Missus likened to cake mix.

So what's my verdict? Well first off, the service here is very nice. If you recall how surly things got once Wendy left Ba Ren….this is a very nice group of folks. The potential is there; the chef cooked for 9 years under a Master Chef and while it maybe just like the other places on the street with regards to a well worn playbook, we aren't talking about ChongQing Taxi Driver cooking here…this chef has a pedigree. I'm hoping this is a jump off point for Chef Hu and the sky's the limit.

Fu An Garden
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

777 Noodlehouse: Sometimes, nothing fits the bill like some intestines…….

August 17, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

In a bowl of rice noodle soup……

Or stir-fried, Chinese style with preserved vegetable. They can make this pretty spicy.

I don't know when it happened, but somewhere down the line intestines have become comfort food.

Not in the mood for poop-shoot? The Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho )dry) is still my favorite here.

I wasn't quite as fond of the egg noodle version; Mi Nam Vang. It just didn't do it for me.

The Missus really likes the Tod Mun Pla, the Thai style fishcake here. I think it's tasty too. They really have a lot of kaffir lime leaves in it.

Not much else to say on a beautiful San Diego Saturday. Just some soup to share!

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

Red Moon Noodle House revisited

August 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Red Moon has closed

It had been about a year since I first posted about Red Moon Noodle House. Some things had changed since then. They had started serving lunch, which I think is a good move. There's a bit of a buzz because of their "secret menu" that I first read about on Convoy Conquest, then on This Tasty Life. With a post by Kirbie in the mix. So perhaps it was about time for a revisit.

The interior remains the same, as does the really nice folks who run the place.

I'm thinking the lunch hours help the place as does the advertising in Lighthouse. On both of my visits, most of the customers I saw were Japanese. It's probably a good move for the place. Even though the owner is ethnically Chinese, he's from Japan.

On my first visit, to get things off to a good start, I ordered the dish I enjoyed most during my previous visits; the House Special Chicken with Garlic Sauce. Earlier I described this as being a " poor man's Dezhou Pa Ji/Dao Ko Shao Ji". Well, it seems like we're getting a bit more poor here…..

I liked the color, but this had much less flavor and was much more dry than what I'd had before. I had already thought that it needed a more complex vinegar-sweet flavor, or something to balance out the raw garlic……it seemed to have taken a step in the opposite direction. Sadly, this was still the best item I had on my visits.

Now on to the "not so secret – secret menu" item, the Xiao Long Bao. When the white distilled vinegar and sparse shreds of ginger hit my table, I knew I was in trouble. I mean really, I don't mind changes if you have something that you think is an improvement; but this is just cheaping your way through this. Oh, and maybe adding Chinkiang Black Vinegar might help that chicken a bit too.

Geez, these were bad….the first thing that went through my head was "where are you buying these"…because the hard and dried out wrappers leads me to believe they had been frozen for a while. Also, there was a distinct lack of soup and the filling was on the tough and chewy side. 'Nuff said. If you want to compete with DumplingInn for the worst XLB, I say you got a contender here. Sad that a place with such nice folks would serve something like this….. But, like friends tell me, I'm the only person they know who thinks that "Din Tai Fung's XLB is kind of a gimmick." So it's probably a personal problem……

I really didn't feel good about doing just a single visit. I really wanted to find something I thought was good here, so I decided to give it another try.

I ordered another dish I'd had before, the Shrimp Pan Fried Noodles, which I thought had some potential, but was just very weak in flavor.

Well, I gotta give it to Red Moon. If anything, they sure are consistent. The noodles are crisp without being powdery, the shrimp so nicely done, for some reason, they like their vegetables this side of what I consider optimal, but that's no big deal. What is a big deal for me is the lack of flavor……..this was so bland. I did something I almost never do, as I want to understand the flavor….I made friends with the white pepper and soy sauce…Kikkoman soy sauce….for Chinese food. I took most of it home and had the Missus try this. The only thing She could say was "so sad……."

I also decided to try something I hadn't had before, the Crispy Garlic Chicken.

To me, this tasted like an overcooked chicken katsu (which it was) with a drizzle of something like katsu sauce, topped with a brown sauce. At least this had flavor, but it seemed like something I'd do at home. And that Chicken Katsu was really tough.

I had thoughts of going back to Red Moon yet another time, but decided to give it a rest. This is not my cup of tea. I will say that Red Moon serves the best "Chinese" style food in that strip mall, but being better than A Cafe….I dunno if that's much of a prize. All I can say is horrible parking lot, mediocre food, very nice folks.

Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Saturday Stuffs: Fu An Restaurant opening on Convoy, I-Sushi replaces Walmido

July 27, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

Just a couple of quick things for a quiet Saturday.

Fu An Restaurant opening on Convoy:

Eater San Diego has been on top of this since BBQ Chicken closed. So now there's a sign, I heard the cuisine is……yes…..yet another Sichuan restaurant. I was told the owners are from LA, so hopefully they won't be cooking from the same playbook as other places in San Diego. I'm hopeful this will be much better than the last new Sichuan restaurant.

The address is:

4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I-Sushi replaces Walmido:

It was "Yummy Yummy" who first mentioned this to me. This place quietly replaced Walmido a few weeks back. I asked if they still do the whole halibut sashimi and was told yes, except it no longer comes with all the side dishes.

Well, at least I get the answer to question, "U Sushi?"

I-Sushi
4367 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111