Chinese Restaurants – Page 49

Vista: Spicy King

August 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Spicy King has closed

It's always great to hear from folks who have new recommendations and such….I don't think I'd still be around if not for the many emails and suggestions I get. A couple of weeks ago, "Big Ron", an avid Chowhound and I guess reader of our blog sent me an email asking me to try Spicy King, which had just opened up in Vista. Now I'd heard a bit about Spicy King, but not a whole lot….I as told that the folks behind Spicy City are somehow involved in the whole deal. Also, my dear FOY (Friend of Yoso), The Food Detective and her husband MrC had eaten there two weeks previous. The place sounded interesting, but when I quizzed TFD, she was less than enthused telling me the place was "decent", the "portions large", but overall a step behind Dede's and Spicy City in her mind. Still, we were missing Sichuan food and having been to every other Sichuan place many times over, why not make the 75 mile round trip, right?

As you can tell by the banner, the restaurant is fairly new and located in a pretty quiet corner of one of the mall complexes anchored by an Albertson's.

hadn't I been explicitly looking for the place, I'd have never known it was here….it would be hard to tell the place was open if not for the "Open" sign.

The place is quite nice, rather simple but tasteful. The young women working….the Missus told me they're all related were friendly and also from Chongqing based on their accents.

The menu is large and all the photos can lead you into overload with over 115 dishes, excluding the…ahem, "classics", items like Cashew Chicken, Beef Broccoli, and such which are hidden on the back of the menu.

The natural way to start one of these meals is with some cold appetizers(3 for $5.99)…..

The best item was the almost Jiangnan ("South of the Yangtze" – Suzhou/Shanghai/Hangzhou) style fish, almost like Xun Yu. It was slighty sweet, bony, but had nice flavor. The spicy bean curd was extremely salty and the Fu Qi Fei Pian, while perfect in texture lacked the buzz of Sichuan peppercorns and a decent amount of heat.

One of the two dishes I truly miss from Ba Ren is the ChongQing Kou Shui Ji 重庆口水鸡 – the mouthwatering (saliva) chicken. So we ordered the Chungking cold chopped chicken with Hot Sauce ($9.99). And good god, this huge bowl arrived….there seemed to be over half a chicken in it.

It did look quite good…..but was fairly flat and surprisingly not very spicy. It really lacked any real depth of flavor…..anything, black vinegar, sesame paste, perhaps a little garlic, mild sweetness….strangely, I took most of this home, the leftovers became almost a whole meal a day later, and this was still not very spicy.

Next up was the Shrimp with Explosive Chili Pepper ($12.99).

I don't think the oil was at the right temp for this as the batter was gummy and the dish was on the greasy side……not oily (oil is the pathway to flavor in Sichuan cuisine), greasy. The shrimp were severely overcooked and rubbery. Not enough Sichuan peppercorn for my taste….especially for ChongQing style Sichuan. Decent heat from the scalded chilies though.

Next up was the Twice Cooked Fish with Hot Pepper ($10.99). God almighty, this was a huuuuge amount of fish. The batter looked the same as the one used for the shrimp, but this time it was lighter and crisp. The fish was nicely cooked, tender and moist.

There was a decent amount of peppercorn in this, the garlic and even the slices of ginger added to the dish. The photo on the right is after the Missus had eaten two pieces and I had eaten three….it's like we hadn't put a dent in this. About this time, the Missus overheard two of the young ladies, one was telling the other, "they are not even from Sichuan and are ordering all spicy…."

We also noticed that other customers didn't seem to be ordering much of the spicy stuff……

Next up was the Pork Intestine with Pickled Chili Pepper (Pa Jiao – $9.99):

The intestines were very "clean" and this was mild with regards to funkiness. The dish was much sweeter than it was spicy. In fact, I had the leftovers three days later, at which time it had become nice and spicy. Not a bad dish.

The Missus ordered something called "Megamillions fish fillet" ($12.99), which was Her favorite dish of the day.

This was Her favorite dish of the day. It put some nice layers of flavor together….the minced ginger, the pickled peppers, the fish was perfect, the tofu added a nice symmetry to the dish. Tasting this, I thought it to be the most balanced in terms of "suan-tian-ku-la-xian", the sour-sweet-bitter-spicy-salty metaphor that Chinese use to compare food to life.

One funny moment occurred during our visit….three of the staff started having a typical "discussion" over the A/C……it started as some chatter and got louder and louder until they seemed to be yelling at each other. Folks in the restaurant put their chopsticks down and seemed to be waiting for the "gloves to come off". I even stopped eating to watch….at which time the Missus reminded me, "you know they are just having a normal discussion over the A/C right……" as She just kept eating. Goodness, I'd forgotten!

In the end, what to say….the food was decent, though not quite worth the 75 mile round trip. The portions are huge and the service very friendly. when the Missus mentioned how big the servings were the young lady said, "oh no, the plates just make everything look so big!" You gotta love that. It's really good to see diversity of cuisine spreading, albeit slowly all over San Diego. It's taking awhile, but it's many miles from how things were when we moved here!

Spicy King
1233 East Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084

Thanks for your recommendation Big Ron! I hope here from you again in the future!

Honolulu: Pau Hana Time at 8 Fat Fat 8

August 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Honolulu, Oahu, Pubs and Pub Grub, Travel

After lunch at Mitch's I was off on a mission for the Missus at Ala Moana Center. Man, when I was first back here after being gone for almost a decade I was totally….well, overwhelmed might be the word. Ala Moana had grown into a multi-level, multi-building, multi (terrible)-parking, monster. Now two visits later, I've kinda relaxed and grown easy with the place.

It being a beautiful, if a bit muggy day, made things a lot easier. Still, I couldn't believe how hard it was to find parking at 130 in the afternoon.

After picking up gifts and omiyagi, I still had a great deal of time on my hands, so I decided to take one of my favorite drives….. I'm a "townie" at heart and I've always had a fondness for Mount Tantalus and Round Top Drive. Of course, it's been maybe almost fifteen years since I've been here. I wondered what had changed….well some things have changed, like, I don't remember the viewing platform at Puu Ualakaa State Wayside. You still can't beat the views from here.

I could see some rain moving in from Manoa Valley to my left…….

If you look down to the grassy area in front of the platform…..you can still imagine scenes from a certain well known movie filmed in Hawaii.

I used come up here once in a while when I lived here……though many times during the later part of the evenings….ummmm…..to…well…look at the city lights…yeah, to look at the city lights.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around, just checking things out……until I went to meet my friends for Pau Hana time, at a place where I've spent many of my evenings for over a decade.

I've kinda gone through this before, but from the day 8 Fat Fat 8 opened, we….I was a regular customer until I left Honolulu. In fact, even after I left, the Missus and I would return as the owner, Sy (RIP) adored the Missus. He knew the Missus as that quiet young lady who never understood what my friends and I were talking about (it's pidgin after all) but loved his black-bean ginger crab. In fact, I'd return there to meet friends and Sy would ask me, "when your wife come….tell me….I go buy crab!" So I'd tell him….the Missus and I would get there and have a seat at the table reserved by my friends. Sy would bring out this bucket and place a couple of live crab on the table! They'd be scuttling around….he'd tell the Missus, "which one you want….you pick!" Man, those were good times……much happened behind those seedy looking doors in the joint next to Midas on Beretania.

It was quite interesting….I hadn't been here since Sy passed away. There's a pool table now, fewer dart boards….still karaoke though. And to my joy, the place is still hopping, at least on a Friday night. Much has changed, different folks, different kinds of drinks, everybody texts, or tweets, or whatever….but pau hana time endures.

I ordered my usual drink…..which will make those craft beer lovers in San Diego cringe. But when I'm back home; it's "Bud light, bucket ice"…..you don't buck tradition.

It was nice to know that Sy's daughter, I believe her name is Mary….I only remember Sy telling me when she was going to school in Beijing, is now running the place. It's been modernized a bit, business seems more formal, but it's still totally local.

And in my opinion, some of the best "stick to your ribs" local kind grindz are found at places like these. The best example would be Side Street Inn……

So here's what we had as pupus……I hadn't had Crispy Gau Gee, since before the millennium….

Crispy, salty, shrimpy, porky, dipped in a mildly spicy-shoyu sauce…..it took me back to my childhood when "Chinese Food" (notice the quotes) was something we had on special occasions.

"L" wanted the calamari, which, to me was over battered and gummy….though it was decent drinking food.

We ended by getting "Fat Fat Chicken", which was my favorite menu item here. It was the signature item that set 8 Fat Fat 8 apart when they first opened.

Basically salt and pepper chicken, flavored with five-spice, deep fried. This is still pretty good…crisp skin, nice flavor, great with beer, not as dry as I recalled.

Beyond the food; it was nice seeing my "old friends"….and we are getting older. I'm hoping we'll be meeting up again soon…… 2 Filipino's from Kalihi, 1 dude from Cleveland, and me….how we ever got to be life-long friends, I'll never know…..and that really doesn't matter, does it?

8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille
1327 S Beretania St
Honolulu, HI 96814

Thanks for reading!

Beijing: Eating with Mr.D Part 2 – Mocuomen

July 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Beijing, China, Chinese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Travel

A couple of months back, my good friends and I had one of our all too rare get togethers, this time at Little Sheep. During the conversation, "Xian Jiao" and I mentioned that even though hot pot is very enjoyable here in the states; it pales in comparison to what you'd get in China. Xian Jiao should know, she spent over half a year in Beijing…….

Which leads me to Mocuomen…….well actually it was Mr.D who led us to Mocuomen. I'd mentioned Mr.D in a previous post. That was the first meal of the night…….only Mr.D would make hot pot a dessert!

The front of Mocuomen really doesn't look like much….at least to me, just another shop on a street.

Like many other places, the restaurant was located upstairs and looked very modern, sleek, and very clean.

I told the Missus to have Mr.D go easy on us, because, heck, we'd just finished off a pretty hefty Xinjiang style dinner…full of lamb, bread, rice, etc……

So while Mr.D did order hot pot…….

So while the sauces seemed to be routine….instead of the usual "yuan yang guo", split hot pot that most folks here are used to, this was a milky, lightly herbal, "bone-soup" style broth that was quite luxurious, coating your mouth and tongue……

It did quite nice as the "broth" managed to coat whatever you dipped into it as it did you palate. It also allowed all the flavor of whatever you let take a short bath in the huo guo come through.

We had shiitake, tripe, intestine, bean curd sheets, and a bunch of other items……..

This was really quite good, but the clincher was when this arrived.

I agree, doesn't look like much, minced shrimp, bound with some starch…… But then, Mr.D called one of the servers over. With two spoons she proceeded to created little shrimp dumplings for us……the shrimp flavor was distinct and quite good, but the texture is what made this stand out.

These basically just exploded in your mouth……then melted away….into a shrimp flavor ether. The Missus and I are still talking about this…..

The last item to arrive topped everything else. It really didn't look like much…….in fact, they call this "ugly fish" and it is indeed fairly…well, fugly.

It's more well known as Wushan Kao Yu…..the fish is first marinated, then I believe deep fried…finally it is probably roasted. There was an amazing amount of flavor going around, Sichuan Peppercorns (indeed Wushan is a county famous for its three gorges in Chongqing), chilies, a bit of sweet, and bit of guaiwei("strange flavor"), that savory-spicy-sweet-sour-mildly nutty, amazingly delici-yoso flavor. The fish was veyr moist with a nice bit of oil to carry all the flavor along. The version here had won some kind of award…..and I could see why.

This was an epic ending to a fun night of eating…..Mr.D kept the Missus in stitches all night long. And even though I don't understand Mandarin, laughter is contagious. And unlike the cousin of a friend of mine who used to crack jokes in Illocano to his family, then punk out on the folks who laughed along who didn't understand the language to feel superior ("tell me what are you laughing for…tell me what I said, ha?")….Mr.D understood.

I wish I could tell you where Mocuomen was, but I wouldn't know. You can however ask Xian Jiao. You see, I recommended this place to her before she left for Beijing. I guess she really enjoyed it, since we're still talking about it to this day.

COMC: Chinese Breakfast at Chin’s Miramar

July 1, 2012 mmm-yoso Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants

**** This location of Chin's has closed

I realize that my last two posts were pretty wordy, combing for almost 3000 words….a bit too much. So I decided that it was time for a COMC (Clearing out the memory card) post.

Just about all photos here. Since Ba Ren closed, this is just about the only place we go to for Chinese in San Diego. Not always the best, but I do enjoy several dishes on the breakfast menu…..not a real big fan of dinner, though. One thing that's really nice for folks who were worried about having to deal with a Chinese only menu….which for me is a non-issue since most folks here are nice and helpful. They now have a handy dandy photo based menu…….

For more info, I guess you can read my previous posts, including the stuff from way back in 2006.

Only photos from here……..

Chin's Seafood & Grill
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd
San Diego, CA 92126

Breakfast from 930am to 230pm Saturday and Sunday

COMC: Stuff we ate before our trip: The Waterfront Bar & Grill, Bay Park Fish Company, and lunch at Chin’s Convoy

June 11, 2012 mmm-yoso Burgers, Chinese Restaurants, Seafood

Man, I'm still kinda feeling it, but didn't want to leave you high and dry. Here's a round-up of stuff we had before our vacation….the Missus, after spending too much time talking to folks on our trip now uses the term "holiday"……sigh. Anyway, just another COMC (Clearing out the memory card) post.

The Waterfront Bar & Grill:

Of course I needed to have a burger before we left, so why not The Waterfront early on a quiet weekday?

Just a burger for me…..no big deal………it did the trick.

Of course the Missus just had to order the veggie burger….. I couldn't bring myself to take a photo of it.

The Waterfront Bar and Grill
2044 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA 92101

Bay Park Fish Company:

We hadn't been here in a while and the prices here seem to have gone up. But it's still not bad for what the Missus enjoys here the most. The smoked fish plate.

I actually went for the crab cakes this time around.

These actually had a good amount of crab in them but had been "worked" a bit too much for me. I prefer chunks of crab rather than something that looked like it had been mixed to death.

Bay Park Fish Company
4121 Ashton St
San Diego, CA 92110

Chin's Convoy:

**** This location of Chin's has closed

Seems like I'd been eating here a bit more often recently. Though I really can't tell of anything I especially enjoy. Here's the Wuxi Spareribs which were fairly tender, but possibly too sweet if you're not used to what is often called "Jiangnan" style food…..that would be the cuisine of areas to the immediate south of the Yangtze river.

Not bad, but the sweetness just got kind of tiring after a while….like a piano hitting the same key over and over again. I should have ordered two dishes and dealt with leftovers for dinner.

Chin's
4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

North East San Diego County Road Trip: Amerient-Country Cooking & Oriental Cuisine (Ramona) and a drive to Julian

May 21, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading the blog named mmm-yoso!!! It’s about food. Not just a description of what, but also the where, sometimes the why and, occasionally how and who. Kirk usually takes care of those pronouns and sometimes ed(from Yuma) writes in a way outlining his posts using the interrogatives. Today, Cathy is using her grammar skills to share a day.

Hi. Last week, on a particularly foggy weekday morning, The Mister and I decided we’d like to take a drive North, to Julian. Originally we wanted to try Jeremy’s on The Hill, which ed (from Yuma) had posted about earlier this year, but on checking, realized it was not open for breakfast. However, figuring that people everywhere have to eat, we got in the car started the drive up Highway 67 and while on the lovely main street through Ramona, (cleverly named Main Street, just before it turns into Highway 78), I spotted this building, signage and decided this was where we should stop.

Perhaps you can’t read the signage on the building. I had heard of Amerient years ago but never had even noticed it when passing through town on my way to and from other errands.

We were greeted, seated and handed the leather bound combination menu. I noticed a lady in the corner booth rolling egg rolls and asked if I could order from the “oriental” part of the menu, even though it was barely 9 a.m., and was told that I could. (While we were there, several other people ordered other-than ‘country cooking’ items).

The wall decor and table condiments reflect both cuisines offered here.

The Mister decided on the Daily Special ($5.99, $2 off the regular menu price). On this day, it was Country Fried steak, which came with two eggs (poached), home fries (thin sliced and crispy fried)…

Here is a cross section view of the tender, lightly breaded, perfectly fried steak which was topped with a *very* nice, slightly peppery sausage gravy.

The Special also came with two GIANT pancakes, butter and heated maple syrup. On the right in the above photo, you can see a partial view basket of teas to select from($1.95)

My meal came with two fresh made egg rolls.

These were more meat than filler/no cabbage and really good; properly fried and not greasy. Actually, they were more like a good lumpia,now that I think about it. The neon red sweet-tart dipping sauce with a dot of hot mustard is something I rarely see or get to taste and it was a nice memory jog to my taste buds.

Here is a cross section of my order-Vegetable Egg Foo Young ($7.25). I crave mushrooms and was silly happy to get this giant platter of goodness, with the fresh, al dente cooked mushrooms, carrots, peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and -that patty- a fluffy, mostly cabbage, onion and egg delight. Actually a perfect breakfast (the gravy was not salty). Every restaurant makes egg foo young differently and this version was particularly memorable.

We plan to return, because the Saturday evening special is Ma La chicken. Spicy!

Amerient Country Cooking and Oriental Cuisine 668 Main Street, Ramona, CA 92065 (760)789-6855 website

We got in the car and continued on through the fog on the winding two lane road to Julian and were able to park on the main street, again having the clever name of Main Street. I so enjoy not having to think much. Parking on Main Street is something you can’t do during apple-picking time in Autumn. It was kind of strange to see the town, sidewalks and parking places in an uncrowded state. We walked and checked out every menu and determined that the price point for a meal started at $8, not including beverage. It’s also pretty consistent that a slice of pie with ice cream will cost $5. None of the businesses offer coupons in the local free paper nor is trying to underpricce a neighboring restaurant.

We drove just West, (Main Street turns into Farmer Road) to the cemetery, and walked around.

It was foggy and misty and peaceful.

We started to drive South, and passed Jeremy’s,which is about three miles from the center of Julian, then stopped four miles later, in the town of Santa Ysabel. Usually we stop at Dudley’s Bakery, but it’s only open Thursday-Sunday. There is a sign in the window that Dudley’s items are sold in the small IGA market next door, but since the bread would not be baked-that-day-fresh, we walked across the parking lot to the Julian Pie Company.

where a cute door handle greets you…

Choices of fresh pie slices, cookies, donuts, carmel apples and a freezer of take and bake pies and no crowds or waiting made the choice overwhelming.

So, we got one apple cider donut (75¢) and a coffee ($1.50) and a pie to go. The apple cider donut is unique in flavor…made with apple cider instead of water, it has a nice, fresh apple flavor and the light coating of cinnamon sugar was complimentary and not overwhelming. A good snack.

The pie?

The small size chicken pie. Made with the crust used for all the fruit pies. A good sized (one pound) meal for two. Baking fresh at home was perfect a few days later. The filling is almost all chicken, along with vegetables and the sauce.

San Diego County is large and every area/city/road has something interesting to do and places to eat. I hope everyone can have an adventure someday soon.

SO…yesterday, ed (from Yuma) wrote about his vacation and today I wrote about my “staycation”…whose turn is it now?

Julian Pie Company 21976 Highway 79 Santa Ysabel, CA 92070 (760)765-2400 website

Revisits: Spicy House, Latin Chef, and 2 others you might know……

April 29, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Loco Mocos, Peruvian Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Sometimes it’s really hard to get excited about recently opened places and I often neglect places we used to go to alot or haven’t been back to recently, so here’s a couple.

Spicy House:

Now Spicy house seems to be a favorite of JeffL and I’d been there at almost a dozen times, I’ve documented maybe three of those visits. Recently my coworker YZ, whom I shared some interesting Sichuan meals with in Madison had time to grab lunch. We decided on Spicy House. The place was doing some pretty good business when we visited.

We started with the Pork Intestines with Preserved Vegetable.

This was better than what I’d had before at Spicy House, the flavor of the intestine was a nice funky-musty without overwhelming the dish. The preserved vegetable was cut into manageable pieces this time around and helped to heighten the mild heat as well as cut the offal flavor.

We also ordered the Shui Zhu Yu – the water boiled fish.

The flavor decent, nice heat, but lacking in Sichuan Peppercorn and Doubian Jian – bean paste. I like a nice layer of oil, but this was a bit too much. The amount of fish was generous, the pieces large, though very thin. I thought the fish was prepared decently, but when I brought the rest of it home, the Missus thought it to be one the mealy side.

Overall, this was pretty good….I guess I’m missing Chinese food…..

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Latin Chef:

**** Latin Chef has closed

There was a time when we’d be at Latin Chef just about every week. But over the years things seemed to have changed and when I visited twice last year, the food was especially salty. Another thing seemed to be missing on my visits to Latin Chef, the owner, Freddy. Whenever he’s there, the food and service is much better.

Anyway, we had a bunch of days where it was almost like summer recently, so I thought I’d drive on down to PB and see what was up with Latin Chef. It was lunchtime and the place was deserted. No Freddy either….I hope he’s doing well. I asked the served and she just shrugged and told me, “he was here yesterday……” As she dropped off the chanchita….which was stale.

I was pretty hungry and started things out with the Cebiche Pescado.

Which was nice, the leche de tigre (the cebiche marinade) was bracing and refreshing. The fish seemed to need a few more minutes bathing in the leche de tigre, but this was nice overall.

The pescado frito was another story.

While the fish was wonderfully thin and crisp, there was way too much salt on this….so much that it edged on being bitter.

This is how my meals have been recently at Latin Chef….kind of a mixed bag. Perhaps the place is getting a bit stale. I know that since the original chef left a couple of years, taking the recipe for tiradito with him, things just haven’t been the same. I’m hoping my next visit will be better.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

And here are a couple just for the heck of it……

I hope you had a great weekend!

Beijing: Eating with Mr.D Part 1 – Jinsite Restaurant

April 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Beijing, China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel

During the last leg of our trip to China, we ended up back in Beijing. The son of a former coworker of my MIL, whom we really hit it off with during a previous dinner, offered to take us to dinner. We knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary dinner. You see, even though MrD was born and raised in Beijing, he and his wife are truly food lovers……they don't know the names of any streets or even addresses. Navigation around Beijing is done via their own internal GPS, it's based off restaurant locations! This was to be illustrated in a pretty funny way a bit later on during our stay in Beijing.

MrD and his Wife ended up taking us to two dinners….in a single night! The first stop was through a gate on some side street….I really had no idea where we were and neither did the Missus.

Once the car was parked we walked through a set of doors…..

And then through another set of doors…….

We could quickly tell what type of restaurant this was by the decor.

And by the photos in the menu….since I couldn't read it! This was obviously a Xinjiang cuisine restaurant, which got me kind of excited, I've had lots of Islamic Chinese food, but at that point in time, I really hadn't had very much honest to goodness Uyghur style dishes. There is a difference. From what I understand, most Islamic Chinese that we have here is based off of Beijing and Shandong style Halal cuisine, whereas true Xinjiang cuisine is based on what is eaten in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region.

This photo really got me hungry……it's called Kao Quan Yang (烤全羊) in case you feel like ordering it!

Things started off with some Suan Nai, less sweet than most of the Suan Nai we'd had to date in Beijing.

The name of the flat breads might sound familiar, it's called Kao Nang (烤馕), as in "naan".

One of the most popular dishes of Xinjiang Cuisine is Rice to be Eaten with the Hands (Xinjiang Shou Zhua Fan 新疆手抓饭). The problem for me was to remember to eat with my right hand as I'm left handed, and you know why that's a problem in Islam, right?

The rice was much richer than I thought it would be. It was very "mutton-ny".

Next up was the Xinjiang style Stewed Mutton (Xinjiang Shou Zhua Yang Rou 新疆手抓羊肉)

Which was very simple and basic in flavor.

Up next, was a variety of Chuanr……

Your basic "meat on a stick". I'm not a big fan of kidney, but I gotta say that it was my favorite along with the meat that was grilled on the reused and highly "seasoned" wooden skewers….. nothing like layers of flavors from kebabs of the past I guess.

Man, this was a load of food! But of course, this was just our first stop!

Stay tuned……..

Not Duckin’ the Subject – Roadtrip Edition: Lien Hoa BBQ (Westminster – Orange County) and Monterey Palace BBQ (San Gabriel – Los Angeles)

April 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip

I've often lamented the quality and consistency of take out Roast Duck in San Diego. It is after all, one of my favorite food groups. But for a change, instead of me whining about the whole thing, here are two winners. Unfortunately, both are not in San Diego County.

Lien Hoa BBQ – Westminster:

A while back FOY "DavidD" mentioned that this shop made the best roast duck. So I made sure to mention the place to Beach during my last visit. Beach told me he's being going to Lien Hoa for thirty or so years (looking at the sign, they opened in 1981) , knew the owners, and that this was indeed the best place for Chinese BBQ in all of Little Saigon, or even in Orange County.

The place is actually right next to Kang Lac Bakery, so we went in before having Bot Chien.

The shop is tiny with a small and cramped walking space. It's a no frills place, just up my alley…the other thing up my alley? A whole roast duck here costs just $15.50……bargain city.

After arriving home I opened the very heavy foil container took take a peak and a taste or two of the duck.

If you want a meaty duck, this would be the one for you. Personally, for me it;s all about a combination of factors; the skin, the flavor, fat content, and so on. The flavor of this duck will be a surprise for many raised on roast duck in San Diego. It is mild, with anise hints, and not salted to death to cover up the lack of expert preparation. The skin on the top layer was, perhaps a bit too "rubbery", but good overall. Sadly, they poured a ton of "jus" over the duck. There was about two cups of it in the tray (I measured). This meant the skin of the duck on the bottom layer was taut and the meat had started to be mushy. Gladly, even the juice wasn't too salty. I think I'll have them go easy on that stuff next time.

So, if you're passing through, or if roast duck matters enough to you to be worth a drive (like me), this place is worth a shot. And the prices are very reasonable.

Lien Hoa BBQ Deli
9299 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food:

A little over a year ago, we were driving east on Valley Boulevard. right past Focus Plaza, I noticed that a new shop had opened in a location I believe was some kind of bar or nightclub before.

The name of the place was Monterey Palace BBQ, which got me thinking that this place is affiliated with Monterey Palace on Garvey?

The place was bright, spanking new and turned out to be an interesting shop.

As you enter you basically meet the BBQ, followed by a section which is set-up for steam table foods, a la Sam Woo, nothing surprising there. The interesting thing is a bit past the hot foods section is a poultry and meat set-up, with several different types of chicken, duck, even rabbit.

The first time we stopped by and bought the roast duck, I really enjoyed it.

It isn't as meaty as the duck from Lien Hoa, but the skin was nicely lacquered and the flavor of bean paste was forward without overwhelming everything.

We have been back two more times since. On the second visit, the skin of the duck was wrinkled and it was too fatty…signs that temperature control was poor. One the third visit, things were back ot how they were on our first visit.

For now, Monterey Palace has replaced Sam Woo in Alhambra as our "duck stop". I'm hoping that we've found our place for take-out roast duck for now.

One downside to the location is that as far as I can tell, there's only street parking. There are only three spaces on the street in front of the place….so in case you're being tailgated by some aggressive retard like I was and have to stop and park, you may have to deal with the half peace sign salute and screaming from an idiot who was trying to get around the other cars and probably didn't know or didn't care (probably the latter) that you could indeed park on the street in front of the place. I'd forgotten how wonderful drivers were in the SGV…thanks for the reminder, moron. I've found that the best defense in such a situation is to look at the person and give them a big smile…A BIG SMILE…..

Anyway, he had to wait until all the cars drove past to merge into traffic and I got my roast duck. Seems like I got the better of the whole deal, right?

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food
118 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Meals with Friends: The Lion’s Share, Okan, Savory Garden, Santouka, and Izakaya Sakura

April 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Pubs and Pub Grub

It seems that I've been having quite a few meals with great friends of mine recently, so here's a rundown:

The Lion's Share:

Ange, Peter, and John wanted to meet up for a bite and some cocktails….not really a specialty of mine, but I thought why the heck not. I got to choose and went with The Lion's Share and new Gastro- Craft Cocktail Lounge (Gastro-lounge???) that features a good amount of wild game on the menu. It did help that the four month old restaurant/lounge stood right around the corner from the Orange Line's Seaport Village stop. No drinking and driving for me……

I actually took the photo of the building because of the fellow in the photo to the right. He's come out everytime a trolley would stop and watch the folks getting out of the trolley, head turning left and right, then walk back in….until the next trolley would arrive! Quite entertaining…..

I usually don't post on these type of meals in San Diego, there are more than enough coverage of most of them, but what the heck, I actually took my camera out for a change while John and I waited for Peter…..

I decided to try one of the cocktails….this one was called Fernet About It….featuring Scotch and Fernet Branca….fairly strong, but nice and relaxing. Soon enough John arrived and we just chatted for a while…….. Peter was running on "Peter time", so we just kinda hung out at the bar…..

Finally, we just figured to order some food….we really didn't know if Ange and Peter were actually going to make it. I ordered two starters and an entree, figuring we'd be heading somewhere else after……

First to arrive were the Antelope Sliders ($12).

Even though sliders are now kind of cliche, I gotta say these were very good. Slightly gamey, cooked to a perfect medium, seasoned, but not too heavily, the sweetness of the red onion marmalade cut any strong gamey flavors. This was the best item of the night.

Strangely, the Buffalo Bolognase with Bone Marrow ($18) arrived next before our second starter……

I should have given this better thought and chosen better…….this was very bland, except for the cheese which killed everything…the bone marrow gave the dish a strange greasiness that I didn't enjoy. It was rich in a rather unpleasant way for me…..

While we were digging, the Potato Puffs($7) arrived.

These were basically mashed potato croquettes….which were seasoned nicely, but not crisp enough for me. The malt vinegar aioli tasted like what you'd think a mildly sour mayonnaise would.

By this time Ange and Peter arrived and they were able to sample the food as well…before we took of to our next destination to meet up with even more friends.

Overall, those sliders were very good, but if I ever return I'll pick a different entree. I did enjoy my drinks ($11) and the guys manning the bar were very friendly. The place is pretty dark and the space gets very loud very quickly.

The Lion's Share
629 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, California 92101
Open daily 4 pm – 2 am

Lunch at Okan:

My Buddy Dennis has done a great job covering lunch at Okan and our very own Cathy has done a couple as well. I recently met Candice for lunch and we decided that Okan was the perfect spot. I ended up ordering the Buta Kakuni Lunch Combo ($9.50).

I had mentioned being somewhat disappointed in the Buta Kakuni in a previous post and wanting to try it again. Well, this just confirmed it…..a bit too tough and dry with regards to buta kakuni for my taste. It's also on the bland side. The boiled egg was also dry and the yolk way overdone.

It's time to move on to better things on the menu. The conversation was much better than the food and it was nice chatting to Candice before her upcoming trip to Paris.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch at Savory Garden:

**** Savory Garden has closed

I got another chance to meet my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) "MrZ", the Zompus for lunch at Savory Garden. Since I'd only had the Niu Rou Mian here, I thought this would be a nice chance to try something else. I went with the Pork Chop Lunchbox ($7.49).

In terms of portion size, maybe a bit more pork would help. It was fried nicely and seasoned fairly well. The best thing on the plate were the vegetables, a nice sweet and sour. The topping on the rice tasted bitter and I could have done without that and the egg was overcooked and rubbery. There were two tables of customers during our visit, during peak lunch hour….I'm not sure if this place is going to survive.

Savory Garden
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch with Ed from Yuma at Santouka:

I've been here and posted on the place too many timesto even bother………it's the same 'ol, same 'ol.

I don't think I've seen Ed from Yuma, in a while….the last time I recalled he basically sucked down a baklava from Sultan so fast I thought the plate was going to take off! It was nice seeing an old friend. What was really interesting, was to see that Ed has pretty much hit rockstar status…..when he's not taking writers from the Arizona Republic on Taco Truck tours he's meeting with his adoring public. There was a nice woman having ramen next to us….when she got up to leave she said, "excuse me for interrupting….but are you Ed from Yuma? I really enjoy reading your posts!" Pretty soon Ed will be beating them off with a stick! Seriously, it was nice meeting you Yoshiko (please correct me if I got your name wrong!) and thanks for reading!

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Dinner with my best friend at Izakaya Sakura:

Well, you can pretty much guess who that is, right? Yes, there are times when I feel She's my only friend, so who better to spend a nice mild evening with at Izakaya Sakura. In the mood for something I hadn't had from the menu I went with the Sara Udon, which Dennis posted on here.

I love most crispy noodles (except for those that are almost powdery) and this "bari men" thin pan fried noodles did the trick. The "gravy" was quite flavorful; in fact, the Missus kept poaching stuff of my plate. The shrimp and baby squid were cooked nicely. Kind of pricey at $12, but the portion size was fairly hefty…..I'm probably going back to Gyokai Natto Don (which is now on the menu) the next time, but this was a nice change of pace. And who better to spend the evening with, right?

I also got confirmation that they are taking over the space previously occupied by Chilies Thai for a Japanese-Italian Restaurant.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go….some meals with friends…perhaps the food may not have been the best, but the company is always great. A nice way to end our Thursday and take us into Friday!