Chinese Restaurants – Page 57

Red Lotus. Good Mandarin and Szechuan food. Santee.

October 27, 2010 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! – that's the name of this blog. It's just food that we have enjoyed. Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy are the main bloggers, although some others occasionally participate. Today, it's Cathy's turn.

Hi. There's a new Mandarin-Szechuan restaurant in the same location as a now closed Mandarin-Szechuan restaurant in Santee. I enjoyed Flaming Wok for many years, but it closed and Red Lotus took over.
Red Lotus is an ABCDE (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment) because as soon as you sit down,
A bowl of fresh fried crunchy bits and plate of 'dipping sauce' are brought out to your table. But those are fresh fried crunchy bits and the sauce is somehow not too sweet and has some vinegar-y tartness and is quite pleasant.
The egg drop soup ($5.75), not salty, very deep flavored chicken stock and swirled with egg and not cornstarch thickener, is excellent.
A nice view from our table…while we were waiting.
Ma Po Tofu ($7.50). Very nice heat, very good pork and a good, fresh, firm tofu.
No. Not just a chicken dish.

Chicken egg foo young ($7.50). Crispy, moist, flavorful with crispy bean sprouts, onions topped with a great, not salty, un-gloppy gravy.
Of course, there are lunch combo specials, daily from 11:00-3:00.
These come with a cup of soup and the requisite fried crispies and nuclear red colored sweet thick yet somehow tasting made from scratch dipping sauce.
The spicy honey shrimp lunch special ($5.95) includes rice, egg roll, cheese wonton and this -light, crispy, fluffy batter- deep fried juicy large shrimp, glazed with a sweet-hot sauce. Really- see the shrimp to batter ratio? It's good.
The hot spicy chicken ($4.95-all shrimp dishes are $1 more) wasn't too spicy, the sauce is smooth and has plentiful white meat stir fried with a thin crisp crust which lets the chicken stay juicy yet have a pleasant light crunch of a crust. This was with fried rice.

All in all, this is a very good selection for Santee. There are many ABCDE dishes (shrimp with lobster sauce, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Double Happiness) which are all done very well. Fresh ingredients and quality cooking. I suppose it is more stereotypic Americanized Chinese, but it's really well done good food. A very short drive or long-ish walk with going uphill to get home for me.

A Plus!!! You get Fortune Cookies here, too. Really easy Chinese Word Fortune Cookies.

The Red Lotus Mandarin & Szechuan Cuisine 9888 Magnolia Avenue (At Mast, in the Albertsons Center) Santee 92071 (619)596-3749 Mon 4:30-9:30, Tues-Sun 11:00-9:30

A Cafe…um “A” Cafe…Hong Kong Style dining

October 26, 2010 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Cathy is blogging today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are busy with other things.

The other day, I got a frantic SMS from Mr. C. who was at work and apparently was hungry and wanted to know if there was Hong Kong style food in San Diego. As if I am my own Google.

Of course, I immediately answered with
this photo. I appeared to be organized. "A" Cafe is on Convoy Street, and part of the parking lot from hell group of restaurants.
This is the sign on the building from the parking lot side.
There is a menu in the window at the door. Yes. It says "Hong Kong Style Specialize".
You are seated quickly and asked about beverages. There are many boba/juice/2 pages of beverages on the menu, but ordered hot tea ($1.75. Each.) It is small inside (8 tables) and there is a patio area. The tea apparently is brewed and put into a cup and them more water is added to the container using the same bag. It brews a nice second cup.
We ordered two dishes to share and a good size cup of a nice, not salty egg drop soup was brought out for each of us.
Chicken fried rice ($6.99). Not bad. Not great. Chicken fried rice.
Mixed seafood chow fun (rice noodle)(no gravy) ($8.99). Lots of seafood. Not bad. Not great. I liked the noodles and onions most. The shrimp was large and flavorful, pieces of fish good, squid was tender.

Turns out that Mr. C also had not found what he was craving, some sort of noodle dish…which he says can be found at Garden Cafe in Rowland Heights, off the 60 freeway at Colima and Fullerton. Road Trip!

We were still hungry, so walked through the parking lot, to Tapioca Express.

Mr. C. had not been here before, but he was the person who introduced me to boba drinks. He was fascinated with the 'snack food' aspect of this place. We decided on just a dessert, which took less time than choosing beverages…
We each got a coffee tea milk: mine hot, his cold with boba. We shared the fried baked donut dessert, which comes with dipping sauces of whipped cream and-yes, diluted frosting. (total was ~$11)

Not a bad lunch. But not great.

A Cafe 4646 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858)874-6989 Open 7 a.m.-midnight Sun-Th (until 1 a.m. Fri- Sat)

Tapioca Express 4646 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858) 636-7889 Open 11 a.m.-midnight Sun-Th (until 1 a.m. Fri-Sat) Website

Hangzhou: West Lake and Zhiweiguan

October 13, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Hangzhou, Travel

At then end of my last post on Hangzhou I mentioned that we were still a bit confused as to the exact location of the famous Xī Hú (West Lake) I was looking at a pagoda on Wushan Hill, when I heard a woman talking to the Missus. I was to find out later that the woman told the Missus that there's nothing really worth Her time on Wushan Hill. When the Missus asked the woman which direction to West Lake, the woman pointed up at this sign…..

Sigh….. can you say clueless tourists? Actually, this woman was really friendly, born and raised in Hangzhou, and told us to follow her; she'd show us to the bus stop that would take us around West Lake.

And even though there were times that the Missus could only understand every second or third word due to the woman's accent, She did learn quite a bit. The woman told the Missus that most of the young people working the restaurants in all the tourist areas are not from Hangzhou, and really don't care about anything except making money. This was a theme we heard everywhere, if someone was rude or provided terrible service, someone would say that "it is because they are not from here." The woman gave the Missus a few tips and pointed out the bus stop. The Missus was also told that there was a Silk Expo taking place, where everything was real silk, and prices were good. We caught the bus and arrived at the building right across from the famous Long Jing (Dragon Well) Tea Farm.

And did some shopping……

After doing some shopping, and buying a couple of gifts, we got back on the bus. The Missus pointed out a gentleman who had an entire Jinhua Ham lying on the console behind the driver……

The woman we had net told us to get off at the Qu Yuan Feng He ("lotus in the breeze at crooked courtyard") stop.

The woman was right, this turned out to be the part of West Lake we enjoyed the most.

Even though it was pretty hot and humid, this area felt fresh and cool. I'm sure some of it was due to the immense beauty.

Walking along the causeways things started getting a bit crowded, though there were still areas where folks had carved out an area to peacefully read and relax.

You started seeing tourist cruise boats taking people on tours of West Lake.

As we circled the North part of the lake, things started getting a bit more crowded.

The views were still quite beautiful, in spite of the crowds and noise.

There are tons of things to see, including one that got the attention of the Missus; the Tomb of Wu Song. Wu Song, is one of the great heroes of Classic Chinese Literature. According to the Missus, when She was young, all children knew the story of how Wu Song "killed the man eating tiger with his bare hands." Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classic Classic Novels of Chinese Literature tells the story of Wu Song.

By the time we got to the Eastern part of West Lake, I was bushed, sweaty, and had pretty much burned out on West Lake. Plus my left foot was starting to ache pretty good.

You could really tell that the Missus felt pretty tired as well since we started noticing the people more than the views. Like the guy at the right in this photo…..

We started counting the "crimes against Western fashion and mores" this guy was commiting. A short list:

1 – He was carrying his wife's/girlfriend's handbag.

2 – He was wearing capri pants!!!

3 – He was wearing a long sleeved dress shirt tucked into those capri pants.

4 – He had his shirt tucked in, but wasn't wearing a belt

5 – And last, he was wearing capri pants, but had dress socks on!!!

As you can tell, it was time to move on; we were hot, tired, and sticky….. and hungry.

The one restaurant we had heard about before setting foot in Hangzhou was Lou Wai Lou (楼外楼). When the Missus mentioned Lou Wai Lou to the woman earlier in the day, She recommended Zhiweiguan instead. She told us that this is where she brings guests who want to taste Hangzhou food. Zhiweiguan is a monstrous restaurant by Western standards at over 7,000 square feet, and four stories. The area outside the restaurant sells snacks and take-out food.

Like most of these multi-story restaurants, the first floor did snacks, fast-food, and cafeteria style service. It was just packed like crazy on this evening.

Wanting something less chaotic, we skipped the first floor, and went to the third floor. (The second floor did seafood, and the fourth floor holds the banquet rooms and bar). As we stepped up to the third floor, we realized that even though this place was less chaotic, it was just as packed! We won't complain about the service here, as the Servers and staff was literally running from table to table!

Though it was much cooler here, we could tell that the A/C was working full blast.

We were both bushed, and the heat and humidity had sapped our appetite. We just ordered a couple of items.

The Missus wanted ot taste the Nian Gao (rice cake) which She really loved.

The wrappers on the Xiao Long Bao were really thick and gummy.

I thought the filling was decent, but the Missus thought it to be too sweet. In fact, the Xiao Long Bao being served downstairs looked better.

The Missus enjoys a good Jiu Niang Tuan Yang (Fermented Rice with Sesame Balls 酒釀湯圓), and really enjoyed this version.

One of the most well known dishes of Hangzhou involves pork belly…. so you know that I was going to have Dongpo Rou! Named after famous Song Dynasty poet and artist Su Dongpo (Su Shi). According to the story, Su Dongpo had a visitor arrive, and decided to simmer some pork. Su Dongpo and his friend became engrossed in a game of chess. Suddenly realizing that he had left the pork simmering, Su Dongpo rushed to check on his pork. he was amazed when he saw that the pork had attained a beautiful color, and the juices created were wonderful. At least that's how the story goes……

This classic dish is pork belly (aka streaky pork) cooked in a combination of soy sauce, sugar, and Shaoxing (which is about 60 km from Hangzhou).

We decided to order two of these.

Man this was sweet…. like pork candy, much too sweet for me. It was also tougher and drier than I would have thought that braised pork belly would be. I wasn't really satisfied with this, I needed to have it again to see if this was really how Dongpo Rou should be……..

We returned to our room exhausted, though I had Dongpo Rou on my mind as I drifted off to sleep……

Road Trip: Dim Sum at Sea Harbour – Rosemead (Los Angeles)

September 28, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Today, stewing in my triple-digit-temperature sodden juices, I had the evil idea of doing a post on my latest bowl of Bun Bo Hue, or perhaps another Pho post. But just the thought of looking at a photo of a steaming bowl of Pho, was just a bit too much for me. So instead, let's just go directly to our current favorite Dim Sum Restaurant, Sea Harbour in Rosemead. When folks say they're going to LA, and want a recommendation for Dim Sum, I'll usually recommend Sea Harbour. Heck, when Ed from Yuma, wanted a couple of recommendations for Seafood Restaurants in LA, Sea Harbour was on that short list. And based on his post, Ed really enjoyed his meal at Sea Harbour. And if you needed another seal of approval, during our visit to Urasawa, Hiro-san himself told me that his favorite restaurant is Sea Harbour. Need I say more? You probably notice a dearth of posts on Dim Sum in San Diego…… that's mainly because the wild swings in quality and mixed experiences over the years have made us a bit "gun shy", after all, the usual layout of funds for a good dim sum meal, exceeds the risk associated with a good bowl of soup! Especially when the return on investment for dim sum in San Diego during the last few years have crashed faster than the stock market…..

On weekends there will usually always be a wait at Sea Harbour….. even if you arrive before the 1030 am opening, it's likely you'll be standing behind someone who got there even earlier than you. Still, if you get there before 11am, on a normal weekend, it's likely the wait won't be too long. Turnover is very quick here…..

Like Elite and Happy Harbour, Sea Harbour does Dim Sum the upscale "menu style". The check off list is quite large at about 130 items….

It's always quite an effort to decide on what to eat. As much as Siu Mai would seem a "no-brainer", a visit to Sea Harbour is something of a special meal for us, so I've yet to have that here. The standard Char Siu Bao, is usually persona non-grata during our Dim Sum meals, as the Missus hails from Shandong and Beijing, and the dough is much too sweet for Her tastes.

So we tend toward the dishes that are not quite the norm for a typical Dim Sum meal. On this day, things started off with the Baby Pak Choy with Ginko and Bean Curd Sheets:

This was almost an entree sized dish. The pak choy was prepared perfectly, still crunchy, not saturated. We both love bean curd sheets. The broth was a light, but tasty chicken stock. The only negative for us in this dish were the ginko nuts. They were very bitter. I have been using ginko nuts a lot recently, and immediately knew these were not prepared well, the texture was mushy, and the flavor unpleasant. Still, the pak choy was good, even as leftovers.

The Shrimp, Dry Scallop, and Chinese Celery Dumplings were excellent.

Over the years, I've resigned myself to either overly sticky, or brittle and ripped wrappers for steamed dumplings. These on the other hand were perfect; with just enough pull. The amount of Chinese Celery was just right, adding that wonderful palate cleansing effect. The size of the cut was good as well; you knew you were having Chinese Celery. The shrimp was flavorful; and even though we really couldn't make out a dried scallop umami, the proportion of the other ingredients was just right for our tastes. We really should be having more of the steamed dumplings at Sea Harbour.

Though it's really hard when you see stuff like Foie-Gras Minced Beef with Spinach on the menu.

I was surprised that you could really make out the flavor of goose liver in this. The spinach was good quality, and not bitter in the least. A rich, but good dish.

We were split on the Cheong Fun with Bittermelon and Chicken.

The Missus thought that while the bittermelon was perfectly cooked, it was much too bitter for Her. I on the other hand enjoyed this. We both thought that the sauce for the Cheong Fun had a good salty-sweet balance to it.

The biggest disappointment of the day were the French Style Goose Liver Won Ton.

Very bland won tons (where was the goose liver?), in an insipid broth. This dish was very disappointing, as both the won tons and the broth lacked flavor.

Second place for most disappointing dish was the Fish Cake with Corn and Peas.

Which also suffered from the blandness bugaboo. This one almost got me to request soy sauce and chili paste, which is not provided on each table like the typical Dim Sum Restaurant. I can understand the desire to have each customer taste the real flavor and quality of each item ordered. But man, this was fairly tasteless.

The Missus and I were split on the Pan Grilled Spinach Pork Bun.

The Missus thought these were too sweet (of course), and too light and fluffy (???). I thought the sweetness wasn't over-powering, and really enjoyed the shrimp in the Buns. I'd have these again, but don't think the Missus would allow me to order them.

As a whole, we really enjoyed this meal, and ended up with some leftovers. And even though we ordered several of the most expensive items on the Dim Sum menu, our bill came out to a tad over $40, much less then we had expected spending.

Leaving, we noticed the huge crowd waiting outside the restaurant, braving temperatures that were surely approaching a hundred degrees. It left me wondering if I'd be willing to wait in this heat. Perhaps not, but we still think of Sea Harbour as one of the better spots for Dim Sum.

I'm always attracted to the "Chicken in the parking lot" here, and am racking my brains to recall what this place was before Sea Harbour. Maybe you'll be able to tell me…..

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

Road Trip: Luscious Dumplings and Michelle’s Pancake House – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

September 12, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

The Missus and I hadn't been back to the SGV quite as much as we desired since returning from China. A couple of weeks back, we finally had a chance, and we decided to check out a few places we hadn't been to. We started however, with a place we hadn't been to in quite a while:

Luscious Dumplings:

**** Luscious Dumplings has moved to Monrovia

Since we'd be checking out a place in the same strip mall, we decided on having some Jiaozi at Luscious Dumplings. Actually, I thought I'd posted on this place before but couldn't find a previous post. Luckily, I snapped a photo before we left…… check out the line! When we arrived, the place was empty, but it sure fills up quickly.

Luscious Dumplings is a small, bare bones operation, whose menu is presented on a half sheet of paper. You check off the items you want, and you're on your way. Within seconds a styrofoam cup of tea, and a small plate of marinated/pickled vegetable arrives.

On this day, after the Missus scarfed this up, totally against character, another little plate arrived at our table! Wow, great service, right? Well, not quite…. it seems that another table had requested more of the free appetizer, and it had been erroneously brought to us. Maybe it was our lucky day.

We had ordered two different dumplings, the first to arrive were the Chive, Pork, Egg, and Shrimp Dumplings(10 – $6.50):

These were excellent; the wrappers were almost pillowy, with just the right amount of pull. The filling was well put together as well. You could still taste the shrimp, and the pungency of the chive didn't over-power the rest of the ingredients.

Our order of Pork and Celery Dumplings arrived soon after:

The one outstanding characteristic of these dumplings were the lightness of the filling, so smooth and light, almost mousse-like. The Missus's Fifth Aunt, will often stir her Jiaozi filling for over an hour with chopsticks to attain the right consistency. The texture of these were pretty close. The flavor seemed a bit off to us. Celery is a wonderful foil for rich or gamey fillings, but here the flavor of ginger overwhelmed everything else. We couldn't even make out the celery in the dumpling.

Still, the dumplings here are well worth a visit. One thing I noticed, it seems that the prices here go up like clockwork, but these are worth $6.50.

Luscious Dumplings Inc
704 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

You can check out Wandering Chopstick's post on Luscious Dumplings here.

Right around the corner from Luscious Dumplings is a shop that FOY (Friend of Yoso) Andy thought might be an interesting shop to visit:

Michelle's Pancake House:

*** Michelle's Pancake House has closed

No, it's not the Chinese equivalent of IHOP or The Original Pancake House. The "Michelle" portion of the name is a direct phonetic interpretation of what seems to be the Owner's name. And this place specializes in "Dan Bing", Xiar Bing, and other dough preparations.

The dining area in the shop is about a third larger than Luscious Dumplings, which is not very large. We also noticed that the customers here seemed to be a bit older.

Much like China, there are a couple of communal tables, that folks share.

A little bowl of boiled peanuts, very mushy, and perhaps past their due date, arrived while we looked over the checklist and the menu.

We decided to start with the Egg, Shrimp, and Leek (chive) Dumplings (12 – $5.95):

Thte wrappers had that home made texture to them, and were perhaps a bit on the gummy side. The filling wasn't binded, so there was tendency for it to fall apart. We really couldn't taste the shrimp in these as well.

We also ordered two different Xiar Bing (stuffed breads). The first was the Radish, Thin Bean, and Shrimp ($6.95):

The dough was a pleasant surprise for us. The tops and bottoms were thin and crisp. It was a lot less oily than we had expected as well. The Xiar Bing were pretty filling, and I could only finish one.

The filling was interesting…. if you like daikon, you'll love these. I'm thinking that the thin beans in these must be really, really, thin….. like invisible thin. At least you could make out the faint flavor of dried shrimp even if you couldn't see it.

The second set were the Zucchini and Pork (8 – $5.95):

These were a bit smaller than the radish version, but felt pretty rich. The Missus didn't care for the strong "pork" flavor, but I thought it was fairly good.

The filling was moist, but the pork kinda tough and chewy. I'm pretty sure by the smell and flavor that pork butt/shoulder was used for these.

I had my doubts as to how these would hold up after taking them home; but they heated up fairly well in the toaster oven.

The Missus learned that the owners are from Longkou (龍口) in Shandong Province, an area well known for the production of cellophane noodles. We were interested enough that I think we'll visit this place again.

Michelle's Pancake House
706 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Thanks for the recommendation Andy!

One thing the Missus and I really appreciate about restaurant like these in the SGV; the menus are small, and are focused on the items they do best. And we're not done yet…. there was one more stop on this road trip so stay tuned……

Eating with Friends: Eating the SGV, Crab Hut 2, and here’s to new friends

September 4, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Memorable Meals, Road Trip, Seafood, Xiao Long Bao, yoso-silly

One of the wonderful things that has happened in the five plus years I've been doing this blog, is that I've made some wonderful friends. I'm not quite sure how it's happened, but I feel blessed to know such wonderful folks (Note to JohnL…. like I said, "don't let it go to your head", he-he-he). I've often done short posts on meals I've had with friends, so I hope you don't mind another.

Doing the SGV thing:

A bunch of us got together a couple of weeks back, and did a San Gabriel Valley food crawl. Two of them, TammyC and JohnL had done stuff like this with me before. I knew MrC would go with the flow…. but PeterL, well, he was the rookie, and we'd have to keep an eye on him. We sort of just headed out, and I asked questions about what the folks wanted to eat…….. and after ruminating a bit, I decided that our first stop would be Dean Sin World. And of course, Shengjian Bao.

It turns out that none of this group, other than me had ever had Niu Rou Chuan (Beef Roll):

Not the most stellar version, but man did PeterL enjoy this, perhaps a bit too much. John and Tammy know a couple of my "rules" when it comes to an eating crawl. You live in the moment, that is, you don't start counting how many tacos you've had, this will just screw you up mentally. You resist the temptation to have that second or third, or fourth serving of the same item. It will still be here next time…. there's more up the road. Unfortunately, Peter just wanted those two extra pieces of Niu Rou Chuan, and as we walked the few yards to Giang Nan, I could tell the NRC was starting to settle in Peter's belly……

Of course at Giang Nan, we had two orders of each type of Xiao Long Bao.

As well as some of the cold dishes…..

After this I offered up QingDao Bread Food, which is right across a street. The Missus & I will often do Dean Sin World followed by Giang Nan and QingDao Bread Food when we;re in the area. I even offered up Mama's Lu and other places, but these folks were Bao'd and Dumpling'd out. And Peter really needed a break, so we drove to Focus Plaza to stretch our legs, grab some drinks, and do some shopping.

Then it was time for lunch….. enough with the snacks, it was time for a real meal. I offered up Tianjin Bistro or Hunan Chilli King. Since we had MrC, and his asbestos mouth, everyone went with Hunan Chilli King. I even called the Missus on my cell phone and had Her give the Server our order. We had stuff that I've posted on before, except for these two dishes.

A Hunan (not so) Stinky Tofu, and a Hot and Sour Soup.

All told we did pretty good with the five dishes we ordered.

By this time, most everyone had hit the wall, so we went on over to Papa Walk for some shaved ice, then ended the road trip buying some items at Domies Bakery.

Overall, it was good time…. but JohnL sent me a text message later that evening telling me he was hungry again…… such is the life of a growing boy!

A week later we all met at the new Crab Hut in the Gaslamp. As always we had a blast. I ended up taking onle three photos, so you won't be seeing the four dozen oysters, the crawfish, the clams, etc, etc, etc…….

But at least I took a photo of the Sausage Plate.

And one of the two orders of Calamari and Fries…..

After the Seafood Creole……

We were just having too darn much fun that I stowed the camera…..

I left feeling like this…..

Ummm…without the flowers behind my ears of course.

Crab Hut Downtown
1007 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101

And here's to making new friends:

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kayoko of Umamimart. And let me just say I had a blast. We had a bite at The Original Sab E Lee. I had a great time, and hope Kayoko was ok with my "food dorkiness", she sure did put me at ease, and was fun to talk to. Over the years, I've found that fellow food bloggers are some of the nicest people. So please check out Kayoko's post on our lunch, it just seemed to end too soon. Thanks again for the wonderful conversation and a great time Kayoko!

Revisits to Spicy House

September 2, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

After a decent first meal at Spicy House, we thought the place showed some promise. So we decided to try out a few more dishes. The new banner attempts to clarify what's going on here…..

Since I love Cumin Lamb it was only natural that we order it on our next visit to Spicy House.

The Cumin Lamb ($10.99) here is reminiscent in fragrance, flavor, and texture to what was served at Dede's, which was our favorite dish there. I do think it was perhaps a little on the dry side, and lacking the amount of cumin powder I enjoy(which some palates may deem a bit excessive), but it was serviceable. The amount of cilantro in the dish was perfect in relationship to the lamb. I also think the lamb lacked that wild barnyard flavor that I really enjoy. In fact, when I took the leftovers to work, I let one of my coworkers sample it, and she thought it was beef.

The Preserved Meat with Dry Bamboo ($9.99), was not quite as good.

We had been wondering what kind of "La Rou" ("wax meat") was going to be used in the dish. Would it be the wonderful Hunan style Smoked Pork like the version at Hunan Seafood? Or the more tame Sichuan style La Rou, often used in Twice Cooked Pork. The answer was the latter; and it wasn't a very good rendition of La Rou either. It was really pretty bland…… the whole dish was like something I could throw together at home.

The Missus was excited about the Hunan style Stinky Tofu ($7.99), until it arrived at our table.

As soon as the dish arrived the Missus asked me, "what makes this Hunan?" I had no answer, and neither did the very mellow tasting, barely fermented tasting fried tofu. The insipid sauce gave us no clue either. The Missus always claims that if I can tolerate the stinky tofu, it can't be any good. So far places that the Missus either likes (Shau Mei), or thinks is passable (Dynasty Plaza) have proven Her right. And on our visit to Hangzhou we had a Stinky Tofu Hot Pot that was one of the smelliest things I've ever seen placed on a table top, which the Missus thought was ambrosia, and I thought tasted what it smelled like; sewage, has confirmed that theory. Let's just say this was very disappointing.

We left wondering……. were we just lucky on our first visit? Or perhaps very unlucky on this one? We decided another visit was in order……

Having had a decent lamb dish on our previous visit, and seeing that what we had was sorely in need of spice the last time around, we ordered the Hunan Sauteed Lamb ($10.99):

Think of it as being about the same as the Cumin Lamb, with the cumin replaced by some chilies. Actually, this dish wasn't very spicy. It was pretty good overall.

We also ordered the Fries Shrimp with Hot Pepper ($11.99).

Mentally, I was envisioning something like the Hot Pepper Prawns at Ba Ren. Instead we got a gloppy, overly sweet dish that was something like "General Tso's Shrimp". In terms of flavor, this dish was way out of balance….. The portion size for this dish was pretty small.

The last dish we ordered was the Twice Cooked Fish ($10.99):

This is basically the fish filet version of the Eel dish we had on our previous visit. It does contain some Sichuan Peppercorn, and is probably the spiciest of all the dishes we've had at Spicy House. The batter is crisp, and the flavor pretty good, though I thought there needed to be perhaps a bit of either sweetness, or perhaps an acidic element to balance out the dish. Both the Missus and I felt there was something missing. Like the Eel, the portion size is pretty large. I mentioned the disproportion in, well portions to the Missus. Some dishes, like the shrimp, are pretty small, while other dishes are humongous….. this could cause problems when ordering from a group. You'll have too much of one thing, and not enough of another. I'd prefer having dishes that are about equal in portion, and prices could be adjusted to reflect those changes. Add a buck for shrimp, and give folks more shrimp in your shrimp dishes. Subtract a buck on your fish, and adjust the portion likewise. Again, the word "balance" or lack thereof comes to mind.

During these two visits, it seems that Spicy House is still reluctant to turn on the A/C, and it can get pretty hot. The service is fairly good, as are the prices.

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

Jinan: The Banquet

August 30, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Jinan, Memorable Meals, Travel

We arrived in Jinan after what seemed a pretty quick 2 hours and change. My Mother In Law, Fifth Aunt, Second Aunt, Second Uncle, their Granddaughter, Fourth Aunt, the Missus and I made up the group. We were met at train station by one of the Missus's Uncles. The Missus's Grandmother's Sister had married and moved to Jinan decades ago. I have often been told that the Missus's Great-Grandfather had ensured that his children married well, and they all had fruitful lives. While the Missus recognizes the names, She has very little recollection of Her Uncles. On an interesting note, while the Missus Grandmother had six daughters, this sister had four sons! I could tell by the chatter that there was quite a bit of catching-up going on as we headed off to lunch……

And you guessed it! It was a banquet, of course! So are you ready for another banquet post?

As soon as we arrived, so did the food, at impressive speed.

The Missus's Grandmother's Sister, all of Eighty-Five years young, looked decades younger, and seemed full of energy. There was much animated discussion, and of course, laughter.

The crowning course of this banquet were the braised pig's feet. And one of the Uncles showed us how it was prepared for serving.

As luck would have it, though the entire family is really into food, we ended up sitting next to the Uncle who was the most serious "foodie" of the group. He spent much of the meal graciously telling us about the dishes, and pointed out which could be termed as traditional Jinan preparations. Truth be told, I had no idea what Jinan Cuisine was going to be like, and we were both pleasantly surprised at this arm of "Lu Cai" (Lu Cuisine). The flavors in Jinan were big, and the food hearty.

The Missus's Uncle gave us so much information, that I wish I could spend a week with him. And of course there was so much food. As with the other banquet post, I'll just comment on a few things here and there.

While the Pig's Feet we had at our Pig's Feet Banquet in QingDao was to be enjoyed for the gelatin and texture; this one was chock full of flavor.

The Missus still talks about the Cucumber Jiaozi. It was so unexpected, with the refreshing and palate cleansing flavor of cucumber coming through. According to the Missus, this restaurant is known for their dumplings, and I can see why.

My favorite dish of the meal, was of all things the kidney.

I'd never had a kidney dish I enjoyed, ever….. until this day. The flavor was like the essense of offal. Meanwhile, Uncle explained to me the short comings of this kidney; the color and sheen was wrong, by the looks and texture he could tell that this kidney had probably been refrigerated for a while. Like I said, these folks are serious about their food, not only do they know the "what", but the "why" as well!

I was told that this dish featuring tendon is a traditional Jinan preparation.

And you know how much I love tendon.

This was another traditional Lu Cai dish.

We were both surprised at the wonderful flavor of the dried red chilies in this dish.

The peppers had been stuffed with sesame seeds, and was crunchy, nutty, and floral, with just a slight bit of back of the throat spice. We were told that we'd be running into this preparation of pepper in Xi'an.

This interesting looking dish were slices of eggplant "stuffed" with shrimp, battered and deep fried.

There were three different types of Guotie (potstickers):

Shandong Guotie is very unique. The Missus told me that the ends are not pinched shut, and of coarse there's the "crust". Crunchy, light, and delicious.

I know I've missed a couple of dishes……

But I made sure to take another photo of that kidney dish…..

The amount of knowledge the Missus's Jinan family displayed made me even more sure that China was a country full of foodies! If there was one thing I learned in China; it was the importance of family. The flavors of the food may have been totally different from QingDao, but the warmth, humor, and generosity were in full display. I remember telling the Missus that I wished we were spending more than one day Jinan. To say we enjoyed the food and company would be an understatement. What an amazing family!

Chicken Wing Thing: 777 Noodle House, Olde City Grill, The Original Sab E Lee, and Que Huong

August 16, 2010 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here's a post to add to my Chicken Wing category, an additional Chicken Wing Thing post. As regular readers know, I love my chicken wings……..

777 Noodle House:

I've already done a couple of posts on this bargain of a Chiu Chow Noodle House. And since they also own the "Louisiana" Fried Chicken shop next door, it was only right that I try their chicken wings.

On the good side, this was very juicy and lip melting hot! On the not-so-good, the batter was pretty crumbly, and it was a pretty bland wing overall. I enjoy a few dishes here, but this is not one of them.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Olde City Grill:

*** Old City Grille has closed

Of all the Cheesesteaks I posted on, Olde City Grill in Pacific Beach was the best I had hands down. A week or so later, I visited again to confirm my findings. I also decided to have some wings….which are sold "by the pound". I decided to go with some pretty straightforward "Buffalo" wings.

I was surprised to find that a "pound" here consisted of 6 wings. I've often mentioned the "Kyochon line" when it comes to pricing. Anything over, say a dollar a wing should be darn good. From the sauce point of view, it was pretty routine… fairly tangy, decent heat, but nothing special. From the size point of view, these were some fairly hefty size wings. I am however, a fan of smaller wings, since the skin/crust to meat ratio is much better. If I wanted plain meaty…. I could get drumsticks, right? There was one other item I didn't care for…. the Bluecheese dressing was more like mildly flavored Bluecheese Mayonnaise (or if you really want to be fancy aioli).

Personally, I'll stick with the cheesesteaks…..

Olde City Grill
967 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

The Original Sab E Lee:

**** This location of Sab E Lee has closed

Actually, I've had the wings at TOSEL a couple of times, but have never thought of it as something the place does well.

I recently returned just to have the wings……. and it confirmed that even though there is much to like at TOSEL, and I do mean a lot, I don't think chicken wings are on that list. The wings just don't have that spicy-sweet-savory flavor or crisp, yet sticky texture of the good wings in Thailand.

The bitter burnt garlic did not do the dish any favors…….

Don't even ask me about the neon orange sweet-sour sauce…..

The Original Sab-E-Lee Restaurant
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Que Huong Restaurant:

**** Que Huong has closed

I recently had a wonderful lunch with one of my favorite FOYs (Friends of Yoso), Dennis. As always I enjoyed the company, and you can read about our meal here. I'd first eaten at Que Huong back in 2005, and have been going back off and on since then. I never did try the Fish Sauce Chicken Wings until FOY "Yummy Yummy" mentioned it to me in 2008. I gotta say, it was love at first bite…. and yet, there are several different version of wings on the menu, and I wanted to try the Tamarind Wings……. and Dennis was nice enough to help me through a meal. I ordered a half and half… a half order of Fish Sauce Wings, and a half order of Tamarind Wings.

No these aren't gigantic wings….. they are "small but mighty"… you know folks like that. They may be diminutive, but are full of attitude and flavor. The Fish Sauce wings delivered that sweet-salty punch that they always do for me.

The Tamarind Wings……

Were like the Fish Sauce Wings' weaker cousin……. I wanted something with a tangy "punch", but these were fairly mild. I still gotta try the butter wings…… and other stuff……

Thanks for putting up with me Dennis!

Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

So there you go, a few more wings for my collection.

Spicy House a first look

August 12, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Another post on Spicy House can be found here.

I mentioned that Shanghai City was gone in this post. A few days later the sign went up announcing "Spicy House". Of course being the good Chinese Restaurant they were schedule to open on 08/08. I was told by several sources that this place was run by the group that owns Spicy City. For some reason, I've never been enamored with Spicy City, but thought we should give this place a try.

The interior has been freshened up slightly…….

And like most of these types of restaurants, there's a selection of cold dishes on display. The interesting thing, was there was one item that gave signal that there was something more then the signature Sichuan-Yunnan Spicy City thing going on here.

And one look at the menu verified what we thought.

We had spied what looked like Hunan Suan Dou (pickled green beans) as one of the cold dishes.

After a brief discussion with the Server, the Missus found out that they have three chefs working here. They've retained the original Shanghainese Chef, which is why I saw several of the old Shanghai City menus, and have brought on a Sichuan Chef, and a Hunan Chef. Now this sounded interesting, but I was still not sold……. and especially after having a selection of the cold dishes.

The Fuqi Feipian was too tough, and lacked Sichuan Peppercorn. The pig's ear was also lacking in flavor. The Kaufu, wheat gluten was too chewy, not melt in the mouth soft as, say what they serve at Tianjin Bistro.

The pickled long beans were also disappointing; salty, but lacking that true pickled flavor. Earlier in the week, I tried to explain the difference between salty and briney to someone…. and these were a pretty good example.

We were ready to be underwhelmed when our Dried String Beans with Duck($10.99) arrived.

Man, this smelled good! It was a sort of hybrid Sichuan/Hunan dish. The dried green beans, sliced into tiny pieces, almost like a brunoise, were nice savory surprises. Three different types of chilies were used, and the orange/red peppers we enjoy with many Hunan dishes added a nice, fruity sweetness. The addition of minced ginger, slices of garlic, and peanuts, meant that every bite would have a different flavor. The duck was typical of Hunan/Sichuan dishes; it was less meaty, more chewy, with a mild gamey flavor. Not too many seeds as is typical with Hunan dishes, but there were a few there. Not quite Hunan Chilli King, but not bad.

There were a couple of things that surprised us about the Crisp Fish with Pepper ($10.99):

First was the portion size, it was huge. This was all fish, there wasn't anything in the middle or bottom to "prop up" the food. Second, we noticed this was eel! We found out later that it was supposed to be Crispy Fried Eel with Chilies on the menu, but there was some mix-up. Third was the distinct smell of one of my favorite seasonings hitting me when the dish arrived….. the smell of cumin. And yet, the flavor of cumin was in the background…. I think it was added to the batter. Though the middle pieces were on the greasier side, the pieces of fish on the outside were nice and crisp. I'd say this was a pseudo-Sichuan dish, as there were Sichuan Peppercorns present, though not in large quantities. An interesting note was, even though this dish looks aggressively flavored, you could still make out the taste of the sesame seeds that topped the dish. The Missus, who loves Chinese Eel dishes, thought this was good. Strangely, I thought the dish could have used more salt!

The dishes we had shows enough promise…. i think we'll be back to try more in the future. The service was adequate…. though on a very hot day, they seemed to not want to turn on the A/C which made me do a "double sweat"…. one from the chilies, the other from the heat! The portion sizes were generous, and the prices pretty good. We were sad to see Shanghai City go, but this place shows some promise.

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