Chinese Restaurants – Page 64

Yum Cha Cafe – A brief look…..

January 31, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Yum Cha Cafe has closed

It seems that a whole bunch of FOYs (Friends of Yoso) have been on "Yum Cha Cafe watch". A few days back, FOY Trent email'd me saying that he saw equipment being moved into the space….and like a good YCC groupie, I was there that afternoon to take a photo.

Walking up to the window, I peered at the menu…..and felt funny. This was getting a bit out of hand. There's a fine line between groupie and stalker. So I backed a-waaay from the window, leaving behind the gathered condensation left by my nose and hands, walked away, and decided to tuck Yum Cha Cafe back into the far reaches of my mind.

Until……. I received an email from another FOY, Fred, who informed me that Yum Cha Cafe was open. A perfect storm had formed. I had gone in to work at 6am and been so busy that I skipped lunch, I was hungry, the Missus had also been "shopping" so She had skipped lunch. Yum Cha Cafe here we come…..

There are two ways of ordering…you can either fill in one of the order sheets and hand it to someone….or elbow your way in line and order from one of the ladies, who may hand you off to another lady, who in turn, will pass you off to the cashier. One other thing, Vietnamese is the language of choice for many of the employees at this location of Yum Cha Cafe.

Compared to the San Gabriel location, the prices here are about 40 cents to a dollar more here in San Diego.

And there was a full complement of Chinese BBQ, but no Rice Porridge today.

Yum Cha Cafe in San Gabriel serves up decent quality food at good prices, how would the new San Diego location hold up? Well…… we'd like to make a few more visits, so you'll have to wait for a bit. But that means that you be able to visit, and form your own opinions, right?

But just as a tease, here's some chicken feet ($1.39):

I'm showing these with the express purpose of tempting FOY and fellow food blogger CAB.

I think the Missus kinda enjoyed these…

Even though the prices here are 40% higher than LA, the Missus and I filled up for a total (including tax) of $8.78. And because great minds think alike, I think we saw Cathy's Husband (The Mister) walking into the place as we were driving out!

Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Open Daily: 8am-8pm

Wandering Chopsticks writes about the San Gabriel location of Yum Cha Cafe in this post.

Yuma: Jeannie Wah’s Chinese & American Bistro

January 27, 2009 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

It's ed again, over in Yuma, not Kirk or Cathy. You are warned.

This old school Yuma Chinese restaurant has closed.

Shortly after I moved to Yuma, I decided to try every Chinese restaurant in town. It wasn't that hard — there weren't that many. Several old time Yumans recommended a Cantonese steakhouse named Gene's. It was the oldest Asian eatery in town.

So I stopped by one lunchtime and ordered a lunch special: chicken chow mein. What I was served looked a lot like this:

As soon as I began eating, I flashed back to my small town childhood and the "country and western" Chinese restaurant that was my parents' favorite in the 1950s and 60s. Every thing seemed exactly the same, from the combination of vegetables down to the predominant flavor of American soy sauce.

And like the memory from my childhood, this chicken and vegetable melange topped a thick pile of crunchy noodles, just like you could get out of the can:

For me, this flashback was not the resurrection of a pleasant memory, though to be fair, I should mention some friends who moved to Arizona from Boston and are so happy to find these old-school dishes that taste "just like the Cantonese food back in Massachusetts." In any case, Gene's was never my favorite, and I considered it a typical and ordinary ABCDE (Kirk's coinage: American Born Chinese Dining Establishment).

Gene's no longer exists, but the friendly woman who was its last manager has recently opened a new dining establishment, Jeannie Wah's Chinese & American Bistro:

She has a tough task in this economy, but she is trying to attract new customers with new dishes while still satisfying the old customers from Gene's with American food, snickerdoodles, and dishes like that old-school chicken chow mein ($8.50).

New note: I must say that the version of the chicken chow mein at Jeannie Wah's is better than the old version for 3 reasons. 1. The soy sauce is real soy sauce – not a complex flavor, but not bad either. 2. The Chinese greens mixed with the bean sprouts add a slight balancing touch of bitterness that works well in the dish. 3. The noodles are fried on premises and have real flavor and real crunch.

On my first visit to the very nicely decorated new eatery, I got lucky and ordered one of the lunch specials, the Wah's Up Today Noodle Bowl ($7):

This was really good, much better than any picture can convey. The broth was densely flavorful and rich. The chicken and barbecued pork were adequate as were the plentiful Chinese cabbage pieces and chopped Chinese mushrooms. The real highlight of the dish, even better than the outstanding stock, were the noodles. They had a perfect chew to them, with great mouthfeel and good flavor.

In fact, noodles seem to be one of the strong points of the restaurant. I recently ordered Gene's Cantonese Panfried Noodles ($11) to go:

Again the noodles were toothsome and flavorful. Notice the plentiful wok hay. The vegetable selection was also good. In addition to the usual suspects, there were sugar pea pods and plentiful crunchy baby corncobs. The only bummer in the entire dish were the shrimps. While their flavor was unexceptional, I never realized that it was possible to cook a shrimp to the point where it was as tough as sirloin steak. As tough as it is to believe this, that's how tough those shrimps were.

I also have picked up their version of Kung Pao chicken ($9.50):

The dish was good. I appreciated the plentiful topping of cashews, and the amount of chicken was generous as well. Providing texture and flavor contrast were more baby corns, onions, red bell peppers, and some type of mildly spicy chopped green pepper. As the picture shows, this dish was not super picante, but the red chili flakes and the chopped green chilies did provide a one/two capsicum punch.

Perhaps because of my central European roots, I love various combinations of pork and cabbage. At Jeannie Wah's, I was pleased to see double cooked pork on the menu ($8.50). And of course, I ordered it on one of my first visits to the restaurant:

The version here is very basic, but certainly adequate. Compared to the dish at Mandarin Palace (my favorite version in town), this one was very simple — just cabbage, barbecued pork, and chili flakes. The pork here also lacked the fatty richness that makes the rendition at Mandarin Palace so outstanding. Nonetheless, I could eat this again happily.

I'm glad that this restaurant opened. This is such a wonderful change from the Chinese buffets that dominated the Asian food scene here in Yuma just three or four years ago. Prices seem fair, and portions are generous. Istill need to explore more of the noodle dishes here, as they seem to be a real strength of the place. Nonetheless, Jeannie Wah's is not going to replace Yummy Yummy as my favorite local Cantonese place, nor does the menu offer the diversity of Mandarin Palace. Still, it fills a very flavorful niche out here in the desert.

Jeannie Wah's Chinese and American Bistro, 1360 4th Ave (actually off 14th St close to 5th Ave), Yuma AZ, 928-783-0080

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant – Mira Mesa

January 19, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

As noted in the comments of this post, Luong Hai Ky's second location has finally opened in Mira Mesa. And about a week after their opening I found myself in the area, so I thought I'd check out the home of, ahem, "The Original Chinese Noodles". I'm pretty sure I don't need to elaborate…..

The Owners have done a pretty nice job with the interior…..down to having the now standard plasma televisions mounted on the walls….

I could tell that the level of disorganization was still running pretty high, I was asked for my order three times, by three different Servers. My hot tea didn't arrive until I was almost done with my soup (though this was not as bad as what happened later), and so forth. Being in the midst of a "grand opening" make such problems reasonable……

I stayed with my usual, the Won Ton & Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($5.75):

After making a brief stop at another table, the bowl of egg noodle soup arrived. The soup was piping hot, but much like my last visit to the Convoy location, lacked the nice rich flavor that I had encountered on previous visits. I'm guessing this is the standard broth at LHK now…bummer. The won tons were a bit softer than the norm, and the dumplings even better, toothsome, but not hard, and the shrimp flavor came through.

Still, this was enough to warrant another visit, this time with the Missus in tow. On this evening the Missus ordered the Combination Fried Rice ($7.50):

We both thought the shrimp were excellent, the rice had been cooked well, with a nice caramelization. But for some reason, the rice had an overly sweet taste. The Missus had to add fish sauce and soy sauce to balance out the flavor.

I ordered the Combination Crispy Noodle ($7.95):

Not enough sauce…which again ran on the sweet side. This meant instead of the nice combination of crunchy, to chewy, to soft and tender textures, I felt I was eating stuff from a can. The veggies were done perfectly, nice bit of crunch and weren't overcooked, and much like the fried rice, the shrimp was the best thing about the dish. The accompanying soup was fine, if a bit heavy on the sodium.

And than there was the tea…or lack thereof. We ordered hot tea with our meal, which never arrived. We inquired about it when our food arrived, and were assured it was on the way. I figured it was going to be like my previous visit, and end up at the table later on, but it never made it. When our check arrived, I asked what happened to our tea. The Server gave me a puzzled look, looked at the bill (even though it was written in Vietnamese, there were 3 line items). Seeing that they had forgotten the tea, we were told: "that's ok, no charge for tea anyway!" And walked away….. I guess because tea is free it's ok to not serve it when ordered? Having been caught off guard by that answer, we couldn't help but laugh……..

One other thing, it does seem like prices are going up rather quickly. I noticed that both locations of Luong Hai Ky share the same take-out menu. So if this is accurate, I paid $5 for Won Ton and Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup around November 19th, of last year. It's now $5.75, these "Mi Gia" noodle houses are getting out of the zone of cheap eats rather quickly. In the end, even if I don't believe that Luong Hai Ky is "The Original Chinese Noodles", I sure received a pretty original excuse for forgetting part of our order!

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

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Road Trip: Hunan Seafood – Rosemead (Los Angeles), CA – And we get the answer to an Urban Legend.

December 23, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Hunan Seafood has closed

Ever since reading this post on Eileen Likes to Eat, I've been waiting for an opportunity to check out Hunan Seafood (formerly CrownCafe). It had been an uphill fight from the beginning. You see, the Missus'sFather is from Hunan, and I've marched ourselves to a few "Hunan" restaurants that have been anything BUT Hunan. When the Missus first heard the name of this place, She scoffed, "Hunan Sea-food? Yeah, right….." You see Hunan Province, is landlocked, bordered by mountains on three sides, and the Yangtze river on one(I don't think Dongting lake qualifies). She explained it to me this way; "Iowa is located on the Mississippi River….would you eat at a place called Iowa Seafood Restaurant?" But the combination of the photos on Eileen's Blog, and the good mood the Missus was in after our "first lunch" at Food Cabin put Her in an amiable state fo mind.

Hunan Seafood Restaurant appears very bright and clean from the exterior, but is starting to show signs of wear and tear in the interior. The service is typical SGV, all business, order quickly, don't ask questions……

We started with something near and dear to the Missus's heart; the Steamed Hunan Ham, Smoked Duck & Fish ($10.98):

The Missus clearly recalls visiting Her Paternal Grandmother in Hunan when a teenager. For a city girl it was quite a shock. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, the potty being in the same shed as the family pigs (totally freaked out, She held out for several days….until Her Dad rescued Her, taking Her into the city to potty), and the very hard life of Lily Blossom farmers. Funny thing is, we now pay thousands of $$$ to experience nearly the same thing nowadays – does anyone else notice the irony? There were of course, the great memories as well……. the wonder of lying on the drying slab and clearly seeing the Milky Way for the very first time. But, as a teenager, being the nice, plump, fresh meat for the local mosquitoes was not much fun.And toothpaste being the only available remedy for mosquito bites….. I can barely restrain myself mentally picturing the Missus covered with blots of toothpaste….wearing Her Jimmy Choo shoes with Her Gucci bag in tow…..

The scent of smoke was very strong when the plate literally hit our table. Looking at the plate, I was quite sure that it had hit quite a few tables in its time. Steaming both moistened the meat, and really brought up the fragrance. The La Rou (smoked pork) had a great texture, the fat soft and buttery, and the meat while smoky in flavor was much milder in saltiness than the preserved stuff you buy in markets. It also lacked the somewhat artificial flavor. The duck was good, but it was the fish that I enjoyed the best:

Salty and intensely smoky, the Missus said this was just as good as the stuff Her Grandmother used make and send Her Dad in China. The fish was slightly dense and chewy, though not as tough as jerky. The Missus had to call Her Father immediately after tasting this…. it brought back many memories.

And then it happened. We had heard of "it" happening before, but had never seen it in person. While waiting for our rice, the Missus murmured, "oh….. my …. God! I don't believe it!" When I asked Her, "what's going on?" The Missus stage whispered; "they're recycling rice….taking the leftover rice from one of the tables and dumping it back into the pot." The ricepot in Hunan Seafood is out for all to see, and as I turned to look, they dumped yet another container of leftover rice from another table into the ricepot…mixed it up a bit and put it into a rice container, which made its way to our table…… I should've taken a photo, but was too stunned. I wish I hadn't seen that….the meat was nice and salty, and I really wanted some rice….. You know, we've drunk Chicha de Jora made from maize germinated in the mouth of the maker, so reused rice doesn't sound too bad…. but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to eat this rice! I had heard of rice being recycled, or maybe reused for fried rice, and wasting rice is a sin…. however, faced with eating this? So I guess the urban legend of reusing rice is true.

Meanwhile, the wonderful looking Toss Fried Mutton with Cilantro ($9.98) made it to our table.

Just as with the unapologetic reuse of rice, this was an in-your-face spicy. Such is Hunan food; no goofing around with sweet, sour, or numbing flavors. The mutton was moist and tender, but was just overwhelmed with the red chilies (you didn't think those were red bell peppers did you?) and cilantro. You really couldn't taste anything else. Whomever cooked this showed some good cooking technique, but the dish seemed out of balance.

I'd gladly eat food from Hunan Seafood again, ummm…. well, maybe just some take-out, or even better, I'll just force myself to NOT look at the ricepot. We'll probably even bring the Missus's Dad here when they visit, but face him away from the ricepot. But at least we now new the answer to that old urban legend; "do Chinese Restaurants reuse uneaten rice?"

Hunan Seafood Restaurant
8772 E Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

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Road Trip: Food Cabin – Rosemead (Los Angeles), CA

December 9, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** Food Cabin has closed

What's in a name? Alot really, but in this case? What kind of cuisine would a restaurant called "Food Cabin" serve? When I first mentioned this place to the Missus, She guffawed out loud, obviously picturing a combination "Northwoods Inn" (home of the dirty snow) meets Denny's kind of place. She gave me a look that said, "you're running out of new places to eat, aren't you?" Honestly, the name Food Cabin just doesn't really inspire you to run out to the car and visit, does it?

Yes, Food Cabin just doesn't seem to get much respect; even the Restaurant's signage plays second fiddle to "The Best Car Wash" (now that's a name!!!):

As with many restaurants in the SGV, the Chinese name, has nothing to do with the English name. In this case the literal translation of the Chinese characters is something along the lines of "Dragon, Dragon, Good Food" or something like that; not a cabin reference to be found.

Food Cabin, the Restaurant, is located on the quiet end of Valley Boulevard, in, well, something that looks a lot like the manager's office of one of those cookie-cutter apartment complexes, converted into a restaurant. Having said that, I don't think the name Food Cookie-Cutter-Apartment-Manager's-Office is particularly inspiring at all either.

The interior is kind of apartment like; the Missus and I were trying to determine which "room" we were being seated in. The place was empty except for one table when we arrived at noon on a Saturday!

The menu is large, and quite varied, with mostly Northern Chinese style favorites. There are a number of specials, posted on the ubiquitous colored paper on the walls. One of the specials is a "buy 1 beer, get one free" deal.

The woman who seated us, looked very smart in her glasses, was very nice, and friendly. Not your typical SGV server. She started us off with some pickles, good, but on the salty side, and asked us twice if we wanted more.

We started off with the "Thousand Layer Meat Flat Bread" – aka "Pork Pancake" on the menu ($5).

This was nice, not greasy, as many versions of this dish is. The texture was good, crisp crust, a bit chewy in the interior. Not much meat to be had, but that is pretty much how the home made versions of this is. With a bit of the salty-pickly spicy broadbean paste, this was quite good.

But what I'd really come for were the Shengjian Bao(10 for $6.45), a "Bao" that is fried-steamed.

The Missus told me of a stand right across the street from Her High-School in Qingdao, that made Shengjian Bao. Which would inevitably end up being Her "snack" on most days. Shengjian Bao, is a semi-leavened bun, stuffed with meat, that is of a Shanghainese origin. Being both fired and steamed means that when done right, you'll get the best of both worlds.

The Missus and I were both surprised when 10 rather large Bao arrived at the table. Glistening with oil, I expected these to be heavy and greasy. Boy was I wrong, these were very light, and I enjoyed the contrast in textures. A crisp bottom, the rest of the Bao was nice and bready. To be sure, the bottom could have been a bit more crisp, but I really enjoyed the texture.

The filling was pork, with coarsely chopped squash for added texture. Moist and light, it could have perhaps been a bit more savory, but the provided soy-vinegar-cilantro dipping sauce was the perfect match. The nice Server even provided a small container of sauce for the left over Bao we took home!

The Missus, suffering from XLB withdrawals, ordered the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Juicy Pork Dumplings – $6):

I wasn't too impressed with this version, I thought the wrappers on the hard side, and the bottoms of the XLB were hard. There wasn't very much soup, and the filling was much too sweet, and left me with an odd, almost camphor like aftertaste. The Missus, on the other hand, ate 7 of the 10 XLB. Even though I wanted no part of it after eating the first one, She made me eat the last 2 since XLB doesn't keep and reheat real well.

We requested a few containers for our leftovers, and our check. ($18.88 – a bargain!) And the Server told the Missus in Mandarin to wait because She shouldn't miss the free dessert. Which turned out to be a sweet rice porridge….no big deal, but very nice service:

As you can tell, we enjoyed this meal. It wasn't perfect, but it sure hit the spot. We found the service to be very nice, and the pace much more laid-back than other restaurants in the area. This place started to fill up as we left, with several groups of older folks.

So next time someone asks you if you'd like to grab a bite at a "Food Cabin" don't hesitate. It might be worth your while!

Food Cabin
9510 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

Why the leftovers you may ask? Well, you know why…… another meal was in store during this roadtrip!

Khan’s Cave Grill & Tavern

December 4, 2008 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

When I first noticed Khan's Cave I really didn't know what to make of it. Somehow, Genghis Khan, and the phrase "Bar & Grill" just didn't seem to go together. This corner of the strip mall location used to be Hsu's Szechwan, an American-Szechwan-Mongolian BBQ restaurant that must've been around since the gold rush. Perhaps a tie-in with the old Mongolian BBQ joint? Who knows…..

After Khan's Cave opened, it became one of those, "oh, yeah, I need to check it out one-of-these days" places. You know what I mean, you drive by, and go "oh, yeah……" And a few blocks later, the image has receded into the nether regions of your brain. which is what always seemed to happen to me. FOY, Rebecca sent me an email at the end of August, telling me of her very positive experience at Khan's; and yet it still took me almost three months to get there!

Before visiting, I had checked out the menu on the Restaurant's website, which was a mish-mash of Asian influenced dishes from all over the map, and more than a few Fusion items, which left me, well, a bit con-"fused". I also noticed that dinner prices ran from $12-24, with lunch being a better deal. But the best deal of them all, was happy hour, which ran 7 days a week, from 4pm to 630 pm.

Appetizers and selected menu items were $2-3 off, and $1 off all beer in the patio and lounge areas. I decided that this would be a nice thing to try out. The restaurant has been renovated, and the warm looking bar area now occupies the former Mongolian griddle area. The selection of draft beers is pretty good, 20 in all, with 25 or so wines available by the glass.

So I got a nice tall "Arrogant Bastard", and looked over the bar menu.

Rebecca had recommended the Pepper Salt Calamari ($7 – happy hour price), which sounded like a nice beer grub type of dish. It would also be a good test of the kitchen…. to see if they could do two deceivingly simple things right; cooking calamari and frying.

When the plate hit the table, I thought it looked kind of greasy, but these were good. Crisp, light batter, the calamari were cooked to perfection (not hard and rubbery), and the squid rings had that nice Chinese "salt and pepper" flavor. Yes, salty indeed, but my kind of bar grub.

I also had thoughts of ordering the Pepper Salt Chicken Wings, but showing much restraint, I went with the Sriracha Thai Chicken Wings ($7).

The wings had a nice texture, with a bit of the fried crunch remaining, and was well coated with a spicy sauce which slowly got hotter and hotter as you ate them. This was reminiscent of Buffalo Wings in flavor(without the margarine fattiness), and like Buffalo Wings, I'd have enjoyed a nice "foil" for the heat and acidity, a la Blue Cheese dressing. These got a bit mundane after a while, but I was glad it wasn't too sweet.

This was more than I could finish, and I ended up taking a bit of it home with me. Overall, it wasn't a too bad experience. I also found out that the Chef was from Hong Kong.

With that experience in hand, I decided to grab lunch at Khan's. And this time I went with one of the ultimate, "it really doesn't exist in the supposed Country of origin dishes"; Singapore Noodles ($9.95). Really, there is no such thing as what we call Singapore Noodles in Singapore(well, maybe now with globalization…) , which puts the dish in the class of Chop Suey, Crab Rangoon, and Sesame Chicken.

That doesn't mean that I don't like it if it is well prepared. The portion size was on the small side, which in this day and age of humongous portions is not necessarily a bad thing. Several nice sized shrimp were provided as well. The vegetables were hard and undercooked, and though there was a nice curry kick, the dish lacked any other flavor, and was badly in need of soy, and perhaps chicken stock to add flavor. The one thing good about the dish was that the noodles weren't overcooked and mushy, and the dish came off as being less oily. At 10 bucks, I thought it was a bit over-priced, and at almost $12 for dinner……

As I've mentioned before, it's a fine line between Fusion and Con-Fusion food. Pulling off Seafood Pad Thai, Yakisoba, Ramen, and Pasta well, is a daunting task. I think the decor in the dining room at Khan's represents the food well:

Everything from decent tables and chairs to barrels(?) used as a table stand, and nice tile work transitioning to cheap looking carpet. Khan's has also kept the original ceiling from Hsu's, which adds even more kitsch to the equation.

That doesn't mean I won't be returning for a $5 – 22oz draft beer or some nice salty fried things during happy hour. I've filed it away as, "Asian TGI Fridays, meets PF Chang"…..

Khan's Cave Bar & Grill
9350 Clairemont Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Thanks for the recommendation Rebecca!

One more thing. For some reason, I think FOY CAB may want to check out this dish:

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Mr Dumpling

December 1, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Mr Dumpling has closed

Ever since PedMa and MrC mentioned that a restaurant called Mr Dumpling was opening up, the Missus & I kept tabs on the place during our trips to 99 Ranch Market. We both found the location, on Convoy Court, away from Clairemont Mesa Boulevard to be a bit strange.

But the Owners have done a really nice job with the place, from the very clean and uncluttered interior, to the orchids adorning the patio. Mr Dumpling the restaurant, does not resemble what I'd imagine a "Mr Dumpling" to look like.

The tables are covered with crisp white tablecloths, and the earthy tones, are quite nice and relaxing. Of course, the Missus couldn't help but say, "of course it's nice, they just opened up….give it a couple of years."

The menu looked like a scattershot of various Mainland Chinese dishes, everything from Mapo Dofu and Hunan Dofu, to of course, Jiaozi. The array of offerings did cause some head-scratching, but we're pretty familiar with the Chinese clean-cafe-eatery, phenomenon in LA. Actually, this is not isolated to Chinese cuisine, FOYs, Beach, Chubbypanda, and I had discussed this with regards to Vietnamese Restaurants in Little Saigon as well. Even a brief discussion would take up several posts, so I'll pass on that subject this time around.

Back to Mr Dumpling. We were informed that the "Chef" is from Shandong, which helped to give the Missus and I bearings with regards to ordering. While perusing the menu, we encountered our first mildly disturbing "sign", our pot of tea was delivered….. with the tea bag label sticking out of the pot. That single teabag tag sticking out of the top of the teapot just seemed out of place, and in stark contrast with the surroundings.

We started with a dish that the Missus has been eating since a young child – The Shanghai style Smoked Fish (Su Shih Hsun Yuu ), the price ($9.95) was a bit startling, but it's a dish that we can't help but order everywhere we go. It is a Shanghainese dish, but one that is very popular in Shandong.

This was just wrong on so many levels; first, this was a very, very, small portion(for $10)….check out the tines of the fork for comparison. Second, there was none of that sweet-5 spice flavor that is the hallmark of his dish. Third, the type of fish was wrong….the texture was too meaty, and tasteless, like really bad albacore tuna. Click on any of the links above the photo, and you'll see what we were expecting. The Missus's maternal Grandmother was master of this dish, and Her Fifth Aunt, who is the best cook in the family, carries on the tradition. My Mother-In-Law believes the version at Chin's, is spot on. I dunno what this was, but it sure wasn't Shanghai Smoked Fish. We'd have been satisfied if this wasn't a classic rendition of the dish, and had some redeeming qualities, but this was plain bad.

The next dish to arrive was something whose very mention can cause the Missus's mouth to water; Dezhou Pa Ji – (Dezhou Style Braised Chicken, $6.99). Dezhou a city located in Northwest Shandong, is well known for their braised chicken. This dish evokes so many deep-seated memories, that the Missus wrote Her one and only post on it.

The dish arrived, steaming hot…..but the skin was dry…..microwaved perhaps? All the Missus's hopes were dashed after one bite. Again, this was bland, with just a hint of flavor, which was more like soy-sauce chicken than Dezhou Pa Ji.

Alas, this meal was not going very well from the food standpoint. The service however, was very attentive, our plates changed, and our water refilled. Soon a tray of vinegar and soy sauce was placed at our table.

This last dish we ordered, if good, would make the entire meal worthwhile. If there is just one item that immediately comes to mind when the very word Shandong is uttered, it would be Jiaozi. Over the years, I've come to understand what an important role Jiaozi plays in the Northern Chinese household.

We ordered "Mr Dumpling's Special Dumplings" ($6.99).

First off, these dumplings took 40 minutes to get to us. I really didn't mind, I had mental pictures of fresh dough being made, rolled out, and formed by hand to order, floating through my head. Well, this didn't quite deliver, the filling, a combination of pork-shrimp-chives, had decent flavor. But the dough was hard, noodle-like, tearing instead of having any pull. As the Missus says, "it's all about the wrapper". From that end, this was pretty mediocre. Again with the Missus: "this place makes Dumpling Inn seem more like Dumpling King." We had thoughts when initally looking over the menu, of seeing what the food was like, and than ordering more; a strategy that I'm glad we took.

For us, the food at Mr Dumpling didn't live up to the decor, service, and price. Driving home we were trying to figure out what was going on. Perhaps the Chef was new to the various ingredients sourced in the US? I'm going to give this place a long rest, I hope the food improves…..

Silver Lining Note: The Missus felt so bad for me after this meal. So She decided to come out of Her self-imposed Jiaozi "retirement". I had Shrimp and Chive dumplings the next day!!

Mr Dumpling
7250 Convoy Ct
San Diego, CA 92111

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Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum – This Time it’s the Chinese BBQ

November 23, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

In the comments on my post on Sieu Sieu BBQ, "Nicole" was kind enough to remind me that I had not been back to Hong Kong BBQ and Dim Sum to try out the Chinese BBQ as promised. So recently, craving a bit of duck, I made it a point to check things out.

I got a half pound of Roast Pork ($9.25/lb), and a Half Roast Duck ($7.95).

The Roast Pork was a beautiful golden brown.

In what I found to be interesting, the Gentleman chopping the pork, first removed the crisp skin from the piece of pork; chopped the meat, than chopped the skin. After this procedure he placed the separated skin on top of the chopped meat. When biting into one of the pieces of skin, I figured out why this was done; it was very hard. The rest of the pork was rather good. I thought the fat to meat ratio was excellent, not too fatty, or waxy, and the meat moist. Enough of the fat had rendered during cooking. The flavor was good, with a nice pork flavor, perhaps a bit on the salty side. The meat bad almost a mild "cured" flavor, and perhaps missing a bit of the nice pork sweetness. The Missus thought it to be "too porky", as if there's such a thing????

After returning home, and re-reading Nicole's comment, I realized I had bought the "wrong duck". Nicole had recommended what is usually known as BBQ Duck, whereas I had purchsed a half Roast Duck.

My first thought when I opened this up was; "this is only half a duck?" This was a lot of duck…. The duck was nice and meaty, but very bland, it barely had the faintest hint of the rich duck flavor. I'm sure that preferences differ, but I'd take leaner and tastier duck, over meaty but bland duck. The skin was moist but tough. Not my favorite version of Roast Duck.

As with Sieu Sieu BBQ, the prices are reasonable, and I will probably try out the BBQ Duck, and some the dishes that Nicole recommended.

As I paid for my BBQ, the Lady behind the counter, perhaps playing "guess the customer's Nationality" told me "Cảm ơn" (Thank you in Vietnamese) while giving me my change….she cracked up when I told her Doh Jeh'. (Maybe I should have said "kamsa hamnida")

And in case you're like us, and still wondering what the heck you'll do for Thanksgiving:

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum
10550 Camino Ruiz(Inside of Vinh Hung Market)
San Diego, CA 92126

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It’s all about Mi – Minh Ky, Tan Ky Mi Gia (El Cajon Blvd & Mira Mesa), and Luong Hai Ky on Convoy

November 19, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Or so the Missus says…….

Recently, I've been craving Egg Noodle Soup, specifically, the Vietnamese version of this Chinese style noodle soup. After a few bowls, I decided why not do a comparison, much like I've done previously for Pho (quite a while ago) , Banh Mi (a while back as well), and Bun Bo Hue. In addition to being quite satisfying, "Mi" is usually pretty inexpensive. An though many, Pho shops make a pretty good bowl, I decided to stick to the specialists.

For the sake of consistency, I went with the combination Won Ton/Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup across the board. Since I was quite curious about the broth, noodle, and won ton/dumpling, I opted for the "soup separate" option. And even though I realize that on any given day, the soup can vary, I was still surprised at my findings. you'll soon see why. So off we go……

Minh Ky:

I thought Minh Ky was a good place to start, since it was probably the first bo Mi-MinhKy01 wl of egg noodle soup I posted on way back in January of 2006. A bowl of the Won Ton/Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup will now cost you $4.95. Up about 20 cents from 2006.

The noodles arrive seasoned with a smear of Oyster Sauce, and topped with a good amount of sliced cilantro and scallions.

The noodles were as expected, on the chewy side, but pretty bland on its' own.

The soup here surprised me.

I had always been of the opinion that the broth at Minh Ky was on the watery and bland side. Today the broth had a nice flavor. It was the best broth overall. The Won Tons, were the usual hard meatball, but was the best flavored(porky-shrimpy). The dumplings were mediocre; bland and very tough.

Surprisingly, the best overall.

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

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Tan Ky Mi Gia – El Cajon Boulevard:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

This was the cheapest of the four at $4.75. The noodles here come drizzled with oyster sauce:

Other than that, this was quite hard, and raw in flavor, and nothing special. Without a doubt it needed soup, but how was the soup?

This soup had the best Char Siu (BBQ Pork), but other than that, this was the worst soup, sorely lacking the previous visits nice broth with a hint of seafood flavor. As before the won tons and dumpling here are hard and fall short on the flavor front. Also, on this visit, many of the wrappers had come off the won tons. Still, it is the most inexpensive.

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

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Tan Ky Mi Gia – Mira Mesa:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

Tan Ky Mi Gia had the most expensive Won Ton/Dumpling Noodle Soup – $5.55.

My previous experiences here have been mixed, but this was to be a very surprising dish as well. First off, the noodles:

The noodles here were the best overall. They were perfectly crunchy/chewy in texture. I believe the noodles were dunked into broth before serving. There was also a pool of sauce, which tasted like a combination of soy and oyster sauce on the bottom of the bowl. After a quick mix I thought the noodles would have been just fine as a stand alone dish.

As for the broth:

I had always had very salty broth here, but again I was surprised. The broth was very mild and lacked "depth". The won tons were rock hard and tough, but the dumplings had a nice amount of shrimp and was pretty good.

The second best overall.

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

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Luong Hai Ky – Convoy:

**** This location of LHK has closed

Which leads us to Luong Hai Ky.

Looking over the menu, I noticed that the Won Ton/Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup was $5… I swear, didn't it used to be $5.50?

The noodles arrived, this seemed to have also been dunked in broth before an oyster sauce based mixture was applied.

I really didn't go for the lettuce tossed in with the noodles, and the hard dried/fried shallots and garlic in the bottom of the bowl would have better served in the broth.

Based on previous experiences, I expected the soup at Luong Hai Ky to be the best overall. And peering into the dark and rich looking broth, things seemed to be going in that direction.

But I was stymied, the broth had a nice rich texture and tongue feel, but lacked the usual flavor, sort of pork-chicken with a hint of seafood. Best dumplings of the bunch, and possibly the second best won tons. Hard and a bit tougher than I enjoy, but with good shrimp-pork flavor. Strange….I expected a bit more.

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

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So there you have it Mi times 4, with lots of surprises for me! Nice midweek snack, eh??? Hmmm, I'm starting to crave Beef Sate Noodle Soup…….

Midweek Meanderings

November 5, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Plate Lunch, yoso-silly

Just a few items to get you past "hump day".

Mr Dumpling:

A few weeks back, I received an email(Thanks MrC), than PedMa commented regarding Mr Dumpling. Located on Convoy Court, right behind 99 Ranch Market, I managed to take a drive past this weekend.

The sign says "Chinese Grill", and the name is "Mr Dumpling"…..so it gives you an inkling.

Le Chef Bakery:

During early morning Banh Mi runs, I've noticed packages of Baguettes being delivered with tags that read Le Chef Bakery. I was never really able to find out much. But look at what I drove past while taking a detour on Ruffner Street.

Looks like a wholesale bakery operation. Anyone know anything?

Mo's is Closed:

Back in September, 'CD' commented on Mo's, basically saying that the place has been closed by the Health Department. I wasn't able to drop by before our trip. So this past weekend, I dropped by, and yes Mo's is closed.

The only item of significance was a Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control suspension notice.

Which, if I recall, doesn't usually shut a restaurant down, it just suspends the establishment from serving alcohol. I'll do some further digging and see what I can find out. I've been told that Mo is only currently doing catering. I'll let you know what I find.

Beer Inquiry:

I recently received an email asking me if I knew where Asahi Kuronama could be found in San Diego. Unfortunately, I can't find the email. So I'm posting what I found here. I've seen Asahi Kuronama on the shelves at both Nijiya Market and 99 Ranch Market.

Nijiya Market
3860 Convoy St Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

99 Ranch Market
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Now if I can only find me some Beer Lao……….

And Finally:

Here's a nice piece of photoshop work from FOY (Friend of Yoso), and fellow Food Blogger Dennis who does A Radiused Corner. Dennis has a great sense of humor, and has called me the "Banh Mi Rover"…..and he backed it up with this:

You know……I can see the resemblance! Thanks Dennis!

I hope everyone is having a great week!