Chinese Restaurants – Page 67

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!

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Revisits to, Pho King, Sab-E-Lee, Tita’s Kitchenette, Okan, Ba Ren, & one more. Plus some Vien Dong Linda Vista rumors.

October 8, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Filipino Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Thai Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

I can't believe how many photos I've stashed away for no good reason. It hardly ever rains here in San Diego, so if I'm saving 'em for a rainy day, these'll never see the light of day. And usually, if I return to a restaurant several times, I pretty much stop taking photos. But these are exceptions, and instead of a rainy day, we'll just have to say I saved these for one, super hot-dry, SoCal day. So hot, to prevent my fingers from melting on my keyboard, I'm going to keep the verbiage to a minimum. So let's see how many different cuisines I can hit in one post.

Pho King:

Yes, it's the Hu Tieu Mi Kho(large – $7.25), from the unfortunately named Pho King.

And even though the ingredients aren't quite the same on each visit, and the pork-soy sauce mixture is a sodium bomb, I like this. Being served "dry", also makes it a pretty good dish for a scalding day.

Just don't eat the Pho'.

Pho King Restaurant
4658 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Speaking of don't eat the Pho, check out what FOY, and one of my favorite bloggers, Jelly, ate….this is what they call Pho in Ulsan. Jenn asked me not to weep, but it's hard not too….

Even more Sab-E-Lee:

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

The Shrimp Larb($6.95):

Man, this was the hottest thing I've had at Sab-E-Lee so far(And I've had more than a few items from the menu)…nearly burned my lips off.

A bit more toward my taste was the Nam Sohd ($6.95):

If you've ever had Nem Chua (Vietnamese fermented sausage), you'd know what the flavor of Nam Sohd was like. It is a fermented sausage, less dense than it's Vietnamese counterpart, lighter, and with whole peppers embedded in the meat. Combined with a slice of raw garlic, some galangal, and maybe a chili or two…it will surely get your attention.

What I found interesting was that this is listed under "Salads" on the menu. What was really good, but I don't have a photo of is the Larb Pet, the grilled duck larb. The Missus scarfed it all up before I had a chance to even catch a whiff of it. She did mention that it was very good, so I'll have to take Her word for it.

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

Tita's Kitchenette:

3 years after my first post on Tita's, and I still ask myself the same question. How can 1 person finish all this?

MG was kind enough to pick up lunch for us, and in addition to the lechon kawale, was nice enough to pick up something "more healthy" (in relative terms) a Tortang Talong, what they call an "eggplant omelette". I wasn't even able to make a dent in this!

Tita's Kitchenette
2720 East Plaza Boulevard
National City, CA 91950

In case you wondering how they make this, you can find a nice YouTube-y thing here.

Wa Dining Okan:

We've dropped by Wa Dining Okan a few times since my last post. And though the Gobo Salad wasn't up to par on our last visit. I really enjoyed the Beef Tataki ($8.25):

Light, tasty, good acid, quite nice.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Ba Ren:

**** Ba Ren has closed

What would one of these posts be without Ba Ren. After all these years, still our favorite. If you want to read previous posts, you can find a listing on my rotation page. Not much more to add, just a few photos:

Steamed Pumpkin stuffed with Pork (#129 – $14.99, you need to call one day ahead).

I've had this a few times before, but it was especially good on this visit! This was during dinner with Ed from Yuma & Tina. I'll let Ed comment if he desires.

And of course during other visits; the usual suspects.

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

And one more just for the heck of it:

This one is for FOY JeffreyC:

I know how much he enjoys Katsudon. It's a bit too hot for that right now……but this version from Kayaba was passable.

Kayaba
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd Ste 119 – In the Mitsuwa Marketplace
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope you enjoyed, this little collection…..

Recently heard about Vien Dong Market in Linda Vista:

I can't confirm this, but I recently heard from a very good FOY, that the former Owners of this location of Vien Dong has reacquired the lease. This would mean that Vien Dong would reopen after a renovation. Again, this has not been confirmed…so if anyone knows anything…let us know!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Sieu Sieu BBQ

September 2, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I try my best to go into any new eating establishment with a "good" attitude, a blank slate, always hoping for the best meal possible given the price, food, and service. That doesn’t mean that I’m always successful. Sieu Sieu BBQ is such a case. When we first relocated to San Diego, Sieu Sieu BBQ occupied a small space on Linda Vista Road. Being curious about the Chinese BBQ offered at the tiny shop, I sampled the Roast Duck, Salted Chicken, and Roast Pork, and found all three to be severely lacking…in flavor. I had never had bland Chinese BBQ before, until that day. Needless to say, I never returned. While driving down Linda Vista Road last year, I noticed that Sieu Sieu BBQ was gone……and I felt bad, perhaps a bit of guilt. I really never gave them that "third chance", that I could have.

And then, one recent morning, I drove by one of the multitude of strip malls on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. And there it was; Sieu Sieu BBQ, back from the dead!

The first thing that went through my mind, was "nice sign, but couldn’t you afford some paint?" As you can tell, this is the location of the now defunct Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ. At that point, the "two little men on my shoulder went into action". The "good Kirk" whispered, "hope springs eternal" in one ear, while the "bad Kirk" murmured "see…bad pennies always show up." Good Kirk, "the third time is a charm". Bad Kirk: "Three strikes and you’re out." What to do? My solution? I opened the window and let the breeze blow the two "Kirks" out the window…my way of taking my mental "Etch a Sketch", shaking it, and clearing off all of the haphazard mental drawings. In essence, starting with a clear slate.

One of the things I noticed about this version of Sieu Sieu BBQ, was the new dining area. Tables, many of them large and communal, all lined up. And on the morning I passed by, there were several older couples eating in the restaurant. All "good signs". In spite of this, I started slowly. On the first day, I ordered something from the menu. A simple Wonton Egg Noodles Soup ($4.95):

The noodle and soup menu is quite reasonable; all the dishes are under $7. And for under 5 bucks this was a pretty good "deal". In the exact opposite of what is usually done in restaurants, the bowl looked quite small, but there was a good amount of egg noodles in the "just about average" (at least not too salty) broth. The wontons were also just okay, there were 6 of them in the soup. Not much soup, but a ton of noodles. To me, worth the 5 bucks.

And this was good enough for me. Good enough for what you may ask…..good enough for a "meat-fest"! First, let’s go to the Roast Duck (1/2 Duck $7.99):

Dry and bland…this was the Sieu Sieu BBQ I remembered. It did not bode well, but I also ordered other stuff.

The BBQ Duck (1/2 Duck $7.99). You can tell the BBQ duck from the Roast Duck, because it is cooked split and hung in a "spatchcock" position. You can easily tell the difference.

We had never tried this at the "old" Sieu Sieu. It is much more meaty, moist, and tender, than the Roast Duck. On the other side of the coin, this duck was suffering from "bean paste overload", as the beany flavor overwhelmed all else except for one thing; it was very salty.

The Roast Pork ($8.25/lb):

You’ll find something interesting at Sieu Sieu; it’s the 2 ladies who chop and handle the meat. They are both really nice, and after checking out the pork, have some decent "chops"(pun fully intended) as well. Each piece had just a little sliver of bone. Again, the meat was moist, though the fat was a bit "hard"…it had not been cooked enough. The "skin" was on the hard side, though Da’ Boyz didn’t complain very much.

The BBQ Pork (aka Char Siu $6.55/lb !!!):

Hmmm, that’s a bad photo…..it looks sort of radioactive. How about this one?

The Char Siu wasn’t bad. The pork was moist, had a decent amount of fat, and was fairly tender. Unfortunately, just as the BBQ Duck, it suffered from bean paste over-load, and the flavor was too salty, lacking in a balancing sweetness.

Lest you think it was just a (BBQ) meat-fest, here are a few more dishes:

The Beef Stew on Rice ($5.25):

Man, there was a ton of rice (not a bad thing) provided. The beef was just mediocre, though the piece of tendon had that wonderful buttery texture.

I’m thinking that my assessment rally wasn’t 100% accurate during this meal. I saw something that I hadn’t seen since we moved from LA. In the San Gabriel Valley, it is, or at least was, quite common to see someone eating, say chicken feet, and upon completion of eating, spit out the bones and inedible parts right onto the table. The thing I’ve always found humorous about the whole thing was, that after spitting and dumping all the bones on the table, that the person in question would grab a toothpick in one hand, and cover his mouth(it was usually men) with the other, in what was almost a gesture of modesty. Not good, not bad, just ironic in a twisted way. And yes, I was sitting across from a "spitter", who ended up "depositing" a bunch of duck bones on the table. The nice woman, who a minute ago was chopping this very bird, now came up to clean up. She looked at me, and simply smiled and shrugged. And though I’ve seen this many times, I’m still not used to it.

The Home Style Rice Vermicelli Noodle ($6.95):

This was very much "Home Style", quite simple in flavor (soy sauce), and though not bland, a bit like this:

The Rice Vermicelli was a bit over-cooked, though there were 5 shrimp in the dish. I did feel like I could have made this at home. Still, for $6.95 it wasn’t too bad. More than enough food for 1 meal. But wouldn’t you know, I sat across from another "spitter"…..just my luck. This time it was Salted Chicken…I guess I can’t complain about variety!

As a whole, the Chinese BBQ at Sieu Sieu is better than what I remembered, though not top notch. The folks working here are very, very nice. The menu dishes are inexpensive, and perhaps a good diversion from Sam Woo, at least you won’t have the "attitude and parking" problems.

I did find that on every visit, I dealt with an "older" crowd.

As a last note; FOY "Fred" emailed me and told me the Sieu Sieu Chow Mein was well worth the $6.95 you pay for it. And knowing Fred, it’s a good recommendation. And for the "real" cultural experience, maybe you’ll sit across from one of the same gentlemen I did!

Sieu Sieu BBQ
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

9am – 9pm Daily

Niu Rou Mania, A Niu Rou Mian comparison: Shanghai City, 168 Restaurant, and Dumpling Inn

August 4, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

*** Shanghai City is no more. It is now Spicy House.

We had been pretty happy with the Niu Rou Mein at Shanghai City. The Beef Noodle Soup always had a nice rich and deep flavor, good oil content, some spice, and the noodles had a pleasant mouth feel for us. In fact, on a good day, I'd say that it would have measured up pretty well with anything we've had elsewhere. But recently, before the weather turned warm and humid, we decided to drop by Shanghai City. And of course, I had the Niu Rou Mein. I think you can often measure how long you've been doing something by comparing prices. The price of the NRM in my first post, in October of 2005, the weekend breakfast special price for NRM was a major bargain at $4.25. During my next post in December of 2006, the NRM was $4.95, and still a bargain. In March of 2007, it had gone up another dollar and was $5.95. And now it's $6.45, it really makes me feel like I've been doing this for a very long time.

I'm not sure what the regular (non-weekend breakfast special) price is for the NRM. We got our NRM in pretty quick fashion.

And were a bit disappointed. The broth was much lighter, and the flavor was on the watery side. The meat was very tender, but bland, lacking any beefy punch. The noodles were the biggest let-down, they were over-cooked and mushy, not the doughy chewiness we usually enjoyed.

Which led me to…….think about retrying other restaurants. So here's 2 more to make a NRM tri-fecta.

*** 168 Restaurant has closed.

168 Restaurant:

The place looked much cleaner than I remembered, and the tables lacked the signature "San Gabriel stickiness", but Beef Noodle Soup was still on the menu. I went with the Spicy Beef Noodle Soup($6.50):

The bowl was smaller than what I recall, but it looked and tasted the same. Second rate noodles, the broth was quite weak, lacking richness. I've always enjoyed the pickled greens, and on this occasion the beef was very tender, and had a decent 5 spice flavor, but the broth had a unpleasant bitter-burnt aftertaste.

Dumpling Inn:

This time I went for the gusto Beef Noodle Soup with home made noodles ($7.95 + $1 = $8.95!), the most expensive NRM I've ever had.

I enjoyed that the large bowl arrived steaming hot. The broth was much darker than what I've had on previous visits, and this time it had a nice beefy punch, but lacked any richness (oil), and was very salty. It did look so good that 2 people who walked in while I was eating this asked the Server what I was having, and ended up ordering this. The beef was tender, but lacked flavor, as if all the beefiness was sucked out of it. There was a ton of the medium-wide "home made" noodles provided, but it really did nothing for me. No chewiness, or the nice slightly doughy texture, in the end I would have just been fine with the regular noodles. In addition, there was a giant messy clump of noodles all stuck together in the bottom of the bowl. Which led me to wonder how these were being stored.

Just as a reminder, home-made doesn't mean fresh……

So I'm left in a quandary……I'm hoping that Shanghai City's NRM will be back in form next time. But now, I'll be back to trying other versions in San Diego again. Looks like it's back to square one.

Saturday Stuffs

July 26, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Filipino Restaurants, yoso-silly

Just some odds and ends….

Bud's Reopens:

Just in case you missed "GoBears" comment, Bud's Louisiana has reopened. The newest incarnation is located in Tierrasanta, right behind the Round Table Pizza:

They are currently only open for lunch, from Monday through Saturday 11am to 3pm.

Bud's Louisiana Cafe

10425 Tierrasanta Blvd, #105
San Diego, CA 92124

Have I mentioned it before? I love Filipino Parties:

The Missus is the Godmother of a friends son, and a few months ago the Christening took place. You know that the party was going to be good.

This was a big one….a 2 lechon party!

That first roasted pig was gone really quick.

But man does not live on Lechon alone:

It was some spread, along with the usual Pancit and Lumpia, there was Kaldereta, Pinacbet, and tons more:

And being one of the Godmothers had its benefits…a whole plate of lechon from Pig#2, the Missus got to eat with the Aunts and Cousins in the "back room", and Frankie got a "cabeza"! Guess what the Missus was the most happy with?

More save our taco trucks!

Bandini has posted about saving LA's Taco Trucks from extinction. You can find updates at saveourtacotrucks.org. I received word from yumtacos.com, that Sacramento is attempting to do the same thing:

"Here in Sacramento, we have lots of terrific, and some very authentic, Mexican food – places that specialize in all sorts of regional dishes, from various types of ceviche and shellfish to birria and plenty more.
But some of the best, cheapest and most straightforward is served at our many taco trucks, which are – incidentally – the only place that many second and third shift workers can go to eat. Late at night in the industrial zones and elsewhere, you will often see lines of cops, firefighters, hospital workers, warehouse staff and janitorial workers lined up at the trucks.
The trucks don't park outside of open restaurants, nor do they usually park on public streets; almost all are at regular, scheduled locations, sometimes a single location all night; these are always parking lots, private property that they've received permission (or pay rent) to use.
Our city council, at the behest of restaurant owners, has enacted new regulations that effectively criminalize these trucks without consulting truck owners or customers. For example, the new 30 minute per location time limit – when truck owners take 20 minutes to set up, lock down their propane systems and heat up the grill, and 15 minutes to clean up – will mean they'll have to drastically cut down on safety and/or cleanliness just to serve a single customer. And not being able to do business after dark means that the vast majority of their business – night shift workers – will have nowhere to eat except for drive-through hamburgers. The city council claimed there was a public health nuisance attached to the trucks, although ours are all inspected regularly by the county and not a single truck has ever had a complaint filed against it or failed an inspection, unlike many of the restaurants who fear the competition of the trucks. One city council person claimed police reports linked violence to the trucks, a charge the Sacramento Police department disputes, showing clearly that there is no such causality.

We'd very much like your help and the help of your readers. We've set up a petition, where we'd like get several thousand signatures of locals and visitors; even non-Sacramentans are invited to sign, to dispute the Council's claim that tourists find the trucks a blight on our city.

Here is our petition"

I really enjoy the Taco Trucks here in San Diego, and other places I've been. You know that once legistlation like this is successful; it is just a matter of time before it makes its way down to San Diego.

What does Professor Salt and the State Department have in common?

Before he starts saying his name is "Salt…Professor Salt." I'll spill the beans. The State Department sent a video team to film a short documentary on the 4-Q BBQ Team, of which Professor Salt is a member of. You won't find anything more American than BBQ; and you won't find any BBQ team that represents the amazing diversity of our Country than 4-Q. Congrats guys!

You can find the video here.

If you really want to feel good:

I'm not quite the Youtube-ist(is there such a thing). I really don't follow all of the strange, amazing, and somewhat entertaining videos on YouTube. But sometimes, I find wonderful things on other Blogs. Such is the case with this wonderful video. It was from a post in the wonderful blog, Heather in Paradise. And according to Heather's post, which references Snopes.com, the story is true! Even better.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Road Trip: Mama’s Lu and Northern Dumpling House – Monterey Park(LA)

July 1, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

With gas prices at new highs, just wanting to take a road trip would probably be grounds to have us committed. But we were getting a bit stale just stewing in our juices at home. So, we went ahead with our little road trip and made the best of it. After doing our morning shopping, instead of heading toward San Gabriel, we decided on what in the good old days(at least for us) was the center of our eating universe. The intersection of Garfield and Garvey in Monterey Park. We were amazed at how light traffic was and even snagged convenient parking on Garvey. I'm guessing gas prices are affecting everyone.

Our first lunch stop was a newer restaurant called Mama's Lu….no not Mama Lu's, or even ahem, Mama's Loo(God help us all). It really is called Mama's Lu:

See what I mean? I asked the Missus what the deal was with the name. Her response? "Hey, you're the food guy, right? You figure it out." Which translated, probably meant, "I'm tired of your questions, you figure it out…." This little shop occupies the area that used to be Heavy Noodling, which I was kind of sad to see go.

The interior of "Da' House of Lu", is very clean. Not a sign of "San Gabriel sticky" to be found here.

The menu is short and concise, mostly dumplings, Shanghainese, with some Sichuan thrown in on the Chinese menu board:

I dunno if we've gotten used to prices in San Diego or what, but we had reverse sticker shock when we checked out the menu.

10 Xiao Long Bao for $4.50? You can barely get a Carne Asada Burrito for that in San Diego! Maybe this drive was worth it.

As we looked over the menu, the Missus and I hatched our plan. 2 Xiao Long Bao, and one dish we'll sample, and load into the ice chest. We started with an old favorite of the Missus, Shanghai style "Smoked Fish"($4.50), a classic dish. The Missus grew up eating the stuff.

The photo is a bit deceptive, this was a pretty large portion. This version was drier(but not dry), than versions I've had. It also didn't have a very pronounced sweet and five spice flavor. I really enjoyed it, because unlike other versions, this was not "fishy" in the least. The Missus(and my MIL) still favor the version at Chin's. But I'll take this any day of the week.

The Pork and Crab Xiao Long Bao($8.50), probably the most expensive item on the menu.

These came with each XLB(8) packed into an individual foil container. What I thought; "wow, they pack them individually, in these little dishes so they don't leak." What the Missus thought; "no wonder they're so expensive, they waste money on those dishes. If they make them right, they won't leak. And they sure better know the difference between the crab and the pork Xiao Long Bao. What a waste."

For us, a good Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao, will be rich and mildly sweet. This was bland and kind of greasy. The meat to soup ratio was not to our liking. Too much meat, not enough soup. The wrappers had a major defect; the fold was hard and chewy, and the bottom was gummy.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao(10 – $4.50):

These Xiao Long Bao suffered from the same problems as the Crab and Pork with regards to the wrapper and meat to soup ratio. Flavor wise, these were better with regards to a mild sweetness, and the meatball was melt in your mouth tender. I still think it was under flavored.

Still, I think it's better than any XLB we have here in San Diego, but when compared to all the other XLB in the area….. On the positive side, we had excellent service, our tea was refilled, and our water twice! The very nice Server, came back to check on us, something that almost never happens in the SGV! There is a booth behind the cash register that displays the XLB makers at work, a la Din Tai Fung. One more thing that I found somewhat humorous. The 'A' Health Rating is posted by the hallway door, away from the street…almost as if they're ashamed that they actually got an 'A'.

Mama's Lu Dumpling House
153 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

So why did the Missus and I exercise such restraint at Mama's Lu? Right across the street from Mama's Lu is this place.

**** Northern Dumpling House has closed

The English sign only says "Restaurant". I had read about this place on Chowhound, called Northern Dumpling House. We saved some "room" for a meal here. We planned on one order of Jiaozi and "something else". Like Mama's Lu the place is very clean, and almost too cold and sterile. The prices here are very reasonable as well.

I really wanted to try he Pork and Opo Squash Dumplings(I thought they'd be interesting), but they did not have any.

So we had the Beef and Chinese Celery Dumplings($5.50):

These Jiaozi were interesting, the wrapper was very soft and pillowy. I enjoy a bit of chew, but the Missus enjoyed these as a change of pace. She went into a lecture about making the dough of Jiaozi, and water temperature, etc, etc, etc…. The filling was undoubtedly beefy, but lacked a decent Chinese celery crunch and the only way we knew there was celery in the filling was a slight aftertaste. I'm not quite sure about these, but the Missus enjoyed them. I want to bring my Mother In Law to see what She thinks.

Looking for something that we could have a few bites of, than take home; I went for the Cumin Lamb. We thought it strange that all the stir fry dishes had prices that had been covered by blank white stickers. So at the risk of being charged some exorbitant amount, we went ahead and ordered it anyway.

If you enjoy a milder cumin taste, you'd like these. What made this dish really good was how the lamb was prepared and cooked. There were slices that were melt in the mouth soft! If not for the mild gamey flavor(not wild enough for us), you'd think that you were eating very well prepared beef. Mildly spicy from the chilies, this was even better the next day. Did you guess how much this cost? It was $5.40……on our check the Server initially wrote $4.95, but crossed it out and wrote in $5.40….I'll take that any day.

Even more than the food, there was something really interesting about this meal. The restaurant was empty except for another couple. Apparently, the Guy is a "Chef" at another restaurant, the Missus said he had a strong Beijing accent, She could barely understand his girlfriend/wife("man, her accent is really hard to make out"). After making our food the cook came out, pulled up a seat, and they started talking about business in the area. And also started dissing other regional Chinese cuisines. They were especially hard on Tianjin Cuisine("no way a Tianjin restaurant will make it, they don't make any good food, only snacks"). Stuff like prices and competition were discussed, too much to write in this post. But if you've ever wanted to be a "fly on the wall."

Northern Dumpling House
138 East Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Chow Noodlehouse

June 10, 2008 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Chow has closed

I'd been thinking about trying out Chow Noodle House for a while, but have been hesitating. You see, when we first moved to San Diego in '01, this was the location of the reincarnated Celadon Restaurant. And the young Owner, Alex Thao, at that time still a student at San Diego State, was a thoughtful and energetic young man. His father had Owned the original Celadon, now the location of Hash House, and after deciding to retire and close the restaurant, the ambitious Alex had talked his father into reopening Celadon, and turning over the keys to him. The space that Chow now occupies once held a Thai Restaurant called Thai-phoon, or something like that. I won't go into the food at that restaurant, but I think the name more than describes it. Alex is a smart Guy, he kept the original chef on staff at Celadon, and we thought the food to be pretty good. We'd often run into Alex's Mom running the front of house, and Alex would always come by and chat. Over time the food went on a downhill slide. It seems that the original Chef, Songsri Thammasuckdi, who, I was told, once cooked for Thai Royalty, decided to retire. About the same time, Alex Thao became quite the Restaurateur, first opening Rama in the Gaslamp, then moving Celadon to newer digs, and opening Chow Noodle House in the former Celadon location. Which brings us to the here and now.

The interior is simply modern, neat and orderly, if perhaps a bit on the "cold" side.

The menu though simple in concept; noodles, salads, and other similar items, is a challenge. Chow has chosen to straddle 4 different Countries. The menu consists of everything from Pho and Bun, to Yakisoba, to Chow Fun and Pad Thai. It is hard enough doing one cuisine justice, but four?

Back in January, I decided to check out Chow for lunch. The very nice young lady ushered me to a table, and after looking over the menu, I chose the Drunken Noodles(with chicken – $8). I thought this would be a nice dish to try since I enjoyed the version that Celadon used to make. Something in the back of my mind made me order it "spicy", something I'd never do at say, Yai Restaurant. Come to think of it, they serve it to you, their way, and don't even ask you how spicy you want your food. I kinda like that.

I was first served a bowl of a pseudo, egg drop soup. I say pseudo, because the one very strong flavor in this was that of Kaffir Lime Leaf. To me this wasn't a bad thing, because at least it had flavor.

Considering that I was paying the "Hillcrest premium", this didn't look too bad. On the good side, the noodles were cooked adequately, and the chicken wasn't dry as I expected. On the bad, this was cloyingly sweet. I expect my Pad Kee Mau to be on the sweet side, but this was really much too sweet. Also, it was not spicy in the least, not at all. It was hard to make out any flavor beyond the sweetness of the dish.

Another day, I was having lunch with an acquaintance, and decided to order the "Vietnamese" Grilled Beef Salad($10):

The "lemongrass grilled beef" was adequately done, but it had no lemongrass flavor. The menu says hothouse cucumbers, but none were in sight, not a big deal, at least there were some cherry tomatoes mixed in with the shredded cabbage and carrots. The dressing was very bland, I'd have killed for some Nuoc Mam Cham. Funny thing, this was one of my first meals out after returning from vacation, and I couldn't help but think…..160,000 VND!

Recently, I decided to give Chow one more shot. This day, being a bit brighter than most, I noticed that Chow was showing some signs of wear and tear.

This time I ordered the Beef Chow Fun($11 – I just noticed that I spent more and more $'s on each visit). I didn't quite know what to expect, perhaps a nice version of Thai style thick noodles with gravy, maybe I'd get a decent Chow Fun.

Chow Fun with Gravy does not mean mushy noodles. The noodles were horribly over-cooked, and improper cooking temperature made them greasy as well. Though the fragrance of ginger wafted up from the dish, it was all I could really make out. This was very bland. At least the Gai lan tops were cooked properly. The meat was cut too thick, and didn't match the thickness of the noodles, a no-no in Chinese cooking.

At this point, unless anyone has a really stellar recommendation for Chow, I think I'll pass for a while. It seemed like everything started at mediocre, and went down hill from there. I will say this, though my Server was different on every visit, I had very accommodating service. Also, I was never charged for my Diet Cokes.

This leads me to a conversation I had with the young Alex Thao, way back in maybe 2002. Just back from a visit to Thai Town, I inquired about dishes using ingredients like Thai Eggplants, Jackfruit, or even Gapi(Thai Shrimp Paste). His response was that using the unfamiliar in San Diego is "economic suicide" and those dishes would just take up menu space and never sell. I guess he's right, after all, the Thao Empire is now so large it calls itself the "Celadon Group".

Chow Noodle House
540 University Ave
San Diego, CA

Read Alice Q Foodie's post on Chow here.

Read Gil's post from what We Dig here.

From the no good deed goes unpunished files:

So, I'm walking after lunch, and see an Older Woman using a walker, dragging a shopping basket, muttering to herself while crossing the street. I notice that a shopping bag full of "stuff" fell from the cart while she was crossing the street. So, I run into the cross walk, get honked at by some "gangsta's" in an Escalade who in addition to throwing a Big Gulp Cup at me, obviously cussed me out…luckily, they were screaming at me in "gangsta" so I really couldn't understand what they were saying. Thankfully, I managed to pick up the bag, caught up with the woman, and handed it to her. Unfortunately for me, she was grappling with whatever demons are haunting her, and proceeded to scream profanities at me. And if that wasn't enough, she started spitting at me! Needless to say, I dumped her bag into the cart, and beat a hasty retreat. Goes to show me…you never know what'll happen to you on the corner of 5th and University……..