Chinese Restaurants – Page 71

168 Restaurant

*** 168 Restaurant has closed

168 Restaurant, located in the shadow of the 99 Ranch Market sign, is a popular and inexpensive Taiwanese restaurant in the area.

The bare bones atmosphere, and "sticky" tables, along with the faint smell of vinegar in the air take me back to many of the Chinese "coffee shops" in the San Gabriel Valley. 168 specializes in homestyle Chinese and Taiwanese "grub" at very reasonable prices. Forget about atmosphere though, it doesn't exist at 168. We also ate with our "elbows up" and off of the sticky-tacky tables.

Many of the people during our visits were eating Fried Rice, Noodle Soup, or some other noodle dish.

We decided to try some menu items that we hadn't ordered before. Starting with the Smoked Chicken($3.75):

I really enjoyed this cold chicken dish, it had a mild smokey flavor, the meat had a slightly "cured" texture, and though it teetered on the edge of being too salty it was very satisfying on this very hot day.

Pan Fried Egg with Dried Radish($4.25):

This homestyle omelet had strips of dried radish in it. It is really nothing different from what I make at home. The eggs were very salty, though the radish added a nice crunch to the dish

Glutinous Rice in Bowl($3.25):

I enjoyed the gooey glutinous rice that surrounded a "filling" of chunks of pork and dried radish. Here's a look:

Slightly sweet, slightly salty, with a sauce with hints of……well, as the Missus put's it, "It's Five-Spice, okay, F-I-V-E Spice. None of this hints of anise stuff, it tastes like five spice". Okay??? This was not bad, I'd have it again.

I really don't know why I ordered the Xiao Long Bao($5.75), big mistake:

Really big mistake, the wrappers were a bit freezer burnt, and only two or three of the dumplings actually had "soup" in them.

A few weeks later, we found ourselves at 168 again. And in keeping with our previous meal, we decided to try items we'd never had here before.

Since we enjoyed the cold Smoked Chicken on our previous visit, we ordered the Wined Chicken($3.75):

The chicken tasted much better than it looked. The flavor of the chicken was neither too strong, nor totally bland like the version at Mei Long Village. The texture of the chicken was slightly dense and cured, with a slight salty-winey flavor. Not as strong in flavor as the version at Shanghai City, but still quite good.

Of course some Stinky Tofu(Cho Dofu – $5.25):

The Missus has a basic "rule" when it comes to Cho Dofu. If I can smell it, than eat it, it's probably not good. The usual foul, what I call a dark-deep-damp-acrid odor of decomposition was very tame and mild. In addition, the sauce was very mild and weak. I had 3 pieces of the Cho Dofu, which really tasted like fried tofu, with a slight acrid odor. So this brined than fermented tofu dish was not very good.

Goose Meat w/Bean Thread($5.25):

A light clear poultry based broth, had a nice quantity of slightly chewy bean thread. The broth was mild, and the julienned ginger added a very nice clean flavor to what would be a fairly weak soup. The "Goose Meat" tasted strangely like Duck Leg, it just wasn't as rich and gamey as goose is. We thought this was just okay.

Oyster w/"Thin Noodles" Soup($4.75):

This thickened soup was a strange mish-mash of conflicting flavors, and the lack of decent quality ingredients didn't help it in the least. I really like the slightly gooey soup, it had a nice assertive vinegar and white pepper flavor. The Missus thought it was too sour. I really enjoyed the chewy brown wheat based thin Taiwanese style noodles. There were 2 items that ruined the dish. First, the Oysters tasted very bad, like they had been starting to "break-down" with a fishy-bitter flavor. I fished all of them out of the bowl, no sense in spending the night sleeping the bathroom, if you know what I mean. The bamboo shoots had a metallic-sour flavor to them. I'm pretty sure that the bamboo shoots were old, and that when they were removed from the can, the shoots were not drained or rinsed. Too bad, I thought this soup had potential.

The menu at 168 is quite extensive, with everything from Squid Potage and 3 Cup Chicken(posted on he wall) to Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken. What 168 does best are Chinese Coffee shop and snack dishes. And those are still a "mixed bag" and quite inconsistent. The service is basic Chinese restaurant in style and quality, you usually need to ask for anything you need. Of course being open till almost midnight is a big plus.

168 Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Open 11am-1130pm Daily

Guess the Dim Sum Restaurant – It’s Silver Ark

July 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

The Missus and I recently had some Dim Sum, and of course I automatically took some photos. But we arrived right at the end of Dim Sum service, and so we decided that perhaps we'd just delete these photos. Not that the Dim Sum was "tired", well some of it was……..

But then it came to me! It seems that everyone had fun with the Mid Week Mystery Market; so how about guessing the Dim Sum Restaurant? Same rules, first 7 Emails I receive that guess the correct Restaurant, I'll send you a cup of Peet's on me!

So let's get rolling, shall we?

The Jook was excellent, really rich, with lot's of preserved egg, and strips of pork instead of the usual ground pork.

But of course it could be that the porridge had been simmering away all day, gaining flavor. And all of the good stuff had sunk to the bottom. Which is what we got. But really good anyway.

The rest was average to mediocre. Except for one other dish that I'll reveal tomorrow.

I just realized that this one may be waaaay too easy, so I'll stop here.

My one clue? The restaurant is in San Diego County.

The rules are same as usual; one correct guess per IP address. First seven wins.

I'll finish the post, and have a few more photos, along with revealing the restaurant tomorrow evening!

Friday Morning Clues – You know, I've had some good guesses, along with some really excellent observations that I will add as clues. These will help those that have had Dim Sum in San Diego, and still are not quite sure which restaurant it is.

1 – Notice the Taro Gok, if you look toward the upper right you'll see some interesting clues.

2 – Same photo, notice how the fried taro balls are served. A certain Dim Sum house in San Diego serves it up differently, immediately removing that restaurant from contention.

3 – Notice how the tripe is cut; very thick. Also, some Dim Sum restaurants top the tripe with a red chili, removing that restaurant from contention.

4 – The best observation was made by Liver Bomb who noticed the mustard/chili dish. Talk about attention to detail!

So has anyone guessed correctly yet? Sorry, can't say…..

Friday Afternoon Clues – Just a photo of the Pan Fried Noodles with Seafood and some prices.

Pan Fried Noodle with Seafood($9.50):

Dim Sum Prices :

Small – $2.10

Medium – $3.20

Large – $4.20

Super – $6.50

Good Luck!

The Restaurant is…… Silver Ark, a restaurant that recently opened on Mira Mesa Boulevard.

Since we arrived at the end of Dim Sum service, we've decided to revisit when we have a chance. Our overall impression, is that the restaurant is a step below China Max, Emerald, and Jasmine. The Pan Fried noodles were pretty good, lot's of noodles, the scallops were good, though the shrimp was not of the highest quality.

But we'll definitely try Silver Ark again, and do a "real" post.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

So how many correct answers?

One. Congrats Green Turtle!

Road Trip: Malan Noodles – Hacienda Heights(Los Angeles)

July 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Set in another of the multitude of strip malls, on the corner of Haliburton Road and Hacienda Boulevard is Malan Noodles.

Malan Noodles is the Hacienda Heights outpost of a chain of fast food outlets based in Beijing. The claim to fame are the fresh hand pulled noodles, and the Lanzhou-style Beef Noodle soup. Lanzhou is the capital of the Gansu province, and located in Northwest China.

As we entered Malan Noodle we noticed that the high-ceiling, brightly colored interior, did feel somewhat fast-foodish.

The drill goes as follows, you either pick up an order sheet, or sit and someone will bring you an order sheet(we’ve seen the two distinct style of ordering here), and check off what you want. Then you either drop off the sheet at the counter OR, somebody will come and bring you some water and pick up your sheet.

They are very flexible here….

In case you have some noodle indecision, samples of noodle size are available for your review as well.

We placed our order, and soon enough, the young Hispanic Gentleman in the back pulled of a hunk of dough, and slammed it, kneaded it, separated it into two portions, and started pulling, eventually forming noodles for the dishes we ordered.

The Malan Cold Noodles($5.50):

First off, having eaten enough of this at home and with the In-Laws, I first wondered, where’s the cucumber, where’s the green onions…..but maybe it’s a different regional style. The peanut-sesame sauce was very one dimensional, and really salty. And pouring vinegar, and chili oil on it couldn’t save it. To me, it was missing a sweet component to balance out the flavor. The noodles, served in this manner, were just" ho-hum-bubble-gum", and lacking the slight amount of "chew" I desired.

The Malan Beef Soup(small – $5.00)

So, having no previous experience with supposed Lanzhou-style Beef Noodles, here’s what I thought. The broth was on the clear side, and not oily in the least bit. The flavor of the broth was mildly beefy, with a nice onion flavor provided by the green onions and yellow chives. I really couldn’t taste any additional flavor provided by the daikon, and strangely, even the taste of the cilantro was muted. Overall, a decent mild and clean tasting broth. The thin slices of beef(looked like brisket), had a good, strong beefy flavor, along with hints of……well, I’ll let the Missus take care of this, "enough with the cinnamon, and anise thing, OKAY! It’s five-spice. And not the junk stuff, real five-spice." Okay? I still thought the noodles were on the brittle side, and made up my mind to get small flat noodles the next time. And at five bucks a crack, you can try all the variations for under $40(I’ve included tax).

There are a few more interesting items on the menu, and most are very reasonable. And no, it’s not Niu Rou Mein, but worth a try, who knows this could be the future of Mickey D’s…..

Malan Noodles
2020 S. Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Open daily 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Road Trip: Mei Long Village – San Gabriel(LA)

July 11, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

We had to make a trip to Los Angeles this past weekend, and I just had to have some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings). Don't ask me why. I just had to have it. So we headed out to good old Valley Boulevard and Mei Long Village.

Mei Long Village is a Shanghainese Restaurant located on the boulevard of a thousand Chinese Restaurants(Valley Boulevard), and has survived. That says alot, since many restaurants, such as the next door "Homestyle Restaurant", serving Shenyang style cuisine is no longer there. We arrived at 2pm on this Saturday afternoon, and Mei Long Village was filled to the brim.

Not in the mood for for major entrees(like Pork Pump, or 3 Cup Chicken) we decided on some cold appetizers and Xiao Long Bao. We started off with the classic Smoked Fish($6.50):

This non-smoked, but marinated, than deep fried dish was really bad. Well, unless you consider a sweet aspic and mud flavored appetizer being good. Really very bad, I've had five versions of this dish, and this was the worst I've ever had.

The Wine Chicken($6.50):

Again a disappointment. A perfectly steamed/boiled chicken, with a flavorless, watery sauce poured over it. From what I know, true Wined Chicken should be have a slight cured flavor and texture. this was none of the above.

The Missus ordered the Radish Pan Cake($4.95):

These little flaky pastries contained moist strips of radish along with pieces of ham, which I enjoyed. The Missus thought they were too moist, and just ok.

Finally, the Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.95):

I thought these were really good, just the size of a soup spoon, with a wrapper just translucent enough to view the broth. Very nice!

The Xiao Long Bao(Shanghai Steamed Dumplings – $4.95):

For me, these were excellent. Let me explain. The wrapper was thin/thick enough to view the "soup", and yet retained the chewy, "al dente" texture that dumpling wrappers should have. In addition, the tops of the wrappers where the dumpling wrapper is turned upon itself is still tender, and not hard. The soup to meat ratio was also very good, with a very nice sweet-porky flavor. The Missus thought the XLB soup was too sweet for Her, but I enjoyed these XLB, with wrappers just right, thin enough to see the soup, and thick enough to stand up to the cooking process. And better yet, thick enough to be a part of dumpling, it's just not filling you are eating!

In the end, the Missus said She doesn't think she'll be back. So that means I'll have to sneak away for my Xiao Long Bao when I'm in LA…..

Mei Long Village
301 West Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Sun-Thurs 11am-930pm
Fri-Sat 1130am-10pm

Emerald Part II: Repeat or Redemption???

June 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

About eight months ago we visited Emerald, our then favorite Dim Sum house, and were very disappointed. At that time I dubbed the post Emerald Part I, so there had to be a part 2, correct? But it took us nearly eight months to recover from our lousy Dim Sum experience.

Now prior to our last visit Emerald had been re-opened for a month after a vent fire; and we figured that any service and food issues would have been resolved. We were badly mistaken. But since we’ve had a history of good fairly good meals(by San Diego standards) at Emerald, we were drawn back on a recent weekday lunch hour. We got to Emerald at about 1115, and the place was empty except for one table.

But, those Dim Sum carts were ready to go. And as soon as we were seated they zoomed over to our table. We started with one of my old favorites here; the tripe. On my last visit, it lacked the rich flavor and the "zip" that the chilies added. But here was my old favorite back to form(you can compare with our previous visit).

The flavor was still not as rich as I remember, but this was so much better.

The Steamed Bean Curd Roll was quite good. The broth was full of flavor, and there was lots of tasty pork in the roll. Not enough bamboo shoots and cloud ears for my taste. But the broth was so very good.

Har Gow. We usually don’t order these, but the Har Gow were very good. The wrappers had just the right amount of "pull". The shrimp had a nice flavor as well.

The Shrimp Dumplings suffered from brittle wrapper syndrome, but the filling had a good balanced shrimp and green onion flavor. We enjoyed these.

Woo Gok, the Deep Fried Taro Balls. And this time the filling was more balanced, and without a strong bitter flavor from using too much taro.

Still, they leave a bit too be desired. Too cold, and too mushy, but at least not oily.

The Shark Fin Dumpling was not so great. The filling was very hard and tough, and I swear I bit into a toenail!!!!

Overall, overcooked, dry, and lacking in flavor.

The Shrimp and Scallop Dumpling.

No complaints, other then the top of the wrapper being too thick. Just average in flavor.

The Shrimp and Chive Fried Dumplings. Well, when I took a look at these mis-shapen and broken dumplings, the first thought that entered my mind was, "what kind of Chef would allow something like this to leave His kitchen?"

The wrappers were lousy, the filling very good; lots of pungent chive, and just the right amount of shrimp. Does it make up for the horrendously bad wrappers….

It looks like Emerald is back on our "list", and it’s a heck of alot closer then Pearl; though still not quite as good. But still, much improved over our last visit.

Emerald Seafood Restaurant
3709 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

5 Days of Feasting Day 4 – Well, you know this place…..It’s Ba Ren (again)

June 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

How do you follow up on Peking Duck from China Max, excellent Karei Karaage from Izakaya Sakura, and some good sushi from Sushi Komasa? Well, if you're us, you go to your favorite restaurant, which left me in a bit of a quandary? You see, I've already posted on this restaurant here, and here, here, and even here. But the Missus's Birthday week celebration wouldn't be complete without a visit to our favorite restaurant. Yes, it Ba Ren, again…….

So if you're fed up with my Ba Ren posts, it's time to leave, quickly….. If you decide to stay, we've got a few "new" dishes for you. On our Huo Guo visit, we noticed a placard with new "special" dishes written in Chinese:

After being seated and a brief discussion about the dishes we placed our order. We started with a twist on a classic; "Three Cup Duck" (second item down on the placard – $12.99):

An interesting "take" on the Classic Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken dish. In this case the basil and scallions were replaced with leek, and I also think the sesame oil was replaced with sugar. To me, duck dishes were never a forte of Ba Ren's, but this dish was quite nice, in a "must have at least 3 bowls of rice way." The Bamboo shoots and mushrooms held up well to the soy-wine-sugar flavor, and the red chilies added a nice amount of heat. I'm still not convinced that Ba Ren does a really great duck, but this dish was nice.

Beef Tendon with Konnyaku (eighth item down – $12.99). Now I love tendon that has been cooked perfectly. That would be to the state where a slight resistance exists when you first bite into the tendon, followed with a texture that is almost a perfect gelatinous-buttery in nature. The tendon was pretty close to perfect in this dish, and I was in tendon heaven.

The sauce for the dish was very similar to the sour and spicy flavor of Sichuan "pickled pepper" type dishes. Lot's of garlic, ginger, and scallions gave the tendon some flavor. I was in tendon heaven.

The Missus was not so thrilled. She had thought that perhaps there would be some "meat" along with the tendon. She still doesn't understand why I enjoy well made tendon dishes. She did enjoy the Konnyaku and the sauce.

Between these two dishes we ordered one of my favorite "snack dishes", the Sichuan Cold Noodles (#552 – $5.99). I could probably eat this wonderful salty-sweet-sour-spicy noodle dish every day. What I think is funny for a third generation AJA(American of Japanese Ancestry) from Hawaii, is that beyond all of the Japanese dishes I love; I crave these noodles. Go figure…..

The last item we ordered were the Salt and Pepper Eel (Sixth Item on placard – $14.99). Of all the dishes we thought that this was the weakest:

It's not that this was a bad dish; but after all of the really powerful flavors of the previous dishes, this tasted really, really, mild. The thin slices of Eel were coated with almost a laquer, tempura style batter, and deep fried. We were expecting a peppery-spicy-sweet flavor like that of the wonderful Prawns with Chilies. On the positive side, the dish wasn't very oily, and wasn't especially spicy. It's almost tailor made for someone who hasn't had Eel before.

Still we left Ba Ren, with leftovers to last for at least two more meals, and full stomachs. Fully satisfied, until the next time………

It's pretty nice to know that our favorite restaurant is not staying "stagnant", and that new dishes are being developed. The only problem is that my list of "favorites" is getting longer and longer…..

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Mandarin Garden

May 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Mandarin Garden has closed

Right off of Mira Mesa Boulevard, and hidden away in a strip mall, is Mandarin Garden. Located in the interior of the mall, you'll never find it unless you're looking for it, or stumble across it while eating at maybe L&L Drive In.

In this location, and if doing a very cursory review of the menu, you'd think that Mandarin Garden is just a run-of-the-mill American-Chinese restaurant, with items like Egg Foo Young, Beef and Broccoli, and Chicken Chop Suey on the extensive 200+ item menu. The beyond the red doors lies a few surprises. Mandarin Garden has more then a few special Shanghainese specialties, and also features a special Saturday and Sunday lunch menu. So after putting our frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI on ice, we decided to drop in on Mandarin Garden for "brunch", from 1130am to 230pm.

Now I understand Mandarin Garden has only been in this location for three years; but the decor screams 70's Chinese, so I'm thinking this must've been another Chinese restaurant before then, right? The lighting in Mandarin Garden is pretty dim, so please excuse the PWTSDS(Posts Where The Sun Don't Shine) quality photos.

We started off with a classic Shanghainese appetizer off the regular menu; Smoked Fish($6.95):

For those who've never had this; the fish isn't really smoked; it's first marinated, then deep fried, then marinated again, for a smokey color. The seasonings also give the fish a slightly smokey flavor. This example was fine, perhaps a bit heavy on the sugar and five spice which over-powered any soy or ginger flavor. The Missus also thought that the type of fish chosen was too "boney"; which left you so busy picking bones out, that distracted you from the flavor of the fish. Still at most Shanghainese restaurants it's either Smoked Fish or Wine Chicken to start.

Off of the weekend menu we chose Boiled Wonton in Hot Sauce($4.95):

Well what to say……The Wontons were fine, except the skin were on the "gummy" side. The sauce was really sad, too sweet, and not spicy in the least.

We also ordered the Niu Rou(stewed beef) Shao-Bing, one of the items written in Chinese(eighth item written only in Chinese – $4.95), I apologize for the photos, I just couldn't get it right:

There was nothing wrong with the taste of the Shao Bing(a toasted layered bread), it was crisp, and had a nice flavor; nor the marinated and shredded beef, which had a sweet, soy and five spice flavor. The only problem was with proportion; too much bread for too little meat. The bread overshadowed the meat filling.

Of course what would a visit be without Xiao Long Bao($5.45):

As the ginger-black vinegar sauce was placed at the table, I could hardly contain myself. But I must say, I was very disappointed. If you look at the photo above you'll notice, all the soup had leaked out of the "soup" dumplings during cooking, leaving just the meatball behind. So I had soupless, soup dumplings. This says that our dumplings were done very haphazardly, and with very little concern for us, the customer! I mean, I made my frozen Xiao Long Bao, and none of them burst……….

The last item we got was the Flakey Turnip Strip "Cake"($2.95), off of the Chinese only menu (fifth item down):

After the massacred Xiao Long Bao, I really was ready for a major let-down. But these little pastries made the visit worthwhile. Crisp and flaky pastry, crunchy strips of turnip, with strips of onion-ny, sweet-bitter-salty filling, made these most delici-yoso!

To think, the cheapest item we ordered was the best!

Even though our meal was a "mixed-bag", I wouldn't give up on Mandarin Garden. Among the Kung Pao Chicken, and Beef Chop Suey, are items like Lion's Head, and according to Candice Woo, the Smoked Duck is divine. Stephanie, who recommended the frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI, also enjoys Mandarin Garden. I don't think we'll make a special trip to Mira Mesa, since we have Shanghai City, but I wouldn't discount Mandarin Garden.

Mandarin Garden
8242 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
858-566-4720

5 Days of Feasting, Day 2 – China Max

May 25, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

After a satisfying visit to Izakaya Sakura, the Missus decided on China Max for Her second day of feasting. And a China Max post is somewhat appropriate, since my very first post on May 26th of last year was on a visit to China Max with Ed from Yuma.

We arrived at China Max at about 530 pm, and the restaurant was fairly empty. Funny thing, I don’t know if anyone else who has visited China Max has noticed this, but we’ve noticed on several visits that Asians are seated on the North side of the restaurant. Non-Asians are seated on the South side, and if your party has children in them, they will seat you in the back corner.

Could just be me, but we’ve noticed this seating "pattern" a few times, and always get a chuckle out of it.

The main reason we came to China Max was to order the Peking Duck (2 courses $32). The duck is served "cart style". So Mr Duck is wheeled out on a cart, by two servers.

One of the Servers gets busy carving the duck.

Making sure to slice off some of the crisp, rich skin, along with just a touch of meat.

The other server is charged with placing a dab of Hoisin Sauce, a slice of cucumber, and two slices of skin between two "buns".

There are a total of eight of these wonderful little "sandwiches" all told.

The duck skin were crisp and rich, the hoisin added sweetness, and the cucumber slice helped cleanse the palate. Not the best Peking Duck I’ve ever had, but good by San Diego standards. Also, the Missus had an interesting moment with one of the Servers, which I’ll go into later.

We also ordered the Pan Fried Noodle with Assorted Seafood($14.95):

As with any type of mildly flavored Guangdong/Hong Kong Seafood style dish, the key is the quality and freshness of the ingredients, combined with cooking technique. So how did this fare? Well the noodles were perfectly crisp, not oily, and the texture changed with every bite. The scallops and shrimp were cooked to tender sweet perfection. The calamari was on the tough side, and the fish tasted too "muddy". I did manage to finish all of the noodles if that means anything!

The Missus ordered one Her favorites Stewed Lamb with Dry Bean Curd Stick($15):

There was quite a bit more lamb then I’m used to seeing in similar dishes. The flavoring was much to heavy-handed for me, and on the "medicinal" side. However, the Missus thought this clay-pot dish was very good, and loved it, even though the "Yang" food kept Her up and hyper all night.

Here’s part 2 of the duck, minced duck in lettuce cups:

Minced duck is stir fried and placed in lettuce cups, with a bit of Hoisin sauce. We noticed that the usual water chestnut, seemed to be replaced with sweeter Jicama. The Missus usually enjoys the lettuce cups more then the buns and this was no exception.

I know I’ve done too many posts on China Max, with everything from the late night menu to the Dim Sum. This one will be the last for a while, but I thought it’ll be nice to do a "one year after" post.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

I mentioned an "interesting moment" a bit earlier, so let me expand. As the Server was carving our duck, the Missus whispered to me, "Ask Her for the duck bone". My response, straight from the "conservative Asian Guy manual" was, "What, no way, that sounds cheap and embarrassing!" So the Missus requested the bone Herself. At which point the demeanor of our previously serious and stoic Server brightened. Her response? "Oooh, you know the best part, huh?" And suddenly there was a moment of bonding….exchanging of recipes and such. And before we left, Mr Duck, or what was left of him as brought to our table, in a plastic bag, placed in a plain paper bag. After all, we wouldn’t want to share the duck bone secrets of the "Chinese Sisterhood", right?

So Mr. Duck was placed in a pot, covered by water, seasoned with star anise, ginger, the white portions of green onions, white pepper, and soy sauce. We simmered for about 2 hours, added tofu and bean thread…and this is what we got.

So easy, it’s "duck soup", right?

Huo Guo at Ba Ren

April 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I almost feel guilty about doing this post. I mean, I feel like I’ve done Ba Ren to death. But after an average experience at Kingswood, and a fairly chilly(by San Diego standards) April morning we decided to drop by Ba Ren for "Yuan Yang Guo", the "split" Hot Pot.

The Hot Pot is very hard to find on the menu at Ba Ren, so if you don’t speak Mandarin, this is what I suggest: Walk to the counter where the menus are, and pick up the Hot Pot order sheet and bring it to your table.

There are 3 broths available, the clear broth, the spicy, and one with pickled vegetables(we’ve never tried this). And you check off the ingredients for your hot pot. Meats range from frog legs to shrimp. And vegetables from Napa Cabbage to Baby Bok Choy.

Next your "condiments/sauces" arrive:

Clockwise from the top; fermented bean curd, sesame paste, fermented shrimp paste, and our favorite, leek sauce. The Missus uses almost half the container of Leek Sauce! I just use a touch of fermented shrimp paste with my leek sauce.

A portable stove is brought to the table along with a pot that has a divider in the middle. One side holds a "clear" broth, loaded with various herbs and spices.

The other side contains a red, spicy broth.

Though the broth looks really spicy, I didn’t think it was especially "hot". The stove is turned on, and all of the ingredients starts arriving.

Here’s a round-up:

2 Orders of Tofu – just regular tofu, not frozen. Still very good in both broths.

Vermicelli noodles, kind of hard to keep track of in the broth. So the strategy is to place it in your "basket" first, then lower into the broth:

The fish (flounder) is pre-marinated with corn starch and wine, and will stay moist and intact when placed in the broth. So tasty, this one belongs in the clear broth.

Golden (Enoki) Mushrooms:

Spinach:

Napa Cabbage. Here’s a hint for the Napa, let them cook for a while, they will end up soaking in all the flavor.

2 Types of Lamb – first the "Fatty" Lamb:

The the "regular" Lamb. I enjoyed the regular lamb more, the fat on the fatty lamb became rather tough after cooking. The lamb tastes great in the spicy broth.

Finally, the "premium" beef. We didn’t enjoy this as much as the Beef from Kingswood, I thought it was cut too thick.

Whew, this was alot of food. Both broths were excellent.

When we had eaten our fill, we placed everything in the broths to cook. Once that was done, we turn off the heat and let all the herbs sink to the bottom, and ladle out some "soup" to finish.

For a restaurant that doesn’t specialize in Huo Guo, that Hot Pot here is very good.

Also, one final note – the base for the MalaGuo is available for purchase if you want to make your own spicy hot pot at home. We’ve done it before, and it can be fun. Maybe we’ll do it in the future for a post.

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Golden City Part 3 of 3 – Dinner and Coming Full Circle

April 25, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

*** As of July, 2006 Golden City is under new Ownership – posts on the “New” Golden City, can be found here and here.

Waaay back in September of last year Golden City Chinese Restaurant reopened in a new location. At first I was over-joyed at having one of my favorite inexpensive Chinese Restaurants open their doors again. I was somewhat embarrassed at being the first customer at the new locale. And as is somewhat normal for any new restaurant, the food was a bit of a let down. About a month later the Missus and I had sampled the late supper specials in Part II. Though the prices were still very reasonable, the food really was just a “shadow of it’s former self.”

So, a few months back the Missus and I decided to drop by Golden City and sample a few dishes from the “regular” Dinner menu. We started with the Fish, Preserved Egg, and Cilantro Soup($8.95):

We’ve had this soup before, and when it’s made well, the clear broth is well flavored and comforting, with the cilantro adding a very clean taste. On this occasion, the soup was on the weak side, though the fish was very moist and tender. There wasn’t very much preserved egg in the soup. We were slightly disappointed at this dish.

The Peking Duck($18.00 – 2 courses):

The Peking Duck at Golden City is priced right. And though the duck was not as high in quality and flavor as the $18 Peking Duck Special at Pearl, an everyday price of eighteen bucks isn’t bad. The buns and duck were a bit on the dry side. What the missus really wants is the minced duck meat with lettuce. She enjoys that much more then the duck skin. Duck meat is stir fried with water chestnut and other items, and provides a nice rich dish when wrapped with lettuce. Whatever we take home usually ends up in a fried rice the next day.

I had intended to end the post here. But I thought it would be fun to try the exact same dish as my first visit again to see if the kitchen had now hit stride. On entering, I noticed that some of the furniture had been moved around.

I again ordered the Pork Chop with Spicy Salt($6.25 – prices had gone up 30 cents), that started with the Hot and Sour soup:

I’ve always enjoyed the Hot and Sour soup at Golden City, but today it tasted a bit off. I also noticed frozen carrots, and some corn(egad!) in the soup as filler.

The Pork Chop arrived a few minutes later, along with the same lousy egg roll.

This time the Pork Chop was fried to a nice crisp state with a moist interior. The garlic wasn’t burnt and overall this was a pleasant dish, a definite improvement over my first visit.

Though we still think that Golden City is a mere shadow of it’s previous “self”, the prices(especially the late supper menu) are fairly reasonable, and the service has always been good. Golden City is also one of the few restaurants open until midnight in the area.

Part I of this post can be found here.

Part II can be found here.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am – Midnight