Chinese Restaurants – Page 72

Super Wok! Chinese Food to Go

January 3, 2007 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Super Wok has closed.

mmm-yoso is again not on vacation. Its just Cathy blogging while Kirk is busy doing other stuff, like digesting.

Hi. Thought you might like a good, inexpensive and local place to eat….

Oh, did I mention its, like, totally a hole in the wall? Sort of three tables inside, but nobody eats there. Its all packaged for you to take outside and eat…

Super Wok is located in Pacific Beach, on Ingraham, between Grand and Garnet, on the West side of the street. Next to the Coin Laundry, behind the Chevron Station. That's it- the whole building, right there in that photograph.

Its run by a husband and wife and their young daughter is there too. They are from Shanghai. The food is decidedly Westernized Chinese…the kind I grew up with in Detroit. Its good and fresh. There are 4 woks in the back, 2 rice cookers in front, and refrigerators and freezers with the food for cooking and a refrigerator with bottled and canned beverages. OK, the menu.

Yep, this is it. Its laminated and in front of you, next to the cash register, and there are things written on the wall behind the cash register…its all the same stuff, except I saw one tofu dish on the wall that isn't on the menu. That's it. You order, pay, sit down and wait. You get your food and its packaged and you have to find a place to eat. I think a lot of people use the Laundromat. We decided to drive south a few miles to the Ski Ramp/Boat ramp at Mission Bay and chose a picnic bench with a view.

We ordered some basics …the chicken egg foo young ($4.75) and the Curry Chicken ($5.95) as well as the paper wrapped chicken (6 pieces, $3.75).

The paper wrapped chicken was superb! Juicy, chopped chicken mixed with some crunchy water chestnuts, fresh herbs and some sauce that had sesame oil and I don't think any soy (it was not salty).

You can see in this photo the serving was juicy and steamed perfectly. It did not need anything added to give it flavor.

The Mister wanted to try the curry, because it had a * (Star) next to the description on the menu, indicating "hot and spicy". It also cost a bit more but that was because it came with fried rice and an egg roll.

The 'fried' rice was nothing exciting/nothing added…just the white rice that was put back into the wok..nothing added to it. The egg roll was *quite* nice, crispy skin and the filling had fresh, crispy vegetables. It was made there, not from a package. (An appetizer serving of two egg rolls is $1.80). The curry had onion, carrot, mushrooms, canned bamboo shoots and green pepper. The green pepper was kind of soggy, like it had been stir fried a second time. The sauce was a nice level of heat…enough so that it was hot but you could also taste the ingredients. The chicken was all white meat and quite flavorful as well as juicy and there was a lot of meat in this dish.

The egg foo young. Oh my- absolutely the best I have had. This was made with at least three eggs, mixed in were the bean sprouts, some carrot and onion..making the omelet just a wonderful base, and it is a meal in itself. I saw just "egg foo young" on the menu for 20¢ less and wasn't sure why. It must be just the egg mix..ah, but for that extra 20¢, I got a *lot* of chicken breast, again, juicy and plentiful, along with sauteed mushrooms and that gravy that was not over-laden with corn starch. I have only seen egg foo young made as a one shot deal- with the meat ingredient also cooked in with the egg. I like this way better…can have just egg or just meat or mix it if I want to.

By the way, the menu has "chop sewy" on it…I will try that next time…There are 17 lunch specials served from 11:00 to 3:00 daily. The most challenging thing, after deciding on which of the 71 items on the menu to choose from, will be finding a place to eat your food. You will like it. Try one of the egg foo young dishes.

Super Wok 4468 Ingraham Street San Diego 92109 (858)270-4859

Mon-Thur 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Fri-Sat 11-10:30 Closed Sundays NO CHECKS, NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

Some Revisits – Shanghai City, Golden City, and Other “Stuffs”

December 17, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Cooking, Niu Rou Mian, yoso-silly

Well, it’s been tough, since having that amazing dinner at Urasawa, I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat for over a week. HA, yeah, right! I’m obviously joking. I’ve got about 5 more posts regarding restaurants in the Los Angeles area, including places like Deerfield Garden, and Santouka Ramen, albiet the Torrance location. But I thought I’d return back to San Diego, and do a post on a few revisits to various restaurants.

Shanghai City

*** Update – Shanghai City has closed and is now Spicy House.

The recent cold and rainy weather was perfect for Niu Rou Mein, so we made our way to Shanghai City. Looking back at my original post, I realized how terrible my photos were, so I brought my camera along.

Every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 3pm, Shanghai City features a Chinese Breakfast menu, and though prices have gone up a bit:

Most items are still priced at a reasonable $4.95-$5.95 range, and there is no discernable difference in portion size between the weekend specials and during other times. One thing I have noticed, is that Shanghai City is much busier during weekend mornings since we first started coming here in 2001. Also, the crowd is now a bit more diverse, with more than a few Non-Chinese customers.

I of course had my bowl of Niu Rou Mein($4.95):

Just as good as always, the broth is spicy and rich, the noodles still have a nice “pull”, and the beef is moist, and tender with a nice flavor.

In order to get me out of the Niu Rou Mein habit, the Missus decided to order a few different items, starting with the Chao Nian Gao(Stir Fried Sliced Rice Cake) with Pork($4.95):

Unlike the version we enjoy at Chin’s, this dish was totally overwhelmed with the flavor of Sesame Oil, and you couldn’t taste anything else. The rice cakes were very soft, but not mushy, almost like noodles, and I enjoy my Nian Gao a bit less cooked.

The Missus also ordered the Pickled Mustard Greens and shredded Pork Noodle Soup at Chin’s so She thought she’d order that($4.95), instead of her old standby, the Eel Noodles Soup.

And though the noodles were good as always, the mustard greens had very little in the way of flavor, ditto the pork, and the broth while it looked rich, was on the mild side.

And of course, we couldn’t leave without some Xiao Long Bao($5.95):

And though the quality of the Xiao Long Bao at Shanghai City can be wildly inconsistent, and the wrapper a bit on the thick side, we still think it’s the best in San Diego. We have also noticed that during busier periods the XLB at Shanghai City is a bit better, probably due to turnover.

Shanghai City
3860 Convoy St
San Diego,CA 92111
619-278-5883

Closed Tuesdays

*** An updated post on Shanghai City with new prices can be found here.

**** Golden City has closed

More Golden City – Yep, again! This time in the mood for some Roast Duck, we ordered a whole duck($15.95, $8.95 – 1/2 Duck):

I was surprised at how good this was! Really. Not oily, and not salty, roasted to perfection, this was much better than what I expected. Many restaurants will pour broth over the duck before serving to rehydrate the meat….no such thing here. It is not cheap, but quite good. I’ve never really ever gotten into the really sweet and lousy plum sauce that’s served with roast duck……And Duck Fried Rice made with leftover duck is always a good thing!!!

The Gailan with Dried Fish($9.95), is Chinese Broccoli stir fried with dried-roasted fish:

The first time we had this, it was sublime; the Gailan had been peeled and so was soft and tender. The crisp dried fish added a salty-sweet flavor, and the garlic added a nice punch to pull it all together. It had been stir fried to perfection. The second time we had the dish was on a Sunday evening, and it was borderline terrible, the fish was hard and almost inedible, the Gailan was not peeled and tasted bitter, and was extremely fibrous, and the garlic was burned, and worst of all the dish had not been cooked correctly and it was slightly oily. We put it down to it being Sunday, and perhaps it was the ‘B’ team cooks running the show. So third time a charm? Well this was sort of a “tweener”, the Gailan had not been peeled, but wasn’t very bitter, and had been cooked well, the fish was perfect, but only a scant amount was provided. The garlic was burnt and bitter, I don’t quite know what to say. Wildly swinging inconsistency is quite frustrating, and causes quite a dilemma…I mean, how can I recommend this dish if it’s never the same twice?

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

Open Daily 11am – Midnight

I tried making the Gailan with Dried Fish, purchasing the dried fish from 99 Ranch Market.

I first toasted the fish in the toaster oven, peeled and blanched the Gailan, and thinly sliced a few cloves of garlic. I did a simple stir fry, and ended up with this:

It was okay, but I’m sure that I didn’t use the right type of fish, it didn’t taste right. Also, I should have used the Big Kahuna to cook this but was too lazy, high heat would’ve made a big difference. Still, it wasn’t too far removed…….

So stay tuned, between the various restaurants visited in the LA area, I’ll do a few posts on places like Kayaba, and even this place:

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Postscript – By request I added a photo album of Urasawa photos, and even did an album from the AKC National Championships.

Road Trip: Dezhou Pa Ji from 101 Noodle Express – Alhambra(LA)

December 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Two days ago, JosephE wrote a comment on our post on Mei Jia Deli with the idea of letting the Missus do Her own post. What a great idea! And I think we found the perfect subject – Dezhou Chicken from 101 Noodle Express. Fasten your seatbelts, here it comes………Heeeere’s the Missus!

Driving West on Valley Boulevard after lunch at Mei Jia, shaved ice in hand, I suddenly spotted the sign "Shan Dong Dezhou Pa Ji", which instantly brought back memories of growing up in QingDao, Shan Dong, China.

Back when I was a little kid, we were all pretty poor, according to America standards at least. But we didn’t know any better since everybody had the same things, which were not much. We were just little kids running around naive and happy. Head over heels about Andy Lau, The Shaolin Temple starring Jet Li, and stuff like that.

The refrigerator didn’t become a household item until about the mid 1990’s. Before that, we all needed to stop by the open-air market daily. Streets were blocked up for vendors to set up their stands, one next to another, running over several blocks. Most of what was sold was homegrown or homemade, and each vendor specialized in only one thing, either one type of vegetable, or fresh made tofu, or some kind of fruit. Bargaining is not only to be expected, it is required, beyond just a game, it is an art of its own. It is common for people to spend 5 minutes to bargain down an item saving just 5 cents and walk away with a bunch of green onions worth about 12 cents. Such a victory always brought great joy.

There are also livestock, mostly live chickens, cooped up in a pen, ready to be picked up. For a young man trying to "wow" a perspective girl’s family, nothing is better than arriving with a big, live rooster in hand, upside down bound up around the feet. It always brings a smile from the future in-law’s face. No wonder avian flu often started in Asia! Then again, I never got any food borne disease when I was growing up, no E-coli, no listeria, no hepatitis. I was as healthy as a country bumpkin should be, right along the "growth curve" which we didn’t have in China back then.

On the other hand, everything is always fresh. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fresh killed pork hanging upside down with a seal of approval of blue ink promptly displayed. The Butcher’s greasy apron, the vegetable sellers muddy hand identified the preferred vendors. Meals are prepared daily, my Grandmother would get up before everyone else to prepare breakfast, then lunch and dinner while working full time as a School Principle.

There were Government grocery stores, selling mostly soy sauce, vinegar, or oil, and other rationed items. One of my Aunt’s worked in one of those 7-11 sized stores. She always smelled like a marinade mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. When in season, there would be piles of tomatoes, napa cabbage, or blue crab running sideways along sidewalk all directions at the same time, in that situation, my Aunt would spend most of her time running after those crabs than really selling them. And nothing is more entertaining to a kid with not much toys ( I was not deprived as a child though, I have everything everyone else did if not more, we were considered pretty well to do in the neighborhood).

Well back to this Dezhou Chicken thing. I really don’t know where Dezhou is or why this chicken is so famous. The only thing I know is that it tasted so good, and I remember exactly where the little shop was that we usually got the chicken from. It was always a special treat, a once or twice a year type of thing. Chicken was rare and expensive back then.

OK, the little shop that sold this chicken was located at the beginning of the market which was right down the hill from where my Grandmother’s house was. Tucked behind the vegetable vendor, in a dark little room, the chicken was sold by this dark little man, after you ordered, he would bring out one of the dark little chickens soaked forever in the dark broth in a big iron pot behind him, and hand it to you. The chicken was small, not like the enhanced double D in the States, more like A and a half. The most delicious part are the legs. The bone will slide right off the meat. The meat is dark and full of 5 spice, soy sauce, sugar and wine flavors. The meat is not mushy and tasting like dead meat. It is firm and has a slight chew to it. A family of 10 usually will share one chicken and I often dreamt of having one all to myself. My own neck to knaw on.

Since I moved to States and I haven’t seen nor thought about this chicken for more than 15 years. Now you see how excited I was when I saw this sign.

My chance at last. A good husband as Kirk is, he made an immediate U-turn in the middle of the busy Valley Blvd ( not all that unusual in Alhambra). We had to buy a chicken and they’d better not run out of it, as it was all I was thinking about when I walked into the restaurant. It was a typical, actually a much cleaner eatery, than the norm in the San Gabriel Valley. I was so excited I started ordering in English and the Girl gave me a baffled look. I had to slow down and order in Chinese. It was $8.70 for half a chicken ( still not cheap), for a contorted, dead yogi style half chicken in a Styrofoam container. By the way, the contortion is part of the style. We Chinese know how to maximize space, like twisting the chicken into little balls or squeezing 1 billion people along the east side of a Country.

Back to this chicken, the color is much lighter, the chicken is bigger than a whole chicken was in China, and the taste, while pretty good was much lighter than I remembered. The flavor was not as condensed or as hearty. Still, it was very good. Kirk, on the other hand, didn’t think much of it and I don’t blame him. If I never had this kind of chicken, I probably come to the same conclusion.

In conclusion, I was disappointed in the chicken, but that didn’t dampen my spirit at all. I became wordy and giddy, called my Mom and I could tell she was brought back to those days in China as well. Maybe it is not the chicken I was looking for. Maybe it is something else, like the feeling of having nothing, but still desiring nothing, extremely content, always feeling like the richest kid on the block since I had everything I needed or knew to desire. No desire, therefore no disappointment.

Now go and find your Dezhou Chicken!

101 Noodle Express
1408 E. Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA

Road Trip: Mei Jia Deli – San Gabriel(LA)

December 5, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

*** Mei Jia Deli has since closed……

On this short road trip, we decided to do something different. Instead of making plans for meals (other than Komasa), we decided to just drive and walk around and see what caught our fancy. So, after sushi at Komasa and driving around, we parked our car on Valley just West of San Gabriel Boulevard, and got out to stretch our legs. Somehow, out of all of the restaurants(and there are hundreds of them), Mei Jia Deli caught the Missus’s eye. Actually the Chinese sign with Tianjin got the attention of the Missus. As we approached the restaurant, the Missus brightened, and kept repeating "oh, oh, Jian Bing Guo Zi, oh, oh Jian Bing Guo Zi". She literally sprinted into the restaurant and started up a conversation with the Waitress.

Unfortunately, Jian Bing Guo Zi was only sold between 8am and 2pm, but the Waitress, a very chatty lady said "it is better than what you get in Beijing", which practically made the Missus swoon. You see, the Missus has fond memories of getting up in the morning and running to the corner to buy hot Jian Bing Guo Zi while living in Beijing. I could just see the wave of nostalgia cresting…….As we walked back to the car, I could see a smile on the Missus’s face. Upon inquiry She told me, "I haven’t heard Beijing and Tianjin accents like that in years!" I swear that I could hear the Missus mumbling "Jian Bing Guo Zi" in Her sleep.

The next afternoon, after checking out the Dog Show we headed over to Mei Jia Deli, which was packed with a very loud, boisterous, and cantankerous group. It really doesn’t take much to fill tiny Mei Jia Deli, there are only 9 tables in the whole restaurant, and four of them had been placed together for a large group. We ended up with a small "spare" table, which usually sees duty as the condiment bar. You can see it in the photo from another visit, good old table number 7. If you’re expecting a bright, clean, and shiny restaurant…well this ain’t it! The floors looked like they haven’t been mopped in a while, the tables and the menus are a decidedly "San Gabriel sticky".

After looking over the menu, a portion of which is only in Chinese, the Missus starting ordering. When She ordered the Guo Ba(called "rice crust", but it doesn’t resemble rice crust in the least bit) the Waitress told Her not to order it. She basically did the "you no like that" thing, She did say the she was "from Beijing and she even hates the dish, and many Chinese customers end up ordering it, and not eating it." I think that She knew that the Missus wasn’t from Tianjin by her accent, and thought we, and especially me, the only non-Chinese in the restaurant would not enjoy the dish.

Of course we got the Jian Bing Guo Zi($2.99). The Missus had spoken on length about Jian Bing Guo Zi, about how the thin crepe/pancake batter is spread on a special iron, or sometimes the top of a barrel, and egg is cracked on top; it is important to note that you should see the separation of white and yolk. A sauce is then smeared on the egg covered batter, some Youtiao(fried cruller) is placed on the crepe, and it is folded up, not unlike a burrito of sorts.

I took a bite, and was totally unimpressed. I looked over to the Missus, who said, "this isn’t very good", the crepe had no taste, just a slight sour flavor, and was not soft and fluffy, the Youtiao was mushy, overall not very good. The bean sauce smeared on the Jian Bing Guo Zi just made it more soggy…….

The Gou Bu Li Bao Zi ("Stuffed buns that dogs are not interested in" – $5.00). I’m sure there’s a story behind the name.

We ordered the Pork, Egg, and Shrimp version, and while the filling was excellent, with large pieces of shrimp, and cloud ears fungus adding a nice crunch, the buns themselves were tough. I noticed that the buns had not been steamed correctly, heat had been allowed to escape making the dough tough and rubbery, not soft and fluffy. When I mentioned this to the Missus, She nodded in agreement, and asked, "How did you get to be so picky". To which I answered, "guess……" Having a Wife and Mother In Law from Shandong will make you that way.

Fennel and Pork Dumplings(actually Dill – $5.00 for 12):

We both thought these were excellent. The wrappers had just the perfect amount of pull and chewiness, probably the best I’ve had in a restaurant. The filling, while not having much meat, was perfect in quantity. I’ve had this type of dumpling before that had a large amount of filling, and the taste of dill just overpowered everything. In this case, the amount of filling was perfect for this type of Jiaozhi. Perfect with a splash of Black Vinegar.

Lamb in Brown Sauce with Sesame Cake($13.99), which is I think is the most expensive item on the menu:

This was brought out in the cast iron wok it was cooked in, the lamb flavor, though on the mild side was good, and the flavoring was just about perfect. Everything was in perfect balance, from the amount of cumin to the slight "heat", all ingredients worked in harmony. I was really jonesing for a bowl of rice…but we are talking about Northern Chinese Food here. Which brings me to the teeth shattering, dry, flavorless Sesame Cake, definitely not my cup of tea. For consolation, all the Missus could say was, "you should have this in China, it’s even harder and drier."

The waitress brought us 2 bowls of Xiao Mi Zhou(Millet Porridge – Free, if you want a BIG bowl it’s 50 cents). We had noticed that the two really loud women on the table next to us had only ordered about 6 bucks worth of food, but were helping themselves to the porridge. They would just stand up, brush past us, walk behind the counter to the pot and help themselves. When the Waitress brought them new bowls of porridge, they just poured off what was in the fresh bowl into their bowls, and dump the bowls on the counter. All told, each one of them had 4 bowls a piece, and that was only while we were there. They had been eating before we arrived, and were still eating when we left.

After taking a sip the Missus put Her spoon down, and never picked it back up. The porridge has a texture like runny-grits, and has no flavor at all. The Missus told me that this was a more refined version of Millet Porridge, most times the millet hasn’t been processed and there are hulls in the porridge. The version She grew up eating had more of a nutty flavor, probably because it hadn’t been processed as much as this.

Still, we had enjoyed our meal, and decided to go back the next morning. This time we lucked out, it was Sunday morning, and there were a few open spaces in the "parking lot from hell" that Mei Jia Deli shares with 3 other restaurants.

So having been seated, the Missus proceeded to order the Guo Ba Cai($2.50), and again the Waitress told Her not to order it. But this time the Missus stood firm, with the help of the 4 people on the next table who yelled out "let her have the Guo Ba Cai". They were eating Guo Ba Cai, and I’m sure the Waitress didn’t try and dissuade them from ordering it.

Looks interesting, doesn’t it? This concoction uses the crepe portion of the Jian Bing Guo Zi, cut into strips and mixed into a thick, brown, gooey gravy. The dish is topped with cilantro, chili paste, and fermented tofu. And it’s delici-yoso!!! The dish hits all of the sour-salty-spicy notes, and is very hearty. Caution, it is also quite salty, but we loved it, to the amusement of our Waitress.

More Dumplings (6 Chive and Pork, 6 Cabbage and Pork – $4.50):

The Missus asked for mixed dumplings, and they arrived steaming. The dumpling wrappers were excellent, just as those we had yesterday. This Jiaozhi fell far short in the filling department. The Pork and Chive dumplings were bland, with not enough chive, and tasteless pork. The same bland profile for the pork and cabbage dumplings as well.

Sesame Cake with Beef($2.50).

I thought that perhaps the presence of 5 spice beef would moisten the Sesame Cake, boy was I wrong. I almost lost several teeth. Still, can you believe breakfast for 10 bucks, in a restaurant?

We’ll most definitely return to Mei Jia Deli, there are a few more items we’d like to try. The place can be a bit intimidating, the people can be loud, abrasive, rude, and aggressive, and we’re talking about the customers! The Waitresses(there are two) are nice considering the circumstances. Most of the clientele have Tianjin or Beijing accents according to the Missus, and Mandarin is spoken exclusively. If you’re able to find an unoccupied space in the parking lot during most hours, give yourself a pat on the back, and go buy a lottery ticket!

Mei Jia Deli
534 East Valley Blvd. #8
San Gabriel, CA 91776

A Few Updates

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

Recently, we’ve been making the rounds and have been revisiting a few restaurants. And here are a few updates.

Chin’s

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

We’ve been having brunch at Chin’s just about every weekend. Looking through my previous posts, I noticed I missed posting on a few of the better dishes at Chin’s.

The Wuxi Sparerib Noodle Soup:

This very tasty slightly sweet soup, with a nice portion of braised spareribs, along with some Shao Bing is probably my favorite…well next to the Five Spice Beef Shao Bing. The nice pork flavor really comes through, and though I still don’t care much for the noodles, I really enjoy the broth and of course the pork.

The Shanghai Chao Nian Gao:

Sliced rice cakes stir fried with pickled vegetables and pork. Perhaps a bit on the salty side, but the rice cake slices are always fried perfectly, and the slices are neither too mushy, nor hard and rubbery. The pickled vegetables and scallions add a nice flavor. I think someone had asked about this dish so I wanted to make sure to post.

Noble Chef – Under New Ownership

Last week we dropped by Noble Chef for our fried rice fix, and didn’t recognize any of the eight people scurrying about.

Upon inquiry we found out from the really nice young man manning the counter that the previous owners had decided to sell the restaurant. I quickly asked the young man if the menu would remain the same, at which point one of the young ladies standing behind the counter gave me a “dirty look”. But I was assured that the menu would remain the same. As this was the first day after the transfer of the restaurant thing were quite chaotic, but we did manage to place and get our orders.

The Shrimp with XO Sauce Fried Rice:

On the good side; there was twice the amount of shrimp. On the bad side…well, not enough XO sauce and not enough garlic or salt, the rice tasted like spicy fried rice. Also, I’m sure that the new chef will have to get adjusted to the wok stove, the rice was mushy and in clumps, I noticed that the chef never turned the heat up while making the fried rice, thus all the wonderful “wok hey”(the elusive essence of the wok) was missing.

The Chiu Chow Fried Rice:

Same story, lot’s of Char Siu, the portion size is about a third smaller. Rice clumpy and slightly mushy.

I’ll give Noble Chef a few months to get things in order and check in again. I’m hoping that I’m not losing one of my favorites.

Emerald

Made another visit to Emerald, and partook of all the usual suspects…pretty much the same as what I had on a previous visit. There were a few items that I hadn’t seen before, like the Xiao Long Bao:

Yes, soup dumplings! Unfortunately the wrappers were really, really thick, and there was no soup! Soup dumplings with no soup? The filling tasted like regular dumpling filling, not Xiao Long Bao.

The “Egg” Siu Mai fared much better. Basically a boiled quail egg lying on a bed of pork and shrimp, in a siu mai wrapper. A nice slightly rich and eggy bit of Dim Sum. My only complaint would be that the siu mai wrapper was welded to the plate, and everything fell apart as we tried, unsuccessfully, to pry the wrapper off the plate. Still we enjoyed a pretty good meal at Emerald.

For addresses and other info, click on the links to the original posts.

Finally, I’d like to thank Cathy. Her wonderful posts, has allowed me to spend a little more time revisiting restaurants. Thanks Cathy!

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

I know it’s a day late…but I’m hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

We did this year, what we’ve done for the last several years….started Thanksgiving Day off with some Dim Sum. I’ve already posted on Pearl back in November of last year, and even did our Thanksgiving Dim Sum there last year. So I won’t bore you with descriptions, just photos.

I may have missed a dish or two, and no Peking Duck 2 ways for $18, this year. All told, it came out to $30. Took a few laps around the path in back of the restaurant to help burn some of this off.

We hope everyone had a safe and fun Holiday!

Is It Soup Yet? Guess the Restaurant – It’s Fortune Cookie Express

November 16, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I haven’t done one of these in a while. I recently had a pretty good bowl of soup, and thought "hmmmm, maybe it’s time to give away some coffee".

So here we go, I’ll post a few photos. Email me the name of the restaurant, and I’ll Email the first 7 correct answers a free cup of Peet’s. Now that it’s getting a bit cooler, doesn’t a cup of Peet’s sound good?

Okay…..the name of this Chinese Fast Food Restaurant is:

As much as I hate the name…it’s Fortune Cookie Express, hidden behind other businesses on Balboa avenue. And most of the usual Fast-Food suspects are in view from Chop Suey to Beef Broccoli.

It’s one of the last places on Earth that I’d be eating….but the Chow Ma Mein was recommended by the Twins at Sandwich Emporium. Turns out that you won’t find it on the regular menu….but if you check out the photos on the side wall you’ll see the a photos of "Chowmamein".

Looks pretty spicy, huh?

The Chow Ma Mein, seems to use all those Chinese Fast-food components…the thin cut stir fry refugee veggies, fast food chow mein noodles, the sliced beef, etc….

Though I enjoy the fried garlic, and the 5 pieces of shrimp, the Chow Ma Mein is a bit on the oily side, but for $3.99, who’s going to really complain. The Chow Ma Mein is nice and spicy, though lacking in much other flavor, and will fill you up…….

BTW, there was one correct guess! Kudos to Kimmie!

Fortune Cookie Express
5931 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

China Chef

November 2, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** An updated post on China Chef has closed

I recently received an Email from BruceT who mentioned a new Sichuan style restaurant located on Mira Mesa Boulevard. In the Email Bruce mentions cold Sichuan dishes….which meant a visit post haste.

As you approach the restaurant you arrive at the proverbial "fork in the road". Go toward the left, and you'll arrive at a rather generic Chinese Fast Food style restaurant, to the right you'll arrive at "Heavenly Kitchen Sichuan Dishes…." Hard choice, huh?

As we entered we saw the cold appetizers…this indeed looked like our destination. All the usual suspects from the thinly sliced Pig Ear to Fu Qi Fei Pien were in view.

The restaurant itself is fairly small with just a few tables.

As we looked over then menu, we noticed a few strangely familiar dishes like Spicy Fish Slices with Golden Mushroom, and Cumin Flavored Lamb. So while I selected a few appetizers, the Missus had a conversation with our Server. It seems that one of the new Owners is one of the former Chefs from Dede's on Convoy, thus the familiar dishes. According to the waitress he is originally from Chonqing, and this version of China Chef has been open since the end of August.

Here's our 3 appetizer plate(3 appetizers – $5.45):

The pickled greens and soybeans had a strange overly bitter flavor, and left an oily film on in my mouth, the marinated bamboo shoots looked really good, but were bland except for the flavor of sesame oil. The Fu Qi Fei Pien was not bad, but was lacking in Sichuan peppercorns, and the pieces were not cut into uniform slices, still it wasn't too bad.

Since we've eaten at Dede's we decided to try some different dishes, and started with the Chinese Bacon(Howie – it's your La Rou Chao La dish) with Spicy Green Pepper($7.95):

Slices of cured Pork Belly is stir fried with Leeks and dried red chilies. As expected the dish was on the salty side, though not as greasy as I thought it would be. The dish was surprisingly spicy, a very much "in your face" spicy.

Rice Crust with Chicken($8.95):

Not a good rendition of this classic dish, the sauce was on the watery side, and the usual deep chicken flavor was lacking.

Shrimp with Dry Red Pepper($9.45):

First off, we were impressed with all the good sized shrimp, which were not shelled, just lightly battered and fried, than stir-fried with scorched dried red chilies – think salt and pepper prawns(without the pepper) stir-fried with dried chilies. I've had several versions of this classic Chongqing Chili dish, and found this one to be a very one dimensional spicy, lacking the "buzz" of Sichuan Pepper, and the back of throat slow burn. The usual slight sweetness of these type of dishes was also missing. It was very spicy, though. Not a bad dish.

We found the dishes at China Chef to be more on the rustic side, and a bit one-dimensional. Sort of like Dede's with more heat. I may be back in the future to try out a few other dishes, the potential is there. At least you can now take care of your Sichuan craving without driving down to Convoy. You'll find the prices at China Chef to be quite reasonable (from $5.95-$12.95) as well.

China Chef Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #110
San Diego, CA 92126

Open Tues-Thurs 11am – 930pm
   Fri-Sat 11am – 10pm
   Sun 11am – 930pm
   Closed Mondays

Thanks for the recommendation Bruce T!

Niu Rou Main-nia: Jamillah Garden’s version

October 24, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

*** Jamillah Garden has since closed.

I think most regular readers already know that I love a good bowl of Niu Rou Mein, the savory Chinese Beef Noodle soup. According to Wikipedia, Chinese Beef Noodle soup was created by the Hui, an Islamic Chinese people during the Tang Dynasty. According to the story, when the Koumintang fled to Taiwan they brought along Niu Rou Mein. And Taiwan has truly embraced Beef Noodle Soup, to the extent that Taipei now hosts an annual Taipei Beef Noodles Festival. Enough to make a "Noodle-Head" quiver in excitement, no?

So far, I’ve had a few bowls of Niu Rou Mein in San Diego, and my favorite by far is the version served by Shanghai City. But a few weeks ago, I decided to go to the "source", and finally have a bowl of Niu Rou Mein from the local Islamic Chinese restaurant, Jamillah Gardens. One item of interest is that as noted in my previous post on Jamillah Gardens, is the availability of Knife Cut Noodles, which are flat noodles cut from a rolled piece of dough. The noodles are of various width and length, and when done right has a mildly chewy and doughy texture.

Add a dollar to the regular price of the Niu Rou Mein($6.95 + noodles = $7.95), and you get the Niu Rou Mein with Knife Cut Noodles.

The broth had a good amount of oil, with a mild beef flavor, and was quite weak overall. Nice body….but no soul. Some of the pieces of beef were on the gristly-tough side, but had a decent amount of flavor. To me there needed to be a stronger beef and 5 spice flavor, along with a bit more sweetness.

The noodles this time around were on the gummy side, and were not as enjoyable as I’ve had on previous visits.

Which kind of shines a light on the various meals I’ve had at Jamillah Gardens; wildly fluctuating in flavor and quality.

But still, another Niu Rou Mein crossed off my list. And in order to keep track, I’ve decided to start a Niu Rou Mein category. I think there are still at least six or seven more Niu Rou Meins to try in San Diego……so I’ll keep on ca-noodling along.

Jamillah Garden Chinese Islamic Restaurant
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

One last note: I’ve gotten a few Emails requesting that I add a few categories, and after going through all my old posts I can understand. So in addition to Niu Rou Mein, I’ve added these:

Hopefully, I’ve updated old posts accordingly. I aim to please…so whoever "ItsBasedonADare" is, hang in there. I’ll let you know if I find Haggis! LOL! BTW, IBAD(yoso-clever), I know what movie that came from.

Chin’s Seafood and Grill – Part 2

September 10, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

***This location of Chin’s has closed

After a very surprising and pretty good meal at Chin’s, we returned several more times. Here’s a compendium of some items we’ve recently eaten that were not included in the first post. These items are from the Chinese Breakfast menu pictured right. During one of our meals we saw 2 Navy Officers enter the restaurant, stopping dead at the entryway, looking at each other totally flummoxed…..not your usual Holiday Inn restaurant, I guess. They were shown a table and given the Lunch/Dinner Menu which has a few items that are on the breakfast menu, but in larger “meal-sized” portions. So several meals later, and we’ve done some damage with regards to the menu.

Five Spice Beef($4.95):

Wonderful sweet-salty-five spiced flavor. The beef is thinly sliced, and neither too soft, nor too tough. Additional sauce is placed over the meat for extra flavor and moisture. One of my favorite items on the menu.

ShaoBing Youtiao($2.95):

Shall we say a double-carb special? The Youtiao was quite good, if not a bit on the over-fried and oily side. Still some of the best we’ve had in San Diego, the Missus was yearning for some Jook(rice porridge) which is not served. Most people were having the Youtiao with Dou Jiang(Soy Milk).

ShaoBing($1.50):

The Shaobing was a bit too dry for the Missus, but a few slices of 5 Spice Beef fixed things up.

Pickled Mustard Greens and Shredded Pork Noodle Soup($6.95):

This soup was quite good, the light broth had some excellent flavor, the slightly bitter greens(made inhouse) added character, and the pork strings were soft and tender with decent pork flavor. we really don’t care for the hard spaghetti-like noodles at Chin’s, but this soup is on my “list”.

Pickled Mustard Greens Steamed Bun($2.95):

A steamed bun with the pickled mustard greens. Here is a view of the filling.

I enjoyed the sweet-bitter flavor of these, the Missus wasn’t quite as impressed.

Fried Bread($2.95):

No big deal, and a bit on the oily side. Too light in the middle, and not as flavorful as the version at Kingswood.

Sorry about the following photos, we don’t always get seats with optimal lighting.

Wined Chicken($4.95):

Not bad, the chicken doesn’t have quite enough of the cured texture I enjoy, though the marinade did have a decent salty-wine flavor. Doesn’t hold a candle to the Beef or Smoked Fish.

Of course we had to try the Niu Rou Mein(Beef Noodle Soup – $6.95):

Again we don’t really care for the noodles. The Beef was nicely flavored and soft. The broth left something to be desired, nice and beefy, but lacking the depth of flavor from various herbs and spices. We enjoy the version at Shanghai City more – better noodles, better broth, and if you have it on weekend mornings 2 bucks cheaper.

Steamed Hua Juan(Flower Roll – $2.95):

Best eaten with some beef, or soup. Very routine.

The classic Ci Fan Tuan($2.95) with Rousong(Pork Sung/Meat Floss):

Now this was an interesting dish. I’m not a fan of Pork Sung(Rousong) anyway. Rousong, and Zhacai(Spicy Pickled Vegetable) was rolled in glutinous rice, and steamed. A very traditional Shanghainese breakfast item. This was on the dry side, with not enough Zhacai to make a difference in flavor. Perhaps someone who enjoys Rousong will enjoy this more than we do.

After some contemplation, I think what I’ll do in a brief post in the future is to go over the menu, and list which item is which. Then, you can do the Captain Jack trick. On a recent visit to Ba Ren, Jack looked over my post, and associated the various dishes with items on the Chinese Placard by location and counting characters. When the Server arrived for His order, he grabbed the placard and pointed to the dish He wanted, totally freaking Her out! So I guess if we list various dishes and associate them with items on the menu, you can grab the Chinese menu, and have some fun…….

Chinese Breakfast served from 11am to 230pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

Chin’s
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126

858-536-2300