Japanese Restaurants – Page 48

Ami Sushi – El Cajon

May 10, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Yep, you found mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and His Missus are vacationing. ed(from Yuma) is working. Cathy is here today.

Hi again. Kirk and The Missus are safe and very much enjoying their vacation in two countries, one which has a name that is a homonym and the other which has a name that is a homophone.

A long time ago, when I first started participating on this blog, FOY (friend of Yoso) Trent commented to me that to find good restaurants, look for parked mail trucks. I have taken his advice and that is why you see so many 'hole in the wall' places which I post about.

Ami Sushi is in the same location which used to be named Tokyo, just one block West of Parkway Plaza. Tokyo was so disappointing that I posted how much I did not like it. I also titled my post about Tokyo Loha Sushi to distinguish it from this location called Tokyo. Tokyo silently went out of business.

One day about a month ago, I was driving and saw four or five El Cajon Police vehicles parked in front of Ami Sushi. Even though one part of me was telling myself that there may be some sort of Police Action going on and I should avoid the area, another part of me knew all of those Law Enforcement people may be enjoying a lunch break here…because I remembered Trent's wise advice.

Ami Sushi is family owned and operated. I think that may be why it is so efficiently run. The people working are happy, the food has always been fresh, the prices are very good. Consistency is good.

The Ami Bento ($6.50), above, is a large and filling Bento box. The salmon teriyaki and fried salmon are quite large pieces. The fish is fresh, the teriyaki tastes home made and the frying is done right, not greasy and a good deep fried crispy. The California roll is fresh, made with fake crab with tasty sushi rice. A nice touch is the slice of fish cake and tamago (sweet egg). The salad sides are very good.

I put this photograph of the Special Bento ($11.95) so you could compare the two. Again, the teriyaki salmon was a good size, fresh and cooked nicely. This piece also had crispy skin attached. I like that. This Bento comes with two pieces of fried shumai as well as a small piece of fried snapper and a fried shrimp…and the 5 pieces of sushi as well as the California maki, fish cake and tamago and the salads, rice and a very good miso soup.

Edamame ($2.50), is a good size portion, fresh beans steamed and salted and on the Appetizer section of the menu.
Also on the Appetizer part of the menu, the Sashimi Salad ($9.95) is a meal in itself. The 'greens' are mostly seaweed and cucumber, not lettuce. There is a lot of sashimi, in not terribly odd cuts interspersed on the plate. A very fresh sesame oil based dressing is slightly tossed in.

Ami stamina noodles ($6.50) Udon noodles with chicken, fish cake, vegetables and egg, served with two fried gyoza and a tempura shrimp. This also came with a small green salad. The fried items are done properly; you can taste what is inside and the frying of the exterior is there to add texture and not flavor. The udon have a nice 'tooth', the broth is not salty and slightly sweet, the gyoza are nice and meaty and does have some cabbage in the mix.

Though we have only been here twice, we have noticed most people ordering rolls. In fact, the table of ECPD only ordered rolls for their meals. There are daily specials of rolls as well as platters posted on white boards at both doors and the regular prices on the menu are very good.

Ami Sushi 755 Arnele Avenue El Cajon CA 92020 Mon-Sat 11-9:30, Sun 1 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (619)593-7691 Website

Arigato Japanese Restaurant-La Mesa

April 20, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hi again. Kirk is on vacation. mmm-yoso!!!, the blog, is not on vacation. Cathy and ed(from Yuma) will be temping in the interim.

Located in the corner of a strip mall at the NorthEast Corner of Baltimore at Lake Murray, is what used to be an eight table (with three chairs in front of the sushi bar), unassuming, local Japanese Restaurant, Arigato. Fast forward more than 20 years, and it has expanded into the next two storefront units, adding another 12 or so tables and a small private banquet room.

Not fancy. Excellent food.

When you are seated and start to look at your menu, your beverages and a small bowl of edamame are brought out. I've noticed different preparations and presentation of edamame lately and will try to document in the future. These were simply steamed and cooled fresh soybeans…no salt added, crisp and fresh in flavor. The green tea is complimentary also.
It was lunchtime and we ordered three items, and all were brought out at the same time. The kitchen staff is efficient.

The soft shell crab appetizer ($5.95). Perfectly fried, not at all greasy. Light batter. Served in this boat shaped platter with a light sauce which was not needed if you had already squeezed the lemon onto the crab. I did, however, dip some of the cabbage, which was a cushion under the crab, into the sauce and the flavor of the sauce went with the cabbage. This was a very good size crab and appetizer.
The Mister ordered "Pork Mayonnaise- thin slices of pork in a special sauce" ($8.25). This was a wonderful tasting dish. The pork was moist, not crispy and had a very rich flavor…no sauce on the plate, just somehow absorbed into the meat…we are looking to see if we can duplicate this dish at home.
The Mister's plate included the rice and a miso soup (good, with lots of tofu) and this extremely crisp salad. (Both were brought out before the three dishes from the kitchen, if you were reading along and not just looking at photos.) Unusually, remarkably fresh crispy tasty romaine lettuce topped with a gentle sesame-ginger dressing. I can't emphasize the freshness of this lettuce. The small grape, instead of a tomato was a colorful touch…

I wanted to try the Sunomono, described as "Variety of rawfish with cucumber, seaweed topped with special vinegar sauce" ($9.95). There was a small amount of lettuce, a lot of thinly sliced cucumber, an interesting, curly black seaweed, the radishes and burdock, as you see…that bit of octopus tentacle and a shrimp, some crab, hamachi, albacore, salmon and some bits of a cooked fish.
Here is a better photo of the unique seaweed. It was tasty and firm, not slimy. Different and the vinegar based dressing was excellent.

All in all, this was another excellent meal. I wondered why we stopped regularly eating here…the menu for lunch and dinner is the same – no price increase. I suppose because there are no lunch 'specials'…we had started going elsewhere. Now I realize we don't need 'specials'. The quality of food and service here are excellent, as always. Arigato is back on 'our rotation'.

Arigato Japanese Restaurant 5775 Baltimore Drive, Suite 110 La Mesa, CA 91942 (619) 469-3157 Open Mon-Sat 11:30-3:00 and 5:00-9:00

Can you guess the chicken karaage?

March 9, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

*** The contest is closed as of 8pm 03/10/11 – congrats to Dennis and SomTommy who got all five correct. Thanks for playing! ***

I must eat too much chicken karaage….. I've got tons of photos. So…… since I haven't done one of these in a while, I thought we'd do one of those quizzes. I'll display a photo of the chicken karaage, along with a hint or two, which will make it pretty easy if you've been reading for a while. Five chicken karaage, first five emails (yes emails)that guess correctly will get a Peet's eCup, espresso based drink on us. So make sure you send your guesses by email, ok? I'll close the contest after the first five correct guesses.

So here we go……

#1 – Is one of my favorites, light, crunchy, perhaps a tad too bland, but I still order it quite often:

The answer is…… Izakaya Sakura

#2– I've recently not been happy with the chicken karaage here…… but on a recent visit, the Owner was in attendance, and it was quite good. I noticed that he twice fried these, something which many of his employees don't do.

It's Yakyudori of course!

#3– Is not on the menu as "Chicken Karaage", but for intents and purposes that's what it is. Decent flavor, but in my opinion the pieces are too large, thus making the batter to meat ratio lower than I'd enjoy. The batter is not crunchy enoguh for me as well.

This one is Masa's Spicy Chicken…. from Izakaya Masa.

#4– Is from a place I frequent. They keep tinkering with the karaage here. I've had some better then others….. I never know what I'm going to get…..

This one is from Sushi Yaro.

#5 – The portion size is the largest of all of these. And the flavor is pretty much MOR (middle of the road).

The problem here is that the batter isn't crisp enough for me, and the execution is not there. I've had these twice over the last two months, and each time there were a couple of pieces like this.

Soggy……under-fried. A lack of quality control……

This one is from Tajima…. so there you go!

So there you go! Remember, send your guesses by email!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

More Noodling Around: Tajima Noodle House, Izakaya Masa, and Pho Cow Cali

February 21, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Pho, Ramen, Vietnamese Restaurants

Since it's still pretty darn cold (by our spoiled San Diego standards) and rainy here, I thought I'd get in another round of noodles…….

Tajima Noodle House:

Sadly, my last couple of visits to the original Tajima on Convoy have been the same. I've been underwhelmed by the broth, which wavers between too salty and bland. Still, I decided to drop by recently in the middle of one of our rainstorms…… I mean really, if it didn't hit the spot this time…..

Hedging my bets, I went with the Shoyu Kakuni Ramen…. the basic shoyu ramen with Buta Kakuni (braised pork belly) and Chashu in it. If I didn't care for this…….

And it didn't. On this day, the broth was seriously flat. The sweetness from the buta kakuni (which could have braised a bit longer) just emphasized the lack of richness. The Chashu was pretty dry, but not as bad as what I had at Gunco recently. The egg wasn't aesthetically perfect, but was nicely cooked.

I actually came back a few days later…. I didn't bother taking photos, and had the Shio Ramen, which was better, but not by much.

It's kind of sad actually. You'd think that with Yakyudori up the street, that Tajima would step up. I will say this; on my two visits, I really enjoyed the pleasant service. First by a young lady whose name I believe was Yoshimi. On the second visit, it was a friendly young man named Tony. Both were excellent……

One thing I am sure of…… I'm sure that the ramen tastes better at 2am in the morning…. having it during lunch with unimpaired tastebuds, maybe not so much.

Tajima Japanese Restaurant
4681 Convoy St., #1
San Diego, CA 92111

Izakaya Masa:

Spurred on by Dennis of A Radiused Corner, I returned to Izakaya Masa for another shot at the ramen. Dennis had told me that Masa now serves a Shio ramen. I was also told to order my noodles "barikata", or extra firm.

The ramen prices here are good, $6.95 a bowl, though the portion size isn't huge. Here's my Shio Ramen:

As always, the Chashu here is tender, but not falling to pieces, if a bit mild in flavor. The noodles were much better when ordered extra-firm, though I still wish that being from Fukuoka, the folks here could serve some real Hakata style noodles. There used to be a shop in Honolulu, run by an older woman called Hakata Ramen……though her broth wasn't very good, I got my first taste of Hakata style noodles which she had brough in from Fukuoka. The broth was slightly rich, much better than what I had before, but the shio (the salt) used for the ramen left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I think the ramen here is slowly getting better…… but like Tajima, this ramen is probably better after a couple of beers……

Still, I love how this tiny restaurant is put together……..

Izakaya Masa
928 Fort Stockton Dr
San Diego, CA 92103

Pho Cow Cali:

I've always thought that Pho Cow Cali (even when it was Pho HoaCali) was one of the most consistent Pho shops in San Diego.

So I don't know what happened on this day……..

The meat, as always was good, the beefy flavored brisket tender, but not crumbling, the flank had some chew, but wasn't tough, the tripe decent, and the tendon slightly chewy, but good. The broth and the garnishes on this day weren't very good. The soup was lukewarm and almost flavorless, and it seemed that I got the last handful of bean sprouts which were broken into pieces, the basil was turning black. As I mentioned elsewhere, the two things that PCC had over Lucky was consistency and the meat. I'm pretty much a soup guy, and if the soup ain't good…..

Hopefully, this was an off day……..

Pho Cow Cali
9170 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

So I came home today to find our living room a mess…… towels strewn about, stuffing from disembowled doggy toys everywhere……. and in the midst of it all was Sammy…. giving me his best pathetic "you know I'm innocent until proven guilty" look. (Do you notice that piece of stuffing material on his nose? Hmmm……)

Saturday Stuffs: A New Mariscos Truck on Convoy? Seafood Island is gone, and other “stuffs”……

February 19, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

Just a couple of quick things for Saturday:

Is there a new Mariscos Truck off Convoy:

This past week, I went to the 76 station on the corner of Convoy and Balboa. While filling up my tank, I happened to notice this truck open for business in the parking lot of the 76:

I hadn't noticed it before. Too bad I had already had lunch and was in a rush to get back to the office. I hope it's still there this upcoming week so I can give it a try.

Seafood Island is closed:

I received a text from Angela, who knows of the friendly bantering that goes on between JohnL and myself regarding Seafood Island. The gist of the text was "guess what, Seafood Island is closed, I guess you win!"

I drove by a couple of days later….. and it was indeed closed.

On my first couple of visits, I thought this place had potential. But it seems that the restaurant really never developed an identity…… serving cheap Chinese lunches, with combined Chinese – Vietnamese menu, along with Bun Rieu, Bun Cha, and then Pho……which I thought was terrible. I was told that there were two sets of cooks in the kitchen, Chinese and Vietnamese….. it just seems like too much. Too bad, this area needs decent restaurants……

Getting my fix:

I know the hazards of reading food blogs all too well…… but over the years, I believed that I've developed a bit of an immunity to the sudden, knee-jerk, "oh I just gotta have some of that now" reaction. But of course I was wrong.

Recently, one of my favorite food bloggers Kat, who gives me my daily dose of Food and Life in Japan via Our Adventures in Japan, had done a series of posts on their travels in Yamaguchi. I really enjoyed the posts, mainly for the "snow-scenes" which look like something from a movie set. Please check out Kat's posts on this trip here. While reading this post, I just got hung up on the photo of Katsu Don….. I just couldn't get it out of my head…… I just had to get…. my… Katsu Don…. lunch couldn't come fast enough.

We're in the midst of several stroms coming through the area…. so it's been cold and wet. And Izakaya Sakura's Chicken Katsu-Don really hit the spot…..

Along with a side order of Natto…..

It hit the spot, but I wasn't done……

I've passed my cold over to the Missus, so She wanted some ramen from Santouka for dinner. So of course I went over to Kayaba… for what else…. Katsu Don.

While in line at Kayaba…. I realized that Kat had done this to me before!

As a friend of mine once said…. "food blogs are terrible for the waistline… but I just can't stop reading!"

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Tsuruhashi revisited

February 15, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

For a period of time Tsuruhashi occupied a spot on our rotation. We'd come to the point in life where we enjoyed quality over quantity. But sometime in early 2008 we stopped going to Tsuruhashi. We noticed that while prices were steadily creeping up; the quality and service had taken a downward dive.

Even though we'd always intended on returning, it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that we actually stepped through the doors of Tsuruhashi again. It was actually for my birthday dinner. I really wanted Chinese, but it was right around Chinese New Year, and the Missus and I really didn't want to deal with the insanity. We then headed to Izakaya Sakura, but I'd just recently been there for lunch. As always, the Missus made the final decision easy. "Let's go to Tsuruhashi….."

At first, I had a bit of sticker shock…. prices sure had gone up in two years. Some items were over $2 more per item. Imagine, our favorite 3-4 ounce serving of Prime Skirt was now $7.50/lb – that's upward of $30 a pound! But when was the last time you ate a pound of meat? Actually that $30 mark is a pretty good measuring stick. $20 – $30 a person (without booze) seems about right. Play it right, and you can probably get away much cheaper….. but heck, this is not an every night kind of meal; at least not by our standards. It turned out that the Missus and I really enjoyed our leisurely meal. A couple of days later, I was joined by my great friends Angela, Peter, and John, and we had another nice meal. Since there was so much overlap, I'll just go over what we had over the two meals……..

One of my favorite dishes at Tsuruhashi is the Yukke ($7.50) - the raw beef, seasoned with salt and sesame oil, topped with a raw quail egg. Slivers of apple help to clean the palate and refresh.

The beef used is prime rib eye, and is delicious. If you think this is actually Yukkhoe – Korean Raw Beef, you'd be right. Tsuruhashi is named after the Tsuruhashi District in Osaka, home to a sizable Korean population, and also famous for its Yakiniku Restaurants.

The Missus and I always loved the beef tongue served at Tsuruhashi……

And as time has passed, we;ve found that we enjoy the simple salt and pepper prime tongue. Charred and crisp around the edges, with the center still a bit chewy is just wonderful by me.

We used to enjoy the tongue topped with minced onions (now $9.95 – sheesh!), but have found that all that stuff meddles with the texture and beefiness of the gyutan.

This now seems a bit bitter for our taste. My friends also agreed that this wasn't quite as good as the plain and simple tongue.

Peter did enjoy the Miso Beef Tongue.

This is a bit on the salty side…… but is good with some beer. It's also not prime tongue.

Angela really impressed me when she took to the Nankotsu……. chicken cartilage!

There's something just wonderful about the crunchy chicken cartilage that I love……. on this night, I sparred with Angela trying to get my share of Nankotsu.

Even though they now serve the Prime Skirt with a drizzle of a soy-mirin-sake sauce, it's still wonderfully beefy.

There was one item that Peter, John, and Angela enjoyed so much, we had to order "seconds"……

It's the Kobe Rib Cube…….. I don't need to say much more. I placed a piece on my plate, put my hand over the grill for about three seconds, and touched the piece of beef….. it started to melt at my touch.

The Rib Eye Rolled with Shiso was also very nice.

It was much more tender than I thought it was going to be. The minty-anise flavor is a nice counter-point to the beef flavor.

Since the "other white meat" wasn't represented, I felt I needed to order something……

Wrapped in some lettuce smeared with bean paste, this was decent….. you know when the pork belly was some kind of after thought that you've done pretty well.

On the night the Missus and I ate at Tsuruhashi, thre was one item the Missus hated…..

It was the Beef Intestines……. they seized and curled up when put on the grill…. nice if you like really chewy. I thought it was ok, the Missus hated it!

There was an interesting observation that both the Missus and Angela made during our meals. The Missus had just eaten at a steakhouse a few nights earlier, and said She enjoyed this meal much more. Angela told me, "I love eating at a good steakhouse, but for some reason, I really enjoyed this more….maybe it's the variety, or perhaps the social atmosphere, but there's something really nice about this."

The service I encountered on both visits was very good. Grills were changed, things moved along, there were no complaints. As long at Tsuruhashi holds steady, we'll be back.

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ
3904 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Noodling Around: Santouka, Yakyudori, Izakaya Sakura, Gunco, and a special gift from Dennis.

January 31, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

Here are a couple of bowls of ramen from (fairly) recent visits…. plus what was a nice little bonus (for me) at the end. Since I've posted on most of these places before, I'll keep the verbiage to a minimum.

Santouka:

Still our favorite. The Missus likes the Miso Ramen, which I feel is much too salty. I stick with the Shio Ramen.

And as I mentioned in a previous postit has to be "toroniku", with the special fatty pork on the side.

The pork is wonderful with just a quick dip….steep it in the broth and it'll fall to pieces. This has become comfort food for the Missus, the rich pork bone based shiro seems to fix the Missus right up when She's feeling a bit under the weather. At close to ten bucks, it ain't cheap, and it's not everyday ramen….. but it sure fixes us up!

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori:

I'm not sure if others have noticed this; but having been here six or seven times, I've found the ramen to be better when Nabe-san is in the house. My three previous visits had been a bit disappointing, but this bowl of Shio Ramen made up for it all.

The broth was nice and savory. I've been told that Yakyudori uses a special salt for this brought in from Japan. I'm not sure about that, but this was delicious. Just rich enough, the noodles done perfect for my taste; firm, but not hard. The one item that has always been perfect on my visits is the boiled egg. The chashu was tender, not too rich, but good overall. As I finished my bowl, I let out the "aaaah" of satisfaction.

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Izakaya Sakura:

Izakaya might be one of my favorites, a long time fixture on our rotation. I don't think I'll be standing in line for the Shio Ramen here however.

The noodles were a tad over-cooked for my tastes….which could be remedied by ordering it more firm. The broth however, was pretty mediocre……. I recall Dennis mentiong how thick the broth was here. I guess they've gone in the opposite direction…. this was waaaay "assari" (thin) and plain salty. It seems that you'll be playing ramen roulette here due to the inconsistency……

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

Gunco:

Speaking of my buddy Dennis; we recently had a bite, or should I say bites in Chula Vista. we started with fish tacos from Mariscos El Pescador, followed by a visit to Hogetsu, ending with some ramen from Gunco. I've never really had great luck with the ramen from Gunco. But this time, the Shio Ramen I had was not bad…. perhaps Dennis has some major ramen "ju-ju" going on.

The broth was a bit low on the "richness" scale for me, but the shiro was pretty good, if a bit too heavy handed with regards to ginger. The noodles were cooked perfectly. The chashu is still too tough and dry, though. I'm finding that the ramen here seems to get better on every visit…..

Gunco Ramen
305 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Speaking of ramen…. and the always generous Dennis. Having just returned from Okinawa and Japan (please check out his posts). Dennis had a gift for me. Being the ramen-maniac that he is is Mr Radiused Corner made sure to check out the Ramen Museum.

And ever thoughtful, Dennis had a box of various ramen from the museum for me!

It has been pretty cool in the evenings recently, so the Missus and I decided to do a sampling of the ramen.

I'm including notes Dennis gave me along with our observations about the various ramen….so here goes. From the top to the bottom.

Box 1 – Komurasaki:

According to Dennis: "I heard kumamoto style tonkotsu is usually on the lighter side compared to Hakata (cousins). As for slangs for firmness in these thinner straight noodles there's Barikata which many people get and even Harigane ("steel wire") which is firmer still. The firmest would simply be to ask for Nama (raw) where the noodles swim in the boiling water for a mere 15 seconds or so. Again these terminology for noodle firmness only applies to the Fukuoka/Hakata/Kumamoto tonkotsu ramen."

This was light alright…….. the broth was a wonderful shade of pale, but we found this bland. I only cooked the thin Hakata style noodles for only 45 seconds, and that was still too much as it really got mushy quickly.

Box 2 – Harukiya

From Dennis: "one of my favorite shoyu ramen. very old school with a good dose of dried fish. I think they're one of the permanent fixtures in the raumen museum (most shops rotate). It was too fishy for my gringo friend I took with but I personally wish more places made shoyu's like it."

Check out the fat content in that package!

Man that broth smelled really strong, like I was boiling a pot of anchovies! At first taste, the broth had a good fishy punch. But a funny thing happened along the was….. the more we sipped, the more we enjoyed. This one grew on us.

I gave the noodles a three minute cooking and it was perhaps a bit longer than needed.

Box 3 – Ideshoten

Per Dennis: " I believe it's technically a tonkotsu-shoyu. It wasn't my favorite of the day (tried it there) but has a lot of character. remember loving the noodles."

This one came with a little bag of dried green onions.

More shoyu to my tastes, I'm not a fan of the noodles which are not as firm as I enjoy.

A nice middle of the road ramen.

Box 4 – Sumire

Dennis says: " Intensely miso. They came to mitsuwa's fairs a few times. might be a bit salty for some and I think I already warned you about the amount of fat."

This was my favorite of the bunch (the Missus preferred the Harukiya).

Loved the menma….. best noodles of the bunch as well, they held up well.

As a whole, I'm not a big fan of miso ramen, but I loved the flavors and the richness of the broth. I guess I'm going the next time Sumire is at Mitsuwa!

I need to thank Dennis again for giving the Missus and I our own little ramen adventure! Yoso-generous!

Thanks so much Dennis!

Monday Meanderings

January 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, yoso-silly

Yes, I've been hacked:

My email that is. Sorry to say that I think everyone on my contact list was sent high volume spam from my email address. I've hopefully corrected that. On the good side; it was really nice hearing from folks I hadn't heard from in a while. I just wish it was under better (and legit) circumstances. My apologies.

Meet my latest "toy":

For some reason I actually opened up and looked over the monthly adds for Marukai. I noticed that various Shichirin were on sale for the whole month. I decided that we needed a bit of an upgrade from our little Hida Konro. The one selling for forty bucks was a bit too large….

So I went with the one on sale for just under twenty bucks.

Marukai also has Binchotan on sale this month…. just be aware that the label says it's made in Myanmar. I know some folks are sensitive to that. I also thought that there were US trade sanctions against imports from Myanmar…. but maybe I'm wrong?

And just because I needed to include some food photos:

I'm including photos of our New Years Eve dinner(s). You know where, right?

Some Revisits: Noble Chef, Yum Cha Cafe, and Hong Kong BBQ

January 16, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

Here are a couple of revisits.

Noble Chef:

It's pretty much inevitable when I get to know someone, that one of the first items for discussion would be, "have anything good to eat lately". And such is the case with my Dry-Cleaner Lady, with whom I've shared recommendations and opinions over the years. One recent discussion was over Noble Chef. We both are of the opinion that many of the dishes were executed better before the previous owners retired. Although we both thought that as time passed the food there is getting better. The Dry Cleaner Lady told me that although the broth was pretty weak, the Hu Tieu with Shrimp Balls were pretty good. So during the recent rain and cold I decided to drop by and grab a bowl of Hu Tieu with Beef and Shrimp Balls:

And yes, the broth was decidedly bland, in need of help from the sweet-soy and other condiments. I'm used to a mild pork flavor broth for my Hu tieu soups…. this had almost no flavor. The Beef Meatballs were fairly "squeaky", and were also pretty weak. Those shrimp balls did have a nice shrimp flavor and were quite tender.

The rice noodles were prepared well, slippery with a mild chew to them.

Overall an ok bowl, but I don't think I'll be having this again due to the really watery broth.

The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111
(858)278-8688

More posts on Noble Chef can be found here, here, and here.

Yum Cha Cafe's cheapo 3 item BBQ Combo:

**** Yum Cha Cafe has closed

On a recent jaunt to Thuan Phat Market to pick up some vegetables the Missus wanted for dinner, I decided to check out what was going on at Yum Cha Cafe. I think things have slowed down a bit, so now there's all manner of specials going on. One caught my attention right away.

Granted, as I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of Yum Cha's Roast Duck. But 3 meats and rice for under five bucks? You know I just had to try it out. As the various meat was pulled and chopped I was surprised that it seemed like a good amount of protein. And the box seemed to weight at least two pounds. Not along the lines of Tita's in terms of insurmountable food, but the styrofoam box seemed quite hefty.

Opening the box up, it looked like there was a head on collision of Chinese BBQ that fell on a mattress of rice. After playing a bit of Chinese BBQ CSI, I could make out what was what.

The best item was the roast chicken which was very moist and tender., even the white meat sections:

It had a nice mild lemon grass flavor.

The Roast Duck was also moist, fairly meaty, but lacking in flavor.

The skin was on the rubbery side. Overall, this was better than what I had before, but still not even close to top-notch.

The worst item overall was the BBQ Pork, tough and bland are not good when it comes to Char Siu.

The best item overall were the pickled vegetables, which were good, if on the sweet side. So could I recommend this? Well, if you were really hungry and had only five bucks………this could be two meals.

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

Roast Duck from Hong Kong BBQ and Dim Sum:

If you've read my previous post on this place you'll know that I've been less than pleased with what I've had here. But after a recent less than satisfying meal from Song Huong, I wandered through Vinh Hung Market and walked pass the Chinese BBQ, and the Roast Duck looked pretty good, so I decided to buy me half a duck.

Which ended up being pretty good, much better than what I've had before.

So perhaps I'll return to try some other items in the future.

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

Postscript: With the left-over duck, I decided to make something. You see, I was still fuming from spending fifty bucks for a mediocre Peking Duck meal at Duck House in Monterey Park. I was especially disappointed in the stir-fried duck meat with bean sprouts which had no flavor at all. When I mentioned this to the Missus, She called me out and asked, "could you do better"…….

Which is why I made this with the leftovers.

I used my 55,000 BTU Big Kahuna to revive and crisp up the duck meat. Added the bean sprouts, which if you've just bought a high BTU wok stove, is a great way to learn to use it. Flavored at the end with duck drippings and premium soy sauce……

Compared to this:

Sushi Yaro-Lunch

January 13, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. A few friends share blogging "duty". We pretend it is a difficult task, but it's just fun. Today, Kirk has been elsewhere, having fun. ed(from Yuma) is in Yuma, having fun. Cathy is here and having fun.

Hi. Remember the other day last year, when Kirk mentioned Sushi Yaro was having $3 lunch specials? If not, link to it here.

The Mister and I decided to (finally) try it for lunch the other day. The parking lot wasn't full

because we were the first ones there that day. We checked out the 'White Board' near the kitchen as we walked in.

and ordered the $3 vegetable curry special (could have also had stir fried beef, pork, chicken or yakisoba also for $3). It came with a cabbage based salad (in the photo below) and the good serving of fresh rice and an excellent amount of a good curry with potatoes, onion and carrots and a bit of beef in the curry sauce.
I had a craving for poke that day and ordered it off the regular menu ($9.50) It came with the miso soup (very good), salad, side of rice and was presented on the plate this way…with a carrot petaled flower centered with radish and bunny ears of burdock in the poke…
which was an extremely fresh ahi tuna. Marinated in soy sauce, sea salt, sesame oil, onion, garlic, seaweed and some furikake.
One item on the White Board this day was 'stir fried giant clam' for $3.99. It is on the regular menu for $8, but Sam was working that day and he made it …so very tender, almost melt in your mouth like chicken liver or uni melt in your mouth texture. The vegetables were stir fried just enough…crispy and fresh and if I had known the wonder that this item was, I'd have ordered two and had both for myself…

Excellent deals on the $3 lunch and everything excellent at Sushi Yaro. Day or night. Fun.

Sushi Yaro 7905 Engineer Road San Diego 92111