Category: Korean Restaurants

Buldak Chicken from George’s Cafe (City Heights)

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Diner, Korean Restaurants

Ever walk into a random eating establishment and get totally surprised? Well, it happened to me this past weekend. It was an odd hour and I had skipped breakfast. I was close to City Heights, so the “usual suspects” came to mind. However, this time, I was driving down 43rd Street when I saw a place I’d been meaning to dine at for years.

The place had been around for over 50 years! And was still in business despite all the new development going on around it. There’s limited hours, just 8 to 2…..and on this day there was ample parking close by so I decided to head on in. I quickly noticed that the owner was Asian and he smiled and pointed me to a table.

The Server was very friendly and handed me a menu….I was totally fixed on just getting the typical 2 eggs with protein and potatoes kind of thing, when I saw this.

What the heck? Along with the burgers, sandwiches, and typical American Breakfast items, there’s teriyaki, bulgogi, even orange chicken! I’m guessing the kitchen staff is Mexican, because you can even get fish tacos and chorizo with your eggs, not surprising to me. But Buldak Chicken seemed rather random. If you’re not sure what Buldak is; it’s a rather modern name for spicy Korean chicken (i.e. “Fire Chicken“). This place obviously didn’t seem like one of those concept “Asian fusion” type of places, or even a food court stand, and with all those typical diner dishes on the menu?

The Server, who one moment was speaking Spanish to a table of what seemed like regulars, came on over and was kind of shocked when I ordered the Buldak. Telling me “it might be too spicy for breakfast….are you ok eating spicy for breakfast?” I really appreciated her concern, but yes…I told her I wanted to try the buldak and to please don’t mind all my sweating! She laughed and placed my order.

There’s a tiny window in the corner where food comes out of the kitchen and I saw my plate appear. Which soon made its way to the table.

So, I loved the perfectly easy over egg….totally diner style, right?

The rice was decent; perhaps a bit on the mushy side….but coming from a place that specializes in hash browns….well….

I liked that the chicken was dark meat and it was indeed spicy. Usually, I’d expect cheese or tteokbokki , but c’mon, it’s a diner.

Like I mentioned, I liked the spice, the savory tones were decent, I’d like a hint of sweetness with this; it’s definitely not a place you’d find on Convoy, but all in all it was better than what I expected. Good portion size as well. The rice and simple “coleslaw” did the job of buffering the spiciness.

I also enjoyed the vibe, tables where folks were speaking Spanish, the table behind me were speaking Vietnamese. It took me back “home”…….back in Kaimuki in the “old days”…..where places like Aotani Fountain would serve “cone” sushi….with Green River….or on a special occasion we’d be heading to Kaimuki Inn or my Mom’s favorite Alakea Grill (by bus)….where you’d get a burger with oxtail soup or spaghetti with a side of kalbi or pork chops…..and butter rolls! We didn’t have much money, I was raised by a single Mom who never learned how to drive. So those places hold a special place in my heart.

And no, it’s not “that George’s“, but in this day where division, hate, and anger seems prevalent, it’s places like this that can bring a community together. I’d take that any day of the week!

George’s Cafe
4012 43rd St.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 8am – 2pm
Closed Sundays

Bonchon Revisited

Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

Recently, I had a craving for some K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) and decided to finally head on over to Calvin’s, which Soo has already posted on. Strangely, they were closed…..I was to find out why soon enough….cause, you know why, right? Anyway, thinking of a “plan B”, I decided to head on over to Bonchon. I consider Bonchon, along with B.BQ Chicken (the original location – which opened in 2008), and Cross Street to be the “OG’s” regarding KFC. I drove on over and easily found parking at 1130 in what can sometimes be a chaotic parking lot.

I was surprised to see only one other table taken when I arrived.

The very nice young lady dropped off the menus…but I already knew what I wanted…..

The lunch special. One thing I quickly noticed, is that the lunch special is now $12.99. It was $13.45 on my last visit back in January of 2025. Hmmm……..

I got the Lunch Special with the 6 piece wings….after trying the different flavors, it had been the Soy Garlic for me in the past, so I went with that.

This is what arrived.

The chicken didn’t quite looks as good as what I’ve had here in the past.

Though I still enjoy the pickled daikon….the portion is now a bit smaller than what I’d had on my last visit.

I like that it’s not too sweet and quite refreshing.

As for too sweet….well, as I started noticing on my last visit the soy garlic seems to be straying to the over sauced and sweeter end of the scale and this was even sweeter than what I’d had on that visit! If I recall they brush each wing by hand after frying…..I’d say this was a bit heavy-handed for my taste.

The batter was also not as crisp as I recall. I’m wondering if they’re even doing a double fry like they used to?

As always, I prefer the flats to drumettes.

The flats were very moist and tender.

It seems that Bonchon has gone the way of jumbo drumettes.

Which throws off the skin/batter to meat ratio for me. The drumettes also had a lot of discolored black flesh.

In spite of the price, which was super reasonable for lunch, it seems that Bonchon has slid down my “wing list” and is not a favorite anymore. Quite sad because I really enjoyed Bonchon when they first opened. Now I’m going to need to get my KFC fix done.

Bonchon Convoy
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun – Wed 11am – 10pm
Thurs – Sat 11am – 1am

Yuk Dae Jang and Zab Linda Revisited

Korean Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Two recent revisits the Missus wanted.

Yuk Dae Jang:

Out of the blue; the Missus requested Yuk Dae Jang. So, we headed over for an early dinner. I was quite surprised when She didn’t want what we usually order; the Premium Bossam.

She said she wanted to try something different. And so we got the Prime Beef Bulgogi with Glass Noodle ($33.99).

The panchan was pretty much like it was on our last visit; the Missus enjoys the buchu muchim (chive panchan). The baechu kimchi is still on the milder, less fermented side of the scale for us.

As for the Bulgogi dish. Well, you can kinda tell by the color, right?

The marinade was on the weaker side; not enough sweet-savory tones. The menu says this is Prime beef, but it was pretty chewy. The glass noodles were overcooked and mushy as well.

Lesson learned; stick with our favorites here.

Yuk Dae Jang
7307 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Zab Linda Vista:

Well, the Missus enjoyed our visit back in March, so She wanted to return. Like Yuk Dae Jan, She wanted to try some other items on the menu.

She went with the noodle dish we order to see how simple dishes are executed; Pad See Eew. She ordered this version with duck. This was actually pretty good. We were asked for a spice level; something not very common when ordering Pad See Eew. We said medium spice and it did have a nice kick to it.

Nice savory to sweet balance for our tastes. The only complaint was that the noodles were on the mushier side. The duck was quite meaty and flavorful though.

Then She ordered a surprise dish. One that we seldom order unless the restaurant….usually Lao has proven to be a winnah! Mok Pa. We are quite picky with regards to mok pa….I mean, I learned how to make it at the Tamarind Cooking School in Luang Prabang and make a version at home as well.

This was was pretty good; the fish had a slight muddiness, but was very moist and buttery.

Good amount of dill, nice herbaceous tones, light savory touches.

Could have used more fish sauce, though we could make out the the earthy-smokiness that the banana leaves lent to the dish. We’d gladly have it again!

We were quite happy with this meal. It’ll be interesting to see what the Missus tried next time!

Zab Linda
6952 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Hongdae Dakgalbi

Korean Restaurants

I first saw that Hongdae Dakgalbi was opening in the former location of Nice 2 Meet U back in November. I then read that this was to be the first US location of the Seoul based chain. Which was quite interesting. Recently, the Missus wanted to try a new place and Hongdae came to mind. So, we drove on over for an early dinner.

This being the parking lot where CoCo Ichibanya, Paik’s Noodle, and Taste of Hong Kong is located….the parking lot can be a horror show, which is why we headed on over early.

The restaurant is quite large…very spacious. There was one gentleman working the front of house who was quite nice. As the place got busier, he had his hands full as he helped all customers cook their dishes.

Looking over the menu…well, we’d be getting the dakgalbi for sure, choosing the “Fire Dakgalbi” spice level 2 ($29) and also the Gopchang Dakglabi ($37) which features beef intestines along with the original dakgalbi. You need to order a minimum of two items if ordering from this part of the menu. We also got the Gamja-jeon (potato pancake – $12) and of course the fried rice ($7) to finish.

After a short wait, the panchan arrived. The baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi was pretty good; mild fermented tones. The Oi (cucumber) version was kind of weak, but the thin slices of daikon was nice….not overly sweet and refreshing.

The Missus also enjoyed the typical soy sauce based salad dressing for the lettuce as well.

A few minutes later the cold radish and apple soup arrived. Not overly sweet, this was not bad either.

After this is was almost a half hour wait for our main courses. The portion size looked huge; but taking a look and there was a ton of cabbage.

Some slices of potato and carrots. The chicken was raw and just coated with sauce, basically just gochujang, not marinated. The gopchang was the only thing cooked….so the really hard working guy had to mix and get things started. We then kept mixing every few minutes. It took about 20 minutes to cook.

There didn’t seem to be enough sauce of the whole dish.

But we kept trying. We did notice some Tteokbokki (rice cakes) as we stirred things about. The gentleman arrived with some lettuce leaves and Doenjang, bean paste.

So, we had our first taste and…sigh…..man, this was so one dimensional. Yes, it had good spice; but was lacking in just about everything else. No savory; other the the gopchang, for once I actually thought about requesting some salt. How often does that happen? No sweetness, no pungent flavors…..nada. In fact, we took the doenjang and poured it in. Same with the kimchi….we did this on the sly so the guy wouldn’t bust us as he came by every few minutes to check in. We kept getting refills of kimchi to add to the iron plate. And even asked for two little dishes of doenjang which we quietly added to the dish. Basically to no avail.

Right when we decided to ask for the fried rice; the Potaot Pancake arrived.

Well, think of it as greasy, thin hash browns. It lacked the slight chewiness inside and as mentioned above, was kinda greasy. Really bland without the sauce.

The best item was the fried rice, which had a good amount of gochujang, and the nori added a savory layer.

It crusted up decently and at least had flavor.

We had a ton of leftovers….which the Missus refused to eat until after I added a ton of fermented kimchi and even Spam! The portion size looked large, but it was mostly cabbage. The flavor was very one dimensional. Also, things moved quite slowly as dinner took 2 hours!

In the end, this was a one-and-done for us. If you check out Hongdae, I hope you have better luck than we did!

Hongdae Dakgalbi
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 12pm – 1030pm
Fri – Sat 12pm – 11pm
Sunday 12pm – 10pm

BibimBoom! (Mira Mesa)

Korean Restaurants

The Missus was wanting some Bi Bim Bap recently. I’d heard about a place that specialized in dolsot bi bim bap in the strip mall that houses Cali Baquette Express on Mira Mesa Blvd. The Missus, who is not usually up to trying out new places sounded interested so we headed on over.

Well, the place has the interesting name of BibimBoom???? Hmmm……

We entered and were directed to one of the booths by the nice young man working. The place is nicely lit, tables well spaced. He brought over menus.

Which covered the dishes offered and were written in English, Korean, and Chinese. The items offered were broken up into what appears to be their own “periodic table”. Based on what type of tableware was used.

This was actually not giving us particularly good vibes as it seemed a bit “fusionized”? But we carried on and placed our order.

Panchan then arrived.

The baechu kimchi tasted somewhat fermented and was the best of what was offered. The Oi (cucumber kimchi) was the worse…tasting like some Persian Cucumbers were sliced and dumped into a kimchi based. It lacked spice or pungent tones and even seemed to need slat. This was not a great start to the meal.

Until the first item arrived. Mind this sign….it’s not a lie!

It did take a while for the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap ($21.50) to arrive.

It looked quite typical. The bugogi is on the chewy side, but decently marinated with that salty-soy-sweetness, with a hint of ginger.

There’s a ton of rice in this, but the cho-jang helps to solve that problem..

That stone bowl is no joke….it’ll start developing a really nice rice crust in no time flat. So, if you’re into that….as the Missus is, you might enjoy this.

We also dumped the baechu kimchi into the bowl…and when the young man came and got us refills, that second portion of panchan went in as well. I’m not quite sold on this, but the Missus really likes that rice crust.

Our second dish soon arrived; the Kimchi Jeon (kimchi pancake – $14.50). This was our least favorite item during this meal.

Not sure what kind of flour they use, it has a very cheesy texture and other then the edges lacked crispness. It actually stringed up like cheese when you pulled the soggy-mushy slices apart and wouldn’t even crisp up when brushed with oil in our air fryer. It could have used more spice-sour-savory tones…well, let’s put it as it could have used more flavor period.

It took a while for our final dish to arrived; the Dak Kalbi ($21.50). Please note that we ordered this without the cheese which would have been poured over the rice. Sorry, but it’s really not our thing.

This was our favorite overall item of the meal. The pan was super hot and it caramelized the onions and created some nice crispy bits as well. The spice level was nice, good savory tones, a hint of sweetness, and pleasant sour tones as well.

A nice bonus was the Tteokbokki (rice cake) which, when rested on the super hot pan developed a nice crust, thus you’d end up with a crisp exterior and creamy-chewy interior.

As we were eating, we noticed several other parties arriving. There was only one Server and he was soon overwhelmed. We felt pretty bad for him.

Overall, an interesting meal. The Missus had enjoyed the bi bim bap and we both enjoyed the dak kalbi, so we decided to return. Again, it was an 11am arrival in case it was just the young man working. This time there was another young lady.

We again ordered three dishes. This time the panchan consisted of four items. That oi kimcchi was still terrible; but the baechu kimchi seemed a bit more fermented and sour this time around.

The first to arrived was the Yuk Jeon ($16.50). On our previous visit; I’d seen yuk jeon on the menu and got a bit excited…….being from HNL, you know of my love for “meat jun”, which is also something the Missus now loves as well. So, we decided to order that….which ended up being a mistake.

The sauce on the strips of scallion was very nice. But that beef was like leather…I mean, really like leather. You could not tear it apart with your teeth. You’d end up wrapping it and then putting the whole piece in your mouth hoping you’d be able to chew it. The batter was terrible and mushy and the beef hadn’t been marinated adequately.

It was a bit of a break before our next dish arrived. This time we had ordered the Salt & Scallion Pork Bowl ($20.50).

The amount of pork was generous and again there was a ton of rice sizzling away in that molten stone bowl. The pork was simply seasoned, which was quite nice and was decently tender. The typical soy sauce-vinegar-sesame oil sauce went really well with this.

Again, we had a wonderful crust develop; though our waiting made the egg get a bit too overcooked for our taste.

This was not bad. Though we needed more sauce.

We got the Dak Kalbi without cheese on the rice again. This time it was missing the Tteokbokki.

The chicken was more tender this time around; but also a lot more salty.

It seems that YMMV here, though if you like your rice crust, this might be your kind of thing. They seemed short staffed and there were inconsistencies with the dishes and timing.

There was also one really “interesting” thing I noticed when taking our leftovers home from our first meal. It was the bag…check it out.

I was a bit surprised…I didn’t see the typical “living wall/logo” decor that places like Viet Nom and Formoosa have. They weren’t doing that get a free dessert with a Yelp review…but you have to show your Server the review first things here. And yet, looking back, I could see the “concept” approach. I checked out the SDB (i.e. “we can make any kind of Asian cuisine”) Restaurant Website and this place wasn’t listed. So perhaps they are rising above being the Consortium Holdings of Asian Cuisine and I should actually try Flama Llama and Bok Bok Dok? Of course, CH does have one restaurant we think is decent, so…..

What do you think?

BibimBoom!
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd.
110 San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Sun 11am – 915pm
Mon – Tues 11am – 9pm
Wed – Thurs 11am – 915pm
Fri -Sat 11am – 1015pm

Pelicana Chicken and Sieu Sieu BBQ Revisited

Chains, Chicken Wings, Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants

Just a couple of recent revisits.

Pelicana Chicken:

Way back when I did my post on Pelicana…like over three years ago now! I did 2 takeout visits and really wasn’t impressed. Though fellow blogger Soo commented that the chicken there is much better dining in. Which I can understand. So now several years later; in the mood for some KFC, I dropped by.

There was basically one very sweet young lady working. She greeted me and led me to a table. These days, ordering is done via a tablet……I’m sure it saves labor costs.

Anyway, I preferred the Original Fried Wings to the Crunchy for takeout, so that’s what I ordered.

Some water was brought to the table and interestingly, no mul kimchi…I guess they’ve changed it up for shredded cabbage with sesame dressing?

The wings arrived, nice and hot.

The lacquered wings were over battered for my taste, crunchy, but got soggy quickly and a bit on the greasy side. Other than salt, still very mild in flavor. I just wanted to taste the chicken without it obscured by sauces. At least the flesh though chewy, was moist, but there was still a good amount of darkened meat.

Good sized, but I think I’ll pass on Pelicana in the future.

Pelicana Chicken
7767 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Sieu Sieu BBQ:

So, on New Year’s Day, the Missus suddenly wanted Roast Duck??? Sending me out on a mission. I dropped by several places, some of which were out of duck, others had massive lines. I took a peek at Sieu Sieu and there were only three people in line, so I decided this was where we’d get our last minute NYDuck.

There were several of these folks hanging around….

In fact a woman and a young man; who I believe is her son picked up two of them! Came to over $600! Now that better be a “porky pig”!

When I got to order my duck; the woman told me “today, only whole duck, no half…..” So, that’s what happened. Got a whole duck, $34.99. Really not a bad price for these days…..

A bit better than what we’d had on our previous visit. Very meaty and on the drier side. The skin wasn’t quite as rubbery as before, but like the meat, in need of more flavor.

Good thing we had a lot of jus…..

And the air fryer….it was still on the bland side….

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

Honolulu – Ireh Restaurant

Honolulu, Korean Restaurants, Oahu, Travel

So, after our revisit to the Alley and Ko Olina we actually went to Australia, before returning to Oahu. But recently, Bruddah Kimo asked me if there were other places than Kimchi II to get some Meat Jun. He is staying at Pagoda Hotel. Well, during our return from Australia we actually stayed again at the Ala Moana Hotel. The Missus had finally taken to meat jun during this trip and I had heard of a place right on the corner of Ke’eaumoku and Makaloa in the Azure Condo complex named Ireh. So, I’m kinda doing this one out of sequence so that Kimo can get an idea…..ok?

So yes, we were staying in the Ala Moana Hotel, yet again. Because of our stays at Accor Hotels, I had a nice discount and got us an upgraded room.

Even had a kitchen….but nah…I’m “home”…I going eat out….

Still, it was comfortable room and I didn’t get the “Ji-chan treatment” (jjk) when we checked in.

With our some what jetlagged schedules going, we wanted an early dinner. I asked the Missus what She wanted and wouldn’t you know it! She wanted Meat Jun! You gotta love it!

A couple of places came to mind. Choi’s Family Kitchen used to be a favorite way back when I lived in McCully and they used to be on King Street, but we didn’t feel like driving. I searched a bit and noticed that there was a place name Ireh right on the corner of Ke’eaumoku and Makaloa. It’s a huge condo complex now; but I remember when Green Papaya and a Jewelry Store used to occupy a small two story building on the corner.

Anyway, we walked on in…since it was still early, the place was pretty empty. The woman working greeted me in Korean! I had to crack up…..my friends used make fun of me because I’d often get mistaken for being Korean when I lived in HNL!

Anyway, we were seated and handed menus; but the Missus had already made up Her mind. Since it was pretty warm I got the BiBim Naengmyun.

The baechu kimchi revealed that this was more of a true “Korean” restaurant, than a local style one. It was more pickled, but still had some fermented tones to it. The Yangpa Jjangachi had good soy-garlic-slightly sour tones and was kinda refreshing.

The Bibim Naengmyun ($16.95) was a disappointment.

The noodles weren’t very stretchy….there was no need for scissors for these. The sauce was quite watered down, having more of the sweeter mul naengmyun type of flavor. It really needed some umph!

This made me somewhat worried about the Meat Jun ($18.95), but it was quite good.

A pretty large portion of meat jun. Which was on top of the rice, which was a bit on the hard side. But of course, this was about the beef….

The dipping sauce was good; savory soy, a hint of palate cleansing vinegar.

As for the meat….this was quite good. It was very tender, the savory egg batter batter had spots of light crispness rather than the usual sogginess. The marinade had flavored the meat well; soy sauce, some sweetness, a hint of garlic.

The Missus really enjoyed this and She said it was a step above Kimchi II. Hmmm………

Ireh Restaurant
629 Ke’eaumoku St. Suite 104
Honolulu, HI 96814
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 10pm

Bruddah Kimo; if you check this place out, let me know what you think?

Chodang Tofu & BBQ (In the HMart Food Court – Balboa)

Korean Restaurants

In my last post on Woomiok, “FOY” Mar mentioned checking out the recently opened Chodang Tofu & BBQ in the Hmart Food Court. Now, what little I do know is that Chodang is an area of Gangneung that is famous for….well, their soondubu, At the time of the posting and comment, the weather was a bit too warm for that dish. But turn the page and a few weeks later, with the rain…well, things have become rather chilly…at least by San Diego terms. So, the Missus and I thought we’d go and check out Chodang.

Chodang opens at 1030 and the always busy food court in HMart was pretty mellow at a few minutes after 11.

We walked on over and took a look at the menu….and whoa; I think the prices at Chodang is the highest of any of the stands in the food court!

The prices look pretty much in line with places like Woomiok, Yuk Dae Jang, and Prime Grill….like $32 for bulgogi!

I got the Soondubu with Beef Short Rib ($21.99), the Missus was craving some Samgyetang, the Chicken Ginseng Soup ($23.99). I placed our order then we grabbed a seat. The eating area filled up pretty quickly.

After a short wait, the buzzer thingy went off and we went to get our trays.

The Samgyetang was a whole small chicken. The panchan was not good; the baechu kimchi was more pickled than fermented, the cucumber kimchi was definitely of the quick-pickle variety and was on the sweet side. There was a generous portion of rice, which was on the mushy side. The best item was the little portion of pajun…the fried pancake.

As for the Samgyetang…..well, I warned the Missus that I don’t think this would be close to what we had in Seoul….but to be honest; this was not even in the same ballpark. First off, the chicken was super tough and chewy, totally lacking in flavor.

The broth was very thin and bland, lacking in the savory-herbal-chicken flavor. This really needed the salt and pepper that was provided….but it still wasn’t enough. Where was the earthy-herbaceous-bitterness of ginseng?

The best thing about the dish was the glutinous rice that was stuffed in the chicken.

It seemed to have leeched at the poultry flavor from the dish.

As for my Soondubu….well…pretty much the same result.

That fried fish was gummy, it needed some crispness.

Two nice beef ribs; which seemed to have had all the beefiness sucked out of it, so bland! On the chewy side as well. The tofu was very soft and “buttery”, but lacking in the nice “beaniness” we enjoy in dubu.

The soup….I dare not call this thin – watery broth a “stew”, was truly lacking in rich-savory tones. I got it spicy; but that was on the mild side as well.

The egg was a travesty…..boiled to death and seemed like it had been “smushed”.

I’ll quit there…… for fifty bucks without tip…this was very disappointing.

Chodang was founded in the US (in Cerritos – though I recall seeing one of the stands in Irvine), and is rapidly expanding across the US, so it must be pretty popular, but this was not a meal the Missus and I enjoyed. Needless to say; I don’t see us returning.

Chodang Tofu & BBQ (in the Hmart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1030am – 8pm

Saturday Stuffs – Trader Joe’s Coming to Clairemont Town Square, Oi Shiba Replacing Da Nang Corner, Hongdae DakGalbi Replacing Nice 2 Meet U, and the Tacos La Chorreada Truck Has Moved Two lots Down

Food Trucks, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Taco Shops

Here’s a bunch of things I’ve found or noticed over the last three weeks.

Trader Joe’s Coming to Clairemont Town Square:

I had to run to Ace Hardware to get something and I noticed that Burlington Coat Factory was being downsized, with a bunch of construction going on. I asked the friendly guy working what was going on. And to my surprise he told me that a Homegoods and a Trader Joe’s was coming! Which confirms what “FOY” Peter mentioned in the comments of a previous post.

Did some searching and found this on Instagram.

With this background – sorry for the terrible screen capture.

I knew that the old AMC theatres were becoming LA Fitness, but man….it’s about time, right?

Not sure what the exact address is for the new units….

Thanks for the initial heads-up Peter!

3962 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Oi Shiba Replacing Da Nang Corner and Hongdae DakGalbi Replacing Nice 2 Meet U:

I knew that Nice 2 Meet U at 4428 Convoy had closed, but then read that Da Nang Corner had closed as well.

So, I drove over and the two businesses which sit next to each other have their signage up.

Oi Shiba, is moving from PB….you know the folks, they own Steamy Piggy, Formoosa, Viet Nom, Flama Llama, etc, etc…..the one’s who will give out free desserts if you review them on Yelp. Though you gotta show the Server your review first. So let’s see, the SDB Restaurant Group does Taiwanese, dumplings, pho, Korean Fried Chicken, ramen, Peruvian….

HongDae from Seoul specializes in Cheese Dak Galbi, which I’ve heard folks call Cheese Fondue Dakgalbi.

4428 Convoy St Suites 120 & 130
San Diego, CA 92111

Tacos La Chorreada Truck Has Moved Two lots Down:

I had noticed that the Tacos La Chorreada Truck seemed MIA in the V Outlet Parking Lot.

Then I noticed a bunch of “Tacos” signs in the parking lot at 3040 Clairemont Drive; two lots down.

They actually have a nice spot with some tables and seating. I saw one of the guys who works in the truck and he told me they moved on the 2nd.

So, in case you were wondering!

The Tacos La Chorreada Truck
3040 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

Yuk Dae Jang Time…..

Korean Restaurants

Well, it’s been pretty warm the last two days, huh? Coming from weather that was 45 degrees, well, we really feel it! Anyway, thought it might be a good time to get a post on our recent revisit to Yuk Dae Jang done.

The Missus was wanting the Premium Bossam in House Special Sauce from Yuk Dae Jang again. And having had the BiBim Naengmyun from Prime Grill and Woomiok, I thought trying the version at YDJ would be nice, so we headed on over.

The Missus ordered the Premium Bossam in the House Special Soy Sauce ($39.99) and I got the Bi Bim Naegnmyun. At $18.99 it was the most expensive of the three I had.

The young folks working here are always very nice and gracious and soon enough our panchan started arriving.

Like on previous visits; the baechu kimchi does not taste fermented and is pretty weak. The Missus does like the pungent-salty qualities of the buchu muchim, chive panchan and I think the eomuk bokkeum, the fishcake panchan, which is doused with a spicy marinade is pretty good.

As for the Naegnmyun. Well, this version had quite a bit of meat. In this case brisket; which was on the chewy side. Like Woomiok, both the gochugaru and naengmyun sauce was mixed in the bowl. The gochugaru had a nice kick and the sauce wasn’t overly sweet. The boiled egg was fully boiled but not overly so. The noodles were super “stretchy”. While Prime Grill is my current favorite, this was not bad.

As for the bossam?

It came with the standard panchan; the Missus enjoyed that super astringent-pungent garlic and really likes the onions soaking in the savory-slightly sweet- soy based sauce that the pork belly resides in. For some reason, the onions have an almost sweet taste to them.

Purple rice was provided….the Missus took most of this home.

The pork is toothsome and we think that the sauce brings out the flavor of the pork. Wrapping some of the onions, chive, and radish bossam in a slice of pork makes for quite a bite.

The sauce makes this a nice and refreshing dish. And for some reason, taking the leftovers home and having it soak in that sauce makes for a really nice appetizer the following day!

Yuk Dae Jang
7307 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Wed – Mon 11am – 9pm
Closed on Tuesday

What have you been having to beat the heat over the last couple of days?