Korean Restaurants – Page 20

For Those concerned about me getting my “greens”

August 8, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

**** This location of Nozomi has closed

To appease those who are concerned about the lack of "green" in my diet (various garnishes excluded), I dropped by Nozomi on Convoy. As our very own Cathy mentioned in Her post, Nozomi is a Korean owned "mini-chain" of Korean-Japanese restaurants.

Now Nozomi is a pretty popular lunch spot, known for large portions. In keeping with these type of operations, Nozomi also seems to serve every single version of Westernized sushi roll known to mankind.

Not my cup of tea…but if it floats your boat…..

There's really only one thing I order at Nozomi, and I always call it the "Hwe Dop Bop", I think it's called the Chirashi(scattered) Salad on the menu ($11.45). It is a ginourmous salad bowl with mixed greens on rice, topped with a variety of medium quality fish…maguro, hamachi, sake(salmon), ebi(shrimp), tobiko(flying fish roe), etc….

Now I really wouldn't want any of this fish topping a piece of nigiri sushi, but in this case I'm fine with it. Why, you may ask? Well it's because I end up pouring a ton of the Gochujang based sauce (Cho Jang?) all over the salad. The drill is simple, you mix all the salad ingredients together, spoon into accompanying bowl, top with a generous amount of sauce, and have at it. Try not to let the sweat pouring off your chin, nose, and down your back deter you from completing your mission.

That mission would be to finish all 8 or so bowls of salad….. like Momma always said, remember to clean your plate(in this case bowl). On this day, the maguro was not very good…which meant more sauce. During a single meal, I will sometimes go through almost a half bottle. As for flavors, I enjoy the flavor of the mizuna and the peppery kaiware(daikon radish sprouts). The sauce while not the best I've had, has a mild sesame oil – vinegar flavor, it could stand to be a touch sweeter. If you really think about it…I'd still eat this without the fish(except the tobiko, which adds a nice crunchy texture), but hey, you need your protein, right?

I have seen 2 people splitting this, but on this visit I watched in amazement as a tiny Korean Lady polished this off, along with a roll. And she finished before I did! Well, I did get my greens, and also approached food coma status without the aid of gravy, red meat, mayo, or any of a number of fried items. Eight bowls of salad…..my body's going into shock!

Nozomi Noodle & Teriyaki
4637 Convoy St Ste 104
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 569-7773

Speaking of sushi…..during a recent visit to Mien Trung, I noticed this sign in the window of what used to be La Basil Thai. Looks like a sushi joint called "Sushi Diner" will be taking the spot of La Basil. But tell me…..are you ready for "Diner" sushi?

The Revised Rotation

July 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Bakery, Bun Bo Hue, Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Lao Restaurants, Plate Lunch, Salvadoran Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

I’ve been blessed by blogging. Through our humble little food blog, I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful, kind, and generous people. It’s also great to know that I’m not the only (slightly…) food obsessed person out there. I’m very happy to call Howie, who does the Foodieview, a friend.

Case in point, over the last year (yes, year…) I’ve received a few emails and comment, asking me when I’m going to update "My Rotation". Those would be the restaurants the Missus and I think about when we make plans to eat, whether it’s the two of us, or dinner with friends, or something similar in nature. I had thought that a post was in order, but didn’t quite know how to approach the whole thing. Suddenly it came to me(though it could have been gas….but we’ll never know), I remembered Howie’s post on embedding restaurant maps in posts. I thought it was pretty neat, and Howie was nice enough to demo what mmm-yoso’s map would look like…..it did look like 300 map links stacked on one another….it seemed like I’ve been eating in the same place like a couple of hundred times! Now, I know Howie’s a really busy guy, but I mentioned updating my rotation to Him, and sent him a list of places on our revised rotation, and to my surprise a short itme later I received a response. And there was a map! You can see a more detailed map with info here. So without further ado, here’s Howie’s work:

Pretty cool, huh?

Natural Style Chicken-Low fat, healthy and delicious chicken and Korean beef at fast food prices

May 1, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy has finally gotten around to pulling stuff out of her camera and putting it into the computer. Kirk is probably at home reading this.

Hi. If you go to the San Diego Sports Arena via I-8 all the way to the Sports Arena Boulevard exit, taking a left under the freeway and then before getting to that intersection where it is Sports Arena Boulevard to your left and Point Loma Boulevard to your right, you probably have seen this teensy sign on the building on the northern most end of that mall on the west side of the street . Most likely, you are stuck, waiting for that light, as I almost always am.

Well, The Mister and I have gone here for a number of years, because his office used to be in the Sports Arena area and he could walk here and we could meet for lunch. It is simple, healthy, plentiful food, cooked in a heart-healthy way with a sort of Japanese and Korean touch (and sauces). When you go in the front door, there is a menu and photographs, with the neon wording of "teriyaki chicken and beef". The photos under those neon letters show some Korean items; bulgogi and kalbi.

Of course, the pink menu that is photographed here (click onto the photo and it will enlarge) does not show bulgogi or kalbi on it, but both are served here, and are not much pricier than the chicken. (For those who don’t know, bulgogi is thinly sliced beef sirloin, marinated in a sauce made of soy, fruit puree (usually pear puree), sesame oil, garlic, onion, black pepper and wine vinegar then grilled. Kalbi, or Galbi is thinly sliced beef short ribs marinated in a slightly sweeter sauce using a rice wine vinegar and pear juice.)

The chicken is prepared on a rotisserie over a wood fire in the brick oven that is right inside the door when you walk in; you can see about 8 of them through the window in this photo.

Again, this place is not fancy; You order, pay and the nice lady from behind the counter will bring out the food to you on a plastic tray, with plastic plates and plastic cutlery.

Anyhow, the Mister and I got our "usual"- the teriyaki chicken plate ($4.49)

This is a *lot* of chicken, moist, already cut up, with no skin (hence the "healthy" description and AHA recommendation) and a sweet teriyaki sauce and served with good rice and an iceberg lettuce salad with a choice of standard dressings. If there is a glob of teriyaki I drop it onto the rice so there isn’t so much on the chicken, but it isn’t a bad teriyaki sauce, just a little sweet for my taste.

We also usually get the beef bulgogi ($5.39)- the plentiful amount of meat was grilled with some cabbage, onions and carrots.

It tasted wonderful, not sweet; more garlic-y was a lot of food and did not cost much at all.

The Mister (who despises onions)wanted onion rings, and since they were only $1.45, he got them, but we should not have…

They were the standard minced onion centers from a bag in the freezer ones…but, they were fried, and I mixed some Sriracha with soy sauce and that made them edible.

If you are in the area, stop in. Its been there forever. There is a reason. They seem to do a lot of phone in/pick up business.

While we were there on a Saturday some SDPD officers on a lunch break came in to eat. This meets my test of being good food.

Natural Style Chicken 3944 W. Point Loma Boulevard San Diego 92106

(Corner of Sports Arena Boulevard and West Point Loma Boulevard, in the Longs and Souplantation parking lot, all the way east and north in that parking lot)

Open 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. seven days (619)223-9887.

Seoul BBQ Restaurant – A Revisit. Sometimes it’s all about timing

April 24, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Seoul BBQ has closed

Sometimes it's all about timing…… The Missus was in the mood for some Korean BBQ, something that doesn't happen very often. We had thought about a visit to Buga, but decided on a revisit to Seoul BBQ.

I had thought about Seoul BBQ for a couple of reasons; first off, the marinades at Seoul tend to be on the sweeter side, which the Missus enjoys, and the wide open interior makes for good ventilation, another plus in the Missus's book.

We were seated without delay, and looked over the menu, made our choices, and soon after the panchan arrived.

Along with a small salad with a Asian Pear/Garlic/Vinegar based dressing, which was refreshing, and not short on flavor.

The panchan(8 dishes), on the other hand was very unremarkable, and other than the Oi(cucumber) was very pedestrian overall. I don't know what it is with my luck with panchan recently, but I haven't had anything I've really enjoyed for a while now…….. More panchan left unfinished, sigh……

As is standard operating procedure for Korean BBQ restaurants, in order to use the brazier you need at least two orders of meat.

We decided on the Hyuh Mit Gui(Haemit Gui on this menu – beef tongue $18.99):

Though not as marbled as the version I recently had at Dae Jang Keum, this version had a much stronger gamey flavor, which the Missus enjoyed. Nothing like crisp grilled beef tongue.

We also ordered the Bulgogi ($18.99):

Grilled, and wrapped in a lettuce leaf along with a slice of garlic, this was pretty good. As I noted before, the marinade at Seoul BBQ is a bit sweeter, which is why many of the Ex-Pat Kama'aina's I know like the Kalbi and Bulgogi at Seoul.

Another thing I noticed are that the prices at Seoul BBQ are now in the same range as Buga and Dae Jang Keum.

We also ordered the BiBimBap($9.99):

Which ended up being mostly lettuce, with very little minced, flavorless beef.

Though unlike my previous lunch visits, there was no "dump and duck" going on, there was something which was kind of bothersome. Everytime one of the ladies passed by our table, they would "fiddle" with the gas grill, turning it off a few times, leaving the meat to congeal on the grill. We had to flag down people to turn the gas back on a few times. Though we still think that Seoul BBQ is just a step below Buga, our meal did "hit the spot", it was one of those moments where we had just the perfect amount of what we were craving, at just the right time. As they say…."timing is everything".

Seoul BBQ Restaurant
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Dae Jang Keum

April 9, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

On a recent much too short visit to San Diego, I managed to sneak in one dinner with the (in)famous Ed from Yuma. We decided to check out Dae Jang Keum, the former Boo Cho, and popular Korean Barbecue that was somewhat inconsistent, sometimes good, and on one visit very disappointing. The restaurant was now on at least it’s fourth set of Owners…and I guess a name change was made, to reverse the bad karma that this location has seems to have over the last few years.

So what was once Boo Cho, was now Dae Jang Keum.

The restaurant has been renovated, and other than the configuration of the tables, the restaurant looks totally different.

Now here’s an interesting photo….

One night at while eating at Sammy’s, someone told me that this restaurant had been named after a "K Drama", those Korean Television Soap Operas that many I know are, or were, addicted to. So after returning from dinner I did a little research…and believe it or not, there was a listing in Wikipedia for the K-Drama Dae Jang Geum, aka, "Jewel in the Palace"! Now this restaurant could actually be named for Jang Geum who was the first female Physician of the Joseon (Chosun) Dynasty, or after the K-Drama….guess which I think it is?

Okay, so much (K) drama for this post, it’s back to the food. I’ve heard some not so good things about the food at DJK, the most interesting was from a very reliable souce who calls Herself "daantat" on the Chowhound California Board. So I’d been looking forward to eating here for a while. I also checked in with Sam, who eats here once in a while, since it’s right next door, and knows the Chef quite well. Sam actually met Ed and I, and made some recommendations.

The prices seemed in line with other restaurants of this type, with prices ranging from $10.99 to over $25.

The arrival of the "greens" meant this was "bossam-style" BBQ. And soon enough the "wrappers" (radish and rice flour – dduk and mu) arrived along with the various dipping sauces and panchan.

I’d heard that the panchan at DJK was not very good, and I’m afraid I need to agree, though Ed thought I was being a bit too harsh. I think that the hallmark of panchan is the Baechu Kimchi(napa cabbage kimchi), if you can’t make this staple….well,you get the picture. The Baechu and Mu(radish) were very bland, and what I would consider to be flat in flavor, with just a touch of "heat", and had nothing else going for it.

The best items were the filefish and the fried little fish.

I’ll just stop here….except to say that the potato salad was terrible, too much Asian Pear in it, made the salad much too sweet.

And though Ed from Yuma will probably disagree, there is one observation that I thought was rather telling, the portions of panchan was fairly large, but the very nice server came by twice to see if we needed more panchan…and nary a word from the both of us. Also, this is one of the few times that I can remember where we didn’t finish the panchan. Enough of that, let move on to the main courses.

One of the things that made Boo Cho, and now Dae Jang Keum unique in San Diego, is the use of charcoal, and I’m glad to say nothing has changed. In fact, I think even more charcoal is used for the barbecue than what I could remember. I singed my hands a few times moving meat around!

We ordered the Hyuh Mit Gui(Beef Tongue – $18.99) and Tang Nyum Galbi (marinated short ribs – $20.99), and these were both good choices. The Kalbi was nicely marinated and had decent flavor, though I think the Kalbi at Buga is still the "Gold Standard" for San Diego. The Beef Tongue was the perfect vehicle for charcoal barbecue. The charcoal imparted a nice smoky flavor on the thin slices of tongue, which if you got it grilled right, would be crisp around the edges, and still moist and soft in the middle. The quality of the beef tongue was excellent as well.

Of course the drill was placing some mesclun and other "garnishes" on your plate and creating a dumpling of sort with the wrappers provided. No photos this time, but you can check out a photo on this post.

You’d think we’d be done after this meat-fest, but we decided to cleanse our palate with some Naeng Myun (Cold Buckwheat Noodles in Broth – $9.99):

The cold noodles arrived in a very large bowl, we had the noodles cut, and the very nice server helped us divvy things up. I got the egg and Ed the slice of beef which He said was excellent.

I found the broth to be very refreshing, on the tangy side, and once balanced out with the provided mustard and vinegar, was very nice. The noodles were a different matter, I found them to be tough, and brittle, rather than chewy and elastic. Still, the portion size was on the generous side.

In the end, I found the meat to be good, the Naeng Myun to be okay, and the panchan to be mediocre. At the prices we paid for dinner ($60 for two), I’d want better panchan. The service was very nice and helpful, though the place seemed rather undermanned when we left and most tables were filled. Oh, and there’s one more thing….Boo Cho had never been the most well ventilated restaurant, even with an industrial strength ventilation system. DJK is no improvement, so get ready for this:

My shirt is off to the dry cleaners………

Dae Jang Keum
7905 Engineer Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

Arirang House

February 5, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Arirang House has been replaced by Honey Pig, you read a post here.

I had eaten at Arirang twice several years ago, and really didn't think much of the food, it seemed fairly mediocre, though the service was always nice and friendly. So what brought me back to Arirang House all these years later? Well, a few things, first off there were a few comments on another post asking about Arirang, by Jenne and clayfu, another was that a friend of mine mentioned that Arirang was under new ownership, and the final straw was when Sam's(as in Sammy's Sushi) roommate mentioned that they serve some decent Heuk Yum So(or is it Hook Yum So? Maybe Hukyumsoo? I've seen it spelled a bunch of different ways). Black Goat? We are so there!

And yep, there it was, the "Grand Opening Sign"…funny thing is, we've been coming to Jamillah Garden and Tajima next door, and never really noticed the sign! Shows you how observant I am….

On the first evening we visited, over half the tables were occupied, and the place seemed fairly busy. Checking out the tables we saw some type of BBQ and at least one "bowl" of Kimchee Chigae(Spicy Kimchi soup) on each one.

The Servers, two very friendly and helpful ladies showed us to our table and answered any questions we had about the menu…which were many! After a while we managed to determine what we wanted, and placed our order. At which time I noticed the chopsticks on the table:

I don't know if this means anything…I just thought it was kind of interesting. Soon enough, the panchan arrived, you can check out all of the panchan on this post. But in case you need just one more photo of the panchan……

The panchan wasn't outstanding, but the portion size was generous, and everything had a good amount of flavor.

The Missus started with the Dolsot Bibimbap($9.95):

A large stone bowl(Dolsot) full of rice various vegetables, some well flavor Bulgogi, and topped with the ubiquitous fried egg. This was quite good, and tasted even better as the rice crust formed along the sides of the bowl. The Missus ended up eating most of this with a minimum of Gochujang, She really enjoyed it, saying that this was the best flavored Dolsot Bibimbap She's had in a while.

I ordered something I've never had before Chunchaon Dak Galbi($13.95). I'm guessing this is Dak Galbi (Chicken) prepared in the manner of Chuncheon?

This resembled and tasted like a mildly marinated, slightly spicy, homestyle stir fried dark meat chicken and vegetables dish. The chicken was on the dry side, and the flavor lacked depth. Edible, but not great.

Of course we got the Hukyumsoo Jungol(Goat Stew – $15.95), when the Missus ordered this, the Lady smiled and said "ooh, that is so very healthy":

A large stone bowl arrived with a generous amount of tasty goat meat, green vegetables, onions, and other goodies. Along with the garnishes, this was very delici-yoso!!! It is now our favorite version of this in San Diego. This is also much more inexpensive than other restaurants. We managed to take a good amount of food home.

As the Server helped us pack our food, She turned to the Missus and said, "oooh, this is so healthy, it will make you strong, it is good for women!" I think we got the point. It is not only very tasty, but it will "make you strong……."

As we were leaving we noticed 2 Korean business men in suits working on a large hotpot, with plates of various meats…they were really going at it. We asked and were told it was "Budae Chigae", that spicy hotpot with Spam, Hotdogs, and other meats. Ah yes, the infamous Budae Chigae, otherwise known as "Army Base Stew". We were told that it's one of the "specials" that is not on the menu.

A few days later we returned, and again had the large variety of panchan(always 8), and ordered a few things……

We started with the Haemul Pajun(Seafood Pancake – $10.95):

Other than squid, there wasn't much seafood on this pancake, though we enjoyed the way it was cooked; nice and crisp around the edges. Again, very much a homestyle type of dish…..

I had a case of major vapor lock and again ordered a chicken dish, the Dak Bukum ($11.95):

I dunno, but this tasted almost the same as the previous chicken dish I ordered…except the vegetables were different…kind of low on the flavor scale, chicken kind of dry….but to be perfectly honest, it tasted really good the next day.

The Missus wanted something hearty so she ordered the Sullung Tang(Suhllun Tang – $8.95), the milky "bone soup":

The Missus loves the smooth, rich, and velvety bone soup, and enjoyed this version. The only complaint was that only regular table salt was available, and not sea salt.

The addition of Yam Noodles was a bonus that the Missus enjoyed as well.

For some reason we found ourselves at Arirang House during a recent evening…and we were greeted with "hello, nice to see you again….." I guess we've been coming here waaay too often!

On this visit, the Missus gave me the directive, "no chicken, Ohhh-kay?" So following the directive I decided to order the Bulgogi($15.95):

This was the largest portion of Bulgogi that I can remember having in San Diego…we couldn't finish it, and were full before getting to the other dishes we ordered. Flavor-wise it was good, a nice balanced salty-sweet. The meat wasn't of the highest quality, and there were some tough and rubbery bits, but man that was alot of meat, and much cheaper than most other Korean BBQ places.

I finally got around to ordering the Kimchi Chigae($8.95) that I saw on every table:

Now I've had spicy, but this version of Kimchi Chigae was pretty darn spicy, and the next day it was even hotter! I thought that the heat overwhelmed everything, and couldn't even get a hint of the savory flavor from using "older" kimchi that sometimes accompanies the dish, nor any faint sweetness, that is sometimes found. It was fine, but lacked depth.

The Altang($12.95), in this case it was code roe and "seafood" soup:

In this dish, I've finally met my match…the broth was very spicy, and had some nice "oceany" flavor. But the cod-roe was seriously dry and rubbery, and had a strong "liver" flavor that I didn't enjoy.

The little baby octopus was very tough, as was the one mussel in the soup. I think I'll cross this dish off my list of "to try" items.

On all of our visits the service was very nice, in a nurturing, motherly sort of way. It seemed like extra care and attention was taken with us since we aren't Korean. I don't know if I'll try the Lunch Buffet ($7.95), but these folks are very nice, and the prices are very reasonable. We'll be coming back for the Goat Stew, the Missus likes the Dolsot Bibimbap here, as well as the Bone Soup…and who knows, maybe I can convince the Missus to try the Budae Chigae, and the food seems to be a good homestyle in nature. As for BBQ, Arirang House is on that second tier of Korean BBQ's, but the portion sizes are quite generous.

Arirang House Restaurant
4681 Convoy St Ste B
San Diego, CA 92111

(858) 277-8625

Guess the Restaurant from the Panchan – It’s Arirang House!

February 1, 2007 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

*** Arirang House has closed and been replaced by Honey Pig.

Update: OK – I guess this was harder than I thought! The restaurant is Arirang House:

Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a restaurant, and several people greet you, and say hello, and suddenly you realize…"man, I've coming here waaaay too much over the last several weeks". For someone who has terminal "food-photo-itis" the evidence is quite obvious, it's all in the photos…..all 30 of them!

While getting ready to do a post on a Korean Restaurant, I suddenly realized that I've got like 30 photos. There's no way I'm going to do a post with 30 photos…… So what to do with all these photos? I could do a multi-part post…nah! I haven't done a contest in a while, so let's do a really easy one.

Since I have soooo many photos of just panchan from this one restaurant, let's see if you can guess which Korean Restaurant this is, just from panchan photos. I think it's really easy. As with previous guess the "blank" contests I've had, the rules are simple. 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 get a free cup of Peet's. With our recent cold and wet weather, doesn't a cup of Peet's sound good? Remember Email me your guess. 1 correct guess per IP address. Make sure it's a valid Email address.

So let's get started.

First off there's a good variety of panchan, and the portion sizes are quite generous.

And though none of it is particularly mind-blowing, some of it is well made.

The variety may not be particularly inspiring…but did I mention the portion sizes?

The service has always been nice and friendly as well.

Just how much panchan can one couple eat?

Waay too much, I guess……

Here's a last hint…for some it may give it away, for others it may be a "red herring"…..

These were the chopsticks on the table…so I don't know if it was because they bought it cheap, or if there is an affiliation. Here's the other side of the chopsticks:

Oh and no one guessed right….because I feel so bad, I'll send everyone who played a Peet's cup…even you Clayfu!

I'll do a post on the food (other than the panchan) on Sunday so stay tuned!

Island Town…inside First Korean Market

January 31, 2007 Cathy Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy feels like blogging and Kirk doesn't. Thanks for reading my meal adventures.

Hi. Cold again…. If you lived in San Diego forever ago, you remember Woo Chee Chong. It was the first Asian market I ever went to. There were three locations and all of them had a small deli/hot food area where you could buy Peking Duck on Fridays and hot food to go, usually sold by the pound all week long. I remember we would buy the 5 spice BBQ pork for $3.99 a pound…

So, anyhow, they all closed in 1993 and the one on Convoy Street remained a market. Its in the same parking lot as Dumpling Inn and technically the same one as Jasmine Seafood. First Korean Market. I have no idea what the "Orient Bowl" sign is about. It is not as large as Zion, but it has a good variety of foods, fresh meats, fish and vegetables.

On the far Northernmost wall there is a large refrigerator section filled only with Kim Chee.

…and the area where the deli counter used to be is just inside to the right of the front door. There is a menu above it, with photos and also this take home one The Mister brought home for me to look at.

So, you know, I had to go.

There are six (6) CHAIRS total in front of two tabletops configured at a 90° angle from each other at that front door area.

The people working there are all family. They take great pride in making each meal, with mom bringing it around the corner and placing it in front of you, even though they could hand it to you over the counter.

So, I me The Mister here after work one evening and I had to try # 19, the shrimp tempura udon ($6.99)

Three tempura'd shrimp, nice and crispy, topped with the dried seaweed powder. A nice, rich broth and very chewy udon that remained chewy through the whole bowl. The Mister tried the #4, Galbi combo ($8.99).

A nice portion of galbi marinated beef ribs, rice, miso, 4 California rolls and 3 pieces of sashimi. The beef was excellent, and so was the rice. The miso was OK, not too watery and the California roll was with real (not fake) crab. The tuna sashimi was sliced thin and good and the shrimp was not bad. There was a lot of food. We also got hot tea from the hot pot next to the cash register.

On another day, I asked The Mister to bring home something for dinner…and, of course he did. I had a craving for # 24, the spicy tuna and vegetable bowl (Chirashi) ($7.99).

The Veggies(and there were a lot; its heavy and I imagine would be served in a large bowl, as Chirashi is at Happy Meal and Nozomi) are mostly cabbages with some sliced green onions and then it is topped with fish roe and also some tempura crunchies. Rice is sent separately in the "to go" box and there were two servings of what is probably Sriracha, although I did not see any Sriracha at the restaurant. The tuna was fresh, tasty and plentiful, and all at the bottom of the cabbage. I uncovered a bit so you could see, but there was a lot. Like pretty much the whole bottom of the box a lot…which was also part of the weight of it all.

The Mister wanted to try 9, the Shrimp Tempura Roll ($5.50) .

There were two tempura'd shrimp in here, real crab meat and lots of crunchies on the outside . It was refreshing and not as expensive at other places.

The Mister also wanted to try the Cutlet Combo (#13) ($8.99) and it came in two packages. They knew it was a 'to go' and clipped the corners on the Styrofoam box transporting the fish, shrimp and pork cutlet that were fried, so they arrived home still crispy. (If you recall, both Kirk and I complained about the soggy tempura on the "To Go" meals from Chopstix Too….this is the solution). The fried fish was excellent, as was the shrimp and the pork cutlet was juicy and had a good flavor. The combo box also came with four pieces of California Roll (real crab; not bad), shredded cabbage, rice and plenty of the various sauces necessary for a good meal.

Island Town does a lot of catering/makes trays to go. We saw some people picking up a tray of 110 California Rolls ($30) on a Friday night . (I counted: 14 by 7, plus 12 on top: I have no idea how they cut the original rolls).

As I said, its family run, and its inside the grocery store, so they kind of have access to the foods that may be either on sale or close to being thrown away anyhow. There are no lobster dishes on the menu, but they were being cooked on the grill when we walked in…

Island Town, inside First Korean Market 4625 Convoy Street, San Diego 92111 (858)571-7183

Closed Sundays. No credit cards, no checks!

Green Noodles, kim chee, teriyaki and, well a fusion-Nozomi

January 29, 2007 Cathy Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation, and apparently never was…but I have a few posts to put up because, well, I eat daily and am now used to documenting each meal. Oh, this is Cathy, BTW.

Hi. You drove by Nozomi…either in Carlsbad, that little corner in La Jolla or probably saw the one on Convoy Street, in the same mall with Convoy Noodle House…and you thought…what??? A Japanese place inside a mall with mostly Korean restaurants (and the Vietnamese Convoy Noodle house) Yep, me too. . .well, it turns out Nozomi is Japanese-Korean.

So, the menu…its extensive…with sashimi, sushi rolls…all kinds…like about 50 different rolls. There are photos in the front window, there are photos over the sushi bar inside..but not the take out menu, which is photocopied…and besides, we didn’t get any rolls. Nope. Soft shell crab was on the menu. We had to ($6.95).

Lightly breaded, crispy, quite large; not like the frozen soft shell crabs sold…in freezer sections of various stores. This reminded The Mister and I of soft shell crabs we’d get fresh back in Virginia. Then we were brought out two bowls of Kim Chee.
The kim chee on the left was more finely chopped, had a soy/salty base…basically was pickles with some red pepper interspersed and very good. The larger bowl was mostly with bok choy and other veggies and had a nice heat. Bowls and spoons came out with it. It was our "salad". The Mister ordered the Green Noodle soup, which we were warned came in a LARGE bowl ($8.95). Oh my… the bowl was 12 inches square…as large as a BIG old floor tile!
This photo was to show you what was in the bowl, after The Mister had removed one large bowl (that was for kim chee) of broth. The broth was *very* light…barely chicken flavored…it ended up needing the kim chee to be added to it. The noodles, by themselves were nice, chewy and a good texture…they had a nice not too deep but discernible vegetable flavor flavor. The soup had 2 full shrimp, one mussel, a lot of small chopped (canned) clams, potatoes, onions, squash and mushrooms in it. Way much food. Way filling. I ordered the dinner Bento Box ($9.95) with BBQ’d pork.
Salad, rice, 4 pieces of California roll (with real crab), tempura’d vegetables, one shrimp and one piece of fish. Oh the pork. First of all, it was a *huge* portion…and the flavor was superb. Grilled just enough to get some smoke into it and a light, not too sweet of a teriyaki sauce…saltier more than sweet sauce.
Lots of food, lots of flavor if you add the kim chee, fresh food, lots of different rolls and good service. Try it.

There are donburi and curries on the menu also.

Nozomi #1 4637 Convoy #104 San Diego 92111 (858) 569-7773
Nozomi #2 4159 Regents Park Row #190 La Jolla 92037 (858) 452-7778
Nozomi #3 3050 Pio Pico Drive #A Carlsbad 92008 (760) 729-7877

Mid-week Meanderings: Update on Sammy’s, visit to Buga with Ed from Yuma

January 17, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Well here’s a few hump-day revisits…not too wordy, I hope, since I’ve posted on these places before.

Update on Sammy’s:

**** Sammy’s has closed

Sam has hired on a new Itamae, originally from Yokohama, via Nashville(ask Him it’s an interesting story), and second generation Itamae named Aki. Turns Aki has some pretty good “chops”, no pun intended. On my most recent visit, all I said was “Omakase shimasu”…and here’s what came out:

It all started out with those two slices of battered and fried fish you see. As I grabbed the fish and was about to bite into it, Aki told me it was Chi-ai, otherwise known as the blood saturated maguro meat that is usually discarded…..of course I jammed on the brakes! There are only a few people I know who eat the “dark blood meat”, and I ain’t one of ’em(tho’ my Mom was…). But what the heck, I said Omakase, right? Turned out to be very tasty, not overly fishy, and for once I actually enjoyed the flavor that Kewpie Mayo added to a dish.

Some Aji(Horse Mackerel):

A very nice presentation.

Everything was quite good, I’m a big fan of the Aji-senbei(fried Aji bones), but the chopped Aji mixed with a touch of ponzu, thinly sliced ginger, and green onions, was especially delicous.

An interesting and very tasty Futomaki(fat cut roll) version of Negi-Toro(fatty tuna and green onion roll):

In addition to the thin slices of Takuwan(pickled daikon radish) and Kaiware(radish sprouts), Aki added in a generous amount of Yamaimo(mountain yam) which added a very nice mild sweet flavor to the roll. When I questioned Aki about his use of yamaimo and takuwan in his negi-toro, he simply said, “it is the way that my Father makes it!” And it was very good!

And a Oshizushi(pressed sushi) to finish off:

I enjoyed the interplay of the salty Ikura(Salmon Roe) and Uni that topped the Oshizushi. Really good stuff, that left me stuffed.

Sam is currently closed for lunch, but will reopen for lunch in the upcoming weeks. His hiring of Aki will allow for lunch service as well as allow Sam to actually work on the business end of owning a Sushi Bar.

Sammy Sushi
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Previous posts on Sammy’s:

Sammy Sushi.

Our live uni dinner at Sammy’s(sorry but the photos really suck on this one).

Oshizushi at Sammy’s.

A recent visit to Buga with Ed from Yuma:

Ed from Yuma, and His pal Greg were able to make a quick trip into town, and we met up for dinner at Buga, scene of the first known recorded sighting of Ed’s delici-yoso dance. It had been a while since I’ve been to Buga so I jumped at the chance.

We had the good service as on previous visits, though I thought the panchan were not quite as good as my previous visits.

Not that it was bad, in my opinion it’s still the best panchan around, but today the variety seemed uninspired…must just be me.

We ordered three items, starting with the Samgyeopsal(sliced pork belly):

Pork fat rules…man this was good!

And of course some Kalbi:

Great as always.

On this visit Ed decided to try the Kori Gomtang(Oxtail Soup):

Ed was a bit surprised at the look and flavor of this, but I explained to him that the long boiling process breaks down all the collagen and other items and turns the soup white. We flavored the broth with sea salt that was provided. I’ve had much better versions of this back home, and in LA.

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Open daily 11 to 11

I’ve kept the text short on this one, much more info can be found on my previous posts:

My first Buga post.

Bibim Naengmyun at Buga.

I try the Yookwe at Buga.

And one from our good friend Clayfu at Buga.

Hope everyone is having a great week!