Korean Restaurants – Page 9

Eating to Beat the Heat – Revisits to Buga, La Miche Kabobgee, and Santouka

August 5, 2019 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Lebanese Restaurants, Ramen

Well, it cooled down for a bit, got warm again, cooled off, and then it's Monday and quite warm again……and it's not really the temps, but rather the humidity that's kind of bothering me. Man, to think I was born and raised in Hawaii. Crazy.

Anyway, here are a few revisits.

Buga:

I just looked at my last post on Buga and it's been exactly one year! Strange; I thought it had been longer than that. I wanted some bi bim naengmyun and Buga is right off the 805; so I thought it would be a rather quick and easy meal.

I got there right at opening time so the place was empty. Strangely, it stayed that way for my entire visit. Even though I got out in 25 minutes, it was pretty strange to see the place completely empty.

And no; I didn't order the "Internal Organs Special"; which would have been too much for me anyway.

I got the Bi Bim Naengyun as planned.

The last time I had Bi Bim Naengmyun at Buga it was a bit strange. It was water and quite soupy, a far cry from the drier, more spicy version that used to be served here. What I got this time was a bit different as well; it seemed like a bowl of regular Naengmyun in a typical dongchimi – based soup topped with the usual spicy gochujang based sauce for bi bim naengmyun. It seemed like a hybrid of sorts; which actually wasn't too bad. It still had the spiciness along with the bracing – refreshing – sour – Asian pearish soup. The noodles were perfect; stretchy, but not hard. Enoguh to bring some sweat to the brow, but also cool me off at the same time.

Sadly the panchan was mediocre; really lacking in punch, with no fermented tones at all….it was all quick-kimchi and a too sweet potato salad.

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

**** Sadly, La Miche has closed

La Miche Kabobgee:

We usually head to La Miche Kabobgee when the temperature rises; to get some of the mezes we enjoy. So, one evening I headed over to grab some take-out and the place was closed.

I noticed the sign posted on the door with limited hours posted.

It seems that the really nice gentleman who owns the place had some heart surgery…..which had me a bit concerned.

So I dropped by during a lunch service.

I was happy to see him working. Moving a bit slower perhaps, but he was still the very mellow, and gentle guy I recalled. I chatted with him for a minute before this large party came in. He's doing better and is almost back to full speed. I'm glad.

The menu has fewer mezes than before; I think it's a bit of an abbreviated one; but there were still a couple of items I had previously enjoyed, starting with the Muhamarah.

I really enjoy the combination of flavors in this red pepper – walnut – pomengranite "dip" which is thickened with bread. Though it's much less spicy and tangy than I recalled; it's still a winnah' with the fresh pita that arrives scorching hot. I've learned that it's better to just eat all of the bread as it just isn't as good a few hours later.

I also got the Makanek; these little sausages had a wonderful snap, the ground veal is nicely seasoned, and that lemon based sauce is quite bracing!

This was a nice meal and it was good to know Nabih is doing well. So well, that La Miche will be back to normal hours in September.

La Miche Kabobgee
9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Santouka:

In my last "eating to beat the heat" post; Junichi mentioned the Hiyashi Chuka from Santouka. I had actually had the Hiyashi Chuka from Santouka once before and had not been too impressed. But man, that was eight years ago! So, I figured it was time to try it again.

I wasn't certain that Santouka had the Hiyashi Chuka, but sure enough it was the summer special. I could tell it had been a very long time since I'd had this; it was $8.50 then; it's now $12.50. So, I guess its been going up by 50 cents a year?

Anyway, I ordered my noodles and had a seat. A few minutes later my number was called.

Well, if anything, Santouka gets points for consistency in presentation, as this looked basically the same as what I'd had eight whole years ago. At that time Dennis of A Radiused Corner (we miss you man!), called it a "tease" when it came to the proteins.

Those two thin slices of toroniku look rather lonely on that pile of noodles, huh? The provided toppings were rather "sparse"; though if you're carb loading, you've got your dish!

The "sauce" was weaker than I recalled, not as dashi forward and the sour tones were muted. I ended up mixing in all that mustard to help give things some "umph".

The noodles were nicely prepped and well chilled; so no issues there.

And as much as I like carbs and Santouka (remember us hunting down the original store in Asahikawa as few years back?), I'm not the biggest fan of the Hiyashi Chuka here.

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

Things seem to be cooling down nicely as I'm finishing up this post……so maybe cooler weather is in store.

Chicken Wing Thang – Katzya (In the H Mart Food Court)

July 29, 2019 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

**** Katzya has closed

Friend of Yoso "KenP" was nice enough to remind me that today, July 29th was National Chicken Wing Day. So, I decided to see what I could dish up and found photos from visits to Katzya in the new H Mart Food Court.

Not sure it's quite ready for "prime time", but hey, it was two visits.

A few weeks back, Candice, Xiāngjiāo and her hubby MichaelFC, wanted to have lunch. We decided on checking out the new H Mart Food Court. We each picked a place and got something from each shop. I got Katzya, which is the new Donkatsu (Tonkatsu) and Chicken Wing Shop.

I did two orders of wings….it's a sign of the times when folks actually say, "wow, it's only $11.95 for eight wings….that's so cheap", like the girl in front of me exclaimed. I guess when you compare this to Furaido or Bonchon it is cheaper. I guess it's all relative.

Anyway, I did one order of the regular fried wings and one order of the "Spicy Chicken Wings". Sorry to say; this is the only surviving photo I have of that visit.

The wings were medium sized with a decent batter to meat ratio. The flesh was fairly moist, no complaints there. The batter had some crunch but was on the crumbly side and the regular wings were so bland, really lacking in flavor. Notice the quotation marks on the "Spicy" wings…..that's because, while being quite sticky and messy, the wings were way too sweet and not very spicy at all. The pickled radish was fine…….but man, nothing could cut the teeth rattling sweetness of those wings.

Soon after; I started my visits to the H Mart Food Court to start tasting the various dishes and such. Other than Bann; which is kind of like a revisit since which I'd eaten at quite few times when they were on Miramar; Katya was my first revisit.

With the intention of sharing my lunch with folks in the office; I ordered two items; the Soy Garlic Wings and the Spicy Pork Cutlet.

The Soy Garlic Wings were a pleasant surprise.

The wings were still crunchy when I ate them. I'd expected cloying sweetness; but this was more balanced then the (not) spicy chicken wings. More salty than sweet, perhaps in need of more garlic pungency; moist flesh, decent crunch and not overly crumbly, decent meat to batter ratio. Not bad at all.

Then came the Donkatsu; which was nicely packaged; the "gravy" and shredded cabbage separated from the pork cutlet and rice. Good job there!

The pork cutlet didn't fare as well as the wings as it was already getting pretty soggy when I got back to the office. It was pretty lean and so on the rubbery side. The rice was still hot and slightly fragrant.

To be perfectly honest; I enjoyed the crunchy, refreshing, simple shredded cabbage with sesame dressing the best.

Because that "gravy"…..well…..

Well, I poured it onto the pork cutlet, it was a bit too gloppy-gluey in texture. It had a serious, slow crescendo of heat…..no joking around there. But it had nothing else to really bolster the spice….no salt, no sweet, no other seasonings and spices. It was very one-dimensional.

This is not something I'd order again.

I had truly intended on doing one more visit. But heck, since KenB did mention it was National Chicken Wing Day….I found a reason to just go with what I have and move on. Those Garlic Soy Wings weren't bad, though one out of four ain't so great. Heck, even in baseball, a .250 batting average might get you sent down to the minors.

Katzya
(In the H Mart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 11am – 8pm

Thanks for the friendly reminder Ken!

Chicken Wing Wednesday – Cross Street Chicken and Beer Revisited

June 19, 2019 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

I always try to return to places and I thought it was about time for a revisit to Cross Street. My previous visits were when the place was in pre-soft opening mode and I'd waited a good long time…since then there's been several other "KFC" places open in the San Diego region. So, I was interested to see how Cross Street was doing.

The place is open for lunch these days so I headed over between meetings.

I got there right at 1130 and actually found a parking spot……seemed like a good sign.

The menu has changed a bit since my previous visits, with lunch specials, and other items though the service was just as friendly and nice.

I started with something I found interesting on the menu; the Corn Poppers ($7).

I actually enjoyed these fried little spheres. The interior was like a molten bechamel and had some nice and sweet corn; wasn't overly cheesy, the bacon was a nice savory touch.

I actually enjoyed these more then the wings.

After some contemplation, I went with the Soy Garlic ($12) Wings. Now, in my previous post I mentioned how large the wings here were and my preference of a smaller wing with a better batter – skin – meat ratio. If anything, these were even larger than before!

The coating seemed to have also been revised as it was harder and more lacquer like then before. Not necessarily a good thing in my book as it was a bit too crumbly. It as also drenched in sauce….previously, there was a nice light glaze; which made for a decent balance in saltiness to sweetness to batter to tasting the chicken. In this case it was just way too sweet as the glaze just overwhelmed everything. Not sure if this is the new standard here. The chicken was moist and cooked perfectly so no complaints there.

Like I said; I enjoyed those corn poppers….and used to like the fried pickles which are no longer on the menu. I also really like the young people working here. I'll probably return; but with a few more folks in tow and this time will definitely order those garlic parmesan wings instead.

Cross Street Chicken and Beer
4403 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours
Sun – Wed 1130am – 930pm
Thurs – Sat 1130am – 1130pm

Brick Bowl-Sourdough, Vinegar, Korean-Kearny Mesa

May 26, 2019 Cathy Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

CLOSED- Brick Bowl and its wonderful food is now gone. It will be missed.

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog. Welcome (back). Today, Kirk is vacationing and Cathy is writing.

I saw the signage across the street from my parking spot after shopping at Niban and picking up a 2019 calendar. Another new place to try. Turns out that Brick Bowl is known as 'the restaurant next to Yu Spa', a Day Spa with a Korean style sauna and many other services. Since the parking lot also houses several auto repair shops as well as a busy car wash, Brick Bowl has a variety of customers (and potential customers) looking in at the menu choices.
There are some menus to the right of the cash register where you order and pay. Photos of menu are at the bottom this post. The chalkboard special is good Monday to Friday and is the best way to try a smaller portion of the menu basics.
The fresh made sourdough bread is the basis of the Brick Bowls.

You can 'Build your own Brick' (starting at $9.99) Choose a sauce, a meat, veggies, cheese and add-ons. There are also six choices of 'Chef Specials'-ingredient mixes decided. The Mister wanted to try the "Bocelli's Italian Meatball Brick" ($10): marinara sauce, 100% beef meatballs (seven were in our Brick), cooked spinach, grilled onions, grilled bell peppers, olives, tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese. The grilled, buttery, herbed garlic bread on the side is what was pulled out from the thick cut slice of fresh sourdough.
The photo doesn't do it justice, but this bowl is about two inches thick. Everything tasted so good- very fresh ingredients.
The secondary item available here are the (hot or cold) sparkling vinegar drinks ($3.99). The "Elixir of Acid" graphics, as well as the tabletop tent information is interesting.
We have tried the mango and the pineapple flavors, but there are more: passion fruit, lychee, pomegranate and watermelon. The Mister and I used to purchase 'drinking vinegars' at Korean markets, but now add sparkling water to apple cider vinegar, at home. The same is done here-along with the various fruit flavorings. There is an A La Carte Menu and we decided to try the pan fried dumplings ($7). The filling chocies are either vegan or pork. We went with pork. The filling was meaty and flavorful and the dumpling skins were thin and crispy and also wonderful. This was a nice little snack.

There is also Bibimbap ($11) which we got with beef and egg. We received a second bowl and you can see the divided up ingredients. This was so fresh and so tasty and had just enough (not too much) rice…despite the fact that it wasn't served in a hot stone bowl so the rice didn't crisp up, every ingredient was so fresh and it all went very well together. Small containers of kimchee, pickled radish and cucumber were also given and there are house made condiments, water and cutlery on a table near the door. A cup of seaweed soup (beef broth or vegan) comes with the bibimbap. A lot of seaweed and so much flavor.

There are only a few other A La Carte menu items to try and some other drinks along with planning out some Brick Bowl combinations…I do like limited menus and the Korean choices make this small restaurant even more intriguing.

Brick Bowl 3927 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 (between Ostrow and Othello) Open Mon-Thurs 11:30-3, 5:30-9. Sat 11:30-9, Sun 11:30-8 Website

Soup Weather in April! Revisits to Facing East and Woomiok (Yet Again)

April 29, 2019 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

Good lord, is it really almost May? We've sure been on a bit of a weather rollercoaster this year, eh? Anyway, this rainy-cooler weather means I can get more "soup fixes" and here's a couple.

Facing East:

Man, has it been nearly two years since my post on Facing East? Time sure does fly. Based on those three visits, I was surprised to see Facing East still alive and kicking a few weeks back while I drove up Convoy. They must be doing something right. It was probably time for a revisit. After all, I revisited Steamy Piggy, right?

Upon arrival, I was a bit shocked at how much the menu had changed. Gone were all those gimmicky Xiao Long Bao and in its place was Ramen (?), Nabeyaki (??). I mean I expected the Asian-fusion Baos and heck even teriyaki chicken and the legion of fried foods….but Drunken Noodle?

Well, this was going to be interesting indeed.

The young lady who was my Server was very nice, though again the food took a while to come out. Even though I was the only customer in the place.

While there was no way I'd be having ramen here; I thought the Duck Noodle Soup, which looked like a play on Niu Rou Mian would work out well for me.

There were six nice slices of roast duck, which had been torched. The duck was fairly tender and retained a nice sweetness and gaminess that had carried through being added to the broth. The standard issue noodle were over-cooked and on the mushy side for my taste. The broth was like what I'd had in the NRM on my previous visit, slightly spicy, lots of pepper, more greasy than rich, lacking in enough savory and anise tones for me. I really enjoyed the pickled vegetable, which helped to cut the greasiness, though the bok choy was mushy by the time the bowl hit the table. The portion size was quite generous.

So, while there was no more Foie Gras XLB, the Pork and Crab XLB was still on the menu.

On the positive side, while the tips of the wrapper was too hard, the wrapper as whole was better than what I'd had before. It had a bit of pull to is and nothing leaked. There was also a good amount of soup in the XLB. The meat however, was tough with rubbery bits in it and I couldn't make out any crab! I had three and took the remainder back to the office where I had folks try them out….both Calvin and "YZ" mentioned how tough the meatball was…..and both were surprised that there was supposed to be crab in this. It even lacked the normal sweet-porkiness I expect from a good XLB.

So there you go. A revisit. The menu has changed a bunch, but I still found the dishes to fall short…..

Facing East
4647 Convoy St Suite 101C
San Diego, CA 92111

Woomiok (Yet Again):

A few drops of rain and the Missus wants to head back to Woomiok. Though I should be happy that Woomiok has become a favorite of Hers.

On this visit, we noticed that there have been dishes added to the menu, though the Missus got Her usual Seolleontong. I went with the #7 which had Brisket, OxTail, Ox Knee, Cheek, and Shank.

The panchan has also been enhanced with the addition of japchae. Unfortunately, it's pretty weak in flavor. We noticed that folks on other tables didn't finish theirs as well. Though, to be perfectly honest, I think the baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi has been getting better on each visit.

As always, the Missus enjoyed the the kkakdugi and the squid panchan.

As for my version of Seolleontang, well, I thought it was quite large. Enjoyed the strips of egg and the king mushrooms.

The broth coated my tongue nicely, and with the perfect amount of salt and scallions added it was quite nice. The meats were fine; though I really missed the tendon. I'll be going back to the regular mixed meat next time. Also, we might tell them to just hold off on the thin noodles which always seem to be overcooked….we just like to add rice to the broth….it becomes like a comforting porridge of sorts.

So that's it….I promise; no more Woomiok posts for a while.

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope you had a great Monday!

Midweek Meanderings – Buta Ramen Coming Soon, Spice & Soul Closes, and This Weeks Cheese Plate

April 10, 2019 mmm-yoso Cheese, Hot Dogs, Korean Restaurants, Ramen

Just a quick post this evening.

Ready for more ramen?

Buta Ramen Coming to Linda Vista:

You know we're hitting saturation point when a ramen shop is opening on Linda Vista near Morena. I was exiting the strip mall where Ballast Point is located and I saw this.

A quick search brought up two different Buta Ramen; one in Halifax and the other in Singapore. The Singapore sign looks similar, but the place recently closed. Couldn't find much else.

5201 Linda Vista Rd. Suite 103
San Diego, CA 92110

Spice & Soul is closed:

I was driving up Morena a few weeks back when I noticed that Spice & Soul looked closed. So I took a hard right and drove up Avati.

And yep, there's the eviction notice on the front door. Sad, but not unexpected. I know the place changed hands, I believe twice?

4033 Avati Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

And this week's cheese plate:

From the left to right; Montanera, a goat cheese from Spain, washed rind, fairly funky – barnyard – hay, went real well with the Muscat we had shipped back from Bott Frères in Ribeauvillé, when we visited Alsace earlier in the year. Sadly; it's our last bottle, the Missus is going to be sad to see this go. My favorite was the Amber Kunik from Nettle Meadow Farm in New York. Wonderful complex flavors, semi-soft. The rind is washed with whiskey, so we naturally had it a pour of Kavalon. Aaaahh. The Saltbush Chevre is quite unique; it's a soft goat cheese from Australia rubbed with Saltbush. Saltbush is an appropriate name; it's quite "salty", acidic, and vegetal in taste; but like Cheese.com says; it tastes amazing on bread drizzled with olive oil. The last one is a rather common goat cheese Le Pico by Germain, the Missus loved this on bread; it has a definite "goatiness" something the Missus has learned to love over the years; but also a nice buttery, richness that makes this easy to eat.

Thanks for indulging our cheese fetish!

Revisits – Woomiok and Pho Duyen Mai

April 2, 2019 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Well wouldn't you know; it's cooling off a bit for the next couple of days. Time to get in a post with soup in it, right? Here are a couple of revisits for ya'

Woomiok:

In my post on Woomiok, I mentioned trying to get the Missus to check the place out. Plus, I wanted to try out the Galbitang. The weather in the following weeks gave us a good opportunity. And Woomiok is open all the way through from 11am until closing on 9pm, so we headed over right before 5pm.

The Missus really enjoyed the kkakdugi and the squid panchan. The baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi was a bit better than on my previous visits.

The Missus instantly loved the container of scallions; which reminded Her of Seoul.

So, of course I tried the Galbitang. I enjoyed the presentation, with a dried jujube swimming around in the broth.

As a whole, this was not bad, the soup a bit thinner and not as beefy as I prefer, it was also on the salty side. A decent amount of galbi, which was adequately tender. It didn't hold a candle to what the Missus got….

The Seolleontang with Mixed Meat of course….

I had a taste and it was a bit richer than on my previous visit. There was a good amount of mixed meat, especially tendon, which She generously shared with be. It was soft and buttery. The only complaint was that the rice wasn't as good as on my previous visits and the noodles were a bit overcooked.

Still, I believe this is the way to go here. And I think the Missus is sold as well. A week later we had rather quick rain storm….guess where the Missus wanted to go? Yeah, you got it. This time we both got the Seolleontang. It hit the spot. I took my coworker SJP here; she said it made her homesick for Seoul.

So get it while the weather is milder…….

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Duyen Mai:

**** Pho Duyen Mai is under new ownership

Man, has it been over a year since I last visited Duyen Mai? I guess that moving our offices really affected things. What really got me to revisit was a text and photo from a good friend of mine. She noted that even though she had ordered the ribs; there really wasn't very much meat. One the good side, PDM opens at 9; even on weekends. So this past weekend I headed on over and got "them bones", which is now $4.99.

I also got a small pho. A few minutes later the ribs came out, it's now four ribs instead of three….which looked fairly hefty.

The basil and sprouts were very fresh.

While waiting for my pho, I scraped as much meat off the bones as I could. The meat wasn't as tender as before; though it was still nice and beefy. I then went to town on the connective tissue and meat on the bones.

I appreciated that the rare steak was still "rare" when the bowl hit the table. It was also fairly tender. The flank and brisket were decent, tender, but mild in flavor. The tendon was a bit more chewy than I prefer, but wasn't bad. Neither was the tripe.

The broth wasn't as salty as on previous visits; though it was still "sweeter" than I like. It could also stand to be richer, but it was clear, with slight beefy-anise tones.

But of course, I really wanted it to work with this.

The noodles were nicely cooked and for the first time wasn't in a clump at the bottom of the bowl!

This was probably too much for me to eat at 9 in the morning. I was stuffed.

"Them bones" had way more meat than I should eat. And Duyen Mai is still probably the best pho in the area. Though I've got to make my "rounds" again.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123

Chicken Wing Wednesday – Furaido

March 13, 2019 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

**** Furaido has closed

Back in the comments section of my Bonchon post, "RedDevil" asked me if I had been to the new KFC place that opened in Atlas Market. I'd already heard about the place and had in on my list; so on holiday weekend, after working the morning I headed over.

The good thing about Furaido is that they open at 1030 in the morning; so I could easily beat the crowds.

Located in the Food Court area; Furaido claims to serve gluten free fried chicken; which means it's probably using rice flour and the texture of the wings reflected that. The wings come from the market and are Halal as well.

On both my visit I got the 10 piece wings; because; well, I'm all about wings. You get two choices for a glaze or "dip" or dust..

I went with the Devil Garlic and like Kirbie (please check out her post), I was fascinated by the having Furikake on my wings as well.

A couple of observations that were true for all the wings and drumettes I had here. The batter is obviously rice flour based and on the crumbly-hard side than crunchy. It is not oily and the fat has been rendered nicely on these wings. The batter is also quite dry and is not seasoned; more on that below. I believe they also over fry the drumettes which make them tough and dry. The wings are large; which can through off moisture, and skin to meat ratios….I prefer my wings smaller; bigger is not necessarily better, and these tend toward being over battered….I mean you work hard to render the fat and develop a nice light crisp skin; why cover it in a ton of batter?

The Red Devil (thinking of you RD!) Garlic; while not quite turning the wings a shade of red was my favorite here; it wasn't too sweet, slightly spicy, and best of all, the wings weren't just drenched in sauce.

The Furikake wings needed a kick up in flavor as; like I mentioned before, the initial product is not seasoned, so this was bland; there's no moisture from a sauce or glaze; so these are even drier.

Overall; plus – minus.

Between visits; "SomTommy" emailed me and said he enjoyed the Garlic Soy Wings and "Top Secret" Dip on his wings and so on my follow-up visit….

Man, these were fried even harder and was even more crumbly. Can you tell which one has the Garlic Soy? It's the one on the left; it was very lightly sauced which I would usually appreciate, but the unseasoned and dry wings needed more.

As for the Top Secret……with a tip of the hat to "FOY" CC, do you remember what the "secret sauce" at Bronco Burger was? Yep, that was this.

So, in the end; the Devil Garlic Glaze is what I enjoyed the most. The wings here have too much batter for my taste; even more than Cross Street. If you like a thick batter and larger wings and drumettes; you might enjoy Furaido. But get a glaze or Dipp; or enough "dust" because the chicken isn't seasoned enough on its own. As for me; well, I wouldn't go out of the way to visit Furaido.

For a different perspective please check out Soo's post along with the afore mentioned post by Kirbie.

Furaido Premium Chicken Company (Inside Atlas Market)
14837 Pomerado Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Hours:
Open Daily 1030 – 8pm

Revisits – Chon Ju Jip and Pho 7 Cow

March 10, 2019 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Well; last night was the good old Daylight Savings Time "Spring Forward"….so yes; I guess it's spring, though it's still kind of chilly out there. I'm not really complaining as it gives me more "soup time". Here are a couple of recent revisits.

Chon Ju Jip:

Man, has it really been over 5 years since I last visited? Time sure does fly. For some reason; my recent visits to Woomiok had me wondering how Chon Ju Jip was doing. The place was looking a bit beat and run down….do you remember when this was Ko Hayang Jip back in the 'oughts?

I stopped in for lunch and decided on getting the Galbitang ($10.95).

And just like the interior; the panchan seemed a bit old and tired. The portions were tiny and some of it was kind of on the dry side and very mild in flavor.

The Galbitang came in a sizeable bowl; it was nice and steaming hot. The rice provided was decent; though not very fragrant.

The soup did need a good amount of salt; though it was slightly beefy and not bad at all. The rice vermicelli was over done and mushy. The beef ribs were very tough and all the flavor had been extracted from the meat.

Kind of a sad metaphor for the current state of this tiny little shop.

Perhaps I need to return with the Missus for the Gamjatang or Heukyumso Jungol.

Chon Ju Jip
4373 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours
Mon – Sat 10am – 10pm

Pho 7 Cow:

In my very sad post on the sad state of Pho at Pho Lucky; "Alan" mentioned that perhaps I needed to head back out and start checking out all those pho places again. I was thinking about this while driving down to National City this past weekend. I recalled that Pho 7 Cow had made a decent bowl of Pho during my visits back in 2017. So, instead of hitting up my intended destination, I stopped by Pho 7 Cow.

Like on my previous visits there was a good amount of staff working and things went quickly and efficiently.

The basil looked like it was on brink of starting to turn color, but the sprouts and the cilantro were fine. I was surprised at the amount of meat in this; a small #4 ($7.75). The flank was tender but quite bland; the brisket better, the tripe, of which there was a good amount was well prepped, crunchy, with a slight offal flavor, there was one tiny piece of tendon which was on the hard side.

The noodles were in the typical clump on the bottom and took some work untangling; but was decently chewy and not over-cooked.

The broth was a bit richer than on previous visits; it was on the darker side, but clear. There was a slight hint of anise and onion, with a mild beefiness, and best of all; it wasn't too sweet.

This was not bad. Actually better than I expected. So perhaps I do need to "make the rounds" again at all of those pho shops.

Thanks for the suggestion Alan!

Pho 7 Cow
1025 Highland Ave
National City, CA 91950
Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

Woomiok (Soft Opening)

March 5, 2019 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

At the end of February Eater announced the business that would replace Red Cate had opened. I was quite happy to learn that it was a Seolleongtong shop. This year; the weather has been perfect for Seolleongtang, so of course I headed right on over first chance I had.

The shop is nicely put together; clean lines, and of course the inevitable wood paneling.

While the place is still in Soft opening mode and the folks seem to be rushing around a bit; I gotta say, the service was quite good.

Of course I had to order the Seolleontang. Out first was the panchan; which were nice and spicy, not too salty, and decent by San Diego standards. In other words, I'd love for someone to have really good fermented panchan. Still, this wasn't bad.

I laughed when the next items came out…….

The container of scallions totally reminded me of Seoul.

Soon enough, my bone soup arrived.

I forgot to take a photo of the rice; which for some reason, I thought was excellent. The broth, while not overly thick, nicely coated my tongue, and with a dose of salt, had a nice beefiness. When I mentioned his place to one of the folks at work; he mentioned that he had read (I found out on the four lettered site) that the soup was really bland. I had to explain to him that you needed to add salt to your taste to it…aiyah…. The brisket was nice and beefy; I was surprised that the tendon, which looked tough was nice and tender. Though there's not a large amount of meat in the broth, what there is was quite good.

This was quite a satisfying meal; so I soon returned.

I ordered the Galbitang; but after placing my order, the nice woman informed me that Galbitang wasn't available, so I had to order something else.

So, I decided to try the Donkkaseu (aka "Tonkatsu"). The panchan on this day was even better, especially the kkakdugi (radish kimchi); which had a nice spice, sourness, and was fairly refreshing.

Whoa; check out the pork cutlet.

Even though it was pounded thin like schnitzel; it was quite large; I could finish just a bit over half of it. It was by the book, fairly moist and tender, but nothing special. I'm not a big fan of the runny and fairly bland sauce that typically accompanies the donkkaseu. In fact when I order this from Bann, I bring my own Japanese Katsu sauce. The rice was once again excellent. Cabbage drizzled with ketchup and mustard and a routine macaroni salad completed things.

You couldn't complain about the portion size; that's for sure. But I sure wished they had what I originally wanted. Oh well, the hazards of visiting during soft openings.

I mentioned trying this place out to the Missus; who enjoyed Seollongtang and She asked me; "Is it as good as Imun is Seoul?" Geeez… My response? "Well, Imun has been around for 115 years, and Woomiok for like 2 weeks, give them a try." Which is what seemed to be happening as most of the customers on my two visits were older Korean folks trying out the new kid in town. I'm hoping they do well (and last longer than Great Wow and Red Cate) and hope they have the galbitang when I return.

I guess everyone thinks it's perfect weather for this; check out Kirbie's post here.

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Tues – Sun 11am – 9pm