Memorable Meals – Page 8

Beijing: Eating with Mr.D Part 2 – Mocuomen

July 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Beijing, China, Chinese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Travel

A couple of months back, my good friends and I had one of our all too rare get togethers, this time at Little Sheep. During the conversation, "Xian Jiao" and I mentioned that even though hot pot is very enjoyable here in the states; it pales in comparison to what you'd get in China. Xian Jiao should know, she spent over half a year in Beijing…….

Which leads me to Mocuomen…….well actually it was Mr.D who led us to Mocuomen. I'd mentioned Mr.D in a previous post. That was the first meal of the night…….only Mr.D would make hot pot a dessert!

The front of Mocuomen really doesn't look like much….at least to me, just another shop on a street.

Like many other places, the restaurant was located upstairs and looked very modern, sleek, and very clean.

I told the Missus to have Mr.D go easy on us, because, heck, we'd just finished off a pretty hefty Xinjiang style dinner…full of lamb, bread, rice, etc……

So while Mr.D did order hot pot…….

So while the sauces seemed to be routine….instead of the usual "yuan yang guo", split hot pot that most folks here are used to, this was a milky, lightly herbal, "bone-soup" style broth that was quite luxurious, coating your mouth and tongue……

It did quite nice as the "broth" managed to coat whatever you dipped into it as it did you palate. It also allowed all the flavor of whatever you let take a short bath in the huo guo come through.

We had shiitake, tripe, intestine, bean curd sheets, and a bunch of other items……..

This was really quite good, but the clincher was when this arrived.

I agree, doesn't look like much, minced shrimp, bound with some starch…… But then, Mr.D called one of the servers over. With two spoons she proceeded to created little shrimp dumplings for us……the shrimp flavor was distinct and quite good, but the texture is what made this stand out.

These basically just exploded in your mouth……then melted away….into a shrimp flavor ether. The Missus and I are still talking about this…..

The last item to arrive topped everything else. It really didn't look like much…….in fact, they call this "ugly fish" and it is indeed fairly…well, fugly.

It's more well known as Wushan Kao Yu…..the fish is first marinated, then I believe deep fried…finally it is probably roasted. There was an amazing amount of flavor going around, Sichuan Peppercorns (indeed Wushan is a county famous for its three gorges in Chongqing), chilies, a bit of sweet, and bit of guaiwei("strange flavor"), that savory-spicy-sweet-sour-mildly nutty, amazingly delici-yoso flavor. The fish was veyr moist with a nice bit of oil to carry all the flavor along. The version here had won some kind of award…..and I could see why.

This was an epic ending to a fun night of eating…..Mr.D kept the Missus in stitches all night long. And even though I don't understand Mandarin, laughter is contagious. And unlike the cousin of a friend of mine who used to crack jokes in Illocano to his family, then punk out on the folks who laughed along who didn't understand the language to feel superior ("tell me what are you laughing for…tell me what I said, ha?")….Mr.D understood.

I wish I could tell you where Mocuomen was, but I wouldn't know. You can however ask Xian Jiao. You see, I recommended this place to her before she left for Beijing. I guess she really enjoyed it, since we're still talking about it to this day.

Crete – Iraklios: Arrival, The Galaxy Hotel, and dinner at Pantopoleion (aka, it’s all Greek to me…)

April 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Cheese, Crete, Greece, Greek Food, Iraklios, Memorable Meals, Travel

We arrived at the Nikos Kazantzakis (whose book I'm sure you've heard of) International Airport ready to go. The airport was indeed fairly small for an international airport. We made our way out of the airport and caught public bus #1 asking the driver to drop us at the stop near Dimokratias Avenue. The hotel we were staying at was outside the city walls, but Iraklios didn't seem like that large a city and we were a bit away from the main tourist tract. Many of the signs were just in Greek (ελληνικά) so we were a little confused. I stopped and asked the very tall soldier with the big gun (there were a couple of riots recently) and he smiled and pointed us on our way. By its looks the Iraklios Galaxy looks like a business hotel, but the room were probably the most modern of our entire trip, most unlike the B&B stops we had. It was fairly large, had great A/C, the television actually worked and had the BBC….and the Missus loved the breakfast (more on that later).

Several of the staff here were very nice and we depended on their recommendations for two of the best meals we had on this trip.

Staying the in nice air-conditioned comfort of our room was tempting, but hey, we were in Crete! So after freshening up we headed down the road parallel to Dimokratias, Ethniki Antistaseos past the McDonald's (this will be important in a later post), down to the harbor and past Bus Station A, which is where we'd have to catch our bus to Chania in a couple of days, all the way to the Old (Venetian) Harbour.

Which leads to the Koules Venetian Fortress which was called "Rocca al Mare" or Sea Fortress by the Venetians.

I've read both that the fortress held out for over 20 years of attacks by the Ottomans and that it played little or no role in the invasion. Which is true, I'm not sure. But under Ottoman rule it became a prison.

Under the influence of the blue sky and ocean I guess it's pretty easy to get in touch with your inner child….or perhaps the sun was getting to the Missus……

By this point we'd made it down the shoreline to the Historical Museum of Crete.

The Museum is small but interesting. It also has the famous painting Modena Triptych by El Greco who was born Doménikos Theotokópoulos in Crete. I also loved all the different Coat of Arms of the Venetian and Greek aristocracy in first Chandax, it's name during the Byzantine Greek era, then Candia when it was bought by the Republic of Venice.

After being refreshed by our visit in the cool confines of the museum we headed back out. The Missus was searching for the Morosini Fountain in Lion's Square which was built in 1628. We headed in the general direction of the center of the walled portion of the city, up streets, then back down street, sometimes turning around at dead ends….part of the fun is the trip, not necessarily the destination. And in this was certainly true in this case as the fountain itself was a bit underwhelming for us.

Just off to the side of the fountain is 1866 Street, named after the year of the famous Cretan uprising against the Ottomans. The narrow pedestrian street that is the site of the Central Market. There are tons of stands, restaurants, and shops along the street. This is where I got my first glance of the famous Cretan snails which was supposed to be delicious.

Eventually we turned around and headed back toward the hotel, cutting right through the middle of town and out through the city walls. Back at the hotel we asked the really nice gentleman at the front desk for a recommendation for dinner. He recommended a place called Pantopoleion, where he oftens dines after work.

The name was said to mean "Market of good tastes" or something like that and we were told it was right down Ethniki Antistaseos, the street we had walked down in the morning. However, I could not, for the life of me, find the place. Until the Missus saw a sign that said "ΠΑΝΤΟΠΩΛΕΙΟΝ", and told me, this must be the place. Now how the heck She got Pantopoleion from that I'll never know, but we found that She had a knack for reading street and business signs. And She was without a doubt right in this case.

You want to eat at a popular restaurant in Greece? Go around opening time and there won't be a soul in the place, as was our experience here. Of course, the Missus immediately ordered some house red wine.

Our next challenge was when we were handed our menus. This was indeed more of a locals place….the entire menu was in Greek….with no translations! This was really funny….it really was "all Greek to me!" Lucky for us, the young lady serving us, whose name was I believe "Helene" was so funny, good natured, and full of pep, decided that to get maximum enjoyment, she would read and describe the entire menu to us…all four pages, well three minus drinks! And so she started with an "ok lets go…." Laughing all the way, we asked her to stop and with a few hints, asked her to order for us and she proceeded to bring us what was probably one of our top three meals on this trip.

Of course everything started with bread…..

The Missus had already fallen in love with "rusk" the twice baked bread that is very crisp and toast like.

Helene arrived with a sampling of cheese she selected for us.

The two thin slices on the top were just plain fantastic, intensely flavored, just plainly great. When we mentioned this, Helene beamed and told us that this cheese isn't on the menu. It's a local artisan cheese that they use in another dish she ordered for us, but it's flavor is so unique she decided we should taste it.

The roasted vegetables with fresh tomatoes and goat cheese was quite delicious…this is where the Missus started eating roasted vegetables every couple of weeks.

The least favorite dish of the evening were the stuffed mushrooms.

Stuffed with something that tasted like panchetta, these weren't bad, but paled in comparison to this:

Horta is what the Greeks call wild greens and there are literally hundreds of varieties. We'd come to really enjoy simple Horta Vrasta, simple boiled wild greens, never knowing exactly what we'd get, but tasty all the time. Funny that the first taste of horta would be in the form of very tasty fritters paired with goat cheese.

But my favorite dish of the night was the pork chop stuffed with the cheese we'd tasted on the cheese plate and sun dried tomatoes.

This was so tasty and as far form the "other white meat" as you can get. It had that great pork flavor and the flesh near the bone was barely opaque, as it was moist and cooked to perfection. Even the Missus, who had sworn off pork ages ago couldn't help but have a couple of slices and gnaw on that done. It was one of most memorable dishes.

It was a fantastic dinner, thanks to this young lady:

We would come to love the traditional digestif that accompanies dessert (usually free) which is normally a cheese pie. It's called Raki, the stuff "that makes you dance on the tables if you drank enough". Made from grape skins, it has a nice bite, but goes so well with sweet-creamy-mildly savory items. Usually something like this would KO the Missus….but for some reason, having all that wine, then finishing with Raki never touched Her in Greece.

As we were leaving Helene gave me a copy of the menu……the all Greek menu that we could keep "to remember".

Pantopolian Gefseon (ΠΑΝΤΟΠΩΛΕΙΟΝ ΓΕΥΣΕΩΝ)
Ethniki Antistaseos 72
Heraklion, Greece

We had spoken about returning for dinner the next night, but were told that they were closed on Tuesdays. I'll make sure to drop by if I'm ever back here…….

After doing some post-dinner walking we returned to our room. As I looked out onto busy Dimokratias from our balcony, I thought to myself, "man do I love Crete……"

Thanks for reading!

Meals with Friends: The Lion’s Share, Okan, Savory Garden, Santouka, and Izakaya Sakura

April 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Pubs and Pub Grub

It seems that I've been having quite a few meals with great friends of mine recently, so here's a rundown:

The Lion's Share:

Ange, Peter, and John wanted to meet up for a bite and some cocktails….not really a specialty of mine, but I thought why the heck not. I got to choose and went with The Lion's Share and new Gastro- Craft Cocktail Lounge (Gastro-lounge???) that features a good amount of wild game on the menu. It did help that the four month old restaurant/lounge stood right around the corner from the Orange Line's Seaport Village stop. No drinking and driving for me……

I actually took the photo of the building because of the fellow in the photo to the right. He's come out everytime a trolley would stop and watch the folks getting out of the trolley, head turning left and right, then walk back in….until the next trolley would arrive! Quite entertaining…..

I usually don't post on these type of meals in San Diego, there are more than enough coverage of most of them, but what the heck, I actually took my camera out for a change while John and I waited for Peter…..

I decided to try one of the cocktails….this one was called Fernet About It….featuring Scotch and Fernet Branca….fairly strong, but nice and relaxing. Soon enough John arrived and we just chatted for a while…….. Peter was running on "Peter time", so we just kinda hung out at the bar…..

Finally, we just figured to order some food….we really didn't know if Ange and Peter were actually going to make it. I ordered two starters and an entree, figuring we'd be heading somewhere else after……

First to arrive were the Antelope Sliders ($12).

Even though sliders are now kind of cliche, I gotta say these were very good. Slightly gamey, cooked to a perfect medium, seasoned, but not too heavily, the sweetness of the red onion marmalade cut any strong gamey flavors. This was the best item of the night.

Strangely, the Buffalo Bolognase with Bone Marrow ($18) arrived next before our second starter……

I should have given this better thought and chosen better…….this was very bland, except for the cheese which killed everything…the bone marrow gave the dish a strange greasiness that I didn't enjoy. It was rich in a rather unpleasant way for me…..

While we were digging, the Potato Puffs($7) arrived.

These were basically mashed potato croquettes….which were seasoned nicely, but not crisp enough for me. The malt vinegar aioli tasted like what you'd think a mildly sour mayonnaise would.

By this time Ange and Peter arrived and they were able to sample the food as well…before we took of to our next destination to meet up with even more friends.

Overall, those sliders were very good, but if I ever return I'll pick a different entree. I did enjoy my drinks ($11) and the guys manning the bar were very friendly. The place is pretty dark and the space gets very loud very quickly.

The Lion's Share
629 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, California 92101
Open daily 4 pm – 2 am

Lunch at Okan:

My Buddy Dennis has done a great job covering lunch at Okan and our very own Cathy has done a couple as well. I recently met Candice for lunch and we decided that Okan was the perfect spot. I ended up ordering the Buta Kakuni Lunch Combo ($9.50).

I had mentioned being somewhat disappointed in the Buta Kakuni in a previous post and wanting to try it again. Well, this just confirmed it…..a bit too tough and dry with regards to buta kakuni for my taste. It's also on the bland side. The boiled egg was also dry and the yolk way overdone.

It's time to move on to better things on the menu. The conversation was much better than the food and it was nice chatting to Candice before her upcoming trip to Paris.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch at Savory Garden:

**** Savory Garden has closed

I got another chance to meet my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) "MrZ", the Zompus for lunch at Savory Garden. Since I'd only had the Niu Rou Mian here, I thought this would be a nice chance to try something else. I went with the Pork Chop Lunchbox ($7.49).

In terms of portion size, maybe a bit more pork would help. It was fried nicely and seasoned fairly well. The best thing on the plate were the vegetables, a nice sweet and sour. The topping on the rice tasted bitter and I could have done without that and the egg was overcooked and rubbery. There were two tables of customers during our visit, during peak lunch hour….I'm not sure if this place is going to survive.

Savory Garden
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Lunch with Ed from Yuma at Santouka:

I've been here and posted on the place too many timesto even bother………it's the same 'ol, same 'ol.

I don't think I've seen Ed from Yuma, in a while….the last time I recalled he basically sucked down a baklava from Sultan so fast I thought the plate was going to take off! It was nice seeing an old friend. What was really interesting, was to see that Ed has pretty much hit rockstar status…..when he's not taking writers from the Arizona Republic on Taco Truck tours he's meeting with his adoring public. There was a nice woman having ramen next to us….when she got up to leave she said, "excuse me for interrupting….but are you Ed from Yuma? I really enjoy reading your posts!" Pretty soon Ed will be beating them off with a stick! Seriously, it was nice meeting you Yoshiko (please correct me if I got your name wrong!) and thanks for reading!

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

Dinner with my best friend at Izakaya Sakura:

Well, you can pretty much guess who that is, right? Yes, there are times when I feel She's my only friend, so who better to spend a nice mild evening with at Izakaya Sakura. In the mood for something I hadn't had from the menu I went with the Sara Udon, which Dennis posted on here.

I love most crispy noodles (except for those that are almost powdery) and this "bari men" thin pan fried noodles did the trick. The "gravy" was quite flavorful; in fact, the Missus kept poaching stuff of my plate. The shrimp and baby squid were cooked nicely. Kind of pricey at $12, but the portion size was fairly hefty…..I'm probably going back to Gyokai Natto Don (which is now on the menu) the next time, but this was a nice change of pace. And who better to spend the evening with, right?

I also got confirmation that they are taking over the space previously occupied by Chilies Thai for a Japanese-Italian Restaurant.

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

So there you go….some meals with friends…perhaps the food may not have been the best, but the company is always great. A nice way to end our Thursday and take us into Friday!

Mira Mesa Banh Mi Tasting: BaLe, Tan Ky Mi Gia, Express Deli (Lucky Seafood), Cali Baguette Express, Corner Sandwich & Cafe, Baguette Up, and Sorrento European Bakery

January 23, 2011 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Memorable Meals, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

A couple of weeks ago, while having my SPAM® and Egg Banh Mi and Baguette Up I suddenly realized that perhaps Mira Mesa had the most Banh Mi shops on one single stretch of road in the greater San Diego area. I could recall at least seven places; which sounded just enough to do a super-duper crawl/comparison.

And my good friends, bless their hearts, are always game and up for something different, and have been with me on different food excursions, crawls, and meals. Since I've done a shorter rendition of this before, I pretty knew what I wanted to do. There would be two cars; we'd meet in the parking lot of Lucky Seafood. We'd order the "special" at every stop, and get it just the way the sandwich is served. We'd hit BaLe, Tan Ky Mi Gia, and Express Deli first since it's in the same parking lot. I handed out pens and sharpies to mark each restaurant with the name and prices. Of course I didn't count on PeterL writing the wrong prices down on a sandwich (it's a darn good thing he's got Angela to keep things straight), but I remembered the prices anyway. There were also some timing glitches since Express Deli seemed to have a thousand sandwich orders and took a while to make our sandwich. We headed off across the street to Cali Baguette Express, while TammyC and MrC headed off to a place I'd seem recently called Corner Sandwich & Cafe, located behind Popeyes in the same mall as Seafood City. We hit Baguette Up, while the other team headed to the finish at the other end of Mira Mesa Boulevard and Sorrento European Bakery. This was our meeting area as the food court is empty on Sundays, giving us ample room to do a tasting.

We had come prepared; disposable cutting mats, paper towels, knives, and water. And PeterL was our "cutter" and displayed great skill in cutting each Banh Mi into six pieces. In order to keep things as fair as possible, we ate the sandwiches in chronological order…. not quite FIFO, more like FIFI – first in, first in. I've been told in emails and some comments that the differences in Banh Mi are so small that it's really not worth mentioning. While I've always believed that I could make out differences in various sandwiches. And this tasting bore that out; and I was very surprised at how significant the differences were.

For the sake of time; I'll spend most of the post on the two favorite, and the two that we thought really weren't to our tastes. Strangely enough, the voting was unanimous on the two best, and the two worst.

The two favorites:

Express Deli:

Even though our sandwich took forever, and what's up with giving us mostly stems of cilantro(?), we really enjoyed Express Deli. The portion seemed on the small side, meat cut into very thin slices, but you make out the flavors of the Jamon and other meat, and the bread was toasted perfectly, making this heck of a good Banh Mi. Proportionally this was our favorite….plus the pickled carrots and daikon tasted good.

At $3.25, it's one of the more affordable sandwiches.

Express Deli
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd (inside Lucky Seafood)
San Diego, CA 92126

Cali Baguette Express:

I like the sandwiches from the El Cajon Boulevard location, but haven't tried the Mira Mesa location until today. Like Express Deli, Cali Baguette Express was either first or second on everyone's list.

At three bucks this was the cheapest sandwich. Cali Express makes their own bread, so even though we noticed that they didn't toast their banh mi, it was still slightly warm when we ate it. The bread is pretty light, and even though it's nothing close to what we had in Vietnam (what is?), the crust was flaky, and the bread to fillings ratio was good.

It was a long, but not huge sandwich, which looked the prettiest of them all when unwrapped……

Cali Baguette Express
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #106
San Diego, CA 92126

And much like the two favorite, the two we enjoyed the least was also a unanimous vote. Sadly, the second to last was…..

Sorrento European Bakery:

**** Sorrento European Bakery has closed

I've had some pretty good sandwiches here before, but the bread on this day was especially stale……. and having had six sandwiches before this one, everyone noticed right away.

We all oohh's and aaah'd at the chunky pate, but it had no taste. The probably from a can pate on the Express Deli sandwich had more flavor. Actually, the flavor of the cucumber over-powered everything else in the sandwich.

Sorrento European Bakery
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd #117 – in the Sorrento Plaza Shopping Center
San Diego, CA 92121

The unanimous last place, and I do mean for all six of us was…….

Corner Sandwich & Cafe:

Corner Sandwich & Cafe has closed

This was a mystery place, as I've only passed it once. It looked like one of the Viet coffee places with all the older men hanging out outside. The Banh Mi here tied for the most expensive at four bucks.

The sandwich itself looked promising when opened up.

And then it happened, as we each took our first bite of the sandwich. Starting with MrC, then Angela…. an "whoa, this tastes really fishy". And yes indeed, there was fish cake in this one. The bread also seemed a bit old…… but the fishy taste pretty much overwhelmed everything.

TammyC was the last to have a bite…. she was taking notes, not fooling around, was she? We pretty much agreed with her notes on this one.

"Nuoc Mam Taste……fish cakes….bread sucks….." She never finished her slice……

Corner Sandwich & Cafe
9005 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

As for the rest? I'll just keep this short:

BaLe:

Bread was on the mealy side, kind of hard overall. PeterL and Angela said they got an "eggy" taste, probably from the spread that BaLe uses.

Ba Le French Sandwiches
9396 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

Had the most hefty sandwich of the bunch.

The crust of the banh mi was too hard and chewy….it was also a bit too bready and dry for us along with not being toasted. This Banh Mi was tied at the most expensive at four bucks. We all liked the choices of meat in this sandwich, but there was just too much bread.

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Baguette Up:

**** Baguette Up has closed

Even though this sandwich had the nicest looking Thi Ba Chi (roasted pork belly), TammyC in her notes summed it up for us….. "bland". Nothing really there to make this sandwich stand out. I will say, that along with Cali Baguette Express, Baguette Up has the nicest service…..

Baguette Up
8155 Mia Mesa Blvd. Suite #3
San Diego, CA 92126

This was a fun time, and also an eye opening experience, especially for JohnL, PeterL, and TammyC who are Vietnamese and have grown up eating Banh Mi. We never expected such great differences, but each sandwich was very different from the other!

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I've been blessed to know folks like JohnL, PeterL, Angela (whose warmth and graciousness always keeps us going), TammyC, and MrC! So what's next guys????

Jinan: The Family Dinner

September 22, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Jinan, Memorable Meals, Travel

While we were being chauffeured around on our whirlwind tour of Jinan; the Missus's Foodie Uncle and Aunt were hard at work in the kitchen of the Missus's Grandmother's Sister. Well practiced hands were at work, creating dishes for a family dinner, moving with a well coordinated confidence that indicated a familiarity with the kitchen and the dishes that were being created.

There were a couple of dishes that were delightfully surprising; and one that brought back great memories for the Missus.

Everything started with Tofu with Xiang Chun Ya, a light coating of sesame oil adding a layer of flavor to the herbaceous Xiang Chun.

This started a parade of dishes……

I never got the name of this green vegetable…. fried in a light and crisp batter….it was so good!

The Xiang Chun Ya deep fried with a tempura like batter was amazingly good!

There were some really great dishes appearing out of the humble kitchen……

But there were two that were remarkably memorable for us.

I seem to pick up at least one dish from almost everywhere we travel. Something that becomes a fairly regular item in our household. This was such a dish. It looks very simple, and actually is, but the flavors are wonderful…..

Yes, it is purple cabbage. But the sauce used was fabulous; sesame paste, sugar, and black vinegar, hits on the savory-sweet-sour flavor profile. But it was the addition of one surprise ingredient that got my attention……. wasabi! I remember taking my first bite, and telling the Missus, "this is great….. but I swear there's wasabi in this." Which the Missus verified. In this case the cabbage is blanched; when we've been making it at home, we just slice the cabbage a bit thinner, and serve it raw. We had this dish at a restaurant in Beijing a bit later on, but this was a better, more complex version. Now that I've done this post, I can share the recipe in the near future.

The Missus reacquainted Herself with a dish that had faded from Her memory.

These cakes are made with glutinous corn meal, studded with dried dates, and steamed. Sweet and savory, it's like a moister-sweeter wo-wo tou. The fragrance is memorable, as is the density of these cakes. It was so filling I could only manage half a cake…… but no worries, the Missus finished Hers, and then put my remaining half away with no problem. The Missus later told me that these are even better the next day, when they are sliced, fried, and covered in sugar! I can only say that these were way better than anything resembling a wo-wo tou I've ever had.

There was something I learned in our time in QingDao and Jinan, it was the strength of family. You see, I was brought up in a single parent household, and my mother never did keep in really close contact with our relatives. Over the years I have come to treasure my good friends, they are like my family, and I have been blessed to know such wonderful people. But here, in a country six thousand miles away from home, the power of family was taught to me. Distance and time are just numbers, a strong sense of family supersedes all numbers……….

While sitting in the airport in Jinan, the Missus and I lamented the biggest mistake we made on this trip…..

Which was only spending one night in Jinan. We both wished that we had planned for more time. It's a mistake we won't make next time!

Eating with Friends: Eating the SGV, Crab Hut 2, and here’s to new friends

September 4, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Memorable Meals, Road Trip, Seafood, Xiao Long Bao, yoso-silly

One of the wonderful things that has happened in the five plus years I've been doing this blog, is that I've made some wonderful friends. I'm not quite sure how it's happened, but I feel blessed to know such wonderful folks (Note to JohnL…. like I said, "don't let it go to your head", he-he-he). I've often done short posts on meals I've had with friends, so I hope you don't mind another.

Doing the SGV thing:

A bunch of us got together a couple of weeks back, and did a San Gabriel Valley food crawl. Two of them, TammyC and JohnL had done stuff like this with me before. I knew MrC would go with the flow…. but PeterL, well, he was the rookie, and we'd have to keep an eye on him. We sort of just headed out, and I asked questions about what the folks wanted to eat…….. and after ruminating a bit, I decided that our first stop would be Dean Sin World. And of course, Shengjian Bao.

It turns out that none of this group, other than me had ever had Niu Rou Chuan (Beef Roll):

Not the most stellar version, but man did PeterL enjoy this, perhaps a bit too much. John and Tammy know a couple of my "rules" when it comes to an eating crawl. You live in the moment, that is, you don't start counting how many tacos you've had, this will just screw you up mentally. You resist the temptation to have that second or third, or fourth serving of the same item. It will still be here next time…. there's more up the road. Unfortunately, Peter just wanted those two extra pieces of Niu Rou Chuan, and as we walked the few yards to Giang Nan, I could tell the NRC was starting to settle in Peter's belly……

Of course at Giang Nan, we had two orders of each type of Xiao Long Bao.

As well as some of the cold dishes…..

After this I offered up QingDao Bread Food, which is right across a street. The Missus & I will often do Dean Sin World followed by Giang Nan and QingDao Bread Food when we;re in the area. I even offered up Mama's Lu and other places, but these folks were Bao'd and Dumpling'd out. And Peter really needed a break, so we drove to Focus Plaza to stretch our legs, grab some drinks, and do some shopping.

Then it was time for lunch….. enough with the snacks, it was time for a real meal. I offered up Tianjin Bistro or Hunan Chilli King. Since we had MrC, and his asbestos mouth, everyone went with Hunan Chilli King. I even called the Missus on my cell phone and had Her give the Server our order. We had stuff that I've posted on before, except for these two dishes.

A Hunan (not so) Stinky Tofu, and a Hot and Sour Soup.

All told we did pretty good with the five dishes we ordered.

By this time, most everyone had hit the wall, so we went on over to Papa Walk for some shaved ice, then ended the road trip buying some items at Domies Bakery.

Overall, it was good time…. but JohnL sent me a text message later that evening telling me he was hungry again…… such is the life of a growing boy!

A week later we all met at the new Crab Hut in the Gaslamp. As always we had a blast. I ended up taking onle three photos, so you won't be seeing the four dozen oysters, the crawfish, the clams, etc, etc, etc…….

But at least I took a photo of the Sausage Plate.

And one of the two orders of Calamari and Fries…..

After the Seafood Creole……

We were just having too darn much fun that I stowed the camera…..

I left feeling like this…..

Ummm…without the flowers behind my ears of course.

Crab Hut Downtown
1007 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101

And here's to making new friends:

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kayoko of Umamimart. And let me just say I had a blast. We had a bite at The Original Sab E Lee. I had a great time, and hope Kayoko was ok with my "food dorkiness", she sure did put me at ease, and was fun to talk to. Over the years, I've found that fellow food bloggers are some of the nicest people. So please check out Kayoko's post on our lunch, it just seemed to end too soon. Thanks again for the wonderful conversation and a great time Kayoko!

Jinan: The Banquet

August 30, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Jinan, Memorable Meals, Travel

We arrived in Jinan after what seemed a pretty quick 2 hours and change. My Mother In Law, Fifth Aunt, Second Aunt, Second Uncle, their Granddaughter, Fourth Aunt, the Missus and I made up the group. We were met at train station by one of the Missus's Uncles. The Missus's Grandmother's Sister had married and moved to Jinan decades ago. I have often been told that the Missus's Great-Grandfather had ensured that his children married well, and they all had fruitful lives. While the Missus recognizes the names, She has very little recollection of Her Uncles. On an interesting note, while the Missus Grandmother had six daughters, this sister had four sons! I could tell by the chatter that there was quite a bit of catching-up going on as we headed off to lunch……

And you guessed it! It was a banquet, of course! So are you ready for another banquet post?

As soon as we arrived, so did the food, at impressive speed.

The Missus's Grandmother's Sister, all of Eighty-Five years young, looked decades younger, and seemed full of energy. There was much animated discussion, and of course, laughter.

The crowning course of this banquet were the braised pig's feet. And one of the Uncles showed us how it was prepared for serving.

As luck would have it, though the entire family is really into food, we ended up sitting next to the Uncle who was the most serious "foodie" of the group. He spent much of the meal graciously telling us about the dishes, and pointed out which could be termed as traditional Jinan preparations. Truth be told, I had no idea what Jinan Cuisine was going to be like, and we were both pleasantly surprised at this arm of "Lu Cai" (Lu Cuisine). The flavors in Jinan were big, and the food hearty.

The Missus's Uncle gave us so much information, that I wish I could spend a week with him. And of course there was so much food. As with the other banquet post, I'll just comment on a few things here and there.

While the Pig's Feet we had at our Pig's Feet Banquet in QingDao was to be enjoyed for the gelatin and texture; this one was chock full of flavor.

The Missus still talks about the Cucumber Jiaozi. It was so unexpected, with the refreshing and palate cleansing flavor of cucumber coming through. According to the Missus, this restaurant is known for their dumplings, and I can see why.

My favorite dish of the meal, was of all things the kidney.

I'd never had a kidney dish I enjoyed, ever….. until this day. The flavor was like the essense of offal. Meanwhile, Uncle explained to me the short comings of this kidney; the color and sheen was wrong, by the looks and texture he could tell that this kidney had probably been refrigerated for a while. Like I said, these folks are serious about their food, not only do they know the "what", but the "why" as well!

I was told that this dish featuring tendon is a traditional Jinan preparation.

And you know how much I love tendon.

This was another traditional Lu Cai dish.

We were both surprised at the wonderful flavor of the dried red chilies in this dish.

The peppers had been stuffed with sesame seeds, and was crunchy, nutty, and floral, with just a slight bit of back of the throat spice. We were told that we'd be running into this preparation of pepper in Xi'an.

This interesting looking dish were slices of eggplant "stuffed" with shrimp, battered and deep fried.

There were three different types of Guotie (potstickers):

Shandong Guotie is very unique. The Missus told me that the ends are not pinched shut, and of coarse there's the "crust". Crunchy, light, and delicious.

I know I've missed a couple of dishes……

But I made sure to take another photo of that kidney dish…..

The amount of knowledge the Missus's Jinan family displayed made me even more sure that China was a country full of foodies! If there was one thing I learned in China; it was the importance of family. The flavors of the food may have been totally different from QingDao, but the warmth, humor, and generosity were in full display. I remember telling the Missus that I wished we were spending more than one day Jinan. To say we enjoyed the food and company would be an understatement. What an amazing family!

QingDao: Dinner at the Original Family Home

August 3, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Memorable Meals, QingDao, Travel

After picking up our chicken, we headed up the street to the original family home for dinner. This was to be our last evening in QingDao, so having dinner here felt right. This last dinner was to be bittersweet for the Missus…. the home is scheduled to be razed in the near future. It would be the last time She'd be walking up these well worn stairs, up to the flat where She was raised.

Entering the unit, we could hear laughter coming from one of the rooms…. the Missus's Aunts were making Jiaozi.

From the left, it's the Missus's Fifth Aunt, Second Aunt, Sixth Aunt, and Third Aunt.

Meanwhile, Fourth Aunt was busy at work in the kitchen.

Making Jiaozi is a family tradition. When the Missus's Grandmother was alive, every Saturday would be Jiaozi day. The Missus has some wonderful memories of those Saturdays; there was only a half day of school, and in the afternoon, whatever family was in town would get together and make Jiaozi. The Missus told me that Fifth Uncle would always bring a book to these gatherings, but he would never open nor read it…. She could never figure out why. Things changed after Her Grandmother passed on, so this dinner was a special one.

And of course there are snacks……..

The Missus told me that Her job on those Saturdays was to peel and pound garlic in the mortar, a job She hated with a passion. So I thought it was really funny when I slipped out of the room to see what was going on in the kitchen, and I found the Missus doing this.

Old habits die hard, don't they?

I managed a peek at some of the items that were being prepared for dinner.

And I got a preview sample of the Jiaozi……..

When I had heard we'd be having Fish Dumplings, I had a some reservations. I'm not a big fan of fish dumplings… whenever I'd had them here in the states they were mushy, and most times, had an off taste. The fillings in these however were moist, smooth, and tender. I was told that Fifth Aunt had mixed pork into the filling. The wrappers were tender and pillowy, the Missus told me that Fifth Aunt had procured some special flour from friends who plant, harvest, and mill their own wheat.

Here's dinner…..

And I had two whole bowls of Jiaozi…. sooooo good!

My MIL brought over some plates that her mother and father got when they got married all those years ago…..

There a lot of history in this home……..

I sat in the room where the Jiaozi had been made after things had been cleared and cleaned…..

And a feeling of warmth wrapped around me, I could catch a whisper of laughter…. it was as if the room had absorbed so much over the years it had attained a life of its own…….

QingDao: Dinner at Sixth Aunt’s

July 18, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Cooking, Memorable Meals, QingDao, Travel

Our day which started with breakfast at Pi Chai Yuan, the Wedding Banquet for lunch, was not quite done. After a visit at Fourth Aunt's son, the only boy cousin's very nice home, we arrived at Sixth Aunt's for dinner. While some of the younger members of the family got a well deserved break.

Sixth Uncle, the artistic one, gave us a "tour" of sorts of his collection of various works. One of his many talents is woodworking, which is displayed through out the condo.

All of the ornamental lattice work, paneling, and doors had been created by his hands.

Barely having the ability to draw "stick figures" I admire hand crafted work of any kind. Sixth Uncle also has an eye for form and function, as he displayed with a rock he found and polished.

His keen eye discerned the resemblance to a traditional drinking vessel, so he carved a base, and mounted the stone. and there's the stone that looked like a drinking bottle……

Along with the article he helped research on the evolution of Chinese writing, those were two of the most impressive items I recalled.

It's no wonder that their daughter teaches art…….

One quick thing about hospitality in China. When you visit a home, there's always a good amount of food brought out to snack on. This is true everywhere……. even after a large dinner; if you were to visit a home, snacks would suddenly appear out of nowhere. It's just the proper thing to do……

By now the entire family understood my interest in food…… there are folks here in the states who find my interests strange. But here, it was accepted….. good local food is appreciated. There were more then a few times when the Missus was told that, "we feel bad that 柯克 cannot get good food like this in America!". Of course I snuck into the kitchen to see what was on the menu….

The razor clams really got my attention……

Soon enough, dinner started, and we gathered around the table.

One real change the Missus has noticed, is the amount of raw vegetables eaten nowadays. This was a nice plate of Daikon Sprouts with a nice black vinegar and sugar "dressing", which does well to complement the pungent sprouts.

Here's something interesting. We first had this at the Pig's Feet Banquet. I really enjoyed the herbaceous flavor, but had never figured out what it was.

I thought it was some kind of purslane, but before doing this post, I the Missus sent out an email to Her Mom and Dad, and pretty soon the answers came pouring in. From Fifth Aunt, and Sixth Aunt's Daughter, I found out this is Tian Qi(田七)or Shan Qi(三七), also called Pseudo-Ginseng or Notoginseng. It is supposed to be an amazing blood remedy. In fact, while I was doing a bit of research, read that during the Vietnam War, Vietnamese Soldiers carried the powder of this herb with them as a field treatment for gunshot wounds until they got real medical care. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it does make for a great story.

It was also during this meal where we first encountered bittermelon that had been shaved. The bittermelon in China already seemed to be sweeter and less bitter than what we have in the states, and this was even less bitter. Here they served it with honey for dipping. But to be honest, I just loved it raw and plain.

The Missus had always claimed that the crab She grew up eating in QingDao were the sweetest She's ever had…..

You know, I have to agree…. The Missus, and cousin Long Hui were just in crab nirvana. The one I ate was especially good…. it was the only female with eggs….. which Sixth Aunt picked for me. Man, this was good….. good crab doesn't need anything else added to it, no sauces or condiments……. it's so sweet and delicate.

The one dish that really got to me, was the simple braised fish. It was just a basic soy sauce and ginger braise, but it really tugged at me. The reason being, it tasted like how my Mother made fish….so it took me home. And personally, I loved this more than any fish I had during any banquet in QingDao. This was comfort food to me……

Speaking of comfort food. Next up was a plate of perfect Xiang Chung Ya (salted shoots of the Chinese Toon Tree).

The Missus had two bowls of Green Bean and Rice Porridge, and most of two plates of the Xiang Chung Ya. For Her, this is real comfort food…..

Razor Clams….so sweet, so delicious…..

There was one last big surprise. At the end of the meal, a bottle of Laoshan Cola was broken out. This Missus let out an "ooohh", She had forgotten about Laoshan Cola. I had a taste, and well a bit more…. it was really good. Great flavor, much better than the NFCS Coke here in the states. In fact, made with mineral water with additional herbs, it was really good stuff, like a good boutique cola. Of course, with the packaging, I heard that there's an ongoing trademark dispute going on with Coca-Cola.

We rolled out after dinner, and caught a cab back to our hotel…. full and happy. There's nothing like family and food…….

QingDao: Lunch and Dinner at Fifth Aunt’s

June 8, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Cooking, Memorable Meals, QingDao, Seafood, Travel

"So where are you headed to in China", an acquaintance asked me a few months before our trip. I quickly named the destinations I was sure of. When I uttered "QingDao", she stopped me, and went, "wait, wait…. QingDao? Oh, man, you're going to love the seafood…. you're going to looooove the seafood!"

Mr Li dropped us off at the train station in Beijing. My MIL had taken one of the Missus's Aunt's advice and gotten us first class train tickets, which had actual seat assignments…. a great idea, because I noticed jockeying for seats in the other coaches. Also, folks seemed to be trying to sneak into the first class coach and poach a seat if possible. This doesn't include the people sitting on pieces of cardboard on the floor outside the restroom at the end of the first class coach. And just one piece of advice about the restroom……. make sure to go early in the trip, about an hour into the trip, and well….. let's not go there. Pity the folks who sit on the floor outside the restroom, because there are wet footprints….. uh, forget it, let's not go there either.

The six hour ride goes through most of the large cities enroute to QingDao, including Jinan and Dezhou, home to Dezhou Pa Ji (Dezhou Chicken), a famous braised chicken that the Missus loved so much, She wrote Her one and only post about it. Anyway, here are some carts in Dezhou station.

Amost exactly six hours later we arrived at busy QingDao Railway Station.

Looks very European, doesn't it? Which makes perfect sense… you see QingDao has a very unique history. In 1898, China ceded what was then a small fishing village to Germany. This village eventually became a strategic port…..QingDao. The train station was built in 1899. What's really impressive is that the station nearly sits on the shores of QingDao Bay….exit the train station, and you can see the ocean. We were met at the station by the Missus's Fifth and Sixth Aunts….. who laughingly presented me with a bouquet of flowers! I knew instantly that this was a family who shared a great sense of humor……

After a few photos, we maneuvered our way around the moving vehicles on the busy street street, terrified MIL in tow, and somehow made it intact to the Missus's Third Uncle, and the car that took us but a few blocks to the place we'd be staying….. the Zhanqiao Prince Hotel. My goodness, the Missus's Aunts had generously put us up at a beautiful hotel…..

The very Old World European looking Prince Hotel was built in 1911……. here's a photo I took of it at night.

Beautiful, isn't it? You almost expect a Maybach to drive up and unload fellows in tophats sporting canes. We also had a wonderful view of QingDao Bay and Huilan Pavillion.

After a brief freshening up we headed off to the Missus's Fifth Aunt's for lunch, something I was looking forward to. In the Missus's family, everyone acknowledges that Her Fifth Aunt is the best cook. On more then one occasion, when I've asked my MIL about a certain recipe or dish, an immediate call would go out to the Missus's Fifth Aunt, and an answer would be forthcoming. Of course the recipes from relatives were sometimes quite interesting. As we caught a cab to the Missus's Aunt, She was conversing with the cab driver when She started laughing…… you see, the Missus suddenly realized Her "Qingdao Hua" (青岛话), the unique accent of QingDao had surfaced! QingDao has it's own unique accent, different from the rest of Shandong. The Missus had left Her Beijing accent behind……

We arrived at fifth Aunt's home of over thirty years…. and of course greeting us, along with much smiles, conversation, and laughter, was quite a spread.

This was to be an especially memorable meal. Though the food looks very "homestyle", I was to experience some new and wonderful dishes along the way.

First up was a revelation….. the Missus's Fifth Aunt still makes her own Chinese Sausage by hand!

So much great pork flavor….. the essence of five-spice was amazing. Of course, once I mentioned the wonderful five spice flavor, a jar of it made it's way home with me. The perfect ratio of fat….the sausage is air-dried, and I couldn't get enough of it. I believe she is the only one in the family who still makes this the time honored way; and she even offered to teach me! I didn't think I was up to the task…. but perhaps the next time.

More Lup Cheong and smoked pork.

A excellent fried fish, which tasted like it was first marinated in five-spice, wine, and other seasonings and then fried. Crisp on the outside, moist on the inside…. and had me wishing fo rice.

Strangely enough, about the only time I craved for rice in QingDao, Beijing, or Jinan.

Succelent shrimp… and don't waste them heads!

The starch here is provided by mantou and Baozi!

The local clams, which we saw everywhere, and had many times. Very flavorful…..

Cucumbers stir fried with shrimp that I believe the Missus's Fifth Aunt dries herself.

Delicious…..

Zongzi and Eggs that are steamed with the Zongzi:

And then another remarkable dish…. which made the Missus go: "oh my god, how I miss this…." before inhaling a good amount of it.

Looks sort of like eggs with leek, or perhaps scallion? Not quite right….. it is a classic preparation of scrambled eggs with Xiang Chun Ya, the young and tender shoots of the Chinese Toon or Chinese Mahogany Tree. The fragrance is unique, and the flavor is like a more herbaceous, mild garlic – leek….. that's about as far as I can go because there's nothing quite like it. It was a taste of the Missus's childhood, and something She greatly missed. And it is indeed very, very, tasty…….

Lunch was finished off in the family tradition, with a rich, but light noodle soup. According to family tradition, the first meal when visiting should always conclude with noodle soup.

After lunch the Missus and I took a much needed stroll around the neighborhood (a later post), and on the way to the street the Missus pointed out the Xiang Chun Ya tree:

And indeed there were some folks picking off the young and tender shoots……

I'm actually looking for some seeds……

We met up with the Missus's Fourth Aunt, who took us…well me to get fitted for a suit… we decided that it would be easier to just get a suit made in QingDao, and took a walk around the neighborhood. When we returned, Fifth Aunt was at work making Jiaozi.

And Fifth Uncle, home from coaching ping-pong, waved me over and with a smile gave me a sneak peek at our other "dinner guests":

In the bowl were very, very, live and energetic Mantis Shrimp! I'd read about, and seen mantis shrimp on various shows, but had never had them. Let me tell you now, they are delicious….. The texture of the flesh is like lobster, but the flavor much sweeter and complex. Fifth Uncle, always the patient teacher, instructed me in the way of eating these. First, the flesh cannot be removed easily. So what you do is face the bottom of the shrimp toward you. Gripping the shrimp with your thumbs on the thorax and the other four fingers on the top shell, you gently flex up and down the segments until you hear a gentle "crack". You can then remove the top shell…. and gnaw the meat off the bottom shell, it feels primevil, but the flavor is fantastic.

You remove one of the claws and use it to pick out the even sweeter meat in the tail portion….. Of course, since I needed much instruction, Fifth Uncle filled my plate with Mantis Shrimp he had already peeled….. Man did I love this family!

And two dozen Jiaozi….. I mean I also ate two dozen delicious Jiaozi which topped off the meal for me.

This was a most memorable meal, and in my mind as good as any banquet we attended. There was one thing even more remarkable; all of this came out of a tidy and clean, but quite humble little kitchen; no drawers full of special gizmos or gear, nor shelves full of special spices and ingredients. It really does get to the point of it all….. cooking comes from the heart. And Fifth Aunt's got a lot of that…….