As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
A couple of things I’ve noticed while doing my “rounds” recently.
Coco Bomb is now replacing Juewei:
Well, while doing a recent takeout revisit to Eastern Dynasty, I noticed that the “coming soon” sign over what used to be Juewei had changed. Back in March, I noted that LA Hot Duck was replacing Juewei, but I guess that’s gone awry. Now it says that Coco Bomb….which I believe has a location in Linda Vista is replacing Juewei.
On my most recent shopping trip to Nijiya, I noticed a “Under New Ownership” sign over what was….for a short time Super Mario’s…and for what was for a longer time Palomino’s. Kind of a bummer….
So, it looks like the La Perla empire is expanding. We’ll see how this goes; because it seems, at least to me that La Perla has been quick to open….then suddenly close their shops….
3860 Convoy St. Suite 10 San Diego, CA 92111
Gourmet Artisan has closed:
It had been a while since I’d been to Gourmet Artisan…so I thought I’d order a sandwich; but strangely, their website wasn’t working. So, I thought I’d drive past to see what was up….well…it seems that they have closed.
I guess I shouldn’t be overly surprised as the last time I visited, they were using their location as a pseudo commercial kitchen of sorts. Still, it’s a place that I had visited on a regular basis before….but I guess just not often enough.
I’m still kinda “feeling it” from all the recent driving so just a quick post on some recent takeout revisits.
Roast Duck from Noble Chef:
I was in Balboa Crest Shopping Center checking on something, when I decided to pop into Noble Chef to see what roast duck prices were like. It had been a while since we’d been to Noble Chef. The prices and our visits to Eastern Dynasty have basically kept us away. The last time I’d had roast duck from Noble Chef it was a whopping $28 for a half duck! What the “duck” is going on? I was curious so I popped my head in…..
And to my surprise; on this day the half roast duck was $20.95. Like the same price as Eastern Dynasty. Hmmm……I’m wondering if there’s some competitive pricing going on now?
So, here’s what it looked like.
The skin was nice and firm and most of the fat had been rendered off nicely.
The meat was toothsome and moist-juicy. It did seem a bit short in flavor, really lacking in the five-spice/anise tones, sweetness, though it was nice and savory. Also, the duck seemed a bit leaner then on previous visits.
Still, perhaps our favorite roast duck in San Diego……I guess I’ll keep popping in and doing price checks for duck. The other dishes here just seem over-priced still.
The Noble Chef 6159 Balboa Avenue San Diego, CA 92111
I’m always up to try some roast duck if anyone has a current favorite!
The Tacos La Chorreada Truck:
On a recent hot afternoon; the Missus just wanted a light dinner and figured three tacos from the La Chorreada Truck would fit the bill. I actually had not visited since the truck moved two lots over back in November. So, JJ and I walked on over. I ordered my tacos “para lleva” and JJ and I went to have a cerveza at BHT. We then returned for my tacos.
They actually have a pretty nice sitting area set-up now.
Anyway, here’s our taco threesome…..
From left to right. Lengua…nice and waxy, fatty-beefiness. The cabeza…the best of the bunch on this day, very beefy, great with the salsa verde. And the smoky-savory-lightly spicy chorizo and the “neba-neba” of the nopales.
This was a nice and light dinner for us. It fit the bill since we weren’t hungry in the least on this day.
The Tacos La Chorreada Truck 3040 Clairemont Dr San Diego, CA 92117
Every Saturday, as I’m walking to the Little Italy Farmers Market, I’d past the little shop in progress at the corner of India and West Hawthorne. The one that used to be Swagyu. It seems that Tijuanero, which was to be the second taco shop opened in San Diego by the folks running Tijuanazo in Hillcrest was taking forever to open. It’s such a tiny space, that I was wondering if it would even open this year? Then the Hillcrest shop closed…and suddenly there seemed to be some activity on this corner, which by that time I saw was going to be named Tijuanero. In fact, JJ and I walked past on a Saturday several weeks ago and I saw a gentleman working on getting tables set-up, so I stopped and said hello. I asked a few questions and he nicely responded. The shop was going to be open at 11am, I was kinda bummed because I knew that Tijuanazo opened at 8am and I was hoping to stop by on the way back to the car from the Farmers Market. But whatever, I was looking forward to some decent Adobada. I’m glad I mentioned that to the gentleman as he told me that Adobada was only served on weekends!
Well, I decided to see if we could find parking in the area on a Sunday morning and we were in luck as I found a spot on Ivy Street where I usually park on Saturday mornings. It was just past 11 when we walked over. Unfortunately, they weren’t open yet and I was told to come back at 1145. Sigh…..
So JJ got to stroll thru Little Italy and down to Santa Fe Depot and back. And the place was indeed open when we returned.
We walked over and were asked if we were doing takeout or dining in. After saying we’d be eating there we had a seat at one of the tables.
I’m used to tacos in the four dollar range these days, plus, this was Little Italy, so prices didn’t surprise me. I placed my order…and then was told that they weren’t serving adobada on this day…..but it was a weekend, right? Ohh-kay. I decided on a taco de asada and chorizo ($4.15 each), and a birria vampiros ($3.95). I asked if they had water; tap or bottled, cause you know, I’d share it with JJ and they had neither…..
Some lime and cucumber was provided.
And after a short wait, my tacos were delivered.
You could tell the tortillas were made inhouse, though they did not hold up real well. Nice maizeyness though. Loved the generous amount of guacamole as well.
I enjoyed the chorizo more than the asada. The chorizo was slightly spicy, nice smokiness, nicely seasoned.
The carne asada was really tough and chewy. It was also too sour.
It really needed more seasoning, that wasn’t puckery-sour!
The Vampiros was interesting.
Loved the crisp vampiro; think of it as a nice crispy mini-quesadilla of sorts. The birria was quite chewy and like the asada lacked seasoning….not a good thing for birria! The one thing that got my attention was the salsa roja….my goodness…Muy (with a capital “M”) caliente! In fact, it completely nullified whatever flavor the birria had! I did need more napkins to wipe my brow than to wipe my hands!
I’m thinking that the chorizo would probably stand up nicely to that salsa.
As for if I return? Well, with telling me to come on a weekend for the adobada and not having any on a weekend! Then telling me you open at 11, but when I arrive, you didn’t open until 1145….and then not having agua? Yes, this place has recently opened and I expect there to be hiccups, but man this was like chronic singultus! And they also operated in Hillcrest for over a year as well so you would think they’d have their systems down. Perhaps if they did open at an earlier hour or actually served adobada when they claimed to…… Kind of sad since the Tijuanazo brand has a bunch of taquerias in TJ. As things stand; I’m in no rush to return.
Tijuanero By Tijuanazo 2102 India St. San Diego, CA 92101 Current Hours (Supposedly): Sun – Thurs 11am – 10pm Fri – Sat 11am – 11pm
Also, please note that the parking around the shop is actually a pay lot, Tijuanero does not validate parking.
Just a quick, rather sad post for today. At around 10am this morning, “FOY” Mar sent me an Instagram message of a post mentioning that El Borrego was closing. Needless to say, I didn’t see this one coming. And in the comments of that post El Borrego confirmed this.
Recently, I revisited a couple of places I hadn’t been to in years. All the visits kind of just happened by accident. Like my recent revisit to El Borrego, which I hadn’t been to in over 9 years! And it was just by happenstance. You see, I was craving some Bun Mang Vit from Tu Thanh so I headed on over….I understand that the place opens at 9, so I dropped by at 930…and they were closed! Looking for another place….I drove west on ECB….but places were either too busy, or I just wasn’t feeling like it…you know what I mean, right? Anyway, I was just going to head up to the 15 and onward home. But, when I passed Fairmont I noticed that there was an open parking space close to El Borrego! What are the chances of that? Plus, it had been so long since I’d had the barbacoa de borrego from the place…it just seemed like fate.
So, I walked on over and had a moment of analysis paralysis looking over the menu board.
Man, remember when those quesadillas were $2.75? Anyway, I was kind of hungry so I went full on borrego…”ewe know what I mean” right? (sorry, couldn’t help that) I ordered the Mixiote ($18.99).
I noticed that El Borrego now had outdoor seating, taking the space of the former lot next door and in the rear of the place. I asked Rodnia, whom I still remember from those past visits when they started having outdoor seating and she told me “over 8 years ago”! Sigh…..yes, it’s been forever since my last visit.
I also asked if they were dog friendly and was told that they used to be; but ended up having a dog attack a customer and two dogs getting into a fight, so no longer allow it. Bummer!
Soon enough my food was delivered to my table.
First thing I notice was that the meat is no longer wrapped in parchment, though I don’t think it makes that much of a difference? The meat was falling apart tender, though after having the same dish at El Hidalguense in CDMX and Aqui es Texcoco, I find it quite mild in the smokey, chile-aromatics department.
Still, it pleasantly gamey, the corn tortillas were adequately “maizey” and held up well, even after skimming thru the mixiote sauce/drippings. Of course, lime is a must, along with onion and cilantro.
I preferred the salsa roja, it added more zip and spice; than the salsa verde.
And it made for quite a filling meal; with leftovers.
It was nice to reconnect with an favorite from days gone by. Though I do think El Borrego has been surpassed with regards to barbacoa….I beileve I’ll get those quesadillas next time!
El Borrego Restaurant 4280 El Cajon Blvd. San Diego, CA 92105 Current Hours: Tues 10am – 4pm Wed – Sun 8am – 4pm Closed on Monday
Now I gotta figure out what is going on with Tu Thanh!
Back in 2022, I noticed that Palomino’s “#3” was going thru a “management change” on one of my shopping trips to Nijiya. Then around September, I noticed that the name of the place had changed to something like “Super Mario’s”? I wasn’t the biggest fan of this location of Palomino’s…in fact the last time I visited was in my pre-blogging days.
And yet, something about the place caught my attention. Perhaps it was the hours. The place opens at 6am during the week! But mostly, I think I got caught up in the signage.
Not the birria….but the menudo. For some reason, I was craving Menudo and thought it would work for a nice pre-Nijiya shopping breakfast. So, on a Saturday I arrived before Nijiya opened and decied to try the Menudo.
The place looks about the same as it did when it was Palomino’s. Except for the prices. Menudo was $15.86. Anyway, the woman working was quite nice and I placed my order.
And then headed over to the salsa bar for some salsa roja. The woman kindly warned me that it was “muy picante”.
I had a seat and the woman nicely brought my Menudo to the table instead of calling me to pick up my tray! It came with the usual fixins’.
Man, those corn tortillas were hefty and held up nicely to the Menudo; I could only finish two of them.
As for the Menudo.
While not as rich and “funky” as the version at Birrieria Y Menuderia Guadalajara, this was better than what we last had at Talavera Azul. Nice kick with some salsa added; acidity from the lime. It could have used a dose of Mexican Oregano in my opinion.
Decent offaly tones and my goodness all the lovely tripe! Prepared nicely, slightly toothsome…varying textures.
With some large chunks of tendon as well.
I wasn’t able to finish all of it and ended up taking about half home with me.
I wanted to have the Missus try it….but She had Her doubts. She finally gave in and thought it was pretty good. I told Her about the other menu items and She wanted to try the Albondigas. So, on my next shopping excursion to Nijiya, I placed a takeout order of the Albondigas ($15.98) and decided to try some tacos, going with the regular size (they have mini tacos for $3.34) Lengua ($6.50) and Al Pastor ($5.98). I did find the prices of the tacos to be on the higher end in my opinion.
Once shopping was done, I got some salsa and carrots, picked up my rather hefty bag and headed home.
Like the Menudo, the portion size for the Albondigas was pretty large.
It filled up the soup bowl with a lonely meatball waiting for attention. This time, the Missus wasn’t able to finish the tortillas. The arroz wasn’t very good, quite dry, and too mild in flavor.
The Missus loved the pickled carrots and those peppers. She made good use of the limes as well.
She thought that the soup was decent, lighter on the tomato side of things than She’s used to, but decent savory and pungent tones. Not as rich as other versions, but passable. And those giant meatballs were good as well. The meatballs had some binder, but were quite tender, with nice savory tones.
She even enjoyed the slices of zucchini.
As for the tacos. Well, they were quite large and full of meat.
Sadly, I didn’t care for them….neither did the Missus. Other than the tortillas, it missed the mark.
The Lengua was strangely bland; missing that rich, bovine flavor.
And because the flavor was very mild; all that cilantro basically took over the taco.
The Al Pastor was actually an Adobada. The pork was really tough.
It lacked that touch of savory – sweetness and depth of flavor and was really in need of a bit more spice and the light smokiness of a decent Al Pastor. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting what we get in CDMX, but this just didn’t do it for us.
All in all; we’ll stick with the Menudo and Albondigas, which, to be perfectly honest, was better than expected. Good thing too, since my recent visits to newer places has been kinda depressing.
I was wondering where to take JJ for lunch and then I remembered the Kiko’s Place Truck which had relocated to Morena last year. Since Cole’s has sadly closed, there would be ample parking, and the horrendous street construction had now moved further up Morena. So JJ got into the car and we were off.
We arrived around 10am and were the only customers. For some reason JJ got real excited when he heard the music blaring!
The woman working was very friendly and even waved to JJ! I thoguht that the better of the two tacos I had last time was the Tacos de Marlyn (Smoked Fish) and well; I decided to try the Gobernador – boy $16 for two tacos…..who’d have thought????
We went to one of the free standing “tables” and hung out….like I said; for some reason, JJ liked the music? What the heck?
The woman called me over and handed me some consomme and this time she also gave me some very crisp and still warm chips.
The consomme was better this time around; more savory-briny-seafood flavors. And still not overly salty.
Soon enough, my tacos were ready…good lord, these were very hefty. The Marlyn was still the better of the two; though both were overloaded with cheese. I’m thinking I’ll order them easy on the queso.
The shrimp on the Gobernador was on the tougher side; slightly fishy. Luckily the lime, pickled onions, and salsa roja handled things nicely. There was less smoked fish on the tacos de marlyn then on my last visit; but the fish seemed to have much more savory-smoky flavor, and those onions and peppers come in handy. The tortillas stood up fine and didn’t fall apart….of course having that layer of melted cheese protected the tortillas.
Kiko’s was fine; perhaps I need out a Mariscos truck I like better, but it is fairly close to home and JJ seemed to be having a good time hanging out….and listening to the music!
Kiko’s Place-The Seafood King Mariscos Truck 1170 West Morena Blvd. (In the parking lot of Coles Fine Flooring) San Diego, CA 92110
Recently, I had to make a drive down to Chula Vista. I don't get down there often these days, so I thought I'd grab a bite on the way home. Of course, my usual favorite stop, De Cabeza came to mind, but the weather just seemed too hot. I had thoughts of trying out the new and super hyped location of Tacos el Franc that has opened in Plaza Bonita, but I really didn't want to deal with lines and crowds…I'll wait a bit until things settle down a bit.
Instead, I made a detour to Imperial Avenue….man, I hadn't been around here in a while. There was a taco shop that I'd heard about who served a specialty from Mazatlan in Sinaloa, that's not seafood, rather it's Cochito (piglet) Tatemado (roasted), named El Pariente that opened back in May.
The place resides next to the newish location of Antojitos Colombianos. The parking lot is tiny, so I had an interesting time finding parking. I finally found a spot on L Street. I walked the couple of blocks over; it was a Sunday, just a few ticks past 830. Other than a young man, who smiled and greeted me as I entered who was waiting for a takeout order, I was the only customer.
I walked to the counter and placed my order with the very sweet woman working.
There's a nice range of breakfast items and asada, cochito, and adobada tacos. I got two Tacos de Cochito ($3.99 each) and mentioned I'd be dining in.
I took a seat at one of the tables and soon the woman arrived with some crunchy, glistening tortilla chips….they were still rather warm and the three salsas and lime. She told me that this would be a "nice way of tasting our salsas for your tacos!"
I really liked the Salsa Serrano (middle) and the Salsa Roja which had some nice smoky heat.
So, when my tacos arrived, the scent of porky goodness wafting up to my snout, I was ready to go!
These were lovely specimens indeed. The tortillas had been nicely heated on the comal and were glistening with…well, something mighty tasty.
There was shredded/chopped cabbage and chicharrons for textural contrast…and those chicharrons…well, one cannot get enough pork, right?
The pork was so moist and tender, not overly seasoned, but quite swiney! Very porky! And quite rich and filling. In fact, that lime was a required item.
As for the salsas; the roja seemed spicier and smokier; while the salsa serrano had a nice acidity. They both had their place!And totally worth the $3.99 each to me! I'll be back once my arteries recover!
El Pariente 2150 Imperial Ave. San Diego, CA 92102 Current Hours: Daily 8am – 7pm
Postscript: In case you're wondering, I took more photos than these. However, as I was working on this post on Saturday, the capability to upload photos in Typepad suddenly failed. And as of 430pm today it will be 48 hours without a solution. So, I thought I'd just get this post done and hopefully; once the insert images is fixed, I'll go ahead and upload those. Until then….well, hopefully this won't be the last post for a while!
After having such a wonderful time in Valle de Guadalupe we were headed home. Ivan, who was our driver from San Diego to Puerto Nuevo, then our first day in Valle, was of course exactly on time to pick us up for the trip "home".
But there was one last stop. Aimee had instructed us not to have breakfast at Contemplación Hotel Boutique as she had a "must stop" for breakfast planned for us. It would be La Cocina de Doña Esthela. Which I had heard of since the one and only Anthony Bourdain raved about the Borrego Tatemada. And heck, I didn't know the place is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant. And a month after our visit, I saw that Gorden Ramsey had visited to learn how to make tortillas as well.
Ivan parked and we walked over. I expected a super long line, but since this was early in the week we actually had no wait!
Though the interior was packed.
And yes, that's a smoked filled dining room……oh, the fragrances filling the air…..and if you thought "Korean BBQ shirt" was potent…..
There were really only two items we were targeting here…..
Of course we started with some Cafe de Olla…..not overly sweet.
And I got a small order of the Borrego Tatemada, which came with consomme, beans, and those huge tortillas.
Was not a fan of the runny, mushy beans; but that consomme…so full of rich, "lamb-y" goodness, nicely spiced, smoky, hints of spices like oregano…perfectly salted; probably my favorite consomme to date!
The meat; which really looked like machaca was surprisingly tender and like the consomme so full of flavor! A dip in the soup, some onions for pungency, a squeeze of lime to add acidity and cut the richness, and man; it was such a wonderful morning!
And as good as the borrego was; the Elote Pancakes were "a-maiz-ing"! Sorry, I couldn't help it!
I'm not a fan of hotcakes; but this is an exception. Forget the butter, we didn't need that. These were fluffy and moist, with a slight grittiness of corn. But the flavor; my goodness, the natural sweetness of the corn, a mild butteriness, we really enjoyed this.
I would say that Doña Esthela did live up to the hype.
La Cocina de Doña Esthela Ranchos San Marcos, El Porvenir San Marcos, B.C., Mexico
The Missus even bought some chocolate from this stand outside Doña Esthela
We truly enjoyed our time in Valle. Much of the credit goes to Ivan, Isaac, and Aimee Cruz. I highly recommend using the services of Valle Guadalupe Baja Tours. It ain't cheap for two people, but with both Ivan and Isaac being so punctual, knowledgeable, and flexible, plus being able to customize things, we had a great time. And no, Aimee has no idea I have a blog. I'm not sure she's remember who I am. Because I'm just a regular guy who makes really bad dad jokes and likes to eat and explore.
I'm not sure why we took so long to visit Valle…….
I noticed lots of upcoming changes in my short walk from where I parked my car during my visit to Makai Sushi. Like this one.
Though one of them caught me by surprise. Looks like La Posta de Acalpuco, like El Cuervo has closed.
Like El Cuervo, this was a place I'd go to every so often when my office was in Hillcrest….though mostly when I'd have to work nights as there wasn't much open late in those days. And much like El Cuervo; I hadn't been back in ages.
Times change and it seems that Hillcrest is in major turnover mode.
I'm sure folks are going to miss what I used to call the "late-early crowd"……which someone once described to me as "Goth's, Grungees, Gays, Gargoyles, and the bar scene from Star Wars!" And another once told me "You know, the food here is okay, but it sure tastes better at 4 am!"
3980 3rd Ave San Diego, CA 92103
Ajisen Ramen (Kearny Mesa) Closes:
This one was fairly widely announced, but I was shocked at how quickly the signage was gone for Ajisen on Clairemont Mesa.
On occasion, while shopping, I'll see something that will bring a smile to my face. While looking over the ever changing "treasure hunt" at Nijiya, I cam across this.
I've come across this in Japan before…it's known as being the only "powdered creamer" that uses real milk. But on this day I just read "Foaming Creap"….. I know, silly me….. But I was sorely tempted to buy some for folks and see if they got the pseudo double entendre.
Gusto Grocery Italian Market Moving from Bay Ho:
A week or so back, I needed some Pesto Genovese….for some reason, we've starting enjoying Avocado Toast with a touch of pesto. And yes, in spite of what I learned in Liguria, I just didn't see myself making pesto from scratch for some avocado toast.
So, I decided to head up to Gusto Italian Market, which, since they opened their brick-and-mortar shop in Bay Ho next to Rose Canyon Deli has been a blessing for picking up Italian Staples for us, without having to head into Little Italy. So, I headed on up and arrived at 1030…and strangely, the shop didn't seem open.
So, I walked on over and noticed the door was unlocked so I walked on in. I found all the shelves empty! The nice woman who works there came on out, smiled and explained to me that the grocery was closed and moving to "somewhere north"…… Their online orders were being fulfilled at their warehouse now. Bummer, as I'd been kind of taking this place for granted!
I do wish them luck in their new space; wherever that might be!
These were lovely specimens indeed. The tortillas had been nicely heated on the comal and were glistening with…well, something mighty tasty. 
Was not a fan of the runny, mushy beans; but that consomme…so full of rich, "lamb-y" goodness, nicely spiced, smoky, hints of spices like oregano…perfectly salted; probably my favorite consomme to date!
