Mexican Restaurants – Page 28

Los Pueblos

February 21, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

*** Los Pueblos has closed.

I noticed that this shop had replaced the taco shop on the premises a couple of weeks ago. I stopped mainly because of the "Regional Cuisines of Mexico" sign. The place was closed but I looked over the menu, which was interesting. It's been kind of busy so I promptly forgot about the place, until I read something on one of my all too rare visits to Chowhound. The folks running the show were the former owners of Chilango's, a place we used to enjoy every once in a while when we first moved to San Diego. This made it a required stop…….I went in with the purpose of getting some take-out.

Though the menu seems vast, it is built around several protein offerings and a couple of vegetarian offerings. The tall, somewhat distinguished gentleman named Jeremy was very chatty and indeed confirmed that he was part owner of Chilangos, though it might not be the Chilangos you remember. They sold the restaurant in 1996……way before we moved to San Diego.

Having not been here before, I'm not sure how much they've done to the place, but it was clean, had a flat screen playing a slide-show of Mexican sites and there's a salsa bar in the back.

I went with the Chicken Pibil Plate ($10):

This was a good amount of food, the corn tortillas were decent and still quite hot when I got home. The rice was on the dry side but quite fragrant and decently flavored. The Missus had the guacamole and thought it was quite good. I had doubts about the black beans because the place doesn't use manteca (lard), but though a bit on the bland side, I enjoyed the texture. The chicken was a bit of a surprise since about all the pibil I've had (all pork) have been roasted. In fact I recall having read that "Pib" is the name of the traditional name of the Mayan oven. This was obviously grlled.

Being that this was white meat chicken, I expected it to be on the dry side, which it was not. Pretty tender too. The flavor was lacking in the sour-citrus tones that I enjoy and I expected a bit more flavor. But it was not bad.

The Missus really enjoyed the Tortilla Soup (bowl – $5.50):

Which meant we returned a couple of nights later when the Missus was in the mood for some soup. This time around the missus went with the Black Bean Soup (bowl $5.50). Loved the flavor of the crema, much more ocmplex and creamy than the usual sour cream you get. The soup itself was much too salty this time around.

I got the special, 3 potato rolled tacos with rice, beans (black), and a agua fresca. The agua fresca, a tamarindo was watered down and bleh. The rice, guac, and everything else was fine……

The rolled tacos were a bit over-fried and too crumbly, the rolled tacos looked to have unraveled a bit and there didn't seem to be much potato in one of them. Not that great in my opinion. Though that would be made up by the third item we ordered……

Mole sampler with Huarache Chips ($6):

The Missus, now a sworn masa lover enjoyed the thick huarache chips, sort of like a crisp flatbread. The Mole Verde was ok, not very memorable. But the Mole Poblano was quite nice. Most recipes for Mole Poblano start at about 25 ingredients, Jeremy told me theirs has 30. Whose counting, right? The mole was nice and complex, though the flavor of cinnamon might be on the strong side, I'm thinking that it was me. Mildly sweet, very creamy, with a light spicy finish. Man, this had wishing they made Mole Poblano de Guajolote, a famous turkey dish from Puebla, one of the items on my "bucket list". Still, the Missus wasn't far off when She told me, this would be great on something…..

And that something happened a day later. I got the Pork Adobado Plate ($10) with Mole Poblano ($2) on it.

I gotta say, I'm not sure how the pork tastes without the mole, but it was moist and tender, and quite delicious, if not a bit too heavy for lunch. It made me want to roll up into a ball in the corner and take a nap. I'm sure to have this again.

Overall, we found the some winners among the dishes at Los Pueblos. There's some unevenness, but hopefully that would be ironed out. The dishes are pretty gringo-friendly, as in somewhat mild and toned down, but the quality seems good. As you notice by one of our meals, you can do vegetarian options quite easily. It is a great option in the area which is pretty full of standard taco shops. The prices are a bit above the usual taco shop, but the fare is also better.

I hope they do well, we need more of these type of eateries in the area.

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico
7081 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours:

11 am – 230pm, 5pm – 9pm Daily.

Mariscos El Navegante: New Seafood Truck in Yuma

February 12, 2012 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Believe it or not, ed (from Yuma) finally has finished a post and Kirk and Cathy can finally take a day off.

Navegante is no longer on Ave B. Currently (2014) Pacific Ave has become a new taco truck hotspot, with two stands across from each other at the intersection of 24th and Pacific, and several stands (4 or 5 some nights) in a large lot on the west side of Pacific a couple of blocks or so south of 16th.

Every fall, as the snowbirds, packers, and fieldworkers come back to Yuma, new mobile eateries – taco trucks if you prefer – open to serve the burgeoning population. This year, I was delighted to spot a new Mariscos truck, El Navegante, on the east side of Avenue B between 8th Street and 12th – just behind the location of Yuma's Best:
A meal there starts with complementary peel and eat shrimp:
The shrimp are served along side a container of spiced red onions and fresh sliced limes, both of which improve the flavor of the crustaceans:

Soon roasted yellow chilies also make an appearance. Spicy, smoky, and juicy:

Although the menu is limited, just about everything is well done. For example, the fish ceviche has all the right flavor notes, lightly fishy and citrusy. It is also crunchy and fresh flavored:

As good as fish ceviche tostada is, Tina and I think the ceviche de camaron tostada is even better:

The shrimp has not been cooked before marinating and has a very fresh flavor and a bit of chewy texture. The fish and shrimp tacos are also good:

The shrimp tacos have a bit more breading and a bit more crunch. The fish tacos are wonderfully fresh with moist real fish fillets. This fish has never seen a freezer and, after frying, hasn't sat under a heat lamp waiting for someone to order it.

The aguachile at El Navegante is close to perfect. When Roger Naylor, the travel writer for the Arizona Republic (and other publications) was in town, I made sure he and I and some other local eaters dropped in on Navegante around 6 one evening, and the whole lot of us were impressed by the chile and lime marinated raw shrimp plate:

We had ordered it moderately picante, so the hot chili flavors did not overwhelm the freshness of the pristine shrimp. Unlike other aguachiles I have had in the past, the lime juice complemented the seafood instead of souring it. Spice, tang, and shrimpiness were perfectly balanced. Crunchy tostadas, avocado wedges, and mild slices of cucumber went with the camarones perfectly.

On a more recent visit, Tina and I tried their seafood soup, simply called caldo. This is the small size:

The clear mild natural tasting broth was filled with pieces of fish, two or three small shrimp, and a little bit of octopus. At three dollars, it was certainly a good value. I found that the soup got even better when I added the chopped onion and cilantro, squeezed in some lime juice and shot some house salsa into the Styrofoam cup.

We also had what they call chile relleno, a yellow chile stuffed with cheese and shrimp, breaded (or not if you prefer), and served with a chili mayonnaise dip:

While a little bit greasy, it was also crunchy and irresistible:

On this visit, the restaurant even had mantaraya, reconstituted dried giant stingray from the sea of Cortez. We had it in a taco:

Muy rico. I had never had stingray with such rich and concentrated taste before. Not overly salty, the smoky, almost sweet flavors filled the mouth. Amazingly good.

El Navegante also does take out. For example, I once brought home a good fresh tasting campechana (mixed seafood cocktail with onions and cucumber in complex tomato water). While lacking the seafood variety of Juanita's campechana, The mariscos were excellent in flavor and half of it filled a small soup bowl:

From that same day, here is a fish taco, a shrimp taco, a chile relleno, lime wedges, and marinated onions, making a tasty and attractive plate:

El Navegante seems to open around 10 AM and closes around 6:30 or 7 PM. The mantaraya is only available on the weekends and the aguachile takes a little while to marinate. Prices are extremely reasonable, and the family that operates this little truck is friendly and helpful. English (as well as Spanish, of course) is spoken. A little dining gemstone in the southwest corner of Arizona. Navigate yourself here.

Mariscos El Navegante, 1019 S Ave B, Yuma AZ, 928-261-6481

Revists: Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum and Birrieria’s la Guadalajara

February 3, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

A couple of revists on what has been a pretty busy Friday.

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum:

I've been wanting to do a revisit and try some of the menu items since this is one of FOY (Friend of Yoso) "JanFrederick's" favorite restaurants. So I dropped by one evening and looking over the menu decided on a couple of dishes, however, no goat, no Oxtail, no Steamed Chicken with Mustard Greens…so I was kinda grappling with the menu, looking for plan "D". The gentleman taking my order was very patient and nice, though I was getting a bit annoyed…..

Still, it was a nice evening and the restaurant was quiet, even the young children were well behaved….so why should I start whining, right?

Eventually, I settled on the Seafood Hot Pot, though not without a bit of trepidation since my previous visit eating dim sum had not been so good.

I did need something that the Missus would have to eat when She got home and seafood is usually a good choice.

At $12.95 this wasn't a bad deal. I thought it was on the bland side and the fish fillets were a bit past prime, but everything else was not bad. The Missus thought this was decent as leftovers after the flavors had time to meld a bit.

I also ordered the Salt and Pepper Pork chops, which was neither salty, nor peppery, nor much of anything except kind of gummy.

I'd really like to try some other dishes, next time I'm hoping they'll actually have them.

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum
10550 Camino Ruiz(Inside of Vinh Hung Market)
San Diego, CA 92126

*** Birrieria's la Guadalajara has closed.

Birrieria's la Guadalajara:

This place is now a favorite of ours…..we come here to get our weekend "lamb fix". Any I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to try the Cabeza En Su Jugo, the simmered beef head…..

In a word….beef-a-licious, of course you've got to enjoy a condensed, very rich beef flavor. It ain't low fat, but man this was good. Wrapped in a fresh made tortilla, with some onions and lime to cut the fat, dipped in the broth…….

The Missus, along with the Borrego a la Plancha (She loves the leftovers), got the Spoes with Borrego (lamb).

If you are a masa lover, this one is for you….thick and filling, I actually like the smear of beans…..topped with the roasted lamb which has spent time on the griddle (like the borrego a la plancha), this is quite s filling meal. You can get it with the meat of your choice. This is major, "it's Sunday, let eat and roll back into bed" food.

The manager, Jorge, told me that they've received their beer and wine license……so you can have a nice cerveza with your birria now…then roll back into bed!

Birrieria's la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara

January 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

*** Birrieria's la Guadalajara has closed.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a Birria place had opened on Third avenue. I always glance at that new strip mall since there seems to be a location of Tacos el Gordo that is taking forever to open. A couple of days later, I was chatting with one of my co-workers, Karina, about, well what else…food! Both her and her husband's family are from the Guadalajara area, so I happened to mention how much I enjoy Birria. She told me that their current favorite place for birria in the South Bay area was Birrieria's la Guadalajara…….which send that light bulb blinking. I knew exactly the shop she was talking about. So on that very weekend, we headed off for some birria….

The place had only one table going when we arrived and we were qiuckly seated by a really nice young man.

First thing I noticed was the wide open look, making it really seem like birrieria ……. second thing was the fragrance of the consomme dancing in the air, a mixture of herbs and chilies that really get your stomach going…even at 9 in the morning. Yes, birria is breakfast food for many. Third, there was a woman behind the glass partition making fresh tortillas.

The menu is a single sheet and focused, on birria of course. I'd be somewhat worried if the place started serving up California Burritos……though there is Carne Asada and Arrachera on the menu.

As soon as we were seated salsas and the typical accompaniments arrived at the table.

The gentleman who delivered this and took our order was tall and quite dignified, happy to answer any questions. Though there was no question as what we were ordering…..birria de chivo ($9.60 – 1 order) and birria de borrego of course….goat and lamb.

Both arrived steam rising in a plume over the bowls, looking just about the same. The protein looked nicely roasted and tender. We really could not tell what was what at first glance. But after quick tastes we could easily make out the two.

The birria de chivo was more stringy, but to our surprise more mellow in flavor than the lamb.

The broth was just mildly spicy, but not too oily, and there was a bit of flavors form various herbs, but so much that we couldn't tell which type of meat we were eating. There was much more goat than lamb and I ended up taking leftovers of this home where I poured it over rice and reheated after the rice had soaked up all the juices……..add onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime….

The lamb (borrego) was the better of the two, more tender, stronger in flavor, and fattier as well.

What was really good, were the freshly made tortillas…..

A bit thicker than I'm used to and so hot you barely hold one in your hand for more than second or two, these stood up to the birria real well. I caught the Missus just eating tortillas straight a couple of times…… These really had some heft to them.

We had enjoyed our meal so much that we returned the following week. There were a couple of menu items we wanted to check out. The same young man greeted us at the door with a "welcome back". I guess there aren't too many Asian customers…… I found out his name is Jorge and that this restaurant used to be located on Main Street, but they moved to this location about seven months ago. As we were seated, the same older gentleman brought over the salsas and our menus….

I was surprised to see two salsas and radishes this time around. Jorge came around to explain; "we are a work in progress, trying to make everything better…..in fact, in February we can start serving cervezas."

The Missus and I ordered one each of the Taco Rojo, one goat and one lamb ($2.90 each). A freshly made tortilla was dunked into the consomme, then placed on the flat top for a short while to let some carmelization take place, but still keeping it pliable and moist. It was then filled with meat and arrived looking quite beautiful in my opinion.

There was a slight crispness to the tortilla, but man this was good, perhaps a bit on the salty side, but adding some lime really cut the saltiness. The onions and cilantro went together so well with the rich meat.

Even though they serve the taco with a fork, we went at it with our hands………making a lovely, delicious mess.

I had also wanted to try the Borrego a la Plancha ($10.20), roasted lamb that is then placed on the flat-top. Creating wonderful crisp edges adding some wonderful flavor and texture to the lamb.

Served with consomme and rice on the side, I added a touch of consomme to the meat, then put the meat (later I started adding rice), onions, cilantro, lime, and a touch of the more spicy of the salsas into the tortillas. Another brief dunk (which later I just plain stopped doing because this was so good) and I was good to go…..

This was a nice Sunday Brunch for us…..for under twenty bucks. It was also nice to go home and take that Sunday nap after.

We'll be back again soon….I want to try the Cabeza de Res En Su Jugo….beef head cooked in its own juices, man does that sound good.

Birrieria's la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Open Daily 8am – 7pm

Mariscos Monday: Oscar’s Mexican Seafood

January 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** This location of Oscar’s has closed

Man, it was almost like summer for a couple days there, wasn’t it? I don’t ever remember it hitting 80 degrees around New Year! The weather put the Missus and I in the mood for some mariscos. And though we thought of heading to La Playita, or even down to Godoy. We simply wanted a couple of tacos and it was well past the time of El Pescador or El Prieto. Then I recalled that FOY (Friend of Yoso) Candice had mentioned that a mariscos place had opened near the border or PB and La Jolla called Oscar’s.

Getting there was interesting……when going North on Mission you take a left at Turquoise and the place comes up rather fast. If going this route, you might have to figure out where to take that u-turn. Only street parking is available as far as I could tell. The restaurant is tiny, located right next to a smoke shop…or as the Missus says, it’s right next to the “Hoo-kar” (Hookah) store. He-he-he…..

There are literally 6-8 seats in the place and a small counter area outside. The kitchen is bright and shiny and the young man running the place friendly and most helpful. We saw grilled snapper tacos on the greaseboard, but they had run out for the day when we arrived. The menu is compact, with many of the “regulars” you’d see at one of those mariscos trucks.

The Missus started with the Smoked Marlin Taco ($2.75 – tacos de marlyn):

In terms of price, this was cheaper than most trucks, though it wasn’t nearly as stuffed. I never got a shot as the Missus polished it off in no time. She told me the fish was spot on in terms of flavor, but there was a bit too much cheese on it. I dunno, She cleaned this out pretty quickly.

I ordered a Fish Taco ($1.99)

Very routine, nicely fried, though a bit on the smaller side. The batter was fine, though I prefer mine a bit more crisp. There were some hidden what tasted like habanero in the pico, though the salsas are served on the side…a pretty nice touch. The tortillas were massed produced, but decent.

The “Fish Stew” (small – $1.50), was probably the weakest item we had. Served in a 8 ounce styrofoam cup that you’ll usually get the gratis consomme in at most mariscos joints. There were two shrimp and a small scallop or two along with a not so tasty piece of fish in this.

This caldo was just too weak, tasting mostly of celery and lacking the deep flavor of what you’d get elsewhere.

To finish off, I ordered the Cucaracha ($7), also known as camarones a la cucaracha……cockroach shrimp.

The shrimp were headless, but nicely fried before being put to bed in very bracing, spicy-sour, tomato-chile sauce, which was more like a broth. The shrimp were cooked well, the meat tender, the shells adding a nice crunch…making the sounds that you would get when you step on the unofficial Hawaii state animal. This definitely called for some tortillas since there was so much sauce. I ordered some tortillas….which they nicely never charged me for (though I’m thinking it should some with them). But man, it was too sour and spicy for me….man, my tolerance is getting real low, I think I need to head back to Hunan Chilli King to build my resistance and get maced by my food again. The Missus on the other hand, went through this like a hot knife through butter….though She told me “that sauce is burning a hole in my stomach” on the way home.

While really not quite up to par with our favorite mariscos joints, this place wasn’t bad and is a nice addition to the neighborhood. The folks here are very friendly and the prices not bad at all for the area.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood
703 Turquoise St
San Diego, CA 92109

Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco

December 14, 2011 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Aqui es Jalisco has closed and is now Nhat Vy

Back in October as I was driving around after my meal at Lee's Deli and noticed that The Torta Factory was gone. In its place was a shop called Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco….Jalisco? Pictures of birria and tortas ahogadas danced in my head. That evening the Missus was tied up doing things with friends so I jumped in my car and headed back up to the shop…….

Walking in, I noticed that the place had a real "temporary' look, as if someone had just moved in and was still setting things up. The old counter stood alone, more of a wall than a counter.

I took a look at the hand written menu and was a bit disappointed…….it was pretty basic fare, tortas, tacos, and such, with pretty standard stuff.

The young woman working told me they had just been open for two weeks and was very nice. I would have felt terrible just walking out so I decided to get a taste of the different beef offerings and went for four tacos ($1.25/each).

The Cabeza and Lengua came out first.

There's no salsa bar here; I was asked how I wanted my tacos and told them with everything. The cabeza was the better of the two, beefy, but not overdone. The lengua was mushy and had a real liver-y flavor to it. The salsas were relatively mild.

The suadero, which has been descried as "shoulder, but is actually the meat from between the belly and leg was fairly good. Tender, but mild in flavor. The pale carne asada looked like it was going to be terrible.

It turned out to be more tender than it looked, but it was salty and lacked the introduction of flavor from any other seasoning or cooking (i.e. carmelization).

Overall, this wasn't a particularly good meal, but the investment was just five bucks and you've gotta give these places a shot.

I'm not sure how this place is going to do…….

Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Emma’s Mexican Food-Santee (revisit)

December 3, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!! the food blog. On this chilly weekend day, Cathy is blogging. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are frenetically researching places to blog.

Hello again. I noticed I had not blogged about any Mexican food in the last week, yet I know I eat Mexican food either in a restaurant or from a taco shop at least once a week. Emma's is a regular spot for The Mister and myself. In fact, Emma's was my very first restaurant post on mmm-yoso!!!. Since that post was about breakfast, and it is six years later, I'll post about lunch.

Located in a nondescript mall of cinderblock buildings on Buena Vista, just off of Cuyamaca (you can see the back of the building when driving on Cuyamaca), Emma's has been located here for more than 10 years.

It is located in the same block as the Santee Sheriff Station and Buena Vista has a Fire Department just a few blocks East. Emma's is always busy with eat in and to go orders. I have also seen the mailman eating here- a little 'hint' about where to eat I learned from FOY (friend of yoso) Trent in 2006.

The eat in area is quite large. If you order 'for here' the food will be brought to your table. That's the fresh salsa bar to the right, next to the refrigerator. Only three types of salsa here (mild and chunky, hot smooth red and hot green). That's all you need.

The menu has barely changed since 2006. Most prices have seen an increase of <$2.

The Mister ordered the a la carte flautas ($4.60). This is made with only shredded beef (not the stewed shredded beef with onion and green pepper) placed into one of those super large flour tortillas, cut in half then deep fried. Properly fried. Many other places seem to fry the exterior of the tortilla only and the inside is unfried and so a raw tortilla. The flautas here are almost completely crispy and combined with just shredded beef as a filler…really good. Eve though a la carte, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce and a slice of tomato fill out the plate.

Emma's only has three Mariscos plates, all versions of shrimp. This is the camaron mojo de ajo- shrimp in garlic sauce ($8.60). Five plump butterflied shrimp sauteed in a buttery garlic sauce on top of rice (which gets all butter garlicy and is a joy to eat) and also served with tortillas, refried beans, sour cream and a salad (which has real, not that sauce) guacamole under that tomato slice. Fresh and really good.

Emma's Mexican Food 8781 Cuyamaca Street, Suite L (at Buena Vista Avenue) Santee 92071 (619)596-8189 hours: 7-8:30 Mon-Sat. Closed Sunday

Mariscos Monday! – Negro Durazo – a revisit

October 24, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and sometimes Kirk writes, sometimes ed(from Yuma) writes and sometimes Cathy writes here. Today, Cathy is writing.

Background of this post: The Mister and I were born seven days apart. This year, those days were on a Monday. He gets to choose what he wants to eat the first three days, we have to agree on what to eat the middle two days and then I get the last three days. No discussion, just a statement of what or where and for which meal. This year, we each chose Negro Durazo- for three meals. Because we really like it here.

Yes, I wrote about Negro Durazo earlier this year. Great mariscos in Lemon Grove, right off the 94 freeway. It's convenient for us when we are out that way and the food is really good.

Here is a close up of some of the outside signage.

Standard of what is brought out to the table before ordering: fresh salsa, fresh chips and cut limes.

The interior here is quite large, has menu specials displayed along the walls, has televisions and music and can get very loud at dinnertime and on weekends.

Standard tabletop condiments include an array of hot sauces, tostadas in packages and saltine crackers.

As with Mexican seafood (even mariscos trucks) your meal is preceded with a cup of seafood broth.

The Mister ordered the whole charbroiled fish ($10.95). It is a white bass (not tilapia, which is fried), cut in half, seasoned mildly and charbroiled, served with the salad. The fish is fresh, moist, flaky, smokey (in a good way) and extremely good.

I ordered the Negro Durazo tostada($6.95)…piled high on this salad plate.

Really- a lot of seafood. Raw shrimp (sliced in half), octopus, squid and cooked shrimp – marinated and cooked fresh in lime juice and mixed with tomato, cilantro and onion. So fresh and so good on a hot day.

We went back, in the same week, and ordered essentially the same items- the whole charbroiled bass (better photo)(there is a head, cut perfectly in half under the salad)…just as good…so fresh and quite large.

and the Negro Durazo coctele ($13.95)

Octopus, squid and shrimp in this… more (a lot more) seafood than on the tostada…and in a lime-ketchup(by that I mean sweet)-spicy sauce, which also had cucumber (and no onions) along with the tomatoes, cilantro and avocado. A little different and also very refreshing…excellent birthday meals.

I did say three visits during our birthday week. As you can see, there is a breakfast menu at the front door. I'll save that post for later.

Negro Durazo 6954 Federal (at Broadway and the 94) Lemon Grove 91945 (619)240-7148

Website

El Faro- Mariscos (Sherman Heights/Logan Heights)

October 19, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

El Faro has closed.

Welcome back the the blog called mmm-yoso!!! Today, Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are researching places so they can write posts. Cathy is finished researching and this is the rough draft.

Hi. The other day, The Mister and I were (yes, again) taking a little "stay-cation" in San Diego, Balboa Park, to be precise. Here is the Sculpture Garden, near the Old Globe Theater.

The parking lot near the Aerospace Museum was pretty crowded, as were the restaurants in the park, so after about two miles, we drove on the side streets looking for a place to have lunch.

Somehow, we got to Imperial Avenue -looking for the Farmers Market Building (it's for sale)- and a block later we saw street signs welcoming us to both Sherman and Logan Heights…and then saw the word "Family" on this building. I stopped and parked.

El Faro, Spanish for "the lighthouse" . Of course, they serve seafood. Thing is, we saw a mariscos truck and a small mariscos restaurant on the same block…never considered this part of town to have mariscos. But what do we know…
Lunch Specials…

and for future reference, Happy Hour. We walked in.

Five booths, seven tables and the kitchen in the middle. Like eating in Mexico. I asked and found out these owners have been here 13 years, and before they bought this place, it was a seafood restaurant.

Lime wedges, fresh (light and very good) corn chips and a mildly hot salsa were brought to the table (after ordering, a group of appropriate hot sauces were brought out, however, I used this salsa for everything- no vinegar or sugar and a good heat to it).
We decided to try a fish ceviche tostada ($2.25) as an appetizer. Really, really nice. The fish was fresh, flaky, tasty and the lime juice, tomatoes, onion and cilantro were complimentary and not overwhelming. The tostada was placed on top of lettuce and that cucumber slice, so it didn't get soggy.

The Mister's meal came with this large cup filled with a seafood soup. Excellent, fresh, very nice amount of seafood in the not too tomato flavored broth (it was more of a seafood stock base) .
After a long discussion with myself, I had decided on the camarones (shrimp) salad because of the description. Plain (home made) mayonnaise was the dressing and it complimented the very large (in size and number-24) shrimp. Lettuce, shredded carrot and chopped cucumber were the only salad ingredients. The topping of avocado, two slices of cucumber and the tomato added enough variety so that I could enjoy those shrimp in the dressing. This was filling, refreshing and worth the lunch price ($8.95).
The Mister's Pescado Entero ($8.95). A whole fried tilapia. Very fresh, firm fleshed, not muddy, fried perfectly (I ate the fins; so crispy).

The Mister ate just about everything else…

El Faro Family Restaurant 2249 Imperial Avenue San Diego 92102 (619)2311388

Mariscos Hector’s – Chula Vista

September 13, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are reading. Lately, Cathy has been writing about her "staycation" walks around the beautiful County parks while Kirk has been updating his Turkey and Greece vacation from this year and ed(from Yuma) has let us in on his vacation to Julian. Cathy is back with something different.

One of our recent walks was quite educational as well as a bit challenging (downhill from the start, therefore uphill to return). This time, we had beautiful views- one, of the Otay Lakes Reservoir…

while walking the one mile path…

with a beautiful view North

and many, many athletic venues- courts, fields, tracks, this archery range…

Yes, the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. There is a path and the public can walk it and view the various venues from it (access directly on the fields is restricted).

There are three BMX riders at the top/starting gate behind the Field Hockey field (court?). You can see we aren't very close to the track. However there is a BMX Development Track closer to the main building and it has several sets of bleacher seats close to the field. The BMX Supercross World Cup will be held here September 30-October 1 (www.ababmx.com) (www.uci.ch)

So anyhow, we walked and enjoyed this new-to-us venue (the Olympic Training Center opened in June 1995) which has a great audio tour as well as the views. Then we drove through the Eastlake section of Chula Vista, looking for something different.

There was a major intersection with three of the corners filled with stores and shops. In the one which had the Kohl's, I spotted this. Of course we stopped.
It was quite large and clean inside, with a bar which had a view of the kitchen,
as well as a bar which was alcohol centric.
We were seated in a booth with very a large, thick granite table and corn chips, a very good spicy-hot fresh salsa and cut limes were placed on the table.

I wanted a champechana cocktail, but also wanted to try other items on the menu. When I saw there was a champechana tostada on the menu ($5.95), I decided that would get me the flavors but not be overwhelmingly filling…but it was huge! Lots of fresh shrimp, octopus, bay scallops cooked in lime juice with added cucumber, tomato and cilantro. This was definitely fresh made for me with tender octopus, fresh shrimp and flavorful, small, bay scallops. There are oysters in the champechana coctail and I can get that next time, if I am so hungry.
The Mister saw a calamari tostada on the menu for only $1.95, so he ordered it for us to share. This was not your typical squid. First, this must have been a very large squid since the pieces had a good diameter. The meat was tender and meaty. It was sauteed, cooked in a salsa which made it tender…almost stew-like. It was very good and I'll order it again.
On the menu, the tacos were priced as "Piece" and "Order". Piece meant one taco; order meant two tacos plus rice and beans. The Gobernador was $3.95 for the single taco and $7.95 for the order. I pulled out my phone and used its handy calculator…

ANYHOW…the gobernador was *wonderful*. This version had a lot of chunks of mild chiles in an almost cream sauce…or really melty cheese and were filled with shrimp. (Gobernador tacos, Sinaloan in origin, have the common denominator of shrimp and cheese and then each chef seems to make it their own…this is a great version).

One note- the corn chips that came with salsa, the corn tortilla with the tostadas and the corn tortilla used for the tacos were each unique and flavorful and very very different in texture. That was another delightful surprise. We will be coming back to try the Parrillada dishes (barbecue) which include carne asada, kabobs and lobster as well as the various fish dishes. Oh and there is a breakfast menu! I guess we'll go back to the Olympic Training Center more often…

Hector's Mariscos 2305 Otay Lakes Road Ste 201 Chula Vista 91915 (619)421-1300 Website

(yes, the website is www.hectorsmariscos.comand the sign above the door is Mariscos Hector's. You'll find it)