Orange County – Page 5

Roadtrip: Dat Thanh (Westminster) and a revisit to Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant (Garden Grove) – Orange County

September 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

The Missus was in the mood and craving some springrolls and the natural answer to that would be Brodard, which I've been to but never posted on. But just the thought of visiting on a Saturday….well, we wanted something else, so I did a bit of research and after reading Elmo's post, decided to head on over to Westminster and….

Dat Thanh:

This tiny shop on McFadden is supposed to be "The" challenger to Brodard for supposed springroll supremacy in Little Saigon, how could we not try it. The guy running the place is really nice, friendly, and seems to sincerely want you to enjoy your meal…he's quite chatty and will talk about anything from the parking situation (really bad) to what he eats on his day off (anything but Vietnamese). As you can tell it's obvious what this place is all about from that lovely photo on the menu, and in fact, if anything the springrolls we got on our plate actually looked better.

It's also wonderful that they have a combination of 2 Nem Nuong Cuon (pork sausage) and 2 Chao Tom Cuon (shrimp sausage/paste) on the menu for $6.99. These looked so wonderfully bright and fresh, I couldn't wait to take a bite…..which kinda ended my total admiration for these. First, the great….absolutely loved the fried egg roll wrappers in the middle, it just brought the texture up a level adding a wonderful crunch to everything. The good, loved the way these were wrapped, not too tight, and the wrappers weren't too thick. The mediocre, man that nem nuong and chao tom were bland…we actually pulled out pieces to have a taste. There didn't seem to have enough mint or herbs in these to give it that nice "pop' of flavor. The tuong – dipping sauce was really sweet and had an eggy flavor that the Missus wasn't too fond of.

Luckily, we also ordered the combination broken rice with BBQ pork chop $8.89:

Other than the shrimp, which was rubbery and very plain tasting, and perhaps the pork chop which the Missus thought was too sweet, but I enjoyed, this was a unanimous thumbs up……it's really hard to get the perfect broken rice plate and this was darn close. The rice was awesome, right amount of moisture for our taste and more importantly, fragrant. The Missus, who has declared Herself a non-pork eater loved the Bi, which had the right ration of skin to meat to rice powder and was also just moist enough. The cha, steamed egg and pork cake was also tasty and fresh….and not to belabor the point, moist. Ditto the shrimp in beancurd wrapper.

The nuoc mam cham was also excellent, if also a bit on the sweet side. Overall, I'd gladly return for the com tam, it was the best I've had in a while.

The Missus on the other hand was looking forward to some good Goi Cuon and was a bit perturbed….

Dat Thanh
10032 McFadden Ave.
Westminster, CA 92683

The Missus wanted something dependable and flavorful…..and She had one place in mind:

Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant:

Not much to write here that hasn't been covered in a previous post. The first two dishes you can read about there.

The raw shrimp salad looked even better today:

And it was….in addition way more spicy as well. They never ask us how spicy we want our food here…so we just take it as it comes. This was delicious, but man it was hot. The Missus had mild burns around Her lips….no biggie though. I just couldn't stop eating that sauce….

The Nam Khao had good flavor, but wasn't as crunchy as on previous visits. Still, I just love this, it's one of my "desert island dishes".

We decided to order one more item and chose the garlic shrimp….which the Missus loved. She ate most of it, I had one piece but really couldn't taste anything because my tastebuds had been killed by that shrimp. When I recovered a bit, the shrimp was gone, but I had a taste of the caramelized garlic, which was done right….it tasted like "garlic candy".

So the Missus has another dish to order when we return.

Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant
10262 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove,CA92843

We hit up Marukai in Costa Mesa on the way back and got some great looking black cod, so the Missus ended up getting misoyaki black cod for a couple of days……so in the end, it was a happy roadtrip for Her.

Road Trip: Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant – Garden Grove (Orange County)

July 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

The Missus asked me what I wanted this past weekend, I'd been craving Jiaozi since we got back from our trip. So I thought a trip to Qing Dao Bread Food would be great. But the weekend rolled around and it was on the warm side…..and man, it had been a while since I had Lao food! So I thought what about grabbing a bite at Vientiane Thai Lao? The Missus jumped at it….which made me a bit suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when She directed me to drive to South Coast Plaza. A half hour later, She had a new pair of Christian Loubitouns and I was going to get my Lao food. How's that for a trade off? Well, it could have been worse, She had spent some time checking out jewelry at the Chanel store…yikes!!!

We were rather surpised when we stepped into Vientiane…..the place had been renovated since we last visited during the beginning of 2010. It looked nothing like what I remembered.

I sure hoped that the food was the same! We were waited on by a couple of really friendly young men, who did their job adequately and with good humor.

There were two dishes we'd driven up for; the first was the Raw Shrimp Salad ($7.99):

I appreciated the fact that we weren't asked how spicy we wanted it. It would be interesting to see what we got. I think my tolerance has gone down quite a bit now that I don't eat as much spicy food as I used too. After a couple of bites I had sweat pouring down my face. But that didn't prevent me from really enjoying this dish. In spite of the chilies, you can still get the slight sweetness of the shrimp coming through. Nice tangy flavors from the citrus, a bit of garlic, fish sauce, chilies, all jockeying for top spot in the flavor battle…what's not to like?

We also ordered the Ka Na Moo Krob($6.99). If I recall, Moo = Pork and Krob = Crunchy, or something like that.

I know some folks don't enjoy the chewy texture of roasted/braised, then deep fried pork belly, but I kind of like it. The pork had decent flavor, the Gailan (Chinese broccoli) was fresh. The sauce, which tasted like Kecap Manis, or some type of sweet soy, along with some oyster sauce, and perhaps some bean paste(?) edged on the salty end of the scale. It was fine when eating at the restaurant….in fact, we ordered some sticky rice with the sole purpose of soaking all the sauce up. The leftovers tended to be much too salty….note to self: next time finish it all!

Next up, one of those dishes I'll request before the executioner pulls that lever……Nam Khao ($6.50). I just love the sour-salty-crunchy-nutty-savory goodness of Nam Khao.

You know, Nye has a wonderful looking recipe for this on her blog, but I just can't bring my self to make this. I guess making this would eliminate the air of mysterious wonderfulness that dish provides….so I just avoid it. what I really enjoy about this version is that's it is less salty and probably quite low on the MSG scale if there's any in it at all. You can make out the coconut, the sour sausage, the nuttiness of the fried rice……

The last dish we ordered is I believe a version of Or Lam, a typical stew dish called "Meat Stew with Dill and Herbs (Aww)" on the menu ($6.99). Given that the Missus pretty much doesn't eat chicken, beef, or pork, we went with the fish version.

The catfish was too muddy for my tastes, but the Missus liked it. I thought the eggplant and the kabocha were cooked quite well, the Missus was especially taken by the kabocha, soft, but still holding shape, the sweetness coming through with each bite. The broth looked fairly dark and funky, and you could make out what was probably either a bit fermented fish or shrimp paste, which actually took a back seat to the generous amount of dill and kaffir lime leaf flavoring everything. Overall, the Missus enjoyed this much more than I did.

It was a nice meal since we'd been talking about Laos a bit recently and our bill came out to a tad over $30, with leftovers for dinner, a pretty good deal. I'm sure we won't wait two years to return next time. Maybe it was worth the price of those Christian Loubitouns….well, maybe not, we could have over 20 of these meals for those pair of shoes….but who's counting, right?

Vientiane Thai Laos Restauarant
10262 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove,CA92843

Hours: Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Fri – Sun 10am – 10pm

Not Duckin’ the Subject – Roadtrip Edition: Lien Hoa BBQ (Westminster – Orange County) and Monterey Palace BBQ (San Gabriel – Los Angeles)

April 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip

I've often lamented the quality and consistency of take out Roast Duck in San Diego. It is after all, one of my favorite food groups. But for a change, instead of me whining about the whole thing, here are two winners. Unfortunately, both are not in San Diego County.

Lien Hoa BBQ – Westminster:

A while back FOY "DavidD" mentioned that this shop made the best roast duck. So I made sure to mention the place to Beach during my last visit. Beach told me he's being going to Lien Hoa for thirty or so years (looking at the sign, they opened in 1981) , knew the owners, and that this was indeed the best place for Chinese BBQ in all of Little Saigon, or even in Orange County.

The place is actually right next to Kang Lac Bakery, so we went in before having Bot Chien.

The shop is tiny with a small and cramped walking space. It's a no frills place, just up my alley…the other thing up my alley? A whole roast duck here costs just $15.50……bargain city.

After arriving home I opened the very heavy foil container took take a peak and a taste or two of the duck.

If you want a meaty duck, this would be the one for you. Personally, for me it;s all about a combination of factors; the skin, the flavor, fat content, and so on. The flavor of this duck will be a surprise for many raised on roast duck in San Diego. It is mild, with anise hints, and not salted to death to cover up the lack of expert preparation. The skin on the top layer was, perhaps a bit too "rubbery", but good overall. Sadly, they poured a ton of "jus" over the duck. There was about two cups of it in the tray (I measured). This meant the skin of the duck on the bottom layer was taut and the meat had started to be mushy. Gladly, even the juice wasn't too salty. I think I'll have them go easy on that stuff next time.

So, if you're passing through, or if roast duck matters enough to you to be worth a drive (like me), this place is worth a shot. And the prices are very reasonable.

Lien Hoa BBQ Deli
9299 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food:

A little over a year ago, we were driving east on Valley Boulevard. right past Focus Plaza, I noticed that a new shop had opened in a location I believe was some kind of bar or nightclub before.

The name of the place was Monterey Palace BBQ, which got me thinking that this place is affiliated with Monterey Palace on Garvey?

The place was bright, spanking new and turned out to be an interesting shop.

As you enter you basically meet the BBQ, followed by a section which is set-up for steam table foods, a la Sam Woo, nothing surprising there. The interesting thing is a bit past the hot foods section is a poultry and meat set-up, with several different types of chicken, duck, even rabbit.

The first time we stopped by and bought the roast duck, I really enjoyed it.

It isn't as meaty as the duck from Lien Hoa, but the skin was nicely lacquered and the flavor of bean paste was forward without overwhelming everything.

We have been back two more times since. On the second visit, the skin of the duck was wrinkled and it was too fatty…signs that temperature control was poor. One the third visit, things were back ot how they were on our first visit.

For now, Monterey Palace has replaced Sam Woo in Alhambra as our "duck stop". I'm hoping that we've found our place for take-out roast duck for now.

One downside to the location is that as far as I can tell, there's only street parking. There are only three spaces on the street in front of the place….so in case you're being tailgated by some aggressive retard like I was and have to stop and park, you may have to deal with the half peace sign salute and screaming from an idiot who was trying to get around the other cars and probably didn't know or didn't care (probably the latter) that you could indeed park on the street in front of the place. I'd forgotten how wonderful drivers were in the SGV…thanks for the reminder, moron. I've found that the best defense in such a situation is to look at the person and give them a big smile…A BIG SMILE…..

Anyway, he had to wait until all the cars drove past to merge into traffic and I got my roast duck. Seems like I got the better of the whole deal, right?

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food
118 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Roadtrip: Touching bases with Beach – Pho 86 and Kang Lac Bakery – Westminster (Orange County)

April 3, 2012 mmm-yoso Breakfast/Brunch, Orange County, Vietnamese Restaurants

Man, it had been quite a while since I had a chance to visit my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) "Beach". It had been over three years since I last saw the man who introduced me to the joys of Binh Dan. We'd tried meeting up a couple of times before but something always seemed to come up. Last week, I had a day off and I wanted to make sure to drop by and see him, just to touch bases since it had been so long. As usual, Beach was ready with a handful of places…..but I really just wanted to see what was up, so we ended up hitting two of his recent favorites. Places he'd drop by for breakfast…….

Pho 86:

This location of Pho 86 is squeezed in next to Pagolac, another place Beach took me to several years back…..never posted because my photos didn't come out. I'd really never noticed the place even though I've driven past it quite a few times.

The tiny restaurant was fairly busy when we arrived, so we ended up sitting at one of the larger, almost communal tables that you'd end up sharing with other customers as they straggled in. Beach has a good understanding of my tastes and preferences, so of course he ordered…the guy taking his order knew him pretty well….he told me he stops by two or three times a week.

As to be expected in the highly competitive world of Pho in Little Saigon, things had to be pretty good. The sparkling herbs, bean sprouts, peppers and lime were a testament to that.

And the Pho was also lovely……

The "Tai", rare steak was especially impressive since I'm used to the thin, dry, and cardboard-like stuff that is the norm here in San Diego. The broth is clear, very balanced and mellow, with decent fat, mild anise, and not overly salty.

Of course, I was soon distracted. I was looking at the guy behind the window to the kitchen area lifting out two delicious looking leg bones and putting them in a bowl. Beach turned, took a glance, and told me, "don't worry, that's for us….." And indeed it was.

I wish I took a photo of the bones lengthwise so you'd get a better look, but I just wanted at the tendon and all the beefy goodness. Man, this was like a tendon lover's dream. You just keep cutting pieces of tendon with meat off the bone and keep eating. It was, without a doubt, delici-yoso…… I only wish I knew how to order it since it's not on the menu. I'm sure Beach will let me know.

Nothing like hole in the wall Pho with Beach….

Pho 86 Restaurant
14576 Brookhurst St
Westminster, CA 92683

Our next stop was a little further down…..all that tendon just kinda sits and I just can't eat like I used too. I needed to make one short stop (a later post) and Beach had just the place for a small "snack" right next door.

Kang Lac Bakery:

I do have a special place in my heart for those "old school" places that may have a large menu, but do certain things well. According to Beach, Kang Lac makes a good Bot Chien, which I'd never had before.

The dish is basically cakes made of rice flour that are pan fried till crisp, then eggs and scallions are added, much like the Chiu Chow Turnip Cakes with scrambled eggs. The bot chien had attained that wonderful crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside texture and the eggs added a richness, the scallions a mild pungency.

Beach proceeded to pour some fish sauce into a small dish and added some Sriracha and told me to dip the bot chien into that. I loved the fish sauce, which added a nice salty-savory component to the dish. I think I'll pass on the hot sauce next time…no need for that. Actually, this dish is right up the Missus' alley, She loves stuff like this. I'll make sure to bring Her here next time.

Kang Lac Bakery
9301 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683

I had to be back in San Diego for an appointment, so I had to leave sooner than I wanted. Still, the morning was full of lively conversation. I noticed something as we were chatting….it used to be so much about food….now that we're getting a bit older it was about other things, travel, how well Beach's children are doing in their career and school, life in general….yes, we still talked about food, but there was so much else. As always, I had a great time. I've got to make sure that it's not another three years before meeting up again.

Thanks for another great day Beach!

Road Trip: Chef Chen – Irvine (Orange County)

November 13, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Orange County, Road Trip

**** Chef Chen has closed

I first recall hearing about Chef Chen on Elmo Monster's Blog (man, have you really been around for eight years???). After seeing a post on Chef Chen on Eileen's blog, with a pretty decent looking bowl of Niu Rou Mian, I had pretty much made up my mind. Also, we'd already tried out A&J which really didn't suit our tastes and a very, very, bad visit to Liang's in the same strip mall which was so terrible I never even posted about it. So why not make it a tri-fecta and check out Chef Chen's?

I sure must have been motivated since this is one of those parking lots I detest. One single exit/entrance, folks without any regard of right of way, people just plain parking in the middle of the aisle, people stealing spaces from folks patiently waiting for folks to leave by going around them and gunning into a spot. Man, this place has it all….they should have a reality show based on parking lots….. I made it a point to arrive a bit early, then stretched my legs by taking a walk and checking out how things have changed since the last time I've been here.

I entered the restaurant a few minutes after they opened and had a seat. The menu is a mix of different dishes, everything from typical Chinese fast food (which didn't look half bad) to Dao Xian Mian and even something that really interested me(more on that later). The prices, especially for the lunch specials and items from the "Northern dishes" menu were very reasonable…as was my bowl of Niu Rou Mian at $5.99:

I liked the color of the broth, which was decent and in my opinion better than Liang's (thin with no beef flavor) or A&J (oily but without flavor). Still not beefy enough, nor without enough five spice flavor, the spice level was nice. Be warned that the meat used is a very traditional beef shank which is a bit on the chewy side, though full of flavor. The noodles are nothing special, but were cooked to a nice chewy texture. This was not bad and actually better than I thought it would be.

I also saw something on the menu that I couldn't resist getting….Dao Ko Shao Ji. When we lived in LA, one of my favorite things was Dao Ko Chicken, from of all places Hong Kong Market. I'd tried Dao Ko Shao Ji from just about every place in the area and still enjoyed the one from Hong Kong Market. Then the market did a renovation and the deli case was gone…..sigh. I really missed my chicken. To the point that my Mother In-Law got in touch with an uncle who is a chef in Henan and he sent us a recipe. Read the post….it's a hoot!

When I arrived home and opened the container, the first thing that struck me was how much this looked like Earthen's Shandong Chicken. However, it lacked the sweetness with a touch of vinegar and in fact was kinda bland other than the super strong pungency from the raw garlic topping the chicken. It was one of those dishes that looked much better than it was.

Still, the prices were reasonable, and I really thought the service was excellent. The woman who served me was quite good, no wasted motion and very aware of her tables. She arrived with extra napkins just when I needed it, as soon as I pushed my bowl back she arrived to ask if all was well, then handed me my check. She then arrived with my chicken as soon as I placed money on the plastic tray. She was also quite friendly and nice and put up with my bogus (non-existent) Mandarin quite well……..

Chef Chen's
5408-B Walnut Ave
Irvine, CA 92604

One interesting thing I noticed in across the street and maybe if Elmo reads this he can answer it for me…..what's with the line outside Taiko?

Road Trip: Tri-Village Northern Chinese Cuisine – Irvine (Orange County)

March 29, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

**** Tri Village has closed

After returning from Beijing, the Missus was craving some Beijing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭), aka Peking Duck. Unfortunately, we decided on a visit to Duck House, which was a big disappointment. The Missus had pretty much given up on getting a decent to good Peking Duck…. until She saw this post by Super-OC Food Blogger, and writer for the OC Weekly, Elmomonster. At that point in time, She just couldn't wait to visit Tri-Village. In fact, I took a day off so we could get some duck, and the Missus called ahead and ordered the Beijing Kao Ya. When we arrived at the mall on Jeffrey Road, and saw the restaurant, along with a Kohl's….across the I-5 from the plaza with 99 Ranch Market and such…. the Missus didn't quite know what to think.

She didn't feel much more confident after looking through the menu, and talking to the staff, and finding out that in spite of the name, like Duck House, this is a Taiwanese run kitchen. Great for Taiwanese food, but maybe not for Northern Chinese…… or Beijing Kao Ya.

The restaurant itself is pretty tiny, but very clean. The staff here is very nice and friendly.

On this day, most of the customers were speaking Mandarin; it was to the point that the two couples we saw eating sweet and sour chicken and chow mein really stood out. We then went with one of our favorite moves; we walked slowly to the restroom to check out what the other tables were eating……. and still wasn't convinced; many of the dishes, especially the Dan Bing looked really greasy….

Still the really nice woman brought out a serving tray, set it beside our table. The young man brought out the duck for us to inspect. It seemed a bit light in color, but it did glisten and looked decent. At least they brought out the duck for us. Due to the tight spaces, I really didn't expect a tableside carving…. they might've ended up skewering a patron…. not a good move if you want return customers.

Within a few minutes our carved duck made it's way across the tight dining area and to our table.

Along with the Dan Bing….. which looked a bit dry…..

But turned out to be pretty good, not quite as thin as Beijing, but these displayed a decent chew to them, and wasn't dry in the least.

One of the women stopped what she was doing and came to start assembling our duck. But seeing how busy she was, we told her that we'd be just fine doing this ourselves.

I picked a piece of skin and had a taste, and was surprised. The piece I'd picked had that light crisp richness and almost melted into fatty goodness on my tongue. And the best pieces were exactly that. The skin wasn't quite as flavorful as what we had in Beijing, neither was the meat; but it was miles above what we had a Duck House. And much better than any version we had in San Diego by far.

The sauce served with the duck seemed to be bottled stuff; but we weren't complaining in the least.

The Missus, still traumatized by the awful bean sprouts and duck meat dish at Duck House, decided to spend the extra $6.99 and get lettuce cups……. a big mistake.

Apparently, there wasn't a whole lot of meat left, and the chef decided to add some filler…… deep fried won ton skins! Say what? This was really bland; the Missus dumped almost the whole container of sauce on this in order to eat it. Maybe this time we should have stayed with the bean sprout stir-fry?

We had also ordered the bone soup, another $6.99. It looked really nice when it arrived, looking like a nice soup.

With mushrooms, napa cabbage, and bean thread this was pretty good. The Missus was disappointed that they didn't use frozen tofu for the soup; a real Northern Chinese thing, but we still enjoyed it. Since it came out rather quickly, we knew that the full potential of the soup hadn't been reached. Still, it had a mild wildness to it…. but instead of spending the extra seven bucks, maybe you'll do what the Missus does.

Overall, we really enjoyed the duck, and will be back. The price for the duck, a standard two ways (no soup) is $34.99. We really enjoyed the service, which was friendly, and efficient.

Tri-Village Northern Chinese Cuisine
14121 Jeffrey Road
Irvine, CA 92620

Road Trip: Mas’ Islamic Chinese Restaurant – Anaheim (Orange County)

March 15, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

I'd heard good things about Mas' Islamic restaurant. Located in of all places Anaheim, not exactly your hot bed of Chinese restaurants. But I'd been missing Muslim Chinese, not that the late Jamillah Garden in San Diego made out of this world food, but I'd had some good dishes there. The Missus and I have a soft spot for Islamic Chinese. When the Missus was going to school, She worked briefly at Tung Lai Shun, long gone, but not forgotten, as I think they served the best Chinese Islamic I've ever had. When the Missus and I were first dating, I still remember our wonderful meal at VIP Restaurant in Rowland Heights, which is still there, though I think they've gone through maybe half a dozen owners since then. That meal, featuring a humongous "Da Bing", as huge as a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, along with our first meal at ChungKing Restaurant (the original in Monterey Park) really stoked my interest in Regional and various ethnic Chinese Cuisines. So on a recent Holiday Monday, the Missus and I made a drive up to Anaheim, and the fairly odd location of Mas' Islamic, located on a rather industrial looking area of Orangethorpe Avenue.

As you can tell, on a pretty humble avenue, full of generic looking industrial malls and complexes, Mas' sure stands out. The interior is huge, comprised of several large "rooms". The restaurant, empty when we arrived, filled pretty quickly with the Monday lunch crowd, a mixed bag of Asians, and non-Asians. Most folks were ordering lunch specials….there was a whole lotta "orange chicken" going on. Between that, and the standard place setting…. which covers all bases, gave me a bit of a weird feeling.

Luckily, all the Servers spoke Mandarin, and among the Shrimp with Cashew Nuts, Kung Pao Chicken, and Mongolian Beef, we found items that represented Islamic Chinese food. Being a Halal establishment, Mas' is a "no oink" zone, so don't even be thinking about ordering something like Dong Po Rou.

First to arrive was the "Lamb Dough Sliced Chow Mein"($10.95) aka Dao Xiao Mian (刀削麵 – Knife cut, or knife shaved noodles), where noodles are shaved from a block of rolled dough. My photo doesn't do justice on the portion size… those spoons are actually large serving spoons. This could've fed an army!

From a noodle perspective, this was a pretty good job. The noodles weren't too thick and doughy like versions in San Diego (can you hear me Dumpling Inn?). No "wok hay" here, but the noodles had a decent al dente pull to them. The flavor was truly lacking, with only a hint of soy sauce flavor. Not much lamb in this either, egg was used to stretch the protein. The greyish pallor of the dish didn't do much to stimulate my appetite either. There was three meals of leftovers out of this dish, which had to be fixed up with a ton of soy sauce.

The Thin Sesame Bread ($9.95). I saw this thing, a large pizza sized bread being cut and placed on our platter.

This was pretty good, not too oily, tons of sesame seeds, decent light crustiness, but really short on scallions, leaving it on the bland side.

I'll say this much….. Sammy loved the leftovers!

By this time, we were used to the huge portions, so when our Lamb and Pickled Cabbage Soup (Suan Cai Yang Rou – $9.95) arrived in a huge cauldron we weren't too surprised.

I'm a big fan of Suan Cai Yang Rou, and eat it every chance I get. This however, was not very good. Instead of a nice pickled flavor, the broth had an intense, almost pure vinegar sour. It was so unpleasantly sour that my salivary glands are quivering in fear and shutting down as I look at the photos. The soup was big on regular Napa Cabbage, and short on Suan Cai (a simpled pickled made from Napa Cabbage that is reminiscent of Sauerkraut), so I'm wondering if they added vinegar to make it sour enough? We could only tolerate a few spoonfuls of the broth. We did take it home, but the next day, the soup was even more sour…… and we just couldn't bring ourselves to eat it, though I tried. This was not even close to my favorite version from Tianjin Bistro, and would even prefer Northern Chinese Restaurant's version to this.

One of the women who served us, was very nice. The others were pretty military-like and efficient. The portions here are humongous, and we could have fed 7-8 people with what we ordered. The food, however only made me miss Tung Lai Shun even more. I wonder how VIP is under their new(er) ownership…..maybe we'll just have to get back to China Islamic soon.

Mas' Islamic Restaurant
601 E Orangethorpe Ave
Anaheim, CA 92801

Road Trip: Com Tam Thuan Kieu – Garden Grove (Orange County)

February 23, 2010 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

A while back I was in the Little Saigon area, and being quite hungry, I was in the mood for a Cơm tấm (broken rice) dish. Almost right across Viendong Restaurant is Com Tam Thuan Kieu, which with over a hundred different combinations of item topping broken rice, you could say, ahem…. specializes in Com Tam.

The restaurant itself is fairly neat, and no frills, reminding me of a more run down Banh Cuon Tay Ho. The service is also no frills, you sit, menu arrives and you order, if you're able to pick out what you want from the huge amount of items. There's a steady stream in and out of the restaurant as all the men seem to need to step out for a smoke before, during, and after a meal. In fact, if you have a problem finding the place, just look for all the men smoking……

Chilies, chili paste, and fish sauce, the standard seasonings are provided. I chuckled when I saw the spoons labeled as "spoon" and the forks as "fork", I would have never known. Want some hot tea? Mine was delivered in a large water glass. The knife was delivered with the Nuoc Mam Cham, which wasn't watered down, like some versions in San Diego.

Like I mentioned before, the menu seems to be an endless list of com tam "combinations"….. it is a classic case "Vietnamese menu overload", if I've ever seen it. There are a couple of gut-busting combinations which run up to nine bucks, and includes everything you can think of. Even the seven item combinations, like what Elmo had is enough for a family of two. I went with my tried and true Com Tam Bi Cha Tan Hu Ky Thit (Broken Rice with shredded pork skin, steamed egg, shrimp paste in bean curd skin and charbroiled pork), which at $6.25 is to me, a bargain.

The charbroiled pork looked tough, but was fairly tender, and the marinade was less sweet than most versions. The Bi was nicely flavored but a bit on the dry side, which the nuoc mam cham easily fixed. The Cha, the steamed egg with pork skin and cloud ear fungus was very good, perhaps a bit on the dry side, but chocked full of earthy flavors. They didn't skimp on the fungus in this version.

The Tan Hu Ky really wasn't my favorite, as I enjoy a nice crisp and light bean curd skin, and this was soggy. The shrimp paste was a bit too "squeaky" for me, but the flavor was good. The com tam was fairly fragrant and moist, and better than just about anything in San Diego.

While eating, I was wondering why my meal didn't come with any broth. Well, just as I was finishing up, a bowl of broth was dealt out on my table…. sigh….. Here's another variation of the "appetizer sin", you know, when your appetizers come at the end of your meal. I guess in this case, the broth was dessert?

Along with marking the forks and spoons, serving my hot tea in a water glass, and my soup arriving when I had just finished my meal, I thought the door to the restroom was kinda, well, odd. It was lined with stainless steel looking more like a walk-in door than one for the restroom. It made me feel like I was going into a "deep freeze".

Speaking of deep freeze, I'd been sitting on these photos for a while, thinking I'd be returning. But it just seems like that won't be happening for a while, so I hope you don't mind a very short post.

Com Tam Thuan Kieu
14282 Brookhurst St Ste 2
Garden Grove, CA 92843

Wholesome Choice- Irvine. A Market, and then some.

January 8, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mediterranean Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Just some friends writing about what they ate. Today, it's Cathy writing after she ate.

One Saturday morning, The Mister and I drove North up the 5, took the 405 a few exits, exited at Culver street, went South two lights and stopped here.
Wholesome Choice. The location used to be a Wild Oats (Henry's) Marketplace. It is quite large inside. When you first walk in, there is a line of people waiting for hot Sangak (flatbread) to come out of the oven. I don't take photos of people and so could not get a good one of the ovens. You'll have to go there and see it for yourself.

The bread is four feet long, made from mostly wheat flour, with a starter from the day before, is topped with sesame seeds, costs $2.79, is placed on a piece of brown kraft paper directly from the oven, HOT. I will show you photos later. Here is a story of Sangak .

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It is a regular grocery store, with fruits, vegetables, Halal meats and pretty much the normal Mediterranean stuff. Good prices. Very clean.

Nuts- in all varieties and prices.
Preserved foods and olives from around the world…
Then, at the other end of the store, you notice the cheeses…and what is all that? Looks like steam trays.

Menus above each area (there are Indian, Persian, Chinese, Thai as well as soups, cold deli and bakery sections )
In the soup area, there is Haleem.(a wheat-based porridge)
There is a Gyros and Schawarma area.
A by- the-pound deli area…
So many different Feta cheeses are available…
as well as any other sides you can think of (fresh hummus is $4.49/lb)
…so much more that I haven't shown you.

These are just some of the desserts. There is a fresh baked, by the piece baklava and in house made croissant case…so much.

So anyhow. The Mister and I were hungry and bought some stuff, paid at the cash register and sat down (there are tables inside just past the cash register and also tables out in front of the store).
Here is a photo of one large styrofoam tray, filled with half a baked chicken(with *wonderful* saffron flavor) on top of what must be a pound of Addas Polo (basmati and saffron rice with lentils, currants and dates) ($7.99). The rest of the photo is the Sangak bread we picked up when we walked in. At the midpoint of the Sangak bread…see that hummus in a box…one half pound. The box is 4 inches square…wait.
Here is a photo of the hummus with a normal size plastic fork…the bread is HUGE. It is soft, slightly spongy in the areas where it is not too thin, tears easily tastes so good…the sesame seeds make it more flavorful.
We also got one Koofteh ($3) Ground beef, rice, herbs and yellow split peas in a vegetable stew.

A wonderful place, not that far from here. There is a location in Anaheim Hills also. If you have some free time, take a short drive North. Then stop, shop and eat.

Wholesome Choice Market 18040 Culver Irvine, CA 92612 Open 7-11 daily (Food Court area open 11-8 daily) website

5755 East La Palma Anaheim Hills, CA 92807 Same hours

(The Irvine location is 84 miles from our East County home and the Anaheim location is 106 miles from here. The Anaheim store is about 1/3 larger, formerly had been an Albertsons. That location has a gelato area in the food court. Really good gelato.)

Road Trip: Banh Cuon Tay Ho – Garden Grove (Orange County)

December 9, 2009 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** This location of Banh Cuon Tay Ho has closed

On one of trips to "the OC", we were in need of a snack, and was in the Garden Grove/Westminster area. The Missus and I thought some Banh Cuon would do the trick, especially since the Banh Cuon in San Diego really doesn't match up to what you can get in the Little Saigon area. Because we were close by we stopped at the Garden Grove location of Banh Cuon Tay Ho which looks very clean. And we arrived just at the transitional time when the breakfast folks were headed out and right before the lunch crowd.

This location looks newer and a bit cleaner than the Westminster location, but the tables and chairs are packed in close together. The snorting and slurping older man on the table behind the Missus kept bumping Her during the entire meal….. I offered to switch seats with Her, but She refused. So what the heck….. maybe it made Her feel like She was back in Vietnam?

Another thing we like about BCTH is that they don't fool around with the Nuoc Mam Cham……two pitchers of the stuff was delivered to our table. This pitcher of the spicier version was full when it arrived…….

I just went with the Banh Cuon Dac Biet – the house special ($6.35):

Though not as thin and sticky as the versions we had in Vietnam, I still enjoy the Banh Cuon, the rice sheet has a nice mild pull, and is still thin enough to enjoy. The standard pork and wood ear fungus has decent flavor. Along with the standard accompaniments of Cha Lua and blanched bean sprouts, a version of Banh Tom (deep fried shrimp and sweet potato fritters) and Banh Cong, a sort of mung bean and shrimp fritter is included.

As are all the garnishes:

We also had an extra order of Banh Cong($6), and were warned "it is vegetarian, you know"….. I wonder what kind of vegetable shrimp is? In all fairness, there's only one shrimp attached to the outside of each cake.

Think of this as a savory, dense, mung bean "andagi" if you will. It is quite substantial, and I'm certain that it multiplies in volume once it hits your stomach.

Since the Missus saw it on the menu, She had to order the Bun Rieu ($6.35):

We both thought that this was a subpar version of Bun Rieu; it lacked the flavor of tomato, and was so superbly red that I was wondering if they use food coloring. The noodles were the appropriate thin version, but were super mushy and overcooked. The broth was terrible, much like water with shrimp paste. Not very good eats……