Sandwiches – Page 34

Fat Ivor’s and Meat by the Side of the Road-Valley Center

April 21, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, BBQ, Diner, Sandwiches, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk is on vacation and Cathy is blogging in his place. ed(from Yuma) is in Yuma, not on vacation and not blogging.

Hi again. Long story short, I drive up Valley Center Road quite frequently, regularly noticed signs next to Fat Ivor's Rib Rack and back in 2002, I finally decided to stop and see what the signs were all about. I wrote a post about this in 2006.

In reality, the signs were only out near Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter…it took me a while to realize that was when I was driving regularly to Valley Center. Here's an accurate photo of my viewpoint. The yellow sign closest to the road is "Optimist Hams for Kids", next to a "Got Ribs? We do" sign, then there is that trailer with the Optimist logo on it and the sign for Fat Ivor's Rib Rack. Meat. By the side. Of the road. The driveway is at those signs and the parking area is for Fat Ivor's.

In the back of the parking lot, you can see the smokers, being used for the Optimist's hams, as well as for the beef and pork used on Fat Ivor's menu.
Walk into the restaurant through the left door and seat yourself. The right door is the outdoor Bar area. Fat Ivor's has been in Valley Center for decades and was rebuilt after it burned down two months after the original owner, Tommy Thomas, died.

The restaurant is decorated with American flags, pictures of President Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, patriotic items and is frequented by locals, especially at lunch time.

Locals take advantage of the "Lunch Specials", as well as the "Extra Lunch Specials" (which include a side and beverage if you get it as a half sandwich). You'll notice there aren't any smoked meats on the daily specials menu. This is a diner.
So, The Mister and I ordered from the regular menu and his meal started with a fresh, but unexciting salad with blue cheese dressing…which had chunks of blue cheese at the bottom, but was pretty watery overall.
The main part of His meal was a whole farmed trout-deboned and spread open gently, so as to stay in one whole piece. Lightly cornmeal breaded and perfectly fried, with skin on the bottom, this was fresh and a good, firm fish. It was a 'Lighter Meal' and came with cottage cheese ($10.95)
I ordered the BBQ pork sandwich ($7.95) which comes with a choice of two sides. Baked beans (meaty baked beans) and a lightly dressed cole slaw were my choices. The pork is smoked and sliced (not pulled). Real BBQ. The sandwich is topped with a homemade sauce, which seems to be sweetened with molasses. The sesame seeded bun is well toasted so the sauce doesn't permeate the bun to fall apart.
About midway through, I used the BBQ seasoning (that isn't red pepper) from the tabletop condiment choices. The very nice blend of seasonings, including hot chili, black pepper and salt complimented my sandwich.

Yes, Fat Ivor's is known for the all you can eat beef ribs, which are $13.99, seven days of the week. I've had them. They are well smoked, a bit fatty and better without sauce. People travel here for the evening meals.

Oh. The ham.
The best smoked ham ever. The Optimists use Farmer John hams and smoke them deeply with hickory. We could not wait. It was tonight's dinner…tomorrow's breakfast and lunch… and many more meals, including pea soup. We're having Turkey for Easter.

Fat Ivor's 27961 Valley Center Road, Valley Center, CA 92082 (760) 749-0600

Farm Market and Sandwiches

March 21, 2011 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Markets & Grocers, Sandwiches

**** Farm Market & Sandwiches has closed

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Bale on Linda Vista was gone (again) , and in its place was Farm Sandwiches and Market. With a name like that, I almost expected a little mercado making tortas on the side. A bit confused I decided to drop by a couple of days later……

And noticed that not much had changed, except the name. The shop still made Banh Mi and the market side, though looking a bit worn was still trucking along.

Even the sandwich sign looked the same, as were the prices……. for some reason, I couldn't recollect seeing Bo Dao Phong (a peanut butter sandwich) on the menu before! (no kim chi peanut butter banh mi, though).

Since I was here, I decided to order a couple of sandwiches. This might have been my most unfortunate decision of the week. The guy in front of me started snickering when I placed my order. When I asked him what was up, he shook his head and told me he had ordered a dozen sandwiches, and was still waiting for them 25 minutes later. There was one woman who also placed an order for two sandwiches right before me. She was smart enough to leave and returned for her sandwiches later. The poor guy waited another 25 minutes for his sandwiches! Then it was my turn to be the poor guy……

Pacing the floor, I noticed how worn down this place is looking.

Half open containers, partially cut fruit, the place looked quite disheveled. Meanwhile, I looked and noticed that there were three people working on making sandwiches. The woman returned for her sandwiches, and still had to wait ten minutes. It really looked like the folks making the sandwiches were walking under-water…… another ten minutes, and my sandwiches were ready. Forty-five minutes for two sandwiches……

Carrying the bag to the car, I noticed how heavy these sandwiches were.

I started with the Dac Biet (House special combination – $3.50) first.

The bread (from Le Chef….. standing around so long, you couldn't help but pick up on things) for both sandwiches was severely under-toasted. Thus the always pleasing flaky-crusty texture was missing. The sandwich was stuffed with generous amounts of a very bland Cha Lua (defatted pork sausage) and a tough and bland BBQ Pork. The pickles were really cut thick and didn't have much flavor either. I won't even go into the very old and thick cilantro stems…..

I thought I would fair better with the Nem Chua ($3) Banh Mi. Nem Chua, a naturally fermented pork based sausage, is one of my favorite things.

In spite of having all of the sort-comings my other sandwich had, this was a tad better. There was quite a large portion of Nem Chua in the Banh Mi. Still, it was a lot milder than the sour-tangy-salty notes I love in my sour sausage.

I must admit, the folks looked to be trying real hard, but really seemed like they were not up to the task. I don't think I'll be rushing back for Banh Mi from here.

Farm Market and Sandwiches
6959 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA

COMC: Lefty’s Chicago Pizzeria – Mission Hills

March 11, 2011 mmm-yoso Hot Dogs, Sandwiches

This one is from last year….. yes, I'm COMC (Clearing Out the Memory Card). After returning from Chicago, I guess I mentioned Chicago Dogs one too many times…. the Missus suddenly wanted a Chicago Dog! We decided to check out Lefty's in Mission Hills……

Though I've been to the North Park location a couple of times, and even included Lefty's in my Chicago Dog marathon post (sadly the other two places have closed), I haven't been here since it was Phil's BBQ.

By San Diego standards the Chicago Dog and fries is a relative bargain at $4.25….. by Chicago standards…. well, let's put it this way; I could get a Chicago Dog and a generous portion of Duck Fat Fries from Hot Doug's for a buck more.

I like the Chicago Dog from Lefty's, the dog has a decent snap, there are most of the working parts I enjoy in a Chicago Dog, the sport peppers, and so forth. I do wish that they'd put a bit more celery salt in the dog…. but hey, there are folks that don't care for the stuff I guess. The bun seemed a bit on the soggy side, but the Missus had no complaints. She also enjoyed the hand-cut fries; while not sporting a good amount of skin, it had a nice potato flavor.

I ordered a Chicago Beef, which at $7 is about two bucks more than Chicago. I didn't expect anything close to what I had in Chicago, which was a good thing, since this was basically a French Dip with bottled Giardiniera.

This was much too dry, the beef tasted like regular roast beef dunked in processed "jus".

Oh well, you can't win them all. I'll stick with the Chicago Dogs….

Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria
4030 Goldfinch St
San Diego, CA 92103

Postscript: I've had a couple folks ask, and recommend Chicago style deep dish/stuffed pizzas (including you Liver!). And if you wonder why you've never seen a post…. well, the explanation's rather simple. But I'm sure you'd rather a have a story instead, right? More than couple of years ago, I was in Chicago on business. I had my eyes on some stuffed pizza, but one of the folks I was with insisted that we go here first.

Pizzeria Due…… we kill a deep dish, but man, all that cheese is killing my lactose intolerant self. We head off and stop at Giordano's. Because I'm with the folks I work with…. well, I gotta at least try…….man, this was tough. I'll spare you the gory details and just say, all that cheese almost killed me……. talk about "due"……

Chicago: Scooby’s Red Hots (Arlington Heights), Mr Beef and Pizza (Mt Prospect), and Buona Beef (Itasca)

February 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Chains, Chicago, Hot Dogs, Sandwiches, Travel

I'm thinking I'd better finish off my Chicago area posts…….

In some strange way, I felt somewhat restored after my Italian Beef from Johnnie's so I went for a drive around the Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect area. Right up the street from Johnnie's, also on Arlington Heights Road was this rather bright looking shop called……

Scooby's Red Hots:

Hey, it's Chicago…. in San Diego, you got taco shops,,,, in Chicagoland, it's Hot Dogs and Italian Beef! The interior was a colorful melange of retro looking posters, signs, and the like……

Well, this place says "red hots"….. and the Vienna Beef sign hangs proudly in the window, so what else am I going to get?

This dog had a good "snap" to it, and the bun was better than what I had at Peep's…… I lamented the lack of celery salt on this one. Still, it was a pretty good dog, and for under two bucks….. not a bad deal.

Scooby's Red Hots
1039 South Arlington Heights Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

I called it a night after that dog, awoke the next morning, checked ot of my hotel, jumped into the rental car, and drove around a bit more. I actually had "breakfast" at Five Guys in Mount Prospect. As I drove down Elmhurst Road, I noticed a somewhat familiar name.

Mr Beef and Pizza:

Before my Beef from Johnnie's, the best Italian Beef I'd had was from Mr Beef on North Orleans. Well…. this place said Mr Beef… so could it be?

Looking at the dining room…..kinda beat, this looked more like a kid arcade than a serious Italian Beef shop.

In fact, it seemed that more folks were getting pizza than anything else….. I should have taken that as a warning and left, but I went ahead and ordered the Beef Sandwich with Hot Peppers.

This tasted like mass produced deli roast beef that had been soaking in canned jus…… it just wasn't very good.

It just wasn't a very good sandwich…… and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the other "Mr Beef" I ate at before….

Mr Beef & Pizza
1796 S Elmhurst Rd
Mount Prospect, IL 60056

After this, I jumped back in my car and headed off to the airport……. except I decided to take the "long way". I had one more stop in mind. Further down Arlington Heights Road lay an outpost of a Italian Beef chain I was told that I needed to try….

Buona Beef:

This location is in the "village" of Itasca, and looked spanking new.

Started in 1981, there are now over a dozen Buno Beef restaurants in the greater Chicago area.

The look of the place was in total contrast to the Mom and Pop Italian Beef shops….. I remember emailing Cathy and telling her this place looked more like Panera Bread, Chipotle, or some other "fast casual" restaurant.

Of course that didn't stop me from getting a Italian Beef with Hot Peppers……

The overall sandwich was too dry for my tastes….. perhaps there's a step or request I missed? The Beef had a nice flavor, though some of it was fairly rare….which seems to take this closer to roast beef. The hot peppers had a little zip, but due to the amount of olives was more briny than spicy. There was a bit too much bread (thought it was pretty good) for this type of sandwich. In the end; it just wasn't "wet" enough for my taste. This was more like a roast beef sandwich in disguise.

And yet, if there was a Buona Beef in San Diego, I'd be eating there once in a while.

Buona Beef Restaurant
1170 N Arlington Heights Road
Itasca, IL 60143

As I waited in the boarding area at O'Hare, I mentally took stock of what I had eaten in the last day: A Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage and Duck Fat Fries, two Chicago Dogs, One burger from Five Guys, and three Italian Beef Sandwiches…… that's a pretty good 36 hours in my book!

Sometimes it’s all in the timing……..

February 22, 2011 mmm-yoso Sandwiches, Sushi and Sashimi

**** Both Tarttoria Firenze and Sushi Yaro have closed

It's kinda late…..so just something quick for tonight. Sometimes, it's all about getting just what you wanted.

I was pretty bushed the other evening, the Missus was working, and I needed to stop by Henry's on Genesee to pick up some stuff. I decided to stop by Trattoria Firenze, first thinking of some pizza, but not wanting anything too heavy, ordered the Italian Sub. Being just $5.75, I really didn't expect much. I ordered, did my shopping, and picked up the sandwich on my way back to the car……

It was still warm when I made it home. The simple white paper……didn't look like anything much…..

It was nicely toasted…… I'm not so much into over-stuffed sandwiches, so the slices of salami, pepperoni, cappacola, and ham did nicely by me. The crust was nicely toasted and crusty…. Italian Dressing didn't over-power anything…..

But there was something a bit more to this…. I opened up the sandwich, and sniffed…. the sandwich had a mild buttery-garlic flavor….. they had used garlic bread spread! It was just what I wanted; nothing really heavy, but something with flavor……

I have a couple of funny observations about the place, but I'll save that for another day…..

Trattoria Firenze
4421 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Here's my tenth million photo of sashimi from Sushi Yaro…….

When the Missus is working evenings, I'll often just pop by, get some sashimi and gohan (rice), and that'll do it for me……

On this evening, just as I was finishing my sashimi, another plate came out.

Knowing your Itamae has its benefits. Sam thought he had something special on his hands, and wanted to make sure I had it. These were two huge amaebi….enough for a meal in itself.

The shell around the head was a bit too thick to eat; but everything else was fair game…..

Especially this:

Both amaebi were full of eggs! Talk about delici-yoso!

Sam told me that every one of these he had on hand were full off eggs, and I was lucky to have come in that evening…. too bad the Missus wasn't here, She would have gone to town.

Sometimes it all works out….. you're in the right place at the right time! I'm sure you've had those moments, right?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The two favorites:

Express Deli:

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

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

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

Cali Baguette Express:

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

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

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

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

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

Sorrento European Bakery:

**** Sorrento European Bakery has closed

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

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

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

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

Corner Sandwich & Cafe:

Corner Sandwich & Cafe has closed

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

The sandwich itself looked promising when opened up.

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

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

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

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

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

BaLe:

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

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

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

Had the most hefty sandwich of the bunch.

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

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

Baguette Up:

**** Baguette Up has closed

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

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

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

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

Fruitland & Deli- A fruiteria in El Cajon.

January 21, 2011 Cathy Fruiterias, Sandwiches, Seafood, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Fruitland & Deli has closed.

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are perusing. Cathy is writing today, because Kirk is busy perusing things and ed (from Yuma) is busier perusing even more things.

Hi again. In the last two years, a friend has taken me to Jamba Juice. Twice. I was overwhelmed both times, having to order from the huge menu board with many choices and derivations. I always have gone to Fruiterias around town and could not understand how JJ had peaches in February… and finally asked my friend who looked at me and slowly said "it's frozen fruit"…Oh. OH. I tried to explain my not understanding.

Then, I realized I have never even posted about Fruiterias on this blog. So, here is a post about one in East County. {A fruiteria is basically a fruit shop where fresh fruit is served in various ways and other items, usually sandwiches and chilled seafood, are offered so as to make small meals. A neighborhood Mexican Bistro Cafe -no tacos or burritos or salsa bar.}

Fruitland and Deli has been on this corner where Second turns into Jamacha at Main Street in El Cajon for about three years now. It is in the same parking lot as Dubai (now Sultan)is located.
Clean and not too small (seating for about 25) inside, it offers items all Fruiterias offer…
with a menu in English above the ordering area.

Happy colors decorate the interior. A selection of hot sauces are on every table.

Ices(raspados), smoothies, milk drinks(licuados), all juice-juices, 'diet' juices (not with artificial ingredients, but with vegetables as well as fruit…(you drink for the diet effects)), iced coffee drinks, fruit bowls-large in size, even the 'small' for $6.50-(plain, topped with yogurt or cottage cheese, crema or condensed milk and granola), paletas(ice cream on a stick..wonderful flavors), sandwiches, seafood, tostilocos (another post), tamales and salads.
#1 Licuado (milk shake) (small) ($3.60)There is powdered milk in this one, made with papaya, banana, cantaloupe, banana and strawberries.
Medium camarones coctele (shrimp cocktail)($9.60) We counted 23 good sized, plump and flavorful shrimp in this one. The broth was mostly lime juice, not overly tomato. However the cucumber, avocado and cilantro made this quite delightful and very flavored. It's refreshing.

We decided to share a pork torta (#1)($6.50), especially after the Young Man behind the counter told us the bread was made fresh daily in the store.
This sandwich, made with a good portion of sliced, moist and flavorful pork roast and a bit of mayonnaise, was topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeno and avocado and is definitely a meal in itself. The bread was indeed fresh, with a nice crispy crust and it was toasted.

Everything here is fresh, seasonal and takes a short while to be brought out, because it is all made to order. This is how I enjoy eating.

Fruitland & Deli 109 Jamacha (between Main and 2nd) El Cajon 92019

Chicago – Johnnie’s Beef (Arlington Heights)

January 10, 2011 mmm-yoso Chicago, Sandwiches, Travel

Awakening from a Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage coma, I felt compelled to make the most of my time in Chicago and at least try to get something to eat. I really didn't feel like driving back into downtown Chicago, but what could I get in Arlington Heights? I quickly had an answer. Earlier in the day I drove up Arlington Heights Road past a shop that the same fella who mentioned Peep's told me about. Leaving no room for wiggle, I was simply told that "Johnnie's Beef makes the best Italian Beef, no two ways about it!"

So after a quick shower to rejuvenate myself, I jumped in the rental car, and headed North for a couple of blocks to Johnnie's Beef. Walking through the doors a wonderful beefy smell hit me, and I was ready for action.

The service…. well, more like the procedure here was mercifully fast. You order, and in no time you have your Italian Beef ready to go. And because there is a constant flow of customers…. you really don't want to mess up the rhythm by taking too much time.

The sandwich….I got mine "dipped" with hot peppers, rang in at a shade over four bucks. It's not a super-stuffed sandwich, but well proportioned for my taste.

I've had Italian Beef sandwiches at Mr Beef (On N Harlem) and Portillo's, but nothing has come close to this. The beef wasn't cut too thin, but was very tender, yet not mushy, full of beefy goodness. The sandwich was just soaked enough, the crust retained a nice chew, and the bread was wet, but not over-saturated with juices that had retained a good beef flavor, with a belnd of herbs and spcies that were balanced. In addition to some crunch, the spicy giardiniera had the perfect amount of heat and brine to wake up my still sluggish palate. In fact, I guess you could say that this was strangely invigorating.

Good thing Johnnie's is in Chicago. If it was here in San Diego, I'd be in line a couple times a week.

The next morning while checking out, thinking that perhaps there might be something even better out there, I asked the young man at the front desk for a recommendation for an Italian Beef sandwich. He immediately replied, "Johnnie's Beef." Digging a little deeper, I mentioned that I had Johnnie's the night before, and if he'd have any other recommendations. Suddenly, a loud, disembodied voice boomed out of an open doorway, "if you tell him anything other than Johnnie's you better get your friggin' a$$ outta here cause you're fired!"

Well, I guess that answers my question, huh?

Johnnie's Beef
1935 South Arlington Heights Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Baguette Up

January 9, 2011 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Baguette Up has closed

A couple months back FOY (Friend of Yoso) Pheth mentioned a new Banh Mi shop opening in the same strip mall as Vinh Hung Market, Luong Hai Ky, et al in Mira Mesa….. I had to chuckle when she mentioned that the name of the place was Baguette Up. How…. umm, well cute isn't the right word, neither is quaint…. witty perhaps? About a week later "Melanie" mentioned this shop in her email about Song Huong. So it was only a matter of time it was "batter up" for Baguette Up (I guess I can almost be as pun-ny).

Baguette Up has its' own doorway, but seems to share space with the Boba shop named Bobalicious (of course…). Actually, the space for the Boba (sorry, I have a limit on how many times I'm willing to type out out Boba-licious) is twice as large.

For some reason I'm reminded of an ice cream shop whenever I walk in. Even though the menu says, "deliciously different"….. funny, but I don't see anything really different about the fourteen Banh Mi, several of which are "gringo specials" from other Banh Mi shops.

As for the prices; well they're pretty much in line with the other Banh Mi shops in the area as well.

So of course I went with the #1, the "special" (aka Banh Mi Dac Biet – $3.50) just to see what their Dac Biet consisted of. There's nary a word in Vietnamese as far as I could see; so it just seemed that this place was trying to distance itself. The sandwich itself seemed pretty small when I got it.

The bread itself was very fresh on this visit…. it had that light flakiness of a decent Vietnamese Baguette. Opening up the sandwich I was also pleasantly surprised to see pate, albeit a very mild pate, but I was glad to see that this little shop was actually trying to make a proper Banh Mi.

The overall portions of meat in the sandwich was on the small side; think Express Deli with lower quality protein. Also the pickled carrot, there was hardly any daikon, was not pickled enough, and hardly had any flavor.

The one interesting thing was the jalapenos. The jalapenos in this sandwich had some kick, which just about killed off everything in the sandwich. On the good side, it was just cilantro leaves, and not all the tough stems, which was nice for a change.

In the end, I thought this sandwich was not a very good value. And usually that would be it for me. Except for two things; first, the young lady manning the counter has got to be one of the nicest, friendliest, and attentive persons I've had the pleasure of coming across in a while.

Second, before walking out to the car to consume my sandwich, I noticed something which I could perhaps call "deliciously different"…. it was lucky #8:

After all, I always say "everything tastes better ina Banh Mi" right? (And I do mean everything.) So I returned for a SPAM® and Egg Sandwich ($3). There was a different young lady this time; but with the same sunny disposition:

I mean really, there are few things in my world better than SPAM® and eggs, and those would be SPAM® musubis, and perhaps Spam® Katsu Curry? This time, the bread wasn't so fresh, but there were two eggs in my Banh Mi, and with two slices of SPAM® this was fairly filling.

And if I wanted to get nit-picky, the eggs were cooked a bit more than I'd prefer, the pickled vegetables were still terrible, and all Banh Mi Trung (egg Banh Mi) should always have a sprinkling of Maggi. Still, this was a decent sandwich. But don't think it was a huge sandwich……

Because it was not….. but it would be a good breakfast. Which gets me to my next point; there are three egg sandwiches on the menu, but the place doesn't open until 11am.

So what can I say? That SPAM® and Egg was okay, the special less so. Service was great, prices are in line, not sure if I'll return, but it's always fun checking out a new place!

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

Thanks for pointing this place out to me Pheth and Melanie, I'd have never found it otherwise!

Say Cheese……Steaks, an addendum – Voltero’s, Sodhi’s (Letty’s??) Bean Shack, and Jersey Mike’s

August 29, 2010 mmm-yoso Cheesesteaks, Sandwiches

*** You can find Part 3 here.

I hope you don't mind another cheesesteak post to go with my original. These are more like sloppy seconds, with nothing that really compares to my favorites. I will say that I got some interesting emails from that post, so here's one that was a recommendation (thanks Derek!), one that I had forgotten about, and one out of nowhere.

Voltero's Pizza:

**** Voltero's has closed

I'd been to Voltero's a couple of times before, but had forgotten that they sold cheesesteaks. For me Voltero's is typical of the neighborhood pizza joint; good prices, friendly staff, and pretty hefty portions.

The cheesesteak at Voltero's comes with either fries or a green salad…. guess which I selected? It's also priced right at $6.95.

I noticed that the roll was not an Amoroso right off. It was a nice, crusty Italian that did not bad, but was a bit too much bread. At least it was slightly toasted and warm.

The cheese was nicely melted and decently gooey, which I believe was provolone. The meat was on the dry side, but the flavors along with the bell peppers and what I call "pizza mushrooms", (thinly sliced mushrooms usually used to top pizzas) was pretty good. This was pretty close, but not quite.

The funny thing was, I enjoyed the fries…..

And then I realized that I hadn't had fries since the beginning of April. So these hit the spot.

Overall a good value…… and much better then the Philadelphia Sandwich Company, which is kinda depressing if you think about it.

Voltero's Pizza
5650 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Sodhi's (Letty's) Bean Shack:

**** Sodhi's has closed

Well, the sign says "Sodhi's", and the menu says "Letty's" so I'm trying to cover all bases on this one. Located on a side street across from UCSD Medical Center; I'm guessing this place makes a living on giving folks an alternative to Hospital food.

The Cheesesteak here also comes with fries, and is even cheaper than Voltero's at $6.75:

The biggest surprise for me was that this sandwich came on an Amoroso roll! The portion of meat was bit on the small side, and the meat had been placed on the flat-top with onions, topped with cheese which melted nicely, the roll was then placed on top of everything and it was scooped up and put into the styrofoam box. Of course, this meant the roll was still cold, and had not benefited from any toasting.

The sandwich was also a bit dry for my tastes. Cold Roll + small portion + dryness = mediocre cheesesteak.

A generous portion of "steak fries" were served with the sandwich.

These were fried golden brown…. or should I say double, or even triple fried??? The fries were already cooked and still in the basket. When the order was placed, the fries were dumped back into the oil for reheating. They didn't seem to suffer any ill effects…..

Letty's Bean Shack
4229 Front St
San Diego, CA 92103

Jersey Mike's Subs – Rosecrans:

FOY "Derek" asked me to try out the cheesesteaks at Jersey Mike's. So, of course I did so at my earliest opportunity. I do have to apologize about the poor quality of my photos…. I don't know what the heck happened that day. I've already done a post on Jersey Mike's Rosecrans location, so I decided to return to that shop for my cheesesteak.

Even a regular sized sandwich looks pretty huge…….

The bread, with an almost cracker like flavor, does well with Italian Subs, but for me, it tends to interfere with the flavor of a cheesesteak.

It was also cold and the ratio of bread to filling was off…. too much bread in this case. In fact, there was too much of mostly everything, peppers, bread, onions, to meat for my taste. I pulled out some of the meat and had a taste, and the right flavor was indeed there; but it was just overpowered in this case.

On one interesting note; the #13 "Original Italian" has kinda grown on the Missus and I. It's still pretty much a "salad in a bun", but we sure do prefer it over Subway, and other of shops of that ilk.

Jersey Mike's Subs
3670 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA 92110

You can read my original Cheesesteak post here.