Thai Restaurants – Page 17

Thai By Tara

February 14, 2008 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

*** Thai by Tara is now Sab-E-Lee. You can find a post here.

There are some locations that seem cursed, locations come and go, changing every year or so. This location right off the corner of Ulric and Linda Vista Road is one of them. A few years back, it was a Banh Mi, and Vietnamese shop called, Linda Vista Food to Go, less than 2 years later, under new Ownership, it became a "Mi" shop called Mi Ngoc So 1. Than, last month ago, "Noodlefan" mentioned a new restaurant in this spot in His comment under the Filiberto’s Linda Vista post. That’ll be 3 restaurant in 3 years! And a Thai Restaurant to boot……. Of course, we made sure to check it out ASAP. Funny thing was, as I was getting ready to post I realized that I could never figure out what the name of this place was….

Ummmm, can you? Finally, on our last visit we asked…..and the Owner, a very funny, energetic Lady, told me "Thai By Tara". So Thai by Tara it is….even though it has a weird ring to it, I mean it sounds almost like a nail or hair place….Nails by Tara, or Hair by Tara….

The tiny restaurant has had a bit of freshening up, but otherwise has not changed much.

What has changed…other than the menu, is the personality of this shop….Tara(I’m guessing the restaurant is her namesake) has a personality like your outgoing, bossy, generous Aunt. Twice while eating, "Tara" brought out some nice dishes, and made sure to show them to us, with an, "Hmmm, looks good, huh? Next time you order this…." To be honest, the first time I looked at the menu, I was a bit disappointed….it looked like the typical "choose your meat, choose your sauce" style of Thai Restaurant. But the prices were quite good, with regular prices starting at $5.95. And when I turned the menu over, I noticed some "house specials" that looked promising…and nothing over $7.95.

There wasn’t much else to do, but to start ordering. And soon enough, a nice tray of condiments made its way to our table. Things were looking up.

We started with the Pad See Ew with Chicken($5.95):

This was borderline terrible…the dish was on the greasy side, the noodles mushy, and overall very under flavored…it needed a bit more soy and garlic.

Luckily, the meal was rescued by the Namtok, which was priced at $7.95 on the menu, but we were charged $5.95….in fact everything we had was $5.95.

This grilled beef salad was quite good. The beef was to our surprise very tender, in fact the Missus kept eating piece after piece….later She told me; "that first piece was so tender, that I thought it was a fluke, so I had another, and it was tender, so I had another….." I enjoyed the crisp "bite" of the onion, combined with the nutty roasted rice powder. Granted, I added some pickled chilies for a bit more heat, as well as a good squeeze of lime.

The Som Tum.

We enjoyed the crisp shredded papaya, the sweetness was spot on, as was the heat. There were 3 large plump, and perfectly cooked shrimp, though I did miss the savory rehydrated and shredded dried shrimp. Overall, not bad, not enough tomato and too much shredded carrot(?), and we’d have enjoyed some long bean.

The Shrimp Fried Rice.

If there’s any reason to return, it would be this…nicely "wokked", great flavors, including lots of garlic…and 6 shrimp! For $5.95!

The Green Curry with Chicken:

Too watery and sweet, weak in the curry department.

Kai Kra Pow:

This minced chicken stir fry was on the sweet side for me, though the Missus enjoyed it. I think it was the nicely fried egg that reeled Her in.

Beef Larb:

This was a nice dish, finally a Larb with enough herbs….the roasted rice powder was a nice touch. The flavor was quite good, though the Larb was a bit on the dry side. The acid test? The Missus said this was much better than the version I make. Hmmm……

Hot Basil with Beef:

Another one of those, choose the meat, choose the sauce dishes. Beef was fairly tender, not enough basil flavor. Mediocre…..

And finally, the Pad Thai with Tofu:

The noodles were perfect in texture, just the right amount of elasticity. We would have preferred fried tofu, it has a better texture, and more flavor. This Pad Thai was very bland……

As you can see, its a mixed bag…but the prices allow you the luxury of really trying out the various dishes. And we found a few that we’d have again.

The restaurant is small, 5 tables crowded into a small space. The Owner is very nice and funny….one day She shared some really nice "Ginger Tea" with us. On one occasion, The Missus and I watched in amusement as a young Hispanic Man ate his noodle soup with wooden chopsticks….that he never broke apart! We were amazed at his ability to feed himself……he used the one piece chopstick as a glorified fork, and twirled the noodles around the chopstick like pasta.

Oh……and Buddha eats really well here!

Which made me think that there’s a lot more than what’s on the menu….next time I want some of that!

Thai By Tara
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858)650-6868

Hours – Mon-Fri 9am-8pm
Sat-Sun 10am-9pm

Thanks again for the recommendation Noodlefan!

High Way 95 Cafe – Yuma

July 6, 2007 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Yeh, it's ed from Yuma again. Today I decided to write about one of Yuma's Asian restaurants. Yes, you read that right – Yuma has Asian restaurants.

March 2011 update: Since this post was published, Hwy 95 opened a fancier location called Palagor, which closed after a few months. More recently, they have taken over the old Fortune Cookie locationat B and 16th, so they now have two restaurants.

This small restaurant perched at the edge of town on Hwy 95 is overall the best Asian restaurant in Yuma.

You don't know how hard it is for me to write that last sentence. First off, I am automatically suspicious of any restaurant that claims to serve "Mandarin, Thai, and Asian Cuisine." In addition, some of my first visits to the restaurant were unpleasant: The "pan-fried" dumplings were deep fried. An "Indian" noodle dish was a nasty disaster. On one of my first visits to the place with friends, they forgot one person's order – and that person was (at that time) my girlfriend (now my latest ex-girlfriend). I also have developed a long relationship with another Chinese restaurant in town that is still a personal favorite. So it has been hard for me to concede primacy to Highway 95 Cafe, but as a whole, this is the best in town in terms of quality and especially variety.

One thing I love about the place are the varieties of soup noodles. This is the Roast Pork with Wonton Noodles Soup (5.95)

A very nice-looking and generous bowl of soup. Though hard to tell from the photo, the roast pork is in chunks, not thin slices, and has a good porky flavor. It includes plenty of perfectly done noodles with some pull to them, a few leaves of napa cabbage, and several broccoli florets. On the other hand, the two wontons are pretty flavorless and filled with just a little ground mystery meat. Similarly, the broth lacks a deep savory richness, its main flavor note being a background hint of soy sauce. Nonetheless, I would gladly order this hearty soup again.

Surprisingly (considering that the owners and chefs at the restaurant are Mandarin speaking Chinese), some of the best noodle soups on the menu are versions of Thai soups. The Tom Yum soup (without noodles $4.95, with noodles $5.95) caught my attention the very first time I slurped up a spoonful of its sour and spicy broth. While the underlying stock may be as lightly flavored as in the pork noodle soup, here the Thai spices, lemon grass, and sour tang provide a depth of taste that the other soup lacked:

Yes, that soup is as spicy hot as it looks. Another Thai style noodle soup is the Coconut Curry Noodles Soup (5.95).

Here the spicy hot broth is matched by Thai red curry flavors and the creamy mouthfeel of coconut milk. I also love the array of veggies here. In addition to the red onions, cilantro, eggplant strips, and shrimp visible in the large photo, there are chunks of chicken, sizable pieces of green bean, slices of tofu, and two or three baby okras. While this may not seem amazing to those of you who live in large cities, such a range of unusual veggies is hard to find in most restaurants in Yuma, much less all put together in one soupbowl. For some reason, I had never tried this soup before I started visiting the Highway 95 Cafe to take pictures for this post. What a discovery!

Another of my favorite dishes here is the Pad Thai:

I know some of you are probably thinking, how ordinary. And yes, this classic dish, which has introduced many newbies to the wonders of Thai cuisine, is often perfunctorily bland and clumsily prepared even at good Thai restaurants. Highway 95's version, however, is as good as I've ever had – anywhere (of course, I have never been to Bangkok). The rice noodles are perfectly cooked and then stirfried with a whole scrambled egg, 5 or 6 small fresh-tasting shrimp, several chunks of chicken, a few strips of tofu, green onions, and bean sprouts. The combination provides various textures and multiple flavor notes. The Pad Thai is also supremely well-balanced. I order it extra spicy, so I get two small dried red chilies, and this background heat matches up nicely with the tang of the lime wedge, the hints of tamarind, and a touch of sweetness. I'm sitting here at my computer salivating at the thought of it.

I don't mean to imply that everything is outstanding at the cafe. In my mind, it is too difficult to do such a wide range of cuisines with uniform success. Recently, I tried the Chow Kueh Teow, a Malaysian seafood and noodle stirfry($6.95). Although I generally liked most of the mixture of seafood (shrimp, mussels, and tender squid slices), krab was the predominent element. Also, unlike the Pad Thai, this dish lacked much interplay between its various elements as soy sauce provided the primary flavor, making the end result monochromatic in taste and in looks.

Another dish that left something to be desired was the Seafood Chow Fun with Lobster Sauce ($8.95). I don't mean to imply that this item was a total failure. The three large shrimp were pristine and quite tasty. On the other hand, the rest of the seafood consisted of one small clam and a few pieces of krab. Moreover, when I look at my photo, I'm not sure if it's a bit blurry or if that's how this noodle dish actually looked in real life. Yes friends, just as it appears, this was a bowl of either gloppy goop or goopy glop – I'm not sure which. To make it worse, both the chow fun and the little bit of cabbage and carrot were overcooked, so the mouthfeel was as uninteresting texturely as this picture is boring visually. Like the photo, the flavors were monotone and understated as well.

Nonetheless, it really wouldn't be fair to end a look at Yuma's best Asian restaurant on such a down note, so I'd like to finish with two of their best items. The Kong Pao Chicken (Sm $4.25, Lg $7.25) is a good version of that classic dish:

Served with plenty of steamed rice, this is the small size portion of the Kong Pao Chicken, and it is full of flavor. The first tastes hit the mouth with both the hot spiciness of the chilies and a distinct peanut flavor. The textures contribute excellent contrasts as all the crunchy ingredients – peanuts, celery and finely diced water chestnuts (and something else I couldn't identify) – balance against the extremely tender chicken pieces. In fact, I have only two minor complaints about this fine lunch: 1) the chicken is almost too tender and lacks chickeny flavor (maybe too much parboiling?), and 2) there is a background sweet flavor that is unfortunately common in much Chinese food prepared for Americans.

Another excellent item is Homestyle Bean Curd ($6.25):

What's not to like? The tofu is perfectly cooked with a chewy skin and moist and tender interior. The tofu plays off against the crunch of the cabbage and broccoli. The chile flavor is also excellent. It is hard to see from this photo, but that chile in the foreground is not your standard Chinese restaurant chile. If you look carefully, this chile still has a dark green cap on it. According to my good friend and eating buddy, Chip, the proprietors actually grow some of their own chilies for use in special dishes at the restaurant. And this is a special dish.

Because of the good flavors, wide range of dishes, and excellent prices, Highway 95 Cafe has been voted the best Asian restaurant in Yuma by readers of the local paper. I know that these sorts of polls often select eateries about as well as American voters choose politicians, but in this case, I must admit, they got it right. Let's just hope the voters do as well in 2008.

High Way 95 Asian Cuisine, 2585 E. 16th St. , Yuma AZ, (928) 329-8882.

Portland: Pok Pok Whiskey Soda Lounge

June 20, 2007 mmm-yoso Portland, Oregon, Thai Restaurants, Travel

*** The Whiskey Soda Lounge has closed

Before our recent trip to Portland, there was not enough good things I could say about Pok Pok. And as time went by I became even more excited. You see, from the little "shed that could", the Whiskey Soda Lounge had evolved, with a more interesting and diverse menu(no worries…Pok Pok "to go" is still there). I could hardly wait. As I noted in my previous post, this was mainly a trip for my In-Laws, but the Missus and I made plans for at least one meal in each city just for us. And for us, this meant catching the #4 bus, and getting off on SE Division.

Knowing that the Whiskey Soda Lounge didn't accept reservations, we made sure to get there as early as possible. We saw the sign, and the path that traveled down a short cement path to the basement and the Whiskey Soda Lounge. It was quite interesting, the last time I visited this was just a ditch!

The tall gentleman met us at the little portable metal desk, and said simply, "this way", and walked us into the Whiskey Soda Lounge.

I liked the dark and "divey" interior which does play on the imagination, I could almost imagine being in a foreign land.

This is where we hit a bump in the road. I can understand the close proximity of the tables in the WSL. I mean, it is a basement. When we arrived, only 3 tables were occupied, and there were several booths against the back wall, each unoccupied. We were taken to what must be the second tiniest table in the restaurant, right in front of the window where you could see some of the cooking done in the yard. Because the booths were empty, the Missus asked if we could have one of the booths. The tall gentleman looked down at us, and crossing his hands said, "no, absolutely not, the booths are for parties of 3 or more." Which was fine by us…EXCEPT, that not 5 minutes later a couple walked in, and was seated. They asked to sit at the very booth that we had been denied, and the host told them, "ok, no problem!" Go figure…..the Missus, a bit perturbed told me, "okay, you got your restaurant…we're going to eat, and leave, A-S-A-P!" She obviously felt slighted, and didn't appreciate the Host's somewhat gruff attitude.

So off to the food. Of course we started with the Papaya "Pok Pok" and requested Blue Crab…oops, correction, we were told Salted Black Crab($7.50 + $2.50):

As good as I remembered, very balanced in flavor, a nice refreshing salty-sweet-sour in flavor. Still one of my favorite versions of this classic dish.

The Kung Op Woon Sen($14.00). We could watch this clay pot dish cooking over charcoal through the window.

A nice dish, at the bottom of this clay pot was a layer of pork belly, nice and slightly charred, and several very large shrimp, though very mild in flavor, cooked to perfection. The flavor of soy came through quite well.

I was very excited to see Cha Ca "La Vong" ($14.00)on the menu. This dish is one of those, "to have before I die dishes." Of course it would have to be at Cha Ca La Vong in Hanoi.

In retrospect, I should have probably ordered something else, perhaps the Pork Ribs or Chicken Wings. I did enjoy the dill and all the herbs, but I found the "tumeric scented" catfish to be very dry, and the version of nuoc mam cham tasted very weak. I had expected some Mam Tom – fermented shrimp paste to be provided, but should have known better. Some friends recently had their Mom make some Cha Ca for the Missus and I, and it is an amazingly good dish. I did notice that the Cha Ca is no longer on the menu at Pok Pok WSL.

Would I return to Pok Pok? Of course, I think the food here is quite good. Though it'll probably be a solo visit. It seems that Andy Ricker's hard work has paid off, I found out courtesy of Guilty Carnivore, that The Oregonian has named Pok Pok it's restaurant of the year.

Pok Pok
3226 SE Division St.
Portland, OR 97202

You know, I think that what happened to us at Pok Pok was magnified, simply because of how nice people were in Portland. Case in point, we were waiting for our cab to Union Station from the Embassy Suites. It was raining pretty hard, and we had been waiting for about 15 minutes. Before you knew it, the Shuttle Van for the Embassy Suites pulls up, and the nice Bellman comes out and tells me, "we're going to take you to Union Station, your cab is taking too long!" Talk about service!

Portland: More Foodcarts, Mio Gelato, and Kell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub

June 3, 2007 mmm-yoso Desserts, Indian Restaurants, Portland, Oregon, Pubs and Pub Grub, Thai Restaurants

When I asked my In-Laws where they wanted to visit on this trip to the Mainland, they said Seattle. They also said they wanted to go by train……. Which was no problem really, I've taken Amtrak's Coast Starlight several times, though my trips have always been from Seattle to LA. So what we did was send off the In-Laws on Amtrak, and leave on a flight the next morning since the Coast Starlight takes about 36 hours to reach Portland. We arrived a bit early, and got to our hotel at about 1pm. Since the standard check-in time is 3pm, I thought we'd check our luggage, get a bite to eat, and stretch our legs a bit. When we arrived I went to the Bellman and asked to check my bags. In the typical Portland manner, he told me, "that would be fine, but why don't you just check at the front desk, your room might be ready." And to my surprise our 2 bedroom suite was ready. Seems like my lucky day. After freshening up a bit, we were starved, and just wanted something quick to eat…and I knew just the place!

Yep, we headed to the food carts that line SW 5th Avenue. Now I had told the Missus about these food carts, and she saw my photos and my previous post, but there's nothing quite like being there yourself. The only problem was deciding what to get…..

The Missus settled on some Indian Food, not from the New Taste of India…

But from the "Real" Taste of India a few carts down. Talk about competition!

Now this food cart had a 9th anniversary special going on….some chicken-something or other, but the Missus was in the mood for lamb, and ordered the Lamb Saagwala, cubes of lamb cooked in a spinach, garlic, and ginger sauce/stew($7.00).

The portion size was quite large, and we weren't able to finish it. There was an abundance of well prepared and moist lamb. Didn't quite know what to expect, and this was better than what I had anticipated. I thought that the pieces of ginger were too large and disrupted my tastebuds at inopportune times, but the Missus loved it! In fact, She told me it was Her best meal in Portland….She was kidding….I think…….

In the midst of ordering paralysis, I decided to grab something from this Food Cart, called Thai Sky(????):

Since we had plans for a nice dinner, I decided on the Daily Special, Pad Kee Mao(Drunken Noodles) with Tofu($5.00):

I ordered this at medium heat, and it was a bit hotter than what I consider medium. The noodles were done well, they where a nice al dente. The flavor was interesting, I'm used to Pad Kee Mao that's had a bit of a sweet flavor, this version just had a mild soy(not fish sauce) flavor. Still, it did the job, which was to hold me over until dinner.

There's a ton of construction on 5th and 6th avenues for a new Max rail line called Green Line which will connect Portland State University to Union Station. So signs like the one on the right are on Evey corner listing the businesses. Did I mention that I love the public transportation system in Portland?

At about this time the Missus got a call from Her Mom telling Her that their train had been delayed about 2 hours. so we decided to take a walk around Portland. And after doing a bit of window shopping, the Missus told me that She needed "something sweet". Which was no problem since we were just up the street from Mio Gelato.

This coffeeshopish looking Gelato joint had always been full everytime I passed it on my last trip to Portland, so I figured it must be worth a try. The Missus did the ordering, so we don't remember the prices. But She got one scoop of Grapefruit, and one scoop of Mango.

Not being much of a "sweets" person, I found the Grapefruit to be very much to my liking ( all credit to the Missus here). Refreshing and palate cleansing, it was very nice. Both the Missus (who has a sweet tooth) and I found the mango gelato to be overly sweet and rich, which overpowered any mango flavor.

Still, I can see why this place is very popular.

**** Mio Gelato has closed

Mio Gelato
25 NW 11th Ave
Portland, OR 97209

As we made our way back to the hotel, the Missus received another call from Her Mom saying that the train is further delayed…bummer! And though the Missus's Parents were not as late as we thought, by the time we got them settled, and something to eat (they have an aversion to eating in restaurants), we were very tired. So with some reluctance we crossed Biwa off our list, and walked on over to Kell's 2 blocks away.

Having been to Kell's in Seattle, I knew more or less what to expect, and really won't go into details here. Though as always, the Missus asked if they had some rice for Her Irish Stew(maybe one of these days they will) which was pretty good. And She enjoyed the soda bread.

Everyone was ordering sandwiches and burgers, but I ordered the Fish and Chips which were pretty bad. The fish dry and flavorless, and the chips are basic "industrial" fries.

Still, that draft Boddington's was nice, not overly chilled, but a perfect "cool", nice and mildly creamy, with a sweet finish. After a sip, the Missus decided that She wanted the Boddington's, so I ordered a Harp, which I thought would be too bitter for Her, but after a sip She decided that "this" was Her beer. So I finished with a draft Guinness, which I know the Missus won't touch. Strangely, it tasted over carbonated and very dull in flavor. Oh well, we were still in Portland, and had another whole day ahead of us!

Kell's Irish Restaurant & Pub
112 Sw 2nd Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Postscript: The Kindness of Portland Part 1

You know, I've written about the sincere kindness of the people of Portland before. But still, I'm always surprised…….

We were taking a break at Pioneer Courthouse Square, just having a seat to rest our feet a bit. And we noticed amongst all the construction, there seemed to be a major "to do" being set-up.

We were wondering what this event was. Just about that time, a Police Officer happened to walk past, and the Missus decided to ask him. Now usually we'd get a gruff "I don't know", or some distracted answer…. But this Gentleman replied; "I'm just on duty, so let me find out, I'll be right back…" Which made me feel really bad, I didn't want to be taking up His time. A few minutes later, He's walking back to us, and is talking on a cellphone. As he walks up to us, we can overhear that he's asking someone our question! Now, I'm really feeling guilty, since I'm sure he has more important things to do….. By the time he reached us, I could tell that he'd made a few calls, and he explained to us, what this was. Funny thing is, neither the Missus nor I can remember what event this was. But we sure remember that police officer! As I tried to mutter an apology for taking up his precious time, he smiled and told me, "well, you may be the first person who asks me what is going on here, but you probably won't be the last. So I better know what's happening." As he left, he introduced Himself and shook our hands….. So here's to you Officer Thompson! You're a great ambassador for the City of Portland!

Episode 17.Week 3=Oishii in Santee: Japanese and Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar

October 17, 2006 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is on vacation. The part usually played by Kirk will be played by Cathy in in the interim.

So, you are thinking to yourself "Did I read that title correctly?"…Japanese and Thai cuisine and Sushi Bar…in Santee…?!?

Yes, you did….and it is something you can’t miss. All three types of food are prepared here to excellent standards.

Located in a nondescript strip mall, across the street from the Albertsons in Santee, Oishii has been in its present location for about 3 years. Before that, it was a Thai Buffet and before that it was a kind of American Restaurant that sold some really good prime rib. It is small inside, with 10 seats at the sushi bar, 5 booths and 7 tables.

Editor’s Note: The owners of the Thai Buffet are still the owners and are family members/have worked at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas.

This post will be long, since the Mister and I have tried all three types of foods here. First, the Japanese menu:

The sushi lunch special ($8.50), 3 vegetable rolls, 4 tuna rolls, sunomono (cucumber salad) and albacore sashimi. The albacore was soooo tender. This is served with an excellent miso soup, filled with silken tofu cubes and seaweed.

The mixed tempura appetizer ($5.00) includes one very large shrimp. The breading is very light and delicate, not oily.

The combination lunch ($9.50), in this case beef teriyaki and spicy tuna roll. The beef is cooked medium rare and is tender and flavorful. The spicy tuna is very fresh and the spice is on the edge of being overwhelming and is highly complimentary to the tuna. This is served with soup, salad and rice. The portion size is quite large for lunch.

All of the Japanese dishes on the menu are very fresh and well prepared.

The Thai menu. Most of the people working here are Thai. When the restaurant was a Thai Buffet, I really liked the foods.

The fried soybean cake appetizer ($5.00), served with a homemade sauce that was neither too sweet nor too salty. The soy cakes were nicely crispy and not too thick, so the soy was warm throughout.

The fried calamari appetizer ($5.00). Lightly breaded squid which was very tender. The accompanying sauce is nice and spicy.

The pad see ewe with beef ($7.95)…the thick noodles were very nice textured, made with a black soy sauce and broccoli and carrots, this is a mild dish and the beef was not as tender as I would have liked. Not disappointing, but not exciting. I like the Pad Thai here better. However, the chicken Panang ($7.95) was excellent. It is made with coconut milk, red peppers, basil and green beans, the amount of heat that kicked in was wonderful. This is the way Panang should be cooked. The description on the menu, mentioning onions and mushrooms, is wrong and was not prepared that way.

I enjoy the Thai food here because they ask how spicy you would like it and almost always when I order Thai, the cook comes out from the kitchen to ask how I liked t.

Now, on to the sushi menu:

Along with the Special Rolls menu:

The sushi and nigiri served here is always fresh and wonderful. There is never a night when the sushi bar has no patrons. Even on Monday or Tuesday.

We always have edamame with sushi. ($3.50). A good sized plate.

The oyster shooter ($3.50) is made with 2 oysters, ponzu sauce and topped with masago and ginger. The lime slice in the side is a nice touch. The oysters were fresh and mildly flavored, very tender.

The albacore was so very tender and wonderfully flavored, the nigiri is not served with wasabi on it. It is not needed. Dipping the fish lightly into shoyu is enough to bring out the flavor. The rice is very well made sushi rice and worth the $4.50.

The amabei (sweet shrimp) ($6.00) were served with the fried heads (atama) at the same time and with the hamachi (yellowtail) ($5.00). Excellent, all three.

The Mister an I opted to share three rolls This is the Santee Roll ($6.50) Described as "Crispy tuna, (no rice) topped with the house sauce". The tuna is wrapped in seaweed, dipped in batter and fried, so the tuna cooks. Its different and good.

The spicy crunchy albacore roll was on sale for $5.50 the night we were there. There are usually five or six specials listed on the chalkboard. The albacore was again, fresh and tender and crunchy bits of tempura were dispersed throughout the roll, which also had cucumber inside had toasted sesame seeds on the exterior.

Finally, we had to try the most popular roll sold here, the Cindy Roll, ($12), made with tempura shrimp and asparagus, topped with tuna and the special sauce and surrounded with house and ponzu sauce. Excellent crispy, still warm shrimp and the asparagus is fresh cooked crispy with beautifully brought out flavor.

All in all, no matter which cuisine you order here at Oishii, you will leave very satisfied.

Oishii Japanese and Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar

10251 Mast Boulevard Santee 92071 (619) 596-4852

Open Monday-Sat 11:00 a.m.-9 p.m., closed Sunday

episode four/Week one-La Basil Thai

October 4, 2006 Cathy Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

***UPDATE*** La Basil at this location closed in June 2007. The La Jolla location is still open. Rumor is a new location in East County is in the works. Click onto website info at bottom of post for information.

mmm-yoso is on vacation. In the interim, the part usually played by Kirk will be played by Cathy.

Hi. So, the parting words to me from Kirk were "Oh- and make sure you do Basil Thai"…and I don't want to. I don't want everyone to know about this place. Its one of the really great hole-in-the-walls, run by a Thai family. The people who go there frequently know they have a gem…and anyone who goes to K Sandwiches has been right on top of it. (click onto the photo- you can see K Sandwiches on the left and right there, at the end of the parking lot, under the setting sun-those buildings right there…go ahead, walk on over)

There they are- my two best kept secrets, right on Mesa College Drive. We will go from left to right and I will talk about La Basil today.

Here is the menu, posted outside. Basically for the lunch specials, you choose your type of noodle, type of meat and type of sauce. If you get vegetarian, chicken or pork,its $5.99; beef or duck is $6.99, shrimp or calamari is $7.99, scallop is $8.99 and mixed seafood is $10.99.

Dinners have a similar style of ordering, with the most expensive entree on the menu being $12.95.

For dinner, there are appetizers, salads, noodles & rice, house curries, specialties and fish.

The thing is, there are 18 CHAIRS for 5 tables total inside and 10 CHAIRS for 4 tables outside, and really, if you were to sit at the tables using all of those chairs, there is no space for plates for all the people. Notice there are no condiments on the tables.

We ordered, had water placed and a basket of still sizzling shrimp chips were brought out to the table. Not oily, not too hot, but still sizzling with a nice shrimp flavor and oh so light and crispy.

Then the appetizer we ordered arrived, having been freshly made, Spring rolls ($4.95): rice paper stuffed with tofu, lettuce, bean sprouts, carrot, mint, cucumber, rice noodle served with a sweet/sour/hot sauce topped with chopped peanuts on the left and warmed, fresh made peanut sauce on the right. These were very fresh, with the right amount of crunch and the sauces complimented the flavors perfectly.

Then my most absolute favorite Thai dish arrived- Larb salad…made with beef! I have looked high and low for larb made with beef anywhere else in San Diego and have yet to find it. Seems its always made with chicken. Here, you get to choose: beef, chicken or pork. Larb is made with the minced meat, lime juice, chili, rice powder (gives it crunch) and mint and also served are cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and shredded carrots. I asked for medium heat..not too much: I wanted to taste the flavors. It was just right. ($7.95)

We also got the chicken pad Thai this time. The pad Thai is kind of sweet tasting here and the noodles are fresh rice noodles, with a nice "bite" to them, but at lunchtime I like to get the pad see ew noodle, made with a thicker rice noodle, that seems to hold more of the sauce on it. (I also like the green curry on rice at lunch). Bean sprouts, scallion and egg along with chopped peanuts and the chicken and noodles. ($7.95)

This little placard was on the table, and we had ordered the rice with coconut ice cream once before, remembering it took about 10 minutes to come out, because they make it fresh, and it was busy. We ordered ahead of time. They were out of ice cream, so we asked for the custard.

Which was also made fresh. The rice is made with coconut milk, was still warm and wonderfully sticky. The custard was eggy and wonderfully fresh, with a skin just beginning to form on top. The price was $4.95.

All in all, the Mister and I really like La Basil. It does a brisk take out (but you don't call it in: i never have heard a phone ring when we were in there- you walk in, order and wait…they give you some shrimp chips to munch on… and enjoy the decor):

It is going to be Halloween soon, you know.

La Basil Thai Cuisine 7530 Mesa College Drive SD 92111

Mon-Fri 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Sat 12:00 p.m.-9:00p.m.

Did anyone notice the parsley on the dessert plate?

Addendum- October 12, 2006….I was reading the morning paper and saw a coupon for La Basil Thai in La Jolla. There was a website: La Basil dot com and I went to it, looked at the menu section and it is, apparently, a chain! The La Jolla prices are a dollar more than the prices at this location on Mesa College Drive. There is nothing on the menu here to indicate they had another location. …and I just don't hang around in La Jolla enough to know that there was a La Basil there. Sorry if anyone was confused.

Sala Thai Restaurant

July 5, 2006 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Recently, the Missus asked an acquaintance of Hers, who happens to be Thai, for some Thai Restaurant recommendations. She came back from work, and told me this person recommended Sala Thai. My response: "huh, are you sure?" She responded with: "Well He said first off, that the Owners and Kitchen staff are Thai"

"So what did he recommend?"

"The Pad Thai?"

"Really?"

"Yep, really….."

And so we made our way to Campus Plaza, up the street from San Diego State University. I knew exactly where Sala Thai was located.

We arrived for an early dinner, and was shown our table in the small, and simple, but very clean restaurant.

As we looked over the typical San Diego Thai Restaurant menu, with Americanized dishes such as Crab Rangoon, Shui Mai(!!!), and the usual "pick the meat, pick the sauce" stir fry options, I tried to remain positive. Finally, we found a few items and placed our order.

The Som Tum(Papaya Salad – "Papaya Pok Pok" $6.95):

The Papaya Salad was nice and crisp, but very "flat" in flavor. We ordered all our food at a medium heat level, and the spice level was adequate. But the salad was very tame, lacking in salty, sour, and sweet flavors. The shrimp were fine, but we could have done with stronger flavors, such as dried shrimp or salted blue crab. I started wondering if they make things different here for their Thai clientele?

From the "Wok" portion of the menu, we ordered the Chicken with Garlic Sauce($7.95):

This was the "pick he meat, pick the sauce" item. Slices of fairly dry white meat chicken, with a light sauce, tossed with fried garlic, and various peppers. Not very good, plus the garlic tasted burnt and bitter.

Pad Thai($6.95):

Ah yes, the recommended Pad Thai. On the positive side, this dish used the thinner style rice noodles, which were cooked to an excellent texture. The shrimp and all of the accouterments were fine. The Pad Thai had a decent salty-sweet flavor, but tasted a bit off. We requested some lime, which rounded out the flavor. In retrospect, the Pad Thai was also short on egg and bean sprouts, but was not a bad dish.

Catfish Red Curry($8.95):

I thought the chiffonade of Kaffir Lime leaf in the curry allowed this dish to be thought of as decent. The curry was thick, though not heavy in coconut milk. The heat was very mild for "medium heat", and the sprig of basil was not enough to provide flavor for the curry. The fish was over-cooked, nearly black, making it quite tough. The portion size was pretty small as well, three 1/4" cross-cut fish slices. The curry was okay, the fish not very good.

Based on this meal, I’d say that Sala Thai is your basic San Diego neighborhood Thai restaurant. Nothing wrong with that, but not worth an out of the way drive. The prices are in line with other San Diego Thai restaurants, and service is very nice as well.

Sala Thai Restaurant
6161 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Mon-Sat 11am-930pm
Sun 4pm-9pm

Portland: Pok Pok

June 22, 2006 mmm-yoso Portland, Oregon, Thai Restaurants, Travel

*** Pok Pok has Closed

What if I told you there's some really good Isaan-style Thai food to be had in Portland. And that it can be found not in Downtown, but in Southeast Portland, served out of what is either a dressed up shed or converted garage. Wait it gets better, it's a White Dude making the food! Not just any food, but Thai street food. And not just any ordinary "Chef", but an honest to God, Bass playing Rock-n-Roller! I'm sure you think that this is a product of one too many Bridgeport IPA's, but it's true, cross my Kanom Krok!

The place goes by the catchy name of Pok Pok; and is located in Southeast Portland on SE Division.

The Bass playing Chef is Andy Ricker, who plays in a local band called The Quags. According to what I gleaned from posts in Portland Food and Drink, and the message boards on Portlandfood.org, Andy was a Sous-Chef at a popular restaurant called Zefiro's, but His true love is Southeast Asian Cuisine; specifically the cuisine of Chiang Mai. So what's a Bass playing sous-chef, who loves Isaan food to do? Well, open a little hole in the wall serving Thai street food in Southeast Portland.

The story's so fascinating, that I could just stop right now, and I'm sure this post would still be interesting. But one must eat, right? In spite of the larger than life story; doubts were still swirling through my head as I made the 20 minute bus ride (#4 Division), from Downtown Portland, sitting next to an older gentleman who kept muttering "Timmy, Timmy, get over here, get over here" during the duration of my ride. I got off at my stop, well not really, I missed the stop, and got off down the street and walked a few blocks to Pok Pok. And yes, it was true, next to a house being renovated(I later learned that Andy lives there, and hopes to move Pok Pok into the basement)there was a small shed with a window.

The menu is small, just 6 items, along with a grease board with a "special" and a dessert written on it.

To term the few patio furniture tables, and covered shed with a few tables a dining area, would be a stretch. But on this mild, sunny Portland evening, it's heaven. Don't fall into the ditch, though!

I decided to order the Pok Pok Special($8.50):

It consists of a half of Charcoal Rotisserie Game Hen, called Kai Yaang. The Game Hen was flavorful, slightly garlicky, and very moist. Saffron wishes it could do it so well. I understand that Andy brought back a special rotisserie from Chiang Mai to make his game hen, which is stuffed with lemongrass and garlic for additional flavor. Andy, learned how to modify the rotisserie while "hanging out" at a Restaurant in Chiang Mai. A mild sweet chili sauce was served with the game hen, I really didn't need it though. The game hen had that much flavor. That stuff in the plastic wrap is kao neuw; sticky rice which went pretty well with chicken, though I've had better sticky rice.

The special came with a Papaya Salad. Man was this good! The best Thai style Papaya Salad I've had since our visit to the Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood in January. The papaya was fresh and crisp, the shredded shrimp added a nice salty-oceany flavor, the green beans added a nice crunch. The sauce was a near perfect balance of sweet, sour, and salty. The heat was bit on the mild side, but of course I'm used to pretty spicy stuff. I thought there was one thing "missing" from this papaya salad.

So after devouring all of that food, I opened up my belt a notch, hiked up my pants and walked on over to the window. I had a short chat with Andy, a really nice Guy. And when I mentioned how I really enjoy my Papaya Salad with salted blue crab, and perhaps a little spicier, he said; "No problem, I'll make that".

So here's the Papaya Pok Pok with Salted Blue Crab(salad $4.95 + $1 for crab):

The best salted crab I've ever had in a papaya salad. Salty, sweet, and mildly fishy, so delici-yoso!!! In most instances I'll not order my salad with salted crab, mainly because it's a terribly fishy, gummy, off flavored mess. But in this case, an excellent Papaya Salad with perfect Salted Blue Crab.

So it's true, here on SE Division is a taste of good Isaan style Thai Street food. Pok Pok has instantly become a "must visit" restaurant for me. I'm hoping that on my next visit to Portland, that the Restaurant in the basement of the House will be ready. I know I will. Run, don't wok, to Pok Pok……..

Pok Pok
3226 SE Division St.
Portland, OR 97202

BTW, "Pok Pok" is a little play on words mimicking the sound that a mortar and pestle makes while preparing papaya salad.

So how did I work up an appetite? Earlier in the afternoon I made an abbreviated trip to Washington Park, a 129.5 acre city park that hold the Oregon Zoo, The Portland Japanese Garden, Hoyt Arboretum, World Forestry Center, and The Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I had intended spending most of the day on Friday at Washington Park, but the rain nixed that plan. So I just decided to make one stop at Washington Park.

Washington Park is also home to the Deepest Underground Transit Station in North America(260 ft):

My destination? The International Rose Test Garden. After all, I'm in the City of Roses, right?

The are over 400 varieties of roses in this fragrant 4 1/2 acre garden.

Without a doubt an obligatory stop in Portland.

Royal Spices Thai Cuisine

May 31, 2006 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats

**** This location of Royal Spices has closed

A few weeks ago Howie from A Foodies Eye View sent me an email, telling me about a new Thai Restaurant that opened up on Sports Arena Boulevard, right next to the L & L Drive In. So a few weeks back, the Missus and I decided to drop in for lunch. In retrospect, this might have been a bad idea, since we had just returned from a nice meal at Yai Restaurant in Thai Town.

Though the exterior is rather plain, and the dining furniture pedestrian, much care has been taken with the restaurant decor.

We were seated, and a thought entered my head. I inquired if this restaurant was in any way affiliated with the other 3 "Spices Thai" restaurants in the San Diego area. I think this was a bad move; I got an immediate "No, we are not" response, along with a rather displeased frown. We did find out that the Royal Spices had only been opened for 2 weeks at the time of this visit.

We looked over the sizable menu, and quickly noticed that along with the run-of-the-mill, you pick the meat, you pick the sauce/preparation type dishes, there a few interesting items.

We placed our order and some soup arrived:

A thin broth with the faint flavors of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, and a few other items. No big deal really.

The Missus went with the "lunch special" of Red Curry with Battered Fish Fillet($9.95):

I did enjoy the 5 "mini-scoops" of rice, quite and interesting presentation. I won't go into the mediocre green salad, vegetable egg roll, or curry wonton. I'll just say, "why bother?" Now to the main course, there were two "half fillets" of battered white fish. Unfortunately, the fish had not been fried properly, it was dry, and the batter flaked off.

Having returned from Yai, where the medium heat was in your face, and pretty hot, we ordered the curry medium. It was probably the mildest medium heat I've ever tasted. The curry was disappointing, watery and runny, with an overly sweet taste. The julienned vegetables were cooked perfectly, though I wish that more then two little Thai Basil leaves were used for flavoring.

I ordered a dish from the "Chef's Special" portion of the menu; the Spices Thai Jerky(Beef – $12.95):

The presentation was again very "pretty". This dish came with slices of beef that had been lightly marinated, and though on the tough side, was fairly decent. It was nothing like previous versions of Thai Jerky that I've had; instead of the rich and pungent "jerky", this seemed almost like a "tweener", between Thai Jerky, and the Beef in Yum Nua. The beef could probably have used more assertive seasoning, and maybe a good amount of toasted rice powder to keep it interesting. The sauce provided, something called "Royal Sauce" was pretty good; a tart, tangy, and mildly sweet, chutney like preparation, it was the best item on the plate, and brought the beef up a level. The sticky rice was too moist. The dish also came with a Papaya Salad:

Though prepared well; the salad was in dire need of a "pungent" component. It was very, very mild, and too sweet and dry. More fish sauce, shredded dry shrimp, or some other fishy pungent flavor along with more "heat" would probably have made this a decent papaya salad.

The service on this visit, though a bit on the fawning side, was very friendly(after the initial Spices Thai faux pa). And I thought that perhaps the restaurant was still trying to find itself, and a few items had potential. So I recently dropped by for another lunch. And was seated immediately. Different crew this time, though still very nice. I decided to avoid any of the lunch specials and was in the mood for some noodles, so I decided on the Pad Woon Sen(glass noodles) with Roasted Duck($11.95). Ordering my Pad Woon Sen was quite interesting. I asked for the "Pad Woon Sen with Roasted Duck", now in the menu it's called "Jelly Noodles". So the Gal goes, "okay, jelly noodles with roasted duck". So I nod in agreement and go, "yes, the Pad Woon Sen, with roasted duck." So she responds with, "Got it, jelly noodles with roasted duck." I guess I'm not allowed to call it Pad Woon Sen……..

The ~~Pad Woon~~, ummm, Jelly Noodles arrived in a few minutes, piping hot. One the positive side, there was a pretty large amount of duck, probably the most I've had in a noodle dish, very tender and without bones. On the negative side, the duck was very mildly flavored. The dish was also on the oily side. Now I'm used to dishes where oil is used in generous amounts, but in most cases that dish doesn't taste oily; this did. I don't know if it was the large amount of duck, but there was alot of oil in the bottom of the plate.

The dish also featured a generous amount of vegetables, egg, and straw mushrooms. I wish this dish, along with the others eaten were more aggressively flavored. I was told that garlic was used in this dish, but couldn't taste it, nor much of any other "seasoning", including soy/fish sauce, or black pepper which is sometimes used to flavor this dish. But then again, that could be the difference between Pad Woon Sen and Jelly Noodles?

On this visit, service was again very nice, except I wasn't allowed to order Pad Woon Sen. Royal Spices Thai shows some promise, but I think they need to live up to the "spices" portion of their name. There are some interesting dishes on the menu like Royal Andaman Salad (Yum seafood). Prices range from $7.95 – $11.95 for lunch "specials", and from $8.95 to $14.95 for dinner entrees.

Royal Spices Thai Cuisine
3145 Sports Arena Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92110

Hours:
Sunday – Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday – Saturday 11am-11pm

Road Trip: Yai Restaurant – Los Angeles

May 8, 2006 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Movies, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

We made a quick "road trip" to Los Angeles this past Sunday, and were really excited about our destination which was in the Hollywood area. Mainly because Los Angeles is the home of the first "Thai Town" in the United States. We had only visited this area two or three times while still living in LA, and we were amazed at the business growth since we last visited nearly 5 years ago.

Our destination was a small non-descript Restaurant tucked away in a slightly seedy and gritty corner mini-mall. Hidden behind and to the right of a 7-11 is Yai Restaurant.

Now to get it straight, Yai, is a no frills, no ambiance, no white table cloth restaurant. The main focus here is the food. And what Yai lacks in any decor, it makes up in very well made and flavorful dishes. The parking lot can be a challenge, because of size, and also the popular Peruvian Restaurant next door. So we timed our arrival, and got to Yai at about 330pm.

At this hour the restaurant was fairly empty, but oh, the smells! We had a very difficult time determining what we were going to order, but after some thought ordered 3 dishes from the menu, and 1 from the "greaseboard" of specials. As we sat and waited we assaulted by all the wonderful smells of our food cooking. We were absolutely famished since we hadn’t eaten anything all day.

The first dish to arrive was the BBQ Duck with Chili and Garlic($7.95):

Now one of the problems I have with ordering these type of duck dishes is that the duck is usually a combination of dry, fatty, with splinters of bones making each bite a possible hazard. But worse of all the rich duck flavor is muted by either lousy duck, lousy preparation, or a really bad sauce. This was none of the above. The duck was moist, not too fatty, and the rich flavor of the duck came through. This was true, even though the sauce had a very strong somewhat sweet, garlicky, salty, and spicy flavor. I could eat this(and a bowl of rice) daily. A really good dish. It made me wonder what the Pork Leg with Chili and Garlic tasted like.

The Jungle Curry with Shrimp($8.95):

For those not familiar with Jungle Curry, I think of it as a red curry that doesn’t use coconut milk, which can sometimes mute the galangal-lemongrass flavor. Jungle Curry in many cases also uses a larger amount of chilies, and boy was that true in this case. Even though we ordered the dish "medium", there was no subtle layering of heat. This one was in your face, burning a path from your lips down your throat. The heat nullified most all the other flavors. What I did enjoy were the perfectly cooked and plump shrimp. I was also over-joyed to find Thai Eggplant in the dish. Now I can tolerate alot of spicy food, but this one was quite hot!

The Black Egg Pow($7.95):

Now I’m not quite sure how the Missus sniffed this dish out, though she loves preserved duck egg. I’d also never heard of this dish before, so we ordered it. After doing this for almost a year, dishes that make me go "wow" are few and far between, but this was a definite Wow. It seems that the preserved egg is first fried to create an outer crust, then quartered and mixed with a stir fry of julienned peppers, then topped with fried basil leaves which give it an additional sweet-herbaceous "crunch". Now the menu says the sauce is a chili-garlic sauce, but it does not resemble the sauce with the BBQ Duck at all. I could just eat the sauce and rice and be perfectly happy. The Missus between bites told me "suan tian ku la xian". In Mandarin a perfect balance of sour, sweet, bitter, hot(we ordered medium), and salty. The duck egg was slightly crisp from the frying, and creamy and rich. A perfect spoonful would look something like:

Delici-yoso!!!

The last dish was the Red Curry with Sole($8.95):

We ordered this dish "medium" in heat, and again it nearly blew my doors off, and the julienned ginger actually made the dish even more hot. I also wished that the sole had been dusted with flour and deep fried better to seal in the the natural flavor and moisture of the fish. As it was served it was somewhat flaky and dry. Though not a bad dish, I’ll skip it next time. It was interesting, all of that Thai, Laotian, and Sichuan food, and the stuff here was probably among the hottest I’ve had!

As we finished up, a large party of students, a large family, and few other parties had arrived, and Yai was hopping:

I’d say they really know a good thing! Good prices, good food, and efficient service….say no more.

Yai Restaurant
5757 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

A quick non-food post-script

The reason we were in LA, and Hollywood for that matter was to see a movie. Now not just any movie. But the creation of the persona we know as DietChiliCheeseFries. His alter-ego known as Ron Co-Directed and Wrote a very, very funny "dramedy" called Asian Stories (Book III), a full length feature that is both funny and touching, and has a great(that’s the Missus talking Ron) ending! You done great, man!

So if you have a chance to see the film, please check it out. I’m hoping it comes to the San Diego Asian Film Festival, so I can check it out again.

You’ll be amazed to know that the film was created by Ron and Kris Chin, who from what I understand graduated from the Barnes & Noble School of Filmaking! Amazing…..

BTW, the theaters at Directors Guild of America are pretty awesome, and the VC Filmfest 2006 made an excellent decision in picking up the film, which did sell out. 600 people can’t be wrong!

Asian Stories (Book III)