Category: Thai Restaurants

**** AppeThai has closed

Back in the end of September, I mentioned that what looked to be a Thai Restaurant, named AppeThai was replacing Yes! Pingo. To my surprise, just a few days later I saw the "Now Open" sign posted.

The place looked open one morning at a bit after 10am. With my scheduled booked through the normal lunch hour, I was headed to Nijiya, but decided to stop here instead.

The menu seemed very "street-foodish" with a variety of noodles and curry, you know, the pick your protein thing. The setting wide-open and fast casual, much like J&T. You order and pay at the counter and such. I really like the setting and seating arrangement.

I ended up ordering something I will usually order when faced with a typical noodle menu to check the kitchen's stir fry skill and something I hadn't seen in a while.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that my test of a Thai cooks stir fry skills is the simple Pad See Ew. At it's most simplest, rice noodles, soy sauce (light and dark), egg, Chinese Broccoli, garlic, and perhaps palm sugar. All the same ingredients. It's up to the cook to make it right. So how was this?

In terms of flavor, this was pretty good. A bit more garlic than I'm used to and not as sweet, but you couldn't say it was bland. Shrimp was also prepped decently and quite moist and tender. The wok skills weren't quite what I consider top-notch as the noodles were too mushy and some of the pieces of the gailan were too hard while other pieces were too mushy. It was, however, far from being bland. The rest of the "stuff" was just filler….the really bad pre-frozen bulk gyoza and the totally insipid soup.

The item I really enjoyed, maybe because I haven't had it in years….I just don't recall seeing it on menus is the Tod Man KhaoPod – Fried Corn Fritters. Talk about Thai Street Food…… Not cheap at $3 a pop, but I really enjoyed these.

The sweet corn, the batter, crunch and slightly doughy, with a mild sweetness….I believe the classic recipe uses rice flour. While not quite as savory….versions I've had seemed to have garlic, perhaps scallions, and sometimes even a bit of curry. This was simple, but I enjoyed it. And it displayed the kitchen's ability to fry….. I found the sauce provided a bit too sweet for my taste and pretty one-dimensional.

So, of course I returned, with my co-worker CF in tow for an early quick lunch….we were headed to a meeting that would span the normal lunch hour. On my way out the door on my previous visit, I asked the really friendly young lady for some recommendations. Which I ordered on this visit….along with those corn fritters.

Spicy Noodles with Chicken.

While the stir-fry job was much better this time around, I gotta say this was pretty bland. It lacked sweetness, spice, and the chicken….breast of course was dry as heck.

The corn fritters were nice as before and I also got the Larb Moo Tod…basically deep fried larb. It' seems to be a problematic dish, as when I've had it before, the meatballs, let's not kid ourselves, really just tasted like deep fried meatballs, without the wonderful flavors one would associate with larb.

Now these little orbs were $4….for basically 4 rather small meatballs. And unlike the Tod Man Kha0 Pod, this needed a sauce as other than a nice lemongrass flavor, I found it lacking. I thought it really needed a citrus-sweet-spicy "punch".

The Nam Tok was also just ok.

I was happy when they didn't ask us for a "heat level". not so happy when we got "gringo'd" Not enough of that nutty rice powder, not enough citrus, too sweet, the beef was a bit too tough, no pungency from garlic, and kind of bland (really lacking in fish sauce) overall. I guess ok as a basic "salad" but not even close to what I make at home…..not that I'm expecting that. 

Not sure what CF really thought, though he did bring his wife there for those corn fritters and a taste of Beer Lao which they serve. I'm thinking it might be a nice snacking option when visiting Common Theory next door. On my way out the door, the very warm and friendly young lady told me the cook is from Bangkok, so I'll probably revisit in the future….to see if any of their other fried items are as good as the corn fritters.

Appethai
4813 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

**** Thai Papaya has closed

Now that we're back from vacation, we've fallen back into the old routine….though we're still finding it hard to get motivated about something as simple as dinner. We've been back to Thai Papaya a couple of times, and while the Missus has found Her favorite, the  Som Tom Khai Kem – papaya salad with salted egg, we still managed to try other items on the menu. some hold overs from (the original) Sab E Lee, some not.

Here's a rundown….

The oldies but goodies. Tod Mun Pla:

I think they've changed versions as this was much better than what we've had in the past. More kaffir lime leaf and bit better in the texture department.

And of course Issan Sausage.

Though there are better versions to be had in town, this is a nice standby.

So now for some of the other dishes. Do you remember the wonderfully sour Super Star Pork Rib Soup from my previous post? Well, one evening I ordered the Super Star Chicken Feet Soup ($8), which I think is even better.

The Missus's love of chicken feet has been well documented. Me? Well, I'm not much of a fan since I think the return on investment (time) is quite low.  In this case however, I'll have to fall in line with the Missus. There were ten lovely chicken feet in this bracingly sour and spicy (a "6" kind of got to us), yet refreshing soup. Nice gooey bits with chewy skin….nothing like sucking on that toe and getting all that flavor.

Because of how lip burning spicy everything was on the previous visit; I did a take-out order with the usual suspects and included the Tom Thua ($7), the green bean salad and to save our lips went for a heat level 4. I noticed that Maylee wasn't around this time and everything was strangely bland and the heat level was like a "2".

Also the long beans hadn't been bruised in the pok pok and were really tough.

A week or so ago, I was bushed and decided to pick up some take-out on the way home. Along with the "rotation", I decided to try out the Tom Tang ($7). We really enjoyed the versions we had of this cucumber salad in Laos, which tend to be more pungent.

We upped the heat level to 7 and it was still pretty mild. The cucumbers seemed a bit rubbery and not crisp. This was pretty weak in flavor overall as well.

So I'm not quite sure about Thai Papaya. There are dishes we really like; the Mok Nor Sai, some of the soups; the Missus is hooked on the Papaya Salad with Salted Egg. But consistency in getting that heat level seems to be off a bit; so it's kind of like chili pepper roulette. I'm fairly certain that the days of me getting things at level 10 here or "big spicy" at Hunan Chilli King are over. But I still like a nice amount of spice. I'm wondering what I'll get the next time I order from Thai Papaya?

Thai Papaya by Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111  

**** Thai Papaya has closed

When I saw what was becoming of the Original location of Sab E Lee, I was intrigued. The new location was doing bang up business. I also recalled the sign saying Thai Papaya Pok Pok….but when I visited it had become Thai Papaya by Sab E Lee…..hmmmm…..I wonder?

I also wondered what this place was going to morph into. How would it avoid competing with itself?

So when my buddy Candice suggested a lunchtime visit, I jumped at it.

While the place looks basically the same; other than the large chalkboard with "specials"; the menu brought a smile to my face. Not a pad thai, fried rice, or pad see ew to be seen. It was a deceptively simple two pager with about 14 versions of Som Tom/Tom Sua/Tom Thua with very few items that are direct duplicates of TOSEL. There were a lot of interesting dishes, some of them very Issan, like the Mok Nor Sai, some like Kanom Jeen and Khao Soi cult favorites from central and northwest (Lanna) Thailand.

We quickly ordered four items form the menu.

First up, the Northern (not Issan) Thai Sausage ($7).

Not quite Sai Ua, this was not sour, studded with kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass, and quite fatty. It was a nice break from the standard Issan Sausage on the menu.

I really liked the "Super Star Pork Rib Soup" ($8). As you can tell, it had a bit of heat to it, even at level 5.

I really enjoyed the spice and sour flavors. Somehow it seemed refreshing and clean…in spite of the spare ribs. It wasn't too rich and had some nice herbaceous flavors going on.

We ordered the Som Tom Laos…Lao style papaya salad with pickled crab. This was pretty heady, even for someone who appreciates the pungent Lao style papaya salad. It was also very spicy for a level 5. I do recall the days I used to order heat level 10 at TOSEL, but those days are gone.

It was a bit too salty for us.

The Mok Bamboo –  Mok Nor Sai ($8) was something that brought back memories of Laos/Issan.

I love the interplay of dill with the other flavors in these type of dishes. In fact, one of the dishes that I still make from the Tamarind Cooking School in Luang Prabang, is a version of Mok Pa; fish steamed in banana leaves. This is a very rustic dish; chewy pork, with very complex flavors…a touch of coconut, "Lao Cilantro" (dill), green onion, baby bamboo shoots, and mushroom. This was a tad too salty; but I've had it twice more (such is my love for these type of dishes) and the sodium has been much more restrained.

The flavors in the dishes we tried really spoke to me. So I returned a couple of days later and saw the young man; I believe his name is "Oh", who works at all the SEL locations. We had a nice chat about the food here and when I mentioned my preferences he suggested a few things; starting with the Som Tom Khai Kem – papaya salad with salted egg ($8).

This was delicious; the salted eggs weren't too briny or salty, the flavors just melded together perfectly; savory-salty-sweet. Maylee, one of the SEL originals popped her head out of the kitchen. It had been ages since I'd seen her. She told them to add some vermicelli so I could try that with this as well. This was really good. I saved about half to take home to the Missus. I knew She would love this….and She had one taste and inhaled the whole thing!

I also ordered the Aom Soup ($8) - what I recall is Kaeng Aom, or something like that. It's a classic Issan soup. I chose the pork version, though I believe the chicken version is what most folks get.

Just spicy enough; good combination of flavors, the pungent/savory flavors making the soup seem much richer than it was. I loved the vegetables and the heat, which got me sweating pretty good. This reminds me of Or Lam and similar soups I've had in Laos/Issan.

Maylee was nice enough to come on over as I finished my dessert. It so nice to see her and have a chat. She was running between the PQ location and here quite a bit (this location is open on Mondays and closed on Thursdays). Because they still had to pick up the lease on the place; she decided to turn this place into something like a pseudo snack/street food affair, making the dishes that other places here don't serve from her home region in Issan and also serve items that folks have been requesting over the years like the Khao Soi, which she told me took her six months of hard work to create. Currently, their customers were overwhelmingly Thai. Most of the other folks who come in here are actually looking for TOSEL.

So, as predicted, the Missus had me head over to Thai Papaya to pick up some of that  Som Tom Khai Kem for Her. I also got more of that Northern sausage and Mok Bamboo. I also ordered the Som Tom Moo Yor ($9). They use some pretty good take-out containers nowadays.

Moo Yor, in case you haven't heard of it is a steamed pork sausage, reminiscent of Cha Lua. Which brought a definite "meatiness" to the Som Tom.

It also seemed a bit sweeter and less pungent than other versions. Quite nice, and the heat level 5 was still spicy enough. A couple of weeks of this and I'll be back up to 8-9 I'm sure.

I'm also certain sure we'll be doing our share of take-out when the weather gets warmer. The Missus loves that papaya salad. And to be perfectly honest, I loved that little twinge of nostalgia, the feeling I got back in the beginning, when it was just Sab E Lee. It felt good to get excited about Thai Food in San Diego again. Simple, no nonsense, not dumbed down, glorious, street corner/food court Thai Food. I wonder what Koby would think?

Oh, and by the way….it's cash only…..another hold over from the old days….

Thai Papaya by Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111 

**** This location of TOSEL is now Zab Linda

Sab E Lee holds a special place in my heart. Starting as the "little restaurant that could"….could do well making real deal spicy Issan style Thai Food in San Diego and thrive. It's been quite a ride for SEL, from the beginning, with Koby at the helm. It soon became part of our "rotation". Eventually, Koby sold the place to Maylee and company, and proceeded to open up Sab E Lee 2 in Santee, we now had twice the fun, as SEL2 featured a more Bangkok-centric menu, but the cooks were still form Issan. Koby then sold his share in SEL2 and disappeared into the ether……man of mystery, I've heard a couple of stories, but am still not sure what happened to him. The Linda Vista location rebranded and became "The Original Sab E Lee". Then in 2013, TOSEL opened a location in Rancho Penasquitos. Things have changed a bit over the years, TOSEL seems to have plateaued…there seems to be an ever changing cast of front of house staff and there have been times where the food did not live up to expectations and the service bordered on surly. However, back in November, i had a really good meal, and noticed that one of the old cooks was working the kitchen. A few days later I saw the sign on the old Bale location……"coming soon, The Original Sab E Lee….." Which is where we are now.

I did take my time in visiting the new location.

But last week, I finally did; twice. This spot is not too large, 11 tables, but probably three times the size of the old location. Still, it wasn't so large that they'd kill the kitchen.

Interesting mix; young Thai Kids, mixed groups, gringos ordering Won Tons and eating sticky rice with a spoon.

I did recognize one of the servers…he does double duty at the PQ location. Other than that none of the faces looked familiar.

The food? I'm happy to say, just about everything was pretty much spot on. You can read all my previous posts and get the lowdown…..

The Koi Soi – Koi Neua (Spicy Raw Beef) had been "cooked" too long in citrus and was much too sour and the texture wasn't right. It's usually a very refreshing dish. Over the years, my heat tolerance has gone down…..I can no longer get this as a "10" and these days settle for a "7".

Still, it was fine.

I once thought that SEL had no ceiling, unlimited potential. These days I consider it good grub, a place that makes me feel like I walked into a little restaurant in Issan and had a nice meal. And I'm more than happy to settle for that.

The Original Sab E Lee
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111