Vietnamese Restaurants – Page 20

A Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho Revisit to 777 Noodle House

February 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

My very satisfying visit to Phuong Nga 2 had me wondering about all those places in City Heights that used to be on my rotation. Work had kept me busy since the middle of last year. Things were now a bit calmer, fewer weekend work days, so I thought it was time to start making the rounds. Starting with 777 Noodle House. Man, I've been going here since they opened in 2010. Time sure does fly.

The place was quite busy on this morning. One of the great things I like about 777 is that the prices bring in a nice diversity of folks from the neighborhood. On this day, I recognized no less than four different languages being spoken!

I went with my usual here; the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho, still under seven bucks.

I had mentioned on my previous visit to 777, that I thought the execution and flavor of the food had slipped. This visit was a nice surprise; it was a return to form. The noodles were nice and stretchy; just enough sauce, the shrimp, though not the best quality (whaddaya expect for the price?), was plump and tender. The sprouts were nicely blanched and they didn't forget the lime this time around.

The most surprising thing was the pork bone soup. The broth was very porky, super hot, not too salty. And all that meat; these were rib bones this time around. I could scrape them off the bone with my chopsticks. Very tender, nice pork flavor…..very nice.

I enjoyed this bowl. A while back I mentioned that I believed Ly Heng had overtaken 777. Now, I'm not so sure. I'll need to check. And I'll gladly do so.

It's nice to see 777 return to form. I'm hoping they can keep it up. And of course, there's that wonderful young lady, who is always so nice to us…..she always calls me "sir". The Missus told me she is just sincerely nice. And I do get a kick being called sir……at a neighborhood noodle house.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga 2

February 12, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I am forever indebted to all the folks who send me recommendations. In the comments section of my revisits post on Suppanee and Pho Xpress, "Elle" asked if I had tried the Bun Rieu at the newest location of Phuong Nga. Bun Rieu? I'd seen the new signage for this place when we returned from our last trip in December. Since Van Hoa closed its doors back in fall of 2016; it became, first Pho & Banh Cuon Ha Long, which then became Pho Huong Viet for a few months. I never even had a shot at visiting. Then it became Pho 87 for a brief period.

Since this space had become more or less of a revolving door and having been to the original location of Phuong Nga a few times, I just kinda put it on the backburner. Even though folks have told me that Phuong Nga has gotten better over the years. Well, I didn't know this location served Bun Rieu. So, the very weekend after Elle's comment, I headed over.

The interior of the place remains basically unchanged from the locations last couple of iterations.

Except that the place was fairly busy, on a Sunday morning.

When I opened the menu, I cracked up. There are basically only two things on the menu. About ten different variations of banh cuon and bun rieu. I found this to be quite refreshing. In Vietnam, and many other countries, you do one or two things and do them well; that's all you need.

So, I ordered my Bun Rieu and was quite impressed with what arrived at the table.

As impressed as I was with that rather cumbersome bowl of noodle soup. I was even more struck by the accompanying veggies. It was all there; shredded morning glory, shredded banana blossom, tai to – red perilla, green Vietnamese balm (rau kinh gioi), as well as the usual suspects. And of course, there was a little container of fermented shrimp paste!

The broth was light, at least by my standards and was on the sweet side. I like a bit more heft to my broth along with more tanginess. The shrimp paste helped a bunch. The noodles were wonderfully slippery with just the right amount of pull. I love tomatoes and the fried tofu in this dish.

The "crab cakes" were large, tender, but mostly pork. The cha lua was….well cha lua, squeaky, with a mild porkiness to it. There was one lovely piece of stewed pork rib with some meat on it. It was really good. As I dug deeper into the bowl, I bit on a small umami bomb. Turned out there was some dried shrimp in the broth….these were also quite tasty.

Is this the best bun rieu I've ever had? Well, no. Do I think it might be the best bun rieu in San Diego at the moment? Yes. Why don't you be the judge and check it out. Under eight bucks is not a bad investment for trying this.

Phuong Nga 2
4016 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Thanks so much for the recommendation Elle!

Revisits – Supannee House of Thai and Pho Xpress

January 28, 2018 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

A couple of revisits for a quiet Sunday.

Supannee House of Thai:

It's been quite a while since I did my post on Supannee back in 2013. I'd been back a couple of times, though not in a year or two. Over time, it seems that Supannee has become a favorite of CC and even Cathy.

On this day, I needed to drop by Trader Joe's in Liberty Station, so I thought I'd head a bit further south and have lunch at Supannee.

Of course I needed to get the Thai Sausage which is now $11.

This sausage that is made inhouse was what brought me to Supannee in the first place all those years ago. And while it was a bit drier that I prefer, it did "hit the spot". In fact, I think they've adjusted the recipe a bit as it's even more flavorful, the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf somes shining thru, and there's more of a chili kick. Nicely grilled, this was a great start to lunch.

I wanted to try a curry and went with the Roasted Duck Red Curry ($16).

This was very nice; in spite of the decent amount of spice, I could make out the flavor of the coconut milk in this. I often stay away from Thai Curries at restaurants because it's often too sweet….and I'm really not a big fan of fruits in my curries. But let me walk that back here. In this case, other than the curry being on the "thin" side, all the flavors worked in harmony. There was a generous portion of duck in the curry as well. All flavors of the ingredients, the duck, pineapple, tomato (added a nice acid), and grapes, worked both in harmony and individually in this dish.

The service was also very nice. When I took the leftovers home, the really nice young lady gave me an order of rice (I'd finished my bowl…a rarity these days) as well. Same young lady was so gracious and helpful to the woman who told her, "no meat, no dairy, no shellfish, no gluten, low sodium, and I'm allergic to peanuts".

I gotta get back here more often.

Supanee House of Thai
2907 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106
Hours:
Mon – Fri 1130am-230pm, 5pm – 9pm
Sat – Sun 12pm – 9pm

Pho Xpress:

So, since our office moved, I'm outside the free shuttle range for the folks who work on my car. So these days, I need to go Saturdays or Holidays. The first time, I took the trolley and just went "cruising". On my latest visit, I waited the three hours.

After paying and heading out, I decided to grab something to eat. It was pretty chilly out and I hadn't been back to Pho Xpress in nearly two years.

Instead of ordering the pho like I usually do; I went with the Banh Mi Bo Kho. What I got was disappointing.

This tasted like pho broth with some bo kho seasoning dumped in it. It lacked any kind of rich beef flavor, tomato, etc…..it was so bland. The carrots were still raw, the beef very tough. This was so thin that I thought I'd read the menu wrong….but no, it says right there "Beef Stew". At least the banh mi was warm and fairly crusty. But this was disappointing as a whole.

Also, since the guy who took my order insisted on correcting my pronunciation of "bo kho"…they should have actually made me a real bo kho, right?

Pho Xpress
6533 Mission Gorge Rd
San Diego, CA 92120

Revisits – Green China Grill and Pho Duyen Mai

January 23, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

A couple more revisits before we moved offices late last year.

Green China Grill:

It had almost been a year since my last visit. So, on one of those cooler days, I decided to drop by.

The place was as green as ever. And the menu seems to keep expanding.

Looking over the menu I realized that I'd always had the Lamian (牛大碗 – hand pulled noodles) here. I decided to try the Dao Xiao Mian; knife cut noodles, with beef brisket.

While the flavor of the broth was still on the mild side; it didn't seem to be too heavy on the MSG side of things. It was also decently textured, a decent amount of fat/oil in the broth. The beef had a nice texture, not falling apart, but not too chewy. There was a nice soy sauce-anise-light sweetness to it that was pleasant. Man, this had a ton of noodles in it! The noodles were pretty uniform in terms of width and I prefer my Dao Xiao Mian a bit thicker. It seemed a bit too processed in texture; tearing easily, lacking tenderness and "pull".

All-in-all, not bad. Though not quite worth the $10.99 price tag for some rather routine noodle soup.

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Duyen Mai:

**** Pho Duyen Mai is under new ownership

Of course I had to have some of "Them Bones" again.

The pho broth here has hit a certain level of consistency; a bit too sweet and salty, but not terrible, light in beef flavor and anise tones. Still there's much worse to be found in the area. Noodle were perfect, proteins in the soup decent. And then there were the xí quách bò – the simmered beef ribs. I was kind of disappointed this time around as the meat was really tough. I had to use the knife to cut it off the bones. On previous visits, I could just scrape them right off the ribs with a spoon. The beefiness was there, but it was just too hard to fully enjoy.

And no talented pooch this time around either. Oh well, Duyen Mai is still better than other pho places in the area……for now.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123

Thanks for reading!

Revisits – Pho Hut and Saigon 5

January 18, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I think everyone knows…..it's been quite a bad flu season this year. And I didn't escape the wrath of it. I must be getting up in years, because once I recovered; I still felt drained. Not wanting to go too far from home after getting home from work; but still wanting some noodle soup, I went for easy options nearby.

So here are two of the places fairly close to home.

Saigon 5:

**** Saigon 5 has closed

Located in the food court of the new 99 Ranch Market, I mentioned in my previous post on the place, that it opens early. I'd get home from work and crash by 7 or 8 pm. I'd be tired but hungry the next morning, a weekend, and Saigon 5 opens at around 930am.

I went with the dumpling egg noodle soup.

And while I still think the broth here is a little too light; it wasn't overly salty…no M-S-heebie-jeebies. It could use a bit more richness and pork flavor though.

That piece of pork hock was fairly tasty; the meat just chewy enough and was very nice.

The dumplings were on the tough side, with even less shrimp than before. Though the noodles had a nice pull to them and wasn't over-cooked.

Nothing amazing, but when feeling rundown and wanting to stay fairly close to home, well, this was okay for this morning.

Saigon 5
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Hut:

One evening, the Missus was at work and I was feeling quite run down. I wanted a bowl of egg noodle soup and decided to revisit Pho Hut and get the Mi Sui Cao; the dumpling egg noodle soup. Which, on one visit was decent, but then on my next visit was disappointing. It's also now $9.95.

This was more like my last visit. The broth so thin, like MSG water, though the dumplings….which I thought were missing at first and were just four in number were better than the last time when the wrappers had separated from the filling.

The portion of noodles were generous and cooked nicely.

But this just isn't very good overall.

The most entertaining moment of the evening was trying to convince the guy sitting across from me that "bun" didn't mean bun. That is; he wanted a banh mi, but thought it was "bun" on the menu. And for the life of him, could not figure out why a noodle dish would be called something in a "bun". Luckily, his wife/partner talked some sense into him and I managed to show him the photos in the menu. So you can imagine what the typical demographic of this restaurant is these days, right?

Pho Hut & Grill
5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

On the good side. I'm finally feeling just about back to (ab)normal……..

Midweek Meanderings – Da Nang Food to Go Becoming Mi Quang Mien Trung and Liang’s Kitchen is Now Another Location of Private Kitchens

January 17, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Just a quick post on a busy week for me.

Da Nang Food to Go Becoming Mi Quang Mien Trung:

I was recently driving on El Cajon Boulevard when I noticed that Da Nang Food to Go and all the other businesses next to the 7-11 had closed down. I took a quick look at the sign and was surprised. Mi Quang Mien Trung? I'll have to ask then next time I visit Mien Trung. On a side note; I've never been a fan of the Mi Quang at Mien Trung, so we'll see.

4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Liang's Kitchen is Now Another Location of Private Kitchen:

Here's another surprise as I really didn't notice the change in signage. But rather something looked different so I did a quick turn into the strip mall.

Then I looked up and saw that Liang's Kitchen had become another location of Private Kitchens (aka Sister Ma’s Kitchen).

Based on my last visit to Liang's I'm not surprised. But strangely, didn't even notice the change until this past weekend.

4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Finally, on New Years Day; the Missus got called into work. So I decided to take a drive around the neighborhood. It's strange what catches your eye…….I saw this guy sitting at the outdoor table at Seisel's. All the businesses were closed. For some reason I find it sad and kind of haunting.

Roadtrip – Revisits to Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Kang Lac Bakery, Lien Hoa, and Song Long (Westminster)

January 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

Whew; I need to catch up on all my posts! Since I've posted on these places a multitude of times; I'll keep it shirt and sweet.

This one is from back in August of last year. Basically, I had an all day meeting in Irvine. The Missus had the following day and night off; so we decided to stay in the area. We started things off well by having dinner at Sushi Noguchi in Yorba Linda (sorry no post on that one….next time). The next day after my meetings we headed off to dinner and was kind of unimpressed with Sichuan Impression in Alhambra. In fact we basically ate maybe half of what we ordered. Our hotel had a fridge, so I'd end up taking stuff back and then home.

Being somewhat disappointed in driving all this way, we decided to make a short stop. The Missus was really missing good jiaozi, so we decided to make a stop at….

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Man, it's been a good long time since we've been here.

The place is starting to look even more run down and the folks working a bit older. Though it's fun to get a smile out of the Missus when She hears the "Qingdao Hua"; the accent of Her hometown.

Two orders for us. The lamb versin; which doesn't have as much "soup" as before; but is still very gamey. And the vegetarian, which on this occasion was really good. The wrappers were nice; with that pillowy-pull to them.

The Missus had really been missing jiaozi it seems as She put these down in no time.

There was one rather sad moment during our meal. It was when the traditional garlic condiment came out. I've called this the Missus's "little dish of memories". Her job when She was a child in Qingdao was to pound the garlic for jiaozi in a mortar and pestle. Something She used to hate, but now loves…..in fact She did it with such relish the last time we were in Qingdao. Looks like they now put the garlic in a blender….very sad; because you really get the most flavor out of the garlic when you pound it; you release all the oils…..this really didn't have the "umph" we were used to. Perhaps the folks here have gotten old and tired of pounding garlic.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

The next morning, we got up rather early. Instead of just hanging out at the hotel until check-out and heading off to Sea Harbour, we decided to check out early and just do the usual two-fer of Lien Hoa and Song Long. We hit a snag as when we arrived at Lien Hoa; the place wasn't open yet. I had an idea. You see, years ago, "Beach" took me to the place right over in the next parking lot for a snack…..

Kang Lac Bakery:

The Missus had never had the Bot Chien here and it was right next door to Lien Hoa. So why not?

Radish and Taro cakes coated in crisp egg.

Man, that sauce is still good!

Tea for the Missus, some Vietnamese Coffee for me. The cost was like ten bucks. A very nice start to our morning.

Kang Lac Bakery
9301 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683

By now…..

Lien Hoa:

Was open.

And I got our roast duck; which I've posted on a number of times.

Lien Hoa BBQ
9311 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

And then it was time for "our real breakfast"……

Song Long:

Ever since "Kha" recommended this place to us years ago; it's become a real favorite of ours.

And I have to say; it's still a big favorite. Hmm……maybe we have some time next weekend?

Song Long Restaurant
9361 Bolsa Ave Suite 108
Westminster, CA 92683

Thanks for stopping by!

Pho Be Thui at Pho Saigon Alley

January 9, 2018 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Pho Saigon Alley has closed

Back at the end of October; I was making one of my now quite rare trips to City Heights when I noticed a "Grand Re-Opening Banner on the former location of Asmara Restaurant. Grand Re-Opening? When was the original opening When did Asmara close? Hmmm……I guess I'm getting a bit out of touch in my old age.

Anyway, I made a mental note of the place and like I tend to do so often these days promptly forgot about the place. In December, when we got back from our latest trip, something triggered a recollection. And I decided to stop by Pho Saigon Alley.

I went and parked in the rear of the building and this banner caught my attention.

Pho be thui? That's a new one for me. Man, I haven't had Be Thui on over ten years!

The rear entrance and back of the restaurant; the outdoor area, looks somewhat worn and unkept, not the most welcoming entrance. The interior looks fairly bright, but the floors seem scuffed and there's a bit of haphazardness to the place. Bar type seating, a stage….seems like they were doing karaoke here for a while?

The place was also totally empty when I arrived. But I pushed ahead and ordered the Pho Be Thui; noted as "Smoked Veal" on the menu.

I ordered a small ($9.25). I totally expected to get a plate with be thui along with a plain-Jane bowl of pho. So I was surprised when a good sized bowl of pho arrived with brisket, tripe, tendon, and flank.

The be thui here was thinly sliced like tai; there was no rice powder dusted on the slices of meat like proper be thui; the sauce was super salty nothing like the traditional fermented bean sauce (tuong cu da) or the really clean, refreshing, ginger based sauces I've had with be thui. It was of course, quite lean, pretty darn chewy, and since the broth for this bowl of pho wasn't very hot; it never got beyond basically raw. The broth was very mild, defatted, with just a hint of beefiness and a touch of anise flavors. At least it wasn't too salty.

The noodles were nicely done and were actually hotter than the broth!

The tendon and tripe were very well prepared; just a hint of chew for the tendon and no "off flavors" for the crunchy tripe. The flank was a bit too fatty and tough, but the brisket had a nice beefy flavor. As you can see by the top photo; the basil was starting to discolor.

So, while this was not very good in terms of be thui (also, there wasn't any "smoke" flavor – I'm thinking they mean torched), it wasn't terrible by any means. There are bowls worse than this to be found. I needed to get something for the Missus at Northgate Market a few days later; so I decided to drop by again.

On this visit, there were three other tables occupied. By an older crowd. This time I noticed a grease board on a music stand occupying the "stage" area. It had a bunch of dishes listed. I was tempted to go for the bun bo hue. But after my recent not-so-good bowl of BBH, I decided to just go ahead and ordered the Bo Luc Lac.

This was fairly mediocre; not bad, just nothing special. Like versions of bo luc lac I've had recently; this was on the salty side and lacking in any sweet-sour or deeply savory tones. The meat was a bit overcooked, but still reasonably tender. The veggies were under cooked, though the rice was nice and fragrant. the portion size was fairly small; but reasonable for $8.25. Not much more to say.

The service is typical old-school pho shop……which I thought kinda nice since we now have all these modern, slick, sort of hipsterish Vietnamese places I've been to recently. The clientele on my visits were all older folks.

I may drop by Pho Saigon Alley again in the future…maybe take my chances with the Bun Bo Hue. Or maybe not……..

Pho Saigon Alley
4155 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Open Daily 10am – 9pm

Ginger Pho & Grill

December 27, 2017 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Ginger Pho & Grill has closed

A few months ago I received an email from "SomTommy". He asked me if I could check out a place on Plaza in National City that supposedly made a good Bun Bo Hue. I really hadn't heard of a place in National City making at good BBH; but heck, I did get a fairly passable bowl of pho in the area recently so why not? Turns out the place is actually in the very busy mall that houses Seafood City on Plaza.

I did notice that there's been a bit of turnover in the mall since my last visit. Manila Resto is gone, there's a new, what looks like the ubiquitous Crawfish place, and a few places I don't recall seeing before. Though the veteran restaurants like Golden Chopsticks, Bread Deluxe, and Goldilocks is still doing good business. As was Porky's Lechon.

As for Ginger Pho & Grill, well, there were a couple of tables occupied; all getting pho, but I went with the Bun Bo Hue. This actually took a while to get to me; which had me a bit concerned as I saw everything else just rolling out of the kitchen in minutes.

Eventually, it did arrive. First thing I noticed was the strong orange color of the broth; orange, not red, and how cloudy it was.

The plate of herbs and veggies were very fresh; though mostly lettuce and purple cabbage with a sprig of mint thrown in.

The broth was quite spicy, an in your face blast of chili heat. There was a mild richness-fattiness to the soup. The rest of the broth seemed so plain in comparison; very little lemon grass flavor, no beef or pork notes, no sour or savory (shrimp paste) tones; it was basically just spicy.

The meat was well prepared; the rustic cuts were think enough, but not hard, there were two pork hocks in soup; one was wrapped in a nice, toothsome piece of skin; the other tasted slightly off, so I passed on that. The two pieces of tendon was well prepared and pretty tender.

The bun was cooked well, slippery, with a decent stretchiness to them.

If the broth had a bit more than spiciness going for it; this might have been a pretty good bowl.

Recently, I had to drop by Seafood City, so I decided to try the pho at Ginger.

I went with good 'ol #4; the well done steak, brisket, flank, tendon and tripe. I went with the small size priced at $6.99.

This was an interesting bowl. First off, the broth was really mild and severely defatted. It was also barely over lukewarm. The basil had brown spots, but there was a generous portion of bean sprouts. To illustrate how warm the broth was; I placed half of the bean sprouts in the broth and they never softened.

I like my noodles "al dente", but this was too hard for my liking. I'm thinking the broth wasn't hot enough to finish cooking the noodles and what I got was on the too hard and chewy side.

The best part of this pho was the proteins; other than the tripe which was MIA. All the meats were fairly tender, especially the brisket and tendon.

There was a generous amount of noodles and meat in this $6.99 bowl of pho. I think this illustrates what the folks at Ginger believes folks are looking for here; large portion sizes and more meat.

Service was typical; perfunctory without being rude; efficiency rules. The restaurant is nice and clean, prices are reasonable. For me; there is better pho…and Bun Bo Hue out there.

Ginger Pho & Grill
1420 East Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950
Hours:
Open 9am – 9pm Daily

2018 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade float decorating. Meals from THH, Kolache Factory(Tustin) and Johnny’s Shrimp Boat (West Covina)

December 9, 2017 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for once again stopping to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog which sometimes (like today) shows the events surrounding the acquisition of meals. Kirk (and His Missus) are still on vacation and Cathy is writing.

Less than a month before the Tournament of Roses and float decoration has begun. The Mister and I were awake early last Saturday and got to the Phoenix Decorating Company barn in Irwindale before 8:30. So did a few hundred other people. We were there to do 'dry' decorating (fresh flowers and other fresh products start after Christmas).

I've been showing you road tests of the 2018 floats for the past few months (prior road tests linked at the top of that post), so you know in general what you are going to see. You can see artist renditions of these floats at this link.

If you'd like to read more about the Tournament and all its activities, this link to The Rose Examiner, is an excellent resource.

The Opening Unit, displaying the banner of the Theme of the 2018 parade- "Making A Difference" will be the first float you see.
The statice, in three colors, was ready for cutting. (In the background is the End Unit; last float you'll see in the parade). The statice petals (as well as other materials) are then blended in one of these BlendTec blenders and the powder is glued on parts of the float-makes the product be used efficiently. All visible parts of every float must be covered with natural materials. The scaffolds weren't set up and people were working at the lower levels on the City of Alhambra's float, "Story Time"
This material is 'paper bark'- it is prepared using stainless steel scrubbers, to be smooth- the product in the boxes in back is ready for application on the float.
Even rice is put in those blenders. The powder covers much more on a surface.An excellent example of rice powder- the inner ceiling of this three-part Honda float,which looks like this… The powdered rice is applied to the backs of the 'clouds' on the bottom the float; if it is visible, it has natural materials.

Palm bark is also used for decorating. The useable product is in the small box on top of the table.
The design on the back of the "Armenian Roots" float is similar to the Armenian Orphan rug, woven by Armenian genocide victims as a gift to President Coolidge – the tassels are raffia grass.

If you can enlarge, the black parts of the butterfly are black beans. The edge of the hearts are covered with red straw flower petals, which were not powdered: texture.Enlarging this photo shows the orange parts of this unique butterfly are lentils.
These yellow with orange edged roses are being covered with powdered yellow straw flowers. There will be about 30 of these flowers on the City of Hope Medical Center float, "Transforming Lives with Hope".
Rotary International's float, "Sowing the Seeds of Service" was being decorated from the climbing scaffolding- the hat is covered with Pac-Pac, a braided straw (you can see some Pac-Pac on the top step).
Here is the front of "Armenian Roots", depicting Mother Armenia and pomegranates, a symbolic fruit of Armenia.
Shriners Hospitals, "Caring for Kids Around the World" will be filled with details.
Lions Clubs International, "Preserving Our Environment" has multiple details, like these cattails, partly covered in dried parsnip. The Oddfellows and Rebbekahs float, "Sacrifice to Serve" has pictographs on both sides of the float. Much detail work will be completed over the next few weeks.
Kiwanis, "Racing to Serve Children" is so cute!
These are the red straw flowers, mentioned above.
The Lutheran Layman's League float, "Bringing Christ to the Nations". The Mister and I volunteer with their group, the Petal Pushers and are assigned to assist on whichever float needs assistance; our volunteering helps pay for this float, the only Christian themed float in the parade, now for the 68th year.
Detail for the Western Asset float, "Oceans of Possibility".
The United Sikh Mission float, "Serving Kindness" depicts the Sikh Langar, the worlds largest free kitchen, which serves over 100,000 meals a day and is in line with the theme of this parade "Making a Difference"
This is a 'tag along' to the Trader Joe's float,
which was still undergoing some mechanical corrections last week…the title, "Hats Off"…you'll see.

On to the food portion of this blog.

Tustin, the same parking lot and indecision for breakfast. The Mister went to the business on the left, Kolache Factory and I went to the business on the right, THH Sandwiches. An apricot and a bacon-cheese kolache from The Factory. A chicken and a pork pate chaud from THH. Enough protein to sustain and some nice carbs to enjoy.

Kolache Factory 14091 Newport Avenue Tustin 92780 (714) 730-2253 Website

THH 14081 Newport Ave Tustin, CA (714)731-1366 Open Mon-Sat 5 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Sun 7 am-4 pm website

We brought lunch, enjoyed in the industrial park area surrounding the decorating barn, consisting of sandwiches brought from home…

Worked until about 5 p.m. and started driving South on Vincent, one signal light East. The street name changed at some point to Glendora and we were in West Covina. We had passed here a few times this year, but Johnny's Shrimp Boat doesn't open until 9:30 a.m.. Look at it. We had to stop.
The menu is simple- there are specials for $6.95, $7.95 and $8.95. All have the option of a side consisting of rice with beans, gravy, chili or fries (or just fries) (and pretty much any combination of those items). Menu items consist of shrimp, fish, hamburger steak, pork chop, short ribs and teriyaki (beef, chicken or shrimp).
You order, pay, have a seat. There's no tipping jar. The young man out in front as well as the chef are very nice and know the 'regulars'. Your food is handed to you over the counter.
We tried the two fish, four shrimp combo with rice and beans ($7.95). The beans were plain and needed to have hot sauce added (there were condiments on the counter).

Both the fish and the shrimp were a good size, and perfectly batter fried.

There was a window sign for a $5 shrimp cocktail. It had five large, plump shrimp, was in a nicely spiced sauce with cucumber, onion, tomato and avocado…a great deal.

Good food, nice people, a great find. (Trivia: A scene from Cobra, a Stallone film, was filmed inside the Los Angeles location of Johnny's Shrimp Boat)
Johnny's Shrimp Boat 803 S. Glendora West Covina, 91790 (626) 813-3818 Open daily 9:30-9

Thanks for reading!