Vietnamese Restaurants – Page 40

Mignon Pho + Grill Revisted

March 11, 2012 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

I recently had a very friendly, but lively debate with a cousin of John and Peter. The subject was our choices for favorite Pho in San Diego. I was quite shocked when he told me it was Mignon Pho! I'd visited when they first opened, then followed up with a couple more visits, but was never impressed with the Pho. Loved the choices of local craft brews, the high ceilings, nice friendly service……but the food, well…no. Now, I realize that some folks believe I'm inordinately picky. I also realize the difference between what we consider our favorites versus the best. So feeling my way through this conversation, I went with, "oh, ok, Mignon is your favorite pho restaurant, who do you think is makes the best?" Looking at me like I had bolts on the side of my neck, the young man said, "Mignon, of course…..best broth, best noodles, best meat, just the best…." So much for the soft, diplomatic approach. Ok, fair enough, FOYs Howie and Jenne had also mentioned that Mignon Pho had improved a bit, so I figured it was time I returned.

Located in the same strip mall as Nijiya Market, Koon Thai, and Okan, I like the look of the restaurant.

The tables are nice and clean, the place looks neat and uncluttered, and there's not someone practically mugging you to order as soon as you've sat down. I do say that the place can get pretty loud fairly quickly, but I don't think that's a much of a hindrance.

The young man who took my order was very friendly and mellow and I simply went with the Regular Size Filte Mignon Pho with the meat on the side. At $7.50 for the whole shebang, I was surprised. My last visit was an $7.95 bowl of Pho with an additional charge of $1.75 for meat on the side. Nice change in this day and age.

The garnishes arrived, perhaps not a sparkling fresh as on previous visits, but looked perfectly fine.

And a minute or two later, my bowl of pho arrived.

The broth looked on the dark side and was sending plumes of steam in the air. Taking a whiff, I was disappointed, no beefiness, no anise, maybe some onion, but very weak in the fragrance department. Taking a taste would yield the same result, weak……though I got this taste, I'm thinking they may now use msg or something similar in the broth? The lack of richness didn't help matters either.

As I made my way through just about everything and anything on the plate of herbs and bean sprouts, I noticed the lack of Ngo Gai (culantro) this time around. But in it's place was a sprig of Ngo Om, the Rice Paddy Herb. I've had this many times, though never with pho. It has a citrusy taste with an earthy almost cumin like background flavor that tastes kinda odd in pho.

The meat was nice, though a bit too frozen as it took a while for it get to the lightly pink color I enjoy.

The portion size for the noodles was on the small side, though they were nicely done, slightly firm with a mild stretch to them.

But man, that broth was weak. I couldn't bring myself to finish a third of it.

For the first time I was sorely tempted to grab for one of the bottles on the table.

Now I know why each table has a large bottle of each on them.

And yet, I thought, man the service was nice and the pace very relaxed. There's got to be something on the menu I like. Then I recalled seeing this on the menu:

Man, Banh Mi Bo Kho, one of my favorite things!

So I returned for the Beef Stew…….well not quite a stew as I soon found out.

Man this was thin and insipid, truly lacking in flavor and the most watery beef "stew" I've ever had. It's almost like the pho base with some tomato and a very light touch of seasoning was added. This was really bad. It's almost like they don't know the difference between soup and stew.

I felt bad for the folks who made this…..

The bread was nice and warm and perfectly fine.

The meat on the other hand was not that great. The tendon provided was very tough and the other cuts had some flavor but were pretty dry.

What a bummer. But I did try to hedge my bets a little by choosing something a bit different, a bit fusiony, from the appetizers.

Yes, you can sigh….I actually ordered french fries. Lemongrass Garlic Fries ($4) to be exact. And they arrvied nice and hot, though I can't quite make the connection with fresh, since these were obviously mass produced frozen spuds, it's not like they cut them fresh inhouse.

Well the menu actually had the crispy on the outside and soft on the inside part right. These were also nicely seasoned with salt and what I'm thinking is granulated garlic. The lemongrass flavor was quite faint.

Well, I went to a Pho restaurant and enjoyed the fries, I think that says much more than another four or five paragraphs would. I do enjoy the service, cleanliness, and atmosphere at Mignon Pho. The craft beer, though not particularly focused seems like a nice addition. But the bottom line is, I'm here to eat………

Mignon Pho + Grill
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Postscript: The interesting thing was someone else recommended the wings here, so I actually went back again for those and even tried the pho again. The pho was just as bad….as for the wings, you'll have to stay tuned.

Stuff for a slow Saturday: Recently Made at Home, Revisits to Tan Ky Mi Gia and Los Pueblos

March 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Mexican Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

It usually happens around this time of the year. I kinda hit a "slump" of sorts……we've been eating more at home recently. While the Missus can eat the same thing for several days (even weeks) in a row, roasted vegetables or lentil soup (she;s loving our new Dutch Oven), I need a bit of variety. So here are the two items I managed to take photos of this past week.

I decided to drop by Seisel's tp pick up some calf's liver as a treat for Da' Boyz. Not quite sure what to make, I bought a half pound of ground chuck. Funny thing is, my ground beef cost two bucks, while the liver cost seven. I always tell the Missus that our household is going to the dogs. This is just further evidence of that.

I still didn't have any idea of what to make when I got home. Opening the cabinet, the bag of cumin fell out on the counter……..it must have been a hint from somewhere. Using my Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak recipe as a base. I minced onions and mixed that along with ground cumin, dark and light soy sauce, sambal olek, with the ground beef. While that sat, I toasted cumin and Sichuan peppercorns, which I then ground. I made patties then seasoned the surface of the ground beef with salt, cumin and Sichuan peppercorns. I didn't incorporate thatinto the meat because cumin tends to keep form and stay hard when mixed into ground beef. The cumin powder took care of that. Cooked in my cast iron pan and topped with Sriracha, it came out better than I thought.

I just might do this again.

A couple of nights later, I dropped by Seisel's again, this time, I thought I'd use up some blue cheese and left over tapenade that we had in the fridge and stuff a chicken breast. Unfortunately, they were out of chicken breast. I decided to try to do the same thing with chicken thighs. I usually have a couple of dried items in my pantry, so I made a mixture of sundried tomatoes, morel mushrooms, tapenade, and blue cheese. I pounded out the chicken thights, then, feeling too lazy to skewer the thighs, I simply rolled them, seasoned the chicken with sea salt and fresh ground pepper and cooked them off in the frying pan. There was some loss, but not too much.

This came out pretty good, it smelled heavenly, and I managed not to overcook the chicken. I prefer dark meat to white meat anyway, but just never thought of stuffing thighs.

I'll definitely do this again.

Other than that, here are some short revisits.

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

My sinuses have been taking a beating this year. I really wanted something with a alot of flavor, so we decided to head up to Mira Mesa. I really wanted the Beef Sate Egg Noodle "dry" from Tan Ky Mi Gia.

I'm not sure if it was because I just wanted it so much or what. But this was better than I ever recalled having here. The meat was tender, there was a good amount of heat and spices, which cleared up my sinuses. The accompanying soup was a bit too salty, but that's just what I needed. Sometimes it's all about timing. Strangely, our favorite "server" wasn't working this evening……

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

Los Pueblos:

**** Los Pueblos has closed

Yep, again. The Missus enjoys the Mole Poblano and also the tortilla soup here. Here's the Mole Poblano with Huarache Chips (sorry, forgot the soup photo):

This time I went with the carne asada smothered in Mole Poblano.

If you're used to $2 steak carne asada, you might find this an improvement. They used skirt steak, which I may just have without the mole next time. Combined with black beans, guacamole, tortillas, and arroz verde (green rice) this was a nap inducing meal. I guess Los Pueblos has established a place on our rotation.

Check out Cathy's post here.

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico
7081 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone is having a great "spring forward" weekend. I hope losing that hour of sleep doesn't affect you too much!

Lucky Seafood- a meal and a take home snack

March 2, 2012 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Seafood, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the blog you are reading. A few friends write about food they eat, take photos and share meals with you. Kirk is too busy to write today and so is ed(from Yuma. That leaves Cathy, who is sharing a meal and a snack.

Hi. This is a short post. Kirk has written only one post devoted to Lucky Pho, yet Lucky is mentioned in about 24 of our mmm-yoso posts. The restaurant adjoining the grocery store is a favorite/regular spot for The Mister and I of all the pho places around this large county. This the place I recommend to anyone who asks me "where do you like to eat?"

On this cloudy, chilly morning, both of us wanted soup and we disagreed about the basic broth. So instead of messing up the kitchen, we each chose our own preference at Lucky.

The Mister chose Pho Tai ($6.50)…

and I chose the shrimp and krab ($6.50). It's made with different noodles and a very rich fish broth, which was what I was wanting. You'll notice there is mint on the plate of add ins- that's for the seafood soup, otherwise all the usual add ins of sprouts, jalapeno, basil and lime.

Of course we always get the Spring rolls here ($5.50). These are more meat than vegetable filled and always perfectly fried. Another great meal.

Since we were at a market, I started to think about the weekly shopping. There were too many people inside to take photos of the produce section, but the prices here are good and the vegetables and fruit are always fresh.

I headed over to the seafood area where most items are in open display.

Fish heads (great for soup making) are still only $1.99/lb.

The pretty parrot fish caught my eye. I've never had one and wondered how it would taste.

Then I saw the overhead sign…

I waited in line and handed the nice young man my chosen fish, which was weighed and priced and in a few minutes, my number was called.

Then I went to checkout and paid for all of my purchases…

This is my lovely fried parrot fish. It is very meaty was good while hot, but also turned out to taste very good when cold.

No photo of the resulting carcass; you've seen enough this week. I hope all of you have a good weekend! Stay warm and dry!

Lucky Seafood and Pho 9326 Mira Mesa Blvd San Diego Ca 92126

Recently Consumed…….

February 22, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Japanese Restaurants, Turkish Food, Vietnamese Restaurants

After a long day, it's always nice to enjoy a good meal….here are some photos of items recently consumed…..

Though not all of it was great…..

I never left hungry.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Breakfasts of Champions: San Diego Edition – Hinotez, 777 Noodle House, Island Style Cafe, and Zarlitos

February 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Breakfast/Brunch, Filipino Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Whew, I'm pretty beat today, so I thought I'd just go with some recent breakfasts in photos. These were basically the photos I sent along with text messages to my FOYs that led to JohnL telling me to put them into a post. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize the places/dishes:

I still haven't gotten round to doing a proper post on this place. Still waiting to check out the yakitori I guess. I mentioned the special place in my heart this type of dish holds. I still prefer whole raw eggs, but "hot spring eggs" (onsen tamago) will do, even if these were a bit more runny than other versions I've had. For $6, I consider this a real nice breakfast.

Hinotez
7947 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

I've stopped by 777 Noodle House a couple of times while doing my weekend morning grocery shopping. The Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho – Phnom Penh Noodles (Dry) is what I'll usually order. The price for this has gone up, but is still just $5.77.

I always look forward to the broth on the side, mainly because I really enjoy the sight of the pork leg bone in the broth. No offal in this version, but it is quite filling. One morning, as I sat and ate my breakfast, I noticed that all the tables were speaking different languages…one table Vietnamese, another Spanish, the one to my left Cantonese, right in front of me was a family that I think was Somali, the one in the corner Lao….the room was full of beautiful noises.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

This next one needs no introduction…….

My quarterly loco moco………..well, actually a Kaloko Moco ($8.95).

Island Style Cafe
5950 Santo Road
San Diego, CA 92124

And it just wouldn't be right for me to do a breakfast post without a "silog" meal, in this case a Longsilog ($5.75) from Zarlitos.

The longanisa didn't look too good, but was nicely charred on the exterior. I can tell you that cooking longanisa can make a mess of your frying pan. This was a decent meal for the price. I enjoyed it more than the Spamsilog I had a couple of months back.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

So there you go, a quartet of breakfasts…….have anything good for breakfast recently?

Chinese Kitchen (Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang) – Bun Mang Vit again……

February 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang has closed

This little restaurant makes my favorite Bun Mang Vit in San Diego. I've written about the place before. Under the guise of a Chinese fast-food joint, there's some good Bun Mang Vit going on.

When I first started going here in 2006, the place looked haphazardly thrown together and you actually did order from a hole-in-the-wall at this hole-in-the wall. A couple of years later, some fast-foodish furnishings were added, new signs and the place looked spiffed up a bit. On my last visit, things were starting to settled in that worn in look again. I'm thinking the place need to look that way…..you know, that favorite jacket with the worn elbows, the favorite jeans that fit so well…..

Plus, I'm not here to admire the decor, rather, after a long and tiring week, this is a treat for me.

To get the most out of this restaurant, you need to peel your eyes away from the huge plastic menu on the wall that faces the street. Look to your left and you'll see the heart and soul of the menu. While I've had other dishes here, it's the Bun Mang Vit that keep me coming back. There have been times when I've had to stand on the bench and point to the third line down on the menu to make sure I'd get my order right. The prices aren't bad either…..

This is basically a clear, I'm thinking chicken based broth, very light in color and texture. Dried bamboo shoots are added…..I like to let it rest for a while so the earthy flavor of the bamboo shoots adds flavor to the broth. The noodles are the "bun", vermicelli. You always get a little bowl of a fairly sweet Nuoc Mam Cham full of minced ginger and garlic and on this day a small styrofoam cup of plain, undiluted fish sauce.

I use this to dip my duck and my veggies, which I soften a bit with a quick dunk in the broth. I've actually caught glimpses of the women prepping duck in the back.

I have noticed that they've cut down on the amount of banana blossom and rau ram in the herb-vegetable mixture over the years, but it hasn't really bothered me.

I can still come here to get my fix when I just want to relax and watch the paint slowly turn color on the walls…..

I often kid my good buddy "JohnL" about some of the really bad recommendations he's given me over the years, but this one makes up for all of those. Though I do know the truth John…..it was actually your Mom's recommendation. But that's ok, I'll give you credit for it!

Chinese Kitchen (Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang)
6160 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92115

Midweek Meanderings: Hinotez (finally) starting Yakitori, Viet Bakery and Pho and Moby Dick Fish Market (I kid you not) coming soon

February 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, Vietnamese Restaurants

Hinotez finally starting yakitori:

Dennis has already mentioned this, but since I had started on a draft of this post I thought I'd follow-thru:

I've been to Hinotez several times, but mostly for breakfast. I'd been waiting for them to get their menu finalized and that looks like it'll take place soon. So they're starting up yakitori in spite of not having their beer and wine license yet.

One other thing that Dennis mentioned was that they're now doing bentos:

Which are prices right and looked pretty good. The young lady who always seems to be working when I have breakfast there told me that the Tonkatsu Sandwich is very popular.

Looking over the bentos, I had a nice laugh when I notcied that the "healthy" bento had potato salad in it…… I guess the term healthy is relative, right?

Hinotez
7947 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Coming soon to the Convoy area:

On the way out of the parking lot after having lunch at Swab Shabu World with Mr Z, I noticed this signage had just gone up.

Viet Bakery and Pho? Banh Mi and Pho? Not quite sure and my usual sources haven't been able to get me anything yet. This is in the space that Imperial Mandarin gave up when they cut their restaurant size in half. So for sure more Pho, not quite sure if it's more Banh Mi……

3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Right up the street is another change. There's a fish market called, I kid you not….Moby Dick Fish Market…..ahoy!!!

For some reason this scene came to mind, not sure why……

I did ask around a bit and found out that this is the same guy who used to own Convoy Sushi and Fish Market and North Park Sushi and Fish Market. Does he have a short attention span or what? I'll give him this much, he keeps on trying….. Dennis did send me a text noting the irony of the name. The place used to be a "Gentleman's Club"…….

4805 Convoy St.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Pho Fifth Avenue

February 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Man, it took me long enough to do a post on this place……I mentioned the opening of Pho Fifth Avenue way back in Apirl of 2010, intending to check the place out, but for some reason I just never made it. Reading Dennis's post on the place made it sound pretty promising, yet I still wasn't able to get my act together until recently.

The shop, now almost two years old looks like a cross between the "old school" and new style Pho shops. The dishes on the menu are listed in Vietnamese, but the descriptions are in English. The set-up is typical Pho shop, but the area is bright, clean, and well lit.

On my first visit, I ordered the Brisket, Flank, Tendon, and Tripe……I'd seen the rare steak come out and it looked like typical beef top round and folks who've read this blog over the years know how I feel about dry and tasteless "Tai". Why bother……

My bowl arrived soon after ordering, the gentleman working here was very nice and pretty friendly.

The broth was low on fat, mildly beefy, not bad overall, except for being too sweet….oddly sweet and being served a little below the temp I consider optimal. I'd also enjoy a bit more anise hints in the soup as well. The noodles were the typical clump, but were decent. As expected the garnishes were farly minimal, I used a good bit of the basil to bump up the anise flavor and a good squeeze of lime to try and balance out the sweetness.

You can really tell how the restaurant deals with perceived restaurant demographics with the ratio of different cuts of meat. There was a good amount of lean flank, a decent amount of brisket, I fished out one piece of tendon, a bit more chewy than I prefer, and one very tiny strand of tripe, which I had to work to find.

Overall, not a bad bowl andI did see something after I placed my order that I wanted to try, so I returned a week later….to have Filet Mignon Pho. Not cheap at $9.25 for a small and $11.25 for a large, but I really appreciate a decent bowl of Pho Filet Mignon.

Based on my previous experience with the broth temperature, I had some reservations, but this time it arrived super steaming hot. Perfect for doing a quick dunk of the precious morsels of beef.

The Pho Filet Mignon here arrives with no other protein in the broth, which was still bit on the sweet side, though not as bad as my previous visit.

The broth was also more salty and had a bit more oil than my previous bowl.

I was surprised at the amount of beef tenderloin(I ordered a small), cut a bit thinner than what I consider the norm to be. It started falling apart as I moved it from the plate to the broth for a quick dunk.

The meat was very tender, a pleasure to eat.

I did find the amount of noodles this time around to be on the mushy side and the portion sized towards small. In fact, two hours after eating this my stomach started to growl.

Still, it was better than what I last had at Mignon Pho + Grill, though I haven't been back in a while and Howie and Jenne told me the Pho has gotten better there. So I guess I need to head back there soon.

Pho Fifth Avenue
3807 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
Hours:
Mon-Thurs 10 am – 10 pm
Fri-Sat 10 am – 11 pm
Sun 10 am – 10 pm

Feeling Pho-rozen: Pho Lucky and Pho Hiep and Grill (Linda Vista)

December 8, 2011 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Man, the cold has hit me like a ton of bricks…….. I've even mentioning adopting another pup to the Missus since we've definitely had a couple of three dog nights and we're one mutt short! I'm usually not so wimpy. I'm not sure if I became used to the 80 degree plus weather on Oahu over ten short days, but walking out of the airport to temps in the high forties stopped me dead. Geeez, what a wimp……

So of course I've been craving soup, and Pho' obviously comes to mind.

Pho Lucky:

I was quite surprised when the Missus, being not much of a Pho-natic requested a bowl of Pho. We headed up to Pho Lucky.

I ordered a bowl with just tendon, brisket, and flank. The broth was on the dark side but very soothing and not too salty. Nice mild anise and onion tones. Noodles could have used less cooking time but I wasn't complaining. To my surprise (and to the really funny Server's) the Missus ordered a large Dac Biet (Special) and plowed through most of it (left the rare steak).

Timing as they say, is everything.

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Pho Hiep and Grill – Linda Vista:

Deciding that a Pho double dip might be just the thing, the next day I headed to Pho Hiep and Grill.

I grabbed a large bowl of Flank-Brisket-Tendon-Tripe. The protein items were pretty good, especially the usually tough flank cuts. The broth left something to be desired; the anise flavor was much too strong and it was salty as heck.

Can't win 'em all I guess.

Pho Hiep & Grill
6947 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

So what have you been consuming to stay warm?

"You can raise your arm, you can wiggle your hand
And you can wave goodbye to the frozen man"

The Frozen Man – James Taylor

Phuong Trang-COMC

November 27, 2011 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! It's still part of a long weekend and, like you, all of us here are busy with family and friends and food. Cathy has a short post today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are researching their next contributions to this blog.

Hi again. I was COMC (Cleaning Out my Memory Card) early this morning and realized how much I photograph every thing we eat, even if I have no intention of posting…then I thought I could share these meals with you. The pictures came out quite well, and we really like the food here.

Phuong Trang is sometimes referred to (by Kirk) as "middle of the road" or "Vietnamese Denny's" Vietnamese cuisine (by others). As I said, The Mister and I like it here. We are Caucasian and think the food is good. I think it's a good place to take friends who have never had Vietnamese food, offering a good selection of fresh, tasty and mostly common (read: not scary parts of animal) choices. Plus, it's centrally located on Convoy just South of Clairmont Mesa. Between the Kick Boxing place and Big Joy Family Bakery in the mall just North of the KFC.

The Spring rolls here are very good-the wrap/skin seems to be made with a different paper than from other places; it's always bubbly. The filling is more ground meat than noodles and finely chopped carrot and cabbage in the meat filling also. This is one of few places where you get the wrapping for the rolls including mint and cilantro in addition to lettuce leaves.

Broken rice with ground shrimp wrapped in tofu skin and fried. (I forget the Vietnamese name, but always order this whenever I see it on a menu). ($6.75)

A cross section of the ground shrimp. You can see the tofu skin is very, very thin. I crave the version here.

Vegetable Summer rolls ($3.95). The tofu is slightly grilled and warm/room temperature. Lettuce, noodle and a piece of cooked egg rounds out these rolls. This is a nice choice if you don't want the fried (Spring) rolls, or want to eat vegetarian.

Jellyfish, shrimp and pork salad ($7.95). Served with the fried shrimp chips. Refreshing on a hot day.
Grilled pork, broken rice($6.25) Add egg($1) and it's a 'breakfast'. This is always soooo good.

Chinese sausage Summer rolls ($3.95)

A cross section. You can see the piece of cooked egg, lettuce and all vegetable filling. These could be a light meal with tea (50¢).

Another jellyfish/shrimp/pork salad with shrimp chips.

Something 'new' to me- grilled chicken Bun ($6.50). This became particularly addicting this past summer. I realized after I had ordered it the first time that I usually don't order-or see on the menu at Vietnamese places- grilled chicken, much less as a bun topping. (Bun (pronounced 'boon') is some sort of protein on top of chilled rice noodles on top of a salad, in this case, shredded lettuce, fresh mint and shredded cucumber) served with a fish sauce based dressing.

I hope everyone is enjoying this extra long weekend!

Phuong Trang 4170 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 (858)565-6750