Vietnamese Restaurants – Page 56

Lucky Seafood Supermarket/Express Deli

March 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Markets & Grocers, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

Lucky Seafood Supermarket is the very popular Vietnamese Supermarket on Mira Mesa Boulevard.

Once you enter the Market, even though Lucky Seafood is clean and the aroma is kind of kept to a minimum, there is no way you’d confuse Lucky Seafood with the now defunct Lucky Supermarket chain! Maybe the produce department from this view looks just like any other.

But once you look a little closer…..well I don’t think you’d find Ngo Gai(sawleaf herb) in one of those Supermarkets.

As with many of these Supermarkets, there is a good variety of produce, from plantains:

To purple sweet potatoes:

Though the interior of these sweet potatoes reminded me of "Okinawan Sweet Potatoes" back home in Hawaii, they were much larger in size, and not as "sweet".

As with World Foods, or Vien Dong III Supermarket, the meat and seafood section occupies the entire rear section of the market.

Today, there was a small crowd gathered around the fish tanks, for the free show called; The Fishmonger versus the Carp. It seemed that the Carp had the upper hand at times, but eventually the Fishmonger prevailed.

After watching all of the splashing, you’ll know that the warning sign is for! As I turned to look at the various relatively fresh fish, I noticed some really nice looking "Uhu", also known as Parrotfish, which I really haven’t seen in a while.

All of the usual suspects were in view; from the wall of fish sauce:

And the aisle of noodles:

Now what was I doing wandering around Lucky Seafood? Well, it’s because of this:

Express Deli, is the not so little Take-out operation located in Lucky Seafood. And with everything from Spring Rolls, to Salt and Pepper Shrimp, to Fried Fish, to Stewed Pig’s feet, there was quite a nice variety of Vietnamese and Chinese-style food available. You can purchase items ala carte or get a 2 item combination plate(with starch) for $3.89, or a 3 item combination for $4.89. But today I opted for the Banh Mi which Express Deli also makes.

I ordered the Banh Mi Thit Ngoui($2.25) and a BBQ Pork Banh Mi ($2.25). The Thit Ngoui, basically a lean pork sausage and "head" sausage sandwich:

I saw them place the sandwich in a toaster, and that created a nice crisp crust, though the bread was kind of soggy and gummy. There was a nice smear of pate’, just enough for a nice balanced flavor. There was also a good amount of "pickles", in fact, just about the most pickled veggies I’ve had. Two slices of Jalapeno added some nice heat; though I’d have enjoyed a single thin long cut so the heat would be spread through every bite, much like the cucumber spear. The cilantro had stems which were tough, and you couldn’t help but pull out all the cilantro when you bit into the sandwich. The sandwich was a bit skimpy on the meat for my taste, the slices were almost paper thin. Still, not bad for $2.25.

The BBQ Pork sandwich was basically more of the same:

This 8 inch sandwich did have a good amount of soy-fish sauce-sugar flavored pork, though there were several really tough pieces of inedible fat in the sandwich. Still, a decent Banh Mi, and it’s really hard to complain for a sandwich that costs two-bucks-and-a-quarter!

The Young Lady who manned the cash register, as well as the one who assembled my sandwich were very nice, smiling, and both apologizing for having to wait for a sandwich.

So, you can get some good looking deli food, shop in a clean "environment"(if that kind of stuff bothers you), and wait; it’s not over yet! Check out this sign and you’ll know what’s coming up next:

Lucky Seafood Supermarket
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

As I ate my Banh Mi, I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d mentioned Lucky Seafood to someone, who wrinkled Her nose, and said: "that place is so gross, they even have live fish that they catch and clean and chop up, and all of that kind of stuff in that place." She had entered the place thinking that this was one of the other "Lucky’s" Supermarket. I was going to ask her if she knew that fish didn’t live in the wild in filet form, or in cans…..but I held my tongue! Imagine a beautiful school of salmon filets………

Pho Viet Cali

March 19, 2006 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Pho, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Pho Viet Cali has closed

Ok, let's see we got Pho' Hoa Cali, Pho T Cali, just plain Pho' Cali, and now here's Pho' Viet Cali! What we actually have here is a whole lotta' confusion. So much confusion, that I really don't even remember what brought me back to this Mira Mesa Strip Mall. But like Ed from Yuma says(I'm paraphrasing, of course), "I can't remember very much from a month ago, but I remember just about every meal I've had in the last 10 years!" It helps that I carry my handy-dandy camera around as well.

Viet Cali is located right next to Sorrento European Bakery, and the Plaza Sorrento Food Court that Amarin Thai is in. The interior of Viet Cali is what I call generic "Formica Pho' in design. Clean tile floors, generic tables with "numbers", large "bar", that is used as a counter, and of course the requisite cash register counter. And like many of these types of restaurants Viet Cali is alot smaller then it looks like from the outside.

Despite the seemingly generic beginning, Viet Cali was the scene of a first for me. The first time I've ever paid more than 6 bucks for a bowl of Pho'. Yep the Large Pho Dac Biet (combination), was $6.15. But first here's the garnishes:

Pretty skimpy, and no Ngo Ngai, only 2 slices of Jalapeno. The Pho' arrived piping hot, topped with a good amount of green onions and cilantro. The broth was very much the generic broth, and nothing in the flavor of the broth stood out. The most interesting item in the Pho' were the presence of "meatballs" which were nice and "meaty". The rare steak (6 slices) were also quite quite tender and not in the least bit dry. I did think that this was probably the largest amount of "meat" I've had in any bowl of Pho' to date. Check out the "clump" of tripe:

Unfortunately two of my favorite "cuts", the brisket and tendon, were pretty scarce. Speaking of clump; as I am finding is pretty much the norm, the noodles were located in a large solid clump in the bottom of the bowl.

Luckily they weren't cold, and still had a very nice "pull" to them. Though this is a pretty expensive bowl of Pho', there is a bit more meat then the usual bowl, and I enjoyed the meatballs. But other then that, the broth, noodles, and overall flavor didn't set this bowl above those bowls of Pho' over a dollar cheaper right down the road in Mira Mesa.

I also noticed that I was the only Asian eating in the dining area, but many Asians dropped by to pick-up take-out orders, consisting of mostly Banh Mi. This past Saturday, I had a pretty late start, and all of the places I wanted to eat at on Mira Mesa Boulevard were either filled, or had people waiting outside. So I decided to grab a Banh Mi at Viet Cali. I choose the Banh Mi Thit Nguoi, at $2.95, it was a bit more expensive then the sandwiches I've had in the past.

On the positive side; the bread was nice and crusty, and the pate, head cheese, and pork sausage was fine. Also, the cilantro in the sandwich consisted of mostly leaves and thin stems removing the irritating "stringy" and tough texture. On the negative, there was a large slather of mayo on the bottom of the sandwich which overpowered all the other flavors. The portion of pickles was very small to render them inconsequential, ditto for the cucumbers, not only affecting taste, but texture as well. I also lamented the lack of hot chilies in the sandwich. The sandwich was also on the small side, about 7 inches long.

This Banh Mi was not bad, but the version at Kim Chan was much better. And about $1 cheaper.

Pho' Viet Cali
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd. #113
San Diego, CA 92121

Hours – Mon-Sat 830am-9pm
Closed on Sunday

Update on Vientiane, Dao Son, and Other Mid-Week Odds and Ends

March 15, 2006 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Lao Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

*** Vientianne has since closed….

Just a quick "hump day" post. I created a post on March 6th, about a visit I made to Vientiane Food to Go a few weeks back. A few days ago, the Missus had a craving for the "Fried Rice" (The Lady there called it "Nem") she had eaten there. So I drove down to 47th and Imperial to find the take-out window in Lao Plaza had a "For Lease" sign on it. But luckily, the snack and noodle soup counter next door had taken over the business, and Papaya Salad and sticky rice were still available. Whew!

I ended up trying the Beef Laab:

Fairly tender slices of beef along with tripe, in a surprisingly mild fish-lime sauce. I really was shocked at the mildness of the dish, even when I ate a few hot peppers.

I also managed to get the rice the Missus wanted along with some very good perfectly fried pork rinds. The rinds were cut into thin strips, and almost looked like calamari. They hadn’t the slightest bit of greasiness to them, and were "light"(in relative terms) and crunchy. Delici-yoso!!!

So 2 orders Beef Laab, Fried Rice, Pork Rinds, and Container of Sticky Rice – $15. I did ask where the Woman who formerly ran the "take-out window" had gone to, and was told that business was slow, so she decided to get a regular job. Bummer. Though I didn’t try the papaya salad, both the sticky rice and the fried rice tasted perfectly fine, and so there probably is just the minimum amount of change if any.

Here’s a few photos of a recent visit to Dao Son. I had the Chicken Katsu Curry($5.50):

Very thin, but spicy curry. Flavor was more like a Thai curry then the sweeter Japanese Curry. Katsu was a bit over-fried making the crust rather hard, but the overall flavor of the dish was good.

And two dishes that were on included in my previous post. The Red Chicken($5.99):

Chicken a bit too dry this time around, but oh man that sauce………

Fried Catfish with Eggplant($6.99):

I don’t know why this dish hasn’t been added to the regular menu. It’s always been on the "grease board menu".

Some odds and ends:

I read about the 5lb 7oz mango from the Big Island that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. You can read the article here.

And from the la.food blogging site, a post about Tommy’s Ultimate Fan Free Combo Meal contest. Yep, that is the word "free"….

If you wonder what the ‘Butter Side Down School of Science’ is, you can find out here. Not really about food…I think????

Since it’s close to that time of the year, here’s Colleen’s version of "Silence of the Peeps."

And finally, you can help name Pam’s from Daily Gluttony‘s Baby "Brother".

Oh, one more last thing, please check out the Website of a Movie I’m really looking forward to seeing. I know it’s not really about food, I really was trying to figure how to tie in a link to it, but just gave up…. Looks like a really funny film!

Hope the week is going well for everyone!

Saigon Restaurant

March 12, 2006 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

Even if you’re a neophyte when it comes to Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego, I think you’d know of Saigon Restaurant on El Cajon Boulevard. In fact, other then Phuong Trang, Saigon is the Vietnamese Restaurant that is most often mentioned to me in conversations.

Over the years we’ve visited Saigon quite a few times. Mostly because of the huge menu and reasonable prices. Don’t ask me to have the Pho’ here though! The two times I’ve had the Pho’, the dark broth had an extremely strong anise flavor, and the noodles were terrible.

The interior of Saigon is not huge, but very cavernous, with murals lining the walls near the ceiling.

I need to warn you, though. That if you suffer from "Vietnamese Menu Overload Syndrome", the 340+ items on the menu will send you into immediate convulsions, or at least a severe case of indecision.

On this visit we started with the usual Cha Gio(Vietnamese Egg Rolls – $4.95):

Interestingly enough, in our previous visits here, I’d never ordered these. The Cha gio were served with the usual plate of lettuce and mint. These innocuous looking egg rolls, felt rather cool to the touch, but were molten hot inside, and almost burnt my lips off. In fact I saved one till the end of the meal, and it was still super hot inside! These Egg Rolls were more like Chinese Style Egg Rolls, in that there was mostly stringy shredded vegetables, and almost no meat, or bean thread. The Nuoc Mam(Fish sauce) was really good though, nice and spicy, and not overly sweet.

I was also curious about the "Spicy, Sweet and Sour Shrimp, with Garlic Hot Sauce"($9.95). Sounds great doesn’t it? Well here it is:

This dish tasted exactly like a bland Chinese Sweet and Sour Shrimp, except for some nice julienned strips of ginger. The one thing that saved the dish from being a total loss, were the perfectly cooked, plump, and soft shrimp.

Clams with Basil($8.95):

A bubbling hot pot of clams were delivered to the table. The clams were very plump and fresh, and not overcooked, and falling out of their shells. In fact, the clams passed the Missus’s "clam inventory". The Missus claims that we often get served more shells then clam meat in our dishes, and has now started to keep a "mental count" of clam meat versus shells! Back to the dish. There was a good amount of basil in the "brown sauce". The sliced Jalapeno added some nice "middle-tongue" heat, that is, a non-numbing, quick "burn". The Missus thought the sauce wasn’t salty enough, but I though that there was a nice balance of salty and mild sweetness in the dish. Pretty darn good.

This past Saturday was a very cold(by San Diego standards), and rainy(ditto) day. So we decided to drop by Saigon again.

Of course we got clams again. But this time it was the Clams with Ginger and (Green) Onion($8.95):

Same dish as the basil, except with green onions and the flavor of ginger. This dish also used dried red chilies instead of Jalapenos, which provided heat at the back of my throat(slow burn). I also detected garlic in the sauce today as well. Otherwise, same brown sauce. Again, pretty good.

Earlier in the morning I went to pick up a cup of coffee from Sandwich Emporium, and of course got into a conversation about….guess what? Food of course, with one of the "Twins" (I still can’t tell them apart). I told Him we were probably going to drop by Saigon, and was told to give one of the "Banh Tam" dishes a try. So I ordered the Banh Tam Bo Nuong("Round Rice Noodle" with Char Grilled Beef – $6.50):

What arrived was a bowl overflowing with "stuff", there were seven pieces of beef, rolled tightly around a scallion to create a sausage effect. The beef though maybe a bit on the chewy side, was well marinated with herbs, fish sauce, and the like, and nicely grilled. The Missus kept saying, "Man I wonder what the pork must taste like!". In the bowl was a variety of julienned vegetables, like cucumber and carrots, as well as bean sprouts.

Also provided were bowls of Coconut Milk and the really good Nuoc Mam:

You are supposed to pour the coconut milk and nuoc mam over the bowl, mix it together, and dig in. The Missus however, didn’t care for the coconut milk, so I poured the bowl of nuoc mam(and asked for another bowl, which I proceeded to pour over as well) over the ingredients, and mixed them. I used the coconut milk for dipping. During the mixing process a layer of lettuce and wonderfully palate cleansing mint was revealed.

The noodles though, were very disappointing. They were simply cold vermicelli rice noodles, stuck together to form a "cake". Tasteless and brittle, they brought nothing to the dish. I’d have this dish again though, in spite of the noodles.

On our previous visit, an odd thing happened. Our Server actually struck up a conversation with us. Something that had never occurred to me in a Vietnamese Restaurant before. He recommended this dish:

Can you figure out what it is? In that bubbling sauce is the Sauteed Catfish($6.95).

In the brown sauce (a recurring theme?), were green onions, garlic and lot’s of black pepper, which made this sauce really stand out. I’d have rather had fillets then cross cut fish, where bones can make the eating process messy and somewhat ponderous. The flesh of the fish had a nice buttery texture, but was a bit too muddy for my tastes, but that didn’t bother the Missus at all, who loved it. I just enjoyed the sauce on my rice, which was delici-yoso!!!

Apparently there’s some good eats on that menu of 300+ items. You just gotta keep "digging away" at it.

Saigon Restaurant
4455 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Sun-Thurs 8am – 10pm
Fri-Sat 8am – 11pm

Pho’ Cali

March 1, 2006 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Pho Cali has closed

No it's not Pho' Hoa Cali, nor Pho' T Cali, nor related to any other Pho' something Cali's in San Diego. It's just Pho' Cali.

Around the time of the Tet Festival we started noticing all these little signs on almost every corner announcing "Now Pho' in Mission Valley!" As if this event was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean really, there are two Pho' places right up Ulric Street in Linda Vista, Pho Hoa Hiep and Pho' Hoa, not ten minutes away. Well, call it great marketing if you will, but a few weeks ago, I decided to pay Pho' Cali a visit.

I was impressed with the bright and clean interior.

This being Mission Valley, I was prepared for the higher prices, so about a buck more for Pho' didn't bother me. But don't turn the page of the menu; the Banh Mi here is $4.99!

Being the creature of habit that I am I ordered the Pho' Dac Biet(Combination – $5.99). In this case a bowl of Pho' with rare steak, well done steak, flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe. I ordered, and the garnishes arrived.

The most skimpiest amount of garnish I've ever seen! One sprig of basil! There was however, one leaf of Ngo Ngai. It was tucked away under the bean sprouts, in almost an apologetic manner, as if embarrassed to be associated with such a meager amount of bean sprouts.

I will say that the Pho' Cali served me the fastest bowl of Pho' I've ever had; it arrived at my table in less then 5 minutes after I ordered. Almost beating my ice water and garnish.

I started my Pho' eating ritual; first tasting the broth before adding anything to it. My observations? Nice amount of oil, yet the broth was not very rich, with a slight anise flavor and mild garlicky undertones. Not bad, not good, and pretty generic. There was a fairly small amount of meat, and I didn't find any well done steak. The rare steak, though sliced nice and thin, was tough, as was the tendon. The brisket had no flavor. I even almost chipped a tooth on a tiny piece of bone.

The worst thing was the giant clump of noodle on the bottom of the bowl:

This was why the Pho' arrived so quickly! I separated the noodles, and found that the noodles in the interior portion of the clump was cold! A big no-no. Also, the noodles were mushy, and had no "pull" to them. This was the second worst Banh Pho' I've ever had. I never finished the noodles, though I did a pretty good job on the broth, which tasted much better as the flavor from the garnishes, green onion, cilantro, and sriracha I added started to fuse together.

In the end, the best thing about Pho' Cali was the pond right outside.

I don't know if you'll notice. Normally, I'd visit any Pho' Restaurant at least twice before posting. In this case I see no need to do that. I guess Pho Cali is pretty great compared to the "Chain Restaurant/Fast Food Purgatory" that is Mission Valley. But I'd rather just drive up the street to Linda Vista.

Pho' Cali
1400 Camino De La Reina #105
San Diego, CA 92018

Open 9:30AM- 9:30PM Daily

Finally: Lee’s Garden

February 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Lee's Garden has closed

As indicated in My previous post, we were searching for Lee's Garden when we got side tracked by Ly's Garden. And after that very inexpensive lunch, we traveled a bit further down the road, and came across Lee's Garden, though the signage really didn't make it easy…..

Nor did the rather battered storefront, Lee's just looked alot more rundown then I remembered, how sad:

We decided to eat at Lee's this past Sunday, and arrived at about 4pm for an early dinner. We were walked to our seats immediately by a very friendly Gentleman. We passed one of the other tables and noticed that the Vietnamese Family there were eating 4 different versions of clams, so I made a mental note while we were seated. As is typical for these Vietnamese/Chinese Restaurants, the menus are huge, and analysis paralysis set in:

After what seemed to be a very long period of indecision, we placed our order. Starting with the Clams with Basil($8.95):

These clams seemed to be cooked a bit too long, the clams somewhat tough, and many of them really "gritty". Also, many of the clams had fallen out of their shells and settled into the bottom of the earthen bowl, making this into a search and destroy mission. This led the Missus to state; "I swear, there are more shells than clam meat in this dish, I think we're being ripped off!" I of course disagreed, but felt strangely aware of what seemed to be an abundance of empty clam shells….. This dish was flavored with a good amount of basil, and some jalapeno peppers, but seemed a bit flat in taste. I think it was the lack of garlic in this dish, in addition to perhaps some sweetness to balance out the anise like flavor of the basil.

Seafood Hotpot with Duck Feet(leg – $11.95):

See that kind of yellow/brown strip of meat to the right of the pot? I think that's duck "meat", but I'm not quite sure. I almost never take a salt shaker to my food, but in this case I came pretty close. The dish was very bland, and insipidly boring. Even the shrimp had no taste, the only item in the pot that had any flavor were the shiitake mushrooms.

The best dish of the evening was the Fish Fillet with Black Peppercorn($7.95):

The slightly sweet, salty, gooey sauce, full of pungent black pepper was oh so good. The fish, on the other hand was not. First off, the fish was dry, now I believe that one of the real benefits of battered and fried fish is to keep it moist. But in this case, the fish was dry as if overcooked, probably due to lack of freshness. Also, the batter did not keep any of it's crispness, it seemed to be either under fried or fried at the wrong temperature. Too bad, this could have been a really great dish.

As we were leaving, Lee's started filling up, and everybody seemed to be getting the clams, so I'm guessing it's one of their more popular dishes. We did enjoy the excellent service, and the prices weren't too bad, but I don't know if we'll be back anytime soon.

Lee's Garden
4055 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Lee’s, Um No It’s, Ly’s Garden, Or Is It?

February 26, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** After a very long run; Ly's has closed

Recently, we've been eating at all of our regular Chinese Restaurants; China Max, Ba Ren, and yes, even at the "ABCDE" special, Mandarin Canton. For a change of pace, and for the sake of "material" for a new post, I needed to find someplace new to eat. Just then it came to me, let's try Lee's Garden, we hadn't eaten there in years. The Missus was game, so off we went for a nice weekday lunch. As we took the turn at 54th street, the Missus grabbed my arm and said "turn around, turn around, you just went past it!" Me: "Are you sure?" The Missus:"Turn around I just saw it on our right!"

So I did two U-turns, and drove into the seedy strip mall parking lot. And there it was:

Or was it? This was Ly's Garden…. I mentioned this to the Missus, who responded; "How many Ly's/Lee's Garden do you think is going to be on this street?" "OK, I just thought they were on the other side of the street."

We entered the Restaurant, and surveying the cavernous, but slightly run down interior, I knew immediately, that this wasn't the "Lee's Garden" I was thinking about. But the display of roast pork and duck hanging in the display was calling to me. We were immediately seated by the most cheerful server, and opened the menu. And oh my, the prices….. Just to keep this interesting, let's play a little game. I won't reveal the prices of each dish, and we ordered alot of food, until near the end of the description of each dish.

We ordered a bowl of Won Ton Soup, which came with a plate of bean sprouts and lemon:

The steaming hot bowl of soup was delivered, with a few slices of fishcake, lots of fried garlic, green onions, cilantro, and even some Gailan. And it was a good thing; the broth was on the mild side and needed a little "help".

The wontons were typical Vietnamese-style wontons, very dense pork meatballs. There were 8 wontons in this decent bowl of soup, that cost us…..guess, 4 bucks, maybe $4.50? Well……..

It was $2.75!!! Yes, less then 3 bucks for won ton soup.

The Missus also ordered Porridge with Pork and Preserved Egg:

The porridge was served steaming hot, but was on the watery side, with hardly any preserved egg. Also, the Missus noted that the pork in the porridge was almost like ground pork, not the strings of pork She is used too. The Missus noted a lack of pork flavor and velvety richness that a good bowl of Jook has.

The price? Yep, $2.75……

I ordered one of the most expensive items on the menu. 3 Meats with Steamed rice. While waiting for my lunch this arrived on the table.

I asked the Server what this was, and was informed that it came with the roast meat dish. So hey, another meat. This rich beef-pork broth, along with the soft meat from the pork shank was delici-yoso!!! I'd be happy with just a bowl of this. The broth had the flavor close to that of Pho', but with a bit more "oil" and richness.

As I was polishing this off, my plate arrived:

I had ordered Roast Pork, BBQ Pork (Char Siu), and Roast Duck, all of which came on a bed of Jasmine rice. The BBQ pork was moist, but really too mildly flavored, lacking any of the sweet-beany-saltiness that good BBQ pork has. The duck was also underwhelming and the meat lacked the rich flavor of good roast duck. The Roast pork was pretty good, the skin portions crunchy, the meat slightly sweet and very moist.

This set me back……$4.50!

The Missus, not believing how inexpensive the food was, had to get something else, and went to the deli case and ordered the Shrimp and Chive fried dumplings($2.95):

These were fried up, and arrived on our table a few minutes later. Though a bit on the oily side, the chive and shrimp filling was quite good. And no skimping on the chives either!

In the end we spent $14(without tip), for 4 dishes! Bargain city…….

Some notes on Ly's: The service here was very nice and friendly. The parking lot looks a bit dicey, but there were 2 Security Guards walking around. The atmosphere is quite "divey", but the good service made up for any shortcomings. All prices are for lunch, I think that prices are a dollar more during dinner.

Ly's may not be a "Foodie" destination; but if you're in the neighborhood, and short on cash, Ly's is worth a visit. You will get what you pay for.

Ly's Garden Chinese Restaurant
4350 54th St # B
San Diego, CA 92115

After lunch we drove further down 54th St, and to our left, there it was, Lee's Garden. A Ly and Lee on the same street? Talk about confusion! Guess where we'll be headed next? To Be Continued…….

Pho Ca Dao – El Cajon Boulevard

February 5, 2006 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

I had attempted to have some lunch at Pho Ca Dao’s El Cajon Boulevard location several times. But each attempt had been aborted due to a line of people waiting outside the Restaurant’s doors. But recently, after reading Jenne’s comments recommending Pho Ca Dao on my Pho Hoa Hiep post, I decided to make another attempt to get through Pho Ca Dao’s doors.

For some reason I had thought that Pho Ca Dao was a fairly large restaurant. But after parking I found that Pho Ca Dao shared half of the building with a coin laundry, so the restaurant was actually half the size I thought it was. Now I understand the "lines".

I was silently seated, and ordered the Combination Large Bowl(Dac Biet – $4.95) of Pho. The garnishes quickly arrived, and as Jenne informed me it did contain Ngo Ngai:

Though the quantity of herbs and garnishes was rather small; the Ngo Ngai was very fresh. I tasted a small bit and the peppery-cilantro flavor was quite strong.

The Pho arrived in a large bowl, hot and steaming.

The broth was light brown in color with a large amount of green onions, cilantro, and thin sliced onions floating in it. Much like Pho Hoa Hiep, this was a very balanced and well flavored broth, though perhaps a bit richer then the version at the afore mentioned restaurant. The "hits"? The tendon was perfect; as you initially bit into the tendon, it was soft, and the resistance gradually increased as you bit through it. So nicely gelatinous, and yet somewhat smooth, unlike the crunchy, tough, almost inedible tendon that I often encounter. The brisket was also fairly good, though there was too much fat. There was one piece of brisket that belonged in the Guinness Book of World Records. As I unfolded the slice, it extended from one side of the bowl to the other, and almost covered the entire bowl of Pho!

Too much "net-like" fat though. The noodles were the status quo; a large clump in the bottom of the bowl; though it was a very generous amount of noodles. The bowl was lacking in tripe, and the rare steak was dry, flavorless, and tough. I enjoyed this rather substantial bowl of Pho, and would have it again in a heartbeat.

Of course, I had to check out Pho Ca Dao again, and have one of my favorite soups; Bun Bo Hue. I went earlier this Sunday morning and had the Large Bowl of Bun Bo Hue without Blood($5.10):

And before I knew it; this large bowl of bright red red soup arrived at my table. Actually, I could smell the Bun Bo Hue, before I saw it. As I’ve noted, every version of Bun Bo Hue that I’ve had has been unique. Versions from Convoy Noodle House and Pho Hoa Hiep included a little dish of fermented shrimp paste and chili oil/paste. In the case of Pho Ca Dao, the shrimp paste and chilies are already in the broth, and I’m not complaining. All that I needed to add was a few squeezes of the lime that was included with the garnishes, to smooth out the flavors.

The garnishes with this Bun Bo Hue included shredded cabbage which I dip into the well flavored broth and ate. The mint added a touch of sweetness, and I even threw in couple of slices of Jalapeno to take the heat up a bit. This by far was the best Bun Bo Hue broth I’ve had thus far, the generous amount of spaghetti like noodles were also good, al dente, with a bit of "pull". The pork foot was totally inedible, just rubbery skin and bone, I enjoy a bit more meat. The well done beef was fine, though maybe bit too fatty. The tendon though, was again excellent.

I knew from the first sip of the broth(I always taste the broth before adding anything), that this was the best Bun Bo Hue I’ve had thus far. Spicy, rich broth, and a generous amount of noodles, made for a satisfying dish. Approach this dish with caution though, if you can’t tolerate spicy, or do not care for fermented shrimp/fish sauce, I would order something else.

Pho Ca Dao is worth a try, and the prices are in line with most other Pho restaurants. The portion sizes are good, I left full after each visit. Service is status quo, the norm for Pho restaurants. Thanks for the recommendation Jenne!

Pho Ca Dao
5223 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

San Diego Tet Festival 2006

January 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Vietnamese Restaurants

During a recent trip to Vien Dong Supermarket, I noticed a banner announcing a 3 day Tet Festival at Qualcomm Stadium. What a minute, did you say 3 day festival and Qualcomm Stadium! My immediate thought was, "man, that’s quite ambitious", after all I’ve been to many of these "Asian Festivals", and most have been really small. Like 12 booths small, with only 4 booths of food, and 1 of them is funnel cakes, and the other is a taco stand. So we wanted to make sure to attend, and arrived at about 2pm on Saturday:

We arrived to a pretty full parking lot, and were surprised at the amount of people. Admission was 4 bucks, and we entered and made a beeline for the food stands which took up a whole end of the festival!

Now I understand that the Vietnamese population in San Diego is topping 30,000, and I think they were all here! And all of them were talking on cell phones at the same time!

There were some pretty good size lines at most of the booths, but if you wanted Funnel Cakes or Tacos, there wasn’t a wait!

There was tons of food, so here are a few pictures.

The Vietnamese food ranged from Banh Mi to Noodles; but the one common denominator was Cha Gio; it seemed that every stand sold them. Either 2 for a dollar, or 3 for a dollar. The perfect festival food, we tried several, and they ranged from okay to fairly terrible. But this was a festival, right? Part of the experience is the ambiance. What spoiled the it for the Missus was the booth that sold these:

The gal at the wire mesh window(great idea BTW, keeps all sorts of critters and dust out); took cash from several individuals with Her bare hand, then proceeded to grab the Cha Gio and put them on paper plates with the same bare hand. The Missus just got completely grossed out, and made sure they replaced ours.

Many booths had various Chicken Skewers/Sates, which ranged from $1.50-$2.50 a piece:

This one had a nice lemongrass flavor.

Banana Fritters($1.00):

Fried Chicken Drumettes($3.00):

Crispy, but a bit on the bland side. Luckily a small container of sweet chili sauce was provided.

We had to leave a bit prematurely. A combination of being tired, dry weather, and maybe some dehydration, and blood started pouring out of my nose, which took a while to stop. Funny, it didn’t seem anyone noticed! Here are a few more photos:

And my favorite:

Some notes: The Tet Festival was presented by the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance of San Diego, and by and large was well put together. There were everything from carnival rides to vendor booths. But the one area I would suggest some changes would be in the traffic and parking control. Using teenagers to direct traffic didn’t really seem to be working, half of them were just "hanging out", while one Young Man was hurling insults, and other four letter words at Drivers while frantically directing cars, we were waiting for someone to come out and slug Him!

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant

January 24, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** This location of Luong Hai Ky is now Phat Restaurant.

I first noticed Luong Hai Ky Restaurant on a visit to Chopstix. On a recent visit I had noticed that all the "Servers" had disappeared; as I was leaving Chopstix I saw half of them sitting and smoking on the sidewalk, and the other half were eating in Luong Hai Ky. The funny thing was, I'd never noticed the restaurant before. Probably due to it's location in the rear of the strip mall.

On a typical "soup weather" day, I dropped by Luong Hai Ky. As I looked over the approximately 100 items on the menu I realized that this was a Chinese-Vietnamese noodle house; in the same vein as Minh KY. The interior of the restaurant was deceptively large, with about 25 tables and large fish tanks lining one side of the dining area. The dining room and tables were also very clean.

On my first visit I ordered a simple bowl of Won Ton Noodle Soup($5.00):

A modest bowl was brought out, with topped with a "shrimp cracker" and green onions. The won tons (6), were almost identical to those at Minh Ky; very dense pork meatballs, with a small slice of shrimp placed on one side. Three small slices of well flavored Char Siu, along with the typical "ball" of crunchy egg noodles occupying the bottom of the bowl. What made this bowl of noodle soup stand out was the tasty, quite dark broth. Obviously a mildly intense chicken based broth, there was a bit more going on; slightly salty, but without the "parching" MSG effect, a hint of sweet, but most of all a interesting savory flavor. When I paid at the counter I inquired as to the nature of the broth. I had a feeling that perhaps shrimp, or some other flavoring was added, but was told that there was no seafood in the broth.

Having enjoyed the soup, I returned for an encore, just to see if the broth was consistently flavored. I ordered the "carb special"; Won Ton & Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup($5.50):

Again, the portion size was nothing to write home about. This time there were 4 won tons and 4 "dumplings".

The dumpling wrappers were a bit thicker than the won tons, and were flat in shape. The filling was ground pork along with crunchy strips of "Cloud Ear" fungus. Though the broth was a tad milder on this visit; it still had alot of flavor. And I never really had to touch any of the condiments provided. Notice the strange bottle of French's Mustard in the background, every table had a bottle. French's Mustard? I don't quite know what to make of that……

On my last visit; not being in the mood for noodle soup, or rice, and being a sucker for thin egg noodles; I ordered the Combination Fried Egg Noodles($7.50):

In stark contrast to the modestly portioned noodle soups, this was a pretty generous portion of egg noodles, along with a variety of stir fried cabbage, carrots, onions, and other vegetables. The meat consisted of a few shrimp, and some really tough beef. The noodles, though stir fried well, were pretty bland, and I ended up reaching for the bottle of soy sauce and white pepper.

So I think I'll stick with the noodle soups at Luong Hai Ky, though the menu is fairly large, and there is quite a bit to choose from.

Service at Luong Hai Ky, is typical for these type of Restaurants; fast and efficient. I enjoyed the tea served here, it was Jasmine. Though on my first two visits, I received a small pot of tea; on my last visit I only got a single cup! At least I was never charged for tea. In the end, Luong Hai Ky, is really not worth going out of the way for, but if you happened to be close by, well maybe……

One other observation; it has to do with the rather odd taste in the Music I heard here. On my first visit, it was the Carpenters Greatest Hits. On my second visit it was a strange cacophony of pseudo-Asian-classical music blaring away so loud, that I swear I was headed upriver with Willard to terminate Kurtz with "extreme prejudice"! On my third visit, it was a strange mandolin-like muzak, imagine a swarm of bees playing The Girl from Impanema, and other elevator standards, quite strange. The hard surfaces in the restaurant, made the music even louder, and it kind of drove me nuts. Though at least there's no music pumped into the restrooms. There's nothing weirder then "doing your thing" hearing Phil Collins singing "Can you hear me….can you hear me calling….."

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

Open 10am to 10pm Daily