What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed! – Page 12

Road trip: Sofia’s in Gila Bend

November 9, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Phoenix/Scottsdale/Chandler/Central AZ, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk and Cathy get a day off today because ed (from Yuma) has a report on some decent desert dining not far off I-8

Normally when my car gets on Interstate 8 in Yuma, it heads west to San Diego. That makes sense, for sure. However, some recent trips have taken me in the other direction, ultimately ending up in Surprise, Arizona. And of course I was looking to find some good food — if there was any – on my route.

I have gotten lucky. On my first adventure to the north and east of Yuma, Tina and I spotted an unassuming looking Mexican restaurant in Gila Bend with a lot of cars in the parking lot (and in July, there aren't a lot of cars anywhere in Gila Bend):
On our way back home, we'd decided to stop there. To be honest, Tina and I weren't expecting anything special, even though the purple and orange interior decorated with a mural of a famous natural wonder in Jalisco seem right to me:
The highlights of that visit were the main courses, Tina's carnitas and my green chile (beef chunks in spicy chile tomatillo sauce). Both were really good. We were also impressed by the flavorful tomato-based salsa (served in a mini carafe) and fresh crunchy corn chips, obviously fried on promises:

However, I had not brought my camera on that trip. So all of the pictures for this post come from a later visit.

The next time we stopped in Gila Bend, it was for a quick lunch, and again I had no camera. And again the food was good. Tina's California burrito was filled with decent carne Asada, potatoes, and the other fixings. My chicken enchiladas contained actual chicken rolled in good quality corn tortillas and topped with a dark red enchilada sauce.

Finally, at the beginning of November, I remembered to bring my camera, and Tina and I enjoyed another satisfying Mexican meal. Although no beer or wine is served, they do have homemade horchata and jamaica:
We started with one of the strangest things that Tina and I have ever ordered together in a Mexican restaurant, a couple of old-fashioned, gringo style, hamburger tacos with fried shells:

On a previous visit, we had seen an order of these go to the table behind us, and they had looked wonderful. I realized that over the last 20 years, I had eaten raw fish, cow stomach, pigs ears, fermented squid intestines, and all sorts of other things, but I could not remember a single hamburger taco experience. And I could not remember ever seeing better looking hamburger tacos.

So this time, we ordered them, and they were perfect, better than my memories. Totally crisp and greaseless, the crunchy shells stayed intact even when we poured salsa into them and then bit off the end. The hamburger was moist and perfectly seasoned. There was just enough lettuce and yellow cheese. Ummmm-crunchy beefy good:

As an entree, Tina had the carnitas again, for reasons that this picture should make clear:

Crunchy, chewy, and tender pork very lightly seasoned. Warm fresh white corn tortillas. Decent rice and creamy beans.

My chile relleno plate was pretty dang good as well. The three fresh chilies blanketed in tender egg batter and covered in fresh tomato sauce:
The preparation was excellent. Each chile was stuffed with a decent amount of melty white cheese and perfectly cooked. The big surprise were the chilies. Not only were there three of them, but these were full of chile flavor and exceptionally spicy, probably from this year's New Mexico harvest. This picture shows you a little of the goodness of the dish:
I can't imagine that there is better food to be had between Yuma and Surprise, Arizona.

Sofia's Mexican Food, 530 West Pima, Gila Bend, AZ 85337, 928-683-6382. Open Daily.

Chretin’s in Yuma

July 25, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

The blog is mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and Cathy will blog for you again soon. Today ed (from Yuma) has a really long post about Yuma's original Mexican restaurant.

March 2011 update: shortly after this was published, Chretin's was purchased by new owners. While the lunch buffet is still da bomb, the menu is considerably different, and some of the old-school Yuma dishes are gone or prepared differently.

I need to go back and try Chretin's again. My last couple of visits weren't very good and the buffet seemed sparse and overpriced back in the summer of 2013. That was my last visit, but I will try to update when and if I get bck.

My favorite experiences blogging for Kirk are those moments when I can share an unlikely but incredible experience at some out-of-the-way taco stand or a tiny restaurant hidden in a blind alley. My task today is more unusual and more difficult, presenting a restaurant that almost every online poster seems to hate – Chretin's Mexican Restaurant in Yuma:

At Yelp, somebody from New Jersey called the food "Crappy Mexican. Like east coast crappy." At Yahoo, a poster who "came up on mexican food in denver co and sandiego cal" reports "fake mexican food that was just sick we did not eat or food nor ask them to re-make it or refund it." Many others agreed.

For me, on the other hand, Chretin's is like an old friend — maybe no longer your favorite person — but someone you are comfortable with, someone whose good qualities (and shortcomings) you know very well.

My first Mexican meal in Yuma was 25 years ago at Chretin's original location in a ramshackle building in the middle of an old residential district. All I remember is that I enjoyed it. Many times after that first visit, I would come to Chretin's with Mary Emma and her late husband Don, who loved the old school food, atmosphere, and waitstaff. Years later, I still eat at Chretin's occasionally, and I usually enjoy it.

These days, Chretin's occupies a fancy new building at a major intersection (Arizona and 16th St.), and perhaps customers expect the food to be the standard Mexican food that can be found at "nice" Mexican restaurants throughout most of the United States. The Mexican equivalent of ABCDE restaurants. Instead, Chretin's is a Yuma standard, serving some of the same dishes that introduced Anglos in southwest Arizona to "Mexican food" two or three generations ago. Is it authentic Mexican? Ehh, probably not. But it is authentic Yuman.

The new building is both a blessing and a curse. Centrally located, with a huge parking lot, the restaurant with its main room, side rooms, and bar has plenty of space for customers:

At the same time, 2007 was not a good year to relocate a business. And the restaurant was overwhelmed initially. Everyone in town wanted to try the new location, and numerous passers-by and freeway refugees stumbled onto the place and added to the chaos. While I have never had poor service (though I do adjust my standards to Yuma norms), I'm sure some online posters were not well treated.

But the real big whammy for the new location is the seemingly endless widening and repair of 16th St, so that Chretin's seems to be located in a war zone in some third world country:

So amid all that could go wrong, how do I have a good meal at Chretin's? Sometimes, I start with a Mexican beer (Pacifico and Bohemia are my favorites) or the first-rate margaritas turned out by the bar:

Some people like the sweeter flavored margaritas (such as the strawberry one in this picture), but my favorite is on the rocks without salt:

I also savor the thin corn chips and the decent salsa:

Though certainly not the spiciest in town, the salsa here has all the right flavor notes: tomato, chile pepper, onion, with a touch of black pepper and a slight sour tang. The guacamole is also the real thing. The puréed avocado is enhanced with touches of spice and citrus :

A truly great appetizer is the incredible Sonoran cheese crisp (called the toasted cheese tortilla here):

Even my friend Charles knows of none better, in fact, none even close. The flour tortilla is truly crisp and crunchy. The amount of cheese is absolutely perfect, enough to cover but not overwhelm the tortilla. And the balance between the mild creamy white cheese and the sharper yellow is perfect. Top with some salsa and it's heaven.

Another reason to like the restaurant are the lunch choices; you can take advantage of several excellent specials, order items à la carte, or choose the reasonably priced buffet on week days (currently $5.99).

The buffet usually has a salad section, condiments choices, a tostadas area (with ground beef and refried frijoles), mass-produced tamales and enchiladas, decent chicken fajita-style, and ample giant flour tortillas.

Just to illustrate, my friend Dave put together the following concoctions on a recent visit there:

I'm usually content to roll up a couple chicken fajitas burritos with or without extra condiments:

Other lunchtime favorites are bowls of green chile, chili con carne ($5.25), or albondigas, tender meatballs in a rich vegetable based stock ($4.99):

You can also get a lunch size taco salad – beef or chicken:

My only complaint about the taco salads is that there is not enough true salad. Both of the meat choices, beef or chicken, are flavorful, the guacamole and sour cream are abundant, the beans and cheese add their richness, but I have to give up eating when things get too gloppy:

One of my very favorite lunch specials is a single chile rellano, fried perfectly crisp, with rice and beans:

Most of the time, that chile rellano will be the best you've ever had, a fresh green chile amply stuffed with a flavorful blend of white and yellow melty cheeses, wrapped in a thin egg batter, and fried to brown crunchiness. Inside it looks like this:

Another luncheon favorite of mine is the Chile Verde burrito, enchilada style:

I have already written about Chretin's unique version of green chile stew (mutant green chilies in Yuma), but I can't resist showing you another close-up of the insides of a Chile Verde burrito:

This dish also illustrates the unique nature of some things at Chretin's. One specialty of this restaurant is serving burritos and chimichangas enchilada style — covered in sauce and cheese, making them clearly knife and fork food. Of course, I can't claim that this is an invention by this restaurant. Perhaps Chretin's version simply reflects the culinary traditions of the old time Sonoran families in Yuma. But in any case, this style of "wet" or "saddle" burrito is very common around here, but I honestly don't know why that is.

What I do know, however, is that Chretin's serves the only green sauce that tastes a lot like Thanksgiving turkey gravy with merely a hint of green chile flavor. Is this use of flour in the sauce a family secret that goes back to a 19th-century Abuela? Or does it reflect what an entrepreneurial Mexican-American family in the 1940s and 50s believed would sell to Anglo residents and servicemen? Not sure. I can understand how some people could hate this mild chile flavored gravy sauce, but for myself, I love its taste and uniquity.

Other folks are passionate about Chretin's chili con carne, tender bits of beef stewed in an old-school dried red chili sauce:

A bowl of this chili was always Don's favorite lunch, and for good reason. It always reminds me of the best aspects of the canned chili that I ate growing up. I mean that as a compliment — no chili in cans was ever this good, rich and flavorful.

The chicken machaca is a dish not common in Yuma. The chicken (boiled? Or maybe roasted) is stirfried with vegetables and it's full of poultry goodness:

The carne Asada here is also different — a thin, juicy, steak, topped with the roasted fresh green chile — a flavor combination common in Sonoran cuisine. The steak itself is tender, moist, and beefy, touched with a bit of Worcestershire marinade:

I like the carnitas plate even more. This guy could be the poster boy for carnitas. The pork ranges from crispy crunchy to moist and tender. All of it tasting of the pig. And the condiments it comes with — chopped cabbage and pico de gallo — are just perfect. The meat rolls up into two good-sized burritos with plenty of leftovers:

Also outstanding is the chile rellano dinner, pictured here, enchilada style, covered with green chili gravy:

This time made with a very spicy dark poblano:

Anyway, a person can have excellent meals at Chretin's. This is not standard Americanized Mexican food, not always what you expect, and some old time Yumans will tell you that it was better in the old location — but for me, Chretin's is a perfect embodiment of an old-style independent restaurant, a place that sticks to its traditions. I hope they are around to serve future generations this unique version of frontier Sonoran/Arizonan food.

In memory of Don Berkey. Thanks, Don. And we still miss ya!

Chretin's, 505 E. 16th St., Yuma AZ 85364, 928-782-2224

Los Manjares de Pepe in Yuma: World Famous in Arizona

July 2, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Like you folks, I look forward to Kirk and Cathy's food-driven forays around SD, and I await Kirk's next travel post. Today, though, it's just me, ed (from Yuma) writing.

Three years ago, I first posted about Yuma's best Mexican (oh heck, best overall) restaurant for readers here at ymm-yoso, so why another post about Pepe's? It's certainly not because the restaurant has moved to some new fancy location. It's still in an old house on 8th St:

It's not because the food has gotten any worse — or better. The pozole is still righteous:

The guacamole is still first-rate:

And the consistently spicy salsa is still one of the best in town:

In fact, Los Manjares was recently named one of Arizona's 10 best Mexican restaurants by the travel section of the Arizona Republic, and Arizona Highways Magazine said it was one of the 25 best restaurants in the entire state. Of course, all you yosoers knew how good it was already. The title of this post reflects this recognition — and because I was reminded of a sign I saw years ago: "World Famous on the Oregon Coast."

So I am doing this post because I keep eating at los Manjares and taking pictures of the food. I just can't help myself.

As before, some of the best things at the restaurant are specials, which are available only on certain days or when Pepe feels like cooking them. For example, the chicken soup is rich and full of vegetables:

And you always get at least two pieces of chicken on the bone:

Another winner is the traditional Jaliscan dish, carne en su jugo (meat in its broth):

Served in a bowl, the tender chunks of beef, the flavorful pieces of bacon, and the pinto beans all contribute to make this yo-so good. The flavor is enhanced by the condiments:

Sometimes I eat it like a soup, but other times I combine goodies from the bowl and make a taco:

While Yuma is not known for moles, even the chicken mole is better than any other that I have had in a restaurant in town:

Yet Los Manjares is more than just the daily specials. Numerous great dishes are featured regularly on the menu. The potato tacos, mashed potatoes rolled in corn tortillas and deep-fried are done very well here:

I was even more surprised that time I ordered sopes, a dish I rarely like. At Pepe's this order of griddled corn cakes tastes as good as it looks:

Each of the patties is topped with grilled chicken, lettuce, chopped tomato, guacamole sauce, crema, and cheese. Add a little of the great house salsa and the taste is heavenly and the textures are complex and satisfying.

The kitchen's technique also raises some mundane dishes to new heights. For example, look at the char on this machaca:

Similarly, this order of chicken fajitas has been singed, charred, and even slightly burnt:

In fact, that particular plate may have been too aggressively grilled even for my tastes.

In general, I have liked almost everything I have ever been served at this restaurant. Two of my favorites deserve special mention. Pork in tomatillo sauce (also called Pepe's special) is a dish I have encountered no where else and is a consistent winner at Pepe's:

The stewed pork is tender, rich, and oh so flavorful. The tomatillos do not make the dish sour in any way, but add a deep savory balance to the pork flesh. Flakes of red chile do a picante dance in the background. People have been known to take a spoon and eat up any savory sauce left after all the meat is gone (okay, I am one of those people).

Another consistent winner is Pollo Sinaloa:

The largely boneless half chicken is flattened, expertly seasoned, and grilled perfectly. It is served covered with a fresh pico de gallo dice. Many versions of this dish are overcooked (which is better, I must admit, to bloody raw). At Los Manjares, on the other hand, the chicken is always perfectly done and still juicy:

In addition to all of the dishes shown in these posts, there are several other things that the kitchen does very well, but I don't always bring my camera with me and my pictures don't always turn out the way I'd like. Also, I have to remember what my friend Chip keeps saying — "stop telling people about Pepe's. It's getting too damned busy." Okay, I'll stop right now, but somebody else has to tell Arizona Highways and the Arizona Republic to cease and desist.

Los Manjares de Pepe, 2187 West 8th St., Yuma AZ. (928) 782-2366

Costa Brava from a Different Perspective

June 28, 2010 ed fromyuma Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog in which Kirk, Cathy, and others post about meals they have eaten in San Diego and elsewhere. Today, ed (from Yuma) wants to tell you folks about a recent meal in Pacific Beach.

Last April, Tina and I were both excited to read Kirk's post about a tapas restaurant in Pacific Beach. Like Kirk, Tina owns at least one tapas cookbook, and like me, she has rarely eaten at a tapas restaurant. In fact, my memory of my last visit to a tapas restaurant in San Diego includes no details about the food because I was so focused on the cockroach that crawled over the wall behind my dining companions. So for both of us Costa Brava would be a largely new experience.

As we looked at the menu, we were faced with a lot of choices; there must have been 40 different tapa (small plate) options as well as entrées etc.. To make it worse, I had forgotten to reread Kirk's post, so we were basically on our own.

On top of that, the wine list presented a bewildering number of Spanish wine choices. Since we were planning on focusing on seafood and vegetarian items, we wanted a white wine, but the list easily contained 20-30 Spanish white wines. With some help from our pleasant server, we decided upon a reasonably priced ($32) Vionta Albarino from the Rias Baixas region of Galicia:

I appreciated that he recommended this bottle and did not try to upsell us on other more expensive Albarinos from the list. What's more, the wine had a delightful fruity and flowery nose, apple and lemon tones in the mouth, and a long dry finish. In a way, it was the anti-Chardonnay — no oak and no buttery malolactic fermentation. It paired remarkably well with the tapas that we chose.

We gave our server a list of eight small plates that we wanted to try, including the only item I remembered from Kirk's post, the fried anchovies. When the server gave us the Spanish equivalent of "you no like" to that one item, we acquiesced and ordered the shrimp instead. After all, there was no need for me to discuss something that Kirk had already pictured and described.

The first item placed in front of us was the Esparragos alioli, cold white asparagus in olive oil accompanied by a garlic mayonnaise:

Although I had always wondered what the point of white asparagus was, Tina had fond memories of eating this vegetable in Europe. The simple presentation here showed it off very well. Lacking green flavor notes, this was the perfect essence of asparagus. The soft cool texture was also notable. The garlic mayonnaise certainly complexified the taste, but it really wasn't necessary.

The championes ajillo arrived next:

Wow! These mushrooms were standard supermarket 'shrooms, but the sautéed mushrooms had soaked up the flavors of their garlic and sherry wine sauce. Flecks of red chili added a slight hint of fire in the background. Unlike Kirk's experience with this dish, neither Tina nor I could detect any sour flavors. Our only regret was that we allowed the busser to clear off the plate before we got to soak up all of the sauce with the bread.

Which reminds me that we were provided (at no charge, since we were not there for happy hour) with mini loaves of fairly standard white bread. Good but not extraordinary:

We had a more complex reaction to the next small dish — the gambas ajiollo:

At first glance, this tapa looked like shrimp drowned in an orange colored olive oil, so I forked out one of the little crustaceans and popped it into my mouth. My initial response was "meh." While exhibiting no off tastes, the shrimp had been cooked thoroughly — the fresh and juicy shrimpiness that I love was AWOL. However, after I squirted the small bowl with the juice of a lemon wedge and Tina stirred the shrimp and coated each one with the oil spiced with garlic and a dried red (yellow?) chile, we both thought the flavor improved. And as the server had promised, these shellfish married perfectly with the wine.

The next item to hit our table, papatatas bravas, was a complete winner. The picante paprika aioli gave the whole dish a spicy richness and depth of flavor:

Yet this flavorful mayonnaise was only part of the story. As you can see in this next picture, the chunks of potatoes had been roasted before they were sauced, so each bite presented a range of textures, from crispy caramelized outsides to light fluffy centers. The potato flavors were enhanced, not covered up, by the rich and spicy sauce:

I was reminded, eating that wonderful potato dish, that it was in many ways emblematic of Spanish history. After all, Spaniards introduced both potatoes and chilies to the European world, and the papatatas bravas integrates these New World items into European cuisine.

The next two items we were served also reflected Spain's rich maritime past. The first was empanidillas atun — little tuna empanadas:

These days, we forget that the original center of tuna fishing was the Mediterranean. Back then, huge schools of tuna heading eastward would enter that inland sea via the Straits of Gibraltar and fill the boats of fisherfolk from Andalusia to Istanbul. At Costa Brava, each of these crunchy little packets contained tuna accented with green olive flavors — a truly Spanish version of a fried wonton or crispy ravioli:

The croquetas bacalao similarly contrasted exterior and interior and likewise showed off the deep frying skills of the kitchen:

The main ingredient and dominant flavor in these little crispy balls is rehydrated and desalinated dried salt cod. The restaurant's version is perfect, as you taste fish, not salt. And the texture of the interior is like creamy cod-flavored mashed potatoes. This dish is also a reminder of the 15th and 16th centuries when Basques from Spain discovered the Grand Banks off North America and supplied Friday fare for tables across Europe. In those days, bacalao was an inexpensive staple; nowadays, it is a delicacy shown here at its best:

Our waiter then brought pulpo gallego — small rounds of octopus, flavored Galician style with olive oil and Spanish paprika. This was perhaps our favorite tapa from the entire meal. The pulpo was incredibly tender and full of octopus flavor. Far better than most tako at sushi bars:

Our meal concluded with the classic tortilla de chorizo. No, we did not finish our dinner with a chorizo taco. In Spain and Argentina, a tortilla is a substantial egg and potato dish, much denser than a classic omelette. The plentiful chunks of Spanish chorizo added the extra taste of a dried sausage intensely flavored with spicy paprika. Although lacking the cheesy richness of some tortillas I've had, the dish at Costa Brava was attractive, well balanced, and a good conclusion to the meal:

Overall we were impressed with our dinner. While none of the dishes was cutting edge or innovative, we were pleased with the presentation of several classic tapas. And our server was helpful and friendly — even if he talked us out of Kirk and the Missus' favorite dish. The wine list offered a huge and diverse selection of appropriate Spanish choices fairly priced. The remodeled old house with several different rooms and an inviting patio provided an excellent ambience. Even though they allowed Tina and I to dine there, many tables were full of young and stylish PBistas. What's more, we were impressed at the way the kitchen had taken our request for eight different tapas and organized them into a dinner, presenting them in an arrangement that made sense to our mouths and our stomachs. We will be back.

Costa Brava, 1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109, 858-273-1218

Tata’s in Yuma: Bodacious Tacos and More

June 15, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Like most readers at this site, ed (from Yuma) is awaiting more of Kirk's mindboggling posts on China, and Kirk and Cathy's regular looks at San Diego dining. While waiting, he thought he'd let you folks know about a new and interesting taco stand in Yuma.

Tata's has disappeared and been replaced by a new location for Rossy's. Unfortunately, none of the South of Mexico dishes described in this post are still available.

Last fall, Tina and I were exploring 8th St, looking to spot any new taco emporiums opened since the end of the summer. As soon as we saw a new truck in the old Tio Juan's lot, we made a U-turn, and pulled into Tata's Tacos:
At that time, the stand had been doing business for only a few days, so we sampled some tacos that evening. The smooth and creamy chichirones was bathed in spicy red chili sauce:
Oh so good and oh so not good for you. Yum.

The Cabeza was tasty too:
For both Tina and I, the best taco we had that evening was the tripitas:

Even though the portion was somewhat small, these rounds of pig intestine were wonderfully prepared. The textures ranged from crunchy to chewy to soft and melt in your mouth. The flavors started with upfront porkiness and finished with a haunting nutty earthy savory flavor.

Although our first experience at the truck was uniformly positive, it was months before we made it back (our bad). As soon as we opened the new two-page menu, it became instantly apparent that Tata's had morphed into an outdoor dining establishment unlike any other in Yuma.

Nowadays, some dishes characteristic of south and central Mexico are regularly available. For example, look at this picture of two new items. On the left is a tostada maya (a black bean tostada with cotija cheese). On the right is a Maria Felix, an empenada-like quesadilla with flor de calabazas (squash blossoms) and cheese:
When you open up the Maria Felix, you see the wonderful mix of ingredients combined into a joy bomb of flavors. The hand made corn tortilla shell is crunchy, but not greasy. The unmistakable tastes of summer squash and cheese fill the mouth with happiness:

Even more unusual is what Tata's calls a Tizoc, a hand formed corn tortilla wrapped around spicy huitlacoche (corn smut — called "corn truffles" on fancy menus):

Perfectly done here. Spicy chile notes deepen the dominant and complex earthy fungal flavors of the huitloche itself, while kernels of sweet corn add contrasting textures and flavors. While I am far from an expert on this kind of smut, Tata's tizoc is by far is the best I've ever tasted.

Tina and I also love a variation on the black bean tostada called the maya maya, which tops the black beans with grilled nopalitas salad, giving some contrastive tang and more textures to the tostada:

I'm still amazed right here in river city to find a taco stand that goes beyond the border and also serves several vegetarian dishes.

At the same time, you can get great versions of many taco truck standards. For example, the horchata is good and the Tamarindo properly sweet and slightly sour:

When you wait for your tacos to arrive, you're given little bowls of frijoles gratis, which I like to enhance with some of the free condiments:

Speaking of which, the condiment wheel includes all of the necessary players — lemon wedges, cilantro, shredded cabbage, chopped onion, guacamole sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a fiery salsa de arbol:

And the tacos continue to be very good. In particular, the pastor has a nice marinade and profits from the char of the grill:

The outstanding barbacoa is incredibly beefy:

And we still love the tripitas, which are the best I've ever eaten:

Notice the wok hay on these:

And on our last visit, Tata's had caguamanta, stewed stingray tacos:

Again, the version here is as good as it gets, deeply savory, fishy in a good way, and complex. They told us that these tacos were going to become a Friday and Saturday night special. We certainly hope so.

I love Tata's (I never thought I'd write that in a blog post at mmm-yoso!!!). This small place is truly one family's labor of love. The father (Jose) grew up in Guanajuato and knows the cuisine of south and central Mexico; mom (Aleyida) does most of the cooking; grandpa provides the caguamanta recipe; and the son and his girlfriend (I think) are often waiting tables.

However, particularly at this time of year, Tata's does not seem to keep regular hours. I guess there is no point in being open if it is insufferably hot or crazy windy. Most evenings I guess they open around 6:30 or 7:00. I have no idea when they close, but I'm sure it is well past my bedtime. Give them a call before you drop by. If they are open, you will not be disappointed.

Tata's Tacos, 3121 W 8th St, Yuma AZ 85364, 928-920-1105 or 928-246-0049.

Watermelon Salad for Summer

June 3, 2010 ed fromyuma Recipes, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk is back with exciting tales about people, places, and food in China – Cathy is still eating and posting — and ed (from Yuma) just wants to share a salad with all of you.

This year, Tina has been growing herbs, which is a great thing because those fresh herbs come in very handy. However, she recently was complaining about all the mint she'd grown. In fact, when we harvested some of her crop (both regular and chocolate mint), the pile looked like this:
A pile this huge was well beyond the amount of mint that can be consumed easily in mint juleps (I don't even want to imagine). So what to do? As fate would have it, right after she was laminting about her abundant harvest, I noticed that watermelons were on sale in town. Problem solved.

One of my favorite dishes this time of year, as Yuma heats up, is watermelon salad. As usual, I began by juicing some limes — in this case, about seven or eight key limes total:
I then sliced up half of a red onion that I had in my refrigerator:
I then combined the sliced onion with the lime juice in a sealable baggie and stored the mixture overnight in my refrigerator.

The next day, the onion slices had a nice sour tang, and they and the lime juice were both pretty and pink:

I then cut open a mini seedless watermelon:
After cutting the flesh off of the rinds and chopping it up, I had a bowl of sweet watermelon chunks:

Since I was preparing the salad over at Tina's place, I also had a good loyal friend in the kitchen, Tina's dog Lucy:

Unable to speak English, Lucy communicates telepathically and was saying, "What you making? How much does the dog get? You know the dog is hungry, don't you? And you just said the dog was a good dog. The dog loves watching you make food. Did I mention I was a good dog? And a hungry dog? And a hopeful dog?" Sometimes dogs have very little to do except watch and hope.

So, after giving Lucy a couple of watermelon chunks, I then coarsely chopped up that huge pile of mint leaves:

I put the chopped mint, the onion slices, and about a cup (?) of crumbled feta cheese (basically what I had left in a package in the refrigerator) on top of the watermelon pieces:

Next, I poured extra virgin olive oil and some of the leftover pink lime juice on top of the mixture and stirred everything up together. I tasted it to see if more lime juice or olive oil was needed and adjusted the balance of ingredients. The salad ended up looking like this:

Here's a close-up:
For me, this is a perfect hot weather salad. The sweetness of the watermelon, which should be the star of the show, is balanced by the tart and crunchy onion slices. The abundant mint adds a wonderful summertime flavor note. The feta cheese provides a color contrast and a slight saltiness to the overall dish. Watermelon salad makes an excellent lunch by itself, but it also complements a wide range of foods (hint: try with smoked paprika paella). I made at least 6 servings with this recipe.

This salad can also be made with strongly flavored pitted olives — such as Kalamatas — alongside or in place of the feta cheese. I have also used chopped Italian parsley to augment the mint, but there was no need to do so with all of Tina's mint. Fresh ground black pepper would not be out of place on the salad either.

In any case, try this, and I think you will like it. We do!

Watermelon Salad

1 baby seedless watermelon
juice from 6-8 key limes
half a small red onion, sliced
A pile of chopped mint
feta cheese (and/or) pitted olives
olive oil

Sakura at the sushi bar.

May 26, 2010 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, What Cathy Eats!, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

This is mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Usually Kirk writes here about food he ate and adventures he had. Cathy and ed (from Yuma) kind of intersperse with their own anecdotal meals, if there is such a thing. Kirk is still 'vacationing' and Cathy is filling in so you will stay interested. She is only a Temp.

Hi. I was cleaning out my memory card and enjoying again a meal I shared with ed (from Yuma) when he drove in (from Yuma) -a three hour drive- in March. We who contribute to this blog think nothing strange of doing such a thing for food. It seems we who blog here all *really* like Sakura. So that was where he and I met up one evening. Here's our meal. (Most of the photos are from ed-many thanks)
We ordered from the regular menu while waiting for our special/omakase (i.e., not on the menu) sashimi plate to be prepared by Kazu, the itamae (sushi chef), who recognized ed when we walked in. From the "Hot" section: spinach with uni. I never had warm uni before. This was wonderful: creamy, salty, rich. (OK, I'll get it out of the way: everything was wonderful.)
Shiokara: salty, slightly sweet, savory squid guts. I've seen it on the menu, never had it before and will order it again. Really good, chewy, not too salty, rich with a pleasant aftertaste.

Agedashi tofu. House made silken tofu,  deep fried. I had a craving for this. Creamy and a little crunchy. ed had never had this before. He liked it too. (The sauce on the bottom is sweet.)

Our special sashimi plate was finished by Kazu and proudly placed in front of us.    The "decorative" mackerel skeleton was to be used later, as were the shrimp heads. This was a selection of the freshest most flavorful items available.   So fresh that those shrimp -drunk with sake- were still alive and moving. Other items on there, tuna, octopus, abalone,squid, mackerel, yellowtail, salmon…
Once we had consumed the shrimp, the heads were whisked away, lightly fried and brought back as part of a miso soup.
We also had ordered some tempura vegetables, which were perfectly fried and not greasy. A nice crunch.   Plus we were eating vegetables in addition to the spinach uni…

The Spanish mackerel skeleton was also whisked away with the shrimp heads, breaded, fried and brought back to our seats in this simple display. Yes, that's the head. With eyes. The crunch of the bones and flavor of fried mackerel was a wondrous, perfect dish. We squeezed lemon and dipped these cracker like pieces in the accompanying ponzu sauce.

At some point, ed and I decided we needed some kind of carbohydrate and the crab fried rice looked interesting on the menu, because neither of us had ever had -or heard of- Japanese fried rice…then there was the crab factor. Kazu grabbed the menu from us, looked at other things available and He also thought that might be a good way to end our meal. So we ordered it. This was wonderful! Who would have thought of Japanese fried rice? You can see the corn, onion and carrots, There was a lot of crab in here also. Fresh and flavorful, a perfect ending to a wonderful meal.

Neither of us had any Sake, although we both wanted it. Hot tea and water were our beverages. I know you are wondering, so here is a photo of the bill.

Izakaya Sakura 3904 Convoy Street 92111 It is in the parking lot with the Original Pancake House, all the way in the back, next to the Recruiting Depot. The door way. The Neon "Open" sign in the window. No other signage.

Kodiak Seafood in Yuma Foothills

May 25, 2010 ed fromyuma American/New American Restaurants, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

The word on the street and in the blogosphere is that Kirk is due back from somewhere overseas soon. Until then, it is Cathy (from San Diego) and, today, ed (from Yuma) posting at mmm-yoso. You are warned.

Kodiak's location is now a good Thai restaurant.

Most of Yuma (such as it is) stretches south from the Colorado River, spreading out from the streets that once funneled north/south and east/west traffic through town. In 1967, a local entrepreneur started selling extremely cheap lots 12 miles east of the city. At the time, many people thought he was a fool, but after his first million dollars, people's minds changed. The Foothills (which is what his development is called) is now a thriving but largely unincorporated part of the city of Yuma. Its population varies from 10,000 to 40,000 depending on the season, and housing out there ranges from shabby trailers that would seem to date from 1967 to some of the most exclusive residences in Yuma County. Up until recently, The Foothills has been devoid of good and interesting restaurants, but over the last few years, more worthwhile eateries have begun to appear.

A wonderful example of this is Kodiak Seafoods, a tiny restaurant (about 10 small tables) located in the shopping center anchored by Fry's grocery store on Fortuna Blvd at the freeway:
It is a no-frills restaurant with a limited menu, and fishing paraphernalia and photos covering the walls (the family fishes commercially every summer in Alaska):
We first heard of it as the "new" fish n' chips place. Indeed, the fish and chips there is excellent ($9):

The two perflectly fried filets of Alaskan cod sit atop crunchy sweet potato fries, which are (imho) the best side available at the restaurant.

On that same visit, we were able to get something not regularly available — an order of crispy fried ocean perch ($10) (here pictured with the regular french fries):
Even though this is a modest little restaurant where you order at the counter and wait for them to bring your food and water or soft drinks, it is possible to enjoy some of the finest wines in the world here. How is that? Well, you just have to bring the fine wine with you. Since this little place has no liquor license, one of the strange laws of the state of Arizona allows customers to bring their own beer or wine (and no, that is not the only strange law of the state of Arizona). So on Tina's and my most recent visit to the restaurant, we brought in a set of stemless wineglasses:

and one of our favorite local wines so that we could complement our seafood dinner with an appropriate beverage:

When I say local wine I don't mean to imply that anyone grows wine grapes in Yuma County. Miraflores winery, located in the Sierra foothills, is owned by a local Yuma physician, Dr. Victor Alvarez. While the winery is most known for its outstanding red wines (I love the Zinfandel and the Bordeaux style blend), the Pinot Grigio is quite good, with balanced pinot grigio flavors, mineral undertones, and a smooth and slightly creamy finish.

We almost always begin our dinners with a side salad ($1), which, as you can tell from the pictures below, consists of a generous helping of fresh baby greens, baby tomatoes, and some other fruit or vegetable accent:

Although the dressings are most likely store-bought, they are of good quality and complement the salads nicely.

In addition to the great wines available, the most important reason why Tina and I love to come out to this restaurant is the wonderful grilled fish. Sometimes swordfish is available:

Often they have mahi-mahi:

Just look at how moist and juicy that piece of fish is. In fact it is the chef's ability to serve flame grilled fish at exactly the right degree of doneness that makes the all the fishes here so delightful.

For example, this piece of halibut certainly looks nice with the char marks from the grill:

But the tender and moist bites of the fish are even more succulent:

The restaurant also allows the customer to choose from various seasonings (that are, I believe, crafted in house) including Caribbean jerk, Cajun, teriyaki, lemon pepper, Southwest, garlic and herb, and their favorite, Kodiak seasoning. If you look carefully at this nicely grilled piece of salmon, you can see all of the herbs and spices that go into the Kodiak flavor:

As with the halibut, you really appreciate the grill master's skill when you look at and taste each wonderful bite of the fish:

That last picture brings me to another point about this place; Kodiak Seafood keeps trying to get better. On our most recent visit, Tina and I were blown away by the new tartar sauce being served. Unlike previous versions, the new tartar sauce is flavored with a large quantity of fresh dillweed, bits of old school dill pickle, and finely diced onion. It was so good, I wish I had a picture of it for you.

The grilled fish options range between $10 and $13 and come with a starch or veggies. Chicken breast and ribeye steak are also on the menu – but I have no idea how they taste. In season, the restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday usually for dinners only. It is often closed in July and August while the family goes fishing. Call before driving all the way from downtown Yuma (or San Diego). Well worth the trip.

Kodiak Seafood Company, Foothill Fry's Shopping Center, 11274 South Fortuna Road, suite C-1, Yuma, 928-345-0433.

Las Herraduras: Lucky for Yuma

May 20, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Kirk has been eating his way through some foreign country. Cathy has been eating a lot just to keep this blog current. And ed (from Yuma) has been eating and finally has the time to share a new Yuma restaurant with you guys.

It's got to be tough opening a Mexican restaurant in Yuma, the kind of city where almost everybody has two or three favorite Mexican restaurants already. So when I heard that a new restaurant was going in the old Chile Verde location on 4th Ave between the post office and Fry's, I didn't give it much of a chance for long success:
On my first visit, the large main dining area was largely empty. On the other hand, it was clear that the owners had enough capital to redecorate the restaurant, keeping the comfortable booths and adding high backed wooden chairs marked with horseshoes (Herraduras) around sturdy tables.

I was immediately impressed by the thin corn chips and outstanding salsa:
The salsa is both spicy and full of chunky goodness:
That day the special was green chile. Of course, I had to try it, and soon received a steaming bowl of wonderful old school, Yuma style green chile:
This was an excellent version served more like soup than a stew. The broth was wonderfully beefy and flavored with both tomato and green chile. The coarsely ground beef fit the rest of the dish perfectly. I was amazed by the lack of grease as well.

To my surprise, the next time I ordered green chile, the dish looked completely different:
This is what I consider standard green chile. Chunks of tender pork swimming in a mild and complex sauce with balanced flavors of green chilies, tomatillos, and fresh minced cilantro. The differences in this version let me know the range of flavors and dishes the kitchen could prepare.

At this point, our Friday Munch Lunch Bunch (MLB) agreed to get together and try some different items. Everyone loved the salsa (and what's not to love), but the cheese crisp lacked a certain complexity of flavors, though the tortilla itself was nicely crisp:

One of my friends had the fish taco special, which she proclaimed was very nicely done, with crisp batter and fresh flavored fish:
Chip opted for the asada torta and was very happy with the flavorful beef, the crispy grilled bolillo roll, and the numerous toppings including numerous slices of avocado on the sandwich and the pickled jalapeno slices on the side:
Someone else ordered the caldo de res (beef soup), which tasted better than it looked, the clear stock being full of beef flavor:
But I think I ordered the best of all the meals, the albondigas:

Here the rich beefy stock was thickened with tomatos, giving the whole bowl the flavors of an excellent beef stew. The meatballs themselves were both full of flavor and soft and tender. As good an albondigas as I've had in Yuma.

After the lunch, we compared notes, and every one was pleased with his or her dish, and considering the varied palates of the group, that rarely happens.

At this point, Tina and I started trying various other dishes. Once, Tina had the hass burrito, a nice combination of carne asada, fresh green chile strips, and cheese:
The beef was both tender and flavorful and Tina was impressed by how the cheese and the green chile slices contributed to the overall flavor.

Once I ordered a Lenten special, calabacitos:
The melty white cheese covered a stew of squash, fresh sweet corn, and fresh tomatoes:
Another common lenten dish in Yuma households is Chile rellenos. The first time that I ordered the chile rellano lunch special at Herraduras, it was truly outstanding:

The mild green chile was well fried in its egg batter, but the highlight of the dish was the tomatoey sauce that covered the chile. That sauce combined perfectly with the vegetable flavors of the chile itself:
In the six months since Las Herraduras opened, I have only been disappointed in two dishes. The chicken fajitas:

And the pollo asado burrito:
In both cases, part of my problem is the rather dry chicken breast meat. The burrito would have been 100% better if it had contained a generous portion of guacamole — of course, that preference probably reflects the two years I spent living in San Diego where the art of asada/asado burritos has been perfected. The chicken fajitas no doubt would've been better served on a hot platter in the restaurant, but the chicken breast just didn't have much flavor and the vegetables were not uniformly cooked. Nonetheless, I can imagine that these chicken dishes might well be favorites of white meat chicken fans.

Since I hate to end a post on a down note, I want to finish by talking about and showing you pictures of what I think is the best menudo in town, served with chopped cilantro and onion and a nice bolillo roll:
Lover of tendon that I am, I was delighted to find a slice of pata de res hiding in the bottom of the bowl:

The perfectly grilled, crispy crunchy bolillo roll matched perfectly with the tendon, the succulent and tender tripe, the chewy kernals of nixtamal, and the rich chili flavored broth:
It doesn't get much better than that. And Mexican restaurants don't get much better than Las Herraduras. Let's hope these are lucky horseshoes.

Las Herraduras, 2256 S. 4th Ave, Yuma AZ, 85364, 928-783-0559. Open daily 11am-9pm.

Seafood Village – San Gabriel Valley

January 21, 2010 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk's foodblog. Nice guy that he is, he lets some others like Cathy, Vicky, and even ed (from Yuma) post here sometimes. Today we magically go back to last summer when ed and Tina finish their culinary roadtrip with a stop in San Gabriel Valley.

Before leaving Monterey, Tina and I had begun the day with some pastries and lattes at Patisserie Parker-Lusseau by the post office, so by the time we rolled into the San Gabriel Valley more than five hours later we were hungry. Really hungry.

After locating a reasonable room for the evening, we headed out for an evening of Chiu Chow dining at the Seafood Village location in Temple City. This location (the original is in Rowland Heights) is larger, has more parking, is less crowded, and well, it was closer to our room. And did I mention we were Hungry?:
We parked in the giant lot behind the restaurant and entered the restaurant by its back entrance. At this time, slightly before 6 p.m., we were one of the few groups of customers in the spacious main dining room:
While we were looking over the menu, a small bowl of boiled peanuts accompanied by mildly pickled vegetables were placed on the table. Although not mind-blowing, these helped keep our hunger in check until real food started arriving:
That evening we had brought our own wine, a bottle of 2007 Roussane from Tablas Creek Winery (which had ridden down to SGV in an ice chest in my car). Tablas Creek is my favorite winery in the Paso Robles area, and to my palate at least, this bottle was the tastiest white wine I had encountered on my trip:
The restaurant charged a modest five dollar corkage fee and provided the stemware.

The seasonal vegetable that evening was pea greens ($12.99). They were wonderfully fresh and perfectly prepared. There was none of the toughness or stringiness that sometimes ruins this dish:
We also ordered baked oysters with XO sauce ($10.99). It arrived with eight breaded oysters on top of slices of a somewhat crunchy stirfried vegetable:
My first oyster was slightly disappointing because I was expecting more crunch from the breading — having already forgotten that the oysters were "baked." However, the more of this dish that I ate, the more I liked it. This preparation really focused on the taste of the shellfish. And the oysters were perfectly cooked, moist and full of wonderful funky oyster flavor.

The crunch in the dish was instead a product of the accompanying veggie. At first, I was puzzled by that crunchy vegetable as it seemed to resemble no vegetable that I had ever had in a stirfry, and yet it was very tasty. "What's this vegetable?" I asked Tina.

As soon as she said that it tasted like cucumber, I realized she was right and remembered that Kirk had recently posted a stirfried cucumber recipe. I felt only slightly embarrassed that I had missed the identification of such a common vegetable.

Our main dish that evening was the house special crab ($4.99 a pound — $14.97 total):
When reading about this restaurant at various places on the Internet, everyone said that this was the signature dish at the place. Still, at first it seemed odd to be eating crab that had been breaded and deep-fried in its shell . "Why bread shell?" I wondered.

As soon as we started eating the crab, any puzzlement I felt completely disappeared. This was really good crab (and the breading was pretty tasty as well). Flavors of garlic and mild chilies were predominant. The breading was good enough that I sucked some of it off of crab shell. The greatest part of the dish, however, was the succulent, moist, tender, and flavorful crab inside the shell:
And I realized then that the breading serves to keep the hot oil away from the crab meat, which was not greasy at all. This was so good it will be hard to drive through the San Gabriel Valley in the future without stopping in and eating it again.

Overall, Tina and I were delighted and impressed. We had tasted seafood and vegetables different than anything we can get back home. The wine proved to be an excellent match with the cuisine, having enough body and structure to stand up to the flavorful preparations. The service was not as superb as at Sea Harbour, but it was more than adequate, and our total for the evening was $50, not including tip, about half of what we had paid at Sea Harbour. Thanks, Kirk, for the recommendation — it was spot on!

Seafood Village, 9669 Las Tunas, Temple City, CA, 626-286-2299