As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.
Here’s some stuffs I noticed in the Clairemont Mesa/Kearny Mesa area recently.
Sizzling House Has Closed:
Noticed this during our most recent visit to Eastern Dynasty.
Whoa, Sizzling House didn’t even last a year. So, much for the sizzling plate/pepper lunch fad, huh? Looks like this is going to be an outlet of Las Vegas based Urban Matcha…so one feeds another?
4698 Convoy St. Suite 107 San Diego, CA 92111
Juewei Becoming L.A. Hot Duck:
Also during that visit we noticed a new banner covering the Juewei sign.
Funny thing, I just mentioned how dissatisfied we’d been with our most recent visits to Juewei in my post on Spicy Duck Wang La Ya. Juewei seemed to be constantly changing concepts, last I saw they were trying to do Hot Pot, before that they had initiated doing skewers. They had an inconsistent inventory of items we enjoyed and we just decided to stop and not waste our time there.
So, I’m not sure if it’s still the same owners with a new concept….I do know there’s a LA Hot Duck in Rowland Heights. What’s up with all these places from the SGV opening here? They do not appear to be open yet; so we’ll see!
4690 Convoy St. #103 San Diego, CA 92111
And finally….
Isaki Japanese Restaurant and Nothing Bundt Cakes Taking the Former 85°C Spot:
I noticed some signage on the doors of what used to be 85°C off Balboa so I walked on over. Looks like they’ve split the spot into two businesses.
One of the signs said Isaki Japanese Restaurant.
And the other looks to be another franchise of Nothing Bundt Cakes.
After my last visit to HiroNori, I decided to revisit two other of my favorite ramen spots in San Diego. And both of these places have interesting “histories” with your truly.
Ramen Nagi:
I hadn’t been to Ramen Nagi in a while! And that visit was to try out the Veggie King Ramen! I was tempted to visit right after HiroNori, but heck, I ain’t going to UTC during the holiday season! I just waited until the calendar flipped to 2026 and headed on over. And guess what? No line!
I walked over and was shown to a seat at the counter.
It was quite mellow! I also have my preferences for my ramen here. Folks can choose and “customize” their bowl to their tastes, something I wish other places would do as well.
And while I waited, the older gentleman who was in charge came on over to say hello. And we had a really nice chat. I mentioned that my first bowl of ramen in Japan was at Nagi Ramen in the Golden Gai. And he cracked up! Apparently, he worked for Nagi’s parent company in Tokyo before coming to SD! Of course I had to ask him about Niboshi Ramen….and he laughed again. Apparently they did try it as a “special” for a short period, but the only folks who would try the stuff were the Japanese nationals and hardcore “ramen heads”. It was such a nice little chat!
As for my Original King Ramen ($16.95), well, I liked that the mildly porky broth wasn’t too salty…and check out all that richness! It just coats your tongue and tummy. That’s why I order it “heavy richness”. Normal garlic is enough to add some pungency without overwhelming the soup.
And those katame…..firm noodles do a great job picking up that broth and are so springy.
The egg was decently marinated and flavored. And perhaps because it was opening time, it was still warm.
To me, the pork shoulder chashu might be the weak link here as it is on the more chewy side.
But was decently marinated with good porkiness.
I think we have my favorite tonkotsu ramen in San Diego here! And of course, that memory of wandering thru Kabukichō to find that 24 hour location of Nagi Ramen on our first evening in Tokyo! Such great memories.
Ramen Nagi UTC 4301 La Jolla Village Dr. Suite 2033 San Diego, CA 92122
Santouka Ramen:
And of course, after Nagi, I had to get back to Santouka. Hard to believe it’s been over a year since my last visit. And like Nagi, I have some history with Santouka. To this day, I believe that the opening of Sanotuka in San Diego back in April of 2008 really changed the ramen world in San Diego. And after trying things for a bit, we had found our favorite here; the Shio Toroniku.
This was a solo lunch; so I just went with the small sized Shio Toroniku ($15.95).
I had never ordered the small size, so when my buzzer went off and I went to pick up my bowl….well, I cracked up at the size of the ramen bowl. Though I was happy to note that the portion size off the toroniku and garnishes were of the same size as far as I could tell.
To put things into perspective….check out the size of the porky, super tender pork cheek versus the size of the bowl of ramen.
Still, this was nice and warming….that thick bowl keeps the broth super hot for a long time. And no; I wasn’t in the mood for the usual horrible egg here.
The noodles were adequately firm. I already wrote about that tender-porky toroniku.
The broth creamy, not overly salty, nice savory tones.
And of course, I’ll never forget hunting down the original Santouka in Asahikawa...a tiny little shop! And of course we cracked up when the tamago there was just as bad! Points for consistency I guess! Such fun memories! And a good bowl of ramen as well!
Just a couple of things as we recover from New Years.
The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong:
Remember how I was mourning not ordering the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings during my last post on Taste of Hong Kong? Well, last week we did a revisit to ToHK…I decided to not take any photos since I’d just done a post. But then the chicken wings came out.
My goodness, these were terrible! Something has changed with the batter as it was too wet-mushy and had an almost mealy texture to it. There were fried (burned) slices of garlic incorporated into he batter, which had a strange sweetness. The wings had been overfried and while the exterior was saturated, the meat was tough and dry. What a bummer!
This is what it used to look like.
Well, I guess we can cross this dish off my “favorites” list.
Taste of Hong Kong 4428 Convoy St. San Diego, CA 92111
What’s up with Oxtail Prices:
The Missus had thoughts of me making my oxtail soup for New Years, so I went to Zion to see if they had oxtails….I found them, but look at the prices!
I guess I haven’t made oxtail soup in ages? I don’t remember paying this much for oxtails! I need 4-5 pounds for my soup….but yikes! I did go to other places, but all the oxtails were over $14 a pound!
Is this the norm?
What made my Xmas Day:
On Christmas day, I took JJ up the street to visit the local donut shop and grab my usual. Like I wrote back in 2020, I think these businesses are part of the “fabric” of the neighborhood and I try to support them. Especially if the place has such wonderful owners as the Cambodian couple who run TK Donuts. So, I try to visit at least once a week and I guess because I used to go there like 4-5 times a week during Covid to help them stay open, they still remember me!
And on Xmas day, after I got my usual, they asked me to wait a minute and handed me a bag with something wrapped in foil. They told me that “this is something that just finished cooking for Christmas”, it’s a traditional family recipe. What was it?
My goodness, it’s Cambodian style roast chicken! It was still hot when I got home. Actually, the Missus loved it and took most of it to work for lunch the next day!
They are so nice! And this beautiful gesture made my day and really touched me!
TK Donuts 3095 Clairemont Drive San Diego, CA 92117
Please be careful out there!
The major storm that hit us on Christmas must have made international news? Because fellow blogger and good friend Kat sent me an email wondering if we were ok! Bless her…Kat, you’re amazing! I emailed her back saying I didn’t think it was too bad. Then a day later, I took JJ to Western Hill Park after having my usual morning coffee and my goodness!
There were actually three trees down in the park! Yikes!
**** No food in this one. But I figured I needed to finally get this done!
If you recall, we had a fun stay back in early 2024 at the newly renovated Lafayette Hotel. We had enjoyed our stay so much, that we decided to do another staycation, and to finally play tourist and do a tour we’d been wanting to for a while. So yes, we stayed a night at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and double yes, we booked ourselves a tour of the Whaley House! So touristy, yea?
With the Blue Line Clairemont Drive Trolley stop being established at the end of 2021, it was easy to walk on down and instead of parking, just catch the trolley to Old Town. We only had small backpacks since we’d only be staying the night.
At the time of our visit, the restaurant/bar was not opened yet. I believe they are still only doing Happy Hours during weekends now. Anyway, checking in was done by calling a number provided and the really nice young lady met us at the side gate.
We were staying in the Seeley Suite, the largest suite that has a fireplace and a separate sitting room. On an interesting note, the rooms have no television or telephone.
Named for Alfred Seeley who purchased the property to create a stagecoach hotel. The room is on the second floor with a view of Old Town from the wrap around balcony that stretches the length of the building.
Juan Bandini originally built his home on this location, named Casa Bandini in 1829. It was a single story 12 room u-shaped adobe home. In 1859, Bandini struck by illness and in debt transferred the ownership of the property to Abel Stearns who sold the property to Alfred Seeley in 1869. In 1888 Seeley sold the hotel, which over the following years served as a store, pickle factory, and motel.
The rooms really do transport you to another time. And speaking of transport; I opened the book on the table and started reading…..
About various supernatural experiences that took place in this room! Shades of the Historic Anchorage Hotel, huh?
After resting a bit, we headed off to dinner at Tahona….my photos strangely didn’t come out? Perhaps something was going on with the combination of staying at the Cosmopolitan and eating next door to Campo Santo Cemetery? And throw in the little tour we were headed to after dinner……
At the Whaley House of course! Which claims to be the most haunted house in America and has been featured in many of those “supernatural shows” on television.
We met our guide; Hannah who was so full of stories and entertaining.
Back in September of 1852, James “Yankee Jim” Robinson was hanged on the site of what was to become the Whaley House for supposedly stealing a rowboat. It is said that he is one of the “spirits” that haunts the Whaley House.
Thomas Whaley, who had moved to San Diego after his store burnt down in San Francisco in 1851 purchased the lot in 1855, building a single story structure. In 1857, the two story house was built.
Along with “Yankee Jim”, the house, and the Whaley’s ran into some bad luck. Their 18 month old son died of scarlet fever in 1858 and their store burnt down. Trying to change their luck; Thomas and Anna Whaley moved to San Francisco. They ended up moving back to San Diego after the 1868 Hayward Earthquake. And in partnership with Philip Crosthwaite opened the Whaley and Crosthwaite General Store. Which Hannah went over during the tour.
She also went over the suicide of the Whaley’s daughter, Violet in 1885. In 1868, an upstairs bedroom was converted into a theatre and rented out to the Tanner Troupe.
Unfortunately, a few months later Thomas Tanner, the head of the troupe died suddenly. It is said that he also haunts the house.
It is said that you can smell Thomas Whaley’s cigar smoke in the foyer or Anna’s apple pie in the kitchen…along with utensils rearranging themselves. There have been reports of a Native American Man, a Confederate Soldier, and a mystery woman in the converted courthouse portion.
I didn’t smell, hear, or feel anything. But the Missus did say that something tapped Her on the shoulder as She was walking up the stairs!
And then it was a short walk to El Agave for a nightcap, before returning to the Cosmopolitan. We slept well and luckily were not “awakened” by Mr Bandini or his daughter Yisadora during the evening.
Waking early, it was interesting walking around Old Town at that time of the day.
And we also got to check out the bar and restaurant areas of the hotel as well.
That’s a portrait of Albert Seeley on the wall in the dining room.
It was quite fascinating to wander around.
We did enjoy our short overnight stay in Old Town. I’m certain that we really don’t spend enough time exploring our lovely city. I’m hoping to try to rectify some of that in the future.
Whaley House 2476 San Diego Ave. San Diego, CA 92110
Cosmopolitan Hotel 2660 Calhoun St. San Diego, CA 92110
Just a couple of things I’ve come across recently.
Nutmeg Bakery & Cafe Coming to Bay Park:
While having my coffee with JJ at Bay Park Coffee this morning, I noticed a new sign on what used to be the weed growers Hydroponic Shop next to Poseidon Project.
Whoa, now this was quite a surprise as I hadn’t read or heard anything about this. Could it be? Well, at least the sign says Nutmeg Cafe & Bakery is coming soon! The place has locations in Poway and Scripps Ranch, which Cathy has posted on twice.
This is exciting news….though I’m kinda worried that the place is going to take away business from Bay Park Coffee….and the parking in the area, with the new yoga studio is kind of at a premium, so we’ll see! I know there have been plans for up to 14,000 new housing in the area, near the trolley, so they might be putting down roots? It’s going to be an interesting couple of years.
Yep, they closing on 12/19. There was something that did stir that sarcastic humor of mine. Notice the sign on the left says “Time to Party”? And right next to it is the “We Are Closing” sign?
Anyway, 85C was a most welcome addition to the area when they opened back in 2014. I was told that the cause was the rapidly increasing rent.
Though since Covid, the place always seemed short staffed and opening hours changed quite frequently.
85°C Bakery Cafe 5575 Balboa Ave. 330 San Diego, CA 92111
Hillcrest Sandwich Co. Has Closed:
I made an exploratory drive up to Hillcrest, aka the “new ramen central” to see if I could find a parking spot and get my fix. I was amazed to find decent parking on Fifth Avenue. While walking down Fifth, I looked over and noticed that the Hillcrest Sandwich Co. looked closed.
Checking online, it looked like they closed in February! Oh my….they’ve been around forever. I used to get sandwiches there when I did consulting here in SD back in the late 90’s! And when my office was in the area we used to order from them every so often….though I hadn’t actually been in the shop since my pre-blogging days! Looks like more development in the area is driving a lot of change.
So, I noticed that Nijiya had Lily Bulb in stock today. And while taking a look, a young lady saw the name and asked the mom if it’s really what she thought it was…..
Like I noted on my Instagram post…..you know what she thought this was, right?
I haven’t done one of these in a while….so, here we go….just a couple of “stuffs” we’ve been eating.
There’s a thing we used to do when I worked in a restaurant like over 4 decades ago. We used to boil potatoes, smash them, then fry. The exterior would be crisp; the interior creamy…so ono! So, what I’ve been doing the last couple of years is to get those baby potatoes from the market. I then score and put into the microwave. Once soft, I smash and brush with olive oil, smoked salt, fresh ground pepper, and granulated garlic, then put into the air fryer.
I did manage to take a photo of when I did this recently, using mini baby potatoes. The Missus loves them with eggs.
Roasted broccolini and roasted honeynut squash made for a nice lunch.
It’s getting to be Pozole time in our household. I should post my recipe one of these days….
With prices being so crazy, I’ve started making ramen at home these days. We like the Sun Noodle brand. I also liven it up with some truffle soy sauce and even add in some shiitake mushrooms. And….I always make sure my tamago is at least warm!
And on warmer days….I venture into “neba-neba” land.
Love that combo of tororo and natto…..
I really don’t take much photos of the food I make these days….but for some reason here’s some beans-collards-pancetta.
Which tasted really good on toast with microplaned Parmesan Reggiano.
And lastly….some lamb chops, with beans and Cous Cous…..
Ever since Covid; it seems that decorating for Halloween has really taken off. Of course, I think the demographic for our neighborhood is changing as well. At times; it seems that there’s a bit of “competition” with regards to decorating….
And J has been enjoying checking things out….though this one scared the heck out of him!!!
And of course JJ is dressing up…..
Did you know his favorite letter is “arrrgh”!
Anyway, JJ and we here at mmm-yoso would like to wish you a fun and safe “Howl-o-weeen”!
It’s a whole new world and learning curve for me,……with posts still uploading along with images.
I’m hoping to be able to start doing new posts by September 26th!
I need to thank Jean-Yves of https://savemyblog.com/ who has really worked long and hard on getting my 5,600 posts and over 110,000 images uploaded to the correct format from Typepad. It’s a long story and perhaps I’ll go over it in a future post.
But for now, let me thank you for dropping by!
I’m working with various plug-ins and widgets to give me the format I want….you know me, nothing fancy, just straight forward and simple….but it seems simple might be rather complicated here!
So please, let me know what you think and if you encounter any issues with various posts.
And most of all, thanks for all the comments, emails, recommendations over the years that have kept me inspired to keep our little blog going!
I noticed lots of upcoming changes in my short walk from where I parked my car during my visit to Makai Sushi. Like this one.
Though one of them caught me by surprise. Looks like La Posta de Acalpuco, like El Cuervo has closed.
Like El Cuervo, this was a place I'd go to every so often when my office was in Hillcrest….though mostly when I'd have to work nights as there wasn't much open late in those days. And much like El Cuervo; I hadn't been back in ages.
Times change and it seems that Hillcrest is in major turnover mode.
I'm sure folks are going to miss what I used to call the "late-early crowd"……which someone once described to me as "Goth's, Grungees, Gays, Gargoyles, and the bar scene from Star Wars!" And another once told me "You know, the food here is okay, but it sure tastes better at 4 am!"
3980 3rd Ave San Diego, CA 92103
Ajisen Ramen (Kearny Mesa) Closes:
This one was fairly widely announced, but I was shocked at how quickly the signage was gone for Ajisen on Clairemont Mesa.
On occasion, while shopping, I'll see something that will bring a smile to my face. While looking over the ever changing "treasure hunt" at Nijiya, I cam across this.
I've come across this in Japan before…it's known as being the only "powdered creamer" that uses real milk. But on this day I just read "Foaming Creap"….. I know, silly me….. But I was sorely tempted to buy some for folks and see if they got the pseudo double entendre.
Gusto Grocery Italian Market Moving from Bay Ho:
A week or so back, I needed some Pesto Genovese….for some reason, we've starting enjoying Avocado Toast with a touch of pesto. And yes, in spite of what I learned in Liguria, I just didn't see myself making pesto from scratch for some avocado toast.
So, I decided to head up to Gusto Italian Market, which, since they opened their brick-and-mortar shop in Bay Ho next to Rose Canyon Deli has been a blessing for picking up Italian Staples for us, without having to head into Little Italy. So, I headed on up and arrived at 1030…and strangely, the shop didn't seem open.
So, I walked on over and noticed the door was unlocked so I walked on in. I found all the shelves empty! The nice woman who works there came on out, smiled and explained to me that the grocery was closed and moving to "somewhere north"…… Their online orders were being fulfilled at their warehouse now. Bummer, as I'd been kind of taking this place for granted!
I do wish them luck in their new space; wherever that might be!
