yoso-silly – Page 20

Midweek Meanderings: Pho Hut opening and some other silliness

March 5, 2014 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants, yoso-silly

Just a couple of quick and rather silly things for hump day.

Pho Hut and Grill Opening:

Actually, when I first saw the sign, I thought it said Pho' What…which might be a great name for some of the pho shops I've eaten at. But no, it's Pho Hut……

This is in the former Quizno's location near the corner of Balboa and Genesee.

Kind of neat in a way as it seems these businesses are now moving further away from Convoy.

I'm still not sold on the name….say "Pho Hut" five times real fast….what does it sound like????

5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Caption this photo:

"Luke, I am your mother…."

"You know, I always really wanted to be a welder…."

I'm sure you can come up with something funnier. I actually turned around and saw this woman….which startled me. What ever happened to good old sunglasses….tho' I guess she might have wanted protection from the sun. and sunscreen just didn't do it for her? After the inital shock, I just coudn't stop laughing….she actually did her shopping in 99 Ranch Market with the darn thing covering her face….indoors!

From the "why bother" files:

For some reason I find this amusing……

I mean, if you wanted a wheat flavored chip, why not make them out of wheat? Why would you make rice chips taste like wheat? Is it some kind of gluten thing? I dunno….it just seems a bit absurd to me.

I hope you're having a great week!

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2014 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Have you noticed the dearth of Valentine's Day posts here? Well, the Missus let me off the hook for this years ago; the practical side of Her just couldn't see going through all the trouble, fighting the crowds, the stress, etc, etc…… But that doesn't mean I've been let of the hook….you see, the Missus also told me, "you know that any day can be Valentine's Day…..everyday, if I declare it so, right?"

Well, there's always a catch, isn't there?

So when I told the Missus that perhaps I should do a V-Day post, all She wanted was this photo of Frankie in it.

"Won't you be my Valentine????"

Whatever way you choose to celebrate this day…..or not, we wish you a wonderful day…..

And if you're not feeling particularly well on this day, we hope you find a remedy….perhaps even on this pegboard!

Since things sort of seem random…..here's something that just shows how ancient I am. I recently heard this song for the first time in decades and it took me bac kto my childhood….what we call hanabuddah days. It features the wonderful voice of Liz Damon and a song that was strangely written by Burt Bacharach.

Years ago I met Liz Damon, who had become a Greeter at one of the Casinos in Vegas, she was kind and warm. With a voice like this, I'm sort of surprised she never became a bigger star. I'm sure there's a story here somewhere……. Anyway, I thought it would be appropriate for today.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

The strangest Doner Sandwich at Istanbul Kabob/Miramar Pizza

January 28, 2014 mmm-yoso Sandwiches, yoso-silly

**** Istanbul Kabob has closed

After eating at Motor City Deli, I noticed this place while walking to my car.

I walked up to the window which said "Istanbul Kebob"…..really? There was lamachun and pide on the menu….really? Really? How could I not know about this place?

The location did seem kind of strange, but curiosity had already gotten the better of me, I just had to check this place out. A couple of days later I dropped by.

Entering the well worn interior of the place, I looked up at the menu and didn't see any Turkish dishes at all. Until I looked ot my left and saw this.

I had more than enough time to check out the menu, because there was no one out at the counter to take my order. The young guys in the back were cracking up and having a good old time it seems.

By the time someone came out to take my order, I had lost my nerve and decided to go the conservative route and ordered the Doner Sandwich ($8.49), something simple that anyplace should be able to make. I also asked the guy if the owners were Turkish and he told me that the former owners were and when the business was sold they were taught all the Turkish dishes and decided to keep it on the menu. Not a very comforting answer, but hey, I've had some good meals under stranger circumstances and in odder places.

So I get my Doner (gyro) sandwich which is wrapped in foil and walk to the table where I unwrapped it and "holy …." (fill in the blanks) "…(more blankety-blank) is this?"

This wasn't a flat bread wrapped product….it was a burrito…the darn thing was wrapped in a tortilla. Still, my criticism of such an adulteration would be minimized if it was any good….which it was not. Basically, 50% tortilla, 35% dry gyro meat (at least it was heated up), 15% veg, all served with a insipid, runny yogurt sauce…..for real? I know this is SoCal, where, as Kazumi once told me "anything goes with food", but this just wasn't good. I have a special place in my heart for Turkey, especially Istanbul, and this just seemed wrong.

On the bright side….well, the fries were hot and crisp.

And I guess I've finally had a "Turkxican" Burrito(Doner-rito?)….my first, and hopefully last. And yet, in my twisted mind, I can only imagine what the foreboding sounding "Black Sea Pide" is going to be like?

Istanbul Kebab/Miramar Pizza
7094 Miramar Rd Suite 110
San Diego, CA 92121

Sunday Sandwiches – The not worth reading edition

January 26, 2014 mmm-yoso Cooking, Sandwiches, yoso-silly

So are you actually reading this? Gotcha! Just playing around a bit with negative suggestion…..

Actually, this post is made up some odd and ends with regards to sandwiches, and you should probably come back tomorrow for something a bit better…..really!

Since you decided to stick around….here goes……

Curiosity does get the better of us at times and I'm not an exception.

I was doing my usual toilet paper/paper towel/laundry detergent/ etc, etc, run at Costco on Morena. I passed the "home of the $1.50 hot dog combo" aka the food windows and saw something new on the menu. Something I couldn't help but try.

They often test market items at this location, perhaps because Costco's Regional Headquarters are located here. So this time it was……

My curiosity got the better of me and I ordered one….purely for research purposes of course…..

Damn, this thing was huge….with a good amount of oily barbecue sauce oozing down one side. The beef was shredded like a tough machaca, the sauce was fairly bland with just a mild spicy finish, the roll was hard and cold…..colder than the tasteless coleslaw.

In short, if you're after quantity over quality, this fits the bill.

I had two people email me about the Arby's Smokehouse Brisket…….so I decided to give it a shot. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, try this on for size.

One can take into consideration the comparison of the Ice Breakers container to understand the size of the sandwich.

Now let's take a look inside.

I won't go into the too sweet BBQ Sauce, the tough and fatty meat, the cold and greasy onion strings…….all for $5.69? This makes what I recently got from Bristol Farm look like I went to the French Laundry.

And yet, sometimes impulse buys work out well. During my visit to Costco, I decided to pick up one of the prime tri-tips. Seasoning with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and some Mexican oregano, I kept my expectations low.

My goodness….this was so good.

It was basically a "hot smoke" over oak for about 1 1/2 hours and it came out juicy, tender, with a nice smoke flavor.

There ain't no excuse for tough and dry tri-tip. The only problem I see is perfecting how to keep the product thru the course of a day or two.

I also smoked some garlic which I mixed with horseradish, making a sauce for my sandwich.

If you decided to stick around and read the post; I thank you for being a really dedicated FOY (friend of yoso)! I hope you had a great weekend!

Recently Consumed: What’s in a name? Pétoncles fumés poêlés, sautes chou vert, pommes darfine – say what?

January 19, 2014 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

Huh? Actually, just kind of playing around. This weekend I finally have some time to cook again and the Missus has me doing it with a vengeance. Her favorite dish for the weekend was this:

The fun with the name started when I decided to make Potato pancakes…….pommes darfine, hah! I really wanted a smoked infused scallop, but the problem being also getting a nice carmelization on it as well. So, like I did on a previous occasion with bluefin tuna, I got my stovetop smoker going full tilt and did a very hot smoke for 6 minutes. I then removed it from the smoker. Earlier I had rinsed, dried, and chopped collards (chou vert). Which I ended up chopping a bit thicker than a chiffonade. While the smoker was going I grated garlic and onions, squeezing out a good amount of the moisture. I then julienned the potato, seasoned, mixed together, formed and put aside. I then sauteed the collards, added grated garlic, and a dash of red win vinegar to give it that "pop". Potatoes were done next. While the potatoes were draining, I quickly seared the scallops over super high heat…….

The Missus loved it….though I'm thinking I need some sauce for this the next time….piquillo pepper based perhaps.

Anyway, I thought it would be funny to translate into French……so you could then call me "Fancy Pants prétentieux"

Pretentious Fancy Pants!

So what did you cook this weekend?

Saturday Stuffs: Mr Fish and Chips reopens, the brick and mortar location of Supernatural Sandwiches, and the sign at Tecchan

January 4, 2014 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

So here are a couple of items to end our week.

Mr Fish and Chips reopens:

I'm certain that frequent commenter "Soo" is happy about this one. He is the one who told me that a fire closed the place down. Then of course, was the wholesale construction going on in this strip mall. So we can now answer what was going with Mr Fish and Chips. It's been a while since I've been here. I guess I need to check them out soon.

Mister Fish & Chips
5647 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

SuperNatural Sandwiches brick and mortar location:

Funny, I do recall reading about SuperNatural Sandwiches opening a shop in Miramar. But for some reason forgot all about that. So I was a bit surprised when I saw the sign. Looks like a lot of work still has to be completed….but soon enough, I won't have to wait until Farmer's Market days to get my "Siren".

7094 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92121

What the sign says at Tecchan:

A couple of weeks back, FOY "PedMa" told me that Tecchan was closing.

I was in the area so I thought I'd drop by and see what was going on. It look like stuff has been removed and moved around quite a bit inside the place. And of course there was that typical, cryptic, sign……"Closed for Maintenance". Much like the "closed for remodeling" sign, this usually means the place has closed down.

Why can't they just get to the point….like this place in Antalya, Turkey, and just tell us they've closed down?

Tecchan Yakitori and Izakaya
3739 6th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2014 mmm-yoso Travel, yoso-silly

I got up this morning and took a quiet….well as quiet of a drive as can be had with Da' Boyz and had a New Year morning look at our neighborhood.

And had a nice, warm simple, bowl of soba. While it is traditionally the last item eaten on New Year's eve, we'd always had it on New Years day (toshikoshi soba – "crossing over the year noodles").

Yesterday, just like I've done on every New Year's Eve since 2005, I went to check out the various Osechi Ryori, traditional Japanese New Year dishes, at our three Japanese Markets. As I noted last year, it seems like this tradition is slowly fading away. I'm sure that'll it will never completely disappear, but it seems that only Nijiya has a large selection.

The selection at both Marukai and Mitsuwa were quite "sparse" in comparison.

While walking the aisles I had time to contemplate the year.

While it was pretty easy picking out the Missus's favorite dish of the year:

A delici-yoso Tripas à moda do Porto in, where else? Porto.

Her favorite bite was without a doubt hidden in this salad.

The Missus had a bite of the Hokkaido Scallop and almost did a delici-yoso dance Herself!

It was a bit harder for me. Much like last year, I've come to think of moments within context…..bellying up to the bar for bifana and a beer….for breakfast. It was just the perfect thing, one of those moments you just want to bottle and experience over and over.

Or standing on a mountain of shells in Paredoncito in the municipality of Benito Juarez, Sonora.

Watching horse drawn carts go out over the flats to awaiting boats…..

Bringing back amazingly sweet and tasty wild shrimp.

It's been an honor sharing our eating experiences with you this past year. As always; we thank you for stopping by, reading, and commenting when you feel the urge.

As the calendar turns and we look forward to another year, we hope to hear from you now and then.

The gang here at mmm-yoso wish all of you a healthy, happy, and delici-yoso New Year!

Merry Christmas

December 24, 2013 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

It's a nice quiet Christmas Eve, so I thought I'd go ahead and do my post now. We did our usual drive with Da Boyz to check out the lights. I think folks are feeling much more enthusiastic and positive this year as there was much more up in the neighborhood.

You know, this is the ninth Christmas for the blog.

And just as it was then, we just want to wish everyone a most wonderful and Merry Christmas!

Midweek Meanderings: Waldo’s closes, the sign at First korean Market (U Mart update), and the menu at Yu’s Garden

December 18, 2013 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I think one of these posts is overdue. Here's a collection from the last couple of weeks.

Waldo's Chili Dogs Closes:

I saw this while driving through Clairemont Square a couple of weeks ago.

After the litigation to have the name change, new owners, the place never seemed to gain any traction. Now they're closed.

4250 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

The sign at First Korean Market:

I've been wondering what's been going on with the (supposedly) soon to open U Mart in the old Zion Market location. So I dropped by First Korean Market which is taking over the space and found this sign (click to enlarge) The sign says U Mart is supposed to be opened mid-December, which is kinda like…well…right now, right?

I did a quick walk through and found the meat department completely closed, shelves depleted, and items at deep discount, which tells me the move should be coming soon….I think.

First Korean Market

Becoming U Mart

4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111
Between Engineer Rd and Dagget St

Supposedly any day now….

Yu's Garden Menu:

FOY (Friend of Yoso) "YummyYummy" mentioned the menu for the soon to open Yu's Garden is up, so I dropped by and took some photos (again click to enlarge).

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Recently Consumed – The Comfort Food Edition

December 17, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

It's been a pretty busy couple of months……luckily, I have folks like Cathy and Ed from Yuma to help me out. Without them, I truly doubt that this blog would still exist. Life has its rhythm, an ebb and flow, and this was just a long "high tide" I guess. Things are starting to settle a bit now, still kind of crazy, but I'm dealing with one or two crises per day, rather than four or five.

One thing I really notice this time around was how my eating just sort of retreated into its own simple comfort food mode……but I guess that's what comfort food is……

Here's a little collection of what we ate during the period when I was too busy or tired to cook……

So here's the requisite Spam, Eggs, and Rice bowl……

I just noticed….doesn't the soy sauce make it look like an "unhappy face"……

If I took photos of all of these dinners…and lunches, it would probably be a collection of similar egg and rice bowls.

Eggs, rice, and salty protein…..I guess that does it for me……

Even when I had time at home, it was stuff I could just prep and forget about until ready…..

The Missus got into the act too…..She loves steamed egg. This one has cold smoked scallops with sesame oil.

Which leads me to the question…..when things are going crazy; what's your "comfort meal"!