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.
The Missus has been wanting to visit some Mayan Ruins for over a year now….so guess where we're headed?
We'll be back in about two weeks or so……still not exactly sure what the itinerary will be…….and not sure what we'll find to eat. But hopefully, I'll have something to post on when we return.
Until then, as always, Cathy's in charge.
See you in a few!
mmm-yoso!! is a blog about food, written by a few friends. Today, ed (from Yuma) and Kirk are busy, so Cathy is stepping in with a short post.
Hi. I haven't posted in a while. Life has been kind of busy and both The Mister and myself had that fever/cough/crud/spitting thing going on, so, even though we were eating, nothing seemed interesting enough to write about. But I took some photos anyhow. I decided to share some oddities. This is the first episode.
It was Lent. 40 days of some sort of sacrifice before Easter. Usually people give up some sort of food as their sacrifice. Sometimes it is just not eating meat. Every fast food restaurant had some sort of fish sandwich/deal going on.
Wendy's Fish sandwich
, which was really good.
Jack in the Box had a great deal.
My ever favorite McDonald's Filet O Fish Fridays
Then, I saw this at Der Weinerschnitzel.
You know I had to stop and try it.
Because it looked ..so wrong… So very, very wrong.
Basically a fish stick on a hot dog bun, with lettuce and tartar sauce. Less than $2.
It did taste pretty good, quite a heavy/large fish stick which was fried properly and served on a steamed bun with iceberg lettuce and a vinegary tartar sauce.
Conclusion: don't judge by looks.
Secondary conclusion: There may be a Food Stylist job open soon.
It's almost the weekend. Hope everyone has been having a good week, even though Tax Day was in the middle.
The San Diego Food Blog Search.
I originally saw a post by Krista, whose blog, londonelicious is required reading for yoso. In that post she mentioned creating a Google Custom Search using various London based food bloggers. In one of those "now why didn't I think of that" moments, I thought it might be a nice idea to create a Google Search Engine of San Diego Food Bloggers. There are so many excellent food bloggers in San Diego, and this might be a nice way to see what they think about a restaurant, or even snag a recipe. You'll find the search in the left sidebar, right below the site search. Let me know how you like it…..
And if you're a San Diego Food Blogger, and I have somehow missed you, please let me know…..I managed to add 48 food blogs, but am pretty sure I've missed a few. I know I should do more with regards to making things more useful….but it seems I'm always busy eating!!!
Who said you can't get crisp sweet potato fries?
I sorta-kinda remember a conversation somewhere……
Well, I recently had some pretty darn good sweet potato fries, that were crisp, and tasty.
I managed to save some for the Missus, and was even given some specific instructions on how to reheat them. Of course, the Missus disregarded the instructions, but enjoyed them all the same.
So where did I get these?
Well, it was Crab Hut. Very tasty, and kinda reminded me of the sweet potatoes used in Banh Tom. (Here's a recipe from Wandering Chopsticks)
Crab Hut
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
858-565-1678
Open Daily from 12noon – 10pm
Previous posts on Crab Hut can be found here and here.
I've always taken instruction well:
**** Surati Farsan Mart has closed
Leave it to the Missus, after my post on Surati Farsan, and my mentioning how Indian Cuisine was something She needed to be in the mood to have….she was suddenly….in the mood. So we headed off for Surati Farsan.
It seemed like an overwhelming favorite here is the Chole Samosa:
The Chole which could be described in the most simplest terms as a chickpea curry, was nice with some savory-spicy overtones. It was perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste, but when I made sure to include the onions in every bite, it became an excellent dish. The samosa was fried to perfection, and filled with vegetables, added more of a nice textural counter-point.
Even though this was pretty filling, I ordered something else I had been wanting to try. I had read an article on Vada Pav, actually it was on a chain called Jumbo King, a chain inspired by McDonald's, which took the Vada Pav, a popular street food in Mumbai, and made it a national phenomenon. You can also read another article here. So without further ado, let me introduce Surati Farsan's Pav Vada:
Yes indeed it is the one and only…..potato potato patty "burger". They come two to an order at Surati Farsan.
Nice potato flavor, mildly spiced, and crisp around the edges.The bun was quite a simple burger bun-ish, but there was a nice smear of a garlic chutney. You can also get you Pav Vada with cheese! The Missus loved the potato croquettish patty, I loved the chutney, and got many happy returns from it the entire afternoon (too much info, I know). Not quite sure if I'd get this again…..but it was amausing to say the least.
So what did the always adventurous Missus get?
Sigh….. A Masala Dosa. Oh well, at least one of us broadened our horizons a bit…….
Surati Farsan Mart
9494 Black Mountain Road
San Diego, CA 92126
My previous post on Surati Farsan can be found here.
United Oriental Food Market is closed:
This one was from FOY, Saya, who mentioned in passing that United Oriental had closed. I always drive past this location, but I guess I wasn't paying much attention.
The sign doesn't say much. Too bad…….
More about the old Osaka Kitchen location:
In an earlier post, I mentioned that the folks who own Okan are taking over this spot. I recently had the pleasure of grabbing a bite with Ed from Yuma and Cathy at Okan. At the end of the meal, I had a chance to speak to Nanase, the young lady who does a fantastic job of managing Okan. I mentioned the Osaka Kitchen spot, and was told that this location will specialize in Nabe and grilled items. And was most surprised to learn that they intent to open this month! No wonder the place is being worked on during weekends as well.
From the it's right under my nose files:
This place has opened in Diane Village shopping center.
And being the bozo that I am….I didn't even notice until recently. Well, that's to be rectified soon…a post is coming right up.
A salute to all our FOYs:
I had notice something interesting a while back………. the mention of oatmeal in the wonderful comments. At first I thought it was just "Judy", but after reading through some older posts, I noticed that Oatmeal seemed to be the FOY's (friends of yoso) breakfast item of choice. It all came to a head in the comments of this post. So let's hear it….. am I correct?
Anyway, to all our oatmeal eating FOYs, I salute you:
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Just some "snacks" for Saturday…..
Camau Bakery & Deli:
This place had caught our interest a while back. We'd seen the prepackged Banh Beo, and other snacks with the "Camau Bakery" label on them. But the place always seemed closed. But on this morning, I noticed the shop was actually open! At least the open sign was out. So we stopped immediately, and found some parking. And walked on over to the door……
And it was locked!!! But the nice lady inside waved at us, opened the door and let us in. I kinda got the feeling that Camau really does catering, large orders, and wholesale orders. Nothing was out, and there were pans of covered snacks waiting for pick-up. But after passing by so many times, the Missus wasn't to be denied. She pointed at one of the containers, and said…"I want that!" The woman, who was a bit amused at the Missus's antics, told Her, "this is for an order, but since they're not going to be picked up until later this afternoon we can make more." Her name is Kieu…so thank you so much!
So what did the Missus get?
Well, a bunch of styrofoam containers of course…..
Just kidding. She got a large order of Che Xoi Nuoc.
It's a "sweet soup" of sorts, flavored with sugar and ginger. In the "soup" are large dumplings made of rice flour, and stuffed with mung bean paste, much like the Chinese Tāngyuán. These also had scallions in them, and was more savory than other versions we've had before. Still, after being chilled ice cold, and covered with the accompanying cocunut milk and sesame seeds, it was pretty good.
I just wish they had regular hours…..
Camau Bakery & Deli
4857 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 583-2904
Some Cheese Balls Maybe???
One of my favorite lines from the movie, I Love You to Death. Recently, "MG" brought these to work. I had never seen them before.
Apparently, these were the "newest thing" at Valerio's. Buttery, sweet, and a bit salty….maybe a bit too oily for me….none the less, not too bad. If you like buttery…….
And how's this for the kicker….it's filled with cream cheese….
Apparently, it was Valerio's in Mira Mesa who first started selling this…..and now it's being sold at other locations. This one was from the National City location.
Valerio's City Bakery
1631 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-8588
And for something a bit more "savory"….
You can get this:
Need a closer look?
It was nice breaking bread (and other things) with two of my favorite people, Howie (please check out his recently redesigned Foodie View) and Candice. And this was one of the dishes we sampled.
If you're wondering about the main ingredient, I think the food labeling may be very accurate in this instance:
Fishing Feed? = Bait???? It's all on the label!
Hope you're all having a grest weekend!
I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so just a short post for today.
Bye-bye Lot 81, hello Frankie the Bull's BBQ:
Seen while driving down Morena Boulevard:
This was the former location of Lot 81. I'm sure that certain folks will be excited about the portion of the sign that says "Top Chef".
I'm guessing this'll be Top Chef's Frank Terzoli's restaurant. Since I've never watched the show, you all can tell me more….
1130 Buenos Ave (right off Morena)
San Diego, CA 92110
Awash Market and Liquor:
On the 2800 block of El Cajon Boulevard.
It was the "Ethiopian Restaurant" portion of the sign that caught my eye. I've been to Awash further up the street a few times.
How you know a fad is nearly dead:
When a shop opens in our neighborhood. This portion of Clairemont Drive, and this strip mall in particular (anchored by Hometown Buffet) is not known for cutting eating to say the least. So when I saw this sign……
I now know that there must be at least 1 fro-yo shop in every neighborhood in San Diego.
Hmmmm…..
Fusion Fondue and sushi?????
At the corner of Friars Road and Via Las Cumbres in Mission Valley. I dunno……
And speaking of seafood….
Or perhaps more appropriately Hwe (Hoe), there's a few new places as well. By coincidence, two of them are located in the same strip mall located at 4698 Convoy Street.
I hope you're having a great week. We'll be back with a restaurant post tomorrow.
At 815 in the morning at Sam Woo:
It's not any ordinary day. Granted, it ain't Thanksgiving at Honeybaked Hams…….
Anyway, whether you say, Gong Xi Fa Cai, or Chúc Mừng Năm Mới, or whatever you might say, we'd like to wish you all:
Happy Lunar New Year!
mmm-yoso!!! is just a blog about food. You get to experience our meals by reading about them. Today, Cathy returns with a real post about a silly day.
Hi. So it was the day after Thanksgiving and we woke up and knew we should be driving. Usually we are leaving from Detroit, and stopping at Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor but this year we were in San Diego. Because of the weather back East.
So, we got in the car and headed north.
Seriously.
We did.
About 5 hours later, after a stop at Starbucks, we were in Las Vegas.
We intended to go to the Wynn, where I had eaten about two years ago (The Mister had never been there). But the line had more than 100 people waiting, and the menu was special and $40. For lunch. This horrible economy. 
So, we drove across town, to the newer Red Rock, for lunch at $10 each.
First, I went to the salad bar area and got my appetizers: Antipasto, sliced cheese, chilled ham, rare roast beef and turkey slices (all very tasty and not lunch meat-ish), marinated mushrooms, beet salad (made with a touch of orange)(really good) and fresh roll and butter.
Then the 'why play games?' plate-5 spice pork rib (juicy and not overpowering with sauce),an upside down teriyaki chicken though, egg roll, end cut of roast beef (always good, large and with spices on the crust), fried okra and collard greens…I could have done without the egg roll.
Then the schizophrenic, try a bit of everything plate: fried catfish and a hush puppy and some tartar sauce(surprisingly nice), pasta with Alfredo sauce (very nice), a piece of spicy tuna sushi (meh), stir fried noodles (I did not finish) and my favorite-olives!.
A little more schizophrenia via The Mister's plate- more fried catfish, a pepperoni Stromboli (which was excellent), slice of cheese pizza (cheese and sauce was excellent, dough could have been baked longer), antipasto with meat, marinated artichokes, creamed corn, baked fish (very nice), black eyed peas, another roll and mac and cheese.
Then it was about time for dessert, and The Mister got this plate.
All for himself.
I did try that spumoni gelato at the top left there and it was the best I have ever had in my life. Pistachio and cherry and even the chocolate were *so* good.
The carrot cake was excellent.
My "dessert" plate.
Mashed potatoes and gravy (oh *so* good), stuffing with gravy, cranberry sauce, a blondie (unchocolate brownie), pot sticker (excellent filling and dough fried just right) and a piece of teriyaki chicken.
I did not care for the blondie.
and so we had to drive home.
We stopped at the Mad Greek in Baker, for a fresh strawberry shake
.
The small is $4.45 now. Worth it.
We got home 12 hours after we left. A bit less than two full tanks of fuel and an exciting day.
We didn't eat at all on Saturday…
Red Rock Casino website 11011 West Charleston Blvd 89135
Mad Greek 72112 Baker Boulevard Baker, CA 92309
Coming Soon – Seafood Island:
Many thanks to the half dozen folks who emailed me about this, including FOY, Tanya and CandiceW. I passed by yesterday, and there is still a bunch of construction going on.
Looks like a very nice restaurant, in a bit of a strange location. You can check out the website here. The menu is humongous, enough to give you "Vietnamese menu overload." The cuisine is described as "authentic" Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean (??!??) cuisine. Regardless, it sure does look like a seafood lover's dream.
I have one question though. And this kinda bothers me a bit, check out the "testimonials" written on the contact page. This place isn't even open yet, how can you have testimonials? I'm kinda slow, so help me out with this one.….
Seafood Island
7580 Miramar Road
San Diego, CA 92126
Our Thanksgiving leftover dish - Oden:
I like to think we're pretty good at minimizing food waste. The Missus and I love leftovers, and try not to waste. Unfortunately, there's always the case of making a dish, and having stuff left over. And sometimes we do end up throwing things out. We're trying to be a bit better, and not waste. One of the dishes that is heaven sent when it comes to having leftovers from making various Japanese dishes is Oden. I had thought we'd be eating pretty simple this Thanksgiving……. until the Missus decided She wanted, "something good for a change". One of the "somethings" was Gomoku Gohan a mixed rice dish. And in addition to the leftover dashi, I had a bunch of other stuff left-over from the variety of ingredients the Missus wanted in Her rice.
Having a variety of fishcake in the freezer, purchased during sales are heaven sent.
There are several standard Oden items the Missus doen't like in Her Oden; Kamaboko and Chikuwa, two types of fishcake…which ironically, are two of my favorite things! The item the Missus requires in Her Oden are hard boiled eggs and Konnyaku.
If you're not up to making your own shiro, there are many types of Tsuyu (instant soup base) available, and you just have to add water. If you use them, make sure you're not sensitive to MSG.
So here my Thanksgiving leftovers version of Oden:
Hope you're having a great weekend!
Something to be thankful for:
Our annual bag of Hachiya persimmons from a great (this always upgrades them from "good") friend!
Sounds like one of those "oh no, not another what I'm thankful for paper" that we had to write in the ___ (fill in the blanks) grade. In retrospect, the Missus and I have much to be thankful for. We have each other, our health, family, and in spite of the difficult economic times, we're making due. God knows we're eating well!
But there's even more to be for us to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Be it ever so humble, this is post 1000 ! Yes, we've made a thousand.
We've had a great couple of years, and I personally, could never have imagined we'd have made it this far. Hard to believe that I've crossed so much of my list; Bun Cha, Banh Mi, and Cha Ca in Hanoi.
Pad Thai from street carts in Chiang Mai, Naem from a stall on the shores of the Mekong, Cuy made especially for us in Cusco, Cebiche in Lima, and even Deep-fried Cheese Curds in Madison. Boy, have we put in the miles!
Hopefully, we're not done yet!
So right now, the entire gang at mmm-yoso would like to thank you for visiting. We'd never have hung around this long without you!
The Missus and I are taking it easy this Thanksgiving, but we wanted to wish you all:
Happy Thanksgiving! From the gang at mmm-yoso!!!
