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.
After what seemed like a very cold (again with the "by San Diego standards" disclaimer) and wet winter; it seems like Spring might be here. The Missus got off early from work today and since I go in at 6am; I decided to leave a bit early as well.
We headed up to North Park; parked the car, and hit up a couple of places. Two of which I've posted on numerous times….so maybe you might just want to grab your favorite beverage and hit the TV or enjoy the weather or do something else.
If not; here's the rundown with minimal verbiage.
Seven Grand:
We've been here a couple of times. The Missus loves the vibe and ambiance. Everytime we've visited; the folks here were really awesome and knew their whiskey.
Plus, they carry the Missus's favorite label, Kavalan, from, of all places Taiwan. And they do half pours….
More on how we came across Kavalan (it was in Paris!) in a future post.
Seven Grand 3054 University Ave San Diego, CA 92104
We then headed up 30th Street and around the corner at ECB to…..
Tiger! Tiger!:
**** Tiger! Tiger! has closed
Of course. We decided to just get the half charcuterie board.
Which always seems to be more than enough.
Tiger! Tiger! 3025 El Cajon Blvd San Diego, CA 92104
Then further down 30th to Adams and of course….
Et Voila!:
We hadn't been here since New Year's eve. So with a Huckleberry Bourbon under my belt.
We finished up our Happy Hour with a couple of old standbys.
I thought it might be best to get this post done before things starts warming up around here.
I found myself in Chula Vista a couple of weeks back and thought about getting an early lunch; it was around 10am, but I was kinda hungry. I remembered CC's post on Pho Nhu Y (BTW Happy 13th Blogaversary CC!), and wondering if it had anything to do with the Pho Nhu Y that lasted only a short while on Kearny Villa Road. From what I remembered; that place was owned by the original owner of Nhu Y, and without going into the gory details; there was a break-up and the ex-wife kept the restaurant or something like that.
This incarnation of Pho Nhu Y resides on Third Avenue in the same strip mall as Carnival Market. It's a pretty tiny shop; just a few tables.
The menu was typical of most pho shops. I didn't expect to find Bun Mam down in these parts and it was indeed not on the menu.
On my two visits; it was the same guy working; I didn't recognize anyone, so I'm not sure if this place is associated with the now defunct Pho Nhu Y.
The weather had still been fairly wet and rainy, so I just stuck with the pho; I made it easy for myself and went with the Dac Biet; which was decently priced at $7.49.
The herbs and veggies were as expected; the basil just starting to turn color, the sprouts were fresh, and of course no ngo gai.
The pho soon arrived as did an implement wrapped in a napkin…it was, well…."W(hat) T(he) F(ork)"? I mean really. I moved it away from the bowl as if it were radioactive; the older guy working soon swooped in and picked it up. He told me, "sorry, many Filipino's like to eat noodles with a fork"! Okay, so here's something in common with the "old" Pho Nhu Y…remember when I was the "Korean guy who liked bun mam"? We weren't exactly starting on the right foot here, were we? The broth was actually fairly clear, on the darker side, with a decent amount of fat. There was a slightly beefy "nose" to it. It did have a hint of beefiness and slight anise-oniony tones; but also edged on the really salty, M-S-heebie-geebie side.
The noodles were in a dense clump in the bottom of the bowl and more tangled than Medusa's hair. I took a good three or four minutes working with the chopsticks and spoon to loosen things up. Hey, maybe that fork??? Nah….
If you take a good look at the banh pho above; you'll notice the noodles are different shades. That's because some of the noodles were really under cooked and hard. I'm figuring it was the stuff in the middle of the noodle clump.
The rare beef was over-cooked when it arrived and tough, dry, with a metallic taste to it. I was surprised that the tendon was quite good and fairly tender. The tripe was also decently crunchy with no off flavors.
Basically a mixed bag, but not sadly, even with those noodles, not the worst bowl of pho I've had recently.
Sooooo, I decided to return this past weekend. And is it just me; or did we skip spring and head right on into summer?
Anyway; my intention was to have the Bo Kho, but I felt like it was just too darn hot and went with the Bun Cha HaNoi. Which, interestingly, came out in the same style of plate as the defunct Pho Nhu Y and was even priced the same at $7.95.
First and foremost, the nuoc mam cham was really watered down, which basically killed the whole dish. The daikon and carrots weren't pickled enough; there was just two leaves of lettuce, and the only herb provided was mint. The bun was nicely cooked, good stretch. The meatballs had a mild beefiness and weren't too bad, neither was the marinated pork, which was tender, if a bit too salty. Still; this dish felt incomplete.
Overall, a mixed bag. I've had much worse recently, but that's not exactly a seal of approval and sets the bar pretty low, doesn't it? Still, the flawed pho, was still better than what I'd last had in the Kearny Mesa area, except for Pho Duyen Mai, which coincidentally took the place of the old Pho Nhu Y. Man, it like we've got three degrees of se-pho-ration….okay, that's enough with the puns for today.
Pho Nhu Y 864 3rd Ave. Chula Vista, CA 91911 Hours: Open Daily 9am – 9pm
I thought I'd break all this "serious" food stuffs with something kinda interesting….or perhaps funny. On Monday, "YZ" quickly came on over to my desk when she got into the office. Apparently, there was a subject in WeChat that was blowing up. It was strangely about youtiao……but not just any youtiao; but youtiao here in San Diego, and at all of things, McDonalds! Or to be more precise; the way YZ and the Missus say it "Màidāngláo" branches on the West Coast! Folks were lining up for the stuff and doing things like…..
Making jiangbing guozi???? Here's some of the posts on WeChat.
Anyway, YZ explained what was going on. I thought it was so funny…..that I actually went to McDonalds. I occasionally will drive-thru MickeyD's for a diet coke, but hadn't walked into a store in ages. But there I was at a quarter to six in the morning.
The deal was getting a new breakfast item called "Donut Sticks" without the cinnamon sugar. It's pretty cheap; I got two dozen for a bit over four bucks.
I gave almost all of it away….of course some of it to "YZ", but Calvin, and JeffP who bit into one and started laughing. I mean, just look at it.
Man, looks familiar doesn't it……well, at least a miniature version of one.
So, how was it? Well, when hot it was crisp, fairly light, on the oily side….but it did smell like youtiao. It losses texture quickly and is missing the yeasty-"alum" taste of the stuff we had in China. But, let me tell you; this might be as good as anything you'd get here in San Diego.
The real test will be when I'm able to talk the Missus into trying this…..
It's all about the birria here; but first, some consommé.
Scalding, slightly peppery, it's not very salty and does real well with a good squeeze of lime, some onions and cilantro. And a few spoonfuls go on the Tacos de Birria y Nervio ($2.90); you gotta get that tendon.
And man was that tendon nice and buttery today. The nice and hearty tortillas are dipped in the birria drippings and griddled; giving it a nice slightly crunchy-firmness. The beefy birria, a bit of the salsa de arbol, a few spoons of consommé, a light squeeze of lime…..you get the idea, right? The birria de res on this day was very tender.
The onions and cilantro add a nice pungent-herbaceousness.
On this day; I tried out the Quesataco Extremo ($3.90).
The griddled birria was nice; with a decent crispness and caramelization to it; the cheese added a milkiness and was melted helping the tortilla stay in tact. There was some nice tendon on this as well. But, I thought the cheese really took away from the birria and I missed that messy-tasty griddled tortilla. So I'll stick with my favorites here.
The place was totally packed, but turnover is fast. It was about a ten minute wait for a table. Service was friendly and warm. As we were leaving, one of the young men asked me how things was. I told him "excellent". He said, "thank you so much…..and we'll try to make it even better next time." Better than excellent? You gotta love that.
Fernandez Restaurant and Catering 2265 Flower Ave San Diego, CA 92154 Hours: Wed – Sunday 7am – 2pm
We'd had a great time on Lana'i and we'll certainly be back.
When we got back to Ewa Beach; the Missus decided that we'd go out to an early dinner. There was one place She'd been wanting to revisit since we first ate there years ago; the Alley. Oxtail soup has a long history in Hawai'i, especially in bowling alleys. And the Missus really enjoyed the version at the Alley ; it was one place She really wanted to revisit. So we headed on down for an early dinner.
The place was fairly empty when we arrived; right before 5pm; but quickly filled up.
The Missus's "leaning tower of plates" soon arrived.
Served with minced ginger and cilantro; ponzu, brown rice, with one empty bowl for da' bones.
Man; this was good ono! The wonderful beefy-ginger-anise flavors; peanuts; that really delicious shiitake mushroom.
It's "rich and delish"! Oh yeah, the tender oxtails, cooked perfectly, not falling to pieces, but still spoon tender, was great. We still haven't found a real use case for that ponzu….
Good until the last drop……
I went with the Tasty Chicken…bowl. The plate would be just too much for me….though I did see one aunty whack the entire plate herself! I; of my own free will actually ordered this with brown rice. No tell anybody; but I like the way the Alley makes their brown rice. And when they asked me if it was mac salad or greens….the Missus, ahem, answered for me….
Oh, and I got the sauce on the side; it's a bit too much with the chicken glazed in it. But a light dip….the chicken is nicely seasoned on its own; light, crisp, moist; like a good karaage. It's best with just a touch of sauce as the flavor of the chicken and spices come through. And it goes strangely well with the brown rice.
This was such a satisfying meal. The service was very friendly. Man, we can't wait to return next time I'm back "home".
The Alley Restaurant Bar & Grill in Aiea Bowl 99-115 Aiea Heights Dr, Ste 310 Aiea, HI 96701
If you've followed our blog for a while; you'll know that the Missus and I are not big on tours. We'd rather do our own thing at our own pace and rushing through things when on a tour is just not a lot of fun for us. We were however, in Emilia-Romagna, home to so many Italian gastronomic treasures. Trying to hunt them down in the amount of time we had would have been quite a task. While doing my research; I'd read so many good reviews of the Italian Days Food Experience. And it delivered. It was a small group tour, a must for the Missus and I, our guide Eleanora was wonderful; funny, enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable; especially when it came to all the questions I had. And I did have many of them. This experience changed our minds when it comes to actually doing a tour. We're still cautious about it; but we're now believers. Anyway; this is already 150 words and change. I'll try to keep the verbiage to a minimum; otherwise you'd easily have 10,000 words plus. I want you to go to Bologna and take the tour, experience what we did….it ain't cheap at 150 Euros a person, but well worth it. I now truly understand the hard work, dedication, and passion the folks who make that wheel of Parmesan cheese or prosciutto, and now when I look at a bottle of Traditional Balsamico; I'll know if it's the "real thing".
We were picked up right on time from our apartment in Bologna and after a quick coffee stop headed off to our first destination in Castelvetro; San Silvestro Societa Agricola, a cooperative that takes the local farmer's milk and produces Parmesan Reggiano.
We suited up and then walked into an area with large vats of milk.
Each vat holds 1100 liters; that's 290 gallons of milk. From which the curds makes…..
Only 2 wheels ("the twins") of Parmesan Reggiano!
We all had a chance to taste the curds.
And I got the most wonderful answer when I asked what was done with all the leftover whey. Eleanora explained that some of the whey goes to make ricotta cheese and the rest to local pig farmers….hmmm…..I always thought that the great Prosciutto de Parma and Culatello had a sort of cheesy finish. Could it be?
It is then put into the classic round mold; the "fascera".
The cheese rests for a couple of days. A band is placed inside the molds which have the distinctive marks; the number of the producer, the month and year of production. The cheese also has a specific ID number; this way the actual cheese can be tracked back to the dairy which produced the milk. Only one dairy's milk is used for each production, so things can be traced.
The wheels are then put into a salt water solution and turned daily.
For up to three weeks!
Then it's time for the aging process. After twelve months an inspector from the official agency called the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano will inspect the wheels. Those that….ahem, don't "cut the cheese" have all identifying marks cut off. Those that make it get branded with the seal of the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin).
The cheese wheels are turned on a specific schedule. This is what Parmesan heaven looks like.
I'll never look at Parmesan Reggiano the same ever again.
Next up what a stop was this lovely Farm House nearby.
And yes; those are grape vines……
This was the Antico Acetaia Cavedoni, a balsamic vinegar house that has been producing the product for 7 generations…since 1860!
The current head of the family; Paolo Cavedoni, a very energetic gentleman, led us on a tour of the "vinegar loft" and production.
He also explained the specifics of "DOP" ("Denominazione di Origine Protetta") designation; which is done by a panel of 5 master tasters. If the vinegar hits a certain "score" it will be labelled Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale. This is the good stuff and can only be sold in the specific 100 ml bottle that was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, a famous car designer….after all Modena is home to Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati.
The balsamic is aged in several successive aging barrels for a minimum of 12 years. Every year, vinegar is taken from the smallest barrel, and it is then replenished with product from the next barrel up, and so on. A barrel is never emptied.
Paolo explained that when girls are born into a household, traditionally they would start an entire line – such as "Beatrice" above; which was initiated upon her birth in 1972. In the olden days; the barrels were used as a dowry when the young lady was wed.
In the "back office" we saw barrels going back to the 1800's.
The oldest Balsamico here produces four bottles a year and is sold to one restaurant in Macau.
Can you figure out which is the bottle of Balsamico Tradizionale?
We had a nice "snack" break here….which included quite a bit of food.
What was really amazing was the ricotta cheese topped with Saba; this was amazing stuff and we ended up buying two bottles of it.
Our next stop was at the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Modena, a producer of Prosciutto, right outside Modena.
Eleanora went through the entire process….it was funny when I asked her where on the pig culatello came from and she proceeded to heartily whack a certain body part.
Everything is regulated; from the pig, what it's fed, weight, age…..
There's a specific salting process, and then the washing, drying, the long curing process.
Man, this place smelled amazing.
And the very generous samples….and Lambrusco went down real well.
So, after all of this? Well, it was time for a late lunch! Man, I was kinda full from all of the samples and such. But locale was quite nice.
And there was way too much food and drink…..
We wouldn't be having dinner tonight, that's for sure.
Like I said in the beginning; this small group (ten of us) tour by Italian Days changed our opinion when it comes to taking tours. Yes, you still need to pick well. And definitely read those reviews.
I had learned so much….food is "our thing" when we travel, and Italian Days really delivered. It was well worth the 300 Euros for the both of us.
I hope you get the chance to experience what we did.
Back in the comments section of my Bonchon post, "RedDevil" asked me if I had been to the new KFC place that opened in Atlas Market. I'd already heard about the place and had in on my list; so on holiday weekend, after working the morning I headed over.
The good thing about Furaido is that they open at 1030 in the morning; so I could easily beat the crowds.
Located in the Food Court area; Furaido claims to serve gluten free fried chicken; which means it's probably using rice flour and the texture of the wings reflected that. The wings come from the market and are Halal as well.
On both my visit I got the 10 piece wings; because; well, I'm all about wings. You get two choices for a glaze or "dip" or dust..
A couple of observations that were true for all the wings and drumettes I had here. The batter is obviously rice flour based and on the crumbly-hard side than crunchy. It is not oily and the fat has been rendered nicely on these wings. The batter is also quite dry and is not seasoned; more on that below. I believe they also over fry the drumettes which make them tough and dry. The wings are large; which can through off moisture, and skin to meat ratios….I prefer my wings smaller; bigger is not necessarily better, and these tend toward being over battered….I mean you work hard to render the fat and develop a nice light crisp skin; why cover it in a ton of batter?
The Red Devil (thinking of you RD!) Garlic; while not quite turning the wings a shade of red was my favorite here; it wasn't too sweet, slightly spicy, and best of all, the wings weren't just drenched in sauce.
The Furikake wings needed a kick up in flavor as; like I mentioned before, the initial product is not seasoned, so this was bland; there's no moisture from a sauce or glaze; so these are even drier.
Overall; plus – minus.
Between visits; "SomTommy" emailed me and said he enjoyed the Garlic Soy Wings and "Top Secret" Dip on his wings and so on my follow-up visit….
Man, these were fried even harder and was even more crumbly. Can you tell which one has the Garlic Soy? It's the one on the left; it was very lightly sauced which I would usually appreciate, but the unseasoned and dry wings needed more.
As for the Top Secret……with a tip of the hat to "FOY" CC, do you remember what the "secret sauce" at Bronco Burger was? Yep, that was this.
So, in the end; the Devil Garlic Glaze is what I enjoyed the most. The wings here have too much batter for my taste; even more than Cross Street. If you like a thick batter and larger wings and drumettes; you might enjoy Furaido. But get a glaze or Dipp; or enough "dust" because the chicken isn't seasoned enough on its own. As for me; well, I wouldn't go out of the way to visit Furaido.
For a different perspective please check out Soo's post along with the afore mentioned post by Kirbie.
Furaido Premium Chicken Company (Inside Atlas Market) 14837 Pomerado Rd. Poway, CA 92064 Hours: Open Daily 1030 – 8pm
Have you hit the max hyperbole regarding ramen in San Diego? There seems to be a new place opening every week. In fact, after my last couple of visits to a recently opened ramen shop in San Diego I was kinda done. But then HiroNori opened in San Diego and "FOY" SomTommy sent me an email saying he'd actually waited in line for over an hour in Irvine for the ramen which he enjoyed. And soon after "Reza" sent me an email telling me he had the ramen in Santa Clara and thought it was equal to what he had in Japan.
Ok, so they got me……
So, HiroNori is located in what I consider the revolving door of restaurants in Hillcrest….which used to be, if I recall, an L&L , Naked Pizza, and if I recall, some iteration of a Brazilian BBQ over the last couple of years.
I gotta say the name of the place ("Craft Ramen") had me thinking of hipster ramen. When I arrived, the folks here were really eager to please, very friendly, so nice……
My Server on this visit, "Jennifer" was so sweet. Except she kept calling it "tonkatsu ramen". The first three times was fine, if a bit painful, the fourth time, had me cringing, to the point I had to humbly correct her….I felt so bad, but like I told her, everytime she said it, it just was so painful to my Japanese soul. Luckily, she was so very nice and told me, "I'm still learning, so thank you very much!" Whew…..
I started with the "Crispy Chicken", which is basically the karaage….I wish they had the Japanese name for things on the menu.
I was surprised at the portion size which was quite generous. This was pretty good, it was lightly crisp, and there was a nice umami; soy-upfront ginger flavor going on, and was quite moist. Not bad at all.
Of course I naturally went with the Tonkotsu Ramen.
This was a decent Tonkotsu, though not as rich as I enjoy. Slightly porky, I think it could have been richer. Som Tommy had told me that his opinion of the broth was that it was lighter than what he had in Irvine.
The egg was nicely done; and "gasp", not cold! Soft, with a good soy sauce flavor; it was quite good. The Chashu, while being a bit milder than I preferred was tender, and actually had some nice soy based porkiness. The blanched spinach added a nice slight bitterness to things.
Most of all; I enjoyed the "thick noodles" which did a good job of trapping the broth.
This was actually better than what I expected.
So, because I try to check things out more than once before doing a post I returned a week later. This time, I ordered the Shoyu Ramen. Let me just say, in my mind, this is the way to go here.
I won't go into the thick noodles (cooked perfectly), chashu, nor the ajitama, which was the same as before. The menma (bamboo shoots) were fine as well. What I will say is that the shoyu broth was excellent, just edging on the cusp of being too salty, but there was a lot going on; a nice nuttiness, really complex flavors. It was thick and rich; perhaps even more than the tonktosu broth. I was told that the shoyu used to make the broth was aged for over two years, which accounted for the complexity.
So, here's me seal of approval. This doesn't happen very often.
I will be back.
What I find interesting is that HiroNori decided to enter the ramen market in one of the most ramen dense area in San Diego; and one that is not very discriminating. It will be an interesting study to see how they do with all of a competition. The place never filled up on any of my visits while folks from the OC told me there are often waits of over an hour long at the shops there.
I hope they do well; like I said in a previous post "there's always room for good ramen". And I think HiroNori fills the bill. Service was excellent, we'll see how they do over time.
HiroNori Craft Ramen 3803 5th Ave San Diego, CA 92103 Open Daily 1130am – 9pm
Well; last night was the good old Daylight Savings Time "Spring Forward"….so yes; I guess it's spring, though it's still kind of chilly out there. I'm not really complaining as it gives me more "soup time". Here are a couple of recent revisits.
I stopped in for lunch and decided on getting the Galbitang ($10.95).
And just like the interior; the panchan seemed a bit old and tired. The portions were tiny and some of it was kind of on the dry side and very mild in flavor.
The Galbitang came in a sizeable bowl; it was nice and steaming hot. The rice provided was decent; though not very fragrant.
The soup did need a good amount of salt; though it was slightly beefy and not bad at all. The rice vermicelli was over done and mushy. The beef ribs were very tough and all the flavor had been extracted from the meat.
Kind of a sad metaphor for the current state of this tiny little shop.
Perhaps I need to return with the Missus for the Gamjatang or Heukyumso Jungol.
Chon Ju Jip 4373 Convoy St San Diego, CA 92111 Hours Mon – Sat 10am – 10pm
Pho 7 Cow:
In my very sad post on the sad state of Pho at Pho Lucky; "Alan" mentioned that perhaps I needed to head back out and start checking out all those pho places again. I was thinking about this while driving down to National City this past weekend. I recalled that Pho 7 Cow had made a decent bowl of Pho during my visits back in 2017. So, instead of hitting up my intended destination, I stopped by Pho 7 Cow.
Like on my previous visits there was a good amount of staff working and things went quickly and efficiently.
The basil looked like it was on brink of starting to turn color, but the sprouts and the cilantro were fine. I was surprised at the amount of meat in this; a small #4 ($7.75). The flank was tender but quite bland; the brisket better, the tripe, of which there was a good amount was well prepped, crunchy, with a slight offal flavor, there was one tiny piece of tendon which was on the hard side.
The noodles were in the typical clump on the bottom and took some work untangling; but was decently chewy and not over-cooked.
The broth was a bit richer than on previous visits; it was on the darker side, but clear. There was a slight hint of anise and onion, with a mild beefiness, and best of all; it wasn't too sweet.
This was not bad. Actually better than I expected. So perhaps I do need to "make the rounds" again at all of those pho shops.
Thanks for the suggestion Alan!
Pho 7 Cow 1025 Highland Ave National City, CA 91950 Hours: Daily 10am – 9pm
