mmm-yoso – Page 205 – 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.

Sunday Sandwiches – Goumet Artisan

March 4, 2018 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

**** Gourmet Artisan has closed

Even though we’ve moved offices; one thing remains the same. I still eat lunch at my desk more often than I prefer. And with the latest move, the variety I have close access to has also declined. There is one item that will often have other folks in the office walking by my cubicle (yes, I no longer have an office either), often just to say “hello”…..hmmm…..quite suspicious that it’s when I have one of these.

The folks around know that there’s no way I can finish this sandwich up AND eat all those truffle-parmesan fries. So I’ll often give most of the fries away.

Where is this from? Well, one morning after moving offices, it was around 10 am and I was hungry. Having meetings starting at noon, I headed over to Supernatural since on my previous visit they were serving breakfast from 9. Unfortunately, they were closed and I had to wait to get my fix. I noticed this shop in the old location of Supernatural.

It’s like the ultimate hipster wood-paneling guy went a bit crazy here. I did like the menu though; fairly tight, burgers, salads, flatbreads, and a few odd and end items that seemed a bit out of place…..Buffalo Chicken Wings???

On my first visit, I got the Prosciutto Sandwich and it’s been my usual order since. At first I thought it to be bit pricey at ten bucks. Until I saw all those fries you can get a salad instead, but why?).

And while meat lovers might complain that there’s not a whole lotta meat in this….well, it’s prosciutto, not the best quality, but quite decent….it has a good amount of flavor and the burrata and arugula does quite well too. It does edge on the “too much bread” end of things; but I like that it’s toasted and still rather crisp. My one complaint is that the sandwich has both mayo and pesto making quite rich. I’ve asked for the easy on the mayo; and both times they left off the pesto. So now I ask for it on the side.

And those fries usually stand up real well to the 10 minutes or so back to the office. Being thin they stay crisp for a whole and you get a whole lot more cheese/truffle oil to potato. Those who like wedges and dinner fries may not care for these. The folks in the office never complain. As an aside; my favorite panini on the press we have at home is prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomato, arugula, and pesto….go figure.

Over time I’ve tried a couple other sandwiches like the Vegetable ($9).

Roasted eggplant sounds like a good ingredient for a veggie sandwich; but it wasn’t enough on it’s own to do the trick. There wasn’t enough salt or acid…..even the Balsamic Dressing was too weak and not enough roasted red peppers. This is when you really notice the “too much bread to fillings” ratio is off.

The Turkey Panini ($9) was decent.

Again it was the case of nice textures; crisp lettuce, creamy avocado, without enough flavors to stand up to the bread. The tomatoes weren’t ripe enough and on this occasion, the sandwich could have used more pesto. I did order this once with Garlic Aioli which did make a difference; but I think it still needs some umph….

The Italian Sub ($9) was also decent, I’d have it again.

Though again, the sandwich just edges on that meat-to-bread cliff. Also, I thought the Swiss Cheese wasn’t a good match for this sandwich. This and the prosciutto sandwiches do remind me of lunch sandwiches in France, though a little lighter in filling than Italy.

Some of the folks in the office mentioned that the sandwiches didn’t have enough meat for them. Fair enough…..I’ve always been about a balance of textures, flavors, and bread. And I’ve never been able to finish the entire sandwich and fries without some (convenient) help.

Things sometime take a while to make at Gourmet Artisan, so if you’re in a hurry you might want to call in your order.

The folks are quite friendly and they write nice little notes on my take-out package.

Gourmet Artisan
7094 Miramar Rd. Suite 105
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours:
Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm
Sat – Sun 10am – 4pm

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Tiger! Tiger!

March 2, 2018 mmm-yoso Beer, Gastropub

**** Tiger! Tiger has closed

I love being wrong……I do. I visit every place, whether it's new or on our rotation hoping for a great meal. And for places we love….well, sometimes, it ain't so great. At the beginning of 2018, we visited Tiger! Tiger! a couple of times and were quite disappointed. I believe I mentioned that in a post somewhere….of course, a week after I wrote that, the Missus decided we should pay them another visit….and, of course we enjoyed ourselves.

So here's a round-up of recent dishes at Tiger! Tiger! And….I'll preface things by saying that having something like Pliny the Younger….does help things!

Even at $15……you should try this once…..great balance…..amazing tongue feel……and 10 ABV….well, don't have too many!

The Missus has been enjoying the really spicy….and I do mean legit spicy Mushroom Sandwich……

While I enjoy the sausages…whether the Bratwurst….

Or the Kielbasa….it's made inhouse and has great snap and flavor. And when the potato salad is "right"…..like on our most recent visit, the perfect amount of mustard and studded with just the right amount of slices of pickled celery…well, it was quite good.

The Missus has enjoyed the Kim Chi Brussel Sprouts….though it's not always perfect for Her tastes.

Still, there's a nice umami touch that helps move things along, even when not cooked perfectly.

And of course, old favorites like the charcuterie…….

And certain soups the Missus enjoys…..

And even though there are certain "clunkers" we don't enjoy…like the under-flavored and usually over-cooked broccolini….which isn't a good value…..

We still go by the specials board and not the menu.

Plus, we like the relaxed atmosphere……. So, Tiger Tiger is back on the rotation….for now…..

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

And….everytime we visit….I think of Sammy…….

Mister Falafel Revisited

March 1, 2018 mmm-yoso Lebanese Restaurants, Mediterranean Restaurants

**** Mister Falafel has closed

Another stop before our offices moved last year; trying to go through all those places one more time. This time it was Mister Falafel, which I thought was quite good when they forst opened in 2013, but just hasn't been as good during my most recent visits.

Still, the folks here are so sweet and gracious.

I got the Falafel Sandwich($6.75).

Everything here is made to order, which is a good thing. The wrap was still nice and warm when I got back to the office. It was however, just a shadow of its former self. Something has changed in the recipe for falafel here. This time it was on the mushy – gritty side, with not enough crunch, the flavor milder than I recalled. Luckily, I got some garlic paste this time around (no meetings on this afternoon), which kind of saved things. This version of garlic paste is nice and pungent and really helped the sandwich, since the tomatoes weren't ripe and there just wasn't very much parsley. Also, the tahini here is not my favorite as I find it on the bland side.

Still, I really like the folks who work here, so I wanted to make sure to drop by one more time before we moved offices.

Mister Falafel
4461 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117
Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday 1100am – 800pm

Turo Turo Tuesday – Manila Fast Food and Desserts Revisited

February 27, 2018 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

Working long hours; but managed to escape for lunch, albeit on the early side and purely take-out from Manila Fast Food and Desserts. An early lunch here can actually be better since the steam table stuff might be fresher and less greasy.

On this day I got Beef Mechado and Sisig.

The woman behind the counter actually laughed at me when I told her to give me half the amount of rice. That's half rice in the photo above. There was a time when I thought MFF was pretty good; but they seem to have fallen off in recent years.

Case in point; the Beef Mechado was salty, lacked tanginess, and that beef was dry and tough. The sisig was dry, needed more of a vinegar punch, the lechon was hard, though it did have nice pungency from the onions, though there was way too much of it in the dish.

Sigh……mark another one off "my list" for a while.

Manila Fast Food and Desserts
8979 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

The Patio Marketplace at Axiom

February 26, 2018 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Chains, Sandwiches

**** The Patio at Axiom has closed

The ever expanding Patio Group recently opened another location of what Eater San Diego called their "corporate hospitality arm", the Patio Marketplace right up the street from our offices. It's located in the Axiom Office Building. It's pretty much in walking distance, so I decided to drop by for an early lunch.

It's a huge space; like 8,000 square feet; with outdoor and indoor eating areas and a bar.

Since they had just newly opened, there was basically no one around during my two visits. The place features a coffee bar and is only open until 6pm from Tuesdays to Wednesdays right now. I was told…..the staff here was very friendly and chatty on my visits, that breakfast is basically only grab and go stuff from the cold case.

The lunch menu featured three sandwiches, three salads, and two flatbreads, with basically nothing under fourteen bucks

I went with the Carne Asada BLAT Club ($15).

The sandwich was no joke. Quite hefty, a bit too much bread that was a bit too hard for my taste. The thick cut bacon; Nueske's I'm told was thick cut and nicely done; there was a nice single layer of decently done beef. It wasn't overdressed, though the tomatoes were under-ripe. I usually enjoy a certain proportion when it comes to sandwiches; perhaps excluding a smoked beef sandwich from a place like Schwartz's. This was too much bread for me. Though a rather decent "corporate" sandwich.

The fries didn't hold up on the short walk back to the office and were soggy and over salted.

A couple of days later, I decided to visit again. The menu, which is rather limited at this time, left me wondering what I should get…..salads were from $12-14, but if you wanted some chicken it was 5 bucks more, carne asada 6 bucks more. So, I went with the Speck Ham Flatbread ($14).

I enjoyed the crisp speck, nice saltiness, though it was kind of over-kill with the bread again. I'd have preferred this amount of protein on a smaller and more crisp flatbread, without whatever made this very salty and the middle really soggy, keeping the nice, milky, Havarti. The entire middle section was saturated and not pleasant to eat. I appreciated the pungent red onions and the bitter-peppery arugula which also added texture to this dish.

Overall, really nice folks. It's probably better to call if you're doing take-out, both of these took at least 20 minutes wait time. The food is not bad; it's just not something I crave or am searching out; especially with $15…for lunch, without drinks, on the line everytime. I mean I love charcuterie and all, but am not quite sure about having a charcuterie board for lunch ($19), then heading back to work…..but maybe that's just me.

The Patio Marketplace at Axiom
4535 Towne Centre Dr
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours
Monday 7am – 3pm
Tues – Thurs 7am – 6pm
Friday 7am – 3pm

Buga Korean BBQ for Lunch

February 25, 2018 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

I'm still somewhat sad about having moved offices out to Towne Center from the Convoy area. There's really a dearth of decent, non-sandwich places. So, every so often, when the stars align, we can grab lunch. We often have to make it a place close to the 805, so we can get back to the office quickly after lunch.

Buga was one of those places we used to eat at quite often, you could say it was on our rotation for a while. Then came the ownership change and while things had improved during our last visit, things here haven't been the same. But we actually had time for lunch! And I thought doing a lunch visit to Buga might be a good idea. So Calvin and I headed on down the 805.

I seldom come here these days, so every time I visit I notice changes. This time, I noticed they are actually serving the whole menu during lunch now. For a while it was only combos. Too bad we both had meetings in the afternoon….the last thing I need is to be in a meeting with waves of "eau de kalbi" emanating from my clothes. So we stuck to the lunch specials. I ordered the Bulgogi Box Lunch ($11.99), Calvin did the Daeji Bulgogi (Spicy Pork) Box Lunch ($12.99).

But first, the panchan.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Except for the Kkakdugi (spicy daikon), everything else was really bland. The baechu kimchi was just plain sour, with no true fermented tones.

Calvin and I split the proteins. And I have to say, in terms of portion size, this is pretty hefty.

The bulgogi was terrible. Under marinated, cut too thick, quite tough. The pork; while on the chewy side had a nice bit of spice, mild sweetness, balanced salt, but perhaps a touch too much sesame oil, but was decent overall. The tempura was decent; the batter a bit too thick, but still crunchy and there was even a shrimp, though it was fairly puny under the batter. I enjoyed the veggies more. A decent green salad and passable Chapjae rounded things out.

I left with mixed feelings. While I probably will return to retry the BBQ and the portion sizes look quite generous, Buga is definitely not as good as it once was.

Buga Korean Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Returning to Mien Trung

February 24, 2018 mmm-yoso Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

The recent weather has been downright wintery; by San Diego standards. I even had frost on my windshield one morning….for the briefest moment. I'd been wanting to see if the soon to open Mi Quang shop was affiliated with Mien Trung. And since it had been a while since my last visit, the timing seemed right. Things were pretty quiet on this Sunday morning.

I'm wondering if it's just me or has the broth at Mien Trung gotten spicier over the last couple of years. There also seems to be quite a bit more meat these days. Nice spice, slight funkiness, definite lemongrass, and did I mention the spice? Soup was scalding; perfect for getting the sprouts and veggies to the right temp without compromising the broth. Nice slippery noodles and too heavy on the MSG.

One good hint for eating at MT, is to wear dark clothes……because of the red tinge from the annatto in the broth. My good buddy, the late Ed from Yuma would never fail to wear a white shirt when we ate here. He'd end up leaving, sweating and satisfied, but with a pattern of small red dots on his shirt.

There was a time when Mien Trung was a weekly ritual, but a very warm spring and summer had kind of put the place on the back-burner. There was also a rather "rough patch" of time where things weren't up to our expectations, MT has mostly returned to form.

And I really appreciated the place on this chilly Sunday.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Montreal – Au Pied de Cochon

February 22, 2018 mmm-yoso Canada, Canada Food and Restaurants, Montreal, Travel

I decided to schedule one dinner on our return to Montreal. It came down to dinner at Joe Beef or Celebrity Chef and Madman Martin Picard's love letter to Montreal cuisine; Au Pied de Cochon. Since we were staying rather close to the Mont Royal area in Milton Parc, I thought Au Pied de Cochon made more sense.

The walk was a bit over a mile; about 25 minutes.

Our reservations were for 7pm. The place really has no sign, you just kinda figure you're there. And of course it was packed!

While the hostess seemed a bit detached, our Servers were so very friendly in the congenial Canadian way. Even stopping to chat about "stuff", specifically "Duck in a Can", in spite of being completely slammed.

The seating is a bit tight, we were seated near the bar. And it was tight squeeze for the staff.

As you can tell by the photo above. The whole area was blocked when the tableside salad was being made. The wheel of cheese brought on a cart.

The menu was a paean to foie gras and pork, with no less than 7 foie gras dishes on the single sheet menu.

It seemed like the locals were ordering steak and beefs dishes or pasta, while visitors were going for the crazy stuff.

And since we were visitors, it just felt right to hold to that course.

The Missus was focused on the foie here; but we only had one stomach each, so we'd have to choose well. We started with the Foie Gras Poutine ($24 CAD – about $18/US)

We just loved the poutine in Quebec, the potatoes seemed to have a more pronounced flavor and were sweeter, earthier. That young lady in Viti's Liquor in Vancouver was right; when I asked her where the best poutine was in Vancouver she told me "well sir, I personally think that you need to go to Montreal!" The gravy was on the lighter side…..totally against character for this place, but not overly salty, the fries were lovely crisp outside, soft and fluffy inside. The foie gras….well, was foie gras. Not the best quality, but with a good sweet-offal-ly richness, that just made this that much better. There weren't very many cheese curd; which were fine, but nothing special. We'd actually have better poutine the next night, but this was quite indulgent.

When it came to our main; I had thoughts of doing Duck in a Can, but in the end, we decided on the restaurant's namesake, the Pied de Cochon (Pig's Trotters), but not any Pied de Cochon, but one with, well, Foie Gras of course ($54 CAD – $41/US).

If you think this looks like a hot mess, you'd be right. The foie gras was over-cooked, the gravy was nice, but there was just too much of it. The cheese potatoes was just mostly gooey-gummy cheese and too salty. The pork trotters were roasted; then deep fried; but the result was a exterior that was too hard and an interior that was on the dry side. For some reason we didn't find as much lovely gelatinous goodness as we usually enjoy.

Perhaps we had just found the dish that was just too over-the-top for us to enjoy? The prices weren't too bad; about $100/US with beer and wine. The service was amazingly efficient and friendly for a place so busy.

Au Pied de Cochon
536 Avenue Duluth E
Montréal, QC H2L 1A9, Canada

It was good thing we were walking….I needed it after this calorie bomb dinner!

On the way back; we stopped by the local Provigo Grocery. While looking over the beer, I quickly noticed that all Unibroue beers were on sale for $3.99 CAD….that's like three bucks US! There was quite a selection of stuff we don't have here in the states. So, I bought two bottles. On this evening I had the Raftman, a smoked ale.

I really enjoy smoked beer when they are available. This being a Belgian style ale; it had that sweet-booziness, with a caramel nose, and an almost bourbon like smokiness. Being only 5.5ABV, it was really easy to drink as well.

It was a nice way to end the evening. We went to sleep early; we'd have a busy day ahead of us.

Thanks for reading!

Uniboil

February 20, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** UniBoil has closed

It finally feels like winter around these parts. Which means that I'm back in hot pot mode. Starting with Uniboil. I actually first saw Uniboil during one of my trips to Rowland Heights last year in Hong Kong Plaza (in fact its in the 9th photo in that post). Uniboil opened in the old Beauty Hunan location back in August. Sheesh, that place only lasted half a year or so and its predecessor Szechuan Taste only lasted a couple of years. Intrepid Hot Pot lover Kirbie visited right after opening, before the actual signage for the shop went up. I'd thought about it, but man, August was just too hot for me to have hot pot.

So I waited until the weather cooled down, right around the end of December to make my first visit.

Uniboil is based in Monterey Park and has locations in Monterey Park, Rowland Heights, and Davis. The restaurant claims to use no MSG and source most of their proteins from Snake River Farms and the broth base is made from chicken.

Much like other hot pot shops of the same style; there are several "bases" and you choose the protein.

There are also a couple of featured item and various noodle selections…..which I decided to avoid once I saw another table's dish come out. For a place that touts it's quality of product; they served the noodles dish with instant ramen type noodles…..

The item that caught my attention was the Ma-la Pig Feet Soup (lunch price – $14.99).

I got this with the vermicelli noodles, which was a rather small portion. There were three good sized pig's feet in the soup; which were nice and gelatinous, not overly tough, and tasted pretty good. The rest of the items in the hop pot were routne; one lonely clam, two slices of kamabuko, two pieces of surimi, a whole lot of cabbage, a slice of corn, and the item I enjoyed the most (next to the pig's feet) frozen tofu. The broth, while on the salty side, had a nice numbing-spice to it. I just needed a touch of hot bean sauce to adjust the flavor a bit.

This was the best item I had on my visits by far.

Of course I returned a few weeks later. Calvin had recommended the Sate broth with Lamb ($12.99 – lunch). I also ordered the Spicy Lotus Root ($4.99), which wasn't very good.

Not enough spice, way too much sesame oil, uneven cutting technique. Definitely not worth five bucks.

I wasn't particularly enamored with the Sate Broth either. I even added on additional Frozen Tofu ($2.50.).

Can something be both salty and bland at the same time? Perhaps one-dimensional might be the appropriate description. I added at least a quarter cup of sate to this in addition to the hot bean sauce….which helped, but made things even more salty. The thinly sliced lamb was nice and gamey, but other than being hot this wasn't very satisfying at all.

On a rather chilly evening, I decided on a tie-breaker visit.

I was fascinated by the "Healthy Tomato Hot Soup", that I decided to try that with Kurobuta Pork ($13.99 – dinner) with Extra Frozen Tofu ($2.50).

The pork was sliced very thin and I wasn't able to separate the slices. It was also too lean and turned into a white, dry piece of pork.

Man, if I thought the sate was salty and nothing else, this was even more salty and had even less flavor….just a hint of tomato. Perhaps I'm just not lucky with things described as "healthy" on the menu? I added like half the container of sate and a ton of the hot bean sauce, just to be able to consume this. I took most of it home and the Missus had one spoon of it and told me to dump the broth….which is interesting since we hate to waste food. Hey, but at least this time there were two fishballs in the broth versus only one last time.

To be perfectly honest, I prefer the soup at Tasty Pot. And with all of these hot pot places open or opening, I think I've had enough Uniboil (I always accidentally call the place Uni-Brow for some reason) for now.

Uniboil
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 11am – 10pm

Returning to Fernandez Restaurant

February 19, 2018 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

The Missus was working days during this past weekend. So, instead of us heading to our usual winter weekend breakfast destination, I was left to my own devices. Ever since my visit to Birrieria El Primo, I'd been wanting to return to Fernandez Restaurant. So, I headed on down to Nestor. I arrived just after opening time; these days it's 7 am. Turning into the last remaining spot in the parking lot, I had to laugh.

Check out that sign!

I thought it was interesting that on my last visit there was the awning and the host/hostess stand outside. Here's that photo.

Versus how things looked when I first visited all those years ago.

Even the dining area has changed over time.

On my last visit; the photo above; there were very "colorful" chairs which had replaced the old plastic folding seats – the photo to the right. On this day, there were more formal banquet style chairs.

Also new; you paid via credit card or at the register……all iPads! Man, they've really come a long way over the years.

Still, there are things that have been the same on all my visits. The owner comes and visits every table, shaking hands, doing fist bumps, hugging the women. The young ladies here are always so friendly always smiling. I've always enjoyed starting my day here.

And most importantly, the food has kept to a steady course.

A nice hot café olla; the rich, rustic, tongue coating consommé. You bring to taste by adding that squeeze of lime, that touch of cilantro, and some onions.

And my usual; the Tacos de Birria con Nervio. Nice tortillas, dipped and fried (tacos dorados), slightly crunchy, and totally up to the task of being the very tasty vehicle for the birria de res. Beefy and fairly rich, riding that line of heading to oily, nicely seasoned beef, topped with buttery tendon. Crunchy and pungent onions, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and slightly picante salsa.

It is indeed the "breakfast of champions" for me on the weekend.

Fernandez Restaurant and Catering
2265 Flower Ave
San Diego, CA 92154
Hours:
Wed – Sunday 7am – 2pm