mmm-yoso – Page 206 – 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.

Eli’s Signature Peruvian Kitchen

January 24, 2018 mmm-yoso Peruvian Restaurants

Sometime back in July; I was driving west on El Cajon Boulevard, when I noticed what looked like a Peruvian Restaurant had taken the place of the old Awash, then Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant. I truly love Peruvian cuisine and was somewhat excited. The only thing being…..I couldn't figure out when this place was open! And then one Saturday morning, I actually parked and walked on over to find the place was only open Wednesdays thru Saturdays, from noon to five. So coming here on a weekday was pretty much off the table.

When I finally had some time on a weekend, the calendar was ready to turn into the New Year. And the place had nicer sign; "Eli's Signature Peruvian Kitchen".

Entering the place from the rather gritty neighborhood takes you into a pretty nice dining area. Much larger than what the façade would indicate.

The very nice young man working here seated me and handed me a menu, which was fairly Spartan, five dishes and a special of the day. Though the five dishes were probably the most well known and popular Peruvian dishes.

I ordered a Chicha Morada to start. It was actually pretty good; less sweet than most that I've had in the states, the best I've had since we got back from Peru. With just the right touch of sweetness and cinnamon flavor.

I instantly homed in on the Seco con Frijoles ($14.95) because it featured two of my favorite things. Seco is a cilantro and garlic based braise, and my favorite version features lamb. The frijoles here were canary beans, a favorite of mine, which shines in the classic Peruvian dish Tacu Tacu.

In this case it was beef, which was very tender, but I do prefer cordero as it adds a nice gamey dimension to the dish. The sauce was on the mild side, I usually enjoy a more assertive minty-anise flavor, with maybe a bitter sweet touch of huacatay. Still, this wasn't bad at all. The beans were creamy, nicely seasoned and my favorite part of the dish. The salsa criolla had a mild vinegary-spicy kick that helped to cut through any richness. The rice looked dry but was fragrant and nicely done.

This meant a return trip. So the following weekend I returned.

This time I started with the classic Papa a la Huacaina ($6.95).

The potatoes were nicely boiled and tender. The sauce was much thicker than other versions I've had of this dish. It was also quite cheesy and had a mild spicy kick to it. I thought the sauce was a bit too thick for my liking. The versions of this dish I enjoy also usually had some acidic-pungent element (garlic/onions), that helped to cut through things which seemed missing here.

Thankfully, I ordered the Cebiche de Pescado ($15.95). The nice young man told me that the fish for today was sea bass and if I was ok with that.

Of course, the first thing I went for was a taste of the leche de tigre, the marinating liquid for the seafood in cebiche. This version was more tannic than sour/tangy, thus a bit more reserved. It did have a good amount of aji rocoto which gave it an interesting amount of spiciness, though it had me wishing for some spicy-fragrant-fruity aji limo. At first I thought the fish had been "cooking" too long in the leche de tigre, but it was very tender, without any off flavors. The camote was lacking in the sweet-cinnamon flavors that the Missus loves at her favorite places. This was a passable version of Cebiche Pescado.

This had me determined to finally try the lomo saltado, the dish that really got me interesting in Peruvian cuisine. So I returned the next day, a Sunday. I saw that Eli's actually opened at 10am on Sunday, so I returned at a bit past 11. So here's the deal on Sunday's. Eli's serves a version of breakfast from 10 to noon on Sundays.

Which was actually fine by me.

You see Lomito al Jugo ($7.95) is basically lomo saltado without the potatoes and rice. It seemed to be quite inexpensive, so I was surprised at the portion size when it arrived.

While the beef was as I expected this price point a bit on the chewy side; it had no metallic or off flavors. Unlike versions I've had recently, the sauce, and there was quite a bit of sauce wasn't too salty. It also had just the right amount of onions and tomato to make the dish interesting. Perhaps a bit too much black pepper, but I really enjoyed the sauce with the bread.

So, I remained determined to get that lomo saltado. Hence, the return visit the following weekend.

And the Lomo Saltado ($14.95).

Sadly, this was my least favorite dish at Eli's. Not enough sauce, so the rather chewy meat seemed even more dry. The potatoes were very soggy. There wasn't enough onions and tomatoes to add pungency and acid to the dish. This came across as rather bland. The rice was also on the dry and tough side. Bummer.

Still, while the food here won't make me forget about Peru, it's decent, straight-forward, middle of the road, classic fare. Plus the folks here are really nice. Things might take a while to get to you; but that's how Peru is as well. On one of my visits, I had a nice chat with three middle aged women from Peru. They come here every other week. They were rather surprised to see me in this rather out of the way place with limited hours. We had a fun discussion about Peruvian food. And the look on their faces when I started mentioning some of their favorite places in Lima as well.

While the limited hours may be a bit of a hindrance, it's probably for the better based on the neighborhood, I'll probably return when I can.

Eli's Signature Peruvian Kitchen
4979 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
Hours:
Wed – Sat Noon – 5pm
Sunday 10am – 3pm

Revisits – Green China Grill and Pho Duyen Mai

January 23, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

A couple more revisits before we moved offices late last year.

Green China Grill:

It had almost been a year since my last visit. So, on one of those cooler days, I decided to drop by.

The place was as green as ever. And the menu seems to keep expanding.

Looking over the menu I realized that I'd always had the Lamian (牛大碗 – hand pulled noodles) here. I decided to try the Dao Xiao Mian; knife cut noodles, with beef brisket.

While the flavor of the broth was still on the mild side; it didn't seem to be too heavy on the MSG side of things. It was also decently textured, a decent amount of fat/oil in the broth. The beef had a nice texture, not falling apart, but not too chewy. There was a nice soy sauce-anise-light sweetness to it that was pleasant. Man, this had a ton of noodles in it! The noodles were pretty uniform in terms of width and I prefer my Dao Xiao Mian a bit thicker. It seemed a bit too processed in texture; tearing easily, lacking tenderness and "pull".

All-in-all, not bad. Though not quite worth the $10.99 price tag for some rather routine noodle soup.

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Duyen Mai:

**** Pho Duyen Mai is under new ownership

Of course I had to have some of "Them Bones" again.

The pho broth here has hit a certain level of consistency; a bit too sweet and salty, but not terrible, light in beef flavor and anise tones. Still there's much worse to be found in the area. Noodle were perfect, proteins in the soup decent. And then there were the xí quách bò – the simmered beef ribs. I was kind of disappointed this time around as the meat was really tough. I had to use the knife to cut it off the bones. On previous visits, I could just scrape them right off the ribs with a spoon. The beefiness was there, but it was just too hard to fully enjoy.

And no talented pooch this time around either. Oh well, Duyen Mai is still better than other pho places in the area……for now.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123

Thanks for reading!

Roadtrip – The Bear and Star (Los Olivos)

January 22, 2018 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County

**** The Bear and Star has closed

We had a fun time stopping in Solvang and doing olive oil tastings. But it was lunchtime and both of us were getting hungry. I had several places on my "list"; Sides Hardware, Los Olivos Wine Merchant….but it was the menu at The Bear and Star, a rather newish place in the Fess Parker (remember him?) Inn that got us to walk in.

The place was rather full and at first we didn't think they'd have a table for us, but we were seated on the back porch area. It was nice and quiet.

The menu screamed "New American" and in typical fashion we ordered four appetizers for our meal. We really enjoy touring a menu via appetizers, something we really started doing about five years ago. Our Server was so nice and accommodating. She even took time to really describe every dish for the Missus.

First up; the Chicken Liver Mousse ($9). This version was whipped to a very creamy and light texture.

It was bit on the sweet side for us and just pouring the marmalade into the ramekin didn't help things as we'd have preferred to have it on the side. Still, very nice, light offal flavors, if a bit too sweet. I enjoyed the toast as it was crisp and overly hard.

The Missus just can't help Herself when it comes to Devilled Eggs. We ordered two of the Smoked Guajillo ($3) and two of the Bacon ($3).

This was nice; very solid versions of devilled eggs. I enjoyed the smokey flavors of the guajillo version while the Missus enjoyed the more classic bacon flavored ones.

The Missus's favorite item was the deceptively simple Crispy Ranch Squash ($9).

Glazed with a soy-sweet chili sauce that wasn't too salty nor too sweet; the condensed flavors of the different squashes came through. There were a couple of slices that were really outstanding. Our cheerful Server told the Missus those were slices of Mother Hibbard Squash that cam from the vineyard's garden. Surprisingly good.

I thought the Smoked Wagyu Carpaccio ($17) sounded interesting. I will say, it was "different".

It was quite the presentation. The meat seemed to be cold smoked; the texture a bit fibrous and grainy. The smoked flavor on the mild side. The mushrooms were strange as it seemed to be dried and was like eating cardboard. This actually needed more salt….something we rarely say. Kind of a strange dish for us.

Overall, we enjoyed our meal, we'd gladly revisit. We really enjoyed our Server who was friendly, knowledgeable, and very efficient.

The Bear and Star (In the Fess Parker Inn)
2860 Grand Ave
Los Olivos, CA 93441
Hours:
Sun – Thurs 7am – 9pm
Sat – Sun 7am – 10pm

Steamy Piggy Revisited

January 21, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

An acquaintance recently checked out Steamy Piggy and told me they really enjoyed their meal. While recalling that I really didn't enjoy my previous visits to the place, I did make a note to return.

I found that the interior looks much the same. There's that motif of bright colors with worn and rustic touches like the rusted original walls and such. I'm not really a big fan of such contrasts, but then again, I'm not quite the design maven, right?

The menu has expanded a bit, but is still just occupies one sheet of paper. There's now someone actually making dumplings on the ide of the bar and quite a variety of pan fried dumplings; seven in all. I decided to check out the "Assorted", which was one of each pan fried dumplings.

I also wanted something else; but already having dumplings, decided to stay away from more starch. I went with the Salt and Pepper Chicken ($4.50).

The portion size was generous. This "popcorn" chicken of sorts was nice and hot; the meat moist. I really didn't care for the coating, which was on the soft side. The pieces lacked crispness and was rather gummy in texture. The seasoning was on the weak side; not enough salt or pepper. On the bottom of the bucket were lots of itty-bitty pieces of chicken.

Here's the very colorful Assorted Pan Fried Dumplings ($9.50). Looks like they did the Facing East thing and went with varied colored wrappers.

On a good note; unlike my previous visits, all the dumplings were adequately pan fried. As for fillings, I think the pork and chive was the best as the meat wasn't too hard, the filling moist, and the flavor balanced.

My least favorite was the chicken curry version, which had a rather bitter taste I didn't enjoy.

Many of the wrappers were problematic. I bit into the "pimp shrimp" and the wrapper tore, the too hard filling squirting out from one side.

The flavor of the basic pork and cabbage dumpling was decent, there was a nice amount of liquid in the dumpling. But the meatball was really tough and the wrapper too brittle.

The best texture, in terms of wrappers was oddly, the egg and cheese dumpling.

The bottom was nice and crisp, the wrapper not too thick, the top nice and plump. Though I'm not a big fan of cheese dumplings……eggs yes, in a good vegetarian jiaozi.

So, nearly half a year later, it seems that the dumplings have gotten slightly better here. But, like Facing East, it's more of a concept versus substance type of place. And like I said before, probably more of a place for the younger crowd to eat and hang out in.

Steamy Piggy
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 10pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 11pm

Road Trip: Solvang and Los Olivos – Olive Oil, Markets, and Birkholm’s Bakery

January 20, 2018 mmm-yoso Bakery, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County

I mentioned that back in October, the Missus and I took a roadtrip to Santa Barbara. Here are a couple of stops along the way.

I think we really developed our love for Olive Oil during our visit to Crete all those years ago. We both enjoyed our visit to the Peza Union Museum and Tasting Room. Since then, we've always had at least 3-4 bottles of Olive Oil; different grades, for different purposes. These days, it's what we've tasted in Spain, the peppery-grassy olive oils we find fascinating. And while there are places here in San Diego to grab a bottle or two. I thought it would be nice to stop and have a few tasting in Los Olivos along the way.

But first, I needed to grab something for the folks in the office. The last time I was in the area, we got a bucket of cookies from Birkholm's Bakery. Man, that stuff was gone in less than a day!

Since Solvang is pretty much on the way; we decided to make a stop, get those cookies, and stretch our legs a bit.

This time, we even had some coffee.

Really friendly folks……

I loved this sign on the back corner table.

And the folks at work got their bucket of cookies. Not sure why they like this stuff so much. But whatever makes them happy, right?

Birkholm's Bakery
460 Alisal Rd
Solvang, CA 93463

It was a bright, sunny day so we decided to take a walk around the town. It was before the holiday rush and things were still fairly calm and quiet; even on a Saturday.

Another return stop was El Rancho Market.

The Missus and I split a bottle of sparkling water and watched this really aggressive crow beg for demand handouts.

El Rancho Market
2886 Mission Dr
Solvang, CA 93463

Next stop; Global Gardens. This little stand was fairly small and discreet. We chatted with the young lady who was amazingly knowledgeable. We decided on doing the tasting; she wasn't very pushy and we actually only paid for a single tasting. She directed the products tasted to our preferences and could speak to everything we tried.

Some of the blends and styles here are excellent….so good that we spent over $70 on two bottles of olive oil.

Nice job young lady!

Global Gardens
2450 Alamo Pintado Rd
Los Olivos, CA 93441

Meanwhile, we weren't as impressed with the products at Rancho Olivos Olive Oil.

Very nice folks and the dogs were really fun and friendly though….

Rancho Olivos Olive Oil
2390 N Refugio Rd
Santa Ynez, CA 93460

We took a stop at Los Olivos Grocery.

The place was charming.

Though it seems the main draw here is the deli and little restaurant. In spite of what I had heard, there didn't seem to be a large assortment of local products.

Los Olivos Grocery
2621 W Hwy 154
Los Olivos, CA 93441

A short drive later; we arrived in downtown Los Olivos. It's a quaint little town, everything seems centered around 4-5 blocks. We were surprised that the place seemed quite busy.

We had stopped for lunch, but we decided to just do some browsing. This is wine country and there are over 30 tasting rooms in the area. Though, we decided to stop here.

You remember this from my Halloween post?

We took a look at the rather large variety of olive oils available and I chatted with the very nice guy behind the counter…..

We mentioned different flavors; we were looking for something neutral, but still with personality, and he nicely gave us some samples….I offered to pay for the tasting, but he said "no problem". We ended up buying three bottles. Two as gifts; one for us.

Olive Hill Farm
2901 Grand Ave
Los Olivos, CA 93441

Now we were done shopping…..it was time for some lunch!

Revisits – Pho Hut and Saigon 5

January 18, 2018 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I think everyone knows…..it's been quite a bad flu season this year. And I didn't escape the wrath of it. I must be getting up in years, because once I recovered; I still felt drained. Not wanting to go too far from home after getting home from work; but still wanting some noodle soup, I went for easy options nearby.

So here are two of the places fairly close to home.

Saigon 5:

**** Saigon 5 has closed

Located in the food court of the new 99 Ranch Market, I mentioned in my previous post on the place, that it opens early. I'd get home from work and crash by 7 or 8 pm. I'd be tired but hungry the next morning, a weekend, and Saigon 5 opens at around 930am.

I went with the dumpling egg noodle soup.

And while I still think the broth here is a little too light; it wasn't overly salty…no M-S-heebie-jeebies. It could use a bit more richness and pork flavor though.

That piece of pork hock was fairly tasty; the meat just chewy enough and was very nice.

The dumplings were on the tough side, with even less shrimp than before. Though the noodles had a nice pull to them and wasn't over-cooked.

Nothing amazing, but when feeling rundown and wanting to stay fairly close to home, well, this was okay for this morning.

Saigon 5
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Hut:

One evening, the Missus was at work and I was feeling quite run down. I wanted a bowl of egg noodle soup and decided to revisit Pho Hut and get the Mi Sui Cao; the dumpling egg noodle soup. Which, on one visit was decent, but then on my next visit was disappointing. It's also now $9.95.

This was more like my last visit. The broth so thin, like MSG water, though the dumplings….which I thought were missing at first and were just four in number were better than the last time when the wrappers had separated from the filling.

The portion of noodles were generous and cooked nicely.

But this just isn't very good overall.

The most entertaining moment of the evening was trying to convince the guy sitting across from me that "bun" didn't mean bun. That is; he wanted a banh mi, but thought it was "bun" on the menu. And for the life of him, could not figure out why a noodle dish would be called something in a "bun". Luckily, his wife/partner talked some sense into him and I managed to show him the photos in the menu. So you can imagine what the typical demographic of this restaurant is these days, right?

Pho Hut & Grill
5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

On the good side. I'm finally feeling just about back to (ab)normal……..

Midweek Meanderings – Da Nang Food to Go Becoming Mi Quang Mien Trung and Liang’s Kitchen is Now Another Location of Private Kitchens

January 17, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

Just a quick post on a busy week for me.

Da Nang Food to Go Becoming Mi Quang Mien Trung:

I was recently driving on El Cajon Boulevard when I noticed that Da Nang Food to Go and all the other businesses next to the 7-11 had closed down. I took a quick look at the sign and was surprised. Mi Quang Mien Trung? I'll have to ask then next time I visit Mien Trung. On a side note; I've never been a fan of the Mi Quang at Mien Trung, so we'll see.

4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Liang's Kitchen is Now Another Location of Private Kitchen:

Here's another surprise as I really didn't notice the change in signage. But rather something looked different so I did a quick turn into the strip mall.

Then I looked up and saw that Liang's Kitchen had become another location of Private Kitchens (aka Sister Ma’s Kitchen).

Based on my last visit to Liang's I'm not surprised. But strangely, didn't even notice the change until this past weekend.

4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Finally, on New Years Day; the Missus got called into work. So I decided to take a drive around the neighborhood. It's strange what catches your eye…….I saw this guy sitting at the outdoor table at Seisel's. All the businesses were closed. For some reason I find it sad and kind of haunting.

Kanazawa – Kuroyuri

January 15, 2018 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Kanazawa and Ishikawa Prefecture, Travel

We had really enjoyed our first afternoon in Kanazawa; checking out Omi-cho Market and having a nice lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before heading off to dinner. Which was really close by. I'd had a friend make reservations at Kuroyuri; a Oden restaurant. Kuroyuri is located in the Hyakubangai Shopping Center which is attached to Kanazawa Station. And was rather easy to find.

Man, this place was busy. There's a packed u-shaped bar area on one side of the restaurant and packed tables on the other. And we did have a table waiting for us when we arrived.

I had heard that one of the iconic dishes of Kanazawa is Oden and Kuroyuri has been around for more than a half-century specializing in Oden. The menu has oden; here you order by item and a whole bunch of really good looking izakaya type dishes along with another iconic dish of the Kaga Domain, Jibuni.

So, of course we ordered it all. Along with a nice bottle of sake.

The oden here is very light and clean; not too salty, but with an mild ocean-savory flavor. As a whole, we enjoyed this, but not as much as other items we ordered. Our favorite item by far was the egg wrapped in fish cake. What a symphony of textures!

Our favorite item by far, was the amazingly savory and sweet Kasuzuke (fermented in sake lees) Fugu…yep, blowfish.

We were surprised at how relatively tender (it is after all dried and marinated) the fish was; without being too salty. We actually had a second order.

The Nukazuke (fermented in rice bran) seemed a bit saltier without the complexity of the previous version.

The strong fragrance and oiliness of the Nukazuke Saba(Mackerel pickled in rice bran) was a bit much for the Missus.

It was on the fishy side and quite salty, but I thought it to be really good bar food.

The Jibuni; a classic Kanazawa duck stew arrived in a pretty lacquer bowl.

Man, this was quite rich and hearty. the salty-sweet flavors shone through, along with the gamey duck. Loved the mushrooms in this along with the seitan. Very nice overall.

We ended with a cleansing mushroom – egg drop soup.

And some yaki-onigiri to keep any future hunger at bay.

We really enjoyed our meal at Kuroyuri. The Missus loves izakaya style dishes. The service was excellent as they usually are in most restaurants in Japan.

We'd gladly return….especially for that fugu and more sake of course.

Kuroyuri
1-1 Kinoshinbomachi
Kanazawa, Japan

We walked through Kanazawa Station on the way back to the Nikko Hotel. The gate at the front of the station is called the 'Tsuzumi-mon' (Drum Gate) The two pillars are shaped like traditional hand drums.

The area behind the gate is covered by a large glass dome; known as the 'Motenashi' (Welcome) Dome. This was all built as part of the project that eventually brought the Shinkansen to Kanazawa. If you'd like to read a bit more about the history of Kanazawa Station, click on this link.

It was an easy walk back to our room. I found that the beer I had bought in Hida-Takayama was now nicely chilled.

I had bought this one….well, because it had Sarubobo on it. For some reason, we really took to Sarubobo during our visit to Takayama.

I spent the rest of the evening just watching Kanazawa from the window.

There was something about Kanazawa, and this trip as a whole that really touched us……

Thanks for reading!

Sunday Sandwiches – Revisits to SuperNatural and Crossroads Deli

January 14, 2018 mmm-yoso Sandwiches, Seafood

There are quite a few sandwich places fairly close to our offices. Here are revisits to a couple of them.

Supernatural Sandwiches:

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

I'm kind of bummed that they don't do the early hours and breakfasts anymore. I actually went once thinking they'd be open at 10 and it's back to normal hours for now.

I returned a couple of days later right at eleven and there was no line. They've usually got something going on; some new twist, but I didn't detect anything on this visit.

I got my usual, the Siren. Taking it to go.

It's still a favorite of mine. The plump shrimp, the buttery-slightly sweet brioche like lobster roll. A hint of garlicness….. There's a bit of spice as well. Kind of on the messy-rich side; but a nice guilty pleasure for me during a tough week.

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd. #122
San Diego, CA 92121

Crossroads Deli:

On one of my first days at our new offices I took a wrong left turn…..then made things worse with a wrong right turn. Which sent me under La Jolla Village Drive. Where things looked a bit familiar. It sent me right up to the condo complex where Crossroads Deli is located.

I was supposed to meet a couple of guys for lunch….but just decided to stop here instead.

I hadn't planned on having a sandwich for lunch. I went ahead and ordered the "Italian Torpedo". Which was quite a hefty sandwich.

Ham, Mortadella, Salami, Provolone, shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, mustard, and a rather vinegary type sauce.

No real complaints about the portion size here. Except there was just too much bread in that roll. I could have done without the ham as well. But that's just me. I'm glad this wasn't "over-dressed"…..but it was "over-carbed".

Crossroads Deli
9085 Judicial Dr, Ste 100 (Inside the La Jolla Crossroads Apartment Complex)
San Diego, CA 92122

Roadtrip – Revisits to Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Kang Lac Bakery, Lien Hoa, and Song Long (Westminster)

January 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

Whew; I need to catch up on all my posts! Since I've posted on these places a multitude of times; I'll keep it shirt and sweet.

This one is from back in August of last year. Basically, I had an all day meeting in Irvine. The Missus had the following day and night off; so we decided to stay in the area. We started things off well by having dinner at Sushi Noguchi in Yorba Linda (sorry no post on that one….next time). The next day after my meetings we headed off to dinner and was kind of unimpressed with Sichuan Impression in Alhambra. In fact we basically ate maybe half of what we ordered. Our hotel had a fridge, so I'd end up taking stuff back and then home.

Being somewhat disappointed in driving all this way, we decided to make a short stop. The Missus was really missing good jiaozi, so we decided to make a stop at….

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Man, it's been a good long time since we've been here.

The place is starting to look even more run down and the folks working a bit older. Though it's fun to get a smile out of the Missus when She hears the "Qingdao Hua"; the accent of Her hometown.

Two orders for us. The lamb versin; which doesn't have as much "soup" as before; but is still very gamey. And the vegetarian, which on this occasion was really good. The wrappers were nice; with that pillowy-pull to them.

The Missus had really been missing jiaozi it seems as She put these down in no time.

There was one rather sad moment during our meal. It was when the traditional garlic condiment came out. I've called this the Missus's "little dish of memories". Her job when She was a child in Qingdao was to pound the garlic for jiaozi in a mortar and pestle. Something She used to hate, but now loves…..in fact She did it with such relish the last time we were in Qingdao. Looks like they now put the garlic in a blender….very sad; because you really get the most flavor out of the garlic when you pound it; you release all the oils…..this really didn't have the "umph" we were used to. Perhaps the folks here have gotten old and tired of pounding garlic.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

The next morning, we got up rather early. Instead of just hanging out at the hotel until check-out and heading off to Sea Harbour, we decided to check out early and just do the usual two-fer of Lien Hoa and Song Long. We hit a snag as when we arrived at Lien Hoa; the place wasn't open yet. I had an idea. You see, years ago, "Beach" took me to the place right over in the next parking lot for a snack…..

Kang Lac Bakery:

The Missus had never had the Bot Chien here and it was right next door to Lien Hoa. So why not?