mmm-yoso – Page 296 – 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.

What’s My Craving? Sultan Baklava

June 22, 2015 mmm-yoso Desserts, Turkish Food

Hard to believe that it's been 6 months since Sultan (sort of) reopened in the Gaslamp and I'd only been there once!

I was really craving a Lahmacun and Sultan had always made a pretty good one. It is in fact, better than many that we've had in Turkey. It's a tribute to the food Sultan makes that inspired us to travel to Turkey. Still, the location always seems to be a hassle. And for some strange reason, I'm worried that someday the place may jump the shark. I hope not……. Yet, I shouldn't worry, especially when I get antepezme (acili ezme) as super spicy as this.

Whoa, this was much more spicy than I recalled. I'm wondering if it's me, or if they've really turned up the heat on this. Still, it was wonderful with the lavas.

Of course I had come here for the lahmacun.

The Missus was working so I sent Her a photo and a caption; "as good as ever". Yeasty, savory, and so satisfying. The spices were right on; adding a nice complex component to this $4 bread topped with spiced meat.

As I was finishing up, I felt a hand on my shoulder and another hand placed a plate with a baklava in front of me. It was the owner; one of the nicest folks……. He had a seat and we chatted for a while….first things first you know; the inquiry about how our families are doing. Then about how business was….I was a bit worried since it was 530 on a Friday and the place was empty. He smiled and said, "it is great….right now because it is Ramadan there is a line outside the restaurant at 8 every night". The baklava was fresh, still warm, crisp, light, and satisfying. Much like my visit.

I gotta drop by more often.

Sultan Baklava Mediterranean Cuisine
770 4th Ave
San Diego, CA

2016 Rose Parade float road test #1 (Cream Pan, Roma Market, Pasadena Farmers Market, The Donut Man and Tom’s Farms)

June 21, 2015 Cathy Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for (continuing to) dropping by mmm-yoso!!! a blog about food. Today, Kirk as well as Ed (from Yuma) are both resting and Cathy is filling in with a post long on photos of an event and of food.

Last Saturday, it was 'that time' of the year- the first Road Test of floats which will appear in the 127th Tournament of Roses Rose Parade which will happen on January 1, 2016. The Theme for 2016 is "Find Your Adventure", which will guide the activities and designs for floats.

The parade is being sponsored in conjunction with the National Park Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service, formed in 1916, preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.The Mister and I left home early, stopped for a quick snack (you'll see, below) and arrived in Pasadena just in time to park, stop at Starbucks, walk over the Metro tracks and South on Raymond Avenue, where the floats were lined up for their 7 a.m. Road Tests.This is the Shriners Hospitals for Children float entry (I haven't found a title or artist rendering for it) in a 'ready for foam' stage of construction. It looks like a Shriner Bear in a fire engine. You can see the small rectangular cutout in the front, where the 'observer' will be looking out onto the parade route so he can tell the 'driver' of the float if there is a reason to slow down or speed up.This is the City of Los Angeles 2016 float in its most basic stage of construction. The float is titled "Discover Los Angeles" and you can see several things: a sunshine, maneuvered to its low position so as to meet the height requirements along the Parade Route; to the left, an outline of the Capitol Records Building and just underneath that, the "spotter" for this float, in a red shirt…while just to the right of center (behind the man on the bicycle) are seen the legs and arms of the 'driver' of the float. Even at this point, the Road Testing has them communicating via headsets.This is the Lutheran Hour Ministries 2016 float entry, "Jesus is the Light of the World", foamed and ready for color. That's a lighthouse in the back, with the top down, a position tested for the float to be able to fit along the Parade Route.This will be the 2016 entry for Rotary International. This float, in its foamed and 'cocoon' stage (I haven't found a title). I can see a cute squirrel and snail as well as a grasshopper and lovebirds. "The Tree of Life's Adventures" is the 2016 entry of the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, another Service Organization. Colors are marked for decorating and the rectangular slot for the 'spotter' is just under the 'deck' in the center; quite well disguised.The Kiwanis entry, "Children, Our Treasure" looks like a bright, fun float. Here, it is backing into the construction/decorating barn (at Phoenix Decorating Company), fitting through the doorway which is the maximum height and width every float needs to be able to collapse down to along the parade route.Lions Clubs International is showcasing more of their philanthropic work with "Camps for All Abilities".Finally, the City of Alhambra's 2016 Rose Parade float entry is "Parks Make Life Better" and is a small diorama of the City archway, along with park benches, climbing tower, slide and soccer net.

I know, you are here for the food. The Mister and I haven't been on a 'road trip' since January and didn't want to hit traffic. Most of the food we bought was consumed in the car while driving.

We stopped first at Cream Pan, which opens at 6 and is convenient from the 5 freeway. This wonderful Japanese Bakery has changed just a bit, adding the dumpling warmer/reverse refrigerator and removing some of the interior seating. The ham and cheese croissant is still $2.50. The pecan cinnamon roll is now made with chopped pecans instead of halves. Both are still wonderful and amazing pastries. We also purchased some sesame rolls for meals at home, and no strawberry croissant!

Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 (714)665-8239 Open 6 a.m.-4 p.m. seven days

After the floats, we drove up Lake Avenue to the original location of Roma Market (link is post about the Escondido/San Diego County location). The Pasadena location is only about a block North from Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, where we stopped about two years ago. This store is smaller than the not large Escondido location and more interesting. Mr. Rosario Mazzeo, who has worked here since the 1950's, was busy preparing "The Sandwich"($5.50) as well as working the deli counter. He is very friendly and said to us "this is what I do, all day, every day". The simple three meat, one cheese, olive oil on a fresh Italian roll sandwich is perfect. We also purchased one fresh made Burrata ($2) to bring home.

Roma Market 918 N. Lake Avenue Pasadena 91104 (626)797-7748 Website

Following Roma, while eating the The Sandwich in the car, we drove to the Saturday Pasadena Farmers Market, which was enveloped in fog. The overcast day made the fruits and vegetables bright. We stopped at the one vendor who has prepared Mexican food and purchased a chile relleño burrito ($2.50). It's not large but is filled with flavor; a good snack while walking around.

Pasadena Saturday Farmers Market Parking lot of Pasadena High School.

Soon enough, we were headed East on Route 66. The line at The Donut Man was around the side, back into the parking lot.

Being able to watch the bakers in the back was fascinating. We bought two donuts and headed home.

The Donut Man 915 E. Route 66 Glendora, CA (626) 335-9111 Website

We made our final stop at Tom's Farms, because we got to the 15 after a *lot* of traffic and honestly, I needed to use 'the facilities'.

We grabbed some ring bologna to go with the bread and cheese and veggies that had already been purchased that morning and headed home. Got back just before 1 p.m..

Tom's Farms 23900 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona, CA 92883Website

Thanks for reading!

Izakaya Sakura – Helping with an Omurice Search

June 20, 2015 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

Recently, a regular reader who once in a while comments "TB" sent me an email. He was on a mission….actually he was in search of something. Omurice. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on Omurice….for some reason I've never taken to it. I did know that Izakaya Sakura served several versions of it; but our "FOY" was looking a straight forward demiglace, not a super tomato-y "hayashi" versions places here serve.

I had some meetings cancelled that day, so I headed over to Sakura for lunch and indeed they had several versions of omurice. In case you don't know what omurice is, this might be helpful. Much more helpful is Dennis's post on the variations of Omurice served at Sakura. Which I actually should have read before I went.

Anyway, it's omurice time.

There were indeed a nice variety; white sauce, curry…..but no straight up demiglace. I went for the Hayashi Omurice….I think they translate it to "Beef Hash" or something like that on the menu. I'm glad the egg was stuffed with plain white rice, because anything else would have just been overkill. I found this much too sweet, kind of greasy, and just not my thing. But heck, it doesn't hurt to try, or in this case retry something I hadn't had in man years.

So, maybe one of readers can help "TB" out? (Sorry, just not enough intestinal fortitude to try the version at Tajima) Perhaps Junichi, or perhaps Dennis still reads the blog for itme to time? (We miss you man!)

As for me. I'm back to my usual suspects.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Barcelona: Disfrutar

June 18, 2015 mmm-yoso Barcelona, Fine Dining, Memorable Meals, Spain, Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, Travel

So what do you get after the defacto "Best Restaurant in the World" (could there really be such a thing?) closes and three of the Chefs de Cuisine (Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas), with over 45 years in the hallowed kitchens of the restaurant decide to collectively open up their own place in Barcelona?

You get Disfrutar, which opened at the end of 2014. When planning for this trip, I decided on three upscale dinners and Disfrutar was one of them. We took the metro to the Hospital Clínic stop which is just a few blocks from the restaurant.

The restaurant looks fairly small from the outside but the dining area is actually quite large. We had arrived at about 8pm, pretty early in Spain, but were relieved to see at least two parties had arrived before us. Being led to our seats, the Missus had a stroke of genius….She asked if we could sit at the bar instead, which is actually the dessert prep area. We were cheerfully accommodated. Like Suzunari and Wakuriya, sitting at the bar watching the food being prepped with precision and skill is a treat.

Also a treat was the service, which we found unpretentious, relaxed, gracious, well paced, knowledgeable, and very pleasant. We enjoyed the service at Disfrutar the most of all the high end places we visited on this trip, which says quite a lot. All questions are answered with enthusiasm and recommendations are made as to the best way to enjoy each dish.

There are two tasting menus each evening; the Menu Disfrutar (68 Euros) about 19 dishes and the Menu Festival, which is 25 (98 Euros). You know which one we chose, right? The serving style is perfect for us; almost family style. The Sommelier, understanding our taste in wine, made some great recommendations, which paired well with our meal.

Enough you say….where's the food? Anyway, here's the deal. I don't want this to be bedtime reading, so I'll try to keep it pretty straight, short, and sweet from here on. I'll highlite our favorites and those we didn't care for as much.

Things started with a foamy Melon Caipirinha, Liquid was poured into a cup of ice, yielding something that frothed up and was nice, with the jellied melon-mint-salt cubes rejuvenating your tastebuds.

Our first bottle of wine.

Our Server brought us what looked like a bowl of black rice. He shook the bowl and up rose "The Beet That Goes Out of the Land".

The balls were light and crisp, the flavor of intense beets coming through. The Missus, who has several times told me; "I hate molecular gastronomy" was sold! This is what I call soulful transformation. We were actually shown how this was made. A beet meringue was created, then dehydrated.

Crispy Bow with Iberican Bacon.

Crisp strand of what was like chicharron with a sticky, thin, slice of jamon on it.

Another flavor explosion; Caramel coated hazelnuts with elderberry.

Another great dish for us; Tomato Polvoron and Arbequina Caviaroli.

A polvoron is basically a shortbread cookie; the texture was similar to that, but with a wonderful deep tomato flavor; a "cookie that spreads edible sunshine", the olive oil caviar, a product of spherification added the fantastic grassy-peppery flavor of good Arbequina Olive Oil.

What I was told is a classic El Bulli dish – Transparent Pesto Ravioli.

Made from oblate film, the stuff folks use to help them swallow meds, is used as a wrapper for pine nuts and basil. It is dipped into a parmesan jus, the wrapper starts melting and basically melts away in your mouth. Nice flavors of pine nuts and parmesan.

Another favorite of ours; from what I was told later another classic El Bulli item; Disfruta de la Aceituna.

Spherification at work again. Two cocoa coated "olives", one contains a concentrated olive flavored liquid, the other a blood orange concoction. Amazing and intense flavors that just explodes upon breaking the cocoa butter crust.

Smoked Idiazabal Cheese Bisquit with Apple.

Looking all the world like a simple cookie with frosting; the creamy unpasteurized goat cheese, with a nice smoke flavor was a surprise. The tart cider aperitif helped balance things out.

Next up, an amazing dish; Crispy Egg Yolk with Mushroom Gelatin.

Think egg yolk tempura; crisp and light on the outside, soft and oozy when you bite into it. It's a fabulous bite. The eggshell holds a mushroom gelee that was full of savory mushroom flavor.

Seafood and Avocado Merengue sandwich.

This was a bit fishy and rich, the Missus could only finish half of this tiny flautas.

For some reason we didn't take to the overly salty and fishy anchovy part of Anchovy and Almond Mato with Truffle, Fir Tree Honey, and Pine Nuts.

Too many strong flavors and textures. This just didn't seem to go together real well.

The Missus was really worried about the Marinated Oily Fish with Cauliflower Tabbouleh and Mushrooms. First, She's not a big fan of mackerel and also not fond of strong parsley flavor.

So this was a wonderful surprise for Her, the fish rich, not too fishy, tender, the oil negated by the acid and the savory mushroom jus. The tabbouleh was delicious, the cauliflower seemed the perfect foil for the parsley. This was delicious.

In turn we weren't wow'd by the Macaroni Carbonara.

Gelatin based noodles, parmesan and pancetta were combined with a parmesan-truffle foam, which became the sauce. The "noodles" didn't break down quick enough and the texture was like eating plastic.

The Vegetable Sashimi served as sort of an intermezzo, we loved the pure flavors of the vegetables combined with the sauces/seasonings each one was graced with. Those tomatoes were amazing and the combination of cucumber with mint just worked right.

The Scallop Marrow with Osetra Caviar was fine….this really reminded me of swordfish bone marrow, which I actually prefer to this. I thought it needed less salt and a bit more citrus or acid.

Mussels with Peas in Salsa Verde.

Asparagus in Fennel Meunière with Trout Eggs.

The trout eggs added the zing to a rather mild dish. For some reason we didn't enjoy the flavor of white asparagus with fennel.

Deep Fried Monkfish "Ssam", I'm guessing from the Korean Bossam as this came in the lettuce cup.

Loved the fry job on the monkfish, the flavor came through, it was moist, a perfect piece of fried fish.

We both thought the Unilateral Langostine was a bit overcooked for our taste.

But man, the Perigueux Beef was amazing.

You wrapped the slices of beef around a little crouton and foie gras and had the perfect bite(s).

Nice meal, eh?

But it wasn't over yet.

You know I'm not a dessert kind of guy; but man, some of this stuff was plain amazing. The photo above is of the "Tangerine", a frozen tangerine rind which bears a granite, rose jelly, and a parfait.

Chocolate Cheesecake Cornet

That's Catalan Cream Bread, which came with Blood Orange Couscous.

We saw one of the Chefs placing what looked like chili peppers on a plate. We had no idea what it was. It turned out to be my favorite dessert item; Chocolate Peppers, olive oil, and salt. Man, what a combination! The sea salt really brought everything together. Like I said, I'm not a dessert guy, but this was really, really good. This was the perfect whimsical, fun, but delicious dessert.

As for our after dinner coffee? Well it came in the form of Coffee Profiteroles. A nice way to finish dinner. And though it seems to be a lot of food, we weren't stuffed to the gills, which I think is a tribute to the pacing of dishes.

As we finished up our dinner, our wonderful Server told us to follow him and took us on a short impromptu tour of the kitchen. The place was packed with customers greeting their dishes with wide eyed anticipation.

When I quickly mentioned the skill it takes to make these dishes, his answer came quickly; he pointed to his heart and said, "we are always reminded, it must come from here." Ah, a perfect end to an epic and wonderful meal. One of a trio of unforgettable experiences. We will not forget you Disfrutar, as you are unforgettable. Might be the best 250 Euros I've ever spent.

Disfrutar
Calle Villarroel 163
Barcelona, Spain

Heading back to our apartment, we decided to take a walk around Sagrada Familia, which looked quite beautiful without the swarms of tourists around.

The Missus turned to me and said, "ok, we've had a great dinner. Now we're burning it off tomorrow!"

Barcelona: Restaurant Autentics and Sagrada Familia

June 17, 2015 mmm-yoso Barcelona, Sandwiches, Spain, Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, Travel

The AVE High Speed Rail took us to Barcelona in a bit over 3 hours from Madrid. Strangely, it seemed a bit longer than that. For some reason, the Shinkansen in Japan felt more comfortable and faster. Regardless, we ended up at Barcelona Sants Station and with no trouble were able to get a T10 mulit-person metro card, which was great because we could both use the card for fares and also saved us a bit.

In one of my Madrid posts, I mentioned how the dogs in that city seemed quite rambunctious. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, the dogs seemed more relaxed. We saw several, like this one, riding the metro with no problem.

We were staying in the rather large, rambling Eixample neighborhood, close to one of Barcelona's most famous Architect's and Master of what is deemed Catalan Modernism, Antoni Gaudi, his unfinished, always under construction Sagrada Familia, the Church of the Holy Family.

As much as I had read, or heard, nothing prepared me for the first time I set eyes on the place. We exited the metro station and headed off in the direction of the apartment we were staying at. I turned around and was just awestruck at the sight of Sagrada Familia. The Missus was busy heading up the street when I told Her, "turn around……turn around." Her eyes got quite large, jaw agape, all She could mutter was "oh my god……" As we just stood and stared for a few moments.

Such is the effect of Sagrada Familia. Love it or hate it, I doubt you'll ever see anything quite like it.

We had a bit of time before checking in and were getting hungry. We had "big" dinner plans so finding something simple and unpretentious like this little shop fit the bill. It was quiet, an older gentleman reading the paper having lunch, another guy having a beer at the bar.

The young man working the front bar was very nice and we took a table in the rear of the place so as not to get in the way. There was a menu "del dia" – menu of the day available, along with various small dishes which we felt was more suitable for us.

The Missus was still feeling like Pimientos Padrons so we got that.

Not as salty as other versions, this had a nice "zing" due to the addition of red peppers. Nothing amazing or surprising, but simple and tasty.

At this point, we had a little travelers malfunction. I had done a bit of research on Catalan Charcuturie and was excited when I saw this:

What the Missus and I didn't pay attention to was the top part which said……

Entrepans….."between bread", Freds "cold", so we were caught off guard when sandwiches arrived. What could we do but just laugh at ourselves and be happy we ordered "petit". Simply meat and bread.

Fuet is a dry cured thin sausage that reminds me of pepperoni.

The butifarra is the serious sausage in Catalonia. This was the "blanca" or the white version.

Soft, coarse ground pork, with no paprika, which is why it's called "blanco". Nice and ham like.

The Catalana reminded me of salami.

It was more than enough for lunch and would hold us over until our 830 pm dinner. We finished off with some espresso and headed off to the apartment.

We were located 1 block from Sagrada Familia. In fact, you could see the one of the spires from the window!

After settling in and freshening up, we decided to walk over to Sagrada Familia, just to take a look around.

Even though Antoni Gaudi's grand work is not yet finished; he became involved in the project in 1883 and worked on it until his death in 1926; 43 years, the Church has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was only 25 percent completed at the time of Gaudi's death and work continues to this day.

The church is made up of three facades and will have 18 spires, when and if it is ever finished. Only one of the facades bears Gaudi's direct influence; that is, was almost complete at the time of his death. My least favorite façade is the Passion Façade which was completed by 2005. It is quite plain, but somewhat dark and grim.

I could write another two thousand words on the place, but why not read this or this.

My favorite view from the other side of the pond in Placa de Gaudi. It shows the rich and complex design of the structure as it seems to reach for the sky.

It's also far enough to escape the tour buses and the masses, where you can watch the old-timers playing bocce.

Or just shooting the breeze.

We ended up not doing the interior of Sagrada Familia, perhaps on another trip…you need tickets and all that. We headed back to the apartment for a short nap before dinner. And oh what a dinner it would be……

2015 San Diego County Fair (Part 2-it’s open)

June 16, 2015 Cathy Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! A food blog with variety, not templates. Kirk is catching up with his jet lag and Ed (from Yuma) is doing his 'research' so as to write some more interesting posts. The post today is written by Cathy.

The 2015 San Diego County Fair, with the theme of "A Fair to Remember" opened on June 5. (It will close July 5 and will be closed on all Mondays.) I wrote a post about some of what to expect before it opened.

The Mister and I dropped in last week and here's a peek at *some* of a lot of activities (and only two food items) going on at this 2015 County Fair. There will be a part 3.
Parking in the free lots means you are dropped off at the front entrance gate. You get this viewpoint if you were lucky to ride on the top level of one of the Double Decker buses that are used for the free transportation.

Stepping into the first building to the right of the entrance, you'll see the Theme Exhibit with displays and education of County and World's Fairs and Balboa Park, where the Panama-California Exhibition was held in 1915, celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal and touting San Diego as the first port of call in the USA for ships going North after transversing the Canal in the Westward direction. Walking to the left from the main gate entrance is the Paul Ecke, Jr. Flower and Garden Show, with displays centered around the theme of "A Walk in the Park". (Keep this area in mind when I begin to speak about the food at the fair, below.)The Floral Specimen Contest inside the Sleep Train O'Brien Hall (first building on your left after entering) has amazing displays of varied beautiful stems as well as other floral and design contests. Design in Wood Competition this year has a Fair Theme Division and this beautiful bench is so much more than just seating.

The Photography and Art competitions, Home and Hobby, Gems and Minerals are all to the right after the entrance (past the Theme Exhibit building).
There are, of course, carnival rides, games of skill (or chance) and animal judging (animal auction is July 4).

I suppose you are more interested in the food items here. There were several things we wanted to try, but it came down to only two meals. First, a decent shared snack.Inside the Paul Ecke, Jr. Flower and Garden Show area, cornered by Bing Crosby Hall and the O'Brien building, you will find this setting.
Where for $10, you can purchase this meat and cheese box or a fruit and cheese box. (The beverage shared was a very nice Sangria).

There were two salamis (one fennel, the other more of a hard salami) two cheeses (smoked Gouda and Provolone) fresh baguette slices, peppers, artichokes, olives and capers and some very fresh sweet cantaloupe. This was an excellent find and we will stop in again on one of our next visits to try the fruit/cheese box and some wine…

But it just wouldn't be the Fair if we didn't turn at the first right from the Midway… Yep. We did. $12.75 with tax. Low carbs! Enough for two and it counted as dinner. This was easily one pound. Great, smoky pulled pork lightly mixed with a spicy-sweet BBQ sauce; really good. That was placed on top of chili beans (slightly spicy) which were placed on top of crunchy, large, spiced with dry rub pork rinds (the rinds that did get 'wet' from the chili beans were tasty and another texture) all topped with a very nice, fresh slaw. This was an excellent meal.

There is so much to see and comprehend as well as taste that one day just doesn't do it. The daily contests, the competition entries, the skills and hard work all year have been preparing displays.

With an average daily attendance of more than 60,000 in 2014, the San Diego County Fair is the fourth largest fair in North America, surpassed in attendance only by the State Fair of Texas, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and the Minnesota State Fair. Here is a wikipedia link to a history of Our Fair.

We are so fortunate to live right here and be able to experience such a part of history. I hope you can go and enjoy it!

San Diego County Fair Website

QT (Quality Taste) Pot

June 15, 2015 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

**** QT Pot has closed

The funniest little discussion I had about this place was with a Midwesterner, who thought Quality Taste Pot, was well, something totally different. No, not quite, though good hot pot can be addictive.

It took a while for me to talk the Missus into coming here. She’s been down on the Chinese food in San Diego for a while. Plus, the weather has to cooperate. We’re not “hot pot is a way of life” kinda folks and have to be in the mood for it.

But since the place has the blessing of both Kirbie who has made multiple visits and Faye we had to get here eventually, right?

This shop was home to several iterations of China Chef, which, in spite of having a menu that was all over the place did have some decent dishes. I guess Hot Pot is the way to go these days.

The interior has been redone; understated, clean, and bright. I recognized the woman here as a former long time employee at Little Sheep. She was one of the really nice women who worked there.

Of course we came for the hot pot……but Kirbie raved about the Salt and Pepper Chickens Wings. And you know me and chicken wings, so……

The texture of these were outstanding, light, crisp, and very moist. A little short in the flavor the two times I had these, but quite good. One key point; eat them right away, don’t get them to go. These get soggy and take on a greasy texture fairly quickly. Very nice.

DO NOT get the Yang Rou Chuan. In fact, I’m not sure why I ordered it.

Tough, dry, and short on flavor. ‘Nuff said. We were really here for the hot pot, right?

We got the Special Tasty Pot – $14.95 for dinner. The Missus got into “Chinese” mode and quickly complained about the portion size….which ended up being enough for the two of us with the Chicken Wings.

I quickly mentioned that one of biggest complaints about the state of Chinese food in San Diego is the emphasis of huge quantities over quality, so we needed to give this place a chance. As you can see, this is not yuan yang guo, but a straightforward broth; decently flavored, quite low on scum. The proteins were passable, though only three slices of pretty good intestine and three slices of beef which for some reason dries out quite quickly. The dipping sauces were also passable, but not outstanding, the sa cha sauce was my favorite. The Missus hates fishballs, which were fishballs. She quickly got the half boiled egg, which She said was Her favorite. Too much udon noodle overall.

Overall not bad. The broth was probably the best thing about the hot pot.

So, I decided to return with YZ and Lily for lunch where the hot pot is $4 cheaper. YZ just loved the chicken wings and we thought the Special Tasty Pot was….well, they had the same opinion as I did.

We also tried the Lamb with Pickled Vegetable.

This was quite good; except for the shellfish which were past their prime. The lamb was nice and gamey, which I love. The suan cai was kind of weak, though perhaps I’m kind of picky since we make this at home; about 7 batches a year. This suan cai didn’t quite have the nice, deep fermented flavor of good suan cai. Still, this was decent, and we’d probably return when the weather gets a bit chilly….though I do prefer mala yang yuan guo.

Service was decent, not overly friendly, not terrible. Perhaps worth a try…..

QT (Quality Taste) Pot
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

What’s my craving? A revisit to Caribbean Taste

June 14, 2015 mmm-yoso Jamaican Restaurants

Returning from our trip was kind of a downer. We had eaten well, enjoyed the food….really enjoyed the food. Strangely, I usually start missing certain things on our trips. Even while eating fantastically in Japan, we started missing salad of all things. This time? Nada…… I came back craving nothing, wishing for nothing. We did hit up the usual suspects, a post for another time, but while the Missus was working, I'd often aimlessly drive up and down, say Clairemont Mesa Boulevard (that's also another post) with no goal in mind. I was craving nothing.

Until Saturday. I woke up thinking of oxtails. Caribbean Taste's Oxtails. I'm not sure why; the last time I ate there was when we had the Amazing Graze, which was like 4 years ago. But happy just to be wanting something, I happily headed off to Encanto.

The place looks pretty much the same. The little "market" in the corner is gone and after looking at my post from way back in 2007, I noticed that the mural on the wall has been touched up. The "wood" has gone from yellow to a bright green.

The young guy working the front was really friendly….hospitable. The woman who delivered the oxtails (small – $10) was the same.

And the braised oxtails delivered nicely.

Tender without falling to pieces, nice gelatin, not too salty, beefy, mild sweetness, with a hint of allspice (some of these places go bit overboard), it was pleasure to just suck every little edible bit off the bones. The rice was better than I recalled; though the vegetables are still pretty bland……and, I didn't come here to eat veggies, right? The sauce/gravy was nice and thick….wonderful mixed with the rice. I left with fingers sticky from working the bones with my hands. And a very happy belly.

Which led me to wonder….what have you been craving lately?

Caribbean Taste Restaurant
6171 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92114

Madrid: San Jerónimo el Real, La Pulpirea de Victoria, and back to La Oreja de Jaime

June 13, 2015 mmm-yoso Madrid, Spain, Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, Travel

We'd already had a pretty full day. It was pretty hot after lunch and we were stuffed full of orejas.

The one great thing about our apartment was that it was easy to black out the entire place. And the A/C worked really well.

Also, the apartment was located basically across the street and a block or two from the Prado Museum. The Missus had really enjoyed visiting the previous day. Plus….it was free! She had wanted to return.

So after waking from a restorative nap, we were (well She was), ready to head off.

And off into the bright Madrid late afternoon…..

Before heading into the Prado Museum, the Missus wanted to check out San Jerónimo el Real, the Catholic Church right above the museum. This is all that remains of a monastery that stood next to Buen Retiro Palace.

The feature of the church I enjoyed the most were the beautiful stained glass windows.

The visit to the Prado was just as interesting as the previous day. I got to see that beautiful work by Velasquez again. And in addition, there was a special exhibition of works by Picasso.

To be perfectly honest, I'm below a neophyte when it comes to art. I do enjoy the work of Joan Miró, but that's about it. Having only seen the later work of Picasso, I really could not understand or relate to his work. There were several early works of Picasso in the museum. I thought they were really well done, I'd only seen his later Cubist work, but was really impressed at his early work. We were headed to Barcelona next, so we would make it a point to visit the Picasso Museum.

After our visit, we headed back to the Missus's favorite spot in Madrid; Puerta del Sol.

We decided to find a place close by. I had this place on my "Calle de la Victoria" list.

This being quite early for dinner in Madrid (815 pm), the place was empty except for one other group.

The girls working here were very nice….though everyone seemed really friendly in Madrid. I had a caña and the Missus a tinto. Man, the potatoes we really tasty; the aioli had a ton of garlic in it and the tubers were nice and waxy.

This place served Galician style food; so of course I wanted the Pulpo a Feira, but the Missus wasn't sold. So I went with the Pulpo and Camarones. The whole thing is served in a pan submerged in olive oil.

This was like getting your French fries served in its cooking oil…….anyway; the shrimp were really tiny like cocktail shrimp, but had nice flavor. The octopus didn't do well, it was very tough. The olive oil tasted ok as we dipped our bread into it. Though next time I'll go with the Pulpo a Feira.

La Pulperia de Victoria
La Victoria 2
Madrid, Spain

We decided to cut our losses and find someplace to grab a another light bite on the way back to the apartment. As we passed La Oreja de Jaime, he was cooking and saw us through the window. He smiled and waved at us telling to come back in…… He's such a character, how could we refuse?

This time we sat at the bar and noticed all of the funny stuff on the wall. Like the calendar photo of Jaime with a wig and sunglasses on….and the plastic ears (orejas) hanging on the wine bottles. The place really reflects the owner….it has character.

Now, the Missus had seen something on the menu that I didn't know. So of course She was fascinated. Mollejas. We asked what mollejas were and Jaime grabbed the part of his neck under the jawbone. The thymus gland….mollejas de cordero; goat sweetbreads. Based on our previous experience here; we knew portions would be fairly large….but sweetbreads, that's rich stuff, there's no way you'd get a huge plate of that, right? Wrong. After ordering it, Jaime went to the tray of what almost looked like gizzards and grabbed handful after handful of the stuff. The Missus and I looked at each other in stunned amazement. This went on the flat top, with a good amount of oil. Man, Jaime is not shy about the sea salt either. After achieving a nice char from the griddle, an application of a slightly spicy and smoky sauce was applied. The stuff he puts on patatas bravas and we were served this huge plate of mollejas.

The first, say 12 bites were really good, if a bit too salty. But man, after a while, it's just too much of a good thing. The texture, or should I say combination of textures keeps your interest. There are those creamy pieces, but also of texture of the surrounding tissue, some crunch, some fat, some sinew.

It's always fun to try something new. It's even more fun having it at a place like La Oreja de Jaime.

La Oreja de Jaime
Calle de La Cruz 12
Madrid, Spain

Sun had set and we headed back to Puerto del Sol. It was 930 and things were just starting up in Madrid.

We dropped by the market in the basement of El Cortes Ingles and got some yogurt for the next morning. It would be our breakfast before heading off to Barcelona.

We walked down the back streets parallel to Calle Atocha. Past the many bars, the squares, the folks and families just heading out to dinner at 10pm.

The wonderful folks at Estancias con Arte had left us a basket of "stuffs", including orange juice, which would come in handy for breakfast. They also left us a bottle of wine (such a nice touch!), which we enjoyed while doing our "pre-packing" for the next morning.

Getting to our train the next morning was a breeze. Atocha Station is basically 2 blocks (albeit good sized blocks) away.

One interesting note about Atocha Station. There's a tropical garden in the concourse of the train station. While the Missus was waiting for our morning espresso, I took a short little walk.

Madrid was interesting for us. I know it wasn't the Missus's favorite place; I think the heat, schedules, noise, crowds, and the mild grittiness of the city had caught us off guard. On our return trip however, something had changed, we had gained an appreciation for the liveliness of Madrid and embraced the late nights. But for now, we were off to Barcelona.

Thanks for reading!

Madrid: Ferpal, A Walk Around Madrid, and La Oreja de Jaime

June 12, 2015 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Madrid, Sandwiches, Spain, Spanish Restaurants and Cuisine, Travel

Morning in Madrid is pretty calm. I guess that happens when most folks end their day at midnight. We were in fact, quite pooped. We awoke, had like three cups of espresso a piece and slowly woke up. The Missus had our day pretty much planned by the time we left.

We of course started at the Missus's favorite location the previous day, Puerto del Sol.

Strangely, I don't have a day time photo of the building which faces the Tio Pepe sign and the statue of Charles III. It was the first Post Office in Madrid and is currently the Governor's Office. Right in front of the building's main doorway is this marker on the ground.

This is "Kilometer Zero", which represents the center of Spain. So I guess this is where we were supposed to start, right? A good part of these walks were distilled by the Missus from Rick Steves Guidebook to Spain. The Missus will often combine all the walks into a single long one. We headed left and up (down?) the street and through Calle de Postas, a street that's been around since medieval times. Some of the building here were quite striking.

Like the display on this Watch Shop named Antigua Relojeria, which has been around since 1880.

This little street leads right into Plaza Mayor.

Pop out of the plaza and you end up at the very popular Mercado de San Miguel. Though not open at this early hour.

We weaved through streets, past buildings until we came to this memorial. This statue marks the spot of an assassination attempt on newlyweds King Alfonso and Princess Victoria by Mateu Morral. The statue memorializes the 15 people killed in the assassination attempt. No the King and Queen were not killed.

Further down the street is Almudena Cathedral. Construction started in 1879 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1993.

That's a 114 years!

Right across from the Cathedral is the Royal Palace of Madrid.

We had thoughts of visiting, but the Missus was on a tight schedule here, so maybe next time. East of the Royal Palace is Plaza de Oriente. We saw Mounted Police getting ready for their shift when we arrived.

It's a very nice green space…..

The street we were walking on is named Calle Arenal.

By this time; we had almost circled back to Puerto del Sol and were in need of a break. Some espresso seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. There's a charcuterie and cheese shop named Ferpal (strangely, we didn't even read about it in the guidebook until later – though RS's recommendations are in our opinion somewhat suspect for our tastes) on the street.

What looks like a coffee counter takes up half the shop….and folks were lining up for their morning (late morning) fix. So we decided to join in. The staff at the counter are rather diner worthy. As in grumpy in a somewhat humorous way. You still get served and everything works fine….for some reason, it just reminds me of a diners here in the states.

While waiting to order our "caffe" I noticed a couple of items on signs. The first was a plate of Lomo Iberico Bellota for a mere 4 Euros, which of course we got.

The Missus actually enjoys the less salty, leaner, more meaty cured pork loin (lomo). This was a nice little brunch item for us. I also noticed something on the menu board behind the counter. Under the heading "Sandwichs". Yes, not "sandwiches", but "sandwichs", the "crema" category were the words "foie gras". For .9 Euros, basically a buck. I had to try this…..

It was a nice little half sandwich, with the crust sliced off, just like mom would make. This was basically a light foie gras mousse. It was quite tasty and filling which we enjoyed it with our "caffe".

Ferpal
Calle del Arenal 7
Madrid, Spain

We took a short shopping bread at El Cortes Ingles, the huge multi-floor department store. There's a supermarket in the basement of all El Cortes Ingles as far as I can tell.

The next leg of the walk was up Madrid's version of Broadway; Gran Via.

An interesting study in early 20th century architecture, what makes the street even more interesting is that the buildings were built in groups starting in 1910 and ending in the 1950's. So buildings on blocks were built around the same time.

The area around Cines Callao looks quite impressive and was open for business in 1926.

At the end we took a break at Plaza de Espana and watched these dogs having a great time.

We noticed that the dogs in every city seem to have distinct personalities. In Madrid, they were a rambunctious bunch, having their own mind, pulling their masters along.

Coming full circle we ended up back at Puerta del Sol. We were hungry, it was lunch time. Along the arteries stretching out from the square are tons of eateries. We looked in several of them, a few of which I had on my list and settled on La Oreja de Jaime.

It was quite interesting. There were tons of tourists outside the place, but only Spaniards in this little joint. On occasion someone would walk in, order a Caña…a small beer…polish it off in one large gulp and head on back out. For lunch this was a one man operation; Jaime took orders, cooked, served the drinks, bussed the tables. You name it. There were a couple of older folks eating and having drinks. We simply requested a couple of cañas and ordered from the chalkboard. No crazy equipment here, just a deep fryer, a stove, and a wonderfully seasoned flat top which you can see from the streetside window.

We started with some Padrons.

Thrown in the deep fryer, we quickly found out that Jaime does not go easy on the salt….it was good sea salt. Nice and almost sweet if a bit high on the sodium scale.

You'll notice the name of the place "Oreja"……so what else would you get from here but orejas….ears.

The orejas were only 5€, so we were flabbergasted at the portion size. Get a media (1/2) racione if you go here. These were simply done on the griddle, which, by the flavor, smoky and almost sweet is highly seasoned by who knows how many orders of pig ears. These were crunchy, wonderfully gristle-y, and chewy, with a pretty hefty amount of olive oil, a touch of smoked paprika, and since we love pig ears, quite enjoyable, though the Missus couldn't bring Herself to eat the hairy portions.

The champignons with camarones was also pretty good.

The shrimp was quite tasty, full of that nice shrimp flavor that folks in the states seem afraid of. It was a bit on the oily side, but I'm not complaining.

Man, the prices were quite cheap and we left stuffed. Even more impressive was the couple who walked in after us. Apparently, they come here often as Jaime knew them. The woman, who appeared to be in her 60's polished off an entire order of patatas bravas, as did her husband, they polished off a plate on pardons, another plate of something else I couldn't make out, and then, the husband having fallen by the wayside; the woman devoured a plate of orejas, while enjoying three beers. Not small caña sized glasses, but three bottles of beer…and some olives to boot!

Jaime is quite friendly, always smiling, even though he's a one man show. The prices are quite reasonable and this was a pretty good and simple lunch. No messing about, just good grub.

La Oreja de Jaime
Calle de La Cruz 12
Madrid, Spain

It was getting quite hot and I was starting understand the how's and why's of how things are done here. At least I understood the necessity of a siesta……