mmm-yoso – Page 342 – 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.

Escondido World Marketplace (a swap meet with food)

October 26, 2013 Cathy Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food-centric blog. Today, the post will end up about food, but the story of how to find it is part of the fun. It's Cathy writing today, by the way; the guys (Kirk and Ed (from Yuma)) are both crazy busy.

I've been planning (collecting photos) to write a post about the food vendors and items available at Kobey's Swap Meet and the ten or more food trucks parked at the Spring Valley Swap Meet each weekend. However, the most interesting (food-wise) Swap Meet in the County is in Escondido, surrounded by West Mission Ave, North Quince Street, West Washington Avenue and Rock Springs Road.

For a very long time, the Escondido Swap Meet was the name of this location. Escondido World Market has been the name of this space since 2011. It's open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and, as all Swap Meets, charges admission ($1 on Wed and Sat, $2 on Fri and Sun)(Hours are at end of post).

Once you walk in. the Swap Meet sales areas are to your left, the stands selling fruits, vegetables and other Produce items are straight ahead and to the right are the 12 or so permanent structures selling food. The above photo is looking left.

Covered sellers areas with some 'standard' items (lots of women's clothing, used and refurbished tools, athletic gear, kitchen items, religious items…garage sale sellers) On this day there were quite a few empty stalls in the covered areas.

The Produce-fruits, vegetables, herbs, chiles (fresh hot peppers and dried-those are some very large habañeros Manzano (Rocoto) peppers in the middle photo), nuts and many, many other choices are situated under covered stalls, all in one lane, staying cool and undamaged in the sun of the day. This lane is straight ahead as you walk in the entrance, and right next to it…

are the permanent structures which house the various food vendors.

There are several spaces selling an array of aguas frescas and juices (I bought a small ($2) of the dark green on the far right- it's spinach, cucumber, celery and pineapple…you can see the foam on the top of that juice jug- and also on the top of the yellow one; pineapple does that when juiced).

Here's a sandwich board sign in front of another vendor.

This small shop turned out to be my favorite- items from Oaxaca, brought in from Tijuana that morning. Note the second from bottom on the sign-chapulines…

Pan de Muertos -Day of the Dead bread, traditionally sold this time of the year. Inexplicibly topped with plastic faces as well as sesame seeds. These were $10 and were on sale last weekend; the lady said she'll have larger loaves this weekend. There are other pastries, cookies, baked tortillas and several other items for sale here.

I decided to buy some red mole ($8/lb). There was green mole (unlabled ingredients) for the same price for sale in the Produce section, and I'll try that after I finish this batch.

Chapulines- fried grasshoppers. $5 for a good size bag. Crispy, lemon and salt topped and quite definitely alfalfa/grassy in flavor (which is exactly what the nice lady explained to me, while stressing they were organic). A nice snack, or they can be put into sauces.

I was able to edit and zoom in…Those are intestines in the foreground, and tripe and other parts near the back of the grill.

The Mister wanted to try 'real' Tostilocos ($5.50). This was HUGE, hardly any chips on the bottom, filled with a lot of cueritos (sliced pigs ears), cucumber, jicama, chamoy sauce, tamarind and cacahuate (coated peanuts). This was an excellent excellent breakfast.

But, I had to try more…a birria taco with beans-excellent stewed meat, beans, toppings and tortillas.

and a pupusa (the taco + pupusa price was $4.50), which was made after I ordered it and brought out to our seat in front…the side of curtido was not 'dumbed down' and was crispy fresh with a good amount of heat, complimenting the 'plain' corn flavor of the thick, fresh, hand made dough, which was filled with both beans and cheese (I was asked which I wanted or if I wanted both).

Here's a cross section of the pupusa- that's a Mexican cheese inside along with the very flavorful beans. Really good.

There were at least two vendors selling mariscos (seafoods), but those places were crowded…

If you aren't in a mood for Mexican food of any type, there is an option.

Escondido World Market 635 West Mission Avenue Escondido 92025 (760) 233-7703 Hours: Wed: 7-3, Fri 2-9:30, Sat 8-3, Sun 7-3:30. Admission $1 on Wed and Sat, $2 on Fri and Sun Website

The bluefin tuna, “try to make something good for a change” challenge.

October 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

It seems like a pretty easy question….poke or some sashimi, right? But what if you're given a challenge, to make "something good for a change"?

I was faced with that on a recent evening…..granted, I've been really busy with work recently, so I really wanted something special for the Missus.

So I came up with this.

Bluefin three ways……

The cut of bluefin was very fresh, though not particularly outstanding. The perfect 20 minute challenge for me.

Here's the play-by-play…..

I decided on doing a very quick, hot smoke, so I got my trusty stovetop smoker going. I didn't want this to be a hot dish, but also wanted a fairly aggressive smoke flavor without cooking the fish. So I used mesquite and instead of starting high then turning low, I just turned the flame up high, seasoned the block of tuna with Maldon Smoked Salt and fresh ground pepper, covered the smoker briefly and when a good amount developed, placed the fish in the smoker, replaced thecover, and just let her rip!

I went into the garden to pick the veggies and herbs, washing then drying them on paper towels. Seven minutes had passed. I removed the tuna from the smoker, placed it on a plate and putting it in the freezer to quickly cool. I wanted to maintain the firmness of the fish.

At this point I decided on making three different items; for the first, I chopped the uneven part of the block, mixing it with some pretty good Maui onion and minced avocado……I then added a few drops of my roasted ghost pepper hot sauce and stuffed the avocado. Something I used to do when I helped a friend of mine cater a few dinners many years ago. A couple of slices of red serrano, sliced scallions, minced cilantro, and a touch of mint from the yard finished things. The Missus loved this combination of meaty-smoky-pungent-creamy-crunchy-mildly spicy. I was amazed that the ghost pepper hot sauce added just enough heat with a wonderful flowery fragrance.

The second item were just slices of the smoked tuna on lettuce from the yard. This I paired with some blanched, then grated garlic, grated ginger, yuzu kosho, and wasabi. I was so proud of the Missus, She never touched that wasabi from a tube. She loved placing tiny dabs of the salty, mildly spicy yuzu kosho on the smoky fish, never feeling a need to add soy sauce.

The third item was a play on a caprese, with tuna replacing the standard mozzarella. I placed the cuts of fish between slices of cherry tomato and basil, drizzling on some 0.3% acidity extra virgin olive oil. I also seeded a cherry tomato and filled it with olive oil creating a "shot" homage to our visit to Peza Union, where the tasting of each olive oil was presented in cups like a shot! The Missus enjoyed this the least.

This was only half of everything as there was a imrror plate also created. The Missus really enjoyed this…..which turned out pretty well. One of the most interesting responses I got from the Missus was when I had Her eat a slice of the Maui Onion with a touch of smoked salt…….I love good Maui onion with just some Hawaiian salt…this was the way I ate it growing up and the Missus enjoyed this as well.

The funny thing was….I was also finishing up Her main courses for dinner at the same time…….perhaps that's a future post…..

Still, like that surf and turf challenge, I lived to cook another day……

Jump Tokyo

October 24, 2013 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, food blog, descriptions, sharing experiences. Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy write here quite a bit. This time, it's Cathy's turn.

Long story short, a client wanted me to meet for lunch and exchange of paperwork. Knowing I lived 'just up the road' (Friars Road turns into Mission Gorge Road, going straight into Santee), he suggested Jump Tokyo, which is at the intersection where the name change occurs. I have seen Jump Tokyo over the years (more than ten years), passing by when parking in the lot to go to other restaurants in the same parking lot, but never have eaten here.

It's in the same mall with a Rubios, Einstein's, Carl's Jr as well as Troy's Greek Restaurant, San Diego Brewing Company, Saigon Star, Gaglione Brothers, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Ra Ka De Ka and several other restaurants. Within walking distance from Kaiser Hospital, the businesses are always buzzing. The parking lot is large enough to handle cars for all the restaurants (Looking at you, Convoy Street) and I've never had a problem finding a spot here.

Inside, the wooden tables and chairs are nice to see. The decor on the walls includes paper specials.

My friend ordered the chicken katsu plate ($7.95). The chicken was a good size, pounded chicken breast that was lightly breaded and crispy fried-not burned nor dry. Placed on top of the shredded cabbage ensured the cutlet stayed crispy and didn't get soggy through the meal. It was served with the rice (topped with three edamame) and a generic salad, topped with a sesame oil based dressing.

We thought we had ordered vegetable tempura, but somehow received these tempura'd onion rings. Same price ($4.95) as the vegetable tempura. Nicely fried, not greasy and the onions were sweet and thick..

I ordered the tuna tataki salad ($8.95). Not pretty, but very tasty and quite large. The hot tea was $1.50 each.

When we were part way through our meal a group of eight who were obviously 'regulars' came in and occupied one of the larger center tables. They knew what they wanted to order and seemed very enthusiastic about each item when it was brought out (many rolls from the sushi area). I'm going to have to explore the menu with The Mister some day.

Jump Tokyo 10450 Friars Road San Diego 92120 (619) 280-4043

Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen

October 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Spotted Cow has closed

I first heard about this place on Eater and was a bit puzzled. I thought having a Pho stand in Zion Marketplace would be an interesting venture. It was the "marketing" and concept that I thought was kind of interesting. This place wanted to make "the pho experience more customizable"…..hmmm, have you ever seen the different combinations of protein, etc, at your friendly neighborhood pho restaurant? Like all 30+ of them…..and then you have nuoc beo (rendered beef tallow), gia chin (blanched bean sprouts), etc….. Pardon me, if I don't understand….is there some innovative "concept" here? It looks like an assembly line process, something which isn't too unfamiliar having seen the kitchen areas of a couple of Pho places. On the interesting side, the "chef" Jimmy Trinh went to the CIA…on the somewhat discouraging side the "heritage" of this place is not one of my favorite pho shops.

Still it's bright, the folks on my first visit, soon after that announcement on Eater were really nice. I was kind of confused at the set-up. There's the steam/hot table and the cold station where you can pick what you want for your soup, then a large gap, then what looks like another station with the cashier at the end. The gap seems like a "dead zone", what goes on here? On this visit I ordered one of the four soup offerings….pho of course ($5.99) and moved to the middle area because I really didn't know if I should stop here or move to the register. The really nice young lady took my tray all the way to the register where I paid and made my way to the table.

The broth was very light and defatted, lacking in richness. Beef flavor was lacking, though I could make out onion and a touch of anise. It was also on the salty side, thank goodness for the lime. This isn't among my favorite bowls. The broth was also on the lukwarm side as well.

The rare steak looked nice, but was cut too thick making for a dry and tough experience. I'm not sure if it was how the meat was kept in cooled sixth-sized food pans, but I found them really lacking in flavor. The one surprise was the tendon which was pretty good.

The noodles were decent, but since it was in a clump some of it was on the cold side.

I basically cooled my heels, until I read Kirbie's post and decided to return, after all this place is really close to work. But no pho pho me this time.

I decided to try the Pho Bo Kho. The young man working the front was really enthusiastic and friendly. I noticed something a bit different this time around. My noodles were dropped into hot water and the bowl rinsed in hot water as well. I'm thinking this step was missed on my previous visit….after all, it was just after they had started business. I walked on over to the register to pay. In a move I found somewhat awkward, this time around my tray was left in the "dead zone" for me to pick up and drag to the register. This wasn't much of a problem however since the guy working the register was too busy counting his money than to acknowledge my existence. I kept thinking if I was "at Pho Hoa Huong, I'd be eating by now". Finally, after checking his drawer, walking away to talk to someone, he returned and was ready to have me pay. When he actually spoke to me he seemed a really nice young man, it was getting to this point that was rather painful for me. What ever happened to "I'll be with you in a minute"? Come to think of it though, would I expect that at, say, Pho Cow Cali, or at your neighborhood Pho shop in Hanoi?

In many ways this was much better than the straight up pho bo. While not even in the same league as the version at Pho Lucky, this had some mild richness. The beef flavor was still faint and overall the broth was still a bit thin for me. I like a nice hearty soup. The carrots were a bit too undercooked for me and the beef was still tasteless.

The dunking of the already cooked noodles made them too mushy for my taste. The heating of the bowl ensured a nice hot broth though.

I also hated the plastic spoons which were not at all suited for soup slurping……I've seen disposable Japanese style soup spoons, though the cost might be a bit too high?

It had me wondering……where this ranked in the Kearny Mesa Pho universe? I will say that this was totally not what I expected, even in a fast-casual concept, from CIA Alums who've "logged stints in Michelin starred kitchens". Though after eating at Gordon Ramsey's Plane Food nothing should surprise me, right?

Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen (in the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, California 92111

Original Pancake House (revisit)

October 22, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Hello there. You are at mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Cathy has a post today, because Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are just not ready to post about any of their recent meals.

The Mister and I try to avoid going out on weekends, to avoid crowds. Going to the Original Pancake House is always a treat and since OPH is fairly close to home (via the freeways), we stop by here during the week for quick breakfasts before running errands.

It's still crowded during the week, but usually no line out the door as happens on Saturday and Sunday.

Coffee ($2.50) is always accompanied by real cream, served in a heavy pitcher.

Table condiments are "American" compared to other condiment photos I've shown (no idea why we had a second sugar container). You can see the fresh strawberry specials; yes, we were here in early September, now the specials are pumpkin-centric.

The Mister's Bacon waffle ($8.50). The waffle is not a giant Belgian deal, but a normal size one, made with the OPH batter, which is very malt-y. I think the waffle has a nice sweetness on its own and just needs butter as a topping (no syrup). It's perfect- crispy on the exterior and with a nice, fluffy interior. There is a good amount of crispy, thick bacon pieces, served on top, so you can give yourself a bit of bacon in each bite.

Sausage, egg and pancake meal ($9.25). I adore the sausage here. It's thick sliced (about 1/2 inch) from a log then cooked to a crispy exterior. The spices are mild but there and have a perfect ratio. The sausage is made just for OPH. Of course, I ordered poached eggs (again, perfectly cooked) and pancakes as my side…because, this is The Original Pancake House. The batter is different than the waffle batter and also specially made for here. There is a definite sweetness to the large flapjacks, especially when butter topped and I don't think syrup needs to be added. But… since real, warm maple syrup is on the table, I always have some with a few bites of the pancakes.

Original Pancake House 3906 Convoy San Diego 92111 858-565-1740 Website

Green Acre -revisit- lunch in an office park setting

October 21, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Salads, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to our food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is busy, Ed (from Yuma) is busy and Cathy finally is not busy, so she's blogging today.

Yes, I wrote about Green Acre only five months ago. It's a favorite place of ours that is crowded at lunch time, with an Office Park crowd. "Regular" people can eat here, we've met friends here and have tried just about every menu item, which vary based on what's been harvested from the garden. I can't wait to try more 'cold season' selections, which should be available soon. For now, the fresh fresh salads are my favorite item to order.

The outdoor eating space is always clean and surrounded mostly by herbs.

Each day the regular menu is supplemented by chalkboard specials, which you'll see as you walk in the door.

The indoor eating space is comfortable and hs a few vignette eating areas.

The menu is slightly changed from the last time I posted, mentioning Chef Owner Brian Malarkey's name on the branding symbol, as well as altering some of the choices. I imagine the menu will change with the seasons, since some items won't be fresh and available.

Here is a full size "Purist" from the Brick Oven Bar ($12)- mozzarella, crushed tomatoes and fresh from the garden basil. It comes with the salad.

This is the Prosciutto salad ($8). A good variety of greens, sunflower sprouts (and seeds), fresh basil, some grapes from the garden and an olive oil based dressing. The Prosciutto is a very good quality

This is the half mushroom Brick Oven Bar selection ($7)- garlic, cremini mushrooms and a fresh mozzarella topped on an excellent flat bread. Again, the simple salad is included in the price.

The "Goddess" Salad($7) with added on Mary's free range chicken 'brick filet' ($6). This salad includes fresh herbs as well as edible flowers, capers, and Goat Cheese. It's kind of 'fancy' and delicious.The dressing is a champagne vinaigrette.

Here are a few photos from the garden, it looks like fennel, beans and peppers will be playing a role in future menu items.

Always fresh and good food here.

Green Acre 3535 General Atomics Court San Diego 92121 (858)587-6601 M-F 7am-3pm Website

P.L. Bagels (revisit featuring the Bialy) (Point Loma)

October 20, 2013 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk or Ed (from Yuma) or Cathy usually write blog posts here. Today, it's Cathy's turn.

I wrote about P.L. Bagels in October last year, promising to follow up with a weekend only offering- Bialy. This yeasty, baked and onion topped product is similar in size to a bagel (which is boiled) but takes a bit more time and so is specially made only two days a week. Since The Mister and I try to avoid crowds, we usually aren't at the Point on weekends, but if we (meaning He) wake really early, we do drop by here before our morning walk and indulge in this special breakfast item.

Family owned and run, there is a friendly, familiar crowd here, picking up pre-orders or riding bicycles up to the front door on a steady basis on weekends. The parking lot is small, but the lines move pretty fast.

The prices are the same as in my last post (mini bagels are still 35¢ each) and, as always, it is cash only.

There are various cream cheese flavors as well as sandwich choices, along with breakfast specials (bagel with butter or cream cheese or egg & cheese plus small coffee for $2.50, $3.25 or $3.99). The ordering system and food preparation is efficient.

Here's a photo of a salt bagel and a bialy, each toasted and buttered. You can see the chopped onion topping is just placed in a small depression on the top of the bialy, not overwhelming the bread.

The bagels here are not large and crazy carb filled, but a 'normal' (as found in NYC) size. Also, the entire bagel is covered in the various toppings (the left side of that salt bagel, above, is the bottom).

Here's a photo of the bottom of the baked bialy. You can see the texture is more bready than bagel-y. It's soft and chewy, but not as chewy/dense as a bagel.

Here's a photo from another visit, where I ordered a bialy with egg (no cheese) and The Mister ordered an 'everything' twist with cream cheese.

The wonderful bagels are made fresh here every day, and the doors open at 6:30 a.m. and close when sold out (around 1 p.m.).

We follow our bready indulgences with a nice walk around Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, enjoying the views and paying respect.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

PL Bagels 3704 Voltaire Street, Suite 107 San Diego 92106 (619)223-4788 Open daily 6:30-1:00

Dia De Los Muertos bread-Tradition

October 19, 2013 Cathy Bakery, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading about the who, what, where, when and why of food on this blog named mmm-yoso!!! Well, at least some of those are included in each post. We (Kirk, Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy) try to write interesting, informative posts which are food-centric. Today, Cathy is trying.

It's October. The time is close to Halloween, and you probably have been seeing pumpkins, candy for sale and other 'scary' displays since August.

Pay attention to this last photo. It's a display in a Mexican Market in Chula Vista. Skeletons come alive and there are sorts of plates of food in front of them.

Decorated sugar skulls with 'gifts' for the dead. Yes, Halloween -All Hallows Eve- is just before the day before the Day of the Dead, a religious holiday celebrated by Christians. (In Catholicism, November 1st is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day.). The costumes and scary events of Halloween are meant to scare off the souls of the dead which remain on earth. In Mexico, the holiday is Dia de los Muertos and is celebrated on November 2 with making small altars or shrines to the deceased and leaving gifts for them.

Inside Mexican Markets and Bakeries, you will notice some displays of oddly shaped bread for sale near this holiday.

This is what it looks like out of the package. The symbolism- round signifying the circle of life, and topped with 'bones' of the dead, is Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead).

In some markets, it's just on the shelf with other breads.

In other Mexican Markets, it's boxed and displayed on shelves around the store.

The traditional flavor of this soft, eggy bread? Orange peel with anise -orange and black- the 'Halloween' colors.

You can see some of the tiny black specks in this slice-the anise seeds. A sweet soft bread, which is meant to be consumed with atole- a hot corn beverage- or a good hot chocolate. If you see this bread in the store now, grab a loaf; it will be gone by November 3.

Last weekend, we were at Northgate Gonzalez and there were small Pan de Muerto in the donut shelves for 70¢. However, when we sliced into it, it was a very nice buttery sweet egg bread and not orange or anise flavored. A good, sweet bread, but not the traditional flavors. We didn't buy the large loaf because we have usually purchased from the smaller Mexican markets in the neighborhood. I'd look to see if there were anise seeds on the exterior of the bread to know it has the traditional flavors.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Tan Ky Mi Gia- Lunch in Mira Mesa

October 18, 2013 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed. It will be missed.

Thanks for stopping by mmm-yoso!!! and reading about food. Today, Cathy is blogging: Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are really busy.

The Mister and I were craving Vietnamese on one of those crazy hot days a few weeks ago, but neither of us wanted pho. We had originally headed to Lucky Seafood and when we got to the parking lot, went to the other end of that group of storefronts- to Tan Ki Mi Gia, which Kirk has blogged about several times. The menu here is a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes, "mi" is noodles, which is the specialty here- and we didn't order any this visit…

We had just missed the 'lunch rush' and had the restaurant to ourselves.

Although while we were there, several people came in to pick up 'to go' orders.

I enjoy the plethora of condiments available here.

As soon as we sat down, I placed an order for Banh Xeo ($7), which did end up being brought out last, as expected. The turmeric flavored (and colored) rice flour crepe is mixed and made to order.

It's filled with a stir fry mix of bean sprouts, scallion, pork and shrimp, served with lettuce and mint and nuoc-mam(fish sauce). I do like the lightness and crispiness of the crepe along with the softness of the fillings; the flavors really go well together.

We also had an order of spring rolls($5.75), fried in a delicate, very flaky wrapper and quite filled with fungus as well as pork and not many rice noodles, these came out of the kitchen hot and fresh. Again, these were served with lettuce and mint and nuoc mam.

We decided to share an order of lemon grass fish($9) – steamed and delicate, the flavors of lemon grass and soy were light and also went well with the accompanying steamed rice, steamed (topped with garlic and a bit of sweet hoisin) bok choy and small bowl of broth.

It was a delightful, fresh lunch on a nice day. Hope your week has been good.

Tan Ky Mi Gia 9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A San Diego 92126 (858) 271-8899 Mon-Th 9:30-9:30, Fri-Sun 9-10

Aqui Es Texcoco-Barbacoa de Borrego (Chula Vista)

October 16, 2013 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping by the food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk is in the midst of a busy time at work, Ed (from Yuma) is recovering from a busy weekend visit to San Diego and Cathy's busy days ended about yesterday, so she's the blogger for now.

I liked Ed (from Yuma)'s most recent post, about barbecue and how he described his meal (critically) and began thinking of 'other' versions of barbecued food. Last month, I went on a Chula Vista Food Crawl (see the bottom of the post for links to all the places we went) with fellow bloggers canine cologne and Dennis, where our first stop of the day included 'proper' barbecued lamb (Barbacoa de Borrego).

Located at the South end of a strip mall on Broadway in Chula Vista, we arrived around 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday for this first stop of our food crawl. Cute little lamb on the signage. Just so you know, by 10.a.m., there was a line out the door waiting for seating.

There's another cute little lamb on the counter.

This is the entire menu. It is served from 8 a.m. until closing. Note the flavored waters are made here daily.

When you are seated, two sauces are brought out to your table (the green one is very hot-spicy, the brown one is essentially a mole and quite pleasant), along with cut limes and a cilantro-onion mix. These items go with lamb.

Since we were on a food crawl, we were sharing and tasting and planning on other stops so ordered three tacos to share ($1.95 each). The top right is 'meat' (lamb shoulder or thigh) the one in front is rib meat (nicely fatty) and that one on the top left, I chose-brains. Each meat is unique in flavor and delicious. I grew up eating lamb and my initial taste of the meat and rib tacos brought back good memories. The brains tasted like liver, both the first taste and when I burped as we were walking to our next destination.

We also chose two quesadillas to share. ($2.50 each). Above, the mushroom, which was very nice and rich and buttery.

Because none of us had ever had 'fresh' huitlacoche (a fungus that grows on corn)(I've had a canned version packed by Goya), we decided to share one here. Good idea to try the milder mushroom first, as the flavor of this corn smut is strong. I liked it; my blogger friends not so much.

I had to bring The Mister back here to share the flavors enjoyed. Surprisingly, Aqui es Texcoco is not crowded around noon on Wednesdays. We were seated immediately and ordered a squash flower quesadilla ($2.50). Always wondering what to do with our squash blossoms from the yard or the Farmers Market (which we have usually stuffed with cheese and fried) having them stir fried and mixed into melty cheese was a great way to eat those flowers.

Each of our orders came with a small (10 oz) lamb consomé (lamb broth made with drippings of the roasting lamb, with garbanzo beans and rice), a slightly spicy very flavorful way to begin (or be) a meal. It's served in styrofoam cups, as it would be at your neighbor's home.

The regular order lamb plate ($8.75) 1/3 pound shredded lamb meat and tortillas. That's it and it is all you need.

Three grilled quail plate ($9.50). We wanted to see how quail should be prepared. They were not treated like little chickens and baked, but splayed, seasoned and grilled and served with it's own sauce, which went perfectly with the meat.

Yes quail are small, but have the same bone structure and number of bones as chicken and turkey…a bit of work, but tasty. The food here is great, the service excellent. Back in 2008, guest blogger Miz Ducky had a post here about Aqui es Texcoco and things seem to not have changed much in the interim. I like consistency.

Aqui Es Texcoco 1043 Broadway Chula Vista 91911 (619)427-4045 Website