mmm-yoso – Page 353 – 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.

Getting to The Adobo Road Cookbook Tour. {The first stop: 85C-Irvine} Road Trip!

June 26, 2013 Cathy Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Orange County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food. Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy write about adventures in eating. Today, the beginning of one of Cathy's adventures.

In May, I received an e-mail from the LA Times about an upcoming book signing in Pasadena by Marvin Gapultos, whose Blog (cleverly named Burnt Lumpia Blog) I have bookmarked on this machine. Marvin's cookbook, The Adobo Road Cookbook a Filipino food journey -from food blog to food truck and beyond, looked interesting to me, and I saved that email. Later that week, I heard from my friend and fellow blogger, cc, who asked me if I'd want to do a roadtrip with her…because she had already purchased several copies of the cookbook wanted to meet Marvin and have the cookbooks signed by him. Road Trip!

At 7 a.m. on Sunday June 9, cc was at my front door and I had my car filled with fuel and ready. We each had our own coolers so we could transport/bring home anticipated food purchases safely. The book signing was scheduled for 3 p.m.. Yes, there would be a few (nine) stops for food on this 14+ hour day. This post is a link to cc's version about our first stop.

85c Bakery Cafe, a Taiwanese bakery of international franchises. I've heard of it, been asked about it but had never experienced it. Now I have done so, *twice* in less than two weeks. {I had to go back with The Mister…}

When cc and I arrived here just before 9 a.m., we missed an onslaught of customers by less than five minutes. When I brought The Mister here, we were in the parking lot five minutes before the doors opened. I really try to avoid crowds. The above refrierated glass case holds cakes and cake slices…

Cubby holes of various fresh baked sweets and savories line the far wall. Cubbies of shelving about half that size line the two adjoining walls. They are are replenished constantly and announced loudly ("fresh bread!!!"). The individual-doored spaces are emptied quickly most of the day with a steady line (an outside the door and into the parking lot line) of customers. The photo above shows the small floor refrigerator centering the shelving and it's filled with prepacked whipped cream and cheesecake filled pastries.

The choices are almost overwhelming and because of the many people picking and choosing pastries, it's necessary to grab what you want as soon as you see it (trays and tongs are at the door as you walk in).

There are two cash registers here; the one to the right will put your pastries into individual bags and you can order beverages and pay, or someone with you can go the register on the left where only beverages can be ordered and they'll probably be ready about the time you are finished paying for pastries.

These were the purchases cc and I made. The sausage cheese pastry (a soft bread dough) and the tomato cheese pastry (a puff pastry dough) became 'breakfast' for us. The beverages are iced sea salt coffee and iced sea salt green tea…beverages I saw a few times this day but still never have seen in San Diego County. The other items are a mango bread (new item here advertised in a poster "Celebrate Mango Season"), blueberry danish, maple brick toast and a multigrain berry bread loaf (which remained soft into the following morning).

This was the 'breakfast' The Mister and I had -cream puffs (real whipped cream; a heavier dough than at the County Fair cream puffs); we were told to refrigerate as soon as possible…as if those would make it back to San Diego) and a ham and cheese croissant. I got a medium iced sea salt coffee ($2.75) for The Mister and also small Americano ($1.80) just to compare the taste differences.

Everything here has been fresh/still warm and what made it to the next day remained fresh. The salted beverages are different and not crazy salty…they are basically a 'regular' beverage topped with sea salt foam that you either can stir into the regular beverage (by swirling; the beverages are in paper cups topped with that hermetic seal you've seen in Boba Shops) or you get the salt at the end of your drink when the sea salt foam has descended to the bottom of the cup: I haven't developed a craving for those beverages…yet.

85c is a good place to stop, but I don't think I would wait in a very long line if I lived here…there are so many alternatives- even within the Diamond Jamboree Center-just across the parking lot; our second stop this day.

85C Cafe and Bakery 2700 Alton Parkway, Suite 123 Irvine, CA 92606 (949) 553-8585 US website

Szechuan Chef

June 25, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

Just before we left on our trip, I heard that Quoc Te 2 was closing and being replaced by a Sichuan Restaurant, which would bring the total of Sichuan Restaurants (I know Spicy City is sort of Yunnan, but you ever look at the menu?) on Convoy to four. I also heard that the former owner of Dede's was somehow involved, which didn't exactly thrill me since that playbook has become a cliche for me.

Still, just like I believe that we could always use another "good" Thai Restaurant, a decent Sichuan place is welcome.

So upon returning, I decided to drop by Szechuan Chef.

They've done a nice job updating the tired Quoc Te……..

The thing that I found really fascinating is that this was the first time I recalled seeing the "over-sized glossy menu" in San Diego. It's something we noticed in China when we visited and it made it's was to the SGV at places like Shanghai No.1. A real page turner of glamour shots of the various dishes served. It can be perceived as really neat, or a pain, depending on your viewpoint. For me, the scatter-shot arrangement of dishes was somewhat aggravating….trying to find, say, Shui Zhu Yu (water boiled fish), means turning back and forth from page to page…..

In the end, I got tired of trying to find "my standards" and went with the Chongqing La Zi Ji(重庆辣子鸡), the Spicy Chicken with Red Chilies ($10.99).

This actually looked pretty good, but really lacked zip. It would be one of least spicy, spicy-looking dishes I've ever had. It really needed more spice and much more Sichuan Peppercorn. I liked the way the chicken was fried, but the fragrance was slightly rancid and it did taste a bit off. I'm wondering if the oil was a bit past its prime and denatured.

I saw something on the other table and ordered it. The steamed pork with mustard greens. This was a mistake.

This was very salty and had an unpleasant, bitter flavor like burnt soy sauce. Also, while the pork is supposed to be rich and luxurious, this was greasy, which meant that the person making this really didn't have the chops to pull this off or didn't care. Not to be snide but I would have preferred to have taken a bite out of the pretty, glossy photo of the dish than to have another bite of this. I actually had a friend of mine try this……..she couldn't bear to have more than one bite.

Still, the prices were reasonable, and the portion size seemed perhaps a bit too large almost reminding me of Spicy King. In fact, even the flavor profile seemed similar, like it was pulled out from the same gene pool.

I talked the Missus into visiting a week or so later. As we sat and tried to order something, the Missus told me that the two women were talking in Cantonese, not Mandarin, which seemed kind of strange. We also had the same menu paralysis as before….looking over, I noticed that they had Liang Cai – cold dishes…which strangely, we hadn't seen on the menu. Maybe it's there, but we just didn't see it.

The Fu Qi Fei Pian was all meat, no offal, and was cut to a perfect thickness. The flavor was sorely lacking however. Missing light anise tones, a touch of sweetness, I even enjoy versions with a bit of black vinegar. This was pretty bland. The pig year was thinly sliced with a nice crunch, but really had no flavoring what so ever…..luckily that it's consumed mainly for the texture. I saw Kou Shui Ji 重庆口水鸡 - mouthwatering (saliva) chicken in the cold case and we got that as well. Man, talk about lacking any complexity, or even heat. No sesame paste flavor, not enough vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns…. just lacking.

I just had to try the Zi Ran Yang Rou – the Cumin Lamb.

First off, this photo doesn't show just how much lamb this was…sheesh, we ate like crazy and only got thru half! Because I make this at home so often, I enjoy ordering it just to see how things line up. Like the other dishes, there just seemed to be something missing. In this case the cumin flavor was pretty good, it could used perhaps a touch more soy sauce. The lamb was tough and really didn't taste much like lamb. I'm thinking a bit more cilantro might have helped the whole effort as well.

One of the dishes I really miss from Ba Ren was the Beef with Preserved Vegetable, so I was really interested when I saw a "Beef Sour Soup" ($10.99) that looked like it had preserved mustard greens in it. So what the heck, we ordered it.

And while it didn't quite look like the glossy in the menu, this was probably the best item I've had from this restaurant. The sourness and the ginger heightened the spice, the meat was ok…basic huo guo (hot pot) cut, not prepped in cornstarch, but that really didn't hurt the dish. Finally, something that at least hit the "suan-ku-la-xian" (sour-bitter-hot-salty) tones. We saved most of this and had it the next day and it was much better, more spicy, more sour, more better…..

So all of this meant that I give the place one more try. I'd finally got the handle on the menu and decided on one of my favorite dishes – hong you chao shou, basically won tons in hot sauce ($5.99). What I got was a large bowl of won tons in an insipid "broth".

This was just wrong….in case you want to see photos of what this is supposed to look like, you can try here. Or what the heck, how about one from our visit to Chengdu? While the won tons were decent, perhaps the wrappers a bit too thick, I thought the kou gan (口感 – mouth feel) was ok, nice and slippery. But the overall flavoring was watery and not spicy enough.

I also went with the Pork Intestines with Red Peppers ($10.99).

You know what? I'll take back what I said about the Chongqing La Zi Ji. This has got to be the least spicy, spicy-looking dish, I've ever had. A real lack of heat from scalded chilies and almost no numbing sensation from Sichuan peppercorns. The intestines were not fried well, resulting in a rubbery texture. A good version should have a nice fried crunch, before yielding to a decent chew. It's a darn shame that a restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin with a Japanese name can do it better. Well, at least it had the slight offal flavor of intestine.

After this visit, I'm pretty much done, unless someone can give me some compelling reason (dish) to return. I thought the servers here are nice….they are ever so patient with all the "gringo" customers. In fact, I thought the guy's Beef and Broccoli looked much better than my won tons. The dishes I had, except one, pretty much fell flat. It had me wondering, with the beef roll, jiaozi, and other stuff on the menu and the servers speaking Cantonese, whether a "Szechuan Chef" was actually cooking here. I asked the Missus what She thought. Her answer? "He could be from Sichuan….but remember what I said….anybody from China with a wok can open a restaurant saying they're a chef." The son of the owner of Ba Ren once told me that one of the local "Sichuan Chefs" is actually from Chongqing like he says. But back in Sichuan he was a taxi driver! Heck, I could have been eating at Szechuan Taxi-driver Restaurant!!!!

Szechuan Chef
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Boba Bar and Desserts – inside Zion Market

June 24, 2013 Cathy Caffeine Fix, Desserts, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You've found mmm-yoso!!!-a food blog. Kirk, Ed(fromYuma) and Cathy usually write here. The central focus on our posts is food. Today, Cathy is focusing.

Since I went to/posted about Zion Market on the first day of its 'soft' opening at the new location, The Mister and I have returned several times for regular grocery, meat, seafood and produce shopping. Slowly, the other storefronts on the West side of the expansive former KMart have been opening. I saw a news story that the official 'Grand Opening' will be this upcoming weekend (June 28).

I took this photo from the South Western corner of the building, in front of CDD Tofu & Grill (an upcoming post). You can see the wide expanse of space the market and other businesses occupy. (The news story said 100,000 square feet). All of the lighting is retrofitted LEDs – very energy efficient. Boba Bar and Desserts is very colorful. Kirbie has a post about her visit which has some better photos of the menu.

The ice creams are '100% natural' according to the Boba Bar and Desserts Facebook page (there is no website). Some of the flavors have me curious…

The corner glass refrigerated section contains Vietnamese puddings and jellies and on this visit, these lucious looking chocolate dipped strawberries.

We decided to try some basics on this first visit: An iced Vietnamese coffee ($3) and milk green tea ($2.75). No boba, no syrup/sweetener/condensed milk. The coffee was very smooth and strong and the milk tea had a good tea flavor, which is the way I like it.

We wanted the beverages to go with my 'regular' purchase from Zion- the freshly made fish pancakes. Since the food court area was relatively empty, this was a nice way to relax for a snack before the drive home…

However, we were there, it wasn't crowded, sweets were beckoning…the Shaved Snow machine was calling.

The "Deluxe" size (16 oz) is $4 and includes two toppings as well as a sauce of condensed milk. I decided on the green tea shaved snow and was told it had just been made the night before and the texture may not be correct. I ordered it, and asked for no condensed milk and two of the fresh fruit toppings…

You can see this was more of a fluffy ice texture…

which melted in the mouth the same way the ribbons of shaved snow usually do. The deep green tea flavor was excellent and unadulterated by not having the condensed milk…the fresh blueberries and macerated strawberries were very complimentary.

We'll try other offerings on our next shopping trip here. Everything was very good. The people working are very nice and helpful.

Boba Bar and Desserts Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111(inside Zion Marketplace at Convoy Street) 619-940-4190 open 9 am-9 pm daily

Noodling Around: Revisits to Pho Tay Do, Santouka, Minh Ky, and having something that’s “just wrong” at Pho Cow Cali

June 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Pho, Ramen, Vietnamese Restaurants

Somewhere at about the half-way point during our trips, the Missus always asks me, "are you missing anything?" And usually, it's noodles. Strangely, on our last vacation we ate so well that I only started missing noodles, at the end of our trip……yes, I realize we were in Rome and all, but it was Asian noodles, in any form….

Anyway, here's a short collection of revisits…..

Pho Tay Do:

**** Pho Tay Do has closed

I first posted on Pho Tay Do back in 2010, Cathy followed up a year later. For some reason my mind just blanks out places in this strip mall; I'm not sure why.

I actually hadn't been back here in over a year and was wondering what the state of the Bun Mang Vit – The Duck and Bamboo Shoot Noodle Soup was.

There were a couple of tables occupied when I arrived, but the interior was pretty dark. I guess they're trying to keep the energy bill down.

I ordered the Bun Mang Vit which arrived in the blink of an eye.

I don't know how business is, nor how the current state of the economy or anything else is affecting this place, but in terms of what I had it seems to have fallen.

The broth wasn't hot and had very little flavor. There was hardly eny of the earthy reconstituted dried bamboo and maybe 2/3 of the noodles of the bowl I last had here. The portion of dipping sauce was smaller and though it still has a nice hint of ginger, it too tastes watered down.

The slices of duck are smaller and very dry. Even though the place never provided an abundance of herbs in their greens, this was just about all cabbage……

This was pretty sorry overall and a mere shadow of what I'd had in previous visits. Sad…..

Pho Tay Do
5296 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Santouka (for the zillionth time):

Yeah, I know…I won't even post the links. A couple of weeks back, I took my coworker, "YZ" to Yamadaya, I was interested in what She thought.

On this visit, the pork cheek was spot on, tender and full of flavor. The noodles were done perfectly as well. Hard combination to beat.

So when I quizzed Her, the opinion was pretty much the same as ours. Pork and noodles Santouka, broth Yamadaya. So I guess it depends on what you're in the mood for, right?

The Missus asked me if the perfect ramen existed? I could only shrug my shoulders……

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Minh Ky:

Yes, Beef Sate Noodle – Dry, again:

Needless to say….it delivered as expected.

Minh Ky Restaurant
4644 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Pho Cow Cali:

Before we left on our trip, the Missus was strangely craving Pho….something that rarely happens as I'm the Pho eater in the family. The craving lasted for a couple of weeks and there's just so many times you can go to Pho Lucky. The Missus can be a rather hard nut though…..once She finds something She likes it's hard to convince Her to try something else. I did explain to Her that Pho Cow Cali's protein was better and that they had Filet Mignon Pho!

Which was just fine for Her….however, once She saw this on the menu:

She determined that I just had to have the Com Tam Dac Biet….without com tam (broken rice). And so it came to pass that I had mine with brown rice.

First, let me explain that I'm not a fan of brown rice. Then to add insult to injury, they charge you $1 more. Of course they probably don't sell too much brown rice, so this took forever……it was also very low quality. The Bi was good, the pork chop and cha ok, the brown rice, just wrong. Nuff said….I tried it once.

Pho Cow Cali
9170 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Stehly Farms Market opens in Bay Park – A quick look

June 22, 2013 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers

**** This location of Stehly Farms is no more.

I read on Eater San Diego that Stehly Farms, a Valley Center Organic operation was opening a brick and mortar shop on Morena Boulevard. Because this is in my neck of the woods, I was a bit surprised that I hadn't heard about this. So that very afternoon, the Missus and I went to check them out.

The shop is located at 1231 Morena, right next to Andres.

The shop appeared to be well spaced and the selection of produce was good.

Considering this is a local, organic operation, the prices are pretty much in line.

In addition to the wonderful looking produce, there's a selection of jams, some random Asian type stuff, bread from Bread and Cie, a cold case with dairy/almond milk, and of real interest to us….at least on this day, was the selection of cheese.

Even though we had come in just for a looky-look, we ended up getting some Franco and Angelo Burrata.

This is a nice addition to the neighborhood. Now we've got a good set of shops, from Seisel's and Catalina Offshore, to Stehly Farms and the Fruit Stand. Now all we need is a great bakery……..any takers?

Stehly Farms Market
1231 Morena Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92110

Hours:
Open Daily from 9am – 7pm

We put the burrata to good use.

Lisbon Day 2: Morning, Mercado da Ribeira, Alfama, the “Lisbon Rule”, the “Thieves Market” and yet more Pork!

June 21, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

Man, is Lisbon quiet in the morning, at least on weekend mornings.

We were staying on Rua de Sapateiros, which I believe means Shoemaker Street. The skinny street ends at a gate. That's what it looks like from Rossio Square, which was dead quiet on this morning. Even the fountain hadn't been turned on yet.

It amazing what you see during quiet morning walks. We often miss things while walking in the hustle and bustle of streets like the usually busy with tourists Rua Augusta, a pedestrian only street crawling with restaurants trying to pull in tourists and folks trying to sell cheap sunglasses. This caught our eye on this morning's stroll.

One of our favorite things to do during early mornings is to visit the local market. I'd read about the Mercado de Ribeira (River Market) and thought it might be worth a visit. The front desk person had never heard of it and had to Google it. He gave us instructions on the kilometer or so walk to the market which was located almost across the street from the Cais do Sodre Station.

The area around the market was a bit gritty, there were many bars, and a couple of rough looking types, but it was daylight, and this was Lisbon, which seems very safe.

The market is located in a building with a distinctive Moorish style dome and has been in existence since 1882.

Having been to markets across the globe, I expected a hustling and bustling scene….but I guess for once, we were too early for everyone. Like I said, Lisbon is a late waking city.

Well, that was that….kind of disappointing, but still a bit interesting.

From here, we decided to catch the #28 tram to Alfama, the oldest existing and maybe the most picturesque of Lisbon's neighborhoods. We spent a bit of time trying to find the stop, so we went to the "Lisbon Rule". Whenever you start getting a bit confused and frustrated, it's time for some espresso and a Pastel de Nata. We found a little shop….there must be literally a thousand of these and had a very nice cup of espresso and a passable Pastel de Nata.

By this time I'd developed an espresso routine. Taste, then add preferably raw sugar until you get that balance of bitter and sweet. I actually preferred the espresso in Portugal more than what we had in Rome. I ended up mostly ordering Macchiatos there.

Anyway, one of the guys working here spoke excellent English and gave us directions up the hill to the tram stop. Like I said, the Lisbon rule, when starting to get frustrated, head for the nearest Pastelaria, it worked everytime.

We caught the tram, before all the tourists…though at this hour there weren't any and watched as it ambled up and down the hills.It's a neat ride.

We got off at the stop near the Church of Santa Luzia.

There's some really nice tilework to be found on the church. All done in the 18th century. This was really the first time we had a look at Azulejo, the famous Portuguese tilework up close.

Right on the other side of the church is the small square (Largo) of Santa Luzia. The views of the Tejo and Alfama are breathtaking.

Even with the morning sun blazing in your eyes. For some reason, the sky just seemed brighter in Portugal, Rome, and Malta.

It's really hard not to take a great photo here…….

You just have to follow the signs to really get around.

Alfama itself is a maze of interconnected streets which reminded me of the Medinas of North Africa. This area has been occupied since the days of the Visigoths. I was told that if "you really want to see "how Lisbon was, go here". And I'm talking about really old Lisbon. You see, on All Saints Day (November 1st) 1755, a huge earthquake, actually three earthquakes occurred while most of Lisbon was at Mass, followed by a tsunami. Alfama was one of the few areas spared. Lisbon was rebuilt, in a logical grid pattern. In Alfama, you get a feel of the rabbit's warren of streets, a practical defense against your enemies, the shade from the buildings built close to one another and the breezes directed from the streets kept things cool during hot weather.

The Castle of Sao Jorge – Saint George, you remember him, right? He's the guy who slayed the dragon is right through the gates. The story I read was that John I married an English Princess and since Saint George was a popular figure in both countries, he named this castle after him. Meanwhile, the other story goes that the Alfonso I enlisted the help of the Knights of the Second Crusade to aid in defeating the Moors. The knights prayed to Saint George who inspired them to victory. Nothing was opened at this time, and truthfully, we were just enjoying the vibe and colors too much to even entertain a museum or such.

There's a ton of graffiti in Europe. We kind of enjoyed the signs and graffiti in Alfama……

WE then decided to follow the tram tracks uphill and ended up in Graca District, which seemed more local and residential than Alfama. We followed a sign that said "miradouro" (of course) and ended up at a beautiful viewpoint.

You could tell how far we had walked from Sao Jorge Castle as we had a nice view……

THe Missus had seen "s church" earlier and wanted to find it. This turned out to be the São Vicente da Fora monastery. Which we eventually found……

Now this was Saturday and when I saw stands set-up right past the gate to the right of the monastery I knew we had found the Feira da Ladra, the "Thieves Market". No, it's not quite as romantic as it sounds. This was basically one gigantic flea market.

With everything from Aprons to Zippers……

You can see the Church of Santa Engrácia in this photo. It gives you some idea of how big this market is.

Reaching the end of the market we decided that finding the restaurant in Alfama that we had reservations for the next night might be a good idea. The twisting and turning streets seemed a bit confusing.

So we headed down those very streets, looking at various maps and a print out of the restaurant location. We started getting a bit frustrated.

So you know what time it was, right? It was time to enforce the "Lisbon Rule". We immediately stopped at a pastelaria…

And had a decent espresso and a Pastel de Nata. The really nice woman here sprinkled cinnamon on it, which I kinda liked.

And from here we got our bearings…..

We went from the obedient pooch…..

Past the raincoat mutt….actually, we saw several dogs dressed in jacket and raincoats….

And against all odds actually found the place. We then headed off in the direction we thought was correct and somehow ended up at the fortress like Sé (Cathedral) of Lisbon. Not quite sure how we made it here……

But we had.

It was then just a few blocks to Rua da Prata, a street we were familiar with, parallel to Rua Augusta and Rua de Sapateiros.

By this time I was getting a bit hungry. We had walked past a small restaurant with all type of pork parts displayed for the world to see in its window the previous day. This time, we decided to stop in.

The Missus, in Her typical way, took charge….She started asking the really nice guy manning the counter questions about the pork ear and other stuff.

In the end, the choice for Her was easy. After getting a taste of this She was sold.

And so it passed that I had suckling pig for breakfast……

The skin was crisp and not too hard nor think. Perhaps the meat was on the salty side, but it was moist, with a nice swine flavor. And it all screamed out for a "breakfast Sagres"……..

But man does not live on roasted suckling pig alone….. there's also Chouriço, smoked pork sausage…in this case a whole deep fried version. Which was delicious as well.

You know, the Missus and I have been married for almost 15 years. After all that time affection and love are represented in sometimes different and subtle ways. Like when the Missus saved this for me……

This would have probably made for a nice "Breakfast of Champions" post if it weren't so long. Funny thing is, we realized later on, that the front of the shop didn't have a sign……

Oh well…..if you're on Rua de Prata, just look for the place with all the pig parts in the window!

Lisbon Day 1: Up to Chiado & Bairro Alto, dinner at…..Super Mario? And other stuffs…..

June 20, 2013 mmm-yoso Lisbon, Portugal, Portuguese Food, Travel

I felt so satisfied after that wonderful bifana and a beer, that I didn't even complain when the Missus decided that we hadn't done enough walking for the day. She had decided that we needed to get on up to Chiado and Bairro Alto, Lisbon's bohemian and nightlife district. Luckily, the Missus didn't insist on climbing up that hill and we just walked past Rossio Station and the Avenida Palace Hotels…..

And catch a ride on the funicular, the Elevador da Gloria, using our Viva Viagem Card.

Which I was told has been snaking up the hill linking Baixa with Bairro Alto since 1885. A bunch of other tourists jumped on, the guy asking me "where is this going?" I told him, "up the hill….." He smiled and told me, "I really don't know where this is going, but it looks like fun…."

To the right of the funicular stop is the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcantara. One word I learned rather quickly was "miradouro" which meant viewpoint. Anytime we saw that word, we followed the signs….. usually ending in a wonderful sight like this.

This little park/garden was a nice place to check out the views of the city. It also helped to get us a little more oriented with our surroundings.

The narrow and rather congested streets down to Chiado are lined with Churches(of course), boutiques, and theatre's. This seems to be the place where the hip hang out.

At the end of Rua Garrett is a multi-floor mall. You exit head to the Sportszone and go downstairs to exit back in Baixa (thanks Rick Steves!). We did make a stop at H&M. We travel light. I personally had less than 6 kilos of clothes and shoes. My strategy is to pack light and if necessary, buy a jacket or something. Since there were Zara and H&M stores everywhere and it was in the 40's at night, I bought a hoodie for 10euros and the Missus a sweater for about the same price. We were set for the rest of the trip. We dropped by Pingo Doce and bought water….we were set.

We had booked our room at Lisbon Short Stay Apartments, which was basically a conversion. The room was decently sized with a kitchenette and there was even a washer and dryer on our floor. However, the place was rather dark and a bit funky, with kind of an industrial feel.

The staff was nice, but really couldn't provide a whole lot of information nor recommendations. Though they did provide a tiny map that included the metro routes which we kept the entire trip. It was time for dinner…….

There are a couple of things you need to know about eating in Lisbon and Portugal in general; folks don't eat until at least 730pm. You will be enticed by a bunch of "appetizers/bread/olives" put out in front of you. Note that these are not free, you will charged for whatever you touch; feel free to put them to the side and not eat. You won't be charged…we found that many places will ask if you want these and take them away if you tell them no. There are often two portion sizes offered on menus; dose and meia dose. We found that meia dose, literally a "half order" is usually enough to feed one as an entree.

We had dinner reservations for the next two evenings, so one this night we just wanted something simple and easy. We headed back up to Chiado, past some really touristy looking places, up stairs and a mildly steep climb. In a little alley on a side street we found a place I read about on Chowhound called Super Mario….really, it was named Super Mario.

Into that doorway past the little sign was a simple tiled restaurant.

Tables were simply covered with paper……this was just a nice and homey place.

As we peeked into the door, we saw three gentlemen having beers and pub grub. We weren't sure if they were "really" open, but the guys waved us in and pointed to a table and called out to the back. They also gave us bread with slices of pork on them….sharing their food with us! I really liked the folks in Portugal! We later offered to buy them a round, but they refused, telling our Server that they had to head home. We had lucked out….it started pouring right when we sat down.

We started off with a bottle of Vinho Verde….the verde doesn't really mean "green" in terms of color….it refers more to how "young" the wine is. This was light, slightly fizzy, and more sweet than dry.

The food at Super Mario can be best described by the locals who told us, "very typico……"

The Missus wanted to try Caldo Verde, a simple, but hearty soup thickened by potato, containing thin slices of kale.

For my first sit down meal in Portugal, it just seemed right that I had bacalhau. I hadn't had anything made with salt cod since I was a teenager. So I went with the Bacalhau Frito, fried bacalhau.

Nothing fancy, perfectly decent, salty, but not overly so, perhaps a bit too many bones for me. The rice….well, I never had decent rice in any dish in Portugal, that's just the way things went.

This was sardinhas (sardine) season, so the Missus would get that whenever She could. It looked fresh here.

The sardines were fresh, very nice….but man, those potatoes….in fact all the potatoes in Portugal taste, well, like really good potatoes…..possibly the best other than what we had in Peru.

We had killed the first bottle of Vinho Verde, with no problems, nor affects, so we ordered a second.

About this time a Korean woman who looked to be in her 30's entered the restaurant….this was pretty much a first for us. We always see Korean tourists traveling in tours or packs. This was the first time I saw one traveling solo. We shared a glass of wine with her. It just seemed like the right thing to do. She was very nice and indeed travelling solo. She told us, "I like to travel and don't have friends…." I'm sure she didn't mean literally. She was from Seoul and travelled all over Europe because, "I like to drink…." then telling us about how good Porto was. She had dinner at Super Mario's the night before and enjoyed it so much she decided to return.

While the food was nothing to write home about, we enjoyed our dinner at Super Mario. The service was nice, so was the vinho verde, and the Missus enjoyed he caldo verde. It was relaxed, the guys having drinks in the place were very warm and hospitable. It was a good first dinner to get things started.

Restaurante Super Mario
Rua do Duque 9
Lisbon, Portugal

There was still fading daylight left when we finished dinner and walked down the hill. Lisbon seemed very safe, so we strolled around a bit, taking in a bit more……

We found a bakery run by Chinese and got some Pastel de Nata……

The crust was just wrong and the custard was too sweet and eggy. These were the worst of our time in Lisbon.

We headed back to our room, opened the window….. the immediate area was very urban and dark. We watched the street scene below. Folks heading home, dodging the drizzles, then the next wave of folks heading out for the evening.

I'd come to find that Lisbon sleeps and wakes late. I woke to folks laughing and yelling a couple times during the night….the last at 330am. Still, we were exhausted and the sleep did us good! We'd be having another full day tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Grill Break!

June 19, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Cooking, yoso-silly

The weather's been so nice here the last couple of days. I hope you don't mind if I break up the week and take a grill break. We busted out the konro grill and the binchotan and like we do every so often decided to grill up some stuff. It takes some time and we take our time and savor the process and the flavor.

Last night it was Pork Toro, basically pork collar…..

Chicken wings, shishamo…….with a nice salad.

The Missus enjoyed it so much, that She wanted to do it again this evening….so we did.

More chicken wings, Berkshire pork belly, shrimp, shishito peppers……

There's something almost cathartic about the process…it makes us slow down, appreciate. It's simple, bincho imparts such great flavor that all you need is some good quality salt, pepper, and maybe some Shichimi Togarashi.

The smell is intoxicating…..as you can tell by our "neighbor" spying on us.

Looking for a possible "sample"…..

Of course Frankie was waiting for his share……

So pardon me while I take a mid-week charred animal flesh break.

We'll be back tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping by!

Gala Chicken – The new K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) stand in Zion Market opens

June 18, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

**** Zion Market has moved and Gala did not make the move with the market

The item that seems to have gotten the most attention on my recent Saturday Stuffs post was the closing of BBQ Chicken. I received a couple of emails about it. I guess even though I wasn't a fan, other were. I did mention in Saturday's post that I had seen what looked like a "KFC" stand in Zion Market that evening……so I returned to check it out.

The place only does chicken, nothing else….no starches….

The menu also seems to only feature wings, drumsticks, and boneless crispy pieces, though I could be wrong. The older woman and gentleman were nice, but really felt more comfortable speaking Korean.

The prices didn't seem to bad, even thought it's take-out and chicken only. And heck, anyone that knows me understands that I love my chicken wings.

Anyway, I ordered a regular "Wings" ($7.99) and Sweet Soy ($8.99). I was told that my chicken would take fifteen minutes, which meant it was cooked fresh, a good sign. What was not that great was when I returned after about 10 minutes to find the guy constantly fiddling with the wings in the fryer. He kept taking pieces and cutting them with a knife to make sure it was cooked. C'mon, wings make up about 40% of your menu, that looked real amateur. Plus, all the cutting means that juices escape and my wings would be drier than they should. I know this place is new, but I'd think if you opened a place that only makes fried chicken, you'd know how to make without having to cut into every piece to make sure it's cooked then dumping them back in the fryer…… One of the great aspects about KFC chicken is the double fry. It's a technique I use myself. I didn't notice that happening here…..

Actually Gala does give you some Mul Kimchi, "water kimchi", a traditional accompaniment of KFC, which is on the extra sour side, but at least crisp and palate cleansing.

I work just a few blocks away and the chicken did smell pretty good. Opening my package I noticed that the take-out containers are kept open to prevent the chicken from getting soggy. I also noticed that I got what looked like "Spicy" wings instead of the Sweet Soy like I wanted.

So for those who keep score on the Kyochon-o-meter, there are six good sized wings per order. Though I prefer smaller wings which mean a better skin to meat ratio. Anyway, that's $1.33 per wing for original and $1.50 for Spicy……kind of on the pricey side, more than Kyochon if memory serves me.

And this ain't no Kyochon.

I found that while the batter was light, it was not as crisp as it looked. It was also very lightly seasoned, at least for my taste, and it had a greasiness to it. The drumettes were on the tough and dry side.

The Spicy really was more sweet and sticky than spicy.

The wing weren't really coated very well and I noticed that this batter goes soggy pretty quickly. The flavor was almost the same as the Sweet and Spicy chicken of BBQ Chicken, perhaps not as cloyingly sweet, but close. In fact, the chicken here just seemed like "BBQ Chicken lite", a step backwards from BBQ Chicken. Ditto for the tough and dry drumettes here.

So, you know I wasn't a fan of BBQ Chicken. You also know that I don't think the chicken here is not as good as BBQ Chicken was. You get the picture, right? Perhaps my friend Jenne is right; I'm just too darned picky. Anyway, I'm hoping that all of this are just grand opening issues and will be resolved. I'll try and visit in a couple of months and see…….

Gala Chicken
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd (Inside of Zion Market)
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Tues – Sat 11am-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

A Cafe

June 17, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** A Cafe has closed

I recently was asked if I'd ever been to A Cafe. I simply answered with a "no". I explained that I'd really never been a big fan of HK Style Cafe's, even when we lived in the San Gabriel Valley. To me, a non-boba/milk tea lover, who never enjoyed riffs on spaghetti and other items, eating in an Hong Kong style cafe meant a couple of items depending on the joint, congee here, fried pork chop there, RH Garden Cafe was just a block or so from where we used to live in Rowland Heights and it just never appealed to me. Though I gotta say, we did spend many an evening eating at Supreme Dragon, so go figure.

And after Cathy's post, I was even less motivated. Still, I'd eaten in just about every restaurant in the mall with the parking lot from hell so why not?

I wasn't too thrilled to hear that the folks from Imperial Mandarin had taken over the place. If you've ever noticed, I've never done a post on IM, though I've eaten there…..put in the broadest terms. The last three times I've to eat at IM, well, lets just say I suffered from "unlucky returns".

Still, different location, different luck, right?

The place does have that "diner" feel and typical of HK style cafe's, the food is reasonably priced.

I did see something on the menu that interested me, so I placed my order.

Next up came a watery insipid soup that, after the first taste, I just couldn't consume. This, along with the gratis soup that comes with lunch at Dede's falls under the category of "why bother".

The item I went with was the Stir Fried Beef Tongue with Green Onion ($5.99):

This was pretty good. The beef tongue was perhaps a bit too tough, but wasn't too waxy. The flavor was slightly smoky, teetering on the line of liver. But as a whole, it wasn't too awfully offally, if you know what I mean. The onions were stir fried decently and retained some crunch. It wasn't seasoned too heavily either. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but not inedible.

To put things into perspective, this was cheaper than a sandwich.

So I returned a couple of weeks later. Famished, I decided to start with the deep fried mushrooms.

Like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This was the latter. In all fairness, the mushrooms were nicely fried, the batter not too thick….though you better watch it because the liquid content of the mushrooms will squirt out and give a nice burn. That does not make up for an absolute zero in the flavor column….as in no discernable seasoning. Plus, this is served with mayo. To me, it needed something a with a bit of ooomph. Even hot sauce really didn't lift this.

I did order a standby dish,the salt and pepper pork chops ($5.99):

To me, an HK style cafe can live off its frying and seasoning skill. This dish was an "oh fer two", like the mushrooms it was very bland….where was the seasoned salt? Where was the pepper. The topping of green onions and peppers was raw. The batter was on the gummy side and not my cup of tea. To add insult to injury, the rice was really dry…….. 'nuff said.

So does an decent dish get erased by a (two) terrible one(s)? The prices here, at least the lunch specials, are reasonable and the folks I had serving me were nice, though I was the only customer in the place on both occasions. I think I'll just keep on with saying HK style cafe's really aren't my thing and this place would be on the bottom of my list of those places.

A Cafe
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111