mmm-yoso – Page 366 – 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.

Que Huong-Lunch with Friends

December 4, 2012 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

It's Tuesday and mmm-yoso!!! is getting through the week with another post by Cathy. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are just plain busy.

Kirk first posted about Que Huong in August 2005. He subsequently had a series of three posts devoted to the food here in 2008 and he has mentioned some of the dishes, particularly the chicken wings, in other posts (you can use that 'Search" box on the top left of this page) there are 1670 mentions on this blog. The Mister and I had been to this location before 2005, when it was a dim sum restaurant (and I wasn't taking photos of our meals, much less blogging). In August, fellow blogger (on hiatus) Sawyer was in town, working for his Internship and Kirk, Carol, Dennis and I met up with him at Que Huong early on a Sunday morning for a wonderful celebratory feast.
Located in the corner space of a mini mall, behind the Burger King parking lot on the North side of University at Marlborough, the exterior is deceiving.

Que Huong has a very large interior behind the steel corner door barred location, the tables and chairs always are elegantly covered – for lunch and dinner- and the interior seems quieter and less hurried than most Vietnamese Restaurants.

Kirk did the ordering since he knew what he -and we- would like. The menu is mind-numbingly large and includes several types of wild game meats and is not anything like a Pho Restaurant. At all.

The pork and shrimp jackfruit salad arrived at the table topped with a sesame rice cracker.

It looks like this. It's tangy and made with canned jackfruit (which isn't mushy, but firm…kind of al dente, as are all the vegetables). It's topped with a bit of nuoc mam (fish sauce).

Kirk ordered the table both tamarind and fish sauce chicken wings. If you've read his posts, you know he thinks the chicken wings here are the best in San Diego. I agree. The wings are crispy and light and coated perfectly. It was extremely difficult to decide which was better…it was a matter of if you like a bit sweet or a bit more pungent. I will say I will never order hot sauce/BBQ sauce/honey anything wings anyplace else ever again.

The seasoned periwinkle in coconut curry sauce was another great item. The periwinkles are cut on both ends, so you can easily suck the meat out and enjoy the sweet-spicy sauce. The herb on top is Vietnamese coriander (rau ram). There were about six of the little shelled creatures and some of the sauce left over and I brought those home to The Mister, who really enjoyed the flavors melded in this dish.

This was a salad of minced wild boar sauteed with lemongrass and red and green peppers, topped with the sesame rice cracker. The herb on top has a cumin flavor. This was surprisingly wonderful and mildly addictive. The boar flavor wasn't too distinct or odd…I got more texture out of it and enjoyed the melding of all the flavors.

Snapper flavored with dill and turmeric is a classic Vietnamese dish: cha ca thang long. It's served with that plate of goodies at the top- rice noodles, lettuce, perilla leaves, cucumber, pickled carrot, pineapple and mint. this is a meal for two all by itself. Seriously good.

Above is the catfish Hot Pot, photographed after some of the contents had been removed and the sizzle had stopped. The fish was tender and fresh flavored (not muddy, as sometimes happens with catfish) and a piece of pork belly lined the bottom of the pot. The sauce was sticky of course, but had a deep flavor of fish sauce in addition to the sweet. I wish I wasn't so full and could have eaten more. All in all, great food shared with great friends.

Of course, I returned, with The Mister, for lunch. We started out with the papaya salad. Fresh, crispy, able to taste all the flavors which were perfectly melded together. Just enough heat for us.

We chose to share the fish sauce chicken wings, because …well… we just wanted to try one flavor and The Mister asked me to choose. My choice was savory. Perfectly crispy wings, perfectly sauced and served with a salt-pepper-lime juice for dipping.

The Mister wanted to see the version of Bahn Xeo that Que Huong makes. We ordered it as soon as we sat down, knowing it takes a while to make.

A perfect light, crispy, rice flour-turmeric based pancake, filled with bean sprout, onion, pork and shrimp. Airy and crispy, wrapped in lettuce leaves with mint added. An excellent version.

We enjoy Que Huong and it has become a regular stop when we are in the neighborhood. It's just a bit nicer with better food and offerings than some other places.

Que Huong 4134 University Avenue San Diego 92105 (619) 281-6008

Road Trip-Pasadena: 2013 Rose Parade float Decorating Day and Zankou Chicken

December 3, 2012 Cathy Festivals & Events, Mediterranean Restaurants

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and sometimes there are stories about how we find places where we eat. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are busy finding places today. Cathy had an adventure this past Saturday and is sharing today.

Good Monday Morning! Saturday was a *very* long day-The Mister and I had signed up to work on the first "Detail Day" of 2013 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade floats and needed to be in Pasadena by 9 a.m.. We left the house at 6:08 a.m., there wasn't any rain (like we had on Friday evening) and we parked on Raymond Street at 8:08 a.m..

Volunteers were lined up.

Walking into the Phoenix Decorating Company Rose Palace, eleven floats were parked. Of course, this barn is not heated and we were glad we wore layers. You'll notice in almost every photo, everyone is wearing jackets, sweaters and sweatshirts. (There is one photo of a guy in shorts, but he has on a lined jacket).

Here's what the barn looks like from the upstairs passageway.

Since this was the first of the 'dry' decorating days, most of the people were cutting statice flowers, to get enough to colore the various purple, blue and pink areas of the floats. Every visible part of every float has to be covered in something that is, or was, alive and blue is a rare color seen in nature.

This looks like three colors to you, right? Well, each of those buckets of flowers got to be divided further, so the various shades of 'blues' 'purples', as well as 'pink' colors could be used on specific areas of the floats. This is how the darkest statice colors got divided:

Really. About six people cutting for eight hours resulted in

this much of one color being finished:

Other volunteers were cutting the petals off of straw flowers, saving the centers for another use.

The Lions Club had a good number of volunteers, steadily working on their detailed float.

Every volunteer worked through the day.

There was plenty of gluing going on also.

Every exposed surface must be covered with something that is, or was, alive…look again- there are two people working in the photo above.

Soon enough, the PA System announced it was time to clean up and clear out. Detail/Dry Decoration Day #1 was over.

We headed down Colorado Boulevard and stopped here, Zankou Chicken. I had seen the sign on almost every trip we had made up here, but it never was open, since we were always so early.

Large inside, nice and clean. A pretty simple menu, easy ordering and fast service. You can see many chickens on the rotisseries to the top right. There were also rotisserie spits with shawerma and tarna.

Of course, we decided to order the name of the restaurant…and chose a whole chicken, which was cut in half for us. It came with 4 fresh pita breads and a 'powerful garlic sauce'- (it's firmly whipped; not saucy) ($9.99). We also ordered a small (8 oz) tabbouleh salad ($3.49) and a side of two fresh falafel ($1.35). Everything was excellent. The chicken was moist with crispy skin..and wonderfully complimented by the 'powerful garlic sauce' (that's the signage description; I now refer to it as 'magic garlic'). The falafel were on top of a good amount of fresh tahini sauce and light with a good, thin crisp crust…and seemed to have a familiar spice in them…maybe cinnamon. These were very good. The tabbouleh was so fresh and flavorful, the parsley, onion, tomato and bulghur topped with lemon juice and olive oil was so refreshing. We finished it all and were ready for our two hour drive home.

A long day, with much accomplished. I hope all of you had a good weekend.

Phoenix Decorating Company Website -if you'd like to sign up as a volunteer, or watch decorating live on the webcams.

Zankou Chicken 1296 E. Colorado Boulevard Pasadena (626) 405-1502 Website

Carnitas Uruapan-revisit, but a new location

December 1, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a place on the interwebs where Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy share specific recollections of various food experiences with you. Today, Cathy has something random to share.

The other day I was looking at the photos left on my phone and realized I could write a quick post about one of my 'regular' stops, Carnitas Uruapan, which was one of my first posts when I started helping Kirk, in 2006. The Mister and I discovered the original restaurant, which has since closed, when we first moved here and had many meals inside that large building. Alas, the original owner died, the restaurant closed and we were sad. Not long after, family members re-opened in a smaller location on Spring Street, just North of the 125/94 intersection, next to the Denny's.

I did say smaller. That "Drive Thru" window has no microphone leading up to it and the menu board under the window is not white from the sun reflecting on it; it's worn down from people leaning on it.

There are eight tables inside the area where you order. If you are eating in, your food will be brought to you after you order and pay.

Fresh chips and a red salsa with a good heat and your beverage order are also brought to your table. There is also a salsa bar (where you can fill your own 'to go' cups with other available salsas; I do like the green)

On a recent chilly day, The Mister ordered the Barbacoa Soup ($6.99). This slightly spicy soup bowl is accompanied with the items shown above: refried beans, onions, cilantro, limes and tortillas. Barbacoa is a method of cooking beef, originally over an open fire, originating the 'barbecue', but the modern interpretation of Barbacoa generally means the meat is steam cooked until tender. This soup- the broth, the meat…without the add ins, is savory, rich, deep flavored. The meat portion is always generous and tender and makes the meal complete.

I have many, many photos of burritos from here. It's the meat that makes each item wonderful. Above is a beef tostada ($2.50)- a layer of beans makes it perfect and carnitas taco ($2.50) delicious carnitas…the name of the restaurant is what they do.

Carnitas Uruapan is known for its carnitas meals- this is a take out meal for one($5.50) – 1/2 pound of carnitas, with rice, beans, tortillas, cilantro, onion and lime. The carnitas here are tender, not crispy and not fatty. They really do it right. (The one pound meal for two is $11; math).

Now. My little secret 'meal' and craving. Fresh chicharron. 1/2 pound, $3.50. You can walk up to the window, order it as part of your meal, or appear to have restraint and order it to go after your meal.

Lovely, fresh fried pieces of pork skin. Really perfect.

I hope everyone is staying dry on this gloomy day.

Carnitas Uruapan 4233 Spring Street La Mesa, Ca 91941 (619) 337-2448

The Roxy Restaurant, Cafe and Bar- Encinitas

November 30, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are busy anticipating a time to relax. Cathy found that time and is sharing a food adventure today.

A few weeks ago, The Mister and I drove North on Highway 101 along some of the 60 miles of San Diego County coastline, enjoying where we live.

We had worked up an appetite while getting in some walking and stopped when we got to the Encinitas sign.

We had parked just across the street from the restaurant which provides my favorite San Diego County Fair food fix-

I've posted that this was the one booth we must stop at every year.

This year, we did go to the Fair several times and got both the falafel burger …

as well as an artichoke sandwich. Both of these sandwiches are on the menu at the Restaurant and the price is the same as at the Fair!

We stepped into Roxy's just before it started to get crowded and chose a table on the North half of the restaurant.

After reading the mainly vegetarian menu (some dishes are made with chicken, squid or fish) I decided to try a cup of the 'everyday' soup ($3)- Bean Soup, made with lentils, soy and pinto beans. The spices made this taste like a good chili and I really liked it. The soup was served with a piece of toast…the same bread that's used for the Fair sandwiches. (I found out it is The Baker's Wife from Bosch Baking bread brand, made in San Marcos and available at some of the weekly farmer's markets and sold in the grocery part of the Tip Top Meats store.)

I selected the avocado burrito ($7.99). A very large whole wheat tortilla with cheese, onion and olive melted onto the tortilla,

which was then filled with at least two smashed avocadoes, lettuce and tomato. This was served with a good, spicy salsa and a very large lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomato, broccoli and cauliflower 'side' salad. So very fresh, tasty and filling.

The Mister ordered the Fish and Chips, one of the white board specials that day ($7.99, regular $8.99). This was four large pieces of excellent fried fish (probably tilapia) served on top of a pile of quite memorable, thin cut, perfectly cooked fries with an absolutely wonderful house made tartar sauce.

On the South side of the restaurant is a small area where ice cream is sold. It is Niederfrank's, a National City based company (which I posted about in 2007). I can foresee taking another few drives on the 101 before the 2013 San Diego County Fair to try out more of the menu at Roxy's.

It's Friday! Enjoy your weekend.

The Roxy Restaurant 517 Highway 101, Encinitas, CA 92024 (760) 436-5001 Mon-Sat 11:00 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Website

Caffé Calabria (North Park, San Diego)

November 29, 2012 Cathy Caffeine Fix, Desserts, Italian Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog. It's a food blog. We (Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy, in a varying rotation) write about the who, what, when, where, why and how (in varying combinations) with a central focus on food. Cathy is writing today.

A few weeks ago, fellow blogger, cc and I met for lunch, which needed to be rearranged (here is a link to her post; my post will appear soon enough) and after a very nice lunch, we drove on 30th, to just North of University to Caffé Calabria for refreshing beverages.

You'll probably notice this fabric signage first. We walked in, noticed the wood fired pizza oven

which only bakes thin crust/Neapolitan style pizza (and calzones) after 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday.

You can select from a variety of available sandwiches, made on baguettes, foccacia or small rolls,

which will be heated for you if you'd like.

You can see one panino press to the right on the back counter; there are three total.

This is the view of the barista area from our table,

which was right in front of the coffee roaster, which was not roasting coffee when we were here. I would like to experience the smell of fresh-fresh roasted coffee. Many San Diego restaurants serve Caffé Calabria coffees, which I have always enjoyed.

Our order- a large iced mocha and a doppio macchiatto. The mocha -chocolate and espresso- was good and had enough caffiene to make cc hyper for most of the evening. The double shot of espresso topped with a 'kiss' of milk foam was deep flavored yet I could detect a sweetness to the steam pressured coffee without having to add any sugar.

Obsessing about what cc and I had experienced, I brought The Mister back for a quick snack the other day.

He ordered a "Hammerhead"- regular coffee with a shot of espresso ($2.50)- and I ordered another doppio macchiato ($2.60).

We also decided on two items available in the counter, which I asked to have warmed.

The Prosciutto Cotto ($3.25)-rosemary ham topped with Fontina cheese and black pepper. This was so good! There was quite a lot of ham, just enough cheese and the warming on the press made the fresh bread crust crispy on the outside, but the crust is thin and the bread was warm and soft on the inside. This was a perfect size for the two of us to share…

because The Mister had ordered this-a dolce-sweet. Nuttela con nocciola ($1.50)-chocolate hazelnut spread topped with chopped hazelnuts. As you can see, it was served on a small roll (with the same thin crust as the baguette) topped with powdered sugar. The nicest antithesis of a donut, ever.

I am sure we will be returning to Caffé Calabria to try the pizza and other available sandwich items. There are several other places in this old San Diego neighborhood which we found by simply walking around the block. I want to explore.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

Caffé Calabria 3933 30th Street San DIego 92104 (619) 291-1759 Website

Paris Baguette (inside H Mart)

November 28, 2012 Cathy Bakery, Desserts, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

You have navigated your way to mmm-yoso!!!, the blog about food. Today, Kirk as well as ed(from Yuma) are each doing something that requires focus. Cathy is multitasking, so here's a blog post.

I think we all know that the San Diego location of H Mart opened on November 17 -less than two weeks ago. In case anyone didn't know, I will do just about anything to avoid crowds. Therefore The Mister and I decided to wait until things slowed down to shop and check out offerings. The day after Thanksgiving was that perfect day.

Yes, there were empty parking spots at 10 a.m..

H Mart, a Korean Market, has great deals on fruits, vegetables, panchan, kim chee, meats and fish. Everything is fresh and clean. We were very happy walking around while being able to push our shopping cart and not having to navigate around and between shoppers and their carts. When we got to the far end of the store, next to the exit door, we saw the signage-

Similar to other H Marts and Korean Markets in general, you can observe the workers behind glass.

In typical Korean bakery fashion, grab a tray, top it with a paper liner, grab tongs and select your choices from behind and on top of glassed doored cases, stand in line, order beverages and pay.

On this visit, we picked out a good snack of sweets selection.

The round 'donut' ($1) was a very large rice ball/mochi, filled with smooth pumpkin and deep fried. It collapsed when we cut it, but biting into it can give you a cross section view. It was really good and quite large. The almond pastry – basically a croissant ($1.90)- was so light and flaky with crispy almond slices and had a good amount of almond paste filling. The other pastry (listed as a 'one bite' on the receipt, for $1, but on the display had $1.25 as the price) was essentially a puff pastry cup filled with delicious custard and topped with an apricot half. So good-each flavor distinguishable and the various textures made this a perfect snack item.

So, after we got home, there were daily discussions of which items at Paris Baguette we wanted to try and when we we went at around 2 p.m. on a weekday, there was zero parking in the lot in front of H Mart and only a few spaces in the back parking lot. However, hunger and curiosity won out and there were new sales inside the store and a few cart navigation incidents, but once I got to the far side of the store, Paris Baguette wasn't overly busy and I chose a good variety of items for a late lunch. The 4 box of baby chox ($2) was a perfect, soft version of choux pastry filled with real whipped cream which managed to make its way home.

The ham and cheese croissant ($2.25) was a perfect light and flaky pastry filled with just enough ham and cheese to make this sandwich an easy choice in the future. The other item in the above photo is a canele ($1.80) which I haven't seen around here. There was a nice story board on the counter telling that canele was first made in Bordeaux, where the wines are clarified with egg white, leaving yolks behind…

which are used to make the custard filling of this small, dense, caramelized cake. It is unique and wonderful.

The "Crunch Sandwich" ($5.95) which we found in the refrigerator section was very interesting. The package was heavy and ingredients listed are chicken salad, green leaf lettuce, honey mustard and pan croissant. The chicken salad was very nice, made with onion, walnuts and dried cranberries and wrapped in the 'pan croissant' which was a surprisingly nice, dense and chewy flat bread/flat croissant.

We've liked the food and service here and my only criticism is that the line where you wait to pay is along the the coffee, condiment/supplies and trash bins, which makes it awkward to get to the half and half/napkins/forks and knives or to clean your table when you leave.

Paris Baguette is a franchise and another location will be opening inside the new location of Zion Market on Clairmont Mesa and Convoy, when Zion opens (probably in January).

Paris Baguette (Inside H Mart) 9440 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92126 website

The hot beverage cups are cardboard covered in foam and don't need a cardboard 'sleeve'. I've brought both home and am going to use them for something…just pretty…

Crazee Burger

November 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Burgers

Well, I've often often written about the Missus's various short term obsessions. We've gone through quite a few over the years. The latest for the Missus is wild game…..I guess She really enjoyed that ostrich thinga-majiggy. The Lion's Share and Tractor Room quickly come to mind….but the Missus really wasn't into brunch or cocktails…….. so I casually mentioned Crazee Burger. To be honest, I've always thought the place a bit more hype, with the game meats more of a gimmick. But heck, the Missus was game (no pun intended) so why not? We did luck out and arrived at 11am to find the place empty. it can get pretty crowded here.

We each ordered our burgers……of course we were told, as it seems to be fashionable these days, the "we recommend our burger cooked pink." Which is just perfect for me. We got our sauces on the side….after all, we wanted to taste the meat right?

And heck I'd always wanted a hopper to try kangaroo, which is what I got ($12.95):

The was pretty dry and gritty….it was also well done, so much for the "we serve our burgers medium" shtick, which is kind of a pet peeve. This was very mild with an off tasting, slight metallic after taste. The creamed horseradish sauce….was neither creamy, nor did it really taste of horseradish. Rather, it was like runny mayonnaise. This was also not seasoned, which it could have used…..some good salt and pepper, not what tasted like iodized stuff in the shaker on the table.

Now I'm determined to buy some kangaroo next time to see how it compares.

The Missus got an ostrich burger ($13.49), which did remind me of my previous experience with ostrich….that is, a bit on the dry side.

The flavor was clean, but again, this could have used some seasoning. The sauce provided, a lemon-chive-cream sauce was a bit better than the horseradish sauce, but still too bland and runny for me. This was also served "well done".

I explained to the Missus that based on my previous experience with ostrich, I expected dry, so when I made my burger, I added some minced red onion, a couple of tablespoons of panko, fresh ground black pepper, and roasted garlic olive oil. I tried to keep the mild clean taste of ostrich, but worked at keeping moisture as well. These patties looked like 100% meat…..the thought is nice, but man it can be dry.

In terms of prices, even though the burgers were no-frills, wild game is more expensive than beef. A regular 100% angus beef plain burger will just set you back five bucks here. The portion sizes are nice. There are about 8 draft beers on tap and several bottled….the interior is rather small and it was starting to get pretty crowded when we left. Two young ladies were nice….you order at the counter and they'll bring your order to your table. Overall, not terrible, but not all that great….the game meats seem more like a gimmick…….

Crazee Burger
4201 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104

Thanksgiving Brunch: Sea Harbour – Rosemead (Los Angeles)

November 25, 2012 mmm-yoso Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

This year we decided to dust off an old tradition, one we'd put away into the closet over 5-6 years back and grab some dim sum on Thanksgiving day. Over the years we've become less satisfied with the inconsistent and plain low quality of the dim sum in San Diego. Instead, we opted to drive to our favorite place for dim sum Sea Harbour. We made really great time on our trip to the SGV, having time to grab some roast duck for dinner (a later post) before arriving at the doors to the restaurant about 10 minutes before opening. Sea Harbour is one of those places with an eternal line during weekends and holidays, you either get there early, or try to time the first major turnover of tables.

On this day, the line dictated a major seating effort and the place was at full capacity ten minutes past ten.

Service was bit confused at first and while not exactly the most friendly, much better than Shanghai No. 1, where the asking of the most simplest question (like, "could I have a menu?), would cause them to give us a pained look like Dr Szell had been working on them for a couple of hours, "Oh, don't worry. I'm not going into that cavity. That nerve's already dying. A live, freshly-cut nerve is infinitely more sensitive. So I'll just drill into a healthy tooth until I reach the pulp." You almost thought they were trained here. 'Nuff said……

For some reason the Missus wanted some Gailan…..

They obviously brush some oil on it to give this poached vegetable some sheen. As gailan goes, this was fine, but I thought the oyster sauce was very good.

We usually go fairly light and at Sea Harbour go primarily with seafood. The hargow was good, nicely pleated, the wrappers not too think nor too sticky.

The shrimp were plump and cooked well…my only complaint were that these were perhaps too big, you couldn't eat them in a single bite. Which I guess is not much of a complaint at all.

I loved the Shrimp, dried scallops, and Chinese celery dumplings on our previous visits. These did not disappoint.

Nice wrappers, not too sticky, the savory flavor of the shrimp and dried scallops, with a nice textural counterpoint and the palate cleansing flavor of the Chinese celery. Still a favorite.

We always try something new when we visit Sea Harbour. On this visit it was the Radish Cake with XO Sauce. We usually avoid ordering these because we make it at home, but the allure of the XO sauce could not be avoided. This dish totally changed our opinion of Radish/Turnip Cake.

There were huge pieces of daikon in these, not shreds, that literally melted in your mouth! The texture was excellent. The XO sauce wasn't artificially salty and just added a touch of spice, with a nice savory touch. But those tender chunks of radish cake….I'm sure we'll be having those again.

The clunker of the day….and there always seems to be one, was the vegetarian Black Fungus and Celery Dumpling.

Nice textures, but pretty bland.

I was looking forward to trying the Egg Tofu in Abalone Sauce.

Loved the texture of the egg tofu, the sauce was pretty mild though.

At this point, we were satisfied but waiting on one item. We asked one of the gentlemen about it and he efficiently went to check the kitchen and told us "exact, three minutes"…and about three and a half minutes later our Pan Grilled Spinach Pork Bun. The Missus thinks this is too sweet, but I usually love the flavors. Today, I was less then satisfied with the dough which had the texture of dough where steam had escaped leaving it on the harder, waterlogged side.

I still enjoyed the filling, so I'll just have to wait until our next visit to see……

Overall, our tab came to about $35. Which may be expensive if you dim sum in LA, but not so much if you've had it in San Diego recently. Plus, there's nothing here that comes remotely close to this in quality, prep, and flavor.

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

We made two more stops before heading home; first to Tianjin Bistro for some "day after" suan cai yang rou, then the market for some supplies. We had smooth sailing until the 5/405 merge…after that it was pure murder until we hit Carlsbad, where traffic suddenly dissapated…..very strange!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year!

Recently Consumed: Ostrich Patties with Bacon and Poached Egg, Merguez, Sriracha-Honey-Garlic Wings, and other stuff

November 24, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

Here's some of the stuff we've been cooking over the last week.

Ostrich Patties with Bacon and Poached Egg:

We stopped by Seisel's and while I was buying calves liver for Da' Boyz, the Missus brought me a package from Seisel's "Frozen Protein Zoo". This time it was ostrich….. this one was going to be fairly straight forward, the Missus wanted simple pan fried "burgers" to have with bacon and poached eggs. I told Her that my one previous experience with Ostrich was that it was D-R-Y. But the Missus doesn't mind dry….so I went ahead and made some ostrich patties. Red onions, a bit of panko, roasted garlic olive oil, granulated garlic, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. I pan fried these in bacon fat, trying to save every little bit of moisture. I turned out to be dead wrong….man this was moist and tender. And the Missus loved it! I had mine on rice, loco moco style with a light pan sauce……man, this was really good.

The flavor wasn't very exotic….think clean-beefy without a bovine aftertaste.

The Missus had Hers paradoxical new age style…….on quinoa, but with bacon and poached eggs (cage free vegetarian of course…sheesh!).

She actually ate the leftover patty, making a sort of "dirty rice" with kale and quinoa……

Merguez Sandwich:

I went to Whole Paycheck with the Missus and was checking out the meat department, when I noticed they had Merguez! I guess it's one of the standard items they carry. Merguez was one of my favorite items from our trip to Tunisia and I was excited to see these. The price wasn't too bad, $6.99 a pound and the really nice woman behind the meat counter even checked on the ingredients…..100% lamb! My favorite preparation of these sausages were fried….which is what I did. Ate it in a roll, with harissa (of course)…..this was really nice.

These were actually pretty good, even more spicy than Tunisia. The sausages there were a bit more dense, less moist, thinner, and more gamey. The seasoning was pretty close and the casing was thin, which was perfect.

I was really happy eating these as it brought back some nice memories.

I'll definitely have these again.

The Missus even made a shaved kale and brussel sprout salad with pomegranate dressing.

Sriracha-Honey-Garlic Wings:

I bought some chicken wings……and decided to just grab some items out of the pantry.

A bit too sweet, so it needs a bit of work. Nice and sticky-crunchy though!

So there you go…..

What have you made at home recently?

Mushroom Risotto Arancini

November 23, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

On my last recently consumed post, I noted that I had gone through the two day process for making my mushroom risotto. This time around, I used up my parmesan rind in the stock to make the risotto….which added a wonderful flavor to the risotto, but also made it really rich, perhaps too rich for the Missus as we had a good amount leftover. The left me just the opening I needed to make something I'd been itching to try….Arancini, basically rice croquettes of Sicilian origin. Most arancini have additional filling, meat, a ragu, or the like, but the mushroom risotto had so much flavor I just moved forward "plain jane".

I did make a spicy fresh tomato sauce with some that were getting a bit soft paired with a nice fresh chanterelle mushroom ragu, that was pretty much like this. Roasted baby eggplant finished the whole thing off.

This was super easy….I used panko instead of breadcrumbs, but it was a total by-the-numbers egg wash deal.

I didn't want these too large, so used one of the missus' scoops for cookie dough, then rolled into a golf ball size orb.

Deep fry at 350, until they float, remove for a minute, then place back into oil for about another minute or so.

I knew that I'd enjoy these, but didn't know just how good they would be! Crunchy at first bite, then practically melting in your mouth…. Really delici-yoso!!!

The sauces were a nice compliment. The Missus didn't care for the tomato version, but I thought it really helped to cut the richness.

I'm sure to be making these again…..it almost has me wishing for leftover risotto!