mmm-yoso – Page 373 – 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.

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!

Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2012 mmm-yoso Blog

To you and yours from the gang here at mmm-yoso!

Best wishes for a delici-yoso and safe holiday!

Hope you all get some delicious fresh turkey…….

Sakura’s Son of Different Mothers: Restaurant Kazu

November 20, 2012 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Italian Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants

I'll be the first to say that "Japano-Italian" cuisine has never been a favorite of mine. which I readily admitted when I first mentioned that Sakura was opening up a second restaurant, this one specializing in the Japanese-Italian hybrid. I've had this fusion several times, at a couple of places back home in Hawaii and at Spoon House and Akane Chaya in Gardena. Don't quite know what it is; but I've never really enjoyed Uni Spaghetti and such. So I really thought I'd just leave the posts on the place up to Dennis, who has affinity for this type of dishes. Sure enough, the ever dependable Dennis had a post soon after the very, very, soft opening. Which didn't make me get up and grab some napolitan….. Until…. a FOY (Friend of Yoso), "MichaelC" emailed me, telling me how he enjoyed his meal at "Restaurant Kazu". I call it that because….much like Sakura, the place has no sign.

I decided to visit on a quiet weeknight evening when the Missus was tied up elsewhere. There's just a simple chalkboard sign out front with today's specials.

The small dining area is somewhat intimate, mildly stylish, without being stuffy.

The menu reflects what's on the chalkboard outside with other dishes that I would come to know as the "standards" here….like the creamy uni spaghetti. Appetizers run $4-$12 with entrees going for $10 and up. The menu has been slightly different on every visit.

One thing that stays the same is the slice of bread and a little dish of balsamic vinegar with olive oil.

It's been basically the two same young ladies working here on all my visits. They are both friendly, have a great sense of humor, and are overall a joy.

I started with something a bit different I saw on the appetizer menu; the Squid Ceviche. This was a major surprise for me in flavor.

First off, the texture of the squid was up to Sakura standards. Light chew, but quite tender. The flavors took me by surprise, there was a bit of heat going on, along with a good deal of lime juice. It was a bit on the sweet side; almost palm sugar sweet, which I enjoyed. On another visit, I found it a bit too sweet, but this time it really woke me up. With the cilantro, it almost seemed like a Thai style dish, bold flavors, which I enjoyed.

I went with the carbonara, which was kind of runny.

I liked the portion size, not too massive. It was beyond any doubt, a carb bomb. The pasta was just cooked to perfection….something, along with all the dishes using the same pasta, I'd find on subsequent visits.

Overall, I thought this better than expected. It was a nice, unhurried, relaxed meal. The two servers were very friendly and answered, or tried to answer my questions….many of which, like "when is the grand opening" had no answer.

So, on another evening, I had to dine solo, what better place to go than back here, right? This meal was just the opposite of my previous, with the appetizer, the "Italian Chicken Wings" (you know me and wings, right?) being pretty much a fail.

This was too salty…even for me, it was also kind of greasy. One of the wings wasn't fully cooked.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Shishito Pepper with Mushrooms and Yuzu Pepper, Japanese style ($13). The secret to this dish….yuzukosho, a strong fermented paste of yuzu peel and chili pepper, which added a nice citrus zip to the dish.

The pasta again cooked perfectly, the shishito adding a nice crunch to the meaty mushrooms. Again, pretty high on the carb ratio and it did seem like something I could make at home, but I did enjoy it. Plus, that little seed, of using yuzukosho in a different way had been planted.

I again joked with my servers about the mysterious grand opening and when I was told that the place was going to actually have a sign, I couldn't help but laugh….I told them "I'll believe it when I see it."

A couple of days later, the Missus was tied up during a weekend day. On my previous visit, I was told that lunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 to 3. So why not? Same servers, same smiles, same laughs when I asked "where's the sign?" Lunch is prix fixe, in the typical Japanese "lunch set" way. You have a base lunch, which starts at $12, you can substitute items, or change items.

It comes with coffee or orange juice….I rarely drink coffee, but on this day……

It smelled familiar….and it did turn out to be Starbucks.

The standard issue salad was a simple mix of arugula and romaine, which I enjoy.

Except that the vinaigrette was a bit too sour and this would have been much better with a sliver or two of some milky cheese to help cut the acid.

The standard issue soup was a surprisingly tart minestrone.

The vegetables were really on the crunchy side, which I don't mind at all.

For my main, I went with what MichaelC recommended, the Squid Ink Pasta which was a $2 up charge.

This is sauce made with squid ink, not the pasta. The better squid ink I've had has a mild briney flavor to it, but not much else to it. This one had a slight bitterness and bit more garlic than I expected. It also felt a bit on the rich side, so I was glad to have the tomatoes in the dish. Loved the way the squid was cooked and the pasta was again cooked perfectly.

I also noticed that the portion sizes seemed to have gotten larger during this visit. Overall, it was nice lunch……so when Candice, Ange, Peter, and I had to meet up to plan a little project we have, I thought why not?

We ended up having more food than I could document….mainly because we had such a fun time chatting. The Shishito Pepper with Mushrooms and Yuzu Pepper was again a winner, along with the Cod Roe, Salmon, Roe, Shiso Leaves, and Seaweed Cold Pasta ($14).

Though I really would have appreciated a bit more ikura.

We also enjoyed the Baby Anchovies and Japanese Bell Pepper Peperoncino ($13).

Sort of like a really mild aglio e olio.

As you can imagine, having the same pasta got a bit tedious. Several of the other dishes really didn't make a great impression; the Bagna Cauda was bland, the ribs not very good, and the seafood in the vongole biagno was overcooked, the mussels rubbery. Service was very nice and accommodating. Candice mentioned that the wine list looked way over-priced (a bottle of Kendall Jackson $42!), and the beer options were either the Budweiser of Italy; Peroni, or Asahi, which is what we had.

Oh, and still no grand opening or sign in sight! I realize that for someone who is not really into Japano-Italian food, I've sure eaten here quite a bit in the last couple of months. You can't say I didn't do my due diligence on this one. I do enjoy the lightness of some of the dishes, have enjoyed the servers, oh, and you can tell I really like my carbs, right? Don't go here expecting a meat-fest, you'll be disappointed. The portion sizes seem to have gotten bigger, though I think they can cut back on the pasta and make the dishes more well rounded.

Restaurant Kazu
3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Dinner – Tues-Sun 5pm – 10pm
Lunch – Sat-Sun 11am – 3pm
Closed on Mondays

Thanks again for the email Michael!

Road Trip Weekend-(Pasa)Dena Burgers, some markets, meat by the side of the road and final 2013 Rose Parade float road test.

November 19, 2012 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for reading mmm-yoso!!! on this week of preparation, travel and beginning of holiday celebrations. Cathy is writing today. The guys (Kirk and ed(from Yuma)) are very busy.

This past Saturday was a busy (and exciting) day for us. The Mister and I woke early, let the dogs out, drove North, encountered rain and sunshine and got to Pasadena to enjoy the final day of Rose Parade float road testing before the actual parade (photos at the end of this post) and then drove North on Arroyo Seco, headed East on Orange Grove and saw this signage…and had to stop.

I liked the font…and right there on the corner of Orange Grove and North Los Robles, an angled building, to allow for drive through access while ordering from the passenger side of your vehicle-

Dena Burgers looked like a place to investigate.

Walk in, order and pay at one window,

and pick up at the other window.

We decided to go by the name of the place, and ordered a Breakfast Burger ($5.25)- a 1/4 pound burger, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato and hash browns on a toasted bun. It was large and tasty, but kind of dry and we each added some ketchup at some point in eating our respective half.
A Machaca and eggs plate ($5.50) as well as some very good (Gavina) coffee completed this meal. The fresh tomato and crisp bell pepper as well as onion cooked with eggs and beef to a crusty brown, was really good (The salsa and onions on top were added from the condiment bar at the pick up window). The rice and beans were unusually tasty and the fresh, warm corn tortillas were a bonus.

Dena Burgers 445 E. Orange Grove Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91104 (626) 792-7035

When we finished, we walked across the parking lot to this grocery store.

Baja Ranch Supermarket was magical. I didn't take many photos inside, because it was quite crowded. There is a large steam tray area, deli area, excellent meat/poultry/seafood selection, tortilleria, bakery and produce area. There were extensive displays of chiles being sold here- dried in bags, in bulk and fresh. There items sold here include Mexican as well as Peruvian, Cuban and Salvadorean…and some American staples. We spent $21 and filled five cloth bags we had brought from home (this part of LA County charges for grocery bags).

Baja Ranch Supermarket 475 Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena 91101 website

We continued East, got to Sierra Madre Boulevard and

stopped at the Pasadena Farmers Market again.

We chose a few seasonal items…

Pasadena Certified Farmers Market, Sierra Madre at Paloma, next to Pasadena High School website

Then we headed East on the 210…and, remembering that H Mart was opening in San Diego that day, decided to check out what we figured would be an uncrowded H-Mart located close to where we were…

Upon entering the Diamond Bar location of a Super H Mart and turning to the right,

we encountered a large Food Court area… which included this little franchise-Deli Manjoo

which has a window where you can watch this conveyor belt baking system making sweet treats. We were given samples fresh off the griddle! You can get a mix of eight for $3…

You can see the walnut shapes are filled with red bean paste as well as a walnut. For Lucky Fish we chose two filled with custard and two filled with cream cheese. Deli Manjoo Website

We also picked up savory treats at The Tous les Jours franchise. Excellent and so very fresh! The young ladies working here were very helpful and the selection was amazing. Website

There were other vendors in the food court area..and small shopping areas on other walls of this large store- then there was the H-Mart store itself.

Clean, fresh, friendly. One thing we noticed that the ladies giving samples were set up at the aisle ends, which were specifically sample areas- outlets on the floor so electric pans could be easily heated for sampling. Combined with the available items in the 'regular' food aisles, H Mart is a great store. I can't wait to visit "ours". Generic H Mart website link.

Since it is Thanksgiving, we needed to pick up our smoked ham, or "meat by the side of the road" as I have fondly termed it.
Once again, the Valley Center Optimists have their trailer set up in front of Fat Ivor's and are selling smoked hams (whole and half) for Thanksgiving. They will also be selling hams for Christmas and Easter. We wait for this time of year to be able to purchase this ham.
Here is a cross section view of the smoked half ham ($35). My friend from Valley Center, Ms. T., picked hers up and warmed it so The Mister and I could have a slice when we drove by to pick up ours. Valley Center Optimists 760-390-4173

Oh. So this day began with the last day to see 2013 Rose Parade floats do their final road test of the year. I've posted about previous road test days…all the floats need to pass three tests before being allowed to drive down Pasadena streets on New Years Day.

When we got here, the Lions Club float was finishing the test drive.

The Honda float, very long and intricately detailed was parked and waiting in line to be tested. Those are steps leading to a slide that people will be sliding on during the five mile long parade route.
Here's a better view of the slide.
Here's an unusual view of another float…

and another float from a high viewpoint…

and here is another perspective of the front of the Honda float (see the slide?).

Those viewpoints are from above ground, because I was standing on-ON- the front of The Lutheran Hour float! Yes, The Mister and I were asked to participate in the road test and fire drill.

Here's the float after the fire drill. It had started to rain when we were testing…but had to pretend there was a fire anyhow.

We've never made a "Bucket List" of things we wanted to do, but if we had, this would've been on it- and checked off!

If anyone wants to know about volunteering to decorate a Rose Parade float, information is available HERE.

I hope everyone has a non-hectic week ahead.

#GoBlue

Sunday Stuffs: Eater San Diego, Two more places opening near Morena, and Zion has a sign.

November 18, 2012 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, yoso-silly

Just a couple of things for a lazy Sunday.

Welcome to Eater San Diego:

I've had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know quite a few great folks during my time doing our humble little blog. One of the nicest by far is Candice Woo. Who I'm happy to note is now the Editor-Writer-Jack of all trades for the newly launched Eater San Diego. It's nice to see the Eater expand to San Diego, I often read and even link to Eater LA. So take a look when you have a chance.

Two new restaurant/lounge/bars coming to the Morena area.

This morning I was driving back from my weekly tank filling ritual at Costco, when I noticed that the taco shop on Avanti Drive right off of Morena was now something called, Oasis Restaurant and Lounge. It's in the same strip mall as Boll Weevil.

I took a peek inside and I'm pretty sure this ain't a taco shop. Interesting location.

4033 Avanti Drive – Right off Morena Blvd.

Further down the street construction is going on at this place.

Dan Diegos? It's good to see new places popping up…….soon this will become Morena's restaurant row. So far, I haven't been too impressed with a couple of the places that have popped up. Hopefully, this will be a winner…..

2415 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

And now to give Zion Market sort of equal time:

I drove by and saw the Zion Market sign is finally up….and on the week of H Mart's grand opening. Must just be a coincidence, right?

I heard they are opening early next year.

7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

H Mart opens in San Diego

November 17, 2012 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

I'd gotten quite a few emails from folks since the post about H Mart opening in San Diego. It seems to have created a bit of a buzz……..which was enough to actually get my crowd-o-phobic rear end down to H Mart today….opening day. Predictably, the place was packed, so I'm going to do mainly photos with this post. It'll be easier to see what this location of H Mart has to offer once the masses are gone.

We managed to pick up some prepared food which was pretty bland….especially the Japchae. The kimchi station wasn't ready yet upon this visit, probably by design.

They use all the marketing tricks in the book, from misting…….

To open prep stations……

To my disappointment, there's only a tiny little food court with looks like a single booth in the market.

The Missus was really impressed with the availability of organic and vegetarian products….. She's really into tempeh now and told me the selection and of course the prices were much better than Whole Paycheck. I wouldn't know…..

Decent seafood department…..

There was a nice selection of meat, with American Wagyu chuck roll and ribs available. I'm going to have to spend a bit more time here when things normalize.

We didn't even bother with Paris Baguette as the line was crazy long…….

In spite of the masses, every cashier station was open, so it was really fast once you got past the logjams at produce, the food court, meat, and seafood. I'm sure folks are happy to have another option in San Diego. Though not everyone looked thrilled……

As could be predicted, parking was an absolute nightmare….we parked on the street and walked into the mall. I'll do a folllow-up post in a couple of weeks when things slow down a bit.

H Mart
9440 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Po & Pho -Next to H Mart in Mira Mesa (part 1: pho)

November 16, 2012 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Po and Pho has closed. There won't be a part 2.

Hi. The page you are reading is mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are busy with Thanksgiving planning. Cathy appears to be organized for Thanksgiving, so she is blogging today.

The highly anticipated Korean Grocer, H-Mart, will have a Grand Opening on the 17th (in the old Ralphs location on Mira Mesa Boulevard near the 15). The Mister and I were thinking there might be a 'soft' opening a few days sooner and drove there the other day, but the store was still getting organized. Since we were already in that parking lot and it was close to lunch time, we decided to try the newest restaurant of the six in that parking lot.

There- all the way on the left of the above photo- the small storefront "Po and Pho". Seven tables inside and one table out front, seating for about 20, this clean shop serves a combination of New Orleans-Po Boy sandwiches, gumbo and Vietnamese-pho, noodles and rice plates. There is also a small breakfast menu, extensive beverage menu and the menu includes catering items that are not offered on the regular menu.

The take out business was bustling when we were here, but when we sat down to read the take out menu, a nice Young Lady walked over to take our eat-in order. I'm not sure if we were supposed to order and pay and sit down or not…

In any case, since it was a chilly morning and the sun still had not peeked through the clouds, I ordered a bowl of chicken pho (one size only $6.25).

This was a very good, very large bowl of pho. The broth was clear, not too oily and had good flavor on its own. The noodles were mostly loose, barely in a clump. The chicken was plentiful, included the liver and was accompanied by the fresh dipping sauce (nuoc cham) made of lime juice, fish sauce, garlic and sugar. The onions and cilantro and ground pepper toppings, when mixed part way through my meal, along with the (very fresh) add-ins transformed the the bowl into even more fresh flavors.
The Mister was torn about what he wanted to order- there are 13 sandwich offerings in addition to three types of Po'Boy offered (shrimp or chicken or fish). We saw a *very* large sandwich being shared at another table and the bread was not close to bahn mi in size and decided we could share one at another meal. At the bottom of the "Noodles and Soups" section of the menu Seafood Gumbo ($5) was listed. That also sounded good on this cold day. The bowl is smaller than my bowl of pho, but it should be. The rich sauce, filled with crawfish, shrimp, crab and smoked sausage covers a good amount of broken rice and fresh okra. This was one of the best gumbos I've tasted in a long time.

We'll be stopping here again, for a Po'Boy, ideally avoiding crowds.

Po & Pho 9430 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Suite 5C San Diego 92126 (858) 271-8988 Website

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant

November 14, 2012 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Nhat Vy has closed

Back in December of last year, I posted on Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco. The meal was not quite up to par and the place looked really, well, almost temporary. In fact, I wrote "I'm not sure how this place is going to do……." in the last paragraph of the post. A couple of months later they were gone and a sign went up for a new Vietnamese restaurant, which opened this past summer named Nhat Vy.

Driving past, I have to honestly say I didn't get too worked up about the Pho-Banh Mi-Coffee sign. I mean, it's not like we're short of places that serve the stuff in the area, right? About a week later, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check them out. I remained uninspired when I entered the place and saw the steam table set-up. But changed my mind when I was handed the menu. Banh Hoi….Banh Cuon…Bun Rieu…. my pulse quickened. Only to come crashing to earth when told they didn't have any of those dishes on this morning. Man, I really wanted some Banh Cuon. I had been going through photos of our trip to Vietnam and kept running into photos of Banh Cuon, in Sapa, Hanoi, and even Bac Ha. I was bummed….

So what to do when your first three choices aren't available? I went with the sign and the Pho Dac Biet ($6.99).

Which was pretty unremarkable. I recall the broth being kind of "scummy" and cloudy, the flavor being very mild, and the noodles a bit too soft.

The meat was just about average….total middle of the road stuff, nothing to get excited about. Plus, it was a thousand degrees even at 8 in the morning, which really didn't help matters.

This being the middle of July, I really couldn't bring myself to go back. Here was a one-shot deal that would end up in one of my COMC (Clearing Out the Memory Card) posts.

And yet, the menu stuck with me……seeing the other items kind of kept nagging away. Until almost exactly three months later, when things had cooled down, I decided on dropping by for an early breakfast. By this time the menu had morphed into a multi-page deal with photos. Sad thing was there was no Banh Cuon to be seen.

This was pretty early in the morning and I wasn't feeling like Bun Rieu, so I went with Bun Rieu's lighter cousin, Canh Bun ($7).

My first impression of the broth was really positive, it seemed light, not too "crabby", I did add some mam nem which is kindly provided, this really added some umami punch. The herbs were fresh and the quantity good. The noodles were firm and wonderfully slippery, the ong choi (water spinach), added a nice crunch and substance to this. Loved the fried tofu, the shrimp cake didn't have enough flavor for me, but was veyr light in texture. I could have done without the "oc" (periwinkles), of which there was a generous amount….these were just too chewy.

About halfway through I started feeling the effects of MSG….not over-powering, but enough to know it's there. Still, I thought this was decent and even sent a photo to my good FOY (Friend of Yoso), "YummyYummy". I guess the photo must have looked great because they marched right over and ate.

YY reported back that the Bun Rieu was quite good and the Banh Cuon, which they make in house and takes a while, was also worth a try. Banh Cuon? But I hadn't seen that on the menu? What the heck? So a couple of weeks later I headed over for some breakfast. The dining area is tiny and I've only seen other customers on one occasion.

Having arrived ravenous, I ordered the Bun Moc ($7) and then attempted to order the Banh Cuon, which isn't on the menu to the very sweet woman serving me. I say attempted because it took me four tries to get the pronunciation even close to where she could understand me. Yet she patiently stood there and helped me work this through.

The weather was just driving my sinuses into the ground, so this nice, clear soup was just what I needed.

The herbs where ever so fresh, the broth was indeed pretty mild and I really couldn't make out the "mushroom" flavor. There was a ton of protein in it, cha lua, meatballs, and a fairly surprising piece of pork spare rib. I looked at that piece of meat, which should have had "Goodyear" written on its side and then took a bite…..I was surprised at how tender it was.

And then of course, there was the Banh Cuon ($6). At long last.

It wouldn't be a stretch(no pun intended) to say that this is the best Banh Cuon in terms of texture in San Diego. The rice noodle is nice and thin and not too sticky. There's just the right amount of "pull" to it. The pork is fairly bland and while I like cha lua, this one is fairly bland. The nuoc mam cham has good spice, but other than that is fairly bland. The rau ram and blanched bean sprouts complemented the dish well, as did the fried shallots.

It matches up favorably with what I've had before.

Before leaving, I mentioned that banh cuon was not in the menu….the woman picked up a menu and looked through it. And sure enough, it isn't! We both had a laugh and she walked me to the steam table and pointed to the photo of the banh cuon and told me, "you come and point next time, ok?" I couldn't help but crack-up.

So there you go….I got my banh cuon, time to move on, right? Well not so fast….this past weekend the Missus was sleeping and YY and her hubby, MrQ had mentioned that they really enjoyed the Bun Rieu here……so of course:

I got the bun rieu. What I really like is that different sets for herbs are served for the pho versus the bun moc, versus the bun rieu. This was a fresh assortment of rau ram, perilla, banana blossom, and even some fishy-funky diếp cá.

As for the broth, it's much lighter and less complex then the rather heady version at Mien Trung. Personally, I prefer the stronger seafood-tomato flavors in that bun rieu. On the flip side, this one seems to have a lot less MSG….at least on this day.

For some reason I like the fried tofu here; it's nice a creamy. I'm still not a big fan of the "oc" in this as well.

It was "three for three" as again the noodles were prepared well….they also used the thinner bun, the appropriate noodle for bun rieu.

I'd easily have this again…….

I'm hoping this place does well. The folks here are really nice, but there's a real shortage of parking on the street….actually there's a couple of stalls in the back of the place as well. This location is not the best, as proven by Aqui el Jalisco's short run and the previous shop at this location, The Torta Factory.

Over the years I've seen my share of Vietnamese Restaurants that I've enjoyed going to, that are just not able to make it. Sometimes, like Huynh Hoa Tuu, they serve great stuff, then suddenly shut down and leave town. Or like Nam An, they start strong but are not able to sustain the quality, service, or portions….I'm still fairly certain that they won't reopen. I hope I'm wrong. And I hope that Nhat Vy sticks around…..

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115