mmm-yoso – Page 374 – 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.

A “New School”, “Old School” Night Part 2: Old School – Baci Ristoranti and a surprise finish

October 11, 2012 mmm-yoso Italian Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

After having drinks and appetizers at Luce, we headed next door to the "all grown up place", Baci. From the loud and boisterous, to the sedate and quite…..from stool around the bar to lounges, in what else, the small lounge. From tattooed staff to Servers in faux Tuxedos….

The friendly maitre'd….ok, when was the last time Ieven used the word maitre'd? The rather darkish lighting, the slightly formal but not stuffy service, the backlit sculpture of the torso of perhaps Venus de Milo in the background….there's some charm to this in our all Twitter…facebook…what's the latest fad/food truck/trend by the minute world we live in.

All of this calm was brought to you by the surroundings…and a Negroni or two….

The menu is full of old school Italian…. Linguine alle Vongole, check, Vitello Parmigiana…check, and of course Osso Bucco is a must, right?

And yet, there are some interesting items on the menu…….like the local sea urchin.

Hey, it's local uni and they didn't mess with it…….

I followed this up with the Braised Lamb Shank over Truffle Risotto ($28.95).

This was pretty much by-the-book, not heavily seasoned, the lamb wasn't over-cooked, nor tough, with that nice flavor of the pasture. The risotto had a decent texture, soft through and through. I do prefer my risotto a bit more "wet" and the "truffle" (really in quotations there) scent or flavor was really hard to make out.

Some of the other dishes I got to try. Candice's uni pasta was really garlic heavy, you really couldn't make out much of the uni taste, nor was it moist enough. Uni pasta is not my favorite thing, so take it for what it's worth. I thought the best item I tasted was JohnL's Pappardelle alla Tartuffo. The lamb ragu was full flavored and you could actually make out the flavor of truffles in this dish. The pasta was cooked perfectly as well.

While I still can't really recommend any place in San Diego for Italian cuisine, Baci was perfect for this evening with friends. It's an interesting look into what we considered fine dining when I was growing up and that doesn't get old as quickly as I am.

Baci Ristorante
1955 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

After dinner, Candice had one last surprise up her sleeve…..we went for drinks and the place we visited was packed. With folks over 60….who were just having a blast. The only seats available were at the piano bar.

Paintings of topless maidens from who knows when adorn the walls. There's a bit of a legend going around that these were paintings of actual Pan-Am Stewardesses from way back when….don't know about that, but it's a great story. I'd watch as a woman, probably in her late sixties would slowly walk up to the mic to sing at the piano bar…and my goodness, the voice! You could tell she/they were in their element as it would seem that years would slowly melt away and the clock would be turned back a bit. Friends and couples who knew each other for years, or perhaps minutes, would dance in the small area near the bar. All of this was happening while dinner service for what seemed to be tourists and visitors staying at the attached Travelodge was taking place inches away!

Then there was JohnL, who in spite of where we told him we were eating, decided to wear a v-neck t-shirt and jeans. Anyway, John is hunched over the piano bar, so naturally his shirt is hiked up…he's doing his best imitation of a plumber, if you know what I mean. So a sprightly octogenarian walks by, grabs his you-know-what, and tells him "your a$$ is sticking out!" We almost fell off our seats! Heck, JohnL could have had his hands full with…well, what's older than a Cougar? A sabretooth??? Whatever, we had a great time, it was wonderful seeing folks enjoying themselves. A bit later on in the evening, the hipsters start arriving and it gets a bit strange. Thanks to Candice, I got to see a part of San Diego I hadn't seen before. And it was a bit surprising because I've driven past here thousands of times.

This was the kind of place my Dad loved….and the kind of place where he met his third wife too….but that's a story for another day.

A “New School”, “Old School” Night Part 1: New School – Luce Bar & Kitchen

October 10, 2012 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

There are a handful of truly "old school" places in San Diego, not faux old school, but old enough to recall….say the 70's? It's all relative I guess? For me that's barely old enough, though for myfriends who are in their 30's, this is more than old school, this is before they started school! What started as a "hey, how about this…." conversation started to take shape. And since there are a couple of places in our neighborhood…and I don't mean the Silver Spigot, which is in a class by itself, I had thoughts about going to Old Trieste. I was soon convinced not to go, based on a couple of "scary food" statements from some friends. So we we settled on Baci…..meanwhile, the folks at Baci opened up a gastro-pub next door called Luce. The menu looked promising, I saw lines out to the sidewalk when driving by soon after the soft opening, and heck, Bay Park could really use a place like that. My good friend Candice told me an "new school – old school" night might be fun. We'd start at Luce for some drinks and appetizers and move on to Baci for dinner. So even though I usually don't post on these type of places, we had a fun and interesting night…..so why not break character for a post or two, right?

First, though the setting is fairly loud…..boisterous and fun is how your neighborhood tavern/pub should be, right? The decor is nice, the vibe is casual and neighborly, though the space is fairly small.

The bottled beer list is decent and though not large, there's enough stuff on tap to keep me interested. I started with a Ballast Point Calico Amber, which was a great way to start a weekend. Unfortunately, it was the highlite of my experience at Luce.

The menu is full of fairly intriguing items, sorta-kinda hip, perhaps a bit behind the curve stuff, like Pork Belly tacos. But it still sounds fun……and heck, who am I to talk about what's hip?

We started with the Pork Drumsticks ($6), which are a riff on Monkey Paw's Drunken Monkey Bones, basically pork shank pieces cut to vaguely resemble chicken wings.

First the good; these were braised nicely, soft and tender. Not so good; the pork was smeared with a glaze when reheated that was sweet, but that's about it…very one tone, I was wishing for some simple salt and pepper to help these. It looked so good, but didn't deliver.

The Braised Lamb Tacos were also not very pleasing.

Well, just for a value check, guess the price of these two rather scrawny tacos. Would you guess eight bucks ($8)? The lamb was dry, the tortillas seemed very low quality, and were also dry, they just tore apart when you tried to pick them up. Again, these were very low on the flavor scale.

The last item we tried were the Escargot Mushrooms.

This was another dish that could have used more aggressive seasoning. Also, there seemed to be but the tiniest piece of escargot on each mushroom, which really didn't matter much since it was very hard and rubbery. The sauce could have used more garlic and was very watery….give 'em some umph and get 'em to drink another beer!

We had thoughts about ordering more, but decided to cut our losses and just head next door a bit early to see if they had a table ready. On the good side, though a bit overwhelmed, our Server was very sweet as can be. Perhaps I need to order other items, or return after the grand opening period, once things settle down. But if it's anything like the evening we were here; a line of at least a dozen waiting outside when we left, maybe there's no motivation…. so we'll see.

Luce Bar & Kitchen
1959 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

So, would dinner at "Old School" Baci turn things around? Stay tuned!

Escondido: El Tejate Restaurante

October 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

The Missus was really missing the Mole Poblano from Los Pueblos and nothing could really solve the issue. So I thought it was about time that instead of heading to LA for Chinese, we'd just get out to Escondido and El Tejate, a Oaxacan restaurant….no it's not mole poblano, but Oaxaca is known for the complex mole negro, which I've been told several times is the most complex and difficult to make mole. I'd been wanting to go for a while. In fact, my good friends TFD and MrC actually stopped in the strip mall once, where I recall telling them about this place, but we just could never make it.

So on a lazy weekend morning, the Missus and I headed on up to Escondido and El Tejate, which of course is located in a strip mall, next to a Thai/Lao Market, a Thai Restaurant, and a Mediterranean place.

The restaurant itself doesn't look very large, but is fairly big as it is divided into two sections…the walls are painted in bright colors which added a nice contrast to the rather dark furnishings. We were waited upon by a very nice young lady, i'm thinking perhaps the daughter of the woman in the kitchen or the gentleman watching stuff on the laptop? This had the feel of a mom and pop place, the pace is relaxed and like a complex mole, it takes time.

There were some chips delivered with our menus; thick and crisp, though the "salsa" was seemed like straight up chilies scalded on the comal and blended with water.

We ended up ordering quite a bit, with things starting off with the Tlayuda, the folks here kindly made it with mole negro.

For the Missus the mole was love at first bite, we also thought the Quesillo – the Queso Oaxaca was pleasant, stringy like string cheese, with a tiny bit of milkiness like a very mild jack cheese. The Tlayuda is a large, thin tortilla, about 16 inches or so wide. The thickness is almost like the thinnest of thin crusts for pizza. It was both hard and chewy at the same time, and not really our thing. Though the Missus loved that mole.

I got the Enchiladas de Mole Negro ($10.50).

The mole seemed mild at first, but paying attention you'll quickly notice the complexity, first the nuttiness, then a mild sweetness, with clove-cinnamon hints, followed by a light sneaky heat. It was pretty rich stuff, I only finished one of the three enchiladas, but perhaps that's because I finished up the Tlayuda for the Missus. I enjoyed how the pungent onion cut through the richness, but the Missus thought it just interrupted the flavors. The chicken in the enchiladas was white meat and quite dry. The rice was very tasty……I would normally love this, but for some reason, it just didn't seem to go with the mole negro.

The Missus absolutely loved the Memilitas ($5).

The Missus was in masa heaven….these were like thinner sopes, with just a smear of tasty refried black beans and queso Oaxaca. Nicely moist and pliable enough to fold, these were missing just one thing for the Missus, you got it….mole negro. She availed Herself of the mole on my plate and wiped this out.

The last item that arrived was actually one of the appetizers….I just had to try the Chapulines ($8.95):

In case you don't know what Chapulines are, you can find out more here. And in case you want a close-up, you can see one up close and personal….here:

These were very well roasted and quite light…the flavor is like a very mild shrimp, though it was hard to tell because of the amount of tajinseasoning. Salty and puckery flavors, this is good beer food. If folks go expecting something outrageous they'll be disappointed, it's still quite good. We took most of it home and the Missus snacked on it until it was finished. Maybe next time we'll try the pusanos de maguey?

And there will definitely be a next time…the Missus is already craving that mole negro.

El Tejate Restaurante
205 W Mission Ave
Escondido, CA 92025

Open Daily 10am – 8pm

Exotic Meat Monday: Antelope and Wild Mushroom – Polenta Shepherd’s Pie

October 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I'm thinking this is something a bit different. Doesn't really look like much……

We were checking out the "frozen protein zoo" in the back of Seisel's and the Missus had the great idea of cooking up something a bit different….after all, it's getting tougher to come up with stuff for the blog. I've almost exhausted all the basic stuff I've made for years. Actually, I wanted to get the ground kangaroo meat and make burgers….I'd call them "hoppers"….the Missus wasn't amused and immediately said that burgers weren't allowed. So I bought about a pound and quarter of frozen ground antelope, with no idea of what to make.

While discussing potential dishes, shepherds pie came up….well why not? But the Missus came up with the caveat….it couldn't be just any shepherds pie, oh no. So I came up with topping the thing with polenta. In doing a bit of research, I found that antelope was pretty lean….which means dry to me. The Missus didn't want beef stock and I really didn't feel like simmering a bunch of bones on a Saturday. I often use my roasted mushrooms as a base for various dishes and the Missus had bought one of those gigantic bags of oyster mushroom from Zion market. Heck, I had to roast these for Her anyway, right?

So on Saturday evening, I roasted up those mushrooms. On Sunday, I made a double recipe of polenta, 2 cups corn grits to six cups water which I seasoned well. Since butter is persona non grata in our household, I used a good amount of roasted garlic olive oil as a fat. When the polenta was done, I separated off the estimated excess amount, which I formed in an oiled square container. The Missus is having fried polenta cakes with these. The rest I tasted, up the seasoning and fat and mixed in about a cup of thinly sliced scallions, mostly for color. I retrospect, I probably could have added some roasted red peppers or even diced sun dried tomatoes.

As for the base of the Shepherd's Pie, here it is….just a listing. Antelope meat is very lean and very mild with a distinct, almost flat finish. It's easy to come up with a tasteless dish, but this came out pretty well.

1 1/4 lb ground antelope
bacon fat – olive oil – grapeseed oil
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 cups of roasted wild mushrooms
3 cups (or more) mushroom roasting liquid
2 tb dried Turkish oregano
1 tb dried thyme
2 Bay leaves crushed
1 cup red wine
3 tb sherry vinegar
3 tb Worcestershire Sauce
more salt than you think you'll need
fresh ground black pepper

Luckily the roasted mushroom brought a lot to the dish, not only in mushroom flavor, but there's a good amount of garlic and onions as well. If I do this again, I'll not only use the bacon fat, but lardons of a couple of slices of bacon to start as well. I cooked the mess down until it hit the right consistency, but it into a baking pan…topped with the polenta, which wasn't as easy as it seems and baked at 400 for 20 minutes.

It was actually pretty good. Not much in terms of "exotic" flavors, very lean and chewy. Loved the polenta topping. The top was on the crunchy side, while the part laying on top of the ragout was moist and creamy.

Oh, and this is what the bacon was used for.

The Missus actually made this. After all these years, the Missus is starting to find the joy of cooking! I can't help but laugh when I see Her crushing herbs in Her palm to extrude the oils, all the stuff She used to hassle me about! Now it's sharp knives, the immersion blender, and the Dutch oven, go figure…..

Anyway, I'm thinking we'll do something like this every couple of weeks. Any suggestions???

Oceanside: Panca Peruvian Rotisserie

October 7, 2012 mmm-yoso Peruvian Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Panca Peruvian has closed

You didn't think that I'd drive up to see my buddy JohnL and just grab a poke bowl, right? I needed to make use of John's appetite and ability to pace himself for another stop. I'd heard about a Pollo a la Brasa joint up in Oceanside and wanted to try it out. Now in Lima, it seems you can't even walk a block without running into one of those places. The most popular chain is named Pardo's, which was good, but I happen to love the papas fritas made with papa amarilla, a yellow potato with a flavor similar to yukon gold. Along with the wonderful aji aioli it was good stuff.

Located next to a laundromat on Coast Highway, it's easy to pass the rather small sign for Panca. The design and decor is very much "fast-casual" looking, simple with colors and various paintings….love the photo of Aji Amarillo on one of the walls.

Having John here was a blessing; since in addition to the Pollo ala Brasa, we could try several of the interesting sounding sandwiches.

We started with the Lomito ($7.95), which is basically Lomo Saltado minus the papas fritas on a bun.

The meat is fairly chewy, but not unpleasantly so….this is based on lomo saltado after all. I'd have loved a bit more onions and more tangy tomatoes, but I'm sure the place wants to please the meat eaters. Nice soy flavors, this seemed to missing that wonderful anise-mint flavor delivered from Huacatay, but I'm sure that's hard to get. A bit too much bread for me, but it stood up well to whatever juices came out of the meat. I must say that the Aji sauce was pretty one-dimensional, a bit of heat and not much else.

The "fresh-cut" fries were actually quite nice….good potato flavor. And there was a ton of it…..

As you can see with the Chicharron Sandwich ($6.95) we ordered:

Geeez Louise….do you think that's enough fries??? Luckily, they have a decent potato flavor, even if they don't stay crisp for very long.

Now just the word Chicharron, in the context of Peruvian food makes my mouth water. It brings back memories of a street called Pampas de Castillo in Cusco. This was where all the Chicharronerias were located. During lunch, the restaurants would wheel out the fryers to the sidewalk and start cooking up pork and chicken, the fragrance of swine frying could be caught all the way down to Plaza de Armas!

This version was fairly mild, like a tame pulled pork.

The sweet potato chips at the bottom of the sandwich, I'm sure was there to add some sweetness (which it didn't) and a textural contrast, which it slightly did. I could have done with a bit more of the sarza criolla, the onion relish, which also could have used some aji amarilla for some umph. The pork flavor was decent, but this was a bit dry and the large amount of bread did it no favors. Still, I think this is worth the price……..

And finallywe tried the Quarter Chicken ($6.95), which also came with a huge amount of fries.

Now there are a couple of things I need to say first; the chicken was on the small side, but I'm fine with that. In many cases these smaller birds (like they'll use in Peru) have more flavor. Second, from the flavor, I don't think these were roasted over wood, so you can't even compare with Peru, or even LA.

The chicken was very moist, perhaps a bit heavy on the sodium, but with a decent overall flavor. I'm thinking perhaps a bit better than what Nazca Grill serves, who finishes their chicken over wood (or so I've been told), but I've got to get back there again to refresh my tastebuds. It's not something I'd go out of my way for, but I'm glad I tried it.

The service was good, they've got my favorite Peruvian Beer, Cristal, and I'd drop in every once in a while if I lived in the neighborhood. In terms of value, I'd say that it depends on what you order.

Panca Peruvian Rotisserie
1902 South Coast Hwy
Oceanside, CA 92054

Hours:
Tues – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 9pm
Closed on Mondays

Tunisia: Matmata and Ksar Ghilane

October 6, 2012 mmm-yoso Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

After passing through the Chott el Jerid and Douz, we headed up into the hills. It seems there's really not much to see, just rolling terrain.

Until you realize a couple of yards away, dug into a large pit in the ground is something like this.

The area is called Matmata and these are commonly known as "troglodyte" villages. These craters are quite amazing, with quarters built into the sides of the crater and sometimes linked by tunnels.

According to Ben there are about 50 of these "villages" left, many leave for towns and more modern homes with things like A/C and such. I don't blame them, really. This looks like a fairly spartan and tough way to live.

According to what I read, people thought the folks who came out of these mountains to work on the olive fields in the villages were part of nomadic tribes that travelled the region. It was not until 1967, when the area was flooded after 22 straight days of rain, that the villages sent representatives to ask for aid that people finally knew of these villages.

Several of these villages are open to the public and this was one of them. I did feel a bit uncomfortable….entering people's homes and all that, but this is the way they can support themselves and perhaps preserve their way of like a bit longer. There's no admission, you just leave some dinar in a basket….most of the visitors leave a dinar or two. We put ten in the basket and the woman there asked us to come back in. She gave us some bread they make and then told the Missus to try Her hand at grinding some of the grain with one of the older women….who I was told was in her 80's!!!!

The Missus told me that it took some effort to work the grinder and this woman was pretty strong.

We were finally seeing a good number of tourists…..and then stopped at another site, a former troglodyte village that's now a hotel called Sidi Driss. Was this where we were staying the night? No……but I'm sure many of you will know why so many were stopping here…..

Yes, it's the Lars dining room……

This pretty much seals it….

There were literally bus loads of tourists stopping here. It was somewhat disconcerting….. we'd seen so much in Tunisia, with nary a tourist in sight, and here there were hundred of them wanting their photo taken with plywood facades….. Oh well, pop culture and all that, right?

We turned back from here and headed back toward Douz, making a turn to a pretty rough stretch of road halfway back. We actually came to some areas where you really did need a four-wheel drive. Eventually, we stopped at a little palmeraie. The place really had a sort of "you're not in Kansas anymore" look. There were encampments with simple shacks and tent set-ups. This was Ksar Ghilane, at the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental ("Great Eastern Sand Sea"), the Sahara. Ksar means something like fort and outside of the oasis, there is an ancient Roman fort named Tisavar which was part of the Lines Tripolitanus defense line a couple of kilometers away. The fort was actually used in the Second World War by General Leclerc during his campaign in Tunisia.

Ksar Ghilane was our stop for the night, but we weren't staying in any of those shacks ot simple tents…..our accommodation was at the Pansea . We were told these were "five-star" tents…..not that I knew what a five-star tent was supposed to be like. We'd soon find out…..

The tents were set-up in clusters…we entered and were surprised…full king size bed, decent lighting, lounge area, shower and toilet….and what we thought was the best A/C we had the entire trip!

Another thing we quickly noticed was how fine th sand was here….it would get into anything. I still had sand in my shoes and bags after we returned from our trip…..several weeks later!

Down the road a bit, you can stop by and even swim in the hot spring that feeds this palmeraie. The water is pretty warm and knowing what grows in warm water….well, nuff said, right?

A few yards further was the Sahara. Now after really enjoying riding camels in Douz, we had Ben arrange for the same here. The sand of the Grand Erg Oriental is a striking red….perhaps you'll remember it from the beginning scenes of the movie The English Patient. It'sreally like that….I can only speak to the beginning of the film. I could never bring myself to make it through even a fourth of it. Man, talk about a slllooooow movie.

I've done quite a bit over just the last couple of years, but for some reason, this is right up there with all of them. The desert is just plain beautiful. We stopped and walked over and around the dunes while the camels rested. I'd been told, but never noticed until now; when resting under normal conditions, camels do face toward the sun!

I'm not going to bore you with a zillion photos of red sand dunes, but there is something strangely mesmerizing about watching a light breeze lift the fine sand of the Sahara……building the next dune, or perhaps just getting into someones shoes.

There was an Asian couple with us, the guy was Taiwanese and the young lady Japanese. The young lady looked like she was being tortured and was obviously terrified of the sun as she was wrapped like a mummy! She kept trying to get sand out of…well everywhere it seemed. Meanwhile, once the camels stopped, the guy just zipped right past us and was running up and down dunes like he'd hit nirvana! It was quite funny.

At about a hundred wards or so before we got back to camp, the wind picked up, the sky got dark, and sand started whipping everywhere. Ben had been waiting for us and told us…"sandstorm…."

Watching things turn on a dime was awe inspiring. We watched the camels huddle together for comfort.

Of course, it wouldn't have been fun being out there in the middle of things when this occurred.

We got back to our tent, showered and freshened up, and went for a walk around the area. The Pansea actually had built a "faux" Ksar tower, which we would take full advantage of later on that evening.

Dinner was, of course, one of those all too standard buffets…this one was especially poor, but considering where we were, it was expected. There was a desert race group from France and they attacked the buffet like a pack of hungry wolves fighting over the last drum stick.

A couple of them were also pretty cheap dates and seemed like they were pretty ripped after two glasses of wine…go figure.

The main buffet strategy was to stay away from proteins…most are terribly bad and keep with the vegetables and stuff like mechouia. It was also nice that in Tunisia, you could get a decent bottle of wine for pretty cheap…..under ten bucks at times!

After dinner, I picked up a bottle of beer at the bar and the Missus and I climbed the stairs up the Ksar and looked at all the stars….you could see them clearly since there wasn't any light to interfere.

We both slept well and as usual got up really early, before the sun. Though we really wouldn't be able to see the sunrise, we still hiked up the tower. This is what one of those clusters of tens look like at 530 in the morning.

The sun was coming up and after breakfast we'd be on the last leg of this private tour. Though our days were full, time sure seemed to be flying by.

Sorry there wasn't much food in this post. I do appreciate you reading!

It’s been a while – revisits to Mama’s Bakery & Lebanese Deli and El Borrego for breakfast

October 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Lebanese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

Here’s a couple I haven’t done in quite a while….I mean quite a while.

Mama’s Bakery & Lebanese Deli:

Man, I did a post on Mama’s waaaay, waaaay back in August 2005! That would be over seven years ago! I have been back quite a few times since, but really just never thought about doing another post. Of course, in recent years, places like Alforon have over-shadowed Mama’s. I was trying to think of the last time I visited…..well, it was before the wall was painted red.

I also think the main thing I get at Mama’s, the Garlic Chicken Wrap was still under six bucks….it’s now $6.39, which in the current scheme of things is not out of line.

And though I find the wrap a little too thick and “bready” nowadays, when you get one that came fresh off the “sajj” hot with crisp bits, it’s still quite good. I’m finding the chicken, premade, wrapped in foil, and kept in a warming drawer a bit dry and somewhat scarcer too. Still, I love the garlic paste and for some reason the tangy hot sauce, which seems like Louisiana style hot sauce than anything else. The woman who puts these together has been there for it seems like forever and has always been nice to me.

In the end Mama’s is still “good grub” to me. Plus, luck was my side on this day; I scored parking close by……

Mama’s Bakery & Lebanese Deli
4237 Alabama St.
San Diego, CA 92104

El Borrego for Breakfast:

**** As of 12/28/2025 El Borrego has sadly closed

Here’s another one that I last posted on back in May of 2006. I’d been going to El Borrego once in a while since then, usually for something simple like just consomme, tortillas, and coffee for breakfast……who wants a post and photos on that? But our recent revisit to Ranas had me craving Huitlacoche….and just for you CAB, I’ll call it “corn smut” one more time. Anyway, El Borrego has Huitlacoche and even Flor de Calabaza quesadillas on the menu.

So I placed my order, two quesadillas ($2.50 each) and some Mexican Coffee…smooth, just lightly sugared, with hints of cinnamon. Nice way to start the day….

Eventually, my quesadillas made their way to my table…..with the black smudges of the huitlacoche strangely reminding of something, I’m not sure why.

The fillings were a bit less than Ranas, the huitlacoche here was not as well flavored, but still with that mushroom flavor with a mildly sweet finish. Even though the Flor de Calabaza (squash blossom) had less filling, it was less dry and had a bit more cheese and flavor than the version at Ranas.

Overall, a nice breakfast, just about everything on the menu is a la carte, so if you’re not careful, things can add up pretty quickly. Still the nice woman working here, Rodnia, is friendly…oh and that salsa rojo is pretty spicy too.

El Borrego Restaurant
4280 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Chicken Wing Thing: 777 (tri-dux), BABs, and Okan

October 3, 2012 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings

I was asked why I hadn't done a recent "chicken wing" post to "add to my collection" exact quote this past weekend, so I decided to see if I had anything stored away….and I found I do. The sad thing here is…..well, I'll leave that to the end. So here goes.

777 Noodle House:

Yes, I've done posts on the chicken wings before, but during my last visit I noticed something called Jalapeno Wings on the menu. Well, I just had to try them out. Unfortunately, as you'll see in the photos, these weren't particularly good.

It's all about technique here……the wings were supposed to be made like Salt and Pepper Chicken wings, but they really blew it. The first fry was ok, but after scalding the chilies and onions, which also imparted nothing to the dish, the burned the wings making it bitter…also, these were greasy as well…..not very good eats.

I'll stick with my other favorites on the menu.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Bao's Awesome Burgers (BABs):

**** BABs has closed

After my initial post, a couple of folks told me how wrong I was about the place. None of those emails were especially compelling except the one that mentioned the wings….specifically the "Canton Wings". So after some contemplation….mostly over dealing with the parking…luckily the place opens before several of the other businesses, I made my way back to BABS and ordered the Canton Wings.

These smelled quite nice….I could make out a bit of cumin, but couldn't really taste it…..what made up most of the flavor was a ton of salt. When you were a kid, did you ever over-consume a bag of Lays? And then your lips burned from too much salt? That's pretty much what happened here…..I felt like a kid again, but not in a good way. The skin was crisp, wings were moist, but this were too salty for me.

Bao's Awesome Burgers and Sandwiches
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Okan:

I know, how many Okan posts do we actually have? Here's just a single item….the chicken wings.

These just didn't cut it….at five bucks for three under-seasoned, soggy, rubbery wings. Definitely not one of the items on the menu that I'll order in the future.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go….. sadly, this one is an "o-fer three". Perhaps that's why I didn't do this sooner. I'm hoping for some better wings in my future.

Recently Consumed…….

October 2, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Poke

I haven't done one of these in a while….so why not? Here's some stuff I recently made….well maybe not so recently. FOY (friends of yoso) Mr and MrsZ gave us a bunch of produce from their garden….the Missus just loved the tomatoes, which lasted exactly two days. Day one was a nice salad with cucumbers, etc……

Thanks so much! We appreciate your thoughfulness!

JohnL gave me some limu (thanks John!) from the farmer's market and I was happy to see some decent maguro at Marukai here in San Diego for a change. Of course, the Missus wanted the Spicy Tuna Poke, so I made poke two ways….

The Missus is still enjoying smoked salmon……

and in what has become a bit of a disturbing trend has started to text me photos of Her breakfasts!!!

It's been really hot the last couple of days….so I've been going to my old standby……hiyayakko tofu.

Well, that's it for today!

What have you been eating?

Roadtrip: Dim Sum at Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

October 1, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

After our quick meal at Happiness Restaurant, the Missus calculated that we could still make it to San Gabriel and check out Shanghai No.1 Seafood Village before it got too crowded. Shanghai No.1 had been creating some buzz around the SGV, though I think it's more for the amount spent on decor (I've heard over a million) then the food. The restaurant is located in the same strip mall as Beijing Restaurant and where Green Village was before it shut down. The restaurant really doesn't look like much from the outside.

But the interior is something to behold, looking like an old Shanghai nightclub/restaurant.

We were here during lunch, but the dinner menu is also available. We asked to look at the dinner menu….and got what was to be the typical service here….lousy, abrupt, and perfunctory at best.

The menu really looked like those we saw in China, an over-sized volume of glossy photos, with each dish described in detail. I had read several accounts saying that the dim sum was expensive, but of course those folks hadn't eaten dim sum in San Diego recently. Here the small is $1.98, medium $2.98, large $3.98, and "specials" $4.98.

Since we had already eaten, our ordering habits had to follow a strategy we have when eating multiple meals in the SGV…..folks always look at me strangely when I tell them we actually have a strategy for eating, like I'm crazy or something. Only folks like my good friends and fellow bloggers like Kirbie and "CC" understand that I'm not totally insane…..partially perhaps, but not around the bend.

We started with the Lily and Corn Porridge ($4.98):

I took one sip of this and went…whoa….the base of the porridge was dried scallop, which just brought it up several notches. Also, notice the smoothness…it basically looks like milled broken rice! Most places serve you rice porridge that looks like rice and water….heck, that's what mine looks like even though there's abalone in it! This was the best I've had in a while, not too starchy or gummy, smooth, nice savory flavor that enhanced, but didn't overwhelm the added ingredients….quite nice.

Next up was the Abalone sticky rice in Lotus Leaf ($3.98):

Loved the way this was executed, the rice wasn't over-cooked and mushy. The rice had absorbed the maximum amount of smoky flavor from the lotus leaf. There was a slice of abalone, but it was pretty rubbery and instead of a whole egg yolk, there was a smear of yellow. Overall, this was good, but a bit on the rich side.

Next up was the Shanghai Vegetable Bun ($1.98). Now I enjoy the version at Chin's, but this was in another league.

These weren't very big, but the flavors were. The version at Chin's tends to be too bready and sweet. This one had a mild yeastiness and the filling had that balanced salty-bitter-sweet flavor I enjoy.

So far so good…..but from here our meal kinda took a turn in the wrong direction. If you've read our little blog long enough, you know that we just couldn't have a Hu Cai (滬菜) meal without trying the Xun Yu. Here's it's called Old Shanghai Smoked Fish and this one is priced fairly high at $12.99. Supposedly this is not made in the traditional way, but cooked to order, which, if you've ever made this – marinated-deep fried-marinated, seems a bit odd. The dish, which was on the small side was presented well.

The Missus took a bite and told me I wouldn't be able to eat it. But of course I had to try…..man, this was some of the muddiest fish I've had in a while. It tasted like I stuck a handful of dirt in my mouth. The textures were interesting, the exterior light and crisp, the interior almost like silken tofu, which I found odd considering this is fish. I just couldn't bring myself to eat another bite.

The Xiao Long Bao was also terrible ($4.98) – if anything was over-priced on the dim sum menu it was this.

First the folds were hard and gummy, not made well. The flavor of the soup was on the mild side and the filling was hard….much too hard for Xiao Long Bao. This would probably do in San Diego, but not in a Shanghai style restaurant in the SGV.

The one item I really wanted to try were the Shenjian Bao ($2.98):

Not to incur the wrath of my friend YZ from Shanghai, who will automatically tell me how wrong it is for SJB to have folds on the top. This was fluffy, the dough on the sweet side, but had a nice amount of salty-sweet "soup"…..much too sweet for the Missus, but I liked it. The meat wasn't anything special and this was fairly good overall….it looked better than it was.

The service really didn't live up to the standard of the design and decor…..this was basically lipstick on a pig. When we asked for boxes they were basically thrown at us…the whole objective seemed to be around turning over tables….I guess someone has to pay for the furniture, right?

I thought the execution of the dishes were better than the actual flavors, the SJB is a good case in point. The Missus and I had an interesting conversation about the food on the drive back home. The Missus came to the conclusion that I'm pretty unbiased when it comes to Chinese regional cuisine….I wasn't raised on the stuff, but became immersed during our years in the SGV, so I was basically a blank slate. She was raised on a combination of Lu Cai – Shandong cuisine, of the Jiaodong style and spicy Hunan/Sichuan cuisine. So the flavors of "South of the Yangtze" really don't appeal to Her…..interesting theory.

As for the dim sum at Shanghai No.1…well let's just say it won't make me forget about Sea Harbour or Elite.

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Restaurant
250 West Valley Blvd Suite M
San Gabriel, CA 91776