mmm-yoso – Page 384 – 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.

Roadtrip: Dat Thanh (Westminster) and a revisit to Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant (Garden Grove) – Orange County

September 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

The Missus was in the mood and craving some springrolls and the natural answer to that would be Brodard, which I've been to but never posted on. But just the thought of visiting on a Saturday….well, we wanted something else, so I did a bit of research and after reading Elmo's post, decided to head on over to Westminster and….

Dat Thanh:

This tiny shop on McFadden is supposed to be "The" challenger to Brodard for supposed springroll supremacy in Little Saigon, how could we not try it. The guy running the place is really nice, friendly, and seems to sincerely want you to enjoy your meal…he's quite chatty and will talk about anything from the parking situation (really bad) to what he eats on his day off (anything but Vietnamese). As you can tell it's obvious what this place is all about from that lovely photo on the menu, and in fact, if anything the springrolls we got on our plate actually looked better.

It's also wonderful that they have a combination of 2 Nem Nuong Cuon (pork sausage) and 2 Chao Tom Cuon (shrimp sausage/paste) on the menu for $6.99. These looked so wonderfully bright and fresh, I couldn't wait to take a bite…..which kinda ended my total admiration for these. First, the great….absolutely loved the fried egg roll wrappers in the middle, it just brought the texture up a level adding a wonderful crunch to everything. The good, loved the way these were wrapped, not too tight, and the wrappers weren't too thick. The mediocre, man that nem nuong and chao tom were bland…we actually pulled out pieces to have a taste. There didn't seem to have enough mint or herbs in these to give it that nice "pop' of flavor. The tuong – dipping sauce was really sweet and had an eggy flavor that the Missus wasn't too fond of.

Luckily, we also ordered the combination broken rice with BBQ pork chop $8.89:

Other than the shrimp, which was rubbery and very plain tasting, and perhaps the pork chop which the Missus thought was too sweet, but I enjoyed, this was a unanimous thumbs up……it's really hard to get the perfect broken rice plate and this was darn close. The rice was awesome, right amount of moisture for our taste and more importantly, fragrant. The Missus, who has declared Herself a non-pork eater loved the Bi, which had the right ration of skin to meat to rice powder and was also just moist enough. The cha, steamed egg and pork cake was also tasty and fresh….and not to belabor the point, moist. Ditto the shrimp in beancurd wrapper.

The nuoc mam cham was also excellent, if also a bit on the sweet side. Overall, I'd gladly return for the com tam, it was the best I've had in a while.

The Missus on the other hand was looking forward to some good Goi Cuon and was a bit perturbed….

Dat Thanh
10032 McFadden Ave.
Westminster, CA 92683

The Missus wanted something dependable and flavorful…..and She had one place in mind:

Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant:

Not much to write here that hasn't been covered in a previous post. The first two dishes you can read about there.

The raw shrimp salad looked even better today:

And it was….in addition way more spicy as well. They never ask us how spicy we want our food here…so we just take it as it comes. This was delicious, but man it was hot. The Missus had mild burns around Her lips….no biggie though. I just couldn't stop eating that sauce….

The Nam Khao had good flavor, but wasn't as crunchy as on previous visits. Still, I just love this, it's one of my "desert island dishes".

We decided to order one more item and chose the garlic shrimp….which the Missus loved. She ate most of it, I had one piece but really couldn't taste anything because my tastebuds had been killed by that shrimp. When I recovered a bit, the shrimp was gone, but I had a taste of the caramelized garlic, which was done right….it tasted like "garlic candy".

So the Missus has another dish to order when we return.

Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant
10262 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove,CA92843

We hit up Marukai in Costa Mesa on the way back and got some great looking black cod, so the Missus ended up getting misoyaki black cod for a couple of days……so in the end, it was a happy roadtrip for Her.

BBQ Chicken Revisited

September 4, 2012 mmm-yoso Chains, Korean Restaurants

*** BB.Q Chicken has returned to San Diego – updated post here.

*** BBQ Chicken has closed

If you've read my previous posts on BBQ Chicken, you probably already know that I've never been a big fan. A couple years back, I got into a slight disagreement with a fellow blogger on how this was notreally B(est) of the B(est) Q(uality). I found the chicken to have a bit of a fishy smell and am not a big fan of the batter either. Still, when I saw that BBQ Chicken had new ownership and was now open for lunch, I thought "why not try it again"…..hey, maybe my tastebuds had, ahem, "matured enough to appreciate the chicken". Or maybe you just need tastebuds that are super mature, i.e. dead, to really enjoy the chicken, in which case there would be no change.

What was nice was that I was actually acknowledged when I arrived, by a very nice young lady. Looking over the menu, I noticed that the lunch specials were nicely priced. Hey, even better……so I ordered a three piece "Olive Luxury Chicken Combo" ($7.99).

One of the positives about BBQ Chicken is that the chicken is cooked to order…..the negative to that is, if things aren't right in the kitchen, it might take a while. Fortunately for me, my chicken arrived sizzling…literally sizzling to my table. Also, the server endeared herself to me……she brought extra napkins! Telling me "you're having fried chicken, I think you might need some extra napkins." Perfect…..

On the good side, the chicken was very moist…and hot! But I'm still not a fan of the bland, crumbliy, somewhat greasy batter….and for some reason, it still smells a bit fishy to me. It could be that I'm just more sensitive to it, but there is something strange in the smell.

You get one side with the lunch and I chose the "corn salad", which was really bland, but at least didn't smell bad.

As for the Chicken……well, I'm still not sold.

BBQ Chicken
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Mon-Thu 11 am – 12 am
Fri-Sat 11 am – 1 am
Sunday 11 am – 12 am

Oahu Plate Lunches: Grace’s Inn and Diamond Head Market and Grill

September 3, 2012 mmm-yoso Honolulu, Oahu, Plate Lunch, Travel

You can't go to Hawaii without getting a plate lunch, or two….. Here's a round-up of some plate lunches over the course of my last two visits.

Grace's Inn:

**** This location of Grace's has closed

Man, Grace's goes back a looong way for me. We used to eat at the lunch wagon near University….my good friend's first job in High School was working at the original location in Moiliili. He used to have to make the katsu sauce! Eventually, Grace's spread everywhere and like many chains of this type…sustainability just wasn't there I guess. The last time I ate at a Grace's was perhaps about 16 years ago….it was a chicken katsu, sweet sour pork mix at the now defunct (I didn't know that until the day I left for my flight home) Kapahulu location across Kaimuki High School. I'd wondered how my tastes and perhaps Grace's had changed over the years…..I knew that perhaps this would be messing with some good memories, but I just had to find out.

Man, times have changed….so the mixed plate in now three items, you're asked for two "salads"….. and since no sweet-sour pork and the pressure was on, I got some roast pork and mochiko chicken to go with my katsu.

Man, that "Asian" coleslaw tasted like it was dressed with pure rice vinegar and I was never a fan of the almost mainland like sour mac salad anyway. In retrospect, I should have just gotten the chicken katsu…memories would have remained untarnished. The mochiko chicken was way bland and greasy, even by plate lunch standards. The roast pork was dry, lukewarm, the gravy gluey, and also flavorless…where was that bottle of tabasco again? The katsu still delivered though…..

Crisp and moist, it was as I remembered, as was the tsukemono like "kimchi". The katsu sauce tasted different to me….. I recall it having a stronger ketchup base. Nice to see the chow fun still resides below the proteins.

So lets see, if we tally things up, this was batting about .400, nice if you're playing baseball, not so great if you're trying to rekindle some memories. Of course the thoguht came to me, I'd never eaten at this location. Could that have been a factor?

Grace's Inn
98-820 Moanalua Rd
Aiea, HI 96701

Diamond Head Market and Grill:

I'm not sure where I first heard about this place….I think it's either Kat or Kathy, so why not mentioned them both, right? I hadn't been round this part of Monsarrat in ages…..when this place was still Burgerland!

Man, this area is crazy now, with the trolley stopping right in front of the place, tons of Japanese tourists in the market…….still, arriving about 11 am, I managed to snag a space.

I was feeling pretty hungry, so I got the special for the day, a Kalbi – Korean Chicken mixed plate. And yes, this place does offer brown rice. My plate looked lovely, not over-carbed, and with greens….the new wave of plate lunches.

The grade of LA Kalbi, the cross cut short ribs was excellent by plate lunch standards, very tender and moist. There was a mild fruity component, but this was very mild in flavor, even when talking in terms of "local-style" kalbi which tends toward the sweet side. The chicken on the other hand was delicious, mild heat, light sweetness, not too salty….a nice savory aspect from what I believe is kochujung…really good.

I loved what I saw on the breakfast menu….so I think I'll bring the Missus next time for breakfast.

Diamond Head Market & Grill
3158 Monsarrat Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815

Sunday Stuffs: North Park Produce coming to Clairemont, Birrieria’s la Guadalajara closes, and other stuffs

September 2, 2012 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers

North Park Produce coming to Clairemont:

I went for my recycling run today and noticed this sign in the strip mall on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive:

Can I get a big "ALRIGHT"! I'm looking forward to this.

The address is:

4220 Balboa Ave

Birrieria's la Guadalajara closes:

I was told about this a few weeks ago. We drove down to Chula Vista this past weekend, for some fish tacos and grocery shopping. Stopped by to confirm that sadly, one of our favorites has indeed closed. Too bad, we enjoyed quite a few meals there. Even if the birria wasn't the best, the borrego a la plancha, tacos rojo, cabeza en su jugo, were quite good. As were the hand made tortillas.

Bummer……

1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

We also checked out the Northgate Market on Third Avenue…..and saw these giant mutant sweet potatoes. I placed a large orange (no, that's not a lime) for a size comparison.

Saw this woman treating her fairly good sized pooch like a baby in the parking lot of Balboa Market…loading in groceries by hand while carrying the dog with the other.

Some folks sure love their dogs!

Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!

Tunisia: The ruins at Sbeitla (Sufetula) and lamb by the side of the road…….

September 1, 2012 mmm-yoso North African Food, Travel, Tunisia, Tunisian Food

After leaving Kairouan, Ben drove us about 65 miles south to the outskirts of the town of Sbeitla. Here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere are the ruins of the Roman city of Sufetula. I've read that the Roman's ability to maximize usage and conservation of water and the soil proved perfect for growing olives. Sufetula became a prosperous Roman town. One can imagine what this town looked like in it's heyday based on ruins left…..

There's a theatre, which I read was in a poor state, but looked decently restored and preserved to me.

Sufetula's most mentioned ruins are the three temples, which are indeed very dramatic looking.

From the left to right, the temples of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva. During the second century, these were considered among the most beautiful in the world.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, Sufetula was still doing well under Byzantine Christian rule. So well, that Gregory the Patrician, for a number of reasons, revolted against Constantinople and declared himself "Emperor" in 646. It wasn't to last very long as the Arabs invaded and Gregory was killed in battle.

Notice anything? Much like El Djem, we were the only people visiting…… As I pressed Ben on this, I was told, "the Europeans come, they stay on all inclusives, they see ruins in Rome, so they don't think these are worth a visit. The resorts have everything for them, so they think, why leave? The one thing they do want to see is the Sahara, you'll see them there."

Right in back of the temples are the ruins of several churches. In the ruins of one of them you can see the baptismal font, like the one we saw in the Bardo Museum.

Walking down the "streets" was a surreal experience, just the sound of the wind blowing through the grass, birds, and our voices among the ruins.

Walking up the path we came to….well, what looked like an empty field.

We were told that under the soil lies an Amphitheatre. Hopefully, it'll see the light of day again….

On the way out, we checked out the Byzantine "house", which seemed like more of a fort. You had to go up stairs in order to enter.

The place felt really cramped, no windows means that it must have been pretty dark. Small rooms, some of which looked like held livestock, in a fortress like structure, just seemed to reflect the times……fear, paranoia, a silo mentality…..a feeling of impending doom hanging over you.

Based on history, I guess the fears were well founded as the Arabs destroyed the town in 647AD.

From Sbeitla, we headed off to Tozeur, where we'd stop for the next two evenings. Along the way, we passed a number little shops lining streets. It was an interesting sight; the shops would be grilling meat out front, there'd be a sheep's pelt or two hanging out front, we even saw one where a sheep was being dispatched in front of the shop….the ultimate sign of freshness! The Missus asked Ben to stop at one of these shops….for lunch. A great idea! So driving down one of the roads, Ben picked this one as there seemed to be a good number of customers.

So, what we soon figured, the lamb pelt signifies that the lamb was killed fresh, the more pelts the better….how many lambs you went through during the day. If you enlarge the picture above, you'll see the cuts of lamb….these guys are awesome butchers, hanging from the ceiling. You walk on in, pick your cut, and how much of it you wanted. This place had been busy, only leg cuts left, but with Ben's help we got a half kilo, enough for a nice meal.

As the folks went to work on our lamb, we took a seat…..this being Tunisia, a whole baguette was soon provided.

Along with two different types of mechouia…..the type we were used to having, covered with a nice layer of olive oil.

Which was nicely flavored…this had some seasoning to it.

And a wonderful, smokey rustic version that was my favorite to date.

For me this had the complete package……onions for pungency, tomatoes for some acid, there was some spice to it. The roasted peppers added a nice smokey component. The Missus told me, "this would make a killer salsa…" Which cracked me up; we started calling it salsa from here on out. Even the harissa tasted like it had a bit more bite.

Meanwhile, the folks went about cutting our portion from the leg hanging on the ceiling.

I'd been wondering about the unique smell and flavor of items that we'd had grilled….I was told that they grill over olive wood, which imparts a unique flavor to the food.

Soon enough our lamb arrived…..

This was amazingly tender….I really had a hard time believing it was grilled leg of lamb…..juicy, tender, simply seasoned with salt. It was my favorite meal in Tunisia to date.

After the meal, Ben told us it was nice that we actually spent money supporting the local economy, not only in the resorts. I recall telling the Missus that all these places would need is for somebody "like Bourdain coming here and saying how great it really it is for it to become chic….." Of course we still hadn't met a single American during our entire trip yet!

The Smoked Greek Style Lamb Chop Experiment

August 31, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Well, I did need something to accompany my beans, right? Plus, every once in a while I like to experiment around….play with my food if you will. Plus, I've been getting quite a bit of mileage out of my stove top smoker….so why not? When thinking this out, I thought the biggest problem would be getting a nice caramelization on my lamb loin chops….a bunch of pretty inexpensive stuff from Costco….I wasn't going to play around with anything too pricey.

So I decided to do a quick marinade while waiting out my beans.

1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil – everyday variety, not the good stuff
3/4 Cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 bulb of garlic (yes, bulb)
2 bay leaves
1 tb Turkish oregano

I threw everything into the food processor and let rip. Combined with lamb in a gallon ziploc for two hours. After the allotted time, I poured everything out into a large bowl, removed the chops, scrapping off excess marinade and set in the smoker.

I'll admit, not the prettiest thing in the world….two hours was good as the lemon juice hadn't "cooked" the meat too much. Of course this is hot smoking, I used oak this time around.

While the chops were smoking, I poured the excess marinade into a small pot, added a bit more olive oil, salt, and fresh ground black pepper, heated to a boil, then simmered for a few minutes. I decided to sear my chops after smoking and would use this to baste.

After 20 minutes of smoking, I opened up the smoker, got my trusty cast iron pan onto the big kahuna and some ripping high heat and quickly seared the chops. Actually, these were not bad…….

They had a nice, light smoked, almost cured flavor, light lemon tones, and surprisingly, not very strong garlic flavor.

I gave several of the chops to one of the Missus' coworkers, who is not a big fan of lamb and he really enjoyed it.

Who said that we shouldn't play with our food?

Happy Friday everyone!

Bale Returns to Linda Vista

August 29, 2012 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Bale has closed (yet again)

Well it took them awhile but Bale has returned to Linda Vista for a third time, this time in the space formerly occupied by Toan Ky, LV Sandwiches, and Le's…..sheesh, this location doesn't have that great of a track record, huh? Anyway, the place reopened on August 25th, a few days later the mercury was telling me that a banh mi might not be a bad idea.

Man, the place was just besieged by older Vietnamese women…..who were giving the two young ladies total hell. A lot had to do with the sign in the front.

Apparently, folks read the sign that said "Buy 1 Sandwich Get One Free…." and stopped there without reading the "coffee or Thai tea" part of the sign. In some ways I don't blame them. They could have written the sign a bit better. Anyway, when I stepped up to the counter the girls asked me if I understood the sign and I said yes. They could not understand why folks were just reading the first couple of words……I explained that many times we see what we want. Also, they were catching hell in Vietnamese, so obviously English was not the primary language here. The young ladies could not for the life of them understand…meanwhile, a woman stepped in front of me and gave the girls a piece of her mind! Yikes! I mentioned that perhaps they could let the manager or the owner take care of the irate customers….the two girls looked at me like I had lost my mind! Well then, what can I say????

Anyway, the prices looked pretty good, sandwiches ranged from $2.95 to $3.45. I decided to just get the Dac Biet (the special – $3.45):

A bit different from my previous experiences with Bale in San Diego, this place used the longer baguette instead of the standard issue banh mi. This meant less bread, more crust, which, though not as good as Cali Baguettte Express, was flakey enough for me. Bale has a long history of toasting the bread to death, not so in this case either. The pickled vegetables were on the bland side, but there was a good amount of pate smeared on the sandwich and just the right amount of mayo. Proportion matters and I found the thin slices of protein to be sufficient. Not bad at all…..

That Thursday I was at the Linda Vista Farmer's Market and did some shopping at Thuan Phat. It was pretty hot so I thought I'd grab another banh mi. I guess convenience is playing on the side of Bale here. It being about 4pm, the place was fairly empty. This time I went for defatted pork sausage – Cha Lua ("Pork Bologna on the menu – $2.95):

This time the bread was a little old for my taste…kind of chewy and not as crusty. Also, a bit too much mayo and hardly any pickled vegetables….which, based on the blandness wasn't really missed too much. Nice pate, which was about all of the flavor, except for the cilantro and jalapenos which were pretty hot this time around. Not good, not terrible……

I did take a look at the sit down menu……but I think I'll do that when the weather gets a bit cooler…..

Anyway, this past week, I had to run and buy some rice. Not really for us, but for Da' Boyz who eat rice with every meal….we hardly consume rice anymore. There's something wrong in the world when my dogs are consuming Three Ladies or Buddha brand jasmine rice!

On this visit, I noticed that the new deal was "Buy 2 Sandwiches, get 1 Free"….I felt much better for the poor young ladies….this time it was pretty cut and dried. Then I stepped in and took a look at the prices for sandwiches…..

What the heck? All sandwiches had gone up by about 10-12% in two weeks? All the $2.95 sandwiches were now $3.39. The $3.45 sandwiches were now $3.69. The BBQ Beef had been $2.95 and was now $3.69……this time, I don't blame customers for getting a bit upset. It is "only" 20 to 40 cents or so…..but it just doesn't seem right to raise prices so quickly….2 weeks?

Speaking of upset, I ordered a Dac Biet and got this instead…..

Whatever, at least it was same priced sandwich.

Tell you what though….I'm not going back for a while.

Bale Restaurant and Deli
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Greek Style Giant White Beans

August 28, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Much like the smoked swordfish, this was something the Missus wanted me to make since we got back from Rhodes this past year. She enjoyed the version from Taverna Kostas (to the right), but wanted something more hearty and moist. At first this seemed like a pretty easy task….but it took me three tries to get something that the Missus enjoyed. First problem; where to get "gigantes", Greek Giant White Beans. I tried large limas, but it wasn't quite the same. I eventually luckily found some dried giant white beans at Balboa Market, not quite the same, but passable. The bean portion is pretty routine….soak overnight. The combination cooking portion I found interesting. The straigh simmer, saute, than bake just didn't do it the first two times. The last time, I played around a bit and made the adjustments for the Missus' tastes. I also went against the old wives tale of not adding acid during the simmer….I added 7 roma tomatoes and two whole heads of garlic with the tops chopped and didn't find that it prolonged the cooking time of about 1-1/2 hour. I ended up heating a ddukbaegi (Korean earthenware pot) in the oven, coating with olive oil then added the beans with a light layer of extra virgin olive oil on the top to finish.

Anyway….here goes.

Soak 1 pound giant lima or giant white beans overnight.

The Simmer
Drained beans
Water to cover
7-8 roma tomatoes with an 'x' sliced on the bottom
1-2 whole bulbs of garlic, loose "skin" removed, top chopped off
4-5 whole sprigs fresh dill
1 tablespoon crushed dried oregano
2 bay leaves

– combine all items above
– simmer for 1 hour, then check for doneness
– remove garlic, tomatoes, dill sprigs, bay leaf, and any skin that has come off tomato
– when tomatoes are cool enough remove all skin, squeeze garlic out off bulb, chop tomatoes, reserve
– simmer until beans are done
– drain beans saving 1 cup of simmering liquid
– preheat oven to 450 (I also placed the ddukbaegi in the oven to heat)

The Saute
Drained beans
chopped tomatoes
garlic
1 – 1 1/2 jars of tomato paste. (I like the brand to my left – it's very tangy)
3-4 Tb chopped fresh dill
1 tsp dry oregano crushed
1/2 tsp sugar (if necessary)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
reserved simmering liquid (if necessary)

– in the same pot used for simmering the beans, heat olive oil over medium heat, add chopped roma tomatoes, garlic, oregano, tomato paste.
– when the tomato mixture becomes fragrant, add beans, dill, salt and pepper and set the heat at low and mix to combine well.
– taste, add sugar if necessary, adjust flavor, add more tomato paste, salt, and pepper.
– heat through. If the mixture is very dry add a bit of the bean simmering liquid.

The Bake
– Coat the pan, pot, whatever with olive oil
– place beans in pot and heat or broil to finish.

For our taste, the beans should be well coated and fairly dry. What you on top is a light layer of extra virgin olive oil that was bubbling away. Once mixed it was all incorporated into the dish. Again, maybe not traditional, but made to our tastes!

More Noodling Around – 777 Noodle House, Pho King, Santouka, Yakuyudori Ramen and Yakitori, and Yum Cha Cafe

August 27, 2012 mmm-yoso Ramen, Vietnamese Restaurants

Ooodles of noodles in mostly photos for Monday.

777 Noodle House:

This place seems to be doing some pretty good business, I love the diverse crowd. Had my usual simple bowl of Hu Tieu Nam Vang – dry. Did have a fairly lousy bowl of Egg Noodle Soup with Roast Duck Leg recently, but the Pork Intestine Noodle Soup was interesting. Intestine was prepared fine, though on the chewy side….this really smelled funky, but the flavor was good…..the broth did take on some of the intestine flavor.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Pho King:

Hadn't been back here in a while. So had my usual Hu Tieu Mi Kho….man am I getting boring and predictable.

Pho King Restaurant
4658 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Santouka:

Talk about predictable….yep, Shio Toroniku style.

Though I don't feel so bad, since a couple of weeks later I ran into Dennis here and he got his ramen…yep…toroniku style! Dennis also said he just knew he'd run into someone that day…..I guess he was getting readings on his "blog-dar"???? Funny….

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

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori:

I gotta say….this bowl of shoyu ramen was probably the best I had here. Balanced in flavor, not too salty, the noodles were perfectly prepared….just good stuff.

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Yum Cha Cafe:

**** Yum Cha Cafe has closed

I feel the place has kinda gone downhill since they opened and have not visited very much recently. However, I was in the area and hungry after shopping next door. I'd always wondered about the $3.99 rice noodle soup with BBQ pork, so I decided to get that.

I was pleasantly surprised. At least in terms of portion size. There were at least 6-7 slices of BBQ Pork, the noodles were nicely done. The soup was a step above MSG water….but in terms of value, I'd say this is pretty good.

Great stuff for the starving student set…..

Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Vista: Spicy King

August 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Spicy King has closed

It's always great to hear from folks who have new recommendations and such….I don't think I'd still be around if not for the many emails and suggestions I get. A couple of weeks ago, "Big Ron", an avid Chowhound and I guess reader of our blog sent me an email asking me to try Spicy King, which had just opened up in Vista. Now I'd heard a bit about Spicy King, but not a whole lot….I as told that the folks behind Spicy City are somehow involved in the whole deal. Also, my dear FOY (Friend of Yoso), The Food Detective and her husband MrC had eaten there two weeks previous. The place sounded interesting, but when I quizzed TFD, she was less than enthused telling me the place was "decent", the "portions large", but overall a step behind Dede's and Spicy City in her mind. Still, we were missing Sichuan food and having been to every other Sichuan place many times over, why not make the 75 mile round trip, right?

As you can tell by the banner, the restaurant is fairly new and located in a pretty quiet corner of one of the mall complexes anchored by an Albertson's.

hadn't I been explicitly looking for the place, I'd have never known it was here….it would be hard to tell the place was open if not for the "Open" sign.

The place is quite nice, rather simple but tasteful. The young women working….the Missus told me they're all related were friendly and also from Chongqing based on their accents.

The menu is large and all the photos can lead you into overload with over 115 dishes, excluding the…ahem, "classics", items like Cashew Chicken, Beef Broccoli, and such which are hidden on the back of the menu.

The natural way to start one of these meals is with some cold appetizers(3 for $5.99)…..

The best item was the almost Jiangnan ("South of the Yangtze" – Suzhou/Shanghai/Hangzhou) style fish, almost like Xun Yu. It was slighty sweet, bony, but had nice flavor. The spicy bean curd was extremely salty and the Fu Qi Fei Pian, while perfect in texture lacked the buzz of Sichuan peppercorns and a decent amount of heat.

One of the two dishes I truly miss from Ba Ren is the ChongQing Kou Shui Ji 重庆口水鸡 – the mouthwatering (saliva) chicken. So we ordered the Chungking cold chopped chicken with Hot Sauce ($9.99). And good god, this huge bowl arrived….there seemed to be over half a chicken in it.

It did look quite good…..but was fairly flat and surprisingly not very spicy. It really lacked any real depth of flavor…..anything, black vinegar, sesame paste, perhaps a little garlic, mild sweetness….strangely, I took most of this home, the leftovers became almost a whole meal a day later, and this was still not very spicy.

Next up was the Shrimp with Explosive Chili Pepper ($12.99).

I don't think the oil was at the right temp for this as the batter was gummy and the dish was on the greasy side……not oily (oil is the pathway to flavor in Sichuan cuisine), greasy. The shrimp were severely overcooked and rubbery. Not enough Sichuan peppercorn for my taste….especially for ChongQing style Sichuan. Decent heat from the scalded chilies though.

Next up was the Twice Cooked Fish with Hot Pepper ($10.99). God almighty, this was a huuuuge amount of fish. The batter looked the same as the one used for the shrimp, but this time it was lighter and crisp. The fish was nicely cooked, tender and moist.

There was a decent amount of peppercorn in this, the garlic and even the slices of ginger added to the dish. The photo on the right is after the Missus had eaten two pieces and I had eaten three….it's like we hadn't put a dent in this. About this time, the Missus overheard two of the young ladies, one was telling the other, "they are not even from Sichuan and are ordering all spicy…."

We also noticed that other customers didn't seem to be ordering much of the spicy stuff……

Next up was the Pork Intestine with Pickled Chili Pepper (Pa Jiao – $9.99):

The intestines were very "clean" and this was mild with regards to funkiness. The dish was much sweeter than it was spicy. In fact, I had the leftovers three days later, at which time it had become nice and spicy. Not a bad dish.

The Missus ordered something called "Megamillions fish fillet" ($12.99), which was Her favorite dish of the day.

This was Her favorite dish of the day. It put some nice layers of flavor together….the minced ginger, the pickled peppers, the fish was perfect, the tofu added a nice symmetry to the dish. Tasting this, I thought it to be the most balanced in terms of "suan-tian-ku-la-xian", the sour-sweet-bitter-spicy-salty metaphor that Chinese use to compare food to life.

One funny moment occurred during our visit….three of the staff started having a typical "discussion" over the A/C……it started as some chatter and got louder and louder until they seemed to be yelling at each other. Folks in the restaurant put their chopsticks down and seemed to be waiting for the "gloves to come off". I even stopped eating to watch….at which time the Missus reminded me, "you know they are just having a normal discussion over the A/C right……" as She just kept eating. Goodness, I'd forgotten!

In the end, what to say….the food was decent, though not quite worth the 75 mile round trip. The portions are huge and the service very friendly. when the Missus mentioned how big the servings were the young lady said, "oh no, the plates just make everything look so big!" You gotta love that. It's really good to see diversity of cuisine spreading, albeit slowly all over San Diego. It's taking awhile, but it's many miles from how things were when we moved here!

Spicy King
1233 East Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084

Thanks for your recommendation Big Ron! I hope here from you again in the future!