mmm-yoso – Page 395 – 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.

Sunday Stuffs: Asian Balsamic-Mirin Glazed Strip Steak and other “stuffs”………

December 11, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes, yoso-silly

While on Lana'i we had a chance to check out Lana'i City Grille at the Hotel Lana'i. As renowned chef Beverly Gannon is the Executive Chef, we had to try the place out. It was a decent, if not fantastic meal. One of the items that was a bit disappointing to both the Missus and I was the mushroom risotto, which I'll go into a bit more in a future post. So of course the first thing the Missus wanted when we returned was mushroom risotto. Which is what She got today……

She has been cutting meat out of Her diet. I on the other hand desired some red meat. Since I very rarely have a steak, I'll usually splurge on prime and/or aged cut. This time around, I wanted to play with a pseudo, almost wafu type steak, so I decided on doing a choice New York Strip seasoned with sea salt/ala'e, fresh cracked pepper, and granulated garlic. To finish, I did a balsamic-soy sauce-mirin glaze….I thought the glaze might be too much, but it turned out rather well.

Combined with some mushroom risotto and Asian style sauteed rapini on a braised mushroom, this turned out to be quite a meal. I finished the rest of the steak for dinner. I really didn't reduce the sauce too much, maybe by a third, but you can go farther if you want a really thick glaze. I used some of the remainder as a sauce for the leftover steak and it tasted quite good.

Balsamic-Mirin Reduction:

1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 Cup neutral flavored soy sauce (Yamasa or Aloha)

1/2 Cup Mirin

3 cloves garlic smashed

Black Pepper to taste.

Combine ingredients over medium heat, bring to a boil then reduce as much as desired.

Other stuffs……

While on vacation, I reconnected with a "small kid time" favorite of mine:

Don't ask me why or how……I've been eating this stuff like crazy……I just finished one 26 ounce jug and am starting on my second. I better just finish that off and be done with the whole thing! Just call is PNS – Post Nostalgic Syndrome.

The other night we were at Zion Market and the Missus saw something that thrilled Her!

Placenta! Yikes….turns out that it is a pretty common ingredient in shampoos, lipstick, and lotion. The Missus was happy to be able to buy this stuff at such a good price! I on the other will be checking the ingredients on my bottle of shampoo tonight! For some reason this gives me the heebies……..

I spent a nice day watching Sammy's favorite shows on television. He loves Dogs 101 and Dog Whisperer. Here's his favorite seat.

So how's that for a wacko household? I'm stuffing my face with one ton chips, the Missus is rubbing placenta on Her face, and Sammy spends most of the day glued to the television………

One last thing…….

I know I always mention how beautiful the sunsets are in Hawaii; but they aren't so shabby here in San Diego either!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Jianyang: Jianyang Mutton Soup (sort of)

December 10, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Jianyang, Travel

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Missus' cousin lived in Jianyang, about 80 kilometers outside of Chengdu. And while he and his family really weren't "foodies" he went out of his way asking friends and acquaintances for recommendations. We really appreciated his efforts. On our first evening, he took us to have what is Jianyang's signature dish, Jianyang Mutton Soup. Located down a dusty side street, this little shop was doing some major business….though the customers seemed overwhelmingly male.

This restaurant was supposed to be the "original" Jianyang mutton soup shop…………

There were a few side dishes ordered and it seemed like there were two standard condiments for the dish that came out. The first was simply salt and ground chilies. The second was lamb consomme with chilies.

The broth of the mutton soup seems to made from rapidly boiled bones, creating a milky white appearance, a process that leaches all of the nutrients from the bones. When the Missus used to get sick as a child, Her parents used to make bone soup to nurse Her back to health, so it is something appreciates.

The actual broth was very mild, thus the condiments. The meat was slightly gamey, some of it rather chewy, but not as "wild" tasting some mutton/lamb I've had, and some of it had a slight sweetness to it as well. It was milder than much of the mutton/lamb/venison that I've had.

Do you notice something about the soup? If you've read our little blog long enough, you'd know that one of the items that I'm not a big fan of is jellied blood and this soup is teeming with cubes of blood. Being the guest, the Missus cousin made me the first bowl and I was honored, but it was full of cubes of blood. I looked at the Missus and shrugged, what could I do? I had to eat it…….

And it was delicious….sweet, without that livery-iodine flavor that I don't enjoy. In fact, it was the best thing about the soup. After returning to San Diego, I immediately went to a couple of my favorite Vetinamese restaurants and decided to have the cubed blood again…gaaack, sorry to say, it ain't the same.

The side dishes were very tasty. The minced meat with celery was well executed. The meat in this was rather rich so the celery and tomato helped to cut the flavor.

The second dish, consisting of some pretty fatty and greasy looking meat was amazingly mild as well.

It was a very hearty meal which made both the Missus and I quite sleepy.

The Missus cousin had put us up in a very nice looking hotel…….

Which overlooked the main city park.

There's not much happening here during the day….it's very quiet and tranquil.

But much like the rest of China, after the work days ends, the park is full of people getting their exercise, watching a movie on the big screen over the park, dancing, or just plain socializing.

As for the "sort of"……the Missus hadn't read or even noticed the sign of the restaurant when we ate there. After we returned I asked the Missus to translate the sign and all She could say was "oh my"……

Oh my indeed…….

Feeling Pho-rozen: Pho Lucky and Pho Hiep and Grill (Linda Vista)

December 8, 2011 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Man, the cold has hit me like a ton of bricks…….. I've even mentioning adopting another pup to the Missus since we've definitely had a couple of three dog nights and we're one mutt short! I'm usually not so wimpy. I'm not sure if I became used to the 80 degree plus weather on Oahu over ten short days, but walking out of the airport to temps in the high forties stopped me dead. Geeez, what a wimp……

So of course I've been craving soup, and Pho' obviously comes to mind.

Pho Lucky:

I was quite surprised when the Missus, being not much of a Pho-natic requested a bowl of Pho. We headed up to Pho Lucky.

I ordered a bowl with just tendon, brisket, and flank. The broth was on the dark side but very soothing and not too salty. Nice mild anise and onion tones. Noodles could have used less cooking time but I wasn't complaining. To my surprise (and to the really funny Server's) the Missus ordered a large Dac Biet (Special) and plowed through most of it (left the rare steak).

Timing as they say, is everything.

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Pho Hiep and Grill – Linda Vista:

Deciding that a Pho double dip might be just the thing, the next day I headed to Pho Hiep and Grill.

I grabbed a large bowl of Flank-Brisket-Tendon-Tripe. The protein items were pretty good, especially the usually tough flank cuts. The broth left something to be desired; the anise flavor was much too strong and it was salty as heck.

Can't win 'em all I guess.

Pho Hiep & Grill
6947 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

So what have you been consuming to stay warm?

"You can raise your arm, you can wiggle your hand
And you can wave goodbye to the frozen man"

The Frozen Man – James Taylor

Hawaii: Poke Paradise – Poke Stop, Alicia’s Market, Tanioka’s Seafood and Catering, Ono Seafood, and Lana’i Ohana Poke Market

December 6, 2011 mmm-yoso Honolulu, Lanai, Oahu, Plate Lunch, Poke, Seafood, Travel

Even though our trip was a mere ten days, we made sure to get in as much Poke as possible. The Missus, who by now is a full fledged poke-phile and I would often discuss the merits of the poke we ate during our trip. We tried five different shops during our stay and here's the consensus, in reverse order of our favorites. I think our favorite will be a bit of a surprise.

#5 – Poke Stop

On our previous trip I had the pleasure of chatting with a former coworker of my MIL and lifetime Leeward resident Melissa, whom I also had a great time sharing dinner with on her subsequent trip to San Diego. It was really great getting her feedback on a number of places in the Ewa/Waipahu area.Poke Stop was one of the really hyped up places, but Melissa told me that the poke was very salty and perhaps not her favorite, so we passed. On this visit, the Missus and I stopped by the little shop for a light lunch. We enjoyed the "trio" of cooked items which I'll post on later, but unfortunately, the poke here was our least favorite, that's not to say it was bad, but someone had to be numba five. The shop is rather small and the choices rather limited, some of which looked like it had been sitting around for a while, but we ended up getting two different poke along with our plate lunch, a Primo, and headed outside to one of the tables overlooking Farrington Highway.

The two poke were totally at different ends of the spectrum…..

The Sesame Ahi Poke, really didn't look much like what I usually consider to be Ahi (Big Eye or Yellowfin Tuna) at all as it was really pale in color…it was almost like Tombo Ahi, aka Albacore.

But Tombo tends to be kinda mushy and this was firm, so I'm not sure. Overall, this was really bland and the fish, though firm didn't have the richness nor oil content to carry the poke on its own. You could barely make out a whiff of sesame oil on this.

At the other end, the Kimchi Tako Poke was super salty.

The Tako (octopus) was prepared well, chewy, but not too tough. It was just much too salty. We did like the service here; the older woman and her younger counterpart were very friendly. When we said we'd be eating at the tables outside, they told us to go ahead and have a seat and brought our food to us.

Poke Stop
94 -050 Farrington Hwy, E4
Waipahu, HI 96797

#4 – Alicia's Market

This little market on Mokauea in Kalihi is known for sparse parking and great poke and roast pork.

I was really lucky, as I was driving up a car left one of the maybe ten stalls in front of the market (and drive in next door), talk about good luck!

This being a football Saturday the place was packed.

You get into one of the free-form pseudo lines and when you think you're next you tell one of the folks behind the counter what you want….and there's no need for long explanations like "one pound of spicy masago ahi poke" as simple "half spicy masago" will do. If you don't notice when it's your turn one of the other customers will likely let you know…after all, this is Hawaii, and "you no cut in line" here. On busy days you can just pay cash at the fish counter, bypassing the single cash register in the front. It just works better that way.

Of the three we bought on this day, my favorite was the Sweet Onion Ahi, which seemed very fresh, with just enough saltiness for my taste. The onions were indeed "almost Maui" in sweetness.

The Spicy Ahi had too much mayonnaise for the Missus and I, though my MIL enjoyed it.

This one also got on the bad side of the Missus…more on that later on.

There was a lot of "suji"(tough tendon/fishing line like tissue) in the Spicy Masago Ahi Poke. You really couldn't tell by looking at it. It seems like they used the cuts with the most tough connective tissue hiding under all that masago.

Did you notice the banner for Alicia's read "Broke the Mouth"? Well the spicy poke almost broke the Missus' teeth…twice She pulled bones from the poke. I chewed on a couple of scales in the masago poke, which made it not only too tough, but also scaly as well.

Not much else to say…….

Alicia's Market
267 Mokauea St
Honolulu, HI 96819

#3 – Tanioka's Seafood and Catering

We dropped by twice….once right after getting off the plane and once I braved the Saturday line out the door and down the sidewalk. The Missus and I were looking forward to the poke from Tanioka's since our previous visit.

On both visits we were lucky as the Ahi Limu was brought out fresh both times and ended up being my favorite.

It was quite good both times, nice balance of flavor, fresh fish, everything you need…..

For some reason, I found the dried aku poke much too salty this time around.

While the Pipikaula (dried beef) Poke seemed much too tame and mild.

The main reason for the revisit is that the Missus' cousins love Ocean/Seaweed Salad, something I find kinda, well, mundane….but I was told that this stuff is really expensive in China.

They could eat this by the pound….but didn't care much for poke, or poi for that matter.

The lines were long, but moves fast. The security guard who doubles as a doorman to handle the weekend crowd is very nice as well.

Tanioka's did come up numba' one on another list, stay tuned for that post.

Tanioka's Seafoods & Catering
94-903 Farrington Hwy
Waipahu, HI 96797

#2 – Ono Seafood

This one is located in my old stomping grounds; Kapahulu. It's actually in what I believe used to be the manager's studio/office for this apartment complex, apartment numba' 4. Just look for the blue apartment…..

The poke here is a couple of dollars cheaper a pound and some of the items they make up fresh for each order. The interior is tiny. This being a two person operation means that you don't move along quite as fast.

The poke here is fresh and unfettered from too many sauces and salt.

The Missus enjoyed the Wasabi Ahi:

The fish was wonderful, bright in color and with a firmness at first bite which gave way to an almost melt in the mouth texture. I did feel that it was made a bit too much restraint with regards to the "whisper of wasabi".

I enjoyed the simple Ahi Limu, except that I found the limu to be really hard.

Other then that, I thought the flavor was really balanced.

We saved the Smoked Tako for my FIL, who loves the stuff.

If I had my druthers, I might have put Tanioka's number two since I thought eating the poke at Diamond Head Look-out affected our opinions a bit.

Still, the Missus wants to make sure to revisit Ono Seafood on our next trip.

Ono Seafood
747 Kapahulu Ave.Apt 4
Honolulu, HI 96816

#1 Lana'i Ohana Poke Market

**** Sadly, Lana'i Ohana Poke Market has closed

This one was a nice surprise for us. I'd heard that there was a nice little poke shop on Gay street right off of 8th. Unfortunately we arrived on a Wednesday when it was closed. I returned the next day……

The little shop was pretty busy when I arrived….three fire fighters and probably half of the police force (two officers) were either eating or waiting for their food. The woman working the front counter was really nice. I found out that even though there's a 5pm closing time posted, they make one pan of everything a day and once that's gone it's pau hana time.

The Missus has been eating a lot of brown rice recently, and has been overjoyed to see that many Honolulu restaurant are now serving brown rice as an option. I really didn't think the brown rice movement had made it to Lana'i, but I was wrong. When I hesitantly asked the woman if they served brown rice in their poke bowls she said "of course we do". Ha….teach me a lesson…..

The Missus absolutely loved the Spicy Poke bowl with brown rice.

Not overdressed, this had a mild kick, the fish really stood out. This was Her favorite until…..

She sampled the furikake-masago ahi poke.

Put together with a restrained hand, you could make out the flavor of the furikake without it overpowering the poke. The masago added a nice crunch to everything.

Still, my favorite was the shoyu poke.

Again, the flavor didn't take over the poke. I believe there was even oyster sauce in this adding a touch of extra savory flavor. I'm not a big fan of oyster sauce in my poke since it takes over the dish, but here it was used in just the right amount. There was even a slight sweetness to the whole thing as well. The fish literally sparkled……

Much like Ono Seafood, perhaps eating our poke at lovely Hulopo'e Beach might have something to do with our enjoyment.

This was taken at about noon………the Missus and I would joke about over-crowding when there were more then ten people on the beach.

Doesn't this look like the perfect place for one of those Corona Beer commercials?

And the view when you turn around ain't so bad either…….

We actually caught the shuttle back to Lana'i City a bit early to see if we could grab some poke to stick in the fridge for dinner. Unfortunately, they had run out of poke before we returned at two pm. You can't win them all……

Lana'i 'Ohana Poke Market
834 A Gay St
Lanai City, HI 96763

Never would I have thought that'd we'd find poke this good on Lana'i.

OK, I'm getting close to the 1700 word mark, time for bed.

Thanks for reading….I gotta go check my blood mercury levels!

We’re Back……

December 5, 2011 mmm-yoso Honolulu, Loco Mocos, Oahu, Travel

Over a year ago, when we visited China, we promised the Missus' cousins that if they visited Her parents on Oahu we'd be there. Of course we had to keep that promise, right? So we're back after ten or so days and countless visits to Ala Moana and Waikele Outlets……

And during the in-between time, we were able to visit a couple of places that I'd been itching to check out.

And I managed to reaquaint myself with places I'd been thinking about for years…..places I really missed.

And newer favorites as well…..

So you know they'll be more than enough poke for a post……

We even managed a short side trip……

To the Pacific Northwest….juts kidding. By the looks of the Cook Pines can you guess where this is?

Or perhaps the ranchland???

Here's the answer…..

My father was from Lana'i and I hadn't been back in at least seventeen years. I thought it would be interesting for the Missus to visit a place with no traffic lights, seventeen miles of paved road, and a speed limit of 20 mph.

And of course we had to eat, right?

It felt great to be "home", where there is an endless supply of sunsets……

And beautiful orchids….

And of course there are those items that just grab my attention for some reason or another as well.

So let me regroup and I'll see you all tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shizuoka-La Mesa (revisit)

December 4, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hello again. You just found mmm-yoso!!! and probably are looking for some sort of blog post about food. Kirk and ed are still too busy to write, so Cathy is posting.

I wrote a post about Shizuoka in June 2007 and took it for granted, not posting again. Yet The Mister and I do eat here. It's located at the La Mesa-El Cajon border, next to the Michael's in the same mall as Souplantation and Weevil Burger on Fletcher Parkway.

Shizuoka has been here more than 20 years. The interior has not changed much. There are 16 chairs to go with six tables tables and 6 four-person booths. There is a wait to get in almost every evening.

The menu is not extensive. The prices have not increased much since 2007. Good food prepared well. I suppose it's a neighborhood place and not a destination. It could be.

The miso soup is pretty standard, made from miso paste. It has a deep flavor and the tofu cubes are a firm consistency and always tasty.

The teriyaki chicken broiled mackerel plate is still $6.20. The Mister always orders one of the mackerel plates. The mackerel is particularly good tasting large piece of fish, broiled and placed on top of shredded cabbage so the bottom stays crispy and doesn't get soft when the juice flows from the cooked meaty mackerel. The teriyaki sauce on the grilled chicken is not too sweet and made here (not from a bottle). The chicken is placed on top of bean sprouts, again so the meat does not wallow in sauce. A lettuce salad, cold noodle salad and three freshly steamed edamame beans round out the plate.

My usual meal here is centered on the chicken karage ($4). Lots of dark thigh meat lightly coated and fried and always perfect.

This time I rounded my meal out with a (shared with The Mister) seaweed salad ($2.75) and Sunomono salad ($3.50). Both are tasty, fresh made and hit the taste points I want for lunch. The seaweed is apparently 'foreign' to diners here, and free samples are offered. The sunomono has a sweet vinegar-fresh ginger dressing and is made with that fake krab stuff. The plentiful amount of shredded radish, cucumber and (different than in the other salad) seaweed makes this salad a perfect compliment to the karage.

This is a small, not fancy, great neighborhood place, serving really good food.

Shizuoka Japanese Restaurant 9118 Fletcher Parkway La Mesa 91942 (619)461-1151 (in the mall with the Souplantation and Michael's)

Tues-Fri 11:30-1:45, 4:30-8:45 Sat and Sun 4:30-8:45 Closed Monday CASH ONLY

Emma’s Mexican Food-Santee (revisit)

December 3, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!! the food blog. On this chilly weekend day, Cathy is blogging. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are frenetically researching places to blog.

Hello again. I noticed I had not blogged about any Mexican food in the last week, yet I know I eat Mexican food either in a restaurant or from a taco shop at least once a week. Emma's is a regular spot for The Mister and myself. In fact, Emma's was my very first restaurant post on mmm-yoso!!!. Since that post was about breakfast, and it is six years later, I'll post about lunch.

Located in a nondescript mall of cinderblock buildings on Buena Vista, just off of Cuyamaca (you can see the back of the building when driving on Cuyamaca), Emma's has been located here for more than 10 years.

It is located in the same block as the Santee Sheriff Station and Buena Vista has a Fire Department just a few blocks East. Emma's is always busy with eat in and to go orders. I have also seen the mailman eating here- a little 'hint' about where to eat I learned from FOY (friend of yoso) Trent in 2006.

The eat in area is quite large. If you order 'for here' the food will be brought to your table. That's the fresh salsa bar to the right, next to the refrigerator. Only three types of salsa here (mild and chunky, hot smooth red and hot green). That's all you need.

The menu has barely changed since 2006. Most prices have seen an increase of <$2.

The Mister ordered the a la carte flautas ($4.60). This is made with only shredded beef (not the stewed shredded beef with onion and green pepper) placed into one of those super large flour tortillas, cut in half then deep fried. Properly fried. Many other places seem to fry the exterior of the tortilla only and the inside is unfried and so a raw tortilla. The flautas here are almost completely crispy and combined with just shredded beef as a filler…really good. Eve though a la carte, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce and a slice of tomato fill out the plate.

Emma's only has three Mariscos plates, all versions of shrimp. This is the camaron mojo de ajo- shrimp in garlic sauce ($8.60). Five plump butterflied shrimp sauteed in a buttery garlic sauce on top of rice (which gets all butter garlicy and is a joy to eat) and also served with tortillas, refried beans, sour cream and a salad (which has real, not that sauce) guacamole under that tomato slice. Fresh and really good.

Emma's Mexican Food 8781 Cuyamaca Street, Suite L (at Buena Vista Avenue) Santee 92071 (619)596-8189 hours: 7-8:30 Mon-Sat. Closed Sunday

Wa Dining Okan- Lunch (again)

December 1, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and Cathy write about meals, cooking and sometimes vacation adventures. All of us are unusually busy. Let's just say that one of us is on vacation and gathering photos and meals to write about, one of us is busy working and planning a vacation so blog posts can be written and the other one of us has a lot of upcoming activities revolving around the holidays as well as a vacation so that interesting blog posts will be written. Today, Cathy is blogging.

Hi. I did write a post about lunch at Okan in July 2010 and have been back a few times, but didn't take photos. Kirk has put up many, many, many posts about dinner. At one point, Kirk, ed(from Yuma) and I enjoyed a dinner here together. Anyhow, a friend was in town, had seen the post about lunch and wanted to try Wa Dining. We walked in at just before 2 p.m., when they take the last lunch order- Okan closes from 2:30 and reopens at 5:30 for dinner.

Located in the corner of the mall at Convoy and , in the corner next to Nijiya Market-one of few markets which sells an extensive amount of fresh and packaged organic foods as well as ready to eat food, Okan is easy to overlook.

The small interior means making reservations for dinner is pretty necessary, at lunchtime not so much. There are 31 seats in the whole restaurant.

When you sit down at lunch, a cup of cold (no ice, not hot, just room temperature) tea is brought to your table.

The lunch menu consists of ordering a "set" ($6.50). This is what our recent one looked like-(from 5:00, going clockwise) a vegetable filled miso soup, pickled cucumber and radish, rice with seaweed and a tray of small 'tapas'-nishime, a potato salad and chilled stewed vegetable.

This is a wonderful, filling item and you can just have this as a vegetarian complete meal. However each day there is a selection of add-on protein items.

My friend ordered this grilled beef dish, which seems to be topped with kim chee ($4). She said it was very good. (I'm sorry, I wasn't overly reading the menu, we were chatting).

I tried the house made tofu topped with a miso/soybean sauce($3.50). Not a sweet sauce, quite hearty and the tofu was really nice, fresh and tasty.

The lunch choices (and really, most of the dinner choices) change daily here. Because it is always current and fresh, I really enjoy whatever choices are offered.

Wa Dining OKAN 3860 Convoy Street, Suite 110, San Diego 92111 (858)279-0941

Lunch M-Sat 11:30-2:30(last order 2:00 p.m.)

Dinner starts 5:30 p.m. and ends 11:00 p.m. M-T-W, 12:00 a.m. Th-F-Sat and 10:00 p.m. Sun (last orders 30 minutes before closing all days). Website

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery- a revisit

November 30, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food-centric blog. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are not blogging today, and Cathy is.

Are you still trying to find a 'normal' way of doing things? With the return to Daylight Savings, and darkness upon us at 5 p.m. combined with the short work week and long weekend and having to catch up with everything…and neighbors putting out Christmas decorations along with the receipt of three Christmas cards in the mail, I feel very discombobulated. Having a nice lunch in a quiet neighborhood helps to sort of return to 'normal', or at least feel that way for a moment. I posted about breakfast at La Mesa Bistro and Bakery last October, and promised to follow up with a lunch post. Quick like a bunny, here's that post.

Still nestled in the far corner of an "L" shaped mall on La Mesa Boulevard at Glen Street, one signal light South from Jackson Drive (the next block over from the BMW repair shop, if you have had to go there), La Mesa Bistro and Bakery has established itself as a regular Breakfast and Lunch spot in this quiet part of town.

It's a place where you order, pay and find a seat. You get a number and food is brought to your table, in this room, an adjoining room or the outside patio. We usually grab a menu and sit down then go back up and order since there are also a few Chalkboard Specials which tend to tempt us and we tend to change our mind as to what we were planning to order. But we usually come with it is not crowded here. On weekends, there is a line waiting to just walk inside to pay. As you can see, there are ten hot pots of regular and two hot pots of decaf coffee to choose from. There are also smoothies and espresso beverages offered. Water is also self serve here. Quite a few people order a coffee or tea and bakery item to go some mornings. But, again, we were here for lunch.

Since the restaurant is open from 6-3, breakfast is served all day on weekdays, so the table condiments are reflective of all the possible choices.

I ordered a Reuben sandwich($6.99), because I was craving both sauerkraut and the rye bread baked here. As you can see, two cheeses and a lot of thin but not too thin sliced corned beef on the grilled, seeded rye bread. I did choose cottage cheese instead of fries, knowing The Mister was getting fries with his lunch choice.

Yes, a Chili Size ($7.99). Basically an open face half pound burger, topped with chili. Both The Mister and I grew up eating Chili Size with knife and fork, not lettuce or tomato. Anyhow, The Mister tried to assemble this like a regular burger, picked it up for one bite, then cut it up to eat. The burger was done to a light medium, not quite medium rare, very juicy. The bun was lightly toasted and very fresh(baked here). The coarse meat grind makes a very good burger. The chili, made the way we like it, is without beans and had a nice spicy 'kick'. (The fries here are season-salted and very good).

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery is a good place for breakfast and lunch; its just down the road from Grossmont Mall, Grossmont Hospital and the La Mesa Trader Joe's.

La Mesa Bistro and Bakery 8697 La Mesa Boulevard La Mesa 91941 (619)589-0806 Open seven days 6:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. website

Chicken + Greek Cuisine (Sid’s Place)-(Escondido)

November 29, 2011 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

You have just stumbled upon mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Today Cathy is blogging. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are just too busy researching about places and meals.

Hi again. The other day, The Mister and I found ourselves in Escondido on Mission Avenue between Escondido Boulevard and Centre City Parkway.

This was the view from Mission while we were stopped at the signal light. Actually, that little green sign attached to the flag pole (on the right in the photo) caught my eye. We had to pull into the parking lot in this oddly shaped strip mall to see what this was about.

After we parked, I walked back to snap this photo of the full flaming rotisserie.

We walked in and were asked if we wanted to order "to go" or eat in. I noticed a lot of people ordering and picking up 'to go' orders. We found a seat and menus were brought to the table. There are only 11 tables inside and a handful on the patio outside. It is neat and clean and bright. Everyone working there came by the table at some point, including Sid, the owner. It felt like a family run place. (I noticed on the website that Chicken Plus has been in Escondido since 1990. That's a good thing these days.)

We ordered, noting that the menu did state items were freshly cooked to order. The food was not brought out immediately, but the wait was not 20 minutes either.

I had asked for hummus($2.50) and pita (99¢) as an appetizer. The hummus was fresh made (i.e., not chilled and I really think freshly ground in the kitchen based on the sounds I heard as our waitress called our order in through the door seen in that photo) with garlic and tahini. The warm pita bread was really nice- a bit thicker and more 'hearty' flat bread with a good 'tooth' and chew. It was warm and had flecks in it, making me think it was made with wheat. I really liked this bread.

The Mister ordered the half chicken meal ($7.49) which came with either breadsticks or tortillas and two sides. He chose the breadsticks (light and airy and hot; nice) and cole slaw (made with a light sauce which was not overpowering and the way I like it) and the potatoes au gratin. Look at those potatoes. They are fresh peeled potatoes, cooked to a nice tenderness and topped with what looks like a gravy poured over them. It is a very old fashioned (I mean *very* old school) recipe for au gratin…using chunks of potatoes (not thinly sliced ones) and topped with cheese sauce, unbaked. This was *really* good. Unexpected.

Oh- the rotisserie'd chicken is fresh, juicy and flavorful. Really good. Really, really good. The chicken is not Costco/Chernobyl sized; it is a normal size bird.

I decided to try the chicken gyros ($4.99), mainly because the salad choices were topped with gyros meat (and if you've read other posts, you know that I have decided that nobody makes their own gyros and all of it that we can get in restaurants is sourced from the same Distributor) and the name of the place has 'chicken' in it. The menu did state this sandwich was made with 'spicy' dark meat chicken topped with what you see above, and I figured that would kind of be like a salad. It was…

I did try to take a bite of the sandwich all rolled up and a lot of the fillings fell out, so I did eat this as a salad, using the house made tzatziki sauce as the dressing. The 'spicy' powdered mix topping the shredded dark chicken meat had quite a kick of heat and did taste good, but the bites of The Mister's chicken were also very good, without the added seasoning.

This was a great place we stumbled upon. We will be back for a dinner (Moussaka is on the menu!)

Chicken Plus Greek Cuisine (Sid's Place) 309 W. Mission Avenue Escondido, CA 92025 (760)480-1348

Mon-Sat 11-9 ;Sun Noon-8 Website