mmm-yoso – Page 459 – 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.

Grilled Shrimp two ways – Tamarind Glazed Shrimp & Lemongrass Shrimp

September 8, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Well, summer has just left out the door, and we decided to make the best of Labor Day by doing a bit of grilling. The Missus wanted some Bun (rice vermicelli) for dinner with grilled shrimp. She wasn't quite sure how She wanted the shrimp prepared, and just told me "try not to make it suck", which is better translated into "I'm craving this, so whatever you make better not suck……" So when I offered two possibilities, either Tamarind Shrimp or Lemongrass Shrimp, the Missus said to make them both.

I was kinda glad She chose the Tamarind Shrimp, as I had this bottle of Tamarind concentrate lying dormant in the cupboard waiting to be tried out. It had been an impulse buy God knows how many months ago. I usually will do the tamarind pulp thing, reconstitute in hot water into a paste, and strain out the pulp, and I really wondered how this would measure up. It actually did pretty well. It is perhaps a bit weaker than the stuff I make from scratch, but it worked perfectly fine on the shrimp.

The Tamarind Glazed Shrimp is a riff of Alan Wong's Tamarind Glazed Shrimp Tacos recipe in his book, Alan Wong's New Wave Luau. I added fish sauce and sriracha to give it a more savory and spicy kick. BTW, for those who think that Kalbi Tacos is something new, Alan Wong's been serving that stuff up since the late 90's, and there's a recipe in his book.

The Lemongrass Shrimp was based on a recipe from Mai Pham's Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table but has been modified to our taste, more garlic, fish sauce, and chili paste.

I realized when the shrimp were done that although they taste very different, it's hard to tell them apart:

The Tamarind Shrimp (on the left) have a nice shiny sheen from the basting, while the Lemongrass Shrimp (on the right) looks a bit drier. In the end, the Missus preferred the flavors of the Tamarind Shrimp. If you're using wooden skewers, don't forget to soak in water for about a half hour before using.

Tamarind Glazed Grilled Shrimp

1/2 Cup Tamarind Concentrate or Tamarind Paste
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
2 Tb Honey
2-3 Tb Sriracha
3 Tb Fish Sauce
Sea Salt
1 lb 16-20 Shrimp, shelled, deveined, tail left on – skewered

– Combine all ingredients except salt and shrimp until sugar has dissolved.
– Lightly salt shrimp with sea salt.
– Place shrimp on the grill over direct heat (I use combo hardwood and Kiawe charcoal), and brush with Tamarind Glaze.I was surpised at the amount of basting liquid, but did use it all up with constant basting.
– Grill for about two minutes on each side. Baste one final time with glaze just before removing from grill.

Lemongrass Shrimp

4 Stalks of Lemongrass outer layers removed, pounded with the knife to release oils, and minced (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup).
3 Cloves of Garlic minced finely
1 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tb Fish Sauce
1 Tb Chili Paste
2 Tb Sugar
2 Tb Canola Oil
1 lb 16-20 Shrimp, shelled, deveined, tail left on

– Combine all ingredients except shrimp in a bowl until sugar has dissolved.
– Add shrimp and gently mix until all the shrimp are coated with marinade.
– Place in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to let shrimp lightly marinate.
– Thread shrimp onto skewers.
– Grill over direct heat for about two minutes each side.

You really don't have to do the "Bun thing", but the Missus really enjoyed it…….

Monday Meanderings……

September 7, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Taco Shops, yoso-silly

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day. Here are a few tidbits……

New Taco Cart:

This one in an interesting location. The Shell Station on the corner of Clairemont Drive and Denver Street. Because gas at this station is usually more expensive than other station in the area, I really don't pay much attention to the place. But on this day, feeling awfully lazy, I decided to grab some gas here. And to my surprise……..

Unfortunately, I'd already had lunch. Now you can get some Cabeza with your smog check! I'm sure to be trying out the tacos soon.

2606 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Leilani's Restaurant Closes:

On September third, FOY JenniferB sent me an email informing me that Leilani's Restaurant in Serra Mesa had closed. Earlier this weekend I dropped by and noticed that the Leilani's sign has been removed:

As "Right Cow Left Coast" mentions in a comment on this post, August 25th was the last day of business in this location. The Cass Street location in Pacific Beach is still open. I'm kinda sad that Leinlain's couldn't make a go in Serra Mesa, this strip mall really needs a shot in the arm. I can't say I'm surprised though, during my last few visits, the place was empty, and Leilani was not to be found…. busy with the PB location I guess.

Bummer…..

Chin's on Convoy looks almost ready to go:

The termite tent is off, and a new sign is on…..

This is one I'm looking forward to.

Speaking of Chin's:

I had lunch with some FOYs this past weekend at Chin's on Miramar, and noticed this sign. They'll now be opening for Chinese Breakfast at 930 am on Saturdays and Sundays. I guess they're doing pretty well!

Chin's Seafood & Grill
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd
San Diego, CA 92126

Other Stuff:

I've been kicking back and enjoying reading a couple of other blogs this weekend. It seems everyone is traveling; Judy of Tinker with Food has just returned from New Orleans, and shares some of her eats with us. Foodhoe shares her Alaska Cruise with us. And Kat is sharing a whole passel of posts of their Palau trip with us. I know I'm missing someone……

It's been a nice weekend for reading blogs……..

Sunday Sandwiches: Mona Lisa Italian Foods

September 6, 2009 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers, Sandwiches

Going through my photos I was surprised at the amount of sandwiches we've been consuming lately. It's probably due to the weather, we don't really feel like cooking, and grabbing a sandwich on the way home from work fills the bill. Mona lisa works pretty well for us, since the Missus enjoys the Imported Prosciutto, and I stock up on San Marzano Tomatoes, while waiting for our sandwiches.

The usual drill is, grab a number and wait. When your number is called, place your order with the folks behind the counter. This is your chance to wander around the fairly crowded aisles and grab stuff you need.

I'll readily admit that I'm always afraid that I'll have a moment of motor disfunction which would end up in my wiping out the shelves of the tiny store.

I'll usually get the Deluxe ($6.75), which is comprised of Mortadella, Ham, Salami, and Provolone. We also always get our sandwiches sans mayo and mustard, which we feel gets in the way of all the other flavors.

We both think the sandwich does just fine with the Italian Dressing. Proportion-wise, I think this sandwich is set-up pretty well. Not over-stuffed, but put together well. The one thing we noticed, was the bread. I swear that Mona Lisa used to use a different Italian style bread, this was overly doughy, dry, with a crust that was hard and tough.

The Missus usually goes with the Imported Prosciutto, at $8.50, the most expensive sandwich on the menu.

The sandwich contains a nice amount of Prosciutto di Parma sliced paper thin. The imported Prosciutto at Mona Lisa is vastly superior to the domestic version, which has a strange, almost plastic-like taste. As mentioned before, the bread really wasn't up to par.

I recently made a return trip to Mona Lisa to pick up some prosciutto for a dinner of antipasti, and just wanted to see if the folks at Mona Lisa had run out of their usual rolls and had used a back-up source. I had initially thought of grabbing the Caprese Sandwich, but ended up ordering the Capicolla ($6.75):

Well the bread was the same, too doughy, tough crust. The Capicolla was fine, a bit milder than anticipated, and ended up being a bit bland overall.

I think we'll look at other options for sandwiches unless Mona Lisa changes their bread. We'll stick to getting the prosciutto and make our own sandwiches.

One last little story about Mona Lisa. A few years ago, when all the condos were being built in Little Italy, while waiting for my sandwich, two construction workers walked into Mona Lisa. One of the guys pulled his shirt up, over his rather considerable gut, forming a "basket" of sorts. The other guy started grabbing these premade little sandwiches stacked up on the side of the counter and placing them in the guys shirt. I hadn't even noticed all those little sandwiches! He turned around and unloaded his bounty onto the cashier counter. He had nineteen sandwiches…..the lady rang him up…..and it came out to less than twenty bucks! The little sandwiches were 99 cents each!

Curious I bought three……the sandwiches aren't very big…..

But two of them left me sufficiently satisfied. Two slices of meat, a slice of cheese, a smear of butter…….just like mom used to make.

I bought one recently and it's still just 99 cents. I'm thinking this is great for kids, or maybe if you're kinda "short" before payday….. I still wonder how many guys that construction dude fed with twenty bucks.

Mona Lisa Italian Foods
2061 India St
San Diego, CA 92101

Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00-10:00
Friday & Saturday 9:00-11:00
Sunday 10:00-10:00

You can read Cathy's post on Mona Lisa here.

A quick Lunch at Anthony’s Grotto in La Mesa

September 5, 2009 Cathy Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this blog. It is written by a group of friends, but mostly Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy. I am Cathy. I am writing. Because I ate.

Hello again. I got a gift card for Anthony's from some clients earlier this year and The Mister and I figured it would be air conditioned this past Saturday (when it was 104° in Santee). That seems to be our criteria these days. We have no humidity (<20%) but the dry heat is like opening an oven door and it just knocks the energy out of us. Oh. We love seafood. That was also a good reason to choose Anthony's .

When you are walking in, a small Grotto greets you.

If you are sit by the wall of window, you have a complete view of the lake out back.

We ordered and got some fresh baked Italian (soft, not crusty) bread rolls with sides of sun dried tomato butter.

We decided to share an appetizer of artichoke and shrimp dip ($6.95). There were 12 small but juicy and flavorful shrimp baked in the shell shaped dish, along with artichoke heart pieces and a lemony mayonnaise, topped with crispy breadcrumbs and accompanied by some toasted bread. A nice starter.

I chose the chowder and salad combination ($8.95). Of course, New England clam chowder.

018

This was served in a fresh made sourdough bread bowl, which just helped me with my carb overload of the day. The sourdough was not very sour, but the bread was wonderfully fresh and the chowder, was, as always, creamy, rich and filled with fat clams and diced potato.

The Garden Harvest Salad that came with mine was served on a fish shaped plate. (click on the photo so it enlarges and you'll see the tail of the fish plate)

It was filled with shredded lettuces, cucumber, parboiled squash and carrots, flavorful tomatoes and topped with a light vinaigrette.

The Mister wanted to try the "Northern Combo" A choice of grilled sole, salmon or cod- any two or two of the same ($11.95) He chose cod and salmon and cole slaw as his side. Both fish were grilled and lightly seasoned, remaining moist. The cole slaw here is made with pineapple and is delightfully refreshing.

The total for this lunch was exactly $30 and there is still money left on the gift card…and our birthdays are coming up!

website

Mo’s back at Homestyle Hawaiian Island Style Food

September 3, 2009 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** A short update can be found here.

I know a lot of folks were really sad when Mo's Island Grinds closed down. Over the last six months, I was wondering what happened to Mo. I know he was going thru some pretty rough times personally. Then about two weeks ago I get a really strange comment on my A & D Hawaiian BBQ post, "hey kirk, check out this place that just opened up. It's called homestyle hawaiian. Your going to get a kick out of this place. " It from someone named "Mo". Could it be??? Unfortunately, no address or general location for a place called Homestyle Hawaiian. The email address was bogus……. Strange, a mystery, many questions…..

The story finally broke when I received a couple more comments from "Mo". Which led me to the strip mall on the corner of Mesa College Drive and Ashford. Those who've read long enough may recognize this as the former location of Phil-Am Kitchenette.

The old signage is still up, but a banner had been placed on the awning. It read "Homestyle Hawaiian", so I guess I was here? A folding grease pencil board was up in front of the entrance, and in the classic "Mo's" style all the offerings for the day were listed.

The interior is a bit cluttered with Hawaiian kitsch-y knick-knacks, doo-dads, and thing-a-ma-jiggies……

The floors could maybe use a bit of a scrubbing….but there he was, Mo, in the flesh. Open only for about ten days, hadn't really told anyone about opening. Over the last six months, Mo has been keeping himself busy with catering gigs, and just plain laying low.

Of course I wanted my favorite dish, the Korean Chicken, and maybe some Katsu, but Mo was having a new fryer installed, so I'd have to wait until the weekend for that. I settled for a Loco Moco:

Mo told me that portions were a bit smaller than the gin-normous sizes back at Mo's, and prices now start at five bucks for some items. The loco moco was one of the items that has remained the same, three scoops rice (double-deckered, plus one under the burger), 12 oz patty, etc, etc, etc….. It tasted just the way I remembered, you can read about it here.

I realize that Loco Mocos aren't for everyone, but this a pretty good version.

So there you go, Mo is back in action. Currently, he is the only employee, so he'll be taking your order, cooking your food, and working the register. I'm hoping things work out, and will be back for some Korean Chicken in the near future.

Homestyle Hawaiian Island Style Food
7524 Mesa College Drive
San Diego, CA 92111

Revisits: Pho Sao Bien and Pho Hiep and Grill Linda Vista

September 2, 2009 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

I'm not quite sure what's going on this year. It used to be that we'd have a couple of stray days a year where we wished we had A/C. But this year, it seems like we're having a couple of decades worth of stray days run up together. Not necessarily hot, but kinda sticky too. When I think about it, Hawaii's much worse, but I guess my years on the mainland has made me a wuss…….whatever, I'm just hanging on, stewing in my juices, waiting for the weather to break. Here's a couple of revisits for hump day:

Pho Sao Bien:

I've always enjoyed Pho Sao Bien, for a quick bite. But on my last couple of visits, the food seemed to have slipped a bit. So on a recent visit, I decided to remove that camera from my pocket and document. On my last visit, a couple months back, when the weather was still nice a cool, I ordered some Pho, which was way too salty, with over-cooked noodles. No Pho for us on this visit thanks to the humidity. (I believe that this is where Ed from Yuma comes in telling me how hot it is there….something like "110 degrees in the shade"……)

We started with an old favorite, the Cha Gio($6.25).

The egg rolls at Pho Sao Bin has always been on the pricey side, but were usually very tasty, huge, and made with the right type of wrapper. I dunno what happened, but instead of crisp, these were hard, really hard, and not very pleasant to eat. The filling tasted a bit bland, and the Nuoc Mam Cham tasted watered down.

The Missus wanted something cool and light and ordered the Bun Tom Nuong (Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Shrimp – $6.95):

The Bun was mushy, and like the Cha Gio the Nuoc Mam Cham tasted watered down and weak. There were no herbs, just a chopped lettuce. The shrimp were on the greasy side, gummy, and low on the flavor scale.

I ordered the Com Bi Cha Thit Nuong ($6.95):

This is the combination rice plate with the steamed egg (Cha), shredded pork (Bi), and charbroiled pork (Thit Nuong). And since Pho Sao Bien is of the Pho Hoa Huong family tree, the pork is colored bright red,sort of like tocino. Unfortunately, it was as tough, and hard as tocino. The flavor was very mild as well. The steamed egg was somewhat mushy and tasteless. The Bi was dry, but had a decent flavor, and was the best thing on the plate….other than the rice, which was satisfactorily fragrant.

Overall, a fairly disappointing meal. I hope it was just an off day, but the quality of the ingredients seem to have taken a turn…..

Pho Sao Bien Vietnamese Restaurant
1958 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Pho Hiep & Grill – Linda Vista:

For some reason, I keep calling this place Pho Hoa Hiep. Old habits die hard I guess. Even though Cathy has done an updated post, I still think when someone mentions Pho Hiep and Grill, they are referring to the Chula Vista location. My bad………

Every so often, I enjoy eating at Pho Hiep just to check out the demographics. Because of the location, tucked away from Linda Vista Road, you would probably have to know it's there….. So over the years it's been interesting to see an almost all Vietnamese clientle, slowly evolve into a nice melting pot. Two years ago I noted a shift in demographics, and on this visit it looks to still be going strong. "Butt crack guys" (you know, plumbers, contruction workers, etc) sitting on one table, a group of Hispanic dudes on another, a Caucasian Family here, a Filipino Family there. It's really nice to see….

Oh, and my combination Com Tam wasn't bad either!

The only weak point was the steamed egg (Cha) which was nice and moist, but very bland. Also, even though the menu said "Com Tam" this was jasmine rice. But like I always said, whenever you get Com Tam Dac Biet, with the variety of items, it's almost impossible to have everything done to perfection. Strangely, I enjoyed the charbroiled chicken the best, though the Missus poached all the shrimp, so I'm guessing it was pretty good as well. This dish is called the Com Tam Hiep, and is fairly pricey at $9.95, but it sure did fill me up.

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

The other evening, the Missus & I had the pleasure of having a wonderful, gut-busting meal with some of my favorite folks. There were lots of laughs and enough food to feed the entire neighborhood….several times over! As if to crown off the evening, here's the sunset from YY & MrQ's backyard:

I'm sure the fires up North have something to do with this, but it sure was beautiful………

Pastalini- good food. Interesting concept.

September 1, 2009 Cathy Mediterranean Restaurants, Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! The Blog. About food. Written by some friends, mostly Kirk, sometimes ed (from Yuma) and sometime Cathy. Yet another sometime day.

Hi. I was driving along Miramar Road and saw a sign at the Taco Bell/KFC parking lot and drove to the back.

So I stopped, walked in, ordered and paid. The Mister met me for dinner.

Neat, clean, efficient. You choose a type of pasta ( 6 shapes, or whole wheat for $1 more or tortellini for $1.50 more), a sauce( alfredo, pesto, marinara, vodka, mushroom tomato, sundried tomato, tequila lime cream or Romescu), a meat (chicken, shrimp, fish or meatball) and 2 veggie toppings (mushrooms, zucchini, tri colored bell peppers, broccoli, corn, peas, garlic, jalapeño, tomato, onion,spinach, beets or carrot). Then all is mixed and heated through. Standard price is $5.95. There are also pizzas and salads (also $5.95, with the larger pizza being $10.95). The pizza and salads are pretty much combinations of the above ingredients, with the addition of blackened tofu and various cheeses…there are a variety of salad dressings.

The website shows this is the only location, but seems it is trying to franchise out. I like the concept. Three televisions, each on a different channel, free wifi. www.pastalini.net

I ordered a small side salad ($1.99), which comes with mixed spring greens, tomatoes and onions and a vinaigrette, but I asked for no onions and was told I could get any other topping, so I chose olives. This was quite a large, filling salad. Of course, I ate all the olives, since The Mister won't. But I would have eaten all of the onions also, and I know he would have mentioned the onion juice residue on the lettuce…

Oh. The salad came with these nifty, fresh baked, garlicy bread knots.

The Mister and I used to eat baked pastas all the time. When I saw it was offered, I *had to* order it. ($6.49)

Al dente rigatoni with a fresh marinara, topped with ricotta and mozzarella and baked. *Really* good.

We shared this. All the pastas come in this size pan with a variety of sauces, meats, salmon or pomegranate meatballs or blackened tofu. Quite enough food.

Really. We finished it.

But, you know, I also ordered a small (10 inch) goat cheese and olive pizza ($5.95)…

Fresh, thin crust. Mozzarella. Goat Cheese. Olives. Olive oil. Wonderful.

We will go back to try the other items on the menu.

PASTALINI 7190 Miramar Road San Diego 92121

Across from the West gate Entrance to MCAS Miramar. Behind the Taco Bell/KFC

website

Phat Restaurant – Chicken Delight a first look

August 31, 2009 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Phat Restaurant has closed

One evening I was in prowling Convoy looking for a place to eat, when I noticed a new business in the former Luong Hai Ky location, something called Phat Restaurant…… Phat Restaurant? Along with the written Chinese "Fat", it was kinda quaint.

I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for something new this evening, but was sold when I saw the little "Chicken Delight" sign. Now, I was pretty sure that whatever came out of the kitchen here would not resemble Chicken Delight in any way. But I just couldn't get the "don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight" ditty out of my head. Back when Chicken Delight had shops opened in Honolulu, it was considered very expensive for us, so I only had it maybe twice in my entire life. The taste memory has long faded, but that catchy slogan had been retained in my cabeza forever! BTW, did you know that KFC's Extra Crispy was created to combat Chicken Delight? But I digress……

I entered the restaurant, and the interior looks basically the same, and I'm sure folks like Cathy will be glad to know that the fish tank is still in place, and the denizens of the tanks haven't suffered a flush faith possibly worse than death.

The menu was interesting, as all dishes featured chicken, from the variations of chicken soup, appetizers, and rice dishes. There was the now ubiquitous "Mission Statement" spiel of the restaurants disappointment in processed food, and declaring a dedication to organic, free-range, chicken with no Hormones, he-mones, and she-mones, or whatever. One nice thing is the ability to select the type of noodle you'd like for your soup from the six offered. I also noticed that all the dishes were over six bucks, fairly pricey for this type of soup and noodle joints.

I ordered the Chicken soup with dumplings and egg noodles ($6.50). Well, actually I ordered Hu Tieu as my noodle, but I guess something got lost in the translation or perhaps the very nice Server decided to over-rule my decision.

First thing I noticed was the portion size wasn't very "phat", in fact it was quite small. The chicken made to look like Char Siu was very mild, but serviceable. The egg noodles were super hard, and I needed to let them steep in the soup a bit. The soup however, was "fairly phat"(?), full of flavor, with a nice, mild, almost cinnamon/onion, along with a good amount of white pepper taste. The broth had just the tiniest sheen of oil. It was also full of umami, so savory as to be almost sweet, a flavor that almost never occurs naturally. But because I didn't suffer from thirst, nor edema in my fingers or feet, I'll give the broth benefit of the doubt, and just say "man that was (kinda) phat!"

Replacing pork with ground chicken is very difficult, but this was a decent job. The minced water chestnuts added a nice crunch, but the shredded carrots didn't do it for me. The filling was moist and tender, instead of the normal rock hard meatball. Four dumplings total. At $6.50 a bit over-priced in my opinion.

A few nights later, I returned. I had seen something that interested me on the menu; Salt and Pepper Chicken wings ($6.25). Being a certified Salt and Pepper Chicken Wing fanatic, I was curious to see what these would be like.

When the plate hit the table, I cracked up. On one side of the plate were two regular sized wings, on the other side of the plate were 5 little drummettes and wings that looked like they belonged on a phat fat quail perhaps? The wings had been fried without batter, than stir fried with garlic and chilies, in fact these should be called garlic-chili wings. The wings were pretty greasy(so much about the whole healthy mission statement), and the garlic burnt to literally the "bitter end".

Not settling for just appetizers, I asked for a recommendation, and was told to order the Lemongrass Chicken, with a warning that it was "very spicy".

This was pretty much a ho-hum dish, the chicken was undoubtedly free-range as it had a chew to it, something that I don't find unpleasant. It wasn't very spicy, and the flavoring nothing special. The rice, which was "Com Tam" (broken rice) wasn't fragrant at all, and there were a couple of hard bits.

The saving grace of the mediocre meal was the fairly sizeable (for a freebie side dish) bowl of broth, which was again very tasty, of not a bit salty.

I guess the question to be answered would be "chicken phat?" I'm not quite convinced though I'd say to stick with the soups here. The menu is fairly small, and I'm kinda interested in the "curry broth". I'm pretty sure I'll return when things cool down a bit.

Phat Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

Crepe World-on Convoy, dessert crepes after a quick meal at Chopstix

August 30, 2009 Cathy Desserts, Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and today Cathy is blogging. Because Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are eating.

Hi. The other day, The Mister and I went to Chopstix and got large bowls of soup, because at 96°, with 18% humidity, it just wasn't warm enough for us. The top one is the miso ramen and the bottom one is the dumpling ramen. Each about $6.50, huge, tasty, warm. When we were done, we walked out and wanted dessert. We thought about Yogurt World and Tapioca Heaven, but this new building is closer when you walk across the street. Crepe World. (The Nice Young Lady who waited on us was wearing a Yogurt World t-shirt; I did not ask if they were owned by the same people)It is right on Convoy, so you don't have to encounter what I like to call the 'parking lot from Hell'. It was not crowded. As in, we were the only people there, our order number was 13 and it was 6:41 in the evening…I think this was the second day of it opening. A large area, lots of tables and chairs and some park benches for seating…a rather extensive menu of savory (takoyaki, various 'sandwich crepes') and sweet crepes and waffles. There is a website on the business card, but it is not set up yet. We ordered and each crepe was served up in pink paper cones. (click to see full photo)(Typepad is acting strange again) I chose the #20, red beans with custard and bananas ($4.58). It was huge and filled with all the ingredients. The crepe was light and crispy on the edges. The custard was light and eggy tasting, the red beans were sweet and tasty. The Mister chose the #15- a fruit crepe stuffed with Nutella® and fresh strawberries ($3.68). The same delightful crepe, filled with nutty, chocolate-y Nutella® and sliced juicy, flavorful strawberries.

A nice ending on another hot, but not humid, day in San Diego.

Crepe World 4646 Convoy #102 San Diego 92111 858-268-8388 Website (listed on business card)

It’s Fry-day: Imperial Fish Market

August 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Cajun, Southern, and Soul Food, Seafood

**** Imperial Fish Market is no longer

Imperial Fish Market is a favorite of a FOY (Friend of Yoso), he swears by the Fried Snapper here. I arrived at the shop located on Euclid just at opening time.

When they say, “you buy – we fry” they’re not kidding! A good variety of fish and other seafood is displayed in a large case.

I placed my order with the older gentleman at the register…. he hollers out the order, one of the young men grabs the fish I ordered and passes to another young man, who asks me “plain or spicy” (need I really say how I ordered it?), dredges the fish in what looks like a cornmeal based breading.

And I go and check out the hot sauce collection…..

And for me to file away that they carry Crystal Hot Sauce and Camellia Beans for future reference. My order was ready with a pretty quick turnaround. As I grabbed my package, the gentleman pointed to the dispensers and told me to, “make sure you get some sauce and ketchup.”

Staring at the package sitting next to me on the drive home, I wondered how our lunch would stand up after the twenty minute or so drive home. Taking the package to the dining table, I opened up the paper bag, and opened up the paper covering our lunch…. and was met with two slices of wheat bread!

Wheat bread? What was this, health food????

Nah…. after pushing aside the bread I saw my Two Piece Fried Red Snapper Basket ($8.99):

The fries were straight from SYSCO-land, not that I expected otherwise. The cornmeal breading held up well from the trip home. It was on the thick side, quite gritty, but still crisp. Even though I ordered the breading spicy, it was quite mild, and needed a good dose of hot sauce. The filet itself was dry, and tasted on the fishy side, not a good sign for a usually mild flavored fish.

I also ordered a two piece basket choosing Sand Dabs as the fish:

I haven’t seen Sand Dabs much in San Diego. The Sand Dabs were much better than the snapper, moist and mildly sweet. Of course we had to contend with bones and such, but this wasn’t bad.

I also got an order of Deep Fried Okra ($3.99):

Like the other items, the breading was very thick and gritty, not necessarily a bad thing, but the okra was underseasoned and the flavor of stale oil was prominent. Not good eats.

Next time I visit Imperial Fish Market, I’ll take a good look at the fish in the case rather than just looking up at the menu and ordering. Lesson learned…..

Imperial Fish Market
494 South Euclid Ave
San Diego, CA 92114