mmm-yoso – Page 47 – 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.

The Croissant Files – Revisits to Izola (at their new location) and Wayfarer Bread & Pastry

August 18, 2024 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants

Here's a couple of croissant revisits to old favorites.

Izola's New Location:

I was happy to read about Izola reopening at Faultline Park. I remember visiting Izola during the pandemic when they would lower a basket of pastries from their third floor bakery, which had been converted from a photography studio on 13th street in East Village.

Here are some photos to jog your memory.

Izola 13

I really enjoyed the croissants and even revisited twice more, though I never posted on those revisits.

Sometimes, a business can be a victim of their own success. Izola closed to do renovations on their kitchen. While in the process, they discovered that they would not be able to meet 2024 food permit standards and had to find a new location. They finally did find a new location, relatively close by; in fact I had walked past the location on Faultline Park while waiting for takeout from Sovereign Thai. Due to Izola's previous popularity, I decided to wait a month or so before finally making the drive down to the area and paying the new location a visit. I found parking and strolled on over. It was interesting to note that I saw less homeless than on my previous visits to this location.

Izola Rev 01

This locale has been several different businesses over the last couple of years, I recall it being Amplified Ale and then some kind of BBQ spot?

Izola Rev 02

I strolled on in and stood in line at the counter, which also displays the various breads and pastries for sale on this day.

Izola Rev 03

I decided on a Butter Croissant (of course) and also got an Almond Croissant for the Missus. There weren't prices listed and my total came out to $17, yikes!

Anyway, I had a seat in the spacious dining area to wait for my croissants.

Izola Rev 04

The really nice guy working the dining area asked me if I'd like some water while I waited, but I was fine.

Izola Rev 05

In a few minutes the gentleman brought out my order packed, just like before in a nice little box.

Izola Rev 06

I took my box and headed back to the car and skedaddled home.

Opening things up, I noticed that the croissant was still warm as I removed it from the box. I also noticed that it was much darker than what I'd had from Izola previously.

Izola Rev 07

I tore off a piece whereupon I noticed how rubbery it seemed. I took a bite, and sigh……man, this was fairly "hard", not flaky, not crisp, but hard and kind of chewy. The interior was fairly fluffy, but it still lacks the butter to salt ratio that I prefer.

The Missus had a bite and also noted the same thing.

Izola Rev 08

She did say that the Almond Croissant was much better though.

Izola Rev 09 Izola Rev 10 Overall, this was quite disappointing. I was looking forward to Izola reopening. I'm thinking I'll try the place in a couple of months and am hoping that this was just an off day. And at seven bucks a croissant….man, how would Parisians react to a six Euro croissant? I can only imagine!

Izola
1429 Island Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Tues – Sat 7am – 2pm
Closed Sunday and Monday

This had me wondering about how another of my croissant "favorites" was doing, so the week after, I headed on over to Bird Rock and stopped by….

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry:

Well, it's been a while. I'd last visited two years ago, and my last post on Wayfarer was back in September of 2020! There always seems to be a line at Wayfarer, so I make it a point to arrive before opening. On this morning, I went and got a cold brew from Birdrock Coffee and headed on over. Funny, there was only one person in line when I arrived.

Wayfarer Rev 01

Soon enough there were over a dozen people lined up behind me. Once the place opens things move fast.

Wayfarer Rev 02

Wayfarer Rev 03

I just got a plain croissant ($4.75) on this day and then drove on home.

Wayfarer Rev 04 Wayfarer Rev 05 Wayfarer tends to over bake their croissants; but this wasn't bad, quite flaky and crisp, the interior a bit on the dry side, but light and fluffy with a decent butter-salt ratio.

Still my favorite croissant in San Diego. If only Wayfarer were closer and the parking in the area wasn't such a pain! I guess I need to start up my croissant explorations again!

Wayfarer Rev 06

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry
5525 La Jolla Blvd.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Current Hours:
Sunday, Tues – Thurs 830am – 230pm
Fri – Sat 830am – 230pm, 430p, – 830pm
Closed on Mondays

So, for all you Croissant Enthusiasts out there, where have you recently had a decent croissant?

Oahu – Bean About Town (Kaimuki), the Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail, and Revisiting Ono Seafood

August 17, 2024 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Honolulu, Oahu, Poke, Travel

After having a wonderful evening in town, I woke to this view in the morning.

Of course the Missus wanted to go "holo-holo" right away, but I needed some nourishment to keep up with Her. I had picked up some extra musubi from Iyasume the day before and had that for breakfast. And then we headed out. Of course we needed to get our caffeine fix on the way.

I'd read about a place named Bean About Town in Kathy's page about dining in Kaimuki and it seemed like the perfect spot. They have two shops; one in Waikiki and the other on Waialae avenue. Old timers would recognize the location as it is in the same building as where Tanoue's (which I wrote about in my post on visiting the old Neighborhood) used to be. It's a small shop, there looks to be like 5 parking spaces, so street parking is likely. If I recall, this used to be a barbershop when I was growing up.

Right across the street is Kaimuki Park where I wasted spent a good amount of time as a kid.

The Missus ordered a pour over, which She loved, and I got a nice, fairly stiff Cold Brew.

We had a nice seat on the little two top facing Waialae avenue. The Missus liked the design on my cup so much that She sent me back in the shop to see if they had some merch with the same design.

Sadly they did not.

Well, it looks like we've got a place to get some coffee next time we're in the area.

Bean About Town
3538 Waialae Ave. Suite 101
Honolulu, HI 96816

From here we headed up Waialae to H-1, then Kalanianaole, past Hawaii Kai and Sandy's to our destination; to the gate that says Kaiwi Scenic Shoreline. Since we were fairly early we found parking. I had the Missus pick out some hiking (for Her this was all "walking") spots for this trip. She chose the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail. Man, I don't remember the last time I was here.

Anyway, it's a paved trail, that goes a bit over the mile each way, with a 500 foot elevation gain. I actually enjoyed myself. I even saw Pele's Chair on the path up!

And of course, this is Hawaii, so you will see rainbows.

You can see inside Koko Crater too.

Of course the Lighthouse is not accessible for folks and is off limits, but you do get glimpses of it.

There's a lookout at the top.

And of course, there's Rabbit Island.

It's a wonderful panoramic view.

I heard that you'll often see whales, but none for us on this day.

Still, it was a fun activity for us. I was having fun "playing tourist".

Afterwards we headed back; stopping in Aina Haina for a short break. On our way back to the hotel, the Missus said, "can we go to Ono Seafood, I want more poke!" Man, we hadn't been to Ono Seafood since 2019! It's long been a favorite of the Missus since we first visited in 2011. So, we headed on over and easily found parking in the lot for the apartment building the shop occupies.

We got a poke bowl with brown rice and shoyu poke. Then headed back to the hotel to eat.

Though it seemed a bit more "sauced" than I recall, this was ono! Good shoyu, we enjoyed the limu, which adds a nice oceany-crunch. The fish was tender without the chewy connective tissue that permeates poke here in San Diego. Still one of our favorites for sure.

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

After lunch, we headed back on "footmobile" (when's the last time you heard that one?), walking to Don Quijote on Kaheka, then returning to Ala Moana to do a bit more shopping, before returning to our room for a nap.

Looking out at the lanai, I noticed that I wasn't the only one enjoying the view.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Honolulu – Returning to 8 Fat Fat 8 and a Nightcap at Agave & Vine

August 16, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Cocktails, Honolulu, Oahu, Pubs and Pub Grub, Travel

After our stroll and my interesting encounter at Ala Moana Park we headed off to dinner. We had reservations for a more hip and popular place the following night, so when I asked the Missus what She wanted for dinner, She said "8 Fat Fat 8"! Really! I think She was thinking of me since, as I noted in my post from 12 years ago, I had been a customer from when the place opened in 1985. And even after I moved away, I would still drop by for Pau Hana Time when I was "home". And as I noted in that earlier post, even the Missus enjoyed Her visits there. Still, it had been almost 12 years since my last visit, so this was going to be interesting. We walked on over from the Ala Moana Hotel.

I was quite happy to see that the Midas Muffler is still next door, Times and Grace's across the street. Sometimes, things like that bring on nice memories and a feeling of comfort.

It was a Thursday around 430 and the place was very quiet. The nice guy working told me that Mary, the daughter of the late owner Sy wasn't working this evening.

As I mentioned before, when I'm here, it's full "local mode" for me and I'll be getting a Bud Light "bucket ice". You don't mess with tradition.

In case you're wondering what a Bud Light is going for at 8 Fat, these days……

Yep, it's a whole four bucks! The Missus had a glass of the House White ($6), which She said wasn't bad.

I just had to get some Crispy Gau Gee ($10).

Well, this was even better than what I'd had the last time. Perfectly fried and crisp, the filling was moist, with great pork and shrimp tones. The Missus has never been a fan of this dish; but it's the style of Chinese Food I grew up with, so it was a nice taste down memory lane.

The Missus wanted some veggies so we ordered the Ong Choy ($10).

Man, talk about the generous portion! Stir fried nicely, still crisp, great chlorophyllic flavors, the garlic added a nice pungent counter point.

And of course we had to get the signature Fat Fat Chicken ($15).

The Missus loved this. It was one of Her favorites way back when and I guess it still is. Crispy skin, good salt and pepper (and probably msg), tender meat. I'd forgotten how good this is!

We talked to I believe his name is Reagan and I mentioned some of the regulars from back in the day. Many have passed and he told me that most of those regulars stopped coming after Covid. Kinda sad, but then I started seeing folks arriving, so it looks like a whole new generation of folks have adopted the place.

Yes, it's divey, but for me it feels like home! And I was happy to finally be back here; and apparently the Missus was too. Because according to the Missus, this was Her favorite meal of the trip!

8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille
1327 S Beretania St
Honolulu, HI 96814

We took our after dinner "walk" back to the hotel. Once there, we decided to get a nightcap. Earlier that day, when we picked up lunch at the Lanai in Ala Moana Center, we noticed a bar in that food court. We decided to check it out. It's named Agave & Vine and they were pretty busy on this Thursday evening.

The bartender seemed to know quite a few of the customers. There were folks bringing food from other stalls and restaurants over to eat, have a drink, and perhaps watch some sports.

I decided to try the Bad Decisions ($12).

Not bad, not watered down, nice citrusy tones, the Blanco came thru nicely. The Missus enjoyed Her glass of wine.

It was a nice little stop right across the bridge from the hotel.

Agave & Vine (In the Lanai – Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814

Once in our room, I sat on the patio, just enjoying the city lights.

IMG_5211 (2)

IMG_5212 (2)

It was great to be "home"!

Thanks for stopping by!

Finjan Coffee

August 14, 2024 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Middle Eastern Restaurants/Cuisine

In these times I seem to have an never ending search for breakfast options in the Clairemont/Kearny Mesa area, for when I'm done my first stage of shopping early and have to wait for places to open. In the time before Covid, there seemed to be many more options.

I had totally forgotten that the folks who own Tahini, had moved their restaurant into the larger space next door where Ryoma used to be. Cathy has done a post on that location. And Finjan Coffee now occupies the former location next door and they open rather early.

Finjan 01

The set-up look basically the same. The girls working were very friendly.

Finjan 02

The menu looks large, but there are only 5 food items on it. Hot and cold drinks make up the rest of the menu.

Finjan 03

I got a Cold Brew, nicely priced at $4.25.

Finjan 04

This was kind of weak in flavor, very mild, tasting almost like plain iced coffee.

As for my food, well, I didn't feel like spending $11 for avocado toast, so I went with the Fava Bean Toast ($9).

Finjan 05

This was quite good. The fava beans were seasoned well, great savory spices, the texture of the beans were fairly creamy, yet hearty. I enjoyed the tomatoes and the refreshing cucumber. The bread, which seemed like sourdough as it had a nice yeastiness to it was toasted well. The only item that I didn't care for was the Tahini which was too watery and lacked flavor. Other than that, I thought this was a nice breakfast or light lunch item. And as for the Tahini, the nice young lady mentioned that the next time I should try it with the Cilantro Tahini, which may have given me the solution to the one item on the toast I didn't care for.

I returned a few weeks later and this time ordered an Iced Americano ($3.50). The place was kind of busy, strange for a Sunday and only two girls were working when I arrived. I also decided to try the Labne Toast ($8). This time around I got my drink right away, but waited almost 30 minutes for my toast. I also forgot to take a photo of my Americano which was again on the milder side. But I did remember to photograph my Labne Toast.

Finjan 06 Finjan 07 The bread was again nicely toasted, the cucumbers again refreshing, I wish it had more tomatoes and I appreciated the mint. There was a generous of labneh slathered on the toast, but it was just too puckery and sour for me to enjoy, the sour Zaatar just piled on, I'd have appreciated perhaps touch of sweetness and savory to balance things out a bit? As a whole, much too sour for me. My salivary glands are puckering up just looking at the photo!

The young ladies working here are very nice and friendly. I need to find a caffeinated drink I enjoy here and get that Fava Bean Toast with Cilantro Tahini and I think I might have a fairly regular breakfast stop.

Finjan Coffee
9119 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 630am – 5pm
Friday 630am – 10pm
Saturday 630am – 10pm
Sunday 8am – 8pm

Finjan 08

Delici-yoso Mollejas at De Cabeza/El Único

August 13, 2024 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

On a recent Sunday morning the Missus was in a well, "offal" (pun intended) mood. And She was thinking about how enjoyable the Lengua, Tripas, and Maciza was on our last visit to De Cabeza/El Único. Yes, we are regulars for the Cabeza en su Jugo (head soup) there, but that's usually during cooler weather. She had really enjoyed the "offal three", so we decided to head down to Chula Vista for our version of "Sunday brunch". We usually get there a bit earlier, but this time arrived at 1030 and the place was pretty busy.

De Cabeza Rev 01

We were heartily greeted by Jesus, the boss man, who always seems so happy to see us.

We had a seat and this time, really looked at the menu more carefully. And my goodness, they have Mollejas (sweetbreads)! The Missus enjoy the Alambres here and ordered the version with Lengua (tongue) and Maciza (head meat). The Missus really wanted to try the Sesos (brain) and since She wasn't ordering the Tripas (intestine), I ordered one each of the tacos. And, we also ordered the Mollejas. The young lady waiting on us was very nice and serious, but it was interesting watching her eyebrows go up and down as we ordered…….

De Cabeza Rev 02 De Cabeza Rev 03 Love the tortillas here, full of maize goodness, heated on the comal with drippings, it is always up to the task. The tripas have a nice mild crunch with beefy goodness. I bet you'd never figure out what it was if you were served one of these.

The sesos was somewhat mushy-soft and there was a metallic tinge to the flavor which the Missus wasn't fond of. I personally thought this did fine with the Salsa Verde which had enough sour-acidity to balance things out.

The lengua here is so beefy and tender, and combined with the bacon in the Alambres it's quite a treat.

De Cabeza Rev 04

Combines with the Maciza; this is beefy heaven. Though I think the combo of tripas with the beefy crunch and the bovine wonderfulness of the lengua might be the perfect combo.

And then it arrived.

De Cabeza Rev 05 De Cabeza Rev 06 My goodness; this was even better than we thought! Fried to a light crispness, the interior was light, creamy, and almost fluffy. There have been times when we've had a iodine like aftertaste when having mollejas, but this was mild with a slight offal-nutty-buttery-sweetness. We actually didn't need salsa, lime, or heck, even the wonderful tortillas.

I think we have yet another go-to dish here! This turned out to be an "offaly good" (yes, I know…) meal. Man, if only De Cabeza/El Único was closer!

De Cabeza/El Único
1043 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911
Current Hours:
Open Daily 8am – 9pm

De Cabeza Rev 00

Honolulu – The Crack Seed Store (Kaimuki), Musubi Cafe Iyasume (Ala Moana), and Other “Stuffs”

August 12, 2024 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chains, Honolulu, Japanese Restaurants, Oahu, Travel, yoso-silly

**** I hope you don't mind another Hawai'i post. Not a whole lot of food in this one.

On this trip home the Missus really enjoyed Herself. She got some hiking ummm walking (Her definition) and we visited places I hadn't been to in decades. We also managed to stay 2 nights in "town" (Honolulu), which I really enjoyed.

But first, the Missus needed Her Li Hing Mango fix and since we were headed to town there was one place She really loves, it's in my old neighborhood, where I grew up. Located on Koko Head Avenue is the Crack Seed Store, which I included in the post linked above. I was also interested in visiting because I had found out that the original owner, Mr. Young, who BTW, ran the place for over 40 years had retired. Thankfully, he did find new owners, who according to this article are also in the same business and use the same distributors. Mr. Young also shared his "secret" recipes with them so everyone could get the same stuffs they had always enjoyed.

Anyway, we drove up, there was no street parking on Koko Head, but I managed to score some parking in the lot behind the businesses. A guy pulled out of his stall as I was turning in and guess what? He also still had over an hour of parking left on the meter. Double score!

There were several different li hing mango versions, but the Missus zeroed in on the one She likes. Forgot to take a photo of that, but here's a plethora of li hing mui.

Of course the Missus went and opened up the bag and started chowing down on it as we walked to the car.

She said it's just as good as She remembered! Awesome!

Crack Seed Store
1156 Koko Head Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

It was still fairly early, so we decided to walk around a bit.

Looking at the businesses, when did Kaimuki get so hipster?

The Missus enjoyed this shop.

The name sounded familiar and yes indeed, the owner told us they used to be in Ward Center, but moved here in 2021.

We had fun buying gifts for folks back in San Diego. And, we even got something for ourselves.

Red Pineapple
1151 12th Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

We then headed over to Ala Moana Center. We were staying at the Ala Moana Hotel. You know, I'd never stayed there. There was just no way I wanted to stay in Waikiki and I didn't think the Missus would go for the Pagoda, so Ala Moana Hotel was it.

Anyway, it was too early to check in, so we went to the mall to check things out. It was Chinese (Lunar) New Year so Ala Moana Center was all decked out.

And as often happens; we saw something that reminded us of Sammy.

The Missus did Her usual tea shopping at Lupicia.

After which, it seemed like a good time to get something small for lunch. We'd had a big breakfast back in Ewa Beach in the morning.

Thanks to fellow long time blogger Kathy, who now does the fabulous Onolicious Hawaii blog, I found the post on the Lanai, in the location old Shirokiya (we miss you so) store, in her guide to Where to Eat at Ala Moana Center. We enjoyed the Lanai because the places seemed more "local" focused. And there is a location of Musubi Cafe Iyasume there!

And we felt that two musubi would be enough for a very light lunch.

So we got the Avocado-Bacon-Egg-Spam.

The rice was nicely cooked, but in spite of the presence of my favorite canned meat product; the bacon was soggy and rubbery and there wasn't enough avocado to really make a difference.

We did like the Kimchi and Spam version though. I mean; kimchi….Spam…..

Salty-sour-a bit of spice, say no more. I'm looking forward to having this again.

Musubi Cafe Iyasume (In the Lanai – Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814

I had parked on the second floor of Ala Moana Center on the Mahukona Street side where there's the bridge to the hotel. I walked on over and went to see if our room was ready; which it was! Yes!

In another funny moment, the nice young man at the check in counter asked me if I've stayed with them before. I told him no, it was too expensive to stay here when I was young; though I did go to Rumors (a legendary night club in the hotel that closed in 2017) quite a bit in my younger days. He told me, "awesome, you ever heard of the Point After?" I told him I used to go there and Bobby McGee's a lot too. He then told me "my Grandfather used to go to the Point After a lot." Aiyah! Suddenly I'm "Ji-chan"?

Anyway, our room had a decent view.

We had a nice nap, then decided to take a walk before heading out to dinner. We strolled on over to Ala Moana Park for a pre-dinner walk.

As a whole it was pretty mellow on this late afternoon.

Then the strangest thing happened; I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and didn't recognize this older fellow. He identified himself and holy smokes! He was my best friend from Elementary, Intermediate, and High School, thru the mid 90's. He lived a half block from me in Kaimuki! Even though by the time I left the islands I had a new group of friends, I'd still drop by and talk story and stuff. He was the first of us to get a driver's license and used to drive his grandfather's car. We used to go to Keyhole at Ala Moana park, go swim, have some, ahem, liquid refreshment, all that kind of stuff. He still comes here several times a week to walk and still lives in the same Kaimuki house he grew up in. Makes me wonder if I would have been the same had I never left the islands? He caught me up on some of the folks that were in our "group"; some have already passed on. Everyone from that group except me ended up in the trades; painters, refrigeration, sheet metal, it's not a easy life. He still has the same phone number, which I recited from memory. It's been almost three decades and I'm not sure how he recognized me? I'll need to call him when I'm back again.

It was turning out to be an interesting trip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Oahu – Waialua General Store and Dole Plantation

August 11, 2024 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Oahu, Poke, Travel

Before our last trip "back home", the Missus gave me some "guidelines" and places She wanted to check out. It was kinda strange because some of the places were major tourist spots. But in retrospect, it ended up being fun, because when I lived in Honolulu, we would never go to these places unless we had visitors. But heck, having left the islands a quarter of a century ago, I'm just a tourist these days too right?

One of the places was Dole Plantation. Yeeesh, the last time I was here was with the Missus, back in the late 90's. For me, "Dole" is the cannery in Kalihi, but this ended up being a nice drive to Wahiawa.

For me this was mostly a bunch of shops and stuff.

Coming from the grandson of immigrants who worked for Maui Pine; this seemed more about selling stuff than telling the story of those who worked. After all, my first job was picking pineapple over the summer.

I did enjoy seeing who was "really" in charge.

For those that don't know. You don't mess with the chickens here. There's a real "pecking order" (sorry, couldn't help it) in place. Even the cats know…..

The Missus did enjoy shopping here.

And She ended up buying a really cute bag.

Dole Plantation
64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy.
Wahiawa, HI 96786

In some ways, I really enjoyed driving here. In a previous life I did frozen food delivery. Being the low man on the "totem pole", my route was places like Whitmore Village. Heck, I used to deliver to the Iroquois Point Naval Exchange in Ewa Beach! This is why I always picture "that" Ewa Beach when we're there visiting my In-Laws!

There was a place I had been wanting to check out near the North Shore. After a short discussion, the Missus and I decided to head on up to Waialua to get some poke at Waialua General Store. From what I recall the town was home to a major sugar mill back in the day.

The little shop in a strip mall, before you get to the "North Shore" kind of stuffs is quite low key. They do a lot of Filipino BBQ and such, but I just wanted some poke.

I could not believe the prices! The woman was so friendly! We got a "bowl" with the Hawaiian Style (aka Limu) and the Secret Spicy Poke. We were kind of hungry and were told to just head over to where the owner's husband was grilling things to sit and eat.

We walked over and the gentleman doing the grilling told us to have a seat. There were several "old timers" (like me) there and I had a blast "talking story" with them.

As for the food; the Missus also got Seaweed Salad, can't tell you about that 'cause I don't like it, and pickled mango which was quite good.

As for the poke, the quality of the fish was decent, wish there was more limu in the Hawaiian style, the secret to the "spicy" was kimchi, but this was still better than what I get here in San Diego. The Missus was hoping for a brown rice option, but c'mon, really?

This was quite good!

I was having a great time chatting with the "old timers"; about how things have changed, what it's like living in SoCal and then coming back home. And then it happened. The gentleman grilling pulled off two skewers and told us; "here this is for you"! For real? My first thought was to turn him down, after all you want them to make some money or offer to pay….but you just don't do that here, that would be an insult. It was such a beautiful gesture.

The glaze had a nice sweet-salty-sour balance. Nice porkiness, fairly tender meat, it was quite good. The folks here were so friendly….like very old school style. We loved it. In the end I took a spare Hamilton and went into the shop and put it into the tip jar. The woman told me "eh, no need", but I said "no, I need".

This kind gesture made our day; the food was good, I loved the "small town vibe", if you want true Aloha Spirit here it was, or more precisely "lokomaika'i", to be generous, which is what the folks here were. It just puts you in the right frame of mind.

Waialua General Store
67-272 Goodale Ave.
Waialua, HI 96791

It was a wonderful day.

Dinner was, of course Jiaozi!

And after dinner we strolled on over to the beachfront in Ewa Beach.

It was a beautiful evening…..

And for a moment, all seemed right in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oahu – Mahi ‘ai Table (Inside Foodland Farms – Kapolei)

August 10, 2024 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Oahu, Travel

Yes, trying to catch up on all my travel eating posts! Sheesh am I behind. Anyway, if you remember this post, well, we were "back home" in February. Since we spend so much time on the Leeward (that would be "west") side of Oahu these days, and were spending much more time there on this trip, I was on the lookout for new places to eat. Several years back, I had read about a new development near what we used to call "North-South Road" back in the day. I had heard that a hotel was coming up, which turned out to be a Hampton Inn. I had also read about a Foodland Farms opening in the shopping center. Now some of the folks I know scoff at the Foodland versus Foodland Farms thing, saying it's just a way of charging more, in other words, Hawaii's version of "Whole Paycheck". Though I will say that on our previous visit, we checked out FF in Pearl City and got some decent chicken wings and chicken skin there.

I had also read about a restaurant named Mahi'ai' (which I think in this context means Farmer) Table opening within the FF located in Ka Makana Ali'i which is the name of that shopping complex in Kapolei. We had gotten in at a bit after 1pm, so I thought once we got settled, we could just head over, order takeout, and do a bit of shopping and easily have dinner.

The shopping center is huge, so many shops, everything from movie theatres to Macy's to Olive Garden to Reyn Spooner!

The Foodland Farms seemed quite bustling. The restaurant itself is located right as you enter into the market.

Mahiai 01

The woman working was very friendly and it looked like a nice big space.

Mahiai 02

But we would be doing take out. So, I placed my order and went to do some shopping.

There was still a short wait after finishing up our shopping. The drive back to the In-Laws was less than ten minutes, so this is quite a convenient location.

And so we had an early dinner; it was quite a bit of food.

The Blistered Shishito Peppers ($14) weren't very "blistered".

Mahiai 03

There was "puffed rice" on this which brought a bit of texture to the dish; but the peppers weren't "charred" enough and the "umami aioli" just made it seem greasy. This was very bland as well.

The Lechon Style Brussel Sprouts ($13), featured delicious tomatoes, but were a bit too undercooked and we like our brussels crunchy, but this was hard! The sauce used also seemed to add a layer of unpleasant greasiness to the sporuts.

Mahiai 04

We like vibrant flavors on our brussels and this was too bland. And I was thrilled to see that the dish included crispy pipikaula; but really, one slice. Kinda manini!

We got the Soy Habanero Wings ($17), which were more on the sweeter side.

Mahiai 05

The wings also didn't keep it's crispness during the ten minute drive back to the house. Meaty wings; the flats were decent but the drumettes quite dry. I thought the addition of bubu arare was quite interesting.

We loved the greens that came with the Crispy Confit Chicken ($23).

Mahiai 07 Mahiai 08 Let's take a look at that chicken. It's a huge piece but does it look "crispy" to you? Also, it was fairly tender, but quite dry for confit, making it somewhat bland; the supposed nuoc cham edged to the sweeter side of the scale. The fried garlic was fine; but the garlic rice was super hard and dry. It was like trying to eat barely cooked rice. Now come on, how can you mess up rice?

The Sticky Ribs ($19) was probably the best item we had.

Mahiai 06

The ribs came off the bone cleanly and were fairly moist. The sauce, while again on the sweeter side of things still had enough soy and salt which combined with the porkiness of the ribs worked well. The pickled onions and namasu helped to balance out things.

I was so excited to see Mochiko Crusted Ahi Belly ($19) on the menu. Man, ahi belly, one of my favorite things. And while I didn't expect this to be better than my favorite version, but this wasn't even close.

Mahiai 09 Mahiai 10 Again the greens and tomato was outstanding. But take a look at that rice, it's the same as the "confit chicken" and the photo shows more clearly how hard and dry it was. Speaking of dry; you can add the ahi belly as well. It was dry, lacking in that rich, fatty, texture. It was also strangely fishy in flavor; the Missus had one bite and was done.

We were quite disappointed with this meal. Perhaps Mahi'ai Table is only for dining in; but I don't think it would matter in terms of dry and hard rice, fishy ahi belly, greasy brussel sprouts, and so forth. We did like the greens and tomatoes; so I guess if Bruddah is going to eat here again, it's going to be a salad? Not likely though.

I also had a good laugh in thinking that maybe all places named "Farmer's Table" has some kind of bachi?

It was kind of a bad start to our stay "back home".

Mahi ‘ai Table
91-5431 Kapolei Pkwy. Suite 1704 (Inside Foodland Farms)
Kapolei, HI 96707

Still, it was good to be back in the islands. And the meals would get better!

Stay Tuned!

Road Trip – Sushi Yuen (City of Industry)

August 8, 2024 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Memorable Meals, Road Trip, Sushi and Sashimi

On the way back from Lancaster we decided to stop in our old neighborhood. We'd spend the night and do some shopping and drop by Mountain House for takeout on the way home the next day. I did have something planned for dinner though. There was a Sushi/Omakase restaurant that opened in a strip mall on Gale, between Fullerton and Nogales a while back named Sushi Yuen. Man, this strip mall wasn't even constructed when we moved away from the area.

Sushi Yuen is an all Omakase shop, according to what I had read they actually got seafood from Toyosu Market in Tokyo. At the time of our visit, dinner was running at $250 per person (drinks not included), with a $150 deposit for each diner.

Anyway, after checking in at the Best Western and taking a short nap, we actually walked on over……now there's not much pedestrian activity on Gale, so we did get some weird looks.

We checked in and waited until we were walked over to our seats. The restaurant has sushi bar only seating. I counted a total of 15 seats for our dinner.

There's a brief selection of wine and sake available. We did end up having a glass of the Zaku and the Tenbei during our meal.

Speaking of glasses, metal tumblers were brought to the table. Once filled with ice water, a pattern appeared! Kinda neat.

Due to the amount of dishes in this meal, I'll try to be as brief as possible.

There was five staff working behind the counter; the head man, who introduced himself as Ryan was very friendly, as was the young man who would eagerly show us the products being used for our dishes.

And you can see what was going to be part of our first dish.

Notice all the fresh wasabi at the bottom of the screen?

As you can tell by that photo, hairy crab was going to be in the first dish, which ended up being a wonderful savory chawan mushi.

Decadently smooth and creamy, permeated with the frangrance of sweet-savory-oceany crab, this was a wonderful start to our meal.

Next up, Katsuo (Skipjack) Tataki.

This had a mild smokiness to it; on the firmer side in texture, with that nice, all too familiar umami "punch".

Next up was the Hokkaido Hotate with Kaluga Caviar.

Gently coated, with a wonderful, light, crisp coating. The scallop was perfectly cooked, the slightly firm and wonderfully sweet flesh was so delici-yoso! It really didn't need the caviar, but heck, there it was and I wasn't going to complain about that!

We'd first come across "Tacu" in CDMX, at its most basic it's using nori in place of a tortilla. This was a negi-toro tacu.

The highlight of this was the interplay of the pungent-herbaceous-slightly sweet wasabi, the minty-chlorophllic-anise shiso, and the savory nori.

Next up was the grilled Tachiuo, belt fish.

The flesh was so buttery in texture, it basically melted in your mouth. The flavor was mild, so having the crisp skin on made all the difference.

The Akami-zuke was quite routine.

Perfectly texture maguro, but even more impressive was the rice which cooked to perfection, every grain could be counted, but the texture was soft, the "shari" was nicely balanced.

Aji-Miso was next.

Nice textural contrast, but the nice rich-savory flavor of the Horse Mackerel was kind of overwhelmed by the miso sauce.

I was quite excited to see Nodoguro (Black throat sea perch) as the next item. This is a rarity for us here in the states.

Man, this was so rich and buttery in texture. The flavor was mild and was enhanced by the "tare".

We didn't care much for the Ankimo-Yuzu. It was like they were trying to cover up the natural flavor of the ankimo.

Think of it as being mashed ankimo "potato-ish" salad. We enjoy the texture of ankimo which was not featured in this dish. Too sweet-sour.

The folks must have been reading our minds, because next up was a "shot" of Katsuo Dashi!

Which helped to "reset" our palates.

The Hirame was quite good, great texture!

While having the Hirame, we noticed some items being cooked on the griddle.

This turned out to be charred Saba, made into sort of temaki.

This was very good; the skin crisp, the oil content made the flesh so very creamy and reduced the strong fishy flavor!

Next up was another fairly rare fish for SoCal, Sayori (Half-beak) Nigiri.

So clean and refreshing! The somewhat sweet, delicate flavor wasn't overwhelmed by the tare. This was ono!

Then the Chu-Toro.

Rich and fatty goodness! On perfect rice, the tare did so well on this; adding the savory touches of soy and a hint of sweetness.

Kumamoto Tiger Prawn was up next.

While a tad overcooked, the shrimp was so sweet and oceany.

We were then provided some Ebi Kakiage Udon

And were asked if we were ready for the "best part" of our meal! Whoa, even better than what we'd had? During this time we had a chance to chat with Ryan. We spoke about Japan. Ryan told us he closes Sushi Yuen twice a year to go to Japan, but is busy working with his suppliers there, so isn't able to visit many places.

And just to add an exclamation point to things we were given a preview of what was coming up!

As you can see; the A5 Wagyu came with it's own set of "papers".

As did the Hokkaido Uni!

But first, was the 8 Day Aged O-toro…….O-my!

So melt-in-your mouth tender that it should be illegal! And like all the nigiri, the rice and shari were perfect for our taste.

The sweet and deeply savory Hokkaido Uni, so creamy.

The flavor took me back to a memorable lunch in Sankaku Market in Otaru.

These last two items were so good that it made the Anago and Tamago seem like after thoughts…….I guess we needed to be brought back "down to earth?"

The Tamago was especially good, light, sweet, and fluffy.

Usually, these two would be the items that would close the meal. But of course there was one item we had a preview of that was missing.

Torching and smoking was in progress while we had our Anago and Tamago.

And soon enough these two covered bowls were provided.

Which opened up to display……

The A5 Wagyu! Well, in terms of flavor this was beefy heaven! Though I will say for my taste it was overcooked; I prefer mine rare.

And so a nice last dish to an epic meal, right?

But like that television pitch man says; "but wait, there's more"!

Have you ever seen or bought one of those $100 melons at the Japanese market?

The Missus had always been wondering about those and She finally had a chance to taste some.

Needless to say; the Missus thought the price of the melon is worth it!

As for the meal itself; well it was an epic one, with some excellent dishes. Would we have it again? Hmmm…..perhaps if we have an extra $800 lying around (or more as I've read that the price of dinner is now $275 per person). Sushi Yuen also serves an Omaksae lunch which is currently priced at around $150 per person and a $100 deposit for each customer. Please note that there are penalties for cancelling within 48 hours as well.

Boy has our old 'hood changed since we lived here!

Sushi Yuen
18558 Gale Ave.
City of Industry, CA 91748

Chicken Wing Wednesday – Kuljem Chicken & Beer (aka Honeyjam Chicken & Beer, aka JJ Chicken)

August 7, 2024 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants, yoso-silly

Ok, I know you must be tired of all these KFC posts, they seem to be coming in hot and heavy right now, this will be the last one for a while…hopefully, though I do have some revisits in the queue. Based on the crazy pre-opening history of this place, you know I just had to visit. For those who don't remember; originally, back in 2021, this was supposed to be JJ's Chicken, then in August of 2022, the "JJ" sign was gone. Then FOYs Patty (in the comments of that post) and Rena (via email, with an attached photo) notified me that the place was going to be Honeyjam Chicken. I drove on over and posted a photo in October of 2022. Finally, in May of this year Eater posted on the Soft Opening of Honeyjam. I had heard about the place selling out of wings and really didn't want to repeat the BHC thing, so I waited. By the time of my visit, the signage now said "Kuljem"! You gotta love it. Which is basically "Honey" (ggul) and "Jem" (잼) means "fun", so I guess it all fits, right? Whew…..

Kuljem 01

Not wanting to fight crowds and such, I walked in at 1130, opening time on a Tuesday.

Kuljem 02

A really nice young man greeted me and asked me if I was ordering for here to to go. I told him I'd be dining in and he led me over to a table and pointed out the QR code for the menu.

Kuljem 03b

I placed my order and once he got things set he came over and introduced himself as John and is one of the owners. He also owns Arteazen, the Boba/Tea shop in the plaza. He was a really friendly guy and I guess I must have a rather generic look because he asked me if we'd met before? Seeing an opening, I asked him about first being JJ's and was told that the sign was a mistake because that's the name of their LLC; his business partner's name is Jin, so "J & J" got it? But what about the Honeyjam "thing"? Well, after being open a bit, they found that with the name Honeyjam, folks were expecting SFC ("Southern Fried Chicken") and waffles, that sort of thing, so they went with the Korean name! Got that? Double whew…..

Anyway, I ordered the wings – Original Crispy (6 piece – $12) and some Kimchi Fried Rice ($16). Not cheap, but it looks like about $2 a wing is the going rate these days? I was graciously brought a glass of water and soon enough my wings arrived. Even before the fried rice. John told me that they double fry the Original Crispy.

Kuljem 04b Kuljem 05 These were those jumbo sized wings; the batter was really thick and more hard-crunchy than crispy. The seasoning was a good amount of salt and black pepper. The wings were moist, especially the flats, and looked to be of good quality. As whole, just way too much batter for me, but decent wings. It threw the entire proportion off and I really needed that cabbage with dressing and the mul kimchi, which hovered on the sweeter side of things to reset my palate.

Kuljem 07

What I enjoyed much more than the wings was the Kimchi Fried Rice ($16).

Kuljem 06

While I do wish they had a Spam option for this, the chicken, which I'm sure they have a lot of was ok. Loved the fried egg with the crisp edges, it was perfect. The rice was wonderfully coated and there was a good amount of crunchy, fermentally sour kimchi in this. This was quite good!

I heard some customers, who came in after me raving about the "Saigon Wings" so I knew I had to make a return visit. I did wait about a month or so, but again returned at the 1130 opening time, this time on a Wednesday. I was greeted once again, this time by John's partner, "Jin", who led me to a table and the ensuing QR code drill. And brought me a glass of H2O.

Kuljem 08

This time I decided on the Saigon Wings (6 – $12).

Kuljem 09 Kuljem 10 The batter for this seemed a bit different; it was thinner, more lacquered, but still on the crunchy end of the spectrum. The menu says "aromatic and slightly spicy", I'd go with barely spicy and teeth rattling sweet and sticky. The wings were, as before moist and tender, but this was too much for me. I ended up needing the cabbage a mul kimchi to recover! Also, I had to request extra napkins, because of that sticky sauce. Perhaps they'll stock some wipes in the future?

Really like the two owners who are very friendly and quite chatty. The wings are good quality, though it's a bit too crunchy for me. Funny thing is; I'll definitely get the kimchi fried rice. Now if they start offering a Spam option, well I'd be there for sure!

Kuljem 12

Kuljem Chicken & Beer
8895 Towne Centre Dr. Suite 101
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am – 2pm, 5pm – 11pm