mmm-yoso – Page 513 – 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.

Today it’s not about food………

October 22, 2007 mmm-yoso Blog

You know it’s going to be a bad day when you come to work and see this….

Just in case you haven’t heard, the combination of very low humidity, vicious Santa Ana winds, and very little moisture, have created the perfect stage for wildfires. I’ve heard that over 250,000 have been evacuated. Several wildfires are burning in San Diego County, a current map can be found here. The scope of the fire is staggering.

Resources can be found here, a list of what to take if evacuated here, updated news here, here, here, and on San Diego CityBeat’s Blog, among many others. Loss of property has been high, and though even a single life lost is too much, so far there has only been one fatality, those injured have a long haul ahead.

Here are few videos:

Poway, Ramona, Otay Lakes, and more here. It just breaks your heart…..

That’s the sun today……

The Missus, Da Boyz, and I are fine(thanks for the emails). I’ve been in contact with Cathy, and last I heard She was okay as well. I hope all of you are staying safe.

It has not been a good day for San Diego…….

Peru: Mercado de Wanchaq

October 21, 2007 mmm-yoso Cusco and the Sacred Valley, Peru, Travel

The morning after our wonderful dinner, we were scheduled to leave Cusco for Lima. Our flight was at noon on a Star Peru "Boing" 737. Since we still had time before Oscar was scheduled to pick us up, we decided to walk on over to the Mercado de Wanchaq. During the previous afternoon we were searching for flowers to bring to dinner. The really helpful Bellhop recommended a stop at the local Mercado right down the street.(Thanks Erick!) We rushed in, and managed to get a decent bouquet….we really didn't notice until we were walking out of market, how much we stood out! Even though we saw a few other tourists at Mercado Central, this vibrant and busy Mercado seemed totally local.

Though smaller than Mercado Central, this market had a real community feel to it. We had arrived just as business was starting to pick up, by the time we left, the isles were buzzing…..

Along with the vast amount of produce, there were 2 barber shops, a few lower stands, a section for fresh seafood:

Meat and Poultry

I found this stand with prepared sauces and marinades to be interesting….

The hardware section! I was surprised at the comprehensive selection. Everything from chain link and rope, to drills, to toilet plungers at this little stand. Home Depot ain't got nothin' on this place.

And of course the food stalls.

As with Mercado Central, the food stands were organized in sections, the saltados(stir fries) in one section, sopas(soups) in another. The fragrances were quite tempting.

But the Missus was after something a bit different. Unfortunately, Her craving for Choclo(Corn on the cob) was left unfulfilled as all the vendors were just getting the water started, and the corn wouldn't be ready for a few hours.

Well, at least we have a reason to return to Cusco! The Missus than turned Her attention to these:

These are called Pepino (cucumber melon), and large stacks of them were featured at every produce stand in the market. The vendor helped the Missus pick one out, and we walked it back to the hotel. This was breakfast for the Missus.

So while everyone was having croissants and muffins, the Missus had Her Pepino. I thought the flavor to be much like honeydew melon, maybe a bit milder. The texture was like very ripe cantaloupe, not too crisp, but with a little "give". I also thought the melon had a weird aftertaste that I really didn't enjoy, but the Missus loved it.

After breakfast we finished packing and checked out at the hotel. Soon enough Oscar picked us up and drove us to the airport. Oscar even brought his wife along to meet us! It was a wonderful little drive to the airport, full of anecdotes and laughter. We realized something, Cusco had grown on us, and the proud, generous, and warm hearted people had as well. Usually, when on vacation, after the third day or so, the Missus and I are ready to leave and move on, but for the very first time, we wanted more time in a city. We told Oscar that we'd probably be returning in 2009….I had an added incentive as well. Oscar promised me a list of the best local restaurants, and what they specialize in, on my next visit, so you know I have to come back!

El Puma Hotel:

We spent our last night in Cusco at the El Puma Hotel. This was a pretty modern, and new hotel, and was a big change from the quaint Hotel Rumi Punku. El Puma was also located in a busy area, just one block from Avenida del Sol, Cusco's main drag.

The rooms looked modern, though with the same type of "central heating". A couple of funny things associated with El Puma occurred as well. As you can see, the entrance of El Puma has very modern looking "sliding doors"…..well, I guess in my Americanized mind, sliding doors are "automatic doors", that slide open when you approach. These are literally sliding doors, that you slide open…..which I walked into as I tried to enter hotel!

I also mentioned that the El Puma was fairly new….in fact we found that most taxi drivers had no idea where El Puma was! Luckily, the Missus had the foresight to grab one of the hotel pens(see, I told you it was modern!) with the address on it – Garcilaso 320. We soon found out that there are two streets named Garcilaso in Cusco. In fact, our driver on the return trip from Mercado Central, insisted that we had arrived at our destination, Garcilaso 320…….only thing was, this Garcilaso 320 was a Auto Parts store! Even though the pen we showed him said EL PUMA HOTEL, I guess we must have looked like we were staying at an auto parts store…….

San Mateo: In Search of the Holy Grail…. Filled w/ Ramen!

October 18, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) Japanese Restaurants, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, What Vicky Eats

Hello there! It’s Vicky again… Blogging about the latest act of gluttony.

In my previous post, I blogged about Gluttony Partner and my trip up to Point Reyes to gorge ourselves on oysters. (And speaking of Gluttony Partner, after a short conversation with him, he’s willing to forgo whatever anonimity he has remaining and is allowing me to use his name. Voila! Now we’re both going to ousted as societal gluttons. Muahaha!) We had lunch at the ever elusive Long John Silver’s (Yes… what is up with that anyway? I remember seeing all these ads for them on tv when I lived in SD, and even when I moved up, I’m continuously flooded with blown up pictures of fried goodness. Yet, there was never a location convenient to me. Argh!)

Fortunately, I found out there was a new one that had just opened up in South San Francisco so that was where we made our second stop for food…. the first being a donut shop in Half Moon Bay. I did mention it was a trip of gluttony right? Sadly to say, in our hunger and elation of finding Long John Silver’s I forgot to take the pictures of the food prior to gobbling it all down. We just have a few silly pictures of us wearing the paper cut out pirate wannabe hats, which if you even glance in the mere direction of, is enough to make you blind. Hence, they’re not posted.

So after a breakfast of donuts and milk (yes… we are the poster kids of the healthy food pyramid….) and a lunch of fried seafood at Long John Silvers (man… I’m making my nutritionist mother proud!)….and a pit stop at a farmers market fruit stand (oh yes. must have our one peach to balance out all the fried goodness! See! I know how to eat healthy!)… and over 50 oysters at Hog Island…we finally made it to dinner. Thank god this little restaurant closes at 11! We finally drove out of the Point Reyes area around 930pm and made it down to San Mateo. Sam and I absolutely love ramen. We constantly need to get our ramen fix. I had introduced him to this restaurant after a hike we took in the San Mateo hills and needless to say, it was the perfect way to end a great day of excercise. I shall now present to you…. HIMAWARI in downtown San Mateo. The main thoroughway of downtown is 3rd Avenue. Himawari is located a little off to the side on 2nd.

We walked in and got seated immediately and ordered our usual appetizer. I absolutely love the Buta Kakuni ($7.95) appetizer they have. Early on, Sam had cooked me an amazing meal of Dong Po Rou (Braised Pork Belly), and ever since then, after discovering our mutual liking for fatty cuts of pork, I’ve been raving about the Buta Kakuni here. Unfortunately, in our eagerness to polish off the dish, I forgot to pull out my camera and take a lovely picture. All I have to offer the dear readers is a picture of the last piece of Buta in the precious death grip of Sam’s chopsticks, with of course, his upper body cropped out. Don’t worry, he doesn’t really look headless in reality.

I think Himawari just has large vats of this braised fatty goodness bubbling behind the counters. In the appetizer version, they take the cubed pieces, lightly dust them in what I think is Mochiko powder, and fry them so that the outsides are dry and crispy. Placed on a bed of thinly sliced onions and topped with scallions, they serve the Buta Kakuni with this tangy and slightly sweet soy based sauce. Absolutely divine!! The textural contrast of this dish is amazing. The outsides are dry, crisp and fragrant, and the center of the cubes are braised to the point where the fibers of meet are falling-apart tender. Yes… you read that right, it is a fried piece of cubed pork belly. No, I do not care to know how bad it is for me and how clogged my arteries are. They do a very good job of rendering out most of the fat from the meat during all the braising so I’d like to think that most of it is cooked out…. Thank god Himawari is around half an hour away from us. Otherwise we’d turn into roley poley’s from eating this all day long. This stuff is so good, that all I have to do is mention "Hima…" to Sam, and I can see his eyes glaze over and images of this dish dancing like sugarplums above his head.

While Sam was busy polishing off the last treasured piece Buta Kakuni, our server brought out our other appetizer. Make sure you take the time to read the cover of the menu. They post up their seasonal specials and this was one of the ones available during our visit. I now present to you, Seared Hokkaido Scallops w/ Wild Mushrooms on an Artichoke Tapenade ($10.95). (Now say that ten times fast!) These plump little babies were GOOOD! The restaurant definately did not skimp out on the quality of the scallops. They were sashimi grade – sweet, fresh, and tender. I really enjoyed the twist on surf and turf. The earthiness of the wild mushrooms contrasted nicely with the slight hint of sea from the scallops. The mushrooms were cooked in a sweet mirin/soy base and that went well with the tapenande. The tapenade had a very unique texture – being that it was made from artichokes… It was slightly tangy, reminscent of yuzu, and really pulled the entire dish together. Now if only I could have this for breakfast…and lunch… and dinner…

Patience, dear readers, we’re not even onto our main course yet! This is yet ANOTHER appetizer we ordered: Asari Garlic Butter Clams ($6.95). I’m guessing it is the Japanese version of clams cooked scampi style. The clams are cooked in their own juices, and the broth tasted strongly of clam essence. It was balanced out with just enough sake and sweet butter. Oh the glory my tastebuds were in! The clams were firm and al dente, combined with the wonderful broth they were swimming in, I really wished I had a loaf of crusty ciabatta to dip.

That is my bowl of Shoyu Ramen with Extra Bamboo ($7.95 + $1 for the bamboo). Himawari also offers the Deluxe Ramen which comes with 3, yes THREE pieces of the braised (unfried) buta kakuni and extra toppings for a price of $10.95. The ramen was cooked to a perfect bite and the hot steaming soup warmed us right up. The broth carried a lot of depth and hinted at all the bones sacrified in the making of the soup. I honestly would not be surprised if they snuck in a couple spoonfuls of the braising liquid from the buta kakuni. Needless to say, it was a great way to have dinner. (And if you are wondering… we did have dessert after this… at Hong Kong Style dessert place around the corner. And no… we’re not trying to set a new guiness record for stomach capacity…)

Himawari
202 2nd Avenue

San Mateo, CA, 94401

650.375.1005

Mon-Thu 11:30 a.m.-11:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat 11:30 a.m.-12:00 a.m.
Sun 11:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Peru: A Very Special Dinner

October 17, 2007 mmm-yoso Memorable Meals, Peru, Travel

One of the main reasons we arranged for an extra day in Cusco, was to attend a very special dinner. Just before we left for Peru, we had gotten an invitation to have dinner at the home of the parents of an acquaintance of ours. We felt really honored to be invited, and it was obvious to us that this was an invitation that could not, and would not be turned down, under any circumstances. And so, we found ourselves in a taxi winding its way through cobblestone side streets on the outskirts of Cusco. Until we came to a very narrow street. It was obvious that driving on this little strip of cobblestone was not an easy thing. When we arrived, a car was stalled at the entrance of the street, our taxi driver got out and helped to push the car out of the way. (When we left, another car was stalled at the entrance of the street. The driver had to parked and walk down the street to get us.) We drove up the street, around a tight corner, back around and up the street again, but we could not find the address. The young man stopped at the corner, told us to wait for a minute in pseudo sign language, got out of the car. Were we abandoned here on the outskirts of Cusco? Of course not, our driver had gone to find a pay phone and called the phone number on our little scrap of paper with the address. We were going to be met…..unfortunately, the driver put his taxi in reverse, and the car was stuck!! Luckily, he managed to correct the problem. At this point, we thought this poor dedicated cabbie had gone through enough….for s/3 ($1 US). We told him we’d walk, gave him s/10 for his troubles. Just then we were met, and walked over to a doorway……Through that doorway and down a flight of stairs, lay a courtyard, a lovely gazebo, wonderful foliage, with several buildings making up the compound. We were guided to a seating room, and made at home by Victor(our friend’s kind, gentle Step-Dad), and soon enough met Tatiana(his friendly, warm cousin), and eventually Rosa(his Mom….who made dinner, and BTW is 86!). We enjoyed sitting and chatting, Tatiana spoke excellent English which made everything much easier for us. Our conversation drifted from Cusco, to food, to a few quips the Missus had….most of which had me, and the word "gordo" as the subject…..

Soon dinner was served:

Yes, it was Cuy(Guinea Pig), amazingly good Cuy! It seems that many people believe that Cuy is some kind of ubiquitous rite-of-passage, I dare you, "Andrew Zimmern-nized", badge of courage. Before we left for Peru, and Cusco, we did a bit of research, and found that Cuy is traditionally served on special occasions and played a large part in Andean religious practices. We were truly honored to be guests for this wonderful meal.

Even though Cuy has quite a history, and a serious role in Andean culture, history, and cuisine, there is still much good humor in "Cuy conversations" . We notice that many people do what we call "the Cuy". Never seen it? Well, "the Cuy" is done by putting your arms to your sides, and bringing your hands up, sort of similar to the Kung Fu Crane Form. At the same time create an overbite using your central incisors, and make a "pffff" sound. Even our waiter at Astrid y Gaston did "the Cuy"! Notice below……

Like I said, this was an amazingly good dish. The Cuy had been roasted in a traditional wood fired oven. A basting with olive oil, salt, huacatay, and other seasonings, had been key in creating a wonderful dish. The skin was like the best lacquered pork "skin/chicharron". Cuy is all dark meat, moist, and full of flavor. The texture of the meat is almost like duck, but much milder in flavor, with just a very mild gaminess. Does it taste like chicken? Well, perhaps really moist, free range, all dark meat chicken, maybe….. My favorite parts were the legs…crunchy, salty, great for gnawing, bones and all, and the meat along the back of the spine, and near the ribs…tender with a flavor akin to dark meat pork, with a touch of sweetness. Tatiana told us that Cuy is high in protein, low in fat and cholesterol. I was sucking bones clean at the end…….

Along with fire roasted potatoes, some really flavorful aji salsa, and the company, this was an unforgettable meal. Discussions ran the gamut, from Coca, to Japan, to San Diego, and beyond…. Some other things we learned:

– The reason the Cuy we had before tasted fishy, was that they were fed a diet of meal that included fish meal and other ingredients to make them grow large quickly. The traditional food for Cuy is Alfalfa. Now we know what all the alfalfa those women were carrying was for!

– As a whole, the locals don’t eat Alpaca(other than anticuchos), it is tourist food. It is also very expensive.

– It is customary to have a beverage, either beer or wine, after eating Cuy. We were told this was to "kill the Cuy" for good.

After dinner we had a short tour of the grounds, and though it was quite dark, we managed to meet…

The Cuy, which are housed in the same area as the oven to keep them warm. When the door opened, they scattered everywhere…..they are really fast little critters.

They are kinda cute….the Missus said that She "was glad that I saw them after dinner….."

I should’ve taken notes…..the Missus had a free tour of the garden, and all the different herbs were described. Here’s a really bad picture of the Gallina(Hens), Victor told me they were really good egg layers….

By this time it was getting late, and our cab to the hotel arrived. We said our goodbyes. The ride back was fairly quiet, the Missus and I were still taking in, and thinking about, what a very special meal we had. What can I say…….to be guests of a warm and generous family who opened up their home to us, to have shared conversation, laughter, and food, it is a wonderful thing that I can’t describe in words. It was one of the moments that made this trip so memorable.

Pinoy Fiesta

October 16, 2007 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

**** Pinoy Fiesta has closed

Pinoy Fiesta is a tiny "Turo-Turo"(point-point, aka steam table) joint, that sits rather quietly in the strip mall on the corner of 8th Street and E Avenue.

It does seem like much more attention is lavished on Villa Manila, which shares the strip mall, and Zarlitos right across the street. In fact, I never even knew it was there, until it was recommended by a friend last year. She had told me that the food at Pinoy Fiesta was good, and a bit "less oily" than many other Turo-Turo places in the vicinity. So a few months back, I was in the area……..

The exterior of Pinoy Fiesta may lean toward the low keyed side….but the interior is quite, ummm….sunny(?) and bright. For those who always complain to me about the somewhat worn and gritty interiors of some of our ethnic eateries, this one is quite clean.

On this visit, I noticed that though the restaurant doesn't appear very busy, there is a steady stream of customers, and quite a few catering orders being filled. Usually, when people recommend a Turo-Turo joint, I ask what the "signature" dishes are at the place. But in this case, I'm not sure if I didn't ask, or if I asked and couldn't remember. Could this be the beginning of many "senior moments" perhaps? Lucky for me, ordering on this visit was very easy. I went with the 2 items + rice($5.25):

As I entered a tray of Lechon Kawali was brought out, you knew it was coming by the chopping noises emanating from the kitchen…man did it look good! This lechon delivered as promised, it was still warm when I ate it, the fat was silken, but not greasy, the skin was light and crisp. This version of lechon was much "lighter" and not as chewy as many I've had. I thought it to be quite good. I was not a fan of the Lechon sauce, it was gummy and pretty weak in flavor…but this needed no sauce.

I'm usually not a big fan of Filipino Menudo, but in this case it looked so good, I ordered it.

The thick stew had a nice mild tomato flavor. I find the addition of raisins in menudo is sometimes too heavy handed for me making the dish much too fruity and sweet, distracting my tastebuds, and I'm not a fan of it. But here, the raisins added only a nice faint sweetness, complementing the rest if the dish, and I enjoyed it. No tripe in this version, but lots of pork. The plate comes with 3 scoops of rice, and I ate it all, in 2 installments.

On this past weekend, I had another opportunity to grab some food at Pinoy Fiesta. One of the great things about these restaurants is that you can enter, grab some food to go, and depending on how busy it is, you can make it back to your car in a blink….sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes, like I did. This weekend we've been checking out the San Diego Asian Film Festival like we do every year. On this day, the Missus was tied up, so I was left on my own. I decided to make the extra trip and grab a plate at Pinoy Fiesta(there are just so many hot dogs a person can consume). Again I went with a 2 item combination:

Unfortunately, the family in front of me grabbed all of the lechon…each of the 4 plates were piled high with the moist, crisp, pork. So I went with the Chicken BBQ:

This was not bad, the skewered chicken was dark meat(yay…flavor!), and quite tender. The sauce tasted a bit on the sweeter side like bottled teriyaki, and overall this was fine…not great, not good, but okay.

And though, I wasn't able to get any Lechon, I noticed that on this visit there was a pan full of Sisig, one of my weaknesses.

As good as the lechon was, the Sisig was disappointing. Gummy and greasy are the two words that come to mind. Flavor wise, I enjoy my Sisig to be a bit more assertive. I prefer a bit more sour and spicy notes. I did enjoy the nice onion flavor, but had a hard time getting over the grease.

Though not as popular as Tita's Kitchenette, the service at Pinoy Fiesta was much, much, nicer. The young man behind the counter is very pleasant. Service is pretty fast and the prices and portion sizes are good.

Pinoy Fiesta
550 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
Phone: (619) 434-6255

Open 530am(!!!) – 730pm Daily

Oink Oink…. not pork… but Succulant Oysters @ Hog Island Oyster Farm!

October 15, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Seafood, What Vicky Eats

Hello Mmm-yoso! It’s Vicky again, blogging about the amazing eats available up here in the beautiful SF Bay Area. (Yes…. the tourism department should seriously be paying me money… but sadly, they don’t. Hmph. Maybe I should forward this blog to them… J/K!)

Months before I moved up here, I went on this oyster binge. I couldn’t get enough of these sweet little morsels of seafood goodness. I scoured Yelp for oyster bars and came across a famous one for SF locals called Hog Island located in the converted infamous Ferry Building. Being known for being so picky about the freshness of my food, this place actually really appealed to me in the sense that they grow their own oysters on their own farm! Wow… it seriously couldn’t get any fresher than that and the prices seemed reasonable considering there was no middleman taking a fat profit cut.

After reading up on their website, I found out that the farm was located approximately an hour north of SF, near Point Reyes, in beautiful Tomales Bay. Apparently the water made for perfect oyster growing conditions. Armed with this information and a lot of hint dropping, my fellow partner in gluttony (henceforth shall be referred to as "Gluttony Partner.") and I made a day trip up the coastline in search of these goodies. Actually, correction… a day trip of GLUTTONY which included oysters. Unfortunately we picked a weekend that everyone and their fourteenth cousins 7 times removed decided to go visit SF; not to mention Caltrans decided to pick that weekend to shut down the Bay Bridge for retrofitting. Hence, we were stuck in the parking lot known as "everyone trying to get onto the Golden Gate." Thankfully the weather was gorgeous and we passed the time with me napping and Gluttony Partner staring at the license plate ahead of him.

Long story short, we finally made it to the Hog Island Oyster Farm, just as they were about to close. The drive up there was absolutely beautiful. We took Highway 1, and drove high above on the cliffs along the coastline where we saw the breaking waves far below. As we got closer to Tomales Bay, we were graced with bucolic scenary next to a secluded bay. Absolutely gorgeous!! As we drove up, we walked in and looked over the baskets and trays full of oysters. They specialize in Sweetwater, Atlantic, Kumamoto, and French Hog varieties. Gluttony Partner and I are very very partial to the Kumamotos, so we ended up with a dozen of the Kumamotos, a dozen Sweetwaters (small), and half a dozen Sweetwaters (medium), and half a dozen Atlantic oysters. Needless to say, the guy picking out the oysters was very generous and we ended up with around 45 oysters for the price of 3 dozen. After popping them on a tray full of ice and giving us a really fast lesson on shucking, we settled down on one of their picnic tables overlooking the bay. We started shucking away and realized that the Kumamoto’s were the sweetest. The Sweetwaters (small) were very good. Unfortunately, we did not have the acquired taste for the Atlantics, and upon walking back, I found that they had brought out more Kumamotos. They were nice enough to swap out the Atlantics for Sweetwaters, and in doing so, gave us the remaining Kumamotos since they were about to close. Wow…. 55+ oysters for around 35 dollars!!

We had a blast shucking and getting our monthly allotment of calcium intake from the first couple of oysters. It was a beautiful day out and the scenary was absolutely amazing. Word to the wise, we got lucky that day considering it was a weekend and reservations for the picnic tables are required. Because we walked in an hour before they were about to close, we nabbed an empty one. They also charge 8 dollars a person (w/ prior reservation) and 10 dollars for walk-ins, for the usage of their picnic areas. (Which includes lemons, sauces, and shucking tools.) It worked out for us, since I had called, and the were booked a month and a half in advance. We had brought our own sauces and condiments…. and EToH…. Needless to say, the oysters were absolutely amazing since they were just pulled from the tanks. Bring lots of towels, and it really helped that we had stopped by a grocery store early that morning and picked up two gallons of water. (It helped with rinsing off the little fragments of shell).

Amongst the different variety available, we found that the Atlantics were extremely briney from the salt water. They were probably better if grilled. Being the barbarians we are, we prefer our oysters raw, hence the swapping out of the Atlantics. The Sweetwaters lived up to their names. Tender, juicy, perfect with a little bit of garlic and lemon. Our favorites were the Kumamotos; extremely delicate, and the flesh was extremely sweet. They are probably by far, my favorite oysters to eat.

So if any dear readers ever find themselves up here, ignore the wannabe fishmongers on Fisherman’s Wharf, don’t bother standing in the long lines where the tourists congregate. Take a relaxing drive up to Point Reyes and get your oysters fresh from the source. After our feast of raw oysters, we drove over to Point Reyes to check out the sunset over the lighthouse. It was definately worth the drive and the scenary was gorgeous.

Beached deserted ship at Point Reyes.

The end to a fantastic day of oyster gluttony! (Actually… we still had dinner plans… which will be detailed in my next upcoming post… Yes… the day of eating was not yet over… in fact I did not even blog about breakfast, lunch, and snack.)

For those who don’t have the time to check out Hog Island Oyster Farm, the Hog Island Oyster Bar is located at the Ferry Building. They have happy hours on Monday AND Thursday (NOT Monday through Thursday) from 4-7 at $1 an oyster, spaces are first come first serve. Yes…. you read that right, for that crumpled up George Washington wedged in your couch, you can get a fresh screaming oyster.

Hog Island Oyster Bar
1 Ferry Building (Located on the back of the building over looking the bay)
San Francisco, CA
94111
415.391.7117
Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun 11:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Hog Island Oyster Company
20215 State Route 1 N
Marshall, CA 94940
415.663.9218
Open Monday through Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

www.hogislandoysters.com

Photo Credits: Sam H. & Vicky L.

Mr. Wasabi- been seeing the sign for years. Finally stopped to eat.

October 14, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Mr. Wasabi has closed.

mmm-yoso is the blog. It never goes on vacation. Cathy is talking today while Kirk does other stuff.

Hey there. I've had a few meals that I haven't talked about because Kirk has been talking about his wonderful Peruvian vacation. I love his prose and photos and ..um…his courage to drink spit and eat deep fried rodent like creatures as well as everything else that has kept those Peruvians going for thousands of years. I kind of play it safe, although have eaten everything that has ever been presented to me…by safe I mean staying out of foreign situations for the most part.

So, anyhow. If you have driven on Mira Mesa Boulevard near Interstate 15, ever, you've seen this sign on the south side of the street. If you click and enlarge it, you will see the unlighted portion at the bottom-$1 sushi and $1 sake. Those prices are for a single piece of the 'regular' sushi- salmon, tuna, shrimp, etc. The sake is from a box but I think you can get it hot or cold…not a bad deal if you are in the area for Happy Hour- 5-6 p.m. Tues-Fri (Mr. Wasabi is closed on Mondays).

So, we decided, after years, that we would have to go here for a meal to see if it was any good.

Oh, it is. There is a reason it has been here for kind of forever.

A simple menu, fresh food, attentive service.

We decided to start with the calamari salad ($6.25)- this easily could have been a meal and if I added a miso soup, definitely filling. Good thing The Mister and I were sharing.

Wonderfully light tempura coated perfectly fried large pieces of fresh squid on top of a lot of salad lettuces and shredded cabbage, served with a side of house dressing, which definitely had onion in it and I thought needed a touch of soy added, but was otherwise so absolutely perfect.

Both of our meals came with miso soup and salad (same dressing) . The miso was very good, rich and not salty and had large pieces of seaweed and small cubes of a good, firm tofu in it. We each ended up putting the extra lettuce from the calamari salad into the salad bowls since there was a bit too much dressing on those individual salads. It worked out.

I saw the Chirashi Sushi on the menu as a main course ($13.25) and had to try it. Assorted sashimi served over vinegared rice… maguro (tuna), sake (salmon), shiro maguro (albacore), hamachi (yellowtail), amebi (sweet shrimp), the fake krab stuff (which tasted good), ikura (salmon roe) and tamago (sweet egg cake) with wasabi, pickled ginger, cucumber and shredded daikon radish on top of the wonderful vinegared rice. So fresh, so delicate and a wonderful portion of sushi. Well worth the price.

The Mister ordered the #13, Teriyaki and Tonkatsu meal ($10.95 plus $1 for the beef rather than chicken teriyaki). Extremely high quality tender beef topped with a wonderful teriyaki sauce that was not salty nor too sweet. The tonkatsu (lightly breaded deep fried pork) was tender and moist and topped with a more strong ponzu sauce, kind of on the edge of being too vinegary, but not quite. These were served on a bed of lettuce (which went well with each sauce) and the rest of the plate filled with edamame (boiled soybeans) and a bowl of rice on the side.

Excellent quality food in quite large portion sizes. They don't charge for tea and it is a better quality loose green tea. Don't drive by, drive in.

Mr. Wasabi 9379 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92126 (858)530-2546 Lunch 11:30-2:30 Tues-Sat, Dinner 5-9:30 Tues-Sun

After a long silence….

October 11, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) American/New American Restaurants, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Seafood, What Vicky Eats

Hi Mmm-Yoso! It is Vicky again. I have finally revived my writing bug. Many apologies for the long silence, but life has been extremely hectic this past half a year. (Yes… I am gainfully employed… in fact, loaded down with three jobs! One of which is with a restaurant critiquing and consulting company!!) I relocated up to the Bay Area and will now be blogging for restaurants up here! (In case any of the dear readers want to come up here and eat.) Again, I would like to thank Kirk for the opportunity to be blogging here. Mahalo! I dearly miss San Diego, and look forward to visiting in the near future to continue eating and exploring down there. In the meantime… here are the records of the gluttony goodness that is available in the beautiful SF Bay Area!! (Apologies for not being able to respond to comments immediately and promptly, I am currently posting from Taiwan and will be traveling around for a bit.)

In mid September, I had the wonderful opportunity of dining at Parcel 104 located in the Santa Clara Marriott. Currently voted the "Best Fine Dining" in Silicon Valley, I’ve been wanting to try this place out for awhile now. I remember when it first opened, the concept was very interesting…. the head chef, Bradley Ogden, created the daily menu around whatever farm fresh ingredients were available within a 104 mile radius. I’m not quite sure if they still do that, but I do know that they try to use the freshest ingredients around, often scouting out farmers markets.

Upon walking in, the decor of the restaurant was a very warm contemporary American feel with rich mahogonies accenting warm beige. The service here was beyond superb and the food was excellent. It was a beautiful sunny typical California day so I brought my lovely mother along so we could have some Mommy/Daughter bonding time amidst our hectic lives. We started out with the bread service and the freshly blended strawberry lemonade.

I have to say… the strawberry lemonde smoothie was probably the most expensive smoothie I’ve had to date, but it was worth every penny. The lemonade was fresh-squeezed and the sweetness of the strawberry puree swirled in balanced out the tang. The bread sadly did not come in an all you can eat bread basket. Being the carb lover I am… I was disappointed that the server came by with the hot basket and served each of us with tongs. That definitely made it harder to hide the bread glutton in me. I have to admit… the ciabatta roll was VERY yummy! The crust was crunchy and the insides were light and fluffy… Behold the wonderful container of butter that came with all this yummy goodness.

Our appetizer came out; I ordered the BLT flatbread. The bacon was crisp and salty. The BEST part of this was that Parcel used Heirloom tomatoes!!! MMmmmmm…. There was a lovely basil aioli spread on the flatbread that gave this dish a reminescent Italian twist.

My entree… Hawaiian Mahi Mahi on a bed of corn relish with wild mushrooms and a citrus dill romoulade. Hah! Try saying that ten times fast!! I don’t think I can pick a favorite component of this dish. The corn was freshly shucked off the cob, straight from the farm. It was AMAZING!! The earthiness of the mushrooms went well with the buttery fish. Mmmm…. Not being a dill fan, I thought the sauce would have been flavor overboard with such a variety of ingredients but I was proven wrong. The creaminess of the dill and the tang of the citrus brought everything together.

Mom’s dish: Caesar Salad (oops… they called it "Romane Hearts tossed in Dressing….) w/ Pan Seared Seabass. Goodness…. it blew us away. The fish was seared with the scored skin side down, to produce this amazing crunchy/crispy texture. The actual flesh was soft, buttery, creamy, and slightly firm at the same time. Words can not describe and give it the credit it deserves.

And how can I possibly leave without having dessert?! There’s a lovely dessert platter with a three layer mocha beautifully presented. We had the creme brulee, molten chocolate cake, crepes with grand marnier accentuated mascarpone cheese, and french toast with carmelized bananas. Oh the gluttony goodness!! I don’t even know where to start…. the crepes were amazing… the creme brulee was amazing, and french toast was amazing. I really like the concept of using french toast as dessert! And now I leave all you salivating readers with the closeups up the desserts….

Crepe….

Molten Chocolate Cake

French Toast w/ Carmelized Bananas.

Creme Brulee…

If any of you are up in the area, I highly HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. It can be a little pricey, all this food ran around $120, so try this restaurant on a business trip and try to expense it out…

Parcel 104 at the Santa Clara Marriott
2700 Mission College Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408.970.6104
Reservations available via Opentable.

REGULAR DAYS AND HOURS:
Breakfast
Monday – Friday:
6:00am – 10:30 am Buffet
6:00am – 11:00am A la Carte
Saturday & Sunday:
7:00am – 11:00am

Lunch
Monday – Friday:
11:30am – 2:00pm

Dinner
Monday – Saturday:
5:30pm – 9:00pm

Peru Day 5: Next on the Agenda – La Chomba

October 10, 2007 mmm-yoso Cusco and the Sacred Valley, Peru, Travel

After leaving the Mercado Central, and an interesting cab ride back to the hotel, we arrived to find our room ready. We freshened up a bit, I went to pick up some bottled water (sin gas), and we took a walk down Avenida del Sol, Cusco's busy main drag. Most of the government buildings, banks, and other businesses are located on this street. Even though there weren't many eateries on del Sol, there were a few fruit vendors:

We also dropped by a "Lavanderia"(laundry service). We had only taken carry on luggage to Peru, and though we needed to bring clothes for 2 dinners, we managed by using a couple of compression bags, and one visit to a good lavanderia. The Lavanderia's charge by the kilo, and if I recall our bill came out to s/12 ($4 US)….to us, a great deal.

We managed a visit to Museo Inka (admission $3 US). Oscar told us that this was the best museum in Cusco when it came to Inca history. Though there is a lack of English signs, we could figure out what most of the displays were about. Of course I enjoyed the ancient and traditional foods display, with items such a Tarwi, and there is a fascinating collection of skulls that display the use of trepanning(the oldest surgery known to man). I'm sorry to say that photos aren't allowed in the museum, but I found some photos here. The Missus also added to Her Alpaca scarf selection, by purchasing a scarf from one of the artisans in the courtyard. We were told that half the proceeds goes to the museum, and half to the artisan, which was good enough for us.

La Chomba:

After the museum we were getting hungry, so we headed off to a Picanteria recommended by the Server at Pachapapa. The name of the place is La Chomba, and is located on a street called Tullumayo. We had asked Oscar about La Chomba, and he told us the food there is good, and was quite impressed that we wanted to eat there. He drove by on the way to the hotel, and showed us where La Chomba was located. We were surprised at how close La Chomba was…..the street we had been staying on, Choquechaca, becomes Tullumayo at Cuesta San Blas, so it was basically 5 blocks away from us!

La Chomba is not much to look at from the street, all you see is a door front.

Walk through the doors, and you enter a dusty courtyard. There are children and dogs running around, laundry is hanging to dry, you realize that there are people living here!

In the back corner of the courtyard is a doorway that says "La Chomba Ajha Whasi", and there was a group of musicians hanging out outside. We walked down the hallway…….and into a pretty busy bar/restaurant!

The place was rocking, and the kitchen was running full blast, we saw plates of fried and roasted meats flying past us! The wonderful frangrances floated in there, they smelled so amazing that I wished I could take a bite. Every few minutes a dog would run into the place and make "rounds"…. Da' Boyz should be so lucky!

A bowl of Aji Salsa was placed on the table, along with a pad and pencil…..

The Missus gave me a look that said, "ok, now what?" But it was just a matter of what the Missus wanted to eat…I just went down the menu, and could pretty much tell Her what everything was. And yes, those prices are in soles. What made things complicated was that the Missus wanted everything that came out of the kitchen…"wow, that looks good, I want that….no…wait, that is what I want, no, no….pardon Senor, como se llama esto?"(To the Guy running the food to the tables) By then I had written down our order……and the band had started playing.

The Frutillada, the strawberry flavored Chicha de Jora served in pitchers filled from a huge plastic trash cans were flowing! The Missus didn't care for the taste of the fruit flavored Chicha, so we stuck with our standard…Inca Cola. And soon our food arrived!

I ordered the Chicharron:

Oscar had recommended the Lechon (Suckling pig), but it wasn't on the menu….I shoulda asked, because later on I saw it coming out of the kitchen! But this was just fine by me…seasoned and deep fried pork, you gotta love it. We had noticed that much of the meat in Peru is quite lean…except for the pork, goat, and lamb! There were four large chunks of pork, coming from different parts of the pig…..the best was the pieces of rib which were, slightly sweet, salty, and very rich! Along with some marinated onions, mint, and Aji, this was pretty good! It came with the standard corn, a favorite of the Missus, and Papas Amarilla…the flavorful yellow potatoes.

But as good as the Chicharron was, it couldn't hold a candle to the Cabrito al Horno(roasted kid), that I ordered for the Missus, a certified Goat/Lamb/Mutton lover:

That photo doesn't do the cabrito justice….oh man, was this good! The meat was tender, and the rib pieces were tender enough to pull off the bone….but not mushy. The meat was seasoned with a simple, but flavorful rub, just enough to let the wonderful wildness of the cabrito come through! I had a taste, and the Missus asked me what I thought….."I loooove Cusco!"

Now this may be pub-grub…but I'll take this over almost anything! So what about the price? All together, including a "grande" Inca Cola, this was s/22….22 soles, a tad over 7 bucks! Funny thing, normally I could finish everything myself……but here we had leftovers, better for El Mayor I guess. So let's review the magic words….they are Cebicheria, Chicheria, Chicharroneria, and Picanteria. That's all you have to know.

I was curious about what a Picanteria was…..and most references said something like, "a Peruvian eatery serving traditional foods." I'll take that anytime!

La Chomba
339 Tullumayo
Cusco

A funny thing happened while we were eating. The two nice women in front of us, were a bit curious about who we were. They asked the Missus a few questions…and the Missus answered. After answering She told them "no habla Español". They cracked up, and one lady said to the other something along the lines of "she's telling me she doesn't speak Spanish, but she's talking to me in Spanish!"

You won't believe this, but it got even better from here, so stay tuned!

Tomorrow we'll be welcoming back a very good FOY(Friend of Yoso), so that I can attend the San Diego Asian Film Festival.

Peru Day 5: First on the Agenda, Mercado Central – Cusco

October 9, 2007 mmm-yoso Cusco and the Sacred Valley, Peru, Travel

On the day following our Machu Picchu tour, Oscar transferred us to the Hotel we'd be staying at for our last night in Cusco, The El Puma Hotel. The El Puma looked very modern, and we were told that the El Puma was a relatively new Hotel(this little tidbit was apparent later on). We had a cup of Mate de Coca(Coca Tea), checked our luggage, and started on our way. We were glad that we had an extra day in Cusco, now we could explore and "hit" some of the destinations I had on my list. First on the agenda, Mercado Centro, near the San Pedro Train Station. I hailed a cab, and the Missus did the bargaining…..what we found was, even though several people told us that the standard cab fare was s/2, the going "tourist rate" was s/3, which wasn't much of an issue with us. 3 soles is about $1 US.

The Mercado Central is a large sprawling warehouse like building…

As you wander through the bustling aisles, you can get overwhelmed by the varieties of produce, meats, seafood, and even potatoes!

I've heard the "over three thousand varieties of potatoes" in Peru phrase several times, and after a visit to the Mercado Central, I believe it! One of the more interesting potato products is called ChuÃ±o, which are potatoes that are preserved through a natural freeze drying process. ChuÃ±o can be softened and rehydrated or ground into a flour for use.

The Missus really enjoyed the variety of fruits.

In order to respect people's space, I only took close-ups under one circumstance….if we purchased something from a vendor, I asked permission, and was given the go ahead every time. Well there was one exception, which I'll go into later.

The Missus was especially taken by the Granadilla, a variety of passion fruit.

In what has to go down as one of the oddest cases of bargaining, after some discussion, the Missus's final offer was 3 for 2 soles, at which time the vendor said, she wanted 2 for 1 soles? Sold! I think the vendor got a bit confused.

The Missus adored the Granadilla…

The interior is full of edible seeds, with sweet, gooey flesh. The Missus bought several more before we left.

Here's the "bread aisle":

Full of fresh baked pan.

The more I looked around me, the more I felt like I'd been "beamed down" into the most amazing supermarket in world…….

About that time, the Missus woke me from my euphoric state with a "oh my god…" What got Her attention this time?

Yep, quail eggs…but just in case you didn't know what it was, there were two of the little critters in a cage on the bottom of the cart. Of course, I don't think they laid those eggs hard-boiled, which is what was being sold. The Missus bought 5(s/1), and proceeded to munch on them. She even offered one of the ladies selling produce a couple…and the lady took Her up on the offer! This got me a few nice produce photos. And yes, the "el papel higiÃ©nico" is there for your hands and face. I had always wondered why those toilet paper boxes said "facial quality tissue"…now I knew!

And no market worth its salt would not have an outstanding "meat department"!

There was every possible part and cut of meat, tongue, ears, stomach, heart (anticuchos!!!), you name it.

The most beautiful of them all was this cordero(lamb). Man did it look good! In fact when we were leaving, there was only 1 leg left. Everything else, head, gonads, were gone…..

About this time, hunger pangs set in, so we started looking around for something to eat…which isn't very hard in Mercado Central. Large sections are divided up by type of food or drink served. One section is for the fruit juice vendors:

One section just did breads and sandwiches (pan francais with blood sausage looked mighty fine). Another did cebiches, and a large section specialized in Saltados (stir fries). Check out the price of a Saltado and Soup at this stand:

Yep, 2 soles! The pans of papas fritas, onions, and the like was really hard to turn down. And of course the "cleaning crew" looked like they ate well too! The dogs in the market were obviously well fed:

I wanted something a bit more comforting. So we headed to the Sopas (soups), as I turned the corner I was caught in the net cast by the Sopa de Pollo…chicken soup, and there was no escape. And even though there were at least 20 vendors, each of them showing their "wares"…the mark of a Sopa de Pollo stand, the pan of simmered pollo and aromatics:

There was only one stand, the one in the corner, that was doing "blue light special in the Sopa de Pollo department" business. The crowd was seated three deep.

As we tentatively walked around the stand, the woman behind the stand put up 3 fingers…."3 soles a bowl"($1 US). In a display typical of what we encountered in Cusco, three people in the front row stood up, moved, and waved us to the front bench. And so we had a terrific bowl of Chicken soup, in a large sprawling marketplace, in a land far away, in a city 11,000 feet above sea level…

In the soup's warm embrace, touched by the kindness and generosity of these folks, many of whom don't have much in the way of material things, all I could mumble was "life is good". To which the Missus said, "you're dripping soup all over the place" and proceeded to hand me some facial/toilet tissue to wipe my face. To which She added, "hey, did you notice that they didn't take any chances with you, and gave you the pieces of white meat?" So I looked down at the German Shephard mix sitting right under the bench, sopping up my mess, and whispered; "life is good, ain't it?"

Postscript:

Later on the trip, we were relaxing in our room in Lima, and on one of the channels they were having a No Reservations marathon. And one of the shows was the Peru episode, which we hadn't seen before. It was eerie watching Bourdain walking through the Mercado Central…where we had just been a day or two before! It was even more eerie when they showed the episode with Food Blogger Extraordinaire Eat, Drink, & Be Merry, which turned to laughter because it was dubbed. I later told EDBM about the dubbed episode in a comment, to which he replied:

"Please tell me that the voice was deep, not a pip-squeak or tranny."

Don't worry…..though it was sorta your Sancho Panza to Bourdain's Don Quixote…..