mmm-yoso – Page 528 – 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.

What Cathy Eats at home.

April 8, 2007 Cathy What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy apparently has nothing to do but take photos of food and post them for your perusal.

Hi. I take photos of everything I eat. Here is a box of citrus I got from a Dear Friend this year. All grown in her yard. Oranges, tangelos, blood oranges, lemons, mandarin oranges. Thanks, Mrs. B.!

Then, I cook at home. In college I had a roommate from Jakarta and, of course, we did not eat cow. But I learned to crave, and still do, chicken livers sauteed in butter and broccoli, with sesame seeds.

One weekend a few weeks ago, we had hamburger, but only hot dog buns, so I improvised.

Ah, then there are simple things- sandwiches. Sometimes, I just *have* to have Braunschweiger on white bread with mustard and raw onions.

Or, some rare roasted beef with slices of homegrown tomatoes on fresh rye (from Panera) with a mix of horseradish and Kewpie .

Always, with a good sandwich, I have to have a good cup of coffee, whether its made with a French Press or just a couple of espresso shots with milk foam.

OK, the photo was taken at Starbucks, but I make fancy art on the top of my coffee foam at home.

Well, I try to make each meal somewhat special, anyhow…

Then, the other day, The Mister made a pork loin roast, rolled with garlic and prunes. Homecooking_001 ..or plums, as they are now called, or sometimes he uses

dried cherries, raisins or whatever dried fruit we have at home at the time.

BUT, at this time of year, my most favorite snack is,

Oh, yes, Peeps!

Of course, you must properly eat the little fine sugar coated marshmallow treats. First, of course by delicately separating and individualizing each Peep, who was conjoined with his/her siblings in the package, and then the next step is, of course, eating the eyes.

Heh heh heh..

Next, you impale a single, eyeless Peep onto a bamboo skewer.

Hold over an open flame, roast the Peep and then it is prepared, ready for eating.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Remember, Peeps are on sale now!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Lemons, Tomatoes, and Green Olives

April 7, 2007 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

I was looking over a cookbook that I purchased a few months back from a bookstore bargain bin. The title of the book is How to Cook Meat by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. The Missus happened to peek over my shoulder and noticed this braised lamb recipe…and it was off to North Park Produce, for lamb shanks, olives, and all the other supplies for this dish. I’ve made a few adjustments to account for our taste preferences, and also to cut down on the amount of skimming, and other tasks that are done several times in the recipe, it didn’t seem necessary. I think it came out pretty well, and went well with our current overcast and cool weather.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Lemons, Tomatoes, and Green Olives

5-6 Lamb Shanks
2 Tb Olive Oil
2 Onions Sliced
2-6 Cloves Garlic, minced(depends on how much you love garlic – guess how many cloves I used?)
1/2 Cup Diced Celery(About 2-3 stalks)
2 Cups White Wine
2 Cups Chicken Stock, or even better Lamb Stock
6 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 Tb Fresh Thyme Leaves
2 Bay Leaves
2 Whole Cloves
3 Lemons(or 2 large) peeled and segmented
2-4 Tomatoes, cored and seeded, cut into a large dice
1/2 Lb Green Olives, rinsed, pitted, and sliced in half
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chopped Fresh Parsley

1 – Preheat Oven to 325

2 – Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper and brown over medium-high heat in Olive Oil in a Dutch Oven, or similar pot. I had to do this in batches.When the lamb shanks are browned well, transfer to a plate.

3 – Pour off excess fat in the pot(leave about 2 Tb), and add sliced onions, celery, and garlic.Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Deglaze pot with white wine and stock(if you have lamb stock, more power to you!) scraping up all the nice brown bits. Bring liquid up to a simmer and add lamb shanks back into the pot along with the sprigs of fresh thyme, bay leaves, and cloves.

4 – When the liquid is simmering, cover and place the pot into the oven. Cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, checking the lamb for doneness with a fork.

5 – When the lamb shanks are done, transfer them to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Strain the cooking liquid, and pour it back into the pot. Bring the liquid back to a simmer, skim off the fat from the braising liquid and slightly reduce the liquid. Add green olives and tomatoes into the liquid and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon segments, and cook for 5 more minutes. Add shanks back into liquid and simmer over low heat for a few more minutes.

6 – Remove the pot from heat,add in Thyme leaves, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

7 – Serve over Couscous.

The dish turned out well, and fulfills my "cookbook obligation"….to limit the purchase of cookbooks, I have promised to make at least one dish from each cookbook I purchase. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll be able to make from Yoshihiro Murata’s, Kaiseki……

A kind of funny thing happened at North Park Produce….not really paying attention, I asked the guy behind the meat counter for 6 lamb shanks….I guess he heard 6 pounds of lamb shanks. When I brought the bag home and opened it 9 lamb shanks rolled out. So I browned three of the lamb shanks without seasoning, and the Missus made braised lamb shanks and rice for Da Boyz…..in my next life, I want to be one of Da Boyz! Though the food coma can be really hard on you!

Fast Friday Post

April 6, 2007 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

About 2 weeks ago, the one and only Cathy asked me in an email if I was going to do "anything"? Anything…about what? Well Cathy, then the Missus pointed out that mmm-yoso would soon have 500,000 hits per Sitemeter. Now I’m not really good at this stuff. Case in point, I’d tried to plan something for post #500…but the opportunity came and went(we’re now on something like #535), and I really don’t know what the Sitemeter count really means anyway!

To get to the point, Cathy, Vicky, and I would just like to thank everyone for taking the time out to visit, and even on occasion, comment. I still remember once being told that the most precious gifts are time and attention, once given, it cannot be taken back, so I am most grateful.

So here’s a big "Kanpai" to everyone! I’ll make sure to have an "extra one" for you…after all it’s the last bottle I have for now……

I still don’t quite understand…..but thank you for dropping by!

And in case you think I haven’t been eating enough……here’re a few teasers:

Have a nice Easter weekend!

Anthony’s Fish Grotto-La Mesa; Dinner with my Brother

April 4, 2007 Cathy Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy has something to talk about today, Kirk doesn’t.

Hi. Not long ago, my brother had to fly out to Pomona on a business trip for his Company, which located near Detroit (yes, the work he does is related to the Automotive Industry). He left Detroit when it was 0° out (yes, ZERO degrees…if you don’t know the real definition of "bitter cold", you are very lucky). He decided to fly into San Diego and rent a car to drive to Pomona. I picked him up at the airport, we went to the In-N-Out on Sports Arena Boulevard and then he got his rental car and went to work in Pomona. A few days later, he drove back down and stayed one extra day before flying out, which he, understandably, did not want to do. Our Mom knew he would be out here and gave him some money so we could go out to dinner….Let’s just say that Mom gave him enough money so that my first remark was "well. we can all get a beverage and not have to get water to drink with our meal"…and so, off to Anthony’s Fish Grotto in La Mesa we went. Anthony’s has been around since 1946 and is family owned, locally operated and has the freshest tasting fish, cooked in such a way that you taste the fish and not all the sauces or batters. All of those compliment the seafood flavor.

The Mister and My Brother each got a beer and I got iced tea (I was driving you know) and then…*two* appetizers: The infamous fried calamari ($8.50)…light, delicate, crispy, flavorful, served with a fresh, tomato based marinara sauce, still warm from being fresh cooked.

We also got the Smoked spread and seafood platter ($9.50) which easily, *easily* could have been a full meal (for me at least). Smoked salmon, halibut and tuna, fresh seafood spreads, home made tartar sauce, fresh baked and sliced white bread…the smoked fish was excellent.

For his main course, The Mister could not decide and got Mama’s Platter – a little bit of everything ($18.50) hand battered fish, calamari, shrimp, oysters, scallops, clam strips and lobsterettes. he chose sides of Mama’s famous cole slaw and a baked potato.

The fried fish here is so darn wonderful..a light batter, so crispy and with just enough flavor to compliment the seafood. You can taste the sweetness of the shrimp and scallops and the freshness of the fish.

My Brother, apparently on some sort of health kick, chose the char grilled halibut with an orange basil sauce (it was one of the seasonal catches of the day) for $15.60 and got baked potato and salad (with the house dressing) as his sides. This tasted wonderful. Again, you could taste the fish, it was not overpowered by the sauce.

Since, I know Mom is going to read this, I also was trying to eat a tad more healthily and got the Crab and Shrimp Louie Salad ($14.50).

The crab meat and the shrimp were so fresh, sweet and flavorful- so much better than anywhere, really. The Louie dressing is also made fresh in house and is excellent, just a touch of twangy heat. It all goes so well together.

A very nice, fancy, tasty dinner for us. Thanks, Mom!

Anthony’s Fish Grotto North of I-8 at Severin (next to the Holiday Inn Express) (619)463-0368

Road Trip: Miyabi Tei – Costa Mesa(OC)

April 3, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

On the way back to San Diego on a recent shopping trip in Orange County, we decided to drop by Mitsuwa Marketplace for a late lunch. Winding away through the cramped and snaking parking lot with very small stalls, we thought that we’d be okay since it was nearly 2 pm, and figured that most people would be shopping and not eating. Boy were we wrong, the food court was a madhouse, and every seat was taken, with people in the aisles waiting to pounce on any open table!

The picture above was taken as we were leaving……

We had thought about doing an "about face" and marching directly back to the car, and fight our way out of the parking lot, but we gave in to hunger. Especially after checking out what everyone else was eating…..and all of the plastic food.

We first thought of Santouka, but the lines were outrageous. So we settled on the place that had the best looking plastic food in the house; Miyabi Tei, which had a line of it’s own.

I know there’s something witty to say about the girl with the snow cone red hair and plastic food….but I’m really not able to think of anything right now.

While I waited for our food, the Missus started circling looking for an open table. She was still circling when I picked up our food. I felt very uncomfortable circling around and standing between tables, our tray of food in hand. Hovering over a couple having lunch provokes a strong feeling of guilt. I couldn’t help but feel like a vulture….circling for my prey. And a very unlucky vulture at that. I noticed three basic ways that people reacted when they see someone waiting for a table they are occupying. The first, "the wolfers" always makes me really feel guilty, they start wolfing their food down like there’s no tomorrow, and I feel really bad about disrupting their lunch. Another set, the "zen masters" are able to block everything out, and act if you are not there…such concentration! The third set, which I have a name for, but am not able to write about without a massive use of profanity, will purposely s-l-o-w down, and look up at you, and move as if eating underwater, and perhaps start a conversation among themselves about Einstein’s theory of relativity….

After all of that, we finally found some room at one of the large communal counters. By this time we were ravenous. The Missus had ordered the Zaru Soba and Una Don(Eel Rice Bowl) combination($6.75):

She managed to suck this down in an instant. Between bites, she gave me Her critique. Good Unagi(fresh water eel), no muddy flavor, the sauce was good, not overly salty, and rice….you can’t go wrong with rice. The Zaru Soba was not so good, the noodles overcooked and the sauce tasted watered down. In Her mind this was worth $6.75!

The sample of the special of the day, the Chicken Katsu Curry($5.75) totally sucked me in.

This was a very generous amount of food for the price. I liked the curry, it wasn’t overly sweet, and had a very nice flavor, if a bit on the "thin" side. Great on rice! The chicken katsu had not been cooked properly, the breading was on the oily side, and the (dark meat) chicken really tough.

Don’t ask me about that boiled egg, it belonged to the Missus. I’ll definitely be back for the Curry!

We managed to finish everything in less than 15 minutes. In fact, it took us longer to find seats than to eat! I still wonder what the people sharing the counter with us thought; the two of us eating like Longshoremen, describing the taste of the food between bites…..we must’ve appeared quite odd.

The prices at Miyabi Tei are very reasonable, and we thought we got our money’s worth. Though I think we’ll try to eat at either a very early, or very late time in the future. On our way back to the freeway we passed a McDonalds, and the Missus said, "you know, a lunch at McDonalds equivalent in size to what we had would cost about the same…"(leave it to the mathematician) Which would you rather have?

Miyabi Tei(in the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court)
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Engrish Lesson for the Day….

"What kind of name is that for a place is that?"

"Huh?"

"Roach-chi Bo-Bo’s"

I almost drove off the road!!!!

Pinnacle Peak-Meat!

April 2, 2007 Cathy Steakhouse, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Kirk apparently did not eat today and Cathy did.

Hi again. I’m out in East County. Hungry. No frills. Craving for some steak. The Mister wants ribs. Sure, we have a grill. Sure, we can cook. Heck, Pinnacle Peak is right down the road. That big ole’ cow on the roof. The dark wood siding…the huge parking lot in front.

The simple menu, printed on the

take home Bone Bag.

Although I fully appreciate the Trail Boss (22.99), a 30 ounce Porterhouse, mainly because I cannot decide between the flavor of the New York Strip combined with the tenderness of the Filet which are both present on either side of the bone of the Porterhouse…30 ounces is a *lot* of meat, no matter what the size of the bone ,so I usually say ‘Why play games?’ and get the Cowboy($18.99), a 22 ounce T-Bone (as opposed to the sissy-ish Cowgirl($14.99), a 15 ounce T-Bone. But, there is something new on the menu- the Kansas City(16.99), a 16 ounce bone-in New York Steak…labeled as New York Steak, not T-Bone…must try.

The sides that come with everything are a salad, Buttons (baked beans) and Bows (sliced of white bread and butter). Baked potato , corn on the cob, sauteed mushrooms or onions are an additional $1.99 each. Nope, not today.

NOTHING IS FANCY HERE. The plates are plastic, as are the tablecloths…the utensils, except for the steak knives, are not very high quality. If you come in wearing a necktie, it *will* be ceremoniously cut off, to the ringing of a cowbell, and then stapled to the wall or ceiling, as part of the decor.

I had my steak cooked medium rare on the open grill- it was perfect. They put a nice dry rub/seasoning on it and its just right (did not need the A-1 sauce). It is mesquite wood that is used.

The Mister ordered the full Rack-O-Ribs ($17.99). It is brought out on two plates.

…and so we ate our food.

and that ‘bone in’ part of the description of my steak was true…but, not really anything to write home about.

The Mister had far more bones left over than I did!

Website here Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse 7927 Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (619) 448-8882

Mon-Thurs 5-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 5-10 p.m., Sun 4-9 p.m.

VGood, Sort of a Ch-Ch-Chain, Pretty good, too!

April 1, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

The Santee location of VGood has closed.

mmm-yoso is not on vacation, but Cathy is blogging now, while Kirk rests for a few days.

Hi. It's been a while. People who know what my line of work is know what has been going on with that as well as some other crises in life. The rest of you may not have even noticed I hadn't blogged. It isn't like I haven't been eating, though.

So, you all know I am the Token White Girl who lives in East County. Santee, to be exact. We are not out of the loop out here, let me tell you. The Green Trolley Line does end here, though..or maybe, it *starts* here.

There it is, right next to one of three Starbucks we have out here (OK, two are stand alone stores and there is one inside the Vons…). Across from the Starbucks is VGood, Japanese Grill and Sushi.

Kind of innocuous, but an interesting menu, and a few Law Enforcement types seem to frequent this place. (The Sheriff Substation is less than a 1/2 mile away, as is Los Colinas, the Women's Detention facility made famous on a Episode of The Real World-San Diego) (sorry, digressing…).

Anyhow, last Sunday and this Sunday, The Mister and I were once again hungry, but not wanting to cook at home, nor drive very far for food. So this is where we decided to eat.

A kind of small menu, mostly with rolls, which most people were buying, but the idea of cream cheese with rice is not appealing to me, and the menu spells crab with a 'k' instead of a 'c', so I just wasn't in the mood to waste some calories on that food. There is no sushi bar, but sushi and rolls on the menu… you just walk up and order, pay, get your own beverage and utensils and wait for your number to be called.

The interior is clean, painted a happy Home Depot Orange, along with one yellow accent wall (learned that terminology on HGTV..whoo hoo) and has 5 low tables and 6 bar height tables, plus you can walk out into the courtyard where there are tables, and the water display and eat outdoors if you want to.

Editor's note: I have been informed that the color is officially "CalTrans orange" and *not* "Home Depot orange". Sorry for any confusion.

So, we ordered. We tried the two item VGood Value Combo Plate with teriyaki beef and katsu chicken ($6.99- usually $5.99, but $1 more for the beef) which comes with a choice of miso soup or salad of the day.

The salad this Sunday (and last Sunday for that matter) was made with iceberg, jicama, chopped cucumber, chopped red pepper, parsley, mango and a nice, spicy dressing. The heat of the dressing hit when we got to the bottom. It was quite refreshing. The katsu was nice and light-crispy, came with a sweet dipping sauce that tasted different than the teriyaki sauce on the very tender, medium rare cooked beef. A good portion of rice was served with the plate. There were two layers of both the beef and the chicken. Last week we got the fried fish and teriyaki chicken and the fish was exceptionally nicely fried. However, thinking the same thing would happen this week, I ordered the fried squid.($3.99)

You can see by looking at it that it was overcooked. However, the breading was still light and though slightly crispier than I think it should have been, had some nice spices in it. It was OK but all of the other fried items I have had here have been lighter fried.

I wanted to try some soup today and the Fried Dumpling Udon Noodle Soup ($4.99) sounded good. I had wanted to try the fried dumplings anyhow and they served them on the side with the soup-perfect!

The soup broth was oily, rich tasting in one way and too salty in another way. The noodles were good and chewy. There could have been some more vegetables, but the cabbage and carrots were good. I did not finish the broth, and usually I do. The dumplings had a nice, thin skin and were fried correctly. Enough filling, but not over-filled. Very good.

However, my most favorite stumbled-upon food here is the innocuously listed on the back page under "Side Orders":'Lettuce Wrap(4 pieces) $3.99 '

That is four large pieces of iceberg lettuce rolled up in plastic wrap, a good 1/3 pound (probably more) of cooked filling and a lot of nice, light crunchy rice noodles. It is served with a spicy Teriyaki sauce on the side.

The filling is a combination of chopped chicken, sausage, leeks and mushrooms, topped with some green onions.

Both times we ordered this, the meat lasted more than the lettuce did. Here is a service I made for myself with 1/4 piece of lettuce. The flavors are excellent.

I call this 'sort of a a chain' because there are two locations. It is locally owned and They don't even have a website.

VGood Japanese Grill and Sushi

9862D Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (Across from the Starbucks at the Trolley Stop) (619) 258-8288

16625 Dove Canyon Road Suite 108 San Diego 92127 (858)385-1628

Both Locations Open 7 days 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Quick Saturday Dinner: Furikake Crusted Ahi Salad with Ponzu Dressing

March 31, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Today it almost felt like summer, and we needed something pretty quick to eat, and I had a nice piece of good, but not quite sashimi grade(at least for me) Ahi. So I decided to make a really easy dish that I haven’t made for a while….it’s really easy, takes me less than 20 minutes!

Much of what I use is already prepared…the ponzu sauce, furikake, and the wasabi oil I made ahead of time for something else. I enjoyed making this, it’s been a while, I have a little story that I’ll mention at the end of the post. I also use a garlic press(I call it my ginger press, since I never use it for garlic) to juice small pieces of ginger…you don’t need much. It is kind of Asian-Fusion-ny…..it has also spoiled the Missus, She understands how really simple some of these Pacific Rim Asian Fusion Dishes really are.

Furikake Crusted Ahi

1 Block of Ahi(1/2-3/4 lb)
1/3 Cup of Furikake( Japanese condiment for topping rice)
3-4 Tb Sesame Seeds

2 Tb Soy Sauce
1/2 Tsp Prepared Wasabi
Ginger Juice

Mix last three items in a bowl and place Ahi in marinade, turn Ahi to coat. In a clean dry plate pour out Furikake and Sesame Seeds and mix. Place the block of Ahi and coat with mixture, I only coat three sides, we’ve found that coating all four sides of the fish makes it a bit too salty. Sear over high heat, do not overcook! Slice carefully and serve with mixed greens with Ponzu Dressing

Ponzu Dressing
1/2 Cup Ponzu(I used the bottled Kikkoman Ponzu)
1/4 Cup Sugar
3-4 Tb Soy Sauce
Ginger Juice
Canola Oil as desired

Mix first 3 ingredients until sugar is dissolved, add ginger juice(I use a garlic press to create ginger juice). Add desired amount of oil and mix in a jar. Dress greens well, and add some acidic and a few other items(in this case, I had some Jicama, and cucumbers are great as well). Really simple.

Wasabi Oil
1/4 Cup Wasabi Powder
1 Tb Mirin
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Water

In a bowl combine the first 3 ingredients. Add water slowly(you may need less) until a pancake batter consistency is reached. Slowly whisk in oil, and whisk till smooth. Let stand at least 30 minutes. This great with Maguro or Tai Carpaccio, and other seafood, or even as an addition to salad dressings.

When I first met my future Father and Mother-In-Law, they wouldn’t eat rare fish or sashimi, in fact they wouldn’t eat fish that didn’t have a "head" attached, a bit suspicious that anything without a "head" meant it was less than fresh. I felt really bad, because one of the benefits of living in Hawaii is access to really great fresh fish. So one evening, I made this…and they enjoyed it!

So next time you have some xxx crusted Ahi or whatever…….it seems like doing the dishes takes longer than making this!

Ch-Ch-Chain: Sansai Japanese Grill

March 28, 2007 mmm-yoso Chains, Japanese Restaurants

*** This location of SanSai has closed

As much as I enjoy the San Diego Asian Film Festival, I lament the lack of what I consider decent eating choices nearby (except for Trophy's right, Ron!!! LOL!)…most of Mission Valley is pretty much littered with various chain, or chain like restaurants. Because of location, right next to the Hazard Center, it's either non-stop hot dogs, Jack in the Box, Quizno's, or SanSai Japanese Grill.

SanSai is a pseudo-Japanese "concept" Fast Casual chain, and this location is always crowded. Most menu items are in the $5 to $8 range and consists of various bowls, salads, and (gasp) sushi rolls.

So let's get to food shall we?

This is called the Spicy Chicken Bowl($5.99):

The term "spicy" is used very loosely here, it wasn't quite spicy, and the chicken was pretty much food court quality and dry. The green salad with an Asian dressing was fine. Coming from a place where you get two scoops of rice, a good quantity of meat, and macaroni salad for the same price, this seemed a bit on the chintzy side. But I guess it's much more "healthy", right? 407 Calories, 12.5 grams fat, 747mg sodium.

On another occasion I ordered the Tempura and Teriyaki Chicken Plate($7.99), which comes with your choice of two salads:

The teriyaki chicken confirmed my thoughts on the chicken at SanSai…it's not for me. Weak sauces and dry chicken(this is dark meat, can you imagine chicken breast – $1 more) is the MO. The tempura, which consisted of two shrimp, and various vegetable tempura, and to be honest it was pretty good, still crisp, and rather light. I've had worse in restaurants before. I chose the Tomato Salad, dressed with a very weak vinegar based dressing and the mixed greens. The plate came with rice.

There is one item from SanSai that I do enjoy once in a while. It's the Sumi Salad($4.99):

It's a far cry from the Sumi Salad that my Mom made, which was a Rice Vinegar based "slaw", and the secret ingredient was dry broken up ramen noodles(and sometimes the dry ramen broth mix as well)! This version is very mild, and short with regards to any vinegar flavor. Still it's not bad, if a bit on the bland side, the portion size is on the large side. What I think is a bit odd, is that the salad comes with an order of rice….. go figure. Rice and Sumi Salad?

When I order the Sumi salad, I do a little embellishment….

Yep, I add a nice amount of Baby Star Crispy Noodle Snack(it just ain't right without those dry noodles), and if I feel like it, a bit more rice vinegar…and it's almost close to Sumi Salad.

I guess if I had a choice between Baja ~~Rash~~ Fresh and SanSai, I'd probably choose SanSai….don't look at the fish they use for sushi, though.

Sansai Japanese Grill, they're all over California.

Mi Ngoc So 1

March 27, 2007 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Update; Mi Ngoc So 1 is gone and has been replaced by Thai by Tara

While stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of Linda Vista Road and Ulric Street a few months back, I noticed that a new business had sprung up in the little strip mall on the corner. The place was called Mi Ngoc So 1, and replaced Linda Vista Food To Go as small Vietnamese take-out joint that made what I thought was so-so Banh Mi, but pretty good spring rolls. I made a mental note, and is the norm for me, just up and forgot about the place for a few months. Finally, with the onset of some pretty chilly weather, one of those poor little brain cells of mine managed to rub up against another…and I remembered Mi Ngoc So 1.

One of the first things you’ll notice when you enter this tiny restaurant is how small it is…which will lead you to wonder how the heck they managed to actually fit 6 tables into this small space.

The menu is typical of these Vietnamese-Chinese Noodle Shops, Egg and Rice Noodle soups, Fried Rice, and Fried Noodles. As is also typical of these type of shops, the prices are very reasonable. There are three middle aged women working at Mi Ngoc So, kind of makes me feel nurtured in a way….

On this day, I decided to try the Beef Sate Egg Noodle Soup($4.75):

I find Vietnamese Sate Noodle soup interesting, no two versions are the same, and some are vastly different. The usual ingredients that I notice in most of the "sates" are chilies and garlic, it is also usually a on the salty side. In fact, once when the Missus had a bad cold, with the terrible side effect of not being to taste much, I took Her to Tan Ky Mi Gia for the Beef Sate soup, which is a bit pungent, spicy, rich, and salty. This version was not quite as salty as I’m used to, and the spice was muted as well, though the garlic flavor came through. The egg noodles were the usual thin crunchy egg noodles, just how I like ’em. The few slices of beef were too thick, and had the metallic flavor of old beef, and was not very good. Still, not a bad bowl of noodle soup, and the hot tea was free, altogether after tax was just a shade over 5 bucks.

Today, was a heck of a windy, blustery, and cold San Diego day, and since I was in the area, I thought I’d drop by again and try out something else from the menu. This time I had the Won Ton and Dumpling Egg Noodle soup ($4.50):

Okay, just so you know, the Won Tons are the round dumplings…and the dumplings are the long "dumplings". As is pretty much the status quo for this type of won ton, the filling was a dense pork meatball, and the dumpling filling was an elongated dense meatball with a piece of shrimp attached. The Won Tons had a decent pork flavor, but the dumplings were kind of flavorless. All told 4 won tons, 4 dumplings, and other than 2 pieces of Char Siu and green onions there wasn’t much else, unlike the super loaded version at Minh Ky. The scalding hot broth was on the lighter side, with a decent but not overly salty flavor, kind of in between Minh Ky and Luong Hai Ky. The egg noodles had not been cooked long enough and were still super hard, I had to leave them in the broth for a few minutes before eating.

Still, with a pot of tea(free) lunch came out to under 5 bucks, and I was out of there in less than 30 minutes and on my way, my belly full of hot soup. On some days, that’s more than enough!

Mi Ngoc So 1
2405 Ulric Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Open – Tues-Sun 8am-8pm