mmm-yoso – Page 544 – 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.

Crispy Tonkatsu

September 20, 2006 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

**** Zion Market has moved and Crispy Tonkatsu is no longer

Crispy Tonkatsu(at least that's what the sign and business card says), shares the Zion Marketplace Food Court with Happy Meal.

While having lunch at Happy Meal, I noticed a group of guys having lunch from Tonkatsu, and I must say it looked pretty good. So I decided to check it out for myself. The menu at Crispy Tonkatsu is rather small, and consists mainly of…what else? Katsu, though Udon, and other items are available. There is also an interesting handwritten sign titled the "Well Being Project" describing how healthy, and fresh the food at Tonkatsu is. This really cracked me up, after all, we're talking about breaded, deep-fried, pork cutlet, right?

On this day I ordered the Chicken Katsu($6.99 – $7.99 dinner):

This rather hefty lunch came with a rather watered down miso soup. Two pieces of crispy fried mandu, which were on the skimpy side, but not bad. And a "salad", that was a basically a cole slaw "mix". The dressing was quite unusual, I'm pretty sure it was a blended asian pear, rice vinegar, and sugar, type dressing. A bit too sweet for my tastes.

In addition to the good sized bowl of rice, was a small portion of Baechu Kimchi(not very good), and some fairly good pickled radish(daikon). A single pitted, canned Lychee was provided as a dessert/palate cleanser.

The Chicken Cutlet was perfectly fried, and moist, the breading was crisp, and on the lighter side. It's just about the same as the katsu, though not quite as flavorful as the version I make at home. The Tonkatsu sauce was another story. I'd say that it was probably the worst tonkatsu sauce that I ever had(next to the lousy sweet-sour stuff at L&L), watery, really low on flavor.

Still, not bad for $6.99.

I'm afraid to say that I wasn't through. On the day I had made up my mind to check out Crispy Tonkatsu, I saw the Gentlemen on the next table sharing some really plump, good looking Gyoza. Good enough to cause me to go into a bout of Gyoza envy. I'm not a big fan of how many lower priced places make Gyoza, because it's usually the same as store bought Gyoza…remove from plastic bag, and thrown in the fryer. But these looked pretty good, so I ordered some ($2.99):

What arrived didn't look quite as plump as I had remembered seeing. I guess it could just be a case of "the Gyoza on the other table always looks better." Still these weren't bad at all, there was a mild ginger flavor in the meat filling, and the soy based dipping sauce wasn't too bad.

I don't know if I'd have these again, but they were not as bad as most.

Here's a photo of the whole thing.

The prices at Crispy Tonkatsu are very reasonable, and I believe you get your money's worth, at least for lunch, when everything is a buck cheaper than dinner. The ordering process is the same as Happy Meal's, you place your order at the counter, pay, have a seat, and your food is brought to your table.

Overall, not bad….but please, don't tell me about the health benefits of Tonkatsu….I already know them!

Crispy Tonkatsu
4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA
In the Zion Marketplace Food Court

Beggar’s Chicken

September 18, 2006 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

This recipe is based on the recipe for Beggar’s Chicken found in Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s hefty cookbook, The Chinese Kitchen. I’m sure many of you own this cookbook. It has quite a few elaborate and somewhat complex dishes in it. What I have found with many of the dishes in this book, is that the seasoning of the dishes are quite mild. Still, it’s fun to play……..

I find more than a bit of irony in the name Beggar’s Chicken, as it is a fairly elaborate dish. And I would really have to stretch my imagination to believe, that if I were a beggar, I would even be considering making this chicken dish……

One more key note. Even though the presentation of the chicken in this dish can be pretty stunning; it’s the stuffing that makes this dish. As wonderfully juicy as the chicken is, without the stuffing, it would be quite bland.

So on the day before making the chicken prepare the stuffing. There is a stuffing recipe in the book, but I prefer something like the Glutinous Rice Stuffing here. The chicken will be amazingly juicy, so all the juices soaked up in the rice is so…delici-yoso!!!

Part 1 – The Lotus Leaf

Trim and soak 2 lotus leaves in hot water for 30-45 minutes(the book says twenty, but that’s not enough time), unfolding and turning every 10 minutes, until leaves are saturated.

Part 2 – The Chicken – here’s what we worked with.

1 – 4lb Chicken
1/4 Cup Salt

Remove excess fat from the chicken and wash under cold water. Dry, then rub salt over the outside of the chicken, rinse again, and dry well.

Part 3 – The Marinade

4 Tb Gin
1 3" Piece Cinnamon broken into 4 pieces
2 Star Anise
2 Tb Sugar
1 Tb Salt
Dash on White Pepper

In a bowl combine marinade ingredients, and rub the exterior and interior of the chicken.

Part 4 – The Dough

5 Cups High Gluten Flour
11/2 – 2 1/2 Cups Hot Water
Canola Oil
Additional Flour as necessary

Place flour on large cutting board or another surface. Make a "well" in the center of the flour. Add the hot water slowly while mixing the flour with one hand. Knead dough for 2-3 minutes, coat hand with oil to prevent sticking, and add flour to keep from sticking to kneading surface. Roll out dough to a size large enough to wrap the chicken. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Part 5 – Stuff that Bird!

And close openings with skewers.

Part 6 – Wrap it up.

You’ll need the Lotus Leaves, Flattened Dough, and 2-3 feet heavy duty Aluminum Foil.

Shake Lotus leaves dry. Wrap the chicken in Lotus Leaves, make sure leaves overlap, and the edges of the leaves are on the bottom. Place the Lotus Leaf wrapped chicken(breast side up) in the middle of the dough and wrap, sealing the top completely.

Place dough wrapped chicken in the middle of foil and seal completely.

Part 7 – Cook that Bird!

At 350 degrees F, for 1 hour, then lower the temp to 325 degrees F for 3 hours. Great time to make some side dishes…maybe some Crab and Corn soup, and Spicy Stove Braised Eggplant.

After the time is up(at last!!) remove chicken from the oven, and fold back the foil.

You can now either cut right down the center of the dough and separate, or cut around the dough and remove the top.

You’ll find the chicken to be very, very tender and moist. In fact, you just stick your spoon right into the middle of the chicken, and scoop out both the chicken and stuffing.

Cali Cafe Sandwiches

September 17, 2006 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Cali Cafe has closed, and is now an outlet of Bale.

With the slightly warm weather we had today, it only made sense for us to grab a few Banh Mi for lunch. And since we were in the Mira Mesa area, we decided to give Cali Cafe a try.

Both Renee and Rob have mentioned this little shop to me in the past. Because Lucky Seafood, Lucky Pho, and Tan Ky Mi Gia are all located in the same strip mall, I really hadn’t paid much attention to this small, but well lit, and clean restaurant.

The Banh Mi here are priced at $2.75, and other Deli type sandwiches at $6.

As is my MO I ordered the Dac Biet:

First off, this is the "long type" of Banh Mi, much like those at K Sandwiches. The baguette is also thin, minimizing the amount of bread, and maximizing crust. this "Special"(Dac Biet), was simply single layers of Ham and Lean Pork Sausage, nothing special. I enjoyed the addition of thin slices of red onion to the standard pickled veggies. In addition to the standard wedge of cucumber were 2-3 slices of Jalapeno. Since these were cross slices, you never really knew where they were in your sandwich. This creates and interesting Jalapeno Roulette of sorts. I really didn’t care for the mayo in the sandwich either, here’s wishing for a smear of pate’. Overall, a decent though not outstanding Banh Mi, very pedestrian flavors.

The Missus ordered a BBQ Chicken Banh Mi:

The Missus enjoyed Her sandwich, and I found that the BBQ chicken was very nicely flavored. The rest of the sandwich was the same. I felt that the BBQ Chicken fared much better than the Dac Biet.

The sandwiches at Cafe Cali aren’t too bad, though a half buck more than those at Lucky Seafood several doors down, the sandwiches here are bigger. I’d say I enjoy the bread and BBQ Chicken here, and the Dac Biet and more exotic flavors at Lucky Seafood.

Some Notes: Seems like many people place take-out orders and come back for them after shopping. I saw several very large orders picked up while waiting for my 2 sandwiches, probably due to the "Buy 5 and get 1 Free" promotion. As with many of these type of places, there is a nice selection of drinks, and other items for purchase.

Cali Cafe Sandwiches
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Open 8am-7pm Sun-Thurs
8am-5pm Fri-Sat

Saturday Silliness – Spam®

September 16, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I had more than a few comments and Emails about Spam® after I posted on Korean Hometown Restaurant, several of them including one comment from Emily, who authors the wonderful What’s For Lunch Food Blog, asked about the Spam® – Hawaii connection. Now I’m not a Food Anthropologist, but I remember a few things about Spam.

Food Anthropologist Rachel Lauden in Her entertaining book The Food of Paradise writes a bit about the history of Spam® in Hawaii, but more about the perception, attitudes, and different Spam preparations. What little I do know is; in the 1930’s Hormel SPiced hAM, became Spam®. The SPiced hAM product itself was first developed as way to market the left over pork shoulder from canned Ham production. So the name Spam®, was basically a marketing tool. The Hawaii history is based around one major event in History, World War II. Because Spam(and other canned meats like Vienna Sausage) requires no refrigeration, it was portable and convenient food for the U.S. Military, who introduced it to Hawaii, and other areas in the world(i.e. Korea). And so Spam® became the equal opportunity food of Hawaii, crossing racial and economic boundaries. After all it’s not bland, it’s not tough, it’s flexible(check out Hawaii’s Spam Cookbook) and it goes great with rice! Spam® consumption in Hawaii is somewhere around 4 million cans a year………

Here are a few entertaining links that delve farther "into" Spam® than I ever could :

History of Spam

Spam Links(no pun intended)

The Amazing and Fabulous Spam Site

Wikpedia – Spam

And one fun book, Spam: A Biography.

Here’s something I made recently that I enjoyed. Guess what it is?

What happened was the Missus cut the rounded ends off a block of Spam®, so I was left with a square block. So I cut a few pieces off, and made Spam® Katsu. But I wasn’t finished, I also fried an egg, and warmed up some Japanese Curry, and made me some Spam® Katsu Curry:

It was quite good. We found that breading the Spam®, cut down on the salty flavor. I’ll make this again, as soon as my arteries recover………

Which just goes to show…..Spam® is supposed to be eaten.

Korean Hometown Restaurant

September 14, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

I really don’t know the Korean name of this restaurant, so will just go by the English sign.

I first noticed this little restaurant over a year ago. We had finished a nice meal at China Max, and were wandering around the strip mall, when I noticed a Woman running two plates of Mandoo over to the Pool Hall located right next door. Even though I was stuffed to the gills, it still looked pretty good. A few days later I received an Email from our eating buddy Calvin; who mentioned that "the food is like what my Mom and Aunts make, and the sometimes surly service is like what you’d get at home." Hmmmm…..sounds good, after all Mom’s make the best food, right? Hmmmm…sounds bad, remember how Mom acted when you didn’t eat your peas???? Or when that "Tuna Surprise" really did surprise???

Recently the Missus and I finally made our way to this restaurant. The interior is full of wooden booths, with Soju posters on the walls, along with a closing time of 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, I could sense pretty hearty grub.

This really is a Family operation. We were first served by an Older Lady, and later on when 2 other Young Women(daughters?) walked in, they immediately started waiting on us as well. A Middle-Aged Gentleman was manning the kitchen. We looked over the menu, and placed our orders.

And soon enough our panchan arrived.

The portion size of the various panchan were pretty good. And the quality ranged from some pretty tasty stuff, to very, very mediocre(iceberg lettuce salad with thousand island dressing??).

The Missus enjoyed the sweet potato and shrimp:

And the steamed egg.

The Seaweed Salad wasn’t bad.

Even though the Baechu(Napa Cabbage) Kimchi wasn’t the best, it was still passable. As was the most of the panchan. We were starving so we basically attacked the panchan. And even though we were in the secluded corner booth, the Older Lady came by just as we were finishing up our panchan, looked at us, and said, "Oh, you hungry, huh?" To which we pointed out the stuff we liked and said "It’s really good". Damned if She didn’t break out into a smile, and a minute later came back with a second round of panchan…and we didn’t even ask! Just like Mom????

The Missus, being absolutely starved had ordered the Combination BiBim Naeng Myun and Bulgogi($13.99). Not knowing what to expect, the usual metal bowl of rice, and a sizzling plate of Bulgogi arrived at the table.

The Missus enjoyed the Bulgogi, though I told Her it was on the sweet side, and with the mushrooms and carrots it was almost like a stir fry. I will say this, it wasn’t bland in the least. With some help She managed to finish the Bulgogi, only to be met with this. The BiBim Naeng Myun(spicy cold noodles).

Geez, do you think this was enough food? I didn’t think this was very good, the Hot sauce tasted earthy and beany, but without any sweetness, or tangy flavor, and suffered from a lack of depth. The noodles were not good either, instead of having a taut elasticity, they were on the mushy side. The ice was shaved frozen broth. Overall, not something I’d have here again.

I realize that we didn’t even get to what I had yet. I ordered the Spam and Kimchi Fried Rice($8.99):

This was a large portion of rice, that had been stir fried with a generous helping of Spam(must’ve been a half can!), some kimchi, and Gochujang. I really enjoyed this, the sour hints from the KimChi kinda freaked the Missus out, so She ate the Egg! Try as I might, I couldn’t finish, so I had the rest the next day.

Korean Hometown Restaurant serves up rustic, though tasty Korean dishes. It is indeed Homestyle. Doesn’t some KimChi Fried Rice sound good with a couple of Hite? Looks like we’ll be back….well, I’ll definitely will be back. Mainly to try out this item on the menu:

It’s the only item that’s priced the same for lunch and dinner. Is that saying something?

Korean Hometown Restaurant
4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Mid-Week Meal – Katsu Don

September 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

You know, I got an email last night over a remark in my post on Yoshino’s about how deceptively hard it is to make good Katsu Don. Basically, the email called my remark silly, and "called me out." Though I usually will ignore Emails, this time I went to the freezer, and started to defrost some Chicken Breasts.

Tonight we had Chicken Katsu Don. I wish I took a better photo:

2 Fried Breaded Pork Cutlets(Tonkatsu) or Chicken Cutlets(Chicken Katsu)
1 Onion Sliced lengthwise into wedges
3 Eggs lightly beaten(don’t over-beat, the eggs will become "stiff")
Cooked Rice
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tb Sake
2 Tb Sugar
3 Tb Mirin
3 Tb Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Instant Dashi

1 – Pour water into a small pot and bring to a boil(note: The Missus enjoys alot of sauce on Her Katsu Don, so I usually double the sauce recipe), and add Sake, Sugar, Mirin, and Soy sauce. Stir to dissolve sugar. When the Donburi sauce returns to a boil, remove from heat and add Instant Dashi(do not boil), and stir to dissolve.

2 – Slice Cutlets crosswise into bite sized pieces

3 – Fill two good sized Donburi(bowls) with hot rice.

4 – Pour 1/2 the sauce into a small-medium sized frying pan(make sure you have a lid), or even better, an oyako-nabe pan(these are pans especially made for making Donburi dishes – I don’t have one). Over medium heat, bring sauce to a simmer. Add 1/2 of the onions, and briefly simmer. Place one of the sliced cutlets into the pan on top of the onions and sauce. Pour 1/2 of the beaten egg in a circular motion around the cutlet. Cover and let simmer for 20-45 seconds.

5 – Uncover the pan and remove from heat. At this point I fold some of the egg, onions, and sauce over the cutlets. And transfer to the Donburi bowl, covering the rice. Make sure you get all of the "good stuff".

Top with benishoga, green onions, nori, furikake, string beans, or whatever…….

Repeat with second cutlet.

The verdict? The Missus thought the sauce was good, as well as the egg. The texture of the chicken was okay, though She wants me to brine the chicken before cooking to create a dense texture. The Katsu was a bit too salty, so I’ll have to cut back on the salt next time.

Simple stuff, really(I could’ve used even more egg)……the cutlet shouldn’t be saturated and mushy, the egg shouldn’t be stiff, and the sauce should have enough of a salty-soy-sweet taste to flavor the rice.

Tomorrow it’s another restaurant!

Yoshino’s

September 12, 2006 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

I have a very special place in my heart for those Mom-and-Pop, American-Japanese restaurants, what many people I know call "Teriyaki-Tempura joints". Growing up in Hawaii, a special occasion would mean a meal of either Chinese (what I call Hawaii-style Chinese), or a trip to either Wisteria Restaurant or Suehiro Restaurant, both now sadly gone.

Yoshino’s on Washington street is one of those simple "old-school" Japanese restaurants.

I used to have quick dinners at Yoshino’s when I first did some consulting work in San Diego in the late ’90’s, and we used to eat here once in a while when we first moved to San Diego. A few years ago, the restaurant changed hands, we paid a visit, and the food didn’t seem to be the same, and we had never returned. Yoshino’s just kind of dropped off the radar so to speak. The storefront is so unassuming, that you don’t give it a second glance. I must drive past Yoshino’s at least 6 times a week, and I still paid the restaurant little or no attention.

Until recently. One of my regular inexpensive Teriyaki-Tempura-Rice Fix lunch stops; Teriyaki Cowboy had closed, and an Email from Claudine, mentioning Yoshino’s jogged my memory. And so I thought, why not?

As you can tell by the interior, this restaurant is no thrills and no frills. Sometimes the best food is found in places like these.

A daily special is offered for lunch Tuesdays thru Fridays. The price is not bad, $6.45. I’d say the best of the specials is the Sesame Chicken(Tempura-style – Wednesday lunch special):

The meal comes with a generic iceberg lettuce salad, rice, and miso soup. The miso soup is really not bad for what is usually included in these types of lunch specials, though a bit light on the miso, and salty. The chicken is satisfying, two slices of white meat chicken, coated with tempura type batter, deep fried, brushed with a mildly sweet teriyaki sauce, and finally sprinkled with sesame seeds. As someone very dear to my heart says; "hey, if it’s fried right, it’s got to be pretty good, right?"

Crunchy, salty, fried, slightly sweet……………say no more!

There are other dishes offered for lunch. Here’s the Katsu Don($6.95):

On the good side, the pork cutlet(Tonkatsu) was very moist. On the bad side, everything was too moist, the Tonkatsu and egg was over saturated with the sauce, leaving not one bit of crunchy goodness. Think of over saturated Chicken Parmigiana…why bother breading? The sauce was decent, maybe a bit on the sweet side, with not enough soy, though many people enjoy it that way. The portion size was good, with enough rice and sauce. Though it seems very easy, a good KatsuDon isn’t that easy to make. This also came with the standard miso soup.

One day, I had to try the Teriyaki Chicken(Tuesday lunch special – $6.45):

Not a good move on my part. First off the chicken wasn’t caramelized at all, and had a gummy texture, and though I enjoyed the teriyaki sauce on the sesame chicken, here it didn’t add enough flavor to the dish. In this case the sauce was really wimpy. I’ll stick with the Sesame Chicken.

Just for the heck of it, here’s the ala carte Tempura($5.95):

Didn’t care for the vegetables, zucchini and carrot???? The batter was too thick and not crunchy enough for me, but it wasn’t bad as a whole, I’ve had much worse priced much higher….

Though I still haven’t been back for Dinner, Yoshino’s provides me with a good "rice fix" for lunch, and the prices are very reasonable. Here’s something I noticed, and found interesting, all the Servers are very nice, and are also Japanese, but I have yet to see any Japanese, or anyone of Japanese ancestry in Yoshino’s(except me). But maybe they’re coming for dinner???

Some notes on Yoshino’s: There is inadequate parking for the businesses served, as with everything else in the area. Yoshino’s is closed on Mondays.

Yoshino’s
1790 W Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Lunch: Tues-Fri
Dinner: Tues-Sun

Thanks for the reminder Claudine!

Chin’s Seafood and Grill – Part 2

September 10, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

***This location of Chin’s has closed

After a very surprising and pretty good meal at Chin’s, we returned several more times. Here’s a compendium of some items we’ve recently eaten that were not included in the first post. These items are from the Chinese Breakfast menu pictured right. During one of our meals we saw 2 Navy Officers enter the restaurant, stopping dead at the entryway, looking at each other totally flummoxed…..not your usual Holiday Inn restaurant, I guess. They were shown a table and given the Lunch/Dinner Menu which has a few items that are on the breakfast menu, but in larger “meal-sized” portions. So several meals later, and we’ve done some damage with regards to the menu.

Five Spice Beef($4.95):

Wonderful sweet-salty-five spiced flavor. The beef is thinly sliced, and neither too soft, nor too tough. Additional sauce is placed over the meat for extra flavor and moisture. One of my favorite items on the menu.

ShaoBing Youtiao($2.95):

Shall we say a double-carb special? The Youtiao was quite good, if not a bit on the over-fried and oily side. Still some of the best we’ve had in San Diego, the Missus was yearning for some Jook(rice porridge) which is not served. Most people were having the Youtiao with Dou Jiang(Soy Milk).

ShaoBing($1.50):

The Shaobing was a bit too dry for the Missus, but a few slices of 5 Spice Beef fixed things up.

Pickled Mustard Greens and Shredded Pork Noodle Soup($6.95):

This soup was quite good, the light broth had some excellent flavor, the slightly bitter greens(made inhouse) added character, and the pork strings were soft and tender with decent pork flavor. we really don’t care for the hard spaghetti-like noodles at Chin’s, but this soup is on my “list”.

Pickled Mustard Greens Steamed Bun($2.95):

A steamed bun with the pickled mustard greens. Here is a view of the filling.

I enjoyed the sweet-bitter flavor of these, the Missus wasn’t quite as impressed.

Fried Bread($2.95):

No big deal, and a bit on the oily side. Too light in the middle, and not as flavorful as the version at Kingswood.

Sorry about the following photos, we don’t always get seats with optimal lighting.

Wined Chicken($4.95):

Not bad, the chicken doesn’t have quite enough of the cured texture I enjoy, though the marinade did have a decent salty-wine flavor. Doesn’t hold a candle to the Beef or Smoked Fish.

Of course we had to try the Niu Rou Mein(Beef Noodle Soup – $6.95):

Again we don’t really care for the noodles. The Beef was nicely flavored and soft. The broth left something to be desired, nice and beefy, but lacking the depth of flavor from various herbs and spices. We enjoy the version at Shanghai City more – better noodles, better broth, and if you have it on weekend mornings 2 bucks cheaper.

Steamed Hua Juan(Flower Roll – $2.95):

Best eaten with some beef, or soup. Very routine.

The classic Ci Fan Tuan($2.95) with Rousong(Pork Sung/Meat Floss):

Now this was an interesting dish. I’m not a fan of Pork Sung(Rousong) anyway. Rousong, and Zhacai(Spicy Pickled Vegetable) was rolled in glutinous rice, and steamed. A very traditional Shanghainese breakfast item. This was on the dry side, with not enough Zhacai to make a difference in flavor. Perhaps someone who enjoys Rousong will enjoy this more than we do.

After some contemplation, I think what I’ll do in a brief post in the future is to go over the menu, and list which item is which. Then, you can do the Captain Jack trick. On a recent visit to Ba Ren, Jack looked over my post, and associated the various dishes with items on the Chinese Placard by location and counting characters. When the Server arrived for His order, he grabbed the placard and pointed to the dish He wanted, totally freaking Her out! So I guess if we list various dishes and associate them with items on the menu, you can grab the Chinese menu, and have some fun…….

Chinese Breakfast served from 11am to 230pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

Chin’s
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126

858-536-2300

Just a reminder

September 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events

Just a quick reminder for those interested. The San Diego Korean Festival runs through Sunday(that’s tomorrow – Sept 10th), from 10am through 9pm. Engineer Road between Convoy St, and Mercury St is blocked off. We dropped by for a short while this afternoon, during that "dead period" between 4 and 5 pm.

There are about 6 food booths, including one from Min Sok Chon. Most of the food looked pretty routine, Mandoo and such. We only had time to try out something from this booth.

I was told that they were affiliated with some temple……..

Anyway, we quickly had a Chive Pancake:

Actually quite good, strong onion flavor, with a sneaky spicy punch.

So if you have time be sure to drop by.

FYI – cause I know you’ve been waiting for this!

Zion Market has this on sale.

Yes, it’s Bondegi, otherwise known as Silkworm Larvae. And only 99 cents a can, for a limited time. I’ll post about a recent run-in I had with a gang(flock? swarm?) of bondegi in the near future.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Happy Meal

September 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

No, it’s not a joke, this Korean Food "booth" in the Food Court at Zion Market is really called Happy Meal…..automatically puts a smile on your face doesn’t it?

Happy Meal came recommended by Denver, based on price and portion size, and Cathy, based on the same value criteria, plus She mentioned they used to give out little "toys" when they first opened up. So one evening a few weeks back, I had done some shopping at Zion Market, and my stomach and I decided to have a "Happy Meal". The prices at Happy Meal are very reasonable, and come with a good selection of panchan.

The best was the seasoned squid on the bottom of the photo above. Here’s more.

Overall, a nice, though pretty routine selection.

All this, along with a bowl of fairly bland seaweed soup, comes with your meal. Which in this case was the Bulgogi Box($6.99/lunch, $7.99/dinner).

I had wanted to order the Spicy Pork, but "no pork today…" A pretty large portion of Bulgogi, rice, a green salad with sesame dressing, and 2 mandoo(Korean Dumplings), along with the panchan made for quite a large amount of food for $7.99. The mandoo tasted like packaged frozen stuff, and the salad was pretty much routine. The Bulgogi was quite mild in flavor, and the thin slices of potato and onions mixed in with the beef, almost reminded me of a stir fry. Not great, but well worth the price.

The usual drill at Happy Meal, is to place your order at the counter, pay, and have a seat. The counter person will first bring you your panchan, soup, and drink; than later drop off your main course. This can be a major factor during a busy lunch hour, as I found out on my next visit. Even though it was quite early for lunch (1115am), every table except one(which after ordering and paying I occupied), with plastic number cards on them. Very few customers actually had food in front of them, and I really felt for the Young Lady working the counter, both taking orders and serving each table twice. I shoulda brought a book, it took me 30 minutes to get my food, which started with the usual panchan and soup:

Do you notice something about the panchan? Check out the portion size…..

The Young Lady explained that they accidentally gave me panchan for two, but that was okay since I had to wait so long.

The Japchae(cellophane noodles) tasted really good, everything else was pretty routine, though the radish("Mu") kimchi tasted a bit too sour and off. Still this was quite a bit of food, and I still hadn’t gotten to my main course. Which was the Dolsot BiBimBap($6.99/lunch, $7.99/dinner).

The sizzling Stone Bowl(Dolsot) was brought to my table along with a squeeze bottle of Gochujang, I let the bowl sit for a minute to develop the wonderful crust, and dug in. The toppings were pretty routine, fernbrake, ginger, bean sprouts, minced meat, all topped with the perfect egg. Sorry, not the best photo I’ve ever taken, so let me mix it up for you….

I really enjoy the various textures of the crusted rice, the veggies, and so forth. The flavor wasn’t anything special and none of this is going to stand the culinary world on it’s ear, but you really get what you pay for(In this case $6.99) at Happy Meal. This ain’t no lousy same chicken with a different sauce food court garbage. So after my Happy Meal, with the happy panchan mistake, I was looking for a cool dark place to lie down. Happy, happy, me………

Some Notes: As I mentioned, service may be on the slow side during peak hours. I didn’t notice any difference, except price between lunch and dinner. The food and portion sizes are an excellent value, especially lunch.

Happy Meal
4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks for the recommendation Denver and Cathy!