mmm-yoso – Page 569 – 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.

Osaka Kitchen – like Night and Day

June 15, 2005 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

*** Osaka Kitchen has closed yet again.

*** Osaka Kitchen has reopened in the same location. A post can be found ~~here.~~

*** Osaka Kitchen has closed and has been replaced by (another) Sushi Deli location……

Ever been to a restaurant who's character is vastly divergent from day (lunch) to night (dinner?). Osaka Kitchen is one of those restaurants. Located in a very nondescript strip mall next to a Mexican Restaurant and around the corner from Denny's on Kearney Villa Rd, all you see is the sign JAPANESE FOOD, with the little yellow sign Osaka Kitchen next to it. Blink and you've driven right past it.

Having heard some nice remarks about the City-Style Japanese Food and Izakaya Type dishes at Osaka Kitchen we decided to give it a try. The first thing you notice about the restaurant is how small the dining area really is. 6 plain tables lined up along the window area and a small eating bar area with 6-7 chairs is all it is; the place looks alot larger from the outside. We arrived at 530pm on the dot and were seated and handed an 8 page menu – one side in Japanese, the other in English. The first two pages listed 51 items from Uni-Pasta(???) to Noodle Soups to Combination Plates ranging from $6.50 – $19.00. On another page is the drink menu with a decent selection of sakes such a Otokoyama and Kikusui, Shochu, Beer, Wine, and soft drinks.

The last page was the most interesting (click to enlarge) this listed the Izakaya type items. We ordered the Japanese Meatloaf with Demiglace ($9.00) and Ten Don ($7.50), both meals came with a salad and miso soup. The salad was just iceberg lettuce with some shredded carrots and cabbage, and worst of all, lying on top of the salad was a dressing that had the distinct taste of the "Miracle Whip" of Japanese food, Kewpie Mayo, not among my favorite things. The miso soup on the other hand was superb and probably among the best I've had served as a "side" with this type of meal. I usually will not consume the miso soup that's served as part of a lunch or dinner, it's usually watered down, or even worse that instant stuff – yuck! In many instances the miso soup will have "stuff" added, most of it to hide the terrible quality. But this miso soup was great, not too thick (believe it or not I once had miso soup so thick it was like a bisque), not watered down, with nice oceany overtones. Very simply served with a few tiny pieces of tofu and kelp, delici-yoso! The Ten-Don arrived first, again, very plain, no garnishes, just 3 pieces of shrimp over rice covered with tempura sauce. The shrimp was totally saturated, but that's the way the Missus likes it! (She even requested extra sauce). Though the batter basically fell of the shrimp, it was perfectly cooked! Soft and tender, not rubbery and overcooked as is often the case. The tempura sauce was too mild and not sweet enough for our tastes.

The "Meatloaf" arrived on a plate along with a bowl of rice, smashed potato salad, and it had garnishes! Two pieces of red & green bell pepper and a piece of steamed broccoli. The salad was flat, lacking any real flavor. The Meatloaf was actually more of a hamburger steak lying in demiglace. The Meatloaf was cooked perfectly and had a nice taste along when mixed with the demi. This was nice and tasty, but not worth $9.00 in my mind. Still, this was interesting and worth another try. The clientele were mostly Japanese speaking and the restaurant was starting to fill up as we left.

Today I went for lunch, and thought I'd entered a different restaurant! First of all the menu was about 1 sheet of paper with 30 or so items, most of them teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, and "bowls". The clientele was totally different, most of the customers looked like they worked nearby! Looks like this little restaurant has found it's niche for lunch as well as dinner with quick bowls and teriyaki combination plates for lunch. I ordered the Chicken Katsu Curry ($6.25) and a side order of the miso soup ($.85). The Curry came with the green salad (mayo-time!) which I didn't really touch and a drink, and I chose the really good tea that they make here! The curry was simply (get the common thread) served over Chicken Katsu, with a good amount of rice! At least twice the amount of rice I had with the Meatloaf for dinner, enough to make an Ex-Pat Kama'aina happy! The Katsu was cooked and seasoned perfectly, with a nice texture, the curry was alot darker than I'm used to, even for Japanese Curry, and a little too sweet for my tastes, though I liked the "heat", there were only a few pieces of meat in the curry and nothing else – again simplicity! Happily the miso soup was every bit as good as the one I had for dinner!

I'll probably be back again, especially if I find someone brave enough to try Miso Tongue with me! Osaka Kitchen serves well prepared and cooked food, served without embellishment. Though the portions (for dinner at least) are rather small for the prices charged, and some of the flavors were not to my taste, I think this place is worth a try.

Osaka Kitchen
5447 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 467-0722

yoso-greedy: Camerons Stovetop Smoker

June 14, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Stuff

I had a parcel meeting me at the door this evening, turned out to be a delivery from Amazon; my Camerons Stovetop Smoker that I ordered 2 weeks ago:

This is the handy dandy kitchen gadget that is often seen on Emeril and other shows – it was on sale for $34.99 at Amazon, with free shipping I thought why not. Not much in the box, just the smoker, a drip tray, and a wire rack, oh wait; it’s the New and Improved Non-stick wire rack!…..got to make sure I got this right! Also, included were four little containers labeled, Alder, Cherry, Mesquite, etc…. So I open the Alder, and there lay a little pile of sawdust, smelled like sawdust, felt like sawdust, I didn’t taste it, but I’m sure it was going to taste like sawdust. Where was the magic? This is going to give us the "succulent flavors of wood smoking"? There’s no way that this is going to work! By this time my OCD kicked in and I just HAD to make something, anything. So we jumped in the car and sped off to Costco to buy some salmon (no sense in using anything too expensive).

Back home, salmon in hand, I trimmed off both end cuts and seasoned the middle piece with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I placed a little pile of "Alder" (at least that’s what the container said) sawdust in the middle of the smoker base (sort of like I was going to try and start a fire with two sticks – my confidence was waning). Covered the drip pan with aluminum foil and placed that over the "wood chips" (in the most loose definition of the word chips!), and set the wire rack on top of the drip pan, covered and was ready to roll! I turned on the burner, set the smoker on top, than opened up the instruction book! Hey, I’m a guy, what can I say…… I noticed a bit of smoke leaking out so wrapped some foil around it, and caught a whiff, and damn if it didn’t smell like real "smoking smoke"! Well now that I had the little "Cooking Guide" opened, I realized my first mistake; I should have left the cover of the smoker two-thirds of the way open until wisps of smoke appear, than cover the smoker. Uh-oh, I missed the "wisps" step, would this ruin the salmon?….No Salmon Salad! No Salmon Gravy!, Salmon Hash! No Salmon Ala King! Ooops sorry too much Christmas Story….

After about 25 minutes later I checked on the salmon, and it looked a sort of "gloppy", so I replaced the cover and left for about 7 minutes more. At this point the salmon was starting to flake(sort of like me…..how appropriate), so I decided this was enough and removed it from the heat. At this point the salmon still had sort of a poached look:

So I tasted a piece, damn if it didn’t taste pretty darn good! So it’s smoked salmon and bagels tomorrow! Visions of smoked corn, smoked clams, smoked duck, and smoked tri-tip danced in my head!

So I guess this piece of equipment is pretty "idiot proof", it seems that if you (unlike me, but it still turned out) follow instructions this is pretty fool proof. Easy and fast. The only things that I need to do next time is to season a little more generously and follow the instructions for starting the cooking process.

So what did I do with the rest of the salmon? I just did a "quick and dirty" togarashi rub and seared and fried under high heat:

A-Chau Vietnamese

June 13, 2005 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

A-Chau a little Vietnamese “deli” located on the corner of El Cajon Blvd and Menlo Ave, has a very unique distinction.

A-Chau sells the only Banh Mi that can fill me up! And even though I know this I keep on buying spring rolls, egg rolls, or something else to complete the meal.

I guess I’m unable to deal with the reality that an “oinker” like me can fill up with a sandwich that costs $2.50! I’ve had many a Banh Mi in my time, but this unassuming sandwich can, for some reason make me feel stuffed. Trying to deal with emasculation via a char-broiled pork sandwich is not an easy thing. I usually end up giving the spring rolls or egg rolls away….to this day I haven’t tasted the spring rolls. I’ve tried to understand how this happens. What I have noticed is that the bread that A-Chau uses is not as crusty as the usual roll, being a bit softer and doughy, so those who believe that it’s the baguette that makes the Banh Mi may not enjoy this sandwich. In addition the pork is a bit richer than in most Banh Mi’s I’ve had, so I definitely couldn’t eat this every day. There is a very liberal amount of hot green chili’s in these sandwiches, those who are sensitive to this should probably ask to not have them. As far as the Banh Mi is concerned it’s pretty good, not the best I’ve had, mainly because the veggies are a bit tasteless and the bread somewhat doughy, but the pork makes up for that.

There are quite a few dishes available, hot table and vermicelli dishes, as well as pre-packaged snacks. 3-4 tables adorn the interior of the restaurant, though it’s very apparent that most of the business is a very brisk take-out. The parking lot can be an adventure due to the fact that there are just a few spaces that two restaurants and a Vietnamese Market share. The clientele is varied and the menu English friendly, and the service is efficient and fast. Most sandwiches range from $2.25 – $2.75. As for me I still haven’t made it past the Char-Broiled Pork sandwich (Thit Nuong) , though I’ll keep trying!

A-Chau
4644 El Cajon Blvd Ste 111
San Diego, CA 92115

Five Favorite Cookbooks Meme

June 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking

Tag I’m it! Reid from Ono Kine Grindz has "tagged" me for this meme, he originally got tagged by Stephanie fromda*xiang and so on….. Being really new at this I must say I’m truly humbled…..

So here goes:

1. Total number of (cook) books I’ve owned:

At last count +/- 50 or so.

2. Last cookbook(s) I bought:

I’m waiting for my latest Amazon delivery, so those don’t count. So it’s Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. A really super book.

3. Last food book(s) I read:

Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop, I’ve really developed an appreciation for Sichuan food, and this book is really a treasure trove of information.

Chinese Food Finder by Carl Chu, not just a listing of restaurants, but Carl also gives a listing of dishes representative of the specific type of cuisine.

4. Five (plus 2) cookbooks that mean a lot to me:

This is really tough, so I decided to list my favorite cookbooks that I use on a regular basis.

Chinese Cook Book Volume I by Fu Pei Mei. Known as the Julia Child of Chinese Cooking, Fu Pei Mei was a respected and almost deified Taiwanese cooking instructor who had her own cooking show in Taiwan. Her Chinese Cook Book Vol I is probably the most accessible. Fu Pei Mei passed away from cancer on Sept 16th, 2004, and had a great long career for someone who only learned to cook after she got married. Easy basic Chinese recipes!

50th Anniversary Best of our favorite Recipes 1946 – 1996 by The Maui Association for Family and Community Education. OK, no laughs, but since I can’t up and call Mom when I have a question, I just reference this. This is a compilation from various community cookbooks over a 50 year period. I’ve never, ever been able to copy a recipe "ver batim" and have it come out right – probably explains why I can’t bake! So I look for references and guidance in my cookbooks.

The Legacy of the Japanese in Hawaii: Cuisine by The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Good source for "local style" Japanese recipes. For example, if you want to make Nishime, or other Japanese – Hawaiian type dishes it’s really hard to find a good recipe source.

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Alright, time to come clean, I don’t actually own this cookbook, but have borrowed it from the local Public Library at least 8 times (not including renewals). Great comprehensive source of basic recipes, and now my guilt has resulted in my purchasing this from Amazon, so will actually have my own copy in a week or so.

The Way to Cook by Julia Child. I’ve been without my Joy of Cooking for over a decade so this fills the spot – my "Bible" of cooking.

Plus 2:

The Choy of Cooking by Sam Choy. Very easy down to Earth Pacific Rim. Made me understand what a great place Hawaii is with regards to food.

The Food of Paradise by Rachel Lauden. More of a well researched study in Food Anthropology than cookbook. Well researched and very informative, if you wonder why we eat what we eat in Hawaii, this really explains alot.

5. Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?

I’m really too new at this for me to fill this out, but I’ll try to give you a few:

Sarah at The Delicious Life

Jo (yes, Jo) at Truly Thankful

Elmo at Monster Munching

Pat at Eating LA

Whew, this has been more work than I thought it would be. But finally, my really most important "cookbook" is one where I’ve never tried any recipes:

After my Mom passed on in 1996 I found this "cookbook" with hand written recipes. There were many loose sheets, some of which were recipes written before I was born. Some were full of info from my Mother’s life before "me", we never talked much about these "things" in our household, but I found this so interesting:

Mom worked as a Housekeeper on Kauai and had written and collected some of the families favorite recipes. Who knows, the meatloaf looks really good I might try that soon!

Hillcrest Farmer’s Market

June 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Sandwiches

Well the June gloom is in bloom – very pun-ny! But I was up early this Sunday morning so I thought I’d head up to the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market. I got there right at nine and got a primo parking spot, close to the sign:

Most of the food booths were still setting up so I wandered around. And checked out the crafts and other booths. Talked to the guy in the Baba’s Hummus factory booth, I’d noticed that they’ve closed their store on Convoy, but he assured me that business is fine and they’ve decided to close the restaurant side of the business, but the Hummus factory is still going strong. Also sampled some salsa and other items.

I had my marching orders, so I made sure to get a half dozen Noah Bedoah cookies from CJ’s. I’m assuming that they must really be good, I really don’t get a chance to eat them – they are off-limits in our household. We once had to hunt down CJ’s shop in Point Loma during the middle of a Noah Bedoah attack. According to the gang at CJ’s the name of the cookie comes from a recipe in an old cookbook.

Seems like Rainier Cherries are the hot item today, people are buying them by the bagful. Alot of people also lining up at the crepe stand. At the Wright’s Poultry stand there’s a sign saying Copper River Salmon $17/lb hmmmmm…sounds kinda scarey to me. I usually try to get most of my chicken from Wright’s – free range and hormone free.

Around that time I got the scent of grilling meat, and I knew that the Kabob Guy was ready and in action:

The Kabob stand has got to be the best smelling in the whole Farmer’s Market! So I ordered and paid for my Beef Kabob sandwich ($5.00), walked on over to my car, sat on the bumper and carefully maneuvered my way through the sandwich – ground beef with a nice touch of herbs and spices, some hot sauce and Tzatziki, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pepperocini on a grilled pita, no need for lunch after eating this. It doesn’t get much better than this! The only problem is that you need about 10 napkins!

Seems like the weather was keeping alot of people away. This made for a relaxing morning at the Farmer’s Market. Though fairly small compared to say, my favorite, the Torrance Farmer’s Market, there’s a good variety of produce, flowers, food, and other goods. Also a very good place for people watching.

San Diego Hillcrest CFM
In the DMV Parking Lot at Lincoln and Normal
Most Sundays, 9A-1P Rain or Shine

Time for a nap!

St. Spyridon’s Greek Festival

June 11, 2005 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Greek Food

*** Posts on the 2006 festival can be found here, 2007 here.

This Festival is on our "must do" list every year. Though we missed last year, we’d gone to the previous three and always enjoyed the pastries, the food, the pastries, the friendly people, the pastries, and most of all, the pastries!

This year there was a bit of "June Gloom", but that didn’t hinder us at all. This festival has got to be one of the most organized! Everything from parking to traffic control, to adequate eating space is accounted for. This year there’s even an informational pamphlet listing the different foods and program schedule. Admission is just $2 – though we had a flyer for a dollar off admission, but decided not to use it! We think that this festival is worth every penny we spend here!

As you enter the front of the Church, the pastries immediately draw you in:

That’s Thiples staring at you – it’s just the beginning of this wonderful gauntlet. The tempting looking Kataifi at the right is a must buy. We ended up getting 3 Baklava, 2 Kataifi, 2 Saragli, 1 Kourambiethes, and 2 Galaktoboureko, and still got out spending less than twenty bucks(actually $16.50)! All pastries are priced from $1.50 to $2.50. The Saragli, which is like a rolled Baklava is the unanimous favorite.

There’s a large dining room serving items ala carte, such as Grilled Lamb Chops, Moussaka, Manestra, and Pastitsio, among others. But our favorite are the outdoor booths, for this reason:

It’s fun, the sun, the smells, the leg of lamb!!!! You can watch these guys working hard to keep up, as well as check out the leg of lamb roasting.

The booth next to the grill is selling Spanakopita, Tyropita, Dolmathes, but most importantly the leg of lamb plate:

The lamb was very well seasoned and very tender, and went well with the bread, feta cheese and Kalamata olives. Basically you break off a bit of bread spread some feta on it, place the olive (pit it first) and a slice of lamb on it – Delici-yoso! Repeat as necessary, until unable to move. The Leg of Lamb plate goes for $6.00. What would a Greek festival be with out Gyros? The Gyros booth sells a Gyros sandwich served on warm pita with Tzatziki, onions, and tomatoes:

Though the Gyros was pretty good, it really could not stand up to the leg of lamb. Too little Gyro meat really held this back. Directly across from the Gyros booth is the Saganaki booth. The Saganaki is a Greek Cheese that is served on pita bread – in this case during the cooking process some liquor is added and lit!

The Saganaki had a great "gooey" texture and was fun to eat. Though a bit on the salty side, this was really tasty ($5.00). After checking out the deli and other booths we decided to go home and hibernate.

But not before getting the leg of lamb plate to go along with some Dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves).

This is St. Spyridon’s 36th annual Greek Festival and it seems to get better every year.

Caffeine Fix – San Diego Trolley Stop Coffee

June 10, 2005 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix

In need of some cash I headed to the nearest local ATM – only to find that the entire bank had moved! As I walked back to my car I noticed this across the street:

My curiosity piqued, I drove across the street, and lo’ and behold it was a real, running, operating trolley-coffee shop on wheels – called San Diego Trolley Stop Coffee! Naturally, I had to stop and have a cup. Today, the trolley was less busy, so I was able to ask John (the owner) a few questions which he happily answered; yes, he did buy the trolley and converted it to a Coffee Cart on Wheels, it took him about 9 months (6 months full-time) to complete the conversion. Yes, it does run, and yes, that is a coffee "degree" from The Seattle Barista Academy!!! So John actually went to school to learn how to make coffee.

Located in the same mall as Save-On on Sandrock Rd in Serra Mesa, John makes a good cup a’ Joe. You may want to drop by and ogle the Trolley. And based on his Certification, John probably makes a mean latte as well!

Rei Do Gado

June 8, 2005 mmm-yoso Brazilian Restaurants, Buffets, Latin American Cuisine

For those carnivores out there…..Rei Do Gado is a virtual meat fest. Located in the Gaslamp, this churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) serves up a buffet "rodizio" style – think of it as a reverse buffet. That is the server(s) comes up to your table with a particular meat offering on a skewer and asks you if you'd like that particular item, after which he'll slice or remove it from the skewer onto your plate.

When you arrive at your table you first go and grab a plate and start with the first course, a very well appointed salad bar and fill up – but not too much, you don't want to miss the upcoming meat-fest! The salad bar has such items as hearts of palm, stuffed sun dried tomatoes, a kim chee salad (delici-yoso), marinated mushrooms, among many others. There are two types of soup (sorry too busy with the salad), and a buffet of various hot foods and starches including fried yucca, white rice, and mashed potatoes.

On each table is a double sided wooden knob, when you're ready for the meat to start coming you turn the green side up. Servers carrying skewers of meat and little oval cutting boards will then start coming to your table with their offerings; sometimes a cheese coated chicken leg or a bacon wrapped piece of filet mignon, sometimes with a larger cut such as a Tri-tip seasoned with only salt. Turn the knob over to the red side – "No Mas"…….

From my seat I could watch all the meat being prepared through a glass window. The cook was constantly moving skewers around or shifting around the charcoal under the meats.

Among the hits; everyone loved the sun dried tomatoes, and I enjoyed the hearts of palm and the kim chee salad. The cheese covered chicken legs, bacon wrapped turkey and filet, and the tri-tip were tasty. The "baby-back"(looked like spareribs) ribs were very flavorful, but hardly had any meat, the pork loin was ok with just a hint of cumin, the home made garlic sausage was a dismal failure, there was heat, but no other taste, and the sausage was dry to the point of crumbling. The food today was much better than on my last two trips here, so things are looking up. Today we were seated in the "new" area of the restaurant, seems that Rei Do Gado is doing so well that they've taken over restaurant space next door! So two salad bars, two "cooking booths", and more space, so business must be doing well.

So how does Rei Do Gado stand up against other Churrascaria's I've been too? The flavoring and variety of cuts are below that of Roda Viva in City of Industry and Greenfields in West Covina. It is however, a great place to visit if you've never experienced a Churrascaria, or for taking visitors. I usually take visiting friends from Hawaii there. Or if you need a serious Atkin's diet boost, this sure is the place to get it!

Rei do Gado – Rei Do Gado
939 Fourth Ave.
San Diego, CA 92101
619) 702-8464

HOURS AND PRICES
LUNCH SPECIAL (11:00 am-2:00pm) Monday to Friday $13.75 per person
Except on Holidays
LUNCH RODIZIO (11:00 am-4:00 pm) Monday to Friday $ 22.75 per person
Saturday, Sunday, Holiday $23.75 per person
DINNER RODIZIO (after 4:00pm) Sunday to Thursday $34.95 per person
Friday, Saturday, & Holiday $39.95 per person
SALAD BAR ONLY (11:00 am-4:00 pm) Monday to Friday $12.95 per person
( After 4:00 pm) Monday to Thursday $18.95 per person
Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Holiday $28.95 per person
(NO Salad Bar Buffet on Saturday & Sunday Lunch Time)

Ba Ren

June 6, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

*** Ba Ren has closed

*** Updated and additional posts on Ba Ren – Post#201, an update 06/06/2006, the Huo Guo post, the seasonal menu on 01/02/2008, and other silliness. Sheesh, do you think we eat here enough????

"Forgive me Kitchen God for I have sinned; it's been 3 weeks since I've been to Ba Ren….."

When we first moved to San Diego, we used to make periodic pilgrimages to Chung King in Monterey Park for Szechwan. We lamented the lack of a good Szechwan restaurant in San Diego. We tried a few, but they were utter disappointments, so we would end up behind a steering wheel driving to LA for our Fuqi Feipian fix.

Than in 2003, we turned down Diane Ave, and saw this sign:

It seemed interesting and several days later we visited Ba Ren and haven't stopped since. Some weeks it seemed like we'd be there 2-3 times during the week mostly for take-out. In a few months we had pretty much worked our way down the menu as well as the all important placard:

The last two dishes on this placard, are probably some of the best Ba Ren has to offer; the second to the last dish is Dry Fried Beef Slivers(Gan Bian Niu Rou Si? -12.99) and the last is the Twice Cooked Fish(9.99) that everyone on Chowhound.com raves about. We also got to know Wendy, one of the owners very well, and she would guide us toward new and interesting items. In August, I went ahead and with Wendy and Bill's(one of the other Partners) help set up a Chowhound get together for a 17 course Szechwan "feast" that turned out really well. San Diego Chowhounds at Ba Ren.

We had been busy over the last three weeks or so, and hadn't had time to visit Ba Ren. So having an open evening we dropped by. Being a Monday at 5pm it was really quiet. I also noticed that the infamous Chinese placard now had a second side and even more dishes. So in the end we decided to order two new dishes and two of our favorites – Rice Crust with Sliced Chicken (9.99) and Hot Pepper Prawns (12.99).

Squares of crisp rice is brought out, than the toppings, in this case sliced chicken, cloud ears, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, sauce, and other veggies is poured on the rice crust creating a sizzling sound. We enjoy the chicken version of this dish the best because the sauce has a nice condensed chicken taste. I think Ed from Yuma describes what makes this dish so good when he says "as the sauce and the rice crisps interact, the rice becomes softer, so the dish's textures change as it's eaten". Yes, every bite of this dish is different!

The next dish was from the placard. Fish with soft jelly noodles(9.99). This was fantastic, not quite a soup, not quite a casserole; perfectly marinated and prepared fish with Konnyaku-like Noodles, red peppers, ginger, lily buds, and pickled vegetables. The taste was hot and sour, imagine the most prefect Hot and Sour soup, peppery, with good sour overtones! Delici-yoso!

The Hot Pepper Prawns were next. This is the prawn version of the Chung King Style Chili with Chicken. Battered and fried prawns covered with fried dried red chili's, you'd think that this would literally blow your head off, but the subtle sweet and salty taste made this highly addictive.

The last dish was Dry-Cooked Lamb (12.99), that is lamb slices cooked without broth or water. This dish was a good example of layers of heat, the chili pepper hit the front of your tongue, the chili oil the middle, and the black pepper the back. This dish can be a bit overwhelming, but the herbaceous taste keeps you eating more! This dish also features Chinese celery, shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced garlic, and what was my favorite part of the dish – the mung bean sprouts. The meal was finished off with a bowl of Eight Treasure Black Rice Porridge to cleanse and clear your palate and stomach.

On the placard the Fish dish is the sixth one down. The Lamb is the second. If you want the dish with chicken it's the first one, if it's beef you want prepared in this manner it's the third; frog is the fourth. All in all another successful visit to our favorite restaurant!

Some notes on Ba Ren – Mandarin is the main language spoken, but don't let that dissuade you. I don't speak any Mandarin and am able to do fine! The staff is very helpful and friendly! The chef from Ba Ren originally was a Chef at a Four Star hotel in Chongqing and was one of the original Chefs at Chung King in Monterey Park (wow, the original chef from our favorite LA restaurant, what a coincidence!!!) and has over 30 years of cooking experience with this type of cuisine.

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

BTSD Japan Cultural Bazaar

June 5, 2005 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events

I was searching on the Internet, to see if there were any Obon Festivals here in San Diego. To my surprise, The Buddhist Temple of San Diego has an Obon Festival scheduled for July 30th. I also noticed that something called a Japan Cultural Bazaar was being held today, so not having anything scheduled today (except for cleaning – and that can always be procrastinated away…), I grabbed my wallet and camera and headed down to 30th and Market St. I found parking on the street and could immediately smell teriyaki in the air, one of my favorite smells. I noticed elderly Couples and Ladies carrying boxes of cookies and pastries and followed them into the parking lot of the Temple.

From May through September, there are many Festivals and Bazaars in San Diego. They range from large, like next weekends Greek Festival at St. Spryridon’s to smaller ones like this. There were several food booths, and the classrooms of the Temple had been set-up with Bonsai displays, a bake sale, crafts, children’s games, and a silent auction area. The line you see is for something called "Angie’s Tacos" seemed to be very popular. But the line was too long for me to maneuver.

Instead I opted for the Teriyaki Chicken plate ($6.00). This was half a teriyaki chicken, two musubi(onigiri), and something called cabbage salad, which was a cross between cole slaw and tsukemono. Half of the enjoyment of these little festivals is being able to sit and enjoy the atmosphere, and food is secondary. The chicken was fine, the dark meat portions actually tasted pretty good, the teri sauce had a touch of smokiness. As is common with chickens in the U.S., the breasts were overly large and thus dry. Like I said food is secondary. As I was about to leave I saw a sign that caught my eye:

So what did I do? I followed the signs into the building, and saw a dining area where people where eating(slurping?) up noodles. So I ponied up the 5 bucks and bought a container to go. This ended up being fried yakisoba with some bamboo shoot and shiitake mushrooms. I added some green onions, spam, and shoyu and had a little snack. All in all a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Buddhist Temple of San Diego
2929 Market Street
San Diego, California 92102
Buddhist Temple of San Diego