mmm-yoso – Page 571 – 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.

YOSO-NOSEY: 10 Questions with Reid from ONOKINEGRINDZ Part 1

July 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Blog

Before I started doing this “blogging thing”, I had been reading several Food Blogs, but the one that really caught my attention was ‘Ono Kine Grindz. Being an Ex-Pat Kama’aina, so many of the places the Reid reviewed were old favorites, or newer places that I would need to try on my next trip “home”. I thought the photography was outstanding, and admired the fact that Reid took the time to answer all the comments visitors posted on his site. Before I started, I sent Reid an Email asking a few questions, and to my amazement he was gracious enough to answer them! After getting my Blog started I had a few more questions, both technical, and philosophical, that I wanted to ask Reid. I started thinking that perhaps Reid would be kind enough to share some of his thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, in a 10 questions format. And “being Reid” he generously accepted. Because of the length I’ll be doing this in a 2 part format (mostly to make you come back again – more hits….hehehe). Here’s part 1:

1 – Reid I’ve gone back and read almost all of your posts – all the way back to April 11, 2004 BTW! What made you start blogging, and how did you decide on the design and name of OnoKineGrindz?

I’m not sure if you read my blog’s birthday post, but here’s the link.
My main motivation for blogging was to bring a piece of Hawaii and the diverse nature of our state to everyone world wide. I found that there was a lack of food blogs focusing on Hawaii and figured that it could just add to what was already out there.

I picked the name ‘Ono Kine Grindz because I thought it sounded catchy and because I knew that displaced locals might look up the words ‘ono or grindz using a search engine such as Google. I thought it would also make people who didn’t know about the name curious enough to send me an e-mail to find out what it meant (that’s happened quite a few times already).

2 – One of the things that I find really outstanding on your site is the photography. Your photos are always bright and clear, especially the indoor shots. I know you say its just “point and click”, but based on the fact that a lot of my indoor shots don’t come out well, and those that do come out are often a bit hazy, I’m sure it’s more than just that. So how do you set-up your shots?

Actually Kirk, the camera that I use most often to take the photos that you see on the blog is a Sony Cybershot U40. It’s a really small camera that can easily fit in your shirt pocket, so really there are no manual controls on it at all! The best advice I can give you on taking pictures is this — make sure there is a lot of light. Natural sunlight is the best, so try to sit near windows if possible. If the lighting in the restaurant is dim, I’ll normally try to push the plate as close to the light source as possible. I will almost never use the flash as it gives the food an unnatural glow (examples, see the desserts with the whipped cream on the bottom of the Taste of Honolulu post). You may also want to do some photo editing using Photoshop, etc. I’ll normally try to do that (when I’m not too tired) to improve the color saturation.

3 – While on this subject, what do Your eating companions think about this avocation, and have you ever gotten a strange or funny reaction when attempting to take photo’s in a restaurant?

There are usually only two people that I go out to dinner with, and they both know about this blog. They are very supportive and they will always offer me their plate of food for picture taking. Because of the number of Japanese tourists that we have here, I haven’t gotten any stares when taking pictures of food in restaurants…not yet at least. BTW…the Japanese take pictures of everything.

4 – I’ve noticed that over the last year the amount of persons reading and commenting on Your Blog has increased. Has this in any way changed the Blog content or had any impact on your life in general?

The traffic sure has increased. In the early days, I think I may have had 10 or so regular readers and very few comments were left on the blog. It hasn’t really changed the content too much, except when people ask (like the newspaper links). For me, it’s such a rush when people send me comments or emails. I’m like wow! People have been very kind and supportive, they’ve offered advice or suggestions, just stuff like that. The e-mails are a little more personal and I have gotten to meet some of the other food bloggers personally which was definitely nice.

5 – I’ve been doing this blogging thing for just over a month and am noticing that it can become quite an obsession if you let it. Have you noticed this, and if so how do you deal with it?

Yes, it’s very easy to become obsessed because it’s addicting. My only advice is to take things slow and when things start getting too hectic, take a break. For me, I decided on a schedule and tried to stick to it. For a while, I was posting six days a week, and have recently cut it down to five days. You won’t believe the difference that the one day can make.

Part 2 coming soon…..

Crest Cafe – Got the Monday Blues? Get a Butter Burger!

July 11, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, Diner, Sandwiches

Whew what a Monday! Needing a break, I headed up the street aimlessly and didn’t stop until I was on the doorstep of the Crest Cafe.

Now I had been here several times, but did not really know why I’d wandered here. I entered and couldn’t believe my eyes, the place was totally empty. On weekend mornings there’s no way you can get in without a wait; this neighborhood joint is jumpin’. What I’ve always noticed about Crest Cafe is that it always smells like breakfast, pancakes and maple syrup for that matter. You can drop in at 11pm and it’ll still smell like pancakes and maple syrup. Maybe it’s something in the AC? By now I focused in on the menu, and set my sights on a Butter Burger($8.25). What’s a Butter Burger you ask? Well it’s a half pound burger, stuffed with an herb-garlic butter, topped with cheddar cheese, with more melted butter and a garlic mayonnaise. There was a good chance that after I ate this burger, I wouldn’t see Tuesday, but whatever, I was willing to take the risk! The previous 2 or so times I’ve been here I ordered the Oui Oui Burger, and it was pretty good sized, no wee-wee burgers served here. To complete the job I ordered fries as my side. The burger arrived on a huge egg roll. Now looking at this you’d think that it was all roll, but that wasn’t the case. The roll was perfectly toasted, the burger charred on the outside, and super moist on the inside. Overall the burger had a very rich, not greasy feel, but was under seasoned, I’d say even somewhat bland considering all of the effort to inject rich flavorful seasonings into and onto the burger. One of my pet peeves is food that’s under salted; I mean, you supposedly have all this butter, all this nice meat, you cook it by-the-book, it’s retains moisture and has a great texture, but you forget the salt and pepper. You can say I can add my own, but it’s not the same as if the burger was seasoned during cooking. The fries were “natural” (I really don’t know what you call them – maybe a fry expert can tell me), think In-and-Out, a little larger with the skin attached. Nice potato flavor, but again under seasoned. I did finish all of them, so they must be pretty good, but of course I’ve never met a fry I didn’t like! Overall, not a bad burger, but next time I’ll stick with the Oui Oui – Blue Cheese under Melted Jack, no flavor short circuit there!

A few notes; the Crest Cafe, has a combination of chair and bench-style seating, and when filled can be quite cramped. Also, all the surfaces are pretty “hard”, making this a really loud room. By the time I’d left the room had filled both with people and noise. I’ve heard that the breakfasts here, especially the French Toast is good, but have never had breakfast here. One really good thing about the Crest Cafe is that they are open till midnight. Here in San Diego, any establishment that doesn’t roll up it’s sidewalks at 9pm is gladly welcomed.

Crest Cafe
425 Robinson Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
Phone: (619) 295-2510
Open: 7am to Midnight Daily

Homemade Tapenade

July 10, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers, Recipes

After eating my Muffeletta the other day, I developed a craving for some Tapenade. Nothing says summer like a nice Tapenade. So I marched over to the neighborhood market, which for us is an IGA; Keil's. They happen to have an olive bar with a nice selection:

When we first moved into this area I scoffed at the existence of Keil's, it really doesn't look like much from the outside, and I would make the extra trip to go to one of the major chain supermarkets. But when I finally did shop at Keil's I was thoroughly surprised. They carry everything from Boar's Head Deli Products to Tiparos Fish Sauce. Though I'm not impressed by the produce, Keil's is one of the few places where I will purchase ground beef. During the summer weekends they even have a smoker going with ribs, chicken, and corn for sale.

So I grabbed some pitted Kalamata olives and some Niscoise olives and the other ingredients and headed the few blocks home. Now in the days BFP (before food processor), if I wanted to make a tapenade I would have spent a good portion of the evening pitting the olives, than chopping everything, before finally mixing. Now that I can get decent quality pitted Kalamata's (I still have to pit the Nicoise) and can use the food processor, my time is cut by 80%.

Here's the recipe – all measurements are approximations. I basically "eyeball" everything, and go by taste:

Tapenade
2 cups good quality olives pitted
2 TB capers drained and dried
2 Anchovy filets
1/3 cup artichoke hearts preserved in brine – drained
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil – drained
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 TB Fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup of Good Quality extra virgin olive oil

Separate half the olives and pulse 1-2 times in a food processor until you have larger chopped pieces of olive, remove to a bowl. Add the other half of the olives, capers, anchovy, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts, and pulse in the food processor. Add to bowl with olives. Add olive oil pouring slowly while mixing. Add lemon zest and lemon juice and mix. Refrigerate. Will keep up to a week tightly covered in the frig.

Slice ciabatta loaf in half, spread tapenade on bottom. Add a double layer of genoa salami, followed by a single layer of provolone cheese. Top with a double layer of Cappicola. Wrap sandwich in saran, place between 2 plates and press down; or use some other "pressing" method. Eat until olive oil oozes out of your pores, repeat as necessary.

Dao Son Noodle House – Hot Dishes from the ‘Hot Chef’

July 9, 2005 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

“Ok, that’s an order of Yakisoba and Chicken with Lemongrass – be about 15 minutes”. Now normally when I hear something like this; I’d be afraid, very afraid. The kind of fear that is associated with signs that say ‘Authentic Cantonese, Szechuan, and Mandarin Cuisine’. Except in this case I overheard this at Dao Son Noodle House on El Cajon Blvd. Dao Son, I’m told literally means ‘Hot Chef’, and he’s not kidding. There’s even a little neon sign above the restaurant sign that say ‘Hot Chef’.

The spartan interior could be dropped into any number of Asian restaurants, but the aroma, ooh the aroma, garlic, chilies, “shoot me now and put me out of my misery…” The service was friendly, and the Chef himself let us in the front door. We looked over the menu and placed our order, and an entire carafe of water was placed on our table.

Our first dish was the Special; Fried Catfish with Eggplant – ordered medium-hot ($6.99):

This dish was a winner! The catfish was battered and fried perfectly. Crunchy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. The eggplant seared on the outside, with a wonderful molten, creamy interior. The sauce was nice and spicy, and the peanuts added a nice textural component to the dish. This was the best dish of the night.

The next dish was the Garlic Chicken – ordered medium hot (5.99). Boneless, Dark Meat chicken was marinated, than battered and fried and served with a nice and spicy garlic/chili sauce, and is topped with scallions and tempura “bits”. The chicken was tasty, and the sauce (seems like it was sambal based) was hot enough to bring sweat to my brow. The scallions and tempura bits added a nice counter-point to the whole meal. The only gripe I had about this dish was that the chicken pieces were pretty large and we only had chopsticks so there were some problems managing the pieces. Also, the batter was very savory and crisp, but very hard, almost like a shell, I’m thinking that this was a corn-starch based batter. All of this is relatively minor. If the chicken were smaller and bite-sized, the crunchy texture would be viewed as a positive attribute.

The last dish was Garlic Fish – also ordered medium hot ($5.99). I had thought that this would be the same as the chicken dish, but was pleasantly surprised. First off, the fish was coated with bread crumbs, and there was the distinct taste of lemon grass all through the dish. Other than the addition of lemon grass this was essentially the same as the chicken dish. The fish was prepared well, though the fish was relatively bland, the toppings and sauce made up for any deficiencies.

We left Dao Son, satiated, and looking forward to another meal. The flavors had been unique and distinctive, and the food well prepared.

So tonight we did Dao Son part 2, this time we did take-out, and decided to order a few other dishes. We ordered the Red Chicken ($5.50) medium hot. This is almost a perfect dish! Chicken stir fried over high heat, in a spicy “red” sauce that is both sweet and spicy, with tomatoes, red peppers and chili. This dish is a keeper! On a whim we ordered the Yakisoba ($4.95). This dish was not bad, flavorful, with the distinct taste of sesame oil, and well prepared, but unremarkable except for one thing; the noodles. The noodles were great, they had a nice crunch and reminded me of “fried saimin” Daoson12 . The last dish was Shrimp w/Lemon Grass and Garlic sauce ($5.99). Basically the same sauce as the Garlic Fish, but this was one spicy dish, nose bleeding hot! There’s no slow-burn here, it’s in your face!

Dao Son, has interesting, and very well prepared, flavorful food. The price is also right! We’ve added Dao Son to our “rotation” and will be going back often. The menu is varied with everything from Yakitori and Yakisoba, to Sate Chicken and Lemongrass Shrimp. This range of dishes would usually scare me away, but in this case, the “Hot Chef” does a good job with preparing all the dishes that we’ve had so far. The service is fast – I was unable to get through on the phone for my take-out order, so walked in and ordered. I was told it would take 15 minutes???? Now the restaurant was half-full, and the phone was ringing off the hook. I got my food in 10 minutes, and all the tables were also being served. Impressive.

The bottom line? Good hot and spicy food from the “Hot Chef”.

Dao Don Noodle House

2322 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92103
(619)291-5051
Lunch:
Mon-Fri 11:00am-2:00pm
Dinner:
Sun-Thurs 5:00pm-9:00pm
Fri-Sat: 5:00pm-10:00pm

Mardi Gras Cafe & Market Place

July 7, 2005 mmm-yoso Cajun, Southern, and Soul Food, Markets & Grocers, Sandwiches

**** Mardi Gras Cafe has closed.

I’ve driven by this place several times, so finally decided to stop by and see what this place was all about. This tiny “Cafe” and Market is located on Midway Drive near the Sports Arena.

What got my attention was the sign “New Orleans Muffulettas”. So like any sucker(?) I decided to give it a try. As I walked in the there was a huge “Wall of Fire over 300 Hot Sauces” sign, this immediately tripped all of the tourist trap alarms in my head. But by that time I had walked into the store and committed myself; retreat was not an option. The menu on the wall listed about a dozen sandwiches, Po’ Boys, Jambalaya, Gumbo, Shrimp Creole, and Crawfish Etouffe among other items. I stepped up and ordered the large “Specialty New Orleans Muffuletta” ($10.99). The counter help is very friendly, but S-L-O-W, so while waiting for my sandwich, I had a chance to look around and saw this sign; at least I know where to go if I have a sudden craving for Alligator Filets; it might be a long time coming though. There is also a healthy stock of Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix and Coffee, Pecan Rolls, Pralines, and Zapp’s Potato Chips. As I looked over the menu/flyer, I had a little chuckle – it claimed the “Wall of Fire” had over 400 hot sauces, so that means sometime between the time the flyer was produced and when I placed my order, something had happened to “over 100 hot sauces”. About that time my sandwich was ready, I grabbed the bag and almost fell over, but righted myself and headed home. At home I unloaded the sub, it had been cut into four pieces, so I put them back together and took a picture; the darn thing was the size of a small pizza! What I did next was get some info on the muffuletta, not knowing what the “real thing” was like. Than I proceeded to eat. First of all I noticed that this sandwich suffered from TMB (Too Much Bread) Syndrome, and thought it would have no flavor. I was wrong, as the olive spread and the salami gave it a nice taste. I did not taste any capers, celery, or onions in the olive spread, but the taste of the sandwich was not bad. Also, there was regular ham in the sandwich instead of Cappicola. The bread was also a bit stale, which didn’t help the sandwich too much. But to put everything into perspective, this sandwich is easily two meals, and is more tasty than I thought it would be. So I haven’t ruled out another trip. The Alligator Sausage Sub($7.99) has gotten my attention, so I may give it another try. What has happened though, is that I’ve resolved to get to New Orleans soon to try the “real deal”.

MARDI GRAS Cafe & Marketplace
3185 Midway Dr Ste E
San Diego, CA 92110-4542
(619) 223-5501

Mariposa Ice Cream

July 6, 2005 mmm-yoso Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt

In need of a post dinner snack we headed to our favorite Ice Cream Shop – Mariposa Ice Cream, located in Normal Heights.

Owned and operated by a friendly couple, Mariposa is a perfect example of what a community business should be. Along with the Beatles, Grateful Dead, and Bob Marley Posters; are community pictures and photos; Normal Heights License Plate Brackets, and even Normal Heights buttons. The little sheet pinned to the bulletin board explains all about the ice cream. Just below the little sheet is a note stating that Mariposa Ice Cream was voted the Best Ice Cream by San Diego Magazine – Good for them!

My Favorite here is the coconut ($1.75 single scoop/$2.75 double scoop), and you can taste the attention to detail, pride, and quality ingredients in every bite. The coconut ice cream is not too sweet, rich and full bodied, and most of all, full of coconut. Though I’ve never made it past the coconut, they have at least a dozen homemade flavors of ice cream and several more of sorbet. Shakes, Malts, Ice Cream Soda’s, and Sundaes are also available.

A few notes; there is very limited street parking available, and only 3 tables with patio furniture seats in the interior. But it’s worth the hunt for parking for an excellent scoop of superb homemade ice cream or sorbet!

Mariposa Ice Cream
3450 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 284-5197
Between Mansfield St and Hawley Blvd

El Zarape – delici-yoso Fish Taco’s!

July 5, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

Now I have to admit something right off the bat, we’ve been to El Zarape 3 times since I’ve started this blog about 6 weeks ago. The first time I brought the camera, but forgot all about it when it was time to eat. The second time I didn’t even bother to bring the camera, period! Well this time I made sure to bring the camera, and displaying extreme self-control, even managed to take some pictures.

This little hole in the wall, features fresh, flavorful Mexican food. In what must be one of the best bargains in San Diego, the Fish Taco’s here are just 99 cents, yes, 99 cents.

The fish tacos are always fresh with a crisp batter, and moist in the interior. Though it usually comes with a white sauce, we order it without it, and use a good amount of the smoky hot sauce. It’s a taste and texture delight that totally blows another “famous” San Diego’s chains soggy, gloppy, fish tacos out of the water! Oh, and did I say, just 99 cents every day!

Today I ordered the Shrimp Chimichanga, basically a deep fried burrito. This was filled with a generous amount of large shrimp and topped with Sour Cream and Guacamole. Very crunchy, with shrimp that had been sauteed before being rolled in the tortilla, this is a favorite of mine.

My only, slight complaint with El Zarape, is that the Guacamole is a bit “over-processed” and tends to be runny and bland, but everything else is “spot on”, and scratches all those little “gastric itches” (OK, let’s call them cravings).

We also had a shrimp quesedilla($4.99), easy on the cheese:

Crunchy on the outside, with great tasting shrimp and fillings inside, topped off with some spicy hot sauce is the definition of what mmm-yoso!!! is all about. This was alot of food, but we managed to finish everything.

El Zarape boasts a huge menu with everything from soy burritos and vegetarian offerings to “don’t tell my cardiologist” loaded carne asada fries. El Zarape is another one of those “places” with a regular spot on our rotation. I may not know much about Mexican Food, but I know what I like, and I like this place.

Parking can be an adventure, so I recommend going to the end of Park Blvd, finding a space and walking half a block. Service can be slow at peak times with a line forming out the door. So be like us and go early, and often!

El Zarape Mexican Restaurant
4642 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 692-1652
Open Daily 10 am-10 pm

Happy 4th Everyone! Time for Grillin’

July 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking

We’d like to wish everyone a most Delici-yoso Independence Day; hope everyone is safe and bellies are full!

We, like many had a BBQ, and I had a chance to see how my Kalbi came out. We started out with some shrimp, lobster, and the spicy paprika sausage that Jo from Truly Thankful was kind enough to include in her Baklava care package:

The shrimp and lobster was seasoned with fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and XVOO – simplicity is best! The sausage was gone while I cooked up the Kalbi; this is the perfect food – you can hold it in one hand while turning the meat in the other. The Kalbi came out super tender, not mushy, or over tenderized, but fork tender, with some texture. The flavor was balanced, but mild. Next time I’ll keep the sugar content the same and add 1/4 cup of Malt Syrup, which did give the meat a slightly "glazed" look. Add in some cherry smoked corn, and this was an delici-yoso 4th of July meal.

Zion Market – Kalbi Time

July 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers, Recipes

***** I'm sure you already know that Zion Market has moved

After sharing a Kalbi recipe on Elmo's Site – Monster Munching, I became motivated and decided to do a batch of ribs for myself. So this entailed a trip to Zion Market:

Zion Market is a huge Korean Grocer with a wonderful selection of produce, meat, and various Korean grocery items. Today I picked up some very fragrant Donut Peaches at $1.49/lb. I also picked up some other miscellaneous grocery items, that I'll go into later. There is also a large selection of pan-chan – I call it the "Great Wall of Kimchee" as well as marinated meats. The quality and selection in the meat department can be mind boggling; for example, 3 "grades" of cross sliced short ribs and 4 grades of sliced rib eye. Maybe someone can explain the difference between 'A', 'B' and '10 up' sliced rib eye – some cuts look thinner and some are more marbled. The prices are also very reasonable $2.59/lb for short ribs is a bargain!

There is also a small "food court" and a fresh seafood counter, and a bakery within the Marketplace.

Zion Marketplace
4611 Mercury St
San Diego, CA 92111
Between Engineer Rd and Dagget St

When I got home I started on the Kalbi.

Here's my standard recipe:

2-3lbs Short Ribs
2/3c Soy sauce
1 c Water
1/2c Sugar
2 Tb grated, pureed or minced garlic
2 Tb grated, pureed or minced onion
2 Tb pureed ripe papaya or Asian pear
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large stalk green onion chopped
1 Tb sesame oil (optional)

I added a few twists – There were no ripe papaya's, and the Asian Pears looked horrible – so I decided to use kiwi. Now I had heard that marinating with kiwi can be a bit dicey as it has a tendency to over-tenderize the meat, but I thought I'd give it a try. So scratch the papaya or Asian pear, and replace with 2TB pureed kiwi. I had also heard that Malt Syrup gave kalbi a nice distinctive sweet flavor and gave kalbi a lacquered appearance, so I found and purchased a bottle. The Malt Syrup is amber in color, and tastes basically just like corn syrup. I replaced 1/2cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of malt syrup and 1/4 cup of sugar. I mixed the marinade, added the meat, and went to sleep. We'll see what happens tomorrow when I fire up the grill.

Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego – Redondo’s

July 2, 2005 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Markets & Grocers, yoso-silly

I had been told of this a while back – you can actually get Portuguese Sausage (Da’ Hawaii Kine – OK!) here in San Diego. Though it’s not Purity Brand, which is my favorite; in a pinch Redondo’s will do. For those that don’t know, back "home" in Hawaii, this is a staple – even them "Golden Arches" places sell Portuguese Sausage, Eggs, and Rice!

Orient Bowl Market on Convoy; formerly First Korean Market, stocks Redondo Portuguese Sausage ($3.99) and Hot Dogs ($3.79).

I know, that’s kind of expensive, but if you need it, you need it!

This is the same strip mall North of Jasmine Restaurant, that Dumpling Inn is located in. I’ve also seen S & S Saimin on a previous visit. All items are frozen, but I’ve had the Portuguese Sausage and it tasted ok.

Orient Bowl Market
4625 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111