mmm-yoso – Page 574 – 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.

Sorrento European Bakery – Some Banh Mi with your Chocolate Mousse?

July 15, 2005 mmm-yoso Bakery, Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Sorrento European Bakery has closed

I had heard about a “Vietnamese Bakery” in Mira Mesa that made good Banh Mi. So with some rudimentary instructions we headed off. We came across a mall on Mira Mesa Blvd, that had an interesting Food Court and right next to the Food Court was Sorrento European Bakery. The little sign outside said Vietnamese Sandwiches.

We walked in and were met with a case of wonderful looking cakes and pastries like the mango mousse pictured on the right. I thought “no way can this be the place”. But the owners looked to be Vietnamese (and spoke some pretty good Mandarin too).

And there was a grease board with 10 sandwiches listed; the five on the left were stuff like roast beef and turkey. On the right it said “VN Sandwiches”, bingo! There were 5 sandwiches listed, all priced at $2.50, so I chose the #1 – Dac Biet. And while the poor Missus waited to pay and ogled the pastries and cakes, I wandered around the Food Court. We ended up doing a “Mini – Food Court Crawl”, which I’ll post later. The owner told my Wife that they bake their own bread for the sandwiches daily – so the bread is always fresh!

So how was the Banh Mi (please excuse the bad picture – I was over come by hunger) ? This was the “lightest” Banh Mi I’ve had by far. The bread was light and crusty, and a bit yeasty, with a really nice texture. The “ham” was very tasty, as were the veggies, but there was a spread (mayo??) that detracted from the taste a bit. The rest of the meat was good as well – no roasted pork this time, but the pork in the roll was good – I tasted all the meat separately. Not enough cilantro and the green chili’s on the sandwich were really mild. Rich, but light, good enough for a return visit. I’d order at least 2 sandwiches for me the next time though. The sandwich was good but there is something missing, I need to re-evaluate (poor me…) whether it’s a lack of filling, or a taste component was missing, I just can’t put my finger on it, so I’ll try again. Maybe someone else should try and let me know if I’m missing something?

Very nice and friendly service – the pastries looked very tempting, but I was focused on the Banh Mi. I think another visit is in order, the jury’s out!

Sorrento European Bakery
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd #117 – in the Sorrento Plaza Shopping Center
San Diego, CA 92121
858-909-0599

Yoso-Generous Reid!

July 15, 2005 mmm-yoso Cookbooks

Overall it has been a pretty good day, first I finally got my new car – oh, the smell of a new car, one of my favorites, right alongside garlic, a new book, and others…..

Than I get home and there’s a box waiting for me….from Amazon, great! But wait, I didn’t order anything from Amazon recently; so what the heck is this! So I gingerly open the box; Heck No! I ripped the darn thing apart, and there laying pristine in the bottom of the box is this:

I had asked Reid from ‘Ono Kine Grindz for a recommendation for reading material on Singaporean food after reading all of his "Live from Singapore" posts. He had recommended Shiok by Terry Tan, so I added it to my list at Amazon. In fact I was going to order this next month (I allow myself an Amazon order every other month). Well now thanks to Reid, I can order something else. Just paging through Shiok is in itself an education for me, and the pictures are wonderful – almost as good as Reid’s photo’s!

Thank You Reid, for being so generous! First you graciously allow me to grill you, than you get me a book – Me no understand, but I thank you anyway!

It’s been a good day, first I get the smell of a new car. Then I get to smell a new book. Let me go fry some garlic now, so I can complete the set! It doesn’t get much better than this…..

Yoso Lazy:Kim Chee & Rice – Very, very, nice…

July 14, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

It was a very tiring day, feeling mentally drained (doesn't take much actually), I didn't want to think too much….even "what's for dinner". The weather's been hot lately, and a bit more humid than usual. I wanted something spicy, but not hot in the temperature sense. So I headed to Zion Market, and picked up some Kim Chee. And had just Kim Chee and rice, and it was soooo good!

So I had, and I hope Sarah fromThe Delicious Life will correct me, if I'm wrong or inaccurate. Oi Sobaegi – stuffed cucumber Kimchee, stuffed with chives, and with the distinct taste of garlic, this is my current favorite. Napa Cabbage Kimchee (Baechu Kimchee), the strange thing about this was that there was a very strong fishy scent, I had heard that fish paste, or fermented fish was used, but I had never really noticed until today – but it wasn't fishy in the least bit. Good, not great. And lastly Namul, too mild, and just ok. But all perfect with a hot bowl of rice. Delici-yoso!!!

Roberto’s Taco Shop – Clairemont Drive

July 13, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

If you live in San Diego, you’ve probably eaten at Roberto’s at least once. It seems like they’re everywhere. If you do a Google Search on Roberto’s Taco Shops, San Diego you come up with 17 matches between Chula Vista and Oceanside. Be careful of imitators, though I understand that there are actually only a few "authentic" Roberto’s, whatever that means. I’ve seen Reyberto’s, El Roberto’s, Filiberto’s, Aiberto’s, and countless number of "something"-berto’s around. Inexpensive, tasty, greasy, and usually open 24 hours, Roberto’s is very popular. The one I usually patronize is on Clairemont Drive, only 4 blocks away, a very scary thing indeed!

This tiny shop is the only 24 operation other than 7-11 for several miles around, and can sometimes be packed to the rafters.

Prices range from $1.75 for 3 Plain rolled Taco’s (taquitos) to $6.00 for combination plates. I usually get either the Carne Asada or a "California" Burrito ($3.25), and sometimes the Rolled Tacos. On this trip I got the California Burrito and 3 rolled taco’s with sour cream ($2.00).

So what’s a California Burrito? Well in this case it’s a tortilla filled with Carne Asada, Cheese, and French Fries, yes, you heard that correct french fries! Pretty "politically incorrect" but delicious. I was just thinking; one more starch and this could be a plate lunch! Here’s a closer look:

So how was it? Well, the Carne Asada was a little bit dried out, tough, and tasteless today – but the fries were great! In fact I woulda just ordered a french fry burrito if they had one. I like the way the tortilla was prepared, both a little crunchy and yet still with a little "pull", a nice texture. The taquitos were ok, a little too much sour cream glopped on them, and they were a bit smaller than I remember them. But still relatively cheap and filling.

I know alot of people who love Roberto’s, especially after a hard night of "liquid refreshment", and in the minds of many San Diegans this is the quintessential "San Diego" chain. Roberto’s fills a real niche in San Diego, a place other than Denny’s open 24 hours a day.

A last note, I’ve found that not all Roberto’s are created equal, the Solana Beach locale (I’ve been told that this is one created by the original "Roberto") is by far the best I’ve been to, Clairemont Mesa the worst in both service and food.

Roberto’s Taco Shop
Many Locations
Most open 24 hours daily

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