mmm-yoso – Page 576 – 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.

Mandarin Canton – Is this Cake Noodle?

September 26, 2005 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

*** 04/03/2011 You can find an update here.

Tucked in a strip mall on Telegraph Canyon Road in Chula Vista is Mandarin Canton, like Golden Chopstick, a Chinese-American-Filipino restaurant.

One night about a year ago, the Missus called from work and told me she thinks she found that "noodle dish" I'd been looking for. What I'd been looking for is called "Cake Noodle" in Hawaii, and I've never seen it anywhere on the Mainland. I've had some dishes that used pan fried noodles, but they were not even close.

Cake Noodles are usually thin egg noodles that are fried until crispy in a pan (thus the cake), cut into squares, and topped with a thick stir fried "gravy" and various meats and veggies. I knew this was a Filipino-American Chinese restaurant when I noticed that no chopsticks are provided and we are served what we jokingly call Chinese Tortilla Chips! Actually these won ton pi chips are very sneaky, served with sweet and sour sauce, you end up eating one after the other….

On this visit I was really surprised that lunch specials were being served on a Sunday! The specials come with soup and either Fried Rice or Steamed Rice and range between $3.75-$4.75. One quick tip – stay with the steamed rice! We ordered one item off the lunch menu, and two off of the regular menu:

We received the Shrimp with Lobster Sauce ($4.75) that the Missus ordered off the specials menu:

I was pretty surprised to find that we got a whole order of Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. Shrimp with Lobster sauce is not my favorite dish, I call it "egg drop soup with shrimp", but the Missus enjoys it. This version was very mild, though the shrimp were large and tasty, ditto with the water chestnuts. It also started congealing as soon as it hit the table.

The Salted and Deep Fried Shrimp with No Shell ($11.00) came up next:

So fried, salty, garlicky, slightly spicy, and crunchy…..I don't think you need to say anything else about this dish. It's probably the most expensive dish on the menu, but it's alot of really large shrimp. I once saw a Young Lady order this with a side of the garlic/green onion/chili pepper topping, and eat a spoonful of the garlic with each shrimp, and loving it! Make sure you order them without shell.

Than came the dish I came here for – the Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles ($6.50). Yes, it's actually called that on the menu:

The noodles are fried to a crisp than topped with veggies and meats in a brown sauce. The sauce is nice and salty, sweet, and gooey, and slowly softens the noodles. My only complaint is that there is not enough brown sauce. The Missus ended up spooning her rice into the empty plate to sop up the remaining sauce. There are large shrimp, beef, and chicken, along with broccoli and snow peas.

So is it Cake Noodle? Well not really, but it's close enough for me.

Some notes on Mandarin Canton: Like many of these places Your Mileage May Vary, there are some really terrible dishes here, so pick and choose based on what you see others eating. There are only ten tables, and a constant flow of people in and out, but the turnaround is pretty quick. Mandarin Canton is a "Player" in the "Best Salt and Pepper Wings" battle going on, but is not as good as Golden Chopstick, though Golden Chopstick's Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles (yes, they have them there as well), is not as good as Mandarin Canton's. I've actually swung by both restaurants on a single take-out trip. Don't eat here if you are afraid of salt and MSG, though I've never had any problems or reactions from the food, I'm pretty sure it's there.

Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Rd
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Open Daily 11am – 10pm

Da Kine’s

September 25, 2005 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

**** The La Mesa location has closed and Nelson is currently only doing catering

*** As of June 2022, Da Kine's has reopened in La Mesa – you can find a post here

*** Update – Da Kine's in Pacific Beach has closed, you can find a short update here, near the bottom of the page. The Mira Mesa and National City locations are still open, and a new location in Point Loma is coming soon.

Warning: Pidgin English has Been Liberally Used in the Creation of this Post

When I first started coming to San Diego on a regular basis back in the late 90's, Da Kine's was pretty much the "only show in town". Partially because of that reason, Nelson Ishii has carved himself a pretty loyal customer base. In addition, I've found that DaKines' plate lunches are a bit lighter, with items such as Grilled Fish and the Teriyaki Chicken here is skinless. I visit DaKine's usually only the Autumn and Winter months because of the crowds and traffic in Pacific Beach.

DaKines has their own share of detractors, especially from some of the Ex-Pat Kama'ainas' that I know. A recent phone conversation went like this:

"Eh, you wanna go Dakines"
"Dakines, nah, laita's"
"Why not?"
"First, too many make-pretend, wanna be surfa's, two, they are tight with the portions, and three, they dip the chicken"
"They dip the chicken?"
"Yeah, they precook the chicken, put em' in a pan, and when there's an order they put the chicken on a plate and squirt sauce over it!"
"Oooh-kay, next time then?"

One of the things I do like about DaKines is that they have some "classic" plate lunches that the plethora of Hawaiian BBQ places in San Diego don't(and no it's not the grilled Mahi), like Beef Stew. Also, many of the employees at DaKines speak pidgin, and I'm almost sure of a "pidgin" conversation there.

Two items on the menu at DaKines gives me a problem; it's the attempt at humor in using pidgin for the "mixed plates" there. The 2 item(2 entree) plate is called "Da Bugga" and the 3 item plate is called "Wop Yo Jaws". Which can lead you to interesting little exchanges like:

"What you like?"
"I like Wop Ya Jaws"
and
"Can I help you"
"Yeah, I like Da Buggah"

For those interested in a translation you can go here: to a Pidgin English Dictionary.

Today; looking over the menu, I noticed that the Beef Stew had been covered over; the Counter Person told me that it was due to lack of demand. Bumma! So I ended up ordering a " Two item Mixed Plate" (sorry still can't make myself say "I want Da Buggah"). With Chicken Katsu and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken ($7.00):

While waiting, I noticed that I was the only customer in the whole restaurant wearing slacks; everybody else were wearing shorts! Took my plate lunch home and got ready to eat. A couple of first impressions, the portions are on the smaller side, but this didn't bother me. All this meant was no "Kanak-attack" (food coma) after eating. The chicken katsu was very good, nice and crunchy and not oily, and best of all, good old Hawaiian style Katsu sauce was provided – ketchup based, not a watery sweet sour icky L&L sauce. Though not even close to say, Grace's in portion size and taste, this was good. The Teriyaki chicken consisted of two skinless pieces; one small thigh, and one smaller thigh, or knee, or maybe ankle – it was a really small piece of chicken! Though the chicken was obviously grilled, it was very bland, and flavorless. DaKines has a bad habit of serving mushy rice, though this time it was fine. Even though the macaroni salad had celery, carrots, the one item it needed was some "umph", it was very boring.

On my last visit, I just got the Chicken Katsu plate($5.75):

This time the Katsu was okay though a bit burnt, with some bitter pieces. The rice was cooked with too much water and mushy, and the macaroni salad was still bland. I think I'll wait a while before my next visit!

Some notes on DaKine's. There are two locations of DaKine's, one in the Promenade Mall located in Pacific Beach, right above Tony Roma's. There is validated underground parking. The other location is on Sweetwater Road in National City. Everybody at DaKine's is very nice and friendly. The PB location has a nice "patio" where you can have a plate lunch and check out the beach. There are daily specials; Laulau is served on Sunday. The usual suspects like, Kalua Pork and Cabbage, Saimin, and Spam Musubi, are on the menu.

DaKine's
4120 Mission Blvd. #208
San Diego, CA 92108
858-274-8494

Jin Patisserie

September 24, 2005 mmm-yoso Chocolate, Desserts

On Friday afternoon I received a call:

"Hello"
"Oh my God"
"Hello"
"Oh my God"
"Whats wrong?"
"It’s so beautiful!"

It turned out the Missus had gotten this in the mail:

A pretty silk box. So what was in it?

I had heard of Jin Patisserie from Kristy’s wonderful blog Best of LA, and in this case she’s right! I had ordered the 15 pieces of Chocolate in a Silk Box, but received 20, and I’m not complaining!

My photo’s really don’t do these chocolates justice, they really are works of art:

The flavors included in this box are: Lemon Grass, Sea Salt Caramel, Jasmine, Black Roasted Sesame, Lychee, Earl Grey Feuilletine, Mango Kalamansi, Passionfruit, The des Concubine, Red Caramel Clove, Mango Basil, Cinnamon, The du Hammum, Lavender, and Ginger.

The price? $42, not cheap, but oh, so beautiful to look at!

I think I’d better let the Missus eat her candy now. It’ll take a while, she’s just a nibbler with these types of candies, and really knows how to appreciate them.

So if you want your own little 1×1 piece of heavenly rich and subtly flavored chocolate; you can order from the Jin Patisserie website, or visit them at:

Jin Patisserie
1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, Ca. 90291

Ain’t it amazing what we learn from Blogs?

Thanks Kristy!

Sam Woo BBQ – And a “Fish” Story

September 22, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I’m pretty sure that most San Diego Readers of this blog know of this location of Sam Woo Ba-Bee-Que! Over the years I’ve eaten at in at least 7 different locations of Sam Woo BBQ’s, located everywhere from San Gabriel to Las Vegas, often times next to or very close to an outlet of 99 Ranch Market, as is this location on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Since our favorite inexpensive Guangdong style restaurant Golden City closed about 2 years ago, about the only replacement we could find was Sam Woo.

Sam Woo BBQ’s have a reputation of decent quality dishes at a good price. In other words, you get your money’s worth here! Sam Woo BBQ’s also have another reputation, that of very abrupt, impatient, and sometimes downright rude service. Also, no matter how slow or busy, there’s always a "divey" feel to Sam Woo’s, dishes left to clean up, food stains on the table, etc. To their defense the Servers bust their butt here.

This location of Sam Woo features a Take-out section with the requisite hanging Roast Pork, Roast Duck, and Hot Table items on one side, and a small, pedestrian sit down restaurant on the other.

On this evening, the Missus was not feeling too well, and she wanted some of her comfort food – Jook. She ordered the Rice Porridge with Preserved Egg and Pork($3.75):

She got a large steaming bowl of fairly "loose" jook; just the way she likes it. She doesn’t care much for the thick, corn-starchy versions that many Cantonese Restaurants serve. There were large chunks of preserved egg and a good amount of tasty shredded pork; I know because I tasted some. This was actually more than enough for her, she couldn’t even finish this.

I ordered the Noodle Soup with 3 Roasted Meats ($5.75):

Otherwise known as my "Oink-Quack-Puck" noodle. This is a large bowl of flavorful broth, won tons, napa cabbage, and my favorite thin egg noodles. The broth had started to absorb the flavor of the roasted duck, chicken, and BBQ Pork. Can you say…Delici-yoso???? Good to the last drop!

A few days later before shopping at 99 Ranch Market we stopped by and decided to have a bite. We found out that Sam Woo’s has a Breakfast menu from 9am-11am during the week, and 8am-11am weekends. Most items are $2.95, including the same sized bowl of porridge pictured above.

I had the Stewed Beef on Noodle($2.95):

This was kind of a strange dish, and not quite what I expected. It was basically a de-constructed Beef Egg Noodle Soup. The beef was ok, Niu Rou Mein – spicy beef noodle soup is one of my favorite dishes, and these pieces of beef were similiar to those used in that dish; tender though seasoned with a bit too much anise, and also on the sweeter side. I really struggled trying to eat this, pulling up the noodles trying to dip in the broth and so on. Also, a strange thing happened after eating this; my hands and feet started to swell – not a good sign.

Fast forward a week, and for some strange reason I was craving gloppy-gooey Clams in Black Bean sauce. So we headed back up to Sam Woo’s again. This time we ordered off of the lunch menu; about 3 pages long, with an additional sheet of "specials", there was alot to choose from, and most dishes were between $4.50-$5.50 and lncluded a soup(terrible) and rice (starch mmmm….).

We started with Szechuan Shrimp ($4.50):

More like a sweet sour shrimp dish, it wasn’t very spicy, though the shrimp were plump, tasty and cooked well, nothing worse than over-cooked rubbery shrimp. We actually loved the onions in this dish; mixed with the sauce they were pungent and sweet.

Rock Cod Filet with Black Bean Sauce($4.50):

The fish filets were soft and tender, the green and red bell peppers were cooked through, but still tender, all put together in a gloppy, gooey, simple black bean based sauce, which tasted good on our rice.

The Clams with Black Bean Sauce ($5.50):

There was a generous portion of plump, juicy, slightly briney clams in the same black bean sauce as the rock cod. I was really surprised at the quality of the clams in this 5 dollar dish!

We basically "blew through" everything, including two pots of tea. Not bad for $15, huh?

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 103
San Diego, CA 92111

And how does a "fish" story tie into this? Well……

A few years ago I was watching a Chargers football game and the Missus happened to walk by…..

“Oh, it’s Jack Murphy Stadium”

“Well yeah, except now it’s called Qualcomm Stadium”

“How’s that?”

“I think nowadays the stadium sells naming rights, and some company purchases them”

She pauses, then adds, “Oh, like Sea World?”

Ok, now I’m totally confused, and scratching my head. “What do you mean, Sea World?”

As she turns to walk away and out of the living room, “Yeah, the whale….”

Now I’m hooked, I have to find out what Sea World has to do with all of this, so I follow her down the hall….

“Can you tell me what you mean by the the whale?”

“Yeah, Sam Woo, the Killer whale….”

I just totally lose it, and I’m laughing so hard my sides hurt…

“No, it’s Sha-mu the Killer Whale”

“Yeah, that’s what I said Sam-Woo the Killer Whale!”

“No it’s spelled S-H-A-M-U”

“Oh, I thought that maybe Sea World had sold naming rights to the Whale and Sam Woo purchased it…..”

“How long have you thought this?”

“Ever since I first heard of the Whale” Seems that the Missus had thought Shamu was named Sam Woo for years……….

To this day, every time we see a Sea World commercial with Shamu, we both look at each other and go, “Hey look, it’s Sam Woo the Killer Whale!!!”

And that’s why I love Her so……

Hope everyone is having a great week!

La Torta – And the Quest for a Carne Asada Torta

September 21, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** La Torta has closed

Since I've been living in San Diego, I've developed a taste for Mexican style Torta's, basically a Bolillo (Mexican Roll) cut in half and stuffed with some kind of meat, say Carne Asada, Pollo Asado, and such. One very popular local chain is La Torta:

La Torta specializes in what else, Torta's, and feature about 35 different Torta's on the menu, many of them very "Americanized", like the "Hawaiiana" that features, Ham and Pineapple. Not my cup of tea, but apparently someone must order it! The problem with having too many items on the menu is that it leads to major bouts of indecision; which happens to me quite often at La Torta. I've got my mind set on say, Carne Asada, and end up with say a Mole Torta ($6.75):

Though smaller in circumference than the "usual" torta, it makes up for it in height! To date this has been the best Torta that I've had at La Torta. Filled with moist shredded chicken in a mild chili based sauce; slightly spicy, very moist, and seasoned well. The roll which is baked in-house, was a bit on the dry side and the "Home Fries" tasted of stale oil. Pay attention to them "fries…."

On the following Saturday I arrived at the College location right outside of San Diego State University, just as the "rolls" were finished, and got a fresh one, with my ~~Carne Asada~~, ummm ooops, Chipotle Chicken Torta($6.75):

Again the menu got the better of me and I ordered this. Notice the "home fries" this time; guess they got them from a different home. They're totally different from the ones on my previous visit! The roll was nice and hot, toasted and crusty on the outside, and soft and doughy on the inside. The chicken was, bleh, tasted like shredded chicken with hot sauce, sure didn't have any "chipotle"(smokey jalapeno) taste. I did have alot of avocado on this sandwich which really tasted nice and creamy.

Now that SDSU is back in session, I don't dare go back to the College location and "parking hell". So now that summer is over, I switch to the suddenly laid back Pacific Beach location, this time with the Missus in tow:

As soon as she saw the menu she told me "I don't liiike it, too many choices!" "But they have pictures!" "Really now, how many different kind of tortas can there be?" Yes, too many choices are a bit of a problem, you should see her in Vietnamese Restaurants…"how 'bout number 190, please…."

She finally settled on the Jalapeno Chicken torta with no cheese ($6.75):

This basically was a grilled chicken sandwich with chopped jalapenos, no biggy really! Needless to say the Missus was not impressed. She did like the warm and toasted roll. She also enjoyed the potatoes, though we found that you better eat them fast, they got soggy real fast. But as a whole, no big deal. So what did I get? Well I finally got that Carne Asada Torta ($6.95):

The "Carne Asada" here tasted like thin sliced rib eye or a similiar cut, lightly seasoned, on a nicely toasted roll. I enjoyed the sandwich except for the cheddar cheese; I'd appreciated some other more creamy cheese, maybe provolone or something similiar. Hey a Philly Cheesesteak Torta sounds might good!

Some notes on La Torta; most Torta's come with "The Works", that would be lettuce, tomato, and onion. Most also have a pretty generous amount of avocado. The food can vary wildly and are pretty pricey as Torta's are concerned, from $6.50 to $7.75. But at least they come with some type of "fries". So if you've got a hankering for some almost Gringo style Torta's, give La Torta a try!

La Torta
5854 Montezuma Road
San Diego, CA 92115

4864 Cass St
San Diego, CA 92109

yoso-nosey: Where the Dim Sum Starts

September 20, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

As Elmo and Reid both noted, it seems like everyone has been eating Dim Sum over the last week or so. What I also noticed was that we each have our "standard bearer", that is the dish that serves as the basis for judging whether a specific restaurant serves "good" or "bad" Dim Sum. So, I’d like to see what your baseline Dim Sum dish is:

The survey has closed – results are here.

Feel free to comment away..

BTW, I did leave Siu Mai out, sorry my mistake – you can vote for it as "Other"

I’ll close out the poll on Sept 30th!

China Max – This Time it’s Dim sum

September 19, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

I know I’ve done China Max already. In fact, China Max was my first post back on May 26th, almost 4 months ago. We ended up at China Max because of a terrible visit to our favorite Dim Sum restaurant Emerald which I’ll post in the near future.

Because that visit did not satisfy our craving, we needed to get some Dim Sum ASAP. I really wasn’t in the mood for the hustle and bustle and Darwinist tendencies that are displayed in a "cart-style" Dim Sum restaurant, so this left China Max as our only choice.

I had tried the Dim Sum at China Max on a previous visit, and had not been overly impressed. All the items were very well presented, but I thought that the flavoring of the Dim Sum was very mild and bland. We entered the restaurant hoping that this visit would be more successful than our last Dim Sum experience. At China Max you order your Dim Sum by checking off items on a sheet of paper. You can make your choices by using the colorful menu as your guide (ooooh pictures!!!). We made our selections and waited:

The first item to arrive was the Taro Gok. When we opened up the taro we noticed nice chunks of pork and the nice and light exterior. There was a problem with this, though; it was lukewarm, almost cold. Served in this manner the dish is most unpalatable. The Missus would not stand for this! She called the Waiter over and explained the situation; the Waiter very nicely insisted that this is the way this is served. Of course my Wife would not stand for that! I could see her hand starting to grip her chopstick; in other words if the Waiter kept up this line of BS, he’d be leaving the table with a pair of chopsticks sticking out of his neck. Luckily, for his sake he decided to replace this dish and all was well.

The Salt and Pepper Squid were next:

Slices of squid are battered and fried, then fried again with garlic, chilies, and pepper. Though some of the pieces were burned to a black, this dish was good. The squid was tender and the seasoning was perfect.

The Shark Fin dumpling were next:

These dumplings were stuffed with bean thread, Krab, and other goodies. As with most items here, the taste was fairly mild, but in this case it worked perfectly! You could taste all of the ingredients. My only gripe is that the wrappers were a bit dried out, but the filling was really nice and moist.

Next up, my Wife’s favorite. Steamed sticky rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf:

This is one of The Missus’s "baseline" dishes, along with the taro. This version had a generous amount of pork, along with an egg yolk and lup cheong. The flavoring had permeated the rice so that it was completely seasoned though very mild in taste. About this time our replacement Taro Gok was brought to the table. This time it was steaming hot, with large chunks of pork. And not a trace of oil! There was a bit of bitterness from the taro, but as a whole it was very light and good.

Next up was what I was waiting for; the Pan Fried Chive Dumplings:

The wrapper of these dumplings were nice and crusty with a little bit off pull. The dumplings were stuffed with alot of chive and shrimp. The chives were perfect, not bitter in the least bit. I chowed these down in a minute!

The Fried Seaweed rolls were next:

Two of the rolls were badly burnt, and thus bitter. At this point we didn’t feel like complaining any more so we just left these alone.

The last dish was Cheong Fun with shrimp:

These were stuffed with large shrimp, and the "noodle" was prepared and cooked perfectly. There was just the right amount of "pull" in the noodle. If I were to have one complaint about this dish, it would be that there was not enough "sauce" provided, what little there was tasted nicely sweet and salty. A very good dish otherwise.

If I were to use one word to describe the Dim Sum at China Max, it would be "light". All the dishes are pretty mild in flavor, and not oily in the least bit. Our lunch set us back $32, not bad at all! Other than the burnt Fried Seaweed Roll and the Taro Gok "blip" the dishes were good enough for a return Dim Sum visit in the future.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante

September 18, 2005 mmm-yoso Salvadoran Restaurants

*** A short update can be found here. And another post with updated prices can be found here.

One evening while driving on University we noticed this Salvadoran Restaurant, occupying the shell of what probably was a Pizza Hut, or some similar business:

So this morning instead of heading down to El Salvadoreno we decided to give El Salvador a shot. It really didn't look very promising at first, the windows of the restaurant noted items like Nachos and taco's, not quite what I thought of as Salvadoran food. After a brief discussion we entered the Restaurant.

The first thing I noticed was that the menu consisted of two parts; the left side listed typical Mexican fare, such as burrito's, taco's, and chips. The right side listed the Salvadoran items, which is what we came here for. The dining room was a bit odd, especially since 5-6 arcade games lined one wall, the plastic parrots and such gave the place a bit of a kitchsy flavor. After speaking to the very helpful Young Lady, the Missus started ordering, and didn't stop for a while. The Waitress kept giving me looks, sort of indicating if we were sure we wanted all of this. I know better than to stop my Wife when she's on an "ordering tear".

As is the usual the curtido and hot sauce was delivered, along with some "blah" chips. It really didn't look like a good start.

Within minutes the Pupusas were delivered. I'd ordered 2 combination pupusas; pork, cheese, and bean($1.75/ea), and the Missus ordered a potato pupusa ($1.50).

The pupusas were very good, with a pretty large amount of filling. The Missus really enjoyed her potato pupusa. The curtido was nice and fresh, though not as "pickled" as the curtido at El Salvadoreno, the salsa roja was routine, and nothing special. I like the filling here at El Salvador better than Salvadoreno, though the exterior of these were not as good and crunchy as those at El Salvadoreno. These were also a bit smaller, but still delicious!

Our Tamal de Elote Frito con Crema (Corn tamale with cream $1.95) was delivered next:

This was semi dense sweet corn tamale. A bit too sweet for me, but with a nice gritty texture, it was served with Mexican sour cream. I kinda wished that this was served after our meal, because it seemed more of a dessert. Think sweet cornbread, without butter, and you've got the taste.

Our Empanadas de Leche ($2.95) was served next:

Three lovely fried pastries were served, they were, without a doubt delici-yoso! The crispy and golden brown exterior guarded the creamy custard-like interior just waiting to ooze out! To me the pastry had a very familiar banana-like taste. I found out later that plantains were used in the dough. These were a very nice treat.

Up last we were served the Tamales de Gallina ($1.75):

This chicken tamale was served in a banana leaf. The reason this was served last was that it took about 15 minutes to prepare. I really don't care much for tamales, but my tamale loving wife had ordered, so we got this. And let me just say, this was wonderful! The flavor and fragrance of the banana leaf had permeated the masa and chicken, giving it a wonderful "green" taste. Much like collard greens or the luau leaf in lau lau, the slightly bitter and sweet richness made this a very revelatory dish. The tamale was very moist and the chicken was tasty and beyond fork tender. I could eat this quite often.

So all of this with a glass of Horchata (watered down) and a Passion fruit drink (refreshing), came out to about 18 bucks! Talk about a bargain. I can't wait to come back and have another tamale and maybe the Sopa De Pata (Beef Shank Soup) which looked very delici-yoso!

Some notes; nobody, but nobody ordered any Mexican food while we were here, so I'm guessing that it's probably better to stay with the Salvadoran food. The timing of our dishes were kind of strange, the sweet dishes were served before the savory, probably due to the amount of time it takes to prepare the tamale. The Gal who took our order and was our Waitress was very, very nice and helpful. She was also very funny; when she delivered our Chicken Tamale, she told us "I'll have your last two dishes ready in a few minutes", when we looked up jaws agape, she laughed and said "just kidding…." After our meal, I mentioned to the Missus that the Pork Tamale might taste a bit like lau lau, she went up and spoke to this same Gal, who described the taste and texture to her, so it looks like I'm trying that next time as well.

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego – From Nijiya Market

September 17, 2005 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Markets & Grocers

Today while shopping for ingredients for Sukiyaki at Nijiya Market I noticed quite a few "Local Kine Stuffs". Luckily, I had my camera, and took a few photo's of the "stuffs".

One of the most important "local" cooking ingredient for me is 'Alaea, a red/orange sea salt:

From what little I can remember; this type of unprocessed seas salt is mixed with red clay which enriches it with ferrous oxide. The Hawaiians used to reserve it for important feasts and ceremonies, and the salt was said to hold special medicinal properties. The salt has a mellower salty taste, with a touch of sweetness. This is an indispensable ingredient for my Kalua Pork and Poke. Alaea also adds a nice flavor to steaks, and grilled meats. The price at Nijiya is quite high, and I'll usually pick mine up at Marukai, but it's good to know that I can get some if I'm in a pinch.

Hawaiian (sea) Salt is also sold at Nijiya:

And there's actually two brands available, "Kama'aina" and "Old Time". I've never used Kama'aina brand, and have always used Old Time; don't ask me why – it's just brand loyalty. In the 1800's salt provided income to the Hawaiians. If you're interested in a Food Anthropologists take on salt, or Hawaii's Culinary Heritage, Rachel Lauden has a interesting book called The Food of Paradise.

In the "snack" isle I found two items of interest. The first were the boxes of Kauai Kookie:

I've actually started to see this in other Asian Markets in the area. I'm really not much on sweets, so this didn't make much of an impression. The other item did though:

I was amazed! They actually had Diamond Bakery Saloon Pilot and Soda Crackers. Diamond Bakery was founded in Hawaii in 1921, and is probably the only company that still makes Saloon Pilot crackers; large, round crackers which I understand was based on Hardtack and sea biscuits. Ah, Diamond Bakery Saloon Pilots, the sweeter Cream Crackers, and the crispy Soda Crackers, were staples of my "small kid time", back home. These soda crackers are not as light and crisp as the standard saltines that most are used to, but thicker, and better designed to withstand the humidity. I'm sure most kids from Hawaii would remember sucking and chewing on Soda Crackers and mushing them up in your mouth, calling your Mom or some other victim, opening your mouth to show the world its contents!!! I didn't buy any because of the price. And frankly, a case of crackers would probably last me a decade; I'm better off buying the single packages from Marukai, but the memories were nice.

One final little story that I'm sure some will relate to. Soda crackers and 7-up was one of the universal treatments for Gastrointestinal ailments (I'd put it in simpler terms, but it would be kinda gross) when I was growing up. 7-up, or any carbonated beverage was not the norm in the household of my youth, so I'd actually not feel so bad when I got sick, since then I'd be able to drink some "soda". Another "special" elixir of my youth was 7-up with a special "medicine", which was the treatment for chest colds and such. Well I never found out what the medicine was, but it sure made me feel nice and warm, and most of all made me sleep comfortably. Fast forward about a decade. While at a party, a friend of mine hands me this "sissy-drink", telling me to try and taste this, that it's not really half bad. So I take a sip, and something goes off in my head. This really tastes familiar….then "Damn, this is my medicine-drink"!!! So I asked them what is it that I'm drinking. It was Southern Comfort and 7-up! Tasted terrible, but exactly like my medicine. It's really funny if you knew my Mom. She was a a complete teetotaler, and allergic to alcohol. How she figured this would work was beyond me. But it sure worked, I guess…..

Sang Dao

September 15, 2005 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

*** Sang Dao has moved, and updated post can be found here.

I've been keeping my ears and eyes open for a good Thai/Laotian Restaurant here in San Diego, and have been given a few leads. Sang Dao had been recommended to me by a friend. So here we are at the dusty East end of National Avenue in Logan Heights:

Sang Dao is located next to Muang Laos Market #1, across the street from a 99 cent Chinese Food restaurant. The bars on all the doors and windows tell you what kind of neighborhood you're in, but this is where you sometimes find the best food. Enter the restaurant and you immediately know it's a real "Family" business; at a table in the back people are chatting, teenagers are watching television, and the youngsters are playing catch in the middle of the restaurant.

As we sat, I noticed the comprehensive condiment tray with everything from the standard Sriracha to shrimp paste; so far so good. A very serious, stoic, Young Lady took our order, and soon we could smell the garlic in the air, and the sound of a spatula stirring a wok!

The first dish served was the Drunken Noodles with Shrimp ($5.95):

The shrimp were fresh and tasty, the heat was very nice, and the noodles were cooked well. We also enjoyed the Chinese Broccoli in the dish. To us the dish was much too "wet", and lacked flavor beyond the heat. There seemed to be a good amount of garlic, but we really couldn't taste it, a bit more sweetness would have made this dish much more enjoyable. As we were eating the noodles the Spicy Catfish was delivered ($6.95):

The Missus had ordered this and thought it was pretty good. I however thought that it was too oily and muddy tasting. The dish featured slices of catfish that were fried, than stir fried with a sauce, I could make out the taste of galangal, but not enough to cancel out the muddy taste. Overall we thought this dish was the weakest.

Our Beef Salad (Yum Nua- $5.95) was served next:

This dish was delici-yoso, and easily the best dish of the evening. The dish had a nice, sweet, spicy, salty, and sour flavor. The beef was cooked to perfection, and was not so hot as to start cooking/wilting the vegetables. A very balanced, very nice plate. One thing is that the "appetizer/salad sin" was committed here. That is, the salad was served after some of the main courses. Didn't matter much with us, we polished this one off.

The Spicy Fried Rice with Chicken ($6.95) was served next, as you can tell, we were on our "reverse-Adkins" tonight:

Now I ate almost the whole plate, the Missus only had a few spoonfuls, she thought the taste of shrimp paste over-powered everything, she's also not a fan of dark meat chicken, which was present here. I thought it was good, not great, but good. Yes, there was alot of shrimp paste, but I enjoyed the spiciness, saltiness, and thought the green onions added nice flavor. I think a bit of lime might have balanced out the dish a bit more.

Overall, I thought that this was really a good "home-cooked" meal. The food had that "homey" feel, and if thought of in that way, it was not bad at all. Also, the prices are really good by San Diego standards. The other thing I totally forgot was to order Larb, which is probably the best known of Laotian dishes. During the whole meal we were the only customers in the Restaurant. Service was efficient and fast, food is simple and very "home-style".

Sang Dao
4212 National Avenue
San Diego, CA 92113

Open Tues-Sun 10AM-8PM