*** Hi everyone, I appreciate all the comments, and respect all of your opinions. I have always enjoyed the "real time" comments and interaction, and do my best to respect everyone’s opinions, that is why I don’t have moderation turned on, and other than a few "rules", I don’t delete comments. But in the last few minutes, I’ve had to delete a few profanity laced comments. With that in mind, I’ve decided to close comments on this post and I thought I’d let "Chef Alexandria" have the last word/comment. So let’s get back to eating, shall we? Thanks again for taking the time out to read, and comment on my humble little blog. And all of the really kind Emails. I really have no "agenda", maybe that is why many of my posts are not polished, I’m really just looking for a good meal(s), and the result is pretty much my food diary, and I’m always honored to have you visit.
One last item, a few quotes from an Email I received from a San Diego restaurant owner, that I think are insightful:
"this is a tough business and you can work yourself to the bone and still have the food not come out good…but of course they’re totally wrong to bash you for blogging your opinion. "
"it’s a brutal business which doesn’t always bring out the best in people."
So true……………
Our office is located in the basement, so we never really have a true bearing of what’s going on in the world around us unless we step out and into the building’s courtyard or rise like blinking moles into the sun. So during lunch today I became obsessed with having a Wor Won Ton Mein. I don’t know why, but I had to have one! So I left the office in the 80 degree heat and started walking to Hong Kong Restaurant in the blazing sun to get a Wor Won Ton Mein. Needless to say, by the time I hit 4th and University I had a pretty good sweat going on, and that Won Ton Mein didn’t look quite as appetizing. But by this time I had also passed all the "regulars" in Hillcrest; now I thought about Bread and Cie, but I could see that it was packed and I didn’t want to deal with that, so I turned around and saw Bambu Bistro:
So against my better judgment I stepped into this place, and up to the counter. there was a chalkboard with various lunch specials. The very "chipper" gal at the counter recommended the "Thai Burrito" so I ordered it. The funny thing was that there were no prices written on the board – turned out the lunch special was $8.00 – for this:
Notice the bright colors of the plate, the tablecloth, take notice of the bright and sunny store-front. Take notice of the brown-grey looking "burrito" and peanut sauce. The menu stated that the burrito was wrapped in a cilantro tortilla – does it look like a cilantro tortilla to you? Also, no scallions, as also stated in the menu. Oh well, taste will always prevail IMHO, so I took a bite of the burrito without the peanut sauce, and "BLANK", I mean truly a "blank", very bland, tasted like can chicken stir-fried with bean sprouts, there obviously was some kind of sauce in there, because my burrito "self-destructed" on the very first bite. The peanut sauce seemed just to be pureed peanut and some hot sauce like sambal….. Well, enough of that. the only other person in the restaurant during this time was eating a bowl of "pho’", very loosely defined as pho’. Was kinda small, and I checked the price $7.00! Posted on the counter was a picture of a Banh Mi, with the heading that was something like "The newest thing, blah, blah…". I’m afraid of what might happen to a Banh Mi (I didn’t see it on the menu) in the hands of a restaurant like this. And how much would they charge? like $7.00? Scary thought………
At that point I called it quits, the service had been good and friendly, but the food really needs alot of work if this place is to survive. To me this was the perfect example of "Con-Fusion" cuisine, tasteless and pointless. If somebody has been there, and there’s something I’m missing, by all means let me know. I usually will try a restaurant twice; but in this case it would seem to be pointless.
Bambu Bistro
3882 4th Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Baklava Watch over the last few days.
I turned it on at full blast and the stir fry was done in about 15 seconds. The Bean sprouts were fully cooked yet crunchy, and very tasty. The second dish was Chicken with Thai Basil. I had my "mise", and everything else ready. But it became obvious I wasn't ready for this. Everything happened so quickly, that the chicken became somewhat over-cooked! The chicken was still tender, really super tender, but some pieces were a bit scorched! I need to control temperature a little better next time. The dish was done in less than 5 minutes! This is the "real deal"….
that I ordered from Amazon.
