mmm-yoso – Page 81 – 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.

2024 Rose Parade float Road Test #3, breakfast at All That ‘N Dim Sum

September 6, 2023 Cathy Dim Sum, Festivals & Events, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk is currently busy and Cathy is writing today's post.

Link to 2024 Road Test #1

Link to 2024 Road Test #2

Another Road Test of mechanics and maneuverability for some floats which will be participating in the 2024 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade was held on the last Saturday of August at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale. We arrived here about 7 a.m. The Entry for Rotary International, "Clean Water, The Music of Life" was being tested with weight (people) onboard. You can see a rectangular slot at the front end of the 'keyboard'-that is where the 'Spotter' for the float will be watching for traffic and hazards during the parade. He or she will be communicating with the driver, who only looks down and follows the 'Rose Colored Line' painted on the street.
The entry by the City of Alhambra, "Celebrating the Year of the Dragon"was tested in its full open position.
But every float has a maximum height and width it must be able to collapse down to so it can proceed along the Parade Route. The doorway of the decorating barn is that maximum size.

"Chimes of Liberty Protecting Our Future" is the 2024 entry by the Fraternal Order of Elks, a Service Organization.
This detailed float will certainly be an eye catcher! You might notice the hands are missing from the Fife and Drum Corps- the faces as well as the hand flesh tones are being decorated with various spice blends/mixes by professionals (not us volunteers).
Lutheran Hour Ministries entry, "Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord" passed its third mechanics and maneuverability test and is ready to be decorated beginning on December 2. You can see the rectangular slot for the 'Spotter' in this photo.

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Following taking photos, The Mister and I headed South on Irwindale Avenue, (passing Portos) and He started looking for Dim Sum via his phone. All That 'N Dim Sum opened at 8 a.m.! Siri directed us. It wasn't very far past the multiple places cc and I visited last year following the 2023 Rose Parade Road Test #2.

Step inside, order and pay. We were directed to a table and soon enough, our orders were delivered.
Pretty much a standard first time order for us: Har Gow ($3.99), Shumai ($3.99), Crescent dumplings ($3.59) and egg tarts ($3.59) were brought out first. Fresh and warm, great flavors. The soup dumplings ($7.99) took a little longer and were steaming hot. (I took the photo before asking for a spoon, but there was no leakage) quite a bit of soup and a thin dumpling skin). Tasty.

There were utensils in the drawer under the tabletop-but no spoons. Tea was $1 each (so, one green and one oolong) and you could get more hot (as well as chilled) water at the counter.

All That ‘N Dim Sum 18518 E. Gale Ave Rowland Heights 91748 Open Mon, Wed-Th-Fri 9-5, Sat 8-5, Sun 8-4 (closed Tues) Website

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe

September 5, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling opened back in January and created a bit of a buzz. I know that "FOYs" SDJulie and RD both highly recommended the place. And Calvin, who lives fairly close by also liked the place, though he said that the Xiao Long Bao weren't always available. So, I decided to wait past the soft opening period before driving up to Scripps Poway Parkway in search of Ju Feng Yuan.

When I arrived, I cracked up, just a short while back this was Rooster Rice & Noodles! Well, they didn't last too long did they?

Ju Feng Yuan 01

I had heard that the place gets a bit busy so I told Calvin to meet me there right when they opened. I arrived ten minutes before opening and Calvin parked and walked on over a few minutes later.

Ju Feng Yuan 02

Except for the center seating area, the interior is fairly austere and simple….they also filled up fast.

Ju Feng Yuan 03

The menu and ordering is done by QR code. The menu is a mish mash of various regional dishes ranging from la zi ji to niu rou chuan, as well "ABCDE" type favorites like fried rice and orange chicken!

I had really wanted to try the Jiaozi, but Calvin was looking forward to the XLB, so I figured I'd get that on my next visit.

We started with the Shrimp and Pork Wonton in Chili Oil.

Ju Feng Yuan 04

I liked the wrappers, which had a nice pull, but as still tender. I also enjoyed the large pieces of shrimp on the won ton; you could really make out the flavor of the shrimp. The filling was moist with a bit heft to it. The "chili oil" was short on chili and too heavy handed in the black vinegar department….it's usually the opposite way around, but here, it was way too sour.

After trying out those colorful multiflavored XLB at places like Dian Shui Lou in Taipei I'm of the mind that it's kind of a gimmick, Just give me good Pork XLB any day of the week.

Ju Feng Yuan 05 Ju Feng Yuan 06 Of course we're talking about good pork XLB. This was basically, meh…. The wrappers were too thick, there wasn't enough "soup" in the dumplings, and the pork filling was tough.

I sent my friend "YZ" who is from Shanghai and is even more picky about XLB then I am and she basically said "that looks too dry, the wrappers too thick, I bet it doesn't have enough soup?" Correct on all counts.

My two favorite dishes were not the dumplings.

I enjoyed the String Beans.

Ju Feng Yuan 07

Nicely stir fried, with a pleasant mild crunch, a bit of fermented black bean and garlic to add savory-pungent tones. This was quite good.

And the Garlic Spareribs, which were more like a good Salt and Pepper Spareribs.

Ju Feng Yuan 08

Nice black pepper, perfectly seasoned, hints of garlic, crisp outside, fairly moist meat, great for gnawing on the bones.

Overall, this was a nice lunch. It was interesting to see what folks were getting….from the young Asian hipsters with the signature XLB and tomato beef noodle soup, to the folks who looked like they worked in the area getting won ton soup, orange chicken, and what looked like pineapple fried rice?

I of course had to return to try the jiaozi…..but, I guess because of the distance, it took a couple of months before I returned. Again, I got to the shop before they opened and just sauntered in when that sign lit up. I was alone this time so ordering was easy….except, when I placed my order, they were out of the Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi. Even though I like to have the baseline standard, it was easy enough to order the Shrimp, Pork, and Chive version. Finding out that my next three choices were also out (no niu rou chuan!!!! no smacked cucumbers!!!) was kind of a bummer, but I found something to order.

As for the jiaozi.

Ju Feng Yuan 10 Ju Feng Yuan 11 It was good. I liked the wrapper, which was tender, with a bit of heft, and a nice al dente pull to it. The filling was also nicely seasoned, more of a course chop with large pieces of tender, briny-sweet shrimp. There were perhaps a bit too much Chinese chives in this, but overall no complaints. I did not care for the dipping sauce that came with the jiaozi, it had sweet tones I didn't care for. I just ended up using the black vinegar provided on the table.

As for my other dish. Well, I chose the Eggplant with Garlic Sauce.

Ju Feng Yuan 09

Well, the eggplant was nicely cooked, initially firm, but then giving way to molten melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The sauce however, was overly sweet, overpowering every other flavor and there was a certain gloppiness to the dish I didn't care for. I could only finish a couple of bites. Ju Feng Yuan 12

Still, it was great to finally have some decent jiaozi in the area. The problem being the distance from home. I wish it was closer to work/home Still, I finally have a place that I can take the Missus to for Jiaozi, if She'll let me.

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Mon, Wed – Fri 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm
Sat – Sun 1130am – 330pm, 430pm – 9pm

Thanks for the recommendations RD and Julie!

Ju Feng Yuan 13

Monday Meaderings – Tuetano Taqueria Moving, Sunny Noodle is Now Spicy Noodle, and O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen is Now Otori Yakitori

September 4, 2023 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

Hope everyone is having a nice Labor Day!

Just a quick post with updates today. So here goes….

Sunny Noodle is Now Spicy Noodle:

**** You can find a post on Sunny Noodle here.

Driving on Clairemont Mesa I noticed a sign over what was Sunny Noodle.

Man, didn’t they just open at the end of December last year? Though the place uses the website for Sunny Noodle and that four-lettered website still has it listed under Sunny Noodle as well? I was told new owners, but am not in any rush to check the place out.

8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

**** Well Otori didn’t last very long. This location is soon to be something named Moon Night

O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen is Now Otori Yakitori:

I saw this while driving back from doing my Saturday shopping at Nijiya.

Here’s another fairly quick name change! The place just opened in January. Based on my visits, I can’t say I’m not surprised. I did stop by and took a look at the menu.

Menu also looks pretty much the same. I’m wondering if there’s some story here?

Anyway, Otori is not open for lunch, just dinner starting at 430pm.

4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Tuetano Taqueria Moving:

**** Tuetano moved to Chula Vista and then closed

A couple of weeks back, the Missus and I made a revisit to Taqueria Tuetano and I started putting a post together. I went to Tuetano’s Instagram page and was shocked at what I read.

Do you see it? “Moving to Chula Vista soon“! Just about a day later “FOY” Junichi wrote a comment on my Tuetano post mentioning the move as well!

My sources tell me it was a problem with the landlord…..stay tuned!

This is quite sad since the arrival of Tuetano in the Urban Market really highlighted a change in direction for Old Town for me.

Anyway, here are some photos of what we ate at Tuetano a few weeks back. I did notice that Mar Rustico did not have any menu options and there was only one person working front of house during our visit.

Tuetano RV 02

Tuetano RV 03

In case you’re wanting to get one last meal before they move, my understanding is that they will be open for a few more weeks.

Tuetano RV 01

Thanks for the update Junichi!

Tuetano Taqueria
2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110

Paris – Aux Crus de Bourgogne

September 3, 2023 mmm-yoso France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

We had a nice little break after our visit to the Louvre and having some ramen. Checking email, taking a short nap, and heading to the corner Carrefour for some coffee pods. This being winter, the night came on like a curtain being dropped and there was a chill in the air. We don't get this in San Diego, and especially not in Hawaii, so it was kind of fun to experience. We decided to head on over to an area we don't really go to a lot, in the 8th Arrondissement, Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It had been a while since we'd been in this area, but thought that visiting during the Christmas season would be fun and it was!

And with all the famous brands and shops along the street, you knew there had to be some rather flamboyantly decorations, right? Like the one on the Dior shop.

Visiting Europe during the Christmas season always puts us in "the mood".

And before you knew it, we were at Place de la Concorde.

When we had first arrived in Paris, before heading off to Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Toulouse, I had mentioned that the Tuileries Christmas Market was being set-up. Well, by now things were in full swing and we stopped on by.

We'd by stopping by a couple more times during our stay.

And of course, I couldn't resist getting a shot of the Louvre Pyramid at night.

As for dinner? Well, there's an interesting story about that. While looking thru various boards and such….it seems like all the Parisian Chowhounders had found a home on the Hungry Onion's France Page. And there was a familiar name mentioned. A place we've passed many times during our stays near Rue Montorgueil, Aux Crus de Bourgogne.

This Bistro, like the name mentions specializes in the cuisine of Bourgogne…..Burgundy. We really enjoyed our time in Burgundy and of course one of the reasons was the hearty cuisine! As for Aux Crus de Bourgogne, well, due to the location and looking over the menu, I thought it to be somewhat of a tourist restaurant.

Looking over the menu posted outside of the restaurant, we saw dishes we were interested in…….so we walked in and got a table on the second floor

Service was professional and quite "Paris" if you know what I mean. We decided to order mostly entrées and specials which really appealed to us.

The baguette came with rillette, which was quite good.

First up was the Mushroom Cream with Poached Egg.

Rich and creamy, quite woodsy-earthy, with a hint of sweetness. The egg was poached beautifully. We almost finished all the baguette with this one dish!

Of course, we had to have some escargot.

The Missus had never enjoyed escargot until that first dinner in Dijon. From that point on She was sold! But of course you had to choose your spots for this. The version here was solid, firm but not hard, could have used perhaps more garlic, but it had a sufficient amount of olive oil and such that it paired well with (even more) bread.

The final two dishes came arrived together. The special of mushroom with Vol-au-vent and another specialty of Burgundy, Oeufs en Meurette, eggs poached in red wine.

The Oeufs en Meurette were solid, if not great. The sauce was quite rich, though it had a tinge of bitterness. The eggs, like the other dish was poached perfectly, so rich and creamy. We missed the lardons that were no included in this version.

The Vol-au-vent was probably our favorite dish on the evening.

The rich, earthy mushroom sauce combined with the buttery-crisp "case" of puff pastry, which held up well throughout the meal. We could even make out garlic tones in this.

We were surprised at how much we enjoyed this meal and I ended up making reservations for later during our stay.

Aux Crus de Bourgogne
3 Rue Bachaumont
75002 Paris, France

This was such a pleasant surprise. And based on my walking for the day, I think I earned it, right?

Paris – Revisits to the Louvre and Hakata Choten (Les Halles)

September 2, 2023 mmm-yoso France, Japanese Restaurants, Paris, France, Ramen, Travel

Ah yes, the Louvre, the largest museum in the world at 652,300 square feet with over 35,000 pieces of art on display. It can be is quite intimidating. There's just no way to see "everything" in one visit and if you even tried this, would you even remember what you saw? We had been to the Louvre twice over the years and really wanted to visit yet again. We always get our tickets online, which makes things much easier and do either an early or late visit. On this visit, I was purchasing our tickets and noticed that there was a "Visitor's Trail" of the Louvre's Masterpieces on the website. Why hadn't I noticed that before?

I bookmarked the page in my phone. And since we had pocket wifi, I just followed the trail.

It all started with which entrance to take with turn by turn instructions and details of the masterpiece.

As well as some other historical tidbits. For instance the Salle des Cariatides which was both used as a ballroom and court of justice. There's also this tidbit on the website:

"And it was here, in 1572, that Marguerite de Valois, the famous ‘Queen Margot’, married Henri de Navarre, the future King Henri IV. Only a few days later, on 24 August, Protestant nobles who had attended the wedding were assassinated in the Louvre in the notorious Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre."

Of course, there are some works need no introduction…..

That's Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman by Boticelli below.

And of course, the Grand Gallerie.

I was a bit concerned about our next stop expecting a long line…..

But the line for "you know who"……wasn't very long at all. I guess one of the benefits of getting in right when things open.

Here's Michelangelo's the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave.

Doing this walk made me take a closer look at the pieces. For instance, I always wondered why this was called Nymph with a Scorpion.

I'd just take a look at the sculpture from the angle above.

This time, I took a walk around the work and it became very clear…..

After finishing off the walk, we headed on over to look at the Egyptian Collection.

There's a trail for that as well. I think we'll do that next time!

We had enjoyed the Louvre a lot more this time around and I think perhaps we may even do a private tour one of these days.

We strolled around the area near to the Bourse and window shopped along Galerie Vero Dodat one of the 21 covered passages in Paris, some of which I've posted on before.

Then we had to figure out what we wanted for lunch.

This was in December of last year and it was pretty chilly. We thought ramen would fit the bill and decided on a familiar spot that was on the way back to the apartment; Hakata Choten.

We got our usual, the Tonkotsu with Black Garlic and a Pork and Rice bowl.

The broth was a bit richer than what we had on our previous visit here which was nice. The tamago a bit over-cooked but nicely flavored. For some reason, I like the savory-sweet flavor that the black garlic oil adds to this bowl. The noodles were perfectly cooked on this visit as well.

The pork bowl was fine, there was quite a bit of rice in this. The rice was decently cooked, but there wasn't enough of a sauce nor pork to really balance out things.

Funny thing, on one of our previous visits to the Louvre we ended up at Hakata Choten as well, though it was the Opera location.

This was enough to warm us up for the rest of the walk back to our accommodations.

Hakata Choten Les Halles
16 Rue de la Grande Truanderie
75001 Paris, France

Where it was time for a nap!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kalei’s Kitchenette

August 30, 2023 mmm-yoso Hawaiian Food, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Plate Lunch

A couple of months back I heard about a plate lunch place opening in Rancho Penasquitos named Kalei's Kitchenette. I noticed that the place opened at 10am, so I decided to take the drive on over and get there before the lunch crowds.

The shop is quite tiny with just a few indoor and outdoor tables and counter seating.

Kaleis 01

And the menu is quite concise as well with basically six items available not including poke bowls on the weekends and specials.

One thing that quickly caught my attention were the photos and the chef's story. He's a real local boy from Maui. What really grabbed me was the photo to the right of the story. The Chef, Andy Mangiduyos graduated from the same High School as my mom (many decades later of course), Lahainaluna!

Kaleis 03

Of the menu items, four of them can be made into a mixed plate, called "Kalei's Plate" ($17).

I decided to get the Huli Huli Chicken and Garlic Chicken to start things off. You can also choose your "sides", two of them for your order. Of course I got rice and mac salad.

Kaleis 04 Kaleis 05 The plate was quite heavy on the proteins. Personally, I liked having only one scoop rice as I will often tell the folks at turo-turo places to give me "half rice" these days.

The rice was cooked fine. The mac salad wasn't coated evenly and was quite bland.

The Garlic Chicken was the better of the two proteins as it was crunchy, much like Taiwanese "popcorn" chicken. Though I would have liked a heavier garlic flavor, it was seasoned decently, good salt and pepper and was far from bland.

Kaleis 06 Kaleis 07 I've yet to find decent Huli Huli Chicken outside of Hawaii and versions I've had here in San Diego have not been very good. Too much ketchup and sweetness to things. And while this version was better than what I'd had previously, it was still not my favorite. The chicken is supposedly marinated and smoked, but I really couldn't detect much smoke flavor. They tangy sourness of the sauce was a bit too much for me. The texture of the chicken was fine and the flesh was fairly moist.

That visit was back in July. I had meant to return, but the distance from work was a bit of a hinderance. Finally, I found a window of opportunity for a takeout revisit. This time I decided on the combo of the Teriyaki Beef and Kalua Pork. This felt even heftier than what I'd ordered before and upon opening…..

Kaleis 08 Kaleis 09 The mac salad, though a bit over-mayo'd was nicely seasoned this time around. I could make out hints of vinegar which really elevated it.

Man, look at all that beef and pork!

The teri beef was nicely marinated, though it was a thick and chewy cut. It didn't need the extra sauce on it as it had enough flavor. I used the leftovers of this to make a teri-beef sandwich for dinner!

Kaleis 10 Kaleis 11 I liked the kalua pork, it was moist and tender, not overly salty, with a decent smokiness to it. In fact, the Missus tried the leftovers and said it tasted familiar. Hmmm……. This is probably the best version I've had in San Diego.

I do wish Kalei's was a bit closer to home. But the distance is probably better for my waistline and cholesterol, right? The young lady working on both visit was very nice. The shop is small and other folks I know have complained about the wait time during peak periods, so that should be accounted for. As for the loco moco? Well, I'm saving that for another day!

Kalei’s Kitchenette
9926-F Carmel Mountain Rd.
San Diego, CA 92129
Currnt Hours:
Tues – Sat 10am – 6pm
Closed on Sundays and Mondays

Kaleis 12

Postscript: As you all probably know, there was a tragic event that occurred between my two visits and Andy (Kalei is Andy's son) being from Lahaina coordinated the transport of donated non-perishable items flown to Maui on Alaska Air. I loved seeing the HFS truck in the video on Kalei's Instagram page. They've currently paused the donations of supplies, but different options are noted on their Instagram page.

Roadtrip – Revisiting the Torrance Farmers’ Market and Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Westminster)

August 29, 2023 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Travel, Vietnamese Restaurants

We slept well after our dinner at Mountain House, we thought our room at the renovated Best Western wasn't bad, except for the terrible WiFi, but heck, we were here to relax, right?

We got up rather early (for a Saturday) since we had three stops in mind. The first being Porto's in West Covina, we used to go to the Buena Park location when I was doing work in OC and you can read all about Cathy's visits in her Rose Parade float posts. We just basically stop for two things the Missus wants, the dulce de leche cookies.

RT Portos

Next stop was a place we used to drive the 90 mile round trip to almost every Saturday when we lived in LA, the Torrance Farmers Market, which I've posted on several times already. Though it had been over ten years since our last visit! Sheesh, time sure does fly! We found parking where we've always have and was surprised to see that the Farmer's Market has grown a bit since the last time we were here!

Rt Torrance FM 01

We ended up buying quite a bit of produce and stuffs! Which was great since I was missing my usual Saturday shopping.

Rt Torrance FM 03

Torrance Certified Farmers' Market
2200 Crenshaw Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501
Saturday 8am – 1pm RT Canton 01

As for our last stop?

I mentioned that I had another place for Cha Ca Thang Long in my last post on Song Long. I had done a bit of research and the name Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ kept appearing.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall on Westminster Boulevard along with Stater Brothers, Seafood Paradise, a Shabu Shabu place, a Pho Shop, and a score of other businesses and homeless folk.

The place is known for their Cha Ca Thang Long and Chao (rice porridge).

It opens at 930am. We arrived at 945 and there was already a large party seated in the place.

RT Canton 02

An older couple run the place, the gentleman the front of house and the woman swings between the kitchen and the dining room.

We placed our orders and soon enough a large plate of herbs and veggies to accompany our Cha Ca arrived. The gentleman placed the plate on our table and I took a look noticing that there was a lot of brown and wilted produce on the plate.

RT Canton 03

This didn't seem like a good start. But a minute later, the woman came out of the kitchen and did her "rounds", quickly noticing the state of our plate, swooping in, and replacing it immediately. We didn't have to say a word! Good save!

RT Canton 04

Soon enough, all the other accoutrements made their way to our table.

RT Canton 05

RT Canton 06

And good lord, that mam nem was serious business…..whoa was did it smell potent.

The Cha Ca was quite lovely……

RT Canton 07

The portion sizes are quite generous, the fish very moist and tender. The seasoning is on point and that mam nem takes it to another level. Wish the onions were a bit more caramelized, but I didn't order this for the onions. The dill just helps to restore the palate while adding a citrusy-anise flavor to things.

RT Canton 08

We had seen another table order the Cha Gio, so we ordered that as well.

RT Canton 09 RT Canton 10 Man, these were super stuffed, full of porky goodness, hint of sweet- savory tones, and wrapped with rice paper. It was slightly more chewy than I prefer, but man, the overall package was much better than anything here is San Diego. This also heated up well in the air fryer!

As we walked out the Missus said to me, "looks like we have a new place for Cha Ca, huh? I think I want to come back here next week!" Whoa……

Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Cash only)
8550 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683

Well, we were two for two on this overnighter. As for returning the following week….well, we'd have to wait an additional week for returning!

RT Canton 11

Thanks for stopping by!

EE Nami Revisted

August 28, 2023 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

The Missus wanted to have dinner at EE Nami again recently. So, we decided to make a date night out of it. This was last minute, so we made sure to get to the restaurant 15 minutes before opening. It was a good thing too since there was only two tables without "reserved" signs on them.

The Missus was really craving the special that we had on our previous dinners, Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Nigiri. And I had really enjoyed the Ankimo with Smoked Takuan. Unfortunately, both of these items are no longer offered. In fact, there was only one special on the menu.

EE Nami Rev 06

So, we looked over the menu and decided on what we wanted to order.

We started with what is listed on the menu as "Salted Squid Offal" – aka Shiokara ($7.50). There's a certain fusion-ny accommodation of some of the dish at EE Nami and I'm glad this dish wasn't made that way.

EE Nami Rev 01

This very funky, with wonderful assertive briny-savory tones that almost fakes your tastebuds into thinking there's a sweet component to things. This dish comes with a footnote on the menu that states:

"this dish has a strong flavor"

Well, I'm glad that in this case it was a true statement!

Next up was the one special on the menu; the Spicy Marinated Octopus and Tomato ($8.50).

EE Nami Rev 02

It should have read salty tako with wonderful, fruity tomatoes. The octopus was fairly tender, but not spicy in the least, but very salty. The tomatoes were sweet, with that wonderful "taste of sunshine".

And like the octopus, we didn't find the Spicy Fried Chicken ($11.50) to be spicy at all, at least not by our standards.

EE Nami Rev 03

The sauce is supposedly made with both doubianjang and gochujang and did taste fairly beany, but it really didn't bring much to the dish. Like I mentioned before, some of the menu items portion sizes are quite "American" and it seems like the chicken dishes here are like that. The chicken was very crispy and moist. The Missus said She would have rather just had the chicken without the sauce as it was also nicely seasoned as well. I guess next time…..

And of course, we got the Fillet Tonkatsu ($22.50).

EE Nami Rev 04

Which was good as ever; crisp panko breading, moist, and tender. As I've also mentioned before, this should be eaten at the restaurant, we could tell that the meat started drying out and getting firm rather quickly. I'd get the fillet for inhouse and the loin for takeout. Of course we loved the refreshing cabbage between bites.

As a whole EE Nami was a nice meal, service was quite attentive on this visit and I'm sure we'll be back again soon.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours
Wed – Sun 1130am – 2pm, 530pm – 10pm

Paris – Le Bouledogue

August 27, 2023 mmm-yoso France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

After spending our first full day in Paris, we had reservations for dinner at a place recommended by an acquaintance of mine. They often stay in the Marais and enjoy a brasserie named Le Bouledogue. We were staying just a few blocks away so the nice walk down to Rue Rambuteau was quite easy for us.

The interior of the restaurant is quite charming and the brasserie's namesake is "Elliot" who was owned by the previous owner of this establishment. Service was interesting, the gentleman running things seemed almost irritated and angry at something. The woman who was our Server was very nice and friendly.

I'm sure this place is quite popular. It was 7pm on a Tuesday night and every table was reserved!

The menu is full of "classics" which made us quite happy. We placed our order and soon enough dishes started arriving.

Of course we had to get the Bone Marrow (11,5€). We were quite astounded at the portion size!

The bread provided was wonderful. The nice Server told us it was from the famous boulangerie Poilâne. So, another place to add to our list to check out. We found the bone marrow to be under roasted. In fact, the last of it was on the bloody side and metallic in flavor.

Another standard for me; Beef Tartare (27€), I was a bit concerned about the price, but like the bone marrow, the portion size was quite large.

Goodness, this was indeed a "plat principal"! The frites were on the soggy side, but as with potatoes outside the states, the interior was creamy and yielded a nice, almost sweet flavor. The greens were bitter, yet quite refreshing. The tartare was quite mild in flavor, I like a bit more Dijon, capers, and cornichons in mine, to add pungency and contrast. The cut was also more coarse than I prefer, thus making this a bit more chewy than I prefer.

The Missus is a fan of Andouillette, having enjoyed the versions we've had in Lyon and other places in France. So She ordered that (25€) as Her main.

Again the greens and frites were quite good. That Andouillette was quite, well, rotund, literally bursting at the seams. This was quite funky, shades of lampredotto! The tripe was quite thick and chewy, but this was not bad overall.

As we were dining, the tables filled up; about a 50-50 non-French to French speakers. Folks were being turned away at the doors. Seems like Le Bouledogue is quite a popular place indeed! For us, well, it seemed more about the portion sizes here.

Still, who wouldn't love Elliot?

Le Bouledogue
20 rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris France

Paris – Cimetière des Chiens and Chez Ajia

August 26, 2023 mmm-yoso France, Paris, France, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Travel

One of the great things about spending 2 whole weeks in Paris is that it gives us time to do a bit more exploring outside of the center of the city. We'd always been fascinated by cemeteries and had already visited Pere Lachaise twice on previous trips. On that subject, did you know that the oldest pet cemetery in Europe (it's often claimed to be the oldest in the world) Cimetière des Chiens, established in 1899, is located in the suburbs of Paris, right across the Seine from the 10th Arrondissement in Asnières-sur-Seine? I took a look at this web page, saw a familiar name, and convinced the Missus it would worth a morning visit.

So, there we were catching the metro after our morning croissant and coffee, ending up at the Mairie de Clichy metro station and then taking the 20 minute walk, crossing the Seine, and ending up at these gates.

Talk about a rather grand entrance! We arrived at just past the opening time of 10am, paid our €3.50 entrance fee and walked on in.

Right at the entrance is a statue of the famous rescue dog Barry (who is actually in the Natural History Museum of Bern).

The inscription on the plaque reads:

"He saved the lives of forty people. He was killed by the forty-first"

Though according to several sources Barry was retired to Bern, Switzerland to live out the rest of his years.

Lest you think it's just pooches interred here…..

There's even a cat mausoleum in the cemetery.

Some of the graves date back to when the cemetery was established. This one goes back to 1900!

This one is for the two pooches of a Princess.

And this one is for the one and only Rin Tin Tin….yes that Rin Tin Tin.

Still, it was the other tombstones that caught our attention. There were several folks in the cemetery tending graves of their beloved.

You can tell they were loved.

They give so much to us……..

I know we still talk about Sammy and Frankie everyday.

Sometimes when we travel, we're rushing from place to place, from event to event. Having some time to just stroll and think about how lucky we are and how blessed we are does one good and puts things into perspective.

Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques
4 Pont de Clichy
92600 Asnières-sur-Seine, France

We crossed the Seine and headed on back to out apartment. After a short break, we decided to head on out to do some "lèche-vitrine" ("window licking") the French term for window shopping. This took us down to the area around Rue de Rivoli. When it came time for lunch; the Missus, knowing we had dinner reservations at a Brasserie was craving some Asian food. I had an interesting place on my "list" named Chez Ajia, run by a husband and wife team, she is the chef and hails from Taiwan and her husband who is French runs the front of house.

We arrived just past 1pm and easily found a table. We found out that the nice gentleman taking our order is one of the owners; he was really friendly, spoke perfect English, and turned out to be quite entertaining; more on that later. The restaurant is what I would call "coffeehouse – cozy". What was interesting is that you are given a device with three buttons on it, like we have at many Korean restaurants here; to call for service or your check. The menu was full of basic Taiwanese "standards".

The Missus is always up for eggs, so we started with a basic Basil Omelette (10€).

This was like something you'd make at home, it could have used more salty – savory tones, the eggs were adequately fluffy.

We ordered the "Loh Bih" (16€) which had some of favorite side dishes.

The eggs were very tasty and the bean curd skin knots were nicely marinated. The pig ears were not seasoned enough and the smoked tofu and seaweed tasted like it came out of a package from 99 Ranch Market.

Meanwhile, the owner, I believe his name is Geoffrey came on over and started chatting with us. And frankly, this was the most memorable part of the meal. He asked us where we were from and we said San Diego…he then asked us where in San Diego and we said "Bay Park". He knew exactly where it was! You see, he spent a year in college at SDSU! And then for some reason we mentioned Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights. And he said he spent almost year nearby when going to the University. He asked us where about and we mentioned being near Colima Road at HK Plaza. He then said something that made us totally crack up – "so, you could smell the chou doufu then….." Yes, I guess the "scent of Shau Mei" extends all the way to Paris!

The last item of the meal was our favorite, the Guo Bao (11€).

The bao was on the gummy side; but the pork belly was nicely balanced in flavor, just enough sweet to even out the soy sauce, the meat was very tender with a nice savory porkiness to it.

It was a good way to end an interesting meal.

Yes, our first two meals back in Paris was Sichuan and now Taiwanese. Heck, we were spending two weeks here, why not eat like we live here, right?

Chez Ajia
4 Rue du Roi de Sicile
75004 Paris, France

Thanks for stopping by!