**** Sunny Noodle is now Spicy Noodle
Of course one of the first stops we made after returning from Hawaii was to Sizzling Pot King for takeout. While in the parking lot waiting, I noticed a newish restaurant in the strip mall named Sunny Noodle. I was a bit curious so I headed on over during a slow weekday to check the place out.
The place is spartan, though clean.
I noticed that ordering here is done strictly with QR codes, something that I've gotten used to in my travels.
Looking over the menu and the condiments, I made this out to be more Northern style Chinese. Though the menu had a bunch of liang cai, sort of Sichuan cold dishes, and items like yang rou chuanr, lamb skewers, even xiao long bao, which made things confusing. The young lady was very friendly, but when I asked about the region of China where the owners/chef was from she acted a bit coy and said, "it's North, Northern China." I tried to get some clarification, but that's basically all the info I got out of her.
I had basically seen variations of noodle soup and a couple of items that interested me. So, I went with the "House" Beef Noodle Soup($14.99).
The broth was clear and lacking in beefiness, was overly salty, and pretty "plain". The beef while a bit on the chewy side, had good flavor.
The noodle were hard rather than "springy".
Not quite what I enjoy in Beef Noodle Soup.
I had seen "Beef Wheat Cake" on the menu, which I took to be Xian Bing. When I asked if it was, the young lady seemed quite surprised. So, I ordered 2 at $1.50/piece.
You can tell one was pan fried a bit longer than the other. The crusts were hard and chewy; like a good amount of rice flour was used. The beef filling was very tasty though and a good dash of block vinegar helped things along. These were pretty small overall.
A couple of days after my meal, I heard that Candice had dropped by, so I sent her a text asking if she knew what region the owners were from. And to my surprise, it was Dōngběi! Well, maybe the lamb skewers…..but no suan cai, we still make several batches a year, and rice noodles for the soups, and what about the XLB? On the positive side, Candice identified two items she had eaten at Sunny Noodle and thought were decent. So I returned armed with that information.
Unfortunately, they were out of one of the recommended items, the Mixed Smoked Meat. They did however have the Spicy Beef Tripe ($8.99) which I would have never thought to have ordered in a Dongbei Cai restaurant.
This was by far the best item I had from Sunny Noodle. The tripe was light and crunchy, while it wasn't overly spicy. there was a nice refreshing component to the dish, along with all the wonderful cilantro that worked in perfect harmony.
In need of another dish, I went with the Leek-Pork-Shrimp Jiaozi. It's kind of funny, 12 dumplings for $14.99…..welcome to todays pricing where each dumpling costs almost a buck-and-a-quarter.
Actually, these were not bad, even though I got the Beef-onion instead of what I ordered.. The wrappers were a bit on the brittle side, in need of a bit more "pull". A couple of them had burst during the cooking process. This caused the fillings of the dumplings to become "waterlogged" during the boiling process.
The fillings, while a bit on the salty side were tender, juicy, and full of flavor if a bit on the salty side. The black vinegar helped balance everything out. Not bad.
My meals at Sunny Noodle were interesting; it's basically a hands-off business, you order via QR code, your food is dropped off along with the check, and then you pay. Actually, in these "days" of Covid, I don't mind that at all. I was the only customer in the shop during both of my visits, though there was a steady stream of takeout orders heading out the door.
I'm not sure if I'll return anytime soon, but it was nice trying someplace new for a change.
Sunny Noodle
8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Currrent Hours:
Daily 11am – 830pm
I actually wanted to check out the cathedral. Apparently, the oldest existing 
Which seemed to be a combination of charred and dried. The flavors were quite intense and the crunchy texture quite interesting. The ricotta gnudi was a nice mildly acidic-cheesy addition which added a textural contrast to the dish along with a good milkiness. It was the Missus's favorite item of the evening.
We found this to be on the bland side in spite of the Sherry Beurre Blanc, the Cardamom Phyllo was soggy when it hit the table and this was just a bunch of root vegetables in a bland sauce. Not quite worth the $32 for the dish.
It was a pleasant stop and we'd eat here again if in the area. And we saw Jean Pierre walk to the dining area and engage in a lively conversation with another gentleman……in full on French. The Missus and I loved it!
Man, this place was quite busy. The lines did move quickly though. The Missus bought some chocolates and a couple of bags of "elixirs" and we headed on out.
Well, to be more specific; it's about the staircase in the chapel. The construction of the Lorreto Chapel was completed in 1878. Unfortunately, due to some weird "oversight", there was no way to reach the choir loft which was 22 feet above. After many consultations the Sisters of Loretto were told that the only way to access the choir loft would be by ladder as a staircase would interfere with the design of the chapel. At wits end, the Sisters started praying to the 
dinner, She said, "I'd like some ramen…." So, my first thought was Menya of course. But then I remembered "FOY" Junichi's mention of enjoying having a bowl of ramen at Santouka. Santouka holds a special place in our hearts. We consider it to be the first "real" ramen spot to open in San Diego, which started what we call "San Diego's Ramen Renaissance" back in 2008. Over the years it's the 
Man, this was so much better than takeout. The noodles, which were the biggest issue with takeout was decently springy. Still not quite I recall it being in the "good old days", but much better.
There it was, Cliff Palace, I was actually here! Our Ranger was just like all the rest, so knowledgeable, first going over the safety protocols, we'd be using ladders to ascend….five in total. There were a couple of folks that struggled a bit, but for us it was pretty easy.
Petroglyph Point was the more interesting of the two and also the more strenuous. There were several tight squeezes, a couple of drops and some variations in terrain as well. The Missus was loving it.
And truth be told, I was actually enjoying this trail. All the changes in terrain and views kept me visually stimulated.
I thought this trail was easier than Petroglyph Point, but also less interesting. It was quite peaceful as we did not see another soul during our hike.
While the SYSCO crinkle cut fries weren't fried very well and quite soggy, the sandwich was not bad. The bread could have been toasted a bit more, but I liked the fact that they used Parmesan Texas Toast, which had a nice salty-buttery-milkiness. The short ribs were tender and beefy, loved the caramelized onions, and the cheese, which was a Boursin was herbaceous and nice and gooey. This was nice to share.
And then we took the long and winding drive down to Wetherill Mesa and easily found parking in the lot.
You can pretty much linger as long as you want. 
I set about reheating the broth and moving the noodles and proteins to a proper bowl. One thing I noticed was that the broth really didn’t have that wonderful lemongrass-beefy fragrance of typical bun bo hue broth. Though I was prepared for the lack of banana blossom and such this time.
Well, that decent bowl of 
The noodles were the same as the NRM. The duck was much better this time around; you can tell by the color, there as much more five spice flavor and the meat, while on the tough side had taste. The skin was still a bit rubbery for my taste, but the fat had been rendered nicely. This was a definite improvement.
