Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Cathy is writing today. Kirk and His Missus are having a wonderful time on vacation.
I've written about Oishii three times, the latest was in 2011. Back then, it was only one of two Thai restaurants in Santee and the two sided menu had more Japanese choices than Thai. Now Santee has five Thai restaurants. Anyhow, at some point during the Covid-19 slowdown, the "Japanese" menu/Oishii/sushi bar disappeared and Thai Thai (there's another location in Fallbrook) became the name of the restaurant with the menu being only Thai. A few months ago, the original sushi chef, Mike, returned and so did the sushi bar and the name.

The interior had undergone changes.

The menu is pretty extensive and has many ‘authentic’ choices- not “dumbed down”.
There is a Lunch Special menu available Tues-Friday. Specials include 'vegetarian soup' -yes, miso- as well as 'salad', vegetarian egg roll and fried wonton.
On this day, yellow curry with chicken ($11.95) was The Mister's choice. The curries here are very good- there are eight types. Yellow curry is made with potatoes, carrot and onion and coconut milk. A filling, flavorful meal.
During the pandemic, I would order 'to go' from the appetizer menu. #13, "Crispy Rice Salad" (Nam Kat Tod) has become a favorite. The spicy lime sauce compliments the red and green onion, dry chili flakes, fresh ginger, mint, cilantro and cashews.
All of that is mixed with sour fermented pork (and thinly sliced cartilage) mixed with the crispy rice and toasted rice flour. Very satisfying, especially during our heat wave.

Here is the sushi bar, in its new location. The menu is only sushi; no other Japanese choices.
Thai Thai/Oishii 10251 Mast Blvd Santee, CA 92071 (619) 596-4892 Website Closed Monday, Open Sues-Sun 11-9
The name of the market has changed slightly, the interior is still kept organized and clean.
As you walk in, the first kitchen/menu board/ refrigerated grab and go to your right has a
The Taqueria/Mexican menu board and cash register is a few feet more into the store, next to the seating area. We usually purchase an aqua fresca here.
On this visit, we chose a package of hummus ($4.99). Fresh made that morning, great flavors, plenty left over to take home.
We ordered two beef kababs ($2 each) and I watched as the ground beef, mixed with spices, was placed on long, flat kabab skewers and began cooking on the grill. Made to order. The meat was served with a roasted tomato half and a mix of chopped onion and parsley.
Here is the loaf of hot tannour bread ($2.25) which was placed in a paper bag after being removed straight from the side of the clay oven. Crisp, flavorful browned bubbles with soft, easy to tear middles. Great flavor. It went well with both the hummus and the kabab meat. 
A mental note was made and misplaced. As fate would have it, The Mister and I were driving by while looking for lunch. Adalynes opened in March 2022.
Walk in and step to the right; seating for 40 (along with four big screen televisions) is to the left. Order and pay- a menu board is above and the open kitchen behind it is quite large. The "Fish Market" display case was not filled but the price list was available and if you made a purchase and wanted your fish fried, it is an additional $2 per pound. 
A simple menu.
An appetizer order of calamari ($9.99) included tentacles, not all rings. We asked for the batter to be 'mild' since there were several selections of spicy side dips. The calamari was tender, the batter was a proper fry; light and crisp. This is a large serving.
We decided to try the Combo meal ($15.99) of three pieces of chicken strips and six shrimp. We chose our one side to be sweet potato. Again, we asked for no spice in the batter. The shrimp were plump and large, had a very light coating and were nicely fried. The sweet potato side came in the form of 'tots' and were really good. The chicken-three large pieces of breast meat with just a light coating which was thin, crisped and tasty.
The chicken was not dry at all.
These four sauces were brought out with our food (cocktail sauce, "special" sauce (it has jalapeño juice and bits of jalapeño), a BBQ based sauce and a chipotle/smoky sauce. There's a counter by the tables which has condiment pumps of hot sauce, ranch and catsup. 
The other update is that this family owned and run restaurant has been here for more than 30 years.
Walk in, order and pay. There is a menu board above the ordering space in the wall. Your food is brought out by one of the family members. 


As always, we order onion rings ($4.49). Thick slices of sweet onions, sweet batter, properly crisp fried and not greasy. This is served with ranch dressing.
A small Greek chicken salad ($9.49) holds a lot of tasty, moist roasted chicken and comes with pita bread and tzatziki. The salad part is the same size as the side salad which comes with the meal below and includes cucumber, tomato and onion and a red wine vinegar based dressing.
The Moussaka and Gyros combination plate ($15.99) was ordered on this day…because we wanted leftovers. Plenty of fluffy rice with some peas and carrots topped with slices of gyros and, of course, the Moussaka- the bottom layer is baked potato, then a nice layer of eggplant, the sweet (cinnamon and oregano) spiced ground meat filling topped with a layer of thick béchamel and covered in a subtle seasoned (garlic, thyme, parsley, basil) tomato sauce.
You can see the Santa Sophia Roman Catholic Church tower just East out the side window of the restaurant. The Greek title, "Santa Sophia" (Holy Wisdom) is popular in Greek Orthodox churches and is rare for Catholic churches.









There are a few choices of shaved ices along with three sizes (the prices are $9.75, $10.75 and $11.75). Topping combinations are varied and all sound good. I pointed at one on the laminated menu at the register. The cylinder shaped Q-mochi, potato balls (sweet potato/taro), jelly and mini mochi balls surrounding the ice cream topped fluffy milk soaked shaved ice made each bite unique. We ended up taking a lot home.

This family owned (since 2004) restaurant has survived the Covid-19 ups and downs and is still going strong.
The Monday-Friday Lunch menu is simple and offers a good variety. 
I always order a cup of albondigas ($4.25) from the regular menu and enjoy the traditional meatball soup with fresh, still slightly crisp vegetables (zucchini, chayote, tomato, onion), flavorful broth and the fresh herbs (there is oregano in the meatballs and cilantro in the soup). A good start.
The enchilada plate comes with a choice of shredded beef, shredded chicken, cheese or ground beef filling. This is the ground beef-which is really a picadillo- there is onion, bell pepper, garlic and tomato mixed with the ground beef. The from-scratch enchilada sauce and melted cheese round out the flavors of this plate.
The Tostada Compuesta is a fried flour tortilla topped with refried beans, a choice of meats (this is shredded chicken, photographed after eating half the serving) (shredded beef, ground beef and carnitas are also meat choices) and is topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sliced avocado; a wonderful meal. 

The
The City of Alhambra float was tested; the riders, Driver and Spotter all had to leave the float within 45 seconds during the Fire Drill. Following this float back to the Phoenix Decorating barn gave me an opportunity to explain things in photos which I had mentioned in (years of) prior posts.
The doorway into the float decorating barn is the maximum height and width of some parts of the Rose Parade route. Each float must be able to fit through this doorway so that it can fit along the parade route. You can see this float needs to "collapse".


the float does indeed collapse!




















As always, I ordered hot tea ($2.50). This green tea, served in the thermal cup, was of excellent quality. 





The cucumber salad ($5.95) was served in this deceptively deep bowl. It was refreshing, sweet and salty, cool and crisp and was munched on throughout the meal.
We were here on one (of many) unbearably hot days last week and I was craving
The miso soup was a notably good quality.
The plate served was Chicken Katsu ($1 less than the Chicken Katsu Curry). When reminded the order was for curry, our waiter apologized and went to the kitchen. There was a wait because the curry was being prepared. The bowl arrived in a bit (it was quite busy and only two people were working) and WOW- what a lovely curry sauce; carrot, onion and potato. Slightly sweet (from apple I think) yet savory, the thick sauce was very tasty. The chicken katsu was a good thickness, had a nice panko breading and was perfectly deep fried and crisp. The rice and salad were also nicely flavored. I suppose the 'proper' curry plate would have had more rice and less lettuce, with the curry poured over the serving, but eating it this was was nice and we got to see the Chicken Katsu Entree.

Not much has changed since Covid-19. Menu is the same. Tabletops are still sticky. Prices have, of course, increased.
Pho Tai (rare beef) (large, $11.40) arrives with fresh herbs and add-ins, still has a rich deep colored and flavorful broth which is slightly salty. Noodles were not in a 'clump'. Overall, this bowl was very refreshing.
The half order of Spring Rolls ($5.60) arrived with the shrimp and pork still warm. The lettuce, sprouts and mint were crisp and very fresh. Even the vermicelli noodles were still warm. Made to order and exceptionally good.
The grilled pork Bun ($12.60) was quite a large serving of thicker slices of char grilled pork on top of lettuce and cold vermicelli topped with pickled radish and carrot, sprouts and mint and topped with plenty of peanuts. The nuoc nuam sauce/dressing is a wonderfully balanced fish sauce based dressing.

