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.
Just a quick, rather sad post for today. At around 10am this morning, “FOY” Mar sent me an Instagram message of a post mentioning that El Borrego was closing. Needless to say, I didn’t see this one coming. And in the comments of that post El Borrego confirmed this.
Recently, I revisited a couple of places I hadn’t been to in years. All the visits kind of just happened by accident. Like my recent revisit to El Borrego, which I hadn’t been to in over 9 years! And it was just by happenstance. You see, I was craving some Bun Mang Vit from Tu Thanh so I headed on over….I understand that the place opens at 9, so I dropped by at 930…and they were closed! Looking for another place….I drove west on ECB….but places were either too busy, or I just wasn’t feeling like it…you know what I mean, right? Anyway, I was just going to head up to the 15 and onward home. But, when I passed Fairmont I noticed that there was an open parking space close to El Borrego! What are the chances of that? Plus, it had been so long since I’d had the barbacoa de borrego from the place…it just seemed like fate.
So, I walked on over and had a moment of analysis paralysis looking over the menu board.
Man, remember when those quesadillas were $2.75? Anyway, I was kind of hungry so I went full on borrego…”ewe know what I mean” right? (sorry, couldn’t help that) I ordered the Mixiote ($18.99).
I noticed that El Borrego now had outdoor seating, taking the space of the former lot next door and in the rear of the place. I asked Rodnia, whom I still remember from those past visits when they started having outdoor seating and she told me “over 8 years ago”! Sigh…..yes, it’s been forever since my last visit.
I also asked if they were dog friendly and was told that they used to be; but ended up having a dog attack a customer and two dogs getting into a fight, so no longer allow it. Bummer!
Soon enough my food was delivered to my table.
First thing I notice was that the meat is no longer wrapped in parchment, though I don’t think it makes that much of a difference? The meat was falling apart tender, though after having the same dish at El Hidalguense in CDMX and Aqui es Texcoco, I find it quite mild in the smokey, chile-aromatics department.
Still, it pleasantly gamey, the corn tortillas were adequately “maizey” and held up well, even after skimming thru the mixiote sauce/drippings. Of course, lime is a must, along with onion and cilantro.
I preferred the salsa roja, it added more zip and spice; than the salsa verde.
And it made for quite a filling meal; with leftovers.
It was nice to reconnect with an favorite from days gone by. Though I do think El Borrego has been surpassed with regards to barbacoa….I beileve I’ll get those quesadillas next time!
El Borrego Restaurant 4280 El Cajon Blvd. San Diego, CA 92105 Current Hours: Tues 10am – 4pm Wed – Sun 8am – 4pm Closed on Monday
Now I gotta figure out what is going on with Tu Thanh!
Back in 2022, I noticed that Palomino’s “#3” was going thru a “management change” on one of my shopping trips to Nijiya. Then around September, I noticed that the name of the place had changed to something like “Super Mario’s”? I wasn’t the biggest fan of this location of Palomino’s…in fact the last time I visited was in my pre-blogging days.
And yet, something about the place caught my attention. Perhaps it was the hours. The place opens at 6am during the week! But mostly, I think I got caught up in the signage.
Not the birria….but the menudo. For some reason, I was craving Menudo and thought it would work for a nice pre-Nijiya shopping breakfast. So, on a Saturday I arrived before Nijiya opened and decied to try the Menudo.
The place looks about the same as it did when it was Palomino’s. Except for the prices. Menudo was $15.86. Anyway, the woman working was quite nice and I placed my order.
And then headed over to the salsa bar for some salsa roja. The woman kindly warned me that it was “muy picante”.
I had a seat and the woman nicely brought my Menudo to the table instead of calling me to pick up my tray! It came with the usual fixins’.
Man, those corn tortillas were hefty and held up nicely to the Menudo; I could only finish two of them.
As for the Menudo.
While not as rich and “funky” as the version at Birrieria Y Menuderia Guadalajara, this was better than what we last had at Talavera Azul. Nice kick with some salsa added; acidity from the lime. It could have used a dose of Mexican Oregano in my opinion.
Decent offaly tones and my goodness all the lovely tripe! Prepared nicely, slightly toothsome…varying textures.
With some large chunks of tendon as well.
I wasn’t able to finish all of it and ended up taking about half home with me.
I wanted to have the Missus try it….but She had Her doubts. She finally gave in and thought it was pretty good. I told Her about the other menu items and She wanted to try the Albondigas. So, on my next shopping excursion to Nijiya, I placed a takeout order of the Albondigas ($15.98) and decided to try some tacos, going with the regular size (they have mini tacos for $3.34) Lengua ($6.50) and Al Pastor ($5.98). I did find the prices of the tacos to be on the higher end in my opinion.
Once shopping was done, I got some salsa and carrots, picked up my rather hefty bag and headed home.
Like the Menudo, the portion size for the Albondigas was pretty large.
It filled up the soup bowl with a lonely meatball waiting for attention. This time, the Missus wasn’t able to finish the tortillas. The arroz wasn’t very good, quite dry, and too mild in flavor.
The Missus loved the pickled carrots and those peppers. She made good use of the limes as well.
She thought that the soup was decent, lighter on the tomato side of things than She’s used to, but decent savory and pungent tones. Not as rich as other versions, but passable. And those giant meatballs were good as well. The meatballs had some binder, but were quite tender, with nice savory tones.
She even enjoyed the slices of zucchini.
As for the tacos. Well, they were quite large and full of meat.
Sadly, I didn’t care for them….neither did the Missus. Other than the tortillas, it missed the mark.
The Lengua was strangely bland; missing that rich, bovine flavor.
And because the flavor was very mild; all that cilantro basically took over the taco.
The Al Pastor was actually an Adobada. The pork was really tough.
It lacked that touch of savory – sweetness and depth of flavor and was really in need of a bit more spice and the light smokiness of a decent Al Pastor. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting what we get in CDMX, but this just didn’t do it for us.
All in all; we’ll stick with the Menudo and Albondigas, which, to be perfectly honest, was better than expected. Good thing too, since my recent visits to newer places has been kinda depressing.
Remember, I noticed back at the end of May that Dao Xiang Noodle was replacing Mama Lin’s in the Balboa 99 Ranch Market food court? Well, I noticed that the stand opened at 10am and waited a couple of weeks before checking them out.
I arrived at around 1015 and it looked like they were just getting set for the day. The menu was kind of “interesting”….
As were some of the “customers” milling around in the area at that time of the day.
I know I joked about Mama Lin’s selling everything from Corn Dogs to Ramen to Spam Musubi, which they spelled “Misubi”….and this menu actually did have Spam Musubi (would you believe the menu says $5 for a Spam Musubi?!?!?!) on it; at least the focus seemed on noodle, fried rice, and dumplings.
Now, thinking in terms of Dao Xiao Mian…..basically knife cut noodles; well you know I was going to order that, right? In the end, I decided on the Niu Rou Mian (Small – $12.50) and because I’m always interested in Jiaozi; I also ordered the Pork and Cabbage Dumplings ($12.50).
The Niu Rou Mian was ok. The soup was too watery, lacking in beefiness, lots of white pepper and saltiness, but quite thin. The beef was quite chewy and lacking in flavor as well. The tendon was really crunchy chunks….not done to the buttery texture I prefer.
The saving grace of this bowl were the noodles; super bouncy, great texture, the definition of “QQ”.
As for the Jiaozi.
The wrappers were really thick and chewy. The filling was decently flavored, could have used more of the fragrant tones…sesame oil, ginger. Really coarse chop of the pork and napa cabbage making it also lean on the “chewy” side.
Overall, except for the knife cut noodles, fairly mediocre. Still, I wanted to do another visit. When I went for that visit, the place was strangely closed at past noon? This was when I ended up going to Potato Powder Love Noodle.
I had some shopping to be done the following weekend and when I peeked over at the food court Dao Xiang was open.
This was actually not bad. The rice was a bit on the hard side. Though the soy sauce eggs were nicely marinated, still warm, the yolks lovely.
The pork was on the chewy side, lacked the hint of anise-mild sweetness and of course the porkiness. Still, this was not terrible.
But not something I’d return for.
Still, I did return one more time. Because I saw this sign.
So, it looks like they make XLB….but it was only on weekends. Since I had shopping to do the follwoing weekend; I decided to try out the XLB ($13.99). I ordered it from the really nice guy working the counter. And since I was here; why not try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($12.49)
The guy actually delivered my XLB to the table….and it looked really strange.
Good lord, this was more of a Baozi, with yeast raised dough! The filling was strange as it was braised pork….very tender, but obviously no porky soup.
Kinda mild in flavor but very tender. I looked at the menu on my way out and noticed they have a “Traditional” Braised Pork XLB, but it’s $14.99 and I was charged $13.99? So maybe the kitchen made a mistake? I really don’t consider any of this as traditional at all. It should be on the menu as a steamed baozi.
The Wings were “Salt & Pepper” in name only. As it was more soy sauce focused.
A bit too wet for my liking as the crispness faded quickly. The flesh very moist, the flavor fine, with a decent mildly sweet-savory tone.
Though like the XLB, not quite what I expected for Salt & Pepper Wings.
The visits were interesting. I’d return for those noodles for something else other than the NRM. With places like Me Sen at the Clairemont 99 Ranch location and Potato Powder Love Noodle opening here next to Dao Xiang, it seems we’re getting some interesting new places. Which I think is a good thing!
Wildflour, another one of Phillip Esteban’s projects opened in Liberty Station opened at the end of February. I’ll head down to Liberty Station if I’m not hitting up Secret Sister for sourdough and I noticed that the place didn’t look too busy.
JJ enjoys walks along the Esplanade and I thought if I got here early enough, I could grab some breakfast with J and then take him for a stroll along the park. So, we headed on over. The hosts stand is on the patio which makes things really great. I often feel bad taking JJ into a restaurant when it’s just the two of us.
There’s an small indoor section with a bakery/deli area for takeout and some seating.
Though the patio is nice and stretches along Decatur Road.
We checked in and choose a table along the end of the patio. We do this to be mindful of folks who don’t like being in the company of pooches.
There was small and pretty limited menu for breakfast.
The two folks waiting on us were wonderful! They treated JJ so nice….like he was a VIP (Very Important Pooch)!
I thought my Americano was pretty good; fairly strong, but smooth.
Of course seeing Beef Tartare on the menu….well, I just had to try the Ribeye Tartare ($15).
The bread, a Country Levain was excellent…wonderful, more airy than I’m used to with Levain, but really good. A mild sourdough like flavor, it was quite satisfying.
The Beef Tartare was quite over-the-top; the Chemoula Aioli; basically a herb mayo, was fine, but there was just too much of it. The rib eye was nicely chopped, but too chewy for my taste.
The Bearnaise sauce was much too thick and gloppy, thicker than the aioli! It was also too sour for my taste. And like the aioli, there was just too much of it. This was like a mayo on mayo open face sandwich. Quite over-the-top!
Still, the service was so nice, that I decided to bring JJ over for an early lunch; arriving just at 11am.
And we sat on the patio; basically in the same location. The young lady working was quite nice, though not as friendly with JJ as on the previous visit. Still, he had no complaints, having a nice area to settle in the shade.
Having already had my caffeine fix for the day; I just settled on Half a Sandwich and some chips.
I really enjoyed the chips…though at $4 a small bag!!!!
Loved the texture and wonderful salty-sour flavor. I think I’ve seen this at Target, so…..
I had heard some nice things about the Mortadella Sandwich (Half – $10) so I ordered that. I cracked up when it arrived. Man, was it a carb load!
Again, the bread, a nice toasty focaccia was my favorite part of the dish, though there was just too much of it. I had really developed a taste for Mortadella while visiting Emilia-Romagna, gaining a fondness for the oinkiness of the salumi. The entire bread to filling ratio was skewed and the mild Stracciatella, of which there was a small amount really didn’t contribute to the sandwich.
I do think that Mortadella already is fairly mild in flavor and given the amount of carbs…well, it was nullified. I vote for “More – Mortadella” please!
I liked the relaxed and friendly service as did JJ, but having a meal where a bag of chips was highlight…… Though if you do need a “carb load”….
Wildflour 2690 Historic Decatur Suite 103 San Diego, CA 92106 Current Hours: Wed – Fri 8am – 2pm Sat – Sun 8am – 4pm Closed Mon – Tues
At least J got to cruise around Liberty Station…..
Sometimes things happen for a reason. After doing a bit of shopping at the 99 Ranch on Balboa, I went for a follow-up visit to Dao Xiang Noodle which recently replaced Mama Lin’s in the food court. I’d already done an initial visit, but wanted to do another to follow-up. But strangely, Dao Xiang was closed.
Hmmm…..online it says open daily from 10am to 8pm and it was already just past noon?
Oh well, who knows what problem occurred, I’m hoping its not too serious. As I was headed toward the door, I noticed that the interestingly named Potato Powder Love Noodle, which I noted had replaced Shann Xi Magic Kitchen looked like they were open.
Even though some of the signage for Shann Xi is still on the booth!
I walked on over and yes indeed they were open.
Though only a few “main” items were available.
Now, I knew PPLN had locations in both City of Industry and San Gabriel, so I was definitely interested. So, it looked like I’d be getting myself some “love noodle” today for lunch!
I really wanted something “basic”….so I got the “Classic” ($13.99) “slightly spicy”, with both the potato and knife cut noodles. It’s delivered boiling hot to you in a stone bowl, so the soup stays scorching hot for your entire meal.
As you can see; the bowls are not large, but it is absolutely packed with noodles.
The broth is savory, edging toward salty, on the thinner side, but it was more than just “slightly spicy”. And frankly, I kind of enjoyed it.
The potato noodles, more like vermicelli was a bit overcooked and a bit too mushy for my taste.
The knife cut noodles were nice, good pull, nice toothsome-doughy feel.
  Didn’t care much for the small “rolls” of tough beef, but the shiitake and king oyster mushrooms really add a nice depth of flavor to the soup.
Also enjoyed the addition of quail eggs and tofu skin. And of course, you need your veggies….so there’s some bok choi as well.
It’s priced right and I’ll definitely visit again.
I know that I usually do multiple visits at places that are within a certain price range and fairly close to home but made an exception this time. First off, while I’ll return, I’m going to wait until the weather turns cooler….I had some sweat dripping down my brow. So, it’ll be a few months before I revisit.
Second, I’m not sure how long this is going to be for, but you get a free drink with your meal…which may be a permanent thing since the SGV shops do that, but all the folks eating received free sausages….fairly good sized sausages today. The nice young lady told me it’s for “grand opening”, so that makes this a bit time-sensitive, and might entice you to visit.
So that you can get your “noodle-love” or “powdery noodle”, or “love noodle”, or ???? on!
Potato Powder Love Noodle
5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111
A couple of months back, I saw this "sushi" shop while driving down Fifth Avenue.
It wasn't the "sushi" sign that caught my eye, but the name, "Makai"….hmmm, in Hawaiian it means "toward the sea"….versus "Mauka" which means "toward the mountains". At least that's what struck me when I saw that sign. So, I got back home and did that Google thingy and read that the owner is originally from Kauai. And then he opened a shop in Hillcrest? Kinda interesting.
I've mentioned hating the parking in Hillcrest in other posts and even though I'm quite "niele", seeing a menu with all kinds of "rolls", and poke bowls, etc…..the only thing that I was curious about was the ahi poke. And since the place opens at noon and is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays….well, I just wasn't that motivated to deal with the parking situation and the crowds. Until…..I recently had an appointment in Hillcrest which would be finished just before noon. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to check the place out. I walked on over arriving just after the clock struck twelve.
And like I said…taking a look at the menu, there was really only one thing I was interested in.
I walked on into the tiny restaurant and the counter and placed an order for the Ahi Bowl ($20) with the sweet and very nice young lady that was working.
The owner, Matt, came on over and he spoke major pidgin! So, we wen talk story. He's from Poipu on Kauai! I asked him what brought him to San Diego and he told me that he one local kine sushi place in a market in Poipu (I found this in the online HAL guide) with the same name. And then Covid happened and his business was gone. He decided to move to San Diego and open up the same kind of place. But why Hillcrest? Well, he told me that he wasn't looking in the area, but Hillcrest found him! And he's doing good business here. Good for him!
I got my poke bowl, thanked the both of them, and den wen hele…….
I really liked the folks at Makai, so I truly hoped this wasn't going to be one of those mainland "Chi-poke" kinda bowls, you know, 2 ounces of fish, and then all kinds of "stuffs".
Well, upon opening, even though there was avocado, some greens, sort of kimchi like cucumber, it was mostly fish. Though there seemed to be a bit more "sauce" than I usually like.
There was a good amount of decently cooked rice. I could have done without the "wasabi aioli" and the overly sweet unagi sauce. I guess I just wanted some good shoyu poke? The fish danced close to the edge of being over-sauced, but avoided falling off that cliff. I did enjoy the creaminess of the avocado and the mild sour-spice of the cucumber.
The fish was of decent quality, not the best, but tender, and most importantly, without all the "sugi"; the chewy connective tissue.
I enjoyed the addition of tobiko as it added another layer of textural contrast and some good, mild saltiness to the poke.
While not quite as good as It's Raw or HFS in my opinion….though I gotta return to HFS soon. I prefer this to 8th and B or Poke Etc, and definitely over all those "chi-poke" places.
If it were in my 'hood, I'd probably visit periodically. Especially since the folks here are so welcoming…..Matt does display that "Aloha Spirit"!
As it is; if I'm passing thru and hit the parking lot-tery, I'll stop by again.
Makai Sushi 3968 5th Ave. San Diego, CA 92103 Current Hours: Thurs – Mon 12pm – 7pm Closed Tues – Wed
Juewei has become a semi-regular stop for us since they opened last November. What we’ve found is that they make the smoked chicken we enjoy on weekends, so we’ll drop by and pick one up ($17.99) with some side dishes.
Along with usually some quail eggs and yuba….in fact, the woman who runs the place just starts packing the yuba when I walk in the door!
And recently, we saw that they added a spicy braised beef….I dunno the name because the Missus orders it in Mandarin.
And of course the chicken.
Now, you may ask if we just eat everything as is…..well, sometimes. The yuba is a great side dish as is the beef. Though that chicken can be up to four meals. Here’s what we do.
We make baos with the meatier parts of the chicken and also with the beef. I have a microwave tortilla warmer pouch that I found does a good job of warming up the baos! I also will crisp up some of the skin in the air fryer for textural contrast.
For some reason, this winter – early spring we’ve been eating a lot of Zhou…which is what the Missus calls it. I have always called the dish using the Cantonese name; jook. The Missus had found the quite popular 20 minute congee recipes posted on Instagram and TikTok where you freeze the rinsed rice for 8 hours. After working thru the recipe a few times, I found an approach that we prefer. The porridge seems to come out a bit creamier and it only takes a couple of hours to freeze.
I rinse one-third cup of rice. I tend to prefer Koshihikari rice….yes, it’s a bit more expensive, but to me, based on the starch content worth using. Plus, we tend to use higher quality rice when cooking at home anyway. I then place the rice in a small metal mixing bowl and cover with one cup of water and freeze.
When I’m ready to make the porridge, I take out a donabe; a Japanese clay pot which I have. I place the metal mixing bowl on the stove and heat briefly to melt the edges of the ice. I then place the donabe on the stove, move the rice-ice and melted water into the donabe and add three more cups of water, heat, and bring to a simmer.
I then get my kitchen shears and slice the chicken carcass in half. I can make two portions of the porridge. I trim excess meat off the bones; usually from the thighs and drumstick…the breast and some of the thigh meat has already been used to make the baos we had previously. I chop the meat up into pieces. I separate the bones and place that in the porridge. While the Missus grew up eating plain boiled Zhou in QingDao, my mom used to make jook using turkey bones after Thanksgiving. Turkey Jook is very popular “back home”. Kathy from Onolicious Hawaii has a page and recipe on Turkey Jook here.
Because of flavor of the smoked chicken is quite strong, the flavor transfer is done fairly quickly. I then add in the meat, usually some green onions, white pepper.
The rice gets creamy in about 20 minutes, 30 minutes max.
The Missus likes some minced bitter greens along with the quail eggs in Hers. I like to add a little shoyu, yuba (of course), takana (pickled mustard greens), and kimchi garlic shoots, if I have them.
If there’s any chicken skin left; I’ll crisp up in the air fryer and top off the porridge with that.
Juewei has indeed become a regular stop for us because it provides us with additional options and ingredients for comfort food meals.
**** Juewei has closed
Juewei Food
4690 Convoy St. #103
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 11pm
Fri – Sat    11am – Midnight
**** I did a revisit, you can read that post here.
One of the other victims of the China Max fire in 2020 was the Convoy location of Tasty Pot. The place was repaired with the same owners in place; but I’m guessing with all the hot pot restaurants dotting the area the proprietors decided to go in a different direction, deciding on a sizzling plate/pepper lunch concept named Sizzling House which opened in December.
I’d been trying to talk the Missus into visiting, but She didn’t seem to enthusiastic about “feeding another fad”, but She finally encouraged me to check the place out on my own.
So, I decided to head on over; arriving right after 11 on a weekday. The spacious restaurant had but one table occupied when I arrived and just two when I left.
As is the trend with many restaurants these days; ordering is done via QR code. Though I found the folks working to be quite attentive, which is probably pretty easy with just two tables occupied.
Funny thing; as I was looking thru the menu; the Missus sent me a text encouraging me to order the Japanese A5 Wagyu. When I said I thought it was waaaay too expensive, She kept insisting! Perhaps She was just feigning Her distinerest?
I finally relented and ordered the Japanese A5 Wagyu rice, meat medium rare, with an egg (of course) which had a $1.99 upcharge. This wasn’t cheap by any means.
Though you did get a free green tea, with or without hot or cold, with or without sugar.
My plate came out, with a cardboard “crown” to protect the innocent fairly quickly. It was sizzling quite nicely.
 The portion of rice was quite large there was corn and edamame scattered about the hot plate. The beef, supposedly four ounces was topped with a small scoop of butter, which I thought wasn’t necessary.
The pepper sauce came in a small gravy boat. I tasted the sauce; which was interesting as it was much spicier than the usual Taiwanese Black Pepper sauce. The sauce was rather rich in texture with some decent tangy tones, a mild sweetness, and a savory component. I think this kind of overpowered the black pepper component. For some reason, I thought it would go great with shrimp?
The beef was a rather thinly sliced and I got to moving it quickly so it wouldn’t overcook.
With the beef sidelined to prevent overcooking; I worked on mixing the rice, other stuffs, and sauce to get things nicely coated. In some ways, I almost wished this was in a dolsot as some caramelization and crispy bits would add to texture and flavor.
As a whole, the sauce overpowered the beef which I’m glad I moved to the side and ate without contact with the sauce. You could cut it with the fork, but I don’t think I’d get this again. As much as I thought that there was a good amount of sauce, I think I could have used even more! Though the rice did taste pretty good; and the corn added some sweetness and in combination with the edamame more textural contrast.
Then again, I’m not going to spent forty bucks for a “funky fried rice”; though, like I mentioned above, I do think I’ll return to try with the chicken or perhaps have another sauce, mushroom and Japanese curry are offered.
The Missus didn’t care for the leftovers as it was too “rich” for Her. Though I’m glad I tried Sizzling House out; as I thought it was better than expected. Service was very nice as well.
Sizzling House & Noodle
4698 Convoy St. Suite 107
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 930pm
Friday      11am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm
Saturday    11am – 10pm
Sunday     11am – 930pm
I was driving home from Nijiya the “back way”, via Stalmer, then Beagle Street when a shop caught my eye.
This is on the Beagle Street side of the mall that houses The Pad Thai Stand and Carnival Market. This seemed like a new shop as I didn’t recall seeing it before. Since I’m not much of a “boba” kinda guy I wouldn’t have given the place much attention; but I noticed the bottom of the sign said “banh mi”. Hmmmm………Â I went ahead and added the place to my “list” to check out when the weather got warmer; which was just about a week later. So, I decided to drop by. Checking the hours I noticed that unlike many shops that do banh mi; Poppy opens at 11.
I walked on over and entered the elongated shop which was a counter and all kitchen.
A very nice young woman was working. I had a quick glance at the liquid refreshment based menu.
Basically baos and various snacks, alongside banh mi and rice bowls. Sadly, only three different “fillings” are available; Grilled Pork, Grilled Chicken, or Lemongrass Tofu. Obviously “Poppy” is more of a westernized “Asian” snack shop. As I looked over the menu, a woman walked in with two large bags of banh mi….so, I figured what the heck, at least my bread will be fresh, right?
I went and ordered the Grilled Pork Banh Mi ($10.50). It was fairly sizeable.
  The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
It was kind of unevenly put together as the “chunk” of cucumber only covered half of the width of the sandwich. Not enough pickled carrots and daikon, nor cilantro. I’ve always stated when confronted by over-stuffed banh mi that I appreciate proportion when it comes to these type of sandwiches. The jalapeno was sliced fairly thick and it was fun playing “jalapeno roulette”.
It was an ok “Americanized” banh mi.
During my visit, I had seen something on the menu that caught my attention. There was something called “Japanese Egg Sandwich” on the menu. So, I decided to drop in on my way home from Nijiya a few days later. Same nice young lady working. Based on the price; $5.75, I didn’t expect this to be too large and it wasn’t. Which was a good thing since I wasn’t very hungry.
Here’s what it looked like scaled against a quarter.
 I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
Just making egg salad with Kewpie Mayonnaise does not make it a proper Japanese egg salad sandwich.
The dill added some refreshing anise tones, but was unevenly distributed. There was a nice layer of egg salad.
Not a terrible sandwich; but definitely not a Egg Salad Sando!
Overall, the young lady working was very nice. The sandwiches ok, but not worth going out of your way for…it’s Americanized – Asian to me. Still, it’s interesting to see these businesses slowly making their way into the area. I’m interested to see what’s coming next as there seems to be some vacancies in this strip mall.
Poppy Boba Kitchen
3538 Ashford St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Tues – Sun 11am – 8pm
Closed on Mondays
As you can see; the bowls are not large, but it is absolutely packed with noodles.
 
 Didn’t care much for the small “rolls” of tough beef, but the shiitake and king oyster mushrooms really add a nice depth of flavor to the soup.
There was a good amount of decently cooked rice. I could have done without the "wasabi aioli" and the overly sweet unagi sauce. I guess I just wanted some good shoyu poke? The fish danced close to the edge of being over-sauced, but avoided falling off that cliff. I did enjoy the creaminess of the avocado and the mild sour-spice of the cucumber.
 The portion of rice was quite large there was corn and edamame scattered about the hot plate. The beef, supposedly four ounces was topped with a small scoop of butter, which I thought wasn’t necessary.
 
 The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
 I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
