Closed – Page 26

It’s been a while week – Ranas Mexico City Cuisine

June 26, 2017 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Ranas has closed

For some reason, it was Ranas that came to mind while having breakfast at Fernandez Restaurant. I'm not sure why, perhaps is just a natural thing since it seems that I do a post on Ranas on a five years cycle. Guess when my last post was on Ranas? Yep, 2012. It's nice to see the "progression" with Ranas, from a simple shop with green walls and banquet chairs, to a much nicer restaurant.

To now……. Ranas has now taken over the entire building. The left door is the "Cantina", on the right is the restaurant.

One thing seems to be constant, it's the same really nice guy from my previous visits! He told me that they took over this side of the building two years ago.

Things started, as always with some chips and salsa.

There's one item on the menu I really enjoy here; the Pork Entomatado. I usually get the "plate", but this time I went for the Huarache ($11).

The pork was spicier than I recall; I kind of remember a nice heat, along with a nice smokey-tangy flavor. This was more front of mouth and lips and the flavors didn't seem as well rounded and complex…..I'm wondering if they've changed around the chilies a bit on this? Thick, rustic bed of masa, nice an full of corn flavor. I enjoyed the beans, though perhaps there was a bit too much of it, as it kind of wiped out what flavor the nopales had; though I still enjoyed the textural contrasts of all the players. The pork was tender and this did fine by me.

Still great service…..

Though I think next time I'll go for the plate.

Hopefully, I won't have to wait another five years……

Ranas Mexico City Cuisine
9683 Campo Rd
Spring Valley, CA 91977

Trying to Beat the Heat – The Original Sab e Lee and Golden City

June 21, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Man, it has been pretty hot the last couple of days; at least for us, as Cathy says; “wimpy San Diegans”. On the good side; this means revisiting some of my favorite places for dishes I enjoy during hot spells. I really do miss one of “staples”, a good Sichuan Liang Mian, which just doesn’t seem to exist in San Diego anymore. So, I stuck with other standbys.

The Original Sab e Lee:

**** TOSEL is now Zab Linda

I really haven’t been much since they’ve relocated. Like I said previously, I’ve not a clue who the folks who work here are these days….except for the one young man who has been there for a while. Went with one of the guys from work….he said he could eat spicy, but then decided to order it a heat level three. I told him he needs to order at least a five or he just can’t eat with me anymore. And so we did, and he did fine.

Nahm Tok.

Best dish of the day; though I think this needs more rice powder and I should have ordered it at least a 7 or something. Good citrus, nice fish sauce, not overly sweet….nice with sticky rice.

Issan Sausage:

Solid as always.

Nice sour and pork flavor….like I said in my recent Thai Papaya post; “while there might be better versions of Thai/Lao style sausage in San Diego these days….this is still a staple…..” Some peanut, a sliver of ginger, wrapped in cabbage, yields nice porky-sour tones.

Koi Neua:

Sorry to say they’ve done something to what was once a favorite of mine. I had been hopeful that the version I’d had here on my last visit was a fluke, but sadly, it was not.

The texture was off and it seemed to have been “cooked” in citrus too long.

It was not nearly as good as in the past.

I remember the joy that Koby expressed when I asked about this dish way back when. I do miss Koby at times; things were simpler, the menu was there to please a smaller sampling, but times do change. I guess I’m sticking with Thai Papaya. Perhaps I’ll run into Maylee one of these days and I can ask her about some of the SeL staples that are no longer on the menu.

The Original Sab E Lee
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Golden City:

**** Golden City has closed

So, one afternoon I had to buy a bunch of take-out for the Missus’s coworkers. This netted me a $10 off card for Golden City.

With the Missus at work; I decided to get an old favorite, the Kwai Fei Ji….which, after the coupon was $3.49.

The ginger-scallion-sesame oil sauce was spot on; though the chicken was on the tougher side. Still, I whacked the whole thing……no rice, nothing….just Kwai Fei Chicken for dinner.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

So, what have you been eating to beat the heat?

Lunch Specials at Hui An Garden

May 23, 2017 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

**** Hui An Garden has closed

Fu An Garden's short run ended back in January and the place became Hui An Garden. For some reason, I wasn't particularly motivated to visit, but over the last three months I decided to check out some of the lunch specials. Those visits, along with posts like Faye's, would give me some indication whether to make some time for dinner here.

The interior is basically the same….but I find the floors here to be kind of the sticky side these days.

On my first visit, I ordered; or thought I ordered the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice….but strangely ended up with Pork Fried Rice?

There was a slight bit of wok hay going on as it left a (very) slight smokiness; but as a whole this was pretty bland. Also, when having fried rice; I like to be able to count every grain should I want to. There were several clumps of rice in this.

Not sure about portion size (which was fairly generous), I also ordered the Bok Choy with Garlic.

This was a straight forward, typical stir fry; perhaps on the more oily side. This was supposed to be "baby bok choy", but were pretty large. The cooking was a bit uneven as the lower stalks of the bok choy was almost raw on the larger pieces. It also could have used a bit more garlic and white pepper.

On my next visit I made sure to get the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice. Man, this was a lot of rice!

And even though I used to make fun of the couple of pieces of plain blanched broccoli or carrots used on these type of lunch special dishes….here it's been replaced by a rather strange stir fried cabbage, flavored with a touch of soy sauce. The pork slices were decently cooked; tender, there wasn't enough preserved vegetable, nor was it very good as it didn't add enough of the nice sour-savory flavors to the dish. I finished all the pork and vegetable and still over half the rice left!

During this visit I noticed two older Chinese customers come in and order roast pork. Well, I figured it must be worth a try.

So I came in and ordered the Roasted Pork Belly on Rice. I told them to give me "half rice", but again something got lost in the translation as again there was a load of rice.

Actually, the pork was pretty good in terms of texture; the skin thin and crisp, the pork belly tender. The flavor was on the milder side and that sauce was not very good; almost bitter to my palate. This is probably the best item I've had here.

The next time I returned I walked into this.

I wasn't quite sure what was going on. Then I realized, it was "all hands on deck" as they were prepping box lunches….like stacks of food, which the tall guy carried out making several trips back and forth then left to deliver them somewhere. It took them a while to see that I was standing there.

I was curious about the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings on the menu. I wasn't too hungry, so I asked for no rice.

There were eight wings, not bad for $6.99. I thought the batter looked a little bit on the light side; but was crisp, if not especially flavorful. The wings could have used more "salt" and even "pepper". The wings were much better than the drumettes which were on the dry side.

So, tired yet? Just to compare this place to FuAn Garden; I decided to get the Roast Duck….for lunch it is of course on rice. I forgot to tell them to go easy on the rice, though I'm not sure it would have made much difference.

Actually, this isn't as much duck as you might think; it's pretty thin slices. While the duck was nice and moist, the skin decent, not tough, though a bit too flaccid for me. The duck was really short on flavor; lacking in richness or sweetness, without any bean paste flavor, and the cabbage was almost raw to boot.

In terms of pricing; every dish you see in this post was $6.99. So it's hard to complain too much; in spite of the handful of cabbage as the vegetable (not a garnish). The portion sizes, at least in terms of rice is quite large, the proteins, not so much. Looking back, I realize that perhaps I needed to go in a different direction here….maybe in the future. Though I probably should try out Noble Chef again first.

Hui An Garden Restaurant
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Revisits to Places I’ve Never Done Posts On – Thai House

May 17, 2017 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

**** Thai House has closed

Here's another in the series of revisits to places I've never done posts on. There was life "BB" (Before Blogging) and there were places that were perhaps on our rotation during those days, but were removed from the list before we started things back in May of 2005. Thai House was one of these. Back when I was doing consulting work here in San Diego in the late 90's, I'd drop by Thai House every so often. Yes, the food was "Ameri-Thai", but it was prepared decently, and the flavors were ok. But somewhere around 2002-2003 we had a string of really terrible meals here and just never looked back. And yet, as I was walking to my car after having lunch at Szechuan Chef a few weeks ago. I saw Thai House; perhaps looking a bit worse for wear and thought that perhaps it was time for a meal there.

Man, it's been around fifteen years since I last set foot in this place. And from the Pepto-Bismol pink, to the outdated banquet chairs……Thai House is kind of showing its age.

Still, the Servers here are very friendly, and they seemed to know most of the customers coming in to eat…regulars I guess…..and not a single Asian among them. I felt kind of out of place.

Still, I went forward, full speed ahead. I recalled that Thai House used to prepare their own duck, so I went with the (not so) "Crazy Duck", basically a duck larb (heat level 8) and the dish that will often give me a clue as to the stir-frying skills of the cook, Pad See Ew.

The Duck Larb was barely ok; too much lime, not enough spice (more like a 3-4), and the flavor of the duck was quite mild and the texture pretty hard, not chewy, hard.

The Pad See Ew was not cooked well.

As you can tell; no "wok hay", the noodles were mushy, telling me that it was cooked at too low a temperature for too long a time. It was too salty, with not enough sweetness to balance things out. The chicken was dry and all of this together made the dish seem greasy, when it really wasn't.

So, the photos just kinda sat for a while….I was on the fence about doing this post. So I decided to give Thai House another try….something simple from the typical "pick the protein, pick the prep" items on the menu. I was leery about ordering chicken here again and really didn't want to try my luck at having something with beef. Again, knowing they roasted the duck inhouse made me go ahead with the Duck with Hot Basil.

This was also pretty mediocre; though not as bad as what I last had at AppeThai.

Again, this was more like a saute than a stir-fry; so I guess that's the M.O. here. I appreciated the asparagus, but the sauce was again very salty, and it was super watery….the ingredients should be glazed; not overly sauced. The duck was fairly decent; though on the chewy side. Not enough basil and definitely not an "8" on the heat scale.

I guess in the end; this "style" of Thai food is not my thing. At least for me; Thai House hasn't aged well. Though perhaps for some, at least the "regulars" who seem to come here all the time (the Servers know what folks are going to order), there is comfort in what Thai House serves. And the Servers have a nice rapport with these folks.

But heck; like Karihan and the Godfather it was interesting to revisit after all these years. Though I think it'll be quite a while before I'm back here.

Thai House
4225 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

International Deli and Cafe-first look

May 12, 2017 Cathy European Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! a food blog. Kirk has some interesting things going on at work right now; long hours, not enough time to write any posts. Similarly, Ed (from Yuma) has things going on (in Yuma) and also is using his free time wisely and not posting. Cathy is writing today, using this time as a break from the norm.

In April, I was meeting a client in the dark hours of early morning at Rose Donuts and noticed that Ryan's Cafe had closed, replaced by 'International Cafe and Deli'. A mental note was made and eventually there was time to return for a visit.

Stepping inside, I was greeted with a hearty 'Good Afternoon! Have you ever had Hungarian or Romanian food?" There was some small talk; this location of International Deli is a branch of a longtime (since 2007) Garden Grove Romanian-Hungarian Cafe/Deli. People were driving there from San Diego, asking the owners to please move closer.

I asked about the menu behind the counter and an offer of a sample of mititei (skinless pork/beef sausage) to be cooked for me was made. I began to peruse the small deli and grocery while waiting.   The deli area was intriguing.
As were the various shelf stable choices. There are several seating arrangements in the center of the cafe.   The cooked piece of mititei, two cabanos sausages (dry texture, yet not tough; black pepper is in this smoked pork sausage) and three slices of head cheese(mild, not spicy)(excellent, with tongue and many other meat parts).   The mititei was juicy, plump and mild flavored; pleasant. I will be ordering a sandwich next time.    I also ordered eight slices of homemade smoked bacon ($6.99/lb) It cooked up almost too quickly since there wasn't much fat. Very meaty and well flavored. Smoked meat here is done properly. Langos, a Hungarian flatbread, is offered in both sweet and savory versions. This is the savory version ($6.25), topped with 'everything'- sour cream, garlic, Feta cheese and dill. A fresh made, tasty snack. It can be ordered topped with any deli meat for an additional $1.99- that will make it a meal.
   On the menu board is "Kurtos"– Chimney cake. The available cakes are to the left of the cash register. I had heard of this delicate dessert, but never saw it up close. I had to purchase the walnut version ($6.99)(there are also plain, coconut and almond versions).

The raised dough is wrapped around a metal tube sort of device, rolled in granulated sugar then baked while being basted with butter. So, yes' crisp, yet delicate with a combination of butter/sugar and walnuts; a perfect accompaniment to coffee.

I'll be going back; there's a nice breakfast menu in addition to the sandwiches and flatbread…and deli meats…and desserts.

International Deli and Cafe 5201 Linda Vista Road San Diego 92110 (619) 294-5755 Open Mon-Fri 7-7, Sat-Sun 8-5 website

Top Choice Fish Market and Eatery (Carlsbad)

April 26, 2017 Cathy Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today; she has time and Kirk as well as Ed(from Yuma) are just too busy.

There are many posts on this blog about the Carlsbad Grocer and Restaurant, Tip Top Meats. It's a great German owned and European style meat store, grocery store with a small restaurant inside. When The Mister and I drove up last November, we saw that a new Fish store was being constructed inside the adjoining former produce market. We finally had time for the drive North the other day. Turns out Top Choice opened less than a month ago.
Stepping inside, there is a refrigerated display case with prepared items and above that, menu boards, the same as at Tip Top, but the prices aren't listed on it, yet. We were given a paper take out menu, which was helpful. We ordered, paid and found a seat (there are some larger communal like picnic tables out front and inside, but not as much seating as the meat store.

While waiting, I walked over to the fish market side. It's small, the prices are fair (not inexpensive) and everything was very fresh. I enjoyed that the menu has a similar to the meat store 'Special Steak Dinner', mentioned at the bottom of this post-The 'Showcase Fish Platter' feature of picking out any fish from the case and you pay the price of the fish, add $5 for two sides. The fish will be sautéed or broiled as you request.

Since this was a first visit and the menu was so interesting, we decided to try simple basics. The Bouillabaisse (cup $2.98, bowl $5.98, bread bowl$8.98)was a wonderful choice. The garlicky broth was filled with a large piece of grilled solid fish (a various 'fish of the day'), two large shrimp, five clams and three mussels. Next time we might just order two bowls of this, although I am curious about the New England clam chowder and house made special fish stew soup. The Fish and Chips (substitute cole slaw for the chips) ($9.49) came with five large pieces of lightly battered and fried Alaskan cod. The batter and its frying was proper: crisp, thin, to a light brown. The fish was flaky and light flavored. A quite large side of house made tartar sauce came with the plate and was very good. The slaw seemed to have small bits of pineapple but also some pungency, almost like horseradish or maybe a special mustard. In any case, it was very good.

All in all a great meal. We will be back.

Top Choice Fish Market and Eatery 6118 Paseo Del Norte, Suite B Carlsbad 92011 (760)517-8680 Open 7 days. Fish Market 8-8, Eatery 11 a.m.-8 p.m. website

Poke U

April 18, 2017 mmm-yoso Poke

**** Zion Market has moved and Poke U has closed

Yet another one of these "Chi-poke", fast casual places. This one in the food court of Zion Market. The now ubiquitous, pick the seafood, pick the toppings, pick the sauce…….kind of place.

It's the typical drill, you pick what you want…rice or salad, etc…..fish scooped with what looks like a 1/2 ounce scooper….and you get….

Well, not that. That's a real poke bowl….from Ono Seafood. This was $7.50 back when we visited; I think it's now like eight bucks or so.

Here's the $9.95 bowl + $1 for avocado since looking at the fish, I thought I'd needs something with a bit of creaminess to set things off.

Folks were nice….they gave me some miso soup…pretty dark looking stuff, but it was not bad. Not too salty. The tuna and salmon looked just barely passable and the albacore not too good, so I went with tuna, salmon, and two scoops of scallops, which was a mistake as the scallops were still slightly frozen and had none of the nice sea-salty sweetness I enjoy. The tuna was on the dry side, the salmon passable. The rice was adequately prepared; though the cho-jang like sauce was watered down and lacked enough of the sweetness of versions I enjoy.

Still, two of the good things about the place is; they open at 1030 and I often have weird lunch hours, and they are fairly close by in the Zion Market Food Court….where I usually don't have to fight tooth and nail for parking.

A couple of weeks later I returned.

In the mood for something lighter, I went with the salad version of the medium bowl…again $9.95 + $1 for avocado.

This time around I had some albacore, which wasn't very good, slightly off tasting. The salmon had a lot of connective tissue….the tuna looked decent and I got a double scoop, which was good move. The soy-mustard dressing added enough moisture to things….as you can tell it's rather dried out; though not as bad as what I recently had at Poki One and Half….plus they know how to spell poke.

What did make me laugh was when one of my coworkers accidentally called this place "Pork U"….. The shop also makes everything else the other places in the food court don't…from ramen to teriyaki bowls to (con) fusion "nachos".

As for all these poke places? Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens when we hit saturation point. So far; I think the best of these places, not including the ones that actually "make" poke might be Tokyo Deli Downtown?

Poke U (In the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily
1030am – 830pm

Sunday Sandwiches – Supernatural Sandwiches Revisited

April 16, 2017 mmm-yoso Sandwiches, Seafood

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

Man, four years can be like a lifetime when it comes to eating establishments (and Food Blogs too). It's been only four years and change since I first ate at SuperNatural Sandwiches, which at that time was in the now defunct San Diego Public Market. Forward a year and they opened a brick-and-mortar shop. During that period I noticed that they had really gotten down the flavors of my favorite at SS, the Siren. Though that shop was pretty tiny and got packed pretty quickly. Last year, they moved into even bigger digs and are now open 7 days a week!

I'd had a revisit marked down on my "list", but other than one real quick take-out visit, really wasn't able to revisit. Until a couple of months ago.

And they were doing some major business on this day. There's a definite demographic that makes up the customer base here….they are mostly those that are much more hip and as whole a lot younger than I am. Still, it's good to see folks, going for good "sea to table" grub. It must make Mr Grumpy's Tommy Gomes's heart warm.

As you would expect….SS seems to be always doing new "stuffs"…there's now soups, ice cream sandwiches (see Kirbie's post), and other sandwiches to choose from. But you know me……I decided to go with my favorite….The Siren.

For me, this sandwich is a bit of a tight rope walk. The brioche bun rides on being just a bit too sweet and buttery; the aioli too rich and spicy…..but it just seems to work here as the shrimp were nice and plump…and the flavor of the shrimp stood up to the spice and sweetness. If anything, I think they could knock out the garlic and we wouldn't even notice. It is a good, messy (I always get "mayo-hands" here), satisfying sandwich.

It's always comforting to know that a favorite is still going strong….or even stronger for that matter.

And I know, I've got try out some other things here….I'll save that for my next visit…..at least that's what I always tell myself.

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd. #122
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours:
Mon – Fri 9am – 8pm
Sat 10am – 8pm
Sun 10am – 4pm

Oiishi-Santee (again)

April 9, 2017 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoyo!!! is a food blog. Kirk is not posting right now (he's enduring transportation), nor is Ed (from Yuma)(who is enduring life without a computer). Cathy (enduring procrastinators) is sharing a meal today.

I first wrote a post about Oiishi in 2006, during my first 'vacation replacement' stint for Kirk and His Missus. Other posts were in 2008 and 2011. Since this is right down the street from home, The Mister and I stop here regularly, but take no photos…we just eat.

Japanese and Thai Cuisine are the menu choices here. Over the years, there's been a remodel of the small interior. Neat, clean, simple. (A pot of green tea is $2.75 and very good.) The 13 seat sushi bar is filled on most nights. The cucumber salad ($3.50) is refreshing, made with a simple rice vinegar and sesame seeds. The satay chicken appetizer ($7.95) can be (and usually is) a meal for me. It's served with a house made peanut based sauce that is thick, smooth and caramel-like in consistency; complimentary to the grilled white meat chicken pieces. The spicy fish plate ($12.95) is served with some sautéed bell peppers and onions and a small side salad along with rice. The spice level here is 1-10 and a 5 is quite pleasant.

A nice, longstanding neighborhood Thai-Japanese restaurant.

Oiishi 10251 Mast Boulevard Santee 92071 Website New Hours: Mon-Fri 11-3, 4:30-9 Sat 12-9 Closed Sunday

Golden City revisits

April 5, 2017 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Well, you're back here, reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk is on a train, heading away from snow, Ed(from Yuma) is distracted with computer problems so Cathy is writing another post about a favorite place.

Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and I have written about many meals and food items at Golden City over the years (type 'Golden City' in the search box at the top left corner of this page; you'll get over 950 results). Located pretty centrally (at the South East corner of the 163 at Claremont Mesa Boulevard), it's a convenient meeting spot for friends from North or South County.

The interior was renovated a while ago and everything is about the same, including the menu. There is a lunch and a late evening (after 9 p.m.) special menu. The lunch specials come with a choice of soup: hot sour and egg drop. Both are good. vegetable egg rolls also come with each lunch order. Since we were here on a Friday (when we don't eat meat) (seafood is allowed) I chose the fried beancurd with spicy salt ($8.95). This was wonderfully different. Thick cuts of soft bean curd, fried to the point that a light, delicate crust formed and the tofu inside was soft and creamy topped with a mixture of chilis and garlic. A good choice. The Mister chose the fish filet with lemon grass ($9.95) and this, too was fried with the most delicate crust and the subtle flavors of lemon grass and red and green pepper toppings were just right. All in all, another nice meal.

Earlier in the year, we had a bit of time for a celebratory meal and were back at Golden City. Peking Duck, two ways ($41) was our choice. The first way, had the skin cut off and served with a platter of steamed buns and a sauce filled with finely sliced scallions. Then the duck was taken away to the kitchen to prepare it for it's second servving (and I asked that the carcass be saved for me to take home for yet another meal) The chopped up dark duck meat mixed with water chestnuts, some shrimp chips and a sort of hoisin sauce arrived back at the table in the lettuce cups, a perfect size for holding and enjoying.

Always good here. Underrated. I hope your week is passing quickly!

Golden City Restaurant 5375 Kearney Mesa Road San Diego, 92111 (858)565-6682 website