Closed – Page 32

Saigon 5

December 27, 2016 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Pho, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Saigon 5 has closed

Along with Krispy Krunchy Chicken, Saigon 5 occupies a space in the new 99 Ranch Market Foodcourt. They also open at 9am, which, with my current wacky schedule makes it quite convenient for grabbing lunch at say; 10am.

My understanding is that this is owned by the same folks who run Saigon on Fifth.

I've found this location of 99 Ranch Market to be fairly empty every time I've visit. At 10am on a weekday; the place looked like a ghost town.

Not sure what to get; folks who emailed me mentioned stuff like Pho Bo Kho, which I believe was a special. There were no specials during my three visits, so I was stuck with the regular menu. On my first visit, I just got a simple Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($6.95), which was nicely priced.

I appreciated the nice little addition of the pork neck, which kept me busy digging little bits of meat out of the crevices. Enjoyed the greens in the broth as well. The broth was a bit on the "thin" side for me. I think it could have been a bit richer, but the flavor, while on the mild side, mostly salt-pepper, was fine.

The dumplings were on the chewy side; though each one had a piece of shrimp (no, don't get excited, not a whole shrimp) in it. Again, a little weak in pork-shrimp and light with regards to seasoning.

The egg noodles were done right, a slight pull and crunch.

This was not bad at all.

So I returned and went with the Pho Dac Biet ($8.95). The comparison to the "Mi" was night and day. I think I have a contender for the worst pho in the area.

A couple of meatballs and some tasteless, chewy well done steak….that's what almost nine bucks got me. The broth was insipid, almost like just salt, water, and perhaps someone gleefully waved a beef bone over the broth to hopefully impart some flavor. It's almost like they used the same broth as the egg noodle soup, but with even less flavor. The noodles were all chopped short and mushy, totally over cooked.

Less said the better…..I'm trying to forget this bowl.

A couple of weeks later I returned and decided on the Banh Mi Dac Biet ($4.50) as my tie-breaker.

The bread was starting to go, you could tell by the texture. It was also ice cold. I liked the pate, which was nice. Rich and funky. Though the person who applied had pressed so hard into the bread causing one long divot of mushy bread from one end to the other. The pork belly and a cha lua were fine; but on the dry side. They also really like a lot of black pepper here. The pickled daikon and carrots were shredded fine and quite crisp; but in my opinion had not been pickled well as it lacked zip.

I'm not sure what to think about this place. My first visit was pretty good, but that pho was just not good, and while the banh mi was below average, there are places that do better, and are open early.

The service was fine, Both young women who work here are pleasant, though one seems a bit detached.

Saigon 5
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

Chuan Chuan Xiang (串串香 – aka Mala Tang 麻辣烫) at Private Kitchens

December 20, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

***** This location is no longer

It's funny how things work out. I was headed to a dreaded lunch hour meeting, when I was notified that it was cancelled. I decided to head on down Clairemont Mesa to grab something to eat. I noticed that the place I'd recently seen that replaced the Zisu Indian Market named Private Kitchens had opened….at least the sign said open. So I parked and walked in.

I quickly noticed a couple of things; first off, there's a temporary wall put up and there's still Indian groceries for sale. Second, there was only one person in the place that spoke English, a sweet young lady whose English name is "Julie" I believe.

It's an odd set-up, two folks came in, did some shopping and paid for their groceries at the register. There were some interesting communication issues, but everything got taken care of. I think the shop is liquidating the grocery inventory? I mentioned this to the Missus who told me; "you know my peeps……"

Second thing I noticed. In spite of the huge kitchen, the place was set-up with skewers of various vegetables, meats, bean curd, etc. This was a "chuan chuan xiang" ("fragrant skewers") style place; also know as mala tang ("numb and spicy") style place. A real Chengdu specialty where you pick your skewers and they are cooked in a numbing hot broth. I really haven't seen this here since Ba Ren tried their "Yie-Shi" menu years ago.

This style of eating has a special place in my heart. I couldn't wait to grab a basket and have at it. You get charged by the skewers….frankly, I just picked out stuff I enjoy….it came out to about $11. A "small pot" cost $3.99; though I didn't care for the standard noodles…..instant ramen type.

My favorite items were the frozen and fried tofu, the bean curd skin, along with the enoki mushrooms. The rest was pretty routine and basic, but that broth was definitely, legitimately "numbing hot". I did get the "ma-la" and it was that in spades. I left with a nice layer of sweat on my forehead.

Funny thing, a couple of days later, it was pouring rain, everybody had been stuck in meetings and calls and we decided to grab some lunch. So Calvin, JohnF, Renee, and I headed over for some Mala Tang. This style of eating is quite social; except Renee can't eat tolerate anything too spicy; so we got her a milder version…..I got the Boys medium spicy. Calvin just piled stuff on…..

I ordered kuan fen (cellophane noodles) this time around, which goes quite well with the hot pot. Calvin loves his chicken parts; the heart was good; so was the pork stomach. I gotta say though; if you're going to do this, go for the spicy….the medium just didn't do it for me. We left quite satisfied; Renee had never experienced the "ma" before and told me her lips were numb; "but in a good way". We headed back to the office on a spicy endorphin high…..just the thing to take us through the rest of the day.

Now I'm not going to say this is great, nor even really good. The skewers are fine; it's the broth that makes this. It's also comfort food for me. And so far the version here does enough. I'm hoping it gets better. I'm also wondering what happens when the inventory of Indian Groceries is depleted and that temporary wall comes down? Will the menu expand and offer us more Chengdu style dishes?

One can always hope…..

Private Kitchens
5440 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

San Diego Restaurants

Dongbei Cai (东北菜) at Village North Restaurant

December 14, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Village North has closed

It's amazing how you can sometimes be surprised by the most humble and odd places. Take Village North Restaurant. I mentioned coming across the place when checking to see what was going on in the recently closed Char House space. The sign simply said "Soft Opening Village North".

I decided to check the place out. The space is quite modern, with a nice looking bar area, private rooms, a wide open dining area…..and one of the oddest menus I've seen in a while. It was strangely diverse with everything from Jiaozi to Chuan'r (skewers) to dry pots and other Sichuan style dishes…and yes, gasp, Orange Chicken!

I must have seemed a bit of an oddity to the very, very, nice young man who waited on me. Seeing the name "North" I went straight for the Jiaozi. But confused by the menu I asked where the chefs were from. I was told that the head chef and most of the other chefs were from Dongbei! My goodness, Dongbei. Which you might know as Manchuria and a style of cuisine the Missus and I enjoy; though we'd usually have to go to the SGV to get our fix. The menu's English translations really didn't help me, but with the help of the young man, I found the dish I was looking for.

The Jiaozi arrived first. I'd ordered the basic pork and napa cabbage version. This had a real home made kind of texture to the wrappers; a bit too brittle. The filling was mostly pork; something most folks would like, but I enjoy a nice balance. The flavor was fine, perhaps a bit too salty, but not bad. I did appreciate the entire bowl of Black Vinegar I was given, no scrimping there.

Of course; it was the Suan Cai Hot Pot I was looking for. It's Meat with Pickled Cabbage in Hot Pot on the menu.

This was pretty good; the fatty pork is perfect for this type of dish as the fermented flavors of the cabbage gives everything a clean finish. This was really large; of course I took most of it home. The dish had enough salt, but was missing two things….frozen tofu and enough deep fermented tones, though I'm thinking we like things a bit stronger these days since we make our own Suan Cai. Both were added when we had the leftovers for dinner….making this perfect.

I'd enjoyed my meal enough that I tried to return a couple of times; but for some reason the place was closed…..not sure why; I guess it's still the soft-opening, breaking in period.

I drove by recently and peeked down the parking lot and found that the open sign was lit up. So I decided on grabbing some lunch. As before, the dining room was empty….the two large rooms however, were full.

This time, I decided to ask about two classic Dongbei style dishes. I found one easily on the menu; the second one I asked about…..to the same really nice young man. Guo Bao Rou, which I call the "Original Sweet-Sour Pork". I was told that the version here is "modern style" and uses ketchup. Even though I had thought of the sauce looking like the Song Shu Gui Yu we had at De Yue Lou in Suzhou, I thought why not?

This had much more "sauce" than I'm used too. The pork was sliced properly for this dish; that would be thin. The batter; I believe it's usually potato starch based, was very crisp and crunchy. But man, the strong sour and sweetness was quite a shock! It was much stronger than I recalled, having had this dish before, and I didn't care for it at first. Then, bite by bite, I started enjoying it more. I especially appreciated the nice ginger tones which helped keep the sour notes at bay. I really can't eat too much of this, so I took most of it back to the office. I kind of knew who would enjoy this….. I figured this would over power Calvin's taste buds which it did. But had a feeling that "YZ" would like this…..even though she steers toward the Shanghai – Su Cai flavors, I believed that the very forward sweet – sour tastes would be what she liked. She really enjoyed it….. Heck, if you're going to have sweet-sour pork, you might as well have the original version, right?

I needed to balance the very sweet and sour dish and ordered the dish named the "Three Treasures"; Di San Xian.

The classic stir fry of potato, eggplant, and bell peppers. This was actually properly prepared; you basically need to deep fry the potato and eggplant before adding the sauce for thickening. This version kept too much of the cooking oil and the seasoning fell a bit short, I'm used to having it a bit sweeter. This version also seemed to have black vinegar in it, which I kind of enjoyed.

Overall, while the food wasn't outstanding, it was great to reacquaint myself with these classic Chinese dishes. It may not be haute cuisine, hip, trendy, or cool….but this is timeless and traditional comfort food. I took a menu home and started grilling the Missus, looking for more Dongbei-Cai dishes and it looks like they serve jiang gutou – simmered pork bones (probably like we had here) and even La Pi – mung bean sheets on the menu. And perhaps I'll even try some of the Sichuan….because you never know……

Village North
4428 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

San Diego Restaurants

Krispy Krunchy Chicken and Ramen in the 99 Ranch Market Food Court

December 12, 2016 mmm-yoso Cajun, Southern, and Soul Food, Chicken Wings, Ramen

**** Krispy Krunchy Chicken is now a location of Cluck n Sip

While I'd been keeping an eye on the opening of the new 99 Ranch Market on Balboa, I never really made it until a couple of weeks ago. They opened while we were out of the country and when I got back, my schedule was a mess for a while. So, I finally made it over when I needed to pick up something on the way home from work. Krispy Krunchy Chicken is located in the food court on the east side of the building along with Saigon 5 and a location of Shanxi Magic Kitchen (those posts are coming up). I decided to grab something to go and the folks at KKC were really friendly…insisting I sample their chicken tenders.

So, I placed an order for 10 wings….which are currently on special for $7.99. I was told it would be 10 minutes for my chicken, which was perfect as it gave me a chance to dash over and make my purchases in the market.

I got the basic fried chicken wings.

These were indeed (C)Krispy, (C)Krunchy, hot, and very moist, probably since this was made to order. In spite of being fairly hefty sized wings, I thought the batter to meat ratio was quite nice. Both the Missus and I thought a more aggressive Cajun seasoning would make this a bit better. Much like Kirbie, I couldn't help but make the comparison to Popeye's. While you're at it; check out Jinxi's post as well.

I'm glad I didn't get the "Buffalo" version since I saw that it was simply doused with hot sauce…….the chicken would have been soggy by the time I got home. Both the Missus and I used a good amount of Crystal Hot Sauce to add a little kick to the rather mildly seasoned wings. Still these were not bad.

During this visit; I learned that KKC opened at 930am, which made it a perfect spot for a bite between meetings. Curious that the place makes Ramen; albeit a definite Chinese Style (Wuji) ramen; I thought I'd give it a try. So I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen and was given a free chicken tender.

This had been sitting so while being fairly crisp, had dried out a bit and was quite bland.

The ramen was also mediocre.

The broth is thin, yet has a greasy mouthfeel. The flavor is slightly "tinny". The worst thing was that the broth was served almost lukewarm and was more salty than anything else. The chashu, while well flavored is fairly tough. The noodles were overcooked. The egg was nice and softboiled and might be; other than the very cheerful young Chinese kids manning the booth the best thing about this bowl of ramen.

A few days later, I needed to grab something before a 11am conference call so I dropped by and got a three piece meal with potato wedges.

Unlike my wings, this wasn't cooked to order and it suffered a bit. Especially the breast which was really dry and bland with the batter falling off. The color was also darker than the chicken on my previous visits. The potato wedges were also dry.

If I return, I'll probably go with the wings and hope they make them to order. And while the chicken here is larger than Popeye's, I enjoy the flavor at P's better. Like I said you can't help but make a comparison. Popeye's was founded in New Orleans in 1972; KKC, in Lafayette in 1989 and uses an injectable flavor/brine….which I think they need to use more aggressively.

I really liked the young people working here; they are very friendly, and always giving out samples. I believe they also have a location in the East Village.

Krispy Krunchy Chicken
5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

San Diego Restaurants

Ly’s Garden, Almost 11 Years Later

December 11, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

**** Ly's Garden has closed

On one of my recent honey-doo excursions in the area; I noticed that Lee's Garden had closed. It was kind of a surprise, since they had always seemed pretty popular. This left me wondering bout the sole survivor of the old trifecta of Lucky Star, Lee's, and the place that I'd always confuse with Lee's; Ly's. It seems that they were still open; at least the sign said so. I decided to check things out; even though the parking lot was completely empty….at 11am on a Saturday!

That might scare some people off; but I decided to forge ahead. After all, it had been nearly 11 years since I last visited.

The place looks pretty much the same; huge and cavernous. Perhaps it had reached the age of equilibrium. You know, it can't really look any older…..

I recalled the prices here being ridiculously low. Well, of course they've gone up (no more $2.75 won ton noodle soup), but are still quite inexpensive. Take, for example, my Roast Duck Egg Noodle – soup on the side, $5.95.

The egg noodles were nicely done; a tad crunchy with a bit of stretch to them. Flavored with a mild, but tasty soy sauce based flavoring. The duck; well, I've had better, but I've also had worst, quite recently as a matter of fact. The overall flavor of the duck was rather mild; lacking in richness or sweetness, while pretty meaty, the skin could have also been more crisp. I had expected a smaller portion and was surprised at the amount of duck I was given.

A bowl with pork neck; flecked with meat and connective tissue in broth was also provided. The pork was well flavored, but the broth had a metallic-bitter flavor to it that was unpleasant. I'm glad I got this with soup on the side.

As I ate three more parties came in……all of them folks older than me. I guess that must be the customer base these days.

The service was friendly and efficient; the prices just can't be beat…..though I don't recall them having Pho on the menu all those years ago. I'm not sure how much longer this place will hold on. All things must pass I guess. As once there were three; large Chinese restaurants in the area….the place for wedding receptions and banquets. Heck, I even went to a wedding reception at Lucky Star. Which just seems like a lifetime ago….

Now it's just Ly's……

Ly's Garden Chinese Restaurant
4350 54th St # B
San Diego, CA 92115

HoM Korean Kitchen

November 22, 2016 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

**** This location of HoM Korean Kitchen has closed

I was up in the Hillcrest area for a couple of days of meetings recently. I don't get up here very much these days and most times, when I do, parking is kinda horrible. Not bad in the way of, say the worst parking lots on ECB or Convoy (you all know those ones, right?), but its either meter or pay lot (though I think they validate) and sometimes there's nothing on the street.

Anyway, I saw this place, which used to be Which Wich, named HoM Korean Kitchen. It seemed interesting, so I walked in.

Very nice set-up; basically using the "bones" of the old shop.

Looking at the "menu" it became quite clear that this was a "fast casual" shop; the Chipotle model, or if you prefer, like one-of-a-zillion-until-critical-mass-hits-and-business-normalizes poke shops. Basically, design your own rice bowl concept. 1 protein, starch or salad, and three "sides", in this case "panchan" (heavy on the air quotes).

I've always thought that rice bowls would be a great food truck concept…..kind of had a fantasy to do a Korean inspired rice bowl truck and name it the "Bap-Mobile". Maybe it's because then I'd be "Bap-man", but I digress.

The guy working the front counter was quite nice and even asked me if I wanted some samples.

I simply went with the "Korean Steak" ($9.25).

The portion size for the price was pretty good….though a fountain drink is two bucks for a 12 ounce cup.

The beef was decent; chewy, but not overly so, a few pieces of gristle here and there, but better than I've had in, say a carne asada burrito. Speaking of carne asada; I'd say the flavor steers more toward that then Korean Barbecue. There's some soy sauce notes and this is far from bland, but it's fairly neutral.

The rice was fragrant, but there were quite a few hard pieces.

The panchan, is that in name only. The cucumbers and daikon seem to be quick pickled and really lacks spice, sour tones, and any sign of even slight fermentation. Hey, I thought this place as supposed to be healthy…..isn't fermentation supposed to have many health benefits? But I guess it's more about fast. The mushrooms were decent; well seasoned with some garlic tones.

This was not bad at all. Because the set-up and food screamed out "chain", I did a bit of research and found that there's another location in San Jose, but that's it for now. I also decided to return after my meetings ended the next day.

Same nice guy working. This time I went with the Braised Beef ($8.50) with Toasted Rice ($1.25).

Not a big fan of the toasted rice….it's more like a bland baked fried rice with a lot of hard bits. Not high on the "braised" beef either; it was shredded into mush, and was much too salty and In my opinion needed to be tempered with some sweet-pungent tones. The faux baechu kimchi is just that; basically a bland quick kimchi; the namul was worse. The spinach was my favorite item; like the mushrooms on my previous visit, it had a nice garlicky kick.

So, was it "HoM sweet HoM"? Well, I'm not so much of a "HoM-boy". I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here, but I think it's more Korean than Chipotle is Mexican. The ingredients are good, while some of the execution and seasoning may not be to my taste. Also, I do prefer that the Korean food I eat, well, would kind of remind me Korea. I would encourage you give the place a try though….who knows, you might find that there's "no place like HoM" (last one, I promise).

HoM Korean Kitchen
3825 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Cafe Royale

November 14, 2016 mmm-yoso African Cuisine/Restaurants, Mediterranean Restaurants, Somali Restaurants

**** Cafe Royale has closed

So, my haircut guy has been on the move again; I’ve detailed some of his moves over the years at the end of this post. So, last March he moved over to Rolando, then back to Mission Valley….then in September, back to Rolando. Well, on the bright side, I tracked him down and having to get my haircut allows me to spend a bit of time exploring a neighborhood I might not usually check out.

Fairly close to the barber (he’s actually on ECB) is a place someone mentioned to me in passing (along with Bourre, which is in the same strip mall) is Café Royale….the name which actually reminds me of a cognac-coffee drink I’ve had. But this place is supposedly Somali – Mediterranean.

The place looks rather fast-casual; where you order at the counter. The menu kind of threw me off; I’m used to seeing pasta in East African Restaurants; it’s the Italian influence. But this place had everything from the expected goat and suqaar, to the unexpected Philly Cheesesteaks (?!?), jalapeno poppers, quesadillas, burritos, and tiramisu. Though the meat is Zabihah Halal. Usually, I’d avoid a place like this; but for some reason there was an odd attraction. Plus, I was told there was a second Café Royale in, of all places, Minneapolis, go figure.

The guy working the counter was quite nice….perhaps it was my fresh clean-cut look…probably not. I wanted the lamb shanks, but was told it wasn’t ready yet; so I decided on the “Goat Feast Royale”. Man, this was a load of food for $10.99…..

I love how places like this and say, Safari Grill make their rice. It’s so fluffy and full of flavor. And that green hot sauce doesn’t mess around either. I found the goat to be on the tough side, though the flavor; coriander came through, along with the sprinkle of sumac made sure this wasn’t bland. A bit too much gnawing on tough bits though.

Still the price was very good and I wanted to try that lamb shank. So after my next haircut I dropped by and ordered the Lamb Shanks Royale ($14.99). I got it to go and noticed how heavy the plastic sack was. Something else I didn’t notice….the menu said “shanks” not shank. Good lord, look how much food this is.

I can’t imagine any one person finishing all of this. The Missus was in shock over the portion size. It was just too much food….almost three meals total. The Missus, like I enjoys the rice; nice and fluffy with good flavor…She also enjoys that green hot sauce a lot as well.

The lamb shanks were pretty meaty and cooked pretty well; not falling apart, but nice and fork tender. Decent salt, but fairly mild in that gamey lamb flavor we enjoy. Again, look at the size of this plate.

So, you obviously won’t go hungry here and the portions reminded me of going to a friend’s house where “Mom” wanted to make sure you left with a full belly. It was nice trying something a bit different. The guys working here are fairly polite and friendly, though I’m not sure what I’ll order if I return.

Cafe Royale
6511 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92115

A Revisit to La Miche Kabobgee

November 13, 2016 mmm-yoso Lebanese Restaurants

**** Sadly, La Miche has closed

Good lord; with temps hitting the mid-90's last week, it was hard believing it's actually November! It was in the high-30's when we left Iceland….we even felt that the temps in the mid-50's in Seattle was quite warm. So when we got back home and this heatwave hit….sheesh.

Hot weather like this kind of kills our appetite. We wanted something with a lot of flavor, but not too heavy, and La Miche came to mind. Hard to believe that it has almost been two years since we last visited, but the owner Nabih still remembered us.

Like before, we tend to stick with the mezze here.

We started with the Baba Gannoush.

The version here is a bit too sour for our taste, which really dampens the usual smoky flavor of eggplant.

The Muhamarah, though, is still a winna!

This red pepper and walnut spread; thickened with bread has such a nice texture and wonderfully complex sweet-nutty-garlic-sour flavors. It is heaven on a warm pita.

The slightly ripe and funky-cheesy-salty Shaankleesh was also perfect….a wonderful mash-up of flavors based on nice and ripe Shanklish is also wonderful on bread.

The Missus also enjoys the chewy, spicy, and salty Soujouk. The acid from the tomato sauce helps cut the salt.

There's quite a combination of spices going on here. By this time we were quite full so we took most of this home. The next day, the Missus made the leftovers with egg, which is a classic combination to this dry and spicy sausage.

I'm not sure what took us so long to return to La Miche. Perhaps it's location; kind of hidden from view. We really enjoyed our meal on a day where we hit record high temps. We won't take so long to return in the future.

La Miche Kabobgee
9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Seattle – Sitka & Spruce

November 9, 2016 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Fine Dining, Seattle, Washington

**** Sitka & Spruce has closed

I thought I'd do this post a little out of the usual chronological order and you'll see why in a future post. I mentioned getting stranded in Seattle on the way back from Vancouver due to the Great Delta Debacle of 2016 in an earlier post. Anyway, being stuck in Seattle isn't that bad for us….of course I lost extra vacation time. But I quickly got us a hotel and reservations at a place we really enjoyed during our last "visit" Sitka & Spruce.

While we did enjoy our meal we really weren't quite as impressed this time around and perhaps the best part of the meal was my cocktail, called "The Garden".

Loved the addition of the celery bitters and oregano, which gave this white grape juice and ancho reyes cocktail a wonderful complex array of flavors. Not too boozy and quite refreshing. The sweetness of honey and citrus really balanced things out.

We started with some Shigoku Oysters ($3/each), which is basically a new variation of Kusshi Oysters a strain of Pacific Oyster.

These were very mild in flavor and perhaps a bit too firm for my taste. Also, one of the oysters tasted a bit off; but I suffered no ill effects.

We also ordered the combination of pickled and fermented vegetables with pickled egg ($11).

This was a lot of pickles….a lot, enough for 4-5 people, except for the egg of course, which was very good. The Shishito Peppers had a very nice texture and the beets were delicious. Probably too much of a good thing though.

Next up; the Heirloom Tomatoes and Halloumi ($18).

The tomatoes were good…a bit too mild in flavor and acid. This dish had way too much basil on it. The big surprise was the seared Halloumi, which had a fairly crisp exterior and a creamy interior. It added a bit of saltiness to the dish which was welcomed as was the presence of Shiro Plums which added a pleasant sweetness.

The Crispy Yukon Golds with Tuna and Egg Yolk ($14) was quite good.

That egg yolk added rich creaminess and the tonnato (a tuna-mayo based sauce) added a nice creamy-savory flavor as well. The olive oil was lovely and the potatoes delicious. The tuna confit really had no flavor and brought nothing to the dish in our opinion.

The Broccoli with Charred Eggplant ($13) was quite good in spite of the rather greyish hue of the dish.

Think broccolini with baba gannoush. The restrained amount of Aleppo Pepper added some zip to the smoky eggplant puree. The anchovies were a bit too salty for this in my opinion.

The seemingly odd combination of Nectarines, Lardo, Seared Shishito Peppers, and Chickpea Puree ($14) sounds a bit disjointed, but it worked quite well.

An interesting combination of textures and flavors; sweet, that chlorophyll-sweet-mild spice of the peppers, the texture of the lardo, and topped off with a nutty hummus like puree, this worked nicely for us.

As with our previous meal; we were intrigued with the combination of textures and flavors, some of which worked better than others. Though during our previous visit, we had that one dish which we thought was just amazing, which we didn't find on this visit. Still, while you might think $120+ for mostly vegetables (and cocktails) is mighty steep, the meal was a fun little ride.

Sitka & Spruce
1531 Melrose Ave
Seattle, WA 98101

Red Card Cafe

November 8, 2016 mmm-yoso Gastropub, Salads, Sandwiches

** Red Card Café has closed

A few months back; Red Card Café replaced Kitchen 4140. I was intrigued at the concept, a Gastropub featuring various street food dishes.

I really like the space; casual, yet very nice…though I haven't set foot in the dining room, preferring the bar area or the outdoor seating.

The theme of the menu is….yep, global dishes from soccer countries. It's kind of out there, all over the place with everything from Cubanos, poutine….aracini to pierogies!

Over the last few months, I managed to visit four times. I like to check out a place a couple of times before doing a post whenever possible and the location of Red Card, in my 'hood made it easy to do multiple visits.

The owner; Caroline is a joy to chat with, and the folks here are pretty friendly.

The tap selection is small but decent, and they feature stuff from Bitter Brothers (right down the street) among others. So I started with a Golden Child.

One of the things I really developed a taste for during our trip to Tunisia was a nicely spiced merguez. Caroline hails from France and the chef is formerly from Sausage and Meat. So what more natural way to start things off than with a sausage, right? I did find out that the merguez was not made inhouse; bummer. I ordered it anyway. At $14, I thought a single sausage and some rather ordinary fries was not going to be a great value….unless that sausage delivered. The flavor of the merguez was a bit on the mild side; quite tame….based on the owner's background, I was expecting the thinner, rather snappy, slightly spicy, very flavorful meguez. I did like the house ketchup.

A few days later, the Missus joined me on a nice sunny evening.

Having just returned from Vancouver, where the Missus discovered an affection for Poutine and combined with Duck Confit, it just sounded like something we should try.

The Duck Poutine ($16) just had too much going on; too sweet, too heavy, you really couldn't taste the duck and the dish came across as being on the greasy side.

We also ordered the Cuban ($12) with Yam Chips ($3 when included with a sandwich).

The Yam Chips looked very dark and seemed a bit greasy, but was really crisp and had a nice salty-sweet potato flavor. The Missus really enjoyed this sorta-Cubano. The bread was nicely toasted; the mustard and pickles really lifted the flavor of the slightly citrusy and decently moist pork, and the slighty nutty-milky flavor went well with the sandwich.

This turned out to be a decent meal.

So I returned a few weeks later. This time I went with the Hot Dog which seemed a bit crazily priced at $12. It was however, quite good.

The hot dog tasted quite "porky", a bit different, loved the nice bacon bits, the wonderful house made mustard, and the sweetness of the caramelized onion. The potato bun went really well with all of this. And instead of being over-wrought and busy; I enjoyed this.

To balance things out; I went with the Kale Caesar ($7).

I enjoyed the fried kale which, along with the croutons added dimensions of crunch to the already crisp and fresh kale. The salad wasn't over-dressed and was very nice overall.

A few weeks later I returned; not being overly hungry, I went with the now rather ubiquitous Char Siu Steamed Buns ($14).

This was pretty mediocre, from the buns which seemed like something that was previously frozen, lacking the light fluffiness of fresh steamed buns. The meat was more like pulled pork than actual char siu. The sauce was a hoisin based glaze that was closer to a pseudo BBQ sauce than something truly Asian. It was also too sweet for my taste.

I finished the meal with a bottle of Three Philosophers for dessert.

Man, it had been a while since I'd had one of these.

In the end, I'm glad that we have Red Card in the neighborhood, heck, like I mentioned in Lynn's post of Red Card, this might be the best place on Morena now. And while I'm not the type to "just be happy to have it" and Red Card's menu, which is kind of all over the place seems to have its pitfalls, I'm glad to have another choice on the Boulevard.

Red Card Café
4140 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117