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Seattle: Brunch at The London Plane

December 27, 2014 mmm-yoso Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Breakfast/Brunch, Seattle, Washington, Travel

**** The London Plane has closed

I don't sleep in much. Remember what they say about needing less sleep as you get older? I'm not sure I buy into that, but I usually wake at 5am on work days and by 6:30 or so on weekends. But there's something about the weather and coziness of Seattle that just makes you want to sleep in. Or perhaps it was that wonderful dinner and the rather long walk we had the night before. Regardless, by the time I threw back the curtains on our hotel room, it looked like a glorious day.

Our flight wasn't leaving until 5pm, so I had arranged for a late check-out. We'd just loaf around until then. But first, we needed sustenance.

We'd passed by The London Plane, a wine bar, cum bakery, cum specialty food shop, cum cafe the day before. I'd heard of the place, so we stopped in and looked at the brunch menu. The menu looked interesting, so we decided on yet another Matt Dillon shop for Saturday brunch.

Though the rest of the "in transition" Pioneer Square area looked pretty empty, the London Plane was almost half full.

Much like The Walrus and the Carpenter we just got some really nice seats….upstairs…overlooking the open kitchen.

Our Server told us, "I think you got the best seats in the house…." And I don't doubt him. I love watching the timing and coordination of the different stations. An open kitchen means you've got to work really clean….which this place totally did.

Wanna make a food blogger's day? Give them seats at the counter or open kitchen.

We started with the Smashed Avocado and local Albacore Toast ($12).

I believe the albacore was oil poached…still, it was rather dry, and a bit "fishy" to my tastebuds. Guacamole on toast….why didn't I think of that before? I actually enjoyed the avocado – olive oil…the sourdough, which I think is one of the shop's hallmarks is very good and the red pepper…well, not flakes, but crumbs brought a nice mild smoky, pungent, heat to the whole deal.

Take a look at some of my coolking posts over the last couple of years and you'll notice how various vegetables have started to really take up a bigger part in our diet. So there's no wonder that the Missus decided She wanted brunch here after seeing different assortments of vegetables available for brunch.

By far, my favorite were the Roasted Baby Carrots and Red Emporer Onions with pistachios and mint (far left). I really enjoyed the levels of savory sweetness….it never went too far, the light touch of mint really added a nice touch. The Missus loved the roasted delicata squash (duh…) and kale (double duh…) with tahini and pumpkin seed. Nice balance here as folks tend to be rather heavy handed with tahini.

The raw beet, apple, fennel, and celery slaw with walnuts was definitely no shrinking violet, but was a bit too tart for my taste.

One bad thing about having several enjoyable dishes is that as the meal goes on, the higher the expectations. Since I make gravlax at home, the Missus expected the lox in the Salmon lox, potato, pickled peppers, and creme fraiche was going to be something sublime. I guess simply being "lox" was not good enough……

Of course the Missus loved the romanesco……..but was less than impressed with the rest of it. Deconstructed; the potato is the "bagel", the pickled peppers the red onion and capers, and the creme fraiche….well, creme fraiche. I would love a bit more dill and something more herbaceous to set this off. Not a bad dish by any means….but while carried out well, quite mundane.

As we left, the dining room was packed, and the shop quite busy. We'd enjoyed our meal here and the service(and the coffee) was quite good as well.

The London Plane
300 Occidental Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104

This was a bit more than we'd usually have for breakfast….which left us ready to roll back in bed. Having a late check-out, that's exactly what we did. After all of the walking the last two days, the extra rest was welcomed.

After our nap, we walked around a bit, then checked-out and headed off to SeaTac. Man, the light rail makes everything so easy.

We managed to grab a beer at the airport since we got there early.

And even a grilled cheese and some cheese curds from Beecher's near Concourse C.

Like I learned in Madison; those cheese curds will hold you for a good long time……they were really good; garlic and herb flavor. We didn't get to the grilled cheese until getting home!

Anyway, we had a blast in Seattle; it remains one of my favorite cities. And we surely won't wait another 7 years to return!

Opposite Sides of the Street: Native Foods and Chicken Charlie’s FryBQ

December 8, 2014 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Chains, Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants

**** Both Native Foods and this location of Chicken Charlie's have closed

I'm still a bit disappointed that all of that development on the corner of Genesee and Balboa has given birth to a slew of chain and chain like restaurants. Still, something did catch my attention which triggered off this Jungian inspired conversation from Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket:

Pogue Colonel: You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?
Private Joker: No, sir.
Pogue Colonel: You'd better get your head and your a$$ wired together, or I will take a giant $^!t on you.
Private Joker: Yes, sir.
Pogue Colonel: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.
Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.
Pogue Colonel: The what?
Private Joker: The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir.
Pogue Colonel: Whose side are you on, son?
Private Joker: Our side, sir.

Two restaurants, polar opposites, one trying to place a large, wet, vegan stamp on the fast casual restaurant business, the other, a favorite among fair goers for frying just about everything, seemed to be wanting to place that stamp in our arteries.

You really couldn't find to more contradictory paths with the same goal….feeding the masses, it seemed quite appropriate that the businesses were across the street from one another. Since both were on the way to and from work and meetings, I thought I should give them a try. And you know me, it meant eating at both places multiple times. So here goes…..

On the North side of Balboa, Native Foods:

To tell you the truth, I'd been curious about Native Foods since I read Elmo's post on the chain over four years ago. Though, to be just as honest, I really wasn't excited enough to drive to Point Loma to try them out.

The set-up is totally fast casual…remove the tree hugger bright colors and this could be Tender Greens or Smashburger…..or any number of fast casual shops.

On this visit, things seemed a bit disorganized….the cashier was busy talking to her customer and going over things while two other girls just kind of milled around. It looked a bit strange to me….

Like I mentioned earlier, I'd been intrigued by what Elmo and his pals had from Native Foods, so I ordered the Native Nachos ($6.95) and the Native Chicken Wings – in Buffalo Sauce ($5.95).

The nachos really didn't have any mystery flavors, it was fairly straight forward. My complaints would be that the chips were stale and the "native taco meat" was like eating pieces of organic grit, being hard and dry. Everything else was fine if a bit bland.

The "chicken" was a bit too spongy for my taste, though the "Buffalo"….strange because even though it's the name of a city….it's also a name of a pretty tasty four legged critter…anyway the sauce had a mild kick, the batter was decent, but that "Ranch Dressing" was very runny and tasted watered down.

Not a great meal by any means, but not terrible either, so I returned a few days later. I feel kind of like I cheated here since I ordered a salad…..I mean, a place like this should make a decent salad, right?

What kind of drove me nuts this time around was that I saw my salad come up in the window. There were no other customers and I got it to go. The two guys; one of them obviously the manager were just shooting the breeze, so I decided to use a stop watch after watching this go on for a few minutes.

So, it took over 7 minutes for that guy to reach up and grab my salad which had been sitting in the window. Sheesh, with a manager like that, no wonder folks seem pretty lax here.

I had ordered the Mexican Cobb ($8.95) and I thought it to be a decent salad. The Native Chicken sliced thin with an "Ancho" BBQ sauce, which pretty much tasted like a regular BBQ sauce, no deep smokey-sweet chili flavors, though this was not bad at all. I guess thin slices of the stuff works best. The dressing did have a nice little kick. This was nicely put together, from the jicama to the corn, to the black beans. I'd have no problem ordering this again.

And yet, I kind of felt like I needed to try something a bit different. On my next visit, I again hit an interesting delay. Three girls at the front counter, none of them had access to the register. Common sense dictates that perhaps one should just take my order until they can find the person with the blessed access….but no, I just cool my heels.

At least there was no unecessary waiting for what I ordered, the Native Chili (cup – $3.95) and something the cashier recommended sinceI was just stumped, a thing called the Chicken Run Ranch Burger ($9.95).

Eating chili glue with a flavor that seemed watered down and bland is not my favorite experience. I'm passing on this from now on.

If you see this sandwich approaching you; run, don't walk away from it. Imagine biting into a mushy sponge with dry buns, and liquid that looks like it leaked out of coleslaw oozing out. This was severely bland and I didn't enjoy the textural experience either.

For me, it's the salads here……

Native Foods Cafe
5604 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

On the South side of Balboa, Chicken Charlie's FryBQ:

I thoguht this a fairly interesting gamble for "Charlie". It's one thing to create fatty, over-the-top Fair Food. It's another taking that "fry everything gimmick" and having a brick and mortar shop.

I first went just a few days after opening at a bit of an offf hour so the place wasn't overly busy.

In a rather interesting coincidence, I ordered almost the same items as Kirbie did for her post. The Fried Avocados and a side of Fried Chicken.

I had fried several times here, so I'll just go over it once; these are very low quality bulk fries, lacking in potato flavor and kind of dry. The avocados were the favorite item I had here…….crunchy exterior, creamy avocado goodness….like eating crusted fat. Lovely.

The fried chicken were terrible.

These came out very quickly, so I think they were laying around under some heat source. The coating was soggy, grey, sloughing off like dead skin. The meat was cold to the touch and greasy in texture. It was also strangely under-seasoned for my taste.

The next time around I ordered the FryBQ Ribs, which was probably a mistake on my part.

These were hard as rock and the sauce was much to tangy and "dry", with a bit too much spice. You really couldn't taste any smoke or the ribs for that matter. Perhaps that was by design, but these were not my favorite.

Since I was working within the rule of three, I needed to revisit one more time. So I ordered an item that I enjy when done well, the Frog Legs. Frog Legs are a tricky thing, they go dry quickly if over-cooked. If not fresh, they turn a bit sour with a kind of mushy-sliminess to them.

I believe the photo to the right is pretty much my reaction to the frog legs. The fry job on these weren't good as the batter was soft and just fell of the beast. I'm glad the legs weren't dry, but the flavor seemed a bit off. Not even close to what I had at Red Rooster Catfish (which I believe has a new location).

And while I really didn't care for much of what I had here; I have to say the service was efficient. I saw Mr Boghosian follow up with customers who seemed ot waiting too long for their orders several times, which was a nice touch.

In the end, for a place that hangs its hat on frying, I thought the deep fry jobs were very uneven. Perhaps Chicken Charlie's forte are the fried sweets like oreoes and Klondike bars. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I'll leave that for others.

Chicken Charlie’s FryBQ
5407 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Sunday Sausagefest: Salt & Cleaver, Toronado, and a little S&M (that’s Sausage and Meat)

November 30, 2014 mmm-yoso Beer, Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub

**** All of these places have closed

In my most recent post on Tiger Tiger I mentioned that the Missus has been on a beer and sausage tear….so this meant that we've tried a couple of places. Here are a bunch of one and dones.

Salt and Cleaver:

We visited a couple weeks after Kirbie and CC.

We must be getting old….it just seemed like the music was playing way too loud……

Anyway, since it's about the weiners……

This one is called the Duck.Duck.Pig ($11).

The duck confit was fried crisp, but was alas, also dry as leather. I thought the orange marmalade was a bit too much for the duck and bacon sausage which was fairly mild with mild smokey tones. I liked the grind, but the Missus prefers either a coarser grind or fine and rather loose. The flavor was fairly nice, but this was a bit too much.

Since the Missus doesn't do much bread these days, a sausage board is always welcome. The meat board ($13) comes with 4 sausages.

The Smoked Beer Bratwurst was very bland. The Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno was quite nice, not too sharp or spicy, a very nicely put together sausage. The Smoked Spicy Cajun had a nice kick, but was really salty and I didn't like the casing on this one; it was too tough. We enjoyed the Linguica, a bit on the mild side, but the flavors went together well. The mustards and sauces were fairly routine.

Altogether not bad and we may return……

Salt & Cleaver
3805 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Toronado:

Granted, I really wanted to come here for the beers, but I walked the Missus into checking the place out for the sausages.

Loved the bartender here……she was very cool, sorta funny, in a rather detached way. She was good at helping folks make beer selections.

There's really no frills about Toronado. It becomes very clear when you order the Sausage Plate ($12)….it comes to the table exactly as ordered….a plate with 3 sausages…..nary a garnish, sauce, mustard, or anything else except the juices leaking from said encased meats.

This was oh-fer-three. The "Morrocan Lamb" was dry and gritty and really needed a bit more seasoning. The Jalapeno Cheddar was a far cry from Salt & Cleaver. The Bratwurst was also too dry and hard as was the casing.

We did enjoy the Pork Belly Skewers ($6).

Loved the texture of the pork belly, crisp on the exterior, creamy like buttah' interior. The sweet chili sauce was too sweet for us, but this was pretty good overall. The jicama-cilantro slaw could have used more flavor.

Of course, like I said, I came here for the beers.

Loved the selection. I was missing Belgium and this was just the fix I needed. I don't think Belgian's travel real well as the flavors are not quite the same as what we had in Belgium, but I'll take it.

Candice and I are trying to talk our friends into doing a 30th street corridor beer crawl. So I'm sure I'll be back soon enough.

Toronado
4026 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104

S & M – That's Sausage and Meat:

So, sorry to disappoint anyone who had thoughts that perhaps mmm-yoso was totally going off the rails. Anyway, this is the latest creation from the folks behind Slater's 50/50. The location is quite familiar….this is the former site of Gulf Coast Grill, which lasted much longer than I ever thought it would.

We visited on Veteran's Day, just a short time after they had opened.

I love the logo…….simple, but to the point. The place is bright and wide open, it'll be great during warmer weather.

Like Slater's the menu is full of, well, interestingly, uninteresting items……twists on stuff I know I can get better elsewhere. So, just trying to play it straight we kept out of the flavored bacon jar, instead playing "straight man" for the main part. Trying to see what kind of clothes the Emporer was wearing…if any.

We started with the Charcuterie Board ($11).

This would be almost the antithesis of a Slater restaurant, in having a very mild prosciutto and soppressata. Not a good value. The one item we both loved was the nicely fermented cabbage and the pickles….the dill pickles were just fantastic.

Since the Missus is still on Her "no bread" shall pass these lips kind of thing we went with the Sausage Board ($15).

I love alligator – pork sausages, so the Alligator-Antelope Andouille seemed like a good pick. Unfortunately, I found it to be very tame and bland, lacking in that paprika-garlic-file-chili, smokey-savory flavors that make a good Andouille. I've cooked with Antelope which has a distinct flavor, I couldn't make that out here. The Missus chose Her favorite sausage of late…..Mexican Chorizo. Man, this was way too mild in flavor, lacking in any heat or zip. I will say, that Whiskey Mustard is a wonderful sweet-spicy-sour-tangy condiment and I could live on those pickles.

I had a Modern Times (Blazing World) Amber, mildly (by San Diego terms) Hoppy with a clean finish and the Missus was happy with Her Almanac sour.

The whole ordering, seating, sign process is both neat and kind of strange at the same time….it's really not clear that you order at the counter (or do you?)…which we did. You get these flip cards which indicate your order, when you don't want to be bothered, and when you want to pay. It's a hybrid of the typical gastropub/bar/fast casual ordering system where you're given a number for folks to bring your order. The twist here is different, even though you order at the register, you don't pay(though you do leave your credit card)…..at least we didn't. You flip the sign and someone comes and brings you your bill….if you pay with cash, this seems kind of strange and redundant….you either have table service or you don't. Oh, and even though we indicated "Scram" folks came by five times to see how we were doing…..though they were really nice and I totally understand having just opened they wanted to do well. I really liked our Servers…..we'd come back just for the pickles and mustard…..

If you'd like to see the other items on the menu; please read Kirbie's post.

S&M Sausage & Meat
4130 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92103

And just because I'm feeling silly:

I usually listen to music on iTunes while doing my posts….and yes, they are still usually a one pass deal. Anyway, this song came on…….and took me back. I grew up during the 70's and 80's and this one made me recall the music video…back when MTV actually had music videos. It hasn't aged well, but what the heck. Plus, I always wanted a 'Cuda….though my preference would be for a '70.

The ending is so Miami Vice. One of the guys we knew used to actually dress Miami Vice style…light colored jacket with pastel t-shirts and loafers….white loafers. Egad……he thought he was so cool. He was quite short; like five foot-two, so when we used to see him at the club we used to call him, "Miami mice….."

Qi Wei Kitchen

November 18, 2014 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Qi Wei in San Diego has closed

Qi Wei Kitchen kinda quietly opened just when we got back from our trip. I asked some coworkers and other folks who are tuned into Weibo and other social media and was warned off. Low quality products, off flavors, long waits (like over an hour), really made me hesitate. In retrospect, I should have done what I usually do, just plow in full speed ahead. The other thing being, it seems that only Sichuan and Hot Pot restaurants are interested in opening in San Diego. Also, unlike how things used to be, it seems to be all about portion sizes now(as in Szechuan Chef)….quantity is in, quality be damned. About 2 weeks ago, "YZ" gave me the all clear on Qi Wei and along with Lily, we headed down the street to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Qi Wewi specializes in one thing; what they call Mala Xiang Guo – Numbing-Hot "dry" fragrant (Hot) Pot, which looks a lot like some of the dry cooked dishes I'm familiar with.

The drill is basically ordering a size of "dry pot"….the $10.99 version is only available for lunch from Monday – Thursday. You then choose the type…well ma-la of course; spice level. The $30.99 special gives you a choice of two protein based items (except for stuff like lobster and fish) to add to the base pot, which has four items….which I thought would be bad luck; but whose counting. Those four items, cauliflower, potato, bean sprouts, and celery. You can add proteins for $10.99 and vegetables and such run form 99 cents to $2.99. I think you get the picture, it can get pretty pricey, pretty quickly.

Anyway, we went with the Combo. Strong flavored and offal type items are a natural for this style, so ordered the duck gizzards and the ox tripe.

This was mostly mushy french fries and cauliflower. What gizzard and tripe existed was very salty. Not very……no numbing Sichuan Peppercorn, very blah. Plus, it took almost 30 minutes to arrive. Not terrible, but quite mediocre.

As it stood, most folks would say "meh" and never return. But you know me…..I just needed to verify. So I returned a while later, solo, since I didn't want to put anyone else through what we'd had before

The woman on this visit was very nice. I ordered the $10.99 deal, medium spicy, with mutton, a favorite of mine. Sadly, what I got was beef……the server was very apologetic and told me, "the beef is very good….my favorite". I'm sure she was embellishing things, but I have to say, the beef, though on the chewy side had some pretty decent flavor….the beefiness and five spice came though nicely. As you can clearly see, it looks much better than on the previous visit.

The celery, which was MIA on our previous visit was here…..the amount of beef was adequate….there was even a some decent heat, though still not enough of the Sichuan Peppercorn numbingness I adore. It wasn't as salty and had some decent flavor. I couldn't finish all that cauliflower and french fries so I took it home. The Missus thought it was decent.

Overall, not a great value, but if you're looking to fill up on potatoes and rice, I guess this might fit the bill. I might try to return for mutton or even better, intestine, though to be perfectly honest, I'd rather have some dry cooked lamb, intestine, or beef from Fu An or even Spicy City…..boy do I miss Ba Ren.

They also have a location in our old neck of the woods; Rowland Heights as well.

Qi Wei Kitchen
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

COMC – The Rule of Three Edition: Tiger! Tiger! revisited

November 13, 2014 mmm-yoso Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub

**** Tiger! Tiger! has closed

The Missus had been on a tear since we returned from Belgium. It was beer and sausages at least once a week. It took me a while to get the Missus to visit Tiger! Tiger! with me, but once She did; well there was no stopping Her. So now, we have this huge collection of photos….

Yes, there's the beer, in fact, I don't think I've ever had a bad pint here. Come early and the folks manning the counter will actually spend time with you, trying to find the best fit. Speaking of fit, for us, Tiger Tiger presents us with a pseudo Goldilocks principle. Yes, Blind Lady Ale House has, in my opinion, a better curated selection of beer…Tiger Tiger is fairly short on sours, which the Missus loves, but TT's food is definitely better. Waypoint Public's food, at least to the Missus has the edge and the selection of beers can be really great, but man, it's pricey…$12 for a pint. It seems that TT is just right for us to enjoy weekly! Ah yes, the Rule of three.

So anyway, here's a C(learing) O(ut the) M(emory) C(ard) collection.

Part 1 – Encased meats:

There seems to be a different sausage featured weekly. While I don't really follows fads, it looks like sausages are in right now…..lucky us.

My favorite – The Smoked Kielbasa…oh man….

The Missus' favorite – The Bratwurst. She likes a more coarse cut, or even a gritty style filling.

Honorable mention…I don't think Tiger Tiger serves dishonorable weiners.

The Spicy Hungarian.

Pork and Jalapeno.

Part 2 – There's a rotation of meat paste, ummm, Pate as well.

Our unanimous favorite; the Chicken Liver Pate.

Smooth and rich, this did well with the sweetish chutney.

The country style pate with pistachios is tied for next.

With the country style pate flavored with smoked paprika.

This country style pate was good, but really didn't do well with the sweet flavor of the chutney.

Part 3 – Mom always told me to eat my veggies. So Mom would be pleased to see me eating the wood fired vegetable offerings.

My favorite would be the Padrons…well because we like them so much we grow them.

The Missus enjoyed this eggplant dish more than I did.

We both enjoyed the roasted brocolini…..

The Missus hates spaghetti squash and it's really not among items I seek out, but this version was pretty good.

So there you go; our meals at Tiger Tiger in 3 parts…..

You know, it took us three (yikes, there it is again!) visits before I got the Missus to even try something from the regular menu; the Puerco.

Which She really liked, but She was right back to Her trilogy of sausage-pate-veg on the very next visit. I gotta say……I really can't complain.

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

WOW Cafe (ON the Ocean Beach Fishing Pier)

October 19, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Diner, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

This is mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food. Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy are the usuals who write posts here. Today's writer is Cathy.

If you've lived or are living in or visited San Diego and gone to the Ocean Beach area, you may have seen this font. Most likely, you saw it from this vantage point. It's way down there, a building sticking out of the pier.Walking up the stairs at the end of the pier, you are greeted by the gates and various signage.
You begin your walk on the longest cement pier on the West Coast. Enjoying and appreciating the views North and the surfers waiting to catch the next wave, the walk is windy, chilly, invigorating.Finally, it's so much closer… There are public restrooms, a Bait Shop and the Cafe within that building. A lot of people call it the Ocean Beach Pier Cafe (which is the old name and where it is)… But this is the real name. The same family, the Fishers (ha), have been the owners since 1993. Another San Diego Institution.
There are tables out in front as well as bar stools and a table railing on the pier opposite the doorway; plenty of seating. Indoors, there is no wind. Nautical decor, fresh flowers on the tables. The Pier Plate ($10) herb battered pollack and shrimp on top of fresh fried potatoes and cole slaw. The batter was fried properly, had good flavor; the fish was moist, thick and flaky; the slaw was fresh cut and lightly dressed (just the way I like it) and those potatoes…yes they look limp and they are limp and they have the *best* flavor, are cooked through and are wonderful!
{Note: The menu states that each plate has an "O.B. Pier Sinker" (jalapeño popper) on it, which neither of our plates had, and each of our plates was $1 less than the menu price of $11.} Since it is lobster season, I ordered the lobster taco ($6) and made it a plate ($4) – with slaw and a "bun o'chowder" (instead of ordering a sourdough bowl). This was nice. Plenty of sauteed lobster meat and the topping was basically the slaw with tomatoes, sauce and jalapeño bits. The bun o'chowder was fascinating…a toasted hamburger bun topped with a good amount of house made clam chowder. The toasting of the bun meant not much absorbtion of chowder into the bread. The chowder had a great flavor, with clam bits and potato.
When you are finished, the walk back doesn't seem to take as long.

Prices are fair (not expensive but not dirt cheap), the food is fresh and good quality. The view can't be beat.

Walking On Water Cafe 5091 Niagara Avenue (at Bacon Street) San Diego 92107 (619)226-8653 Open 7 days 8-8

Yum Cha Cafe- many visits, mostly photos…

October 18, 2014 Cathy Dim Sum, What Cathy Eats!

Thank you for once again stopping to check out mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk is still away on travel. Ed (from Yuma) is living the life of a retiree (in Yuma). Cathy is writing in a seemingly random way about restaurants and food other than what you'll be reading about in a week or less.

I sort of plan what to post while Kirk and His Missus away, each time deliberately avoiding certain ethnic restaurants, knowing He will be posting about his more authentic meals and knowing what we have in San Diego will never be as great as 'being there'. So, even though I really like and have been going to (after craving because of receiving text photos from Kirk daily) ramen and sushi joints around town, no posts of those places will be done by me, at least not for a while. Instead, today's post is a compilation of many visits to a place Kirk has posted about quite a few times and I only posted about once. Yum Cha, a chain of six California restaurants, is convenient, inexpensive (most items are $2.09-$2.69) and open from 8-8 daily. (Kirbie also wrote a few posts about Yum Cha Cafe).This is the Dim Sum style where you walk up, order and pay before finding a seat and carry your order to the table yourself, not the all fancy Dim Sum with tablecloths and carts wheeled between tables. The BBQ area sells items by the pound (or by the half or whole bird), the steam baskets and displayed items are sold by the each, and refilled promptly. We tend to order from the 'fuller' (and therefore fresher) looking trays, usually finding something new each visit.

**Note** there are two large industrial electric urns near the front door. If you ask for tea, you will be charged 25¢ for a cup and can fill it with either hot water or tea to enjoy with your meal.

Without fanfare, here are photos of some recent meals.

You place an order for soup or porridge when paying and when it is ready it will be called out. I have recently been ordering fish porridge (congee with fish filet) here ($4.35) and have cravings for it, but sometimes the dumpling soups are what I want. It's all tasty, not fancy, fresh food.

I hope you are having a great weekend!

Yum Cha Cafe 6933 Linda Vista Road San Diego 92111 (858) 268-9988 website

Pieology (customized Pizza)

October 2, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for dropping by to read the blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are both busy picking things up while Cathy is holding down the fort.

There seems to have been an inordinate amount of 'customized pizza' places popping up around Southern California within the past twelve months. I've only posted about one such business but have been to many iterations and here's a post about another using a similar business model. Perhaps you are wondering about the first San Diego location of 85C- it's on the far right of the above photo, right next door to Pieology on Balboa at Genessee.Neat, clean, industrial looking with the current decorating trend of communal tables in the center of the seating area, the drill is the same: order, watch your pies being customized while following them along the line…Watch your personalized dough being placed into a wood fired oven…Choose a beverage or salad and pay, have a seat and your order will be brought out to you. This is a large salad ($7.95) with chicken, Gorgonzola, local organic greens, candied walnuts and dried cranberries. It's very fresh and very good. These are the "herb butter strips" ($2.95)…the fresh dough topped with butter and olive oil and fresh herbs, baked just right-almost crispy yet still chewy. Unfortunately for you reading this (and all of these pop up 'customized' pizza places), The Mister and I are traditionalists and pretty much don't 'customize' and instead order basic items from the menu, in the case of Pieology, it's an order from the "Pizza Lab". Above, the Number 1: Classic cheese pie ($6). Olive oil, Mozzarella and red sauce. Quite nice, with a tasty crust, balance of flavors and simplicity that is difficult to properly achieve.Another day we ordered the Pizza Lab Number 2 item ($7.95): a pepperoni, sausage, meatball, Mozzarella, olive oil and red sauce pie…but (here's the where we went all crazy part) we also asked for mushrooms. This pie was excellent. There is no additional charge; most customized pies are $7.95; know that multiple items are distributed modestly which helps the pie crust bake in three minutes or less.

All in all, three very nice meals here. An interesting concept. We've now been to seven similar concept places and are thinking the $8 price point leads to a good ROI for each business. Other blogging viewpoints of Pieology: Here, here and here. Here too.

Pieology 5575 Balboa Avenue Suite 310 San Diego 92111 (858) 565-0600 (there two other San Diego locations) Website

Nolbu Mini Gastropub

September 30, 2014 mmm-yoso Beer, Chicken Wings, Gastropub, Korean Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

**** Nolbu has closed and is now Yummy House

Well, since we did Common Theory yesterday. I guess Nolbu deserves equal time, right?

Hidden behind the Convoy institution that is Chopstix, this tiny little place is easy to miss. I'm really not the Min Sok Chon, Thang Thang, soju bomb kind of guy, but I got a few recommendations from folks I knew. Though I still had reservations because when I quizzed these folks on the food, the standard answer usually included big portions, and not remembering much because they were…shall we say…..taste deadened and mush minded from overindulging a bit?

It is a pretty small and somewhat cozy kind of place. There are only 5 beers on tap. The main drink of choice for most of the young people who go here are the flavors of soju…."white gummy bear"???

The bartender/server on both of my visits was a very nice and friendly young woman named Nancy…very calm, very chill.

The menu is full of what I call "Kogi-truckish" dishes…you know, bulgogi tacos, bulgogi quesadillas, bulgogi fries, stuff that's already kind of passe'

The dining area is set-up like one of those faux outdoor porch type of restaurants. A acquaintance of mine actually knew the Korean name of that style of set-up….but you know; old age and all that. I just can't seem to remember the term right now.

There's actually one reason I came to Nolbu…the Korean Spicy Wings ($8.99). Almost everyone I spoke to mentioned these wings, though none could not really tell me much about the flavor.

The wings are quite large, the flavor as you can imagine is based on kochujang and almost tastes like my Spicy Misoyaki without as much bean paste. It is indeed a basic sweet chili sauce…sticky, more sweet than spicy, perhaps in need of a bit more complexity. maybe a bit more sour/tart, or savory-garlic tones. The batter was nice at first, perhaps a bit too thick, but still crunchy, but it got really gummy in minutes. Not terrible….but definitely not… Kyochon by any stretch. In fact, this eerily reminded me of the stuff they used to serve at BBQ Chicken, though not nearly as crunchy.

I also decided to try the mandu ("Dumplings" on the menu – $6.99).

These weren't very good in my opinion, too much cabbage filler, the sauce also tasted watered down. The wrapper were decent, but I'd take a pass on these next time.

Overall, not bad and as always I thought a return visit should be done.

One funny thing; when I was waiting for my drink a guy walked in laden with bags….shopping for supplies I'd guess. All the plastic bags were from Zion Market! I guess that's where they do their shopping? I really think stuff like that should be done via the rear entrance.

This time I came with my friends YummyYummy and Candice. We had the spicy wings again, which were a bit better this time…less sickly sweet and the texture held up a bit better.

We also had the haemul pajeon – the seafood pancake ($12.99), a bit small for the price.

But with a pretty generous amount of well…..Zion Seafood probably….. I will say that in terms of texture it was less gummy and a bit lighter than what I'd had at Common Theory, though it was 2/3 the size.

I also wanted to try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($8.99).

A bit light in flavor, these wings swere pretty straight-forward…basically naked, without a coating, but not bad….I'd have these again, as these were nicely fried.

The same five beers on tap; my favorite being the Stone Arbalest since I do enjoy tripels, quads, and Belgian strongs. this one was pretty good, light citrus-woody flavor with a mildly boozy-hoppy finish.

While waiting for my friends to meet me, the same young man walked in ladened with plastic bags….again from Zion Market.

Anyway, in terms of food, this place serves up a more Asian flavor than Common Theory. I was surprised that the food wasn't as salty as, say Min Sok Chon. They do have a decent bottle collection, but only five draft beers and the temps on my second visit seemed a bit off. As much as I like the folks working here, there's really no working knowledge of the beer they're serving…it's more of soju service. As in the version of an umbrella drink - soju served up in a half watermelon.

That said; I might drop in again for some wings and a beer…..if I feel like eating groceries from Zion….

Nolbu Mini Gastropub
4633 Convoy St. Suite 102
San Diego, CA 92111

COMC: Revisits to Golden City and Carnitas Snack Shack

September 25, 2014 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Chinese Restaurants

What the heck? What’s the tie in with these two places? Well, read on and I think you’ll see. Mostly photos in this one….I’ve posted on these places before. So let’s C(lear) O(ut) the M(emory) C(ard) shall we?

Golden City for the billionth time:

**** Golden City has closed

I actually hadn’t been back to Golden City in a while. But after reading Lynn’s post, even though she ordered things that I would never have at Golden City. I thought it was time for a revisit and yet another post to see if they have gone severely downhill. I had thoughts of picking up on my Golden City Hot Pot project, but man, it’s been so hot. Anyway, the photos kind of speak for themselves.

My favorite – the Kwai Fei Ji. Also a favorite of Dennis.

Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable.

Macau Roast Pork……on one visit, with my buddy Candice, it was too salty. On this visit, with my coworkers YZ and Lily, it was quite good…..

YZ, from Shanghai and Lily from Shanxi (“I’m from Taiyuan, not Taiwan, ok”) really know the questions to ask whenever we eat Chinese food…. where are the owners from and what is the style of food. I think of Golden City as basically a Guangdong (Cantonese to you) style restaurant that pulls ever so slightly toward Chaozhou (Eastern Guangdong), though many of the dishes that reflect that are no longer on the menu .

Like the Beef Stew (actually a braise) with Radish. I’ve had it when it was quite good. On this day, it wasn’t quite ready for prime time; the beef was nice, tender, moist, yet not falling to pieces, but the daikon was still too hard.

The food can sometimes be uneven. The Fish in Black Bean Sauce had me asking where the fish was during a lunch with Reza.

The textures and flavors were right, but the ratio of onions to everything else was off.

The dishes we order occaisionally draw stares from the gringo ordering customers, as I’ve mentioned before, I really don’t think ordering dishes from the Easternmost Regional Chinese Cuisine….. that would be ABCD (“American Born Chinese Dining”), is what they do best here. And I think folks like CAB, Dennis, and even Kirbie would agree. Nothing fancy, but decent grub.

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

Carnitas Snack Shack:

**** This location of Carnitas’ Snack Shack has closed

The Missus had been fighting a cold during the super hot week we had recently. She doesn’t handle being sick very well. And the heat just made things that much worse. So, while on the road to recovery, the Missus told me She wanted to visit one of Her current favorite places, basically for this.

It didn’t look quite right, but the flavor, the sweet-porkiness was still right on. And the Missus just basically inhaled the thing.

Carnitas now has a second location in Del Mar, which Kirbie, Jinxi, and Faye have posted on…man, it’s Food Blogger Central! I was wondering if there was going to be a drop off at the original location, but no, things were good as ever. It’s really nice that things have really been fine tuned since my first visit back in 2011.

Carnitas’ Snack Shack
2632 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92104

So how’s this for a pork-a-licious COMC post?