Closed – Page 49

Jus Wings

October 7, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings

***** Jus Wings has closed

Several months ago I was up in the Rolando area for an appointment. Feeling a bit peckish, I searched around a bit for something to eat. I noticed this place, which seemed to have just opened in the huge University Square Marketplace.

The interior looked clean and new……

The young lady at the counter was also very nice, there was no order board or formal menu. What was offered were a printed and handwritten sheet taped to the counter, which really took away from the decor. You can select from different combo's or jus(t) wings with a variety of sauces.

I decided to go with an 8 piece combo, $7.99, which includes a side and a drink, very reasonable in my mind. Of course I had to get some straight up Buffalo wings for half my order, but was curious about what to get for the other 4 wings. The nice young lady gave me some of the sweet chili sauce, which totally tasted like the bottled stuff and wasn't very spicy. She told me that the spiciest wings were the "Jerk" wings, so I went with that.

The wings were fried nicely, quite crisp, but that sauce was really more of a topping, and nothing like any "jerk" seasoning/sauce I'd ever seen. It was like some pseudo green chili salsa that wasn't particularly hot and very one dimensional.

The Buffalo wings were by the book and the sauce was that usual Louisiana Hot sauce – vinegar based sauce that everyone knows. The wings were on the smaller side, something which I kind of like; it increases the skin-to-meat ration. They were nicely fried; not overdone and dry, but decent. Wish they had some blue cheese dressing…..

Man, I could not believe how much fries they gave me…..

The place had a chain-like feel to it, the wings were cooked to order and took about 15 minutes. There looked to be only 4 fryers, so I could imagine if the place got busy.

I thought this would be a one-and-done, but I happened to be back in the area about a month later and decided to give the place another try.

Things looked the same, but the menu, though it was still "81/2" x "11", stained and curling around the edges, and taped to th counter had changed a bit. Specifically the sauces, the "jerk" was (thankfully) gone. This time around I was told that the garlic buffalo was nice and spicy, so I ordered that, along with the Chili-lime-pepper. It was a bit of a longer wait this time around, almost 25 minutes and they weren't even busy……

I went with the coleslaw this time around and it was very blah….bland.

The Chili-lime-pepper was also not to my liking. Too sour and artificial tasting, I a hard time getting past that. The wings were fried too long and were on the dry side as well.

In terms of flavor, the garlic Buffalo was much better.

The heat level on this was nice, it brought a nice sheen of sweat to my brow. The vinegar heightened the whole experience. Didn't taste much garlic as these also edged on the salty side. Still it was the better of the two.

After two visits, I think I'll make the effort to drive to Crispy Fried Chicken if I'm in the area. Nice folks and all that, but it's nothing I'd want to go out of my way for.

Jus Wings
5801 University Ave (in the University Square Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92115

Bentowich

September 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants

*** Bentowich has closed

I get some pretty interesting emails at times…..and as many of the other food bloggers can attest, about a good third of them are press releases, free stuff (which really isn't free if you think about it), and all of the other PR driven spiel. I even get my share of emails from folks…. whom I shall affectionately call "shills". Don't take this the wrong way, some of these folks are endearing as heck…and others, well, I'm thinking it's a single, or perhaps a small group of folks are plain persistent. I'd been getting emails for almost six months, at a pace of about one every two weeks, from different email addresses, all with pretty much the same writing style, telling me about their "favorite place"…..with the rather strange name of Bentowich.

Yes, I get it…..bentos and (sand)wiches. I thought the location a bit odd; at the outskirts of Old Town….but in retrospect, I think it's a pretty good idea, Japanese Fast Casual among the scores of Cantinas and tourist traps.

So I finally made it down on a bright (and hot) Saturday, finding parking on a side street. The interior looks efficient and spartan…..

The outdoor seating area is quite nice and bright, if a bit too hot this time of the year. Still, when things cool down it'll be a great place to have a meal.

The concept is a lot simpler than the name would suggest; you pick your protein, determine the context (bento, sandwich, yakisoba, salad), add a couple of toppings/sides, sauce, soup or salad(and dressing), and your on your way.

The assembly is pretty much fast-casual, the food is already prepped/sliced, you deep fry or saute adding some sauce, take it to the Kelvinator where it's put together, and you're done. The key high lite of all of this is that everything is made fresh to order, a key component of "fast casual" type places. There are some unique touches, like having my bento served in a nice bento box.

As you can see, I went with the Sliced char Siu Roast Pork ($8), bento style.

You can chose white rice, brown rice, or onigiri, which is what I choose. You might as well go with white rice as this onigiri is truly white rice scooped into an onigiri mold, other than some furikake on one and some nori on the other, it's not really flavored (i.e. I grew up with onigiri seasoned mildly with salt.

The two "sides" I order were the pickled daikon and carrots and the Asian cole slaw. The pickled daikon was way too sour and salty, while the cole slaw was rather unremarkable. I selected the green salad with Miso Caesar dressing which was watery and weak.

Having seen that the pork was pre-sliced and portioned off, I expected it to be dry and tough, but it was cut thin enough for it to be tender and sauteed quickly keeping it moist. The "teriyaki" sauce was very mild, a hint of sour, more of a glaze, without much sugar, which actually worked in its favor as the flavor of the pork came through nicely.

I thought this was decent in terms of value and quality, so I decided to drop by again when driving back from a meeting in Hillcrest. The pickled daikon came to mind. While being way to sour and salty eaten solo; I thought it would be a great compliment to a sandwich. So I decided to get the Yakiniku Sliced Prime Rib in a sandwich, one of the more expensive items on the menu.

This was a nice sandwich. The roll held up well. The sauce, which tasted the same as what was on the pork kept things moist. The pickled daikon and carrots really added a nice refreshing component to the sandwich, a la banh mi.

I got the green salad again, this time with the wasabi ranch; which was again very runny and lacking in flavor. Sadly, it seemed that the dressings here are watered down.

Overall, the prices were decent, the folks working here, the low-keyed, efficient, and polite young lady, along with the very polite young man…..I'm still trying to pin down the exact time in my life when I became "sir", were very pleasant. So a few weeks later I decided to drop by on a Saturday.

I ordered a Chicken Katsu sandwich, something that I like, though will not get at most bento places because it's that awful combination of dry (the katsu) and mushy (the bread). But since they make the stuff to order at Bentowich, I really couldn't go wrong, right?

When it arrived I thought two things; both of them incorrect. First, the portion size looked quite small, but after opening the sandwich, the portions looked decent, if not especially large. Second, the breading looked really dark, so I thought this was going to be very dry, which it was not.

After my previous experiences with the salads…well, to be more precise, the salad dressing, I was going to get miso soup even though it was hotter than the sun's surface on this day. But after seeing the not so great looking soup on another customer's table, I relented and went with a salad again…….and finally found a dressing that I liked here, the Jalapeno Cilantro. Just enough zip and flavor for my taste.

Frankly, I'd be eating at Bentowich every so often if they were in my neck of the woods…..even though they won't make me forget about my favorite Japanese lunch places, I still prefer this to Chi-poodles and Ba-HA Flesh. The staff here is nice; even to the kind of "ticky" woman who I've seen here on two of my visits, who sits on the table right in front of the counter and has the kind of stare that gives me the creeps. I'm wondering, could she be the one who is…nah, couldn't be.

Bentowich
2367 San Diego Ave
San Diego, CA 92110

Ok, whoever you are, you can quit with the emails now!

Yes! Pingo

September 19, 2013 mmm-yoso Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

**** Yes! Pingo has closed

For some reason the name of this place just didn't motivate me to visit. After reading posts by Kirbie and Jinxi, I did feel a bit more motivated. I really hadn't had decent Taiwanese food in San Diego, so I recruited my buddy Candice, to see if Yes! Pingo would fill the bill.

For some reason, the name of the place makes me think of the Hello Kitty gate at Taipei Airport. the interior has that fast-casual, boba/tea shop look.

I liked the menu which was full of standard Taiwanese "snack" items, many of which were familiar to me having spent five years living in the SGV.

So where to start? Well, I thought the classic oyster pancake (omelete) would be a decent choice.

My preference is for a bit more egg and a bit less flour/starch, which made this gummy. The usual ketchup based sauce could have used some flavor as this was kind of bland and runny. The oysters were decent, though rather sparse.

I like a good Ba-wan, pretty much a glutinous meatball, called Taiwanese Meatball on the menu.

This had a couple of large chunks of pork, tasteless and tough. This also lacked flavor and was rather disappointing. I never thought I'd be wishing for something from the now defunct 168 Restaurant.

Looking to improve our luck; I went with another Taiwanese standard that almost never fails. The fried pork chop.

Loved the texture, crisp and light. But whomever seasoned this must have dead tastebuds because this was extremely salty….unpleasantly salty.

One of my favorite Taiwanese dishes is Three Cup Chicken……

Loved the color, but this was also way too salty…almost bitter in flavor. I was wondering who was in the kitchen?

We met our final dish with trepidation…..Niu Rou Mian, beef noodle soup.

The best thing about the broth was that it was hot……other than that…well where to start. The noodles were overcooked, the beef tough, dry, and cold in the center. The worst was the soup, which was insipid, tasting like a beef bone was merely waved over it. This needed more of everything….

At the end of the meal I asked Candice what she thought the best dish was. Her response? The pickled vegetables that came with the pork chop! I also asked an acquaintance of mine who is from Taiwan about the place. He laughed and told me the owner is a well intentioned recent University Grad with no restaurant experience and that the kitchen doesn't have much either. It just seemed that the dishes here were really skewed on our visit; either very bland or way too salty. It wouldn't be too bad if one or two of the dishes were this way, but all five were. I know other folks really like the place, so perhaps it was a bad day. I really don't know what to say…..

Yes! Pingo
4813 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Memelas & Thai Bistro

September 10, 2013 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** Memelas & Thai Bistro has closed

I was down in Bonita recently with my stomach growling…it was time for lunch. Sadly, the place I had wanted to grab a bite had wasn't open, so I decided to head back up the 805. right before hitting the freeway I noticed this shop……Memelas & Thai Bistro…hmmmm……Mexican and Thai, huh?

I thought why not?

The interior has a rock music theme…which is interesting…Mexican-Thai-Rock n Roll… It does look like one of those modern fast-casual shops. The music is a bit on the loud side, but not intolerable.

The menu is basically Mexican or Thai, half a page of Mexican items the other half Thai. There were very few items that I'd call "fusion" other than throwing some sate chicken on a tortilla and such.

I was tempted to order a memela, basically a pizza like masa "cake", much like a huarache, originally from Oaxaca, topped with mole negro, black beans, guacamole, and queso fresco. But I wanted to get a feel for the various protein options so I went with some tacos……especially since I was told that the tortillas were hand made.

They were out of one of my choices, so I asked the friendly young lady for a recommendation. She told me the Shrimp taco was excellent, so that's what I added to the Satay Chicken and "New York Steak" (carne asada) tacos I ordered.

The batter of the Shrimp Taco ($2.75) was pretty gummy and soggy, mostly batter, without very much flavor. The crema seemed heavy on the mayo. The tortillas were kind of disappointing being very gummy and doughy, lacking in a good masa flavor. Didn't care much for the iceberg lettuce either.

The Satay Chicken ($2.50) combined with some nice crisp items seems like a natural for a taco.

But I didn't think this was particularly good. A sparse amount of tasteless chicken with a runny, overly sweet "satay like" sauce. This needed some "umph" to really get going and perhaps a crisp bed of cabbage as well.

The best of the three was the New York Steak taco ($2.25), the house version of carne asada.

The beef had a mild chew but was tender enough for tacos, this was nicely seasoned as well. It went well with the cilantro and onions, though I wish the place would just give you a condiment tray and let you dress the tacos yourself. This was nicely done.

Nice service, prices are decent, but there wasn't anything that really stood out about the food. In fact, I thought the shrimp and the chicken satay tacos were below par in terms of flavor, portion, and presentation. This one is pretty much a "one and done" for me.

Memelas & Thai Bistro
3001 Bonita Rd
Chula Vista, CA 91902

Avo’s (Gyros-Burgers-Philly’s-Salads)(Spring Valley)

September 6, 2013 Cathy Greek Food, Salads, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for dropping by mmm-yoso!!! on this overly hot weekend. Cathy is writing today, while Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) are doing other things.

The other day, The Mister and I were out in Spring Valley, just across the street from Santa Sophia Catholic Church, which is undergoing some reinforcing construction. The tower and barrel roof can be seen from most of the Casa de Oro area.

We were looking for a place to eat after running our errand and saw this storefront-

So, we walked over…

Stepping inside the small ordering area which had two tables inside and two tables out in front, it was obvious this used to be a business which sold grab and go pizza.

Those three posters are the menu and the specials. Simple.

We ordered two gyro sandwiches ($7.50). The bread is made fresh here- in those pizza ovens. The meat was the standard gyros meat, sliced thck and grilled to give it a bit of a crust, which I very much enjoyed. The sandwiches were topped with onion, tomato and a fresh sauce. The sandwiches were quite large.

The Greek Salad ($5) was great on this warm day; crisp and cool mixed greens topped with cucmber, tomato, onion, Feta and a good size portion of a tangy, creamy dressing.

Another great find. Stay cool this weekend!

Avo's 9735 Campo Road, #250 Spring Valley, CA 91977 (619) 337-2334

Ba Ren’s legacy – Fu An Garden

September 3, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Fu An has closed

*** You can find updates here and here

*** The folks that used to work at Ba Ren are no longer here.

*** 07/06/2016 Fu An is now Fuan Seafood

The first real inkling of something happening at the defunct BBQ Chicken site was announced in Eater San Diego. I did a quick post once the sign went up. FOY Candice even told me that she went to investigate and recognized one of the folks there, though she really couldn't remember where. I was pretty much burned out on Sichuan in San Diego once Ba Ren closed, and "Shifu" Chen, yes, he was a certified Master Chef from Chongqing (the original head chef of ChungKing Restaurant in Monterey Park), moved away. All of the places seemed to be serving stuff from the same playbook……..with either Spicy City or Dede's being the source. After having a couple of mediocre meals at Szechuan Chef, followed by a dreary meal at Spicy House with their "new chef", I'd had enough. Still, I thought I'd stop by Fu An Garden and take a look at the menu, when the most surprising thing happened…..

As I walked to front of the restaurant from my parked car, I almost jumped out of my pants when someone started pounding on the window. I looked closely….and my goodness, it was the assistant chef from Ba Ren! Upon entering he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. It was really nice seeing him. I made a promise to return with the Missus the next night, which we did. I returned with friends and solo a couple of times more.

The design is a million miles from Ba Ren…the restaurant is pretty small, but three's a large banquet style area behind some door in the front. The place is rather stylish in a Chinese restaurant sort of way. The place is owned by the family of the former prep cook at Ba Ren.

The menu is the modern, typical many photos scattered about and is sometimes confusing. There are at least a 169 dishes on the menu.

What follows is a listing of what I've had at Fu An Garden over the last couple of weeks, from the good, to the ones that I didn't enjoy as much. I will say, I've enjoyed the food at Fu An Garden much more than any other Sichuan restaurant in San Diego.

Back in fall of 2009, Ba Ren had a dish on the seasonal menu that we just loved. We didn't see it on the regular menu, but I thought the chef might just be able to make it for us. So I had my good friend "YZ" write it down before I went to visit with a group of friends:

We were delighted when our Server, the very friendly "Grace" asked the chef, who agreed to make it for us.

It was called Steamed Fish Filet with Green Onions and Chopped Chilies at Ba Ren. This looked like a carbon copy and was delicious! Though I will say, like many of the dishes, this one is not as spicy as the versions at Ba Ren, even when we order it "La" . Other then that, it's pretty close, the fish is tender, moist, and almost melts in your mouth, the sauce is a complex combination of flavors, there is bean thread on the bottom which adds to the enjoyment. I'm thinking of bringing some ghost peppers so we can get the heat up to snuff, but this is one of my favorites. My friends ended up taking photos of the Chinese name of the dish and have kept coming back to order it. Much like what happened at Ba Ren, I have a feeling this one will end up on the menu.

The Fried Intestines with Dried Red Pepper ($10.99) is also a winner.

Love the texture of these….crisp, giving way to a nice offal chewiness. Like many of the dishes, it could stand to have a bit more Sichuan Peppercorn, but this is one of my "go to" dishes here.

I believe that Chef Hu used to prep a lot of the Liang Cai – the cold dishes and these are a strong spot on the menu.

My favorite here without a doubt is the stomach/intestines which has a nice salty crunch to them. The pig ear is prepared well too.

My favorite at Ba Ren, the Fu Qi Fei Pian is cut correctly, but lacks the zip that I love. It's not bad, but not great.

My good friend "YummyYummy" loves the chicken feet…..

If there were any dishes at Ba Ren that I considered "comfort food" it would be the next three dishes. Each of which were close……

I loved the Sichuan Liang Mian at Ba Ren, it was comfort food to me, when the temperature rose I'd be craving it. So I just had to try it, called simply "Cold Noodle" ($6.99) on the menu.

At first I was thrown off as it looked nothing like what I expected. But as I mixed the noodles all those familiar scents rose in the air. And indeed, the flavor was there, the sesame paste, the vinegar, the mild spice, all the savory flavors melded together. This was almost spot on in terms of flavor….except that the noodles were really bad; hard, brittle, with an almost powdery texture to them. This was so close……

The portion size for the Chopped Cold Chicken with Chili Pepper Sauce ($12.99), Ko Shui Ji – mouthwatering (alright, let's call it the way it is…"Saliva") chicken was quite large.

The flavor was there, but very muted, like there wasn't enough of anything…it needed a whole lot more spice, more everything. This needs a bit of tuning, which I'm hoping will occur……

As did the Won Ton with Chili Sauce ($6.99) – Long Chao Shou.

This was a bit on the water-logged side and the won tons really didn't have the "kou gan", the mouth feel I was looking for.

The Lamb in Dry Pot ($12.99) was passable.

I prefer a thicker cut for dry cooked dishes, this was bit too close to shabu-shabu cut meat. The flavor was a bit too much soy sauce and not enough Sichuan peppercorn and spices.

The Fish Filet with Pickled Pepper (Pa Jiao – $11.99) was similar in lack of a complex spicy flavor.

Of course I had to order the Shui Zhu Yu, the classic "Water Boiled Fish" ($12.99).

The fish was prepared spot on, melt in your mouth tender. The flavor fell short in the "ma" category as it wasn't very numbing, and could have used more spice as well. The sauce was kind of flat and was very salty, but lacked the savory bean paste flavor. This is a favorite; I'm hoping it was only a mild "hiccup".

All of these dishes were edible, some more than the others. The dish I liked the least was a total "Convoy Sichuan" dish; something that everyplace makes….and not very well at that. In this case, they call it Twice Cooked Fish. A part of me was wishing for this, one of our favorites at Ba Ren:

Unfortunately, it was basically the same dish you can get at any of the "Sichuan" restaurants on Convoy – the fried then tossed with peppers dish that lacks real complex flavors.

It really wasn't very spicy and the batter was very powdery and crumbly with an odd sweet flavor that the Missus likened to cake mix.

So what's my verdict? Well first off, the service here is very nice. If you recall how surly things got once Wendy left Ba Ren….this is a very nice group of folks. The potential is there; the chef cooked for 9 years under a Master Chef and while it maybe just like the other places on the street with regards to a well worn playbook, we aren't talking about ChongQing Taxi Driver cooking here…this chef has a pedigree. I'm hoping this is a jump off point for Chef Hu and the sky's the limit.

Fu An Garden
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Tem’s BBQ

August 13, 2013 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants

*** Update: Tem's is now Nanay's, the food seems the same though.

A couple folks have asked if I'd ever been to this little shop in the food court of the Plaza Sorrento Shopping Center. Which I think is a pretty good food court. Yes, there's a Subway and the Chinese Fast Food place, but you can also get Thai, Greek, not my kind of Sushi, and perhaps not not my favorite Pho shop. Throw in Indian, one of the places in our Mira Mesa banh mi crawl, and you've got yourself quite a variety….maybe not the best in terms of quality, but it's a combination that's hard to beat in one spot. And there's even Filipino Barbecue……which is where I'll pick up. I'd seen Tem's and had always meant to try them out. So I finally made it a point to grab a meal.

I've always thought Filipino "turo-turo" style food was perfect for a food court. As expected, the atmosphere is totally food court and the selection revolves around Filipino Barbecue, with an additional 3-4 additional offerings. The prices are reasonable….the 1 item and rice goes for $4.99. Here's an example with BBQ Chicken.

Man, talk about enough carbs to keep you runnin' for a while….it's like three scoops of rice. The chicken is grilled, but not dry, and is dark meat which has more flavor. I enjoy the different riffs on Filipino BBQ, salty, sweetness from sugar or even 7-up, perhaps a fruitiness from Jufran, sour of Kalamansi, a hint of garlic, a touch sweet-pungent onions…..the list can get fairly long. The version here is very mild, coated with sauce, and for me, occupies a level barely above the food court "same chicken with a different sauce".

The best item I've had here is the "Spicy Pork", which is a pseudo sisig-ish.

It's the 50% solution….not very spicy, but it is pork. There's a hint of sour and sweet, the pork has a bit of chew, but isn't bad. It's the most flavorful dish I've had here.

The BBQ Pork on the other hand was totally "the other white meat". Dry, touch, and with less flavor than the chicken.

The one item I would absolutely not ever get here again is the Chicken Adobo. Dry, lacking in the flavor of soy, vinegar, black pepper, this was adobo in name only.

Then there was the occasion when my rice on the two item combo…..a reasonably priced at $6.09, was terribly hard and dry. No bueno…..

For some reason, the way the food is glazed reminds me of long defunct Eddel's, but with less flavor. Maybe someone with the inside scoops might know?

Tem's BBQ
6715 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121

Champions Mariscos Truck in Bay Park

August 12, 2013 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

So yesterday I did a "Breakfast of Champions" post, I guess it just makes sense to do Champions Mariscos right after it.

Last week I making the drive up Morena Boulevard, something that I do countless times during the week. In the parking lot to the side of Toys 'R Us, where the ill fated Morena Farmers Market used to be was a lonchera…..

I hadn't seen this one before. Yet, I had stuff to do and couldn't drop by. I kept my fingers crossed that this wasn't just a one time deal. So this past weekend, I managed to stop by. Not once, but twice.

Champion Mariscos? I don't ever recall seeing or hearing about this truck. It was kind of weird approaching the lone truck in the middle of a large parking lot, with no one else around. I checked out the menu, the prices seemed in line for most items. The woman handling the counter was quite friendly. I asked her how long they had been here….."since monday" and what they're hours were, "every day 10 to 6".

I have a usual "routine" of items I order from just about any mariscos truck and I'm just too old to change that habit.

Like any decent mariscos truck, things start off with a cup of consomme…..

On the light side, kind of salty, but not terrible.

I went with the Fish Taco, which was a 99 cent special and a taco gobernador ($4.25).

So let me just get my pet peeves out of the way. The fish taco's batter was kind of mushy, in fact the fish was unusually bland, yet very moist edging on mushy as well. I'm thinking this was probably swali. The under ripe tomatoes add a bit of texture but not any of that nice acid to the taco. Other than that….it's 99 cents, who am I to be a nit-picker, right? There was a ton of shrimp on the gobernador. The tortilla had been lined with melted cheese so it wouldn't turn to mush. The shrimp was cooked decently, but I sorely missed the acid of some sauteed tomatoes and the flavor of bell peppers in this. Still, there was a decent amount of shrimp in this.

So I decided to make a return visit. The consomme was much better this time around. Nice shrimp-fish flavor, with hints of celery.

I decided to just go for it and started with an Enchilado Shrimp Taco….spicy shrimp($4.25). At first I was just going to do a taco de camaron, but I really didn't care for the batter, nor the frying technique on my previous visit.

Good quantity of shrimp, well cooked, though not very spicy. Same tomatoes and mediocre tortillas. Not bad.

I also got the taco de marlyn…or in this case marlin ($4.00):

Unlike other versions, the smoked fish wasn't too salty, but it did lack a distict smokey flavor. The tortilla was nicely griddles, but there was just too much cheese on this. I like the way these trucks make prep the tortilla on the gobernador or marlyn, using cheese as a base to preserve the texture of the tortilla. There's a very mild milky background that you barely notice. Here there was just too much of that. This was not bad by any means, but nowhere near the league of the good mariscos trucks in San Diego.

One thing about my posts you have to understand. It's not in my DNA to drop my standards "just because I'm happy something is close by". Just as I'm not just happy because we actually have XLB in San Diego, I can't say the food here is fantabulous, just because it's the only one. That said, I hope if you live nearby you check them out. I don't want to be negative, but Mariscos German couldn't make it in the neighborhood and sadly, we couldn't even support a Farmer's Market! La Playita closed recently and Playa Azul a couple of years ago. So unless you just want Taco Shop fare, this might be one of your few shots at something different.

Champions Mariscos Truck – In the parking lot of Toys 'R Us on Morena Boulevard

Breakfast of Champions: Banh Mi Ba Chi (pork belly) from Cafe Dore

August 11, 2013 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Breakfast/Brunch, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Cafe Dore has closed

Man, it been a couple of years since I've been here and even longer since I last posted on the place.

Not much has really changed here. Older gentlemen gather, have coffee, chat….and do guys gossip? For lack of a better word, let's just call it that. It's the coffee culture of Vietnam translated here….mostly men, each with his group. Hey, it's almost like high school huh? I'm thinking that it is….only the topics of conversation have probably changed, or perhaps not?

What really motivated me to visit on this bright Sunday morning was a conversation I had with FOY("Friend of Yoso") YummyYummy. Her dad is a regular here so she really has a inside track on the food. She told me that the pork belly banh mi…Ba Chi had really improved over the last year or so. Pork Belly? I'm so there…..

As I walked from my car to Cafe Dore, guess who I see? It's YY's Dad! It was nice seeing him. it had been a while. I told him that the reason I was here…..his daughter's recommendation. He invited me to have coffee with his "group"….very nice, but I had errands to run and food to prep on this morning. He also told me the Ba Chi here is "famous"….

I couldn't wait to have at it. So I opened it eagerly upon arriving home. It's pretty interesting, even though the bread for the banh mi here are from the same source as every other place that doesn't make their own, it's usually pretty fresh and flakey.

The pork was rather thickly cut, not a bad thing, and very moist. The flavor was pretty good, mildly sweet, with a slight swiney flavor. YY had told me that's it's getting better and I'll agree with that.

The pickles are a lot sweeter here than what I remembered and there was some major "jalapeno roulette" going on, with some slices being very mild, but a couple of slices were just explosive. All in all, a nice sandwich, one that I'll return for.

The service was very typical Cafe Dore, guys still play on those "machines" in the back….middle aged guys….hmmmm. It was a nice sandwich for a sunny Sunday….I'd like to tell you the price, but YY's Dad somehow paid for it without me even knowing…… Sneaky, but very nice, it made my day. Make sure to thank your dad for me YY!

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Red Moon Noodle House revisited

August 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Red Moon has closed

It had been about a year since I first posted about Red Moon Noodle House. Some things had changed since then. They had started serving lunch, which I think is a good move. There's a bit of a buzz because of their "secret menu" that I first read about on Convoy Conquest, then on This Tasty Life. With a post by Kirbie in the mix. So perhaps it was about time for a revisit.

The interior remains the same, as does the really nice folks who run the place.

I'm thinking the lunch hours help the place as does the advertising in Lighthouse. On both of my visits, most of the customers I saw were Japanese. It's probably a good move for the place. Even though the owner is ethnically Chinese, he's from Japan.

On my first visit, to get things off to a good start, I ordered the dish I enjoyed most during my previous visits; the House Special Chicken with Garlic Sauce. Earlier I described this as being a " poor man's Dezhou Pa Ji/Dao Ko Shao Ji". Well, it seems like we're getting a bit more poor here…..

I liked the color, but this had much less flavor and was much more dry than what I'd had before. I had already thought that it needed a more complex vinegar-sweet flavor, or something to balance out the raw garlic……it seemed to have taken a step in the opposite direction. Sadly, this was still the best item I had on my visits.

Now on to the "not so secret – secret menu" item, the Xiao Long Bao. When the white distilled vinegar and sparse shreds of ginger hit my table, I knew I was in trouble. I mean really, I don't mind changes if you have something that you think is an improvement; but this is just cheaping your way through this. Oh, and maybe adding Chinkiang Black Vinegar might help that chicken a bit too.

Geez, these were bad….the first thing that went through my head was "where are you buying these"…because the hard and dried out wrappers leads me to believe they had been frozen for a while. Also, there was a distinct lack of soup and the filling was on the tough and chewy side. 'Nuff said. If you want to compete with DumplingInn for the worst XLB, I say you got a contender here. Sad that a place with such nice folks would serve something like this….. But, like friends tell me, I'm the only person they know who thinks that "Din Tai Fung's XLB is kind of a gimmick." So it's probably a personal problem……

I really didn't feel good about doing just a single visit. I really wanted to find something I thought was good here, so I decided to give it another try.

I ordered another dish I'd had before, the Shrimp Pan Fried Noodles, which I thought had some potential, but was just very weak in flavor.

Well, I gotta give it to Red Moon. If anything, they sure are consistent. The noodles are crisp without being powdery, the shrimp so nicely done, for some reason, they like their vegetables this side of what I consider optimal, but that's no big deal. What is a big deal for me is the lack of flavor……..this was so bland. I did something I almost never do, as I want to understand the flavor….I made friends with the white pepper and soy sauce…Kikkoman soy sauce….for Chinese food. I took most of it home and had the Missus try this. The only thing She could say was "so sad……."

I also decided to try something I hadn't had before, the Crispy Garlic Chicken.

To me, this tasted like an overcooked chicken katsu (which it was) with a drizzle of something like katsu sauce, topped with a brown sauce. At least this had flavor, but it seemed like something I'd do at home. And that Chicken Katsu was really tough.

I had thoughts of going back to Red Moon yet another time, but decided to give it a rest. This is not my cup of tea. I will say that Red Moon serves the best "Chinese" style food in that strip mall, but being better than A Cafe….I dunno if that's much of a prize. All I can say is horrible parking lot, mediocre food, very nice folks.

Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111