Closed – Page 50

Cheesy Express-Gourmet Grilled Cheese (inside the GO Gasoline Mart)(Santee)

July 31, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

This location of Cheesy Express has closed, but there is a new location in Mission Beach we can all visit. Santee will miss you!

Thanks for finding mmm-yoso!!! a food blog which exists in the interwebs. Today, Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) are taking a break and Cathy is blogging about food.

I've stated a few times that people have a favorite place close to home or work where they can pick up a quick meal…if hungry, you can find something to eat wherever you happen to be. Most fuel stations have mini marts; you can grab and go with some sort of refrigerated/frozen prepared food item which is rarely fresh made.

This GO Gas station replaced a Chevron station earlier this year. It's on the NorthEast corner of Mission Gorge at Carlton Hills in Santee.

Here's the mini mart. Look over on the side of the building…to the far right. "Cheesy Express Gourmet Grilled Cheese". Yes, I was curious…

In its prior incarnation, this food mart had a small sandwich shop inside. Now there is a sandwich shop

with three grills on the counter.

On my first visit, I chose a 'make your own': Cheddar cheese on brioche ($3.49) add hickory bacon (99¢). A perfect, gooey, yummy grilled cheese and bacon (good quality thick bacon) sandwich.

Next time I tried the "Italian Delight" ($5.25) Provolone, pepperoni, sundried tomatoes and fresh basil. Again, delightfully gooey, crunchy, tasty.

Each time I've gone in, I have been offered a sample of either the BBQ pork or Korean BBQ beef. I finally broke down and tried the BBQ& Mac sandwich ($6.75). Great BBQ pulled pork AND a scoop of very good, gooey macaroni and cheese AND a slice of sharp cheddar AND very very good grilled onions all on a hearty Italian white bread. This was a LOT of food and flavors.

Of course there are 'dessert' grilled sandwiches here also. The 'healthiest' choice (in my logic anyhow) is the grilled peanut butter with banana with chocolate chips on honey wheat bread ($4.75 + 50¢ for the special bread). The chocolate chips melted in with the peanut butter, making its own creamy goodness along with perfectly warming the bananas…the grilled bread was done right and I could taste the honey in it…

Just another great find that I happened to notice. When the weather gets cooler, I think a simple grilled cheese with tomato soup will be perfect.

Cheesy Express Gourmet Grilled Cheese 9312 Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (619) 436-4250 (inside GO Mart Fuel station Mission Gorge Road at Carleton Hills, Santee) Open 7 days M-F 8-6, Sat-Sun 9-4:30

It’s been a while week: Asia Cafe seven years later……

July 24, 2013 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants

**** Asia Cafe has closed

Seven years….my goodness. Asia Cafe….aaah, yes, it's been a while, over seven years since my last post if I recall. This wonderful little mom-and-pop-shop once held a place in our rotation and I'm not sure how it just kind of slipped off. Perhaps it was our trip to Laos and our experiencing the depth of the cuisine, the sour-bitter-salty vibrant cuisine. Or maybe it was Vientiane Thai-Laos in Garden Grove that did it. I'm not sure. Even though I haven't posted on this place for a while, I've gone back to Asia Cafe a couple of times, though not for at least about five years or so. So I'd say a revisit post was more than warranted.

If there's comfort in the familiar; Asia Cafe surely hit the mark for us. Not many changes, new banquet style chairs, fresher paint perhaps, and it seemed a lot cleaner than I remembered.

The menu looked to be the same rather worn menu and we decided to order items we enjoyed on previous visits. It had been so long since we visited that the husband and wife who run the place no longer remembered us, which suited us just fine.

Things started off with the Yum Asia; a seafood salad of sorts.

This struck us as being a mere shadow of it's former self. The dressing was extremely sweet, throwing the whole balance of the dish off-kilter. Not enough lime or fish sauce and without a doubt not enough heat. Perhaps we were getting the "gringo" treatment after not returning here after so many years?

See Nam Tok was also another dish we used to enjoy. A simple charred flank steak, well seasoned with a salty-bitter-sweet dipping sauce.

Slightly chewy, this was not bad and an improvement over the Yum Asia. They still do a decent job with this, though it was a bit too charred. The dipping sauce was extremely bitter. Now bitter flavors, as in "sweet makes you dizzy, but bitter makes you healthy", so lets get another spoonful of that water buffalo bile in our Koy or just another piece of Sa-Kahn, bark of the Piper Ribesoides. But this was no fun.

Asia Cafe had always made very good sticky rice and it was nice to know they still do. Perfect in texture, not overly sticky, but perfect for forming that all too important three-finger ball of rice. It had me wishing for some good Jeow (a type of dip) for dipping.

The one item that I thought Asia Cafe made better than anywhere else in San Diego was Nem Khao, one of my Desert Island Dishes.

When made well, this crispy rice salad is a symphony of flavors and textures. Crunch from the rice that is fried….rice are made into balls then fried. The external rice becomes crisp adding that great texture. Fermented sausage adds the sour-meaty layer and the rest is delivered by various seasonings…..places in San Diego, or even Vientiane Thai-Lao doesn't use a whole lot of coconut, but the best version I've had in Laos did. Strangely, this was ok, but not quite as good as I recalled. Not enough sour sausage, it was also missing that "umami" that I enjoyed. somewhere along the line, it seems a decision was made to make this as "crunchy" as possible, which messed up the glutinous and crunchy textures. The Missus doesn't always agree with me, but sadly, this time She did. This wasn't bad by any means, just not as good as it used to be for us. I could tell that this bothered Her as She kept mentioning how sad She felt about the Nam Khao for almost the entire following week.

In the end, the folks here were wonderful as always, the prices so reasonable, unfortunately the food seemed a mere shadow of it's former self. I'm not sure; maybe we were "gringo'd", but that never happened to us here before.

Asia Cafe
4710 Market St
San Diego, CA 92102

San Marcos Family Restaurant-quick lunch

July 18, 2013 Cathy Diner, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you're reading. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) usually write about places and items they've enjoyed. Today, Cathy is is doing that job.

Last Friday around 11:15, I received a time-dependent request from a friend and needed to deliver some paperwork to an office located either in downtown San Diego (i.e. pay for parking) or at City Hall in San Marcos (free parking for two hours). So I headed North with The Mister in tow, planning to go to lunch after my chore was handled. We got to the Service office at 12:31, only to find a sign they were closed for lunch until 1:30. Off to lunch we went…not knowing what was around. Taking a right on Mission Road, in less than a mile we saw this storefront in a mall on the North side of the street…

Of course I decided this would be a perfect choice…been in business since 1987, cars in front, lunch time…oh and that writing on the far window is advertising home made cinnamon rolls, available until sold out. (They were sold out by the time we got here…Mental note…)

Pretty much a typical, family run diner, open daily 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m.. Neat and clean, two rooms of tables, booths and a counter eating area. There's a really neat tapestry design on all of the seating. Coffee cups, with local advertising, are on all the tables.

Condiments for use at breakfast or lunch are on every table.

Soup of the day-clam chowder-it was Friday. Of course it was made in house. More clams than potato or celery, stock made with real dairy, not water; you can see the skin formed on top. Really good.

My meal was a cup of soup and the half sandwich ($6.99)-tuna on rye toast. Good tuna mixed lightly with mayonnaise and not much else. Plenty of it with lettuce and tomato and pickles on an excellent, seeded rye.

The Mister ordered a Chili Size ($8.99) (with soup instead of fries). This was a nice, coarse ground burger, 1/3 lb (or larger) which had a good flavor by itself, topped with a house made chili with beans, cheese and onions. This was excellent.

If we are in the area closer to breakfast time, we will stop by here again.

San Marcos Family Restaurant 576 East Mission Road San Marcos 92069 (760)744-3710

Belen Artisan Bakers (Escondido)

July 11, 2013 Cathy Bakery, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

Belen has moved to Valley Center; no more sandwiches.

Hello. You're reading mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Cathy has the reins today. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are merely trying to remain cool.

There are more than 50 Farmers Markets in San Diego County. The Mister and I try to stop by at least one a week, sometimes happening upon one while visiting a new (to us) neighborhood.

A good number of the Markets have a stand selling fresh bread from Belen Artisan Bakery. (Photo above is at the Santee Certified Farmers Market). We have always thought the Belen Artisan Bread is excellent; each loaf we have purchased is a hearty, flavorful bread which is still fresh the following morning.

One morning, driving North on the 15, we took the Centre City Parkway exit and one block just past the first signal light, on the right/feeder road, The Mister noticed this storefront. Of course I stopped.

Walking inside the small store, the fresh bakery smell reminded me of walking into one of the numerous corner bakeries I grew up with in Detroit. Fresh loaves of bread were on the shelves to the left, some sweet baked goods in the glass display case and up on the wall, menus of some breakfasts, crepes and sandwich choices. There is also a chalkboard advertising fresh juices available.

Yes, that's the oven behind the counter.

Those spray bottles are not cleaner- they are filled with water, which is sprayed onto the loaves, to give that crispy crust…that's the oven right next to the shelving and it's exactly the oven I remember from the corner bakery where I had my first job.

Over to the right is the area where the bread is mixed, kneed-ed, risen and prepared for baking. So many memories!

You can see some of the breads and sweets as well as the breakfast menu in this photo. On our first visit here, we purchased some rolls to use for burgers and also got an orange-cranberry scone.

There are two booths and two tables inside, and tables set up outside.

On this visit, we purchased a loaf of cheese bread ($4.50) (50¢ less than the Farmers Market price, plus we got it sliced)

On this visit, The Mister and I decided to share a sandwich ($6.50). We chose to try turkey on sunflower seed and flax bread, had the choice and asked for the bread to be toasted, which meant the Swiss cheese was nice and melted. We also asked for mayonnaise as the sauce, even though some interesting choices are available (garlic, garlic-basil and Kalamata olive spread ) and all the other toppings are standard-even the avocado (lettuce, tomatoes and sprouts are the other toppings). The turkey was fresh breast (not packaged lunchmeat) and was pan-warmed.

Since we said we were sharing, the sandwich was brought out in two containers. Nice. This was an excellent sandwich, all fresh and plentiful ingredients. I like the bread. There has been a lot of take out business both times we have been here. Another excellent local business.

Belen Artisan Bakers 2250 S. Escondido Blvd Ste 112, Escondido 92025 (760) 740-5963 Closed Sunday Open 9 am-3 pm Monday : Tues/Wed/Th 7 am-5 pm : Fri/Sat 7 am-3 pm

It turns out that friend and fellow blogger, cc visited Escondido and Belen and wrote a post about her visit today also.

A buncha’ lunches at Do Re Mi House 8 years later……

July 8, 2013 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants

** Do Re Mi House has closed

Man, it's been almost 8 years and maybe three owners since I first did a post back in 2005. By the time I did an update in 2009, I believe the place had changed hands, though the food was about the same. Some time after that I returned and really had an awful lunch, after which Do Re Mi went "no ami", just kinda slipping my mind. Over the last year, folks have been recommending Do Re Mi House which had left me wondering; was it that much better, or had it just returned to being decent food for a good value…..nothing wrong with that at all. Curiosity piqued, and my office having moved to a location fairly close by, there really was no excuse for not returning.

The sign had been refreshed and I believe the divider removed from the back of the restaurant along with the large, almost communal table in the rear. It looks a bit cleaner for some reason.

Of ocurse prices have gone up….hey, it's been 8 years. The base prices here are no longer $5.99, it's $7.99, with a higher range of $12.99 for "combos". Still, this isn't too bad. That said, there's a bit more panchan then I recalled….the usual suspects.

The flavor and basic quality varied during each visit. My first visit was the best…..

The worst was on my last visit where the baechu kimchi, your basic, standard issue napa cabbage kimchi tasted like it hadn't been marinated long enough, the fishcake was dry as cardboard, and sadly, one of my favorites, and something the "old" Do Re Mi House did so well, the gamja jorim, the simmered potatoes were hard and undercooked. Honestly, I thought these were apples when they hit the table.

As for the free soup……

Well….it's free, though they might as well serve you hot water. Man, I've had so many bad bowls of this stuff recently, I wish they'd just stop already.

On my first visit, I went with the Bulgogi lunch ($7.99), which looked perfectly fine.

This wasn't nearly as sweet as I recalled, though the meat was on the dry side. Overall, it wasn't a bad deal for $7.99 (which includes a drink). Standard issue mandu, a green salad, and seaweed salad accompanied everything. Oh, and I kept forgetting to take a photo of the teacup of Su Jung Gwa, the cinnamon tea/drink that comes at the end, a bit too sweet for me.

A week or so later I decided to check in at Do Re Mi again.

It was a pretty hot day, but I was quite hungry. I went with one of their combos where you can get either Kimchi Chigae (you gotta be kidding, not on this day), or Bi Bim Naengmyun and a protein ($12.99).

The Naengmyun was pretty stretchy, almost too hard and elastic. The flavor was pretty mild, I didn't find it very spicy as it needed a good dose of vinegar and hot sauce, but it wasn't bad overall.

I got the Daeji Bulgogi, the spicy pork as my protein. The old Do Re Mi really made a nice version of this…..this latest incarnation not so much as it was pretty bland. The portion size was quite generous though.

Oh yes, it would be a good idea to wear a darker colored shirt when eating the stretchy naegmyun. Otherwise you'll take the chance of returning to the office with a bunch of red specks on it.

I recently decided to return and have yet another lunch here. The kalbi during previous regimes had not been that great. I wondered how it was now….so I ordered the Galbi lunch ($9.99).

This was better than what I'd had here before. My previous experiences with kalbi here had been enduring thin, tough, cross-cut ribs. This was still LA Kalbi and I didn't expect anything different, but the cut was thicker and the grade a bit better. The flavor was decent, your basic kalbi, it was still a bit chewy, but not bad at all.

What disappointed was the panchan on this visit.

To me, Do Re Mi delivers a decent value. It's nothing fancy, but will do the job for lunch. The woman running the place can be a bit surly at first, but after I'd been here a couple of times, she's started….well maybe not smiling, but being a lot more friendly with me.

So for all those folks who told me I had to return….did I miss anything? Maybe dinner?

Do Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant revisited

July 2, 2013 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Nhat Vy has closed

I first posted on Nhat Vy back in November when they had just opened, and while only one dish stood out, the Banh Cuon, the prices were right and the folks working here were very nice. Over the next couple of months we visited a couple more times. Here's what we found. After a few months they moved things around and even had a grease board put up. Unfortunately, it's hidden behind the palm…..

As you can see, there's a nice representation of items I really enjoy listed, bot chien, banh xeo, and of course, what they make to order, the Banh Cuon.

I brought the Missus right after my initial post and She was sold……granted, not the best Banh Cuon in the world, but good by San Diego standards. That would be thin, slightly stretchy……

The goi cuon, on the other hand is nothing to write home about……

Too much bun…with iceberg lettuce (!). Dirt cheap though at $2.25 for two.

We returned for the Banh Cuon, but were shut out on subsequent trips, which gave us a chance to try other items on the menu.

The Bun Tom, vermicelli with shrimp was quite good according to the Missus.

Shrimp plump and juicy and the bun prepared well.

On this trip I tried the Bun Mam ($7).

In the case of Bun Mam, I expect a rich, funky, complex, almost heavy broth broth, full bodied with the flavor of fermented shrimp paste almost bubbling to the surface creating what I call an "umami bomb". This was pretty weak. The broth seemed to be the kitchen's standard issue soup broth with some mam nem dumped in it. Not much else to say, other than this really isn't bun mam.

We returned the following week, hoping for Banh Cuon…..my pronunciation of certain Vietnamese words can be almost tragically funny. Like I've often said…."I barely speak English and you want me to try a six-tone language?" So I've started typing the words out on my iPhone showing the folks working here what I want. Well, no Banh Cuon on this visit either…….

So the Missus ordered the Banh Xeo.

We were both surprised when not one, but two crepes were brought out. Along with the veggies and herbs, this was quite a bit of food. These were ok, the scant pork really tough and the meager shrimp overcooked and rubbery. If I recall, this was like about five bucks….really cheap. But we'd have preferred a smaller portion with a better product.

I decided to try the simple bot chien, but it was a "no go". So I went with the Bánh canh giò heo ($7) a clear broth soup with pigs feet.

This was their standard issue clear broth with some well prepared and slippery rice/tapioca flour noodles. There were two smallish pieces of pig's feet which was pretty tender, but nothing special. The broth was light on flavor, but kind of heavy on the MSG as I started to puff up a bit after the soup.

After striking out twice on the Banh Cuon, the Missus and I concocted a strategy. I'd park in front, motor running, the Missus would walk in the door and ask if they had Banh Cuon today. If not, She'd thank them and we'd be on our way. That way, we'd minimize wasting time and calories on dishes we really didn't want.

After coming up empty handed three more times we just gave up. The folks here are nice, but there's just really one item on the menu we want, and they never seem to have it anymore. Too bad…….

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Boba Bar and Desserts – inside Zion Market

June 24, 2013 Cathy Caffeine Fix, Desserts, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You've found mmm-yoso!!!-a food blog. Kirk, Ed(fromYuma) and Cathy usually write here. The central focus on our posts is food. Today, Cathy is focusing.

Since I went to/posted about Zion Market on the first day of its 'soft' opening at the new location, The Mister and I have returned several times for regular grocery, meat, seafood and produce shopping. Slowly, the other storefronts on the West side of the expansive former KMart have been opening. I saw a news story that the official 'Grand Opening' will be this upcoming weekend (June 28).

I took this photo from the South Western corner of the building, in front of CDD Tofu & Grill (an upcoming post). You can see the wide expanse of space the market and other businesses occupy. (The news story said 100,000 square feet). All of the lighting is retrofitted LEDs – very energy efficient. Boba Bar and Desserts is very colorful. Kirbie has a post about her visit which has some better photos of the menu.

The ice creams are '100% natural' according to the Boba Bar and Desserts Facebook page (there is no website). Some of the flavors have me curious…

The corner glass refrigerated section contains Vietnamese puddings and jellies and on this visit, these lucious looking chocolate dipped strawberries.

We decided to try some basics on this first visit: An iced Vietnamese coffee ($3) and milk green tea ($2.75). No boba, no syrup/sweetener/condensed milk. The coffee was very smooth and strong and the milk tea had a good tea flavor, which is the way I like it.

We wanted the beverages to go with my 'regular' purchase from Zion- the freshly made fish pancakes. Since the food court area was relatively empty, this was a nice way to relax for a snack before the drive home…

However, we were there, it wasn't crowded, sweets were beckoning…the Shaved Snow machine was calling.

The "Deluxe" size (16 oz) is $4 and includes two toppings as well as a sauce of condensed milk. I decided on the green tea shaved snow and was told it had just been made the night before and the texture may not be correct. I ordered it, and asked for no condensed milk and two of the fresh fruit toppings…

You can see this was more of a fluffy ice texture…

which melted in the mouth the same way the ribbons of shaved snow usually do. The deep green tea flavor was excellent and unadulterated by not having the condensed milk…the fresh blueberries and macerated strawberries were very complimentary.

We'll try other offerings on our next shopping trip here. Everything was very good. The people working are very nice and helpful.

Boba Bar and Desserts Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111(inside Zion Marketplace at Convoy Street) 619-940-4190 open 9 am-9 pm daily

Stehly Farms Market opens in Bay Park – A quick look

June 22, 2013 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers

**** This location of Stehly Farms is no more.

I read on Eater San Diego that Stehly Farms, a Valley Center Organic operation was opening a brick and mortar shop on Morena Boulevard. Because this is in my neck of the woods, I was a bit surprised that I hadn't heard about this. So that very afternoon, the Missus and I went to check them out.

The shop is located at 1231 Morena, right next to Andres.

The shop appeared to be well spaced and the selection of produce was good.

Considering this is a local, organic operation, the prices are pretty much in line.

In addition to the wonderful looking produce, there's a selection of jams, some random Asian type stuff, bread from Bread and Cie, a cold case with dairy/almond milk, and of real interest to us….at least on this day, was the selection of cheese.

Even though we had come in just for a looky-look, we ended up getting some Franco and Angelo Burrata.

This is a nice addition to the neighborhood. Now we've got a good set of shops, from Seisel's and Catalina Offshore, to Stehly Farms and the Fruit Stand. Now all we need is a great bakery……..any takers?

Stehly Farms Market
1231 Morena Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92110

Hours:
Open Daily from 9am – 7pm

We put the burrata to good use.

Gala Chicken – The new K(orean) F(ried) C(hicken) stand in Zion Market opens

June 18, 2013 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants

**** Zion Market has moved and Gala did not make the move with the market

The item that seems to have gotten the most attention on my recent Saturday Stuffs post was the closing of BBQ Chicken. I received a couple of emails about it. I guess even though I wasn't a fan, other were. I did mention in Saturday's post that I had seen what looked like a "KFC" stand in Zion Market that evening……so I returned to check it out.

The place only does chicken, nothing else….no starches….

The menu also seems to only feature wings, drumsticks, and boneless crispy pieces, though I could be wrong. The older woman and gentleman were nice, but really felt more comfortable speaking Korean.

The prices didn't seem to bad, even thought it's take-out and chicken only. And heck, anyone that knows me understands that I love my chicken wings.

Anyway, I ordered a regular "Wings" ($7.99) and Sweet Soy ($8.99). I was told that my chicken would take fifteen minutes, which meant it was cooked fresh, a good sign. What was not that great was when I returned after about 10 minutes to find the guy constantly fiddling with the wings in the fryer. He kept taking pieces and cutting them with a knife to make sure it was cooked. C'mon, wings make up about 40% of your menu, that looked real amateur. Plus, all the cutting means that juices escape and my wings would be drier than they should. I know this place is new, but I'd think if you opened a place that only makes fried chicken, you'd know how to make without having to cut into every piece to make sure it's cooked then dumping them back in the fryer…… One of the great aspects about KFC chicken is the double fry. It's a technique I use myself. I didn't notice that happening here…..

Actually Gala does give you some Mul Kimchi, "water kimchi", a traditional accompaniment of KFC, which is on the extra sour side, but at least crisp and palate cleansing.

I work just a few blocks away and the chicken did smell pretty good. Opening my package I noticed that the take-out containers are kept open to prevent the chicken from getting soggy. I also noticed that I got what looked like "Spicy" wings instead of the Sweet Soy like I wanted.

So for those who keep score on the Kyochon-o-meter, there are six good sized wings per order. Though I prefer smaller wings which mean a better skin to meat ratio. Anyway, that's $1.33 per wing for original and $1.50 for Spicy……kind of on the pricey side, more than Kyochon if memory serves me.

And this ain't no Kyochon.

I found that while the batter was light, it was not as crisp as it looked. It was also very lightly seasoned, at least for my taste, and it had a greasiness to it. The drumettes were on the tough and dry side.

The Spicy really was more sweet and sticky than spicy.

The wing weren't really coated very well and I noticed that this batter goes soggy pretty quickly. The flavor was almost the same as the Sweet and Spicy chicken of BBQ Chicken, perhaps not as cloyingly sweet, but close. In fact, the chicken here just seemed like "BBQ Chicken lite", a step backwards from BBQ Chicken. Ditto for the tough and dry drumettes here.

So, you know I wasn't a fan of BBQ Chicken. You also know that I don't think the chicken here is not as good as BBQ Chicken was. You get the picture, right? Perhaps my friend Jenne is right; I'm just too darned picky. Anyway, I'm hoping that all of this are just grand opening issues and will be resolved. I'll try and visit in a couple of months and see…….

Gala Chicken
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd (Inside of Zion Market)
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Tues – Sat 11am-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

A Cafe

June 17, 2013 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** A Cafe has closed

I recently was asked if I'd ever been to A Cafe. I simply answered with a "no". I explained that I'd really never been a big fan of HK Style Cafe's, even when we lived in the San Gabriel Valley. To me, a non-boba/milk tea lover, who never enjoyed riffs on spaghetti and other items, eating in an Hong Kong style cafe meant a couple of items depending on the joint, congee here, fried pork chop there, RH Garden Cafe was just a block or so from where we used to live in Rowland Heights and it just never appealed to me. Though I gotta say, we did spend many an evening eating at Supreme Dragon, so go figure.

And after Cathy's post, I was even less motivated. Still, I'd eaten in just about every restaurant in the mall with the parking lot from hell so why not?

I wasn't too thrilled to hear that the folks from Imperial Mandarin had taken over the place. If you've ever noticed, I've never done a post on IM, though I've eaten there…..put in the broadest terms. The last three times I've to eat at IM, well, lets just say I suffered from "unlucky returns".

Still, different location, different luck, right?

The place does have that "diner" feel and typical of HK style cafe's, the food is reasonably priced.

I did see something on the menu that interested me, so I placed my order.

Next up came a watery insipid soup that, after the first taste, I just couldn't consume. This, along with the gratis soup that comes with lunch at Dede's falls under the category of "why bother".

The item I went with was the Stir Fried Beef Tongue with Green Onion ($5.99):

This was pretty good. The beef tongue was perhaps a bit too tough, but wasn't too waxy. The flavor was slightly smoky, teetering on the line of liver. But as a whole, it wasn't too awfully offally, if you know what I mean. The onions were stir fried decently and retained some crunch. It wasn't seasoned too heavily either. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but not inedible.

To put things into perspective, this was cheaper than a sandwich.

So I returned a couple of weeks later. Famished, I decided to start with the deep fried mushrooms.

Like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This was the latter. In all fairness, the mushrooms were nicely fried, the batter not too thick….though you better watch it because the liquid content of the mushrooms will squirt out and give a nice burn. That does not make up for an absolute zero in the flavor column….as in no discernable seasoning. Plus, this is served with mayo. To me, it needed something a with a bit of ooomph. Even hot sauce really didn't lift this.

I did order a standby dish,the salt and pepper pork chops ($5.99):

To me, an HK style cafe can live off its frying and seasoning skill. This dish was an "oh fer two", like the mushrooms it was very bland….where was the seasoned salt? Where was the pepper. The topping of green onions and peppers was raw. The batter was on the gummy side and not my cup of tea. To add insult to injury, the rice was really dry…….. 'nuff said.

So does an decent dish get erased by a (two) terrible one(s)? The prices here, at least the lunch specials, are reasonable and the folks I had serving me were nice, though I was the only customer in the place on both occasions. I think I'll just keep on with saying HK style cafe's really aren't my thing and this place would be on the bottom of my list of those places.

A Cafe
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111