Closed – Page 54

Old Mill Cafe (North Park)

January 18, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! -a blog. Kirk, ed(from Yuma), Vicky (SFBay area), Cathy and a few others contribute to this food centric online diary of sorts. Today, Cathy is blogging.

Long story short- while looking for a parking spot when going to a business on 30th street, we happened to turn onto Ohio Street and found one. Walking back to the car, saw this older looking restaurant and made a mental note to stop here one day.

That day finally arrived.

We got here after the lunch 'rush'. Over the holidays.

The decor is …neat and clean… in a 1970 sort of way. The mural of the Old Mill is on the wall to your left when you walk in. By the footprint, the building looks like it may have been a Ponderosa/Bonanza/buffet steakhouse at some point in time (like the 1970's). In any case, we were told to sit anywhere and did so and quickly the nice Waitress came over with menus, brought us water and coffee ($1.99).

I was happy to see that breakfast was served all day and ordered the machaca ($7.99) which seemed to be prepared just for me. The beef was chunky and moist, the peppers and onion were fresh/slightly raw and the eggs that were binding it all together had a lacy edge of crispness. The beans and the rice were better than usual (the rice must have been simmered in broth or stock, the cheese on top of the beans was plentiful and the beans must have been cooked in lard). This was a great meal.

The Mister's choice of pea soup was excellent. It had chunks of ham, was not overly salted and tasted very fresh.

Ahem. Yes, he ordered the Fish and Chips ($7.29, including the soup). Despite the looks of this plate, the fish was light and flaky and the coating on it was thin, crisp, not oily and had a nice flavor. The crinkly fries were also nicely crisp and not oily and the vegetables were not mushy. This meal oddly brought back fond memories…of the 70's…and comfort.

We will be going back and will order other items from the menu.

Your weekend is here, enjoy it!

Old Mill Cafe 3949 Ohio Street San Diego 92104 (619) 294-3804

To The Point-lunch

January 17, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

You are here at mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. A few people write on this blog and today Cathy is writing about a recent nice day and meal.

It seems that The Mister and I have been busy almost every day since Halloween. One place we go to in December and January is Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to see the Wreaths Across America.

2012 was the 21st year of the nationwide wreath distribution honoring of Veterans buried in military cemeteries across America. The wreaths are set up by volunteers by December 15 and will be taken down by volunteers on January 26. There is still time to see this small 'thank you' to our Veterans, done by this organization that has the motto "Remember. Honor. Teach."

On our way back toward the freeway, at the South East corner of Voltaire at Catalina Boulevard is this cottage-y looking restaurant, aptly named "To The Point". We've passed it many times, seeing people eating at tables out front on weekends and on this day decided to stop.

It's quite large inside…

and is decorated in a mismatched casual theme. We were greeted promptly by a nice Young Man, who offered us both the breakfast and lunch menus, which mention that the food is seasonal, local and sustainable.

As we were seated, we asked what the 'soup of the day' was and he went to the kitchen and brought us out small samples of the two available soups – a carrot ginger and a tomato basil and described the ingredients. Nice touch.

We ordered and were kind of overwhelmed by the beverage menu, so asked for 'plain' water and not long after, a refillable bottle of cucumber water and jelly jar glasses were brought to the table. Lunch soon followed.

The Mister's Cobb Sandwich ($8.50) on artisan French bread. Pan roasted turkey, (thick, flavorful, crispy) bacon, avocado, tomato, leaf lettuce, Blue Cheese: a salad in a sandwich. It comes with a choice of a 'gourmet side', so he chose the tomato soup. This was *really* good.

Here's a cross section view of this very filled -and filling- sandwich.

I ordered the Four Cheese Panini on multigrain bread. ($8.50) and chose the organic mixed green salad which was topped with crispy fried onions, included cucumber and tomatoes and had an oil and vinegar based dressing on the side. (See the water bottle and jelly jars?)

I don't remember the four cheeses, but the combination and meltiness was quite wonderful. Also in the sandwich were sauteed onions and mushrooms and tomato as well as fresh organic baby spinach.

The breads are from a local bakery, the meats, the vegetables – everything was so fresh…and I found out later that the beverages are interesting and wonderful and was told to try the fresh pressed apple juice and lavender mocha…which we will do next time.

To The Point 4161 Voltaire Street San Diego, Ca 92107 (619)226-6222 M-F 7 am -3 pm Sat-Sun 8 am-3 pm Website

Sunday Sandwiches: Supernatural Sandwiches

January 6, 2013 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

***Update SuperNatural Sandwiches now has a brick and mortar shop. you can read an updated post here

**** SuperNatural has closed

Sometimes it can be strange……I'll get an email from and "friend of a friend of a friend"…..inviting me to drop their restaurant/coffee shop/deli….. I try to avoid being put into that position by just not going. Our not doing freebies policy works in our favor as well. It helps us to be honest when no strings are attached. It keeps things simple…."we eat, then write about it."

However, on occasion something interesting comes down the pike. As is the case with "Anthony", who knows my good friends John and PeterL. He and his partners own a stand called Supernatural Sandwiches. Anthony has commented on a couple of posts and shot me an email, which I answered, getting a very….how should I say it, enthusiastic response. Bread from Bread and Cie, fish from Catalina Offshore, produce from Suzie's Farms…all of which sounded great. Even though I haven't posted on it yet, we've been dropping by the San Diego Public Market on just about a weekly basis….so I thought what the heck? Of course there was the issue of Anthony knowing the twins….. which put me into a bit of a position. John assured me that whatever I had to say….or write would not put him or his brother into a bad position with Anthony, and heck, they didn't like him anyway (Anthony, if you're reading this, that's a joke, ok?)!

So on my next trip down to SDPM, I drop by the stand, and a really, really, friendly young man greets me and takes my order. It's got to be Anthony of course. Very nice fellow and all that. Then of course, he asks me my name for the order ticket…….. well, I'm not much of a liar, so I tell him "Kirk" and he doesn't blink an eye and writes my name down on my order. Great…..

The menu is a nice, tight, seven sandwiches….all of them named after mythical water creatures, kind of cute. So of course, all of the sandwiches are based on seafood.

On this day, we had two sandwiches:

And let me first say, I loved the bread, sort of a brioche toasted to perfection, not overly oily or buttery, with a hint of sweetness, and very light.

We started with the "Nessie" ($9), which at it's core is a white fish with a miso based glaze.

The sandwich itself was kind of wet, but the bread held up well. I wasn't too sure about this when I saw that it was halibut….we love halibut, but having made misoyaki style fish just about my entire life, I know that halibut was too dry to stand up to a miso glaze……

So what I had was a sopping sandwich with dry fish and a very mild miso based glaze at its core. It also looked like it could have spent a bit more time on the flat- top.

I'm sure other folks will like this…..I'd prefer something with a bit more oil and fat…..like black cod, which Catalina Offshore often has.

Our other sandwich was the "Hydra" ($9). This one is a blackened tuna (in this case albacore) with a spicy aioli and an acidic avocado based sauce.

After the previous sandwich, I wasn't too sure about albacore, which can be a very dry fish. But in this case I was wrong. It was nicely seared, nice crust, I loved the seasonings, the aioli had a mild "zing" and the avocado sauce tempered the heat.

I really enjoyed this sandwich. It gave me a reason to return……

Last night, John joined us for dinner, and tells me right off, "hey, my friend Anthony told me you dropped by his sandwich stand a couple of weeks ago"……. And I had to crack up. Not too many Asians with a good Scottish name like Kirk I guess….

So earlier today, we're at SDPM, and I stop by Supernatural Sandwiches….of course Anthony is there and we chat a bit. Then one of the guys in the back asks me, "didn't I see you at Catalina Offshore yesterday?" Sheesh….these guys are everywhere!

This time around I ordered the "Siren" ($8), the garlic shrimp sandwich. I know this is made with Mexican White Shrimp from Catalina Offshore, so as long as it's not overcooked it'll probably be pretty good.

And it was. The shrimp were very moist, plump, and sweet. Even the Missus was impressed. The bread was the same, except this time it was expressed in the form of a lobster roll type bun, which was just perfect.

Everything went well, perhaps too much of a good thing with the garlic aioli, but I'm sure most folks will just love that. I'm thinking a bit more acid would help as well. But overall, no complaints.

I enjoyed this last sandwich, so I'll probably be back. And though I'm not one of those preaching "farm to table", I do appreciate the fresh and local ingredients. Sadly, as far as I know, you can only get these on Wednesdays and Sundays at the San Diego Public Market….for now….

Supernatural Sandwiches (In the San Diego Public Market)
1735 National Ave
San Diego, CA 92113

Wed and Sunday 9am – 2 pm

Sausage & More European Delicatessen (Lakeside)

December 5, 2012 Cathy German Restaurants and Food, What Cathy Eats!

This is mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma)? Still busy. Cathy? Blogging today.

A few weeks ago, The Mister and I were craving foods we grew up with. Not wanting to spend time and fuel driving to Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad, we decided to try the European Delicatessen in Lakeside that we had seen for the past few months.

In researching, we found out that the owners of Sausage & More had worked at Sausage King, which had been a chain of small markets around the County, the last one on Washington Street, which closed when the owner died in 2011.

Walking in the front door, you are greeted with a small grocery area. Under that archway in the back is one of three comfortable booth and table eating areas.

There is a good variety of European (mostly German) sweets and condiments as well as some bread selections from Los Angeles area bakeries.

The meat case offers a good variety of lunchmeats and sausages. Almost everything is $5.98/lb.

There is also one refrigerator case with desserts and one with cheeses.

Several ‘specials’ were on posters lining the walls and we decided to try the “Oktoberfest Bratwurst”, a smoked bratwurst, heated and on a soft white bun, served with mustard and an excellent German potato salad. ($4.75).

A corse ground, smoked sausage inside an excellent skin, with a great ‘snap’ upon biting into it.

I tried a simple smoked ham sandwich ($4.25) which was accidentally made on white instead of rye bread. The thin sliced smoked ham was plentiful, however I did order the sandwich with ‘everything’ and the lettuce, tomato and onion kind of took away from the basic good simplicity that the sandwich flavors should have.

On another visit, we just grabbed food to take home. The Ring bologna, skin on the weiners, Neopolitan cake slice ($3.75 on Friday and Saturday), cookies and licorice were all excellent selections to satisfy more cravings.

They don’t make the sausages or smoke the meat here, but are friendly, helpful and do have a really good selection in nearby East County.

Sausage & More Delicatessen 12241Woodside Avenue Lakeside, CA 92040 (619) 390-1514 Website Closed Sunday and Monday. Other days open 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

<<<(A closeup of the lamp hanging in the archway, in the second photo. It’s very old- the plug only has two prongs; no ground. Very cool.)

Que Huong-Lunch with Friends

December 4, 2012 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

It's Tuesday and mmm-yoso!!! is getting through the week with another post by Cathy. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are just plain busy.

Kirk first posted about Que Huong in August 2005. He subsequently had a series of three posts devoted to the food here in 2008 and he has mentioned some of the dishes, particularly the chicken wings, in other posts (you can use that 'Search" box on the top left of this page) there are 1670 mentions on this blog. The Mister and I had been to this location before 2005, when it was a dim sum restaurant (and I wasn't taking photos of our meals, much less blogging). In August, fellow blogger (on hiatus) Sawyer was in town, working for his Internship and Kirk, Carol, Dennis and I met up with him at Que Huong early on a Sunday morning for a wonderful celebratory feast.
Located in the corner space of a mini mall, behind the Burger King parking lot on the North side of University at Marlborough, the exterior is deceiving.

Que Huong has a very large interior behind the steel corner door barred location, the tables and chairs always are elegantly covered – for lunch and dinner- and the interior seems quieter and less hurried than most Vietnamese Restaurants.

Kirk did the ordering since he knew what he -and we- would like. The menu is mind-numbingly large and includes several types of wild game meats and is not anything like a Pho Restaurant. At all.

The pork and shrimp jackfruit salad arrived at the table topped with a sesame rice cracker.

It looks like this. It's tangy and made with canned jackfruit (which isn't mushy, but firm…kind of al dente, as are all the vegetables). It's topped with a bit of nuoc mam (fish sauce).

Kirk ordered the table both tamarind and fish sauce chicken wings. If you've read his posts, you know he thinks the chicken wings here are the best in San Diego. I agree. The wings are crispy and light and coated perfectly. It was extremely difficult to decide which was better…it was a matter of if you like a bit sweet or a bit more pungent. I will say I will never order hot sauce/BBQ sauce/honey anything wings anyplace else ever again.

The seasoned periwinkle in coconut curry sauce was another great item. The periwinkles are cut on both ends, so you can easily suck the meat out and enjoy the sweet-spicy sauce. The herb on top is Vietnamese coriander (rau ram). There were about six of the little shelled creatures and some of the sauce left over and I brought those home to The Mister, who really enjoyed the flavors melded in this dish.

This was a salad of minced wild boar sauteed with lemongrass and red and green peppers, topped with the sesame rice cracker. The herb on top has a cumin flavor. This was surprisingly wonderful and mildly addictive. The boar flavor wasn't too distinct or odd…I got more texture out of it and enjoyed the melding of all the flavors.

Snapper flavored with dill and turmeric is a classic Vietnamese dish: cha ca thang long. It's served with that plate of goodies at the top- rice noodles, lettuce, perilla leaves, cucumber, pickled carrot, pineapple and mint. this is a meal for two all by itself. Seriously good.

Above is the catfish Hot Pot, photographed after some of the contents had been removed and the sizzle had stopped. The fish was tender and fresh flavored (not muddy, as sometimes happens with catfish) and a piece of pork belly lined the bottom of the pot. The sauce was sticky of course, but had a deep flavor of fish sauce in addition to the sweet. I wish I wasn't so full and could have eaten more. All in all, great food shared with great friends.

Of course, I returned, with The Mister, for lunch. We started out with the papaya salad. Fresh, crispy, able to taste all the flavors which were perfectly melded together. Just enough heat for us.

We chose to share the fish sauce chicken wings, because …well… we just wanted to try one flavor and The Mister asked me to choose. My choice was savory. Perfectly crispy wings, perfectly sauced and served with a salt-pepper-lime juice for dipping.

The Mister wanted to see the version of Bahn Xeo that Que Huong makes. We ordered it as soon as we sat down, knowing it takes a while to make.

A perfect light, crispy, rice flour-turmeric based pancake, filled with bean sprout, onion, pork and shrimp. Airy and crispy, wrapped in lettuce leaves with mint added. An excellent version.

We enjoy Que Huong and it has become a regular stop when we are in the neighborhood. It's just a bit nicer with better food and offerings than some other places.

Que Huong 4134 University Avenue San Diego 92105 (619) 281-6008

Po & Pho -Next to H Mart in Mira Mesa (part 1: pho)

November 16, 2012 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Po and Pho has closed. There won't be a part 2.

Hi. The page you are reading is mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are busy with Thanksgiving planning. Cathy appears to be organized for Thanksgiving, so she is blogging today.

The highly anticipated Korean Grocer, H-Mart, will have a Grand Opening on the 17th (in the old Ralphs location on Mira Mesa Boulevard near the 15). The Mister and I were thinking there might be a 'soft' opening a few days sooner and drove there the other day, but the store was still getting organized. Since we were already in that parking lot and it was close to lunch time, we decided to try the newest restaurant of the six in that parking lot.

There- all the way on the left of the above photo- the small storefront "Po and Pho". Seven tables inside and one table out front, seating for about 20, this clean shop serves a combination of New Orleans-Po Boy sandwiches, gumbo and Vietnamese-pho, noodles and rice plates. There is also a small breakfast menu, extensive beverage menu and the menu includes catering items that are not offered on the regular menu.

The take out business was bustling when we were here, but when we sat down to read the take out menu, a nice Young Lady walked over to take our eat-in order. I'm not sure if we were supposed to order and pay and sit down or not…

In any case, since it was a chilly morning and the sun still had not peeked through the clouds, I ordered a bowl of chicken pho (one size only $6.25).

This was a very good, very large bowl of pho. The broth was clear, not too oily and had good flavor on its own. The noodles were mostly loose, barely in a clump. The chicken was plentiful, included the liver and was accompanied by the fresh dipping sauce (nuoc cham) made of lime juice, fish sauce, garlic and sugar. The onions and cilantro and ground pepper toppings, when mixed part way through my meal, along with the (very fresh) add-ins transformed the the bowl into even more fresh flavors.
The Mister was torn about what he wanted to order- there are 13 sandwich offerings in addition to three types of Po'Boy offered (shrimp or chicken or fish). We saw a *very* large sandwich being shared at another table and the bread was not close to bahn mi in size and decided we could share one at another meal. At the bottom of the "Noodles and Soups" section of the menu Seafood Gumbo ($5) was listed. That also sounded good on this cold day. The bowl is smaller than my bowl of pho, but it should be. The rich sauce, filled with crawfish, shrimp, crab and smoked sausage covers a good amount of broken rice and fresh okra. This was one of the best gumbos I've tasted in a long time.

We'll be stopping here again, for a Po'Boy, ideally avoiding crowds.

Po & Pho 9430 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Suite 5C San Diego 92126 (858) 271-8988 Website

Nhat Vy Vietnamese Restaurant

November 14, 2012 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Nhat Vy has closed

Back in December of last year, I posted on Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco. The meal was not quite up to par and the place looked really, well, almost temporary. In fact, I wrote "I'm not sure how this place is going to do……." in the last paragraph of the post. A couple of months later they were gone and a sign went up for a new Vietnamese restaurant, which opened this past summer named Nhat Vy.

Driving past, I have to honestly say I didn't get too worked up about the Pho-Banh Mi-Coffee sign. I mean, it's not like we're short of places that serve the stuff in the area, right? About a week later, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check them out. I remained uninspired when I entered the place and saw the steam table set-up. But changed my mind when I was handed the menu. Banh Hoi….Banh Cuon…Bun Rieu…. my pulse quickened. Only to come crashing to earth when told they didn't have any of those dishes on this morning. Man, I really wanted some Banh Cuon. I had been going through photos of our trip to Vietnam and kept running into photos of Banh Cuon, in Sapa, Hanoi, and even Bac Ha. I was bummed….

So what to do when your first three choices aren't available? I went with the sign and the Pho Dac Biet ($6.99).

Which was pretty unremarkable. I recall the broth being kind of "scummy" and cloudy, the flavor being very mild, and the noodles a bit too soft.

The meat was just about average….total middle of the road stuff, nothing to get excited about. Plus, it was a thousand degrees even at 8 in the morning, which really didn't help matters.

This being the middle of July, I really couldn't bring myself to go back. Here was a one-shot deal that would end up in one of my COMC (Clearing Out the Memory Card) posts.

And yet, the menu stuck with me……seeing the other items kind of kept nagging away. Until almost exactly three months later, when things had cooled down, I decided on dropping by for an early breakfast. By this time the menu had morphed into a multi-page deal with photos. Sad thing was there was no Banh Cuon to be seen.

This was pretty early in the morning and I wasn't feeling like Bun Rieu, so I went with Bun Rieu's lighter cousin, Canh Bun ($7).

My first impression of the broth was really positive, it seemed light, not too "crabby", I did add some mam nem which is kindly provided, this really added some umami punch. The herbs were fresh and the quantity good. The noodles were firm and wonderfully slippery, the ong choi (water spinach), added a nice crunch and substance to this. Loved the fried tofu, the shrimp cake didn't have enough flavor for me, but was veyr light in texture. I could have done without the "oc" (periwinkles), of which there was a generous amount….these were just too chewy.

About halfway through I started feeling the effects of MSG….not over-powering, but enough to know it's there. Still, I thought this was decent and even sent a photo to my good FOY (Friend of Yoso), "YummyYummy". I guess the photo must have looked great because they marched right over and ate.

YY reported back that the Bun Rieu was quite good and the Banh Cuon, which they make in house and takes a while, was also worth a try. Banh Cuon? But I hadn't seen that on the menu? What the heck? So a couple of weeks later I headed over for some breakfast. The dining area is tiny and I've only seen other customers on one occasion.

Having arrived ravenous, I ordered the Bun Moc ($7) and then attempted to order the Banh Cuon, which isn't on the menu to the very sweet woman serving me. I say attempted because it took me four tries to get the pronunciation even close to where she could understand me. Yet she patiently stood there and helped me work this through.

The weather was just driving my sinuses into the ground, so this nice, clear soup was just what I needed.

The herbs where ever so fresh, the broth was indeed pretty mild and I really couldn't make out the "mushroom" flavor. There was a ton of protein in it, cha lua, meatballs, and a fairly surprising piece of pork spare rib. I looked at that piece of meat, which should have had "Goodyear" written on its side and then took a bite…..I was surprised at how tender it was.

And then of course, there was the Banh Cuon ($6). At long last.

It wouldn't be a stretch(no pun intended) to say that this is the best Banh Cuon in terms of texture in San Diego. The rice noodle is nice and thin and not too sticky. There's just the right amount of "pull" to it. The pork is fairly bland and while I like cha lua, this one is fairly bland. The nuoc mam cham has good spice, but other than that is fairly bland. The rau ram and blanched bean sprouts complemented the dish well, as did the fried shallots.

It matches up favorably with what I've had before.

Before leaving, I mentioned that banh cuon was not in the menu….the woman picked up a menu and looked through it. And sure enough, it isn't! We both had a laugh and she walked me to the steam table and pointed to the photo of the banh cuon and told me, "you come and point next time, ok?" I couldn't help but crack-up.

So there you go….I got my banh cuon, time to move on, right? Well not so fast….this past weekend the Missus was sleeping and YY and her hubby, MrQ had mentioned that they really enjoyed the Bun Rieu here……so of course:

I got the bun rieu. What I really like is that different sets for herbs are served for the pho versus the bun moc, versus the bun rieu. This was a fresh assortment of rau ram, perilla, banana blossom, and even some fishy-funky diếp cá.

As for the broth, it's much lighter and less complex then the rather heady version at Mien Trung. Personally, I prefer the stronger seafood-tomato flavors in that bun rieu. On the flip side, this one seems to have a lot less MSG….at least on this day.

For some reason I like the fried tofu here; it's nice a creamy. I'm still not a big fan of the "oc" in this as well.

It was "three for three" as again the noodles were prepared well….they also used the thinner bun, the appropriate noodle for bun rieu.

I'd easily have this again…….

I'm hoping this place does well. The folks here are really nice, but there's a real shortage of parking on the street….actually there's a couple of stalls in the back of the place as well. This location is not the best, as proven by Aqui el Jalisco's short run and the previous shop at this location, The Torta Factory.

Over the years I've seen my share of Vietnamese Restaurants that I've enjoyed going to, that are just not able to make it. Sometimes, like Huynh Hoa Tuu, they serve great stuff, then suddenly shut down and leave town. Or like Nam An, they start strong but are not able to sustain the quality, service, or portions….I'm still fairly certain that they won't reopen. I hope I'm wrong. And I hope that Nhat Vy sticks around…..

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

Revisits to Nazca Grill

November 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Peruvian Restaurants

**** Nazca Grill has closed

After my visit to Panca Peruvian Rotisserie, I made sure to hit up Nazca Grill for a comparison. After uploading my photos, I realized that I've got a bit of a backlog with regards to Nazca Grill, so a post has been a while in coming. I usually include Nazca in round-ups, like the Lomo Saltado comparison.

Over the years the dining furnishings have been upgraded, though the interior is still that dark red tone….

The same gentleman, I believe his name is Wilson, still runs the place. They've been around for over three years now, which is a great sign, though on most of my visits, the restaurant is nearly empty. The prices have gone up, as have most restaurants. My biggest problems with the food as Nazca Grill has been the random inconsistencies encountered.

So I started with something I've enjoyed in the past. The Causa Nazca. A causa is basically a mashed potato "cake/dumpling". Peru is home of the potato, if you ever have the chance to visit, you'll find it in so many shapes and forms, from the delicious and basic papa amarilla the yellow potato, to the chuño a freeze dried tuber that has an interesting texture. The version at Nazca Grill seems similar to the layered Causa Limeña, Lima style Causa. I usually will get the shrimp version.

The causa here used to look like it was cut from a baking pan, but is now presented in a much more attractive circle. It's not over-dressed with mayonnaise, though the aji rocoto sauce is on the bitter side. The shrimp also seemed mushy and watery. This was not quite as good as what I had on previous visits.

On another visit I ordered the Cebiche de Pescado ($12.95).

First off the camote, the sweet potato was really mushy, second the fish had been sitting too long in the "lece de tigre" ("tiger's milk"), the marinating liquid and was getting pretty tough. Third, man, they're using aji rocoto for this, pretty spicy stuff. the length of time marinating made this dish pretty darn spicy overall. I few minutes less "bath time" and this would have been pretty good. Needless to say, there was no drinking of the leche de tigre on this visit.

I did think that the anticuchos I had on a recent visit was every bit as good as the versions I've had at Latin Chef.

Nicely flavored, the beef heart retained a bit of "squeak", but was still tender enough to enjoy. Nice color, probably due to the use achiote and perhaps a few chilies. I wish they'd be a bit more creative with the varieties of potatoes.

I also had a glass of kool-aid, um, Chicha Morada, which I actually enjoyed. For some reason I enjoy the bubble-gum like flavor of Inka Cola, but have never enjoyed Chicha Morada, but maybe things are changing?

Of course the point of this post was the Pollo ala Brasa, the rotisserie chicken. KM at work was wondering how the chicken tasted, so one day I picked some up for us.

Back in 2010 when I did my big chicken comparison, I thought Nazca Grill was "getting better all the time". Flash-forward to fall of 2012 and all I can say is, "the chicken has regressed". This was salty and I'm not sure if they finish it with hardwood anymore. On the other hand, it was nice and moist, but just not anything special, especially for twelve bucks for a half chicken meal.

The Papa Rellena I had a couple of weeks later was pretty good.

The outside was nice and crisp, the potato below well flavored, as was the filling. The salza criolla added a pungent-tangy-acid component to the dish and helped to cut any saltiness or richness I'd have encountered.

I had tried the tiradito, the Nikkei influenced raw fish dish at Nazca Grill and not really enjoyed it. After all these years, I thought I'd check it out again. Meet the latest version of Nazca's tiradito ($11.95):

This was totally different from the tiradito I had previously had here, in presentation and taste. Loved the yuca frito….but when don't I love it? Half the plate was flavored with a aji amarilla based marinade, the other half aji rocoto. I preferred the aji amarilla, it was more creamy, and had seemed to work with the lime flavors a lot better.

The aji rocoto sauce seemed very harsh and bitter. I'm wondering if they use Dona Isabel paste for this, as I've found the aji rocoto paste to be rather bitter and harsh when I tried it out recently.

No complaints about the nice, thinly sliced fish. I ended up pouring what canchita (roasted corn kernels) into the aji amarilla side and eating up as much as I could.

Overall, a mixed bag. Not sure if I'll return anytime soon…..but then again, when it gets warmer and those cebiche pescado cravings return……..

Nazca Grill
4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Turo Turo Thursday: A Revisit to Conching’s Cafe

October 25, 2012 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

*** Conching is now Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine & Ice Cream Parlor

Over the course of the last twelve weeks I managed to revisit a couple of turo turo places, which I'll post on over the next few weeks. Actually, I dropped by Tita's twice during this period, but they didn't have any sisig, so I decided not to wait in those massive lines. I've heard that they actually changed the sisig recipe when AZ(not you "AZ", the other AZ) visited; I always thought the sisig there was terrible. So it took a television thing to get them to make a better product? I guess even they knew their sisig wasn't up to par….. Well enough of that. Here's enough saturated fat for a week or so.

There was a time not too long ago, when I thought that Conching made some of the best turo turo sisig in San Diego. As of a couple of years ago, I felt that the sisig had slipped a bit. It just wasn't as good. Those thought were percolating in mi cabeza as I parked.

No matter how many times I visit, walking to the turo turo ("point point", a reference to steam table cuisine) counter, I can't help but be amused at the ice cream parlor look. Someone asked me to describe the interior once and the best I could come up with was "Farrell's meets patis". Because I had just come from the long lines and cold stares at Tita's, the stark emptiness of the place really made an impression. There were no other customers during my entire meal.

Looking over the steam table items, I saw something I never recalled seeing before, so I ordered it.

I guess it's the purple tinted red color that got me…plus this had slices of pork belly in it. Well, even more than the color, catching a whiff of it as I brought this to my table really got my nares out of the morning doldrums. I actually liked this; it was salty, in a good way, very savory, obviously from a good amount of bagoong alamang. It was also fairly spicy, a rarity in most Filipino dishes that I've had….the possible exception being bicol express and some versions of sisig. Still, I didn't know what the heck this was and the woman behind the counter wasn't in a particularly chatty mood, so I took a photo and sent it to my former coworker "MG". Who informed me that this was a dish with the catchy name of Binagoongang Baboy. The combination of pungent bagoong, garlic, chilies, tomato, and green bell peppers, adds up to salty-savory,tangy,spicy, and pretty delicious in my book. I have another dish to be on the look-out for in the future.

Of course I had the sisig.

Which was disappointing. Oh how the mighty has fallen. This was soggy, lacked vinegar, and had rather unpleasant bitterness to it.

On a positive note, I have a new dish to look out for. On the flip side, it seems that the sisig here has gone downhill. I asked MG when I saw her a couple of weeks later. She told me that the food at Conching hasn't been very good for the last six-eight months. Sad.

Conching's Cafe
3400 E 8th St.Ste 115
National City, CA 91950

Pangea Bakery Cafe

October 24, 2012 Cathy Bakery, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Pangea has closed.

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy usually share their adventures in eating here. Your being able to vicariously experience is a bonus. Cathy is writing today.

Well. The Mister and I were some of the first people to go to Pangea Bakery Cafe when it opened, in about May of 2011. We went here a few times and I was ready to post and looked around on the interweb and it seemed that just about every San Diego blogger had done a post. So I put the photos in a very special place. Finding some of them brought back some memories and since The Mister and I chose this for one of our eight days of birthday snack stops, more recent photos should make this post complete.

Located on Convoy Street, just south of Engineer Road, right next to Tea Garden the visible storefront has a small driveway where you can park for 15 minutes if you are just running in to pick up a snack. Otherwise, passing through the gauntlet of cars leads to a small parking lot. The one way parking lot exits onto Brinell Street, which usually has plenty of parking (depending on the day and time you are there) and since the lot is small, the walk isn't bad.

When the store first opened, the display racks of baked goods were pushed up against the walls and a small center island contained breads and trays. This Taiwanese bakery is filled with an ever changing variety of baked goods.

The display racks have now been brought inward and tables and chairs line the glass walls

and the center table now mostly holds day old baked goods. In this above photo, you can see a heated glass display case on the coffee/check out counter in the background.

On the other side of the cash register counter are refrigerated cases.

On the inner display racks are trays with individually wrapped selections. The above are garlic knots. Buttery…

Although, from this 2011 photo, you can see that items were not always individually wrapped.

There are trays stacked at the end of the cases are so you can place your selections separately without crushing any of the delicate pastries.

Above is what we ordered on our very first visit. There was a paper sign at the register after we had selected the sweets we wanted, offering pan fried dumplings and a choice of beverage for $2.49. Beverage choices were coffee, tea and hot soy milk. We chose the soy and also a coffee (there is (and was) an extensive list of espresso drinks available).

Above is a cross section of the dumpling. It was wonderful, crispy and not gummy, filled with ground pork, cabbage, carrots cooked in sesame oil. At some point, they stopped offering the beverage special, as well as the dumplings. You can still order a hot soy milk, but it isn't listed on the menu.

Here's a cross section of a cheese filled pastry.

Above is a photo of our birthday snack- at 12 o'clock is a red bean paste filled pastry, the item at 2 o'clock is pineapple filled and in the 6 o'clock position is a hot cheese pastry which came from the heated case on the countertop, next to the register. Fresh, still warm and all very good. Sometimes there is more of a pizza in the hot tray; it's good.

Above is a little snack/meal we brought home the other day. The 11 o'clock item is another red ben paste filled goodie, in the 5 o'clock position is a three pack of almond puff pastry…and that item placed at 1 o'clock

is a quite large loaf of ham and cheese bread. We can get 3 nice slices from this bread and always grab it when it's available.

The prices here are reasonable (the puff pastry was $1.25 and the cheese bread was $2.50). There is a lot of seating and it's a nice place to share a snack and talk.

Pangea Bakery Cafe 4689 Convoy Street, Suite 100 San Diego 92111 (858)560-0688 website