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Stuff for a slow Saturday: Recently Made at Home, Revisits to Tan Ky Mi Gia and Los Pueblos

March 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Mexican Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

It usually happens around this time of the year. I kinda hit a "slump" of sorts……we've been eating more at home recently. While the Missus can eat the same thing for several days (even weeks) in a row, roasted vegetables or lentil soup (she;s loving our new Dutch Oven), I need a bit of variety. So here are the two items I managed to take photos of this past week.

I decided to drop by Seisel's tp pick up some calf's liver as a treat for Da' Boyz. Not quite sure what to make, I bought a half pound of ground chuck. Funny thing is, my ground beef cost two bucks, while the liver cost seven. I always tell the Missus that our household is going to the dogs. This is just further evidence of that.

I still didn't have any idea of what to make when I got home. Opening the cabinet, the bag of cumin fell out on the counter……..it must have been a hint from somewhere. Using my Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak recipe as a base. I minced onions and mixed that along with ground cumin, dark and light soy sauce, sambal olek, with the ground beef. While that sat, I toasted cumin and Sichuan peppercorns, which I then ground. I made patties then seasoned the surface of the ground beef with salt, cumin and Sichuan peppercorns. I didn't incorporate thatinto the meat because cumin tends to keep form and stay hard when mixed into ground beef. The cumin powder took care of that. Cooked in my cast iron pan and topped with Sriracha, it came out better than I thought.

I just might do this again.

A couple of nights later, I dropped by Seisel's again, this time, I thought I'd use up some blue cheese and left over tapenade that we had in the fridge and stuff a chicken breast. Unfortunately, they were out of chicken breast. I decided to try to do the same thing with chicken thighs. I usually have a couple of dried items in my pantry, so I made a mixture of sundried tomatoes, morel mushrooms, tapenade, and blue cheese. I pounded out the chicken thights, then, feeling too lazy to skewer the thighs, I simply rolled them, seasoned the chicken with sea salt and fresh ground pepper and cooked them off in the frying pan. There was some loss, but not too much.

This came out pretty good, it smelled heavenly, and I managed not to overcook the chicken. I prefer dark meat to white meat anyway, but just never thought of stuffing thighs.

I'll definitely do this again.

Other than that, here are some short revisits.

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

My sinuses have been taking a beating this year. I really wanted something with a alot of flavor, so we decided to head up to Mira Mesa. I really wanted the Beef Sate Egg Noodle "dry" from Tan Ky Mi Gia.

I'm not sure if it was because I just wanted it so much or what. But this was better than I ever recalled having here. The meat was tender, there was a good amount of heat and spices, which cleared up my sinuses. The accompanying soup was a bit too salty, but that's just what I needed. Sometimes it's all about timing. Strangely, our favorite "server" wasn't working this evening……

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

Los Pueblos:

**** Los Pueblos has closed

Yep, again. The Missus enjoys the Mole Poblano and also the tortilla soup here. Here's the Mole Poblano with Huarache Chips (sorry, forgot the soup photo):

This time I went with the carne asada smothered in Mole Poblano.

If you're used to $2 steak carne asada, you might find this an improvement. They used skirt steak, which I may just have without the mole next time. Combined with black beans, guacamole, tortillas, and arroz verde (green rice) this was a nap inducing meal. I guess Los Pueblos has established a place on our rotation.

Check out Cathy's post here.

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico
7081 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone is having a great "spring forward" weekend. I hope losing that hour of sleep doesn't affect you too much!

Bolillo Tortas

March 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches

*** Bollilo has closed

A couple of weeks ago, I made one of my rare trips down to the Gaslamp and decided to stop by Bolillo Tortas, which has been getting some good play on some of the local blogs. I'd heard that they made a Torta Ahogada with birote (aka bolillo) from Guadalajara, which got my interest.

The place is pretty easy to find, right across the street from the Horton Grand Theatre on 4th Avenue.

I liked the sleek and modern look of the restaurant. The gentleman behind the counter was very polite and prompt. The prices looked like it had the Gaslamp mark-up and then some…… nine bucks for a Torta Ahogada seemed a bit more than steep. Even though it was pretty early in the morning, about a half past eight, I thought why not just go ahead and get the ahogada….hot sauce be damned. When I ordered, the guy behind the counter asked me to wait for a second to make sure they had the proper bolillo for the sandwich. He then verified what I had heard, the bread did come form Guadalajara. Eventually, the birotes were tracked down, and after paying over twelve bucks for a sandwich and a drink I had a seat outside.

Soon enough my sandwich arrived. It based on the looks and texture, instead of drowning the sandwich, the chile de arbol based sauce had been poured over the sandwich. Still it looked pretty good.

Until you noticed that it took up a bit more than 50% of the plate it was on. Compare the sandwich size to the bacon wrapped jalapeno beside it…….

So either this was a snack sized sandwich or that was the jalapeno that ate the Gaslamp wrapped in a belt sized slice of bacon. I'll let you guess which one it was. Still, if this was great, there would be no complaints.

First off, the bread was kind of gummy, with a texture of the heat and eat genre. The crust was more hard than crusty. It was by no means as good as the bread that El Gallito uses. The sauce was pretty mild for my taste, but I can understand.

The pork on the other hand was moist, tender, with a mild smoke flavor. It was also nicely seasoned.

The bacon wrapped jalapeno was barely marked from the grill and both the texture and taste was raw. The bacon was barely browned and thus had a rubbery texture, which gave you the feeling you were eating raw bacon. The corn was tender and seasoned well with Tajin.

Overall, a mixed bag, but I decided to return for a follow-up a week later. This time I went with the Torta Cubana ($9.75), usually a pretty hefty sandwich, which this was.

This was probably too much stuff for me as everything got pretty much lost in a big sloppy mess. The cheese actually pretty much overwhelmed everything. If you've ever go through my posts on tortas you'll find that I'm pretty much of a single protein kind of guy. I still didn't care for the bread which seemed too doughy. Don't get the steamed vegetables which was very bland, even with the salsas provided. This time, the jalapeno and the bacon were charred and crisp, so perhaps I visited too early the last time. I don't think you'll go hungry with this sandwich.

I really need to try the milanesa, chorizo, and other sandwiches. But I'm not sure how soon that will be. The service was very nice, but the prices are on the high side. When I mentioned this place to Karina, whose family is from Guadalajara, she sounded intrested. Until I told her the prices….."a torta ahogada should not be more than about seven bucks, max, US tourist prices even….."

Bolillo Tortas
417 4th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101

Hours:
Mon-Thurs 8 am – 12 am
Fri-Sat 8 am – 3 am
Sun 8 am – 12 am

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico

March 3, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Los Pueblos has closed. This fact makes me sad.

Welcome back to mmm-yoso. Cathy is writing today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are staring at the sky.

A funny thing happened a few days ago. Kirk started his post about Los Pueblos and so did I. We both had been going here, liking the food and wanted to share our meals with you. So, here now is my take on this really nice restaurant. (Los Pueblos is not a taco shop, but does serve tacos and burritos; it is a Mexican Food Restaurant that cooks fresh, local and sustainable with attention to the nuances of regional flavors, in a rustic manner . The food is prepared in a healthy way and tastes great.)

No lighted signage is up, yet.

There are photo slide shows of various regions of Mexico playing on the television and a nice musical accompaniment in the background.

The tortilla soup (large, $5.50) is made with a seasoned tomato broth and topped with Panela cheese. It's topped with avocado and Ancho chile. Tortilla strips are in the soup. Great -really great- flavor to this soup. It is filling and a very good vegetarian version.

The Yucatan Salad ($9). Pollo Asado Pibil (grilled chicken marinated in achiote, bitter orange and other spices). The salad has oranges, pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, onions and avocado. No dumbed down flavors here. Achiote is annatto, which has a peppery and nutmeg-y flavor to me and the bitter orange and other spices really compliment the chicken, which is very moist/not dry. This salad is quite large.

The chile relleno plate($6.99) was a chalkboard special the day we were here. It was served with the green rice (made with tomatillo, cilantro, California chile and other herbs and vegetables sauteed with the rice). Very nice flavor. The Black beans are made in a clay pot (a la olla) and vegetarian. Really good beans, lumpy and very flavorful. The relleno was filled with a very fresh Panela cheese. I want this again.

When we were almost finished and reading the menu, we noticed Cafe a la olla- coffee in a clay pot ($2.50) It's coffee made with cinnamon, clove, orange peel and piloncillo (unrefined/brown sugar; you may have seen small cone shaped brown sugar in the Produce section of your local grocery store; that's piloncillo). This was a perfect dessert. You can see it's a nicely gritty coffee, based on the sediment left on the sides of this cup…it is very good.

On another visit, we noticed $5 lunch specials. All come with fresh made chips. Again, deep corn flavor.

I ordered the two taco plate with chile poblano rajas (Poblano chile strips sauteed with onion, garlic and corn and finished with cream and cheese) as my lunch special. It came with the rice as well as the chips (for $1 more, you can order one of the house made aqua frescas; ask for a sample to decide- all the aguas are made from scratch, without corn syrup or preservatives.)

Here is what the rajas looks like. It is a good vegetarian sauce (and you can order it as a side for $3)

Here is the other taco. It didn't have tomato in it but was just as tasty. This is an example of the unevenness of food presentation Kirk mentioned in his post, but I am not complaining; I really like this kind of homemade assymetry.

The Mister ordered the carne asada plate ($11) with a side of mole Poblano ($3) and the mole coated the carne. This carne asada is marinated in Chipolte and is not at all like carne asada you can get from any taco shop around here. It is deep and smokey flavored, spicy – plays no games. The Mister wanted to try the mole which is made with over 30 ingredients and it was *good*…I could taste the chocolate, plantains, nuts and chile as well as the medley of spices. I could eat it by the spoonful without any meat…

The Cafe de la olla is now our 'regular' dessert here. We poured some into a smaller cup and added the coffee mate, which changed the flavor to make it creamier…almost a fancy ice cream flavor.

There are Hurraches (chewy soft corn masa shaped like a sandal with various toppings), Quesadillas "sincronizada"(two thick flour tortillas painted with red chile adobo and then cheese and fillings) as well as torta sandwiches on the menu. The primary meat selections are the carne asada marinated in Chipotle, the chicken pibil marinated in the bitter orange and Achiote and pork Adobado -a sun dried red chile BBQ sauce, which Kirk really liked and I have yet to taste-and soon.

Los Pueblos is a really good choice for quality, fresh, healthy cuisine. I hope it suceeds.

Los Pueblos 7081 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 834-7878

Rocky Port Grill and Fish Market-Mariscos in El Cajon

February 27, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

Rocky Port has closed

Link to another visit to Rocky Port Here

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are just too busy to blog today, so Cathy is sharing another meal with you.

The last rainy days we had, I was craving a bowl of fish soup and The Mister and I headed to El Titanic in El Cajon, which I have posted about twice. We hadn't been to El Titanic since September (as one of my birthday week meal choices). Sadly, we saw it had closed. Happily, it seemed to have turned into another mariscos place.

The interior has been cleaned up and all the drawings of sinking ships were painted over. New tables and chairs filled the room.

The area where the pool table had been has been replaced with a fresh seafood counter, offering some pretty good prices on the seafood.

Fresh chips and salsa, along with a bowl of limes and a nice size sample of fresh fish ceviche were brought out to the table with our menus.

The bowl of fish soup ($10.95) was filled with large pieces of fish, green peppers and tomatoes and cooked in a very flavorful broth. This was quite large and very filling.

The menu offered whole fish, grilled with garlic or fried and the red snapper and snook are sold by the each for $16.95. The smaller tilapia were $10.95. Larger fish from the counter were sold by weight. This is a fresh red snapper that I chose to have fried. It came with unlimited corn tortillas (which were layered/flaky fresh and very tasty) and the salsa, rice and salad shown. This was a very good preparation and the fish was moist and really tasty.

We ate every last bit of it, and the soup.

The menu has a good variety of seafood choices, including lobster (griddled or grilled), fish plates, seafood cocktails and the other usual suspects of tacos, burritos and shrimp plates-all served with a choice of preparations and sauces. There are also daily specials and even a kid's menu. This is a bit nicer and pricier than El Titanic and a very nice addition to the neighborhood.

Rocky Port Grill and Fish Market 1771 North 2nd Street El Cajon 92021 (619)593-0637 Website

Los Pueblos

February 21, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

*** Los Pueblos has closed.

I noticed that this shop had replaced the taco shop on the premises a couple of weeks ago. I stopped mainly because of the "Regional Cuisines of Mexico" sign. The place was closed but I looked over the menu, which was interesting. It's been kind of busy so I promptly forgot about the place, until I read something on one of my all too rare visits to Chowhound. The folks running the show were the former owners of Chilango's, a place we used to enjoy every once in a while when we first moved to San Diego. This made it a required stop…….I went in with the purpose of getting some take-out.

Though the menu seems vast, it is built around several protein offerings and a couple of vegetarian offerings. The tall, somewhat distinguished gentleman named Jeremy was very chatty and indeed confirmed that he was part owner of Chilangos, though it might not be the Chilangos you remember. They sold the restaurant in 1996……way before we moved to San Diego.

Having not been here before, I'm not sure how much they've done to the place, but it was clean, had a flat screen playing a slide-show of Mexican sites and there's a salsa bar in the back.

I went with the Chicken Pibil Plate ($10):

This was a good amount of food, the corn tortillas were decent and still quite hot when I got home. The rice was on the dry side but quite fragrant and decently flavored. The Missus had the guacamole and thought it was quite good. I had doubts about the black beans because the place doesn't use manteca (lard), but though a bit on the bland side, I enjoyed the texture. The chicken was a bit of a surprise since about all the pibil I've had (all pork) have been roasted. In fact I recall having read that "Pib" is the name of the traditional name of the Mayan oven. This was obviously grlled.

Being that this was white meat chicken, I expected it to be on the dry side, which it was not. Pretty tender too. The flavor was lacking in the sour-citrus tones that I enjoy and I expected a bit more flavor. But it was not bad.

The Missus really enjoyed the Tortilla Soup (bowl – $5.50):

Which meant we returned a couple of nights later when the Missus was in the mood for some soup. This time around the missus went with the Black Bean Soup (bowl $5.50). Loved the flavor of the crema, much more ocmplex and creamy than the usual sour cream you get. The soup itself was much too salty this time around.

I got the special, 3 potato rolled tacos with rice, beans (black), and a agua fresca. The agua fresca, a tamarindo was watered down and bleh. The rice, guac, and everything else was fine……

The rolled tacos were a bit over-fried and too crumbly, the rolled tacos looked to have unraveled a bit and there didn't seem to be much potato in one of them. Not that great in my opinion. Though that would be made up by the third item we ordered……

Mole sampler with Huarache Chips ($6):

The Missus, now a sworn masa lover enjoyed the thick huarache chips, sort of like a crisp flatbread. The Mole Verde was ok, not very memorable. But the Mole Poblano was quite nice. Most recipes for Mole Poblano start at about 25 ingredients, Jeremy told me theirs has 30. Whose counting, right? The mole was nice and complex, though the flavor of cinnamon might be on the strong side, I'm thinking that it was me. Mildly sweet, very creamy, with a light spicy finish. Man, this had wishing they made Mole Poblano de Guajolote, a famous turkey dish from Puebla, one of the items on my "bucket list". Still, the Missus wasn't far off when She told me, this would be great on something…..

And that something happened a day later. I got the Pork Adobado Plate ($10) with Mole Poblano ($2) on it.

I gotta say, I'm not sure how the pork tastes without the mole, but it was moist and tender, and quite delicious, if not a bit too heavy for lunch. It made me want to roll up into a ball in the corner and take a nap. I'm sure to have this again.

Overall, we found the some winners among the dishes at Los Pueblos. There's some unevenness, but hopefully that would be ironed out. The dishes are pretty gringo-friendly, as in somewhat mild and toned down, but the quality seems good. As you notice by one of our meals, you can do vegetarian options quite easily. It is a great option in the area which is pretty full of standard taco shops. The prices are a bit above the usual taco shop, but the fare is also better.

I hope they do well, we need more of these type of eateries in the area.

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico
7081 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours:

11 am – 230pm, 5pm – 9pm Daily.

Ba Ren is closing at the end of the month

February 18, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Ba Ren has closed

I first heard about this yesterday and dropped by the place for lunch to today.

It looked like business as usual, no signs, nothing…….until one of the Chef's sons Roy came over to chat while I waited for my take-out. Yes, Ba Ren is indeed closing at the end of February. The Chef and his family is going to take a break and decided what they want to do next.

I gotta say, I'm still kind of shocked….so I'll do a longer post later on. As I sent out texts to my friends and on Twitter, the usual first reaction was…."where am I gonna get my xxxxx, after Ba Ren closes?"

I'd say, make the most of the next eleven days or so…….

I know I'm going to………

Chinese Kitchen (Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang) – Bun Mang Vit again……

February 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang has closed

This little restaurant makes my favorite Bun Mang Vit in San Diego. I've written about the place before. Under the guise of a Chinese fast-food joint, there's some good Bun Mang Vit going on.

When I first started going here in 2006, the place looked haphazardly thrown together and you actually did order from a hole-in-the-wall at this hole-in-the wall. A couple of years later, some fast-foodish furnishings were added, new signs and the place looked spiffed up a bit. On my last visit, things were starting to settled in that worn in look again. I'm thinking the place need to look that way…..you know, that favorite jacket with the worn elbows, the favorite jeans that fit so well…..

Plus, I'm not here to admire the decor, rather, after a long and tiring week, this is a treat for me.

To get the most out of this restaurant, you need to peel your eyes away from the huge plastic menu on the wall that faces the street. Look to your left and you'll see the heart and soul of the menu. While I've had other dishes here, it's the Bun Mang Vit that keep me coming back. There have been times when I've had to stand on the bench and point to the third line down on the menu to make sure I'd get my order right. The prices aren't bad either…..

This is basically a clear, I'm thinking chicken based broth, very light in color and texture. Dried bamboo shoots are added…..I like to let it rest for a while so the earthy flavor of the bamboo shoots adds flavor to the broth. The noodles are the "bun", vermicelli. You always get a little bowl of a fairly sweet Nuoc Mam Cham full of minced ginger and garlic and on this day a small styrofoam cup of plain, undiluted fish sauce.

I use this to dip my duck and my veggies, which I soften a bit with a quick dunk in the broth. I've actually caught glimpses of the women prepping duck in the back.

I have noticed that they've cut down on the amount of banana blossom and rau ram in the herb-vegetable mixture over the years, but it hasn't really bothered me.

I can still come here to get my fix when I just want to relax and watch the paint slowly turn color on the walls…..

I often kid my good buddy "JohnL" about some of the really bad recommendations he's given me over the years, but this one makes up for all of those. Though I do know the truth John…..it was actually your Mom's recommendation. But that's ok, I'll give you credit for it!

Chinese Kitchen (Chi Tu Thanh Nha Hang)
6160 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92115

La Casa Maria – Good soup on a cold day

February 2, 2012 Cathy Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

La Casa Maria is closed.

Well, you're back again, at mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are still crazy busy and Cathy found a moment to write a short post on her busy day.

Hi. We had some cold and rainy days a few weeks ago (and it looks like we'll have some more this weekend). On one of those days, I happened to be near SDSU -on El Cajon Boulevard just West of 70th- and decided to stop at La Casa Maria, because I wanted a nice bowl of soup.

I knew I could get soup here, because I have been getting soup and mariscos at this sit down shop for many, many, many years, just never blogged about it…the mariscos are excellent, by the way.

Usually people walk up, order to go items and sit down to wait. This family owned and run restaurant is efficient and makes some great food.

You can also eat in. When you do, fresh salsa and chips are brought to your table.

My tlalepeño soup ($7.99). Served with fresh corn tortillas. Tlalpeño is basically a pollo (chicken) soup with a chipotle kick. It is one of the more expensive soups on the menu, but I really wanted no rice and the flavor and heat of a smoked jalapeño.

This *very* large bowl of soup had two skinless (but still bone-in) chicken breasts, carrots, onions, flat beans, cauliflower and garbanzo beans in addition to the chipotle sauce. Of course, it's topped with sliced avocado. I like that it doesn't have rice (like most of the other soups) and the chipotle flavor was just the amount of heat I needed on such a chilly day. The chicken broth/stock here is very richly flavored.

There are quite a few menu items here, in addition to the wonderful Birria soup and all the mariscos- buche, lengua, cabeza and tripa tacos are realy good. In the summer there are several 'specials' which include a beer as part of the meal-you have to read all the outdoor signs.

Even if you don't stop here, you can find some great soups at most taco shops. It's another choice on these cold days when maybe you don't want pho…

La Casa Maria 6969 El Cajon Blvd (between 69th and 70th)San Diego 92115 (619) 444-5869 website

Loïc Patisserie and Restaurant- Bistro dining in North County

January 31, 2012 Cathy Bakery, European Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Loic has closed.

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog with a bunch of interesting posts, centered around food. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are the guys who post here. They're both otherwise engaged at the moment, Cathy isn't otherwise engaged, so she's putting up a post today.

Hi again. As you know, I pretty much drive about and stop whenever someplace looks interesting; it's a fun way to live. Last year, I stopped and drove past this signal light at the intersection of the Del Dios Highway and Calle Ambiante a total of six times while passing through Rancho Santa Fe going to and from the I-5 to the I-15. The mental sticky note to stop here finally was finally at the top of my list.

The sign at the light is "Cielo Village". Cielo means 'heaven' or 'in the clouds' and is the gated residential community straight ahead on Calle Ambiante, the Rancho Santa Fe neighborhood Fire Department is to the left and businesses are to the parking lot when you turn right from this street.{Loïc is the chef owner's name, you may have met him selling baked goods and crepes at the Sunday Rancho Santa Fe Farmers Market.}

Pulling into the parking lot, the buildings all have the façade of being built in the South of France, or Northern Italy. The Bistro menu reflects pastries, breakfasts, salads and crepes as well as panini sandwiches, pizza and hamburgers. There is also a dinner menu which isn't online; it is seasonal. Dinner is served only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights (that will be another post).

Fresh pastries are on display when you walk into the 'Coffee Shop' entrance, which serves some great beverages as well as the pastries. You order and pay here, just like you were at a Bistro in France. You are given a number and find a seat, food is brought out to you and are free to take your time visiting with friends while enjoying your meal.

There is plenty of outdoor seating, with views South. Loïc is located in Rancho Santa Fe, but it is very close to Escondido and not very far from the 15 at Via Rancho Parkway.

There is very large indoor seating also available. The bar area is also reminiscent of France and the bistro scene. A wide selection of wines to have with your meal are available along with a pretty extensive choices of dessert-ish liqueurs (fancy brandies, dessert wines, cognacs; no hard liquor)

The wine refrigerator is centrally located.

You can see more tables if you look through this display case, filled with colorful, empty bottles.

On my first visit, I brought The Mister. We ordered and paid and brought our coffee (fresh brewed, $2.25. Cream and sugar are added for you; as with Bistros- no condiments on the tables) and huge, flaky, buttery croissant ($3) to an indoor table.

We munched on this perfect, flaky, buttery wonderness while we waited for our salad to be delivered. This is how a croissant is supposed to be- a crispy, flaky crust and fluffy layered innards…not a soft crust with layers. That's a regular sized butter knife (8.75 inches) on the plate (9 inches), to show you some perspective of the size of this wonderful fresh pastry.

Soon, our Garden Salad ($10.50) was brought to the table. Mixed greens, topped with a house made dressing that had an olive oil and vinegar base, but also anise, herbs and a very distinct heat to it. Since I did not see black or red pepper flecks, I am assuming it was white pepper, which to me has a nutmeg-undertone. It was very complimentary to the greens. The freshly grilled zucchini and red peppers were flavored with Herbes de Provence and the cucumber, tomatoes and chives were perfectly sliced. A wonderfully perfect mix of heat (temperature as well as spice) and chilled (the thinly sliced, flavorful cucumbers) and textures.

While we were ordering, the abundance of pastries was overwhelming. I finally decided on a slice of this rectangular Pithivier, a classic tart, which I justified to myself as being a "safe" desert because it wasn't as sugar based as the other selections. This slice was probably 8 x 4 inches (and 1/3 of the pie in the display window). I could feel the weight of the puff pastry dough combined with the ground almond filling when I carried the glass plate to our table. This went perfectly with the coffee; it was not too sweet, the buttery puff pastry was crispy and the very slightly sweet crumbly almond filling was so satisfying. I will order this again, to share.

A few weeks ago, I had occasion to meet a friend here for breakfast. We decided to eat outside. This is the parking lot as viewed from one of the tables; the Loïc buildings are to the left. You can see some of the homes up in that slice of heaven, Cielo, all the way at the top to the right.

I let Mr. C. choose a pastry and he wanted this chocolate filled chocolate chip covered puff pastry ($4.25) (again on a 9 inch plate) was shared and enjoyed by both of us. It was still warm, crispy fresh on the outside and fluffy pastry on the inside with a very, very nice melted chocolate throughout.

During the week, until about 11 a.m., only breakfast croissants are prepared to order. Five or six choices are listed and all are $6.95. This morning, we both chose to order spinach egg croissants. Served on fresh baked, crispy and fluffy croissants, the egg spinach filling is fluffy and delightfully fresh tasting. The baby spinach is tender and adds great flavor.

Another morning the same week, Ms. T and I met here for breakfast. She got the bacon egg croissant (in the back) and I just had to get the spinach egg again. We ate at one of the two tables inside the coffee shop because it was chilly outside.

Last Saturday, I realized I was still craving a perfect crepe (which I have been looking for for almost a year) so, it was back to Loïc. A perfectly flavored and cooked -thin but not dried out as in too thin- and filled Crepe de la Reine.($10.50 includes the salad). Filled with chicken breast, tomatoes, mushrooms and a fresh Mornay sauce (a cheesy Bechemel), this crepe was indeed perfect in flavor, texture and fillings.

The Chef Salad includes large pieces of diced Black Forest ham, sliced turkey and large diced Prosciutto as well as raw mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber and those olives- those wonderful, different savory brown olives. The mixed greens were again dressed with the light, herb flavored dressing with a slight heat. The combination of flavors of this substantial salad was excellent.

Really good food, with a really good view. Loïc is becoming a regular destination this year.

Loic Patisserie and Restaurant 18021 Calle Ambiente (in Cielo Village) Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 (858)759-4409 Website

Shabu World

January 29, 2012 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

**** Shabu World has closed

In my post mentioning that Swab ummmm, Shabu World had opened, good FOY (Friend of Yoso) the Zompus told me he'd love to check the place out. So that following week, I met MrZ for a meal at Shbu World. I gotta say, even close up, the sign still looks like it says "Swab World".

We entered the restaurant which is nicely done…..but looks pretty much the same as Shabu Shabu House.

From the counter with offset counters to the metal pots used for the Shabu Shabu……

The standard shabu shabu is basically the same as well….a small piece of kombu in rolling boiling water. I wish they'd just quit the kombu shibai. Mainly, boiling the kombu makes the water bitter….but there's such a tiny piece that it really makes little difference. Just serve straight up water already.

I got the prime beef ($13) lunch. Which was a decent sized serving, perhaps a bit less than what I had the last time I went to Shabu Shabu House.

The quality of the meat was also better than what I last had at Shabu Shabu House, very tender, but not too fatty….you really don't want anything too fatty as it will basically melt and fall apart when you do the brief dip.

There was also quite a bit of vegetables……

It was quite a bit….though disappointingly all the usual suspects, which had me again wishing for some shingiku or shiitakes, which would also add some nice flavor to the water. Too much napa cabbage for my taste…..like they are just trying to fill you up.

In the case of spitting images, and this is without a doubt almost exactly like Shabu Shabu World, I believe one should differentiate oneself, better meat, better produce, and better sauce. In this case, the dipping sauces tasted very artificial, like it was from a bottle.

These were actually pretty bad…… In the end, we were provided a bowl with basic bottled tsuyu base to finish off the udon. I could only imagine how the "miso" and "sukiyaki" broth would be.

It was kind of sad, MrZ and I were the only customers in the place during our entire lunch. As we left, one of the really nice women working there asked me first, if I was Japanese (yes)….then a more problematic question. The always tricky, "what do you think?" I'd say tricky because in my experience, 90% of the time folks running a business really don't want to know what you really think and saying what you think puts everyone in either an awkward or contentious position. But this time I went out on a limb and mentioned that even though the meat was decent in quality and the service was (perhaps a bit too) attentive, I felt the sauce tasted very artificial and processed. The young lady actually seemed concerned and told us that "we are always working on making things better and I guarantee you that the next time you come the sauces will be better." Maybe I should have mentioned something about the vegetables too?

In all honesty, we already have one of these standard grade Shabu Shabu restaurants a few blocks away. I'm wondering if we really need another one? I guess only time will tell.

Shabu World
3904 Convoy St #117
San Diego, CA 92111