Closed – Page 60

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

Liang’s Kitchen

January 22, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

** Liang's has closed

There was a bit of a buzz when Liang's Kitchen first opened during the fall of last year. Not so much for us though, since a couple of years back we had a most horrendous meal and service at Liang's in Irvine…so bad that I wouldn't do a post on it. So even if I'd be willing to visit Liang's here in San Diego, the Missus will not.

Actually, the Chinese name of the restaurant, translated as something like "Mama Liang's home style military dependant village kitchen, is perhaps a more apt description of what Liang's serves. Now before you go off and think this will be something reminiscent of mess line slop, stop for a moment. When the KMT retreated to Taiwan, housing had to be built for those fleeing. Settlements were funded by the military and built with the intent of being temporary housing. It was believed that people would only have to live in these villages for a short time until the ROC defeated the Communists and folks would move back to their homeland. This of course, never happened. Over time these villages comprised of people from all over China developed social networks and a sense of community. A nice article on these villages can be found here, I particularly enjoyed the story of "Ho" from Shandong:

"After Ho retired from the military, he opened a breakfast store in the village selling traditional Shandong dishes like steamed buns, fried dough sticks and salty soybean milk which became quite popular among villagers and even nearby Taiwanese residents."

Liang's claims to serve the diasporic cuisine of those villages, using the sentimental value to draw folks in.

Since Liang's first opened, I've visited five times with mixed results. In the beginning, the prices seemed to change, always in the "up" direction…perhaps three times on items like the Niu Rou Mian and Niu Rou Chuan. Once I was served by a young lady wearing flip-flop like sandals and grey sweat pants. I will say that my last two visits have been the best, as the prices and service have finally evened out a bit. Not quite sure about the food yet….

The first two times I had the Niu Rou Mian (Beef Noodle Soup), I was less than pleased.

On the first visit, the broth had been flavored by what the Missus calls "the wave method", as in the soup tasted like someone had waved a beef bone over it to flavor it. The beef was fairly tender, but dry and cold in the center. I selected the regular noodles, which were prepared nicely. On the second visit, the broth was better, but too sweet, the beef was still pretty dry, and the "Lapian Handmade Noodles" tough and gummy. The broth also seemed low with regards to anise flavor as well.

However, on my last visit, I ordered the Beef Tendon version and was rewarded with a decent bowl.

Even though the broth still didn't have enough anise or beef flavor for me, it was hot, not too sweet, not overly salty, and most of all, not bland. The beef tendon was very nice, soft and almost buttery. The pieces of beef were still the same, too dry and stringy for me. Ditto for the handmade noodles, too gummy and over-worked.

Still, I felt pretty happy about the whole situation, until FOY (Friend of Yoso) the "Zompus" asked me, "since when is one out of three good, other than in baseball." I'm hoping that I improve on that slow start during future visits.

On one of my visits, I had the Niu Rou Chuan – the Beef Roll, which was then something like $6.50, but the last time I looked at the menu was up to $7.25.

The sesame bread was too dry as was the beef. I did enjoy the addition of what I believe is Ji Cai, pickled mustard greens, which adds a nice palate cleansing salty-sour component to this, but overall, I didn't care much for it.

When I mentioned this to another FOY "Liver", I was instructed to order the Pork version instead. Which is what I did on another visit with my good friend Candice.

The fat and the flavor of the pork added to the dish.

During our visit we tried a couple of other items.

The Special Red Pork Cutlet($5.25) had a nice light-crunchy texture.

Mild sweetness, though not much else that stood out.

The stuffed squid ($6.99) served cold.

Would have been a real winner if they removed the quills from the squid before they stuffed them. Biting into the squid, then being stabbed by the plastic like quills makes for a rather unpleasant experience.

The Stewed Pigs Feet ($6), in my opinion could have been stewed much longer and needed a flavor injection.

It was like eating hard rubber……

And that's kind of how it's gone for my meals at Liang's. I'd try something like the Salty Pork Stuffed Chili ($5 when I tried it, now $5.50).

Which was indeed salty, but in a good way. You'll also play a bit of chili-roulette with this one as some of the peppers were hot, but other not. The roasting of the peppers also adds a bit of sweetness.

Then I'd order something like the Salty Duck ($6.75). If I'd gotten something 1/10th of what I had in Nanjing or even half-way close to what I get in the SGV, I'd have been happy.

But this was very dry, tasted salty, but also a bit "refrigerator-rancid"……I tried to explain to the yong lady working, but she either didn't, or pretended not to understand. I opted to cut my losses and retreat.

If you like variety, you'll get it here. Is the NRM the best in San Diego? In a town of blind men, is the one-eyed man king? Ditto the Beef Roll….. They also say "nothing ventured, nothing gained", here's hoping that your ratio of gains to ventures is a good one. For balance please read Kirbie's posts and Gastro-bits post on Liang's.

Liang’s Kitchen
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara

January 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

*** Birrieria's la Guadalajara has closed.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a Birria place had opened on Third avenue. I always glance at that new strip mall since there seems to be a location of Tacos el Gordo that is taking forever to open. A couple of days later, I was chatting with one of my co-workers, Karina, about, well what else…food! Both her and her husband's family are from the Guadalajara area, so I happened to mention how much I enjoy Birria. She told me that their current favorite place for birria in the South Bay area was Birrieria's la Guadalajara…….which send that light bulb blinking. I knew exactly the shop she was talking about. So on that very weekend, we headed off for some birria….

The place had only one table going when we arrived and we were qiuckly seated by a really nice young man.

First thing I noticed was the wide open look, making it really seem like birrieria ……. second thing was the fragrance of the consomme dancing in the air, a mixture of herbs and chilies that really get your stomach going…even at 9 in the morning. Yes, birria is breakfast food for many. Third, there was a woman behind the glass partition making fresh tortillas.

The menu is a single sheet and focused, on birria of course. I'd be somewhat worried if the place started serving up California Burritos……though there is Carne Asada and Arrachera on the menu.

As soon as we were seated salsas and the typical accompaniments arrived at the table.

The gentleman who delivered this and took our order was tall and quite dignified, happy to answer any questions. Though there was no question as what we were ordering…..birria de chivo ($9.60 – 1 order) and birria de borrego of course….goat and lamb.

Both arrived steam rising in a plume over the bowls, looking just about the same. The protein looked nicely roasted and tender. We really could not tell what was what at first glance. But after quick tastes we could easily make out the two.

The birria de chivo was more stringy, but to our surprise more mellow in flavor than the lamb.

The broth was just mildly spicy, but not too oily, and there was a bit of flavors form various herbs, but so much that we couldn't tell which type of meat we were eating. There was much more goat than lamb and I ended up taking leftovers of this home where I poured it over rice and reheated after the rice had soaked up all the juices……..add onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime….

The lamb (borrego) was the better of the two, more tender, stronger in flavor, and fattier as well.

What was really good, were the freshly made tortillas…..

A bit thicker than I'm used to and so hot you barely hold one in your hand for more than second or two, these stood up to the birria real well. I caught the Missus just eating tortillas straight a couple of times…… These really had some heft to them.

We had enjoyed our meal so much that we returned the following week. There were a couple of menu items we wanted to check out. The same young man greeted us at the door with a "welcome back". I guess there aren't too many Asian customers…… I found out his name is Jorge and that this restaurant used to be located on Main Street, but they moved to this location about seven months ago. As we were seated, the same older gentleman brought over the salsas and our menus….

I was surprised to see two salsas and radishes this time around. Jorge came around to explain; "we are a work in progress, trying to make everything better…..in fact, in February we can start serving cervezas."

The Missus and I ordered one each of the Taco Rojo, one goat and one lamb ($2.90 each). A freshly made tortilla was dunked into the consomme, then placed on the flat top for a short while to let some carmelization take place, but still keeping it pliable and moist. It was then filled with meat and arrived looking quite beautiful in my opinion.

There was a slight crispness to the tortilla, but man this was good, perhaps a bit on the salty side, but adding some lime really cut the saltiness. The onions and cilantro went together so well with the rich meat.

Even though they serve the taco with a fork, we went at it with our hands………making a lovely, delicious mess.

I had also wanted to try the Borrego a la Plancha ($10.20), roasted lamb that is then placed on the flat-top. Creating wonderful crisp edges adding some wonderful flavor and texture to the lamb.

Served with consomme and rice on the side, I added a touch of consomme to the meat, then put the meat (later I started adding rice), onions, cilantro, lime, and a touch of the more spicy of the salsas into the tortillas. Another brief dunk (which later I just plain stopped doing because this was so good) and I was good to go…..

This was a nice Sunday Brunch for us…..for under twenty bucks. It was also nice to go home and take that Sunday nap after.

We'll be back again soon….I want to try the Cabeza de Res En Su Jugo….beef head cooked in its own juices, man does that sound good.

Birrieria's la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Open Daily 8am – 7pm

Country Kabob Restaurant #2- Point Loma

January 10, 2012 Cathy Greek Food, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to your bookmark of mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kir is busy today and ed(from Yuma) is busier. Cathy has a post about one of her meals.

Hi. As I may have mentioned, the days from Thanksgiving until this past Monday have been filled with some sort of appointment/event/errand. I've felt like Sisyphus just trying to accomplish something each day, only to have to start over the next morning. Fortunately, I do know the importance of taking a bit of a break to reconnect with friends, usually over a meal (or at least a hot beverage). One day in December, I found myself in Point Loma, on Rosecrans near the former Loma Theater, now a Bookstar.

Look over there to the right; you can see the tables and umbrellas out in front of Country Kabob.

Yes, we were there in December. The interior of the restaurant is clean, with tablecloths, even for lunch.

It was a chilly day, and my meal came with a bowl of lentil soup. Unlike any lentil soup I've ever had, this vegetarian version was smooth/not as chunky, with the lentils almost falling apart in the very flavorful broth. I liked this soup very much (and will order it again, even if it isn't part of a combination plate).

We decided to share the fried zucchini appetizer ($3.95). It wasn't outstanding, but was fried perfectly and not too greasy; pretty much standard. If I were to rate the meal items ordered on some sort of scale, this would be last, but only because everything else was outstanding. The sauce to dip the zucchini was home made, yogurt based with cucumber and fresh garlic and really good.

My friend ordered the gyros sandwich($5.95) and it was A. Huge. 2)Fresh-with a wondrous fresh/hot pita bread and tasty, moist, lamb and beef. iii. Topped with sumac(!) and the *really wonderful* home made tzatziki (which was the fried zucchini dip) as well as tomatoes, onions and parsley. Honestly, this was one of the best gyro sandwiches I have ever tasted and I've tasted a lot.

I decided to try the spanakopita-falafel plate ($9.95), so that I could try a bunch of items, in a sort of appetizer-ish way. The Greek salad had a very, very good dressing. It was olive oil based with fresh as well as dry herbs, the Feta on top had a nice tang and was fresh; a bit different than 'standard' restaurant Feta; it made me want to go to Vine Ripe Market on my way home to buy one of the imported Feta cheeses they sell, to try and find this Feta. [As a side note, the imported, more expensive Fetas are wondrous.] The falafel were made from fresh garbanzo beans -and parsley- and were light and flavorful. The spanakopita was with flaky filo, creamy (I think Ricotta cheese was mixed with the Feta, or it was a really different Feta in this version or maybe there is egg.) (Oh, there was some rice in this spanakopita also) and the spinach just tasted fresh…there were fresh herbs flavoring this also (definitely dill and parsley). As I was leaving, I asked about the pita bread, and found out it is parbaked and then heated when ordered, explaining the soft, freshness.

Yet another great find. So glad we stopped here.

Country Kabob Restaurant #2 3145 Rosecrans Street Suite A San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 226-2524 Website

Mariscos Monday: Oscar’s Mexican Seafood

January 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** This location of Oscar’s has closed

Man, it was almost like summer for a couple days there, wasn’t it? I don’t ever remember it hitting 80 degrees around New Year! The weather put the Missus and I in the mood for some mariscos. And though we thought of heading to La Playita, or even down to Godoy. We simply wanted a couple of tacos and it was well past the time of El Pescador or El Prieto. Then I recalled that FOY (Friend of Yoso) Candice had mentioned that a mariscos place had opened near the border or PB and La Jolla called Oscar’s.

Getting there was interesting……when going North on Mission you take a left at Turquoise and the place comes up rather fast. If going this route, you might have to figure out where to take that u-turn. Only street parking is available as far as I could tell. The restaurant is tiny, located right next to a smoke shop…or as the Missus says, it’s right next to the “Hoo-kar” (Hookah) store. He-he-he…..

There are literally 6-8 seats in the place and a small counter area outside. The kitchen is bright and shiny and the young man running the place friendly and most helpful. We saw grilled snapper tacos on the greaseboard, but they had run out for the day when we arrived. The menu is compact, with many of the “regulars” you’d see at one of those mariscos trucks.

The Missus started with the Smoked Marlin Taco ($2.75 – tacos de marlyn):

In terms of price, this was cheaper than most trucks, though it wasn’t nearly as stuffed. I never got a shot as the Missus polished it off in no time. She told me the fish was spot on in terms of flavor, but there was a bit too much cheese on it. I dunno, She cleaned this out pretty quickly.

I ordered a Fish Taco ($1.99)

Very routine, nicely fried, though a bit on the smaller side. The batter was fine, though I prefer mine a bit more crisp. There were some hidden what tasted like habanero in the pico, though the salsas are served on the side…a pretty nice touch. The tortillas were massed produced, but decent.

The “Fish Stew” (small – $1.50), was probably the weakest item we had. Served in a 8 ounce styrofoam cup that you’ll usually get the gratis consomme in at most mariscos joints. There were two shrimp and a small scallop or two along with a not so tasty piece of fish in this.

This caldo was just too weak, tasting mostly of celery and lacking the deep flavor of what you’d get elsewhere.

To finish off, I ordered the Cucaracha ($7), also known as camarones a la cucaracha……cockroach shrimp.

The shrimp were headless, but nicely fried before being put to bed in very bracing, spicy-sour, tomato-chile sauce, which was more like a broth. The shrimp were cooked well, the meat tender, the shells adding a nice crunch…making the sounds that you would get when you step on the unofficial Hawaii state animal. This definitely called for some tortillas since there was so much sauce. I ordered some tortillas….which they nicely never charged me for (though I’m thinking it should some with them). But man, it was too sour and spicy for me….man, my tolerance is getting real low, I think I need to head back to Hunan Chilli King to build my resistance and get maced by my food again. The Missus on the other hand, went through this like a hot knife through butter….though She told me “that sauce is burning a hole in my stomach” on the way home.

While really not quite up to par with our favorite mariscos joints, this place wasn’t bad and is a nice addition to the neighborhood. The folks here are very friendly and the prices not bad at all for the area.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood
703 Turquoise St
San Diego, CA 92109

Carnitas’ Snack Shack

December 21, 2011 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants

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

I first heard about this place from FOY (Friend of Yoso) Candice, who mentioned that Hans Cavin was opening a pork-centric farm to table shop in the spot that used to house Vo's at the end of the strip of University I call the "dead zone"….. Now I'm not really a chef groupie, as a whole I really don't follow much of who's cooking where and think that folks are sometimes more interested in the personality than what they're consuming, though who's cooking what sometimes catches my attention. Chef Cavin used to head up the kitchen at Kensington Grill, where the Missus and I had some good meals in the past. Combined with a pork theme (the shop is named after Carvin's pet pig…Carnitas) and a very casual easy to handle menu, how could I not want to check the place out?

I do love what they've done with the al fresco eating space in back of the place; which I found warm (literally so with the heaters on) and inviting.

It looks like a nice neighborhood place for sucking down some saturated fat, especially once the weather heads toward spring and summer.

The menu changes from time to time, though I'm thinking that some of the core dishes will probably be the same. Prices are on the low end for farm-to-table joints, so meat-huggers will love this place. And there was even a vegetarian offering as well.

Of course I could not resist the Pork Belly ($7):

It was a nice slab of belly with a frisee-apple salad as a counter-point. The pork had a nice crust and though it was a tad more chewy than I prefer, it was still nicely done. The glaze, which I didn't find very spicy, has a fruity component which is teeth rattling sweet eaten solo, but actually complemented the pork nicely. The frisee and apple I found too tannic and puckery for my taste. I realize that one would need something to cut the sweet-richness but it was just too much, sending me on this rather unpleasant rollercoater ride……

Having had it a couple of times North of the border, I love poutine. Here ($7) it is seasoned fries topped with pulled pork, a Vermont Cheddar gravy, crowned with a really, really, delicious julienne of bacon.

For me, this was a case of the parts being much more tasty than the sum. The pulled pork itself was very tender with a mild smoke flavor that is completely overwhelmed by the cheese in the sauce…which had attained a glue like texture by the time it hit the table. The fries were nice, but the seasoning just added more interference to the dish and combined with the cheese in the gravy made this pretty salty as a whole. Having bacon just made this a bit too over the top for me…..

I will say that the dishes didn't make me feel like I needed a shower or anything, so that's a good thing. The portions aren't humongous, though that pork belly was more than enough for me.

The woman manning the front counter, whom I believe is Sara, Carvin's partner in the shack, was a joy. I would suggest checking them out, though you may want to go when they open as the place seems to fill up quickly.

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

Hours: Wed – Mon 12pm – 12am

Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco

December 14, 2011 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Aqui es Jalisco has closed and is now Nhat Vy

Back in October as I was driving around after my meal at Lee's Deli and noticed that The Torta Factory was gone. In its place was a shop called Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco….Jalisco? Pictures of birria and tortas ahogadas danced in my head. That evening the Missus was tied up doing things with friends so I jumped in my car and headed back up to the shop…….

Walking in, I noticed that the place had a real "temporary' look, as if someone had just moved in and was still setting things up. The old counter stood alone, more of a wall than a counter.

I took a look at the hand written menu and was a bit disappointed…….it was pretty basic fare, tortas, tacos, and such, with pretty standard stuff.

The young woman working told me they had just been open for two weeks and was very nice. I would have felt terrible just walking out so I decided to get a taste of the different beef offerings and went for four tacos ($1.25/each).

The Cabeza and Lengua came out first.

There's no salsa bar here; I was asked how I wanted my tacos and told them with everything. The cabeza was the better of the two, beefy, but not overdone. The lengua was mushy and had a real liver-y flavor to it. The salsas were relatively mild.

The suadero, which has been descried as "shoulder, but is actually the meat from between the belly and leg was fairly good. Tender, but mild in flavor. The pale carne asada looked like it was going to be terrible.

It turned out to be more tender than it looked, but it was salty and lacked the introduction of flavor from any other seasoning or cooking (i.e. carmelization).

Overall, this wasn't a particularly good meal, but the investment was just five bucks and you've gotta give these places a shot.

I'm not sure how this place is going to do…….

Taqueria Aqui es Jalisco
4595 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115

Shizuoka-La Mesa (revisit)

December 4, 2011 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hello again. You just found mmm-yoso!!! and probably are looking for some sort of blog post about food. Kirk and ed are still too busy to write, so Cathy is posting.

I wrote a post about Shizuoka in June 2007 and took it for granted, not posting again. Yet The Mister and I do eat here. It's located at the La Mesa-El Cajon border, next to the Michael's in the same mall as Souplantation and Weevil Burger on Fletcher Parkway.

Shizuoka has been here more than 20 years. The interior has not changed much. There are 16 chairs to go with six tables tables and 6 four-person booths. There is a wait to get in almost every evening.

The menu is not extensive. The prices have not increased much since 2007. Good food prepared well. I suppose it's a neighborhood place and not a destination. It could be.

The miso soup is pretty standard, made from miso paste. It has a deep flavor and the tofu cubes are a firm consistency and always tasty.

The teriyaki chicken broiled mackerel plate is still $6.20. The Mister always orders one of the mackerel plates. The mackerel is particularly good tasting large piece of fish, broiled and placed on top of shredded cabbage so the bottom stays crispy and doesn't get soft when the juice flows from the cooked meaty mackerel. The teriyaki sauce on the grilled chicken is not too sweet and made here (not from a bottle). The chicken is placed on top of bean sprouts, again so the meat does not wallow in sauce. A lettuce salad, cold noodle salad and three freshly steamed edamame beans round out the plate.

My usual meal here is centered on the chicken karage ($4). Lots of dark thigh meat lightly coated and fried and always perfect.

This time I rounded my meal out with a (shared with The Mister) seaweed salad ($2.75) and Sunomono salad ($3.50). Both are tasty, fresh made and hit the taste points I want for lunch. The seaweed is apparently 'foreign' to diners here, and free samples are offered. The sunomono has a sweet vinegar-fresh ginger dressing and is made with that fake krab stuff. The plentiful amount of shredded radish, cucumber and (different than in the other salad) seaweed makes this salad a perfect compliment to the karage.

This is a small, not fancy, great neighborhood place, serving really good food.

Shizuoka Japanese Restaurant 9118 Fletcher Parkway La Mesa 91942 (619)461-1151 (in the mall with the Souplantation and Michael's)

Tues-Fri 11:30-1:45, 4:30-8:45 Sat and Sun 4:30-8:45 Closed Monday CASH ONLY

Slaters 50/50

November 8, 2011 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Burgers

**** Slater’s Has Closed

How’s that for an attention grabber? Actually, I’d heard about Slaters from “DB from the OC” who kept on emailing me about having to check out Slaters in Anaheim Hills several times over a year ago. Sending me link after link of reviews……I had thoughts in my head that perhaps DB was a shill for Slaters and had pretty much made up my mind never to go there….I hate shills. Though after giving it some thought I believed it was rather unlikely, since DB had also sent me some pretty nasty emails after I did posts on places like The Waterfront and such. After reading through those emails I suddenly realized that DB was what I call a “meat-hugger”, you know what I mean right? No commodity meat, grass fed beef only, etc, etc, etc….. Now I’ve been eating grass fed beef for years, we used to get it at the various local Farmer’s Markets long before it became a supposed sign of status to the food god. After realizing this, I shot DB an email regarding his “sin” and hypocrisy and never heard a thing from him/her…..until a couple months back when I received an email with a link to a press release announcing Slaters 50/50 was opening a branch here at Liberty Station. And after giving it some thought, after all, this was the burger that made a “meat-hugger” go rogue……

And even though I usually wait a while after a business opens to visit, just like DB broke his meat-hugging ways, I could break this one, right? Slaters is located right around the corner from Con Pane. I didn’t notice the place at first until I saw the banner….

You enter through the gated area facing the parking lot and can sit either at the bar or have a seat at the dining area. Slaters is very “sports-barish”, they’ve got a televisions hanging everywhere, so if you have a need to watch a dozen of your favorite games at once, this might be just your thing.

They’ve also got a pretty good collection of beers on tap……I saw stuff by Ballast Point and Stone among the many offerings.

I was handed three menus. A breakfast menu, thus no beer, even though it must’ve been noon somewhere in the world, a regular menu with salads, Irish Quesadilla(?), among the various appetizers, sandwiches, and burgers, including the 50/50…..

The third item was a sheet where you could design your own burger, looking very similar to The Counter. Naturally, I decided on designing my own 50/50, to get a taste of the patty. But, if you’re in the mood, you can get everything from cranberry sauce, fried pickles, to anchovies and peanut butter and jelly (hmmm sounds like a second trimester special to me…)

I also made the big mistake of ordering some sides, they range in price from $3.95 (Fries) to $5.95 for Panko Fried Mac n’ Cheese (yikes!). You can order combinations of sides from two to six. I chose some beer battered onion strings and fried artichoke hearts to make a two item combination for $5.95. My mistake? Not realizing how much food this was……..

The fried artichoke hearts were kind of soggy and very mild. I’d eaten a couple before a light mayo based sauce was dropped off for them at my table. It really did nothing for the ‘chokes. However, as a counter-point, the Missus loved the stuff I brought home, which was most of this…….cold and soggy and She still enjoyed them. The onion rings were better, crisp if on the greasy side. The ketchup I believe is house made, and has a strange almost bacon like flavor to them as well???? Anyway, this was enough for two people easy…..

I ordered possibly the simplest of burgers, a one-third pound 50/50, medium, with no cheese, baby greens, red onions, tomatoes, and (I couldn’t help myself) garlic aioli. It soon became obvious that this place loves vertical food that’s a bit top-heavy…..

I was fairly impressed when I cut my burger in half….it was medium! Hallelujah! Even places that insist on telling you that “our burgers are cooked medium, blah, blah, blah”, don’t seem to get it right, but this place, home of the “Peanut Butter and Jealousy” burger can? The actual patty is pretty loose and chewy. There is that background mild savory-smokey flavor associated with bacon….you know it’s there, but it doesn’t interfere. The brioche bun held together well…..and in the end, I only could eat half. I brought it home and the Missus ate most of the rest….She kinda liked it, so even though I still like the Counter more, I think we’ll be back again soon. Maybe I’ll have a bacon-infused shake so I can have a double whammy…lactose intolerance with clogged arteries….

You gotta hand it to Scott Slater, San Diego State grad and founder of Slaters. I think they’ve got a pretty good, albeit over-the-top-belongs-on-one-of-those-food-shows formula. Since the place had just opened I expected a bunch of mistakes, but the only one was not getting my sauces for my artichokes and I wouldn’t have known if I’d never gotten it. The service looked a bit disorganized, but they were staffed really well. I could have gone without being asked how my meal was five times…three times by the same guy, but at least I got to tell them my burger was cooked to my liking. I’m pretty sure this place is going to take off fairly quickly……heck if it could make an elitist “meat-hugger” fall off the wagon….. oh, and Loren, you can stop emailing me about this place as well now, ok? Thanks for the suggestion(s).

Slaters 50/50
2750 Dewey Road
San Diego, CA 92106