Closed – Page 75

Tacos El Poblano, and a South Bay Taco Crawl with Captain Jack

October 4, 2009 mmm-yoso Food Trucks/Carts, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, yoso-silly

**** This location of Tacos El Poblano has closed

Here's the last of my series of South Bay Taco Shops. I was taking a one of my weekend "drives" a couple of weeks back. And while driving through "Downtown" Chula Vista, I noticed a new restaurant.

It would have been "just another taco shop" except for the sign that said "Los Authenticos De Tijuana Ahora en CA". Which got my attention. I decided to stop, even though I had just finished two tacos from Tacos Yaqui. The fairly modest storefront, hides a pretty large, somewhat cavernous restaurant.

As I walked up to the counter, I could see flames rising from the grill next ot the cashier. So ordering was pretty simple, it had to be Carne Asada, and "something"……

That something was a Birria Taco($1.75):

El Poblano serves you tacos the way they think it should be served. There's no salsa bar, though the pickled peppers and carrots (escabeche) is fabulous, refreshing, and almost sweet. The birria was very mild, as I enjoy a bit more spice and "wildness".

A minute later my two Carne Asada tacos made its way to my table.

I loved the crisp but still pliable grilled tortillas, which added a nice bit of smokiness to the equation. The simple, but effective guacamole added richness. The salsa was nice and spicy, but the carne asada brought this down. As you can tell by the grey pallor, this was not the carne asada I just witnessed being grilled. It was tasteless and rubbery, not good eats. Everything about this taco was spot on, except the carne asada. And I'd usually visit another time before doing a post. So check out the rest of the post below, because on my next visit, it was just perfect, smokey, with nice caramelization.

Tacos El Poblano
217 3rd Avenue
Chula Vista, CA 91910

The South Bay Taco Crawl……

I guess this was inevitable. I'd been hitting multiple taco shops in the South Bay in recent weeks. And after receiving an email from "Grace" who was visiting San Diego, and wanted some recommendations on doing a "taco crawl" I thought, "why not do this yourself". I tried this once with a good FOY, a small but mighty eater. Unfortunately, we never made it past two shops…….

This meant I needed to bring in the "heavy artillery". There was only one person that I know of, who could handle this…… and I wasn't even sure that I'd be able to keep up. That person was….. "the man, the myth, the stomach….." my Urasawa eating buddy, Captain Jack. And of course, he was up for anything. So things started off this morning with CJ in my car, making our way down to the border…..

I had everything planned; we'd start off with Tacos Yaqui. Unfortunately, when we arrived in San Ysidro, we found that even though the sign said they open at 9am, and it was 930, they weren't open. It was time for "plan B". I headed up the I-5 and ended up in the now-all-too familiar RTA/Toys R' Us parking lot, and Mariscos El Pescador.

I figured we'd grab a Gobernador and a Tacos de Pescado (fish taco) and we'd be on our way. Pretty filling, but delicious, and we'd still be able to go on. But after the consomme and two tacos, the Owner, Cruz Vazquez, who we chatted with before the crowds, decided that we just had to have the "Tacos de Mariscanos", a mixto (mixed) taco. The size of which was daunting…..

This was like an over-stuffed mixed seafood version of the Gobernador, with sauteed fish, scallops, pulpo (octopus), along with the wonderful shrimp. With some of the spicy pickled onions, this was excellent. If the Gobernador, is "the Governor", this is "El Presidente"……

As an exclamation point, Captain Jack had a torta from the Torta Ahogadas truck across the parking lot. (A eating on the hood of your car post is coming up soon) I abstained, because this was a taco crawl, right? Talking about wiggling out of a tight situation.

After which, we headed off to Internacional 2000 for some Al Pastor, only to find that they weren't ready….. which led me to "plan C", and a visit to El Poblano. We grabbed a Adobaba Taco and a Carne Asada Taco. This time around, the Carne Asada was excellent, nicely caramelized, with a wonderful smokey flavor. Good stuff. I of course, kinda did the "four corners" here, engaging CJ in small talk. I also found that I eat pretty fast, so the delay gave me time to digest and adjust. After about fifteen minutes of small talk, CJ said the faithful words, "we're not done yet, are we?"

Which meant it was time to move on, and return to Tacos Yaqui, where we put down a Perrones Taco each, and some chips. Comparing the carne asada from Yaqui to El Poblano is like apples to oranges. Yaqui's carne asada is like eating steak, it is beefy, but milder in flavor, and served on a grilled flour tortilla with melted cheese, El Poblano's carne asada is smokey, and crisp.

Again, I finished several minutes ahead of CJ, and had time to digest.

We ended (taco) things at Internacional 2000 Taco Shop and had two Al Pastor tacos each. A nice, tasty, greasy end to our "taco tour". Funny thing, at the end, we both weren't full, but we were satisfied. I had an inkling to make a stop at Tacos El Gordo, but decided that I'd had enough. CJ on the other hand, decided otherwise, and we made a last stop a Panchita's for some sweets……

This "taco tour" was pretty easy, at no time did I feel uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a Food Marathon, but I'll tell you that I didn't have any dinner tonight…….

Pho Pasteur Ahn Hong- Another meal from the eight days of feasting

October 3, 2009 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is this. A blog about meals. A few of us blog, individually and occasionally together. Today, Cathy ate. So she is blogging.

Hi. The Mister and I have birthdays seven days apart, so our tradition is to let Him chose what he wants to eat the first three days, we agree on the middle two days and I get to choose the last three days of meals. Here is one of “my” meals.

I have posted on Pho Pasteur. It is another of our “regular rotation”, and I realized I have not posted in a while anyhow, so this time I took photos.

It is in the same parking lot as K-Sandwich, a place Kirk and I have posted on *a lot*. Also, it is basically a walk inthe parking lot from Mein Trung, another place three of us have posted about *many* times. Right on the corner of Mesa College drive and Linda Vista Road.

Since this was one of “my” birthday days, and a Friday-when I don’t eat meat “just in case”- I got to choose the meal and I did. It was simple.

We ordered and waited. The decor has pretty much stayed the same here over all the years.

Especially the pretty pink tablecloths.

The fresh grilled tofu vegetable filled summer rolls ($2.95) arrived. Warm tofu, grilled slightly crispy on the edges and filled with sprouts, carrot, lettuce and rice noodles. Served with the hoisin-peanut sauce.

Soon, a large plate of lettuce, mint, sprouts, cucumber, marinated lily buds, carrot and daikon arrived.

After about 20 minutes, our meal, a whole steamed catfish (medium, $36) arrived. It was served flat and open on the platter. It had been steamed in basically with ginger-soy and topped with three types of onions (regular white sauteed and green onions as well as fried onions), cilantro and carrots with a black pepper touch, for some heat. Served with those rice noodles you see on the left in this photo.

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As well as the rice paper “tortillas” on top of a bowl of hot water (you dip the sheet of rice paper in the water for a few seconds and then it is softened).

You basically fill the rice paper with the noodles, sprouts, mint, marinated veggies, cucumber and fish, wrap all of it ina piece of lettuce, dip in sauce and eat.

I never got around to taking any photos of our little “wraps”. We were too busy eating.

I guess we were hungry…

Pho Pasteur Ahn Hong 7612 Linda Vista road San Diego 92111 (858) 569-7515

El Titanic Seafood – One meal from the Eight Days of Feasting

October 2, 2009 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

El Titanic has closed.

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about meals where Kirk, ed (from Yuma), Cathy and a few others record memories. You are reading the blog. Today, it's Cathy doing the writing (or talking if you'd like to think of it that way).

Hi. If you didn't already know it, The Mister and I have birthdays exactly seven days apart. It is our tradition to have Him choose what and/or where to eat the first three days (and I can't say "no") and then we have to mutually agree on the middle two days and then I get to choose the last three days. This year, our birthdays fell on Saturday. Difficult to go out to dinner that night of the week. So we did lunch.

As you can see, a sunny day. Indoors.

The Mister ordered a Modelo Negro ($3.50) and we were served the standard chips, bowl of limes and fresh salsa.

Oh, this is El Titanic, I know I just posted on it not long ago. It is part of our "rotation" and The Mister wanted lobster…

And he got it- half a grilled Mexican spiny lobster, filled with shrimp sauce and served with three breaded (standard, from the freezer, butterflied) shrimp, rice, beans and salad ($16).

The lobster was a bit overcooked and dry, but still had flavor. Butter would have helped. The shrimp in the buttery sauce were excellent as were the rice and beans.

We shared the fish ceviche tostada ($3.50) We really like the fish ceviche rather than shrimp. It tastes so fresh. Topped with fresh slices of avocado. Just perfect.

I got exactly what I craved- the marlin chile relleños plate ($9). Yes, they are this large. I apologize for the photos which do not show the abundance of this fish. Two anaheim chiles stuffed with wonderful, flaky, smoked marlin then egg batter dipped and fried and topped with cheese, served with rice, beans and salad. Excellent. Perfect. Wonderful.

An extremely nice birthday feast.

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El Titanic Mariscos

1771 N 2nd El Cajon 92021 (619)593-0637

Tacos Yaqui – San Ysidro

September 30, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Tacos Yaqui has closed

During a recent lunch with FOY Candice, she mentioned a Taco shop in San Ysidro named after a very well known Taco Shop in Rosarito Beach called Tacos El Yaqui. Curious, I inquired as to the location, and was told San Ysidro. After coming home and doing a bit of research, I found that Tacos Yaqui specialized in Sonoran style Carne Asada.

So on a recent weekend morning, I made my way down the I-5, and took the second to the last exit before the border, at Via de San Ysidro. A couple of blocks later, I spied Tacos Yaqui…….

As I entered the restaurant, I noticed how busy they were….even at 9am in the morning, there was a steady flow of customers, all Hispanic, ordering at the counter. The picture menu had 8 basic tacos, and by the hand written sign behind the cashier, I noticed that Tortas, Mulitas, and Breakfast Norteno were also available.

No one seemed to speak English, but ordering was no problem. I took a two taco combo for $5.99, and a Diet Coke. I was given a number, and in a few minutes some very hot chips made its way to my table. I grabbed some salsa from the little bar, and crunched away at the thick tortilla chips.

There are few things that stimulate your appetite than the smell of animal flesh charring on the grill; and this little restaurant had it going on all cylinders.

By the time my tacos hit the table, I was ready to chew my arm off. Determining a "must eat" taco didn't take the use of much brain power. I had to try the Sonoran style Carne Asada, in this case it's called a "Taco Perrones". Perhaps a FOY (Friend of Yoso) like Masa Assassin can tell me the history of the name….because ummmm, "Perro" means "dog".

If you're like me, and used to TJ style carne asada tacos, you'll be surprised…. and it's a pretty pleasant surprise at that. First off, the tortilla is flour, though very thin and griddled. Cheese has been melted on the bottom of the taco, making a nice stringy-mildly milky bed for the carne asada. In this case, soft and tender grilled flank steak, which was mildly flavored, letting the beefy flavor of the cut take the lead. The beans threw me off, but for some reason did really well in this taco adding a nice earthy flavor. Along with the pico de gallo and guacamole, this was a pretty damn good taco. The word balance comes to mind. I had gotten a few various salsas, but ended up not using them. Instead, I just enjoyed my taco.

My second taco was something called the "Monster":

This one came with doubled flour tortillas prepared much in the manner as the other taco. It was chocked full of nice, plump shrimp, prepared in a mild tomato based sauce. As good as the shrimp were, it was the stuff on the bottom that made this taco…… it was chiccharon, pork that had been deep fried to a crisp. Very nice…..

Overall this was nice meal, the tacos were good sized, not the small TJ style versions. It was quite a hefty meal. I'll definitely be back! Maybe I'll see you there….. I'll be the one inhaling the fumes from the grilling meat!

Tacos Yaqui
111 W Olive Dr
San Ysidro, CA 92173

Thanks for the tip Candice!

Silver Ark three years later

September 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Silver Ark has closed and is now Siam Nara Restaurant.

Man, three years, time sure does fly………

I'm not quite sure why Silver Ark always slips my mind. Perhaps it's the location, tucked away from the street. Or maybe because I usually have something already in mind when we hit Mira Mesa Boulevard. Still, three years between visits is pretty long. And it would have been even longer, had I not seen this banner on my visits to Manila Fast Food.

It was enough to pique my curiosity. Were the buy three dishes get a "live lobster" for $1.99 a sign of a desperate restaurant grappling to stay alive? If anything the banner was enough to get us into the doors of Silver Ark a few weeks ago.

To illustrate how long it's been since we've visited Silver Ark, the back wall used to be partitioned off, and housed a Chinese BBQ take-out area. That along with the weekday dim sum (Dim Sum only on weekends) are long gone I guess.

Sadly, we were the only customers in the place during the entire duration of our dinner.

After looking over the menu, and learning the "rules" - rice, soup, and noodle dishes do not count toward the total to qualify for the specials. We placed our order, and requested a crab ($5.99 special)….. but were told, "no crab today". So we decided to see what a $1.99 lobster looked like.

The first dish we ordered was the Salted Fish with Chicken and Tofu Hot Pot ($11.95):

This was one bland dish, with barely a hint of the salted fish fragrance. Not much chicken either. The dish was much better as left-overs the next day.

The best dish of the night was the Pork Intestines with Preserved Vegetable ($12.95), which was on the specials menu.

A bit short on fermented black bean, but there was a good amount of the sour and sweet preserved vegetable and a good amount of fairly well prepared intestine.

Actually, the Stir Fried Clam with Basil ($13.95) had potential.

This really coulda' been a contender….. The short comings are readily apparent. As in where's the basil? I found one sprig. No gravy/sauce? This was much too dry, and basically unseasoned in any manner. Too bad since the clams were of good quality, and were cooked to a perfect doneness. The green bell peppers were severely under-cooked.

And last….it's the $1.99 crawfish Lobster. We really didn't expect much, and in that vein, this more or less met our expectations.

The lobster was on the "cool" side, but was decently flavored with ginger and scallion. The sign does say "live lobster", and I'm sure that once upon a time this was without a doubt "alive". Perhaps during the last lunch hour? At least the meat was still meaty and tender, and hadn't seized yet. The sign should probably say "Recently Live Lobster"……

Overall, our meal was uneven, but okay, the portion sizes (except for the lobster) were generous. As for the specials, I think maybe the shrimp may be the way to go since you'll pay by the pound. We both felt that the food was under-flavored, though the quality of most ingredients was decent.

Dim Sum is now served only on weekends, and I noticed a couple of pages of lunch specials ranging from $5.95 to $7.95.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Wednesday wanderings – Sab E Lee 2 opening in November and Thai Cafe closes

September 23, 2009 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Sab E Lee 2 Coming Soon:

I dropped by and had an early lunch at Sab E Lee this past Sunday. Koby, the owner greeted me with a big smile, and told me, "I have some big news for you." Koby told me that he had found a space for a new restaurant, but wouldn't be sure until Monday. Koby then gave me his cellphone number and told me to call him. Instead, I told Koby that I'll drop by on Wednesday. So today, while I nosh'd on my Grilled Duck Larb:

Koby filled me in. So here's the scoop; the new restaurant will be called Sab E Lee 2 and is opening in Santee. The address will be:

9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

Luckily for us, he is keeping the Linda Vista location of Sab E Lee open. The new restaurant will have most of the items on the current menu, but will also add some more "Americanized" Thai dishes. I dunno about that, but I'm happy that my favorites will still be on the menu. According to Koby, the Chef of the restaurant in Santee is a good friend of his that has a lot of experience and used to be a chef at a four star hotel in Bangkok. Target opening day is the first Monday in November. I'm happy for Koby, they sure have come far in a bit over a year.

A Sab E Lee story:

I thought this was pretty funny. Sab E Lee is a very tiny restaurant, and because of the closeness of tables, sometimes you can't help but hear what everyone else is saying. On this day, a woman was seated with who I believe was her young son (maybe four or five?), a smart looking blond haired young man. I give the woman credit, they were eating Papaya Salad and Grilled Pork Neck, and the young man was digging in like a trooper. Out of the blue, the little one tells the Mom, "do they eat horse-ies here?" The Mom tells him, "I don't think so…..why?" The boy points to the lettering on the windows and exclaims, "it spells, I eat hoof!"

I snorted so hard, that I could feel my Beef Salad coming out of my nose! I guess it kinda looks like "I Eat Hoof". What do you think?

Thai Cafe closes:

Unfortunately, with the current economic unrest, more restaurants are closing than opening. And for every new restaurant opening, there seem to be two or more closing. Thai Cafe on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard is the latest casualty.

RIP Thai Cafe……

Pete’s Quality Meats

September 21, 2009 mmm-yoso Italian Restaurants, Sandwiches

**** Sadly Pete's has closed

I hadn't been to Pete's Meats in Little Italy for a very long time. In fact, Cathy, who posted on Pete's Meats last year has probably been there way more times than I. When we first moved to San Diego, I enjoyed Pete's for a nice simple Sausage Sandwich. Or for something even better, a Spitini Sandwich, basically a breaded veal roll, which was some awesome sandwich. I hadn't been to Pete's in at least five years, and was sad to notice the Spitini was no longer on the menu:

Other than the increased prices, and the removal of my beloved spitini, much looks the same.

The place has a real divey feel, and things are pretty much stuck in a rather pleasurable time warp. Pete's hearkens to a time before all of the condos and upscale restaurants made it's way to Little Italy. It oozes personality…..

You simply order, and they get to work on your sandwich. Since there was no spitini, I went with my other stand by the Italian Sausage Sandwich. The sausage is made inhouse, and I've picked bought the spicy sausage a few times in the past. It is prepared simply; cooked, in this case heated on the grill, topped with onions and peppers, and placed in a good roll. I believe they use Solunto's bread. It stands up real well.

On this visit, I think the sausage had spent a bit too much time "in the drawer" before reheating, and had seized a bit. It still tasted great, nice, mild, herbaceous flavor, but was kinda tough. Perhaps I shoulda just picked up a coupla sausages and some rolls from Solunto's……

On my next trip I decided to check out something I hadn't had before…… a Meatball Sandwich. The meatballs are kept simmering in a huge pot on one of the stove-tops. The sauce was much too runny, and mild for my taste…..

But those meatballs were melt in the mouth tender, and had good flavor. And combined with a good roll that added a nice contrast to the meatball, this was a good sandwich. Though I'd still take the Sausage Sandwich on a good day over this.

Pete's is one of those places that have stood the test of time, it is no frills, and I'm happy it has endured. The menu is gratefully simple, and you also have Pete, whose personality is worth an entire post of its own.

Pete's Quality Meat
1742 1/2 India St.
San Diego, Ca 92101

Mariscos y Birria Los Tokados – the Birria de Chivo

September 15, 2009 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Mariscos y Birria Los Tokados has closed

Years ago, while driving down Main Street in Chula Vista, I noticed a shop in one of those ubiquitous strip malls. What grabbed me was the large "Birria" sign. Recently, I happened to be in the area, and drove by to see if the place was still there. And it was……with even more lettering!

Is there anything that's not on the menu??? They even say they serve Menudo Blanco!

This being about 930 in the morning, I peered into the dining area….. where not a soul was stirring!

Not knowing if the place was empty, I saw two women behind the counter, and asked with some hesitation, "abierto?" The two woman cracked up, and said "Si" in unison, and one of them walked me to a table and handed me a menu.

A few seconds later, some still sizzling tortilla chips hit the table:

Along with two salsas, one of which was pleasantly spicy and tart.

On his visit, I was really interested in only one item, the Birria de Chivo (spicy stewed goat – $9.25), which arrived soon after ordering.

The Birria was very mild in flavor, and wasn't very spicy or herbaceous at all. It was very rich though, mildly gamey, and quite filling. I should have asked for that little shaker of oregano that these places always have hanging around.

Of course the Birria arrived with all the usual accompaniments. The tortillas were routine, but nice and hot. Onions, cilantro, and lime are a must. The beans were terribly bland though.

The Birria was so rich, that I couldn't finish it off, so I hesitantly asked the young lady, "para lleva por favor….." To which she replied laughingly, "muy bueno Espaniol." I'm sure that the two women found me amusing. I ended up having the rest of the Birria with rice later that night.

Not the best Birria I've ever had, but the menu at Los Tokados is very extensive, and I might return one day. So if you're a regular customer, I'd like to know what you recommend.

Mariscos y Birria Los Tokados
2638 Main St.
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Hours – Daily 9am – 8pm

Chinese Breakfast at Quik Wok in Rancho Bernardo

September 9, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

**** This location of Quick Wok has closed

In my post on Manila Fast Food, "Roland" inquires about a place in Rancho Bernardo serving "Chinese Breakfast". Having seized my attention, I immediately tried to find out where this Quik Wok place was. Once I had the address firmly in hand, all I had to do was wait for the weekend……

And we made our way up the I-15, taking the Bernardo Center Drive exit and driving past Pearl and Hunan we found ourselves at one of those jumbo sized spread out strip malls. After driving around a bit, I found a sign with "Chinese Cuisine" written on it….I guess we were here.

The interior looked just like one of those pseudo fast food wok fresh kinda places that have popped up everywhere, except the crew here spoke Mandarin. You sure won't find that in Hillcrest! Still, there was no "secret menu" in sight. I guess that's why they call it a secret menu????

Actually, what most places call a secret menu, is not really a secret menu… it's not hidden, you don't need a decoder ring, or a special handshake….. you just gotta read the language. And Quik Wok is no different, I finally located a paper menu written in Chinese.

And we were off…. just like your favorite Fast Food Chinese joint, you order at the counter, pay at the register, if you're eating in you take a number and amble over to your table. Eventually food will make its way over to you……

First to arrive was the Spicy Tendon ($4.25):

This was a good amount of sliced tendon for the price, and turned out to be the best dish of the day. A good amount of beef flavor, along with a passable (could have used more) amount of Sichuan Peppercorn made this a decent dish. On the negative side, the tendon was cut very haphazardly, and some pieces weren't prepared well and was very hard. The tendon was topped with scallions, which added some pungency, but it would have been better served with Chinese Celery.

Next up was the "Beef Roll" (Niu Rou Chuan):

The Beef had a decent five spice-soy flavor, but the bread felt, and even worse tasted unpleasantly greasy.

Next up, a huge bowl of "stuff" arrived. The Missus had ordered the Knife Shaved Noodles (Dao Xiao Mian) with Pork and Egg ($4.95).

The photo doesn't do the portion size justice. Overall the dish was bland and oily, and the Knife Shaved Noodles were too hard, not doughy, but hard….. Too bad, good, fresh, knife shaved noodles, where dough is formed into a sort of an oblong-log shape and strip of dough is sheared off by a sharp knife or other cutting implement is a fairly rare thing, even in the San Gabriel Valley. Slightly doughy, with a nice chew, it seems the uneven edges of Dao Xiao Mian tends to pick up sauce and broth a lot better than other types of noodles. To bad this wasn't it. It was a humongous amount of food for five bucks though.

The last item was the Niu Rou Mian – Beef Noodle Soup, with Dao Xiao Mian ($4.95):

I don't know if it was the broth, but the Dao Xiao Mian did better in the soup. To be honest, this NRM was way better than the version at Hunan in everything but the meat, which really isn't saying much. Like the previous dish had a ton of noodles in it, almost as if there was a fire sale on noodles on this day. On the bad side,the broth was barely mediocre, weak and lacking in beef flavor, with just a hint of heat, and needing an injection of richness.

We polished off the tendon, but ended up with a ton of leftovers, for just over twenty bucks.

Quantity just won't make it over quality in this case. And though the Americanized stuff coming out of the kitchen for the non-Chinese customers like the fried rice looked pretty good, nothing really compels me to return.

On the positive side, it's good to see places such as Quik Wok opening and making a go of it. And just the existence of such restaurants will have us up in North County a bit more often as well.

Chinese menu is only available on weekends.

Quik Wok
11967 Bernardo Plaza Dr
San Diego, CA 92128

Phat Restaurant – Chicken Delight a first look

August 31, 2009 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Phat Restaurant has closed

One evening I was in prowling Convoy looking for a place to eat, when I noticed a new business in the former Luong Hai Ky location, something called Phat Restaurant…… Phat Restaurant? Along with the written Chinese "Fat", it was kinda quaint.

I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for something new this evening, but was sold when I saw the little "Chicken Delight" sign. Now, I was pretty sure that whatever came out of the kitchen here would not resemble Chicken Delight in any way. But I just couldn't get the "don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight" ditty out of my head. Back when Chicken Delight had shops opened in Honolulu, it was considered very expensive for us, so I only had it maybe twice in my entire life. The taste memory has long faded, but that catchy slogan had been retained in my cabeza forever! BTW, did you know that KFC's Extra Crispy was created to combat Chicken Delight? But I digress……

I entered the restaurant, and the interior looks basically the same, and I'm sure folks like Cathy will be glad to know that the fish tank is still in place, and the denizens of the tanks haven't suffered a flush faith possibly worse than death.

The menu was interesting, as all dishes featured chicken, from the variations of chicken soup, appetizers, and rice dishes. There was the now ubiquitous "Mission Statement" spiel of the restaurants disappointment in processed food, and declaring a dedication to organic, free-range, chicken with no Hormones, he-mones, and she-mones, or whatever. One nice thing is the ability to select the type of noodle you'd like for your soup from the six offered. I also noticed that all the dishes were over six bucks, fairly pricey for this type of soup and noodle joints.

I ordered the Chicken soup with dumplings and egg noodles ($6.50). Well, actually I ordered Hu Tieu as my noodle, but I guess something got lost in the translation or perhaps the very nice Server decided to over-rule my decision.

First thing I noticed was the portion size wasn't very "phat", in fact it was quite small. The chicken made to look like Char Siu was very mild, but serviceable. The egg noodles were super hard, and I needed to let them steep in the soup a bit. The soup however, was "fairly phat"(?), full of flavor, with a nice, mild, almost cinnamon/onion, along with a good amount of white pepper taste. The broth had just the tiniest sheen of oil. It was also full of umami, so savory as to be almost sweet, a flavor that almost never occurs naturally. But because I didn't suffer from thirst, nor edema in my fingers or feet, I'll give the broth benefit of the doubt, and just say "man that was (kinda) phat!"

Replacing pork with ground chicken is very difficult, but this was a decent job. The minced water chestnuts added a nice crunch, but the shredded carrots didn't do it for me. The filling was moist and tender, instead of the normal rock hard meatball. Four dumplings total. At $6.50 a bit over-priced in my opinion.

A few nights later, I returned. I had seen something that interested me on the menu; Salt and Pepper Chicken wings ($6.25). Being a certified Salt and Pepper Chicken Wing fanatic, I was curious to see what these would be like.

When the plate hit the table, I cracked up. On one side of the plate were two regular sized wings, on the other side of the plate were 5 little drummettes and wings that looked like they belonged on a phat fat quail perhaps? The wings had been fried without batter, than stir fried with garlic and chilies, in fact these should be called garlic-chili wings. The wings were pretty greasy(so much about the whole healthy mission statement), and the garlic burnt to literally the "bitter end".

Not settling for just appetizers, I asked for a recommendation, and was told to order the Lemongrass Chicken, with a warning that it was "very spicy".

This was pretty much a ho-hum dish, the chicken was undoubtedly free-range as it had a chew to it, something that I don't find unpleasant. It wasn't very spicy, and the flavoring nothing special. The rice, which was "Com Tam" (broken rice) wasn't fragrant at all, and there were a couple of hard bits.

The saving grace of the mediocre meal was the fairly sizeable (for a freebie side dish) bowl of broth, which was again very tasty, of not a bit salty.

I guess the question to be answered would be "chicken phat?" I'm not quite convinced though I'd say to stick with the soups here. The menu is fairly small, and I'm kinda interested in the "curry broth". I'm pretty sure I'll return when things cool down a bit.

Phat Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111