Closed – Page 8

Sunday Sandwiches – Uptown Delight Deli

November 14, 2021 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

**** Uptown Delight Deli has closed

Here's another one of those mom-and-pop business park sandwich shops that I found by accident. I was between meetings and decided to head off to the Market at HFS for some poke. So, I got on the 805 North and took the Mira Mesa offramp…..only to suddenly realize it was only 930…..yikes….brain fart…..

So, in need of a "plan B" I took a right on Scranton Road and headed to Nancy Ridge Road the back way; fully intent on hitting up Creative Deli when I passed a "Deli" sign along the road. Another business park deli? How many of them are there around here? Of course I stopped to check it out.

This shop occupies the sliver of a space at the end of a building.

There's one, older Asian Woman working here who does everything….and she seems to know her customers, at least the one's I've seen on my visits.

The menu is full on "Boar's Head", though they seem to be out of a couple of items…probably Covid supply chain issues. The prices seem a tad higher than Sunrise/Creative/Kim's etc…..

I decided on trying the Pub Style Roast Beef ($9.25).

They include a Andes thin mint with every sandwich, a nice touch, along with a pickle wedge.

I enjoyed the fact that horseradish was used; it gave the sandwich some nice "oomph". The white cheddar was nicely melted, I saw the woman place the roast beef and cheese on the flat top for a minute to heat things thru, a nice touch. I just wish the bread was toasted as the sandwich had a lot of carbs going on…. just too much bread and some textural contrast would have been welcome.

Of course now that I had been here; I needed to do a couple more visits; so I returned the very next day. I decided not to go with a "sandwich" and decided on the BLT Supreme Wrap ($8.75).

I chose the Sun Dried Tomato wrap which worked out well. This was nicely heated on the flat top along with the slices of bacon. While a bit on the flimsy side; this was the best of the three items I had at Uptown. The creamy and ripe avocado and the fact the bacon was crisp made this a decent lunch.

Not the biggest fan of American Cheese in this; but it worked out fine.

And so, with temperatures rising this past week; I headed back to Uptown Deli and quickly ordered the "Italian Supreme" ($8.75), without realizing it came on that jumbo French roll….

A bit too much bread and they used the juice from the Peperoncini along with a really sour dressing….they said Balsamic; but since when is Balsamic yellow? There was so much of it that it did the "shart thing" when I bit into it.

Still, no complaints with regards to the price and portion.

Like I've said many times before……places like this keep the masses fed. And as we return to our offices post Covid; I'm thinking they will play a key part in our return.

Uptown Delight Deli
6310 Nancy Ridge Dr.
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours:
Mon – Fri 7am – 3pm
Closed Sat – Sun

And I keep wondering; how many of these places are out there?

La Miche Kabobgee (again)

October 18, 2021 Cathy Lebanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Well, you're reading mmm-yoso!!!, maybe looking for lunch ideas or maybe you are just curious as to what Cathy ate, or maybe you are wondering when Kirk will return from vacation. In any case, welcome!

Even though I wrote my first post about La Miche in May, while Kirk wrote a post in April (and many posts prior). It has become a semi -regular stop for The Mister and me. The owner (Nabih) and his wife recognize us now and are always so friendly.
We chose our table to have a view of the kitchen on this visit. Sometimes we can see flames leaping during cooking.

The menu was brought out- it's not under glass any more. This was dinner; lunch prices are less. Website link at bottom of this post. The odd cents for the price of each item take into account tax that will be added to make it a 'round' number. If you pay in cash, it's easier to not have to deal in pennies (or nickels or dimes).
As always, flavorful, fresh hummus and just made, hot pitas are brought out when you are seated.
The Mister likes to try moussaka whenever he sees it on a menu ($12.53 lunch, $15.08 dinner). The Lebanese/Middle East/vegetarian version doesn't use any béchamel and is not layered like the Greek version; it is more like a stew. Wonderful with a good amount of roasted eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas, onions and garlic cloves (we found a few within the sauce-mild and almost sweet because of the simmering). Seasonings are mild and there is no need to add salt or pepper. This is a new favorite.
In my prior post, I had ordered the Fish Kabobgee and this time I wanted to try the other fish version-Mediterranean Fish ($13.46 lunch, $18.56 dinner)). Grilled white fish topped with tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic and lemon juice. I do love a good char on seafoods as well as meats, so the difference from the sautéed fish was notable. Yet, I am not sure which I like better because each version is so fresh, meaty and flavorful.

A wonderful, family owned and run restaurant.

La Miche Kabobgee 9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. San Diego 92123 (858) 565-1165
Current Hours: Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm Fri 11am – 7:30pm, Sat 4pm – 7:30pm Closed on Sunday Website

The presentation of the Mediterranean fish. You can see a corner of the salad which, along with rice was part of each of our meals.

Tea Station (one more post)

October 17, 2021 Cathy Desserts, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Here you are, reading mmm-yoso!!! on this lovely day. Kirk and His Missus are still vacationing while Cathy is writing.

The first time I wrote about Tea Station was in 2007; I was fascinated with the concept. This San Diego Franchisee location of an internationally owned snack/small meal/beverage/shaved ice dessert spot remained open during COVID-19, which is so nice. (The Mister and I stop in pretty regularly, with posts about visits in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2019). We usually order one item to share, along with a beverage. There are Monthly Specials and Lunch Specials but I am listing the regular menu prices. There have been a few changes, with the ability to order from your table as well as at kiosks and the cash register.

The menu is about the same, serving some tasty food. Green onion pancake with egg ($7.99) is a good choice. The flaky, crisp egg topped pancake is served with a good chili sauce. Tasty and a nice snack.
Tea dumplings ($13.50) are pretty much a craving. Sure the price has increased over the years ($6.50 in 2007), with the flavors remaining consistent.
Marinated chicken meal set ($16.96) was our choice one day. The plump pieces of lightly breaded flavorful chicken were memorable and served with the sides of three condiments and rice. You might notice everything above was served in disposable packaging…another COVID-19 result, but also easy for leftovers. We did eat in. Desserts, however are served on 'real' plates. Peanut butter toast ($6) was a perfect snack along with a pot of hot tea.
One very hot day, the Iced coconut combination ($8.50) was what we craved. Everything-sweet red and black beans, grass jelly, mochi and coconut milk over ice, served in this very large bowl. A great choice when you do want a bit of everything. Then again, my craving was dark plum with grass jelly shaved ice ($7.50)-prune juice and grass jelly. Pure flavors and yes, a definite craving.
Peach yogurt snow ice ($6.75) is a great beverage. I notice that there are quite a few yogurt based (probiotics or just tart?) beverages available everywhere and have started to order those, because maybe they are "better". Anyhow, this was tasty. Fresh lemon green tea (large)($6.50) was ordered with no sweetness and light ice. We were warned. Fresh squeezed lemon juice- tart! You can taste the green tea as well as the lemon, which is quite fascinating. Will order again.
There are three ordering kiosks at the entrance (in the cash register area). The screen saver all summer was for these fresh fruit teas ($3.99 each, with a minimum order of two). You could choose black or green tea. Apple, pineapple, watermelon, lemon, lime, kiwi. Not too sweet, very refreshing. The screen saver/offer stopped at the end of September. I sure hope this beverage/fruit salad comes back.

A good spot for relaxing with a snack. Some changes due to COVID-19.

Tea Station 7315 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (858) 268-8198 Open 11:30 a.m.-midnight daily website

Perry’s Cafe (El Cajon) breakfasts-again

October 10, 2021 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Diner, What Cathy Eats!

This location of Perry's has, sadly, closed. Only the Old Town location remains.

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!! Cathy is writing today while Kirk is taking a break.

I've written about the El Cajon location of Perry's Cafe only twice, but it has been a regular breakfast stop for us over the years. During some of the more restrictive COVID-19 days, there was outdoor seating in the parking lot and the condiments were ready to be put on the outdoor tables. One day, The Mister chose the strawberry French Toast breakfast ($11.99). There are a choice of fruit toppings in addition to plain French Toast (menu at bottom of this post). The over easy eggs were, as always, perfectly made. The bacon is crisp and the toast is crisp on the exterior and fluffy on the interior; perfect. These were the condiments brought out: warm syrup and lemons and tartar sauce. You might wonder why.
Well, it's because fish and eggs ($13.25) are on the breakfast menu. This meal, with a choice of potatoes (home fries for me, of course) as well as toast or muffin (banana nut was a choice this day), perfect over easy eggs (the grill is utilized perfectly in this diner) and pan fried, lightly floured fish is always satisfying. I fondly remember my catfish breakfast at Smokey's back in 2010. The Mister chose the Italian Sausage Frittata ($12.99) one day. The mild sausage was plentiful, with scrambled eggs, mixed cheeses and tomato baked in a pan and lightly firm. The sides were a pumpkin muffin and home fries. As always, we choose items we don't want to prepare at home.
From the "Mexican Breakfast" side of the menu, I decided to try the Huevos Revueltos con Nopales ($11.50). Scrambled eggs with cactus, onion, mild chiles and tomato. This was wonderful, filling and something I will order again. The meal included refried beans with cheese and warmed tortillas as well as a vey nice salsa. The cactus is soft and not salty; has a distinct yet subtle flavor.The chicken fried steak ($10.75- a white board special at the front door on this weekday) had a crisp, yet light coating and the chopped steak was quite nice, as was the country style gravy and the perfect eggs. The hash browns were nicely crisped and the biscuit, well, it wasn't quite right at this meal; it was dense instead of fluffy, but the top 'crust' was good with butter. (The dogs got a treat).
I had to get the fish and eggs again. (still $13.25) and this time the fish pieces were quite thick and still lightly floured with a crisp pan fry. Poached eggs and a blueberry muffin this time along with the crispy home fries. Always satisfying.

Hope you are having a nice, cool, Autumn weekend!

Perry's Cafe 475 North Magnolia El Cajon, CA (619) 440-5724 open daily 6 a.m.-2 p.m.

More Than Sandwiches – Exploring Other Options at SuperNatural Sandwiches

September 14, 2021 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Salads, Sandwiches

**** SuperNatural Sandwiches has closed

Man, it seems we're in this never ending cycle of Covid during the pandemic….time just kind of slides by. I thought I had "just" posted on SuperNatural Sandwiches, but that post was back in May of last year!

At that time the ordering and pick-up was still being done at the outside counter. But, just as I'm transitioning back to the office, SuperNatural has also been transitioning and now has the old counter work in effect, with indoor dining and such. While I'm not quite ready for this with the latest variant; I'm still doing online takeout orders which work with the same efficiency as before.

And while it's quite easy to order the same 'ol, same 'ol……."FOYs" like Loren and Junichi have really given some nice recommendations to add some variety into my fairly boring life. Loren had both recommended the fries and the salad variation, which has been added to my ordering routine.

The recent super hot weather has gotten me to order the Salad version of the Kirin a couple of times.

Which has kinda been in the rotation recently. The Kirin – with plump shrimp and Chinese sausage just does so well in a salad. And the portion size is quite generous. I don't need to order any fries with this as I'm stuffed……the dressing also does quite nicely as well.

After having this salad, I wondered how the two other preparations would do. Junichi mentioned having the fried rice option (+ $1), so on my next visit I decided to order the Kirin as fried rice….and of course I added a Fried Egg (+ $2).

Well, this was a bit puzzling for me as I wasn't a great fan of the lettuce in my fried rice. While the rice was nicely coated in a soy sauce mixture, it was on the dry and hard side.

I addition, that egg was overcooked as well.

There also didn't seem to be as much Chinese sausage as I had in the salad on my previous visit.

Overall, it seemed a bit odd and one-dimensional. If I have the fried rice option again; it might be with some other sandwich "option". Maybe Junichi can reveal what his "go-to" for the fried rice might be.

Finally, I decided to get the Kirin as Garlic Noodles (+$4). To be perfectly honest, I didn't quite know what to expect.

And while the container didn't seem particularly large, it was quite heavy. And upon opening the cover….whew…this was garlic noodles alright. Good thing the office was basically empty and after eating lunch all the meetings were via Zoom. I also had to discard the mask I wore on this day.

The standard issue noodles were nicely coated with a soy based sauce, the noodles were nicely prepared and still al dente. I did finish all of the shrimp and sausage and had a ton of noodles left, which I had with dinner. Talk about a major carb bomb, but this wasn't bad at all. The sauce for the shrimp went well with things and I didn't mind having cucumber with my noodles.

The one thing I would really like next time is to have the scallions on top of things. The noodles were obviously just dumped into the container, the green onions in a clump at the bottom. The only way I found it was after eating all the shrimp and the sausage; I gave things a good mix, which, based on how stuffed the whole container was, would not have worked out well with a full container. Still, I'd have this again……when I need to carb load….

You know, these times have me grasping for that which is familiar and comforting. I've been a customer of SuperNatural since they were at the San Diego Public Market and was quite happy when they finally opened a brick and mortar shop (where Gourmet Artisan is now located), before settling into their current location (of course they are still open in Little Italy).

The folks working have always been friendly and my online order is always ready at the designated time. Which keeps me coming back……

SuperNatural Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 4pm
Closed on Sundays

Taco Kings-where birria is the thing

August 17, 2021 Cathy Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, this blog about food, hopefully is a respite in your online browsing. Cathy is writing today while Kirk is busy with several assignments at work.

A 'new' place for The Mister and I to stop (in addition to our 'usual', K-n-B lunch) before shopping at Windmill Farms opened only six weeks ago. Taco Kings is at the opposite end of the storefronts in the neighborhood shopping center.

It used to be several different taco shops, so we didn't expect much. The dark wood interior with metal seating and accents is very modern.
The tacos here are 'street' size and enough for a light bite. The quesataco ($4) includes the layer of cheese in addition to the beef stew meat, cilantro and onion. It is a good beef birria, even though we do prefer goat or lamb, which are not a choice here.
We went on a Thursday and the 'birria ramen' was $6-regular $12. A very large styrofoam cup with ramen, broth/consomme and large amount of beef birria along with cilantro, onion and sliced radish. We really liked this version. I'll speak about other versions in another post.

We looked at the menu and noticed other 'daily' specials and returned on a Monday.

Birria Pizza-$12 (regular $16)
The fork is for scale. There is a tremendous amount of beef birria sandwiched between two large tortillas, easily enough meat to make three large burritos. It was our lunch and dinner.A pretty thick layer of cheese on one of the tortillas to accompany the non-brothy birria. You need a fork and knife to eat this. The three (very well made) salsas, along with limes and radish add a nice variety to the flavor to the beef. (If you've not read my prior posts; I tend to eat items as served for the first half, then try the rest with condiments at the end of the meal, which makes it a whole new meal.)

We have had other items here and those are good, too. These were just different items than most taco shops offer. It's nice to find a surprise new place.

The other daily specials are: Tuesday: two street tacos $5, one fish taco $1. Wednesday: one adobada taco $1.50 Friday: Michelada $6

Taco Kings 6358 Del Cerro Blvd San Diego, CA 92120 (619)287-8541 Open daily 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

The Rule of Three – Revisits to GyroGrill, LouZiana Food, and Smack’N Guamanian Grill

August 4, 2021 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Cajun, Southern, and Soul Food, Greek Food, Guamanian/Chamorro, Sandwiches

So, I recently started returning to places fairly close to the office and when setting up this post I noticed something about three of these places. The number three comes into play. All three places are on Miramar Road. This is my third post on these places since the pandemic started…..yes, it’s been that long. And all three are, well….take out visits. The one big difference is in my ordering mechanism.

So here goes.

GyroGrill:

**** GryoGrill has closed

Gyrogrill actually opened during the pandemic and my first post was back in October of last year.

Since service and turnaround is fairly quick at GG….a big plus is that they open at 9am so I can get our lunches at around 10 and the place is empty and the parking lot isn’t crazy. I actually order at the restaurant.

As I mentioned in my follow-up post, I….and my coworkers basically get one thing here. The pork gyros combo with handcut potatoes.

So even though the pork gyros here isn’t in the same league as Zgara, it’s sometimes a bit on the dry side and could be more aggressively seasoned, it’s way better than the ubiquitous Kronos stuff you get almost everywhere else. Decent pork flavor and everyone enjoys the crispy hand cut potatoes. And I’ve kinda gotten used to the really thick Tzatziki.

Gyrogrill
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 9am – 7pm
Sat 9am – 6pm
Closed Sunday

LouZiana Food:

**** LouZiana Food has closed

I think I’m pretty good at taking direction and on my last post on LouZiana Grill back in January of this year, “FOY” Dereck wrote this in the comments:

“Kirk, I don’t know how you can get out of there without a roast beef po boy. It isn’t like the debris sandwiches from NOLA, but it sure as hell does taste good when I want a fix!”

So, ok I decided to try the roast beef po’ boy. My mechanism for ordering here (there’s no online ordering) is to call in. LZ can get a bit busy at times and I still am a bit put off by crowds. The folks working are always friendly and my order is always waiting when I arrive.

I mentioned in my previous post during the pandemic, that I’m not a big fan of the bread here. But in this framework it does real well. Because sheesh…..

Oh geez, look at all that remoulade sauce! But that bread holds up real well and is almost tailormade for all that mayo goodness. In fact, when I bit into one end of the sandwich…it basically “sharted” remoulade out the other end. Luckily, I ate over the wrappers! The sauce was fairly balanced; not too much sour-pickle juice tones, though I like my remoulade to be more garlicky and spicy this was not bad. Standard issue shredded iceberg and tomatoes. The one thing about not having and overly strong sauce is that I could actually taste the roast beef.

A messy, but pretty good sandwich. Thanks for the recommendation Dereck!

LouZiana Food
7128 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 8pm

Smack’N Guamanian Grill:

**** Smack’N Guamanian Grill has closed

Much like GyroGrill, I pretty much get the same thing from Smack’N Guamanian Grill during my pandemic takeout visits. The Chebot Plate, the combo of BBQ Chicken and Kelaguen (I sub out an extra scoop of Kelaguen for the cabbage slaw), with Red Rice. Smack’N has online ordering which I use.

And even though on my previous two pandemic visits the chicken was “masked” (i.e covered with foil)….I guess with new CDC guidelines, masking is now optional!

Smack’N has been pretty consistent over the last couple of visits and I know what to expect. The Kelaguen is very moist, though lacking in coconut tones and spice. It’s not overly salty, has mild citrus tones, and is quite easy to take. The finedene is also fairly mild as well. I actually take the Kelaguen home and use my homemade finedene…..because, as you can tell, this a generous amount of food.

The BBQ Chicken is nicely grilled, fairly tender, and has really good salt-soy balance. It’s much better than what you get from many of those “Hawaiian BBQ” places.

The Red Rice does a fine job of soaking up the chicken drippings and is quite moist.

Smack’N Guamanian Grill
9506 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 7pm
Closed on Sundays

You know, it’s hard to believe that I’ve now done three posts on these places during the pandemic……it just seems to go on and on. My hope is that the next time I do a post on one of these places; I’ll be eating in and the worse will be but a tiny speck in our “rearview mirror”.

Take care everyone!

Zion Market Food Court-eating in

July 22, 2021 Cathy Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Today, mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy.

Before The Mister and I go food shopping, we try to have a small meal. Most markets have a steam tray area or nearby restaurants with the same ethnic foods, so we get an idea of what we might buy inside the grocery store. Zion Market does have a prepared foods area, as well as a food court area (the building used to be a K-Mart and is very large). We can buy inside the market, pay, then sit at a Food Court table.

However, during Covid and all the restrictions, we chose to give our business to the storefront restaurants in the Food Court area. All of them.
  This post began in late June of 2020. As of now, just assume most every entree is around $12.

Wok Bar- Mabo Tofu. Plentiful, spicy hot and good on a rainy day. The soft tofu and ground pork, along with the creamy spicy sauce is very satisfying.
Gala Chicken (it used to be inside the Market). The three piece leg combo (or you could get wings or chicken strips) is a perfect size. The chicken is lightly breaded and crispy. The Mac salad is lightly dressed and the shredded cabbage and its dressing are just the right sides to go with the rice. $1 for the side of radishes because it tastes good.
The generically named storefront has a great version of Bibimbap.
When it was packed 'to go', it was just as tasty and plentiful as the 'for here' version.
The pork katsu is a good choice when you are craving crispy. The Mister loves the choices at Poke U.
The medium size bowl is quite large, includes four scoops of marinated seafood, a base of rice and/or salad, cucumber, seaweed and krab. There are about six sauces and eight shakers of seeds and spices you can have mixed and matched on top.    There are also Bento box options  as well as some appetizer-ish sides (takoyaki) for about $5.
  The former CDD Tofu and Grill changed hands sometime in 2020.
The bulgogi platter is quite large, very flavorful and the side of calamari ($4) made for an easily shareable meal.   The Bibimbap here is wonderful and almost always a choice… But there was this day when I thought…'hmmm, a Tuna Mayo Bowl", let's try that. Then I ordered the side of sweet potato.
Oh my! Tuna, mayonnaise, rice and lots of seaweed. Perfect, simple, wonderful. The sweet potatoes were lightly breaded and fried and just, well just all of this was a perfect meal. This place. The menu is loosely translated. Number Seven. The receipt says Tangsuyuk. Get it.
No, that isn't styrofoam. It is magic surrounding tender pork. It is addictive in texture and flavor. The vegetable dipping sauce that comes with it is warm. It's really good. The yellow things are radishes. A wonderful surprising meal.
Paris Baguette. So many choices. We have been stoppng here and picking a dessert to take home. The lemon meringue croissant is one of the seasonal choices. Get it.  The coconut cream croissant, also seasonal, also wonderful.
Everything here is good.

Sadly, Cocohodo closed in May 2021. We would stop to enjoy a small, sweet treat if we were not going to go to Paris Baguette. This was where I saw the infamous 2020 Covid Concoction, Dalgona Coffee, being sold. I never was sure I made the simple recipe correctly at home and really liked the thick version here.

Always interesting and always good. The Food Court here is unique.

Zion Market Food Court 7655 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard 92111

Our dear piano playing teddy bear has gone into isolation. Damn Covid!

Boss Bird Kitchen – B(efore)C(ovid), D(uring)C(ovid), D(uring)R(eopening)

July 14, 2021 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Chicken Wings, Sandwiches

**** Boss Bird has moved to La Mesa. This location is now Kusina

Here's a post that was 17 months in the making. Chicken Sandwiches…..especially Nashville Hot Chicken has become (yet another) fad in recent years. And back in February of 2020 Boss Bird Kitchen took over the spot that seems to be a revolving door of restaurants; being Capetown Bar & Grill, then Sarap, and finally Gaya Gaya before Boss Bird took over the spot. My first visit was in February 2020. I then did a takeout visit early in 2021. At that time, I wasn't even sure I'd be doing a post….until I decided to return last week. You can think of this as happening during three distinct phases in time, pre-Covid, during lockdown, and during reopening. It does seem to be much longer of a timespan then that as well.

The place looked essentially the same as Gaya Gaya, minus the interesting artwork.

I thought about trying the "Hot Mess" Chicken "Burger", but decided to just get the "Standard". Basically, buttermilk fried chicken breast sandwich. The size of the chicken breast filet was quite generous.

I did like the roll it was served on, which had a mild hint of yeasty sweetness and held up quite well to the sorta "secret sauce" (Thousand Island dressingish). The chicken was underseasoned for my taste and while it was quite a hunk of chicken it hadn't been evenly fried and also suffered from "chicken breast syndrome"……as it was on the dry side.

The portion of fries was also very generous; nicely seasoned, though it was also on the dry side and got rather soft quickly. Still for under ten bucks (at that time), this was a bargain.

Even though the price was right and the young lady working was so friendly, I didn't really have any intention of returning. Then came the lockdown and I was still working from the office quite a bit….I'd be driving past Boss Bird every so often and while they were open, it seemed totally dead. So, I decided to go ahead and place an online order. I didn't think the chicken sandwich and especially the fries would hold up real well on the drive back to the office, so I ordered the "Nickle Box" ($9) of wings. While driving over, I realized that it had been over a year since my initial visit.

Man, had the pandemic changed things! Things had been moved around and when I spoke (even with my mask muffling my voice) there seemed to be an echo!

My order was ready when I finally found a live human being……seems like everyone was in the boss bird "kitchen", so I cooled my heels for about 10 minutes. But all was well once the nice gentleman saw me waiting.

I wasn't overly hungry and this five piece box of wings, which came with 2 biscuits (I gave one away) was more than enough for my lunch on this day. I actually enjoyed the pickles the best.

I had ordered the Wings with Garlic Parmesan, but I think there was a "malfunction" somewhere as the wings seemed to just be plainly seasoned. Like my previous experience the chicken was unevenly fried and some of the pieces had rubbery skin and were on the dry side.

I wasn't a big fan of the biscuits which was too crumbly and not buttery enough for my taste. The person I shared the biscuit with said he could barely finish half of it……so I guess it wasn't just me.

And well, two visits in I guess I needed to get a post done, right? And on June 15th, San Diego was fully reopened, though I waited a while to return to Boss Bird. When I finally decided to return, it was just as the restaurant opened, early in the week. I had the whole place to myself.

The only other customers I saw during my stay were two customers doing takeout. And since I wasn't doing takeout; I decided to go with the "Hot Mess" ($11).

I enjoyed the chicken sandwich. This was by far the best item I've had at Boss Bird; a decent spicy rub, you can tell that this time around the chicken had been nicely fried. While it was still on the drier side, it was moist and tender enough for me. Like I said before; there's something about the pickles here I enjoy and the slaw, while quite plain really helped balance out the sandwich.

The fries were a bit thinner this time around and still nicely seasoned; though it's still on the dry and soft side for my taste.

Still, I'd have this again….one of these days.

So there you go. A post 17 months in the making.

For another view on Boss Bird, please check out Lynn's post.

Boss Bird Kitchen
7580 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 8pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm

Eating to Beat the Heat – Takeout From Iron Pig Alehouse

July 5, 2021 mmm-yoso BBQ, Gastropub, Pubs and Pub Grub

**** Iron Pig has closed

Well, I had a pretty interesting end of last week. A sinus infection combined with the rather warm days really had me on my back! Luckily, I'm feeling much better, though it's still kinda warm out there. I wanted something with some flavor and looked back at some of our "eating to beat the heat" posts and Iron Pig Alehouse popped up! Man, has it been over 3 years since we ate there? Well, we weren't feeling like eating at Iron Pig, but I noticed that online ordering was available….so I thought what the heck, and placed an order. A combination of summertime and rush hour traffic makes it a bit of a chore, but I arrived right at the designated time and my order as ready to go….just hop back in the car and fight the traffic out of PB.

So, was this worth it?

Well, feast your eyes on this.

It's the dish formerly known as "the Man Salad". It's been renamed to the "Gender Neutral Salad"….ohhhkay……

Regardless, the Missus absolutely loved this. I ordered it with the add on of an fried egg and you know the Missus with fried eggs, right? While I'm not a fan of the brisket ala carte at IP, it's wonderful on this salad, adding a nice beefy-smokiness, that goes so well with the pickled onions, goat cheese….and of course, those french fries. The arugula adds a nice mild bitterness to things. We don't even need the dressing. The salad seemed huge, but we polished it off with no problem.

The Missus also loves the Rib Tips and She really loved this as well.

Rib tips tend to have bit more fat and porkiness in my opinion. These were much more tender than what I'm used to with rib tips. Nice smokiness, nice swine to dine flavor. A decent rub…..don't need much more. The Missus likes these straight up without BBQ Sauce….She just loves the texture and the smokiness.

I was kind of excited to get the Smoked Wings, which I hadn't had in a while.

In the past, the wings were a bit inconsistent, but when they were slightly crisp, super smokey they really hit the spot.

Sadly, these were not. It was weak in terms of smoked flavor, decently seasoned, but dry, tough, and the skin quite rubbery.

This is what the wings look like when I know they're done right…….

Still, no complaints about the meal at all……

Still, the Missus did present the question of "why didn't you get this earlier?" My answer? Pointing to Her plate: "Hey, it looks like you missed some salad there….."

The online ordering was easy, as was pick-up. I don't know if I hit the lottery on this afternoon, but I found parking close by.

So, I guess more Man Salad, ummmm, "Gender Neutral Salad" is in our future. Especially when temps rise.

Iron Pig Alehouse
1520 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Mon – Tues 4pm – 9pm
Wed – Thurs 1130am – 9pm
Fridays 1130am – 10pm
Saturdays 10am – 10pm
Sundays 10am – 9pm