Closed – Page 88

Return to Vien Dong III Part 1 – The Email

May 31, 2007 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers

*** Vien Dong Market is now Thuan Phat Supermarket. You can find post here.

Part 2 Can be found here.

A few weeks ago, I received the most surprising and (for me) amazing email. It was very professional, and cordial, but most of all, it gave me hope. Why hope? It seems that trying to get things done, like a simple refund, takes an executive order. Remember our canceled vacation, and the promise of a refund? Well it took almost 4 months, countless emails and phone calls to what seemed like an outsourced customer service representatives(I'm putting that in lower case on purpose) who all have "no last name", I eventually got fed up with the glad-handing and after doing some research found a "real" person through a professional associations website, and finally got this online travel service to refund our money….4 months later! Everyone was nice, but you could tell what the state of customer service was like…..you knew they were just "trying to get rid of you" and hoping you'd give up, and they wouldn't have to refund your money, which I believe had already been refunded by the Airlines and Hotel we were to stay at. You see, I'm becoming a cynic already!

Sorry for the long diversion, back to the story. In January of last year I did a little post on Vien Dong III Supermarket, made a few observations, and went on my merry way. I was a bit sad that the hot food was gone, and did make mention of the "pungency factor", as did someone in the comments. There were some other interesting comments as well.

So a few weeks ago, I get this email, that starts with, "Dear Sir or Madam"…and my mind goes "oh-oh, somebody's really ticked off…." But as I read the letter, a smile broke out over my face, and I felt really good….I don't know why, but I did. So I got permission to print the letter in it's entirety(I'm inserting a few photos):

Dear Sir or Madam (mmm-yoso),

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dan and my family owns/operates Vien Dong III International Supermarket. I'm also a reader of your site for about a year now. I had been meaning to write you for some time regarding your review of our store. I thought it was very good and wanted to thank you for your interest. It was very refreshing to see people put stuff up on the web about us and we truly appreciate it. We also wanted to let you know that since your review we have done a lot of renovating and would be really honored if you would come by for another visit and see for yourself.

-The pungency factor is no longer a factor
-Resurrected the food to go + deli and bakery area
-Raised our ceiling added skylights and brighter energy efficient lighting
-Renovated the seafood department with newer more accessible tanks and freezers.
-Upgraded checkout system for quicker processing and visability
-Expanded produce department to include wider variety and volume of produce
-Increased small business/restaurant customer servicing

Regarding the comments on live seafood, our core customers have always preferred to select their own product; picking the biggest and the freshest seafood currently available. Many other Asian supermarkets do not allow customers to select their own seafood and as a result people are always concerned about getting mis-serviced with damaged or dead product or overcharged by water/ice weight packed by the market. So it has always been or policy to welcome customers to pick and pack for themselves and letting product go out on a first come first self serve basis and letting customers pick exactly what they want. Of course our employees are always more than willing to assist anyone who need help.
Regarding the comments on the checkout lanes, we have configured them that way in order to foster a more social service environment. My dad came up with the idea when we first switched to the PC-based checkout system with large screen computer monitors. By pairing up the checkout stands, the cashiers can communicate and assist each other better by working in pairs and at the same time be more physically accessible to the customers. The large screen monitors would also be more accessible to the customers to view and physically point at particular line items. The additional benefit of pairing the checkout stands was that the grocery bagger (my old job) would be more accessible to more customers as well.
If you have any other questions or comments on how we can improve the store your input would mean a lot to us. We'd also really appreciate it you could give us your input on new individual products. I look forward to hearing back from you.

—
Best Regards,
Daniel M. Tran

Vien Dong III International Supermarket
6935 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego CA 92111 tel: 858 292 8110

Wow, maybe one little post from our humble little blog, with everyone's input(comments!!!) can make a difference? I dunno…….. There are very few points that I'd have issues with. The only item, was that I (we) do reviews. You'll find that I never, ever say, I do restaurant, or food reviews….I leave that to the Naomi Wise's, and the other"food writers" and experts, I'm just a "food eater", and share my experiences on this blog. I think it's a much more intimate, and a more personal experience, and heck, I'm not much of a writer anyway.

I need to thank Daniel, for allowing his email to be part of a post(and making sure the hot food was back), but you know I'll be following up…which is what part 2 will be!

And more importantly….what do you think?

Grillions Homestyle Grilling-Healthy, Mediterranean or American Style- your choice!

May 21, 2007 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Grillions has closed.

mmm-yoso: the name of the blog. Kirk: the main guy who writes here. Cathy: one of the friends who helps out when Kirk is on vacation, or just doesn't want to write or writes when she has something to say. Today: Cathy writing because Kirk is on vacation…but she also has something to say.

Good day, and short week before the Memorial Day weekend. Hope all is going well for you. I'm fine and have a new place to tell you about. This place has only been open a week as of today, as a matter of fact. It's called "Grillions" and we like it! Saturday, when The Mister and I were having a late lunch at Wired, we walked out and saw a "Grand Opening" sign on what used to be Daily's, the heart-healthy restaurant at Renaissance Towne Centre Mall, just southeast of UTC .

Daily's had been around more than ten years, started by a UCSD Cardiologist, to give his patients and friends tasty, heart healthy meals and it was quite popular. I am not sure what happened, but it is gone, and Grillions is now here. The Mister went in, grabbed a menu and said it wasn't very crowded. Next door, Le Peep was overcrowded with large tables of people using the over-saturated Le Peep coupons for their Saturday brunches. We saw a few curious people looking into Grillions but not eating there.

So- the menu:

BBQ chicken and ribs, BBQ'd burgers, grilled veggies, chicken fish, kebabs…whoa! and side dishes that could be various single grilled veggies (tomatoes, home style potato wedges, baked potato, corn), grilled home style potatoes, home style beans, coleslaw, rice… well, heck, we could do grilled or BBQ'd chicken and/or ribs with slaw and baked beans OR have a burger, OR have a kebab served with rice, pita and grilled vegetables…the combinations are endless!..and yet seemingly quite healthy.

We went back on Sunday, the next day. It still was not busy and Le Peep and Wired were. But that was OK. We asked. They had opened last Monday. Word hasn't gotten out. I hope you are reading this. It is *good*. You walk in, pay and wait for your number to be called. They grill it up right there under that menu. We ordered simply: I got the beef kabob plate($8.95)

It is served with rice, grilled veggies topped with a tzatziki-yogurt based sauce, pita bread and served with a sauce on the side that is vinegar-garlic-cilantro and goes quite well with the beef- and on top of the rice later.

The beef was plentiful, juicy, excellent flavored, and grilled, of course. The vegetables were delightful with the grilled bits to them- broccoli, cauliflower, onions, red and green peppers. The rice was more basmati/not sticky, but fresh and good.

The Mister tried the stuffed grilled chicken breast ($8.49) that comes with two sides- he chose the Home Style beans and Garlic Grilled Tomato: Grillions_004

The garlic grilled tomato was wonderful tasting and I wish we had more. I am going to have to try to duplicate this one at home. The beans are *excellent*, very much home made- the skin on the beans was strong, not mushy, meaning this stuff was definitely not from a can, made with a nice spicy sauce. The chicken, oh the chicken! A good sized breast, stuffed with goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and basil and grilled. So moist, tender, tasty! Quite unexpectedly good.

We were quit full, but again, knowing I was blogging and 'taking one' for all of you, well, there it was on the menu- a grilled banana split ($3.50). One of my most favorite desserts. I once got a banana split cake (not an ice cream cake, mind you, just banana cake with thick chocolate frosting, strawberries and pineapple in the frosting with whipped cream and nuts and a cherry on top) for my birthday and the *only* thing I get at Dairy Queen is the Banana Split Blizzard… um, sorry, digressing again…

This is made with frozen yogurt that does not taste like yogurt- it is creamy, vanilla without any 'tang' of yogurt. The banana is so *so* very nice when grilled…not with butter, so not quite a Banana Foster taste, but yet, that burnt carmelization…mmm-yoso good! The nice lady brought it to our table and asked if that was enough chocolate sauce! It was perfect (since I am not a choco-holic and all).

The Mediterranean foods are not quite Greek or Persian (no lamb or gyros or hummus on the menu) but are excellent, fresh and by being grilled, healthy. Next time, I will try the BBQ ribs and chicken, which we saw someone else getting, along with the cole slaw and beans, which I think would make a great combination.

Do try it. The photos on the menu correspond to the numbered menu items. The wraps look large, as do the salads. As of yesterday, the only people working were family members, although someone walked in and asked and I heard one of the owners tell the person they had retained some of the Daily's staff who were available to work .

Grillions 8915 Towne Centre Drive San Diego 92122 Phone(858) 457-1204 Fax (858)457-1179 Mon-Sat 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.-6 p.m. website

Wired Bistro-another (good)French Cafe

May 20, 2007 Cathy European Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Wired has closed.

mmm-yoso is the blog and Cathy is writing today. Kirk is on vacation.

Hello, again and welcome back. The Mister and I decided to "slum" our way out of Santee and visit the UTC area of town yesterday and enjoy lunch where we have enjoyed lunch many times- at Wired Bistro- but this time, with camera in tow.

I was introduced to Wired by a friend, Miss C, last year when we couldn't decide where to meet for lunch. It is in the Renaissance Mall, just southeast of the UTC Mall. I had visited this mall, but had only gone to the Rubio's here. Wired is one of quite a few restaurants here. It has become a 'regular' spot for me when I dine alone.

It is basically French Bistro style, serving in house baked goods all day and omelettes and bagels for breakfast , crepes, quiches, baguette and panini sandwiches, all sorts of cafe beverages and a daily wine bar serving tapas along with on Friday nights, having a wine tasting of a large selection of French and Spanish wines.

Here is the menu:

I must say I wish I had a camera every time I have been here, because everything is just pretty when they bring it to your table.

This time, I decided to try just the soup and quiche combo ($7.50) primarily because the soup of the day was tomato basil bisque, and I have had it before and crave it every so often. made with fresh tomatoes, light cream and basil, topped with lightly toasted fococcia (herbed) croutons. it was, as always, delightful.

For the quiche, you can chose one of usually four offered per day. I chose the spinach mushroom.

Usually, during the week, I get a wedge of quiche. This time it was a small, individual quiche, which was nice. Made with a puff pastry crust and filled with a *very* nice custard and cheese filling, fresh spinach and flavorful mushrooms. The garnishes vary and this time, as you can see it was shredded carrots with some bean sprouts. Different, but colorful.

The Mister decided on a panini- the one made with roast beef, roasted eggplant and cheese ($7.95). Neither of us had ever had this one before. It is the first time we were disappointed in anything here.

The bread was excellent, as are all of the pastry/baked items. The roast beef, although plentiful and tomatoes, sliced nice and thick basically had no flavor. The cheese and eggplant relish were wonderful. It isn't anything that would make me not want to go back, it was just not as exciting as we had expected it to be. It was served with a small salad in the center, topped with a very nice house vinaigrette.

Knowing I would be blogging, well, we had to order a dessert. It was late afternoon and quite a few of the pastries were gone and, well, The Mister had a craving- so we got the Nutella crepe ($4.00).

Two freshly made crepes, stuffed with Nutella (a spread that is half hazelnut butter and half chocolate butter) and topped with real whipped cream. Of course this needed a cup of coffee ($1.50), French roast- wonderfully fresh- and we had a nice respite.

During the week, or on Fridays at 6, when the wine bar tastings start, the Tapas menu is perfect. The $9 cheese and fruit plate or the $9 antipasto plate is a meal for me. If you are at the UTC mall, just leave the Sears parking lot and go south through the one light and the Renaissance Mall is there on your left-you'll see the Rubio's.

Wired Bistro Wine Bar 8935 Town Centre Drive, Suite 110 San Diego 92122 (858)450-0880 Daily 6 a.m.-10 p.m. (closes Sundays at 8p.m.)

Mandarin China- The first place I ever had “chee fee”

May 13, 2007 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso is the name of the blog. Kirk and Cathy and other friends write about food they ate. That's all it is. Today, it's Cathy's turn.

Me again. Thanks for stopping by. The Mister and I were once again driving around wasting fuel and being hungry while running some errands and fondly remembered an incident many, many years ago. It was our first Dim Sum experience. Suddenly, there we were on West Point Loma Boulevard, looking at the place. It has been there since 1980 and still doing a brisk business, including a *lot* of take out.

It was a Sunday and they were only doing to order Dim Sum- no carts rolling around, and we looked at the menu

and decided to re-live our early-early dating days back in Ann Arbor and try some favorites.

Well, there it was-Shrimp Toast, 3 pieces ($4.95). There is just something about a layer of chopped shrimp on top of a piece of crustless white bread, thickly coated with sesame seeds and deep fried that brings back so many memories. The plum sauce served with was extremely good with pieces of plum and just a hint of heat. Hot mustard in jars were on the table and that added to the flavors.

Of course, more of the memory was helped along by using forks and not chopsticks to eat our food…

We decided to try stuff we knew we should like, again sticking with the original dating experience. Ma Pu tofu (7.95)

This was the most home made Pa Pu (or Mabo, as most of us know it) we have ever had- twice cooked pork slices (not ground pork , as we usually get) sauteed with mushrooms, water chestnuts, onions and scallions in a great sauce that has a good kick of heat to it. The tofu was soft and flavorful also. We were very pleased with this choice.

I decided to try the pan fried home style noodles with BBQ pork ($7.95). The pork was not outstanding (could have had more fat marbled in it) but it was sliced into nice, thick chunks and the seasoning on it was good. It was served with a good variety of vegetables-more fresh mushrooms, carrots, water chestnuts onions and green onion tops. The accompanying sauce was great; totally different than that on the Ma Pu. Those noodles were outstanding! Nicely firm and then sauteed to a gentle crispness. Extremely satisfying.

At the end we got our bill and fortune cookies that were not wrapped a la Smart N Final. The cookies were nice and fresh, there was no charge for the very tasty Chinese Restaurant Tea flavored tea and our fortunes merely told us things we already knew:

You set your sights high and enjoy striving for the best things in life.

Age is a matter of feelings and not years.

Mandarin China 4110 West Point Loma Boulevard San Diego 92110 (619)222-6688 Sun-Th 11 am-10 p.m. Fri and Sat 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Ah, the rest of the story. The Mister was getting ready to leave on a lengthy (more than 6 month duration ) cruise with the Navy and we met another couple here for dinner- the husband would end up being a roommate with mine and His wife was pregnant with their first child. We all were adventurous and wanted to try this 'new' phenomenon called Dim Sum. (This was a *long* time ago).We were happily ordering just about everything that came by from the nice ladies who had strong accents. One lady showed us something and I said "oh yes!" She said it was "chee fee". It had a red sauce on it. "Chee fee", she repeated and I said, yes. She pointed at something else on the cart that had no sauce and I said "no, I want that". She repeated "chee fee" a few more times and I was starting to get irritated. I insisted. There were four pieces, so each of us took one. I kept looking at it on the small plate in front of me, turning it over and trying to figure out what it was. It wasn't in a bun or steamed in a wrapper. It was something. As I put it in my mouth, I quickly spit it out, screaming " chicken feet! she was telling us it's chicken feet"… we kind of all simultaneously spit out the bony stuff back onto our plates, began laughing hysterically, and then went back and ate them. It was terribly tedious and not that tasty. The sauce wasn't even hot or spicy.

Lucky Buck’s

May 11, 2007 mmm-yoso Burgers

*** Lucky Buck's has closed

Recently, I had the pleasure of having lunch with my friend JackB, whom I hadn't seen or heard from in a while. I asked him if he had any suggestions for grabbing lunch, and he said "why don't we try a burger at Lucky Buck's". My reply, "say what? Uncle Buck's?" "No Lucky Buck's." And since I just can't resist a stupid pun I asked "well, where the buck is it located?" I was amused to find out it was pretty much right under my nose in Hillcrest, right next to Ichiban, and I hadn't even noticed!

I met Jack right outside the very empty restaurant, and we walked in while still trying to catch up on a few things….like "what the buck have you been up too?"

First off, I really liked colors and how the restaurant was designed.

Now I don't watch all those home improvement or design shows, so I really can't articulate the restaurant decor, other than to say….perhaps Industrial meets Art Gallery?

Lucky Buck's menu consists of burgers, burritos, and sandwiches, and various combinations of those items. As you can clearly see on the very colorful and "busy" menu.

Since I was here for a burger, I decided to have one of the burger 1/2 pound burger combos. I always like a good ol' regular burger so I can gauge just how good the burger is. I found out JackB is the same as well. We both got the "Plain Ol' Buck" ($7.59). I was asked how I wanted my burger, and happily exclaimed "medium"….now a good burger done medium, well there a few things better! Another thing I liked was the choice of "bun", you can get Onion, Sesame, or Wheat….hey, maybe this was my lucky day…..

While our burger was being Char Broiled, I had a chance to check out the condiment table, which included something called Buck's Special Chipotle Sauce.

I managed to get a taste of the "Special Sauce", and well, it wasn't anything special…..

BTW, in case you have the misconception that this is fast food, read the sign on the right. Our food did take a while, though I don't think it was more than 15 minutes or so.

Our burgers and waffle cut fries did look really yummy:

And the burger looked really nicely char broiled, with an interesting almost slightly red lacquered color. With some onion, lettuce, and tomato from the condiment bar, I was ready to jump in.

This is where my "luck" ran out. The burger had been over cooked(I guess asking me how I wanted it done is just a formality?).

JackB had bitten into his burger at the same time, and looked at me and said, "this is pretty dry and grainy." My thoughts exactly. Which was too bad, because the flavor of the burger wasn't too bad…there was a hint of "something" there, perhaps some chipotle? The burger also had a pretty good char broiled flavor.

I think there were some timing issues with the waffle cut fries, which ended up being a bit soft and soggy by the time we got them.

That's too bad, because these seasoned waffle cut fries had a good flavor, and must be pretty good when hot.

And that's kinda how we left it…….after a nice "talk story", JackB said something that stuck with me. "You know, this place has some potential…." Which had me thinking, maybe this wasn't my "lucky" day. Sooooo, a few days later, I decided to give Lucky Buck's another try.

I was going to have another "Plain ol' Buck", but decided it would be kinda boring…so I went went for the "Bleu Buck" Combo ($7.59). I don't recall how much my soda was, but the total was over 10 (lucky) bucks. Again, I was asked how I wanted my burger…and my answer was? "Medium", of course. After a short wait in the empty restaurant, my name was called out…which was kinda funny, since I was the only person in the place.

After grabbing some tomato and onion from the condiment bar, I sliced my burger in half, and you see the result below. Still not "medium"(why even bother asking me – and it ain't carry over cooking since it took me 15 seconds to get from the counter to the table, and cut my burger in half), but nice and juicy. Since my bacon was undercooked and the bleu cheese really didn't bleu me away, I wished that this was the plain "burger" I got on my last visit(sans the cheese and bacon). I noticed that the burger was being basted with some liquid while being grilled, which accounted for the nice lacquered exterior, and perhaps some of that "chili" flavor?

Nice burger. Good, but not great…but I'd have it again.

The seasoned waffle cut fries on this visit were hot and crisp. If you like waffle cut fries, you'll be in "luck". I received a very large amount of fries on this visit, and try as I might, I couldn't finish them off.

I found the service at Lucky Buck's to be a detached-professional. Sort of like they really don't care if you eat there or not, but that could be because it was lunch. There are several beers on tap, and margarita specials. The current lunch special consists of a 1/3lb Burger, Fries, and small drink for $6.95. Not a bad deal at all. We'll see how my "luck" holds out on my next visit……..

Lucky Buck's
1459 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Suzuya Japanese BBQ – A Revisit

May 8, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

*** Suzuya has closed

The Missus has been on a roll lately, on a Yakiniku/Korean BBQ roll to be precise. So after a very nice meal at Tsuruhashi, the Missus decided that She was ready for Suzuya….just for comparisons sake, of course! This was great for me, since I'd enjoyed my previous lunches at Suzuya, I was looking forward to trying out the dinner menu. We arrived at about 7pm on a recent Tuesday to find Suzuya completely empty.

I liked the way Suzuya is designed, with nice spacing between tables, and a understated but classy set- up for an Asian BBQ joint. Now there is one specific item that sets Suzuya apart from Tsuruhashi, and that would be that Suzuya serves Shabu-Shabu(Japanese style Hot Pot). Now the Missus was pretty excited at the prospect of having some Shabu-Shabu, it's one of Her favorite styles of eating, and frankly, it had been a while. The bummer was that on the placard it says "Two order minimum", which it would seem would blow the possibility of having a combo Yakiniku/Shabu Shabu dinner out of the water. And this requirement kinda made sense since the table had only one brazier on it. So we mentioned this to the nice young man waiting on us, who said, "just one minute", and walked to the kitchen area. He came back in a minute and said that since the restaurant was empty, they'd make an exception, and charge us slightly more. We had no problem with that, in fact we were really pleased with the service.

Soon enough the dipping sauces for the Shabu-Shabu arrived.

The condiments were the standard "Gomatare"(sesame dipping sauce) which in this case was a combination miso and sesame dipping sauce and lemon based Ponzu. also provided was a rustic type of Momiji Oroshi(usually grated daikon and chili), which in this case was grated daikon and togarashi, and thinly sliced green onions.

Soon enough a pot of water with some Kombu(kelp) arrived and placed on the burner.

Notice a problem with the photo? Well, Kombu should NEVER be boiled, as it will add a bitter flavor to the liquid. I just had to remove it.

Soon enough all of the "stuff" started arriving…..remember, this is for one order of Shabu Shabu. First the thinly sliced Rib Eye.

Well marbled meant a very moist and tender meat when briefly submerged in the liquid.

A nice generous helping of Napa Cabbage, Shingiku(Garland Chrysanthemum), Shiitake Mushroom, Tofu, Gyoza(dumplings), Onion, Carrot, and Udon. The shingiku was very fresh and had a nice flavor. The Missus enjoyed the Udon the most, as it had a nice, mildly chewy, pull to it.

This was a nice start to the meal….in fact it almost felt like enough food for the whole meal! As soon as we were done, everything was whisked away and the cooking surface placed on top of the flame, and we were ready for the Yakiniku portion of the meal.

The sauces provided for the Yakiniku was a Aka(red) miso based sauce, that had a nice sweet-miso flavor, and the standard ponzu sauce.

We started with Beef Tongue, which has become the Missus's favorite.

This however, was not the best version of tongue we've had. It was very tough, and was a bit off in terms of flavor.

The Mixed Vegetables.

Everything was as good as veggies should be. Being the carb lover, I enjoyed the boiled potatoes after they'd been grilled for a while. The Shiitakes also were excellent, but overall, I felt that I could make this at home.

The "Prime" Rib Eye:

Unfortunately, in this case the picture doesn't lie…you can draw your own conclusions……

The Mixed Seafood.

Not very impressive, especially after having the Mixed Seafood at Tsuruhashi. Everything was fine, and the scallops were good, though not sashimi grade. The shrimp looked and tasted like regular black tiger shrimp.

In the end, we were left scratching our head. I mean the service was so nice and accommodating, and we enjoyed the very relaxed atmosphere….maybe due to the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant. The Shabu-Shabu was good, but the Yakiniku fell a bit short.

We so wanted this meal to be great, since we really like this restaurant….

So how about price? In keeping with the Tsuruhashi post, I decided to wait till the end to summarize everything.

Shabu Shabu – $18.00
Seafood Mix – $9.50
Tongue(Jo-Tan) – $7.50
Mixed Vegetable – $5.50
Prime Rib Eye(Jo-Rosu) – $7.50
Rice – $2.00

Total $50.50 w/o Tax

And to make me feel even worse about doing this post, they didn't charge us extra for ordering only one order of Shabu Shabu! But then again, how is it that all of the Yakiniku is more expensive than Tsuruhashi? Sigh……..

We will return to Suzuya, though we may just stick with the Shabu Shabu. I'm hoping that someone will comment and tell me this was just a very off night for the Yakiniku.

Suzuya Japanese BBQ
5447 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 505-0611

Lunch – Mon-Fri 1130am – 230pm
Dinner – Daily 5pm to 11pm

Tacos Mi Pueblo-That Mexican Place by the Home Depot in Santee

May 7, 2007 Cathy Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

Sadly, Tacos Mi Pueblo has closed. It is a now a taco shop, without abodaba or al pastor…

mmm-yoso is the name of the blog. Today it's Cathy a-blogging, tomorrow it will most likely be Kirk a- blogging.

Hello again. Cathy here. Yes, blogging about another taco shop- one that has been in the Santee Town Center since it opened. One that makes Al Pastor and Adobada tacos as well as some large breakfast burritos and in house chile relleños an has a fresh salsa bar and daily specials.

It's in the parking lot that has the Home Depot and Hometown Buffet in the 'heart' of Santee (our City Hall is a bunch of permanent trailers and is located in the North East corner of the City, so I suppose it isn't right to call it 'downtown', this area of town is called "Town Center"). Tacos Mi Pueblo opened when the Home Depot opened, about 9 years ago now, and it is still in the same location. That is a good thing.

The menu is pretty simple and on the wall behind the cash register and above the stove. This paper menu doesn't show breakfast, but they have it.

So, the other day the "Get1Free" book arrived in the mail and there as a coupon for the rolled tacos, and I was hungry, so off went The Mister and I…we had to go to Home Depot also, but in my mind, having something to blog about was primary; the heck with playing with copper tubing and MAPP torches; we've waited this long…

A total of 10 shredded beef rolled tacos, topped with fresh guacamole, lettuce, cheese and salsa. $2.75 total. Thick corn tortilla rolled around shredded beef. Excellent flavors.

I also tried one of the specials on the wall- a chile relleño, cheese enchilada, rice and beans plate ($5.75). Excellent chile, made in store (not the pre-made ones you can get from Smart N Final) with a sauce unique from the cheese enchilada sauce. Everything was excellent, fresh and tasty.

However, the name of the place IS "Tacos Mi Pueblo"..so I had to go back , when hungry, to try the …um…oh, yeah, the tacos. I tried three. (It's kind of funny that I am writing this as if I had never been here before…). Each costs $2.25.

The Al Pastor, cooked on a spit, was very flavorful.

They overloaded all three tacos with guacamole and salsa, which I put onto the second tortilla given for each taco and sort of had my own 'nacho feast' later.

Oddly, the carne asada meat seemed to have

the least amount of flavor, but still was very good. Perhaps because it had been cut into small chunks and cooked a second time to be sure it was heated properly.

Again, extra guacamole and salsa. But it went to good use later.

The Adobada was excellent!

Tender, juicy with just enough heat in the marinade.

All in all, great food. They have a special of 4 mini tacos for the price of three (all have to be the same meat, though) for $3.75. Its good food, and close to Home Depot. Better than the Hot Dog cart in front of HD, definitely! They have a punch card and it gets validated every time you spend more than $10. Five punches and you get either a free bean and cheese burrito or 3 rolled tacos.

Tacos Mi Pueblo, 235-H Town Center Parkway, Santee 92071 (619)449-7019 Open 7 days 9 am-8 pm

Happy’s Sushi- Good Japanese food, loud music, pretty darn good rolls

May 3, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is blogging, Kirk is busy with some other project.

Hello again. I met Mr. C for lunch a couple of months ago, and He suggested we try Happy's Sushi. It's on Mira Mesa Boulevard in the mall with Silver Ark, Hollywood Video and Seafood City. It used to be a Pho place. The front looked like this-with the large yellow sign "Buy 2 get 1 free sushi roll every day from 11-2 and 5-6". So, we had to.

This is our selection of three rolls: The Happy Roll: fried shrimp, krab and cucumber inside, with spicy tuna and avocado on the outside ($8.95). Yes, I know, krab…but it tasted very good; the shrimp were sweet and fried so lightly.

We also got the soft shell crab roll ($8.50). Fried soft shell crab, krab, avocado, gobo, sprouts and cucumber. It was wonderful- those are the crab claws sticking out in the photo- they were nicely battered and fried, so tasty and crispy.

The third roll, at the top of the photo there was the Fantasy Roll ($9.50). The inside had spicy krab and cucumber and the outside had seared albacore, seaweed , ponzu and was garnished with sprouts. Here is an upside down photo so you can see a cross section of the other rolls.

I particularly liked the albacore. The cucumber was unusually fresh, crispy and tasty also. A nice, clean, complimentary taste.

The rolls were very good and fresh and quite large. It was a very filling meal. Thanks for a nice lunch, Mr. C!

So, The Mister and I decided to go back the other day( so I could finish this post). The sign from the front facade was missing, but there there was a notice at the front door, indicating that if you bought the buy two get one free roll, the free roll was the one of lesser or equal value. Apparently there were problems.

We decided to try stuff from the regular menu- The large Ahi Poki salad ($8.50), which is served on top of a seaweed salad.

The tuna was very fresh but not very spicy. I kind of wanted more spice. Slightly disappointed. There was quite a bit of tuna.

The seaweed salad was very nice and fresh, seemed to be made with 3 different types of seaweed. It was excellent.

I decided I wanted the vegetable tempura, and so had it as a plate, with salad and rice. I really liked the dressing on the salad, ginger and a little garlic and creamy. The rice is excellent. The vegetables were very nicely fried. The batter was light and airy and crispy. The slice of carrot was only slightly disappointing; the carrot was kind of soft, not crispy, although too many times I have had way too firm a tempura'd carrot. I guess I don't know what I like. There were two pieces of tempura'd asparagus which were unexpected and really nice. The onion slice was particularly nice. The dipping sauce seemed watered down.

The Mister decided to try the shrimp yakisoba ($8.75) and boy was it good!. The stir fried noodles were nicely al dente and flavorful, the veggies (onion, cabbage and carrot) were all nicely crisp-fresh and the shrimp (6) were large, grilled and sweet.

All in all, I liked Happy's. Many people seem to; the sushi bar was full both when I was there for lunch and for dinner on a Friday night.

Both times I seemed overwhelmed by the loud music. The radio station it is tuned to is most likely XM 21, 22, 25, 26, 29 or 30- newer, younger songs and the volume was way high both times. I saw a waitress sit down next to a young Caucasian couple so she could explain some menu items to them; they could not hear her otherwise.

Thanks, Mr. C for telling me and taking me to this restaurant!!! It made me happy!

Happy's Sushi 8973 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92126 (858) 536-3178

Mon-Thurs 11-9, Fri-sat 11-10, Sun 12-9 Closed every day from 3-5 website

Mexican Fiesta

May 2, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Mexican Fiesta has closed

A little over a month ago I received a really nice email from "GregM". In the email Greg mentioned a little Taco Shop on India Street called Mexican Fiesta. To quote "check out Mexican Fiesta's al Pastor taco. Good enough that I carry it back to NYC for my Dad, and it was the champion in my now aborted attempt to sample every taco stand in SD." How could I resist? If it's good enough for Dad, it's probably more than "good enough" for me!

So during a recent weekday, I made it down to the South end of India Street, and amongst all the towering High Rises, and new development, I found Mexican Fiesta. I must have driven past this place many, many, times and never noticed it.

I just had to cross the street and snap this photo which shows the sharp contrast between the "little taco shop that could", and the towering buildings surrounding it. For some reason, this little scene stirred up memories of one of the first books I ever read, called The Little House, written by Virginia Lee Burton. (and no, I didn't read a first edition version in 1942 ) In the book, a little country house is overcome by the urban sprawl until it is surrounded by giant buildings.

Business at Mexican Fiesta is brisk and busy.

You order at one window, pay, and are handed a number. When your number is called, you pick up your order at the next window. When I ordered, I was number 68, as I moved out of the way number 49 was called! As you can tell, there is no dining room or eating area, all orders are to go. Though, if you need to use the "facilities" those are provided for across the street.

And though these looked a bit out of place, the porta-potties were doing almost as brisk a business(no pun intended) as Mexican Fiesta!

The customers at Mexican Fiesta was a diverse group, a slice of almost every demographic, income level, and social standing. Even though I had to wait for almost 20 customers before me, my order was ready in a relatively short amount of time. And, since I had found primo parking, I had lunch in my car parked on the side of India Street.

For some variety, I thought I'd start with a Carne Asada Taco($1.99):

To be honest, I wasn't very hungry, and only ordered two tacos. I didn't know what to expect, but my little brown paper bag was very heavy. Well, these sure weren't those little street tacos, it was quite large. The Carne Asada was decent, very soft, but dry, with a very mild flavor. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of iceberg lettuce and shredded cheese on my tacos. On a side note, the Salsa Roja was good, a balance of heat and sour, with a just a hint of sweetness.

Just when I thought that perhaps I'd made a mistake, I opened up my Al Pastor Taco($1.99):

Now this was another pretty large taco. Though I consider this to be more Adobada than Al Pastor, meaning that it doesn't look spit roasted and lacks a good amount of carmelization, the pork itself was good, probably the softest Adobada I can remember, and very juicy to boot. The seasoning of the pork had a deceptive amount of heat, and an overall good flavor. I'd have these again. If anything, I'd have wished for more onions and cilantro, and the tortilla didn't hold up too well, I almost had the pork in my lap, but that was because the pork was so moist.

Sure seems like you get your money's worth here. One day soon, I'll probably stop by for that Machaca Burrito. It's good to see this small little stand doing so well. From what I could see Mexican Fiesta opens at 8am, Greg also notes that the hours are very limited during the weekends.

Mexican Fiesta
1460 India St
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 231-9851

Thanks for the recommendation Greg, that Al Pastor was very good!

Do-Over: Rosa’s Pizza

April 28, 2007 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Kirk is somewhere around town and Cathy is doing her first re-blog of a place she didn't like the first time around.

Hi. On January 23 of this year, I blogged about Rosa's Pizza. I did not like it. At all.

First of all, Rosa's is a Pizzeria. It's ON Convoy Street,( across from Home Depot Expo), the Mecca of All Asian foods…what is an Italian based food source even *doing* down there?

I got a few comments telling me how wrong I was. In particular, Dave wrote to tell me how the pizza he had in front of him *did* have spices in the sauce, he was crunching on garlic bits and that it wasn't as bad as I spoke of it being. I remember the sauce that was on the pizza I ate tasted just like canned tomatoes, the crust was nice and crispy but flavorless and I did like the wings. Michelle had written in also, telling me how much she loved Rosa's and did not understand my comments.

In any other case (like, if I was not blogging as one of my various little hobbies in life), I would not even bother going back. But feel I must be fair, and see what it is that Michelle and Dave are talking about. Also, The Mister was reading their comments and told me I should. (I think he just was hungry for carbs).

So, off we went. A nice, chilly, after the rains of Friday -now a Saturday- jaunt to Convoy Street. The new construction of the old Olehausen Billiards place was going on: the carpenters couldn't work in the Friday rain, so they were going to get as much done on Saturday as possible.

This time we ordered a sausage pizza ($6.99)and also tried the 16 piece breadsticks ($3.99) with cheese ($1).

When we parked, a car pulled up behind me and an older gentleman ran into Rosa's to pick up two pizzas…we ordered, were told it would be about 15 minutes, so walked over to Nijiya to get some beverages. {I like getting the hot green tea in a can from the small refrigerator looking contraption on the counter in the bakery section.}

We walked back to Rosa's, to see three other people parking and running in to pick up pizzas. There was a brisk business and that was a good sign.

We sat down and the nice young man who took our order brought out the boxes of pizza, breadsticks and sauce. He asked us if we were eating outside and when we said we were, he went back in and brought us plastic cutlery and paper plates and napkins. That was very nice.

The pizza, looked, good, like the last one did. The crust was nice and layered and crispy, but, again, had no olive oil flavor. It was a nice and crisp bread. I was glad we had ordered sausage- look at the oil. I figured that'd give it some flavor. I was right. It's an excellent sausage. The cheese was plentiful, stringy and, again,had not much flavor. However the oil from the sausage helped tremendously- as did the sauce- it was a nice, spiced, herbed sauce. There was garlic in it and the melding of flavors helped the flavorless, but nicely crispy, crust.

Then there were the breadsticks, with cheese and sauce. Lots of cheese, and eating it this way is why I said the cheese had not much flavor, although it was plentiful and stringy. I think the lack of flavor may have to do with the fact that they leave the items in just long enough for the cheese to melt, but not to brown. If it were left in a little longer, the slightly burnt cheese would probably have more flavor. It isn't like it is fake cheese or anything like that.

Then I dipped one of the cheesy breadsticks into the sauce we were given- AHA! THIS was the sauce that was on the pizza we got last time. Pretty much a plain marinara. Tomato sauce, limited herbs. Plain. Needed salt. Or something.

So that was it. Last time we had gotten a switched sauce. That, in combination with no oily meat topping, the plain, non-olive oiled bread- which, again-is a great crust but flavorless. If I ate it plain, as a bread, it would need a salty butter on it…the consistency is wonderful but it is just missing something.

I grew up in Detroit, the Homeland of "pizza" (Dominoes and Little Cesar's started there). I have been to Italy and know what 'real' pizza is and I know what I like. Rosa's is not as bad as I originally blogged about, but it isn't earth shattering pizza either. It doesn't send me. I will go back again, but maybe not for pizza, I'd like to try an eggplant Parmesan sandwich. The bread will be great.

Rosa's Pizza 3860 Convoy Street, San Diego. Between the mall that has Nijiya/Curry House/Sunrise Buffet and the mall that has Wings and Things/Original Pancake House/Izakaya Sakura