Closed – Page 99

Dede’s

March 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

*** Dedes' has closed

Before there was Ba Ren, we used to go to Dede's fairly regularly for Sichuan Food. Though if we really wanted Sichuan Food we'd still do the 100 plus mile drive to Chung King in Monterey Park. But of course Ba Ren changed all of that. But that's not to say the food at Dede's is bad, it's not. Just perhaps not to our taste.

I believe that "Dede's" inherited their English name from the previous business that occupied the space; a Tea and Boba joint. The Chinese name of Dede's indicates that Chongqing style Sichuan food is served here.

We decided to drop by Dede's, to see what had changed in the last 2 years since our last visit. The colorful interior of Dede's belies it's Teahouse past:

On this afternoon Teresa Teng(the late Deng Li-Jun) videos were playing on the big screen television. We also noticed that, many of the "specials" on the placard had taken a larger turn away from Sichuan Cuisine.

Though all the old favorites are still there:

On this visit we ordered the Spicy Fish Slices with Golden Mushrooms($8.50):

This interesting dish was like a combination of two classic Sichuan offerings, the Water Boiled/Boiled in Hot Sauce and Pickled Pepper type dishes. This was a nice hot, but not numbingly hot dish, though the amount of oil was fairly low. Battered and lightly fried fish lay on a bed of Enoki Mushrooms and was covered with "Hot Sauce", Zhacai and other pickled vegetables were also featured in this dish. Good, but not great.

I also ordered one of my favorite Sichuan snack type dishes Spicy Cold Noodles($4.99).

This was pretty horrible, a failure from all angles. The noodles tasted like they were uncooked store bought noodles, very hard and brittle. The sauce lacked sugar, and almost tasted like just Black Vinegar. Usually there would be at least a mild sesame paste flavor as well, but not this time. Not even a bit spicy to me as well. The peanuts were half peanuts, and not coarsely chopped. This was just bad eats!

Luckily, we ordered my favorite dish from Dede's; Cumin Flavored Lamb($8.50):

As far as I know, this isn't a Sichuan dish, but it's still good eats. Fragrant, slightly nutty cumin dry fried with thin slices of lamb and onion, and topped with cilantro. Delici-yoso!!! You can tell that high heat was used very successfully in the creation of this dish by the lack "oil" that would be created if the lamb was stir fried in a conventional manner using inadequate heat.

Dede's offers an alternative to Ba Ren; most of the dishes do not use quite the same amount of oil, and is not as spicy. We do think that the flavors at Dede's are not as complex as Ba Ren's. There is also a lack of the layering of heat that we appreciate, and Ma-La(numbing hot) is lacking in many of the dishes. All the "usual suspects" of Sichuan food are available, and we've tried most of them; Rice Crust dishes, Dishes Boiled in Hot Sauce, ChongQing Red Pepper dishes, as well as Cold Dishes like Fuqi Feipein. We also noticed that in the last few years Dede's has added Sichuan Hotpot(Malaguo) to their menu, with a Buffet available at $20 per person.

Dede's Teajuice City
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I Finally Got Around To….Original Tommy’s

March 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Burgers, Hot Dogs

**** After a long run Tommy's has closed

Well a sign is worth a thousand words:

Especially if you live in SoCal. "Tommy-burger" has a real following here in SoCal, you either love it or hate it. As with most burgers of a similar vein, there are stories of the effort that people will go through to get a "Tommy's chili or burger." We had a "Tommy's" right down the street on Fullerton when we lived in LA, and I had a friend come and visit….He had to have Tommy's for breakfast…for 3 days straight! That's right, Chiliburgers; it ain't just for breakfast anymore…..

Tommy's has finally opened here in San Diego, with little mainstream fanfare, but alot of "rumbling" on the Internet. Those who love Tommy's must first profess unrequited love for grease, but delici-yoso grease. The Missus loves Tommy's chili. Alas, the chili does not love Her back, it gives her heartburn! Her inability to painlessly digest Tommy's chili will then make her look upon the chili in a negative light, with the liberal use of that horrible culinary four letter word; "lard". As in "it must have lard in it…." I, on the other hand do not suffer from any immediate adverse reaction from Tommy's, thus to put it into the words of the Missus, "Next life, you be me, Ohhh-Kay!"

I finally got around to Tommy's on a recent weekend. In order to "earn" my Tommy's, I first swept and mopped the house, scrubbed and cleaned the bathrooms, raked the backyard, did 6 loads of laundry, and other various sundry tasks. All self-imposed. As I entered Tommy's the first thing I noticed was that even though it was 3 in the afternoon the dining area was pretty full. The second thing I noticed was that there were several "Guys" eating a Tommy Burger with a fork and knife! Say what! Hey, fork and knife Guy, be a man! You eat the burger like a burger, with no regard for personal hygiene, with your hands. Overwhelmed by my presence in a real Tommy's in San Diego, I had problems even deciding what to order. Yeah, I should have a problem at a place called Tommy "BURGER". I eventually just ordered a #2 combo($5.70):

A double chili cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. I of course ordered the burger the way I wanted it – no pickles, extra onions….but received my burger with pickles anyway. Not that it made any difference. I felt like my burger was a little short on the chili though! The chili on a Tommy's is a gloppy, fairly mild chili "con carne", that has a texture similar to refried beans. I enjoy the acid that tomato provides on the burger, though I wished I had a bit more chili. I hope you enjoy the sheen of grease reflecting off the burger photos:

Though I don't crave Tommy's like many Angelinos, I enjoy a Tommy Burger every once in a while.

The fries I received sorely missed chili, cheese, and onions:

I felt I was committing a crime by eating these without the requisite "parts". I'll make sure to correct this next time!

There's a part of me that believes that burgers have supplanted hot dogs as being the quintessential American food, though that may be heresy to some. But think about it, be it White Castle, Krystals, In and Out, or Fatburger(my fave, though San Diego's Fatburger's have been mediocre); we all have our favorites. I still have fond memories of my beloved W & M Burger. Be it sitting in the car, on the curb, or wondering what wine to match with a Tommy's, burgers have become an obsession for many. I distinctly remember the first time I had a Tommy Burger, though I don't even express a great fondness for them. So strangely enough, Tommy Burger is on that "first time I tried list" along with Foie Gras, Peking Duck, Escargot, and other items….go figure!

And there ain't nothing wrong with a Tommy's once in a while…….

Original Tommy's
7415 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Postscript: I've been assured that there ain't no Tommy Burger, like the one served at the "Original" Original Tommy's at Beverly and Rampart.

Vientiane Food To Go

March 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants

*** Thai Garden Restaurant (Serves Lao Food) is now at this location.

*** Vientiane is now Imperial Thai Cuisine. You can find a post here.

*** I've posted an update on Vientiane on March 15th ***

I had heard about a Laotian Restaurant called Vientiane from one of Sam's (of Sammy Sushi) Assistants. After a brief discussion and some Otokoyama he gave me directions to Lao Plaza on the corner of Imperial and 47th Street.

Blink and you'll miss the very non-descript building, that is Lao Plaza. If you manage to snag a parking spot you'll see the sign.

There it was, Vientiane Food To Go. I believe Vientiane is also the Capital of Laos. This small building holds a few "stalls" that sell everything from sunglasses to jewelry, to Laotian video rentals. The people here were also extremely "camera-shy", so I refrained from taking photos. We did get the "you're not from around here are you" feeling as we walked past the various stalls.

At the South End of the Building there is a small doorway, walk through the doorway and you enter Vientiane. To your right is a kitchen area, and we could smell the scent of soup simmering. In the middle section is a refrigerator, which is a snack and drink stand. To the left is a simple window, with various fried and hot table items. The dining area is a bit worse for wear, with Laotian Music Videos playing on the television mounted above the doorway.

I was totally lost trying to read some of the menu. I know that "Tom" are soups, as I believe "Keng" are, but as to the details, I really wasn't sure.

Luckily, the Lady working the window was so very nice and helpful. And after brief discussion we placed our order, and the lady started working on Her Mortar, preparing our Papaya Salad.

The Papaya Salad was very spicy, the papaya fresh and crisp. What I have found with Laotian style Papaya Salad, is that the sauce for the salad is very dark, and the fish sauce flavor is fairly strong. This was no exception. There was a small amount of salted blue crab at the bottom of the salad. Not bad, I'd have this again.

We also had two orders of "Sticky Rice":

To go along with the Fried Quail, that looked like they were about to up and run right off the plate.

I love steamed sticky rice, somewhat nutty in flavor, though the quail was on the dry side and fairly bland. I think I'll try the Beef Laap here next time.

The Missus also got some Fried Rice with Sausage(very delici-yoso!!!) for later, and a drink, all for $15, not bad!

My experience with Laotian food has been limited to Papaya Salad, Laap(yummy Beef Laap), and Laotian Sausage. But I'll be trying a few more dishes at the various Lao Restaurants in the area.

Some Notes: The Lady working "Food to Go" was so nice and helpful. The neighborhood can seem a bit scary, but we've never encountered any problems and you'll get a neat little cultural experience walking among the stalls in Lao Plaza. There is additional parking in the rear of the building.

Vientiane Food To Go
Located in Lao Community Plaza
110 47th St
San Diego, CA 92102

Intersection of 47th St and Imperial Ave

Brians’ American Eatery

March 2, 2006 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Diner

*** Brian's has closed

The Missus isn't really a "breakfast person" in the conventional sense. That is, She sometimes craves breakfast for dinner. And on a recent evening She had a craving for Wheat Germ Pancakes from Brians'. And Brians' serves breakfast all day.

Yes, it's called Brians', not Brian's, after the two Owners, who are both named Brian. I did a quick "handbag check", the Missus had rotated out the "Dior" and replaced it with a Fendi, so hopefully the Dior curse hadn't followed us. We drove up to Brians' which is located on busy Washington Street in Hillcrest, and is one of those popular and sometimes very crowded neighborhood diners.

We have always had very friendly service at Brians', and today was no exception. Since it was still fairly early for dinner, and the sun was out, we decided to sit on the patio.

The Missus ordered Her Wheat Germ Pancakes, but they were out, so She had the Whole Wheat Pancakes instead($5.99).

The full stack of whole wheat pancakes consist of 3 plate sized ground wheat pancakes. The pancakes were slightly nutty, and not overly sweet. The texture was slightly dense, but not as "chewy" as regular pancakes tend to be. With whipped butter, and maple syrup, the Missus stated that these were delici-yoso!!!

I've had a few dishes at Brians', and have found that the portions are always generous, but it's been hit and miss. Though today I decided to pull out all the stops, and order something interesting from the menu.

Yep, I got a Frankie Burger($9.89)! A 1/2lb burger topped with bacon and jack and cheddar cheese. But most of all it's got peanut butter on it! The menu says; "Don't be afraid!"

I'd say that you'll either immediately like or hate this burger, there's no middle ground. Though I'm not a peanut butter lover, I enjoyed the burger. The not overly sweet peanut bitter added a nice creamy richness to the burger, which was pretty darn good on it's own; seared on the outside, moist and tender in the interior. The peanut butter balanced out the saltiness of the bacon and cheddar cheese. The acid from the tomato helped cut through the richness.

The burger came with two sides and I chose fries:

The "natural style" fries, were "bleh", okay, but they got real soggy very quickly and needed alot of ketchup.

I also got the potato salad.

Red potatoes with a light coat of mayo, the salad had a huge amount of "pickle juice" that would have been off-putting on it's own, but in this case, the vinegar helped cleanse my palate of the peanut butter-cheese-bacon richness. I don't think I'd enjoy these as much with anything else. After eating all this I was stuffed silly!

I have always enjoyed the service at Brians', I also like the no-nonsense stuff. For instance we ordered coffee, and of course had ice water. And instead of having to flag someone down for refills they always leave a pot and a pitcher for our refills.

There are items on the menu at Brians' that I do not enjoy, but overall I consider Brians' to be a pretty good neighborhood diner, and the Missus loves those pancakes.

Brians' American Eatery
1451 Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Postscript: In case you're wondering why I ordered a Frankie Burger, it's because of our own little "Frankie Burger" – meet Frankie(burger….):

Pho’ Cali

March 1, 2006 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** Pho Cali has closed

No it's not Pho' Hoa Cali, nor Pho' T Cali, nor related to any other Pho' something Cali's in San Diego. It's just Pho' Cali.

Around the time of the Tet Festival we started noticing all these little signs on almost every corner announcing "Now Pho' in Mission Valley!" As if this event was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean really, there are two Pho' places right up Ulric Street in Linda Vista, Pho Hoa Hiep and Pho' Hoa, not ten minutes away. Well, call it great marketing if you will, but a few weeks ago, I decided to pay Pho' Cali a visit.

I was impressed with the bright and clean interior.

This being Mission Valley, I was prepared for the higher prices, so about a buck more for Pho' didn't bother me. But don't turn the page of the menu; the Banh Mi here is $4.99!

Being the creature of habit that I am I ordered the Pho' Dac Biet(Combination – $5.99). In this case a bowl of Pho' with rare steak, well done steak, flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe. I ordered, and the garnishes arrived.

The most skimpiest amount of garnish I've ever seen! One sprig of basil! There was however, one leaf of Ngo Ngai. It was tucked away under the bean sprouts, in almost an apologetic manner, as if embarrassed to be associated with such a meager amount of bean sprouts.

I will say that the Pho' Cali served me the fastest bowl of Pho' I've ever had; it arrived at my table in less then 5 minutes after I ordered. Almost beating my ice water and garnish.

I started my Pho' eating ritual; first tasting the broth before adding anything to it. My observations? Nice amount of oil, yet the broth was not very rich, with a slight anise flavor and mild garlicky undertones. Not bad, not good, and pretty generic. There was a fairly small amount of meat, and I didn't find any well done steak. The rare steak, though sliced nice and thin, was tough, as was the tendon. The brisket had no flavor. I even almost chipped a tooth on a tiny piece of bone.

The worst thing was the giant clump of noodle on the bottom of the bowl:

This was why the Pho' arrived so quickly! I separated the noodles, and found that the noodles in the interior portion of the clump was cold! A big no-no. Also, the noodles were mushy, and had no "pull" to them. This was the second worst Banh Pho' I've ever had. I never finished the noodles, though I did a pretty good job on the broth, which tasted much better as the flavor from the garnishes, green onion, cilantro, and sriracha I added started to fuse together.

In the end, the best thing about Pho' Cali was the pond right outside.

I don't know if you'll notice. Normally, I'd visit any Pho' Restaurant at least twice before posting. In this case I see no need to do that. I guess Pho Cali is pretty great compared to the "Chain Restaurant/Fast Food Purgatory" that is Mission Valley. But I'd rather just drive up the street to Linda Vista.

Pho' Cali
1400 Camino De La Reina #105
San Diego, CA 92018

Open 9:30AM- 9:30PM Daily

Finally: Lee’s Garden

February 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Lee's Garden has closed

As indicated in My previous post, we were searching for Lee's Garden when we got side tracked by Ly's Garden. And after that very inexpensive lunch, we traveled a bit further down the road, and came across Lee's Garden, though the signage really didn't make it easy…..

Nor did the rather battered storefront, Lee's just looked alot more rundown then I remembered, how sad:

We decided to eat at Lee's this past Sunday, and arrived at about 4pm for an early dinner. We were walked to our seats immediately by a very friendly Gentleman. We passed one of the other tables and noticed that the Vietnamese Family there were eating 4 different versions of clams, so I made a mental note while we were seated. As is typical for these Vietnamese/Chinese Restaurants, the menus are huge, and analysis paralysis set in:

After what seemed to be a very long period of indecision, we placed our order. Starting with the Clams with Basil($8.95):

These clams seemed to be cooked a bit too long, the clams somewhat tough, and many of them really "gritty". Also, many of the clams had fallen out of their shells and settled into the bottom of the earthen bowl, making this into a search and destroy mission. This led the Missus to state; "I swear, there are more shells than clam meat in this dish, I think we're being ripped off!" I of course disagreed, but felt strangely aware of what seemed to be an abundance of empty clam shells….. This dish was flavored with a good amount of basil, and some jalapeno peppers, but seemed a bit flat in taste. I think it was the lack of garlic in this dish, in addition to perhaps some sweetness to balance out the anise like flavor of the basil.

Seafood Hotpot with Duck Feet(leg – $11.95):

See that kind of yellow/brown strip of meat to the right of the pot? I think that's duck "meat", but I'm not quite sure. I almost never take a salt shaker to my food, but in this case I came pretty close. The dish was very bland, and insipidly boring. Even the shrimp had no taste, the only item in the pot that had any flavor were the shiitake mushrooms.

The best dish of the evening was the Fish Fillet with Black Peppercorn($7.95):

The slightly sweet, salty, gooey sauce, full of pungent black pepper was oh so good. The fish, on the other hand was not. First off, the fish was dry, now I believe that one of the real benefits of battered and fried fish is to keep it moist. But in this case, the fish was dry as if overcooked, probably due to lack of freshness. Also, the batter did not keep any of it's crispness, it seemed to be either under fried or fried at the wrong temperature. Too bad, this could have been a really great dish.

As we were leaving, Lee's started filling up, and everybody seemed to be getting the clams, so I'm guessing it's one of their more popular dishes. We did enjoy the excellent service, and the prices weren't too bad, but I don't know if we'll be back anytime soon.

Lee's Garden
4055 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Lee’s, Um No It’s, Ly’s Garden, Or Is It?

February 26, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** After a very long run; Ly's has closed

Recently, we've been eating at all of our regular Chinese Restaurants; China Max, Ba Ren, and yes, even at the "ABCDE" special, Mandarin Canton. For a change of pace, and for the sake of "material" for a new post, I needed to find someplace new to eat. Just then it came to me, let's try Lee's Garden, we hadn't eaten there in years. The Missus was game, so off we went for a nice weekday lunch. As we took the turn at 54th street, the Missus grabbed my arm and said "turn around, turn around, you just went past it!" Me: "Are you sure?" The Missus:"Turn around I just saw it on our right!"

So I did two U-turns, and drove into the seedy strip mall parking lot. And there it was:

Or was it? This was Ly's Garden…. I mentioned this to the Missus, who responded; "How many Ly's/Lee's Garden do you think is going to be on this street?" "OK, I just thought they were on the other side of the street."

We entered the Restaurant, and surveying the cavernous, but slightly run down interior, I knew immediately, that this wasn't the "Lee's Garden" I was thinking about. But the display of roast pork and duck hanging in the display was calling to me. We were immediately seated by the most cheerful server, and opened the menu. And oh my, the prices….. Just to keep this interesting, let's play a little game. I won't reveal the prices of each dish, and we ordered alot of food, until near the end of the description of each dish.

We ordered a bowl of Won Ton Soup, which came with a plate of bean sprouts and lemon:

The steaming hot bowl of soup was delivered, with a few slices of fishcake, lots of fried garlic, green onions, cilantro, and even some Gailan. And it was a good thing; the broth was on the mild side and needed a little "help".

The wontons were typical Vietnamese-style wontons, very dense pork meatballs. There were 8 wontons in this decent bowl of soup, that cost us…..guess, 4 bucks, maybe $4.50? Well……..

It was $2.75!!! Yes, less then 3 bucks for won ton soup.

The Missus also ordered Porridge with Pork and Preserved Egg:

The porridge was served steaming hot, but was on the watery side, with hardly any preserved egg. Also, the Missus noted that the pork in the porridge was almost like ground pork, not the strings of pork She is used too. The Missus noted a lack of pork flavor and velvety richness that a good bowl of Jook has.

The price? Yep, $2.75……

I ordered one of the most expensive items on the menu. 3 Meats with Steamed rice. While waiting for my lunch this arrived on the table.

I asked the Server what this was, and was informed that it came with the roast meat dish. So hey, another meat. This rich beef-pork broth, along with the soft meat from the pork shank was delici-yoso!!! I'd be happy with just a bowl of this. The broth had the flavor close to that of Pho', but with a bit more "oil" and richness.

As I was polishing this off, my plate arrived:

I had ordered Roast Pork, BBQ Pork (Char Siu), and Roast Duck, all of which came on a bed of Jasmine rice. The BBQ pork was moist, but really too mildly flavored, lacking any of the sweet-beany-saltiness that good BBQ pork has. The duck was also underwhelming and the meat lacked the rich flavor of good roast duck. The Roast pork was pretty good, the skin portions crunchy, the meat slightly sweet and very moist.

This set me back……$4.50!

The Missus, not believing how inexpensive the food was, had to get something else, and went to the deli case and ordered the Shrimp and Chive fried dumplings($2.95):

These were fried up, and arrived on our table a few minutes later. Though a bit on the oily side, the chive and shrimp filling was quite good. And no skimping on the chives either!

In the end we spent $14(without tip), for 4 dishes! Bargain city…….

Some notes on Ly's: The service here was very nice and friendly. The parking lot looks a bit dicey, but there were 2 Security Guards walking around. The atmosphere is quite "divey", but the good service made up for any shortcomings. All prices are for lunch, I think that prices are a dollar more during dinner.

Ly's may not be a "Foodie" destination; but if you're in the neighborhood, and short on cash, Ly's is worth a visit. You will get what you pay for.

Ly's Garden Chinese Restaurant
4350 54th St # B
San Diego, CA 92115

After lunch we drove further down 54th St, and to our left, there it was, Lee's Garden. A Ly and Lee on the same street? Talk about confusion! Guess where we'll be headed next? To Be Continued…….

Alborz Restaurant

February 23, 2006 mmm-yoso Greek Food, Persian Restaurants, What Howie Eats - Where the Foodie from Foodieview Eats

Earlier in the week we did a little window shopping in Solana Beach, and on the way back, I was quite excited to have a chance to have lunch at Alborz Restaurant, which came highly recommended by several People. Located in a strip mall overlooking the I-5 freeway Alborz can be a bit hard to find unless you’re actively looking for it.

I approached the Restaurant positively excited over eating Persian Food. I’ve only had Persian Food in San Diego, at Bandar, Sadaf, and Parsian Market. And my knowledge is pretty much limited to Chelo Kabobs, Shirazi Salads, and the like.

The humble facade hides a a very nice and well appointed interior. We were seated immediately, and looked over the menu. And flat bread was immediately delivered to the table.

Along with very pungent and strong raw onion. The large shaker of sumac was also a good sign.

We placed our orders, and were brought some nice lentil and rice soup; well flavored with cilantro and tomato, I really enjoyed the soup.

Up next came our appetizer. Now this is where I made a mistake. An acquaintance of mine told me to order something called Panir Sabzi($6.99), telling me it was a "salad" with goat cheese and walnuts. And me being the doofus that I am at times, really didn’t do any research, and was kind of confused when it was delivered to our table.

There was a small cube of feta cheese, some really good walnuts, scallions, mint, basil, and leek. The Missus and I looked at each other in pregnant silence, until we both broke out laughing. We were waiting for "something else". Having a total lack of any experience with this dish, and having had it described to me as a "salad" I was totally caught off guard. The last time I was served a plate of herbs like this, it accompanied a bowl of Pho’! My bad….. Finally we figured out that you slice off a bit of feta and walnut, roll up the herbs in the bread and eat it. The feta was too mild and totally lost, and the green onions overpowered everything else in the dish.

The Missus ordered the Lamb Shank($10.50):

The green bean rice was on the bitter side, and the salad was decent, though mild and in need of a good quantity of sumac. The lamb shank was delivered separately:

The lamb shank could have used a bit more cooking, but the texture wasn’t really bad, though the overall taste was a bit on the mild side. The sauce was well flavored and slightly rich, and the Missus enjoyed this the best.

I ordered the Lubia Polo($8.99):

The Shirazi Salad(tomato-cucumber salad) needed a bit more lemon/lime for flavoring, I ended up sprinkling alot of sumac on the salad. The tomato rice was delici-yoso when mixed with the layer of saffron rice, I finished it up in no time. The ground beef kabob was very moist, though very bland, again in need of alot of sumac. The charred tomato was quite bitter.

Though the food was decent at Alborz, I really didn’t think it’s worth making a special trip for. I did Email Howie from A Foodie’s Eye View, asking Him what he usually orders. He informed me, that He enjoys the Kobideh, Chicken Kabob, and the Eggplant Borani. I also asked a Co-worker who is Persian and lives in Del Mar, She also seconded the Kobideh, and also enjoys the Kebob Barg. I was also told that the food at Alborz is decent but very "tame". So maybe I’ll order one of those dishes if I’m in the area and decide to have a meal at Alborz again. Or maybe one of you can do that for me, and let me know how you like it.

Some notes on Alborz: Service was excellent and very friendly. I was amazed at how quickly we were served. As the pictures detail, the portions are pretty large, especially for "Lunch Specials".

Alborz Restaurant
2672 Del Mar Heights Rd
Del Mar, CA 92014

Chinese Garden Restaurant

February 21, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

Don’t you love the name? After all even if there wasn’t the word "Chinese" in the name, all it would need would need is "Garden", "Dragon", "Imperial", or something similar – I’m sure you all will be able to think of a long list, to tell you it’s a Chinese Restaurant. Actually, Chinese Garden is our neighborhood Chinese Restaurant, located in our local, a bit worn, stuck in the 70’s, strip mall, with the usual fast-food(Carl’s Jr, Mickey D’s, Subway), and similar type establishments (Hometown Buffet, Mountain Mike’s Pizza).

Truth of the matter is, I’d only visited Chinese Garden once, right before we purchased our Home in the area. It was raining, and a bit cold, and I thought, I’d grab a quick bite before doing a walk through. I went in a had the buffet($6.45 – lunch), and have never been back since. Let’s just say the food was appropriate in taste and texture for the majority of the customers I saw. See the building hovering above the "Chinese Garden" marquee? It’s a Senior Living complex. ‘Nuff said.

But during a recent afternoon; I needed to return some DVD’s to Blockbuster(in the strip mall), and decided to walk the three blocks instead of driving. And since it’s been a bit on the chili side, I thought I’d give Chinese Garden another visit. Not to punish myself, but to attempt to become one of the "Millions of Happy Customers!"

I always smile when I see that sign. Though the menu says Mandarin, Szechuan, & Chinese Cuisine, I always ask myself, isn’t Mandarin & Szechuan Chinese? Oh well, as you can probably figure with items like Chop Suey and Hawaiian Delight(???), on the menu, Chinese Garden is an ABCDE (pronounced abb-cee-dee – American Born Chinese Dining Establishment).

The decor of the brightly lit interior is pure time capsule 60-70’s Chinese Restaurant, from the large Koi painting, to the faux hanging lanterns.

I decided not to partake of the buffet (with good reason), and instead went for a bowl of War (Wor) Wonton Soup, which was fairly inexpensive at $5.75. I’m not quite sure what the origins are of this soup, to me it’s plain ABCDE.

After a short wait, the Server brought me a pretty large bowl of soup. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of "canned items". Lot’s of bamboo shoots, water chestnut, and button mushrooms. Also the broth was very under flavored. Even more strange, only the whites parts of Napa Cabbage was used. However, the shrimp still had flavor(5 pieces), and there were seven large wontons in the crowded bowl. Even though the appearance of the wontons kind of reminded me of brain matter, they were very soft, not like the dense pork meatball I was accustomed to. I’m wondering if this was due to a larger amount of filler? The flavor of the wontons were mild but acceptable. Overall, an okay bowl of soup for the price. Hey, I may even stop by again, but won’t stray too far from Wonton Soup, or maybe Fried Rice.

The service was very nice, even though they forgot to bring me chopsticks after I asked for them. And even better, I got nice little walk, and a view of Fiesta Island as I walked home. They’ve started working on moving the phone and electricity lines underground in our neighborhood. I can’t wait for the nice unobstructed views.

Chinese Garden
3057 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Industrial Espionage? Hsu’s Szechwan, and a Case of “Photus Interruptus”

February 18, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

*** Hsu’s has since sailed off into the sunset.

Hsu’s Szechwan on the corner of Clairemont Mesa Blvd and Ruffin Road, was the scene of one of my more "interesting" encounters since I’ve been doing this Food Blogging thing. I’d been to Hsu’s once or twice before, but never had the Mongolian BBQ, so a few months back I paid Hsu’s a visit for lunch.

I’m a big fan of decent Mongolian BBQ, where you can grab some really nice thinly sliced meat, pile on fresh veggies, and add flavorings(give me lots of onions and garlic), and various sauces and have it cooked on the super hot griddle. I’ve always hesitated getting it a Hsu’s, and have never been very impressed with the food, which struck me as very generic American-Chinese-Sichuan.

The Lunch Specials are well priced at Hsu’s, ranging from $5.55(Vegetable dishes) to $6.75(Shrimp w/ Green Beans). The Lunch Special Mongolian BBQ is priced at $5.95 including an Egg Roll(all wrapper, hardly any filling), Won Ton(bleh), Fried Rice or Steamed Rice(Hint; get the steamed rice, the fried rice is D-R-Y soy sauce rice w/frozen peas and carrots), and Soup. On this day it was Hot and Sour Soup which was pretty good, nice and gooey with strip of bamboo shoots, though not spicy at all, the soup was not bad at all. So having ordered I walked up to the Mongolian BBQ, and selected some Lamb. For lunch the meat is pre-portioned in an overly small bowl. You add on additional vegetables, spilling most of it on the floor or counter, and head toward the "sauces".

The sauces are disappointing. All of them are watered down, the garlic is actually a few cloves of chopped garlic in a container of water, and so is really garlic water, same with the ginger. Looking at the "formula" placard explains all.

Try and do this with a group of people waiting in line behind you. Having no one behind me, I doubled everything. And headed over to the high heat griddle, handed the bowl over and the Young Man started cooking. I now understood why the sauces were so watery. The "Cook" just stir fries the ingredients, and doesn’t add liquid(I’ve seen a combo of wine and water used), just mixes around the ingredients and dumps it on a plate.

This is where it gets interesting. As I was reaching for my plate I heard "Hey, you, you no take pictures!" And turned around to find a little older Chinese Lady holding a stick in Her hand behind me. I instinctively raised both hands to shoulder height(guilty as charged Your Honor) and the voice in my head told me to "step away from counter". So I put my camera away, "okay, no problem". "You no take pictures here!" My response, "fine, no problem, my food is getting cold, I’m just going to eat". As I grabbed my plate I asked Her why she didn’t want me to take photos, I’m not placing any individuals in any of the pictures. Her answer? "You going to steal our secrets and open same kind restaurant across the street!" WHAT!!!! Yeah, I’m going to take photos of watery sauce, and a generic Mongolian BBQ, and open up another Mongolian BBQ in the same little strip mall on Clairemont Mesa Blvd???? OK, industrial espionage, I got it….. If anyone requests that I not take photos that’s fine with me, no problemo! But as I was walking to my table the Lady asked, "So what you take pictures for?" So I explained that I had a website(foodblog) about food in San Diego. At this point She smiled and said, "You go ahead and take all the pictures you want". Uh-uh, by this point my food is getting cold, and the dining room is pretty dark anyway, I’ve put away my camera, and it ain’t coming back out.

So the food? A pretty simple plate of stir-fry like veggies and lamb. The Lamb was decent and fairly gamey, the Young Man overcooked the veggies though. I also had to add soy sauce for more flavor. Still, for $5.95, this ain’t that bad. Not that I’ll be back soon, but it’s not terrible, just mediocre.

Some notes: Hsu’s also offers all you can eat Mongolian BBQ during dinner for $9.95 per person. Most of the menu is Americanized Sichuan; Kung Pao Chicken, Mu Shu, and such. Prices are pretty reasonable as a whole. The service overall is professional, though not very friendly. I’m still looking for decent Mongolian BBQ in San Diego, any rec’s?

Hsu’s Szechwan Cuisine
9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd # S
San Diego, CA 92123