mmm-yoso!!!

Alaska - Breakfast, Hope, and the Exit Glacier

We slept quite well after a fun first day and dinner. There was nearly nineteen hours of sunlight during our stay and it was bright as noon when we finally got around to waking.

Breakfast was included in the price of our room at the Alyeska Resort

It was a pretty nice spread.

So the Missus and I got a plate......the cured salmon was quite good.

And the Missus and I decided to share an omelet. I made sure to put some reindeer sausage in it. Since I had to wait a few minutes for me eggs to cook, I had a nice chat with the guy at the omelet station. Who was from...….California of course!

Nice folks all around as they even gave us cups of coffee to go in take-out cups.

We checked out and made one more stop before heading toward Seward....at this place. We'd find that folks in Alaska have a great sense of humor as the name of this shop indicates.

The woman working here was very friendly; I watched her help a German couple with directions and recommendations for wildlife tours. We got a small gift for one of the Missus's coworkers. After looking at my credit card; she started talking to me in Japanese.....you gotta love it.

I've had more than one person tell me that the Seward Highway was the most beautiful highway they've driven on. Even on a slightly drizzly, overcast day, I can see why he said that.

We decided on a couple of detours on our way to Seward. The first was taking the Hope cut-off and driving to the little down of Hope. Gold was discovered in nearby Resurrection Creek in 1889 and then in Six Mile Creek. At first a collection of miner's tents, Hope became Alaska's first Gold rush town. By 1899, many of the folks had headed off to the Klondike. Today Hope is a collection of ourdoorsy types, campers, hikers, and rafters.

Our next stop was just outside Seward. At mile 3 of the Seward Highway, you make a turn and head up about eight and a half miles to the Exit Glacier at the end of the road.

From here we took two of the trails to explore. There are many signs along the way like this one.

These signs indicate where the exit glacier used to be in years past.

In fact; back in 1987, you'd be able to view the glacier from this pavilion.

It was quite a sobering experience.

The glacier itself is quite beautiful.

On the way back down we went to the outwash plain.

You could hike right to the edge of the glacier from here. But we decided just to enjoy the view from here.

Back to the Routine. Revisits to Taisho, Tiger Tiger, and Zarlitos.

As I've mentioned in other posts, the past year, now year and a half has gone by in a flash. Our schedules have made it difficult at times to get back into our routines. Finally, after several trips, a heck of a lot of work, things are settling down. And we're getting back to those places that need no introduction for those who've been reading our little blog over the years.

Taisho:

It's been a while since we checked out Taisho; a least 4-5 months! For a place we used to visit every week.

It's still as good as ever. Now open seven days a week.

I'm hoping we can make it back more often.

Yakitori Taisho
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Tiger! Tiger!:

Now that it's warming up; the Missus is in the mood to return to Tiger! Tiger! After a bit of a slump, it seems the food here has returned to form.

The "Ramen Sausage" was the oddest sounding item we came across. It turned out to be delicious. The sausage kind of had the flavor of a chicken-ramen broth. It was a nice surprise as we were ready to not like it.

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104 

Zarlitos:

When it gets too warm for our usual weekend breakfasts at Aqui es Texcoco; it's time to head back to Zarlitos. These days, the Missus actually orders the Poke-silog.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

To all of you who still read the blog after all these years; I think this is post #3851 or something like that. We thank you!

As does Frankie.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Kyoto - Shirakawa-Minami Dori and Lunch at Ichiran Ramen

Do an online search on "most beautiful street in Kyoto" and Shirakawa-Minami Dori will appear. And while we've been down this street several times before, the Missus was excited to see it during Cherry Blossom season. I gotta say; even on an overcast day, it was indeed quite striking.

In fact, the drizzle may have kept folks away and even added some "atmosphere" to our visit.

Those willow trees sure add character to the photos as well.

It is, without a doubt, one of the more beautiful streets that I've had a pleasure to see, that's for sure.

Our Shinkansen was leaving for Tokyo at around 1 pm, so we'd have to head out before noon. So I thought we'd go and grab some morning ramen before freshening up and heading to Kyoto Station. The place I had in mind, Ichiran, is highly regarded with over 60 locations through-out Japan, a location in New York with crazy wait times....shades of Ippudo….at least that was my hope. The location in Kyoto is a 24 hour operation, which suited us just fine.

 

The drill here was initially typical....the good old ticket machine.

For us, it was tonkotsu of course. The tables are more like cubicles, with your own personal water dispenser, a divider, if you choose to need it, and a sheet of paper where you can further define your preference...be it richness (medium), flavor (medium), garlic (a little), green onions (of course), chasu (are you kiddin' me?), red sauce (1/2 portion), and noodle texture (extra firm).

The Missus and I basically got the same thing; except She got the macha dessert. And of course we "needed" to have an egg added.

Soon enough our ramen arrived and I quickly noticed that something was amiss. The bowls felt almost cold to the touch.

And that was a bad start to perhaps the worst ramen we've had in Japan.

First off, the hottest thing in the bowl were the noodles; which were slightly over-cooked, in other words, not "extra-firm". The broth was just past lukewarm and started to separate as it hit the table. It was very bitter, salty, and rather than being rich, because of the temp, quite greasy.

Neither the chili paste, nor the garlic could help this.

The boiled egg was beautifully cooked, but ice cold, as was the chasu, which was too lean and on the tough side......which would have been okay, but cold pork in a lukewarm broth? That's not good eats.

And while the Missus loved Her dessert, it didn't make up for the lousy ramen.

There was a Japanese couple sitting next to me....they kept saying things to each other during the meal. I think they were rather unhappy as well. Look what they left behind. The broth and noodles.....

I'd read so much about how great the ramen is at Ichiran. And maybe it is fantastic. But when you have poor quality control...…….

Ichiran Kyoto
598 Uraderacho Higashiiru Takoyakushidori Nakagyo-ku
Kyoto, Japan

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

We got back to the apartment, packed, and made our way to Kyoto Station. We shared a bento on our way back to Tokyo.

Not too much mind you....we had reservations at one of our favorite restaurants for dinner!

Al Pastor Authentic Mexican Grill

I happened to notice this shop in one of those empty strip malls on the corner of H Street and Broadway on our way to breakfast at Talavera Azul.

I'm usually not swayed by the myriad of "Mexican Grills" and truly not by most places who use the word "authentic" in their name. Call me a cynic.....guilty as charged. But for some reason, this place hung around in my "grey matter" as we ate breakfast. I'm not sure what it was; the strange location, my love for al pastor, or whatever.

So later the same day, I headed back down to Chula Vista to see if the place was even open. And they were. Rather empty at 11 am on a Saturday, but still open.

The two women working were very friendly. The menu huge! With everything from Alambres to Tortas. And there was a strange familiar ring to several of the items on the menu.

That's when I saw him; the owner of Aqui es Texcoco in the kitchen talking to staff. Strange. So I sent my good buddy Candice a text asking if he had opened up a new restaurant. The answer? Yes. I then asked the Server who smiled and said "yes". Apparently, the place had just opened.

Still rather full from breakfast, I decided to get a couple of tacos which are all priced between $2.50 and $2.75.

The salsas are similar to what is served at Aqui es Texcoco; straight forward and nice and spicy.

My tres tacos.

Let's go from right to left. The Costilla (rib meat) was fairly chewy, but not bad, but in need of a bit more seasoning. The arrachera; skirt steak, was fairly tough, but had been seasoned simply and perfectly with a nice grilled-smokey flavor. The winner was without a doubt the al pastor as it had the wonderful slightly sweet flavor along with a nice porkiness that reminds me of Char Siu. Nice crispy bits along with meatier bits were provided. I thought the toritllas were just average; they held up okay, but for some reason lacked the nice corn fragrance and flavor.

A mixed bag overall, but that al pastor was pretty good. I returned the following weekend.

I had seen a couple of items I was interested in on the menu. I started with the Huitlacoche Quesadilla and the Taco de Al Pastor (of course).

The al pastor was a bit tougher than on my previous visit; but the flavors were still good. I didn't care too much for the quesadilla; it was quiet fragrant; the wild mushroom smell tickled my nose, but it was quite bland. But it wasn't griddled right and the tortillas were really hard to cut and I still think it was missing something.

I also ordered the Tostada de pata de res (cow foot tostada)

This was an interesting mixed bag. The tendon had been diced quite finely....I'd have preferred a larger dice so I could enjoy and appreciate the texture a bit more. It was also a bit too acidic and sour for my taste. The beans were lovely; nutty and rich. Loved what the cotija cheese brought to the dish; a light salty-milkiness. A bit too much lettuce for my taste though. Lot's of crisp, crunchy textures, had me wishing for something a bit more toothsome.

As I mentioned a few paragraphs up. A mixed bag, nice service, priced reasonably. I did enjoy the al pastor.

The menu is huge and I'm looking forward to trying other items like the Caldo Tlapeno or Chuleda Ahumada (smoked pork) tacos....or perhaps even Cazuelitas (sopes) Chicharron en Salsa Verde.

I'll give them a bit of time to get settled in before revisiting though.

Al Pastor Authentic Mexican Grill
520 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Kyoto - Gion Yuki

While it seems that the Missus used this trip to chase Sakura, I had noticed something quite interesting. She had developed a fondness for Izakayas. As such, She really wanted to check out an Izakaya on our last evening in Kyoto. Looking through various sources; She decided that we should go to Yuki for dinner. Staying in Higashiyama meant a nice little walk to the Gion, We were shocked to that there was a line twenty minutes before opening. I sent the Missus away to explore while I stood in line and checked my email and such.

The Missus returned right before opening and we were slowly ushered in. The place is rather tiny, rustic, and the folks quite friendly. The crowd was all Japanese and we kind of had them fooled until they started talking to us!

We were immediately handed an English menu; though the Missus could read much of the items in Kanji.

Gion Yuki is owned by Okamura Honke Brewery, located in neighboring Shiga Prefecture. So what to drink? Well, sake of course! We started with a nice, dry Junmai Daiginjyo, moving to sweeter lighter Junmai, even trying the Shin Syu.

Food was an interesting matter. Looking at the English menu; I knew it was incomplete. Looking at the Pinterest/Instagram photos on the Missus's phone, I quickly picked out something the Missus and I love. Shirako!

We ordered both versions of Shirako.

The Shirako Ponzu might have been our favorite dish of the trip. Creamy, with a slight oceany- sweetness, the milt (a nice way of saying cod sperm sack), was fantastic. It went so well with the tangy, sour, and slightly salty ponzu sauce. The green onions were surprisingly pungent; but it was the intense flowery-anise tones of the shiso blossoms that really got our attention. Wonderful textures - fantastic taste.

The grilled version, just couldn't keep up in terms of flavor as it was slightly fishy and fairly bland. It really needed that salt and lime.

The Kamo - duck breast was nicely done. The skin was slightly crisp; the rubbery subcutaneous fat had been rendered off, leaving a nice layer of fat, and the meat had a nice, slightly chewy texture.

The flavor of the duck was fairly intense in terms of gaminess, which is how we enjoy it anyway.

We had noticed that most of the folks eating here were having fried stuffs. So we ordered the Onion Kakiage.

Crisp, light, the frying had brought out the sweetness of the onions. I can see why folks love the fried food here.

The eggplant dengaku; we tried two versions. The darker, richer version was our favorite.

The flavors were quite complex and the scallions gave the dish an overall "zip".

We finished (well almost as we ordered more shirako) was razor clams in broth.

The dashi based broth was light but tasty; the razor clams were surprisingly tender and sweet.

And here's where the fun begins. A group of 4 men and 1 woman gets seated. Seems like several of the group and the woman are German, as we overheard the woman telling one of the gentlemen that she would come here when visiting Kyoto while working for the German Consulate in Osaka.

It was fun watching the salarymen, now quite friendly and helpful after a couple of rounds of sake, try and help these folks order and make suggestions.

Even more funny as none of the salarymen spoke any English! An array of pantomimes, hand gestures....you name it.

Meanwhile, one of the men, the super tall one was walking around the bar checking out what folks were eating. He had heard the Missus and I speak English. We were eating our second bowl of Shirako Ponzu. He smiled and asked, "sir....what are you eating" while pointing to the quivering white masses in our bowl. Passing him the bowl with two hands I told him; "I will tell you, after you try it." He had a taste and his face lit up. "It is good". I said "this is cod sperm sacks". He stood up his full six feet plus, raised his hand, and asked one of the guys behind the counter, "sir....sir...may we have TWO BOWLS of SPERM please?" No one else except his party and the two of us understood what he was saying.....but man, we were rolling.

I now have a new wrinkle for my "a guy walks into a bar....." joke.

Gion Yuki
111-1 Tominagacho, Higashi-ku, Okamura Bldg.1F
Kyoto 605-0078, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

There was still a line of folks waiting outside as we left.

We took the long way back to the apartment, just taking in the city.

Kyoto is beautiful anytime of the day. No wonder it's one of the Missus's favorite cities to visit.

Saturday Stuffs - Simsim Shawarma and Karami Ramen Coming Soon. BT Chinese Kitchen Replaces Lai Chen

I haven't done one of these in a awhile. So here goes.

Simsim Outstanding Shawarma:

I walked past this place last weekend (that's another story).

In the same strip mall as Elijah's and Niban.

7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Karami Ramen:

I don't get to Nijiya quite as much since our office relocated. But a couple of weekends ago I had to do some shopping and noticed this spot. I believe it used to be a tattoo shop?

Anyway, looks like the hoard of ramen shops in Kearny Mesa has grown by yet another.

Nowadays it looks like hot pot or ramen...….

Not much on the applicant.

3860 Convoy St Ste 116
San Diego, CA 92111

Lai Chen becomes BT Chinese Kitchen:

I drove past when grabbing a quick sandwich from The Sandwich A'Fare. It looked like Lai Chen, a.k.a. the restaurant that was never open when I wanted to visit, had closed and been replaced by another restaurant. I swung by while returning to the office. And yep.....

Hmmm...….kind of sounds and looks like Chinese Fast Food?

Anyone been?

BT Chinese Kitchen
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Ban Lao Cuisine Revisited

The last couple of week; since we've gotten back from our trip have been nice. At least in terms of work for me. No more long days and weekends. The recent muggy weather has also changed my eating strategy a bit as well. I was craving Lao food. I decided to head back to Ban Lao to see how things have changed since my first visits there.

The place looks basically the same; except for the strategically placed ATM. The menu though, has evolved a bit, with some new dishes.

I was really thinking about getting the Sien Savanh (beef jerky) which I really enjoyed on one of my previous visit. I saw "fried pork belly" on the menu and really couldn't make up my mind. I finally asked the really nice young lady working here. She basically said she enjoys both, but because I'd had the beef jerky before, why not try the pork belly.....such good sales, huh?

This was ok. The pork belly was nicely fried; though there were some tough bits and without that wonderful fish sauce-chili-citrus dipping sauce it would have not been very good. The seasoning was too mild and it was rather plain.

I really wanted some Nem Khao, which turned out being better than what I'd had here before.

Nice crunchy-crispy bits, good amount of herbs, nice amount of pork skin, I think it could have used a bit more sour sausage, but texturally, this was quite nice. The portion size was a lot larger than on previous visits. And while it didn't look like it; there was a good amount of lettuce for wrapping up the nem khao. It's still not quite there in terms of the sour sausage-pork skin-herbs ratio, but it's better than what I've had here before.

A big plus is how nice the staff has always been in this tiny shop. And it seems things are getting better...….

We gotta get back to Laos one of these days.

Ban Lao Cuisine
4126 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Paris - Arnaud Nicolas

On our last trip to Paris; I made only two dinner reservations. One of them was for Arnaud Nicolas. First off, it was in the 7th Arrondissement, the Missus's favorite area in the city.....She is still in love with that Paris dream. You know, the one with Eiffel Tower in the background, with the oh-so-Parisian food street Rue Cler at your doorstep.

Finding a place in the area, reasonably priced, that served charcuterie from a young chef who achieved the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) at the age of 24. Well, I was quite curious. And being that we love charcuterie.... we just had to check it out.

Located on busy Avenue de la Bourdonnais, I believe this place wasn't even here on our previous visit to Paris in 2016.

Part deli part restaurant; we loved the casual, yet refined atmosphere, and the service was excellent.

I had walked past the counter with the fabulous looking pate en croute and other charcuterie that I was just ready to order everything off the menu.

Luckily, our Server calmed me down with a nice glass of white wine (free as you're seated). We decided to order a nice variety from the "Entrées de Charcuterie". What arrived was so beautiful looking, especially the two pate en croute.

Both the "Volailles et Foie gras de Canard", basically foie gras, duck, chicken and the "Caille, Poire et Pistache", quail and foie gras with pear and pistachio were excellent. The pastry, was delicate, I'm used to doughy and rather hard pastry, this was delicate, light, and still held some texture. It also nicely "hugged" the pate.

While we loved both, our favorite of the two was the beautiful quail and foie gras Caille.

The interplay of earthy-offal tones and mild sweetness just went together so well.

The Missus laughed as instead of digging right into these....I took some time....to enjoy how lovely they looked.

Easily the best pate en croute I've ever had.

The Terrine de Gibier had a wonderful gameiness.

It looked lean and tough, but had a perfect toothsomeness. Not overly salty, but with a nice assertive flavor, this was quite nice and dense.

The Foie Gras mi-cuit (in the foreground) was everything you could ever want. Wonderfully balanced offal-sweet flavors, smooth, decadent richness, with just the right amount of "heft". It just seemed so perfect.

The only "clunker" of the night was the Foie Gras - Truffle (in the rear), two of the Missus's favorite food groups, which just fell flat. Perhaps the foie gras and pate en croute had soiled our tastebuds, but it seemed like, at least with this, that the two main ingredients cancelled each other out. We could really not taste any truffle and the foie gras flavor was faint....we expected the texture to be the same as the mi-cuit, but it was strangely waxy.

We decided to split our main course, which the kitchen graciously did for us. After all the charcuterie, I wanted to try the Boudin Blanc with Truffle. This dish just blew us away.

The black trumpet mushrooms and Jerusalem artichokes were just perfect.....but it was that traditionally finely textured, mildly flavored, white sausage that blew us away. It was nicely seared, which added just the perfect amount of crispness, the restrained amount of truffle was perfect....just a hint, a tease, just enough. The sausage had a mild porkiness to it. But it was the texture that was amazing as it just melted away in your mouth.

As you can tell, we loved Arnaud Nicolas. It was the type of place that suited us well. "Real" and traditional food, executed masterfully.  We enjoyed our meal and the staff so much......we made dinner reservations for the following evening!

Arnaud Nicolas
46 Avenue de la Bourdonnais
75007 Paris, France

I gotta say. Maybe the Missus has a point about staying in the 7th...….