As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food in San Diego and points beyond.
I was surprised that a few folks wanted to know what we did with "Daikon-zilla".
Other than a bit for oroshi, we decided to make Turnip Cakes, which well, isn't made from turnips...perhaps it once was, but nowadays, radish is used. Funny thing, over the years my post and recipe for turnip cakes has been pretty popular.
I realized after shredding the daikon, that this was going to make a whooooole lotta turnip cakes. Meet mount daikon:
After simmering the daikon, and waiting for it to cool......
I went to owkr on the other ingredients. I decided to use twice the amount of dried shrimp and lup cheong this itme around. I also added dried shiitake mushroom that had been soaked for about twenty minutes or so.
This time, instead of soaking the shrimp in water, I started the stir fry with the sausage and shrimp in about 2 tablespoons of oil, and added a a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom soaking liquid before adding the mushrooms. Scallions go last. I stir-fried the whole thing until the liquid evaporated....
I ad the cilantro directly into the batter before steaming. Man, this made four pans of turnip cake......
We gave some of it away.... but we'll be eating this for a while.
Of course the Missus needed something for lunch...... so I made some Karei Karaage.
So easy it doesn't deserve a recipe.... potato starch, sea salt, shichimi togarashi......
Oil at 350......
Fry away......
Turn once.....
When the bubbling starts to slow down.....
It's ready, freddy......
I cut slits in the fish..... this allows the bones to cook, making them crunchy and edible. Afterall, one must get their calcium, right?
So what did I eat? (yes, the Missus ate both of these) I had some of the lup cheong, shrimp, and mushroom mix, and made an omelet.... man was that good!
I first tasted Vietnamese Beef Sate Noodle Soup a couple of years back. And for the last couple of years, anytime I've been feeling a bit congested, or under the weather, I'm looking to get some Beef Sate Noodle Soup. Funny thing about BSNS (yes, I'm too lazy to type the whole thing out); almost every "Mi" (Chinese-Vietnamese Egg Noodle) joint serves it. But, as you'll soon see, each one is unique. In most places, it's just the house soup dressed up with Sate. But next time you're at the Vietnamese Market, check out the variety of Sate sauces, and read the labels. There's only a few items that are the same across the board, chilies, shallots, and oil....... some of the sauces look like they use a good amount of oil. And though peanuts come to mind, not all of this type of sate sauce utilizes them. At it's best, the sate adds deep savory-salty-spicy tones to the noodle soup. At it's worse..... well, I've never had a bad bowl of sate soup, though the other items, especially the beef falls short. Well, enough of that, let's get our soup on......
Minh Ky - Best Bang for the Buck:
Actually, the Beef Satay Egg Noodle "dry" ("Kho") is really good, and you can check out Gastronomer's post, but the BSNS ain't bad either. For me it's a great tonic when I feel a bit under the weather.
To me, it's a great bang for the buck.... the price is not the cheapest at $5.50, but it has a ton of egg noodles, which seems almost unending at times. The beef is usually fairly tender, the portion generous, and usually arrives rare ready to cook and soak up the broth. The sate here is not particularly spicy, but it is rich, perhaps a bit oily, but it does grab you, causing the inevitable utterance; "aaahhhh....."
Let's just say it all together; "aaaahhh....."
Minh Ky Restaurant 4644 El Cajon Boulevard San Diego, CA 92115
Previous posts including Minh Ky can be found here, here, and here.
Welcome to Funkytown - Cam Ky and Hao Vi:
If there was any doubt that BSNS ranges wildly from place to place, I'm sure the versions at Cam Ky and Hao Vi, both appearing very Chaozhou would be good examples. I found it interesting that one of the women at Hao Vi didn't speak Vietnamese, and seemed to talk to her coworkers in a Chinese dialect. One of the women who used to work at Cam Ky spoke Cantonese and Mandarin.
My bowl of BSNS looked very different here. It didn't "smell like turpentine" but looked kinda like India Ink (extra points if you can guess the reference).
Actually, the texture was like motor oil, perhaps of a lower viscosity, but this was almost like a gravy. It was very low on the oil end, and didn't have a whole lot of hard, gritty bits. The spice level was a low medium, and the flavor tending toward a porky, garlic-shallot.
The beef was the toughest of all the soups sampled, but the tomatoes were pretty ripe and did add a nice tangy flavor. There was a nice portion of egg noodles, which were severely over-cooked.
Cam Ky Chinese BBQ 4141 University Avenue San Diego, CA 92105
Meanwhile, the broth of version at Hao Vi, while being very thick, is also the spiciest, but also very interesting in flavor, with hints of clove and cinnamon.
This was super thick, just as before the gravy like "soup" rested on top of the noodles. A quick shift of the noodles with a chopstick, and there's almost a "gloop" as the soup proceeded to overtake the noodles. No tomatoes in this bowl, but for some reason I didn't miss it. The egg noodles were cooked perfectly, though this was the smallest bowl overall.
Hao Vi Chinese Restaurant 4451 University Ave San Diego, CA 92105
Tan Ky Mi Gia times two.... Mira Mesa and El Cajon Boulevard:
The BSNS at Tan Ky Mi Gia in Mira Mesa used to be my favorite.
But the last two times I've had the BSNS it seemed to be missing something. I just can't put my finger on it. So let's call it missing that "je nais sais quoi".
I think the beef here is the most tender, though I once got a bowl with beef that tasted off. When I mentioned that to the folks here, they were quick to replace the bowl.
On this visit, I found it strange that the tomatoes were missing....the acid from the tomatoes help to cut the oil. I'm pretty sure this version of sate uses nuts, as there's a hint of nuttiness... though it could just be a figment of my nuttiness.
The one thing the Missus and I find amusing about Tan Ky Mi Gia, are all the photos everywhere. It seems that everytime we visit there are more photos posted on the windows, and even on the walls.....
Just like that movie star with body dysmorphic disorder who thinks that just one more tattoo will make her/him look more attractive, it seems that the folks who run the place believe that maybe, just that one more photo will make folks order more.
Tan Ky Mi Gia 9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A San Diego, CA 92126
Other posts featuring Tan Ky Mi Gia in Mira Mesa can be found here (check out the windows), here, and here.
By far the BSNS I enjoyed the least was from Tan Ky Mi Gia on El Cajon Boulevard. It also was the cheapest at $5. I noticed that the place is looking a bit worn nowadays, with tables sticky enough to be found in the SGV.
The flavor of the broth was rather weak for BSNS, and it felt a bit greasy.
The beef was rather tough, though the egg noodles were cooked perfectly. Roma tomatoes in this bowl.
Tan Ky Mi Gia 5237 El Cajon Blvd San Diego, CA 92115
Previous posts that include Tan Ky Mi Gia can be found here, here, and when it was called Hing Ky, here.
I hope you enjoyed with noodle soup-pa-palooza. I'm sure I missed a few places, so fill me in on those.
With this wonderful weather, I'm wondering, what the heck are you doing here???? I am glad to know you're reading though. The longer I do this blog, the harder it is to try new places. It is easy to settle into a routine of "wow, it's Thursday..... Ba Ren day." So here's yet another revisit to one of the places on our rotation.
Yes, it's Ba Ren again:
If you've got better things to do, I wouldn't blame you for moving on, and just doing other things.... contemplating your navel, perhaps? I'll try to have something new and fresh tomorrow! Meanwhile, here's some stuff on Ba Ren. We're slowly approaching 1400 posts, and I suppose some folks think that at least 700 hundred of them have been on what we've eaten at Ba Ren. Like I said; I wouldn't blame you.....
Shao Kao at Ba Ren:
If you've driven by, perhaps you've seen this sign:
Or perhaps the sign to the right provides more info. Basically, Ba Ren is now doing Shao Kao, basically grilled (aka BBQ'd) items for a buck-fifty. The set-up is a bit odd, as the BBQ is ordered separately, and you pay the young man who does the grilling, as it is not part of your bill.
On one visit, I finally gave in and had the lamb..... ok, I love lamb, and couldn't wait to get my grubby mitts on that skewer....
Surprisingly, this skewer was more tender, and was better than what I had at Shao Kao 818 in San Gabriel. It was very moist and reasonably tender, with good salt. The skewer was short on the cumin, and frankly wasn't gamey enough for us.
The new seasonal menu:
Yep, there's a new seasonal menu at Ba Ren. Of course it used to be that you'd be forced to have someone translate this, but now of course you can just turn it around, and you'll have the menu translated into English. The Missus joked that "no one will read your blog anymore since they've started to translate the menu." Of course I laughed.... ummm... you're still there, aren't you? Ummm.. hello....
Two of the items, the Lamb Ribs and the Dry Cooked Mushrooms are holdovers. I've been unsuccessful in getting the Missus to agree to order the Frog Legs.
There is one real winner on this menu. It's the Deep Fried Shrimp with Egg Yolk($12.99):
I'm not sure if you all remember the Sweet Corn with Pine Nuts, but if you do.... think of that dish made with shrimp. A nice egg yolk, lacquered, almost tempura batter coated shrimp. The dish is topped with panko coated with egg yolk, salt, and possibly that impossibly good three lettered flavoring ingredient.
This was so filling I could only eat about three shrimp.... and a whole lot of the panko on rice, though I wanted more. Another thing; this is a good dish for those who can't handle the heat.
Speaking of not spicy:
I've been asked via email, about non-spicy dishes at Ba Ren. And I try to make recommendations, of course the rice crust and the "pot roast" (actually a pork shank and lion's head meatball in broth) immediately come to mind. But recently, the Missus decided to throw me a real Birthday party. I was really touched, I can remember only two other birthday parties I've had in my life, and this would be my third. Of course we knew that there would be folks who couldn't tolerate very spicy food. So we tried to balance the menu. And when working with Wendy on dishes, She recommended a dish we hadn't even thought of ordering. The Jing Jiang Rou Si...... why would we ever think of ordering Pork Strips in Peking Sauce at Ba Ren?
Man, this was good. Just the right ratio of salty and sweet, and a nice savory bean paste kick with perfectly wokked pork. So here's another dish for those who can't tolerate spicy.
I've also noticed that there's another group. Folks who can eat all the chilies in the world, but don't do too well with Sichuan Peppercorns. If you want perhaps the hottest dish at Ba Ren, order this:
The fish itself isn't really spicy, but when you get to the bean thread on the bottom......
I made sure to order this for the Beer Week Dinner, just so folks know that Ba Ren does indeed serve spicy food.
And yes:
Ba Ren still serves all of those oldies but goodies.......
I think the folks who attended the B-Day thingy really enjoyed themselves.... of course it could have just been the beer.....
This post is for one of my favorite FOYs (Friend of Yoso), who once thought that you could only get this dish on your Birthday:
"Ooo and it's alright and it's comin' 'long We got to get right back to where we started from"......
Right Back Where we Started From - Maxine Nightingale.
Other then showing my age, what does this golden oldie from the seventies have to do with El Rocoto?.... well maybe not much..... perhaps.
Though I had always been interested in food, most of it was based on what I ate back home in Hawaii. The Hekka, Portuguese Bean Soup, plate lunches, etc........ When I moved to the mainland, a whole new world of eating opened up. Working in Georgia and Arkansas exposed me the "real" food of the South, but it was the diverse cuisines offered in Los Angeles that got my attention. And while Rachel Laudan's The Food of Paradise really covered the food that I was surrounded by most of my life, suddenly there was so much more.......
When talking to folks, I can easily identify those moments that got me going; the first whiff of all the smells permeating the air at Chung King Restaurant in Monterey Park, the huge scallion bread, and lamb hot pots at Tung Lai Shun and VIP Restaurant.... and then there's El Rocoto. By the time we first ate at El Rocoto back in '97, we'd already eaten at El Pollo Inka across the street, but it was just Pollo ala Brassa. I distinctly recall the dishes at that first meal at El Rocoto, especially the Lomo Saltado.... what the heck were french fries doing in this dish... and why did it have so many Asian flavors... and why is part of the menu Chinese? Instead of making fun of the inclusion of papas fritas, like a fairly well known "foodie" in San Diego did(of my Lomo Saltado photos), I went directly to the library to find out why. I've already covered much of this in posts on Latin Chef, and much more ground was covered on our trip to Peru. But what about El Rocoto, that restaurant that helped to stoke my interest in Peruvian food? Thinking that perhaps much had changed since our last visit over twelve years ago, I just seemed to avoid revisiting El Rocoto all these years later. But yesterday, instead of going to the SGV, and hitting Gardena on the way back, we went straight to Gardena..... the weather also seemed perfect for some Cebiche......
The front of the restaurant looked basically the same.
And the menu still has a section for all the "Chifa" dishes, a long one and half pages of items from "Wantan Frito" (deep fried wontons) to Tallarin (Chow Mein) to Chaufa (Fried Rice).
The interior though, had been significantly changed. El Rocoto has taken over the space next door, and looks much more stylish that we both recalled.
First to arrive were some rolls and two sauces....
A spicy Aji Rocoto, and a somewhat refreshing and sweeter Aji Jalapeno.
The Aji also went well on our dishes.
Of course we started with the Cebiche de Pescado ($12.95). The fish "cooked" in citrus was piled high on the plate. The cancha, the fried corn kernals were excellent, light and crunchy.... possibly the best I've had outside of Peru.
The Leche de Tigre ("Tiger's Milk"), the marinade that supposedly has restorative properties was a bit too salty, with a touch too much lime for us. The fish was cut into pretty large chunks, some of which were a bit too fibrous. It wasn't bad by any means, but I prefer the version at Mario's, or even Latin Chef on a good day.
The camote, the stewed sweet potato lacked the tenderness of the version, at say, PescadosCapitales, but the flavor, with just a hint of cinnamon was right on the mark. The yucca was dry and fibrous, and we got regular yellow corn instead of chocolo.
The Missus got the Pescado a lo Macho ($15.95):
Holy smokes, I don't remember the portions being this big! All of the seafood, from the squid to the shrimp (7 of them!), to the lightly breaded fish fillet were cooked to perfection. The Missus even ate the pieces of octopus, something She usually won't. I believe the scallops were among Her favorites, as I never got a shot at them.
The sauce, built on a seafood base, fortified with butter, was too rich for the Missus.... but I loved it. And the leftover were most welcomed.
I went with the Lomo Saltado ($11.45):
Another very large portion. The beef was thickly sliced rib eye, with just the right amount of chew. The dish had a smokiness to it, and the onions added a good amount of light pungent flavor, the tomatoes a tangy note. I could have done with more papas fritas, but hey, I love my carbs. The sauce had a decent amount of salt, but lacked that little zip of herbaceous flavor..... perhaps they don't use Huacatay?
Still it was quite delicious......
We found the service to be very.... "Peruvian", laid back. The ingredients were of good quality, and the dishes done quite well. We'll probably be back a bit sooner than twelve years next time.
Man, this daylight savings thing really fools you..... when evening finally arrives you think well, it's still pretty early, and wham..... it nine pm!
Today was a beautiful day, and we decided to drive up to Gardena, and do some shopping at Marukai, and of course grab some lunch (a later post). Because we were a bit early, the Missus suggested that we stop by the Torrance Saturday Farmers Market, which used to be a favorite of ours when we lived in LA.
By the crowds it was apparent that a lot of folks had the same idea.
We picked up a few things, but something caught our eye on the way out.......
It was probably the largest Daikon I've ever seen. The Missus rationalized buying one of these since we'd need some daikon oroshi (grated daikon) for the Karei Karaage I was going to make. Of course this would probably make a ton of oroshi.... so I'll have to come up with something else.....
It's hard to gauge the size of the daikon in the photo, so I decided to compare it against Frankie.... who apparently thought this large creature was his new brother, or something like that.
Playing with my food - more fun with Maguro Tartar:
We liked the maguro we saw at Marukai, and picked up a block, and of course much like my previous post on Maguro Tartar, the Missus wanted something a bit different. So with all the same ingredients, I came up with two more appetizers. You can see my recipe in this post. I built the dishes after getting all my mise together, and built the first one before mixing in the cucumber, tomato, and avocado into the tartar. I grabbed a really old, and kinda tacky glass and built it up layer by layer. A dab of wasabi paste was spread on the bottom, followed by cucumber, tomato, avocado, followed by the maguro mixture.
I had coated the rim of the glass with a mixture of Korean Chili powder and sea salt, and topped the whole thing off with sliced scallions and sesame seeds. A couple of slices of avocado dipped in chili powder finished it off. The Missus made some Strawberry-Peach Sangria, and had that with the meal.
The second item was some slices of cucumber topped with a dollop of tuna tartar. At this point I had mixed in the avocado, tomato, and added some sesame oil.
The Missus actually preferred this.
Anyway, there you go..... we hope everyone is having a great weekend. I think it's time to eat....
Hey, I think Sammy's just asked to see the wine list! "Can anyone get some service around here!"
A couple of weeks ago, Toan Ky Restaurant officially opened. Replacing LV sandwiches, and before that Le's, from the name and the look, I thought this would be one of those "Mi" shops a la Minh Ky and Tan Ky. Linda Vista could use a good noodle soup shop, since Mi Ngoc So 1 folded its tent, and was replaced by Thai by Tara, and then (thankfully) Sab E Lee.
The main renovation has been done to the entrance area, where the "bar" has been removed, and a smaller counter with the ever present cash register resides.
The menu, fortunately or unfortunately still has some Thai dishes on it, but Banh Mi is still available; and yes, all the standard Hu Tieu and Mi soups are available. The prices at first glance are about in line with other shops of this type..... but hold on for more.....
The Missus went with Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($5.50). When the bowl arrived, I noticed something right away.
The portion sizes were pretty small compared to other shops. This was about the size between a small and medium Santouka Ramen. There were only three dumplings in the soup, but it was supplemented with a shrimp, a fish ball, meat ball, and slice of fish cake. The Missus thought the dumplings were passable, and gave me a taste, which I thought was bland, but much softer than the typical hard packed meatballs of these type of shops. The Missus declared the broth tasty, but light, and believed that only a minimum of MSG was used.
I ordered the Duck Leg Egg Noodle Soup ($6.75):
The broth of this soup was dark, I'm assuming fortified with the drippings of the duck. I usually pour in some of the drippings when I get duck egg noodle soup served with the duck on the side. This duck was braised, and frankly, quite bland, lacking in the richness of say, a roast, or barbecued duck. The soup was fairly good, with mostly a soy sauce flavor. I would have preferred something like what you see here, which is cheaper than this, and twice the size. There were about three to four bites of egg noodles. This was gone pretty quickly.
Our first impressions are mixed. The food is decent, but the soups seem to be snack-sized, and in fact most other tables ordered an additional item with their soups. The Missus has a saying about most of these type of soups.... "the more I eat, the more there is", which wasn't true in this case, as She had almost finished by the time my soup arrived, a mere five minutes. I believe that much of the reason places like Minh Ky and Tan Ky are successful is because of value, this is a bit different. The service was efficient, but indifferent, pretty much what we expected. I dunno....... I'm sure we'll check in again, so stay tuned.....
Toan Ky Restaurant 6925 B Linda Vista Road San Diego, CA 92111
Whew, this post has taken me almost five months to get together.... talk about a flocking long time. A while back I thought it would be fun doing a post on some of the different variations of grilled and roasted chicken in San Diego. So here goes..... oh, and why did it take me so long? The answer is at the end.
Pollo Asado from Internacional 2000 Taco Shop - Bargain City:
On one of my previous posts on Internacional 2000, I mentioned the plumes of smoke rising in the air from the chicken being grilled over mesquite in the parking lot. I also noticed that the chicken was mostly precooked, and moved from the taco shop to the grill for reheating. That just didn't sound promising. But once, while doing part of my South Bay taco crawl, MrQ decided to purchase the Pollo Asado, since it was just $8.50, for a whole chicken a fixins'. The chicken was better than I thought it would be, so on a later visit, I decided to get it.
So for $8.50, you get a whole grilled chicken, beans, rice, salsa, condiments, and tortillas. Man ,what a deal!
I had thought the chicken would be dry and tough as heck, but it wasn't. Also, because the chicken didn't have much of a salt flavor, I'm thinking that salt use was minimized to ensure that the bird wouldn't dry out. The chicken did have a wonderful smoky mesquite flavor. The tortillas, once warmed a bit was decent, the rice was quite dry.
But the beans......
Were quite good, rich, beany, and creamy....just don't look at 'em after you refrigerate the stuff..... you WILL know why they taste good. Sometimes, it's better not to know.......
We did use a sprinkling of Tajin Classic Seasoning.... the stuff we call, "This is not a candy" seasoning:
I'm wondering how many complaints the company got from folks who tried to eat this thinking it WAS candy, causing them to label the product thusly?
The verdict? Not the most fantastic pollo asado I've ever had, but pretty good, and for $8.50? Bargain city!!! Just as a reality check, to the right is about seven bucks worth of food from the local "Crazy Chicken" joint.... which includes some of the worst tortillas I've ever experienced. In all honesty, I don't mind the chicken......
Internacional 2000 Taco Shop (Window in the parking lot of Mercado Internacional 2000) 1415 3rd Ave Chula Vista, CA 91911
Pollo Asado from Casa de Pepe - No thank you:
On one of my "Sunday Stuffs" posts back in January of 2008, I mentioned seeing Pollo Asado being grilled in the parking lot of a taco shop on Imperial Avenue. This bright, colorful, and possibly luminous restaurant is called, Restaurant Casa de Pepe:
If the bones of this place look familiar; it because this used to be the location of El Comal, before they went "uptown".
Almost every weekend, I've seen the guy in the parking lot grilling chicken.
I crossed the street and took a look at the chicken, which looked pretty good. So I told the guy that I'd be going into the restaurant to pay, when the guy held up a pot full of kinda gross barbecue sauce, and told me; "you want BBQ on chicken, right?" I should have taken this as a bad omen and high-tailed it out of there, but instead I just said "no thanks" and went into the restaurant and paid my $7.95.
Hmmm, they forgot my tortillas. I loved the variety of salsas provided, as well as the cebolla. The chicken was terrible, terribly bland and dry.
The rice was decently flavored, but the beans were very bland, and too soupy for my tastes.
Maybe I shoulda gotten that barbecue sauce, huh?
Restaurant Casa de Pepe 2822 Imperial Ave San Diego, CA 92102
Pollo ala Brassa from Nazca Grill - getting better all the time:
In my previous post on Nazca Grill, back when they first opened, I indicated that though the chicken was moist, here was something left to be desired with regards to flavor. I'm glad to say that the last time I ordered it, the chicken was very good. Still moist, and more balanced in flavor. You could tell that even though it wasn't cooked over hardwood, it had been finished with it.
For $11.95 you get the half chicken meal, which comes with papas fritas (french fries) which usually ends up pretty soggy by the time you get home, and good sized salad.
I do wish they'd just sell the chicken ala carte. Anyway, a picture is worth a few paragraphs......
I still think the Aji Amarilla (yellow chili sauce) is too mild, and needs some zip. But compare that chicken to my previous post......
Nazca Grill 4310 Genesee Ave San Diego, CA 92117
Rotisserie Chicken from Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken - I could never figure out why.....
This place is so popular. When I first ate the chicken from here back in 1998, the first thing that went through my mind was "huh"? To me the chicken here isn't "Thai Rotisserie Chicken", it ain't even close to Kai Yaang. Those were my thoughts back in 2006 when I did my last post on Saffron.
And after eating Kai Yaang in Thailand twice, this ain't even close. The chicken from Pok Pok might as well be in another universe. Another sad thing is, I really enjoy Su-Mei Yu's book, Cracking the Coconut. There's even a Kai Yaang recipe in the book, which features her "Big Four Paste" (coriander seeds, garlic, cilantro stems and roots, white peppercorns), minced ginger, cumin, tumeric, and caraway(strange, no lemongrass). Not even a whiff to be found on this chicken.
I didn't think you'd be happy with this, a two leg plate ($4.99):
So I went ahead and had a half chicken plate ($7.86):
Instead of my usual Sriracha ($1.29 a bottel at 99 Ranch Market, BTW), I went with the red pepper sauce, which was too sweet, like simple syrup, and the peanut sauce, which was too much coconut and sugar, and not enough peanut.
The best piece was the thigh which was passably moist. The leg however, had been sliced, possibly to check "doneness" and was, as a good FOY once described the chicken here as "petrified". The breast was worse.
The skin was tough and too chewy. To be honest, that two leg plate I had earlier was better. I'm thinking the earlier in the day you go, the better your luck may be. Someone once told me it's the sauce that makes this "Thai", so I asked this person, being of Italian heritage, if I got a supermarket rotisserie chicken, and gave you a teensy container of marinara sauce, if I could call that "Italian Chicken"? And to add insult to injury, I once bought an entire bird from Saffron and a rotisserie chicken from Costco, and provided a bottle of Sriracha. I asked some friends which bird they enjoyed better..... guess which? Well, enough of that. I was told that the chicken here back in the late 80's and early 90's was great, but something happened.
I do still enjoy the "Cambodian" salad:
I believe the success of Sab E Lee displays that San Diego does want "real" flavors. So maybe someday........
Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken 3731 India St. San Diego, CA 92103
Not amazing, but solid. Since the chicken hadn't been sliced into parts and held on trays it was very moist. Nice salty, mild garlic and lemongrass flavors. The sauces, one tamarind and palm sugar based, and the other a nam prik (fish sauce and chilies) were serviceable.
I need to go back and take better photos.
Sab E Lee 2 9159 Mission Gorge Road Santee, CA 92071
So why did this post take months? Well, back in November, the Missus saw this commercial and was traumatized.
So now the Missus won't eat chicken or turkey.... but will eat duck!
I guess I'll just have to:
"keep on dreamin' The thoughts that are in my brain You just keep on being The lady I can't explain "
One of the wonderful benefits of having a food blog, is that I've had the opportunity to meet (or is meat?) so many fantastic people. Folks who find the same amount of joy in sharing and eating food as I do. Not only does it make me feel less strange about my obsessions, but I've found some great places to eat as well. Over the past year or so, three of my favorite FOYs (Friends of Yoso) and I have been getting together about once a month or so to share a meal, conversation, and some very healthy, and hearty laughs!
This time around, it was Jenne's turn to choose the place, and I was excited. You see, Jenne is quite familiar with the downtown El Cajon area, home of many Chaldean/Iraqi restaurants. I'd already been to Village Grill and Ali Baba, and I was looking forward to checking out La Pita, one Jenne's favorites. Unfortunately, it seems that La Pita has just closed down, so Jenne came out with Hammurabi as a plan B. The restaurant itself is quite interesting, I'm certain that it used to be a diner in a previous life, so think of diner juxtaposed with a kabob house.
After deciding on what to order, I started with some yogurt. Why yogurt........ well, after having visited a few of these places, and seeing what huge meat-fests they are, I needed to get the tummy squared away.
Every one of these Kabob Houses has "feasts" designed for two, three, four, or five people. Actually, it should be more like three, five, six, or the entire neighborhood. What you're about to see is the "feast for two"($35).
Which starts out with a rather innocuous plate of nice fresh greens tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.
It also comes with a nice plate of Hummus.
This was a good version, nice chickpea flavor without being too heavy on the tahini.
And of course there was the bread:
Known as Khubz, this pizza sized flat bread is a wonderful vehicle of flavor. There were two pieces of warm bread overflowing a basket that was surely not up to the job. Better than what we had at Village Grill, but not as good as Ali Baba's.
Next up was our plate of meat, starches, and pickles.... remember all of this, the salad, hummus, bread, and the platter below is for two!
The pickles, the "Turshi" ranged from pretty good the pickled saffron-curry cabbage, to "meh", I thought the pickled turnips were too bitter.
Here's a rundown on the rest of the plate: Two Lamb Kabobs (nice and moist, but low on the gamey scale), Two Chicken Kabob (pretty good, well seasoned), One Chicken Tekka (also pretty good), Shawarma (fairly moist, but mild in flavor), Chicken Chop (which I enjoyed), Rice (meh), and Bulghur (well flavored, mildly spicy and tangy). Sheesh. I finally had the "cream chop", in this case breaded and fried chicken. It was pretty moist, and very tender.
Since Jenne had picked the place, I let her take some photos, like this one.
And darn if she didn't do a better job than I did! Heh, you'll never touch my camera again Jenne! he-he-he....
I'd wanted some Baba Ghanouj, but they were all out. We went with a small Tabbouli($5) instead.
This was not bad, it was fairly heavy on the acid, but the "green" chlorophyll flavor that sometimes overwhelms the dish was adequately muted.
There was one menu item that grabbed my attention:
It simply said "Birds". When I asked the very friendly young lady serving us about this, she said simply: "it's small whole birds........." Small birds? I had visions of the fantastic whole roasted sparrows we had at Highway 4 in Hanoi dancing in my head. So when our "Birds" arrived, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.
The "Birds" were simply quail! This was a simple preparation, salt rubbed, some lemon, and roasted. The wings and legs were salty, smokey, and crunchy....great nibbling. The carcass was pretty dank and gamey. Howie and Jenne enjoyed them though. Jenne said it tasted like the wild quail her dad used to hunt.
By the time Candice's dish, the Tashreeb, a braised lamb shank served in a huge bowl lined with Khubz soaking up the wonderful braising vegetables and liquid arrived we were all stuffed. I was too full to take photos! I did have some lamb which was soft and tender, but it's the saturated bread, which I wrapped in another piece of bread that tasted really great.
Needless to say, there was a good amount of leftovers. It was another meal made better by the company. I can't wait to do this again soon! As you can tell, the portions are generous, and make sure to check your gout at the door.
During our meal I kept peeking at the back room, which in contrast to the rather worn dining room, was being nicely decked out. The young lady told us that there was an engagement party later that evening..... As we were leaving I saw men dressed nattily in suits arriving. It gave the evening another interesting twist.
Hammurabi Family Restaurant 401 W Main St El Cajon, CA 92021
mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the food blog you are reading. A few friends contribute and write about what we eat. Cathy is writing today. The others (Kirk, ed (from Yuma), Vicky and a few others) are apparently eating.
Hi. It was lunchtime, The Mister and I were hungry, Okawa has opened. In Santee.
It is located in the same mall as Best Buy, behind the Burger King and technically is on the same (large) block where Costco and Home Depot are located, but on Mission Gorge Road...the South side of the block.
We were greeted promptly and a friendly Young Man asked if we wanted to sit at the Sushi Bar, a regular table or the Teppanyaki Table for Hibachi. The sushi bar did look inviting, but I was not in a mood for that today. So we sat at the teppanyaki table, with a group of four others, ordered hot tea and checked out the menu.
We ordered, and soon salad and mushroom topped miso soup were brought out. The miso was definitely not made from that miso paste or powder and had a light, crisp flavor. The mushroom flavor was only in the mushroom, not the broth. The salad dressing was the fresh tasting almost pureed ginger dressing which is served at most Japanese places. This one seemed to have a touch of soy/saltiness to it. (In a good way saltiness). Soon our chef came out with a cart of enough rice for frying, vegetables for all six of us, and the proteins ordered as well as the sauces and other condiments necessary for each protein.
He proceeded to pour two sauces for each of us- a ginger based one and a mayonnaise based one. Those who had ordered steamed rice had that served to us.
Then the show began.
Rice, for those who had ordered fried rice, and already chopped vegetables for everyone were placed onto the oiled grill. (When The Mister and I got married, XXX number of years ago, our reception was at Kyoto, a teppanyaki restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan and everything was the same, except the veggies there came whole and the "show" took a lot longer to chop up everything...and the prices at lunch were a less...probably because it was XXX years ago).
The onion rings were taken apart, stacked, a bit of oil inserted and small volcano-like effects happened.
The rice was fried, with an egg, (which disappeared, whole, into the hat of the chef for a while) and then the crispier rice and veggies formed to spell out "I (heart) U"...upside down and backwards... and then those were served.
The proteins were placed onto the grill (two orders of Banzai chicken, a split order of Samurai steak and Hibachi shrimp-you can combine on the lunch specials), Samurai steak, and Chilean sea bass.
The Mister's order of Samurai steak (medium rare), fried rice ($1.95 extra, but *so* crisp and tasty-a nutty flavor, probably because of the sesame oil...and butter) and some of his vegetables ($10.95).
My Hibachi Chilean sea bass (with a teriyaki sauce, some vegetables )(I got the extra onions from The Mister, and from Our Chef) and steamed rice ($11.95). The sea bass was tender, moist, flaky and had just enough flavor (not overpowered by the house made teriyaki). ...Our talented and amusing Chef.
An excellent meal that was a lot of fun to watch being prepared. Total bill was $29.20-the hot green tea was $1 each and kept refilled, as were the other beverages at the table. Not an inexpensive lunch, but an excellent, fun lunch.
OKAWA Steak House and Sushi 9720 Mission Gorge Road, Suite A, Santee 92071 (619)258-9988 Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30-3:00 then dinner menu until 10:00 Sunday, no lunch menu, open 12:30-10:00
mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog, written by a few friends. Today, Cathy has written a short post. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) and Vicky are reading. Or something.
The other day, I was out in El Cajon near where Second Street turns into Jamacha Road and decided to stop into what has been an old favorite place to shop. It wasn't crowded around 1 p.m. so I decided to continue my pursuit of a great pastrami sandwich, for FOY (Friend of Yoso), "H" and dropped in. It's a fancy market, with a few branches around town (including Jonathan's in La Jolla) with Boars Head meats and condiments as well as all the other items you'd see in a grocery store. A fancy grocery store anyhow...the wine selection is awesome and they have wine tasting events here pretty regularly (sign up inside the store to be notified). I don't take photos of people, so that is why I don't have too many photos inside the store. But here's a nicely blurred photo of the Produce area, where I picked up a d'Anjou pear for my dessert ($1.49/lb). Then I paid and walked over to the Starbucks in the same mall.
A full sandwich is $6.99 (half sandwiches are $3.50) and includes cheese, choice of bread, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo and mustard. I got pastrami and kraut, warmed, with mustard on rye, no cheese. The bread was soft and flavorful and a seeded rye. The meat was not fatty but wonderfully smoky in flavor. A quality pastrami, plenty of it. The kraut was nice and crispy. The pear cost 70 cents, so my whole meal was $7.69 plus $1.50 for the fresh, individually brewed with a drip filter and freshly ground beans coffee at Starbucks (I did not want the Pike's Place brew and asked for the Bold of the day, which is Italian this week and the nice Young Man behind the counter ground some beans, poured hot water into a little gizmo over the coffee cup and made me a nice, fresh, hot cup of coffee at the regular price). It was a great meal, just on the edge of too much food.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend.
Harvest Ranch Market 759 Jamacha Road El Cajon 92019 (619)442-0355
really covered the food that I was surrounded by most of my life, suddenly there was so much more.......
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