mmm-yoso!!!

Istanbul: Our favorite restaurant - Gaziantep Sahre

It really did seem like we've spent a good deal of time in Istanbul. In actuality, I'm thinking maybe three weeks max. On our last couple of short stays we started getting away from Sultanahmet and taking the metro to places like Osmanbey and Sisli, home of the Nisantasi Shopping Mall. On the top floor you can walk out onto a small patio and take a photo like this one....though the heights kinda got to me rather quickly.

This is the hip and modern Istanbul, looking all the world like just about any major city in the world.......including the traffic.

Having at least a rudimentary familiarity with a city is nice as it opens up other options for shopping and dining.

We'd kind of hit the wall with eating in Istanbul. All of the nice young men in the hotel, except one, who really knew his stuff, would recommend tourist type places. Like the fish restaurants that line the touristy Kumkapi Fish Market area.

Hawker's try to lure you in....but they lose us as soon as they mentioned the "culture show"......

Across the street is the bright, mega-restaurant district of Kumkapi, which seemed a bit too much for us.

All of these type of restaurant/entertainment districts have a certain look and feel to them. The bright lights, the loud music, the free flowing alcohol. Nothing against this, but we wanted something a bit more low-keyed.

And we found just the place. It was a bit of a walk, about 3 kilometers from our hotel. But we had just walked past Kumkapi into the area known as Yenikapi. Right past a massive Korean Restaurant on Kennedy Caddesi we saw this place that looked full of locals.

We walked on up the stairs and noticed that even though the restaurant dining area was pretty large, everyone was eating on the patio. All the customers were male when we arrived, though more couples started coming in a bit later on. More importantly, everyone seemed to know the servers.....like they were regulars, just what we were looking for.

When the men started coming around with trays....we knew we had found a Meyhane.

Though I'm thinking that there must be an amount of tourist business as there's an English translation of the menu.

Anyway, we were met with sort of an amused attitude. There was one Server, a really nice guy, who spoke passable English and I think he found us a bit interesting as we took to the menu like wolves.....

All the usual suspects were present.

He seemed even more amused that I actually knew the names of some of the dishes, like Acili Ezme....

Which was really good, chunky, decent spice, slight pungency.....

And the delicious shaksuka.

All of which was made for bread....we were provided with two different variations.

The Missus just loved this salad, which I thought was a version of Coban Salatsi, but the gentleman said no....so we asked what it's called. He didn't quite know what to call it. So what to do? We he broke out his iPhone and translated it to English......"chopped salad?!?" We just cracked up. I still think it's a version of Coban Salatasi. Whatever the name, it's delicious!

There was one item we saw on every table, so I just had to try it out. The Missus hesitated at first, but I just had ot have it. The Server brought us a piece to try and we were sold.

This is called Çiğ köfte. In this case it's minced raw lamb combined with bulghar, herbs, and spices. Wrapped in the lettuce leaf with a mint leaf it is pure heaven. Refreshing, a bit lamby, herbaceous, and now one of my favorite things!

As we were polishing things off, our Server came by and dropped this off for us, saying "we have extra...."

This was a really tasty lahmacun. Nice crisp bread topped with a very tasty mixture of lamb and spices. Have you noticed the lack of Sultan posts in the last year or so? It's mainly because the Missus has had the food here.......

The next day we headed off to Rhodes and Symi, but we hadn't forgotten Sahre. When we returned to Istanbul, we had one full day before heading home. That's when we visited Osmanbey. When the inevitable lunch question arose, the Missus asked to eat at Sahre. That would be quite a hike, so we decided on a cab.....we weren't sure on how we'd communicate the instructions correctly to the driver, until the Missus found a package of sugar from the restaurant in Her bag.

It took a while with Istanbul traffic, but we finally arrived poised for lunch.

One thing we noticed as we walked up the stairs was that a makeshift table was set-up in the downstairs parking area. A family of five was eating there. The Missus quickly noticed that one of the older gentleman was in a wheelchair. I guess this is the handicap section set-up.

We were a bit disappointed to find that Çiğ köfte was not served for lunch! The Missus hadn't stopped talking about it for the week we were in Rhodes. Anyway, Her other favorites where still available. Our favorite Server wasn't working and it's not the typical meyhane set-up for lunch, so I just pointed to the menu, which was supplemented with a trip to the back to select what we wanted.

We also ordered some içli köfte.

This was a decent version. The exterior was nice and crisp. The filling, a mixture of minced lamb, bulghur, and spices was adequately flavored.

Think of this as being like a croquette or kibbeh. The best thing was the texture.

I also saw chicken wings on the menu. I really enjoyed the version at Mehmet Kebab, so why not try it here as well?

This were nicely grilled. For some reason, I've really taken to the combination of spices used for wings here. Smokey, salty, with a mild spice.

We both tried the grilled green peppers. Most regions in Turkey don't care for really spicy food. I had tried the peppers at Can Can Pide in Antalya which were pretty darn hot. But this was Istanbul, folks don't like things too hot here, so I took a bite....yikes! Man, this had some pretty good heat. That's when we noticed that all the plates on the tables around us still had their peppers intact.

It ended up being a nice lunch. We had dinner reservation later that evening at Mimolett Restaurant, a restaurant that is trying hard for a Michelin star, but we both had out hearts set on having that Çiğ köfte one more time. So we ended up cancelling when we got back to our hotel.

It was our last evening in Istanbul for this trip and we took our time walking the 3 kilometers to the restaurant.

Still we arrived at Sahre a bit early. A few minutes later "our" Server arrived, looking quite amused to see us. We asked about the Çiğ köfte, and he told us, "no, until 7....."

But we were here and determined to get what we had come here twice in one day for...... It was our last night in Turkey and this was a Meyhane, so I decided to get a couple of Efes.

Meanwhile, we noticed storm clouds coming in from the Mamaris. We, like everyone else were seated on the patio, but were safe since we had the awning above us. Soon enough raindrops started to fall and the most amazing drill was initiated. Like a well oiled machine, all the tables were moved from this configuration....

To this....in a matter of minutes......

We had started dinner......

 Of course our Server knew the Missus was after one thing. So a few minutes into our meal, he told the Missus "come" and took Her into the kitchen of the restaurant and the station where the Çiğ köfte was being prepared. He then grabbed one for the Missus to have on the way back to our table!

Of course we got the first plate when it finally came out of the kitchen.

It was just as good as our previous visit.

 For some reason, we really took to this place. We'll be back the next time we're in Istanbul.

Gaziantep Sahre Restaurant
Kennedy Caddesi No 130 Sahilyolu Yenikapi, Istanbul

We walked through all the restaurants in Kumkapi, then back to Vericeriler Caddesi which turned into Divan Yolu Caddesi.

We mainly wanted that one last view of the Blue Mosque at night.

As the final call to prayer started, I looked out at that same quiet street in front of the Hotel Djem. There's something about Istanbul that I love....that had me visiting here twice in two years. I'm not sure what it is, but it's just a matter of time before I return.

Thanks for reading!

This post is dedicated to "Senor" who got me to finally take the time to write this post. I hope you have a great time in Turkey!

Is this the new king of salt and pepper chicken wings? Liu's Chinese Restaurant

Funny thing, I've been in a bit of a Salt and Pepper Chicken Wing slump. Royal Mandarin has been kind of going downhill and the last two orders from Mandarin Canton have been less than stellar. For almost the last year, I've heard folks mentioning a place called Liu's on Coronado Avenue in Nestor. One even dubbed them the "King of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings". So finally, FOY (friend of yoso) "RightCowLeftCoast" mentioned the place....this provided the impetus for driving down the I-5 toward IB and stopping in a strip mall to find Liu's. Which is located near a Rite Aid and a Barber Shop.

This place looks like something from a different age....man, those 70's were something, right? I loved the A-B-C-D on the window. I always call these types of restaurants ABCDE - abceedee - American Born Chinese Dining Establishments.

Man, the interior of this place is kinda beat.

Though I did kind of love the little figures lined up on the old fashioned diner sill.

And no, the peeling wallpaper, yellow and running signs, the torn seats, nor the rather sticky floor that could use a steam clean, or perhaps a hand grenade didn't bother me at all. I've had no less than three people tell me that this place made really good chicken wings. Places like this don't stay in business by poisoning their clientele.

The menu actually gives you reverse sticker shock.....Shrimp Fried Rice $5.85? I love that all the dishes also had Spanish translations. Still, I was here with one thing in mind, the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($7.50), which happens to be one of the most expensive items on the menu.

 If it's all about the batter, you'll like these, not as salty as other versions, but still with a touch of sneaky heat. The batter is lacquer like; which puts it into the class of Mandarin and Mandarin Canton...there's lots of crunch going on here.

My big complaint is the very low quality of the wings. Do you see the wings with the "black" in them. The bones in these wings had broken and the fluid and the marrow from the bones had seeped out, changing the flavor of the meat. I know you probably don't eat wings for the meat, but still...... That one drum on the bottom tasted freezer burnt. Nine wings at $7.50, that means 80 plus cents a wing....in spite of the prices of other items on the menu, that's not a good value based on the lack of quality control. One of these days I gotta learn about how wings are graded and sold.....I'll put that on my bucket list.

The wings here are not bad....in fact, if you run into a batch that isn't freezer burnt, or suffering from marrow ooze, you'll probably like it a lot.

The King of Salt and Pepper Wings.....don't start the coronation yet.

Liu's Chinese Restaurant
1850 Coronado Ave
San Diego, CA 92154

Meals with Friends: Mariscos Godoy, Luce, and Roseville Cozinha

As you can tell; I'm trying to get all these round-up type posts done before the end of the year. Of course, this is the time of year when folks get together and celebrate....here are a couple of "meals with friends" we've had recently.

Mariscos Godoy:

What better place for a festive time with a group right? Mariscos Godoy is a great place to just get together and grub with friends....unless of course, there's a major soccer game on...or when one of the bands are playing, which makes conversation impossible. On this night, we got both.....and the band even had a tuba player! yikes.....

Still, as you can see, we didn't leave hungry........

And I even forgot to take a photo of the pulpo.....

Mariscos Godoy
651 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Luce's (again):

My buddy JohnL has moved back into the neighborhood. We decided to grab some drinks and felt that Luce was close by. Plus, I was really unimpressed with the food on our last visit. Well, at least the charcuterie board was decent.....

The wings on the other hand were totally one note in flavor....sweet, with not much else going for it.

The fries were ok....a bit mushy and dry, but flavored decently.

I like the friendly service and the small, but good beer list (and a mule or two). But is Bay Park so starved for a place like this, that there would be lines waiting outside on a cold evening? Well, I probably just answered my own question.

Luce Bar & Kitchen
1959 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Roseville Cozinha:

One great thing about having a group gathered for a meal is that you get to try a bunch of things. We decided on a porcine party post mortem and Peter thought the newly opened Roseville Cozinha would be just the place.

There's a a beautiful wood fired oven in the place and I think they are still fine tuning and getting the hang of beast. My favorite items were the "local Salumi Plate" and the Salt Cod Fritters. Roseville tips its hat to the Portuguese and Italian fishing communities which formed the backbone of the Point Loma area. I benefited with some nice bacalao fritters.

Compare this salumi with what Luce's serves.....the price is pretty close as well. This wins hands down.

The wood oven roasted shrimp must have been good.....I never got a shot at it!

Ervilhas Stew.......good thing the Missus wasn't here....that egg would have never lasted 5 seconds on the table.

Of course you need some greens......

My favorite pizza was the "Chef's Special" a fresh clam pizza......

Fennel and sausage.....

Wild Mushroom.....

 What a meal.......what a great time with good friends!

Roseville Cozinha
2750 Dewey Rd Suite 104 (Liberty Station)
San Diego, CA 92106

Sakura's Son of Different Mothers: Restaurant Kazu

I'll be the first to say that "Japano-Italian" cuisine has never been a favorite of mine. which I readily admitted when I first mentioned that Sakura was opening up a second restaurant, this one specializing in the Japanese-Italian hybrid. I've had this fusion several times, at a couple of places back home in Hawaii and at Spoon House and Akane Chaya in Gardena. Don't quite know what it is; but I've never really enjoyed Uni Spaghetti and such. So I really thought I'd just leave the posts on the place up to Dennis, who has affinity for this type of dishes. Sure enough, the ever dependable Dennis had a post soon after the very, very, soft opening. Which didn't make me get up and grab some napolitan..... Until.... a FOY (Friend of Yoso), "MichaelC" emailed me, telling me how he enjoyed his meal at "Restaurant Kazu". I call it that because....much like Sakura, the place has no sign.

I decided to visit on a quiet weeknight evening when the Missus was tied up elsewhere. There's just a simple chalkboard sign out front with today's specials.

The small dining area is somewhat intimate, mildly stylish, without being stuffy.

The menu reflects what's on the chalkboard outside with other dishes that I would come to know as the "standards" here....like the creamy uni spaghetti. Appetizers run $4-$12 with entrees going for $10 and up. The menu has been slightly different on every visit.

One thing that stays the same is the slice of bread and a little dish of balsamic vinegar with olive oil.

It's been basically the two same young ladies working here on all my visits. They are both friendly, have a great sense of humor, and are overall a joy.

I started with something a bit different I saw on the appetizer menu; the Squid Ceviche. This was a major surprise for me in flavor.

First off, the texture of the squid was up to Sakura standards. Light chew, but quite tender. The flavors took me by surprise, there was a bit of heat going on, along with a good deal of lime juice. It was a bit on the sweet side; almost palm sugar sweet, which I enjoyed. On another visit, I found it a bit too sweet, but this time it really woke me up. With the cilantro, it almost seemed like a Thai style dish, bold flavors, which I enjoyed.

I went with the carbonara, which was kind of runny.

I liked the portion size, not too massive. It was beyond any doubt, a carb bomb. The pasta was just cooked to perfection....something, along with all the dishes using the same pasta, I'd find on subsequent visits.

Overall, I thought this better than expected. It was a nice, unhurried, relaxed meal. The two servers were very friendly and answered, or tried to answer my questions....many of which, like "when is the grand opening" had no answer.

So, on another evening, I had to dine solo, what better place to go than back here, right? This meal was just the opposite of my previous, with the appetizer, the "Italian Chicken Wings" (you know me and wings, right?) being pretty much a fail.

This was too salty...even for me, it was also kind of greasy. One of the wings wasn't fully cooked.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Shishito Pepper with Mushrooms and Yuzu Pepper, Japanese style ($13). The secret to this dish....yuzukosho, a strong fermented paste of yuzu peel and chili pepper, which added a nice citrus zip to the dish.

The pasta again cooked perfectly, the shishito adding a nice crunch to the meaty mushrooms. Again, pretty high on the carb ratio and it did seem like something I could make at home, but I did enjoy it. Plus, that little seed, of using yuzukosho in a different way had been planted.

I again joked with my servers about the mysterious grand opening and when I was told that the place was going to actually have a sign, I couldn't help but laugh....I told them "I'll believe it when I see it."

A couple of days later, the Missus was tied up during a weekend day. On my previous visit, I was told that lunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 to 3. So why not? Same servers, same smiles, same laughs when I asked "where's the sign?" Lunch is prix fixe, in the typical Japanese "lunch set" way. You have a base lunch, which starts at $12, you can substitute items, or change items.

It comes with coffee or orange juice....I rarely drink coffee, but on this day......

It smelled familiar....and it did turn out to be Starbucks.

The standard issue salad was a simple mix of arugula and romaine, which I enjoy.

Except that the vinaigrette was a bit too sour and this would have been much better with a sliver or two of some milky cheese to help cut the acid.

The standard issue soup was a surprisingly tart minestrone.

The vegetables were really on the crunchy side, which I don't mind at all.

For my main, I went with what MichaelC recommended, the Squid Ink Pasta which was a $2 up charge.

This is sauce made with squid ink, not the pasta. The better squid ink I've had has a mild briney flavor to it, but not much else to it. This one had a slight bitterness and bit more garlic than I expected. It also felt a bit on the rich side, so I was glad to have the tomatoes in the dish. Loved the way the squid was cooked and the pasta was again cooked perfectly.

I also noticed that the portion sizes seemed to have gotten larger during this visit. Overall, it was nice lunch......so when Candice, Ange, Peter, and I had to meet up to plan a little project we have, I thought why not?

We ended up having more food than I could document....mainly because we had such a fun time chatting. The Shishito Pepper with Mushrooms and Yuzu Pepper was again a winner, along with the Cod Roe, Salmon, Roe, Shiso Leaves, and Seaweed Cold Pasta ($14).

Though I really would have appreciated a bit more ikura.

We also enjoyed the Baby Anchovies and Japanese Bell Pepper Peperoncino ($13).

Sort of like a really mild aglio e olio.

As you can imagine, having the same pasta got a bit tedious. Several of the other dishes really didn't make a great impression; the Bagna Cauda was bland, the ribs not very good, and the seafood in the vongole biagno was overcooked, the mussels rubbery. Service was very nice and accommodating. Candice mentioned that the wine list looked way over-priced (a bottle of Kendall Jackson $42!), and the beer options were either the Budweiser of Italy; Peroni, or Asahi, which is what we had.

Oh, and still no grand opening or sign in sight! I realize that for someone who is not really into Japano-Italian food, I've sure eaten here quite a bit in the last couple of months. You can't say I didn't do my due diligence on this one. I do enjoy the lightness of some of the dishes, have enjoyed the servers, oh, and you can tell I really like my carbs, right? Don't go here expecting a meat-fest, you'll be disappointed. The portion sizes seem to have gotten bigger, though I think they can cut back on the pasta and make the dishes more well rounded.

Restaurant Kazu
3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Dinner - Tues-Sun 5pm - 10pm
Lunch - Sat-Sun 11am - 3pm
Closed on Mondays

Thanks again for the email Michael!

 

Chicken Wing Thing: 777 (tri-dux), BABs, and Okan

I was asked why I hadn't done a recent "chicken wing" post to "add to my collection" exact quote this past weekend, so I decided to see if I had anything stored away....and I found I do. The sad thing here is.....well, I'll leave that to the end. So here goes.

777 Noodle House:

Yes, I've done posts on the chicken wings before, but during my last visit I noticed something called Jalapeno Wings on the menu. Well, I just had to try them out. Unfortunately, as you'll see in the photos, these weren't particularly good.

It's all about technique here......the wings were supposed to be made like Salt and Pepper Chicken wings, but they really blew it. The first fry was ok, but after scalding the chilies and onions, which also imparted nothing to the dish, the burned the wings making it bitter...also, these were greasy as well.....not very good eats.

I'll stick with my other favorites on the menu.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Bao's Awesome Burgers (BABs):

After my initial post, a couple of folks told me how wrong I was about the place. None of those emails were especially compelling except the one that mentioned the wings....specifically the "Canton Wings". So after some contemplation....mostly over dealing with the parking...luckily the place opens before several of the other businesses, I made my way back to BABS and ordered the Canton Wings.

These smelled quite nice....I could make out a bit of cumin, but couldn't really taste it.....what made up most of the flavor was a ton of salt. When you were a kid, did you ever over-consume a bag of Lays? And then your lips burned from too much salt? That's pretty much what happened here.....I felt like a kid again, but not in a good way. The skin was crisp, wings were moist, but this were too salty for me.

Bao's Awesome Burgers and Sandwiches
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Okan:

I know, how many Okan posts do we actually have? Here's just a single item....the chicken wings.

These just didn't cut it....at five bucks for three under-seasoned, soggy, rubbery wings. Definitely not one of the items on the menu that I'll order in the future.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go..... sadly, this one is an "o-fer three". Perhaps that's why I didn't do this sooner. I'm hoping for some better wings in my future.

Revisit to New Mandarin Canton

You know having done this blog for a while....I get the strangest, sometimes humorous, occasionally borderline scary, and a few just plain odd emails. Recently, there seems to be something in the air, first I got an extremely racist, xenophobic, and plain insulting email about my posts on Tunisia, I'll go more into detail in the near future. Then there was the one where someone "ordered me" to add links to my blog otherwise they'd over-run my blog with spam....now that's a new one! And then there was the dude, based on the writing style (all CAPS and full of "textation" short cuts), who informed me, "U R the BGST ***** (sorry racist word deletion) FOOD SNB EVER...." etc, etc, etc..... Wow, who knew I had readers in the penitentiary? Oh, the irony of the email....if they only knew that the Missus and I had just gotten back from Mandarin Canton. The Missus needed Her "ABCDE" (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment) food fix and She enjoys Mandarin Canton......

Anyway, as always, we steer away from anything that looks either radioactive or came out of an old crankcase, is of the protein type beef, pork, or chicken breast. MC seems to do a good job with shrimp and I have a soft spot for old school fried rice......here it's the Shrimp Fried Rice:

Actually, the Missus eats all the shrimp, I eat a bit of it here and take the rest home to have the next day with a fried egg on it. There's a mild sweet-smokiness which is from a pretty well seasoned aged wok, every grain is covered evenly...it's just nice old school stuff.

 The one dish the Missus comes for is the Salt and Pepper Shrimp without shell, which is probably the most expensive item on the menu at about thirteen bucks or so.

These are usually light, fried perfectly, and crisp. The garlic and scallions have been slightly caramelized developing their sugars and add nice flavor....and yes, let's not forget the MSG.....

The Missus decided to order the fish with black bean sauce, which was not bad. The fish was prepared adequately, tender, but didn't have the buttery texture of well prepped fish fillet in the Chinese style.

The big disappointment was the item i'm sure to always order here....the Salt and Pepper Chicken wings, which, over the course of my last couple of visits thought was a good contender for the best in San Diego. This time, they came out really quickly, were lukewarm, dry, and rubbery.....I think these were either crowded in the fryer, not allowing for adjustment to the temperature drop and then was lying around for a while or the oil was just not at the right temp....bummer.

 Well, at least the damage wasn't too bad....MC has lunch specials, even on weekends and everything but the shrimp were lunch specials. Three of four ain't bad.

As usual, the folks here thought I was Chinese and the Missus was Filipino, which I get a kick out of. And as always, I think there a time and place for this kind of food....perhaps in the guilty pleasure category. So long you serve what you say you serve, it's prepared and priced well, I've no qualms about eating ABCDE cuisine. Coming from my background, I don't find attitudes of false superiority, self-importance, pretense, entitlement, or narcissism particularly attractive.... Let's just eat ono food!

New Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Road
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Revisits: No Pho at Pho Ban Mai, Pho Lucky, and Que Huong

Here's a round-up of revisits......

Pho Ban Mai:

Man, I hadn't been here since September of last year. I was thinking of having some Banh Xeo and this seemed just the spot. Not much has changed since my last visit...very clean, tables a bit too close together.....

I was quite hungry and thought some Bi Cuon would do as a nice start.

The wrappers were done a bit too thick and wrapped real tight. Actually, not much in here, the Bi really lacked flavor and was on the dry side. The nuoc mam cham is still good here, not watered down and not too sweet.

Then of course, my "crepe" appeared. It looked pretty much the same as on previous visits, perhaps not as crunchy, but still pretty good.

Overall, still the same.....not too much filling, but what's there is done nicely. The pork tender, the shrimp not overdone, and not too greasy.

As with previous visits, the service here is quite "modern".....no dealing of the menu with someone standing over you, water was refilled, etc..... I would probably visit more often if we lived closer.

Pho Ban Mai
8991 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Pho Lucky:

Yes, yet again. The Missus was still a bit bitter about the nem nuong cuon at Dat Thanh and wanted to use this as a sanity check. It was quite busy when we arrived, I had never been seated almost at the west end of the restaurant before.

I had decided on getting the Banh Mi Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew with Bread), but suddenly shifted when I sat down. After chatting with the Missus, I thought why not do about the same thing we did at Dat Thanh.....

Starting with Goi Cuon (spring rolls).

These were wrapped a bit too thick, but did have a good quantity of herbs for flavor. The pork was quite tasty overall. Of course, texturally, I was missing that nice crunch that fried egg roll wrappers added to the spring rolls at Dat Thanh and Brodard, but these were nice....the Missus loves the peanut sauce here....She went through three and a half little bowls!

Next up, the Nem Nuong Cuon......

In terms of flavor, this was nice...the grilled pork "sausage" was decently flavored and caramelized....good flavors from the herbs, not as heavily wrapped as the goi cuon. Kind of one note in texture. Still, this was better than I expected.

To end things up, I decided to order what I think is the most expensive item on the menu, the Com Tam Dac Biet - house special broken rice, which is something like $9.65. I'd never had that here and really didn't expect much, but it was a rather pleasant surprise.

The Missus thought the pork chop was pretty good, I thought it a bit too salty and not sweet enough. The grilled shrimp were overcooked and under flavored. The Bi was decent but mostly just skin, without enough rice powder which adds so much to it. The cha, steamed egg was nice...I'd expected it to be dry, but it was pretty good, nice flavor. The Missus loved the sugar cane shrimp....She just loved it and I think has a new favorite here. The broken rice was moist but not very fragrant. Not in the same league as the top notch com tam places, but better than I expected.

Is it just me, or has service here gotten a bit nicer....other than the woman who runs the register, over the years? Or perhaps I've just gotten used to it.

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Que Huong:

Actually, about a week before this, Cathy, Carol, Dennis, and myself had one of our all too rare get togethers. We gathered because one of our favorite, now quite inactive (with good reason), fellow food bloggers, Sawyer was visiting. As always it was a great time....though you'll have to depend on someone else to post about it..... The place Carol and Cathy choose was Que Huong, a perfect place for a family style meal....and those wings, of course....which I hadn't had in a while.

Funny thing, about a week after that meal, I was craving those wings. The Missus had a girls night out, so I decided to head to Que Huong and have some wings. Which I had all to my greedy self....

I've heard folks tell me that these were on the small side....but I like the skin to meat ratio...you can have all the fat meat laden wings you want...heck, why not just have a thigh while you're at it? These do fine by me. The other thing is, you need to eat them here right when they get to the table; it's maximum crunch and peak flavor....

Anyway, Jay, one of the owners told me he's going through a thousand pounds of wings a month now...sheesh. Jay also told me that his mom was in the kitchen and seeing that I was looking for something lighter to go with my wings, she had made a simple salad of roasted chicken with rau ram and onions. Hey, if mom's making it, I'd better order it, right?

This was pretty good, lots of black pepper, very simply put together, an entire leg - thigh and drum of chicken stripped topped some lettuce. The combination of the citrus-pepper-cilantro flavor of the rau ram, the pungency of the onions, cut with lime for that nice acidic touch was really good. I'm thinking of making this at home.......so simple, yet it really livened my palate.

As did those chicken wings....

Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Istanbul: The Grand Bazaar, Kara Mehmet Kebab, Haci Bekir, Hafiz Mustafa 1864, and Rami Restaurant

That title long enough for you? I considered not finishing the Istanbul posts of our 2011 trip, but thought I should probably do them because they influenced our most recent trip. Of course, probably the most serious omission in our posts was not mentioning the Grand Bazaar, spread over nine acres, with over 60 streets, and over 550 years old, of course we had to check it out, if only for a couple of hours. We decided to enter through the main gate of the Bazaar......

Depending on what your source is, it is said that there are somewhere between 3,000 to 4,000 shops in the Grand Bazaar. That's a lot of stuff......stuff that was also more expensive than elsewhere. I guess the overhead must be pretty high here. since we travel pretty light there wasn't much room for "stuff". So of course we were here in search of something to eat! I'd read a post on Istanbul Eats about a kebab shop in the Bazaar area. The Bazaar itself contains many "Hans", which used to be inns which is where travelers would stay. If you're interested in more about the Grand Bazaar as well as a walking tour, you might want to get this book. And while walking navigating the bazaar might seem a bit of a task, we had little trouble finding CebiciHan....you walk through a short, low ceilinged, passageway and find yourself there......just a few yards in distance, but seemingly a universe away from the bustle of the Grand Bazaar.

In a tranquil courtyard, next to a tea shop with a large group of older men were socializing and playing cards was the shop I was looking for called Kara Mehmet Kebab.

It was a peaceful and relaxing place, the guys running the show were friendly....and quite mischievous. When the borek vendor came by, hands filled with a pile of borek above his head, they started tickling him and slapping his behind....trying to get him to drop all his profits. Funny thing, we later saw a photo of the borek guy in the book I mentioned above!

I started with a refreshing glass of Ayran.

The Missus wanted some tea, which was brought from the tea shop next door.

Ordering for me was pretty easy....I just went with the Karisik Izgara...the mixed grill. The Missus wanted to try the Adana Kebab. Things started off with a nice Coban Salatasi, shepherd's salad, which was quite good as it was dressed with what tasted like balsamic vinegar.

The Missus enjoyed Her Adana Kebab. Though it was milder than She expected, it was very moist and tender........which is where many of the kebab places here in the states fall short.

My mixed grill turned out to be quite a bit of food (duh!).

Strangely....well, knowing me, maybe not.....I really enjoyed the grilled chicken wings which were moist and full of flavor...smokey, salty, sweet, and mildly spicy. The skin was even fairly crisp.

This turned out to be the best meal of our time in Istanbul.

Kara Mehmet Kebap Salonuu
Iç Cebeci Han No: 92
Grand Bazaar, Old City, Istanbul

It was also a lot of fun watching the old men argue over a game of cards......one gentleman slammed his cards down and started to walk away in a huff while all the other guys tried to get him back. Some things are universal and we couldn't help but laugh. The other men were cracking up and pointed at us saying something in Turkish......the guy sheepishly smiled, waved at us, and went back to the table where his smiled disappeared, pointing to another gentleman, the one who probably beat his rear end off, and the game resumed.

Soon enough it was time to hit the bustling streets of Istanbul again.

We still needed to pick up some small gifts to bring back to us. One of the guys back at the hotel told us to get Turkish Delight from Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir.

According to the story, back in 1777 Bekir Effendi created Turkish Delight and this shop has been in existence since then. We were told that it was the oldest continuously run business in Istanbul at over 230 years. I'm not a big fan of lokum, but heck, if you're going to get it, it might as well be from the originators, right?

By the time we were headed back to our hotel the heat and crowds were starting to wear us down. The Missus noticed a shop with a second floor dining area and decided that it would be a great time for a break.

We ordered a snack and some tea downstairs then walked up the narrow stairwell (the norm for Istanbul) to what turned out to be a very nice dining area.

It turns out that the name of the place was Hafiz Mustafa 1864....I guess for when it was established. This was the perfect little break we needed.

While looking at the photo of the street below, I recalled how crowded and busy things seemed.

And yet, when we returned home, we missed the lively, vibrant, and very social environment......much like we missed China when we got back from our trip there.

Of course, right at that moment, I could more clearly empathize with this fellow we passed on the way back to our hotel room.

 This was nothing a nice shower and a short nap couldn't cure and I was ready to go. The front desk folks had recommended at restaurant called Rami to us earlier. It was called very nice and classy...well, we had been travelling with just backpacks and really weren't in the position of visiting anyplace too fancy. We were assured that we'd have no problems with the restaurant which is located in a charming little house a few blocks away.

Well, the house may be charming, but the gentleman who seated us was far from that. The pace was empty, but he was quick to tell us where we couldn't sit....nothing on the second floor, no tables with a view....all reserved, even though the place was totally empty and would remain so during our entire meal.

It did seemed like the spacing of tables were a bit cramped, but of course that didn't bother us since no one else was there.

Our Server promptly dealt us our menus and proceeded to disappear for a good long time. No water, no nothing....... When he returned, I think we made our second "mistake"........we'd had a good amount of food for lunch. To us, it seemed that just have a combination of starters for dinner would just be the perfect thing. His response, "humph......."

We went with the cold starters combination (TRY 29 - about $18 at the time).

All I remember after tasting this was how bland and ice cold this stuff was. It was like cafeteria food.

We also ordered the "Hot" Starters Plate (also TRY 29)......hot was just being used in the broadest of terms I suppose as most of this was also cold and somewhat greasy.

That lahmacun was plain nasty and we quit after one bite each.

Believe me when I say it was far from what as written on the menu.

As we were almost(thankfully) through our meal the Server plunked down some bread at our table......I mean really, if you're going to get all stuffy and pretentious on us, at least show me that you know how to time things and do your job. After all the great experiences we had in Istanbul, this was a rather sad way to end our trip.

As I sat at the window of our hotel room and listened to the last call to prayer for the evening I realized something. I usually work a little harder when researching places to eat when we travel. All the sites and history of Istanbul had taken over and we had stayed with places close to the Old City. I would have to fix that next time we were here. And based on how much we loved Istanbul, there would be a next time.

Chicken Wing Thing: 777 (redux), Luong Hai Ky (Convoy), and Pho Mignon + Grill

Man, I've been doing Chicken Wing posts for so long that I'm starting to do revisits already! So anyway, here we go......

777 Noodle House:

Though I enjoy visiting here quite often, I really wasn't a big fan of the chicken wings. But, for some reason, I decided to try them again during a recent meal.

Whereas the coating was on crumbly and oily side before, this time they were fried to a crisp perfection. They look a bit darker than I remembered. Still delivered sizzling hot, but also still in need of a bit more seasoning. Still, much better than before.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105 

Luong Hai Ky:

I've been underwhelmed during my vists to Luong Hai Ky since they've returned to the Convoy area. The food hasn't been consistent. Still, I hadn't even had the chicken wings here so I thought I'd give them a shot. So here are the Canh Ga from LHK.

The wings were very low quality, many of the bones were broken and splintered and the flesh near the bones blackened. Not much in the way of real flavor other than some bits of bitter burnt garlic and a couple of slices of serrano that really hadn't been able to impart it's flavor to the wings.  The skin was on the gummy side too. Pass......

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

 Pho Mignon:

I'd had the "Saigon Wings" before and thought they were gummy and bland. Still, I thought I'd give them another shot ($5.95 - 6 wings). These were better than my first experience with them when they first opened. Still, very mildly flavored they just don't stand up to the wings at Que Huong, not enough sweet-salty-spiciness, almost like they're afraid to commit themselves.

It's sad when the best thing I've had at a Vietnamese Restaurant is their french fries.

Mignon Pho + Grill
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111 

Man, three strikes and I'm out I guess. Bummer, I guess I'll be needing a fix of this soon.

Chicken Wing Thing: BBQ Chicken, Golden City, Homestyle Hawaiian, and Empirehouse Urban Palate

Wow, it's almost been a year since I did my last "Chicken Wing Thang" post, I guess I better do some catching up. Here's a round-up of some (but not all) of the chicken wings I've had since then.

BBQ Chicken:

As a whole, I'm not a big fan of B(est of the) B(est) Q(uality) Chicken, I've found the the flavor, and Q(uality) just wasn't the B(est) I guess. I've been back a couple of times since my post back in 2008, and am really just not wowed by the chicken.

However, a couple of years back...... yes, I can't remember where I park my car in the morning, but when it comes to food my memory is sometimes quite sharp. I recall a conversion with my good FOY (friend of yoso) Howie, who passed on a terrible tale of having to eat the Sweet and Spicy wings from BBQ Chicken. He likened the experience to being helpless in the grasp of sticky napalm, unable to move with sauce burning a hole on his face and his fingers in fire. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair.... sorry Howie, I know it ain't right to laugh at someone else's misfortunes, but the expression on your face as you told us the story was priceless!

And after all those years, I decided to give those wings a try. First off, you gotta remember, this ain't fast food, even though it looks like it. It'll take a good 20-30 minutes or more for your chicken.....which is why I thought it was really funny when they actually had a drive-thru. They don't have one any longer do they? It was pretty late when I got there, so I didn't notice. Anyway, the wings aren't cheap at almost ten bucks.....at ten wings, they've crossed into "Kyochon" pricing territory.

I will say the wings are pretty large and the bright red color looked quite impressive. Though I'm fine with smaller wings since the skin to meat ratio is sometimes better.

 

The chicken had retained a good deal of crunch on the drive home, and as I mentioned before these were some pretty hefty wings. In terms of flavor, these are more spicy and sticky wings......upfront spicy, kind of sweet, but lacking in any real savory component. The lack of of complexity in the flavor really makes this a one trick pony.... it is spicy (though not even close to Quaker Steak and Lube), but that's about it in my opinion. It just seems to need something more and lacks that "I need to keep eating because I think they put crack in these wings" factor.

At a dollar a wing this really ain't worth it in my book.

BBQ Chicken
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Golden City:

You know after all my posts on Golden City you knew that someday I'd have to relent and actually try the salt and pepper chicken wings here, even though I really didn't have a good feeling about it. So here it is, in its bitter garlic, kinda soggy, dry meat glory.

 

Not enough salt, or I daresay MSG, hardly any spice......... it won't keep me from ordering Kwai Fei Chicken that's for sure.....

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Homestyle Hawaiian:

Say what? Yes, according to the sign it said Salt n' Pepper Chicken Wings. And Mo couldn't wait to have me try them.....

 

At the time I tried them; this was late last year, about the time I had the Roast Pork Loco Moco, I thought they needed a bit more leavening since they got soggy fairly quickly. The flavor had an interesting sweet tone, but not enough salt.... Mo did tell me, that at that time he wasn't using MSG..... Needed some kick to it as well. I believe that the price is now $7.50, but I did see these still on the menu.

Homestyle Hawaiian Island Style Food
7524 Mesa College Drive
San Diego, CA 92111

Empirehouse Urban Palate:

A FOY asked me to check out the Red Miso BBQ Wings ($7) at Empire House Urban Palate, a newer restaurant located at 127 University, a location that has been through several restaurants in  recent years. Ed from Yuma did a post on The Better Half which was in this location a couple of years back. Taking a cue from the various back to comfort food style cuisine that is big in gastropubs and fusion style food typical of food trucks, this place serves a line-up of burgers, hot dogs, along with chicken karaage, tacos, and of course chicken wings. Kind of an interesting stretch..... and a lot of territory to cover.

But this is a chicken wing post, so let's get down to those wings.

 

These weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination.... I just wish that there had been a bit more imagination.... these tasted more like a usual BBQ sauce, with perhaps a touch of Hoisin for some very mild beany savory flavor and sweetness. Where was the deep salty-savory flavor of Aka miso? The wings were on the smallish side which wouldn't have been bad if the skin had been a bit more crisp.

 

A bit more spice, maybe sweetness, or perhaps the kind of assertive flavor like those of Que Huong's Fish Sauce Chicken Wings...... What these did do for me is make me wonder what kind of miso glazed wings would I make? Hmmm.... folks do enjoy the Spicy Garlic-Soy Chicken wings I make......

I will say that the young ladies working here are very friendly and enthusiastic and made eating here a pleasure.

Empirehouse Urban Palate
127 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103

There you go the latest installment of chicken wings! Thanks for dropping by!