mmm-yoso!!!

A Cafe

I recently was asked if I'd ever been to A Cafe. I simply answered with a "no". I explained that I'd really never been a big fan of HK Style Cafe's, even when we lived in the San Gabriel Valley. To me, a non-boba/milk tea lover, who never enjoyed riffs on spaghetti and other items, eating in an Hong Kong style cafe meant a couple of items depending on the joint, congee here, fried pork chop there, RH Garden Cafe was just a block or so from where we used to live in Rowland Heights and it just never appealed to me. Though I gotta say, we did spend many an evening eating at Supreme Dragon, so go figure.

And after Cathy's post, I was even less motivated. Still, I'd eaten in just about every restaurant in the mall with the parking lot from hell so why not?

I wasn't too thrilled to hear that the folks from Imperial Mandarin had taken over the place. If you've ever noticed, I've never done a post on IM, though I've eaten there.....put in the broadest terms. The last three times I've to eat at IM, well, lets just say I suffered from "unlucky returns".

Still, different location, different luck, right?

The place does have that "diner" feel and typical of HK style cafe's, the food is reasonably priced.

I did see something on the menu that interested me, so I placed my order.

Next up came a watery insipid soup that, after the first taste, I just couldn't consume. This, along with the gratis soup that comes with lunch at Dede's falls under the category of "why bother".

The item I went with was the Stir Fried Beef Tongue with Green Onion ($5.99):

This was pretty good. The beef tongue was perhaps a bit too tough, but wasn't too waxy. The flavor was slightly smoky, teetering on the line of liver. But as a whole, it wasn't too awfully offally, if you know what I mean. The onions were stir fried decently and retained some crunch. It wasn't seasoned too heavily either. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but not inedible.

To put things into perspective, this was cheaper than a sandwich.

So I returned a couple of weeks later. Famished, I decided to start with the deep fried mushrooms.

Like they say, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This was the latter. In all fairness, the mushrooms were nicely fried, the batter not too thick....though you better watch it because the liquid content of the mushrooms will squirt out and give a nice burn. That does not make up for an absolute zero in the flavor column....as in no discernable seasoning. Plus, this is served with mayo. To me, it needed something a with a bit of ooomph. Even hot sauce really didn't lift this.

I did order a standby dish,the salt and pepper pork chops ($5.99):

To me, an HK style cafe can live off its frying and seasoning skill. This dish was an "oh fer two", like the mushrooms it was very bland....where was the seasoned salt? Where was the pepper. The topping of green onions and peppers was raw. The batter was on the gummy side and not my cup of tea. To add insult to injury, the rice was really dry........ 'nuff said.

So does an decent dish get erased by a (two) terrible one(s)? The prices here, at least the lunch specials, are reasonable and the folks I had serving me were nice, though I was the only customer in the place on both occasions. I think I'll just keep on with saying HK style cafe's really aren't my thing and this place would be on the bottom of my list of those places.

A Cafe
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

 

Little Sheep Hot Pot (vacation: Ed(from Yuma); staycation: Cathy)

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog; a diary/record of meals consumed.  By coincidence, all three of the 'regular' (opposed to 'normal') bloggers were on some sort of '-cation' last week and two shared a meal. That meal is documented here today.

While Kirk was vacationing (and using his passport), Ed (from Yuma) and His Lovely Tina, drove to San Diego (from Yuma) last week. With the use of the magical internet, they arranged to meet The Mister and I for lunch at Little Sheep.  Kirk has posted about Little Sheep twice, both around the time the San Diego branch opened.  More than two years ago, Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and I met here for a delightful lunch; one of a handful of times the three of us have shared a meal together.  (This is a link to Kirbie's recent post about lunch specials here.)

Each table and seat at the bar is set with one or more single induction cooktops.

The hot pot is brought out filled with the appropriate spices for the hot pot base ordered ($3.75/person).  We decided to try all three options- Spicy, Original (which has 36 spices) and Vegetarian. The pot magnetically attaches to the induction heat source and, although hot, will get to simmering in a few minutes.

We decided not to order the $9.99 Lunch Specials, since that would mean the same group of vegetables with the only variable being the type of meat.  Instead, we chose our own items. These, which were brought out first, would cook in the broths first (a faux pas, I know: the meat should be brought out first to flavor the broth), before the simmer happened. From the far right, going clockwise: frozen tofu ($2.95), oyster mushrooms ($4.95), yam noodle ($4.95), lamb wonton($6.5o) and the beautiful bowl of veggie combo platter ($9.95). I must say, we made excellent choices.  Everything was outstanding, working a bit differently with the varied broths.   We all agreed the most interesting and flavorful vegetable from the 'veggie combo platter' was tangho.  It was slightly bitter and kept a good texture in the hot pot. We also agreed the oyster mushrooms were really tasty and meaty.

Our thinly sliced meats were brought out soon enough. We ordered the pork ($5.95), chicken ($5.95) and beef and lamb plate ($10.95)...each meat cooked quickly in the bubbling cauldron (which was refilled with broth) and again took on a different taste depending on the spices in each section.  Again, we made excellent choices.

At the end of the meal and after catching up with each other and discussing Kirk and His Missus and what we knew of their vacation, we assessed the meal and none of us could find anything we didn't like: it was that good.  

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot and Grill 4718 Clairmont Mesa Blvd, San Diego 92117 (858)274-2040 Opens 11:30 a.m. daily.  Closed between 3 and 5:30 p.m. M-F.  Closes at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m. other days. Website

 

  

 

 

Roadtrip: Take-out from Shufeng Garden and Easy Earthen, plus some other stuffs

As I mentioned in my Tasty Noodle House/Torrance Farmer's Market post, we had decided to spend the night in Hacienda Heights on the way home from Vegas. We didn't plan much at all, we had lived in the area for a good chunk of time, long enough for it to be considered to be perhaps my "third home". We just wanted to see what the neighborhood was like over a decade later. Sure, we've stopped by quite a number of times over the years, but we've never spent a good amount of time in the area since we left.

We both felt sluggish and tired, Vegas has a way of just sucking the energy right our of us. So the Missus thought it would be a nice idea to just do take-out and eat in our room. We'd take a drive and maybe even a walk after dinner.

I successfullylobbied for some of my favorite take-out in the area; from Shufeng Garden. So we drove on over, placed our order and since this was one of those "just eat as much as you want" moments, we walked less than a block over and went to Easy Earthen, Earthen Restaurant's smaller, more "fast-casual/take-out" shop. There was a funny moment at Easy Earthen....the Missus just naturally spoke mandarin to anyone in a Chinese restaurant in Rowland/Hacienda Heights. She walked up to the counter and spoke to the young lady behind the counter, who replied, "oh, sorry, I don't speak Chinese". The Missus was so thrown off She just said "oh" and walked away from the counter! We had noticed some subtle changes in the neighborhood, like more folks actually walking, but this, a Chinese who spoke no Mandarin or Cantonese, this was something totally different for us. I gave the young lady the knowing "third generation" look and proceeded to order. It was nice seeing old haunts; Nijiya was still there, though some, like the Albertson's on the corner of Colima and Azusa were gone.

We made our way back to the room and dug in. Of course, the Missus doesn't eat chicken, so I had the entire half "Shandong Chicken" to myself. This was good, but even with an entire container of sauce, it just didn't have the assertive tones that I recalled. It tasted watered down. The chicken was good though, fairly tender.

The stuff from Shufeng was as good as always and we finished everything.........

Easy Earthen
18303 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Feeling fat and happy after dinner, we took a short walk to the 99 Ranch Market on Azusa where I always used to see the most interesting "Engrish" signs, the best one being a very interesting rendition of "six pack coke", you can imagine how they spelled "coke", right? Of course they didn't let me down. I'm sure this was just for old time's sake:

I think someone should buy them a vowel. Though if you said it "Bunnuts andsedsandberries" it sounds kinda neat.

The area is constantly changing, old businesses leaving, new ones coming along, like the new 85 C Bakery. Here's one that caught our eye.

Maybe next time......

 

 

 

Clearing Out the Memory Card (COMC): Revisits to Golden City, Buga, and The Original Sab E Lee (Linda Vista)

I haven't done one of these in a while. Here's a trifecta of places I've posted on many, many, times. So I thought you'd like something with mostly just photos.

Golden City:

I actually hadn't been back to Golden City in a while. But recently, I actually had lunch there twice in two weeks! The first time with my good buddy "YZ" and the second with my long time FOY (Friend of Yoso) The Zompus......aka MrZ.

Anyway, here are the food photos:

I know, it's the same old thing....so once in a while, I'll order something different, like the Jellyfish Head with XO Sauce.

Which could have used a bit more XO Sauce. The Jellyfish texture was very nice though.

I guess this is where I bid Aloha to MrZ, his lovely wfie, Paparratt (aka MrsZ), and their little "Woolet" (Little Z of course). MrZ has gotten a big promotion and is off to Seattle. Congrats and best wishes, I'll miss you guys!

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

Buga:

It's been pretty warm here for the last couple of weeks......so ramen is out of the question with the Missus. She was craving Yukkwe Bi Bim Bop, so the first place that came to mind was Buga.

Of course I got the Bi Bim Naengmyun.

 Of course, being open for dinner at 4 in the afternoon also works in their favor. From the placard in the window, it seems that the place is undergoing a change of ownership....so we'll see how that plays out.

Buga Korean BBQ Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

The Original Sab E Lee (Linda Vista):

For some reason I crave TOSEL whenever it gets warmer. We visited twice in the last two weeks.

Over the last two visits we've found that the quality of beef used in the Koy Nua seems to have been upgraded. It's much more tender now.

Funny story, the first time the Missus had this, She noticed the spots on the plate, thinking it was blood and was kind of grossed out. Still, we enjoyed the beef. On our second visit, I noticed that the orange spots were actually decorations on the plate!

For some reason, the Missus has taken to the Tod Mun Pla - the fried fishcake. I think it's the sauce.

The Original Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go, three places I've posted on many times....at least there are a couple of new dishes, right?

I hope everyone has had a great Easter weekend!

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

Roadtrip: Torrance Farmer's Market and a revisit to Tasty Noodle House (San Gabriel)

The Missus and I had a great time in Vegas and our time there ended on a high note. When we initially made plans for our short jaunt to Las Vegas, we thought we'd do what we've done before, make a quick stop in the SGV for a meal then hit the road home. But after thinking things through, we decided to spend a night in Hacienda Heights. After all, we lived in the area for a good chunk of time. It would be nice for old times sake. We also decided to do some of the things we used to do on a Saturday......that would be hit the Torrance Farmer's Market. So we left Vegas at around 545am and made it to the Torrance Farmer's Market in no time at all!

I've already posted on the Torrance Farmer's Market three times already, so I'll spare you a rehash of the same old story......

Ice chest full of produce, we stopped and topped off the gas tank and headed to San Gabriel.

I'd been craving the Tianjin Baozi from Tasty Noodle House for a while, so that's where we stopped for lunch.

Remember, it was still January, so the Missus was still in the mood for soup and ordered the Suan Cai Yang Rou - Sour Vegetable and Lamb soup which was both warming and cleansing, if not super good.

I prefer mine a bit more sour and salty.....but this did fine.

Of course we got the Tianjin Baozi, which was just as I recall, yeasty aroma, light and fluffy, with a light, yet tasty pork filling.

Just the fragrance takes me back to China.

Seems like everyone who eats here orders this. A guy comes in, has one order for lunch, then proceeds to get five orders to go. Though I don't think you really the full enjoyment of these after reheating.

I could probably eat this a couple of times a week.

Tasty Noodle House
827 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

After lunch we took our time driving up to Rowland Heights and wandered around the neighborhood.....up and down the streets we used to drive on often....Nogales, Harbison, Azusa, Colima..... We checked into the Courtyard a bit early and got a nap in.....then it was dinner time of course!

Saturday Stuffs: Goodbye Lucky Star....hello Jasmine 2? Taegukgi Korean BBQ, because we just need another AYCE joint, right? And other stuff....

Goodbye Lucky Star....hello Jasmine 2????

I hadn't really kept up on Lucky Star since an absolutely horrible visit back in 2005. And though things do take time, I'm really not sad to see the place go. I was recently in the area and noticed that all the signage is gone.

I won't go into the reason why Lucky Star was first shut down, then totally closed. But what I will mention is that I've heard from two different sources that the folks from Jasmine have picked up the lease on the place we called the "Big Red Barn".

Interesting, huh?

The address is:

3893 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Just because we need yet another AYCE Korean BBQ on Convoy:

I noticed this a couple of weeks back, but didn't have enough to put together a post. It looks like a pretty humongous AYCE joint is being constructed next to the new site of Zion Market.

Just because we needed another one of these, right?

7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Didn't you used to be NYPD Pizza?

Now it's something called Oliva Ristorante......

Next to Mr Peabody's on Friar's Road. When I asked someone who works in this little strip mall about the place, they told me, new owners, but same menu. The sign says "Italian & Green Cuisine"....  Green cuisine? Hmmm......

Oliva Ristorante
6110 Friars Rd
San Diego, CA 92108

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.....nice weather like this means it's time to start making stuff like this.

Roadtrip: Beijing Pie House - Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

Back in October, I had a chance to grab a bite with one of my favorite couples, Kirbie and her DH. As always, conversation always drifts toward food. One of the places that Kirbie recommended was Beijing Pie House in Monterey Park (read her post here). So on our next trip to the SGV, we made sure to check the place out.

We had stopped by China Islamic right before our visit here, so we knew it wasn't going to be a gigantic meal.

We arrived pretty early and the dining area was empty except for a guy who I'll designate as the loudest slurper and chewer I've heard. We could hear him smacking his lips all the way on the other side of the room.

We could actually see flecks of food flying from his mouth as he spoke while chewing. His dining companion left the table for a good long time.....probably to remove all the detritus from her hair.

The young man who served could not have been nicer. The Missus found him adorable.....mainly because he spoke Mandarin with a very formal "American" accent.

The Missus has an affection for the various porridges she grew up eating.......which includes the cornmeal based version here.

As for the various Xian Bing....

They were nice enough to serve us a combination vegetarian XB.

Two radish and two "combination".

First off, these "pies" had a nice crust, crisp, but not oily. The filling were also moist....

The radish version was probably my favorite......the bitterness of the radish had been tempered when cooked......

Creating a nice chew with a balance of the pungent and sweetness.

The combination featured mushroom and bean curd with a good amount of seasoning. Though on the salty side, this was still good.

Since we love lamb and mutton, we also ordered the lamb pie......

 

These didn't quite do it for us. In terms of texture and preparation, we both thought, the Xian Bing were prepared well.

With regards to flavor, we thought this on the weak side...it could have been pork or any other protein, the distinctive flavor of lamb was missing.

I understand that there are those who don't enjoy the "flavor of the pasture", but I still think lamb should taste that way. When it is too tame....well, you might as well get anything else.

Still, the Xian Bing were well prepared, the service was nice. I wouldn't hesitate in returning.

Beijing Pie House
846 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Las Vegas: Lunch at Three Villages and checking out some of the markets

After having some poke from Hawaaian Style Poke in the parking lot of 99 Ranch Market, I realized it was still too early to check out my "lunch stop". So what better to do then check out 99 Ranch Market? In fact, after walk around 99 Ranch Market, I drove up the street and had a look-see at 168 Market, which wasn't around the last time we visited Vegas.

The set-up of this 99 Ranch Market reminded me of the Irvine location.

Items are a bit more expensive here as well. Love the Engrish signs as well.....

Further up the street is 168 Market, which I thought was the cleanest of the three I visited.

I left 168 and jumped into my car and headed over to the plaza that housed Shun Fat Market. On the second floor is a Shaghainese Restaurant called Three Villages that had been mentioned to me a couple of times.

 The set-up was a bit odd; at least for me. The "front" or street facing entrance is locked and really is just a large sign. You have to go around the corner and fine the entrance and the place almost looks vacated.

But of course it wasn't........the place was empty when I arrived though. I had to call out to check if they were actually in business.

Ordering was pretty simple. I'd come here for the Xiao Long Bao. I did make it a "combo" for a buck more and got some soup....a very plain soup with bean thread and tofu.

Actually this kind of plain, but hearty soup is the kind of thing the Missus likes....me, not so much. I will say that it was a pretty large amount of soup.

The XLB arrived soon after. First thing I noticed was how doughy and thick looking the wrappers were.

 Still, I'm not the biggest fan of the over-worked, very thin wrappers and these ended up having a decent light stretch to them.....I still thought they were a bit on the thick side.

The filling was disappointing. Since they only have straight up pork XLB, I didn't expect a great range of flavors from the soup, but this was pretty weak, lacking in a good pork flavor and having no sweetness what so ever. The filling also had some hard bits as well.

Still better than anything in San Diego though. That's really not saying much.....

Three Villages Restaurant
5115 W Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89103

After lunch I headed downstairs and had a little stroll through Shun Fat Market.

Since I was headed back to our room, I picked up a couple of Suan Nai for breakfast.

Just walking through these three markets you could notice things. The cleanest and busiest was 168. Both 168 and 99 Ranch Market actually listed the origin of their seafood, SF did not. The least cleanest was SF. I also saw a woman pick up a fish with her hands at SFM, then after putting it back she washed her hands....in the tank holding the clams! As I walked to my car in the strip mall, I smelled an acrid odor that everyone knows.....I saw the pool of liquid near the stairs. Unlike the seafood in SFM, I knew the country of origin of this liquid..... "urine-nation". Yikes.

COMC: The you sure eat a lot of guts edition.....

I recently got an interesting email from "JB".......who basically said, "you sure eat a lot of guts"..... Really? I didn't think so, until I looedk in my COMC (Clearing out the memory card) folder and it became all too clear.......

Sigh....I guess I do. Think I'll go get a cold one....and maybe some guts now.....

I hope you're having a great week!