mmm-yoso!!!

J&T Thai Street Food

On one of my trips to Ballast Point on Linda Vista a couple of months ago, I noticed this little restaurant had opened.

The name conjured up memories of the cornucopia of street food we encountered in Thailand, the breath and depth of which was impressive.......wonderful whiffs of fried goodies wafting down streets and alleyways in Thailand.

We already have The Original Sab E Lee feeding us Issan style food.....could this be the place for true Bangkok style street-food.

Even though I try not to let first impressions set the tone, the interior screams of "fast-casual"......in fact, I started calling this place Thai-Chipotle.

The place is going for that somewhat slick and modern vibe, using "Thai Street Food" to make the Veggie Pad Thai and Grilled Salmon Salad sound exotic and different.

Still, there were some items on the menu outside the restaurant that seemed interesting.

The Pork Leg Stew Rice, which I'm assuming was Khao Kha Moo looked like a must try, until I entered the restaurant and found that it was no longer on the menu....the one inside the place.

Still the steamed chicken rice ($7), sounded much like Hainan Chicken Rice which is called khao man kai in Thailand, so I thought I'd give that a try. Admittedly, I was thrown off when the chipper young lady asked me if I wanted my chicken with or without skin.

Upfront I'll say this was way better than the version at Noble Chef, the chicken tender, the rice not dried out. On the other hand, the flavor was on the mild side, almost a caricature of sorts that had me wanting something like what I had in Chiang Mai. The flavor was a bit too watered down and gabacho for me. The sauce was basically a sweet chili sauce with garlic, a bit too sweet for me. The tones that ginger adds to this dish was missing as well.

The good thing about these type of places is that you don't spend a mint on your meal. This means that you, like I can give it another go a few weeks later. This time I was famished and started with the Chicken Wings, not a bargain at $3 for three wings.....they gotta fix the sign outside, it says four wings.

The wings were served with the same pseudo garlic-sweet chili sauce that was served with the chicken on my previous visit. Gladly, the wings didn't need the sauce. I thought these were quite good. The wings were moist, the skin crunchy, with a nice balanced seasoning, salty-peppery, with a touch of heat. Not cheap, about the same price as wings from Kyochon and not quite there in terms of execution and taste. Still, not bad.

I wish this carried over onto my Duck Noodle Soup ($7).

This was one of those dishes that could be represented with the phrase, "the good, the bad, the ugly...."

The good, well, the decent was the pretty generous portion of duck, which was tender if not particularly memorable in terms of flavor.

The bad was the broth, which was an insipid combination of watery faint five spice and sugar flavors. Everything else was null and void.

The ugly were the noodles which were mushy and overcooked.

Well, at least it was steaming hot, right?

In terms of prices, this place is not bad. In the context of gringo/student Thai Food, ditto. Is it for me....well, other than those wings, probably not. I usually don't go to Chipotle when I'm craving Mexican Food, but I don't hold it against those who do.

J&T Thai Street Food
5259 Linda Vista Rd
San Diego, CA 92110

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!

COMC: Never made the cut edition

Just C(learing)O(ut the)M(emory)C(ard) time again. Here are a bunch of dishes that never quite made the cut for one reason or another.

Along with not making the cut for a post, these were rather "undelicious" if there is such a word.

Anyway, here goes......

This Banh Xeo looked plastic......

And pretty much tasted it......

Since folks already know I'm not a fan....I don't feel like rubbing it in.

Even one of our favorite Korean Restaurants is not immune. This Kimchi Pajun was greasy, soggy, and tasted off.

So is our favorite Thai place.... This Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice was indeed spicy; more like 10 then the 5 I ordered.

It was like the rice had just been passed quickly through oil....though the shrimp were very nice.

They called these "Italian Ribs".

They were as tough as they looked......

This Combination Egg Noodle Soup cost eight bucks.........and was quite bad.

Even beyond looking like stuff was just thrown into the soup, the broth was lukewarm and the noodles strangely mushy.

Meet a $7 TJ Hot Dog.

So much stuff!

This Bo Luc Lac, was Beef no luck....tough and really salty.

Well.....that's it.....not much, I know.

I hope everyone had a great week!

I think it's time for a "guilty pleasure" run.

The Original Sab E Lee - Rancho Penasquitos

Where does time go? In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that Sab E Lee opened in Linda Vista. But that was almost five years ago. I knew after our first meal that the place was a "keeper", a Thai restaurant that wasn't afraid to give you a taste of Issan, the fresh, bright flavors, and burning spice. I still recall the pleasure of having my first Koi Soi in six or so years, on the day Koby finally was able to source the beef he wanted. I recall taking Josh Silberman, former writer for City Beat, along with my good buddy Candice (then writer for City Beat) and getting the Koi Soi at heat level "10".....watching Josh turn red, then purple, sweat pouring down his face which seemed to be swelling, him telling me, "it hurts....but I just can't stop!" Such good times. After the late Naomi Wise wrote, "At Last True Thai", the place literally blew up.....you had to choose your times well at the tiny five table joint. Still, it couldn't have happened to a group of nicer folks. Of course time does keep on moving on, Koby sold his share of the Linda Vista location to the folks running the place to open Sab E Lee in Santee, then in turn selling his share of that place to move on to destination unknown. Before you knew it, Jay, a fixture at the Linda Vista location had moved back to Thailand. Good things the cooks were still in place. Since then, it seems that the young folks running the front of house changed from time to time and it became basically a place for take-out. Other than seeing and chatting with the cooks, I really lost my connection with the now slightly renamed Original Sab E Lee. So I was caught off guard when "KevinK" mentioned that a location of the Original Sab E Lee was opening in Rancho Penasquitos which I just had to check out. I was told the projected grand opening, but had a packed schedule. I thought that having a group of us get together would be nice; especially since our good friends TFD and MrC live up in San Marcos and always make a point of coming to see us. It would only be fair to meet them halfway.

Instead of going forward, you may want to read any number of posts from San Diego Food Bloggers, who have eaten there. The menu is basically the same as the location on Linda Vista. This restaurant seat about 50 and was pretty packed by the time we left.

Several of the folks running the front of house recognized me when I came by....what was even more funny was when Maylee came out......you see we were pretty much all regulars at TOSEL, but had rarely eaten together.  She was shocked and pleasantly surprised that we all knew each other.

As for the food....well, I was honored to be given the job of doing most of the ordering. TFD wanted Seafood Tom Yum and I knew that while MrC could handle "Lao spicy", which on the scale of 1-10 is a 12; MrQ has been known to order a heat level of "1", which wasn't going to fly. Still I ordered items at a mixed heat level. Actually, you could read any number of my former posts on the Linda Vista location as well.

We got a couple of orders of Issan Sausage to start:

A nice standby, not made inhouse, but I love the slightly fermented sour flavor.

The Grilled Duck Larb at heat level 5 was very well done on this day.

Though well spiced, the flavor of the duck came through quite well. This is one of those dishes that reminds me of Thailand....the textures; melt-in-your mouth is not meant for a dish like larb, it has to have texture.

The Salted Fish Fried Rice, the strong and heady fragrance, belies a wonderfully savory flavor.

 This was very good.

The Pad See Eew with Shrimp displayed the wok hey that I experienced on my very first visit to Sab E Lee way back when.

The carb dishes were leading the way it seems.....

The Seafood Tom Yum, at a spice level 5 seemed like the most spiciest dish of the day.

MrQ did us proud as he handled the Koi Neua at a heat level 7.

We always count on Candice to provide the liquid refreshment.....which goes great with this dish. Spicy, nutty, with the wonderful raw beef texture...add in the the flavor of the herbs and you've got a nice dish.

Just for memories sake, I ordered the Naked Shrimp, though only at heat level 8. This was the dish that MrC had us order at "Lao spicy" which caused first degree burns around our lips once. We weren't going there this time.

This raw shrimp dish was a bit drier than what I recalled, lacking in the galangal and other herbs and citrus which elevate the heat. I did enjoy the slices of bittermelon as a nice tannic counter-point to the chilies.

Compared to what I've had at TOSEL on previous visits, the Catfish Larb was quite mild in flavor. Perhaps ordering it at a heat level 5 affected things.

As things were winding down, we were treated to a nice surprise from the kitchen......

A sampling of ice cream and sticky rice with mango from the kitchen, gratis.......such a nice gesture.

Service was as good as can be expected for a new restaurant. The front of house was friendly and accommodating. The real winners on this day was the duck larb and the salted fish fried rice....actually, since the food was pretty much what we expected from TOSEL, I'd say that we were the real winners. Though we often think of Rancho Penasquitos as being a universe away from us, it's only about 12 miles. The Missus and I will probably drop by again one day soon.

The Original Sab-E-Lee
13223-2 Black Mountain Rd
San Diego, CA 92129

Las Vegas: Lotus of Siam Four (12) Years Later

Perhaps I should have titled this post, "LOS Twelve Years Later" because that's how long we've been coming to Lotus of Siam. No trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to the rather worn strip mall on East Sahara Avenue.......according to my friends, "where cabs don't mind dropping you off, but don't like picking you up." Based on our last meal here almost four years ago, our expectations were high.

We had wondered how time had changed LOS and the answer was easy enough to find. First, Bill Chutima, who owns and runs LOS along with his wife and chef Saipin Chutima is quite the oenophile. There's now a rather large collection of wine on display as you enter. An even bigger difference is that the space next door has been taken over, doubling the size of the restaurant. Even with double the space, hordes of people are still waiting in line at LOS......at least from what we saw on this evening. At least two mini-vans dropped off groups of folks to eat.......all this on a Thursday. Good thing we were on our way out the door when they arrived.

We're always torn when eating at LOS. We want to try out new dishes, but also stick with our favorites from previous visits. Usually, sticking with favorites wins out.

Our main server on this night was the wonderful and warm Mai. Friendly without being overbearing, he enjoyed discussing food, especially Thai food both in the US and Thailand with us. He was a great ambassador for LOS.

The Missus wanted something light and refreshing to start. So we ordered the Soft Shell Crab Salad ($18.95).

Whomever fried this deserves a raise.....the crab was excellent, light and ethereal, with just the perfect crunch. I'm not a big fan of fruits in salads, but here, the green apple did a nice job of adding an additional layer of tartness, without interfering with the overall balance of the dish. In other words, the soul of the dish was unmistakably Thai. It was a great start to our meal.....

Unfortunately, those heights were never quite reached again. Of course we ordered the Koi Soy ($13.95).  I just had to have it. LOS was the first place I'd ever had this wonderful raw beef "salad" back in 2002 and it is my benchmark for the dish.

We knew something was off when the dish arrived.....there seemed to be a lot less roasted rice powder, which added great texture and a mild nuttiness to the dish. Some of the pieces of the beef were quite hard and chewy, something I had never experienced with the Koi Neua at LOS. There was a ton of cilantro, but I couldn't taste kaffir lime leaf. You can just compare this with the what we had four years ago below..... This is still good, but not nearly as wonderful as what we've had during previous visits.

Another signature dish at LOS is a Crispy Duck with Chili Mint Leaves ($20.95).

This didn't measure up well either. While the duck was wonderfully fried, there seemed to be a paucity of sauce, which also tasted off, the balance of salt and sweet just didn't seem right. It also looked pretty sloppy with sauce dripping off the side of the plate. Again, this was not a bad dish, the frying was carried out to perfection, it just wasn't as good as before.

Again, another photo from the files.

I mentioned that the restaurant on the other side of LOS had closed down to Mai and joked that the next time we're back they'll have taken over that space as well. His answer was quite interesting. We were told that they now typically do about 400 covers on a good weeknight and sometimes up to 450-500 during the weekend. The restaurant space had been expanded, but the kitchen had not. I began wondering if LOS had not become a victim of its own success?

Didn't have much time to contemplate this as our next two dishes arrived. We had been missing Lanna style Thai. Not so much the Khao Soi, but more of the "dips" which we call "Nam Prik" type dishes. So we ordered first the Nam Prik Hed (Spicy Mushroom Dip - $9.95):

This was another dish that was fine, but didn't hit the same heights as what we've had here before. This was much too sour and the mushrooms too chewy. Sad really, since we really enjoyed it last time - see the photo on the right.

The Nam Prik Noom (Green Chili Dip - $9.95) was good, even though we ordered everything at a heat level '7', this one really brought it to the table.

Loved having this with sticky rice or with some of the light pork rinds. Smokey, with a pernicious burn, I'm thinking my heat tolerance has gone down over the last couple of years.

As I repeated many times, this wasn't a bad meal by any stretch of the imagination. It is indeed better than anything in San Diego. And while newer or first time visitors may think this is fantastic, the bar had been set on our many visits over the years. We know how good the food can, and had been.....and this wasn't it. Remember, Jonathan Gold, back when he used to post on Chowhound, called this the best Thai Restaurant in North America. The Missus was more disappointed than I was. We had just plain wonderful service, so I'm hoping that this was just an "off" night. Now I'll have to try and convince the Missus of that.

Lotus of Siam
953 E. Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89104
(702)735-3033

Midweek Meanderings: Coming Soon - The Original Sab E Lee in Rancho Penasquitos, Baraka Market and Restaurant, and yes we're stalking North Park Produce in Clairemont

The Original Sab E Lee Opening in Rancho Penasquitos:

On December 11th, "KevinK" commented about Sab E Lee opening in PQ on this post. So the very next day I dropped by The Original Sab E Lee and asked.....and was told that yes, they were opening, probably within two weeks. I asked for an address....and cracked up when they couldn't remember it! All they told me was that it was in a strip mall near Twin Trails Drive. So of course we drove up there this past weekend to find out exactly where...... it's here:

Right next to Penasquitos Pets.... I was told that the menu will be the same as TOSEL, the restaurant will be much larger, about 50 seats. No need to worry, TOSEL on Ulric is not going anywhere.

13223 Black Mountain Rd.
San Diego, CA 92129

Baraka Market and Restaurant:

We drove by the long empty space that used to house United Oriental Food Market on El Cajon Boulevard and saw some activity and even a sign.

I believe "baraka" means blessed or something along those lines in Arabic.....not quite sure. But we'll have to just wait and see what's up.

It's great to finally have something in that spot.

5349 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

And yes, we're stalking North Park Produce in Clairemont:

We stopped by the NPP in Poway, since we'd never been there (a later post). The really friendly woman behind the deli counter told me that NPP was opening on the 16th....last Sunday. But Sunday came and no dice. We've been waiting since we first noticed the sign in September for this place to open. We were at the North Park location of NPP and they told us "in ten days......"

We've been checking the place out every time we drive by....which is pretty much daily. Sheesh....I'm starting to feel like I'm stalking the place.

4220 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117

COMC - International Edition: Places that didn't make the cut in Madison, Chiang Mai, and Antalya (Turkey)

You may find it difficult to believe that we don't actually post on ALL the places we visit. Usually, if the Missus and I have an upscale dinner in San Diego, I usually don't take photos, unless it's happy hour or has some other interesting tie in. There usually are too many people around and I'm a pretty low-key person.....I don't like attention. And then there are those that just "don't make the cut"...it doesn't mean the place was terrible or anything, it could be that I just never got around to doing a post....of course, if it was a stellar meal, you know I'd have done a post.

So anyway, with a minimum of my blabbing, here's a trio that just never made it until I COMC'd (Cleared Out the Memory Card).

Inka Heritage - Madison Wisconsin:

To my disappointment, I got to Mad-town during restaurant week and Inka Heritage had what amounted to a prix fix menu, so I had to go with what they had.

Ceviche 3 Ajies (3 peppers):

Pescado Inka Heritage:

Sooo much cheese...but heck, this is Wisconsin, right? What should I have expected.

Inka Heritage
602 S Park St
Madison, WI 53774

The Wok Restaurant - Chiang Mai, Thailand:

The dishes looked so lovely, but just didn't deliver.....very bland, somewhat dumbed down. These folks run a cooking school I was thinking of joining....kind of glad I didn't.

The Wok Restaurant
44 Rajmankha Rd,
Chiang Mai 50200 Thailand

Ucyildiz - Antalya, Turkey:

So if MickeyD's, or say ChowKing came to Turkey, I'm thinking this is what the food would look like. Sorta artificial....funny, the photos in the menu looked so lovely.

 We still chuckle when we see the photos....you can't win 'em all.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by and reading....or staring, or whatever it is that you do when it;s mostly just photos!

Revisits to The Original Sab E Lee, Sab E Lee Santee and Koon Thai

Here's a trio of revisits to various Thai places we've been to in recent weeks.

The Original Sab E Lee:

You know, we've been here tons of times since they opened in August of 2008. We miss Koby, who used to own this, then Sab E Lee in Santee dearly. There have been times when our meals...usually when doing take-out has been less than stellar and there seems to be a group of young kids often running the front of house, but they've always been pleasant, if a bit inconsistent.

I've found that my heat tolerance, once leveled off at "Thai spicy", a 10, is now about a 7. And what we usually get here is a rotation of our favorites, sometimes throwing in something we hadn't had in a while. This visit was no different.

We started with the grilled duck larb:

One need to look no further than this for a savory, tangy, sour, and satisfying dish.

The Missus was wanting something like the Shrimp Pla from SEL2, so we went with the Shrimp Larb:

This was pretty weak by SEL standards, not spicy enough at even a 7 heat level, too much lime interfered with any other flavor, and not enough really going on. We thought the Shrimp were a bit overcooked for this type of dish. At the most, we'd prefer shrimp just barely cooked.

But all was right with the Shrimp Pad See Eew.

Nice flavor, shrimp cooked quite well. There's some "wok hei" going on..... great flavors from caramelization and the combination of ingredients, high heat, a well seasonedwok and the now ever popular and over-used "Maillard Reactions".

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

Sab E Lee 2 (Sab E Lee Santee):

After our visit back in May, I received and email telling me the place had gone downhill. A couple of weeks ago, the Missus wanted Her fish fix, so we decided to head back.

The gentleman, whose name, if I recall is something like "Chud" still remember me from the days when Koby was here and our San Diego Beer week dinner in 2010. His daughter is now working there; it's become a real family affair.

We started with the Shrimp Pla, with it's spicy-sweet-sour-savory tones, this really perks us up and gets us ready for the rest of the meal.

Instead of my usual Garlic Rice, I went with one of my favorites at TOSEL, the Salted Fish Fried Rice. This version was much more mellow, but really delicious, and less salty. You could make out the fragrance and taste the salted fish, but it really didn't over-power the dish.

The Missus went with the Volcano Fish, instead of Her usual the House Signature Fish.

This one had a bit too much going on for me, but the Missus enjoyed it, and that was the main thing.

We also ordered one of those typical, you pick the protein, you pick the preparation, Thai dishes.....

Which would be ok from your neighborhood Thai take-out joint, but was nothing special.

We'll probably be coming again, the Missus enjoys the fish here.....and I want more salted fish fried rice.

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

Koon Thai:

Based on my previous post, you can figure out what I order here, right? The Nam Khao Tod of course.

This is pretty "wet" and I still prefer the Lao version, but the gingery-sour-salty flavors, topped by some spice I find quite refreshing.

And of course that simmered pork leg dish, the Khao Karr Moo (Khao Kha Moo), which, when done well.....about a 50-50 shot during my last couple of visits, takes me back to Thailand.

At least it's now on the permanent menu.

On a recent visit, the Missus went with the...are you ready....pla nuer onn tod kra tom. Can we just call it crispy whole fish? Anyway, this thing took about 15 minutes longer than both of my dishes....no mention of anything amiss, just dropped my dishes off...and we waited. Finally the Missus told me, "just eat you food....if it takes more than five more minutes, we'll be getting it to go and never coming back." Luckily, the fish made it's way to the table....again, no indication that anything was out of the ordinary....I guess it's SOP here. We're used to the "appetizer sin", which really doesn't bother us, but this was strange. Anyway, this wasn't just a whole fried fish....it was 11 whole fishes!

These were sheathfish and the Missus told me they were fried and seasoned perfectly as She ate all 11 of them! She also enjoyed the sauce and asked if we could have more....and they wanted to charge us $2......really? Whatever....... I've had some kind of weird service here in the past, I guess that's the norm.

I will usually come here for lunch when I have the time, not sure the Missus would want to come back, though.

Koon Thai Kitchen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go, three down and a couple of more to go......stay tuned!

Road Trip: Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant - Garden Grove (Orange County)

The Missus asked me what I wanted this past weekend, I'd been craving Jiaozi since we got back from our trip. So I thought a trip to Qing Dao Bread Food would be great. But the weekend rolled around and it was on the warm side.....and man, it had been a while since I had Lao food! So I thought what about grabbing a bite at Vientiane Thai Lao? The Missus jumped at it....which made me a bit suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when She directed me to drive to South Coast Plaza. A half hour later, She had a new pair of Christian Loubitouns and I was going to get my Lao food. How's that for a trade off? Well, it could have been worse, She had spent some time checking out jewelry at the Chanel store...yikes!!!

We were rather surpised when we stepped into Vientiane.....the place had been renovated since we last visited during the beginning of 2010. It looked nothing like what I remembered.

I sure hoped that the food was the same! We were waited on by a couple of really friendly young men, who did their job adequately and with good humor.

There were two dishes we'd driven up for; the first was the Raw Shrimp Salad ($7.99):

I appreciated the fact that we weren't asked how spicy we wanted it. It would be interesting to see what we got. I think my tolerance has gone down quite a bit now that I don't eat as much spicy food as I used too. After a couple of bites I had sweat pouring down my face. But that didn't prevent me from really enjoying this dish. In spite of the chilies, you can still get the slight sweetness of the shrimp coming through. Nice tangy flavors from the citrus, a bit of garlic, fish sauce, chilies, all jockeying for top spot in the flavor battle...what's not to like?

We also ordered the Ka Na Moo Krob($6.99). If I recall, Moo = Pork and Krob = Crunchy, or something like that.

I know some folks don't enjoy the chewy texture of roasted/braised, then deep fried pork belly, but I kind of like it. The pork had decent flavor, the Gailan (Chinese broccoli) was fresh. The sauce, which tasted like Kecap Manis, or some type of sweet soy, along with some oyster sauce, and perhaps some bean paste(?) edged on the salty end of the scale. It was fine when eating at the restaurant....in fact, we ordered some sticky rice with the sole purpose of soaking all the sauce up. The leftovers tended to be much too salty....note to self: next time finish it all!

Next up, one of those dishes I'll request before the executioner pulls that lever......Nam Khao ($6.50). I just love the sour-salty-crunchy-nutty-savory goodness of Nam Khao.

You know, Nye has a wonderful looking recipe for this on her blog, but I just can't bring my self to make this. I guess making this would eliminate the air of mysterious wonderfulness that dish provides....so I just avoid it. what I really enjoy about this version is that's it is less salty and probably quite low on the MSG scale if there's any in it at all. You can make out the coconut, the sour sausage, the nuttiness of the fried rice......

The last dish we ordered is I believe a version of Or Lam, a typical stew dish called "Meat Stew with Dill and Herbs (Aww)" on the menu ($6.99). Given that the Missus pretty much doesn't eat chicken, beef, or pork, we went with the fish version.

The catfish was too muddy for my tastes, but the Missus liked it. I thought the eggplant and the kabocha were cooked quite well, the Missus was especially taken by the kabocha, soft, but still holding shape, the sweetness coming through with each bite. The broth looked fairly dark and funky, and you could make out what was probably either a bit fermented fish or shrimp paste, which actually took a back seat to the generous amount of dill and kaffir lime leaf flavoring everything. Overall, the Missus enjoyed this much more than I did.

It was a nice meal since we'd been talking about Laos a bit recently and our bill came out to a tad over $30, with leftovers for dinner, a pretty good deal. I'm sure we won't wait two years to return next time. Maybe it was worth the price of those Christian Loubitouns....well, maybe not, we could have over 20 of these meals for those pair of shoes....but who's counting, right?

Vientiane Thai Laos Restauarant
10262 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove,CA92843

Hours: Mon - Thurs 10am - 9pm
               Fri - Sun 10am - 10pm

Revisits: Bun Mam from Thuan Kieu and Sab E Lee 2

Com Tam Thuan Kieu (San Diego):

The dry cleaner lady told me that Thuan Kieu had changed the recipe of the Bun Mam here, probably my favorite dish at this restaurant. It made me a bit worried as I actually enjoy it....but she did say it was even better now and the cooking was more polished. So I just had to see for myself.

It's still priced well at $7.50. The portion size is fairly large.........

First thing I noticed was that this wasn't quite as funky and the previous version. It also was a tad sweeter and more tangy. The flavor is still a "umami bomb". I think they've cut back on the fermented shrimp sauce and added a bit more tomato. It was also a bit more spicy than I recalled....or perhaps my tolerance is bottoming out?

I didn't like the way they prepared the bun, it was "water-logged", H2O still dripping off the noodles which were also over-cooked.

There were two thinner cross slices of fish, rather than one. And a whole lot more pork belly that I recalled. The eggplant was very tender, almost buttery. This was also a bit of a change since it was usually a bit undercooked.

And I guess that whole funkiness issue is relative as well. For the two women who stopped and sniffed the air and the one kid who actually whiffed his armpits when I walked past you at Nijiya after my meal. It was just me....'ol Mam Tom breath..........

Com Tam Thuan Kieu
4712 El Cajon Blvd Ste A
San Diego, CA 92115

Sab E Lee 2:

Man, I think it's been almost two years since I've eaten here. The Missus has gone with Her friends, but I've just been too darn lazy.....terrible excuse, I know. The weather this past weekend just seemed right for Thai and the Missus was craving the Signature Fish.

Nice to see that not much has changed.

The Signature Fish was nice and crisp.....

Though it was smaller than I remember for $15.95 and a tad overcooked. Still, the Missus wasn't complaining.

The Shrimp Plaa was nice and refreshing. Though thinking my heat tolerance had gone down a bit I only ordered a '7' which was too mild. I'll bump it up next time.

Of course, we had garlic rice as well.

Overall, this was a nice light meal....well, perhaps my breath wasn't that great after chowing down that rice.....hey, I guess there is a tie in between these two meals, huh? Not that I'm especially proud of noticing it.......

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071