mmm-yoso!!!

Da Boyz and Brewers in Yuma

 Ed (from Yuma), not Kirk and not Cathy, is posting at mmm-yoso!!! today. About 2 restaurants (in Yuma).

Da Boyz

More than 10 years ago, a pizzeria opened in Yuma Foothills called Da Boyz. At first, we all assumed that this was some new national chain since the decor and logos were very professional. In fact, there are two other locations, one in La Mesa and one in Rancho San Diego. I have no idea about either of them. Similarly, I haven't eaten in the Foothills branch of Da Boyz in five years or more. Why? Because Da Boyz took over and renovated a beautiful large location in old town Yuma on Main Street:

It has extremely high ceilings and a lot of space:

Separate rooms decorated with pictures of Marilyn Monroe or the rat pack or Elvis are available for groups and special occasions. Here are some pictures from the Elvis room:

I like Da Boyz. The service is professional and this location is extremely well-managed. While the beer selection is largely conventional, there are usually at least one or two seasonal brews available:

To my taste, this is the best eat-in pizza restaurant in town – not just because of the nice atmosphere – but because the pizzas are good:

The crusts are real bread crusts:

A wide variety of toppings are available:

And the cheese is flavorful and real:

In addition, the salads are huge:

A small salad can be a filling meal or provide side salads (as shown here) for 2 to 4 eaters:

 

Leaving just an empty bowl:

Even though the lettuces are nothing special, a garden salad will have pepperoncini, sliced olives, bell pepper, red onion, tomato, and cucumber. The Italian dressing is surprisingly tasty.

 Of course, there is more than just pizza and salad. While I find the pasta to be pretty ordinary with unremarkable sauce and overcooked noodles, some of their sandwiches make a nice lunch. Here's the meatball (or perhaps sausage?):

When I'm looking for something slightly healthier, the turkey and provolone is good (this is half a sandwich - I share sometimes):

Da Boyz is one of those restaurants that I should have posted about years ago because it is part of my standard rotation and is a local favorite, having been voted the best pizza in town in the most recent newspaper poll. OK, so I finally got around to it.

Brewers

A more recent addition to the Yuma dining scene is another large restaurant called Brewers:

The story of this restaurant – as I've been told by several different people – is that it is owned and operated by the individual who was once the husband of the owner of Da Boyz. While Brewers is another favorite of mine, it offers some very interesting contrasts to Da Boyz.

 The large interior space is more modern in ambience and has a definite sports bar feel to it:

Here is a different view of the interior:

Instead of pizzas, Brewers has a nice selection of flat breads – cheese and toppings on lavash bread. (Rumor has it that Brewers cannot serve pizza because of the divorce settlement – but since I have not read this on the Internet, I do not know it as a fact). In any case, this is the blue bacon flatbread:

This is halfandhalf flatbread - part Mediterranean (spinach, feta, pepperoncini, olive, and garlic) and part Margherita (fresh tomato, basil, and garlic):

Brewers also has sandwiches (each of which comes with a choice of french fries, onion rings, seasoned chips, sweet potato fries, or tater tots). Some of the sandwiches are pretty mediocre. Here is a gyro with onion rings:

The sandwich meat and pita bread were pretty meh, and the onion rings were equally mediocre. Similarly, I should have known better than try a pulled pork sandwich:

However, those tater tots are really excellent. Extremely crunchy outside, moist and flavorful within.

 The Santa Fe turkey sandwich was tasty although the roasted green chile did not have real New Mexico flavor. The sweet potato fries, even with this latticework design, lacked much crunch though they were flavorful:

The burgers are generally the best sandwich choices. Here is a basic burger, and you can see the well seasoned, handmade patty as well as the tomato, lettuce, onion, and pickle complements:

And to repeat myself, the tater tots are really good.

 Another favorite is the honey mustard chicken burger. Along with the standard toppings of pickle, onion, tomato, and lettuce, you get a large chicken breast filet, a couple of slices of smoky bacon, melted Swiss cheese, and a flavorful honey mustard sauce:

The french fries are just okay.

 Some other things here that Tina and I enjoy – recently, she tried the Cobb salad and it was a very good rendition of the standard favorite:

And I could not believe how excellent the fish tacos were:

Yuma is one of those rare places where one can get good Mexican food even at restaurants that are not primarily Mexican restaurants – probably because most of the cooks in Yuma restaurants are Mexicans or Mexican-Americans. Anyway, those fish tacos, while extremely simple, were outstanding. There was just enough white sauce, the cabbage added some vegetable crunch, the salsa was remarkably smoky and spicy, and the fish fillets (yes, each taco contained an entire pollock fillet) were perfectly fried, crunchy on the outside and moist and flavorful inside:

As good as some of the food options are at Brewers, this place has a major advantage over any other place in Yuma: 10-12 taps devoted to various craft brews, mostly from Arizona, California, and Colorado. This is the listing of beers available on May 28 (notice the cross outs and handwritten additions):

Look at the top of the tap list, not the Bud and Millers listed toward the bottom. Here is a very different taplist for June 14:

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro, Ballast Point Sculpin Ale, Grand Canyon Shaggy Bock, Four Peaks Peach Ale, Arrogant Bastard, San Tan Brewing Negro Nitro, Four Peaks Sunbru Kolsch, Coronado Mermaid Red, Maui Brewing Coconut Porter, TapIt IPA, Stone IPA, and Sam Adams Summer Ale are just some of the specialty brews available on one or both of those two days. Finally, in Yuma, you can sit down with friends and have beers that look like this:

Or like this:

Wow!! Yuma has arrived in the 21st century. And those beers go really well with deep-fried zucchini:

Da Boyz and Brewers both make my life in Yuma better. If you visit them, they will probably improve your life (though perhaps not your waistline) as well.

Da Boyz Italian Cuisine 284 S Main, Yuma AZ 85364, (928) 783-8383

Brewers Restaurant and Sports Bar, 2331 S Ave B, Yuma AZ, 85364, (928) 783-0073.

Kneaders Bakery & Café: Yuma and Elsewhere

At this moment Kirk is eating somewhere in this world, Cathy is eating somewhere in San Diego, and ed (from Yuma) is still eating somewhere in Yuma. This post is from him. 

You know how sometimes you just don't get around to doing something. I have been eating at Kneaders Bakery and Café and taking pictures of the food now for over four years. Of course, I've wanted to do a post about the place, but I just haven't gotten around to it until today. I guess it's about time.

 The Kneaders restaurants in Yuma are part of a small chain centered in Utah (12 locations there and one in Idaho). They seem to specialize in small town locations desperately in need of good bread and sandwich shops – hence the chain’s only two Arizona locations in Yuma. The first one is in the southwest part of town on Avenue B and 28th St.:

The newer location is at the South West edge of Yuma Palms shopping center, close to the 16th St. exit off of I-8 (and close to Ninja Sushi):

Not only do both locations look pretty much the same, they also share a general layout. If you enter from the side door, you are immediately in a line that leads to the cash registers where you place your order. As you can see, there is often a line of customers:

While this line sometimes goes slowly, it has the advantage (for Kneaders, at least) of allowing everyone to salivate over the delicious looking desserts:

You also can choose a loaf of one of their European-style, natural breads baked in an Italian hearthstone oven:

The bread is what keeps me coming back. Although the baguettes ($2.59), French country sourdough ($4.99), and Paisano ($3.19) are perhaps not as good as at Bread et Cie, they are certainly better than other breads available in Yuma. In particular, I love the Rye bread ($4.79):

It is dark, rustic, and flavored nicely with caraway seeds:

The breads are also a key ingredient in the generally excellent sandwiches at Kneaders. The Chicken, Cheese and Ham on Ciabatta ($6.99) is very tasty:

Here you can see the ingredients, which include lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, Swiss cheese, ham, grilled chicken, and honey mustard sauce:

The roll has been lightly toasted and the cheese slightly melted.

 My favorite sandwich is called Turkey Bacon Avocado on Focaccia ($6.99):

I remember first ordering the sandwich and wondering if the sandwich had turkey bacon on it or if turkey and bacon were separate ingredients – as they are. Even with the confusing name, I order it often and have numerous pictures of it, such as this one:

As I was thinking about this post, I realized that I needed to talk about some sandwich that doesn't involve chicken or turkey, so I had an excellent excuse to try the French Dip on Baguette ($5.79):

As I feared, the beef was nothing special:

Clearly, this sandwich was also not a messy sloppy drippy decadent French dip, but it was actually pretty good. It had a nice beef flavor, and the barely melted Swiss cheese contributed a certain balance. And the baguette was perfect– very flavorful with a nice complex taste from the levain and a crusty crust that was not too hard and crunchy. The steaming hot jus came in a generous portion and was not one dimensional or too salty. It added to the taste; it didn't take over. All in all, a satisfying sandwich.

 Kneaders also has Panini, which are served with a dill pickle spear and extremely good, thick crunchy Parmesan chips. Here's what they call Chicken Pesto on French Country ($7.19):

The chips are really excellent. However, I find this sandwich a little underwhelming and rather ordinary. The menu says the sandwich has pesto sauce, but whenever we've had it, the pesto sauce consists of basil leaves:

A better Panini, to my palate at least, is the Turkey Artichoke on Focaccia ($7.19):

Kneaders’ focaccia bread is quite good and seems to match up with turkey nicely. As on all their turkey sandwiches, this is actual roasted turkey, not some reconfigured turkey breast product:

I also enjoy the interplay between the turkey and the marinated artichoke heart, but often I wish there was a little more of everything on the sandwich:

Sandwiches are also available on croissants, such as this turkey cranberry ($5.79):

As you can see, the croissant sandwiches are served with a small side salad. There is plenty of cranberry sauce as well as lettuce and Swiss cheese:

A range of other sandwiches (called Café sandwiches) are available as whole sandwiches or halves, such as this BLT:

You can also make various combo meals by adding chips or a side salad or soup:

Though I do not know about them personally, Kneaders serves breakfasts of various kinds from 7 AM until 11 and a range of "Gourmet Salads" at lunch:

As you can tell by this post, I focus on the sandwiches mostly. Well, okay, also on the often irresistible desserts. Look at these German chocolate brownies, for example:

And I love the tarts ($1.99), including the mixed fruit tart:

Or the lime tart:

Strawberry anyone?:

And my favorite – available only in season – the peach tart with cinnamon:
I don't remember what these chocolate, coconut,  nut and gooey cupcakes are called, but I think I gain a couple of pounds just looking at them:

Overall, Kneaders contributes significantly to the quality of eating in Yuma. In my mind, Kneaders is the best bakery in town. The breads, desserts, and sandwiches are generally good. They do catering for business get-togethers or parties. Unfortunately, no beer or wine is served (it is a chain out of Utah, after all), but sodas, coffee beverages, and tea are available.

Kneaders Bakery & Café, 2851 S. Ave. B #33 (928-726-9700), and 1651 E. Castle Dome Ave. (928-783-4099) – both in Yuma AZ. The location in Yuma Palms is open daily, the other location is closed on Sundays.

Ninja Sushi in Yuma

While Kirk visits some exotic place that has been in the news in recent years (no, not North Korea), Cathy posts interesting eating experiences, and today, ed (from Yuma) is looking for edible sushi in Yuma. Good luck with that!

In early 2010, a new large sushi bar opened in Yuma at the cursed location at the corner of 16th St. and the freeway, a place that had previously been Tyler's Taste of Texas and then Arnie's Café. This prominent location is easily visible, but difficult to reach because of limited access from 16th St. After giving the restaurant a few weeks to figure out what they were doing, our lunch bunch showed up to sample the cuisine. The grand opening banner was still in place:

The food was consistently underwhelming. The menu contains pages of special rolls, but even our connoisseur of such things was not impressed by this goopy crunchy roll (around $12.95):

Look at the sad tuna on the sashimi salad ($12.95) that even two different dressings couldn't salvage:

I have no idea what the spicy tuna roll ($5.95) tasted like, but I certainly wasn't going to put any of this into my mouth:

This sushi combination ($16.95), my choice, was pretty pitiful as well:

I can remember some excellent California rolls over the years; I think avocado and krab go together just fine, but the sliver of avocado was overwhelmed by the rice and the fake crab and mayo mix. I remember the salmon being okay, but the tuna was tired and grayish and the shrimp was tasteless, lacking even the thinnest smear of wasabi:

The most promising of the dishes – or perhaps least disappointing is a better choice of words – was the tempura ($10.95):

The batter tasted right and the vegetables and shrimp were adequate. If only the deep-frying had been more skillful and the end result less greasy, the tempura would have received a good grade instead of just barely passing.

 None of us went back to Ninja for the next two years, even though some people told me they had had good meals there. Then, toward the end of this April, when Yuma was suffering from 100° temperatures and Tina and I were looking for something cool and refreshing to eat, I suggested trying Ninja; desperate men will do desperate things.

 The grand opening sign had been replaced by an "All Special Rolls 50% Off" sign. Not much else of the exterior had changed:

Did I mention it was hot? Anyway, faced with the multipage menu full of special rolls and various pictures, I quickly ordered two sunomonos as appetizers, one “kani" (imitation crab) and the other "taco."  I guess that's how octopus is spelled in Yuma. They were $4.25 and $5.95.

 The octopus and cucumber salad looked and tasted good:

The octopus was tender and flavorful, the knife work excellent. The thin sliced cucumber and cephalopod were enhanced by a sprinkling of sesame seeds and lightly seasoned rice wine vinegar. Cool and refreshing. The pickled carrot was a nice touch as well.

 Even the fake crab salad was tasty and pleasant to look at:

For main courses, we shared two dishes. The first was a chirashi ($19.95):

While nothing like the magnificent chirashi at Sakura, this was certainly passable. The sushi rice was well flavored and topped with black and white sesame seeds. The tilapia (hidden in this photo) and the somewhat tired looking albacore actually tasted okay. The hamachi and maguro were decent and seemed fresh. The salmon was a bit chewy and somewhat disappointing in flavor until I squeezed one of the adjacent lemon slices on it before lightly dipping it in the shoyu/wasabi mixture. Then not bad at all.

 Even better was Ninja’s sashimi plate ($18.95):

All the fish tasted very good – though the salmon still needed a squeeze of lemon. We also appreciated three shiso leaves, tilapia needing all the help it can get to become flavorful. The shredded daikon was abundant, and the presentation very attractive. Note the gari tucked inside of a hollowed out cucumber chunk

 Here's a close-up of the tilapia and salmon:

And one of the hamachi and maguro:

To be honest, that was the best sushi fish I had ever eaten in Yuma. Nothing else really has come close.

 So a few days later, I stopped in for a quick lunch and asked if they had a bento box because I could find no such thing on the rather complicated menu. "Yeah, we do," the waitress responded, "it just isn't listed on the menu." With some trepidation, I ordered the luncheon bento box anyway ($10.95).

 It started off with truly excellent miso soup:

The broth was deeply flavored and you could taste the dashi in the background. Although it contained only four or five tiny cubes of tofu, it is still (imho) the best miso soup in town.

 Then the bento box showed up:

Some things here were pretty standard. The teriyaki chicken had grill marks and seemed to be all white meat chicken breast, but it was certainly nothing special. The rice was okay and the bento box salad was – as most bento box salads are – pretty forgettable. On the other hand, the gyozas had a thin crispy wrapper and a mild flavorful filling. I've certainly had worse in San Diego. The tempura was truly excellent. The batter tasted spot on, the two shrimp were crispy on the outside and moist and succulent within, and the selection of vegetables was first rate; I certainly never expected two asparagus spears in an inexpensive bento box.

 My two positive experiences meant that I was able to talk the lunch bunch into making another visit (Chip grumbling the entire time). In general, we were pleased. Betsy had a good-looking sashimi salad (dressing on the side):

The folks who ordered sushi items and the tempura were pleased as well. I decided to really test the kitchen by ordering a seafood udon ($12.95), which was served in a traditional bowl with a wooden lid:

As a test, I even asked for togarashi. Once the hostess understood my mangled Japanese pronunciation, her face lit up and she returned soon with a little bowl of the traditional condiment:

The udon itself was meh, not bad really, but not exceptional in any way. The broth was fairly standard and light. The noodles were juicy (I always think of udon noodles as juicy for some reason) but slightly overcooked. The seafood was two slices of kamaboko, some surimi, one shrimp, and several tiny scallops. Perfectly adequate.

 And as a whole, the lunch bunch was generally pleased; even curmudgeonly Chip conceded that the fish was better than he had expected.

 At this point, I realized that I had enough material for a post, and it would be nice to highlight a surprisingly good Japanese restaurant in Yuma. Then, on my way into the office a few days ago, I stopped for lunch and ordered the combination sushi. The miso soup was still excellent, but this was the sushi combination that day:

The California rolls were as boring as I remembered them from my visit in 2010. Even worse, some of the fish was truly horrifying. The whitefish and albacore had been drizzled with chile oil (chile oil?!?!). Certainly the oil effectively covered up whatever was wrong with the taste of the fish and, in fact, effectively covered up any taste at all - well except for the taste of chile oil. The albacore must have been especially nasty because it was also topped with two deep-fried slices of garlic . In addition, the chili oil had leaked over into the rice under the tuna masking whatever flavor the maguro might have had. Neither the avocado nor the lemon slice could truly save the salmon, the hamachi lacked its characteristic flavor and richness, and the ebi was tasteless as well. On a positive note, I didn’t get sick.

 So clearly, it is possible to get good tempura, sushi, and sashimi from Ninja. It is also possible to get some really bad sushi there. May you and your friends be blessed with the good stuff, and may your enemies be served that sushi combination I got on my last visit.

Ninja Sushi, 1400 E. 16th St., Yuma, AZ 85364, (928) 782-4000. Open daily from 11 am-3 pm for lunch and 4:30 pm-10 or 11 pm for dinner.

Maria's Cocina: A New Restaurant from an Old Family in Yuma

Right now Kirk is at a secret undisclosed location, Cathy is somewhere in San Diego, and ed (from Yuma) has just been eating in a new old Yuma Mexican restaurant. 

Last winter I noticed that the sign from the departed Taco Reyes restaurant in Palm Plaza between 22nd and 23rd on Avenue A was being painted over:

Of course, that meant that I had to sample something from this new eatery. The Taco Reyes signage is now completely gone, replaced by Maria’s Cocina:

The interior has a nice homey look and feel to it:

As is my custom, the first thing I ordered was a green chili dinner because the style of green chili stew in Yuma is often a key to the regional affinities of the cuisine:

It took one look and a couple of tastes to identify this green chili as a good version of old school Yuman green chili (see this previous post). Chunks of beef, pieces of green chile, bits of tomato, and no tomatillo anywhere, all very mildly spiced ($4.25).

 On my next visit, I asked the owner if he was from Yuma, and he responded that he was not only from Yuma but that his family has also owned and operated Mexican restaurants in town for over 50 years. I probably looked puzzled until he stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Johnny Gutierrez. Oh yeah, more than 50 years.

 I suspect that everyone who has grown up in Yuma (with the possible exception of strict vegetarians) and almost everyone of us who have moved here in adulthood have eaten at Mr. G's, The Chile Pepper (Mrs. G's), and/or Casa Gutierrez. The first two of these may be the most popular fast food restaurants in the city – around lunch or dinner there is a line of people waiting to order burritos or rolled tacos and another line of people waiting to pick up phone orders. The bean and cheese burritos, in particular, are legendary, the frijoles rich, smooth, creamy, and full of manteca.

 A few years ago, I quit picking up food from the Chile Pepper, the closest location to my home, because of long waits, indifferent service, and steam tabled ingredients. Once I waited 20 minutes in line for an order I had called in 15 minutes previously, while huge orders were being filled a head of me and some regular customers were being waved to the front of the line. When I finally got my food, I realized that my order had been sitting bagged up in a warm moist holding area the entire time I was standing in line, so my burritos were a sorry soggy mess.

 At Maria's Cocina, on the other hand, the dishes are prepared individually and the Gutierrez family recipes really shine.

 So of course, the burritos are excellent and inexpensive. Breakfast burritos are generally $3, though this ranchero breakfast burrito is $3.75:

I appreciate a breakfast burrito with vegetable ingredients, green chilies, onions, and tomatoes – though I don't understand why it is more expensive than a burrito with chorizo, ham, or bacon.

 My favorite standard burrito here is what is called the green mix with frijoles ($3):

Basically, a mix burrito has read chile or green chile (your choice) with either beans or rice (your choice)  - personally, I love the creamy richness the frijoles add.

 Like the green chile, the red chile is packaged for take out and equally savory. For some reason, the red chile at Chile Pepper always has tasted powdery or dusty to me, but Maria's Cocina prepares it  so that it has deep rich full smooth dried chile flavors (red chile dinner, $4.25):

The restaurant is also good at deep-frying. The rolled taco dinner ($4.25) is a study in crunchiness, as the rolled tacos are served plain with no crema, guacamole, or diced tomatoes:

The folded taco dinner ($4.75) is equally crunchy:

The tacos themselves are filled with diced tomato, shredded lettuce, melty white cheese, and  chewy shredded beef:

Really good, old school, tacos.

 Cheese enchiladas (red or green sauce) are another favorite; this green enchilada sauce is primarily chunks of green Chile:

On Saturdays, menudo is available ($5.50):

You get everything on this tray, menudo itself, a small bowl of salsa, diced onions and cilantro, lemon wedges, grilled bolillo roll (or tortillas), dried red chili flakes, and oregano. The soup itself is deeply flavorful, muy rico, and full of tripe and nixtamal kernals:

None of the food at Maria's Cocina is cutting-edge or unusual. These are standard family recipes. The same stuff Yuma grandparents ate as kids. The food is, however, well prepared and extremely well priced. Those are both good things.

Maria's Cocina, 2241 S. Ave. A, Ste # 16, Yuma AZ, (928) 329-2988. Open mornings through evenings Monday-Saturday.

New Jersey's Location in Yuma

 ed (from Yuma) finally has some spare time and wonders, "Is it burger week yet?"

Rumors that Rumors has closed and that Jersey's truck is there no more are true. Sadly.

The last time mmm.yoso reported on Jersey's burger truck, it was out on Fortuna road in The Foothills. Around the end of January this year, it disappeared. Burger lovers throughout Yuma County began to despair. Then, almost miraculously, Jersey's reappeared parked in front of Rumors Sports Bar, the new name for Ron's Place, located on the north side of 16th St./Highway 95 on the east edge of town:

Rumors Sports Bar is a low roofed rectangular bar with a number of tables, a lot of dart boards, and friendly groups of Yumans of all ages imbibing beverages of their choice. Tina calls it "a real dive bar." It does have a couple large areas in its parking lot reserved for motorcycles:

Jersey's truck looks pretty much the same as always. However, as well as changing locations, Matthew – the owner of Jersey's – has changed other things as well. For example, here is his latest menu:

(Click on photo to enlarge)

 Not only has the roster of his burgers changed and expanded – notice the deep-fried burger – he also has changed his phone number (it is now 928-750-1576). The burgers however are still really good. Look at this bacon cheddar burger that Tina got on our first visit to the new location:

The fries are fresh cut on the premises and fried in good old-fashioned lard. Yummy good. The burgers are nicely charred on a flat top grill, but wonderfully rich and moist inside. Jersey's special sauce is still simple and delicious. Toppings and prices, of course, vary.

 Just to give you an idea of some of the burger choices, here is a grilled red onion burger, wonderfully sweet and flavorful, if a bit hard to eat:

The new menu has a grilled white onion and cheese burger:

Notice that he sometimes uses a melted cheese sauce on some of the burgers.

 On my last visit, I ordered another new addition to the menu, the chili burger (chili size). Because this is not exactly health food, I try to limit my current intake of these wonderfully tasty memories of my childhood. But back in my youth, my mom’s restaurant made a pretty decent chili burger (with my dad's chili recipe). And I ate chili size at various truck stops and family restaurants in Oregon and elsewhere. Jersey's version is #*&#*&% good:

As you can see, the burger patty was rich and crusty. The chili was perfectly spiced Western American chili con carne with no beans, topped with creamy cheese sauce and freshly diced white onion. All served on a grilled sesame burger bun .

 And it came with perfectly fried fries:

The New Jersey's location is flourishing. Part of the reason is the food. The other part is that Rumors is perfectly happy if you bring your burger order inside the cool air-conditioned bar and eat it with a beverage of your choice, which they are happy to purvey. Personally, I wish they would have a couple of Sam Adams taps (the best one could realistically hope for) though Blue Moon and Stella Artois are available. Cocktails too. Also, don't let sports bar moniker fool you; whenever I've been there only one or two flat screens (sound turned down, so people can listen to the old rock on the jukebox) are showing sporting events. This is not a loud, hyperkinetic, whooping and hollering sort of sports bar – at least at the times when I'm around.

 Jersey's seems to be open from around lunchtime through dinnertime. Be sure to call for more information.

Jersey’s, outside Rumors Sports Bar, Hwy 95, East Edge of Yuma AZ, 928-750-1576

¿Pupusas en Yuma? ¡Si!: Pupusas Maria

Kirk deserves a day off and Cathy is seriously occupied, so ed (from Yuma) has a report (from Yuma).

When Pupusas Cabañas closed, I was pretty sad. Then last year, I discovered a tiny truck parked occasionally next to a hair salon on Eighth Street:

While the hot dogs they served – at least the one I tried – were mediocre Sonoran style dogs, the pupusas here, served with cabbagey crudito and tomato water, were well made, cheesy, and good:

Recently, however, I have not been able to find that little truck. If anyone knows where it's hiding, please let me know. The good news is that a new larger truck has appeared in a much better location on the north side of Eighth Street about a half block east of Avenue B. Called Pupusas Maria, it is owned and operated by Maria, a friendly woman who used to cook at Cabañas:

I still love the pupusas – this one covered with the slightly sour cabbage, carrot, onion, and jalapeño crudito and a lightly picante tomato water:

The tamales, wrapped in banana leaf and tinfoil, are especially rich and moist:

And filled with a lot of chicken and an un-fried french fry:

On weekends, specials are sometimes available. The chicken is stewed in a thin tomato sauce until it falls apart. Sometimes it is three legs served with a cabbage salad and rice:

On another occasion, a leg and a thigh with macaroni salad and rice – damn near a plate lunch:

On Sundays and other special occasions (like last Christmas Eve), the special is Sopa de Pata (the bowl is Tina's):

This is a fine version. You can see part of the hoof with its tendon, a nice selection of Salvadoran vegetables, and pieces of rich flavorful tender beef tripe, all swimming in a savory broth: muy rico.

 Pupusas Maria, near the Northeast corner of Eighth Street and Avenue B, open 4 PM until it closes. Tuesday through Sunday (I think), 928-304-9577.

Mariscos El Navegante: New Seafood Truck in Yuma

Believe it or not, ed (from Yuma) finally has finished a post and Kirk and Cathy can finally take a day off. 

Every fall, as the snowbirds, packers, and fieldworkers come back to Yuma, new mobile eateries – taco trucks if you prefer – open to serve the burgeoning population. This year, I was delighted to spot a new Mariscos truck, El Navegante, on the east side of Avenue B between 8th Street and 12th – just behind the location of Yuma's Best:
A meal there starts with complementary peel and eat shrimp:
The shrimp are served along side a container of spiced red onions and fresh sliced limes, both of which improve the flavor of the crustaceans:

Soon roasted yellow chilies also make an appearance. Spicy, smoky, and juicy:

Although the menu is limited, just about everything is well done. For example, the fish ceviche has all the right flavor notes, lightly fishy and citrusy. It is also crunchy and fresh flavored:

As good as fish ceviche tostada is, Tina and I think the ceviche de camaron tostada is even better:

The shrimp has not been cooked before marinating and has a very fresh flavor and a bit of chewy texture. The fish and shrimp tacos are also good:

The shrimp tacos have a bit more breading and a bit more crunch. The fish tacos are wonderfully fresh with moist real fish fillets. This fish has never seen a freezer and, after frying, hasn't sat under a heat lamp waiting for someone to order it.

The aguachile at El Navegante is close to perfect. When Roger Naylor, the travel writer for the Arizona Republic (and other publications) was in town, I made sure he and I and some other local eaters dropped in on Navegante around 6 one evening, and the whole lot of us were impressed by the chile and lime marinated raw shrimp plate:

We had ordered it moderately picante, so the hot chili flavors did not overwhelm the freshness of the pristine shrimp. Unlike other aguachiles I have had in the past, the lime juice complemented the seafood instead of souring it. Spice, tang, and shrimpiness were perfectly balanced. Crunchy tostadas, avocado wedges, and mild slices of cucumber went with the camarones perfectly.

On a more recent visit, Tina and I tried their seafood soup, simply called caldo. This is the small size:

The clear mild natural tasting broth was filled with pieces of fish, two or three small shrimp, and a little bit of octopus. At three dollars, it was certainly a good value. I found that the soup got even better when I added the chopped onion and cilantro, squeezed in some lime juice and shot some house salsa into the Styrofoam cup.

We also had what they call chile relleno, a yellow chile stuffed with cheese and shrimp, breaded (or not if you prefer), and served with a chili mayonnaise dip:

While a little bit greasy, it was also crunchy and irresistible:

On this visit, the restaurant even had mantaraya, reconstituted dried giant stingray from the sea of Cortez. We had it in a taco:

Muy rico. I had never had stingray with such rich and concentrated taste before. Not overly salty, the smoky, almost sweet flavors filled the mouth. Amazingly good.

El Navegante also does take out. For example, I once brought home a good fresh tasting campechana (mixed seafood cocktail with onions and cucumber in complex tomato water). While lacking the seafood variety of Juanita's campechana, The mariscos were excellent in flavor and half of it filled a small soup bowl:

From that same day, here is a fish taco, a shrimp taco, a chile relleno, lime wedges, and marinated onions, making a tasty and attractive plate:

El Navegante seems to open around 10 AM and closes around 6:30 or 7 PM. The mantaraya is only available on the weekends and the aguachile takes a little while to marinate. Prices are extremely reasonable, and the family that operates this little truck is friendly and helpful. English (as well as Spanish, of course) is spoken. A little dining gemstone in the southwest corner of Arizona. Navigate yourself here.

Mariscos El Navegante, 1019 S Ave B, Yuma AZ, 928-261-6481

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Yuma Mexican Miscellany – Pollos El Correteado, Rossy's, El Buen Taquito, and Taqueria Reyes

Kirk is busy doing something. Cathy is busy doing something else. ed (from Yuma) has been busy putting together this post on 4 different places in Yuma (in Arizona).

Kirk calls these type of posts "Cleaning out the Memory Card." I have  pictures of interesting and good  Mexican food I've eaten recently at several different small eateries. No point in doing a bunch of little posts, so I'll just throw them all together here. There should be something of interest in this post for almost any Yuman being.

Pollos El Correteado

In Yuma County, there are three different locations for this restaurant chain (I have no idea how widespread the chain is in Mexico, but there are locations in San Luis, Sonora). One location is on Main Street in Somerton, one is on 3E by the base, and one is on Eighth Street next to the Subway across the street from Food City:
These folks do one thing very well:
Great Mexican roasted chicken. What Pollo Loco aspires to be:
These are special chickens that have four legs, four thighs, but no breast or wing. That anatomical peculiarity puzzled me the first time I ordered a whole chicken ($9). Must be a damn strange looking bird when alive, but it looks pretty good when served:

The macaroni salad and the mashed potatoes are pretty much meh, and the salsa and the white corn tortillas (both gratis) are far from distinguished. So I usually get the chicken to go and have it with homemade macaroni or potato salad.

Rossy's

Rossy's used to be a small truck in a small space with rather poor lighting and great corn and hotdogs. Now the same small truck (and a little hot dog cart) occupy the large lot that was most recently Tata's:

 
The corn (with butter, crema, and cheese) is still good, if not especially good for you:
They now serve a range of decent tacos that you can decorate with guacamole, pico de gallo, shredded cabbage, and lemon wedges. A carne asada taco with all the fixings looks like this:
For me, however, the big draw of the place are the bacon-wrapped hotdogs which they will happily accessorize for you:
 

Love those grilled onions, along with salsa and who knows what else.

El Buen Taquito

Getting a meal at El Buen Taquito was not easy for Tina and I. First, the truck is almost hidden toward the back of a lot on the east side of Avenue B, about a block south of the intersection with Eighth Street. Then, after we had discovered it, every time we wanted to go there, the place was closed. We realized, finally, that it opened later than most of the other taco trucks in the neighborhood and is not open every evening. However, many times we would drive by – let's say returning from San Pedro or Rossy's – it would be open and busy, much busier than the truck called "Yuma's Best" just up the street from it.

Our luck changed a few months ago when we pulled up, saw the lights, and decided to find out why this place was so popular:
The menu is extremely limited, but very reasonably priced:
We ordered a variety – crispy tacos, tostadas, rolled tacos, and sopes along with a couple of aguas frescas. However, the first thing we were brought were little cups of incredibly rich and flavorful consommé:

The only meat used by this truck is beef, and the beef has been cooked a long time so that its flavor in the tacos and flautas is fairly neutral and background. The consommé, on the other hand, is as beefy as Arnold Schwarzenegger in his glory days.

Then we received our order. The lighting, as you can tell, is far from ideal for photographs, but here is a picture of a couple of the excellent crunchy tacos:

 

Because the primary difference between the sope and the tostada are how thick the tortilla/patty is, it is hard from me to tell which one is which in my photographs. I think this is a tostada:
And perhaps this is a close-up of a sope:
Underneath the lettuce and cheese is a flauta:

In any case, Buen Taquita does one thing extremely well – deep frying. The tacos, flautas, sopes, and tostadas all had crunchy deep fried corn tortillas or patties. None of them was greasy; all of them were tasty. The sope was a little more chewy than the others. The soft meat and frijoles provided a flavor and texture contrast with the  fried shells and abundant shredded lettuce. Everything was covered with cotija cheese.

Would I want to eat here every night? No, of course not. But sometimes you just gotta have crunch and this is the taco truck to provide it.

Taqueria Reyes

Taqueria Reyes recently opened in Palm Plaza on Avenue A, where Taqueria Jalisco had been in business for many years:
As well as providing a range of standard tacos, I am very fond of the tortas there, for example this one made with machaca:

Inside, there is a smear of frijoles, slices of avocado, chopped lettuce, tomato and mayo. I, for one, appreciate the pickled jalapeno, which I've always thought was perfect with tortas.

The other item that I love here is the Menudo ($5.99). For a dollar extra, you can get it con pata. When placed on the table, it looks like this:

It comes with a choice of bread or tortillas and is served with all kinds of condiments including lemon wedges, oregano, cilantro, menudo spices, chopped onion, and a deep and powerful salsa:
 
After I add some condiments and stir it up, it looks like this:
Look at all that tripe and hominy! But what I find most truly satisfying about the Menudo here is that  pata, a big piece of cow hoof. And when I get lucky, the hoof is completely covered with wonderfully chewy tendon:
Sooo goood!! While the soup overall is not as complex as the incredible sopa de pata at the old Pupuseria Cabanas (I still miss that place a lot), it's the best cow hoof I can find in Yuma. And cow hoof is a good thing.

Asian Star in Yuma: The Rest of the Story

 mmm-yoso is a food blog usually written by Kirk, sometimes written by Cathy, but today written by ed (from Yuma). 

Except for chain restaurants, I am usually willing to try any dining establishment at least once. But I do have a certain skepticism about restaurants that try to do too many things. I've never been tempted, for example, to stop into the Mexican Greek restaurant I see somewhere on the east side of San Diego County. Places that promise "oriental" or "Asian" food always make me want to ask if the chef is from somewhere close to the capital of Asia. In any case, that's my excuse for not going to Asian Star the first month or two that it was open. Better late than never.

I've already posted about the Chinese food at the restaurant, so this post is going to look at the other stuff available, such as this lunch sized order of pad thai ($6.55):

Overall, pretty boring. The sauce reminiscent of a sweet and sour sauce. The noodles and chicken also nothing special. Not nearly as good as the same dish at Highway 95 Café.

On the other hand, the Thai basil chicken is okay (dinner, $8.95):

Mildly spicy, the dish has a true Thai basil flavor. The vegetables add crunch and variety. I would happily order it again.

And recently for lunch, I tried the Thai curried chicken ($5.95):

It is really good. For one thing, look at all the chicken. This isn't curried vegetables with chicken; the focus is on the numerous tender  slices of chicken. At the same time, strips of onion add flavor and crunch. Just enough peapods, carrots, and mushrooms in the background. The curry sauce is excellent – balanced spicy creamy flavors. And just enough sauce to flavor the entire dish without becoming soupy or goupy.

The Japanese food here can also be quite good. My favorite cup of soup is the miso(free with lunch special):

The broth usually has a good flavor with some depth and I am always impressed by the number of tofu cubes, seaweed pieces, and green onions slices. I have been served much worse in San Diego.

The baby squid salad ($3.95) looks nothing like I thought it would:

Though the mini mollusks have little flavor in themselves, their slightly chewy texture is nice and the tangy sauce  is also pleasant. It just gives me a good feeling that I can order something this weird in Yuma.

On another occasion, we ordered poki ($7.95) and were served this:

The cynic in me noticed that a huge plate was being used to present the amount of poki that a Hawaiian would put in a small bowl. And a lot of daikon and slivered cucumber for the amount of tuna. But once I started eating, my cynicism melted away. The tuna was absolutely fresh. This was not the sashimi from three or four days earlier that had been marinating in the refrigerator. The ponzu sauce was nicely balanced. Tina and I loved the appetizer down to the last thin thread of radish.

Fresh raw fish is also my favorite part of the sashimi bento boxes ($7.95):

While the California roll is decent, many of the other items in the box are pretty ordinary. I really do not like the lettuce with the flavorless gloppy dressing. The deep-fried shu mai are meh and the eggroll contributes little beyond crunch.

But the sashimi itself has been good every time:

On this occasion, the salmon and tuna were perfectly adequate, and the tilapia was very fresh. By the standards of Yuma, Arizona, this was good raw fish, particularly for a bento box.

On another occasion, the same bento box came with only tuna and salmon as sashimi:

I was impressed. The sake was rich and flavorful, and the tuna tasted like decent sushi bar maguro.

On another visit, I decided to put Asian Star to a real test. Without looking at the raw fish case, I ordered some random items from the sushi menu. The few times that I have ordered sushi by the piece at other restaurants in Yuma – from fancy fine dining locations to Japanese chain restaurants – the results have been pretty disastrous.

However, at Asian Star the squid and eel were perfectly fine ($3.95 for each pair):

The unagi wasn't drenched in sticky sauce, and the ika was tender and mild. I had also ordered mackerel ($3.50) and hamachi ($3.95). We were served these:

The mackerel was quite good; better than I expected. The pale pinkfleshed fish was also very tasty, perfectly fresh and clean flavored. It was not, however, hamachi – at least not like any hamachi I had ever eaten before. Instead, it looked and tasted like light tuna (shiro maguro). My guess is that the sushi chef simply made a substitution without telling anyone. I suppose I could've gotten upset, but the fish was quite good, and it was being served to me in Yuma.

The shrimp tempura ($12.95) is also worth ordering:

It is not greasy and the portion is adequate. On the other hand, notice that the shrimp have a different coating, more like a panko, from the vegetables. Overall, though, a pleasant enough dish.

Similarly, the seafood yaki udon ($12.95) is okay as well:

The broth is very light in flavor, but the noodles are perfectly cooked and wonderfully juicy. The soup also contains shrimp, fish, and bay scallops, along with the noodles, fake crab, and poached egg.

And to my surprise, they even have togarashi seasoning:

This udon is very far from the best I've ever had, but it is the best I've had in Yuma.

The menu specials also include something called "Amazing Veal Chops, Korean Style" ($15.95). That puzzled me because I have never seen veal listed on any Asian menu before. Usually, veal dishes are native to countries with a strong dairy tradition – like Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Not Korea. So I had to order it, of course:

This is dang good. The chop is large enough to be a beefsteak, more substantial than any vealchop I've ever seen in a local supermarket. Although this picture does not show it, it is cooked to a perfect medium rare – with a nice pinkish interior. The Korean barbecue sauce and the sliced peppers and onions add flavor. I can't imagine a steak loving carnivore not enjoying it. And in Yuma, most families  include at least one steak loving carnivore.

Overall, I understand why Asian Star has become a very popular restaurant in Yuma. The prices are fair. The chefs tackle a wide range of Asian dishes and don't embarrass themselves. Some things, in fact, are quite good. Many are the best you can find locally. If you're in San Diego, don't hop in the car and drive over for this food. But if you are living in Yuma, like me, this is a restaurant you will enjoy.

Asian Star Oriental Cuisine, 276 W. 32nd St, Suite 1, Yuma AZ 85364, 928-317-9888, Open daily 11 am - 9:30 pm

An Asian Star in Yuma: the Chinese Food

 Somedays the mmm-yoso blog is cooked up by Kirk (our head chef), somedays Cathy serves the daily special, but today ed (from Yuma) is dishing up something different.

Last winter a new restaurant opened in the Big Curve shopping area called Asian Star:
Owned and operated by a group of experienced Mandarin speaking Chinese mostly from the Fujian region of China, this place is pretty stylish for an eatery in Yuma:
The major shortcoming of the restaurant can be seen in the background of this interior shot:

Once a customer is seated in the restaurant, service tends to be friendly and professional – if a bit hurried and harried. Getting seated, on the other hand, is often a serious problem. There appears to be no one in charge of customer management. Sometimes we have had to wait in the vestibule for five or 10 minutes even though plenty of empty tables and seats are clearly visible. The same thing has happened when I have had a reservation. Some friends of mine will not return because they were forced to wait standing up for 20 minutes because one member of their party was delayed. At busy times, the line of waiting customers extends out of the door. In fact, two of the first four times Tina and I tried to go there, we looked at the line and said, "no restaurant in Yuma is worth waiting half an hour."

It reminds me of the famous words of baseball philosopher Yogi Berra: "nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded."

So why is it so crowded? The rest of this post should begin to answer that question.

First, the restaurant serves many of the usual and standard Chinese/American restaurant dishes at prices a little better than those at Grand China down the street. Most of the lunch specials ($5.95-$6.55) come with a complimentary cup of soup, such as this wonton soup:

Though the broth is very light, the soup as a whole is okay. Similarly, the hot and sour soup is equally adequate:
As are the eggrolls (2 for $2.95):
The filling was good, but the skin seemed too thick.

Several of us enjoyed an order of barbecue pork in honey sauce ($5.95?) without being truly wowed:
Other items can be quite good. Charles, who loves spicy kung pao chicken, ordered his lunch special ($5.95) extra hot and pronounced this version the best he's had in town. Very fiery with tender chunks of chicken:
I am not as impressed with what they call shumai (6 for $3.55), which do not seem homemade:
And while meaty, the pork dumplings (6 for $4.95) were also boring, dense and flavorless:
Once I ordered two of my standard favorite dishes for takeout. Both were ready on time and securely packaged in plastic. The shrimp in lobster sauce ($10.95) was very standard and gloppy:
While certainly not cutting-edge (notice the once frozen peas and carrots), the shrimp were well-prepared, tender and moist:
The double cooked pork ($8.55) was a good version of the dish for my tastes. The pork was tender and was not barbecue pork as in some local restaurants. There was also a greater range of vegetables than this photo would indicate:

Next time, I will probably emphasize spicy when I order, because this dish was only marginally picante.

Chinese dinners I have had at the restaurant have featured an interesting range of dishes, some very tasty and interesting. Listed on the menu, as "Crispy Roast Duck" ($13.95), this duck was not especially crispy, although it had a nice flavor, not too gamey, and moist tender meaty flesh:

On another evening, David wanted to try the M00 shu pork ($8.55), one of his favorites, and we all agreed that the pancakes and the filling were as good as you can get in Yuma:
 
That same evening, we had a wonderful dish called Eggplant Szechuan style ($13.95):
 

For someone used to Ba Ren in San Diego, this dish does not seem very authentic. Nonetheless, the combination of perfectly cooked Asian eggplant, abundant tender pork slices, and mildly spicy sauce rang my bell.

We also enjoyed the seafood bean curd pot ($15.95) that evening -- served bubbling hot as you can see:
In fact, the combination seafood dishes here are very good. Even though krab is used, the shrimp, scallops, and squid are of good quality. Here is the combination seafood served on panfried noodles ($15.95):
While I found the texture of the pan-fried noodles to be inconsistent, with some noodles crisp, some soft, and some in between, I was pleased to find a slice of lobster tail as part of the combination of seafoods:

In fact, all the seafood combos at Asian Star include some lobster. While this is not like having real lobster dishes on the menu, it is pretty good for Yuma. And the lobster meat (what there is of it) tastes fresh and sweet.

What is even more surprising to me is that three of the restaurant's "Asian Star Specials" are said to have a "Szechuan Ma-La" sauce. I was truly amazed to read that. Here is one example called "Double Happiness" ($13.95):

The shrimp and scallops were perfectly cooked, still moist and tender. Truth be told, however, there was not a lot of ma-la flavor. Even though the sauce was different than another spicy dish we ordered that evening, with more of a front-of-the-mouth heat,  no discernible numby tingly feelings touched my lips or tongue. Still, the restaurant deserves some credit for listing ma-la on the menu, even if they use very little Szechuan peppercorn in the dish itself.

Since I have begun eating at Asian Star, I have dined there by myself, with Tina, and with other friends as well. One great thing about sharing dinners with other people is that I get exposed to dishes that I would not have ordered on my own. For example, Tina and I went to Asian star with Penny and Earl recently, and one of them really wanted to try Fruit Shrimp ($12.95). I must confess  I had visions of some poor shrimps drowned in a sickly sweet sauce with a consistency somewhere between paste and glue.

Instead, we were served this wonderful dish:

Each of the shrimp was perfectly fried, and their crunchy crusts crackled when you bit into them. The sauce was not sickly sweet at all, but nicely balanced with some (citrusy?) tang. While the cherries, pineapple chunks, canned lychees (?), and coconut were not especially memorable, they certainly did not detract from the dish.

That evening the four of us had a very good time. Instead of beer or a cocktail, we ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio and another bottle of Riesling (Glen Ellen from California, each $18). Not distinguished swill, but certainly fine with the food.

And at the end of the evening, we were given this attractive dessert of four ice cream balls, each thoughtfully cut into four pieces and all of them decorated with abundant whipped cream (no charge):

If memory serves, the flavors were vanilla, green tea, mango, and strawberry. As well as being a pleasant conclusion to the meal, it was a reminder that the service at Asian Star – once one gets seated at a table – is actually very professional and friendly.

This post only presents about half of the reasons why this new restaurant is so busy. In the future, another post will focus on the other cuisines served at the restaurant – Thai, Japanese, and even one dish prepared "Korean style." So be sure to stay tuned to this spot on the Internet. Don't move that mouse!

Asian Star, 276 W 32nd St, Ste 1, Yuma AZ 85364, (928) 317-9888, open daily 11 AM-9:30 PM.