mmm-yoso!!!

Odds and Ends - Cubano Kings (Little Italy Mercato), and Desserts by Clement Revisited

I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather here. Just a couple of things for a mellow Saturday.

Cubano Kings:

So, I was doing my regular Saturday shopping at the Little Italy Mercato. But on this morning, well, I was a bit hungry. So, since I didn't have too much to do on this day, I took a look at various stands and this one caught my attention.

It had been a while since I'd had a Cubano and this seemed like a nice option. A Cubano was priced at $12, which seemed pretty reasonable, so I ordered one and went for short "walk" before picking up my sandwich. Which was ready when I returned.

I could tell by weight that it was quite hefty. I found a nice peaceful place to have a seat.

Like I said, the sandwich seemed quite hefty.

    Which turned out to be true...at least for me. Man, look at all that pork! The pork was nicely seasoned; though, at least for me, I'm all about proportion and balance of flavor and frankly, this was just too much pork, and where's the jamon? And the bread was just not up to the task as it got really mushy plus all of the pork muted the pickles. And was there even mustard on this....I do like a good counter-point to the rich pork.  Still, if you want a very porky sandwich, here it is..... It's just not the kind of Cubano I enjoy.

Still, in terms of price, well for $12 you can't really complain.

Cubano Kings at the Little Italy Mercato
Saturday 8am - 2pm

And in my post on getting the Missus the Pistachio Spiral Croissant from Bonjour Patisserie I mentioned having to go back to.....

Desserts by Clement:

Which I did.

On a quiet weekend morning. I found that PB wakes up a bit later than most places.

And so the Missus got Her Pistachio Spiral Croissant. 

Which She enjoyed and said this is the best She has had in San Diego......

Now, with some hesitation, I need to ask, do you know of a better version?

Desserts by Clement
1380 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109

Hope everyone is having a wonderful....and much cooler weekend!

Spicy Lao Kitchen Revisited

While walking to our car after our mediocre meal at Duyen Mai, the Missus looked over at Spicy Lao Kitchen and was suddenly craving the Moo Tod that we enjoy. It had been a while since our last visit, so we returned when the place opened at 11 a few days later.

We were greeted and seated. Like before there was just one person working the entire front of house. She as very nice.

Looking over the menus; we decided on trying the Heavenly Beef but was told that it wasn't available on this day. So, we ended up ordering the same three dishes we had on our previous visit. It did take a while for the dishes to start arriving......but eventually, it made it to our table.

The Moo Tod was every bit as good as what we'd had before.

Crisp as first bite, then giving way to a wonderful soft-porkiness. The seasoning seemed even better this time as the slices of pork was nicely dusted with chili powder. Like I've mentioned before, we don't care for Jeow Mak Len, which at least to us, doesn't add much to the dish.

Of course I had to get the Nem Khao.

This was much better than what we'd had here during our previous visit. Though still a bit short in the sour sausage department, the rice had a good ratio of crisp to regular rice. Each bite had a nice variation of textures. We could even make out a hint of coconut, though it was still quite mild in terms of spice.

And of course, we had to get the Goong Nam Pla; the naked shrimp. Whoa, this was even better this time around!

We got this at a medium spice; it was good and spicy, great acidity, the shrimp had a wonderful texture with no off flavors. This was a wonderfully refreshing dish, especially on a super hot day!

Overall, a very nice, albeit long (took 1 1/2 hours) lunch. We'll make sure to return soon, when we have the time for a leisurely lunch. Hope they have the heavenly beef in stock when we revisit.

Spicy Lao Kitchen
5375 Kearney Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Tues - Sat 11am - 9pm
Sunday     11am - 8pm
Closed on Mondays

Hope all our SD "FOYs" are enjoying the cooler weather we're experiencing!

The Croissant Files - Bonjour Patisserie and Cafe de l'Opera

Here are a couple of more croissant visits.

Bonjour Patisserie:

I had read that one of the pastry booths in the Little Italy Mercato had opened a brick and mortar shop on Cedar street. I had tried the croissants from Bonjour Patisserie's stand at the farmer's markets and wasn't very impressed, but since the Missus wanted to try the Spiral Croissant to compare against the version Desserts by Clement. So, after doing my typical Saturday Farmer's Market stop, I headed on over to Cedar to the newly opened shop.

Walking in I was greeted by the nice young lady working. And there was the Pistachio Spiral Croissant that the Missus wanted.

I got one butter croissant and the spiral croissant and headed back to the car and then home.

Once home I went and tried the butter croissant.

  Though it looked over-baked, the exterior wasn't flakey and crisp. The interior was on the doughy-bready-chewy side and the croissant, in my opinion really lacked butteriness. This was mediocre at best and was the same as what I'd had before from their stand. Well, at least they're consistent, right?

The Missus also dug into Her spiral croissant. Which looked pretty good.

    But the Missus cut into it and took a bite and made a face. She made me have a taste. The crust was doughy, gummy, and lacking in crispness. It was on the thick side. The filling was too sweet for my taste as well.

So guess who was sent back to Desserts by Clement as few days later?

Well, another croissant tried and marked off.......

Bonjour Patisserie
320 W Cedar St.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Tues - Sun 8am - 4pm
Closed on Mondays

Cafe de l'Opera:

During my visit to Izola's new location, while walking back to where I had parked my car, I passed a newish looking cafe. I took a quick look inside and saw that they had various patisseries, including croissants. The friendly young lady noticed that I had the Izola box and we had a short chat; the gist of it being that Cafe de l'Opera made their own croissants. I promised to drop by for some coffee and to try their croissants.

A few Sundays later, I decided to get a bit of walking in; so I headed down the hill and caught the Blue Line to the Park & Market stop and then hoofed it over to the Diamond Terrace Condo building where the cafe is located.

The same very nice young lady was working. I placed my order and had a seat in the nice looking cafe.

I had ordered a Cold Brew along with my croissant.

Man, this was a pretty stiff cold brew! It pretty strong and really woke me up! Not bad at all.

As for the Butter Croissant.

   It was soft and doughy, lacking in that flaky-crispness that I enjoy. I'm not sure why they call this a "Butter Croissant" as sorely needed more butter flavor. The interior was a bit too "moist" for my taste as well. 

Too bad, because I liked the cold brew and the young lady working here.

Cafe de l'Opera
910 J St.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 7am - 3pm
Saturday  7am - 2pm
Sunday     730am - 2pm

And so my exploration of croissants in San Diego continues.......

Mariscos Tone Camaron at Harland Brewing Bay Park

Sometimes it's just the smallest thing. A couple of weeks ago, I went to get my morning caffeine fix from Bay Park Coffee. I guess everyone else, and their mother decided that it would be a great time for an energy boost and there was no parking to be found on Napier or Ashton, so I had to park on Morena. While walking toward Napier, I noticed this trailer in the back of the Harland Tasting Room.

Interesting, a Mariscos Truck/Trailer was now in back of Harland. I guess they needed something to replace Rosemarie's which was here for quite a long time until they got their own brick and mortar shop.

An interesting recent development is that the Missus enjoyed the Japanese Lager from June Lake Brewing, that I had Her try Harland's version which She enjoyed even more! So, we decided to take a walk down Milton and check out Harland and the Mariscos trailer.

The place was fairly busy when we arrived. I ordered a Japanese Lager for the Missus and tried a sour.

The Missus said that She couldn't tell the difference between the draft JL versus the canned.

The Raspberry Sour was very light and I think a good candidate as a "gateway sour".

As for the food, it was done via QR code. And I'm guessing they do burgers as well as Mariscos?

As for the Mariscos, well, the name of the trailer includes "camaron" and that's what they basically have; shrimp except for the $25 rib-eye tostada.

So, we ordered the "OG Shrimp Ceviche" and the Aguachile Verde Tostadas. In a nice touch, our order was delivered to our table.

The portion sizes for $12 was quite good, though we'll be the first to say that the shrimp were really tough and rubbery. Each portion was enough to make three tostadas. Though I will say, it seems to us to be more about quantity than quality. The OG was really mild, lacking in spice, quite watery.

The Aguachile was better, with nice citrus tones.

The cucumbers were nice and palate cleansing and went well with the maize-y tostadas. Both dishes had a generous portion of creamy, mildly sweet avocado. It was still mild in terms of "heat", but maybe that's based on the demographic. This wasn't bad, though it lacked a good amount of spice and seemed a bit dumbed down.

Overall, while not my first choice with regards to Mariscos, decently priced with fairly generous portion to price.

Mariscos Tone Camarón at Harland Brewing
4112 Napier St.
San Diego, CA 92110

Takeout from Sam Woo and Noble Chef

Since my last post was somewhat "ducky", I thought I'd keep the streak going with a couple of takeout posts.

Man how long has it been since my last visit to...

Sam Woo:

AKA the "Killer Whale"....if you don't know the story; click on the link, it's at the bottom of the post. I know we've been back since that post in 2005, but even though Cathy has done many posts on Sam Woo; it seems that I've only done that one. Strange.....

SW is not a usual stop for us anyway. But on a recent visit to 99 Ranch Market, the Missus noted that the roast duck looked pretty good.

So, we went in and I got a half roast duck, the Missus noted that the char siu looked pretty decent as well, so I got a pound. The woman working the register was so friendly....we're not used to that at Sam Woo!

Anyway, this is what the half duck looked like at home.

Man, that skin was so rubbery and the flavor bland. A least the duck wasn't dry and there was so much sauce that I basically soaked the pieces skin side down, then air fried which crisped things out nicely. I liked that this wasn't the overly meaty and dry roast duck we've been getting lately, but the flavor sure was lacking. Good thing we took it to go. I can't imagine having this at the restaurant.

Talk about bland; man the char siu was terrible. It did look good sitting at the steam table though.

Much too sweet, lacking in savory-umami tones, waxy and very tough. Not good eats. We were glad I only got a pound!

Not sure when we'll be by the "Killer Whale" again, but I'm pretty sure we won't be getting the char siu.....

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

After this visit, we were wondering how our old favorite for roast duck, Noble Chef was doing. So, a few days later we did some takeout from....

Noble Chef:

Of course, based on what I had learned from our good friend Candice years ago, it was a dinner time takeout visit.

We got the roast duck.

Like our previous visit; the duck seemed much more meaty than before. The skin tasted really good, but was on the rubbery side. But of course it got air fried and things turned around. The meat was fairly bland; if not for the tasty skin, well......

I also did something I would never do before we got our air fryer. I ordered the Salt and Pepper Pork chops to go. 

Man, this was a huge portion. I brushed off the garlic, scallions, and chilies, then did the air fry thing. I then readded the garlic and stuffs. These seemed a bit thicker cut than before and the meat was edging on dry. But the seasoning was right on point and it was nice and crisp.

The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111

So, have any great roast duck recently? Inquiring minds want to know!

Road Trip - Ji Rong Peking Duck (Rosemead)

After having rather dismal luck with Bei Jing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭), aka Peking Duck at both Happy Duck House and Array 36, we decided to give it one more try. You know, three strikes and you're out? So, we decided to stay in Monterey Park at our usual place; the Courtyard by Marriott on Atlantic.

Things started out pretty good. When I checked in, I found that I had made some kind of elite status with Marriott and to "celebrate" they decided to upgrade us! Well, we got a huge suite. It was two bedrooms with a living room between the bedrooms.

The place had three bathrooms; of course the Missus had to check out each one to see which She liked best! It even had three mini-fridges!

Way more room than we could possibly use. With just the two of us, one bedroom went unused. But, our favorite part was the huge patio!

Yes, the view is of Atlantic.......

And the seats were dirty; but we liked just hanging out after dinner and we used the cover sheets on the sofas.

It was a nice way to start the evening. Would this be an omen????

Courtyard Los Angeles Monterey Park
555 N Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

For dinner, I chose a place that I'd read good things about Ji Rong Peking Duck, located at the Rosemead end of Valley. I had the Missus call and make reservations for a table and a duck. You need to reserve the duck in advance.

We had made reservations for right when they opened. There are two parking lots straddling the building, which houses 888 Seafood and Shin-Sen-Gumi among other businesses. There was ample parking when we arrived, but the lots were pretty full when we left. The restaurant itself looks fairly plain, a far cry from the craziness of Array 36. The staff are very professional.

So, once we were seated, the staff knew we had reserved a Peking Duck which goes for $85. We also ordered the Soup which was an extra $15. Along with several other dishes.

The standard accoutrements were  delivered. Along with some pretty darn good looking duck! After our last few tries we were ready for another "fowl" (sorry, couldn't help it), but this was really good.

 It was quite interesting, the skin was separated; the one's that were fattier were on the upper and left hand side; these were crisp with a creamy finish. The skin on the right were more crisp. The leftover skin with fat heated up super well in the air fryer later! The meat was slightly gamey and earthy. All of this went so well with the perfectly made tender, but up to the task pancakes. Which also heated up well using my microwave tortilla warmer.

   We saved the two legs for home and they crisped up perfectly. This was so delici-yoso once you create your little "roll-up". In fact, the Missus said this was better than what we'd had at Quan Ju De in Beijing!

The duck bone soup arrived soon after. This version was served without carcass parts, with just some napa cabbage and tofu. It was very "ducky" and had a perfect amount of salt and white pepper.

Nice a mildly rich, I might have enjoyed this just as much as the duck!

The Hot & Spicy Pig's Feet ($14.98) wasn't very spicy, but had a nice gelatinous texture and was so tender.

It was more on  the sweeter side of things, but still had some nice soy tones. This was quite good.

We didn't care much for the Hot & Spicy Pig Stomach ($18.98), which was more spicy than the pig's feet, but really tough.

It was also a bit too salty. Overall, think of eating salty rubber-bands.

The Missus was curious about the Black Fungus with Chinese (Yamaimo) Yam ($15.98).

This was okay. The mountain yam was sliced too thick and there was a true lack of seasoning on this. The Missus actually prefers the version I make at home.

The last dish to arrive was another favorite; the House Spicy Oyster Mushroom ($15.98). This was so good, a great meaty texture, perfectly seasoned.

It was even better as leftovers; as the spice and other flavors intensified, but the great texture held.

Overall, I wonderful meal. We were so happy, that we can't wait to return. If you take a close look, you'll find that other than the duck, most of the other dishes are under $19!

Finally, it seems like we found a place for Bei Jing Kao Ya!

Ji Rong Peking Duck
8450 E Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770

It seems that we got really lucky on this road trip; from getting the room upgrade, to having a wonderful meal at Ji Rong.

I hope our luck holds out when return!

KZ Mori (Inside of H Mart - Balboa)

Recently, I had to deal with parking at H Mart on Balboa at 1030. Well, finding a space wasn't bad, though things filled up quickly and it was kinda crazy as I was about to leave. Since it was just about lunchtime, I decided to head on back into H Mart and peruse the ever changing food court. The last time I had taken a look at the food court was when Bann had closed. Of course, no sooner than had Bann closed that they were replaced with another "concept". One place that I thought wasn't too bad in the Food Court was Katzya, though my last visit there was not too satisying. They eventually closed as well. I had heard that they had been replaced by a Katsu shop, named KZ Mori. For some reason, the name sounded familiar. When I saw the logo, it hit home. I had read about a katsu shop in the H Mart food court in Arcadia named "Kazu Mori". And I think it's related somehow? 

   I walked up to the counter, the place had just opened, but there seemed to be a couple of folks waiting for their orders already. The young man working was really nice, though he looked a bit overwhelmed. I took a look at the menu....even though the portions looked pretty large, I went and ordered the Mix Katsu Combo ($19.99), which included both pork and chicken katsu and curry. 

There was one other guy working and I saw him take out a huge batch of katsu and start chopping away. Oh my. After watching the first couple of orders go out, I was wondering how he knew which was the chicken and which was the pork. My plate was made from that "pile".

Instead of getting my order to dine in; I got it in a take out box, which was a good move since it was pretty darn hefty.

Opening things up on the table revealed "blotchy" katsu to the left and "blotchy" katsu to the right, a huge pile of shredded cabbage, and some nicely cooked rice.

 The katsu had not been fried evenly and there were some darkly colored spots, the texture of the panko was kind of mealy, at least the breading wasn't separating from the proteins, but it was easy to tell which was the pork and chicken. The pork was on the left; it was thicker, had a more spongy texture, but was fairly tender, if a bit on the dry side. The seasoning was one dimensional being quite salty. The chicken on the right side was thinner, dry, and chewy. It was also quite salty. I'd take the pork any day of the week.

 I'm pretty sure the curry had been made with "cubes", it had a nice spice, but was barely lukewarm....and I was eating in the food court. It was quite gloppy and was also on the salty side. Dipping the katsu in this was just too much sodium for me.

There was standard issue Japanese Sesame Dressing for the huge pile of cabbage, which was fine. The Katsu sauce was too sour and thin for me to enjoy.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting, say EE Nami, but there seems to be a lack of QC here as I think Homestyle Hawaiian and if we're looking at food court katsu even Musashiya (though it's been a while - I need to revisit) is better. Though, if you're really hungry, perhaps this would fill the bill? I think it's more about portion size here, the place seems quite popular - I ended up taking about half the food home with me. 

I mean, take a look at the katsu.......

KZ Mori (In the H Mart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 8pm

Midweek Meanderings - Champs Korean BBQ Replacing Seoul Korean Tofu House and Chicken Karaage from Tokyo Central (Marukai)

Just two quick things for a "heat wave Wednesday"!

Champs Korean BBQ Replacing Seoul Korean Tofu House:

I saw this while driving back from shopping at Nijiya.

I know that this used to be Convoy Tofu House, then it became Seoul Korean Tofu House. Now it looks like it's going to be yet another AYCE Korean BBQ. Because well, like KFC and Hot Pot we can never have enough AYCE KBBQ, right?

4229 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Chicken Karaage from Tokyo Central:

I started seeing these signs posted when entering Tokyo Central (aka Marukai).

Hmmmm.......Ever since Nijiya went and changed the recipe for their karaage I've been looking for a replacement. And the price at $10.99 a pound isn't too bad. After all, the regular price on the frozen Ajinomoto Karaage is $10.99 if I recall.

So, after about the fourth or fifth time seeing the signs I decided to go for it. I walked over to the warmer and bought me a small portion.

Once home I opened it up and had a taste. I liked the flavor, decent soy tones, without being too salty. I did find that it was on the more soggy side.

So, I ended up putting it in the air fryer for like 6 minutes and it was like a whole different dish!

Nice and crisp/crunchy. Heck, even the Missus liked it! So, even though this won't stop me from getting my Tenkatori "fix", it's a good option when heating in the air fryer.

Tokyo Central
8125 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone is keeping cool and comfortable during this heatwave!