mmm-yoso!!!

Solomon Bagel Company (North Park)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog.  Today, Cathy is writing.

The Mister and I had an appointment near the airport the other morning and decided to take the side streets instead of the freeway to get home.  We got to 30th street and found a parking spot.   It turns out that online, this relatively new (it opened in April 2020) shop is called Solomon Bagels and Donuts.  However on this day, there were no donuts (I overheard that something wasn't working that morning).  We weren't looking for donuts anyway.
  The menu includes beverages, hot/cold/vegan sandwiches, a variety of toppings as well as donuts and donut holes on most days.
 We were here around 10:30 in the morning and a lot was already sold out.  Good for this local business!

 I chose to try the Ukrainian Everything bagel with cream cheese.  A pumpernickel base with typical 'everything' seeds on both sides of the bagel, this was wonderful!  A good, chewy, New York style bagel (smaller than you find at the larger chain bagel stores).  I enjoy the rye flour base of pumpernickel. 
 We also tried the countertop special of a Pastrami (on toasted rye, of course) ($8.99) with sauerkraut.  Lettuce, tomato and onion are also standard add ons for sandwiches.  The pastrami was of good quality; no pepper crust (which neither of us like).  Quite a large sandwich and another excellent, seeded rye, chewy bagel.

It must be crowded in the mornings, when there is a 15% discount before 8 a.m. - Lucky nearby neighbors.  We will return if there is available parking.  

Solomon Bagel Company 4152 30th Street San Diego 92104 (619)326-8248 Open daily 6 a.m.-3 p.m. website

Elsa's Kitchen (again)(Greek and burgers)(SDSU area)

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy while Kirk and His Missus are catching up on missed vacationing. 

Yes, I wrote about Elsa's Kitchen in 2007 and again in 2011, The Mister and I have been there many times since and here's another post.  Elsa's survived Covid-19.  Located in a nondescript strip mall with a nice sized parking lot at the NorthEast corner of El Cajon and 73rd, next to the gas station,
 Elsa's Kitchen has been here since at least 2009.

You order and pay at the hole in the wall and soon your order will be ready.  

 The pastrami burger ($6.99)is hand shaped and char-broiled.  I *love* the char broiled flavor.  It's topped with a quality pastrami (not the pepper coated one; a regular smoked corned beef; the Liquor Store next door sells Boars Head deli meats and I think they get the pastrami there) and the usual toppings.  Hefty and very, very good.
 The bun is toasted, both on the top and inside, making for a non-soggy sandwich.
 The large greek salad ($10.99) is a great meal.  Plenty of gyros and very fresh  traditional Greek salad- romaine, tomato, onion, cucumber and Feta, served with a really nice dressing and tzatziki. 
 As always, a large order of onion rings ($3.99) was ordered.  I have mentioned before that all Greek restaurants make wonderful, from scratch, thick cut rings from sweet onions.  No exception here. 

Elsa's Kitchen Greek and American Food 7022 El Cajon Blvd (619) 464-6711 Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 9-8. (on our last visit, there was a window sign that it would be closed on Saturday and Sunday, so maybe call to check)

Home Sweet Home Cafe (revisit) (Escondido)

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today; Kirk and His Missus are vacationing.

The last time I wrote about Home Sweet Home Cafe was 2019-BC (before Covid-19).   Time for an update, because this oddly located Breakfast-Lunch mainstay has survived (for more than 20 years). In the midst of a very industrial area of West Escondido, this nondescript restaurant storefront is open only for breakfast and lunch.  Parking is in front and along the side of the building.
 Many customers are 'regulars'. 
 The menu is served all day. 

 My usual order is a ham and egg sandwich ($12) on rye, made with a good amount of juicy, non-salty ham steak.  The plate comes with a choice of potato.  The home fries are excellent, can be made with or without bell peppers and/or onion.  Optional home made gravy on the potatoes ($2.50) is worth it- it is bacon gravy (not sausage); a wonderful version.
 The Eggs Benedict ($12.50) are made with perfectly poached eggs and plenty of ham on top of a toasted English muffin, covered in a home made, lightly lemony hollandaise- (we asked for added spinach on this day).  Instead of potato on the side, a request for corned beef hash was accommodated ($2.50).  A good quality canned hash and fried to a nice crisp. 
 On another visit, The Mister ordered the corned beef hash and eggs ($12) substituting homemade corned beef ($1)- it's just corned beef!  A wonderful, lighter carb breakfast.  (The hash browns were nicely crisped, the over easy eggs were perfect and even the sourdough toast is a better/nice sour quality).

One day, I'll do a lunch post. Soo was here in 2021 and had a burger, among other items.

Home Sweet Home Cafe  662Enterprise Street Escondido, CA 9202 (760) 743-2233 Open Mon-Fri 5-2, Sat 5-1 Sun 7-1
 The Christmas tree is decorated seasonally and there are small gifts (one per child) underneath always.  A fond, old fashioned memory.

2023 Rose Parade float road test #2 and a food snack adventure.

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy for a few days; Kirk and His Missus are out and about, researching for more posts for you to enjoy. 

Link to Road Test #1

At the end of July, another road test for 2023 Rose Parade floats was held.  Instead of The Mister and I driving up, friend and fellow blogger, cc  drove to our home, arriving at 5 a.m. and then she and I headed North to Irwindale.  We arrived after some floats had completed testing, but were able to still see a few interesting things. The float barn is filling up.  It looks like Phoenix Decorating will build 22 of the floats which will be in the Parade on January 2.  Decorating begins on December 3 and there is a link on that website.
 The Kiwanis International float is painted and essentially ready for decorating (this second road test had 'weight' (people) on board and the maneuverability, mechanics and fire drill all passed).  You can see the door open under the wave, for the "spotter" as well as the open door near the center, where the "driver" gets to his seat under the float.   
 Unsure which float this is, but you can see the 'spotter' in front and a bit of the 'driver' all the way to the left and back in this photo.  This float is small enough to drive the parade route without having to 'collapse' under street lights and the freeway bridge along the way. 
The float which will carry the Royal Court was being tested.  It's the same float used the previous three years and is not judged for any awards.  It is 'redecorated' each year. 
 The Petal Pushers and Lutheran Hour Ministries float, "A New Day With Jesus" was tested and passed.
Rotary International float, "Serving with Pride and Imagination", finished its testing and is also ready to be decorated.  "Hope for Peace", sponsored by the Oddfellows and Rebekahs was also tested.  I took this screenshot from the Phoenix Decorating Facebook page, which posts short videos of the floats on testing day. 

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Now, on to the food portion of this post.
 First, the obligatory stop at Portos, six miles South of the Float Barn.  A few days before, the County of Los Angeles had put another Covid ruling in place and we had to wait before entering the bakery.  We thought we wouldn't be allowed to eat inside. 


 So we waited in line and ordered, did see we could sit down for a moment and photographed some of our purchases.
 We shared this 'new' item-a chicken and rice ball; excellent!
 Then we started driving- cc always has a Plan A as well as a Plan B for our adventures.  Turning South out of Portos and driving to Amar Road was new to me!
 Yes we did!  The choices and prices and wow!  Everything was so fresh.  (These three donuts were $6.25) The Donut Hole 15300 Amar Road La Puenta 91744

 This mall, located between Amar Road and Manila Way, anchored by a Seafood City was filled with many, many Filipino businesses.  Some restaurants don't open until later in the day and we will have to return. 
 We purchased pieces of lechon (slow roasted suckling pig)-perfectly cooked with a flavorful moist meat and crackly skin.  We also purchased fried chicken skins; the chicharron were large pieces and perfectly lite and crisp.  Toto's Lechon Manok 1545 Amar Road West Covina 91792
 On the other end of this mall is a quite large building, part of a local chain, DJ Bibingkahan. 

A Turo-Turo (Point-Point) business, where you order, pay and find your own seat.
Corned beef silog and longsilog, served with hard cooked eggs and garlic rice, made a great breakfast.  The corned beef was in chunks and in a flavorful broth with tomato, onion and potatoes.  The longanisa was boiled, not pan fried, but the 'skin' still had a good 'snap' and the flavor was more sweet-I think it was made with pineapple juice. 
To the right of the steam trays is a small doorway labeled 'Bakery' and in there, we found a nice display.  

  We asked the friendly man behind the counter if he had regular bibingka (since the name of the place is Bibingkahan) and he went into the back and brought out the cutest small rice flour coconut milk cake made with a dollop of cream cheese baked in banana leaf.   We took three-only $1.50 each!  I also bought a large container of garlic peanuts ($4.95).  Perfect treats when I got home.  It is the 50th year in Glendora and also peach donut time for The Donut Man.  We stopped here, too.  

What a day of adventure and new places as well as 2023 Rose Parade floats!

Takeout Lunches from Wa Dining Okan

In my most recent takeout post on EE Nami, "FOYs" Jason and Jessica mentioned that Okan's lunch specials were still priced right. Which made me wonder when I last did takeout from Okan. So I did a quick lookback...and geez, it had been over 2 years!

Since I needed to pick up some groceries from Nijiya, getting takeout from Okan would be perfect!

I drove on over; parking is not so bad before 11am, walked on over to Okan, did the QR code thingy, and waited a few minutes until they opened. I was impressed to see that the prices for most of the base lunch specials were only $11.50, a bargain these days. Taking into consideration the drive home, when my chance to order arrived I went with the Buta Kakuni lunch set, which is what I also ordered during my last takeout visit.

I then went into Nijiya and did some quick shopping. I'm used to doing shopping at Nijiya at 9 in the morning....so the check-out line was a bit longer than I had expected. The young lady at Okan told me my order would be ready in ten minutes; but I took twenty at Nijiya. So, I quickly walked back over to Okan.....but to my relief, my order took another ten minutes anyway.

I drove on home and then opened up my Buta Kakuni Lunch Special ($11.50). It really didn't look too promising.

 Sadly, the best thing about this lunch set was the okara salad of which there was a scant tablespoon and the miso soup, which was pretty good, as it always has been.

The rice was on the hard side and the boiled egg was a bit overcooked but fine, with no off flavors.

As for the buta kakuni, well, it looked very, very dark....as in black in color.

  I bit into a piece, which was really salty; it had been sitting in the marinade too long and it was super dry and tough. In fact, the first thought that came into my mind was; "I ordered buta kakuni....not pork jerky".

I do understand that food costs are high these days, but this was really bad quality control. I guess they weren't kidding when they said things are "tough all over". Just look at that pork!

This meal really made me a bit sad, since I have a long history with Wa Dining Okan and also some great memories of meals shared with friends. So, I just had to give them another shot to see if that meal is the norm these days; or perhaps takeout just won't cut it at Okan.

I was really craving the Tori Nanban here, but just knew it would not hold up....so, I decided to go with the Shogayaki. This was basically the same drill as the last time; told ten minutes, but actually took twenty-five. 

Here's what I unpacked at home; the Shogayaki (Ginger Pork - $11.50). You can tell right away that this was a definite improvement from the buta kakuni.

   

The miso soup was as good as on my previous visit; the rice much better this go-around. 

The pork, while being a tad on the salty and chewy side was decent. In fact, it went well with the sliced cabbage which helped to cut the saltiness down. Now if they just sliced that cabbage finer....like, ahem...EE Nami??? This is stuff my Mom used to make, so of course I'm used to that flavor profile; more ginger, a bit sweeter.....but this is not bad and I'll readily have it again.

I was somewhat relieved that my second meal was better than the first......though now the question arises; which is the norm here? I'm hoping it's more like my second meal. So perhaps soon, once I feel more comfortable dining al fresco here; I'll return for my Tori Nanban.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks to Jason and Jessica for reminding me about the lunch set menu at Okan!

San Miguel de Allende (2022) - Fabrica La Aurora and Mercado del Carmen

We had one last stop for the morning and we headed north of the Mercado de Artesanías. It was getting pretty warm and we took our time, checking out various sights along the way.

There seemed to be quite a bit of construction going on with new houses popping up. From what we'd seen; SMA seemed to be pretty popular with Ex-Pats.

After crossing Arroyo de Las Cachinches we arrived at Fabrica la Aurora.

Formerly a textile factory and one of the largest employers in SMA, the mill closed in 1991 after the markets were flooded with imports and the old factory was converted into a warehouse. After artists displayed interest in renting and converting various rooms into studios and work spaces the factory was converted and reopened in 2001.

There are still artifacts and photos from the textile factory.

And there are over 30 studio and shops on the premises. It was a fun time checking things out.

As much as we enjoyed browsing, the highlight of our visit had nothing to do with all the arts and crafts.

The Missus and I decided to take a break, rather it happened when we decided to take a coffee break at the Café de la Aurora.

The Missus got some espresso and I a cold brew and we had a seat at a table.

While enjoying our break, I saw one of what I assume is an artist riding up the alleyway in his bike, along his side was his faithful pooch. The Missus had Her back to this so She didn't notice when the gentleman parked his bike and walked into his shop, his pooch decided to head into the café. 

This mutt walked past us and up to one of the tables on the other side of the café. He politely sat and stared at the folks who were having lunch. He sat so perfectly, with total focus on the couple eating that the Missus thought he was their dog! After getting no response, he turned around, walked past us and went to the table behind us and did the same thing!

That's when I figured out his "game"! This little fellow only went to tables with food on it! He ignored folks just having drinks! After getting no response, he saw the Server coming out with food and followed her to the next table. Amazing! The Missus and I were cracking up! Much like I did with "Tripod", I gave him a name; Juan. And this time I remembered to take a photo of the smart little guy. Why "Juan" you may ask? Well, I told the Missus that this little fellow believes he is the "chosen Juan"! She cracked up. Eventually his owner peeked out of his shop and saw Juan doing his thing and came with a leash and it was game over for the little guy....for now. It's moments like these that really make our travels fun.

We took the fairly long walk back to our accommodation. We stopped at a few shops along the way, but the Missus really didn't see anything She was interested in. And it seemed like the prices here were quite high.

As we got back to our B&B, I mentioned being somewhat hungry to the Missus. Right around the corner from our accommodation was a food court/hall named Mercado del Carmen. We decided to pop in for a look.

There were a number of stands in the food hall, featuring Mexican, French, Burgers, Pizza, and even Korean/Japanese....

And Peruvian.....

The Missus was craving rice; so we got a Bi Bim Bap and I went with some Cebiche from the Peruvian stand.

The Cebiche wasn't very good, the leche de tigre was very mild, watery, and this didn't have enough flavor overall.

The Bi Bim Bap was not bad.

As expected, the rice wasn't very good; but the kimchi was surprisingly decent, the cho-jang was legit, and that egg was a perfect sunny-side up. We were pleasantly surprised and the Missus got Her "rice fix" which would hold Her for the rest of the trip.

Mercado Del Carmen
Calle Pila Seca 19
San Miguel de Allende, 37700, Mexico

After the meal it was a short stroll around the corner to our room and an escape from the afternoon heat.

Thanks for stopping by!

Roadtrip (2022) - Bob's Well Bread and Lunch at Bells (Los Alamos)

After an excellent dinner at Bell's, the Missus and I were looking forward to our return for lunch. But what to do in Los Alamos before lunch? We had pretty much seen the entire town the day before.

I thought that the Missus and I should ponder that over some caffeine and perhaps a croissant? And I had a place in mind. 

At the Eastern edge of the (4 block) downtown area in a structure that was formerly a gas station resides Bob's Well Bread.

The business has quite a story. You can read it here. Bob's Well Bread has quite a following, mainly for the artisan, small batch bread made from all natural ingredients. I've heard the phrase "like European" artisan breads in several posts I saw. We wouldn't be grabbing a loaf on this trip; but since it said "Croissants" clearly in the window sign, how could I not try that?

We went in and ordered a Cortado for the Missus, a cold brew for me, and a croissant. The Missus also got several cookies as well.

We then went and had a seat sat one of the picnic tables outside.

I was expecting to have my name called, but the very nice young woman working actually brought us our coffee and croissant. How nice!

  So, how did this croissant lineup? In terms of the looks department, it was beautiful; perfectly baked. It was crisp and flakey; the interior so moist and almost creamy in texture. Unfortunately it was really lacking in butteriness and since I love my croissants au buerre, this failed at the "third point". Bummer.....

The Missus did love the cookies we bought however, and I think if we're in the area we'll stop for those and perhaps a baguette.

Bob's Well Bread Bakery
550 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440

As for our plan? We decided to head on over to Solvang which is just 20 minutes away and get some cookies for the Missus's coworkers. We then took a stroll around Danish Disneyland and just chilled.

We then returned to Los Alamos, relaxed a bit, then checked out. I parked the car and we crossed the street to Bell's right at 11am.

   We had requested to sit on the patio again. Same relaxed and friendly service. A lot of the Servers were wearing "Franch" t-shorts.....Bell's say they serve Fr(ench R)anch cuisine. 

We looked over the tempting menu and placed an order for four dishes and then went one step father. There was a sandwich we wanted to order, but knew we wouldn't be able to finish, so we got a takeout order as well!

My two favorite dishes came out first.

The Steak Tartare ($25) was amazing. It is now my favorite version in the U.S. it was just so perfect.

    Just the perfect cut, the beef was super tender, like the night before, all items were perfectly seasoned. Perfect amount of capers, and that egg yolk, oh my! This was just so clean tasting and refreshing.

I also loved the Country Pate ($18), it was tender and had just right amount of wine in it.

Nice amount of offal-ish flavor for me; the cherries didn't overwhelm anything, and the fried shallots in the pate was perfect. Was not a big fan of the baguette as it was typical hard and chewy American style. The frisee was a lovely addition to the dish.

I was shocked that the Missus ordered the Escargot ($16). While the Missus loved the Escargot in Burgundy, She had never found a version here in the States that She enjoyed.

Well, mark this as the first Escargot She liked outside of France....leave it to "Franch" to deliver. Good amount of garlic, nice balanced flavors. The menu noted that these were "wild snails" and they were much more tender than I expected. Still, that baguette......

I was also surprised that the Missus ordered the La Brujula Tinned Mussels in Escabeche ($20)!

These Spanish tinned mussels were quite good, nice and tender. We didn't care for butter and the ketchup like sauces, but the homemade saltines were wonderful.

This was wonderful meal, we actually enjoyed it more than our dinner. And we really want to do it again soon.

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440
Current Hours:
Thurs - Mon 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 830pm
Closed on Tuesday - Wednesday

And as the postcript. On the lunch menu there was Braised Beef Cheek Sandwich that sounded so good. So, after consulting with our Server, we got it to go with the bearnaise aioli on the side.

It was still in fine shape after the five hour drive home. The bread, in this case a ficelle held up fine; the meat was so intensely beefy; I loved the pickled Basque peppers.....

I guess we'll need to return again soon!

Burma Place

It was quite nice to hear about Burma Place opening in San Diego. Burmese cuisine that hasn't been represented much in our fair city. So a couple of months after the shop opened, in spite of the crazy gas prices at the time, I made the 50 mile round trip and did a takeout visit.

The restaurant is located in RB, next to a place that I last visited nearly 13 years ago. And to be perfectly honest; that might have been the last time I was in this strip mall!

The woman working when I arrived is very friendly; you know the type, the one who calls you "sweetie", "honey", "dear"....... And my order was ready when I arrived.

I had ordered two salads which I immediately put in my cooler and another dish that I thought would hold up well on the drive home.

Of course I had to get the Laphet Thoke - the Tea Leaf Salad ($15.99).

I liked the fact that there was some cabbage present and since this salad really needs to be mixed well; I went and placed it in a salad bowl and proceeded to mix things.

For me; it's all about the amount of fermented tea leaves and how it's been treated. We prefer a more assertive fermented-slightly bitter-mildly astringent flavor and this was on the mild side; really coming thru more like a vinaigrette. I did appreciate the split roasted soybeans; the firm crunch is always appreciated. But overall, this was disappointing.

I also got the Rainbow Salad ($14.99), which has a boatload of ingredients and a fairly mild tamarind based dressing.

Four kinds of noodles in this, enjoyed the fried shallots and a bit of spice from the peppers. We both thought this was the better of the two salads.

For our hot item; I flashed back to the wonderful Kabocha Stew we had at Burma Cafe in Daly City and got the Pumpkin Stew Chicken ($15.99), which I thought would probably benefit from the extra time it took to get it home.

This was terrible. The chicken meat, which was breast was dry and tough. The kabocha wasn't ripe, was hard, and lacked flavor. The broth was watery and really bland.

Well, with how gas prices were at this time, and how mediocre the meal was....there was no way I'd be able to talk the Missus into either a takeout or dining in visit. Just when I was about to delete my photos Calvin wanted to get some lunch....guess where?

We decided to go at the earliest possible time and met at 11am.

The same really friendly woman was working and we were the only folks in the restaurant for a good part of our lunch. It was great to catch up on things.

Of course we started off with the Tea Leaf Salad. Our Server took almost five minutes mixing the ingredients together for us!

While still on the mild side in terms of flavor, this was much better than what I'd had as takeout. I would have preferred a bit more cabbage, but this was a definite improvement.

By far, the best dish of the day were the Garlic Noodles with Pork ($11.99).

The pork; in this case char siu was a nice match for the saltiness of the noodles. The noodles were perfectly coated with a tasty sauce. The sauce on the side was a straight-forward spicy, so just a drizzle on the noodles worked well.

We got the Spicy Shan Tofu. Shan Tofu is made with "besan", basically a Chickpea Flour. At it's best it's both light, yet creamy, and holds it's shape.

The texture of the tofu was not quite as what I'd recently had at The Dutchess, being a bit more gritty and not as pliable and tender. The sauce was tart and mildly spicy; this actually tasted better the next day, though the tofu didn't hold up well.

We also got the Kebat Lamb ($17.99). 

A typical homestyle stir-fry with curry, tomato, onion, and cilantro, this was fairly mild in flavor. Calvin and I both felt it needed more "umph"; more tangy-acidity, pungency, spice, and yes, more cilantro. The lamb was rather chewy and very mild in flavor. If you'd ever want a lamb dish that didn't taste like lamb; well have at this one.

Overall, a decent meal, but not worth going out of your way for in my opinion. While I'm glad that San Diego's food horizons seem to be expanding; I'm not happy "just to have something". So, I hope things keep getting better!

Burma Place
16719 Bernardo Center Dr.
San Diego, CA 92128
Hours:
Daily 11am - 230pm, 430pm - 9pm