mmm-yoso!!!

Luscious Dumplings (Eastlake) a Soft Opening Visit

A few days ago; I got word that Luscious Dumplings, a well regarded jiaozi shop, now located in Monrovia, which holds Michelin Bib Gourmand status had just opened in Eastlake. Yep, Eastlake! Initially, I decided to wait a few weeks....but then having had some great jiaozi at the original shop in San Gabriel (which eventually moved to Monrovia)...and you know me and jiaozi, right? I just decided to check the place out and see if it was worthy of a visit from the Missus, who, hailing from QingDao where everyone in the family makes jiaozi (yes, even the Missus does) is even more picky about it than I am.

So, I took the 35 minute drive onto Telegraph Canyon Road, past places I hadn't been to in years, and then where Telegraph Canyon become Otay Lakes, to a large strip mall that I'd never been to; the Village Walk at Eastlake.

Finding the place was easy....they sure make a big deal out of the Michelin recognition, huh?

The restaurant is spartan. You order on the device at the counter......I understand it's card only.

And then they'll bring your order to you or text you to pick-up your takeout order.

The guy at the counter seems a bit gruff and unfriendly; but he turned out to be a very nice guy.

All the standard accoutrements are available. Along with disposable sauce bowls and utensils.

The prices gave me a bit of a pause, the Pork, Shrimp, and Cabbage Jiaozi was $14, as were the Pork XLB. After a short wait, my Jiaozi were delivered.

    You notice the color of the fillings that you can see thru the wrappers? Well, I'm thinking there was some opening jitters here as I ordered the Cabbage, Shrimp, and Pork, but I basically got 4 of those and four Pork, Shrimp, and Chive! Which I would have ordered if I could have gotten four of each!

The wrappers were on the thicker end of the scale, but quite fluffy, with just the right amount of pull. The chive filling was full of, well chive, almost pungent-garlicky tones. I could make out more of the shrimp flavor in these as well. The fillings, while not as light and fluffy as the one's we had at the original location, was moist and juicy. These were quite good; I'm sure the Missus would be asking for some pounded garlic with these. Perhaps my favorite in San Diego right now. Though I'm not quite sure about how I feel having 8 jiaozi for $14!

Speaking of juicy, the Pork XLB were indeed that.

 The wrappers were quite delicate, almost too delicate as I punctured three of the XLB while picking them up with the chopsticks. There was so much light-porky, not salty "soup" in these.

The amount of filling was on the lighter side, though it was decently porky and so moist. 

I'm thinking that the lack of saltiness might have thrown another customer off, who was complaining that the soup had no flavor and that he knew XLB because he is from LA! Ohhh-kay.....

I think these XLB might be my favorite overall in San Diego right now; while not even close to what we had at the original location of DTF on Xinyi Road, it's much better than what I've had on my first and subsequent visits to the SD location.

And while they do play up the Michelin thing a bit too much for me; I found the service to be nice. I showed the gentleman the photo that I had on my phone of the original location in San Gabriel and he smiled and asked me to wait. He went and called the owner who came over, looked at the photo and laughed. It's his Mom's shop!

I do wish this shop was closer to where we live as it's going to be a bit of a trek getting the Missus there; but I do want Her to try the jiaozi out here.

They are getting set for their grand opening shortly. If this place was on Convoy, there would be lines out the door......

Luscious Dumplings
872 Eastlake Pkwy Suite 413
Chula Vista, CA 91914
Current Hours
Daily 11am - 9pm

Circling Back to Song Hak

A few weeks back, I did a "circling back" post on Tanuki. I'd been meaning to return after doing an abbreviated post back during the pandemic. Well, there was one other restaurant on that post that we'd been meaning to return to. Song Hak. And just to really set that reminder, "Sami" of the wonderful blog Things I Tried did a post on the place a while back.

The Missus was wanting a Dolsot Bi Bim Bap and really wanted something different from Her usual choice, so this was a great opportunity. We decided to head on over for lunch, because like many of the places on Convoy, that parking lot is horrible. And now that all the street parking is gone, well that just makes things more difficult.

On weekends, Song Hak opens right before 11am, which is when we arrived, encountering no issue with parking in the lot.

The woman working was so nice.....very kind, warm, very much an "Imo"... Auntie. Because the Missus was getting the dolsot, we wouldn't be doing BBQ, so no Gopchang for us. Though we still get a kick remembering when that young girl ate the Gopchang and said to her dad: "Did I just eat POOP.....it really looked like POOP!"

I went thru the lunch specials and the woman steered me to the LA Kalbi lunch. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of LA Kalbi, the cross-cut ribs. I prefer the more traditional So-Kalbi, even when making Kalbi at home. But, I decided to take her word for it.

The panchan arrived.

Not too impressive, except for the baechu kimchi which had a nice slight fermented sourness to it.

I must say; the Kalbi was quite good. A thicker cut than what I'm used to, but surprisingly tender, beefy, though the marinade was a bit on the sweeter side. The Missus sampled some and enjoyed it! It was a good recommendation. The rice was decent as well.

The Sundubu was not very good however.

Thin, salty, lacking in savory tones.....not a favorite.

As for the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap.....

Man, this was quite hefty. The Missus enjoyed the bulgogi, which did skew to the sweeter side of things....but of course that egg with crisp edges. She (we) waited as the rice crust developed and also poured the juice from the kimchi onto the bowl. The namul added some nutty and textural contrast. This might just be the Missus's current favorite Dolsot Bi Bimbap.......

Which is kind of a dilemma....because I want to return and get the gopchang and similar dishes again......

Still, the woman working was so nice; we enjoyed our meal, so I'm thinking we'll return again soon.

And maybe get some, ahem, "poop shoot".......looking forward to having some gopchang here.....

Song Hak Korean BBQ
4681 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon - Thurs 1130am - 11pm
Friday            1130am - Midnight
Sat - Sun       1050am - 1130pm

Revisits to A-Chau and Avian Sandwiches

My revisits to the more "modern Banh Mi" at Banh Mi Express and Paris Sandwiches had me wondering how some of the more "traditional" banh mi shop were doing. So, it was time for a couple of revisits.

A-Chau:

Well, I decided to head on up to the place where I did my first post on Banh Mi in June of 2005! My how time flies! On this day I lucked out and the slightly psycho parking lot was only half full. It was just after 8am on a Sunday morning so Minh Ky  wasn't open yet.

It's pretty much "all business" here. You walk in, order, pay, get your sandwich and get the heck out of Dodge.

The Banh Mi Pate Cha here now runs you $7.25. It was $5.50 on my last visit and the end of 2021. OF course I had to get some Cha Gio as well.

I had been a bit critical of A-Chau over the last few years because the place seemed to have slipped a bit over the years.

This version was actually pretty good.

The exterior was crusty, the bread was light and yeasty. There was that "unicorn" of banh mi ingredients, a slice of cucumber present. The pickled veggies were thinly sliced and though there could have been a bit more, it was crisp and sour.

The ingredients was nicely distributed thru out the whole sandwich; the amount of funky pate was excellent, the cha lua nice and toothsome. Perhaps a bit too much mayo, but I think that's splitting hairs. There didn't seem to be a lot of jalapeno; but what those thin slices were pretty darn spicy.

Pretty good banh mi!

But while the banh mi seems to be "back"...the Cha Gio still seemed to be "stuck in a rut".

While it was improved on my last visit, this was much like what I had back in 2018.  While still nicely "stuffed" it is still lacking in crispness, very chewy, the filling cold and lacking in a good pork flavor.

Oh well, at least the Banh Mi is back on my "list" here. I need to return more often.

A Chau Restaurant
4644 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Mon - Thurs 7am - 4pm
Fri - Sun        7am - 5pm

Avian Sandwiches & Fresh Drinking Water:

In my post on Banh Mi Express, "FOY" ST asked if I'd be doing Avian Sandwiches. Well, considering that Avian is one of the closer Banh Mi shops to me, of course I was. In fact, Avian was one of the most recent Banh Mi shops I posted on before this last  spate of visits.

I will say, that this small shop can get kinda crazy, with all the old timers drinking coffee outside, the endless stream of folks playing the lottery or filling up water.

The interior can get positively claustrophobic.

Like now you can get some body wash, shampoo, and conditioner with your Cane Juice, Alkaline Water, Lottery Tickets, and Banh Mi if so desired.

My drill here is to order my sandwich and find some crevice or corner to squeeze into until my number is called.

Like on my last visit; I got the Banh Mi Nem Nuong, which is now $8.95. It was $7.95 last May.

  The bread was crusty, though on the drier end of the scale. It had a good amount of pickled veggies; crisp, sour, and refreshing. Huge slices of jalapeno, some of which was spicy, some not...time for some "chili roulette"? Nice, thick slice of cucumber.

Two thick slices of nem nuong, savory-sour, with a mild sweetness. A bit too much mayo, but acceptable. Good amount of fresh cilantro. All evenly distributed. 

A good banh mi...probably why it's one of my first choices for banh mi these days. In spite of the almost nine dollar price!

Avian Sandwiches & Fresh Drinking Water
6937 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 8am - 7pm

So, my "Banh Mi Brethren" ("BMBs"), where have you been getting your Banh Mi these days!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Road Trip - A Return to La Posada and the Turquoise Room (Winslow) and the Painted Desert Rim Trail (Petrified Forest National Park)

After Scottsdale, our next stop was at a very familiar place. Yep, we were back in Winslow, Arizona, staying at the La Posada Hotel yet again.

Of course, this time we had, "you know who" in tow.

The place was much busier than we recalled; which I'm thinking is a good thing.

There are several dog friendly rooms in the hotel. As I've mentioned before, the room are named after various celebrities who have stayed at the La Posada. On this visit we had the Diane Keaton room.

It was quite large and spacious.

In spite of the place being rather busy; we were able to check in early. And once settled in; you know where the Missus needed to take JJ, right?

Yep.....

It was time for JJ to "Stand on that corner". Along with various other photo ops in Winslow and around the La Posada.

As for dinner. Well, when I made our hotel reservations, I was told that we could dine in the lobby right outside of the Turquoise Room. So, I made reservations and we had a table right in front of the bar area in the lobby. There was another table having drinks and later two more parties, both with pooches dined in the lobby as well.

I've already done several posts on meals at the Turquoise Room, that I'll just post some photos. It was as good as before.

And JJ seemed to enjoy himself as well.

After dinner; the Missus had to go back out again for more photo-ops.....

Before settling in for the night.

In the morning, we got some coffee in the lobby and of course guess where the Missus had to go to before checking out?

Sheesh...I basically did have to tell Her to "Take it Easy"...pun intended.....

After checking out; we headed east on the I-40 to the Petrified Forest National Park. I had read that the Park is one of the most dog friendly. We decided to first heading to the North side and the Painted Desert Inn area and get a bit acquainted with the park by taking the short Painted Desert Rim Trail.

The views were stunning.

And at first JJ was really curious.....

But soon, it seems the sun started getting to him....I'm saying the sunlight, because, well, it wasn't hot at all.....

He started to try to find shade under small little bushes and leaves.....so dramatic.

We kept trying to give him water....but he wasn't thirsty. Was this the same pooch who had just done a 5 mile walk with us in Santa Barbara a month before? We've kind of decided that "J" does not like too much sun....mister photo-phobia.....

So we cut things short and headed back to Winslow to grab an early lunch back at the Turquoise Room.

The Missus really likes that Lamb Pozole. And as you can tell; I like the salads here.....I know...me with a salad? Still, the Turquoise Room is pretty much a must stop for us when we're in the area.

Turquoise Room (in the La Posada Hotel)
303 E 2nd St.
Winslow, AZ 86047

From here we headed west on the I-40, stopping to put in gas in Kingman. Man, check out the price of a gallon of gas here!

Before making it to our next stop......

Fish With You Revisited

We had enjoyed our meals at Fish With You and the Missus wanted to return before the weather gets too hot. We ended up making two more visits in the last couple of weeks.

Here's what we had.

We tried the Pickled Pepper Fish Skin ($6.95).

Fishy and way too sour....like eating rubber bands. Not a favorite.

The Missus wanted to try the Green Peppercorn and Suan Cai Fish...with snakehead, of course (Regular Portion $17.95).

If you want something not as sour as the Signature Suan Cai and Fish; this might be the way to go. It's also less spicy; but the green peppercorns provides a citrusy-numbingness. The tofu is really nice in this dish as well.

I was curious about the version of Shui Zhu Niu Rou ($19.95), the "Water Boiled Beef" a classic Sichuan dish. I know, after having the "Golden Beef Soup" on on one of our previous visits, I had mentioned staying away from the beef dishes here, but curiosity got the better of me.

While this was better then the other beef dish we tried, the meat was again a letdown. This time it was a thick cut, very chewy, lacking in velveting that is essential for this type of dish. The broth was decently spicy-savory-smoky, with a hint of ma-la. In fact, I used the leftover broth for tofu and soy bean sprouts, with an addition of some doubianjang. It's just that beef needed some tenderization. So, I guess I'm back to saying no to beef dishes here.

They make a big deal about serving Wuchang Rice from China, but we've never been impressed. It is often mushy and not very fragrant. Still, a key point is that they do not charge for a bowl of rice for each main course ordered. Quite a change from other Chinese restaurants these days.

Of course, on both visits we got the Signature Suancai & Fish (regular size - $17.95).

Love the sourness from the Suan Cai and the pleasant spiciness of the chilies. Snakehead does well in this dish. We also like the crunchy, slightly slippery celtuce in the dish. The level of sodium is not very high.

The folks working here are so nice as are the prices. So, it looks like Fish With You has made the "rotation"; at least for now. Not sure about when the weather starts heating up though.

Fish With You
3904 Convoy St. #101
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am - 10pm

Midweek Meanderings - MAKE Cafe on the Move and Na Tart Coming to Clairemont.

Just a quick post for a very pleasant Wednesday.

Make Cafe on the Move?

So, I was doing a post on the last of the trio of places where we had Shakshuka with JJ. It was a shop we saw walking back to our car after having breakfast with JJ at Flora named Make Cafe. We walked over and took a look at the menu, which was quite interesting. When I got back home, I did a quick online search and found out that MAKE stands for "Merging Agriculture, Kitchens and Employment" and MAKE Projects " is a hyperlocal farm, cafe, and social enterprise that empowers refugee and immigrant women through food, agriculture, and community." The Cafe provides refugee women with job training and experience. You can read a wonderful article from San Diego Magazine here that also highlight's the programs founder Anchi Mei.

Anyway, we paid a visit to the cafe which was only open 4 days a week for brunch.

Loved the diversity of the menu and the food was quite good. The service was warm and friendly.

Anyway, as I was prepping this post early last week, I noticed that the Google had them listed as Temporarily Closed. So, I did some checking and yes, it seems that MAKE is on the move; from the location at 2920 University to Felton Street according to their website. 

Here's what we had.

According to their website; they hope to reopen in late 2025. I'm all for places like this...and yes, I've gone ahead and donated a bit.

Hope they are able to reopen by their projected date.

Na Tart Coming to Clairemont:

Did some quick shopping at the Aldi on Balboa, when I noticed this coming soon sign in the storefront next to Pho Hut & Grill.

So, again I took to Google and it seems that this Egg Tart specialist based in Flushing, NYC is opening this shop in San Diego! I believe they are supposed to open in July!

I'm thinking this parking lot just got a bit tighter!

5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Pho G-Beef (Rancho Penasquitos)

Back in the beginning of April, "FOY" Dereck sent me an email regarding a pho shop that had recently opened in Rancho Penasquitos. The part of the email which really caught my attention read:

"I don't want to make any promises, but it was the best pho I have had in a while. The broth was beefy and not defatted. I didn't taste much sweet if any, not much anise, and a little salty, but still it was great."

Hmmm, pho broth not "San Diego sweet"? Ok, sold! I decided to go ahead and make the 20+ mile drive to check the place out; located in the corner of the busy Rancho Penasquitos Towne Center.

The place is very well lit and clean. The young folks working were welcoming and friendly.

I went ahead and just ordered a "medium" G-Beef Special ($15.50).

I was not impressed with the sprouts and basil.

It was a fairly small portion and some of the basil had turned color and were getting slimy.

And soon my bowl arrived.

   I quickly noticed that the soup was quite dark and seriously defatted. It did lack the richness; but like Dereck had mentioned, while short on anise tones, though you could actually taste the cilantro,  it did not have that pervasive "sweetness" that most of the pho in San Diego has. It was also fairly beefy in flavor. Taking a closer look at the soup, I noticed quite a preponderance of small pieces of beef in it. It also wasn't overly salty. This was pretty good.

I then started checking out the proteins, when I noticed something....no tripe, lots of beefy brisket, but no flank; the "Rare steak"....well, there was overcooked thinly sliced beef. As for the "tendon", there seem to be shreds of chewy, what seemed to be neck tendon. Perhaps there was some mix-up? I was the only customer in the place..... Since I'd had the soup, put the sprouts in, tasted the noodles, I just decided to go with the flow here.

The noodles were decently prepped and had a good "stretch" to them.

Overall, a nicely flavored broth, not sure what happened with the proteins, kinda lacking in QC with the blackening basil. I'm thinking that I'll need to return in a couple of months....even though it's a bit of a drive, to see how things are.

Dereck, this place definitely seems to have some potential! Thanks for the recommendation!

Pho G Beef
13297 Black Mountain Rd. Suite 6
San Diego, CA 92129
Current Hours:
Sun - Thurs 1030am - 830pm
Fri - Sat        1030am - 9pm

CoCo Curry Thai Curry Cafe - A Soft Opening First Look

In my post on revisiting Tanuki, "FOY" Elle, who always seems to know about the new places opening mentioned CoCo Curry opening in the comments. Now this was interesting, because I had gotten an email from "FOY" Kimo telling me that it looked like CoCo Ichibanya was opening in City Heights next to the 7-11. Now, I did find this strange because I just didn't think there was enough space for a business like CoCo Ichibanya around there. So Elle's comment made more sense. Well, according to the Instagram Site Elle listed, this was definitely not Ichibanya. The one thing gleaned from checking out the site was that the business's soft opening was happening starting on the 9th. 

I just couldn't help myself and decided to head on over after my shopping this past weekend.

So yes, this business shared the tiny parking lot with 7-11. I remember when this spot was first Da Nang Food To Go and then for what seemed like a very short time Mi Quang Mien Trung. This parking lot is horrible, but I managed to find an open space on Euclid, so I walked on over.

The tiny space has been nicely remodeled in that dark-warm wood kinda way.

I was greeted with a nice, warm smile from the young lady working, who I believe is one of the owners.

It's the "fast-casual" concept here.

It's a "pick a protein", "pick a curry", then a starch, and you're allowed one "side". They didn't have a red curry and versions of Khao Soi have usually had too much coconut for my taste, so I went with Crispy Duck ($18.85), Panang Curry, Jasmine Rice, and Boiled Egg. I also got 10% off since it's soft opening week.

I then took a seat at one of the tables.

Since I was here right at opening time; the curries weren't out yet, so the young lady delivered my dish to the table and even brought me a cup of water. I think they'd usually call out your number and you'd go and pick up your tray and get utensils and stuff.

 The hard boiled egg was nicely cooked, no off colors or flavors.

It didn't look like much, but looks were deceiving. The entire bottom of the "slot" was covered with Jasmine Rice, which was moist and somewhat fragrant.

   The curry was a bit "thin" for what I think of with regards to panang curry, which is usually quite thick. I was happy that it wasn't overly sweet and a nice, restrained touch was used with coconut. There was a faint kaffir lime flavor as well. I would have enjoyed it a bit richer and thicker. It also was not very spicy; but I noticed that you can chilies at the counter.

There was a few slices of red bell pepper and green beans.

As for the duck, the leg was nice and crisp; nice flavor, and there were several slices of what seemed to be breast under the leg. Unfortunately, the slices were saturated by the curry and had lost the crispness by the time it was consumed. Still, it was nicely flavored and a decent portion size.

Overall, not bad. The young lady was wonderful. And before I left, she provided me with tastes of the Khao Soi (too sweet) and the Yellow Curry, which was more vegetal, with a bit more salt and less sweet. I'm thinking that might go good with some crispy pork belly next time.

And I'm glad this isn't a location of Coco Ichibanya......because I enjoyed this more than my meals at that chain. Though I'm wondering if there might be some legal problems regarding the name down the line.

And if I can find parking, I'll probably return in a couple of weeks!

Much thanks to Elle, and even Kimo for the heads up about this place. 

CoCo Curry Thai Curry Cafe
4745 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Tues - Sun 11am - 9pm
Closed on Monday