mmm-yoso!!!

Ahi Poke from Makai Sushi (Hillcrest)

A couple of months back, I saw this "sushi" shop while driving down Fifth Avenue.

It wasn't the "sushi" sign that caught my eye, but the name, "Makai"....hmmm, in Hawaiian it means "toward the sea"....versus "Mauka" which means "toward the mountains". At least that's what struck me when I saw that sign. So, I got back home and did that Google thingy and read that the owner is originally from Kauai. And then he opened a shop in Hillcrest? Kinda interesting.

I've mentioned hating the parking in Hillcrest in other posts and even though I'm quite "niele", seeing a menu with all kinds of "rolls", and poke bowls, etc.....the only thing that I was curious about was the ahi poke. And since the place opens at noon and is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays....well, I just wasn't that motivated to deal with the parking situation and the crowds. Until.....I recently had an appointment in Hillcrest which would be finished just before noon. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to check the place out. I walked on over arriving just after the clock struck twelve.

And like I said...taking a look at the menu, there was really only one thing I was interested in.

I walked on into the tiny restaurant and the counter and placed an order for the Ahi Bowl ($20) with the sweet and very nice young lady that was working.

The owner, Matt, came on over and he spoke major pidgin! So, we wen talk story. He's from Poipu on Kauai! I asked him what brought him to San Diego and he told me that he one local kine sushi place in a market in Poipu (I found this in the online HAL guide) with the same name. And then Covid happened and his business was gone. He decided to move to San Diego and open up the same kind of place. But why Hillcrest? Well, he told me that he wasn't looking in the area, but Hillcrest found him! And he's doing good business here. Good for him!

I got my poke bowl, thanked the both of them, and den wen hele.......

I really liked the folks at Makai, so I truly hoped this wasn't going to be one of those mainland "Chi-poke" kinda bowls, you know, 2 ounces of fish, and then all kinds of "stuffs".

Well, upon opening, even though there was avocado, some greens, sort of kimchi like cucumber, it was mostly fish. Though there seemed to be a bit more "sauce" than I usually like.

    There was a good amount of decently cooked rice. I could have done without the "wasabi aioli" and the overly sweet unagi sauce. I guess I just wanted some good shoyu poke? The fish danced close to the edge of being over-sauced, but avoided falling off that cliff. I did enjoy the creaminess of the avocado and the mild sour-spice of the cucumber.

The fish was of decent quality, not the best, but tender, and most importantly, without all the "sugi"; the chewy connective tissue.

I enjoyed the addition of tobiko as it added another layer of textural contrast and some good, mild saltiness to the poke.

While not quite as good as It's Raw or HFS in my opinion....though I gotta return to HFS soon. I prefer this to 8th and B or Poke Etc, and definitely over all those "chi-poke" places.

If it were in my 'hood, I'd probably visit periodically. Especially since the folks here are so welcoming.....Matt does display that "Aloha Spirit"!

As it is; if I'm passing thru and hit the parking lot-tery, I'll stop by again.

Makai Sushi
3968 5th Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Thurs - Mon 12pm - 7pm
Closed Tues - Wed

Road Trip - Erick Schat's Bakkerÿ (Bishop)

On the way back from Lake Tahoe, I wanted to make a stop at an iconic Bakery in Bishop. I had been reading about Erick Schat's Bakkerÿ for ages. Originally working at the Bishop Bakery established in 1903 by the Schoch family, Jacob "Jack" Schat an immigrant from Utrecht, who's family has a long history in baking came to Bishop in 1950 and found work at the Bishop Bakery, eventually buying the business and naming it after his son. The bakery has become an institution. It is said that it has over 2 million visitors a year! Atlas Obscura mentions that the bakery produces 25,000 loaves of bread a day. Considering that the population of Bishop is around 4,000, that would be 6 loaves per person....that's a lot of carbs!

We headed on thru Bishop and stopped entered the crowded parking lot, and voila! A car was just leaving a space! Must have been fate, right?

We had decided to stop in for an early lunch. The place was bustling, even in the middle of the week! The shop is packed with loaves of bread, cookies, and a sandwich section. The Missus decided to go bread and cookie shopping.

While I decided to get a sandwich for us to share. Calvin had told me his favorite was the turkey on the special bread of the house Basque Sheepherders Bread which has been trademarked since 1938.

I stood in the queue, placed my order, and picked it up when ready. The Missus was still shopping so I found us a table outside.

It was a nice morning, the heat hadn't settled in yet.

As for the sandwich....well, the bread lives up to the hype. The crust had a mild chew to it; the bread was so soft and almost fluffy, with a light yeasty-sweetness.

Loved the sprouts and tomatoes, but that turkey was so try and tasteless......

I'll pass on sandwiches from here in the future.

And the Missus went with a sourdough loaf instead of the Sheepherders bread! Though we'd get that on our next trip thru Bishop.

And the Missus really enjoys the cookies from here.

Just the bread and the cookies makes this a regular stop for us when we're in the area.

Erick Schat's Bakkerÿ
763 N Main St.
Bishop, CA 93514

 

Road Trip - Hellman-Ehrman Mansion, Sugar Pine Point State Park, and a Return to the Dog & Bear Tavern (Tahoma)

**** Not much food in this one, so perhaps you'd like to return tomorrow!

I had decided to create a category for our Sierra Nevada road trips, when I suddenly realized that I never finished my posts on our stay in Tahoma. So, I decided to do something rather quick. Here goes.

We had strolled down to Sugar Pine Point State Park the previous afternoon and Lake Tahoe looked so beautiful and calm. So this is where the Missus decided to do Her paddleboarding the next morning. We drove over early; the place was so serene; paid our $10 entrance fee and parked in a space that was strategically placed with shore access. While the Missus did Her paddling; I decided to take a stroll around and just enjoy the serene beauty of the park.

Lovely trails/paths and views.

I walked past the pier with a boat house in the distance.

There was a cabin alongside the boathouse. I came to find out that this was the cabin of William "General" Phipps, who was the first non-native settler on the west shore of Lake Tahoe.

Who settled here in 1860. His original cabin burned down, but this one was built in its place. 

I walked to the area where General Creek empties into the lake.

And then decided to turn around. On the way back, I ran into this. 

An honest to goodness Ice House!

So, this really got my attention. You see, right up from the pier is this mansion.

The is the Pine Lodge, better known as the Hellman - Ehrman Mansion. Designed by Walter Danfroth Bliss, completed in 1903, financed by San Francisco banker Isaias W. Hellman, who made it his summer home. It is said that the area reminded I.W. Hellman of his homeland Bavaria ,so he started buying up property. So, what about the Ehrman part? Well, upon his death in 1920, Hellman's daughter, Florence, who managed the property for her father, inherited it. She was married to Sidney Ehrman and thus added her married name to the estate.

The view from the porch of the property is quite lovely.

And there were quite a few structures on the estate.

At this point I was quite interested in taking the 330 tour of the mansion. So, I decided to head on over to where I would meet the Missus and see if She was interested.

As I waited near the parking lot area, one of those amazing little incidents happened. A woman walked by with a sweet Rottweiler who I just needed to pet. After a short chat, she asked me if I'm from Hawaii!! I guess I still have that accent! Well, wouldn't you know, this woman and her late husband used to own a small cattle ranch in Waimea on the Big Island! Of course we both called it Kamuela! I mentioned that Kamuela is one of my favorite places! I had a blast talking story! I'm not going to mention her name since Tahoma has a population of just over 1,000 and I'd like to respect her privacy! She walks her pooch to the park daily during the warm months. During the winter you'd need skis or snowshoes! She also introduced me to one of the Park Rangers.....she knows them all by name!

I met the Missus and we stowed Her paddleboard. I then mentioned the possibility of doing the 330 tour of the Pine Lodge and She was all for it! So, while the Missus showered and stuff, I walked over to the Nature Center/Gift Shop....which I think used to be a water tower to purchase tickets for the tour. Which were $15 a piece.

There were some signs with interesting tidbits of history along the way.

We met our guide, Lindsay on the porch. The place was quite a "summer home".

Loved the wood siding and the spiral staircase.

Check out the wood paneling in the dining room!

The second floor features 8 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms! I found the circular bedrooms on each side of the lodge to be the most interesting.

Another thing that caught my attention was the elevator. I asked Lindsay about this and she told me it was installed in 1958 as Florence Hellman Ehrman was 76 years old and starting to have a hard time climbing all those stairs.

Of course I was interested in the kitchen. Lindsay told us that until 1945 they still used an "icebox" (aka cold closet) and the stoves were wood burning. A "state of the art" kitchen was installed in 1945.

During the summer season there were 27 staff on hand and 2 full time chefs! The butler and the maids actually have their own cabins on the estate.

    We had a fun time on this tour.

Hellman-Ehrman Mansion (Sugar Pine State Park)
Tahoma, CA 96142

When dinner time came along, we decided to just walk on over to The Dog and Bear Tavern again. This time we just sat at the bar and who would we just happen to sit next to? Well, it was the woman we met earlier. She was wonderful; in fact, since she's a regular here, she ordered for us!

Never would have thought of having Hamachi Crudo in Tahoe, but heck she lived on the Big Island for decades so we trusted her. And yes, the two fish dishes were quite good!

I made sure to order her a drink to show our appreciation.

The Dog and Bear
7000 West Lake Blvd.
Tahoma, CA 96142

And as we were leaving she asked us if we'd like to see where she lived! After her husband passed away, after moving a few times, she found Tahoma and bought a condo on the water's edge.

I got to play fetch with her lovely pooch!

We had such a lovely time in beautiful Tahoma!

Na Tart (Clairemont) - A Soft Opening Visit

On a recent visit to Aldi, I noticed that Na Tart, which I had first noticed back in May seemed to be open.

The doors were open and it looked like some games and stuffs were out.

So, I walked on over and peeked in. I was told that they are indeed in a soft opening phase, With currently only Egg Tarts available for $3.50 a piece.

Though prices are cheaper when ordering in volume. All the other flavors were currently not available. Pardon the photos of the signs...the reflection really didn't do my photos good.

I decided to get two tarts for the Missus. It seemed like they are still getting their processes set as I stood cooling my heels for about ten minutes with staff standing right in front of me. When I asked if I could get some tarts the six people behind the counter looked at each other blankly as if trying to figure out who was tasked with waiting on customers....it was kind of funny.

Anyway, I got two tarts and brought them home.

Of course I dare not touch them until the Missus got home!

So, the tarts are fairly "eggy" and on the sweeter side. The crust is light and initially crisp, though it does deteriorate over time. I think we could have done with something a bit more buttery.

Not bad, but not sure about these being $3.50 a piece.

Now for some good news. In case you want to try some of the other flavors of egg tarts, Na Tart's first California location, whose headquarters is based in Flushing NY, will be celebrating their grand opening tomorrow, the 4th of July. And it appears the first 50 customers will get a free tart. 

So, in case you needed any motivation to, ahem "egg" you on and have a "tarty" (sorry, couldn't help myself) 4th, tomorrow's your chance.

Na Tart
5252 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117
Posted Hours:
Daily 10am - 9pm

Ly Heng Restaurant Revisited (City Heights)

Man, has it been almost 6 years since I last visited Ly Heng? Well, there's kind of a reason for that....first Covid kinda minimized visits...but then for I dunno how many years, there was some heavy road construction taking place on University Avenue. It made an already crazy driving and parking situation worse. I can only imagine how it affected the businesses in the area. Well, I read the road work has completed....well, not totally since it has moved west and Fairmont s kind of crazy. 

Well, now there are roundabouts to slow traffic instead of lights. I'm fine with roundabouts, but I'm interested in how other folks feel about them?

I did manage to find parking on Wightman Street behind the strip mall that contains El Super. I then walked on over to Ly Heng, which I first visited back in July of 2014. Just for kicks, do you remember when this location used to house Hao Vi? Another change for Ly Heng are the hours. They used to open at 8am...I enjoy Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho for brunch, but now open at 10am. But here I was...happy to finally get a chance for a revisit.

When the menu arrived, I quickly noticed a difference from my previous visits. And no, it wasn't the $14 price for the Hu Tieu Nam Vang (FYI....it was $6 on my last visit). No, it was that the menu was completely in English and was now one of those "pick your style" and pick your "noodles" kinda place.

I'm guessing the demographics in the area has changed a bit over the years? Anyway, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang is the Phnom Penh noodle soup, which comes in two sizes, and you can request it as a soup, or "dry" which is the way I get it.

The young lady working room was very sweet...even in the face of two older couples on other tables who were quite rude and demanding. Bless her!

    My dishes arrived and it was interesting noting the changes since my last visit and the things that have stayed the same. First off, the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho is still served in a shallow, almost pasta bowl, which is fairly unique for the places that serve the dish round these parts.....tho' perhaps things have changed at other places. Also, the bean sprouts served here aren't blanched so are quite crunchy.

The side of soup wasn't quite as salty as what I've had here in the past and that pork is basically now a small "cap" bone and has quite a bit of tender, porky, meat.

  There were two pieces of rather tough shrimp, which at least had been deveined, the squid was well "squid pro quo", a large piece of "krab", and as usual a slice of Hainan Chicken....which is the reason I don't get the Hainan Chicken here as it is pretty flavorless. The ground pork does have some good flavor though. The dish is not protein deficient....

As always, it's all served on a huge, rather unwieldy lettuce leaf.

To me that pork and the noodles (when did you see me say that before) were the highlights of the dish. There was a huge portion of noodles. And while it was in the typical clump resting on the leaf, it still had a nice stretch to it and had been nicely sauced....good savory-soy-mild sweetness permeated things.

This was pretty good overall. And while I did text my friends "CY" and Jack telling them that I never thought I'd see the day when spending fourteen bucks for some hu tieu nam vang kho was considered reasonable, this is the reality we live in!

And now that most of the road work is done in the area, I'll probably start revisiting places in the area again.

Ly Heng Restaurant
4451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Thurs - Tues 10am - 3pm, 5pm - 8pm
Closed on Wednesday

Buckboard's BBQ & Brew (El Cajon)

Recently, the Missus was invited to a Birthday/Happy Hour with coworkers. Since we've had JJ for 8 months now and he's getting a bit older, we thought we could leave him for a couple of hours so the Missus could attend. Since I'd be just dropping the Missus off then killing time; I thought I'd take JJ with me; but since it was in El Cajon, it just seemed a bit too hot for the little guy. Plus, I had a place in mind that wasn't dog friendly. So, I dropped the Missus off and then headed to get dinner at the restaurant on my "list"; to find the place (Brothers Turkish) was closed, even though their website, Google, and the four lettered site said they were open! Sigh...... So, I needed to find a plan B....which ended up being Buckboard's BBQ & Brew.

Which is located in a mixed residential - business area on Greenfield Drive. The place was fairly busy, the folks quite friendly.

And quite kitschy as well......

The folks working were quite friendly. This is one of those order at the counter, pay, and they'll bring the food out to you. I initially wanted the sausage plate, but they were out of sausages, also out of beef ribs, it must have been a pretty busy day.....I understand that they do Santa Maria style BBQ, so tri-tip seemed like the better "consolation choice".

I got an order of Tri-Tip ($23), some street corn ($6), and sweet potato fries ($6). I took a seat in the bar area and my order arrived in like 15 minutes.

This was interesting as the signage said the tri-tip was served medium, which this was not. I read that the tri-tip is dry brined for five days. The beef was quite juicy and tender, though it lacked a mild smokiness that I enjoy. It could have used more seasoning and lacked a smoke ring. It's pretty good, though not nearly as good as what we get at Firestone Grill or even what I make at home. The horseradish sauce was nice and creamy, though on the milder side. I do like my horseradish sauces to have some nice sinus clearing pungency. The butter toast could have been toasted a bit more as it was quite soft. Still, the portion size was quite large, I could only finish half. Though I saw the woman several seats down from me polish off her entire meal, including her sides!

Speaking of sides.

The Sweet Potato Fries, were thin slices, slightly crisp, but got soggy quite quickly.

The starchy-sweet flavor did come thru nicely though.

As for the "Street Corn". Well, much like the version at Shalhoob's Funk Zone Patio, there was way too much aioli.

Though the portion size was quite generous.

In the end; Buckboard's seems like a fun stop, nice employees, with generous portions. Glad I had a chance to visit, though I still want to try Brothers Turkish! 

Funny thing, when I did that Google thingy, I noticed that both Mary and Soo have posted on Buckboard's, so please check out their posts as well!

Buckboard's BBQ & Brew
975 Greenfield Dr.
El Cajon, CA 92021
Current Hours:
Thurs - Sun 11am - 8pm
Closed Mon - Wed

Cali Baguette Express (City Heights) Revisited

After my less than satisfying revisit to K Sandwiches, I decided to head on over to Cali Baguette Express, the City Heights location, not the Mira Mesa location, which I really haven't ever really enjoyed. Way back in May of 2008 when I did my first posts on Cali Baguette Express, my first thoughts was that this is what K Sandwiches could be. Eventually, the place expanded, with a location on Convoy, which eventually became Cali Banh Mi (I'm sure there's a story there). My visits to both the location on Garnet and the Convoy location have really not been satisfying.

Well, enough of that; it was time for a banh mi.

Over time, the menu at CBE sure has expanded, with everything from pho/bun, to plates of grilled pork and such. Of course, I was here for the banh mi.

I ordered my usual Banh Mi Pate Cha which is now $7.50, pretty much the going rate for banh mi these days. A quick check on my last visit in November of 2021 reveals a price of $5.

I could see that the bread was still being baked inhouse.

I placed my order with the very nice young lady and took a look around the shop while I waited. My goodness, all the tchotchkes!

Once ready, I got my sandwich and headed home.

    I must have hit the lottery on this day, because the bread was still slightly warm. It was yeasty and somewhat "crackly". Maybe the best bread I've had here.

And the banh mi had that ever so elusive item these days, an actual slice of cucumber. Not as much pickled veggies as before, but acceptable. The cilantro featured mostly leaves, which I was pleased about, though it was piled in the center of the sandwich. I went and spread it out. One of the two slices of jalapeno was fairly potent.

There used to be four slices of cha lua across the sandwich, but on this day I counted three. Yes, I know, who the heck counts the slices of meat in a banh mi....I guess I do. Even though you can't really see it, there was a light smear of pate, which I could actually taste.

Overall, not a super stuffed sandwich, which I kind of enjoyed. While I think CBE has been surpassed by other banh mi shops in the past few years, it's still not a bad option in my mind

I've been having fun revisiting all these banh mi shops....I hope you're enjoying these posts!

Cali Baguette Express
5125 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Daily 6am - 8pm

Odds and Ends - Cumin Chinese Cauliflower (Caulilini), Pliny the Elder at Bay Hill Tavern, and Other "Stuffs"

Just a couple of quick things for today.....

I don't know if you've noticed. Many times, when we're having Chinese food whether at a restaurant or for takeout, we don't order vegetables. The reason for this is that the Missus has a hard time spending maybe over $15 for stir fried veggies. On most occasions we'll have leftovers and then I'll go ahead and stir fry veggies at home. I still have a Big Kahuna, my second one since 2005, this one goes to 65,000 BTU and is great for wok stir fries. 

Or, as in the case of the item below, I'll go ahead and roast something in the air fryer.....sometimes I'll do both at the same time as doing the stir fry can take less than 2 minutes!

Anyway, the latest item was something I just kinda made up. The Missus really likes Caulilini, which is known here as Chinese Cauliflower. It's the type of cauliflower She grew up eating in China. Also known as Baby Cauliflower, it features thin green stems, is a bit sweeter, the florets are more loosely arranged. The Missus grew up eating cauliflower stir fried with tomato. I thought I'd try something interesting, knowing that She enjoys the flavor of cumin in dishes like BO Zi Ran Yang Rou (Cumin Lamb). I thought the P-Cresol-ish cumin would go nicely with cauliflower and it did.

Because the quantity of cauliflower varies, I'll just give you a photo of the ingredients (minus the cauliflower).

There's a certain sequence that I've been using for making this.

Air Fryer Cumin Cauliflower
1 - After rinsing, prepping, and draining the cauliflower pour a few tablespoons of avocado, or any other neutral oil into a mixing bowl. Add cauliflower and combine.
2 - Add Sichuan Peppercorn oil to coat and White Pepper
3 - Add Cumin, Chinese Five Spice, and Granulated Garlic - I used to use fresh shopped garlic but it burned too easy. Mix well.
4 - Taste to make sure the cumin flavor comes thru clearly
5 - Add about a tablespoon of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of chili crisp, I found that Lau Gan Ma works the best.
6 - Stir and mix well to coat.
7 - Taste and adjust seasonings and add smoked salt.
8 - Roast in 450° Air Fryer for 12-14 minutes.

The time the Missus said She wanted me to grill some Shishamo:

So, I went to grill some veggies and also some of my Local Kine Chashu Chicken for the Missus when She asked me to grill some Shishamo for Her. I thought this kind of strange, since we'd sometimes do it on the Konro, but She wanted it grilled....

So, I prepped some.

When I finished, I found out who it was actually for. Guess who got Shishamo?

I actually posted about it on Instagram and some folks found it funny.....

Pliny the Elder at Bay Hill Tavern:

Earlier in the week, the Missus wanted some tacos from the Tacos La Chorreada Truck. So JJ and I walked on over, placed my order and decided to head on over to Bay Hill Tavern for a cerveza until my tacos were ready.

I was given the "specials" menu to look over and was pleasantly surprised.

Man, they had Pliny the Elder on tap! When was the last time I had that?

My goodness....it was so good. I'm hoping they still have it the next time I visit. If you plan on dropping by specifically for a PtE, perhaps you may want to call first as I'm sure they'll soon run out - 619-326-8828.

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11am - 9pm
Friday            11am - 10pm
Saturday        10am - 10pm
Sunday          10am - 9pm

And finally......

My latest "ear worm":

I'm sure this might be before your time, but someone mentioned the late Wili Moku to me recently. He was the DJ I always listened to on KKUA in the 80's (before they became Public Radio - hey you rememba the Home Grown album?)

But for some reason, Da' Mokkettes song Palolo Valley Girls, a parody (of a parody) of Frank & Moon Unit Zappa's "Valley Girl" started playing in my head. Arrgh.....I just can't clear it out!

So, just to share the wealth.

"Shoot la dat, no act, no act......" "Make a all the way!"

Hope you're having a wonderful week!