mmm-yoso!!!

Banh Mi Bo Kho to go From Pho Kitchen

Things had cooled off a bit; though due to the wildfires the air quality is pretty terrible these days. The Missus was working this past weekend and I kinda wanted some Bo Kho; Vietnamese Beef Stew and didn't want to travel too far. So, I decided to give the online ordering for Pho Kitchen in Linda Vista a try. Ordering online was, of course quite easy. I drove on over....and man; that tree in front of the restaurant sure has grown as it did a good job of obscuring the front of the place.

Speaking of obscure; that's kinda how I felt as I entered the restaurant....and just stood for a few minutes; then called out, then stood for a few more minutes....then called out, then finally a young lady came out and I mentioned my name and got my order.

I gotta say; the Covid-19 precautions here is just a cart in front of the cash register. Luckily, no one else was in the place...….

I got home and unpacked my Banh Mi Bo Kho ($10)….it was pretty hefty...there was a good amount of cilantro and onions as well.

Once plated; it looked pretty good.

I had kind of forgotten about my previous experience with the Bo Kho here....it's basically doctored pho broth; pretty weak in the tangy-anise flavors I enjoy with a decent bo kho and the soup was quite thin as well. Decent salt and a mild beefiness to it. The carrots were decently cooked this time around.

The bread is a bit too dense for me to consider it banh mi....as I said before; it's more like a bolillo roll than banh mi.

The best part of this meal was the beef; though the pieces were quite large, the beef had been cooked perfectly; tender, but not falling apart, with a decent beefiness and flavor. The one piece of tendon was not too bad either.

I told myself (once again); to just stick with the pho here....though I might as well just suck it up and head to Pho Hoa Huong for that.

Pho Kitchen
5375 Napa St
San Diego, CA 92110

New to the Rotation (You can probably guess) - Hawaiian Fresh Seafood Fish Market and Zagara Grill

Yes, you can probably guess which places are now on our "rotation". And, I'm pretty sure after this pandemic is over these two places will still be frequently visited by us that I didn't even write "Pandemic Rotation" in the title.

I'm sure you already read my initial posts on HFS and Zgara as those two posts probably had the most comments I've seen in a while.

Anyway, here goes:

Hawaiian Fresh Seafood Fish Market:

Geeez, the Missus has me going at least twice a week, sometimes three times, you can tell She's been missing "home". Here are a couple of things I've noticed.

1 - There's more variety on the weekends.

On Saturday, they have two lines for poke. And, there's often something different on offer; like on this particular weekend.

Yes, it's the "Pretty Much Just Ahi"...….just seasoned with salt, sesame seeds, green onions. The quality of this fish was quite good.

The Missus added a bit of shoyu and wasabi to Hers......I didn't need anything.

On one weekend there was bluefin shoyu poke.....that was ono!

The item I've seen every weekend was the Hawaiian Ahi. It has a bit of limu in it, not much, but enough for you to get a taste.

2 - Of course weekends are also kinda busy.

I usually get to HFS right before they open and have noticed over the last couple of weekends, there's a line to get in before they open. It's getting longer every week.

I guess word is getting out.

3 - Don't forget to get Da' Card.

HFS has a card that will earn you a stamp for every $10 purchase.

After 10 stamps; you get a free medium poke bowl.

Sad thing is; that you gotta be ova' the increment of $10...….if you spend $29.99, you only get two stamps. Oh well.

Still, that's my third full card ready to go.

4 - Speaking of Medium Poke Bowls.....

If you're not going to eat the bowl right away - get them to split it for you. They'll separate the rice from the fish.

There's no way I can finish all that rice. In fact, the Missus and I will split the rice, so this works out perfect......only thing is, She is making me order brown rice now!

Also, this is a nice way to try smaller portions of other "stuffs" like the tako or albacore....the sesame albacore isn't bad and once they had kimchi tako that was pretty good as well.

So there you go.....I know I missed something, but heck, that just means I can do another post, right?

Hawaiian Fresh Seafood Fish Market
6491 Weathers Place
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 282-0591
Covid-19 Hours:
Daily 10am - 4pm

Zgara Greek Grill:

Right now, since they've reopened on Morena, Zgara has been a twice weekly stop for me. I know I'll eventually try some of the other stuffs on the menu....but the pork gyros was already my favorite from their days in PB. And upon walking into the shop, I'm fixated on that beautiful rotating pile of pork.

So, I'm sticking with that for now.....

I'll let you folks tell me what else is good on the menu.....

Not much else to say. And while I've heard that "ChrisW" said I had a moment of "uncontrollable incontinence" (my translation) when confronted with my pork gyro; to be perfectly clear, I didn't. Though it did get mighty close there. I'm not quite that old yet.

Still, his might be well worth peeing in my pants for.....

I spoke to the owner on my last visit since I've seen him there every day. He told me that finding someone who can make his food the "right way" is difficult to find; so he's working everyday for now. A definite win for us, but I hope he doesn't burn out.

I had a "FOY" who asks to remain anonymous send me this screen shot a few weeks back (thanks!) - from back in 2015! I had forgotten all about it. It still holds true today:

Hmmmm…….I think I know what's for dinner.

Zgara Greek Grill
1229 Morena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 9pm
Fri - Sat   11am - 10pm

So, there you go....I think you'll be free of more posts from HFS and Zgara for a while......I've just kinda stopped taking photos since I've been going to both places so often.

Hope everyone is keeping safe and in good health!

Ume Dressing

The Missus was getting tired of Her typical Arugula/green salad, even though I made the vinaigrette from scratch.

So, I decided to start looking thru my cookbooks for some inspiration. This one is from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty More. The recipe uses ume puree....so I went hunting for umeboshi paste and found a couple of different brands. The one that won out; both for intensity and balanced flavor was also the most expensive, $8.99 at Nijiya. Regardless; the Missus loves this sprout salad. I use three different types of sprouts; radish, a milder more conventional (i.e. broccoli) sprout, and something with a bit of peppery boldness - arugula or kale sprouts.

I usually make double this recipe, which is good for four good sized salads - in other words four lunches for the Missus.

It does deviate a bit from the original in Ottolenghi's book; but not greatly. I use more ume paste, less Sesame Oil, freshly ground black pepper, I also use more neutral oil (avocado); and also sneak in agave syrup (of course).

Ume Dressing - Inspired by Ottolenghi's Recipe in Plenty More:

2 Tsp Ume Paste (depending on brand, you may need more)
1 Tb Organic Rice Vinegar
1 Tb Lime Juice - Fresh Squeezed
2 Tb Minced Shallot
1 Tb Soy Sauce - I found the Kikkoman works well in this recipe
1 Tb White Sugar
1 Tsp Agave Syrup
1/4 Tsp Sesame Oil
5 Tb Avocado Oil
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

- Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl and whisk
- Taste and season with salt and pepper

That's it!

To make the salad I mix the base ingredients in a salad bowl - 1 cup shelled edamame, thinly sliced radish and onion (sliced then briefly soaked in cold/ice water to remove the harshness), thinly sliced red cabbage, cilantro leaves, sliced cherry tomatoes, the three sprouts...

I put into a Pyrex container for the Missus and add several more items....what She calls "the good stuff", sliced avocado, cucumber, and either thinly sliced smoked duck or duck prosciutto (we get ours from D'Artangnan). Add a container of the dressing. The Missus adds in a container of roasted sliced almonds and pumpkin seeds.

And we have Her current favorite salad. Which She's been enjoying during the recent heatwaves...….

Rei-men to go from Karami Ramen

Man.....this says it all for the past Sunday.

In Bay Park no less.....a 114 in El Cajon? What is going on? And with the Valley Fire raging away....all the evacuations and during the midst of a pandemic.....can we just turn the calendar over to 2021 now?

I needed to head out to Nijiya to do some grocery shopping, I decided to go ahead and continue trying take-out from all of the places in the strip mall. Next up....

Before you think I'd gone off the deep-end.....it was a 102 degrees on Convoy; Karami was doing their Reimen. Which I've had before. And though I left thinking it was quite mediocre, it seemed like a decent remedy for the heat on this day.

I placed my order, went shopping at Nijiya, and returned to find my stuff bagged and ready for pick-up.

Just for the heck of it; I ordered the karaage as well; which I though was fairly decent on a previous visit, In terms of packaging; well, the cheapo two part cardboard container had leaked so I lost some of the broth in the package.

At least things were nicely separated. First thing I did after getting the containers our of the saturated packaging was to put my thick ceramic ramen bowl in the freezer to help keep things chilled.

I had a taste of the karaage; which wasn't bad at all. I didn't expect it to be super crisp; and it wasn't. But it had a very nice savory-salty-mildly sweet flavor that I enjoyed. I really didn't need the sriracha mayo thing at all. I'm looking forward to having this again....when I'm ready to eat in.

As for the ramen...….

Not having to worry about a cold ajitama in the reimen works to Karami's benefit here. The egg was nicely marinated; if anything, the ajitama from Menya can be too salty at times. Loved the curly and nicely prepped noodles; which still had that nice chewy-crunch to it. For some reason, I really enjoy corn in my reimen (do you remember what one of the Gaijin customers at Ichiro's called it? I still have to stifle a laugh when I order this). But, much like the previous time I had this; the broth was super salty and had a weird tininess...….that; while I don't want to insult the place; tastes like mass-produced stuff. Bummer, because I'd enjoyed this much more than the last time I had it. But I just couldn't finish that broth.

Oh well.....at least I can look forward to having the karaage again when things get back to normal.

Karami Ramen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858)430-6300
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 1130am-3pm, 430pm - 9pm
Sat - Sun 1130am - 9pm

Speaking of things getting back to normal....so we now have the Valley Fire; which as of the last time I checked the news had burned over 17,000 acres and was under 5% contained. I took this photo of the sun from my driveway. Though it's not as bright red as what I took in 2007 during the Witch Fire; it still looks other-worldly.

To all our "FOYs" out there, we hope you are safe, in good health, and managed to keep cool during the record heat of this Labor Day weekend.

postscript:

With all the craziness that's going on these days; I thought I'd end with a Frankie pic. I was changing our beddings this weekend. As usual, I remove the sheets and such a pretty much leave them on the floor while I put on the new set. When I turned to grab the beddings for the washer; I noticed someone had made himself at home...…..

I don't recall F doing this before. It really cracked me up.

Have a safe and productive week!

Getting the Missus Her Croissant Fix - Wayfarer Bread & Pastry Revisited

August was a pretty brutal month at work for me. During dinner a few nights ago; the Missus asked how many days off I had during the month.....I had to stop and think....and was shocked when I counted two! Of course, I did have the 30th off (but not the 29th), so let's hear for three whole days off for August! I had been grinding away so had even lost track of that fact.

During one of those days off, the Missus had to work. She had mentioned really missing a decent croissant. Her favorite in San Diego thus far has been the version from Wayfarer. So, since I was off that weekend day, I decided to stretch out my "roaming range", and head out to Wayfarer. I arrived at 815 (they open at 830), thinking the line wouldn't be too long....boy as I mistaken! The line stretched half way to the corner of Midway Street.

At least I kept myself entertained by doing some people watching. I did notice that all the folks in line had masks, but about a third didn't put it over their face until they got closer to the bakery. About half the folks walking around didn't wear masks either. I'm guessing that folks in the zip codes in my usual range have been pretty good after all.

I managed to get to the ordering "doorway/window" after about 45 minutes.

Heck, after waiting over 45 minutes in line; there was no way I was going to order just a couple of croissants....I ended up spending over $50 here on pastries….you know; it ain't really that hard to spend that much on a dozen pastries at Wayfarer.

As I crossed the street and headed to my car' the line stretched all the way down the block and around the corner of Midway Street.

So the folks the Missus worked with on that day had some stuffs from Wayfarer....and I was told that they really liked the Ham and Cheese Croissant, the Tomato Tiles, and Prosciutto Scones. So, maybe I'll check those out when I have a chance.

I did save an extra croissant, which She thoroughly enjoyed. She said the while they tend to over-bake the pastry here; the Missus says that the butter-salt balance is decent. It made Her day; and that also made mine. So it was worth the wait in line; at least on this day.

Wayfarer Bread & Pastry
5525 La Jolla Blvd.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 830am - 230pm
Wayfarer will be closed from Sept 7th - 15th, Reopening on the 16th.

In case you're wondering how far I've roamed since mid-March; I updated my map......

I mentioned getting a swamp cooler for Frankie - I actually have two. I use one in our home office. I've noticed that F has a certain part of his anatomy that is a priority to keep cool.....guess where that is?

It's going to be a scorcher this weekend, so please keep cool!

The Menya Ultra Stay at Home Tonkotsu Ramen Kit

I'd been trying to get the Missus to try Menya Ultra since they first opened in February 2017; but there was just something that made Her refuse to go....call it "spouse syndrome"....you know the drill; I say "black", She says "white", I go "it's too hot", no She says it's "too cold"...going up? Heck no, we're going down..... And the more I tried to convince Her, the more She dug Her heels in. Until She was feeling a bit tired recently....don't worry, it wasn't Covid-19. The weather had cooled off (before our last scorcher) and I knew She could use some nice, rich, tonkotsu broth. So, I got the "Tonkotsu to go" for the Missus. And She did love that broth; though, for some reason, She didn't care for the noodles....even though I did my usual drill...I thought it was decently firm; but of course She likes Her noodles "katame" (firm). Which gave me an idea......I know that "FOY" Jason mentioned really enjoying Menya's "Stay at Home Ramen Kit". I also noted that the noodles provided are fresh, not cooked. A few days later, the Missus wanted more ramen and I went and ordered the Tonkotsu Stay at Home Kit from Menya ($38).

Like before, the drill when you pick things up at Menya was smooth as silk.

As you can see; this comes with four ajitama, chashu, green onions, and wood ear mushroom.

It also comes with four servings of fresh thin noodles.

And some instructions; which I basically ignore.

I basically use the same approach which I noted here; with a couple of differences.

The tonkotsu broth is provided cold; I measured the first time I ordered and it comes to six cups. So, I portion out three cups and slowly simmer until scalding.

The noodles are fresh; so I boil for 90 seconds, before doing a quick rinse and drain.

I still heat the bowls and then use the heated noodle water to heat the bowls even more.

I also now heat the ajitama for 20 seconds in the microwave before serving in the hot broth.

And the noodles are perfect after a minute-and-a-half.

After trying this for the first time; we noted that there was no way we could finish 2 servings of noodles and the Missus really mainly loves that broth. So, I get two-thirds of the noodles, and the Missus gets two cups of the broth.....sometimes "spouse syndrome" works to our benefit!

And what about those leftover noodles? Well, I'll make either Sichuan Liang Mian, Sesame Cold Noodles, or some other noodles dish with them.....which works just fine since these noodles are better than anything you can get at the market.

As I'm sure everyone who enjoys eating in San Diego knows; restaurants can now open at 25% capacity. On my visit to Menya this week, I noticed they were open for dining in. I was not inspired by the set-up in the least....tell me; doesn't this look like perhaps a makeshift ER or Urgent Care......or gasp; even a Covid-19 Testing Tent?

I think I'll stick to takeout for a while longer. Especially when it can be something like this. The menma in this bowl I had in the fridge and didn't come with the kit.

Menya Ultra Ramen
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
858-571-2010
Hours:
Daily 11am - 2pm, 5pm - 8pm
From my experience they start doing takeout orders a half hour before opening

Road Trip (Before Covid) - Bistro Na's

After our dinner at Mister Jiu's in San Francisco; the Missus really wanted to head on over to Bistro Na's in Temple City, which also has a Michelin Star and has become a favorite of Hers. Since my Birthday was on a weekend, we decided to head on over for lunch.

At this point in time the first positive cases of Covid-19 had been reported and infections were still in the single digits and the first confirmed cases were reported in the UK and Spain....man, that just seems so long ago.

At this point; we could tell that folks; especially in the Chinese community were getting a bit leery as was clearly indicated by how empty Bistro Na's was during our visit.

Even though it was my birthday; the Missus took charge of ordering, and She quickly found another dish to add to Her "favorites list"; the Okra in Seasoned Dressing.

The okra had been nicely presented in a wonderfully balanced salty-sweet-savory sauce that heightened the pleasantly earth-grassy flavor of the okra. The Missus loved the combination of the crunchy, yet slippery (gotta love that "neba-neba") okra as well. We have another one for the list.

Man, that spinach with sesame sauce was slathered in the stuff.

There was a deceptively large amount of spinach in this as it had been compressed into a square shape. Just a bit too much sesame paste in this for us.

Of course; my favorite is the Chili Tofu Skin. We always place a full order and get another order to go.

So refreshing, crunchy, with a touch of spice, the cilantro adding a nice, bright, mild pungent-lemony touch to things.

We did not care for the Stuffed Lotus Root; it was too sweet and the texture quite mushy.

And two other favorites - you can read about those in my previous posts.

Of course the Crispy Shrimp is a must.

And the light and crisp; super tender, but wonderfully gamey Crispy Lamb Brisket.

While we still haven't roamed very far yet; we are sorely tempted to get takeout from Bistro Na's....which is what they are doing right now.

Who knows; we might just give in and treat ourselves.....though driving 120 miles each way might just be pushing it a bit, don't you think?

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 286-1999

What have you been doing to treat yourself and make things more bearable these days?

Takeout from Gourmet Artisan

Back in June, after I called and got a strange message from A Sandwich A'Fare and before I ended up going to the Philadelphia Sandwich Company, I called Gourmet Artisan and got an "voicemail full" message....which seemed kind of ominous. Were they closed temporarily, or permanently, or what? On a recent takeout revisit to SuperNatural Sandwiches, I noticed that Gourmet Artisan was open. So, a few days later, I decided to call....and I got a real person answering and placed an order for takeout.

I went with the Prosciutto Sandwich ($12). Upon opening the box at my desk I was rewarded with the distinct fragrance of parmesan and garlic from the fries; which made me quite happy as on my last visit it seemed that they had stopped with the parmesan, garlic, and truffle oil on the fries.

On the not-so-good side; the fries hadn't been fried enough and were really pale and of course, quite soggy.

The ciabatta could have been more toasted and was too chewy and doughy and over-powered the unevenly made sandwich. Enjoyed the peppery arugula; but everything else just fell flat.

There was one interesting thing that I noticed during my visit. There were three orders before me....each of them ordered burgers. Hmmm.....

So, a few weeks later; I decided to order a burger.....man, when was the last time I had a burger? What the heck is wrong with me?

I ordered the Tex-Mex Burger ($12). And, I was really happy to note that this time around, the fries were crisp and had a good amount of Parmesan and garlic.

The burger was not bad; I enjoyed the brioche style bun; which  was not quite up to the task, but really just displayed how moist the burger was. The patty was fairly lean, but had a pleasant beefiness, was decently seasoned, and was not bad at all. It was perhaps a tad on the mealy side in terms of texture, but was perfectly serviceable.

The fries, while not quite to level of what it used to be....lacking in truffle flavor, was nicely fried, and far from bland with a good amount of Parmesan.

I actually enjoyed the milky, melted Swiss cheese and a the sneaky jalapenos on this....heck, I may have another burger next time.

Gourmet Artisan Fine Sandwiches
7094 Miramar Road
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 860-5814
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 1030am - 215pm