mmm-yoso!!!

Izakaya Masa Revisited

Well, it's been a pretty busy couple of days for me and I'm getting older, so it ain't getting easier.....even though they say you need less sleep as you get older, which I'm finding to be true. Anyway, these 4am mornings and long days...… Since the Missus was working until late on this day, and it was close to 6pm, I decided to head up to Izakaya Masa. It had been a solid fours years and change since I last visited. And there was a line out front five minutes before opening. They don't open until 6pm these days; though I remember when I used to work close by and they served lunch. Heck, I used to stop by when they used to be Teriyaki Cowboy. One thing was certain, I'm not a huge fan of the ramen at Izakaya Masa; so I'd be passing on that. At least on this visit. Maybe one day in future if I'm feeling especially curious......

On this evening, I was beat and wanted a nice variety of items. I started with my favorite little appetizer here; the Chuka Kurage; jellyfish salad.

The flavors are not as strong as Chinese style Jellyfish salad; not as salty, not as sour, not as sweet. But I enjoy the nice crunch, the light touch of sesame oil, it makes for a good start to a meal.

Being a fan of "neba-neba"; the rather gooey-slimey texture of foods like natto and soft egg; things I raised on. I ordered the Maguro Yamakake; raw tuna with grated Yamaimo (mountain yam).

I had seen folks ordering sashimi and other stuff; which had me wondering what the quality of the fish was. Well; it was really low quality maguro; on the hard and crunchy side, lacking in the wonderful, buttery texture of good quality fish. I should have known better.

One item; which for me, has always been one of the signature dishes at Masa has been the restaurant's version of chicken karaage; Masa's Fried Chicken. So I had to order that.

Back over a decade ago, the chicken used to have a slight funky, fermented spice, along with the typical soy flavors of karaage, it had gotten less so over time. It was also a lot less crunchy and dry the last few times I ate the chicken here. Well, even though I still think the pieces here are too large; reducing the batter to meat ratio; there was some crunch to be had, the dark meat chicken was very moist and juicy and the seasoning, though milder than before, combined with how it was cooked this time around, made this a very satisfying dish. This was not bad at all.

I needed something to finish things off; to balance out the fried foods. Growing up; we didn't have much money and a simple dish of natto-gohan or chazuke was often a meal for us. Feeling a bit worn down and in need of something comforting; I went with the Ume Ochazuke. Growing up; my mom made chazuke with Genmaicha and dashi-no-moto. It wouldn't be strange finding a slice of fried Spam® topping my rice.

With that in mind; this was terrible; from the hard rice, to what tasted mostly like boiled water; could they have made this any more bland? I used the entire lump of "wasabi" to try to bring some flavor to it and ended up dumping some soy sauce (my mom is rolling over in her grave right now) in it for some flavor. For $7 I expected better.

Overall; this meal, while being a bit of a roller-coaster ride, was fine....the jellyfish salad and chicken made up for the the other two dishes.

It was amazing to see how busy Masa is. This was the crowd waiting outside as I left.

So Izakaya Masa isn't doing too bad at all.

And as I always say....I'm sure the food here tastes much better after 3 or 10 beers.....

Izakaya Masa
928 Fort Stockton Dr
San Diego, CA 92103
Hours:
Tues - Sun 6pm - 1am

Mary's Donuts (Lakeside) more than donuts!

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk is funny; he thought that after working overtime on both weekend days, that His Monday would be easy..and short.  He was wrong.  Cathy is writing another post. 

I grew up with three bakeries within five blocks of my home in Detroit.   The Mister remembers three local bakeries he passed while walking to school in the Boston suburb where he grew up. There were local owned bakeries we found in Ann Arbor, Pensacola and Norfolk...and on our visits overseas.  But donut-centric shops are a Southern California phenomenon. Go ahead, type in "donut" in the search bar on the upper left of this page.  Over 1000 hits on this blog alone.  

So, we are back at Mary's.  The original location (photo at the bottom of this post) has closed (after 50 years there) and the new location in Santee is in the middle of a strip mall.  That location is within walking distance of home and I've been known to drop in at odd hours of the day for a quick snack.  However the 'new' (since October 2016) second location has a bit of an expanded menu.

 The donut cases are kept filled.  Along the top of the back wall, you'll see prices- the one on the right, a sort of menu, is most interesting.  There's a non-carb choice.Bowls are $5.99.  Scrambled eggs, choice of meat (bacon, sausage or ham) and choice of cheese (Swiss, Cheddar, Provolone).  This was with Cheddar and breakfast sausage and was great- tasty, large portion (three eggs) and so very fresh.  
 Sandwiches here are $6.99.  They come with a choice of bread (bagel, croissant and as of two weeks ago, fresh baked bread), meat (ham, turkey, bacon, sausage, egg), cheese(Swiss, Cheddar, Provolone) and toppings (lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard). Avocado is an additional 85¢.  This Mary's location has just begun baking breads but not daily and I am eager to come back to try a sandwich on the rye.
The donuts.  Look at the top shelf. Why, that's a lot of fritters. Some of those are apple, but...
 Looks like a slice of peach on those on the right (next to the bacon maple bars)Lemon and blueberry.
Raspberry! 
The fritters here are one of the the most expensive donuts in the case...$1.90.  (Those bacon covered maple bars are also $1.90).
 You can see the layers of raspberry intertwined in this beautiful, crisp edged, perfectly fried and glazed fritter.  Of course we've tried the peach; it's excellent. 

If you are out this way, it's worth the stop. 

Mary's Donuts 10101 Maine Street Lakeside, CA 92040 (619)334-5272 ALWAYS OPEN

Pesto Craft Kitchen (SDSU area)

mmm-yoso!!! welcomes you back to reading about food in San Diego. Kirk has been working a lot of (weekend) overtime and Cathy is writing a few posts., like this one.

Customized, wood fired oven pizzas have been a restaurant phenomenon since about 2014. I've written two posts about Pieology and one post about Blaze.  Pesto Craft Kitchen took over what originally was the location of Social Life Neapolitan Pizza in 2016. Pesto offers more than customizable pizza and salads.
The menu is visible when you walk in (this is an old photo with old prices because I apparently could not take a clear picture of it in the last year). (Use THIS link to see current prices on the website)
You walk along the ordering line.
A decadent snack served here are these delightful 'garlic knots', you can purchase 4 or 8 as an appetizer.   
You can sort of see the fire in the oven through the protective glass.
There is an extensive selection of wines and beers.
 We started with the calamari fries ($9.95) These are served with a roasted garlic spicy tomato sauce. Meaty strips of squid, breaded with a herb-y coating.  A large portion, apparently meant to be shared or this could be a low-carb meal.
  When we do enjoy a pasta dish, baked is preferred.In this case, four cheese ravioli ($13.95) which had craft pesto and was topped with marinara and mozzarella. The pasta, cheese fillings, pesto, marinara and even the side of toasted garlic bread were each distinctive in fresh flavors.  This was a filling meal...yet we wanted more.  
I went back in line and ordered a smoked ham calzone ($9.95)
 Mozzarella and ricotta are the cheeses, the wood fired crust had the char that gave the crust flavor and crunch.  The cheeses, the bit of marinara sauce...this was wonderful.  We had a bite in the restaurant and took the rest home for dinner.  A great day of meals. 

Pesto Italian Craft Kitchen  6011 El Cajon Blvd, Suite A San Diego, CA 92115 (619)265-2700 Website Open Sun-Thurs 10:30-9:30, closes at 10:00 Fri-Sat

China Express

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk is working this weekend.  I'm sure He is eating, but really, He doesn't want to write about it; he'd rather sleep.  Cathy is writing this post.

Tucked in the middle of a bunch of storefronts (many of which Kirk and I have blogged about; some are still there and most are gone-it's the mall with the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and a Carl's. Jr. closest to the street) at the South West corner of Clairmont Mesa Boulevard at Ruffin Road (the other side of Ruffin from the new Kaiser Hospital which used to be the Registrar of Voters office) is China Express.You might notice the sign above the entrance with the "3 items & 1 side order w/soup or canned soda $6.49". The small print at the bottom is "choose only from steam table"- this seems to be what most people order. 


The steam table is kept fresh, the side orders consist of steamed rice, fried rice or chow mein. 
The egg drop soup is excellent-very eggy and fresh.  There is also wonton and hot and sour soup.  
All the meals are given in 'to go' containers, even if you are eating in.  This is what the three item combo looks like.  The dark meat is 'spicy chicken'-it has those jalapeño-looking chilis, which are a bit spicy as the heat component.  This chicken is also sweet, I think it's honey. The top left corner is chicken and mushrooms; this was very good.  The bottom left is Szechuan chicken-a different, dried chili, lots of vegetables(bell peppers, those little canned corn things and mushrooms) and quite nice.  Not a bad meal for $6.99 (with tax).

There is also a six page menu...two of those pages list 30 Monday-Friday lunch specials (all $5.25) and 21 party trays and 30 combination specials.  
 Under the 'Chef's Specials' portion of the menu, the Hunan Beef ($10.99) was a good choice.  It wasn't crazy spicy, despite the small chili on the menu indicating heat; it's pleasant.  Since it is made to order, the vegetables are freshly stir fried, still crispy.  There is bok choy, celery, onion, red and green bell pepper.  The beef was thick cut, tender and plentiful (that container is large).  This was a great meal. 
The spice and sweet on the General Tso's Bean Curd ($7.50), combined with the light breading and crisp fry made this (very large) serving a new craving.
 You may recall that The Mister and I like to try Egg Foo Young from each menu where we see it offered (because no two are ever the same).   The chicken Egg Foo Young ($6.75) version here was yet another new experience. The chicken was cut in strips.  The egg and onion mix had peas and carrots and scallion bits.  The gravy was nice-not too thick and not salty. There were no bean sprouts. This version was great. 

It's always fun to find a new (to us) place.  I hope your weekend is going well.

China Express 9353 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego CA 92123 (858)277-2388    Open Mon-Fri 10am-9:45 pm, Sat 11 am-9:45 pm, Sun 3 pm-9:30 pm 

Perry's Cafe (Old Town)

Thanks for reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk has a few busy workdays ahead, so Cathy is writing about food and stuff.

The Mister and I have been trying to walk a bit more (a sort of early New Year Resolution) and there are so many places around San Diego which are not filled with tourists now, that's it's nice to avoid crowds.

Old Town San Diego is a State Historic Park and is filled with tourists during the warm months of the year.  Parking is free as is the ability to visit some original buildings, all with written explanations of their original purpose.

There is something to see and learn about at every turn.  It's a nice place to visit and learn about the History of San Diego, at your own pace.
 Just at the Southwest edge of the park (beyond the Trolley) is Perry's.
Kirk wrote about this old school diner for the first time in 2007 and has mentioned it in other posts.  We were here just past noon; not in a breakfast mood. 
It was crowded on this weekday and we were seated in the large 'back room'.  There is a 'proper' Roman numeral clock (the '4' has four sticks, not three) here. (here are a bunch of theories why).  
We each chose a soup of the day: beef vegetable for The Mister,
 and lentil-pea soup for me.  Each was made in-house, quite flavorful and very satisfying.  One was a meal in itself...
 ...combined with this salad, which was blue cheese dressed (a good quality dressing).  Just enough for a light meal.  (soup and salad, $7.95)
 When walking in the white board special of baked fish ($10) had caught our eye, so it was ordered.  Two large pieces of firm white fish (maybe it was cod) lightly breaded and baked to a crisp crunch.  Mashed potatoes (with a lovely gravy) and green beans completed this dish.  There was enough to share.  
A good meal on a nice day.  {Unlike whatever happened here last night. Rain, floods and power outages!}

Perry's Cafe 4620 Pacific Hwy San Diego, CA 92110  (619) 291-7121 Open daily 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Website

2019 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade float decorating, dinner at Costa's Family Restaurant (Covina)

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog which sometimes includes stories about attainment of the food.  Today, Cathy is writing while Kirk is busy at work. 

This past Saturday, the 'Dry Decoration Days' for the 130th Tournament of Roses Rose Parade at Phoenix Decorating Company began.   Here are some photos of materials and details of what happened.  (sentence descriptions are in order of  thumbprints)  The various colors of statice need to be cut from the stems (after drying a bit).  There are crushed peas, yellow straw flowers, some leftover straw flowers from last year.  You can see black beans which were tediously placed on some signage (those beans have white 'eyes' which need to be placed away from being seen).  There are branches and lunaria ('money plant'-those opaque white circles) and pine cones.  The beans use 'oasis glue' to stick to the foam backing. Green pea halves are glued on the 'Service Rocks' signage. The watermelons have the light stripes covered in crushed green peas and the dark stripes are covered in crushed dry parsley.  More pine cones are taken apart and the individual acicular shaped leaves (sometimes called needles) are individually placed on the edge of a small 'birdhouse'.  Dry materials are stored in large airtight trash cans.
Here's a look at the 'Glue Station' where each type of glue (white and oasis) are picked up (and where unused glue is returned).

Here are some of the 19 floats being decorated here (some floats are still under construction).
The Banner float- first one you will see in the parade. it introduces the theme of "The Melody of Life".  Each float will have some sort of way of showcasing music and/or musical instruments. The Grand Marshal of the Parade is Chaka Kahn.
"Service Rocks" sponsored by Rotary International.  See...the crocodile...and the title includes 'rocks'...I'm guessing 'Crocodile Rock' is the song for this float. 
 "Fezzy's garden of Hope and Healing", sponsored by Shriners Hospitals for Children. It's cute, pretty and will be fun to watch. "Rockin the Vest" sponsored by Lions Clubs International. If you recall, I posted a link to the 2011 Lions Club video (titled 'Rockin' the Vest') which was used to recruit new members.  Lions Club is the world's largest volunteer organization and members wear distinctive yellow vests when performing community service. The United Sikh Mission is sponsoring "A Divine Melody Resonates in All", featuring a Rabab, a stringed instrument from around AD 900. 
 "Garden Fresh" has such a cute float design for a new sponsor this year, Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day."Yellow Submarine", sponsored by Western Asset will be. joy to watch as well as hear.  Many interesting materials will be used on this float. 
"Helping Kids Rock Their Future", sponsored by Kiwanis International is a giant 'jukebox'(the underside of those records are covered with either poppy seeds or black onion seeds).
The American Legion, a Veteran association, is sponsoring "Still Serving America" this year.  (All floats have to be able to fit along the parade route in certain areas and so that's why you see 'collapsed' parts, like the eagle head).
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, a service organization, is celebrating "200 years of Harmony" with this delightful calliope featuring flags of some of the countries where they serve.
The American Armenian Rose Float Association is sponsoring another history laden float, "Chanting Stones, Karahunj" and will feature two men dancing atop the 'Singing Stones' of Sisian. The City of Hope is sponsoring "Harmony of Hope", which will be another beautiful float reminding us of The Miracle of Science with Soul. You'll see some DNA strands and other details when the float passes. 
 "Joy to the World, the Lord is Come" is presented by the Lutheran Hour Ministries and will not only have bells and horns on the float, but also a choir! (we volunteer with the Petal Pushers to decorate floats which helps defray the cost of this, the only Christian themed float, in the Parade for the 69th year). 
The entry from Trader Joe's, "Ride, Captain, Ride" has a secret you'll see on January 1. Even without the surprise, it's an attractive float.
The final float in the parade will advertise what's coming up later that day, the 105th Rose Bowl football game. The float is a replica of the bowl and has a replica of the trophy given to the winning team.  
The City of Alhambra's float, "Home Tweet Home"is just so very distinguished and cute.  

I have had posts showing road tests of most of these floats (Road tests #1 and #2...Road test #3...Road tests #4 and #5...and Road Test #6. 2018 has been long and the parade will be here on January 1, 2019 to kick off a new beginning.  

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This is why (most of) you are here...the food portion of this post.  

The Mister and I were exhausted and left the float barn at about 4:30.  We did have lunch and a light breakfast (at the Kolache Factory) and were ready for a relaxing (seated on real chairs) dinner.  We headed back to a spot here we enjoyed breakfasts two weeks in a row-Costa's  Family Restaurant in Covina, a few exits east of our Irwindale entrance back onto the 210.The back room had a few Christmas decorations. 
 My meal came with a salad and I was asked if beets would be OK...of course beets are OK, beets are wonderful!
The Mister had a choice of soups and chicken and dumplings it was...made from scratch.  A great soup. 
The dinner rolls were, of course, home made. 
The Mister ordered the Trout Dinner ($10.49).  Lightly pan fried, skin on trout filet served with a house made tartar sauce, tomato-onion green beans and (real) rice pilaf. This food- all of it was wonderful. 
I decided on a menu dinner special, Prime Rib ($13.49). Got it with the same green beans and a baked potato.   Wonderful, satisfying, most of everything from scratch...what more could we want?
Dessert- included (!) This is a from scratch tapioca pudding.  Vanilla...very vanilla.
Bread pudding...caramel bread pudding.  

If we lived in Covina, Costa's would be a daily stop.  

Costa's Family Restaurant 851 E. San Bernadino Road Covina, CA 91723 Open Daily 5:30a.m. - 9 p.m.

Anchorage - Yamaya Seafood

Once in a while you'll have a meal where perhaps the food wasn't extremely good; but the experience itself is like something out of one of those food-travel shows, the characters or in this case character is somewhat unforgettable. Thus was the case with Yamaya Seafood. A Japanese, yes, "real" Japanese Izakaya-ish restaurant in, of all places Anchorage.

After sleeping off lunch in our "haunted hotel"; we strolled around town a bit. Stopping at several places to browse.

When it came time for dinner; I knew the Missus needed a short respite from the fried food and such and I was curious about a place I'd read about. Located near the Downtown Transit Center is Yamaya Seafood.

It's one of those "blink and you'll miss it" kind of places. I was curious as to how a Japanese; not Americanized-Japanese, but real Japanese restaurant would do in Anchorage. The entrance to the place is located on the side of the building. We accidentally walked in the front door; into what looked like a living room; sofa, television, mats on the floor, the décor really looked like my grandparent's place. And then we were greeted by a little, but quite feisty woman, who totally reminded me of my aunts on Lana'i. I believe her name is Kazuko.

We were ushered into a dining room that really wouldn't be out of place in some little neighborhood in the Japanese countryside. All the while we were regaled with conversation and questions. Eventually, the Itamae/Chef came out; apparently he is Kazuko's son. We placed our orders; this being a one man operation; with Obaachan doing the dining room work, I expected things to take a while. And they did. But man did we enjoy ourselves.

We just sat back had a couple of Sapporo, all the while chatting with Kazuko-chan.

And boy did we have a lot of questions.....and oh my; did she have some answers:

As to why she moved to Alaska - "the clean air and the clean water...….the beautiful mountains"

Where she lived in Japan - "Tokyo; but it is too dangerous and the too much crime" ??????

The cold? - "it's when the air is the cleanest...."

"When we first built our restaurant, you could see the beautiful mountains; but then they built the Marriott and bah, you can't see the mountains anymore...."

"There one cruise ship from Japan that comes in every year; that is our busiest week. We have to open up the dining room upstairs. But people who eat there have to come down and pick up their own food. I'm too old to be walking up and down the steps."

"Japan is too dirty (?????), here the air is so clean and the water is so pure; I want to live a long life...."

At one point the Itamae said "Ma; you need to stop talking. You are repeating yourself and sound senile!"

But we just loved listening to her.

About forty five minutes later the house cold smoked salmon arrived. It was amazingly good.

Rich and oily (in a good way); a nice mild smoked flavor, perfect salt, the texture was nice and meaty. The onion did a good job of cutting the richness.

Unfortunately, the mixed sashimi wasn't so good.

The salmon was excellent as expected; after all; this is Alaska. The hamachi and tako were still slightly frozen, the maguro had a metallic finish; the shrimp was mushy and watery. The shiromi was fine if edging on the fishy side.

Perhaps we should have ordered something else. But heck; I'd pay twenty bucks just for the conversation. Sometimes the experience tops the food and we were learning a bit about life in Anchorage (it ain't easy) from one tough and feisty Obaachan. At, of all places, a Sushi Bar cum Izakaya in Anchorage. Travel is amazing.

Yamaya Seafood Restaurant
825 W 6th Ave
Anchorage, AK 99501

Revisits - Mien Trung and Cafe Dore

A couple of early weekend meals since returning from vacation.

Mien Trung:

MT was actually my first meal after returning from our trip. Our flight arrived quite late; the Missus had to work the next morning, the weather had cooled and I was craving some Bun Bo Hue from Mien Trung.

The fellow....we've been coming here so long, I remembered when I used to refer to him as the "young man", made me feel quite guilt when he said: "it's nice to see you....you only come by once a year these days...."

Anyway, I got the #1; the regular sized bowl.

Scalding, spicy broth, bright lemongrass flavors, a slight funkiness from the shrimp paste; slippery noodles with a nice "pull" to them. I do wish they'd start adding banana blossom back to the veggies; though it was fresh and plentiful. The thinker sliced meat was flavorful and toothsome; I did wish the pork hock had a bit more meat and connective tissue and perhaps the tendon was a bit more tender. But this did hit the spot.

As usual, I wore dark clothing to hide the red dots on my clothes from slurping those noodles. And without fail; I always think about our good friend; Ed from Yuma, who would without fail always wear some light colored shirt when we ate here. He's always leave, smiling, happy, and with a nice little scattering of random red dots from the broth on his shirt. We miss you Ed!

This was a nice bowl on a chilly, damp day.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Café Dore:

Ah yes, one place that's still "old school"; Cafe Dore. Man, remember those days when they had the "video game" machines in the back? Except there were older Vietnamese Gentleman "playing" on those "video machines".....hmmm.... Well, those days are long gone. I recall when the older men used to smoke in the place. On one visit, somebody came to "inspect" and pointed at the "No Smoking" signs posted.....and the guys all looked confused and acted like they didn't understand....and since the signs were posted in English....well, maybe that hasn't changed as two guys were smoking in the place when I arrived. Though I did notice when folks start coming in; the smokers will head outside.

And neither has the about 12:1 ratio of men to women customers in the place. Most women just come in to do take-out orders.....though perhaps this is because I usually visit rather early in the morning? Perhaps most of the old-timers finish up and leave by lunch?

One thing that hasn't changed is the 7am opening and with the Missus having to work early on a weekend morning and waking me up.....well, I was hungry and wanted some noodle soup. Also, my Dry Cleaning Lady, had mentioned that Café Dore had started serving Mi Quang, so I wanted to check it out.

I arrived, sat at a table and was given a menu....right on the top was "Mi Quang Dore".....I guess their version of Mi Quang.

The broth wasn't bad; it had a nice tongue feel, though it was on the "sweeter" side. I made good use of the nuoc mam to bump up the flavor.

I really enjoyed the veggies....finally, some banana blossom! It was fresh through and through. Though the cracker was on the stale side.

Unfortunately, the noodles were on the overcooked side and there were quite a few smaller pieces of noodle floating around.

The selection of "proteins" was interesting; there was a good amount of chewy pork intestine, which was kind of bland....quail eggs; obviously canned. I didn't have high hopes for the two large shrimp; but it was cooked perfectly, very moist, and slightly sweet.

I quickly noticed that no one else was eating in the place and all eyes were focused on something.

That something was the Lottery Drawing on the screen.

As soon as that was over; half the guys in the place either left or went outside to have a smoke.

I finished up my tea, went to the register and paid for my Mi Quang.

While it wasn't bad; I don't think I'll be having this again. I'll probably go back to my old ways.

For me; Café Dore is an interesting slice of life, something totally different from hipster-rich San Diego. It just seems real and totally reminds me of Vietnam, be it ever so humble. Though without those little plastic "kiddie chairs"!

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105