mmm-yoso!!!

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

Road Trip - Arcadia Farms Cafe (Scottsdale)

Upon waking in Scottsdale, we found that it was much cooler than the day before. So, after JJ had his breakfast and had a short "food coma break", we decided to take a stroll and maybe get us something to eat.

We headed down East Main Street. Though all the shops were closed, we enjoyed wandering and enjoyed the public art.

And of course the Missus could not pass up a photo-op.....

As you cross North Scottsdale Road, the Galleries start giving way to a "Old West" look.

We walked all the way down to the Civic Center; there's a pedestrian path/mall with shops and green spaces.

And frankly, JJ seemed to be enjoying himself. He even found some new "paw-rents" that he threatened to leave with!

That's actually the Winfield Scott Memorial who along with his wife Helen established a homestead in what is now Scottsdale in 1888. Interesting fact; Winfield Scott eventually moved to San Diego and is currently interred at Mount Hope Cemetery.

From here we decided to head on back and took East 1st Avenue back. In doing my research on dog friendly eateries; I came across Arcadia Farms Cafe. It looked promising, so we decided to stop by.

The cafe also has a market across the street. They are open for breakfast-brunch-lunch daily. I poked my head in and was greeted and then we were seated in the quaint covered patio area.

The gal who Served us was lovely...she even brought a bowl of water for JJ! The items on the menu looked like it was French influenced and we decided to just get one breakfast to share. The Missus got a coffee and I got a fairly stiff Cold Brew.

She also dropped off two Madeleines....a very nice touch. The Missus saved them for later.

We asked the young lady for a recommendation; something not overly sweet and were surprised that she recommended the Gruyere and Parisian Ham Crepes ($20). She told us that the crepes weren't too sweet.

Good lord, this was just drenched in rich Mornay Sauce, which basically overpowered everything. Yes, the crepes didn't seem sweet because you really couldn't taste it and same with the ham. Being saturated with the sauce, the crepes got mushy quickly. This was a bit much for us.....and somewhat typical of many "American-French" places that just go a bit overboard. 

Well, at least we absolutely wouldn't need to have anything until dinner!

Arcadia Farms Cafe
7025 East 1st Ave.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

We rolled back to our room, packed, and headed off to our next stop.

Now, if you recall in my previous post I noted that Scottsdale had gotten record heat on the day we arrived. Would you believe as we headed up the 87 past Payson we saw snow alongside the road! We decided to stop and give JJ his first "taste" of the white stuff!

He was quite curious and entertained himself for a few minutes.

From here we headed to our next stop....along "Woof 66"...... to a very familiar place.

Stay tuned for that one!

JJ wishes everyone a great weekend and "Blessings to All"!

Odds and Ends - Roast Duck from 99 Ranch (Balboa) and Ibis Market Revisited

The weather has started to "bounce around" a bit. Nothing illustrates that more than these two "meals" from grocers a few days apart. So here's a quick post for today.

Ibis Market Revisited:

Good lord, has it already been 2 1/2 years since my last visit to Ibis Market? Well, at least it wasn't a 20 years gap, like before our previous visit. The weather had been skewing warm and the Missus wanted a Hummus Sandwich like we had recently had in Mendocino. Yes, a sandwich, not a pita. Options for decent hummus had pretty much disappeared from our area since Harvest Market on the corner of Clairemont Drive and Balboa closed a while back. Balboa Market sells the Sadaf and similar brands, but we wanted something a bit more fresh. North Park Produce came to mind, but we didn't want to make that drive....then of course we remembered Ibis. I'm thinking that the location; tucked away on the corner of Ibis and Fort Stockton, in, of all places Mission Hills, can sometimes slip away from my aging mind.....

The same really nice couple were working and all of our "favorites" were in stock.

So of course; even though I had just thought of getting hummus.....

I got a nice array of items.

And the price? Well, all of that for $20; a bargain these days! I need to revisits again soon...I'm thinking that their falafel might reheat real well in the Air Fryer. 

Stay Tuned!

Ibis Market
1112 Fort Stockton Drive
San Diego, CA 92103

Roast Duck from 99 Ranch (Balboa):

The Missus and I were doing a bit of shopping and 99 Ranch Market when we both, for some reason looked at the Roast Duck in the case.

It didn't look half bad. Now we had tried the roast duck from the deli section at the Clairemont Mesa location of 99 Ranch Market years ago.....it wasn't very good. But we just kind of wondered how this would be. Though the price of $19.99 for half a duck......well, that gave us pause.

Man, that Styrofoam container felt quite heavy.

This was quite a hefty half duck.

It was however, more quantity over quality. Very meaty, but on the tougher-dry side of the scale. The skin rubbery, the usual savory-sweet-anise tones muted.

We tried it three different ways. As a side dish...meh, in a bao, more meh. Finally, because the temperature had dropped and the weather got cooler, I went and used the duck drippings/sauce/fat, along with some shiitake mushrooms and did that 20 minute Zhou/Jook. With all the duck sauce and fat and the earth mushrooms this came out quite good.

Topped with the skin crisped up in the Air Fryer......well, this was pretty good.

Not that we'd get it again. Though, if you want a real meaty-bland fowl.......

99 Ranch Market
5950 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117

Now, what I wanna know is how you've been eating with the see-sawing temps?

Road Trip - Zuzu (Scottsdale)

Back at the end of March we took JJ on his forth road trip (!). This time the Missus wanted to take the pup to one of Her favorite towns, mainly for the photo-op. We had been there so many times that I knew the hotel had a good "pup policy". So, we did a bookend, one stop before and one stop after as JJ himself noted in this post. All in all, over 1300 miles in three days! Yikes!

Anyway, I'd heard that Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale was dog friendly and all rooms had a patio or balcony.....we usually request first floor rooms these days. You know, having a pup and all. I thought checking out Old Town Scottsdale might be interesting as I hadn't been there since my consulting days in the late 90's. And this being late March, the weather would still be pretty moderate....boy, was I wrong! Unfortunately, there was some record heat in the Phoenix area, the temp was said to be 93F! Yikes!

So, after checking in and cooling off, we took JJ out to see how things would go. Well, we found that JJ does not like high temps. Right past our hotel on East Main there was a patch of grass in front of a pizza restaurant. JJ would just lie in the grass and not want to move!

We did make it to the 5th Avenue Shopping District.

Where most of the shops were closed and those that were open were very touristy and bored the Missus. We hurried down North Scottsdale Road back to East Main and the hotel so JJ could cool off.

Luckily, for dinner, I had selected the restaurant in the hotel, something the Missus wasn't thrilled about. She looked over the menu online and was just not impressed. Telling me "are we really eating in the hotel restaurant?"

Zuzu however, did feature patio seating, and by this time things had started to cool off.

We started with some cocktails which were very good. Our Servers were very friendly and when we mentioned the heat told us that it had been in the high 50's just a week previous!

The Missus wasn't inspired by the menu, so I placed our order. The first item to arrive set everything right for the rest of the meal. The Terra Heritage Wagyu Beef Carpaccio was impressive.

Would you believe this was just 21 bucks!!! The beef was cold, refreshing, and quite tasty. There were slices of dried okra for textural contrast. The pumpernickel crumble, provided more texture, the flavor of the anise-toned caraway lifted the dish.  Grana Padano added salty-savory milkiness and the Dijon pungency. This was my favorite dish of the trip by far.

I make roasted cauliflower a lot at home, directed toward the Missus' taste. So, when She saw that I ordered the Cauliflower ($14), the Missus was prepared for the worst. But like the carpaccio, this was a very good dish.

But the florets were nicely roasted and seasoned; the Fromage Blanc added a nice palate refreshing tart-creamy-sourness. The Calabrian Peppers mild spice and what seemed like a mild sweetness. There was an interesting mild anise flavor going on....I found out later that those tiny green slices were of Thai Basil.

Of course we had to have a salad, so we went with the Honeycrisp and Kale Salad ($13).

Sweet-Bitter with a nice, crisp, vinaigrette and grated Manchego cheese. Again, it was the little touches that made this dish interesting......here it was the sweet-tart pomegranate seeds.

This was a surprisingly (for the Missus) good meal! And there seemed to be quite a few "regulars" dining. I think She won't be dissing hotel restaurants anymore! It was our favorite meal of the trip! And the whole meal including cocktails was under $75 before tip!

ZuZu (In Hotel Valley Ho)
6850 E Main St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

After dinner, we took JJ for another short walk along East Main. It had cooled off a bit, so he did much better.

We'd spend the next morning taking a walk around Old Town Scottsdale since the temperature was much cooler.

Before heading to our next stop!

Circling Back to Tanuki

At the beginning of last month; I was updating "The Big List By Neighborhood" and of course, a couple of places caught my eye. In fact, this one post I did in December of 2021, during the pandemic really got my attention. It was of two places that we had gone to three times each back in 2020! I had those photos saved for a post and then you know what happened, right? Anyway, I did a "Clearing Out the Memory Card" post and had meant to return once things returned to normal. And of course time does not stand still for anyone....here we are in 2025.

So recently, I set out to rectify that short coming. And lucky for us, Tanuki has a outdoor sitting area so we could bring JJ along. We decided on lunch and headed on over, arriving just at the noon opening time, managing to snare a parking spot. Parking in Kensington can sometimes be as rare as actually seeing the namesake in the wild!

We took a table outdoors and the friendly Server quickly brought JJ a bowl of H2O to get him settled in!

Having been here three times before, we treaded lightly, from previous experience, even though it was five years and counting, staying away from the sushi/sashimi....I didn't come here for the fries.

I did want the Kakiage Udon, but the Missus didn't feel like having that. So, we placed our order. The Missus got the cold brew tea, which came in a nifty glass bottle.......of course the Missus then purchased one on Amazon!

And you can see the first item that arrived as well, the Wagyu Tataki Ponzu ($19).

While the beef was a bit over cooked for tataki; it was tender with good beefiness. The daikon oroshi added nice pungency and the ponzu a layer of sourness, with a hint of sweet. Not bad at all.

What was bad was the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna ($18).

The bones scraped tuna had been turned to mush and was rather fishy. The rice had been formed into squares like tater tots and hadn't been browned enough to attain crispness; rather it was quite plastic-cy in texture. Not a very good dish.

The Toro Wasa ($12) was a nice correction.

I didn't expect Otoro for this price point and it wasn't a huge portion, but the fish was very fatty and tender. The wasabi added a nice sinus clearing pungency. We enjoyed this dish.

Our favorite item of the day was the Hamachi Kama ($20).

Though it didn't look particularly good; we really enjoyed this. The skin had attained a decent crispness, the flesh moist and buttery, deep rich-oceany-umami flavors. It was decently (not overly) salted.

The Roasted Suzuki ($14) while nicely priced was just ok.

The fish was very tender, though the skin rubbery. It was in need of some seasoning as the cilantro sauce, while creamy was bland. The toumokoroshi; the grilled corn was too hard, while haricot-vert undercooked, not seasoned, and too hard.

Overall, nice service, the prices reasonable for this day and age, the food was decent, especially for Japanese food in Kensington. We'll probably return for an al fresco early dinner with JJ one evening.

The Missus wants to have that kama again......

Tanuki
4191 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Monday          5pm - 9pm
Tues - Thurs 12pm - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm
Friday            12pm - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm
Saturday        5pm - 10pm

Where on the Road Were We? Part 2

It was interesting leaving an area of the state we were fairly familiar with, to an area we hadn't been before. And add JJ to the mix! 

Still, it was fun, if a bit tiring.

Our next stop was a harbor/fishing village and very popular tourist spot.

It had a lovely harbor front; though the lack of  walking paths between stop made it a lot less fun for us. Seemed like everyone drove everywhere here; even though the harbors, shops, malls, hotels were just a couple of hundred yards apart, there was no real sidewalks or walking paths and actually walking on highway 1, well.......

The area is also famous for being a filming location of one of Alfred Hitchcock's most well known films.....

We loved our accommodations....we'd do takeout, purchase a nice bottle of wine from the Inn (at a very decent price) and eat in the covered "Wine Shack" with JJ.

From here we headed up the coastline...making a few stops to stretch our legs, fuel up, and even get in a lovely hike!

Until we got to our our next stop, a charming village that reminds me almost of a town in New England. The water towers, the buildings were lovely. JJ enjoyed some nice attention as well.

The town is perched on the cliffside above the Pacific and the trails right off Main Street led to some wonderful views.

And we even got a "sign", literally, that our lovely Boy was looking over us.

We ate quite well here!

We loved it here and can't wait to return. It was one of our 2 favorite stops on this road trip.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to have something more relevant to dining in San Diego tomorrow before we head home! 

Paris Sandwiches Revisted

My revisit to Banh Mi Express had me wondering how Paris Sandwiches was doing, after all it had been almost a year since my last visit. So, I drove on over for an early lunch.

What I quickly noticed as I walked toward the shop was that there weren't any "old timers" having coffee outside. This was when I first noticed the sign for Saigon Corner, which has seemed to taken over that duty in this strip mall, at least on a couple visits I made.

I kind of consider Paris Sandwiches to be like Banh Mi Express as a "tweener" banh mi shop; attempting to please a varied customer base. Looking at the posted menu; English descriptions, though the Vietnamese names are displayed below. The place was doing some steady business on this day.

I got the Cha Lua (Pork Roll on the menu - $7.05). The two women working the line were super fast and my banh mi was ready in less than five minutes.

This is what it looked like unwrapped.

 I've always enjoyed the bread from Paris Bakery and this is basically the same. Nice and light; "crackley", slightly yeasty. The Cha Lua was sliced fairly thin and layered nicely. Not much pate. Also light on the mayo which suited me well.

Not enough pickled veggies on this visit and of course the cucumber was MIA. I had to make some "adjustments" to the fillings as all the jalapenos were piled in the middle and a lot of the cilantro leaves were yellowed; which I removed. Kind of sloppy in my opinion.

While this was an ok banh mi; I felt that the proportion was a bit off and it was kind of sloppily put together. On the good side; this led me to wonder about  couple of other banh mi shops that I hadn't been to in a while!

Paris Sandwiches
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 730am - 630pm
Closed on Sunday