mmm-yoso!!!

Road Trip (before Covid-19) - Grand Canyon Desert View Tour

***** Not much food in this one, mostly just photos - just clearing out the memory card

When planning our road trip to visit Antelope Canyon and Flagstaff, I decided to do a small group day tour of the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff. Why a tour you might ask? Well, the main reason being that it was Labor Day weekend and I didn't want to deal with traffic, parking, etc, etc..... I thought doing a small group tour might work out well and it did. Plus, I figure we'll be back someday....I can take my time and meander around then.

I'm going to try to keep the verbiage down. There are many resources out there for visiting the Grand Canyon.

This tour took the less crowded East Entrance (currently closed due to Covid-19) from Navajo Country into the park. Our guide/driver was a hoot....warm, funny, knowledgeable, just a great guy.

We met at our assigned time in Flagstaff, loaded up the van and were off.....the group was on the older side; so folks were really mellow, even the three biker guys who had ridden in from California. We drove in through the East entrance not running into a single other vehicle until we came to Desert View known for the historic Desert View Watchtower.

Talk about wonderful scenery!

We enjoyed wandering around....I could probably spend an entire day here.....

And of course we spent some time in the watchtower, which only dates back to 1932 and was designed by Mary Colter; Chief Architect for the Fred Harvey Company and one of the few women architects of her time.

The tower was designed to resemble Pueblan Watchtowers, though it is much taller than any known traditional structure. The interior is also quite stunning.

Among the various landmark signs is this one.

Which recalls a terrible tragedy, the deadliest plane crash/collision of its time. Because of this and other tragedies and near misses that followed the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 was passed which became the FAA.

We had a few more short stops......

Before heading to the Tusayan Ruins. Our guide got us to the site just as a Ranger was ready to start his tour.

I could probably do a whole post just on this site; but I think you'll enjoy the National Park Services document much more.

After a quick stop at the Museum/Gift Shop, it was time for lunch under a nice patch of trees. Just simple sandwiches and chips....which did us just fine.

After lunch our next stop might have been my favorite; Grandview Point. The views from the point are amazing.

The Grandview Trail also starts here.

I was just happy with the views.

And our guide made sure to take photos of everyone (who wanted) on the rock outcropping.

There's also quite a bit of history here.....

Would you believe that a hotel once stood on this ledge?

Yep, the Grand View Hotel once stood there! Man, I wouldn't want to be walking around outside the place after having a few whiskies.....

Beautiful, ain't it???

We made a couple more stops before ending things at Grand Canyon Village.

As you can tell; some rain had rolled in right before we stopped here.

So, while folks went to take a "bio-break", got some coffee, or did some shopping, the Missus and I explored this structure.

It's another structure designed by Mary Colton; the Hopi House. Designed to resemble a Hopi Pueblo.

There's an actual Hopi door from Oraibi which leads to an altar room. If you'd like to read more about this amazing architect you can do so here.

From here we headed back to Flagstaff. We'd really enjoyed this small group tour. It gave us a nice taste of the Grand Canyon; I'm sure we'll be back. It was well worth the time and money.

We got back to our room, had a short nap, and got ready for dinner.

Yes, this is still a food blog, so I'll get to that in my next post. Thanks so much for indulging me!

 

Circling Back to Fredcel Lumpias & Catering

I took last Friday off. I needed to take my car in for service and decided to just take the day off. Amazingly; they finished up my car in half the usual time! I'm guessing they've really dialed back on the amount of appointments. The Missus had been craving the Salvadoran Tamales from El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante. So, since things wrapped up early, I decided to expand my Covid-19 "footprint" and head up to grab the Missus some tamales. I was a bit hungry and it had been quite a while sine I'd been to Fredcel so I decided to check them out.

Fredcel had just opened when I arrived. They've blocked off most of the area inside the restaurant and the "steam table" is not accessible by customers. Instead, they post what items are available on a menu sign.

I decided to get the menudo and Bicol Express, along with a few pieces lumpia (of course).

The Styrofoam box felt pretty darn hefty and when I opened it at home, I was surprised at the amount of pancit it held.

The pancit was very plain and bland.....I know why they give you that packet of soy sauce....though the portion size edged on ridiculous.

Opening up the menudo and Bicol Express and looking at the dishes really didn't whet my appetite.

The Bicol Express was more like a greasy curry. It lacked the deep savory-pungent tones of bagoong, wasn't very spicy, and seemed to use a ton of curry powder instead of coconut milk. As I mentioned earlier; it was also quite greasy instead of creamy and didn't have much pork in it.

The menudo was also sorely lacking in protein, was quite tangy, and needed more salt.

To me, both dishes were more like soups, quite thin and watery.

What saved the day was the lumpia; I got six for $3.

This was every bit as good as what I'd had here before. Still crisp and crunchy after the trip home....which is why it holds up well for catering. Not oily, the filling was moist, with a nice porkiness. That neon red sauce is way too sweet for me though.

I must be getting old; after eating the six lumpia, I needed a nap.

So, I guess I'm sticking with the lumpia from Fredcel. There were four people behind me in line as I left, so it seems that the business is doing ok.

Fredcel Lumpias & Catering
3876 38th Street
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Tues - Fri 11am - 5pm
Saturday   11am - 4pm
Sunday     11am - 330pm
Closed on Monday

Dim Sum To Go From Jasmine

My first visit to Golden Island had me wondering how takeout was going at Jasmine. I had checked out their website and found they were doing online takeout orders. So, I decided to order some dim sum...which was 20 cents cheaper then Golden Island......at $5.99. Interesting to note, Jasmine Express opens at 1030 as does online ordering. And then it's at least 50 minutes before your order is ready.

Upon arriving, I noticed that the signs lead you to Jasmine Express for pick-up.

And you have to wait in line with everyone else....all of the folks in front of me were placing orders. They placed their order and waited across from the restaurant to be called. So, while I expected my order to be ready at 1130.....which it was (see the photo below, it's on the shelf); I still had to wait another 25 minutes in line. Add in the rather perfunctory service..... Wouldn't it make more sense to have a separate line for online pick-up?

Anyway, check out the outdoor dining at Kula above....creative uses for those concrete dividers.

Eventually I made my way to the front of the line, mentioned my name, and was handed my bag....I mean...really, my food was laying on a shelf for 25 minutes, when I could have walked up and been out of there in less than five.

I then drove back to the office and checked things out; I went with the Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Har Gow, and the Steamed Shrimp Fun Gor (fun guo aka Chiu Chow Dumplings). All $5.99. Man, if I hadn't been to Golden Island before this; I'd have had a bit of sticker shock as this was twenty bucks of dim sum.

The siu mai was decent. The pork had been evenly minced, thus achieving a better texture and was also more tender and moist, Good porkiness; the wrapper was still pliable and not hard. Pretty good overall.

The Har Gow was the best of the bunch; no torn wrappers here. The shrimp were plump and tender, with a nice mild sweet-brininess. This was quite good.

The Chiu Chow Dumplings was the worst item; the wrapper too thick, the filling under seasoned.

I actually like a bit more pungency and peanuts in this style of dumpling.

Overall, while the pick up process was really weak, this was much better than Golden Island.

A couple of weeks back; I decided to try the whole drill again.....with the same results. Enter order and pay at 1030; told to pick-up at 1130, arrived, this time at 1115, and still waited almost 30 minutes to pick up my order which had been lying on the shelf since I arrived.

This time I got the Shrimp Siu Mai, the Har Gow again, and the Steamed Scallop and Shrimp Dumplings.

This time one of the wrappers on the Har Gow was ripped....bummer.

Still, these were as good as what I'd had on my previous visit.

The shrimp and pork siu mai was also quite good; moist, fairly tender, nice balance of porkiness and shrimp flavor.

No hard pieces, no grittiness, no muddy flavors. The wrapper was even more tender than with the pork siu mai on my previous visit.

The Steamed Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling was ok.

While the wrapper was a bit on thick side and the dumpling could have used more scallop.....I missed a nice tender-sweet-oceany scallop flavor, the shrimp in this was again quite delicious and prepared well.

So, while the dim sum at Jasmine was, in my opinion, superior to Golden Island, GI definitely had the better service and process. So, I'm not quite sure....maybe it's best for me to wait until this is all over and I can have a proper dim sum meal.

Jasmine
4609 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Dine In Hours
Mon - Thurs 10am - 3pm
Fri - Sun   10am - 3pm, 5pm - 8pm
Jasmine Express
Daily 1030 - 830pm

Road Trip (Before Covid-19) - Antelope Slot Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Dinner at Shift Kitchen and Bar (Flagstaff)

***** Warning; this post is super long.

Man, it's been over a year since we did this road trip. I thought I'd better get my posts done. The Missus wanted to do a road trip over the Labor Day weekend last year. She had been wanting to check out Antelope Canyon for years. So, after doing a bit of research , I came up with a plan, to do both Antelope Slot Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon, check-out Horseshoe Bend, and even do a small group tour of the Grand Canyon over the weekend, with just taking the Tuesday after Labor Day off. Frankie's Auntie "Alle" had just returned from visiting family in Italy and graciously said she'd love having Frankie around over the weekend.

So, we left on Saturday morning. I'd planned a couple of stops along the way. When we stopped right outside El Centro....good lord, it was in the high 90's and the humidity was crazy, so we drove through Yuma and decided to get gas in Dateland at the travel center. The Missus actually enjoyed shopping at the Travel Center and even bought a couple of packages of dates.

We then headed out east on the 8, then headed up the 85, onto the 10 East, then straight up the 17 toward Flagstaff.

Then it happened. About 15-20 miles out of Flagstaff, my transmission went out. I pulled to the side of the road and we tried calling AAA. Unfortunately, cell phone reception was very bad. I finally found a high spot off the freeway and got thru to the Auto Club. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find our location....I even got the latitude and longitude, but no bueno. What I neded up doing was calling the Highway Patrol and getting a location after they pinged the cell phone tower and I walked up about a mile and got the milepost as well.

And then it was just waiting......good thing I could still start my vehicle and run the AC and such. And we waited.....I think this cloud kinda looks like Frankie, what do you think?

And for some reason; a version of an Eagles song went through my mind; "stuck on the shoulder outside Flagstaff, Arizona...…"

After about 90 minutes a tow truck arrived and we got hitched up and were on our way to Flagstaff...….except about 5 miles down the road, our tow truck broke down....soooooo; we now needed a tow truck for our tow truck! About an hour later, a fleet of tow vehicles arrived, including the owner of the tow company who was so nice and apologetic.

This time they used a car carrier and we drove to the Flagstaff Toyota dealership. Now, I'm not big on fancy cars; my little 2005 RAV4 had over 220k miles on it....the Missus decided it was time I got a new car. Which is how we went on a roadtrip and I ended up getting a new RAV4. By the time all the paperwork was done and the car was prepped it was 9pm and we headed off to Page. Which was a 2 1/2 hour drive. We got into our hotel at around midnight and immediately crashed....it had been a long day.

The next morning; we had the hotel breakfast and checked out. I had made two reservations for the day....we'd be visiting upper and lower Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is located in the Navajo Nation so all access is by tour groups.

Our first visit was to Antelope Slot Canyon. We headed into Page and arrived at the designated location for Antelope Slot Canyon Tours by Chief Tsosie. Based on our reservation time; we were loaded onto minibuses and headed out. Our guide was amazing; so knowledgeable, even fielding questions and making recommendations for other places to visit.

There were quite a few vehicles parked as several companies do tours here.

And what you don't really see in photos are the crowds of folks entering.

Though they do a really great job of keeping distances between groups allowing folks time to take photos and take in the beauty of the canyon.

Before entering we were given a little lesson on how the canyon was formed. We were asked how the canyon formed in the specific way and no one answered; so I finally went, "sandstone erosion based on fast flowing floods". The guy stopped and cracked up, telling me "I've been doing this for a decade and that's the best answer I've ever had." Not sure if he was just making feel good......and I got an elbow and a whisper of "don't show off" from the Missus for my effort.

Like I mentioned; our guide was amazing. He went over the famous "sites" and set-up and took photos of everyone in the group. He kept folks together; even the two groups of "selfie Instagram girls". He told us stories of Antelope Canyon; the flash flood in 1997 that took the lives of 11 people, with only one survivor (see the link if interested), about Peter Lik's black and white photo of Antelope Canyon fetching 6.5 million dollars, and that National Geographic is banned from Antelope Canyon, how the canyon had been closed twice because folks were illegally dumping human ashes in the canyon.

The lighting does play tricks with you...….

Other well known locations were pointed out; like the "Dragon's Eye".

Let your imagination run wild......

This tour was super easy; the terrain is level so there were quite a few people on the tour. It does get a bit cramped at times, but I as very happy we did this.

We had a little over an hour between tours. I had a well regarded fried chicken place in mind for lunch; but it was just too hot for us to think about having that. Instead, I just bought some cold cuts and a salad from the Safeway across the street from the tour office. This would be enough to hold us until dinner. We planned to be in Flagstaff by then.

After lunch we headed off to Ken's Tours Lower Antelope Canyon. Man, the waiting/office area was packed. Luckily, we had made reservations months earlier. When we were called, we queued up and then headed down a trail. Just looking out, you really couldn't tell that there was a slot canyon here.

And after a short walk, we arrived at some pretty steep stairs and headed down into the canyon.

And while our guide at Antelope Slot Canyon was definitely better; the lighting here was amazing. Also, foot traffic here is one way thru, you don't have to turn around to head back, which made things less cramped. And did I mentioned the lighting????

The lighting, shadows, red sandstone just adds to the otherworldly feeling.

And you start seeing shapes...….some of them are quite well known. This is "Bruce the Shark".

And don't forget to look up. I actually saw the shape of a seahorse in the view to the right.

This was quite an amazing place to visit and I'm glad we did it.

After the tour, before heading to Flagstaff, the Missus had one more place on Her "list". A place that was actually made famous by social media, a destination made popular by Instagram, Horseshoe Bend. Back in, say 2014, about 40,000 people a year visited Horseshoe Bend....but after folks started posting photos on Instagram, you know, the selfie generation, it is estimated that over 2,000,000 folks visit the site right outside Page every year.

And so we found a parking spot and made the short pilgrimage down the trail to the look-out.

Notice the folks sitting on the bench? Well, it was pretty darn hot already on this day.

We saw several young people sitting and vomiting.....heat stroke...I guess perhaps they'd partied too hard or hadn't hydrated properly. What was even worse were the knuckleheads who brought their dogs out. We saw one vomiting....a guy was running past us in the opposite direction; his poor dog was having seizures! What morons.

We joined the masses to take a photo that I guess everyone now needs to have.

We saw quite a few people head over the railing to get "that photo" of themselves here. Crazy. Even with the overlook in place, folks still find a way to kill themselves.

We headed off to Flagstaff. I'd booked two nights at the Residence Inn in "Flag" as I heard residence call the city. Home to Northern Arizona University, both the Missus and I enjoyed our time in the city.....folks were friendly, there's a kind of artsy, hipster, chill vibe. At around 7,000 feet elevation, the weather was much cooler than Page. Also, I was a bit surprised to see the pine forests surrounding the city.

We also lucked out as right across the street from our hotel, the city was having it's "Art in the Park" festival.

Where we managed to do a good bit of shopping and purchase some gifts for folks back home.

It was a fun time....folks (including the four legged ones) were so friendly here.

Gifts in tow; we headed back to the hotel for a short break before heading out for dinner.

And while our dinner destination was a mere two blocks from where we were staying; we took our time. We really enjoyed the historic downtown area of the city.

For dinner, I did a bit of research and decided on Shift Kitchen and Bar; the focus on shared plates and an interesting cocktail list seemed like just the thing for us.

We were seated across from the bar area; a perfect place for us as we could see what others ere ordering and still had some privacy.

The cocktails were good; my favorite of the evening was the Smoked & Dirty Martini.

There was one item that drew me to Shift. The Missus loves salt and vinegar chips and the Pickled French Fries with "Secret Sauce" seemed like something She's love.

Wonderfully "pickly" with a good amount of salt, the Missus just loved this. She really didn't need the "secrest sauce" (think Mickey D's). As a matter of fact, we had a second order of this.

The Duck Liver Tart, was well, a bit too "tart" and sweet for our taste.

We loved the greens, though the pickled pears were much too sour for us.

The Smoked Bone Marrow was quite good; though the garnishes added perhaps a bit too much acidity for our taste.

Loved the bone marrow; savory-buttery goodness on the toast. Could have done without all the mustard seed and really acidic pickled veggies - jalapeno which really detracted from the goodness of the bone marrow.

All-in-all, a decent first meal. Friendly, amiable service, solid cocktails.....we (the Missus) would definitely return for those fries.

Shift Kitchen & Bar
107 N San Francisco St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 5pm - 9pm

We'd had a pretty busy 24 hours....we drove from San Diego, got stuck on the I-17, bought a new car in Flagstaff, drove to Page and spent the night, visited Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, and were really enjoying Flagstaff. Man, would I sleep well on this evening. Dreaming of red sandstone shapes rising toward the sky......

Thanks for stopping by!

I Finally Get the Chicken Wings from Nanay's Best BBQ

So, one of the folks I know who I know loves Nanay's Best BBQ sent me a text telling they had the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings available. It was just after 10am and I had meetings coming up at 11. So, instead of heading to what would be my usual choice and headed a bit further down the road back to Nanay's.

I did notice they had a tray of Chicken Wings out; which were a lot darker than typical S&P Chicken Wings.....no spicy pork this time ("today is chicken....tomorrow we have pork" so I guess they alternate).

Frankly, I think I enjoy the spicy chicken more than the pseudo-sisig spicy pork. The chicken was more moist and tender. It also did better with the rather mild spice. I do enjoy the atcharang sili (pickled peppers) which really "wakes the dish up". Other than that; it's a basic turo-turo dish.

As for the chicken wings; well the three wings provided were still a bit crunchy; not crisp, more like crunchy. The meat was a bit on the dry side and there definitely wasn't that "magical crack-like savory-saltiness" of decent salt and pepper chicken wings, no hints of garlic either. I guess these were passable for steam table wings; but I doubt I'll have them again.

I guess I'm going to have to "bust out" of my Covid-19 range and head on down to Royal Mandarin.

Nanay's Best BBQ
6715 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 10am - 5pm

Negi Pon from Menya Ultra

In the comments of my most recent post on Karami Ramen, superstar "FOY" (friend of yoso) Junichi mentioned the Negi Pon form Menya Ultra. And while Junichi said it wasn't quite as good as Tori Nanban, I was intrigued. The Missus recently requested the Ramen Kit from Menya Ultra; so I thought I'd give it a try. I had always thought the marinade for the Karaage at Menya was pretty good; though in terms of texture it often wasn't crisp enough and was sometimes a bit on the tough side. Still, scallions, ponzu oil, and mayo? Since we'd be having the ramen for dinner; I thought what the heck and ordered the five piece Negi Pon ($6.95) to have for lunch.

I wasn't sure how it would hold up on the drive home; but it did quite well.

I didn't expect it to be particularly crisp; but it was not bad; the savory-saltiness of the marinade used for the karaage was nicely balanced out by the acidity and mild pungency of the scallion. The mayo added a rich-creaminess which might be a bit much for folks. The chunks of chicken were fairly generous and after a while all that mayo might have been a bit too much of a good thing for me.

It did help that I ate it with some kyuri and takana (mustard greens - which always remind me of my grandmother and mom who used to make the stuff); which really helped to balance the richness of the dish out.

While I still probably enjoy the Tori Nanban from Okan more; there's no way I'd do takeout with that. I'm not opposed to having this again; it's not bad at all.

Thanks for the recommendation Junichi!

Menya Ultra Ramen
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
858-571-2010
Hours:
Daily 11am - 2pm, 5pm - 8pm

Have a safe week everyone!

Midweek Meanderings - Catching Up with Dennis of A Radiused Corner and Recently Consumed

Just a few items for your Wednesday consumption.

Catching Up With Dennis:

I've had a at least half a dozen emails and comments asking me if I'd heard from Dennis of A Radiused Corner. Dennis and I trade emails every so often and if he'd kindly just let folks who enjoy (and miss) his blog knows what's being going on and how he's doing. And of course, being the great guy he his, he was more than happy to answer a few questions.....

And so without further ado; here it is:

It's been a while since you've posted, so what's been going on with Dennis of A Radiused Corner?

Hi Kirk! Getting a promotion a few years back probably contributed the biggest to the damper on blogging. I still regularly photo document my meals (which is pretty normal these days but back then was considered peculiar if your friends found out...). I visit my family every other year in Japan and still enjoy visiting nostalgia inducing joints and quirky shops. Looking back I guess I always appreciated most the intangibles of meal experiences.(?)

I recall running into you a couple of times at Nijiya before the pandemic hit and haven't seen you in a bit, how has life been during these times? Where, if any places have you been frequenting for groceries, take-out, and dining in?

I visit Nijiya occasionally to buy my preferred brand of dashi shoyu, tofu and bonito flakes. As much as I'd like to support my local businesses I actually haven't been eating out at all and been making simple meals at home. (A good excuse to finally use those fancy knives I've accrued over the years, lol.) I think with all my family being in Japan I'm extra cautious to not get sick.

For all the folks, like me who read, enjoyed, and followed A Radiused Corner, should we hold out hope that you'll surprise us with another post one of these days? Or do you have another platform on Social Media where we can see what's going on with you?

I may just pick it back up right where I left off one of these days. Definitely have a backlog of content. I'm more active on Instagram now which a few of my food blogger friends follow but it's actually a personal account that I don't share with the public at the moment.

And finally, anything you want me to pass along to fans of A Radiused Corner?

Yikes, fans?? I'm blushing. Popularity or monetization was never my goal for the blog (if you can tell by its odd name). I think I wanted an outlet for all the photos I'd take, and maybe try to get better at writing at the same time. I still cringe at my ramblings on especially early posts. I don't plan to take the blog down though, warts and all. Cherish the friends I made through it, including you Kirk!

Thanks for the update Dennis! And yes, we do miss your posts and whenever you're ready to start posting again we'll be here!

And to end things up; here are a couple of things I made this past weekend, before this heatwave.......

Here's the porcini ravioli from Trader Joe's with a Porcini-Cremini Sauce:

And I just got my order from Salumi Chicago and the Missus was craving Padrons with Chorizo...….I just subbed out Shishito Peppers instead.

Happy hump day!

Takeout from Chaba Thai Kitchen

Returning from picking up the ramen kit from Menya, my eyes veered toward Mercury Village Shopping Center....you know, where Sizzling Pot King, Pho Fusion, and the "Sign of Doom" is located. I noticed that Chaba Thai was open and decided to see what their hours were. I really didn't have much luck there when they first opened, but it had been a good number of years since those visits and I thought why not do some takeout.

I went ahead and placed a takeout order online and went tp pick it up on my way home to check on Frankie.

Chaba is currently only doing takeout orders and on my visits, they seem to be doing decent business.

I decided to order the Tod Mun Pla (fishcake - $6.95) and the Nua Nam Tok ($10.95), which I ordered spicy. There was actually five people in front of me when I went to get my takeout, all to pick-up orders.

Here's what things looked like when I unpacked the containers at home.

The Tod Mun was actually not bad; decent chew and texture, nice Kaffir Lime Leaf fragrance and flavor, the pickles really added another layer of flavor and I also enjoyed the fried basil leaves as well.

As for the Nam Tok…..well, take a quick look......

First off, I ordered this "spicy"....you see any chilies? The grey color really didn't add anything to the presentation. There was a lack of roasted rice powder, the meat was rubbery, and had a metallic tinge to it. There was so much insipid liquid floating around as well. All the herbs were starting to brown. This was just not very good at all.

And so; I could have just called it quits after this....but heck, that fishcake was pretty good. And, since it had been so many years since my previous set of visits, I decided to give Chaba another try and I'm glad I did. I looked over the menu and found something I was interested in trying; the Khao Kluk Kapi (Shrimp Paste Fried Rice) with Honey Pork ($10.95).

This was by far the best item I'd had at Chaba to date. The pork was adequately tender; not falling apart, but with a light toothsomeness of well braised meet. The sweet-salty tones went really well with the rest of the dish. The fried egg had been seasoned nicely; it reminded me of a "lightweight" Khai Jeaw, without the ground pork, but there definitely was a touch of fish sauce in it.

And that rice....I ordered it medium spicy and it did have a good "kick" to it. But man, that shrimp paste really made this such a savory treat...….I must be missing Bagoong Rice! The rice was nicely coated.....I really enjoyed it.

And I even enjoyed the slices of green apple with this dish as well as it added a nice tannic-sourness that actually helped to level out the dish.

In fact, I went back for more a few days later. Unfortunately, I received a call after placing my online order telling me that they were out of the Khao Kluk Kapi. Bummer. The really nice young man recommended I try the BBQ and Crispy Pork Over Rice ($10.95)

This wasn't to my taste. The Moo Daeng was dry, tough, and lacked the sweet-salty-savory tones of a good BBQ Pork, you can just tell by the color. There was no caramelization to the meat....in fact; it kinda looked like kamaboko (Japanese fish cake). It came with the standard issue reddish sauce which really didn't do much for the dish. The Khao Moo Krob (crispy pork) was better in flavor, though the pieces were hard and dry instead of crisp. The rice was mushy and the boiled egg dry and overcooked. And it's a good thing I'm not a big eater, because this was barely enough to fill me up.

Well, at last I got one dish I really like from Chaba and as I was going ahead with this post; the Missus was lamenting the fact that Thai Papaya was still closed. And from my discussions with the folks at the Original Sab E Lee, several of the dishes the Missus really enjoys at Thai Papaya aren't on the menu at TOSEL. The Missus was really missing the version of Kai Yiew Ma Pad Kra Pow (Spicy Thousand Year Old Eggs) at Thai Papaya. I recalled seeing that on the menu at Chaba and decided to order that and the Khao Kluk Kapi (which they thankfully had) for dinner.

The Missus really enjoyed the Spicy Basil Chicken with Century Egg (Kai Yiew Ma Pad Kra Pow - $12.95).

In fact, She enjoyed it soooo much that I barely got a whiff (nice Thai Basil fragrance) of the dish. She did tell me that the medium spicy heat level was good. I'm glad She enjoyed the dish.

And She even poached (pun intended) the egg off my dish. Though I managed to keep most of the rice and pork for myself.

I'm glad to have found a couple of "keeper" dishes at Chaba. I'm tempted to try some of the other items on the menu; though my previous experience with the Pad See Ew and Kai Yaang leaves me somewhat gun shy. For now; I'll just be happy ordering the two dishes we enjoy from Chaba.

Chaba Thai Kitchen
8010 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 9pm