mmm-yoso!!!

Honolulu - Lunch at SXY Szechuan and the Honolulu Coffee Experience Center

After an evening of revisits, we awoke the next morning with...well, no major plans other than doing a bunch of shopping. We had reservations for dinner and needed to get the usual...you know Lupicia, Hawaii Cookie Company, a couple of stuffs we needed for this trip, etc. We had thought of driving to a couple of places but ended up not using the car at all during our stay at the Ala Moana Hotel! We just had fun walking around.

We started off needing some caffeine to start the day. There are a couple of places really close, but instead, I wanted to walk the couple of blocks over to the corner of Kapiolani and Kalakaua. This is where the  "main" location of Honolulu Coffee, which I used to have when my office was located in downtown. I hadn't had their coffee in ages and I guess now they are a major chain!

Another reason I wanted to visit was that old timers like me will remember when this was the location of Coco's Coffee House (before that it was Kau Kau Corner - but I'm not that old!), which closed and was replaced by the Hard Rock Cafe in 1987.

So, that's what it kinda looks like now. We crossed on over and walked on in.

It's a pretty nice space. It's in a circular design, with a coffee roasting machine at the center.

At the front is where you place your order. The folks working are really friendly.

The Missus ordered a Peaberry Pour Over, I got a Cold Brew, and was a bit hungry, but didn't want anything too sweet. The young man recommended the Elote Scone, toasted, with a friendly warning of "it might be too salty, though." The drill goes this way, all basic coffee drinks and pastries are served at the counter. They call your name and you pick up your order. Cold Brew is specially made at this counter in the back by the area you can buy coffee beans.

You are given a number and they'll deliver the pour over to your table.

Also, all the pastries for the chain in HNL are made here.

Of course my order was ready first.

   The Cold Brew was ok, on the milder side. The scone was pretty good, not overly dense, nice chunks of corn, and not too sweet. I did not find it to be overly salty. Quite filling to be sure.

The Missus's pour over was delivered on a tray with two cups on the side.

The Missus said it seem to lack "character", She is also more into natural processed African beans and this was washed process and fairly mild.

Still, we liked the "vibe" of the place; think of it as a local version of a Starbucks Reserve Roastery.

Honolulu Coffee Experience Center
1800 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815

After our coffee we headed up Kalakaua. I showed the Missus where we lived for a short time. It was a cheap apartment, I had to support my Mom by those days. It cracks me up that it is now a parking lot....probably makes more money than the apartment did?

I then took the Missus to Don Quijote because most other places weren't open yet. Of course, you might remember it as Holiday Mart and then Daiei? Mega chain "Donki" owns many markets you might know, like Marukai, Times, Big Save, and even Gelson's. Anyway, this location of Don Quijote is open 24 hours It's huge; think of it like a huge Asian Grocery combined with Daiso on steroids. It kept the Missus busy for over an hour!

At which time we could head to Ala Moana to do our shopping. By the time we were done we decided to drop off our bags to our room and get some lunch. It was quite hot and we wanted to walk to lunch. I mentioned a place I'd read about on Kathy's wonderful Onolicious Hawaii, with the interesting name of SXY Szechuan. It's got an interesting location facing the parking lot on the second floor of the Kona Street side of Ala Moana, right where the ramp comes up from Piikoi. San Diego has been quite the wasteland for Sichuan in recent years and some Liang Cai and a veggie sounded good.

It was just after opening time for lunch; 11am and we were the first customers served.

The place isn't very big, though it also wasn't too busy on this day. There was only one other party eating during our entire meal.

We ordered two liang cai and some ong choy.

First up was the veggie. Man, this was so tender!

Even the stems! Great garlic tones; just enough salt and pepper, the Missus loved it.

We also got the Fuqi Fei Pian a favorite of hours. 

This had a lot more slices of beef than tripe; but the tripe was so tender as was the beef, which in this case seemed to be brisket. The seasoning had decent spice, good ma-la (numbing hot) with a balance of sweet and sour flavors. It wasn't overly salty and could have perhaps used more garlicky-pungent tones, but this was pretty good overall.

The last item was something I saw on Kathy's post on SXY; the Pork Belly with Garlic.

   Slices of pork belly wrapped around cucumber; looking at it, we were reminded of what we'd had Mountain House. There was a good amount of garlic, but the pork belly was too thick which really made it gummier than we like. While the cucumber did add a nice palate cleansing refreshing note, the overall flavor seemed a bit off balance. It needed more spicy, sweet, and savory. Funny thing, we dumped all the drippings from the Fuqi Fei Pian on the remainder of this dish and we enjoyed it much more. Still, the version at Mountain House is a step above this. Though, we did enjoy our meal. If we weren't staying in a hotel and unafraid to have leftovers, we definitely would have ordered more.

Still, this was a nice meal, the spice really had an almost cooling effect on us as we walked back to our room.

SXY Szechuan (Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814

We decided to have nice nap in air-conditioned comfort, then do a bit more shopping before heading off to dinner!

Thanks for stopping by!

Honolulu - Revisits to 8 Fat Fat 8 and Agave & Vine

In case you noticed; it's been kinda quiet here the last couple of days...... We're back "home" on Oahu enroute to another destination. We're spending a few days on each leg of the trip. Usually, Cathy will take over the posting duties, but she is quite busy this time around. So, I'll try to do posts when I am able to.

We flew out on HAL again. It's a fairly long flight so we enjoy the lie flat first class seats; though the planes are looking a bit worn with chips and stains, and such.

And we do wish that HAL had a lounge at SAN, but perhaps things will change with the recent merger with Alaska.

We do like the crew on HAL, very nice and friendly. And while having a 930am flight means it's just to early to "partake" in certain liquid refreshments......though we were amazed to see others just going for it! I mean, like four mai tais going for it....and that's only what I colunted before taking my nap!

And on this flight, we enjoyed the Mushroom Frittata, which also featured tender broccoli.

And the Honey Dew Melon was so sweet and refreshing.

And since "FOY" Peter really enjoyed the photo of the "Aloha Shirt" salt and pepper packet on our last HAL post, here's what it looked like this time! This one is for you Peter!

I managed about an hour nap while the Missus got in a good 2-3 hours.

We always love the views when arriving.....

This time around we again decided to spend a couple of nights in town.....again at the Ala Moana Hotel. When I asked the Missus what She wanted for Her first meal....I had the next night's dinner planned....She said 8 Fat! So, my apologies, I realize I just recently did a post on 8 Fat Fat 8 and hope you don't mind another? I know it's pretty late on a Saturday night, so I'll keep it short.

Of course, I got my usual.

This time, in anticipation of what we were ordering; the Missus went with a Tsingtao.

As for the food; well it's been really hot and humid so we decided to skip the Crispy Gau Gee this time around. And replace it with something more refreshing. I know I've mentioned how much I enjoy Cold Ginger Chicken, which is quite similar to Kwai Fei Ji. While the Missus doesn't like those type of cold chicken dishes; She does love the sauce. There was Cold Ginger Tofu on the menu, so we decided to try that.

First off, the tofu was nice and "beany". The pungent-aromatic-"spicy" ginger was really refreshing and savory. This was quite enjoyable....the Missus has now directed me to make this when we get back home.

The other two dishes, the Ong Choi and the Fat Fat Chicken were every bit as good as on our previous visit.

It's really fun to note that after all of these years; the Missus is really enjoying the "local flavors".....it's not just about poke anymore. 

As an awesome bonus, we chatted a bit with one of the Servers and mentioned that I had been a customer from the opening of 8 Fat back in the mid-80's. It just so happened that Mary was working. She is the daughter of the original owner of 8 Fat, Sai. She took over when he passed on in 2003 and has run it ever since....now longer than even Sai did! I had spoken to her a couple of time way back when, but of course that was so long ago. We had a wonderful time chatting about her dad; the "old regulars", many iof whom have passed on or are just too old for "Pau Hana" time. She also now has a 14v year old son. These days, she usually works until 5 or 6, then has to head home, but on this evening she happened to be inhouse. She told us that a Japanese series was coming by to do a short piece on 8 Fat! That sounded so awesome.

We talked about what kept me coming to 8 Fat, the vibe, the folks, and of course the food and she left us with something her dad always told her:

"You can get Bud Light everywhere....but you cannot get good Chinese food everywhere!"

8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille
1327 S Beretania St
Honolulu, HI 96814

After dinner we walked back to the hotel....but like the last time, we decided to stop by Lanai in Ala Moana Center for a nightcap. It was Thursday, so I got $2 off the cocktail I had there the last time; the smoky - citrusy Bad Decisions ($12 - $10 on Thursdays).

We had a fun time talking to the woman who runs the place. She loves Tequila, so we chatted about our visit there!

Agave & Vine (In the Lanai - Ala Moana Center)
1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814

Yes, I know it's kind of a rerun...but it just goes to show how much we enjoyed things previously.

And we'd just like to let you know; because of our travels, things might be kinda sporadic here over the next few weeks! I'll try my best to get some posts done!

So, as always, thanks so much for dropping by!

Lunch at Chef Jun

Chef Jun was one of those "local" places that opened in Bay Ho, back in 2019. While most of what I'd gathered from folks who ate there; it was the "rolls" that they liked, even though they claimed to serve "Kappo", think higher end small dishes and such. I actually did takeout a couple of times during Covid and wasn't too impressed. Still, I made a note to revisit once things settled down....apparently the note got lost...or perhaps my "dog ate it"? Anyway, I'm finally trying to catch up on things from those days. I decided to head on over for lunch.

I arrived at 1145 and was surprised to see a couple of tables already occupied. I guess there's a real demand for places like this in the area. The nice young lady greeted me and I told her a seat at the "bar" would work out perfectly fine for me.

The sushi bar is the "modern" high bar, where you can't see the fish, nor really interact with the Itamae. I guess what I saw at Moment Sushi is kinda the norm these days?

I decided to go with the Sashimi Lunch Special which is priced at $25.

I was happy to see that fresh wasabi is provided.

The lunch came with a sizeable salad.

   Which was perfectly fine, except that the Sesame Dressing was quite salty. I came to find out that this is the "house" dressing that they actually sell. My favorite item in the salad were the kyuri-asazuke, the pickled cucumbers which held up well to the salty dressing.

The miso soup arrived next, which was perfectly fine, and scaldingly hot. It wasn't watered down, savory-beany, not overly salty.

And then the sashimi arrived.

   I'm not going to go into excruciating detail here. I will say, that my favorite item was the scallop; the hotate was tender and sweet. 

There was perfectly fine salmon; most of the slices were quite thin, the Spicy Tuna Roll, which I chose over the California Roll was fine as it was mostly fish, not overly sauced. The shiromi and hamachi were dry, but ok. The unagi was really dry and mealy.

And then there was this.

    Was it what I thought it was? Because you can't really interact with the Itamae, I asked the young lady working and she confirmed that it was Escolar (aka "white tuna"), which as far as I know is still banned in Japan. You can Google and find out why. Anyway, it's not my favorite fish; I find it mushy and tasteless.

That really poorly cut, thin slice of maguro was also pretty bad, quite metallic in flavor, but I guess it wouldn't matter if you're using the fish in all those rolls, right?

As a whole, this was fairly mediocre and left me wondering if this is what $25 bought these days? And would it be different if I came for dinner and ordered things ala carte? Still, the environment, which is totally not what I enjoy at a sushi bar....yes, maybe I'm an old fart....but part of the joy of eating there is the interaction between the Itamae and customer...perhaps that makes a difference these days?

And perhaps folks who dine at Jun can tell me what they enjoy here? This place is in my neighborhood and I'd like to support it!

Chef Jun
4033 Avati Dr.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Tues - Fri  1130am - 9pm
Sat - Sun   4pm - 9pm
Closed on Monday

Pho Tan

Life is kind of interesting, sometimes things just happen. A good friend, who shall remain nameless....you'll soon see why, had recommended a place for Jiaozi......which based on previous experience I wasn't too keen on, after all, I'd been to the short lived location once and never did a post. Still, because I was going to be in the area, I decided to drop by. Unfortunately, or more perhaps, fortunately, the place was closed.

Well, perhaps this time my timing was good, right? After all, I wasn't looking for alternate sources of protein on this day.

But, it was time for an early lunch, and I had a place on my list, which "FOY" SDJulie mentioned in the comments on my last post on Pho Duyen Mai. I thought it was just the right place at the right time.

Pho Tan. I think this used to be Pho Poway, or something like that? Anyway, I walked on in; the shop was fairly empty except for a couple of folks doing takeout.

I was guided to a table. Thankfully, unlike what Julie had experienced and mentioned, the AC was working well on this day.

The young lady working was very nice. I looked over the menu and in the end decided to get good 'ol #17, the pho with well done flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe ($14.50).

Soon enough a rather sparse plate of sprouts and basil was delivered to my table.

And then a rather large bowl of pho was delivered. I wasn't expecting it to be so large!

  First thing I noticed was how dark the broth was. Second thing was what was slightly submerged. Good lord, it was a huge slice of brisket! Unfortunately, it was too thick, and ended up being very chewy.

The scalding broth had a hint of that "San Diego sweetness" that pho seems to have here, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was super hot, not overly salty, with a hint of beefiness. Not bad at all.

 I had to kind of take my time since that broth was super hot, so I'm not sure if it contributed to the noodles, being delivered in the typical clump on the bottom of the bowl, being on the mushy side.

I was surprised to see so much tripe and tendon in this bowl; along with all that chewy flank, this was a meat lover's dream bowl. Sadly, the tripe seemed not cooked long enough, and like that brisket, was super tough. Think of trying to chew on rubber bands.

The flank while being a bit chewy was not as tough as the brisket and had some nice beefiness. Based on all of the other proteins in the bowl, I expected the tendon to be hard and crunchy, but it was quite tender.

Overall, I'd say it measures up well to just about anything I can get in Kearny Mesa. I'd gladly return in an instant for a revisit if it wasn't almost a 50 mile round trip for me. The folks working seem to be very nice. As it stands, I'm glad I checked the place out and will be sure to return to try other things on the menu; i.e. the Banh Mi Bo Kho, when I'm in the area.

After all, I won't be getting dumplings in that other shop anytime soon!

Pho Tan
12316 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 10am - 830pm
Closed on Tuesday

Thanks for reminding me about this place Julie!

Cuisinery Food Market (Eurofood Depot) Revisited

Since Eurofood Depot moved and became the Cuisinery I've been stopping by every 2-3 weeks. Of course, getting the escargot is a must. It's now a staple of the household. I'm usually wary when places are taken over, but in the case of Eurofood Depot, it seems to have really improved the variety of items. There are, of course stuffs that I won't get, like tamales, bacalao croquettes, various seafood, prepared meals, and non-French items. But, we have come up with some items we've enjoyed.

What we've also noticed is that prices on some items have gone down by a buck as well.

And it seem that the Cuisinery is always coming up with some kind of marketing thing. Recently, they started opening on Sundays, and with that, it seems that they now have coffee, tea, and donuts....

Not sure about this....seems very 7-11.......

I do like that the charcuterie and cheese selection has been expanded. Especially since they now carry Epoisses, which Lazy Acres and WF also carry; but they sell it in half sizes.

Yes, it's that stinky, washed rind, cheese that we enjoy. In that previous post I shared the urban legend that Epoisses is banned on public transport in Paris (it's not).

The Missus also enjoys the Brie-style sheep based Perail Papillon.

These are not always in stock; so if you specifically want it, I've been advised to call ahead.

All of this is good, but for us, it's a couple of the frozen food items that we enjoy. Yes, there's the escargot, but after trying a couple of items....yes, there were some not so great choices, there are two that we keep in the freezer for those "lazy nights".

The Bacon Wrapped Wagyu was a surprise.

I do two phases in the air fryer, starting with a air roast and ending with an air fry to crisp up the bacon. I was surprised that the bacon crisps up nicely. It's a savory-salty-beefy treat.

Really nice with a crisp beer or glass of wine.

The other being the Caramelized Onion, Feta, and Bacon Bites. I'll usually make half a box. I'll do the air fryer thing, starting at the prescribed temp, then raising it up by 20 degrees at the end to crisp things up.

It turns out light, crisp, sweet-savory-salty.......

This was a nice surprise. Trader Joe's has a version of this that was terrible, so I didn't have high hopes, but this one is another keeper.

I enjoy shopping at Cuisinery Food Market. This is what I'd hoped Picard was going to be (it was not). There always seems to be something new; whether I'm motivated to try it out is another story, but it's always interesting. Nice folks working as well.

Cuisinery Food Market
7340 Miramar Rd. Suite 105
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri  10am - 6pm
Saturday   10am - 5pm
Sunday      9am - 2pm

Road Trip - The Dog & Bear Tavern and Where We Met (Tahoma)

After a satisfying lunch at My Thai in South Lake Tahoe, we headed up the 89. It was a quick half hour drive to our destination in Tahoma, a town on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, with a population of just over 1,000. The area was recommended by one of the Missus's coworkers. I really wasn't too sure about the location, but we ended up enjoying the area.

Other than all the outdoorsy stuff, there's not much going on in the area. The town has one pretty nice Market/Deli, a burger place, a pizza/gastropub/wine bar, and a coffee/gelato shop. We had an Vrbo just a few blocks from the restaurants and coffee shop. The little cottage was very comfortable, though we had to get used to using "bear fences", making sure to arm them whenever we left.

Once we got settled, we walked the couple of blocks down Pine Street to check out the two restaurants and coffee shop.

The coffee-ice cream shop was open. And the Missus decided on a coffee while I went in a different "direction".

I went with a small Pink Grapefruit Gelato, which was nice and refreshing.

Look who else wanted a Gelato!

Where We Met
7000 West Lake Blvd.
Tahoma, CA 96142

We then crossed over West Lake Boulevard and walked to the end of Pine Street. There's a small beach with a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe.

We strolled back to the cottage, then drove on over to the General Store for a few things and headed back. After relaxing for a bit, we decided to head out for an early dinner at the Dog & Bear Tavern, which was in the same little mall as Where We Met.

It was only 430 and the place was pretty busy. We got one of the two tops. It seems like the place really specializes in pizza, but we found the rest of the menu quite interesting.

The menu was totally not what we expected and we took some time to look over things. The Missus had a nice glass of wine. I got a crisp Pilsner.

We decided on two items; the first being the Chicken Liver Mousse Flatbread. The portion was quite generous.

Well, this was quite a surprise; in a good way. The flatbread was fluffy and yeasty, I can understand why folks would like the pizza here. The duck liver mousse was creamy, smooth, slightly offal-ly, rich, with a slight bitter-sweet finish. There was a touch of pungency and the duck cracklins' were like....well, "crack". The strawberries added a sweet-fruity-acidity to the dish. This was quite nice.

The other dish we got was the Duck & Kimchi Loaded Potatoes. It just seemed like a bit of an odd combo, so we were interested in trying it.

This one might have been a bit too much; the rich-gamy duck was over taken by the sourness of the kimchi. Goat cheese and that gochujang mayo just piled on with tart sourness. The potatoes, roasted in duck fat were really tasty on their own, but this was a bit over-the-top for us.

Still, this was by far our favorite meal during this road trip. The folks working were very friendly and so were the locals. We would end up returning the following evening.

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

After dinner, we decided to take a walk. The Missus's coworker who comes up here a lot recommended heading to Sugar Pine Point Beach for paddle boarding. We planned to head on over the next morning, but decided to take a walk over, about a mile and a quarter each way. There's a path that follows the road that is lined with soaring trees.

Gosh, it was so beautiful. We got to the park, strolled thru the parking lot, and then walked over to the shore.

I can understand why people love it here!

We'd return early the next morning to ensure a good parking spot. 

We walked on back.....

We decided to head back into the Dog & Bear for a nightcap. This time we had a seat at the bar. The Missus got a glass of wine and I got an Amber Ale.

It was a nice way to end the day!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Croissant Files - La Clochette Cafe & Bakery (Mission Valley)

In one of my recent Croissant posts, "FOY" Kathy mentioned La Clochette du Coin on Cass. I had actually tried to visit once, but there was a huge line and they ere out of Butter Croissants by the time I got into the shop. Still, I had been planning to try and visit again; but then faith...or something intervened. I had heard that La Chlochette opened a shop in Mission Valley, in the newish enclave of Civita. Since I had to make a TJ's run, I thought I should try and see if the shop was open. I hadn't been in this area of Mission Valley in ages. Man has it changed; with a large park, they now have a Saturday Farmers Market and food trucks on Tuesdays. It's a far cry from what MV was when we first moved to San Diego in 2001 and lived off Friars Road for a couple of years!

And while there seemed to be a good amount of traffic I found some parking on Civita Boulevard and walked around the corner to see that the bakery was open.

This was a fairly early Sunday visit and the place was quite empty. I walked on in and took a look at the offerings.

While there wasn't anything the Missus was keen on trying; I zeroed in on the Butter Croissant (of course).

So, I simply got one Butter Croissant ($5.25), then headed over to Trader Joe's to get some shopping done.

Once home, I put everything away, then it was Croissant Time. The color of the croissant was fairly dark, though it had a nice "rise" and good layering.

 The pastry was quite flakey and crisp. The interior a bit wet and on the doughy side, but acceptable. The amount of salt was good, but it was sorely lacking in butter.

Too bad, because this definitely had potential. 

Still, this location is still in the soft opening phase. The Grand Opening isn't until October 5th. So, I'll probably visit some time after that to see how things are.

I want to thank KathyH for the reminder on La Clochette and if she is reading this; does the croissant look the same as the version in PB?

La Clochette Cafe & Bakery (Mission Valley)
7995 Civita Blvd. Suite 11
San Diego, CA 92108

 

Midweek Meanderings - Paragon Deli Closes, Pho Nom Coming to Convoy, and Wooltari Premium K-Food Coming to Clairemont Mesa

Just a couple of things for this "hump day".

Pho Nom Coming to Convoy:

I saw this when driving down Convoy, in the old Mr Moto Pizza location.

That drawing looked really familiar, so I asked one of my contacts, and sigh...yes, it's the Viet Nom - Formoosa - Steamy Piggy folks. I guess Convoy needs more over-priced, hipster-concept Vietnamese food, right? 

I wonder if they're going to do that "get a free dessert for a Yelp review" which you have to show your Server before getting your freebie stuff?

4646 Convoy St. Suite 114
San Diego, CA 92111

Wooltari Premium K-Food Coming to Clairemont Mesa:

Now this one has me a bit interested. I saw this sign when I had to get some hard wood charcoal at Barbecues Galore for a recent revisit to June Lake (more on that later)

I know folks who do online ordering from this company. They do a lot of prepared, frozen, gourmet type Korean products. It'll be interesting to check out.

According to Google, they are set to open on October 3rd.

7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

And Sadly, Paragon Deli Closes:

Man, this one caught me off guard. Cathy sent me a text with this screenshot. This seems to have happened rather suddenly?

I know it was a favorite of Cathy's and while I only did one post on the shop, I had gone back a couple more times. I was meaning to return and get another Francesinha, but sadly that will not happen now.

Man, we recently lost Perry's; Tip Top is closing at the end of the month, and now this..... Quite sad.

2724 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106