mmm-yoso!!!

Asian Noodles - I Want My Mami

*** As of August 2011 Asian Noodles has closed

We pass this shop just about every time we go to Golden Chopsticks and Seafood City in National City.

And the Gal who works there is always waving us in whenever we're looking in the window. So I asked around about this place and found that they make their own noodles, and that the dish to order was the Pancit Canton(Chow Mein - $6.50).

And so one afternoon we gave in to temptation and decided to have a snack, and ordered the Pancit Canton:

What came to the table was a very large plate of stir-fried noodles with beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, and various vegetables. The sauce was very thin, soy sauce based, and very, very salty. And the noodles were much too soft, almost mushy. This was a dish that was really not to my taste. I found out later that the noodles were supposed to be cooked soft, so I thought this was pretty much the end of this. Just something that I would post about on when I had time. But that was not to be so.

You see, I made a point to make sure to see a Documentary called Chinese Restaurants on The Islands during the San Diego Film Festival. It was an engrossing film that looked at the Chinese diaspora, through the Chinese Restaurant. The film covered three different Families on the islands of Trinidad, Mauritius and Cuba. In each location "Chinese cuisine" had evolved to account for tastes and resources. During the film, the front window of Asian Noodles stuck in my mind:

It said, "Home of the Famous Ma Mon Luk Family", "From Manila Chinatown". I just knew that there was a story here. So again I asked around and mostly just learned that Ma Mon Luk was a famous figure in "Chinoy" cuisine, the blending of Filipino and Chinese food, that includes Siopao and Siomai, the Filipino version of Charsiu Bao and Siu Mai.

After googling Ma Mon Luk, I found an article in The Manila Bulletin Online about Ma Mon Luk. In short Ma Mon Luk,  was a poor migrant from Canton, who traveled to the Philippines in 1918. Though trained as a teacher in his homeland, he found his fortune creating and peddling what is now known as Siopao and Siomai; and most importantly, the dish now known as Mami; the Chinese based noodle in broth. My favorite quote from the article: "In prosperity Ma Mon Luk was dressed in a felt hat, de hilo amaricana cum vest and glittering gold watch chain across his chest. It hid the fact that his left shoulder was lower than his right, a result of supporting the pinga (carrying pole) in the hard beginning days of his youth. Tango shoes hid his feet calloused from a once-daily routine of walking over the bridge to the ice plant to save 5 centavos on caretela fare."

So what did this mean? It meant I had to pay a visit to Asian Noodles, and get me some Mami! So I found myself in the restaurant, and again the Ultra Energetic Liza, the Gal who always tried to wave us into the place, took my order. This time for the Beef Mami ($5.50):

In all honesty I was expecting to be underwhelmed. But to my surprise, this was a decent Beef Noodle soup. No, it wasn't Niu Rou Mein. The broth was a light beef broth, just faintly beefy, I'd been expecting the noodles to be mushy, but they were pretty good. Think somen in flavor and width, with a little bit more "pull", not bad, really. There were 3 "won tons", that could have been a bit more flavorful; but the beef made up for it all. The pieces of beef were very tender, with a bit of fat and tendon on each piece, and because of the nice soy and sweetness was obviously braised separately. Though it was not an especially large bowl, it filled me up. I'd definitely have this again. This beef noodle soup with a history.......

Asian Noodles
1430 E Plaza Blvd 
National City, CA 91950
10am - 8pm Daily

Local Kine Stuff in San Diego - Oh Poi! A Revisit to Orient Bowl/First Korean Market

On one of my recent visits to Dumpling Inn, I decided to check out Orient Bowl Market again, here's a post I did earlier. On my last visit there were Redondo's "Winners", yes it's called "Winners", not wieners, as well as Redondo's Portuguese Sausage, and S&S saimin. So, I dropped by to see if they still carried all of these. And to my surprise there was even more "local kine stuffs". But the item that surprised me the most was Da' Poi:

Yes, it's poi! It was frozen though, it's pretty much the first time that I've seen Taro Brand poi in San Diego($5.99). So if you're willing to buy frozen poi, you can find it here.

Along with S&S Saimin, there was Okahara Saimin(79 cents):

I actually prefer Okahara to S&S, and bought few packages. Boy did this make my day!

And now Orient Bowl stocks more then the Redondo's Portuguese Sausage. They have Purity(my favorite brand) as well as Gouvea's($3.49) brand:

I think I'll do a Port Sausage comparison in the near future, just to "jog my memory", if you know what I mean. They also have Frank's and one other inferior brand sausage. Also Keoki's brand Laulau and Kalua Pork are available, though I really don't care for "Keoki's" brand products.

As I walked the isles I kept finding "stuff", Hawaiian Sun and Aloha Maid Juices:

And even Diamond Soda, Saloon Pilot, and Creme Crackers:

So I picked up a package of Soda Crackers ($3.99) for the people at work. And of course it wouldn't be complete without the Guava Jelly:

Oh, and of course they have Aloha Shoyu($8.99/Gal):

So a pretty impressive visit, I guess I don't need to drive to Los Angeles for these anymore. I tried to find out what the Hawaii connection with this place is, but the Cashier really didn't understand what I was asking so I'll save that for another day. So, if you're looking for these "stuffs", you can find it at:

Orient Bowl/First Korean Market
4625 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Lucky Star Restaurant - Unlucky Visit

This morning we decided to pay a visit to Lucky Star Restaurant:

Lucky Star is known for reasonably priced Dim Sum, Seafood, and Cantonese dishes. We've been here more then a few times. In fact, we call it the "Big Red Barn", due to its large size, and reddish-shingled roof. The interior is cavernous, and there is a stage and dance floor for those ballroom type events and celebrations. In fact, I've recommended Lucky Star to more then a few people. But today, they'll be no food in this post. Why? Well because we never got to that point. Let me explain:

We got to Lucky Star at around 1045 this morning, and were seated promptly. We quickly noticed that the restaurant was less then a third full. Well, the table we were seated at was covered with a layer of oily residue, which meant that it really hadn't been cleaned well. But heck, I've eaten under worst circumstances. So we sat....at 1050 I looked at my watch, I noticed that most of the staff were busy cleaning up tables, even though the place is basically empty. And no had yet even acknowledged our existence. The table next to us with Four Guys sitting there obviously knew someone, because they were getting their water refilled. Next time I looked it was 1053 and the servers were milling around, and it still seemed we were invisible. At 1055, the Missus flagged down one of the Servers and asked for Tea and Water, she was told "Well, what kind tea?" So we said Jasmine is fine. 1059, our tea was dumped on our table with a simple "Here...tea". Funny, still no Dim Sum carts at our table, and where's our water? 1105, we noticed people who got seated after us are getting served, tea, water, the carts are there.... At 1109 we had seen enough. As we walked out the Missus had a few words with the Hostess, so I intervened. I explained what the situation was, and she asked if I wanted to speak to the Owner. I asked if it would really make a difference, and she said "No, not really". So we left. I also said if your servers think it's more important to bus tables in a restaurant that is two-thirds empty, then to get tea and water for patrons who have been sitting and waiting for 15 minutes, you've got some problems.

To put it bluntly, Lucky Star will never, ever see, another dollar of my hard earned money. period!

Seoul BBQ Restaurant

Before Buga, there was Boo Cho, and before Boo Cho, there was Seoul BBQ:

Nowadays, I mostly go to Seoul BBQ for the lunch specials, which range from $6.99 - $13.99. Seoul BBQ went through a major renovation about a year or two ago, which has made the interior alot more appealing and comfortable. And of course there are those two plasma televisions going:

Seoul BBQ is also home of something else; the infamous "dump and duck". That is several times I've had the Waitress show up take my order, "dump" my food, deliver my check while I'm eating, and totally disappear! Well attempting to go against odds I dropped in for lunch and had the Combination Kalbi/Naengmyun ($13.99). Things go as usual, water is dropped off, my order taken and the panchan delivered without a word:

The panchan was average, the Baechu(Nappa Cabbage) was better than the radish or the namul.

Soon the Naengmyun and vinegar is dropped off without a word:

Truly unremarkable, and fairly bland, I needed to add a ton of vinegar. The portion was rather large, but overall, not the refreshing dish I was anticipating.The Kalbi was also dropped off at the same time, along with the check, and the Waitress was never to be seen again, not that I would've recognized her......

For lunch cross-cut ribs are used for the Kalbi, for dinner the more traditional cut is served. Many people I know, enjoy the Kalbi at Seoul, probably because it's more on the "sweeter" side than most other places. The Kalbi was nice and tender, cooked perfectly. In all there were 6 "bones", the equivalent of two pieces. I really didn't think this lunch was worth $13.99, and the "dump and duck" was in fine form on this day. I never even got a water refill!

So just to push my luck, I found myself at Seoul again. Yes, a true glutton for punishment, or perhaps just a martyr to the devotees of the "dump and duck"! On this day I just decided on the Bulgogi lunch special ($7.99), first up, water and my order, then soup was delivered to my table as well as the two tables in front of me - bang, bang, bang!

The soup was a mild beef soup with miso(!!!) and spinach. This was actually a pretty nice combination, though the bitterness of the spinach was amplified. Oh, and the Waitress; well she made me crack up. As she delivered the soup, she said "You're Welcome". The only thing was I didn't even have a chance to say "Thank You", I guess she was just being proactive.....going down the aisle repeating "you're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome" as she dropped soup on each table.

The "Bento" style box along with the ubiquitous metal bowl of rice was delivered in no time.

In this "box" were four types of panchan; the baechu and fishcake were decent, the spinach and cucumber were terrible. The "namasu-like" pickles were very, very sour; and I must've made quite a face. The Waitress just "happened" to show up when I ate this. In my conspiracy filed paranoiac thoughts, I actually think she did this on purpose. A single drumette was provided, it had me thinking Chicken Alice, but in reality, it was more like Chicken Al. Not quite tasty enough.

4 pieces of Tempura and some dipping sauce were served. The eggplant and potato were very bland and the dipping sauce really did not do anything to help. The shrimp was pretty good, though the batter on it was a bit soggy, but the piece of squid was very tasty, in a oceany, briney kind of way.

The Bulgogi was soft, but could have used more flavor. It tasted under marinated, but overall was fine. I thought when taking into consideration the amount of food provided, that this lunch was worth the $7.99 price. Next time though, I'll order the Daeji Bulgogi, it looked really tasty. As I was eating our checks were delivered, all in a row again, "bam-bam-bam". And our Waitress even made an additional pass, going right down the row "You ok? You ok? You ok?" That's when I got it! Today was "Flight Attendant" day! I must've looked strange, sitting there with a stupid grin on my face. But suddenly I understood it all. As I left, I must have looked like a very satisfied customer, with that stupid smile on my face. Two of the Waitresses walked me to the door, and told me "Thank you, come again", though I was expecting "Have a nice trip......" But no "dump and duck" today, so I guess your mileage may vary!

To be fair and honest, one of the servers spent alot of time with a very indecisive couple, and really helped them out. Seoul BBQ is a very popular dinner destination with some of my Ex-Pat Kama'aina friends, they like the sweeter taste of the Kalbi and (Dak)Bulgogi. During dinner hours Seoul reverts back to the typical Korean gas-brazier type  Korean BBQ, it seems that the quality is better during the evening as well. Seoul BBQ's new menu is almost like an instructional booklet, with pages on "What is Korean BBQ?" and "What is Kim Chee?" for the uninitiated. I don't quite know what to make of that.

Seoul BBQ Restaurant
4344 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Wow, Laulau! And why Reid has Become a Legend

I was really thrilled this past Saturday; I received a package from Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz. In that little box were gel packs and 3 wonderful Laulau from Young's Fishmarket:

For those who don't know what Lau Lau is, it is cubes of pork, usually shoulder and a cube of fat, sometimes a small piece of salt fish wrapped in lu'au (young taro leaves), finally wrapped in Ti leaves, in sort of a neat bundle. The Laulau are then steamed for 4 hours or more. After heating them up this is what they look like when you open them up:

The aroma of Laulau is amazing! The leaves are moist and have a slightly "al dente" texture, the taste is close to say, collard greens without the bitterness. The pork is moist, and has absorbed the taste of the lu'au leaf - delici-yoso! This taste of home really made my weekend!

Reid you are an amazing guy, thanks so much!

I'm so amazed at how Reid managed to send this to me through the mail. And that's how Reid's become a sort of legend in our household. The Mother of a good friend of ours is also pretty much a Legend in our home.  For the sake of this story let's call her "Lola". When visiting "home" we'd have a meal with our good friends, their two wonderful Boys, all made by Lola. Lola absolutely adored the Missus, basically because the Missus adored Lola's cooking. Whether it was Kare Kare (Filipino Ox Tail Stew), Lumpia, or Her Adobo, Lola would watch my little 100lb Chinese Wife chow like a Longshoreman. Lola, like most "Lola's" are consumed with a desire to give and provide. So we'd be back home in Los Angeles, and receive one of those flat "shirt boxes" in the mail, and be totally amazed when there would be a pristine  Bibingka(Sweet Rice Cake) all wrapped up in the box. Or the most amazing thing of all, we once received a small box. When we opened the box amid the crumpled up newspapers was a round ball of tape(???), after several minutes of unwrapping the tape, there was a little bottle of home made Bagoong Alamang(Shrimp Paste), Lola had remembered how much the Missus enjoyed her Bagoong in the Kare Kare, and sent us some! We always considered Lola to be the "Legend of Postal Dexterity"; but now with  Reid's feat of sending me the Park's Brand Kim Chee Sauce, and now Laulau from Young's Fishmarket, he's joined Lola as a "Legend".....

Since I had some chicken thawing I made a little Chicken Katsu, Laulau, mixed plate:

I even made my own Tonkatsu Sauce for the Chicken:

1/2C Worcestershire Sauce
1/4C Sugar
1/4C Soy Sauce
1/3C Ketchup
Dash of 5 Spice Powder
1Tb Dijon Mustard mixed with 1Tb Water
Pepper

In a small pot combine first 5 ingredients. Reduce over low-medium heat, until reduced by 1/3. After reduced add mustard and pepper, mix well. Remove from heat, and let sauce cool. Will keep up to 2 weeks in a well sealed bottle.
Makes about 1 cup.

Sun Cafe and a Little Walking Tour

Ah, yes, another beautiful Seattle morning:

Just kidding...although the drizzly weather this past Sunday sure did remind me of Seattle.  When I'm on vacation I enjoy getting up early and watching the City "wake", I especially love going down to Stockton St in San Francisco, or Pike's Place Market in Seattle, early in the morning, and just watch the area slowly come alive. So this morning I decided to head down to our own Gaslamp District and give it the "tourist treatment". Also, I'd received this little brochure and map during one of the movies at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and took some time to read it. I'd known that San Diego once had a "Chinatown" but didn't know that it had been declared a Historical District. There's also a Sunday Farmer's Market in the same area, so that sealed the deal.

I had no problem finding parking on this misty Sunday morning; but I'd arrived at about 830, so the Farmer's Market stalls were still getting set up. I just decided to grab some breakfast and take a short "tour". I started at the corner of  3rd and J Street, at the location of the San Diego Chinese History Museum.

The Museum is located in the former Chinese Mission Building. As I walked up the street I was fairly surprised at what I noticed; like the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Building:

These buildings really stood out, standing beside all the downtown Condominiums and development. This area at 3rd and Island Street was the heart of Chinatown in the late 1800's and early 20th Century.

As I walked up Market Street, my stomach started growling. It was time for some grub. It was my intention to grab a bite at the The Field, my favorite Irish Pub. I'd been looking at trying one of their "boxty" breakfast's. But Sun Cafe on Market Street caught my eye:

According to what I read this building was built between 1873 and 1883, and is one of the oldest buildings in the area. The Obayashi family ran a shooting gallery and confectionary at this location, but by 1926 the soup that was served here became so popular that Sun Cafe became strictly a restaurant. The Jeong Family bought the business in 1963, and still runs the Cafe. When you enter you quickly notice the old Soda Fountain counter and the old wooden booths, it's like entering a little retro time capsule diner, circa 1950's:

I sat in one of the booths and ordered Two Eggs, Hash Browns, and Corned Beef Hash ($4.90). The food is strictly diner, and carried out in efficient form. The eggs scrambled, and there was a nice crust on the Hash. And of course, I had to have a good diner quality Cup O' Joe (70 cents):

A bit of trivia; Sun Cafe is featured in several scenes in the movie Almost Famous.

I left refreshed and ready to head over to the Farmer's Market, and so I headed back. On the way  back I noticed another Museum on the corner of  4th and Island. It was the William Hearth Davis House, a saltbox style house that was built in 1850. William Hearth Davis was one of San Diego's early pioneers; but did you know he had ties to Hawaii? Well it seems that Mr Davis was 1/4 Hawaiian, his grandmother Mahi was a ward of Kamehameha I. In fact he was known as "Kanaka" Bill. His full given name was William Hearth Ko'olaupoko Mahi-Davis. Amazing what you learn by reading brochures.

At this point, I headed back to the tiny Farmer's Market:

There really wasn't much going on, and only 2 vegetable vendors, and one flower vendor, though the Crepe booth was doing good business.  I did get some Dog Biscuits for Sammy and Frankie:

By this time it was almost 10am, and I started seeing alot more people. It was time to leave.

Isn't it amazing what a little pamphlet can provide. I'm looking at the stuff I usually discard quickly, a bit more closer in the future! (Except those that are handed to me in Vegas!)

Sun Cafe
421 Market St
San Diego, CA 92101
Open Daily 7am-230pm

San Diego Chinese Center Sunday CFM
4502 33rd St
San Diego, CA 92116

Oven Kalua Pork

A few weeks ago Reid from Ono Kine Grindz, and I exchanged a few Emails about Kalua Pork.  Reid, it seems had planned to do a few "theme" posts, and asked if I'd like to participate....and viola' another "joint cooking post" is born. Here's Reid's photgenic version.

So a few weeks ago, I took a trip down to the local 99 Ranch Market, and picked up a nice Pork Shoulder:

I picked up a good size roast that came in at a bit over 5 pounds. It's also good to get one with a good amount of fat on it. The main items I use for seasoning on my Kalua Pork is Hawaiian (Sea) Salt, and Wright's Liquid Smoke. The only ingredients listed on the liquid smoke bottle should be smoke and water. I usually get a bit of flack whenever I mention using liquid smoke; but look through Alan Wong's New Wave Luau and you'll notice that he uses Natural Liquid Smoke as well.

Oven Kalua Pork

3-5 lb Pork semi fatty piece pork butt/shoulder. If pork is very lean, get a piece of fatty pork belly to add.
3-5 Tb Sea Salt - I use Alaea & "Hawaiian Salt"
6 Tb Liquid smoke (check the bottle - the only ingredients are smoke & Water)
Pepper(optional)
4 cloves garlic(optional)
water

Score the pork deeply on all sides - rub with 3Tb salt and 3 Tb liquid smoke. Add a few turns of black pepper if you desire.

Wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Pour 1/4-1/3" of water into a roasting pan with 1Tb Liquid Smoke - you can add cloves of garlic into the cooking liquid if you want.

Place wrapped pork into pan and cover pan with foil, seal well, and leave a little "tent space" at the top. Place into preheated 325 degree oven - 4hours for 3lb roast - add 1/2 hour for each additional pound. No, there will be no burying in the ground(imu) cooking for me!

When roast is done remove pork "package" to another pan.

Pour off about 1-2 cups of fatty liquid from roasting pan into a bowl.

Open pork package and shred with a fork. At this point taste the pork. It should be a bit on the "bland" side. Add additional salt and liquid smoke to the drained fat and liquid in bowl and mix until salt is completely dissolved.

Add liquid back slowly to pork and shred until desired taste is achieved.

A few notes; when I'm "home" I use Ti leaves to wrap the pork before wrapping in foil, but I've had two bad experiences with Ti leaves here on the mainland, so I've stopped doing that. People don't seem to notice, even those Ex-Pat Kama'aina's I've given this to!

Now why do I make this? Well I've found that a couple of the people at work love this! So I'll make this once or twice a year, and I'll send out an Email letting the "pork-lovers" know that I'll be making this. One of the guys (Bruce...) will then send out an Email changing the date, to select people, so that they won't attend the pork-fest, leaving more for him..... I've even learned of a new Kalua Pork combination, that's Kalua Pork in a toasted Pan De Sal(Filipino Rolls); it's delici-yoso!!!

I really don't eat much of the pork myself, I'll do something like make a macaroni salad, and on this day I also made those Chicken Alice Wings. So I ended up having a nice "plate lunch"

Golden City Restaurant Part 1 of 3 - Lunch

*** As of July, 2006 Golden City is under new Ownership - posts on the "New" Golden City, can be found here and here.

When we initially moved to San Diego, one of our favorite "budget" Chinese Restaurants was Golden City. They had pretty decent food and a great lunch and late "supper" menu, with great prices. We were a bit sad when they closed down, though we were told that they would probably re-open in the future. So back in July I was very happy to see that Golden City was set to re-open in a new location. On Sept 26th, Golden City re-opened, at it just so happened that I was on vacation that Monday, so it was pretty much a no-brainer!

As I entered the Restaurant at 1110am, I noticed how large and bright the restaurant was, a big change from it's former incarnation, which was kind of "divey". I also noticed that I was probably the first customer! I was handed two menus, a "regular" menu, and a "lunch specials" menu. Going through the lunch menu, I noticed that many of the items we used to enjoy like Kwai Fei Chicken and Roast Duck were no longer offered as lunch specials, and that the Beef Chow Fun was now a whopping 7 bucks on the lunch special menu. The one item that was still on the lunch menu was the Pork Chop with Spicy Salt ($5.95); so this is what I ordered.

The lunch came with a choice of Hot & Sour or Egg Drop Soup. I chose the Hot & Sour soup:

This was a good start. I'd always enjoyed the Hot & Sour Soup at Golden City, this version is a nicely balanced salty, sour, and "pepper" hot.

My Pork Chop arrived soon after. I had a slight laugh as it was put in front of me. I guess Golden City is now using the "large plate illusion." That is, food is delivered on a very large platter, with the food spread out making it look like a huge amount. The lunch came with an Egg Roll(lousy), and a small salad with an Asian Dressing (forgettable).

As for the Pork Chop:

I guess you pay the price for bring the "first" customer. Though the pork chop looked a nice brown, and there was some garlic and scallions on the pork chop. The meat was not cooked at a hot enough temperature, causing the coating to be soggy and the meat tough. The batter was also falling off the pork chop and the garlic was burnt, not exactly an auspicious start. It also took me about 15 minutes to get my check, no one could figure out what my table number was, but it's not like there were tons of customers in the place, go figure!

At this point in time Golden City really needed to get it's act together, so I decided to visit again in a few weeks to see how they progressed, though not at lunch. The lunch menu is targeted at the "local" businesses with items like Orange Chicken, Egg Foo Young, and such. Which is probably for the best, in it's former life Golden City seemed to have no real identity, first serving Dim Sum, then doing Chinese BBQ and Special Menus, finally ending up with a terrible lunch buffet.

Some notes on Golden City; I've always had good service here, and many of the same Employees have been retained. There is a "supper" menu that is served from 9pm to midnight, and has many of our "familiar" dishes.

So can Golden City put it together? Find out in Parts 2 and 3, coming soon!

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Open Daily 11am - Midnight

Yoso Silly: A Bunch of Friday "Links"

Just some odd and ends to get the weekend started:

Links - the edible kind:

I know Jo from Truly Thankful must be kind of curious as to what happened to all those sausages she generously gave me on my trip to Mountain View. Well I did manage to take a few pictures over the last few weeks when I remembered to.

The Sheboygan Brats ended up in a little beer bath:

And in a nice toasted bun with some brown mustard and sauerkraut:

With the andouille, I quickly whipped up a Jambalaya:

I really don't remember what the heck I did. Though I did forget one thing; believe it or not, I forgot the rice! Yes, I forgot to make rice. I'm still trying to live that one down. So we ended up eating this on some toasted French Dip Rolls:

It ended being quite Delici-yoso!!! And the sausages from Dittmer's were excellent! Thanks again, Jo!

Now links of the other kind:

I usually check referring sites; sometimes with some interesting results. Though none quite match up with Pam's "What Brings You to These Parts" post. A few days ago I noticed a referring site that I did not recognize. When I clicked on the URL, it turned out to be a site called Casing the Joint, and it belongs to a Gentleman called Jay Porter who happens to be Proprietor of a Local Restaurant called The Linkery. It's his personal restaurant blog; sort of the other side of the counter. Though many of the posts are "informational", that is, weekly specials and menu changes, some are very interesting, such as his "musing of reviews of his Restaurant". I even posted a comment, asking his opinion of posts/reviews of his Restaurant by Food Bloggers, and he even answered, both on his blog, and sent me a very nice Email to boot. In addition, I found it very interesting that he has links to Beth's, Angie's, Annie's, and My blog, among others.  I got his permission to link to his blog, and here's his response to Bloggers doing posts on his restaurant:

"I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to blog! Truly.

I think the food blogs are a great source of serious food writing in town, between the fact that the writers are unpaid and that they have no space limitations, as a reader I get great insights into the bloggers’ experience.

As I mentioned in this post, I respect the subjective views of every reviewer, no matter what they are. That’s frankly the best part about reading food writing.

As far as the factual stuff, I think blogs are rightfully held to a lower standard than print newspapers, because a blogger can immediately correct, in the original post, an error which is called to his attention. Which newspapers can’t really do.

Anyway, please come in and blog about it. It’s very good (and helpful) to read opinions from real people. I actually Google us regularly to see what bloggers and forum users are saying about us, figuring this is probably very accurate feedback, and we can best learn what we should be (or are correctly) working on. "

"Let me add this thought: the best possible event that could increase restaurant quality in this town would be the emergence of twenty or so popular, critical, honest, prolific food bloggers, each with unique tastes, perspectives, and budgets, blogging about all their restaurant visits. In an environment like that, all restaurants would be heavily incented to provide great quality and value at least to a certain segment of the eating-out community. "

Looks like someone really cares about what us regular customers think about their restaurant!

And BTW, did you get the "link" tie-in....the place is called, The Linkery! This Internet stuff is pretty interesting, ain't it?

Have a Great Weekend!

Dumpling Inn

In the comments section of my post on Shanghai City, Mabel was kind enough to remind me of Dumpling Inn. I really don't know why, but we hadn't been to Dumpling Inn in a couple of years:

Mabel had also reminded me that Dumpling Inn also served Xiao Long Bao; but it had been so long that I'd forgotten about them. So I decided to drop by on a nice sunny weekend morning.

Dumpling Inn is a little hole in the wall, that has very loyal following. The restaurant has but 10 tables, so it's best to come early if you plan on getting a table during the week:

I placed my order and checked out the sauces and found the basic ones to be present; that would be chili oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar; though I wished that it was Chinkiang Black Vinegar, but this would do in a pinch.

The first dish I ordered was the Jellyfish ($5.95):

I had remembered how much I enjoyed this dish on a previous visit. Though the portion seemed smaller than I recall, the taste was still "right on". Julienned daikon radish, cucumber, and carrot, along with slices of Jellyfish, were combined with a vinegarette of sorts. The Jellyfish was prepared perfectly, not a hint of the astringent taste that is sometimes present, and the crunchy texture along with the taste of the vegetables was good. If anything, the sauce may have been a tad too sweet, but overall this was very refreshing.

Just as I was finishing up, my Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.75):

In direct contrast to the Jellyfish, these Xiao Long Bao were larger than I remembered! They were brought via Spider-Thongs on a hot plate to the table. Slices of Julienned Ginger acoompanied the dish. But to my disappointment no Shangai Dumpling Dipping sauce was provided. So I had to improvise, and mixed up vinegar and soy....  I know that a comparison to the Xiao Long Bao at Shanghai City is in order. So I thought I'd just list my own subjective thoughts. The wrappers on these XLB were much better, doughy with some "pull", and a nice wheaty-doughy taste. The filling was quite large, much larger than Shanghai City, and there was less "soup", also the meat filling had a taste closer to that of regular Northern Chinese Baozi(round dumplings) than XLB, almost like regular Pork Dumplings. It was very tasty, and delici-yoso, but I don't know if these qualify as XLB. But hey, I'm not an expert, it still tasted good anyway.

On a recent afternoon the Missus and I decided to have lunch at Dumpling Inn, so we stopped by, and after a short (15 minute) wait, we were seated and placed our order. The Missus, for some reason decided to order the Kung Pao Seabass ($9.75):

Not really Northern Chinese, but she had a slight cold, so wanted something with a bit of taste and heat. First the good, the quality of fish was excellent, soft, tender, and moist. It was also cooked to a seared perfection. The peanuts added a nice contrast to the buttery texture of the fish, and the onions were delici-yoso! Now the not so good, the heat was very weak, the dish was more sweet then spicy. The portion size was also very small, I think you can tell by the picture. This dish would be an excellent one in an American Chinese restaurant.

I ordered the Spicy Niu Rou Mien ($7.50):

Yes, I'm a Niu Rou Mein addict. This was probably the most expensive NRM (thanks Dylan) I've ever seen, but I couldn't wait to order it. The broth was very light, though the seasoning and heat(spice) were perfect, the beef flavor was obviously lacking. To put it in the words of the Missus, "it's as if a piece of beef was waved over a pot of boiling water". The noodles were not so great, I could get better at 99 Ranch Market, you could have "Home Made Noodles" though you'd add another $1 to the dish making it a $8.50 bowl of NRM. The beef had a good flavor (thankfully it was beef shank), but was not cooked to a desired tenderness. Kind of disappointing as a whole, and much too expensive.

If you're wondering why we didn't order any Jiaozhi, please look here. The dumplings at Dumpling Inn are very good, but I get as good, or even better at home. But please do try the Shrimp & Chive Dumplings($7.25), or "Potstickers" at Dumpling Inn, they are excellent. The prices seem a bit high, though the quality is good. Many of the dishes look Americanized, and it looks like the formula is working well! Oh, and I was amazed to watch a Gentleman order Jiaozhi and ask for Colman's Mustard and proceed to cover each dumpling with a teaspoon of mustard and cover with soy sauce, and tell his dining partner how tasty the dumplings were! Please don't eat your dumplings that way.....

Dumpling Inn
4619 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111