Dede's

*** Dedes' has closed

Before there was Ba Ren, we used to go to Dede's fairly regularly for Sichuan Food. Though if we really wanted Sichuan Food we'd still do the 100 plus mile drive to Chung King in Monterey Park. But of course Ba Ren changed all of that. But that's not to say the food at Dede's is bad, it's not. Just perhaps not to our taste.

I believe that "Dede's" inherited their English name from the previous business that occupied the space; a Tea and Boba joint. The Chinese name of Dede's indicates that Chongqing style Sichuan food is served here.

We decided to drop by Dede's, to see what had changed in the last 2 years since our last visit. The colorful interior of Dede's belies it's Teahouse past:

On this afternoon Teresa Teng(the late Deng Li-Jun) videos were playing on the big screen television. We also noticed that, many of the "specials" on the placard had taken a larger turn away from Sichuan Cuisine.

Though all the old favorites are still there:

On this visit we ordered the Spicy Fish Slices with Golden Mushrooms($8.50):

This interesting dish was like a combination of two classic Sichuan offerings, the Water Boiled/Boiled in Hot Sauce and Pickled Pepper type dishes. This was a nice hot, but not numbingly hot dish, though the amount of oil was fairly low. Battered and lightly fried fish lay on a bed of Enoki Mushrooms and was covered with "Hot Sauce", Zhacai and other pickled vegetables were also featured in this dish. Good, but not great.

I also ordered one of my favorite Sichuan snack type dishes Spicy Cold Noodles($4.99).

This was pretty horrible, a failure from all angles. The noodles tasted like they were uncooked store bought noodles, very hard and brittle. The sauce lacked sugar, and almost tasted like just Black Vinegar. Usually there would be at least a mild sesame paste flavor as well, but not this time. Not even a bit spicy to me as well. The peanuts were half peanuts, and not coarsely chopped. This was just bad eats!

Luckily, we ordered my favorite dish from Dede's; Cumin Flavored Lamb($8.50):

As far as I know, this isn't a Sichuan dish, but it's still good eats. Fragrant, slightly nutty cumin dry fried with thin slices of lamb and onion, and topped with cilantro. Delici-yoso!!! You can tell that high heat was used very successfully in the creation of this dish by the lack "oil" that would be created if the lamb was stir fried in a conventional manner using inadequate heat.

Dede's offers an alternative to Ba Ren; most of the dishes do not use quite the same amount of oil, and is not as spicy. We do think that the flavors at Dede's are not as complex as Ba Ren's. There is also a lack of the layering of heat that we appreciate, and Ma-La(numbing hot) is lacking in many of the dishes. All the "usual suspects" of Sichuan food are available, and we've tried most of them; Rice Crust dishes, Dishes Boiled in Hot Sauce, ChongQing Red Pepper dishes, as well as Cold Dishes like Fuqi Feipein. We also noticed that in the last few years Dede's has added Sichuan Hotpot(Malaguo) to their menu, with a Buffet available at $20 per person.

Dede's Teajuice City
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[dietchilicheesefries]

hey man, you didn't clarify what purse the missus was carrying... i need it to update my spreadsheet.. thanks.

[Rachel]

Well I guess it sounds like a good place ot start for someone unfamiliar with sichuan cuisine. I like the spicy chongqing hotpot and love hot and sour soup but I think that is my extent of knowledge of sichuan dishes.

[Candice]

I really like this place! Try the corn stir-fried with salted egg yolk - it's strangely delicious and addictive!

[lance]

Too bad their dishes are not "up to par". Noticed that this is (I think) the first place that you've been to the says, "chow mein and chow fun". Maybe they'll make cake noodles for you with their chow mein noodles?

[Kirk]

Hi DCCF - For your spreadsheet I think it was the Fendi.

Hi Rachel - The food is better then the run of the mill Sichuan - but not as god as our favorite Sichuan Restaurant.

Hi Candice - I think that perhaps Dede's does better on their non-Sichuan dishes.

Hi Lance - Actually, all Chinese restaurants serve Chow Mein, it's just that it's not like it is "back home", most use thick noodles.....

[thess]

I would love to try the lamb with cumin.
Hi Kirk, have a good weekend.

[howie]

I used to go here once and a while, and it seemed inconsistent. The first time I went I had this dish with a green vegetable with an pinkish-orange sauce (was it crab flavored?). I really liked it, but on another visit it was very greasy. I wouldn't call the food bad, but now that I've found Ba Ren, I don't end up going here very often. I might have to give it another try for the hotpot though!

[Kady]

Ooo, I just read your post on Ba Ren and I'm so excited to try it. I LOVE spicy and twice cooked dishes. I'm so happy that you mentioned Ba Ren again so that I could check out that post. Yay! I love Sichuan food. Thanks, Kirk!

[stacey]

hi! i went to ba ren for dinner today... twas verrry yummy. finally, a good restaurant in SD! it reminded me of one of my fav sichuan places in chicago :)

[Kirk]

Hi Thess - The cumin gives the lamb a somewhat addictive quality.

Hi Howie - You've hit it right on the nose(as usual).

Hi Kady - Hope you enjoy Yourself.

Hi Stacey - The Chef at Ba Ren used to be the Chef of our favorite Sichuan Restaurant in LA - now we don;t need to make the looong drive for Sichuan. I'm glad you enjoyed Yourself.

[mizducky]

You know, I was wondering how you felt Dede's compared to Ba Ren. So thanks for answering my question before I actually asked it. :-)

[Kirk]

Hi mizducky - Dede's is ok, but we don't enjoy the meals there as much as Ba Ren.

[Barbara Fisher]

Lamb with cumin is more likely to be a northern style dish, I think than Sichuan. In fact, I can think of no Sichuan dish that uses cumin.

On the other hand, wherever it came from, it sounds good.

So, when we come visit my brother in law in LA this summer, Ba Ren is definately a place to visit?

[Kirk]

Hi Barbara - Yeah, I think you're right. I had something similar to Cumin Lamb in a Shengyan-style restaurant - they were really good lamb skewers sprinkled with cumin. As for your trip to LA - I'll email you a list of our favorite Chinese in the SGV! If you do visit San Diego, Ba Ren would be a nice place for a meal!

[Cal S]

Did Dede's change ownership after your 2008-ish post? I only started going to Dede's a few months ago. We like their Boiled Beef/Fish, baked fish (with chilies, celery, ginger), baby spareribs with preserved veggies. Do you know what kind of fish they use for fish fillet for your post above? I wonder where one gets this kind of fish fillets in the market. We usually get our fishes frozen from Trader Joe's (Once in a blue moon, we get sashimi-grade fish from Nijiya). If you overcook the fish a tad, it comes out rubbery. But the Chinese restaurant fishes seem very forgiving when one overcooks it. Do you know the secret? I'm desperate for that piece of information. Chin's, ... Taste of China 2, Shanghai City, etc. all seem to use more or less the same type of fish.

[Kirk]

Hi Cal S - Dede's did change ownership last year (2010). The "Chinese sign" details a different name. Try the "Water-boiled fish" - Shui Zhu Yu from Ba Ren. As for the fish, they usually prep the filets in a wine-cornstarch mixture - check out my Shui Zhu Yang Rou recipe. I prepped the lamb the same way I'd prep fish.