Recently, we've been making the rounds and have been revisiting a few restaurants. And here are a few updates.
Chin's
We've been having brunch at Chin's just about every weekend. Looking through my previous posts, I noticed I missed posting on a few of the better dishes at Chin's.
The Wuxi Sparerib Noodle Soup:
This very tasty slightly sweet soup, with a nice portion of braised spareribs, along with some Shao Bing is probably my favorite...well next to the Five Spice Beef Shao Bing. The nice pork flavor really comes through, and though I still don't care much for the noodles, I really enjoy the broth and of course the pork.
The Shanghai Chao Nian Gao:
Sliced rice cakes stir fried with pickled vegetables and pork. Perhaps a bit on the salty side, but the rice cake slices are always fried perfectly, and the slices are neither too mushy, nor hard and rubbery. The pickled vegetables and scallions add a nice flavor. I think someone had asked about this dish so I wanted to make sure to post.
Noble Chef - Under New Ownership
Last week we dropped by Noble Chef for our fried rice fix, and didn't recognize any of the eight people scurrying about.
Upon inquiry we found out from the really nice young man manning the counter that the previous owners had decided to sell the restaurant. I quickly asked the young man if the menu would remain the same, at which point one of the young ladies standing behind the counter gave me a "dirty look". But I was assured that the menu would remain the same. As this was the first day after the transfer of the restaurant thing were quite chaotic, but we did manage to place and get our orders.
The Shrimp with XO Sauce Fried Rice:
On the good side; there was twice the amount of shrimp. On the bad side...well, not enough XO sauce and not enough garlic or salt, the rice tasted like spicy fried rice. Also, I'm sure that the new chef will have to get adjusted to the wok stove, the rice was mushy and in clumps, I noticed that the chef never turned the heat up while making the fried rice, thus all the wonderful "wok hey"(the elusive essence of the wok) was missing.
The Chiu Chow Fried Rice:
Same story, lot's of Char Siu, the portion size is about a third smaller. Rice clumpy and slightly mushy.
I'll give Noble Chef a few months to get things in order and check in again. I'm hoping that I'm not losing one of my favorites.
Emerald
Made another visit to Emerald, and partook of all the usual suspects...pretty much the same as what I had on a previous visit. There were a few items that I hadn't seen before, like the Xiao Long Bao:
Yes, soup dumplings! Unfortunately the wrappers were really, really thick, and there was no soup! Soup dumplings with no soup? The filling tasted like regular dumpling filling, not Xiao Long Bao.
The "Egg" Siu Mai fared much better. Basically a boiled quail egg lying on a bed of pork and shrimp, in a siu mai wrapper. A nice slightly rich and eggy bit of Dim Sum. My only complaint would be that the siu mai wrapper was welded to the plate, and everything fell apart as we tried, unsuccessfully, to pry the wrapper off the plate. Still we enjoyed a pretty good meal at Emerald.
For addresses and other info, click on the links to the original posts.
Finally, I'd like to thank Cathy. Her wonderful posts, has allowed me to spend a little more time revisiting restaurants. Thanks Cathy!
"My only complaint would be that the siu mai wrapper was welded to the plate, and everything fell apart"
never had a siu mai myself that didn't. They're not suppose to fall apart then?
Posted by: RONW | Thursday, 30 November 2006 at 03:11 AM
Sorry to hear about Noble Chef changing hands, but those folks did looks ready to retire. Here's to hoping the new generation gets their wok hei down soon!
Posted by: Trent | Thursday, 30 November 2006 at 09:11 AM
The spicy pork noodle soup was probably my favorite dish too when we went to Chin's.
Speaking of XLB, I'm thinking of trying to make a wacky fusion version. I'm debating whether to just take the easy way out and buy wrappers, or go all the way and make my own.
Posted by: howie | Thursday, 30 November 2006 at 10:13 AM
Loved that Shanghai Chao Nian Gao at Chin's. I love rice cakes/noodles in any form--just got a thing for that distinctive chewy texture--but Chin's rice cakes were especially lovely that way.
Hmmmm ... perhaps you could generate a Chin's cheat-sheet for those of us without Chinese-fluent partners ... :-)
Posted by: mizducky | Thursday, 30 November 2006 at 12:36 PM
Hi RONW - Than you really haven't had good Siu Mai!
Hi Trent - Yes, they did look ready to retire...I hope they enjoy their retirement.
Hi Howie - It's my favorite as well. I'd be interested in knowing how the XLB turn out.
Hi mizducky - We used to have a copy of the menu....need to get our hands on it, and try to do a translation.
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 30 November 2006 at 10:11 PM
Hey Kirk,
It's amazing how similar our food tastes are. You like all the stuff I like!
- Chubbypanda
Posted by: Chubbypanda | Friday, 01 December 2006 at 04:16 PM
Kirk, I agree with Chubby Panda, everyone loves your tastes in food!
Posted by: Passionate Eater | Friday, 01 December 2006 at 05:59 PM
Kirk,
Yum, I think the fried rice cake sounds so good, but I am sucker for rice cake! The quail sui mai now that is something I would love to get a bite of!
Posted by: milgwimper | Saturday, 02 December 2006 at 10:50 AM
Hi CP - Great minds.....he-he-he
Hi PE - I dunno, I just like to eat!
Hi Mills - It's good stuff, really good stuff.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 03 December 2006 at 11:35 PM
Hey...great blog! haha. We (family and I) go to noble chef and have been going when it was Noble House off El Cajon or Univ avenue. I remember eating there when I was about 13 years old. That family has been around, when they left the original location, it took them a while to move to Clmt Mesa. Now that they've sold I am not sure how it's gonna be. I haven't been there since the change, but I am hoping to try it out. Thank you for the excellent blog. You should try the "Bot Chien", ummm...i forget what it's called in English, but it's like the top line item on the second or third page of the menu. Alright man. Thank you.
Posted by: Chris | Monday, 11 December 2006 at 04:40 PM
Hi Chris - I'm sorry that I missed your comments. Thanks for stopping by and contributing. Are you mentioning the turnip cake with scrambled egg? Let me know what you think of the new Ownership...I'm hoping once they get all the "kinks" worked out, it will be as good as ever!
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 14 December 2006 at 09:01 AM
I'm sure there would be some chaos when the new owner first took over Noble Chef. However, I just went there yesterday during busy lunch hours. I think they are doing a good job on organizing everything. The food was quick and delicious as always. I just think that they should do more advertisement because not so many people know about that place (at least my college friends don't before they know me). Their food is very authentic and way better then Sam-Woo. Anyway, I'm looking forward to see the Noble Chef to get more popular.
Posted by: Vikki | Wednesday, 09 May 2007 at 01:03 PM
Hi Vikki - That's great, we haven't been back since that visit since we wanted to give them some time to get organized.
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 10 May 2007 at 08:08 AM
The first and only time I tried the Nobel Chef was around 1997, I remember I had the Beff Chow Fun. It was the best I had since I left China and SF and came to SD. Been meaning to go back and check them out, just hasn't happened yet.
Kirk and friends,
Love your blog, you don't know how many times I rely on your posting to find a place to eat/try.
Also want to add, have anyone tried the roast duck at the Hong Kong place in the Viny-Hung market. I thought they (yes, there are 2 versions. The regular one and the flat one, both are very good and crispy.) are very good. All the roast/BBQ stuff are fairly authentic for a Cantonese. I even ordered a whole medium roast pig for a party one time, $178, it was a HIT!!
Posted by: Nicole | Tuesday, 15 January 2008 at 02:43 PM
Hi Nicole - Thanks for visiting, and the kind words. I've seen the BBQ "hanging" at Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum - but have only had the dim sum so far...which I didn't think much of. I'm always looking for good Chinese BBQ, so I'll have to give it a try. Thanks also for reminding me that I haven't gone back to noble Chef in a while!
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 16 January 2008 at 08:51 AM