Cathy and Ed's Eating Adventure: Balboa Tofu House

This is a Very Special Episode of mmm-yoso!!!, documenting a very special meal.  Cathy is "talking" in green. Ed will talk in blue

While Cathy and Ed both post here at mmm-yoso, before Ed's last visit to town, they had only met once. So they were looking forward to sharing a lunch.

After exchanging some e-mails, we realized that we both liked the Balboa Tofu House on Convoy. What's more, nobody had ever written about this place at the blog. That settled it.  We were surprised neither of us had blogged Tofu House, since we both ate here kind of a lot.  Apparently it was some secret neither of us wanted you to know about.

If you were paying attention to what ed just wrote,  yes, it's true.  ed and I have only met for a total of four meals at this point in time, two of those with Kirk. (for you Sudoku/applied logic wizards out there, that means the three of us have met for exactly two meals together).  (Sure, we post here, helping each other out and keeping this blog going when one of us is overwhelmed with life or work or is out of the country on a vacation or just doesn't feel like it, but the three of us having an actual meeting and eating together... Twice). 

Blogging.  It's magic. (sorry for rambling...on with the post!). 

Because we arrived at 11:30, we each could find a parking place in the usually hellishly crowded strip mall parking lot. An auspicious omen. Note: Cathy's picture here must have been taken some morning at 7 AM. I've never seen the lot so empty: (9:30 a.m.) (on a Sunday.) (Just before meeting  Mr. C for dim sum across the street)

The interior of the restaurant with a lot of nice wood surfaces seemed much like it was 10 years ago when I first started coming there. One thing that has changed are the prices (not that we were expecting . . . ). The soft tofu soups now range from $7-$9. And my mouth was set or one of those soups. The menu lists numerous combinations of ingredients that one can have with the broth and soft tofu. The range of add-ins includes things like pork, pollock roe, kimchi, shrimp, mushrooms, oysters, clams, fresh peppers, and more. If my memory serves -- and at my age that is always problematic -- more different combinations were listed than before, and the list of possibilities ends with the challenge to put together your own combination. In addition, customers are given the choice of spice level and of regular or vegetarian broth.

I must confess that I didn't look at the rest of the menu, but Cathy did.

ed and I had lunch the day before, at Asia Cafe, and the Nem Khao was still on my mind... 

I wanted crispy -not fried- rice. OK, I *needed* some more crispy rice.  So anyhow, we ordered. (I am inserting this photo of Nem Khao from Asia Cafe, so everyone will know what I am talking about).

The first food to hit the table was the pan chan. I thought the selection and quantity were little disappointing. On previous visits, seaweed covered with a rich deep chili sauce had been the highlight of the side dishes. It was woefully missing:

The kimchi, however, was quite good with a slight touch of sweetness to offset the pickled crunch of the cabbage:

Then my soup (a seafood combination with mushroom and bell peppers) arrived bubbling hot and steaming:

After taking a few pictures, I grabbed one of the eggs that sit on every table top and broke it into the soup:

Soon I broke up the egg with my chopsticks and whisked it throughout the bowl, adding touches of eggy richness throughout and cooling the soup enough so that I could begin eating.

For me, this was perfect soup. The spiciness of the broth flavored up all the ingredients. And the textures -- from the creaminess of the tofu to the chewiness of the mushrooms and the crunch of the peppers -- were wonderful. This is one of those dishes that tastes so much better than it looks:

Along with the soup came what they call brown rice:

Obviously, brown means different things to different folks. Actually, the color in the rice comes from the few dark grains that stain the rest of the white rice purple.  It tastes slightly sweet and is chewy and hearty...Sometimes I describe foods so chewy and fiber-y as "tasting healthy" (which means no flavor) and in this case, it is just really good rice.  A rice I have a craving for, and I don't usually crave rice. 

Cathy ordered Hot Stone mixed rice with mushrooms ($10)

It arrived looking like:

and it sizzled.

(here's a detail view):

Nice close up,ed.

After mixing:

  Thanks for taking the photos, ed.  I was so busy waiting for the rice to get cool enough to eat after scraping the hot stone pot that I didn't take any photos...oh, we were talking, too... 

My bowl of goodness was topped with sliced enoki and shitake mushrooms, as well as cabbage, carrots, corn and some onion.  It satisfied my cravings for flavor as well as texture of crispiness of the rice formed on the hot sides of the pot.  The veggies were very fresh and just enough fresh in flavor which contrasted with the crispy rice I was scraping.  Although, I did add kimchee for more flavor once I got to the non-crispy rice part of the meal... 

and between the two of us, we ate up our pan chan...

and everything else!

The food and company were excellent. Let's do it again. I agree!

Balboa Tofu House 4646 Convoy San Diego 92123 Website

Comments

[Charles]

You missed out! Next time you go there, try the gyoza bowl (#13, i think) extra spicy! Best dish on Convoy :)

[nhbilly]

That was a very interesting collaborative blogging.

[Kirk]

Hey it's "two posts - two posts" in one! Who could ask for more.

[Christina C]

I'm so glad you did a review on the Tofu House. It's one of my main go to restaurants. It fills many criteria, easy, cheap, and yummy. I am a creature of habit though and have got the same thing everytime for the past 5 years. Number 26, Miso Tofu Soup. Just like my mom makes. YUMMMMM!

[Sandy]

I like to get to this restaurant early so there's no wait for a table and it's easier to park. Any later in the day, and you're better off to park on the street.

A friend says the brown rice has azuki beans, which accounts for the purple color.

Are you sure that "Balboa" is part of the restaurant name? The business card that I have just says "Tofu House." Usually, I describe it as next to O'Briens to differentiate it from Convoy Tofu House.

Thanks for the double review!

[Carol]

According to their website, the name is "Tofu House."

I loved the post and the dialog. And the food looked pretty good too. Friends keep trying to get me to go to Tofu House but I've yet to try it.

[ed (from Yuma)]

I appreciate the nice comments. I have always loved this place, but for some reason, it had been a couple of years (at least) since I had been there.

The mistake with the name is my bad. That was the restaurant's original name, back when it was about my favorite place anywhere, but then they opened a branch elsewhere and dropped Balboa (which never made much sense anyway as the place is on Convoy).

Thanks also to those of you who suggested other dishes - it is easy to fall into a rut, so it is nice to have other things to try.

[Cathy]

I always thought it was called Balboa Tofu House, too;I guess a holdover from the old General Dynamics days. All of the broths use the same miso base, which it just a matter of what you want as an add-in; they give you a menu for comfort instead of the "Pick one from column A, column B and column C" format. Didn't word it that way, but that is how it is. Anyhow, I never had anything I didn't like from here. Good suggestions and compliments. Thanks.(oh- and welcome Christina C!)

[howie]

I love Tofu House too. I think I tend not to go there that often anymore because it's so crowded, and seems even more so because of the Yogurt World crowds. But the spicy broth is deeply satisfying.

[caninecologne]

cathy and ed: what a great review! loved the tandem commentaries! you should do that more often! :)

btw cathy, i posted my fave food pix on my blog. yeah, but it was15, i couldn't just pick 10 - so difficult but fun choosing. i also had nem khao from asia cafe in mine.

[tilthouse]

Haven't eaten there in a while, but I love that place. Not to mention being next to best beer bar in San Diego.

Love the Hot Stone dishes. And the pickles there are great -- I always finish them and I don't like them at most Korean restaurants.

[RONW]

the running dialogue is entertaining.

[Cathy]

I usually park on the side street, a block over (by Car Max)a nice walk. Sometimes I *need* the spicy soup broth, especially when I feel a cold coming on. When we have a chance, ed and I will try this creative writing exercise again. You know Kirk and I did a double post once...

[Bryan]

I love Tofu House. I always get the meat party dish, and the coworkers always end up copying me and then joking about how weird it sounds to order a 'meat party' lol.

Before this place was Tofu House it used to be called Hippo's Curry Kitchen (I think it closed in 98/99) which had some of the best damn Japanese curry, if not the best, in San Diego.

[Cathy]

Thank You Bryan! and welcome...Hippo's, of course...the nice lady who owned it. Great curry. Yes! It is like the synapses just joined in my brain!

[foodhoe]

oof, that meal sounds great, but now I want to know about the gyoza bowl...

[Anonymous]

Tofu House isn't the best place to get soon tofu, but hey, I guess it's pretty decent for San Diego. If you want to "road trip" to the OC like you did for Inka Mama's, I suggest you try Garden Grove or -- even better -- LA for some real Korean food. BCD is a great place to start :)

[Denny]

I have to say, I've always LOVED Tofu House!!

Funny, but I think that's the emptiest I've EVER seen the parking lot.