mmm-yoso!!!

Imperial Palace

With Royal Mandarin currently out of commission, I've kinda been keeping my eye out for various other places that make Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Someone mentioned that Imperial Palace in National City made some pretty good wings, and even recommended a noodle dish. I faintly recalled seeing this place while driving up 8th street.

 Much like the similarly named Hotel and Casino in Vegas, this place has obviously seen better days. I think just the name itself was enough to keep out of the place in the past. The Missus once had an educational seminar in Vegas at Imperial Palace. Ick..... I especially felt bad when the Missus called me while I was having lunch. The "catered lunch" at IP consisted of some 1960's style iceberg lettuce salad, and baloney sandwiches! Baloney Sandwiches! I really felt terrible since I was having Moules Frites while sitting in the outdoor eating area at Mon Ami Gabi watching the water show across the street at the Bellagio.

The interior of the restaurant, much like the exterior looks a bit worn. One really funny thing that happened when I entered. A woman was manning the counter, and pointed me to a table. I walked over and had a seat. Five seconds later, I see a woman who could be the identical twin of the woman up front coming out of the back of the restaurant! It was then that I realized that the kitchen paralleled the restaurant, with entrances at both ends of the dining area.

Another strange thing was that this place didn't have proper menus per se. I sat at my table for a couple of minutes waiting for a menu, but none was forthcoming. I watched another couple enter, and they walked up to the front counter and grabbed the paper "take-out menus", so I ended up doing the same.

Needless to say, this was obviously an "ABCDE" (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment). If you didn't know when you entered, it would become quite clear when you're given a fork and spoon. Chopsticks are only given upon request, after a bit of digging, and are the thin wooden Chinese Fast Food type chopsticks, which screamed off that SYSCO of Chinese Restaurant supplies, Kari-Out.

I will say that the prices here are very cheap. The Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings were $5.35. And at 10 pieces an order, that's 53.5 cents a wing.... waaaay below the "Kyochon line". I'm pretty sure that almost everyone orders S&P Wings here. When another table didn't order wings, the woman asked them several times, "you sure no chicken wings.... ARE YOU SHU-ah!"

The wings were on the smallish side, and as the picture below indicates, some of them had been "split open" to either check or enhance cooking. Either way, it dries out the wings. The batter and slin had a nice crunch, obviously due to the use of a good amount of cornstarch. Flavorwise, not particularly spicy, and lacking in garlic and green onions. Still, quite a bit of flavor...... you know why, right? Check out the kinda deformed wing below, see all the nice shiny crystals? You know what that is, right?

 
Unlike many folks I've got nothing against the use of MSG, so long as it's not over-used, or as a way to severely cut corners. And unlike a recent bowl of noodle soup I had at Minh Ky where my feet started swelling after a few sips of soup (which I did finish BTW), there were no effects. So overall, not bad.....

Unlike the "Imperial Pan Fried Noodles($5.35)", which displayed some of he worst qualities of "Ab-Cee-Dee" style food:

Gloppy, tasteless "gravy" over over-cooked, mushy noodles. The chicken was pretty tough, but to be fair, the beef was fairly tender if tasteless. The shrimp was cooked well, with decent flavor and soft. This was so bland that even a good dose of soy sauce couldn't help it.

To sum up, the prices are very cheap. If someone has a recommendation for this place, maybe I'll give it another shot. The chicken wings are decent.... and as I mentioned above inexpensive.  It's probably the prices that keeps this place in business.

Imperial Palace Chinese Restaurant
1630 East 8th Street
National City, CA 91950

Saturday Stuffs: Goodbye Playa Azul, Hello Yakyudori Ramen & Yakitori, and a Balboa and Clairemont Drive Taco Truck update

Playa Azul Closes:

Sometimes when I take my sweet 'ol time on posts, it backfires. After a visit to Playa Azul during the Autumn, I just kinda waited around...... A few weeks back, I decided to do one more visit, and finally a post, and this is what greeted me:

Even the mural had been removed:

 
Sad......

Anyway here are some photos from our visit.

Yakyudori Ramen and Yakitori coming to Convoy:

Word of this has been spreading quickly. You know, I've never done a post on Yakyudori.... well, because my photos have never come out. This is the former site of BBQ Express Teriyaki, and before that Extreme Pita.

 
The sign says grand opening will be... Monday, February 1st!!! Wow, that's fast.

 
 4898 Convoy Street, San Diego, CA 92111....... 

(Yet another) Taco Truck on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive:

Two weeks ago I mentioned that the Mariscos German truck was back on the corner of Balboa and Clairemont Drive.  Well, this past week, I noticed another truck in it's place:

Sheesh, what is this...... taco truck roulette. Hopefully, I'll be able to check it out before it vanishes.....

Not about food:

One of my favorite FOYs(Friends of Yoso) is "Canine Cologne", whose blog Pink Candles at Ridgemont High is fun, delicious (in the virtual kinda way), and also somewhat nostalgic. One of my favorite series of posts that CC does is called ABC Music Videos, where Ms Cologne (he-he-he) posts music videos every week based on letters of the alphabet. I've kidded CC that one day I'd do a "homage" of sorts to her ABC videos..... and I think I found what I needed.... so without further ado:

A is for Akebono:

Yes, these are actually commercials for the series "Glee" in Japan. And in case you don't know who Akebono is you can find more info here. Funny thing, I actually saw Akebono, when he was Chad Rowan playing basketball for Hawaii Pacific University!!!

Anyway, for some reason the commercials made me smile..... Hey, it coulda been KennyG ok!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Kinpira Gobo

I swear that I posted this recipe before.... but I guess not. Anyway, this is one of those basic recipes that Mom made. Kinpira is the name of a famous Mythical Hero. According to Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: a Simple Art, this dish is supposed to be strong and dashing, like Kinpira, thus the addition of some heat in this style of cooking. By the way, for all those who really want to know the "meat and bones" of traditional Japanese cooking, I highly recommend Shizuo Tsuji's book. Heck, even my Mom had a copy of it when it was originally published.... and I don't even know how she got her hands on it.

 
"Kinpira" in Japanese cooking terms is basically a modified stir-fry of sorts using root vegetables. Though Gobo (burdock root) is probably the most popular, I've seen Lotus Root, Carrot, and even potato used for Kinpira. "Foodhoe" has a delicious looking recipe for Kinpira Parsnips that is worth checking out.

I was really pleased with the Gobo available around New Years. It was lighter in color, moist enough that it wasn't cracked, and almost had a mild sweetness to it. So along with the Gomoku Takikomi Gohan, I decided to make Kinpira Gobo. This time around I used one of those hot red chilies you find in the frozen section of Vietnamese Markets, and it packed a pretty good punch. The Missus said it was the best version of this I've ever made..... so now the pressure's on to do it again I guess!

Anyway, this is fairly easy, some recipes will tell you to blanch or parboil the gobo, but I find it kills the nice earthy flavor. I prefer to cook the gobo for a longer period of time. Gobo is supposed to be chock full of phosphorus and calcium, and of course fiber.... lots of fiber! 

Kinpira Gobo:

1 medium stalk of Gobo(burdock root)
1 medium Carrot
1 red chili pepper (optional)
2 Tb Canola or Vegetable Oil
2-3 Tb Shoyu
1 Tb Sugar
2 Tb Sake
1 Tb Mirin
Dash of Sesame Oil(optional)
Shichimi Togarashi to taste
Sesame Seeds

- Scrape the skin off the gobo, and julienne. Keep the gobo in cold water so it will not discolor.
- Peel carrot and julienne.
- Slice red pepper in half and remove seeds. Cut thinly crosswise.
- Heat wok or saute pan over medium heat. Add oil to coat. Add chili and increase heat until chili just starts to sizzle.
- Add gobo and stir-fry until gobo starts to soften. Depending on the gobo, anywhere from two to three.
- Add carrots and stir fry briefly for about 1 minute.
- Add sake, mirin, and sugar, and stir fry.
- Add two tablespoons of shoyu, reduce heat and let liquid reduce.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Add shichimi togarashi.
- Cook until liquid is almost gone. Remove from heat and add a dash of sesame oil if desired.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Serve topped with sesame seeds.

Chicken Wing Thing: Phuong Trang, Tajima, and Huynh Hoa Tuu

Anyone out there kinda obsessive about things? I'll be the first to admit that I love chicken wings..... I mean I've created a category for them. To add to the obsession, I've even created my own little "value scale" for chicken wings.....  I automatically divide the price of the wings by the number of wings in an order. Of course taste is king.... but I gotta admit at Kyochon level price levels,$1 a wing, it better be pretty darn good. I guess that's why I've thought Royal Mandarin's Salt and Pepper wings at $7.95 for an order, which usually contained 14 wings (about 57 cents per), was a bargain. I hope they reopen soon. For some reason, I've kinda drawn a mental "line" of 79 cents a wing, as being reasonable. Of course, Tebasaki Wings are in a category all their own. Weird, I know.......

Anyway, I've had a couple orders of wings from different places (surprise!) in the last couple of months, and here's a short round-up.

Phuong Trang - Butter Chicken Wings:

In the comments area of my post on City Dragon's chicken wings (at 7 for 6.99 was in Kyochon territory, and believe, it wasn't even close to Kyochon), "Arlene" mentioned that the chicken wings at Phuong trang might be worth chicking ummm, checking out. 

The item mentioned was the "Butter Chicken Wings", and take a while to cook, at least fifteen minutes. So if you order these, and your Com Tam or Bun comes out first, the "appetizer sin" occurring, at least you can be sure you get some hot and sizzling wings.

At $8.95 for a dozen wings, this runs to about 75 cents each, which is reasonable. The wings are juicy and sizzling hot, these are more crusty than crunchy, as the batter turns out to be kinda crumbly. It deteriorates quickly, and gets to be kinda greasy.... but, hey they are called "Butter Wings", right? I thought these were kinda high on the salty scale, and I like salty wings....

Decent price, but overall, just ok.

Phuong Trang
4170 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Tajima Sushi and Japanese Tapas Restaurant:

On one of my visits to Tajima "2", I ordered the fried chicken wings. I thought at $5.95 this was pretty inexpensive.... but with only five wings, these broke the Kyochon price ceiling:

These are what I call "dipped wings" and are made much like my Garlic Chicken, where chicken is first battered and fried, and then dipped into a mixture right after frying. These were nice and sticky, but very low on the flavor scale, edging toward sweet. The batter wasn't very crunchy, and the meat was on the dry and chewy side. 

In my opinion, not worth the price.

Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant
4411 Mercury St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Huynh Hoa Tuu - Hot Wings:

Update - Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.

After all the dishes I've had at Huynh Hoa Tuu, you know I had to check out the "Hot Wings".  At $5.95 for 7, this was on the high side with regards to price, but still below the "Kyochon line".

These wings were battered and fried, then cooked, a la Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but with the addition of a sweet and spicy Nuoc Mam Cham(fish sauce) style sauce. These were still crunchy, and the flavors came through very well.... salty, but in a good way, with some depth. Some of the garlic had been burnt, which caused some bitterness, but on a later visit with some FOYs it was done better. There was some decent spice, and the hints of sweetness helped.

Overall, like much of what Huynh Hoa Tuu serves; good beer food.

Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

So there you, three more orders of Chicken Wings served up! Much thanks to FOYs (Friends of Yoso) like Arlene without whom I'd be chicken-wing deprived (or is it depraved???).

Road Trip: Dean Sin World - Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

You remember the scene in Back to the Future? You know which one, right? Where Marty McFly and the Starlighters cover Johnny B Goode? If you're one of perhaps three people out there who've never scene the flick, you can find a poor YouTube facsimile here (the fun starts at about 1:25). There's a point where McFly takes the guitar solo(actually played by Tim May)  a bit too far and over-the-top(starting Chuck Berry and ending Eddie Van Halen....), leaving everyone stunned, not quite knowing what the heck just happened. I had such a moment recently. I was at work when one of my coworkers asked me about "Chinese dumplings"..... and off I went, talking about wrapper thickness, the folds, the slight pull and pillowiness of well made wrappers. Then there was the thing about not over-working the dough to the point it seizes..... Heck, I didn't even make it to the filling when I noticed that the poor guy stood, mouth agape, eyes rapidly blinking.... he'd been Jiaozi-sized! The silence was deafening, how do you break such uncomfortable silence (I swear, you could hear a fish fart....)? I managed a throat clearing "uumph" and crept away........ My friends know that I can really get on a roll and build up a good head of steam, and even though I try to reign myself in, sometimes it just comes bubbling to the surface. Oh well.......

I had first read about Dean Sin World on gastronomy, but I really didn't pay much heed. While walking from Giang Nan to Qing Dao Bread Food on Christmas Eve, the Missus and I passed a tiny shop that was full of folks. There was a woman rolling out dough in the little space by the window who cheerfully tried to wave us in. The Missus peered at the menu, and told me "man, it's really cheap here, and the food looks decent, let's check this place out on our next trip." A week later we made our way to this little strip mall. I parked and laughed when I saw the banner:

 

It was Dean Sin World! I couldn't make out the sign in the dark on Christmas Eve.

We arrived pretty early, and had a seat. Looking up at the menu, I could confirm that the prices were very inexpensive.

10 Shengjian Bao for $4.85? 10 Pork and vegetable Jiaozi for $4.25? Wow......

The two women working here were very friendly, and funny.... more on that later. The Jiaozi was the first to arrive:

 
These were quite good. The wrapper had a decent pull, and yet was tender and doughy. The portion size of the filling was excellent, a perfect bite. It was also moist and minced not ground, creating a very soft, but not mushy filling. As I mentioned in this post, the Missus loved the use of Savoy Cabbage in the place of the usual Napa Cabbage. Oooops, there I go again. Let me just say that perhaps I lack the vocabularial (I'm guessing there's such a word) dexterity to come up with something more colorful and enjoyable.... soooo how about... It was good, not quite in the league of Qing Dao Bread Food in our opinion, but good enough for the Missus to call Mom and needle Her  saying, "we found another one as good as yours." Yikes!! It was also good enough for us to return and buy 50 frozen, at a good price of $10.

The Xiao Long Bao was the next to arrive:

We didn't enjoy these as much. Though I'm not a big fan of over-worked thin wrappers, these were much too thick. Also there wasn't enough "soup" in the XLB for me. The flavor was also on the bland side.

Last to arrive were the Shengjian Bao, white and glistening. The woman who brought these out said something to the Missus which made Her laugh. She said, "these are the first of the day, it's going to be very good. Look how beautiful they are so white and perfect." When we were waiting for our frozen Jiaozi, the same woman brought out some SJB for a couple sitting on one of the tables and exclaimed, "look how beautiful, white, and shiny these are." So this is her usual shtick, and we were a bit charmed by it.

As for the SJB, in my opinion, these were the best I've had to date. It was mostly due to the dough, and how it was cooked.

As you can see, the bottom is nicely browned and crisp, the top has been cooked well, it is nice and fluffy. The textural contrast was excellent. The filling was a simple pork, and could have been perhaps a bit more "juicy". The Missus still prefers the filling from Food Cabin's version of SJB.

And yes, as you can see, these are "beautiful, white, and shiny." I'm looking forward to having this again, and perhaps some Niu Rou Mian on my next visit.... when I pick up my next batch of 100 frozen Jiaozi.

As we were waiting for our frozen Jiaozi to take home, one of the women asked the Missus where we were from. She told Her "San Diego". The woman told the Missus that her son"goes to College in San Diego", and pointing to several plastic sacks filled with bags of frozen Jiaozi, said, "that's all for him". The Missus mentioned how lucky he is that he is able to get good Jiaozi to eat. The woman laughed, shook her head, and said, "no, no, he takes them to San Diego and sells them to other students!" You gotta love it!

Dean Sin World
306 N Garfield Ave #2
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Open Daily - 930am - 9pm

Read Gastronomy's post on Dean Sin World here.

Chibugan

**** Chibugan has closed

Back in August I did a short post, noting that Eddels inside of Vinh Hung Market had changed ownership and was now named Chibugan. I recently finally got around to visiting Chibugan.

I did notice that the place had been cleaned-up a bit. Doors had been installed in the interior entrance, and the place has been painted a bright orange.

This place is a typical"turo-turo" (steam table) joint, featuring items like Pork and Chicken "BBQ", and a few desserts. Another big difference is the woman who works the front counter, who is a bit different from the the previous staff who were friendly and loquacious. She's more quiet and serious, and perhaps a bit more cautious. Not good or bad, just different.

The two item combo, with steamed rice rings in at $5.99. the portions aren't "Tita's sized" but are adequate. 

Looking over the steam-table I made my choices, which ended up being pretty predictable. Sisig was one of choices of course.

 
 For me, this wasn't a very pleasant Sisig. First, as you can clearly see, there was a ton of ginger, which overwhelmed most of the flavors, in a dish that's usually packed with sour, salty, and spicy notes. Second, the pork was much too waxy, and in this type of Sisig, I'd have enjoyed having some crisp pork skin which would have added a nice one-two crunch with the onions. The Sisig was also ice cold, which made it seem much more greasy.

The second item was something that I'd strangely never had before, Goat Adobo (Adobong Kambing):

 This was pretty good, the chunks of goat was moist and tender. There was a hint of black pepper, but it didn't over-power the dish. In fact, this was pretty low on the salty-scale for Adobo, but not in a bad way. I did enjoy it.

Which gave me enough reason to return. The woman working the front counter, saw me entering, and told me "today this is the goat dish" while pointing at one of the trays. She had remembered me..... I guess I'm now the "goat guy".

 
Kaldereta was what she was pointing to. Which was one of the items I got.

This was a pretty mediocre version of Kaldereta; there were mostly bones in what I got, almost no meat. The goat flavor was too mild, and with the huge amount of tomato used to flavor this dish, it was almost like eating bony Filipino Menudo. Which was kind of a bummer, since I paired this with...... yes Menudo.

Fairly mediocre as well; fairly bland, an adjective I rarely use when describing Filipino dishes. The meat was dry and tasteless....... in fact just about the only thing that stood out in this dish was pervading taste of tomato sauce.

I did enjoy the Goat Adobo, but the other dishes really did nothing to inspire me to return. I'd say that Chibugan is a cut above Olga's and Ed's, but perhaps a notch below Manila Fast Food and Desserts and R & B.

Chibugan
10550 Camino Ruiz (In Vinh Hung Supermarket)
San Diego, CA 92126

Our most memorable meals part 2

Maybe I should've made a few resolutions for the New Year. First on that list would be "completing things I started sooner....." I realize that I did part 1 of this post on December 30th. I could, of course make it sound even farther "upstream" by writing something like "last year".... Of course, I still haven't finished my posts on Guatemala, or even Thailand, I hope to get those done before we leave on our next big trip. So without further ado..... these are in no particular order, but it's the meals that the Missus and I talk about most often.

- Can Cau Market

I've always been fascinated by markets of all shapes, sizes, and types. You learn so much about the people who live in these destinations, by checking out the market..... The Sunday Market at Bac Ha is well known as a gathering of the various Hill tribes. The Can Cau Market is less well known, but we found that we enjoyed it more.... it was less touristy, and it seems a bit more laid-back, not that the term "laid back" in anyway describes anything in Vietnam.

 
Here in the hill country of Vietnam, the colors worn by the people are vibrant and colorful; the Flower H'mong, Red Zao, Giay, the Blue H'mong.

 
We had made it clear early on that we don't do tourist food, and ended up eating where everyone else was; sitting on low benches a few inches above the hard-packed dirt.

The fare was simple, boiled pork, noodle soup, pickled greens, and the star of the show, Ruou Ngo, the local "moonshine" poured into used plastic water bottles from "Jerry cans".... the equivalent of 50 cents got your 16 ounce water bottle filled to the brim with Ruou.

And then the inevitable happened, we became the current novelty.... Our guide approached with cups of Ruou telling us that two of the gentleman sitting across the way "want to have a drink with you, because tourists never eat with them. They are very happy and proud that you would eat the same food." This of course, was only the beginning, of a scene we've encountered almost everywhere we've been in SEA, "they don't believe you're American. They say that you cannot be American, you don't look like Americans. Americans rarely come here, and those that do are afraid of the food, and won't drink with them. They take their pictures and leave right away."

 

Just as we are curious about the lives of people who seem so exotic and different, they are just as fascinated with us. You'd lose so much by keeping things at safe distance sometimes.....

What sticks with me was a toast the proprietor of the pork stall made before we left. Finding out that the Missus is Chinese, he made the following toast: "to Vietnamese and Chinese, we are brothers and neighbors, and brothers sometimes fight, but in the end we are still brothers". In the end, we are all brothers, under the same moon and sun......

- A Very Special Dinner in Cusco

Peru was a delicious and fascinating trip, and words cannot describe Machu Picchu.

Without a doubt, one of the highlites of our time in Cusco was dinner with the family of a friend of ours. We were told that they'd be making us a meal of Cuy, something that got me rather excited. That excitement was dampened when I had a terrible meal of Cuy the night before. Man was it bad, but there was a reason for that I was to find out later.

This family opened their home and hearts to us. And the Cuy was wonderful!

Crisp skin like roast pork, Cuy is all dark meat, and does taste like dark meat pork. I nibbled on the legs, the little bit of meat by the back spine is fabulous. And of course we had a drink after dinner to "kill the Cuy" as they say.

So why did that Cuy we had the previous night taste so bad? It was because they were fed a diet of meal that included fish and other ingredients to make them grow large quickly. The traditional food for Cuy is Alfalfa.

We spent a wonderful evening talking about all sorts of subjects..... humor is universal! When it comes down to it, we are more alike then we are different.....

- Astrid y Gaston, Lima

I usually don't do posts on fine dining and the like in San Diego. Like I've written many times, there are many other great food blogs and sources for that kind of info. Our meals during our travels are a different story.....

At the time of our visit in 2007 Astrid y Gaston, Gaston Acurio's flagship restaurant was on Pellegrino's top 100 restaurants in the world list. The concept of Novoandina Cuisine was very interesting to us. The unique cuisine of Peru had us entranced, and Astrid y Gaston really delivered.

 

Of course the Missus got Cuy, yet again.

Appetizer, drinks, and mains for two, for the equivalent of $80/US! Plus, a glimpse of the future of Peruvian cuisine.......

- Dinner at Tamarind: Luang Prabang

After attending the Tamarind Cooking School, we made reservations for dinner at Tamarind. And what a dinner it was, I had to do two posts to cover the meal. The meal we made reservations for was called the "Adventurous Lao Gourmet", and after checking out the local Wet Market, I could only imagine what we'd be having.....

And for the equivalent of $12 per person, this degustation style meal surely delivered.

From various "Jeow" (dips).....

to "Fish Poo".....

And steamed pigs brains.....

 

And of course, the various insects..... some of which I enjoyed more than others.

Even beyond the  "look at what I'm eating" attention seeking thingy, I learned so much during this meal. Joy, one of the owners presents each course, and explains a bit about each dish.

Remember the quote from Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." Well this meal displayed to me resourcefulness, "Thao" a wonderful Jeow made from Spyrogyra, what some call "pond scum", salt-pickling, fish curd, and yes, even "Fish Poo" where the intestinal matter of the fish is used for preservation displays one of the most basic means of preserving food without modern refrigeration. The steamed pig brains is a cherished item, as Joy told us it "what you'll make for your children if you love them." 

All of which was eaten with that Lao staple, sticky rice.

There's a peaceful, gentle, friendly tolerance we encountered everywhere in Laos.

- Dinner on Shores of the Mekong

Vientiane was quite a contrast from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and even Nong Khai. Sometimes you happen upon just the right meal at the perfect time. And this was it. There are a huge number of stands along the Mekong river. For some reason, we decided to stick with the one we first passed early on. It was wasn't a huge set-up like the other stands, but the folks running the stand seemed so warm and friendly.

Sitting on a makeshift bamboo platform, I could feel all the tension and worries lazily drift down the Mekong. Of course, the Beerlao didn't hurt!

Some of the food, like the stir fried Morning Glory was good.

 

Other items like the whole fish, was just okay......

What really sent this meal to the "memorable list" was the act of thoughtfulness by the folks who ran this stand. You'll have to read the post to get that story. Let me just say, that along with being the best Nem Khao I've ever had......

It was a great introduction to the thoughtfulness of the folks in Laos.

And hey, that sunset wasn't too bad either!

So there you go...... Five memorable meals. There are a few more that I could probably add.

 
But it's those five that we talk about the most.....

You know, there's a song I've been listening to quite a bit lately. To me, it's got a great hook..... but I also realized that there's a line of the song that always makes me smile:

"Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know" - Say Hey (I Love You), Michael Franti & Spearhead

Keep warm and dry this weekend! Thanks for reading!

Seafood Village - San Gabriel Valley

mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk's foodblog. Nice guy that he is, he lets some others like Cathy, Vicky, and even ed (from Yuma) post here sometimes. Today we magically go back to last summer when ed and Tina finish their culinary roadtrip with a stop in San Gabriel Valley.

Before leaving Monterey, Tina and I had begun the day with some pastries and lattes at Patisserie Parker-Lusseau by the post office, so by the time we rolled into the San Gabriel Valley more than five hours later we were hungry.  Really hungry.

After locating a reasonable room for the evening, we headed out for an evening of Chiu Chow dining at the Seafood Village location in Temple City. This location (the original is in Rowland Heights) is larger, has more parking, is less crowded,  and well, it was closer to our room. And did I mention we were Hungry?:
We parked in the giant lot behind the restaurant and entered the restaurant by its back entrance.  At this time, slightly before 6 p.m., we were one of the few groups of customers in the spacious main dining room:
While we were looking over the menu, a small bowl of boiled peanuts accompanied by mildly pickled vegetables were placed on the table.  Although not mind-blowing, these helped keep our hunger in check until real food started arriving:
That evening we had brought our own wine, a bottle of 2007 Roussane from Tablas Creek Winery (which had ridden down to SGV in an ice chest in my car).  Tablas Creek is my favorite winery in the Paso Robles area, and to my palate at least, this bottle was the tastiest white wine I had encountered on my trip:
The restaurant charged a modest five dollar corkage fee and provided the stemware.

The seasonal vegetable that evening was pea greens ($12.99).  They were wonderfully fresh and perfectly prepared.  There was none of the toughness or stringiness that sometimes ruins this dish:
We also ordered baked oysters with XO sauce ($10.99). It arrived with eight breaded oysters on top of slices of a somewhat crunchy stirfried vegetable:
My first oyster was slightly disappointing because I was expecting more crunch from the breading -- having already forgotten that the oysters were "baked."  However, the more of this dish that I ate, the more I liked it.  This preparation really focused on the taste of the shellfish. And the oysters were perfectly cooked, moist and full of wonderful funky oyster flavor.

The crunch in the dish was instead a product of the accompanying veggie.  At first, I was puzzled by that crunchy vegetable as it seemed to resemble no vegetable that I had ever had in a stirfry, and yet it was very tasty. "What's this vegetable?" I asked Tina.

As soon as she said that it tasted like cucumber, I realized she was right and remembered that Kirk had recently posted a stirfried cucumber recipe. I felt only slightly embarrassed that I had missed the identification of such a common vegetable.

Our main dish that evening was the house special crab ($4.99 a pound -- $14.97 total):
When reading about this restaurant at various places on the Internet, everyone said that this was the signature dish at the place. Still, at first it seemed odd to be eating crab that had been breaded and deep-fried in its shell .  "Why bread shell?"  I wondered.

As soon as we started eating the crab, any puzzlement I felt completely disappeared.  This was really good crab (and the breading was pretty tasty as well).  Flavors of garlic and mild chilies were predominant.  The breading was good enough that I sucked some of it off of crab shell.  The greatest part of the dish, however, was the succulent, moist, tender, and flavorful crab inside the shell:
And I realized then that the breading serves to keep the hot oil away from the crab meat, which was not greasy at all.  This was so good it will be hard to drive through the San Gabriel Valley in the future without stopping in and eating it again.

Overall, Tina and I were delighted and impressed.  We had tasted seafood and vegetables different than anything we can get back home.  The wine proved to be an excellent match with the cuisine, having enough body and structure to stand up to the flavorful preparations.  The service was not as superb as at Sea Harbour, but it was more than adequate, and our total for the evening was $50, not including tip, about half of what we had paid at Sea Harbour.  Thanks, Kirk, for the recommendation -- it was spot on!

Seafood Village, 9669 Las Tunas, Temple City, CA, 626-286-2299

Huynh Hoa Tuu Part 2

Update: Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.

Geez, in putting together this post, I just realized how many meals we've had at Huynh Hoa Tuu over the last couple of months! You can add the dishes in part 1, to those in this post for a more comprehensive list.

 After a couple of visits we started noticing a few things about the Pepto-Bismol pink restaurant.

1 - On many evenings, there usually was a group of men having beers and a good time. And, after having some of the dishes, I'd quickly agree that many would qualify as "beer food".

2 - Things were sometimes slow to come out of the kitchen, but that never really bothered us much, as many of the dishes were pretty good.

One item that would qualify as "beer food" is the Mung Ram Muoi (Fried Squid with Spicy Salt):

 
This was kind of a mixed plate. Even though the squid was fried, it wasn't very crisp. It was very tender, however. The chilies and garlic were a bit charred and on the bitter side.

On one visit, we decided to try something more conventional, and ordered the Grilled Pork "Meatballs" Spring Rolls (Nem Nuong Cuon - $4.99):

And while the thick slices of Nem Nuong had decent flavor, there was a bit too much lettuce in these, and the wrappers were really sticky. What really made this was the dipping sauce, the best I've had in a long time. It was a nice sweet-nutty-savory concoction, with a mild and pleasant livery finish. There were fried shallots, and (gasp) what seemed like pork skin in the sauce as well. Man this was good. Unfortunately, on a return visit, all the "extras" that made this sauce shine were gone....... so sad.....

And from the you can't go wrong with fried pork files, I present the Fried Pork Leg w/Fish Sauce ($15):

A whole pork leg was sliced and marinated in a fish sauce concoction, then deep fried, and finished with a stir fry in a spicy and sweet fish sauce mixture. The difference between this, and say, the "Crispy Pata (Filipino Style marinated and deep fried pork leg) of my dreams" is the lack of lovely gelatin. The meat has a good chew, and the band of skin surrounding the meat is pork skin heaven. Of course I heard no complaints about the lack of gelatin when Howie of a Foodieview, and a couple of other FOYs plowed through this one evening. This would make a wonderful beer dish.

FOY "Yummy Yummy" had warned us off the Banh Canh Cua (Crab Noodle Soup - $6.75), the folks here kept recommending it to us. So one day we finally ordered it.

YY warned of the overuse of food coloring, and she was right on. This was also very bland, except for the black pepper overdose..... boy does this place love black pepper.

The Bun Mam ($5.99), was better, though I enjoy the version from Nhu Y more.

Though the soup was nicely pungent, it could have used a bit more Mam Tom, though it was not as sweet as other versions I've had. As usual all the herbs and veggies were fresh and shiny. The Missus actually enjoyed this more than I did....especially the eggplant and shrimp.

On one visit, we saw a woman eating a very pretty plate of fried rice, so on another visit we tried the Shrimp Fried Rice($7.50):

The rice was cooked perfectly.... you could make out every grain of rice... and each grain had color. The shrimp was cooked to perfection, and though we saw the very generous amount of black pepper on this, the dish wasn't affected. It was a bit short on savory flavor, and we added a good dose of fish sauce to it. Still, this fried rice is better than most, but below, say, Sab E Lee or Noble Chef in flavor......

I had recently revisited Phuong Trang, and had the combination Com Tam. I was disappointed in the dish. The broken rice was very fragrant, but everything else, especially the Cha (steamed pork cake) which was dry, cracked, and flavorless. So on another visit I decided to try out the Com Tam Suon Bi Cha (Broken Rice with BBQ Pork Chop, Shredded Pork, and Steamed Egg and Pork):

First off the soup had tons of flavor......and did I tell you that this place loves Rau Ram and Black Pepper????

The Com Tam was cooked nicely, not too dry, but wasn't very fragrant.

The pork chop was nicely grilled, and was even slightly tender. It was less sweet than many I've had, but I enjoyed it.

The Bi was not very good; too dry, and lacking in flavor.

What was very good was the "Cha" the steamed pork-egg-wood ear "cake"(for the lack of a better description).

 
Soft and moist, but not mushy, the flavor of the pork and the earthy wood ear fungus came through. This was the best I've had in a while.

In fact, on our next visit, I decided to order this (+ fried egg..... because, you know, everything tastes better with a fried egg - $6.99), so the Missus could check this out Herself:

The Missus loved the Cha and hated the Bi, but pointed out another good detail. Huynh Hoa Tuu's Nuoc Mam Cham wasn't watered down like many other places.... it is pretty strong, but goes with everything sooooo well.

I guess that's a nice final statement which illustrates that it seems Huynh Hoa Tuu is trying to do things right. It's also nice to have places like Que Huong and Huynh Hoa Tuu, the variety of dishes and preparation is a nice change of pace from other Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego. It may not be Little Saigon level, but it's really not bad by any means....

Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Monday Meanderings..........

"They call it stormy Monday,
yes but Tuesday's just as bad........." 

 They Call it Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker.

Well the first part of that is true..... hope the second isn't! Sheesh, talk about a blustery Monday. Today was the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday, so I had the day off. The Missus, never good with dates, had lunch scheduled with Her friends, so I stayed home, took naps, and had a nice little lunch.

This is a bit of an interesting post....... mainly because I haven't posted on the two restaurants that provided the food for my lunch yet. But what the heck, right?

First off, we finally found some frozen Jiaozi that we like, both in quality, and price (50 for $10). From Dean Sin World in Monterey Park. It holds up well after freezing as you can tell by the wrappers:

I think the filling is just enough, and the flavor is good. I thought it interesting that Savoy Cabbage is used in the filling rather than Napa Cabbage, but it does well. It isn't as good as what Qing Dao Bread Food puts out, but is much better than what I can get in any restaurant in San Diego.

 
I'm including my photo of the pounded garlic and vinegar so the Missus can critique it and give me another thumbs down.... apparently, I still don't know how to do this! he-he-he.... I can't pound garlic in my own kitchen!

I also had a little bowl of leftover Bamboo Shoots with Hunan Preserved Pork.

This was from one of the few Hunan Restaurants I haven't posted on in the area(SGV). Actually, this tasted much better today...... more spicy, and the smokiness of the pork had taken.

After which I had a nice nap........  I'm feeling so lazy, so why not a little lazy Monday post?

We need the rain here in SoCal, but man am I going to miss the spring like weather we had for a couple of weeks. On the days when I didn't do a post, I'd just hang out outside.....have a cold one, and grill up chicken on the Hida Konro.

Yes, I could only grill one piece of chicken at a time..... but the process was so relaxing, almost cathartic. And you can't beat the flavor of Binchotan.

I hope the weather turns around in a couple of days.... I've still got a good stock on Binchotan on hand!