Wednesday Wanderings: Coming soon - Yakitori Koubuo, Pho Cali and Grill, and "excuse me, but is that your duck?"

Yakitori Koubuo (???):

I noticed some construction going on a couple of doors down from Tsuruhashi, you know which one, right.... 3904 Convoy where Izakaya Sakura and The Original Pancake House is located.

The notice said that the business name will be Yakitori Kouba...... sounds interesting! Anyone hear anything about this?
   

Pho Cali and Grill:

Is what the coming soon sign says in the strip mall at 5375 Kearny Villa Road:

This is the strip mall where Golden City is located.

Is that your duck?

Trying to keep the pounds I lost in China off, I decided to walk the couple blocks to the drug store instead of driving. Passing a big apartment complex, something caught my eye...... and I did a double, then a triple take.....

At first I thought someone was playing around with one of those duck decoy things..... but as I approached the duck warned me off with a vigorous "wack - wack". It was a real duck!

I then saw a woman unloading some groceries from her car and asked what is probably the dumbest question of the week (though it's still only Wednesday), "excuse me, but is that your duck?" The woman rightfully gave me a weird look, then she saw the duck, and laughed, "oh them, there's a bunch of ducks that fly up here every summer and hang up by the swimming pool..... his girlfriend is somewhere around here..." I wasn't sure if the woman was kidding me..... we've been living in this neighborhood for seven years, and I swear, I've never seen a duck. Just then I heard another "wack -wack", and I'll be darned, it was a female duck hanging out under some hedges...... I'm still not convinced that these aren't someone's pet.... but in an apartment complex? I'm confused... have any of you heard of flocks of migrating ducks hanging out around swimming pools in San Diego???? Was the woman pulling my leg???

Comments

[Tammy]

That would have been roasted duck if you were in...never mind. Stop checking out somebody's ducks and keep posting about China. Smile.

[kat]

cool that they are just walking around!

[Kirk]

Hi Tammy - You know the same thought came to my mind......

Hi Kat - It was kinda neat.....

[Rosa]

The ducks were probably quacking at you not to eat them. ;)

Up in Manhattan Beach, I sometime see ducks hanging out in the parking lot of the mall. There's no fountains, pools or anything! They just...wander around between cars and hang out under/by them. So weird.

[janfrederick]

I couldn't find the video I saw years back of hundreds of ducks descending upon a backyard pool, but this one was amusing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfcSN8vo3co

My great uncle gets them in his backyard coi pond every year.

[Sandy]

While I'm enjoying your China trip posts, I'm kind of glad to not see any mouth-watering food pictures while I'm eating my morning yogurt.

I have seen ducks in my neighborhood. We've wondered where they come from; we're near a lake, but not that near.

It's interesting how so many pho places are opening. This one will be very close to work.

[Kirk]

LOL Rosa! At least it wasn't about.... well, you know, like yesterday?

Hi Jan - Now that's pretty cute..... can you imagine having a flock of ducks in your backyard pool? Can you imagine the clean-up?

Hi Sandy - I'm sad that you didn't find that duck "mouth-watering"... he-he-he..... Pho places are popping up everywhere it seems.

[kamisama]

Googling Nears International Inc came up w/ this:

Industrial: Nears International Inc., dba Yakitori Noubou, has leased 1,375 square feet of industrial space at 3904 Convoy Street, San Diego, 92111, from Horng Jow Corp. The property was leased for 120 months at $303,714.
The lessee was represented by Atsuko Yanagase of Person Realty.
The lessor was represented by Brian G. Pyke and Alex Knutson of Duhs Commercial.

I'll ask my Japanese chef friends if they heard anything.

[foodhoe]

There's a pair of Canadian geese in the pond by my office... they had some cute fluffy chix a few weeks ago

[Kirk]

Hi Kamisama - Thanks for the effort! I did a google search on both the name and Nears International when I first saw the sign as well, just to see if Nears had any affiliation with other places, but came up na da!

Hi FH - That sounds like a nice, cute, distraction.

[Loren]

I gotta admit that's good service - instead of you going out and fetching the duck, the duck comes to you.

There's another duck in the fountain on the north side of the Hotel Del that patrols it as his territory.

[Kirk]

LOL Loren! Duck to your door....

[A]

Haha, I can't believe you've never seen a duck in San Diego! I see them all the time! Granted, I live near the Famosa Slough and they most likely reside there most of the time, but we do have the occasional "family" in our complex's pond.

[Dennis]

Hi Kirk, I stuck my nose in the soon to be yakitori spot this evening. It seems to be a chain from Japan..

http://www.yakitorikoubou.jp/

Seemed pretty averagely rated from what I found online, but I guess we'll have to see. The person working on the construction said they were planning to open sometime August. Healthy competition is always a good thing, even from a Japanese yakitori chain.. :)

[Kirk]

Hey Dennis - Thanks for the info...... competition is usually good, so I'm looking forward to this!

[kamisama03]

Saw a bunch of classified ads in the local Japanese magazines for Yakitori Koubou. They are hiring wait staff and chefs. It said opening will be sometime this fall. Also found out they are from Yokohama. They have 11 locations. Here is their website:

http://www.yakitorikoubou.jp/index.html

[Kirk]

Thanks for the info Kamisama!