mmm-yoso!!!

Carnitas El Botanero (Lemon Grove)

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food.  Today, Kirk is busy with work as well as eating and photographing his meals, Ed(from Yuma) is busy with retirement and eating and photographing his meals and Cathy is writing, because she is finally not busy and has time to write and organize her photos.

It's the once every four years FIFA World Cup (Federation Internationale de Football Association) time of year, and going to most restaurants with televisions has been a challenge.  The Mister and I try to go in between games or on days off, since the entire series of games started June 12 and won't end until July 13. 

One of our favorite 'close by' restaurants is in Lemon Grove.  It used to be the original location of Carnitas Uruapan, which moved to a smaller location after the original owner died. Still, it specializes in carnitas and has some other interesting menu items, in addition to breakfast and lunch specials:
The interior has remained unchanged from the Uruapan days. (Yes, that is a rerun of the morning World Cup match on the television).Even the old juke box is still here. The Mister and I both enjoy the chile based salsas, made fresh here daily.  You can see the many ingredients. Above, the lunch green salad with carne asada ($7.75), which was a nice, light lunch a few weeks ago.  The carne here is very good. The carnitas plate for one ($7.95), is (more than) a 1/2 pound of excellent carnitas, served with rice, beans (wonderful), cilantro, onions, corn tortillas and the salsa fresca.The slow cooked beef barbacoa plate ($8.50) here is served in the above manner - the lengthy steaming makes the meat tender and fork-ably easy to shred.  It's served in/with the cooking sauce/juice, which is slightly salty and nicely smokey.  The saltiness 'calms down' with the addition of onions, cilantro and pieces of corn tortillas.  This is very comforting and excellent.

The shrimp ceviche tostada ($3.95) is quite large. It's made when you order. Part of the marinade is fresh oregano which compliments but does not overwhelm the quite large shrimp.  I get cravings for this particular ceviche version. 

The carnitas taquitos ($5.45) is part of the lunch special menu and the fried corn tortillas are just so delicate and thin/crispy; you can taste the meat.  Topped with a considerable amount of sour cream, fresh made guacamole and a sort of salad, these four rolled tacos and accompaniments are a meal.

Carnitas Botanero 8035 Broadway Lemon Grove 91945 (619)462-3020 Mon-Thurs 8-8, Fri-Sat 8-10, Sun 8-9

In case you are following the World Cup, here's a great visual of the official logo and Groups participating.  It's printed on an official FIFA souvenier grocery bag I purchased at Vallarta Supermarket ($2.99) a few weeks ago. 

Sunday Sandwiches: Mama's Grill

** Update: Mama's Grill has Closed

I keep finding little sandwich places I never knew existed.......this shop is pretty close to work, in the same strip mall as Jersey Mike's and Sieu Sieu BBQ. I'm not quite sure why I missed this place, I guess it's overshadowed by the chains....Carl's Jr, Rubio's Test Kitchen, Jersey Mike's.....not places I usually frequent.

If I recall, this place used to be Sima's Grill? Which sadly, I never had the chance to try either.

I wasn't going to let this place go without checking it out. I'd finished up some meetings and had a late lunch...late for me is like 130pm, I usually like to eat at 11....things are less crazy on "the Mesa" at 11.

The placed looked like any of a number of sandwich shops scattered throughout San Diego. The meat is Boar's Head...and like I said in my post on Crossroads Deli; Boar's Head, is Boar's Head. I like to see what interesting items are on the menu. Well, there's no shortage of that here, some of it, like the 1 pound "T-Rex" is a bit over-the-top.

I decided on the "Surf and Turf"($9.95). I didn't expect the hefty sandwich that I got.

This was a two-fisted sandwich. In fact, i only finished half of it. The beef, as expected was on the chewy side and kind of bland. I was surprised how many shrimp were in the sandwich. I like the finely shredded lettuce on this....it gave even more texture to sandwich. For me, what really made this thing tick was the cilantro pesto and the chipotle (I know it's everywhere - but it worked here) sauce. It just gave everything that little umph it needed.

I couple of days later I tried Ma's Muffuletta ($8.95). This I was less impressed with.

The sandwich was basically a pressed panini, the bread toasted a bit too hard. There was a generous portion of capicola, prosciutto (low grad and very salty), and supposedly mortadella...which I couldn't make out. The pressing had rendered a lot of the fat making this kind of greasy.....there wasn't enough bread or anything to balance out the amount of salt in the olive spread and meat. Again, I could only finish half the sandwich, but for a different reason......

Another day of meetings, another late lunch. I decided to stop at Mama's and take something back to the office. I quickly ordered Ma's Veggie ($7.55).

First off, I like the way the bread was "pressed/griddles", it really provided some nice texture. I was also surprised at the amount of avocado in this sandwich. For some reason, the cream cheese seemed like overkill...perhaps if the sandwich also had some sprouts and shredded lettuce to add more contrasting textures and interest.

Still, this wasn't a bad sandwich by any means....in fact I was told they'd make anything anyway I want it....sounds like a veggie minus the cream cheese with lettuce, cilantro and chipotle sauce, doesn't it?

Mama’s Grill
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon - Fri 830am - 5pm
Sat       9am - 330pm
Sun   1030am - 230pm

Paso Robles Wine Tasting Adventure

 Kirk and Cathy get a break today because Ed (from Yuma) wants to take the reader on a wine tasting experience in Paso Robles.

About 30 years ago when I moved to California, I discovered tasting at wineries, one of the true pleasures available to Californians  who enjoy wine. Don't worry, this blog post will not be full of pictures of wine bottles and glasses of wine. Most wine in a glass looks like most any other wine in the same glass. And no one goes wine tasting just to look at the bottles. I will also try hard to avoid wine babble as much as I can.

Instead, I just want to share a recent wine tasting adventure up in Paso Robles.

J Dusi

Tina and I had left the San Gabriel Valley munching on banh mi around 11 AM and arrived in Paso around 3 PM. We met up with Steve and Helen (old friends from Monterey) and decided to head out to do a little tasting. I wanted to start at J Dusi:

The tasting room for this winery, located on Highway 46 south of Paso Robles and a little west of Highway 101, has only been open about a year, but I wanted to visit because I had had a wonderful bottle of Zinfandel from Janell Dusi’s winery with a dinner at Artisan Restaurant on my last visit to Paso. I was surprised that she herself was in the tasting room on that Monday:

Her great-grandfather originally planted Dusi vinyards in the 1920s, making them truly old vine, and Ridge winery, which has focused on making wine from classic, high quality, old vine vineyards, has made limited edition zinfandels from the fruit for dozens of years now.

The zinfandels (a 2011 and 2012) are 2/5 of the wines on the tasting menu ($10):

Janell pointed out the differences between the two zinfandels. 2011, a cool year, produced a wine that is spicy, smooth, and complex. 2012, having warmer weather, gave a wine with a bolder more intense berry fruit flavors. OK, yeh, we could taste that.

To accompany the wines, we were served a small wooden tray with fruits, nuts, and rice crackers:

That was a nice touch. As was the cork art on the wall:

Jada

We left that winery at around 4:30 PM, so we simply drove to Vineyard Drive and looked for tasting room that was still open. We found Jada, a winery I had never heard of previously:

The tasting room was very modern, clean, and attractive:

Looking the other way, large glass panels separate the tasting area from a special wine storage and display room and reflect some of the rural natural setting the winery:

Here the tasting options were more complicated; visitors can taste five wines from a regular or special list ($10 or $15) and can choose to taste the wines with chocolate or cheese:

Tina and I chose cheese. Each cheese matched a particular wine and showed off that wine’s flavor profile best:

We had a good time chatting with the pleasant young woman running the tasting room, and we learned that most of the grapes come from the estate vineyards which are all managed biodynamically. Almost every bottle of wine exhibited a unique blend of classic varietals. We enjoyed our visit.

Calcareous

The next morning, Steve, Helen, Tina, and I decided to start at Calcareous vineyards, just a few miles west of the town Paso Robles itself. This was another new winery that had been receiving a lot of favorable mention. Clearly the tasting room is a modern construction:

The vista from the patio outside the tasting room is pretty and spectacular, miles and miles of rolling hills at the beautiful southern end of the Salinas Valley:

Inside the pleasantly decorated tasting room itself, there was extensive use of wood, stone, and marble:

Again, for $10 a visitor could taste five different wines, all grown on vineyards owned or managed by the winery:

Kurt who was pouring in the tasting room that morning, called our attention to the white wine that began the tasting, explaining how one could taste each of the three types of grapes used in the blend – the viognier with its flowery aromas hitting the palate first, the grenache blanc providing clean smooth dry mineral flavors, and the roussane finishing with richer more buttery mouthfeel. He was right, I could taste all those things, so we made it a point to buy a bottle of this wine at the end of the tasting.

The winery also stressed that most of their grapes were grown in calcareous vineyards, the limestone stressing the grapes and producing more flavorful grape clusters. There was even a chunk of limestone rock in the tasting room:

We all felt this was a good beginning to our day of wine sampling, but it was time to go back and into Paso Robles and have lunch.

When I first tasted in the Paso Robles area in 1985, there were less than 10 wineries with tasting rooms if memory serves. I couldn't find any place for an interesting dinner. There was little to distinguish Paso Robles from other rural California towns. Now there are over 200 wineries and a vibrant restaurant scene. Our tasting theme for this year's visit was to seek out places where none of us had tasted before that we had heard good things about – or just happened to run across.

Caparone

However, after lunch on Tuesday, we headed north on Highway 101 to San Marcos Road, turned left, and drove along small two-lane road for a few miles until we came to Caparone winery, two very nondescript buildings at the end of a gravel driveway. The exterior of the tasting room looked like this:

This is true old school Paso Robles. Dave Caparone started making wines in his home in the early 1970s, and began Caparone vineyards in the late 70s when he purchased the property on San Marcos Rd., planted it to Zinfandel and Italian grape varietals, and built his modest winery and storage buildings on the property.

I do not believe I have ever done a wine tasting in the Paso Robles area without stopping in at Caparone winery.

The winery, now operated by Dave's son Marc, is a family operation that focuses on producing traditional unfined and unfiltered red wines that can age for years. Look at the list for the tasting in June 2014:

A couple things stand out. First, most of the other wines we tasted on our Paso Robles adventure retailed at over $30 – that seems standard for boutique wines in the area these days. All Caparone bottles were $16 with case and half case discounts. Caparone was also the only place we went that did not have the tasting fee. Gotta love the prices.

Second, look at the vintages. At every other winery we visited, the oldest wines that were served were from 2010, and most of the bottles came from 2012 or 2011. At Caparone, the newest wine was from 2010; in other words, Caparone is now selling wines that are aged so that they they don't have to be stored to achieve their peak flavors. I know of no other winery that does that – certainly none that sells aged wine at a basic price.

Caparone was also the first winery to bottle some traditional Italian grape varietals and cultivars. For example, the Sangiovese comes from cuttings obtained from one of the outstanding vineyards in Brunello di Montalcino and, with a little bit of aging, exhibits characteristic reddish brown tones:

Lone Madrone

After tucking a few cases of Caparone wines into the car, we drove south to Lone Madrone winery, a very new winery that showcases wines made by Neil Collins, the talented winemaker at Tablas Creek – the large Franco-American winery connected with Château Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape:

Five wines were available for a $10 tasting fee – 2 whites and three reds:

As you can see, quantities of these wines are very limited and the prices for them are pretty expensive, but the tastes were very pleasant. The four of us discussed how the blended white wine here, dominated by the roussane grape, had a distinctively different flavor profile from the one that had started our day at Calcareous.

We also enjoyed the wine label art – here a picture of James Dean who was killed in an automobile accident on Highway 46 in 1955:

Epoch

After Steve and Helen headed back to Monterey on Wednesday, Tina and I had time to try a couple of other wineries. This time we headed south and west, taking Highway 46 westward toward the ocean, then turning right on York Mountain Road. Up there we found Epoch winery, another new boutique winery operating out of the new building:

The interior is also bright and striking:

The long-range goal at Epoch is to restore and renovate the York Mountain winery building, which stands on the property:

As well as being scenic, York Mountain was the first winery in the Paso Robles area dating back to the 1880s.

We were able to taste 4 highly rated and expensive wines for $10:

Some of the grapes come from a vineyard begun by Polish statesman, pianist, and president, Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

We were also intrigued by the subtle salmon shade of the rosé wine:

Kenneth Volk

The last winery we went to during our stay in the Paso Robles area was KennethVolk Vineyards on Highway 46 a few miles east of Epoch. After parking, a visitor walks down a little trail through the entrance:

alongside a rustic building with the restrooms:

to the old barn like structure that is the tasting room:

Kenneth Volk founded Wild Horse Vineyards back in the day, and his new eponymous winery features wines made from numerous different grape varieties:

That's just the first half of the list – here are the rest:

Each of us could choose tastes of six of the wines for $10, so we were able to sample some unusual varieties (blaufrankisch or cabernet Pfeffer) , and some from unusual vineyard locations, such as San Benito County or Lime Kiln Valley. It was a nice change from the other tasting rooms we had been in and a pleasant conclusion to our tasting adventure.

All in all, Steve, Helen, Tina and I had fun exploring the Paso Robles wine region. We tried to be moderate and responsible in our consumption, particularly Tina who did most of the driving. Of course tasting the wines was fun, but just driving around the hills outside of Paso Robles, enjoying very pleasant weather, and talking with friends was a good time. Except for our visit to Caparone, we purchased very few bottles at the tasting rooms – those are usually the highest prices (outside of restaurants) that a person would have to pay for the wine. Many people spend several days in the Paso area sampling the wines and then make their purchases at the supermarket in town where many of the local wines are available at a discount price.

I realize this was a terribly long post, so if you've gotten this far, thank you for reading and I hope I have been able to convey some of the pleasures of wine tasting in Paso Robles.

Winery map

Porto: Matosinhos and Tito 2

Ah yes, Sunday in Porto. Joao had told us when he gave us a short orientation to the apartment; many local restaurants are closed, of course tourist restaurants are open, but you don't want to eat in those, right?

Getting out early on Sunday, it was pretty obvious that things were going to be very quiet.....

The only place that seemed alive and kickin' at this hour was the corner coffee shop and bakery.......you still needed your morning "cafe express" even on Sunday! Strangely, after having their morning caffeine boost and pastry, there's no dallying around, folks just seemed to walk out of the shop and disappear, like a scene from Dr Who.......

We headed up the street.....empty except for just a few folks....stragglers it seemed...waiting to fall victim to the Sunday Zombie Apocalypse...

We headed off to the Minipreco Supermarket next to the Mercado do Bolhao.....which we knew was open, to grab a few items for dinner. Our cab was set to pick us up at 5am in the morning for our flight to Rome, so we decided to just have something light for dinner.

After a nice walk back to the apartment, dropping things off, we headed back up.....

Joao told us that on special Sundays, he takes his family to Matosinhos, a town located to the west of Porto....this is where the docks are....and where we were told, the fish come in and where locals go to eat it. So we headed off on the Metro, getting off at the Matosihnos Sul stop and finding ourselves in Matosihnos.....

We headed down a bit, turning on Rua Herois de Franca and after a couple of blocks things started perking up a bit. We hit a restaurant row. Each restaurant had what looked like makeshift dining areas set-up in front, which seemed to be built on wooden pallets.

You could tell that there was a bit of partying going on here on Saturday night....

There were restaurants all lined up in a row, simple looking tascas next to some pretty nice white tablecloth looking places. Most of them had a grill being primed in from of the shop.....

But which one to choose? Well Joao had told us to "walk past all the restaurants on the street, don't worry, do not get discouraged.....do not stop until you come to Tito 2." And so we did that, even passing Tito 1 on the way.

So this was the place, huh? It looked just like every other place on the street....but heck, Joao hadn't let us down yet!

We looked over and a very nice young man smiled, greeted and seated us, then proceeded to call another studious looking young man...who spoke perfect English....

You know, the pallet seating looked pretty nice, don't you think?

While we waited for our menus to arrive, I peeked around the corner where the grill action was just starting up.

The menu arrived....it was sardine season, so that was a no-brainer....I then saw something that was on my food "bucket list"....something that I just had to try.....I just knew this was going to be a great meal.

Meanwhile, the Missus had snuck off to use the restroom, coming back to tell me to check out the interior of the brick and mortar restaurant....which looked pretty nice.

Just next to the doorway were the "fresh catches"...fish you could select for your meal if you so desired.

Soon our appetizer arrived, something that I'd been waiting to eat for several years....I never thought I'd be getting it in Portugal......

These were percebes, goose barnacles, you know, the stuff you scrape off the hull of boats. Yes, they may be pests to some; but to the Spanish and the Portuguese these are delicacies...rather expensive delicacies. Our Server kindly suggested .2 kilos as being enough.

So the deal is you twist off the head of this, squirting water on yourself is mandatory......you then eat the flesh.

The flavor is intensely briney, like taking in a chewy piece of the ocean...I really liked the texture. It was a bit too briney for the Missus, but I loved the intense flavor.

The Missus wanted to give Sopa de Peixe, fish soup another try......this was really thick and a bit too fishy for our taste...like fishy glue. Not our thing.

The sardines on the other hand were fantastic.

So simply done, no messing around with a fresh product....rubbed in salt, a bit of acid, so nice. The finish was that rich oil that coats your tongue, but also very clean, without that lingering and somewhat off-putting bitter fishiness that often accompanies sardines. This was one of our favorite dishes during our trip.

The potatoes were very nice....so much flavor, so simply done; olive oil, salt, garlic, parsley....

The salad broke things up nicely....also simple.

I also ordered the Lulas Grelhadas - grilled squid with lemon and olive oil.

Perhaps not the best I've had, but nicely prepared.

What was really strange was that two parties came in after us; both spoke Portuguese...both looked at what we were eating and ended up ordering exactly the same thing (we'd already finished the percebes...), which I thought was kind of strange.

The price was amazing, all this, plus a carafe of wine and water for 36 Euros!

The service was very nice, the food very good.....if we're ever in Porto again, we're headed back to Tito 2.

Tito 2 
Rua Herois de Franca 321
Matosinhos, Portugal

We stopped for some espresso before going to the metro stop. At the stop a metro police officer headed up to us. In some countries this is not a good sign...not here. He stopped to ask if we needed some help, but we already had our tickets. He smiled and look at us and asked, "how is you time here? Are you enjoying it....having any problems?" What could we say? We loved our time here....

Dinner for us was a simple deal......the Missus new "specialty", some head cheese, bread....a decent drinkable wine (and a beer to follow for me).

We had a nice night's sleep. We woke at 4am, got our act together, and our ride to airport was prompt. The way to the airport was interesting as we got to see what a sprawling city Porto was.......a city we were going to miss.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Why duck fat rules.....

Way back in November when I posted on our Thanksgiving Duck two people emailed me asking about rendering duck fat. So......the Missus has been craving duck and asked me to make duck confit this past weekend. We didn't have much duck fat leftover from Thanksgiving....duck fat lasts forever....even with what I had from our previous confit. So it was a perfect time to order a duck....I get a duck from Bristol Farm. I order it from the poultry guy since I don't want one of the frozen ones. He places his orders to Mary's on Fridays and Wednesdays.....I do the Wednesday order thing, it arrives on Friday, I pick up early Saturday morning, along with two extra legs. Why? Well, unless you see any four legged ducks out there.....

The process is simple.....you take Ducky....pat the poor fellow dry.

The Missus was amazed that I could break this baby down in less than 10 minutes. Actually, you know that's a lie....She would never be impressed because "it's just a duck, it's already dead, there are no feathers........2 minutes max!"

I then trim the fat from the carcass, I follow-up by trimming the portioned legs and breast. I then cleaned up the skin and fat by taking off excess bits of meat and other "stuffs".

We are then ready to go. I slice the fat into thin strips and put into a heavy bottomed pan. I turn the heat to medium and add a half-cup of bottled or filtered water.

You may ask "water???" But yes, water. It helps to keep the skin and fat from burning during the rendering process...really!

When things start getting kind of exciting....lot's of bubbling, I turn the heat down a smidge.....

After about 35 minutes to 45 minutes you start getting something that looks like this going on.

A few minutes later you're ready to strain the whole thing. And you end up with this.

Yep, duck cracklins. I dropped a small packet off for our good friend "YY" and the rest we used as salad toppings. And heck, I just read that duck fat might be a healthy alternative to butter. Anyway, a little goes a long way.....folks have used duck fat to preserve food...as in duck confit. I used what I had in the fridge and about 2/3 of a cup of the recently rendered fat, leaving me with a cup for other stuffs.

I mean really, this duck and parts ain't cheap, like over $40...however, 2 meals from breasts, bones for soup, 4 legs confit...duck fat and cracklins.....priceless.

Trying to figure out how to do the duck breasts within the limits of the Whole 30 was interesting......

We settled on slowly searing the breasts, crisping the skin while rendering the fat, draining periodically. While the duck finished in the oven. I used some of the rendered fat to saute vegetables, some of which, like the padron peppers came from our garden, flavoring with a natural Date Vinegar with no added sugar we  bought in Ghent. I then took the rest of the rendered fat from the breasts and made a sauce of sorts with the vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Oh, and you can't forget that these had been seasoned with five-spice from QingDao....after all, according to the Missus, duck is not duck without that flavor profile.

Trying to take the "die" out of diet - Cilantro Sauce

As we were heading on to the tail end of our trip, the Missus told me She was going to do something called the Whole 30 Program. I didn't think much of it until I read about the foods She would need to avoid for 30 days....you might recall, I do almost all the cooking in our household and would have to adhere to these rules when cooking. Basically, no sugars of any kind - real or artificial (that would include honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, coconut sugar), no alcohol even for cooking (forget about the Shaoxing in the stir fry or mirin for that matter), no legumes or beans (No soy sauce - why don't you just stab me in the heart and get it over with, no peanuts, peanut butter, all forms of soy - you need to check for lecithin), no grains of any kind (including quinoa, no starches for thickening, nothing battered, no breads, no bogus gluten free stuff), no dairy (forget the cheese, except for clarified butter and ghee), no MSG or sulfites (gotta read those labels), basically, NO FUN.

I promised the Missus I'd do a "Whole 7" in support....I'd already lost 17 pounds on my trip. I always lose weight on vacation, I even joked with Kirbie during our dinner that Villa Manila, calling our upcoming trip my annual visit to the fat farm....I can eat anything, drink anything, and I will lose weight. So if you've wondered why my posts were kind of sparse for a while that's it....along with the fact that even though I waited a whole 7 days before popping open that beer, we're still doing the Whole 30 when we eat at home....in case you've been wondering why the Missus has been absent in my restaurant posts....first thing I had...noodles....oodles of noodles.

Basically, food looks like this everyday. You know, the thought of having steak every night might sound like fun.....but I need variety....

I've been grilling a couple of nights a week....I've gotten pretty good at Weeknight grilling over the years, but man, not being able to use soy sauce, any sweeteners, and the like makes things tough and I'm having to rely on doing basic rubs. Salads are basically vinaigrettes, I guess vinegar (so long it has no sugar - you end up reading labels like crazy, and oh, malt vinegar has gluten so no bueno) is ok. This itself can get pretty old, think about sauces.....you can't really use anything you don't make yourself.

So here's one the Missus really enjoys - very simple......oh, and one of Her latest things is Avocado Oil. Sauces like this makes this diet survivable.

I've made this a couple of times and She enjoys it. Though it doesn't totally take the "die" out of diet. I'll post some other stuff I've been making at home later on.

Cilantro Sauce:

 

2 bunches cilantro - stems removed

1/2 cup Avocado Oil - plus more in necessary

5 cloves garlic

1/4 small onion choppped or 2-3 shallots chopped

2-3 Serrano Peppers chopped

3 Tb pepetas - toasted and crushed

juice from 2 limes

Chipotle Powder, Salt, and Pepper to taste

Water as needed

- Tear up cilantro and place in food processor, along with the garlic, serranos, onion/shallots

- Add 1/4 cup of the avocado oil and lime juice

- Turn on food processor and slowly add the rest of the avocado oil.

- If too thick you can add more oil and water as necessary

- Taste and add the pepitas, Chipotle Powder, Salt, and Pepper - pulse several times and taste again

This tastes great with grilled chicken (skin on please - since fat seems to be a virtue), burgers, and even some fish.

 

 

Mariscos Playa Hermosa in Phoenix

Kirk and Cathy are busy today, but Ed (from Yuma) has had some free time lately, so here's his post from a recent road trip.

A friend of Tina's from grad school was retiring at the end of May, 2014, so we were in Phoenix for the weekend. On a previous trip, Tina had already located a Mexican seafood restaurant that she was sure I would enjoy – Playa Hermosa:

We arrived fairly early before the restaurant had begun to fill up, and I was immediately impressed by the brightly colorful decor:

The chairs were almost too beautiful to sit in:

Even the tabletops were decorative works of art:

The chips and salsa showed, however, that there was more to Playa Hermosa than met the eye:

The fresh chips were accompanied by a fiery red salsa full of chile seeds and an avocado/cilantro green salsa that was mild and smooth.

We also ordered margaritas ($5.99) that were very attractive, flavorful, and effective:

The menu featured a wide range of seafood choices and preparations. Tina chose the camarones culichi (shrimp in green sauce – $13.99), and I decided on the fish and shrimp combination with the poblano sauce ($15.99).

Both meals began with a ceviche de pulpo tostada:

Very tasty. The octopus was perfectly tender and the citrus flavor of the juice was not overpowering.

Tina's shrimp came in a little boat of a complex and tangy salsa verde – it was creamy and elegant, highlighted by green chili and citrus notes. We understood why one of Tina's friends had recommended this dish:

It came accompanied by tortillas, excellent vegetable rice, chopped lettuce and tomato, fresh red onion rings, and slightly refried pinto beans that Tina especially appreciated:

I also loved my dinner:

Next to the same side dishes, my lightly crusted, perfectly grilled fish was topped with numerous shrimp and a truly outstanding ranchero sauce dominated by grilled fresh poblano peppers:

The tender flaky fish was perfectly prepared, and the only real shortcoming of my entrée was that the shrimp were a little overcooked and chewy – as were Tina's.

While we were eating a small mariachi band came in and began playing people's favorites. At first they stood between our table and most of the rest of the restaurant. At that point they sounded better than they looked:

They soon moved throughout the restaurant and we enjoyed their performance.

In fact, we enjoyed our entire meal. Our server was really superb, explaining dishes from the menu, always noticing when we needed something, and being professional and friendly throughout. While the decor and entertainment might make this place seem like a tourist restaurant, virtually everyone in the restaurant – except of course for Tina and me – seemed like a local. We would happily return.

Mariscos Playa Hermosa, 1605 E. Garfield, Phoenix AZ 85006, (602) 462-1563

Pho DaKao and Grill

**** Pho DaKao has closed

It seems that I'm finally getting back into some semblance of a routine and I finally got back over to City Heights/Rolando for a look see. It's probably been about 2 months since I was last around here. Turning on University from 54th I quickly noticed that Pho Tay Do was gone, replaced by a very familiar name.

Dakao....wow. I'm not sure of the whole backstory of Dakao, but I do understand that it is one of those treasured "brands/names" that evokes reactions. The neighborhoof of Đa Kao in Vietnam is reknown for the Pho Ga - chicken noodle soup. In fact, the last time I had a decent bowl of Pho Ga was at DaKao in Little Saigon...it was quite good, I believe the place even had it's own poultry shop on Bolsa.

So, no brainer right?

The interior has been pared down and looks even more spartan that Tay Do.

Of course I got the Pho Da Dakao (small $5.95).

This is a basic bowl of white and dark meat chicken with some offal thrown in for good measure.

The white meat chicken was surprisngly tender if lacking in flavor.

The broth was much too light, falling short with regards to having a nice poultry flavor, and was super salty......and I like salt and MSG, but in appropriate amounts. This one made my feet swell after just a couple of sips.

If I recall, it's normal to get a version of a sweet chili sauce for your chicken with pho ga. What I had here was a remnant of Pho Tay Do, the garlic-ginger sauce.

The noodles were horrendous, really mushy, not very pleasant to eat at all.

The young lady serving me was very nice as was the young lady working the cash register. I was on the fence about coming back, but I try to do my due diligence with places like this so I decided to return.

This time around I paid a bit more attention to things and noticed something on the front cover of the menu....apparently, this location of Dakao is a franchise that looks like is from Texas....so nhbilly, know anything about these guys?

Since I thought the chicken in the Pho Ga was okay, why not go for the Com Ga Hai Nam.....Hainan Chicken Rice ($6.25). It's actually a pretty good looking dish.

The chicken was very moist, of course it was bony, it's a leg after all, so it was a bit ponderous eating it. The flavor was pretty straight forward and lacking any flavoring from aromatics. It was nicely poached though.

The rice was a tragedy, it was hard, dry, and worst of all, lacking in the true flavor of the rice that should be served with this dish.....there was a faint chicken flavor...very faint. Usually the rice is cooked with the poaching liquid of the chicken, along with some chicken fat, then garlic, ginger, shallots, and sometimes lemongrass is added for depth. This had none of the above.

That was pretty sad because I consider the rice to be just as important as the chicken in this dish.

So I don't know......I'll probably drop by again in maybe a couple of months? It's slim pickins with regards to pho ga in San Diego. But as you know, I'm not the kind of guy who is "just happy to have it"...... Hopefully, things will get better...there's potential, so we'll see. Will it remain one of those places with untapped potential as Pho Tay Do did?

Pho Dakao And Grill
5296 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Open Daily 8am - 9pm

 

Sunday Stuffs: The sign for Hinotez Curry Rice has come down, Yamadaya sure is taking their sweet time, how to eat Soba and other silliness.

A few quick items for a beautiful Sunday in San Diego.

The sign for Hinotez Curry Rice has come down:

I'm not quite sure if this is good news; as in they've got their ABC permit, or if they've simply given up and are moving on. I visited a couple of times, but after a while, the same 'ol single type of curry got a bit repetitive. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for those places that do one thing well.......I just didn't think it was good enough to be sustainable.

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best.

5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Yamadaya sure is taking it's sweet old time:

Well it was all the way back in April of last year when I first read about Yamadaya opening downtown. Well, let's see it's June of 2014 and the place still doesn't look to be near completion. I took this photo on Friday when I headed downtown to meet some good friends.

On the bright side, at least the sign is up....that only took about a year.....

950 6th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101

I need to pay more attention when companies ask to use my photos:

I'm not sure if it was because I was quite busy or what. A publication asked to use one of my photos, which I usually do so long Creative Commons stanards are followed....so I didn't pay much attention. Anyway the result of this one is kind of funny.....since this is the photo being used.

Man, this one is too juicy(no pun intended), there's literally a goldmine of tasteless puns and jokes here. The long and short of it (again no pun intended) is that my photo of beef penis can be seen all over Texes. And what? I thought everything was bigger in Texes? Couldn't they find their own pizzle? What a d![k...literally.

How to eat soba for Faye:

Lovely Faye surprised me with a question on my Kokoro post. "How do you eat the soba". Whoa......I never thought about needing to know how to eat soba.....I guess since I've been eating it all my life. Anyway, here's a funny, cheesy, video you might like Faye!

Enjoy!

Troy's Family Restaurant

**** Sadly Troy's has closed

I have a special place in my heart for those pseudo-diners I grew up eating in....places like Like Like Drive In...you know, no pretense, good unhealthy grub. A couple of months ago I was lamenting the lack of diners that served that type of grub in our area......sorry folks, Denny's, IHOP don't count and I tried Country Waffles a couple of times when we first moved to the area and had some terrible meals. When Troy's Family Restaurant came up in the conversation.....yikes, I'd totally forgotten about the place. I'm not sure why, perhaps it's the location in Clairemont Square next to the Von's we never shop at.....

So I headed over for lunch one day.

The place looked very old-school, in fact all the customers were at least a decade older than I was....the Servers seemed to know them all.

The style of service is also a blast form the past.....they ask if you want coffee the minute you sit down, you pay at the register, the waitresses....yes, here I'll call them waitresses call you "sweetie", "hon", and other terms of endearment. They move with little wasted motion....you'll get an old school handwritten paper check placed on your table when you're nearly done with your meal...you pay at the register. No muss, no fuss.....

Every once in a while I really like a Club Sandwich....or as my "local" friends back home call it....Da Clubhouse ($7.95).

Processed turkey, American cheese, perfect bacon......and I really liked it. This did take me back to "small kid time". Good amount of mayo, dinner fries, bottle of ketchup, bread (white of course) toasted adequately. There are no airs in this shop and the food shows that as well.

A couple of weeks later I returned. One of my guilty pleasures is a nice open faced turkey sandwich.

On the good side, the turkey wasn't that processed stuff they put in their sandwiches, on the bad side...it was dry as the Grand Erg Oriental, that would be the Sahara. That chicken gravy was bland and gluey, tasting just the way you'd think based on the photo. There's a reason this is just $6.45.

So here we were, two down, should I go for three? I asked for a recommendation and was given the Souvlaki ($7.45).

Man, this just didn't hit the spot. The pork was really tough and dry, the "garlic bread" dry and crumbly. The seasoning was really subpar.

I do get why people come here; service is relatively friendly, all my food came out quickly, the prices are very reasonable, the portions hearty. The term, "you get what you pay for" is very true here. I'm thinking breakfast here might be pretty good. Still, rather than feeling satisfied and nostalgic about the dishes, I felt the whole thing was dated. There is something to say about having "your" neighborhood place, where they know what you want, where you like to sit, how you take your coffee, that's great. This ain't "that place" for me.

Troy’s Family Restaurant & Coffee Shop
4827 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117