mmm-yoso!!!

Nolbu Mini Gastropub

**** Nolbu has closed and is now Yummy House

Well, since we did Common Theory yesterday. I guess Nolbu deserves equal time, right?

Hidden behind the Convoy institution that is Chopstix, this tiny little place is easy to miss. I'm really not the Min Sok Chon, Thang Thang, soju bomb kind of guy, but I got a few recommendations from folks I knew. Though I still had reservations because when I quizzed these folks on the food, the standard answer usually included big portions, and not remembering much because they were...shall we say.....taste deadened and mush minded from overindulging a bit?

It is a pretty small and somewhat cozy kind of place. There are only 5 beers on tap. The main drink of choice for most of the young people who go here are the flavors of soju...."white gummy bear"???

The bartender/server on both of my visits was a very nice and friendly young woman named Nancy...very calm, very chill.

The menu is full of what I call "Kogi-truckish" dishes...you know, bulgogi tacos, bulgogi quesadillas, bulgogi fries, stuff that's already kind of passe'

The dining area is set-up like one of those faux outdoor porch type of restaurants. A acquaintance of mine actually knew the Korean name of that style of set-up....but you know; old age and all that. I just can't seem to remember the term right now.

There's actually one reason I came to Nolbu...the Korean Spicy Wings ($8.99). Almost everyone I spoke to mentioned these wings, though none could not really tell me much about the flavor.

The wings are quite large, the flavor as you can imagine is based on kochujang and almost tastes like my Spicy Misoyaki without as much bean paste. It is indeed a basic sweet chili sauce...sticky, more sweet than spicy, perhaps in need of a bit more complexity. maybe a bit more sour/tart, or savory-garlic tones. The batter was nice at first, perhaps a bit too thick, but still crunchy, but it got really gummy in minutes. Not terrible....but definitely not... Kyochon by any stretch. In fact, this eerily reminded me of the stuff they used to serve at BBQ Chicken, though not nearly as crunchy.

I also decided to try the mandu ("Dumplings" on the menu - $6.99).

These weren't very good in my opinion, too much cabbage filler, the sauce also tasted watered down. The wrapper were decent, but I'd take a pass on these next time.

Overall, not bad and as always I thought a return visit should be done.

One funny thing; when I was waiting for my drink a guy walked in laden with bags....shopping for supplies I'd guess. All the plastic bags were from Zion Market! I guess that's where they do their shopping? I really think stuff like that should be done via the rear entrance.

This time I came with my friends YummyYummy and Candice. We had the spicy wings again, which were a bit better this time...less sickly sweet and the texture held up a bit better.

We also had the haemul pajeon - the seafood pancake ($12.99), a bit small for the price.

But with a pretty generous amount of well.....Zion Seafood probably..... I will say that in terms of texture it was less gummy and a bit lighter than what I'd had at Common Theory, though it was 2/3 the size.

I also wanted to try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($8.99).

A bit light in flavor, these wings swere pretty straight-forward...basically naked, without a coating, but not bad....I'd have these again, as these were nicely fried.

The same five beers on tap; my favorite being the Stone Arbalest since I do enjoy tripels, quads, and Belgian strongs. this one was pretty good, light citrus-woody flavor with a mildly boozy-hoppy finish.

While waiting for my friends to meet me, the same young man walked in ladened with plastic bags....again from Zion Market.

Anyway, in terms of food, this place serves up a more Asian flavor than Common Theory. I was surprised that the food wasn't as salty as, say Min Sok Chon. They do have a decent bottle collection, but only five draft beers and the temps on my second visit seemed a bit off. As much as I like the folks working here, there's really no working knowledge of the beer they're serving...it's more of soju service. As in the version of an umbrella drink - soju served up in a half watermelon.

That said; I might drop in again for some wings and a beer.....if I feel like eating groceries from Zion....

Nolbu Mini Gastropub
4633 Convoy St. Suite 102
San Diego, CA 92111

 

Common Theory Public House

Common Theory Public House, which opened and created some nice buzz a couple of months ago is one of those places that leaves me torn. There's so much about the place I really like.

I love the lay-out, the folks manning the bar are usually really nice.....especially "Dave" who has been there on most of our visits. Yep, we....this is the Missus' favorite place for Happy Hour, they've (usually) got a nice selection, though I wish they'd keep more up to date lists on Tap Hunter or their website. One of the partners, Cris is the nicest guy ever and they've got an awesome progressive happy hour which starts with three bucks off draft beers starting at 3pm.

Any issues I have with the place is based around their food....though admittedly, much of the bar grub in San Diego is pretty basic stuff. After trying some of the regular menu items, we decided to stick with Happy Hour. And while there are a few "Asian" influenced dishes on the menu; it is heavy on the fried stuff. Now all of the above is fine with me; it is reasonable and perhaps in the business sense, realistic. To us, and we've been here over a dozen times is that the same dish can vary wildly from visit to visit.

The Missus really only orders two things here, the first being the truffle-duck fat fries, which is a nice happy hour bargain at five bucks.

It can run the gamut; never terrible, but different every time. One the visit above, the fragrance of truffle was rich, the duck comfit moist, the fries limp, and it was way too salty.

The next time the confit was dry, it was barely salted and it seems that the truffle flavor was AWOL. Then there are times when they get it so close.

Doesn't that look like two different dishes....crisp fries, nice truflle flavor, the confit was on the dry side but fine....where was the salt?

The one item we sometimes get that has never let us down are the pickled eggs......

The eggs are fine; it's that pickled watermelon rind, with a anise flavor that just raises it.

The Missus favorite by far are the Truffle Duck Fat Chips, it is usually nice and crisp.

The one item on the dish that always seems different is the cotija-garlic bechamel like cream sauce. Once or twice it has been close to perfect. That's the one in the photo. At other times it has been too salty, or totally lacking in flavor, we could barely make out the garlic in the sauce.

I actually thought the white corn tamales were not bad...moist, nice pork flavor. Not bad at all.

I understand that Cris's Mom makes these.

So, as you can see, it's about the beer here for us...and who's going to complain when you can get a Liefmans Oud Bruin for four bucks? Or a Three Philosohper's?

On one evening, Cris told me his cousin runs Golden Chopsticks and an Uncle cooks at Mandarin Canton. So I just had to try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Which came out looking a bit different from what I expected.

Still, these were pretty good, nice flavor, crisp, moist, it could have used a bit more garlic...and MSG.... Which I mentioned to Cris, who laughed and described to me the story of his cousin coming over and trying to teach the chef how to make these, handing him some MSG. The chef had never, ever used the stuff in his career and really didn't know what to do with it. I thought these were good enough to mentioned that this might be the best version North of the 94.

Until my next visit at lunchtime with a good friend of mine. The wings were greasy, flavorless, not very crisp. I recently tried them again with the Missus.

What we got was sort of a "tweener". Also, it was now 4 wings for 5 bucks which didn't seem like such a good deal. The batter was hard instead of crisp and like the Missus said, "it needed some zip".

There were a few weeks where it seemed that the usual selection of beers - up to 32 taps seemed a bit out of alignment. On one visit there were 5 Porters or Stouts, on another 10 IPA's...I know, this is San Diego, but man, a third of your taps? Recently things seemed to be balanced a bit better, but they are still a bit short with regards to sours...at least in the Missus's opinion.

Here are a few other menu items I tried.

This is the beast they call the Bourbon Bacon Wrapped "Corn" Dog.

Good God, who hired Chicken Charlie? This is basically a battered and deep fried smoked garlic sausage. For some reason the deep frying and the batter does this no favors as it just really muddles all the flavors.

I tried the Hellfire Wings, which weren't very spicy; pretty much kicked up Buffalo style wings.

Not bad, but not memorable either.

The Chorizo Scotch Quail Eggs were hard and dry.

Something that I don't think is on the menu anymore is the Korean Seafood Pancake - Haemul Pajeon.

It was a bit short on seafood and more gummy than I prefer, but that classic soy based dipping sauce just made you want to keep on eating the thing.

Like I said, there's a lot to like about Common Theory. It's a really nice spot run by super nice folks. Polling all my good friends we came to the same conclusion; this place could really be a special spot if they got their kitchen and menu in order.

I hope that day will come soon. Until then, we'll still be coming for Happy Hour, it's the Missus' favorite watering hole......she;s happy with a Monk's Cafe, Hitachino Nest, or the place's best seller, Avery White Rascal.

Common Theory Public House
4805 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Cheers! Kanpai! Ganbei! Yo! Gun bae!

 

Tsuke-mania; Tsukemen visits to RakiRaki, Yamadaya, and Taijma Ramen House

During our recent hot spell I was really craving some noodles. In recent years though, I've kind of lost my affection for cold "bun" type dishes and I've yet to come across a version of hiyashi chuka in San Diego that I enjoy. So I thought why not do a couple of servings of tsukemen which invented in the mid-1950's by Yamagishi Kazuo at his shop Taishoken Ramen. He is such a legendary personality that there's actually a documentary called God of Ramen, which is sort of a Jiro Dreams of Sushi style movie.

Anyway, I thought it would be good to compare a couple of bowls over consecutive days.

RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen:

A yes, the home of hype..... Though I'll honestly say, the service here has been efficient, and Tsukemen I've had here has gotten better over time. It's now less salty, there's a bit of an almost citrus effect with the flavor of the broth. It also seemed to have gained some viscosity this time around as it coated my noodles, which were perfectly prepared (firm with almost a crunch), nicely.

There was a bit more pork than I recalled in the broth, though it was a bit too cold in temperature for me; I thought this was the best version by far.....except for that egg, which I thought should have been soft boiled.

RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Ramen Yamadaya:

**** Ramen Yamadaya has closed

I really didn't know what to expect from Yamadaya. I know what I usually get here; Kotteri Tonkotsu with Kakuni Pork and extra firm noodles. I really didn't like the Tsukemen when I had it back in 2012. But, since I started this thing.....

The broth is still to salty for my tastes, which makes it difficult to taste much else. In spite of the rich look of the broth, it doesn't coat the noodles well, which by the way, were done pretty good....I had expected it to be overdone. The chashu here is bland and dry, the egg was nicely done though.

Ramen Yamadaya
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

So that was going to be it....just a head-to-head comparison. Until I mentioned this to someone and they told me I needed to include Tajima in the mix. Frankly, I thought after my last post, I'd be done for a while, but I guess not. So for due diligence here it is.

Tajima Ramen House:

Actually, the Tsukemen looked not bad.

That chashu was dry and tough, the noodles over-cooked, the egg was nicely done, good flavor, soft boiled...one out of three. The noodles are hard to forgive. That broth was weird, there a strange metallic aftertaste that I get from the broth at Tajima, also this had a slightly fishy tone to it; like it was based on niboshi dashi. Very thin, it did a lousy job of coating the noodles in fat and flavor. At least it was hot.....

Tajima Japanese Restaurant
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111 

OK, so those were an interesting three days..... As I figured Raki Raki was my favorite and Tajima my least favorite. Still, it was a fun little comparison.

And as an added bonus - here's the trailer from God of Ramen: 

Carne Knowledge: Carne Guisada

So why call this Carne Guisada? Well, I didn't quite know what else to call it.....

I could have named it "what to do with that block of Achiote seasoning in the cupboard", but that would be a bit too long. This is actually the Missus' idea....She basically requested that I come up with something. So far I've made it three times with prime sirlion, pork butt, and a combination of dark and white meat chicken. The amount of meat is the same, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds. The process is the same.......brown the meat, then braise. The winner by far is the pork.....which is kind of a pain; trimming it down to size and keeping just the right amount of fat. It's typical browning, season with salt, pepper, ground cumin, and granulated garlic, then if it's beef or pork, drain the fat and start the aromatics. If it's chicken, keep most of the fat since it's much leaner. The fundamentals are the same; help to seal with parchment and braise in the oven. If you ever get the chance, check out Molly Stevens' book, All About Braising, it has some rally great fundamentals, I love the first 36 pages or so of the book. Beer really helps the flavor and I thought it would be a nice touch.....I realize that two cups is 16 ounces and two cans of Tecate, which is what I used is 24. I'm sure you'll, ahem, find some use for the other 8 ounces....

We have celery growing in the yard. The Missus isn't fond of celery, but I've convinced Her that using the leaves almost as a herb is wonderful and She has bought into it.

As always, you know your preferences....we should treat these type of recipes as a palette for your palate. I basically use what I have on hand. I like to garnish with cilantro, onions, and lime....topping it with an egg is very nice. The Missus doesn't eat much rice anymore and we have no tortillas in the house, but those do well....I'm thinking enchiladas would be really good as well. The Missus likes Hers with slices of avocado.

It seems like a lot of steps, but is really pretty simple.

Carne Guisada:

2 1/2 - 3 pounds of cubed chicken (a combination of white and dark meat), pork butt (trimmed of excess fat), or beef

1 Tb ground cumin

1 Tb granulated garlic

3 Tb Avocado Oil s

alt and fresh ground pepper to taste

The sauce:

1 3 1/2 ounce block of achiote seasoning

2 - 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce

5 Cloves of garlic

1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Aloha Shoyu)

1/4  cup Worchestershire Sauce

1-2 Habanero Chilies (optional)

3-4 Tb Agave Syrup

The rest:

1 medium onion sliced thin

1/4 cup celery leaves roughly chopped

1/2 tsp ground Cayenne Pepper (optional)

1/4 cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped

1 Tb Mexican Oregano

1 Tb Ground Cumin

1 Tb Granulated Garlic 4

bay leaves 2 cups beer (I used Tecate)

2 Tb Red Wine Vinegar

- Preheat oven to 325

- Combine sauce ingredients in a blender and blend into a sauce

- Combine Meat with 1 Tb ground cumin, granulated garlic, salt and pepper

- Heat pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil and brown meat in batches. Do not crowd. Remove meat to a large bowl or pan when browned.

- If using pork or beef drain excess oil from pot, keeping about 1-2 tablespoons. Add onions, celery leaves, cayenne pepper (if using) and saute until onions are translucent.

- Add oregano, ground cumin, granulated garlic, and bay leaves. Allow spices to "bloom". - When nice and fragrant, add beer to deglaze.

- When liquid is simmering, add sauce into the pot. Bring to a simmer add Red Wine Vinegar.

- Add meat. It should be in almost a single layer completely covered by the sauce. Add cilantro.

- Place a layer of parchment paper, just enough to touch the food and extending over the edges of the pot. - Cover and place in the oven.

- Check after 30 minutes. If the stew is simmering too vigorously lower the temp by 10-15 degrees or so. I also have a taste at this time and adjust my seasonings.

- Check every hour until your desired texture of the meat is reached. If you will not be eating on the same day, stop a bit earlier. Carry-over cooking will take care of the rest. 

COMC: Revisits to Golden City and Carnitas Snack Shack

What the heck? What's the tie in with these two places? Well, read on and I think you'll see. Mostly photos in this one....I've posted on these places before. So let's C(lear) O(ut) the M(emory) C(ard) shall we?

Golden City for the billionth time:

I actually hadn't been back to Golden City in a while. But after reading Lynn's post, even though she ordered things that I would never have at Golden City. I thought it was time for a revisit and yet another post to see if they have gone severely downhill. I had thoughts of picking up on my Golden City Hot Pot project, but man, it's been so hot. Anyway, the photos kind of speak for themselves.

My favorite - the Kwai Fei Ji. Also a favorite of Dennis.

Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable.

Macau Roast Pork......on one visit, with my buddy Candice, it was too salty. On this visit, with my coworkers YZ and Lily, it was quite good.....

YZ, from Shanghai and Lily from Shanxi ("I'm from Taiyuan, not Taiwan, ok") really know the questions to ask whenever we eat Chinese food.... where are the owners from and what is the style of food. I think of Golden City as basically a Guangdong (Cantonese to you) style restaurant that pulls ever so slightly toward Chaozhou (Eastern Guangdong), though many of the dishes that reflect that are no longer on the menu .

Like the Beef Stew (actually a braise) with Radish. I've had it when it was quite good. On this day, it wasn't quite ready for prime time; the beef was nice, tender, moist, yet not falling to pieces, but the daikon was still too hard.

The food can sometimes be uneven. The Fish in Black Bean Sauce had me asking where the fish was during a lunch with Reza.

The textures and flavors were right, but the ratio of onions to everything else was off.

The dishes we order occaisionally draw stares from the gringo ordering customers, as I've mentioned before, I really don't think ordering dishes from the Easternmost Regional Chinese Cuisine..... that would be ABCD ("American Born Chinese Dining"), is what they do best here. And I think folks like CAB, Dennis, and even Kirbie would agree. Nothing fancy, but decent grub.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Carnitas Snack Shack:

**** This location of Carnitas' Snack Shack has closed

The Missus had been fighting a cold during the super hot week we had recently. She doesn't handle being sick very well. And the heat just made things that much worse. So, while on the road to recovery, the Missus told me She wanted to visit one of Her current favorite places, basically for this.

It didn't look quite right, but the flavor, the sweet-porkiness was still right on. And the Missus just basically inhaled the thing.

Carnitas now has a second location in Del Mar, which Kirbie, Jinxi, and Faye have posted on...man, it's Food Blogger Central! I was wondering if there was going to be a drop off at the original location, but no, things were good as ever. It's really nice that things have really been fine tuned since my first visit back in 2011.

Carnitas' Snack Shack
2632 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92104

So how's this for a pork-a-licious COMC post? 

Midweek Meanderings: Szechuan Taste opening in Clairemont Mesa and other hot stuff

Just a quick note for a beautiful Wednesday. Driving back from lunch at Golden City I saw this sign.

Hmmm....another Sichuan Restaurant, huh? It looks like construction had just begun. Sichuan restaurants in the SGV is having kind of a renaissance, with places like Chengdu Taste and Szechuan Impression opening up. I hope this place measures up.....

8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Check this out.....

Now being that red is nature's warning color, it's easy to under estimate these White Ghost Peppers. Until you cut them open. Not as hot as the Red Ghost Pepper, but plenty spicy.

The peppers that really surprised me were the Carribean Red Habaneros that I grew from seeds purchased from the New Mexico State University Chili Institute. These are very large and much more spicy than the fruit from the red habanero plant I bought earlier in the year.

It's also much more fruity, with a bite that lasts about 8-9 minutes. I'm thinking I'll purchase more seeds from the program next year, maybe even try to get some Carolina Reaper seeds. What do you think?

D.Z. Akins - lunch (revisit)

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!! Cathy is writing a short post today, while Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are not writing and perhaps enjoying some cooler weather or something...

I wrote about D.Z. Akins in 2009 and had more or less forgotten about it until the other day until The Mister said he wanted a 'really good Reuben' as one of his birthday meals. This East County institution (since 1980) has been a regular place to get a quick breakfast and cup of coffee as well as some sort of sandwich to share on busy days.The restaurant has expanded five times since 1980 and the quality and home cooked flavors have never changed.  This is consistent comfort food.  The interior has murals and autographed photos on all the wall space
There is sweet hot mustard, catsup and salt and pepper on each table and in addition, there is a crock with half sour pickles on each table.This is The Mister's Reuben ($13.95), with pastrami (you can have corned beef or smoked turkey as meat choices...but why?) with his chosen side of potato salad (other choices are fries, slaw, macaroni salad, three bean salad or fresh fruit).  The kraut, grilled fresh rye, quality (and quantity) of the meat is exceptional.  Swiss cheese was included as part of this sandwich.  Yes, there were leftovers.
Looking at the extensive (six page, large and detailed) menu, I spotted what would satisfy a craving - the chopped liver platter (small, $10.95).  This is the small platter because there is 'only' one (very large, overflowing-see the carrots stuck into the excess of a scoop size?) scoop of chopped liver salad and 'only' three slices of fresh rye bread. Of course the gigantic scoop of cole slaw and all of those fresh vegetables completed the small feast I got eat there then take home to enjoy later that afternoon. (The 'large' platters of any of the salads (egg, tuna, whitefish, chicken as well as liver) are $5 more, have another (large) scoop of whatever salad, more bread, more vegetables and easily is a meal for two). The chopped liver salad is made of chicken liver, made fresh daily and *so* very good.

Hope your week is going well.

D.Z.Akins 6930 Alvarado Road San Diego 92120 (619)265-0218 Open at 7 a.m. daily website

2015 Rose Parade float road test #4 and breakfast at Connal's Burgers, Salads and Subs (Pasadena)

Thanks for dropping by the mmm-yoso!!! food blog. It's Cathy writing today's post. Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) are busy with other things.

An overcast morning in September.  How wonderful it was to wake up at 4 a.m. with a chilly temperature of  63 and for it to remain that way for the two hour drive (beginning at 5 a.m.) North.  Mechanical and maneuverabilty testing on four more floats that will participate in the 126th Tournament of Roses parade was happening at Phoenix Decorating Company in Pasadena.The Trader Joe's four part entry was the most interesting. The front piece (wheelbarrow with a pumpkin and watering can) is separately driven by a Honda motorcycle and the other attached pieces, depicting a raised bed garden pulling a watermelon and vine with a blossom and blossoming gourd, with the title of "Bedtime Stories", in synchronicity with the parade theme of "Inspiring Stories" is detailed, has spinning, rocking and water spraying parts and will certainly win some sort of trophy for creativity.The details of the City of Los Angeles float, "What's your L.A. Story?" are emerging."Made Possible by Hope" is the City of Hope entry. The Princess Cruises float, still in its rebar phase looks like a cruise ship depicting sights around the world. Titled "50 years of Inspiring Travel", it will be interesting to see the finished design. The original crew of the TV show "The Love Boat" will be riding on this float!

After that bit of fun, we were again hungry (we, of course had stopped at Cream Pan right around 6:15) selecting 'only' a creamy orange brioche and (of course) ham and cheese croissant, to eat in the car with a Starbucks coffee...
One thing The Mister and I are known for is not making plans.  We left the road testing and started zig-zagging the streets, heading more or less North and East.  Soon, we saw the above signage (there is a complete arrow, which is really great, classic signage that you can see on any of the links to the restaurant) and decided to stop.There is an ordering window at the street as well as a small inside seating area where you can also order.  We saw many people from the neighborhood walking in to pick up phoned in orders and a few people driving and picking up meals.You can see an upside down outline of the arrow on the rug in the below photo.  It turns out Connal's has been here since 1958...yet we had never heard of it.  It is on Washington Street which has many old classic architecture buildings, including both Longfellow and Daniel Webster Elementary Schools.(I can imagine the rivalry).Since I seem to order the same breakfast 90% of the time, things would be no different here.  An egg sandwich with bacon on rye toast ($4.59) was my (wonderful, tasty, filling) choice.  Because this was one of The Mister's 'birthday days' when he gets to choose the place as well as the food, (we have birthdays seven days apart, which are really eight days of celebrating) (go ahead, use your fingers-  if His birthday was Thursday, then mine would be the following Thursday - that means eight days we have to celebrate, but there are only seven dates using math) He ordered the rib eye steak and eggs breakfast ($7.49).  The seasoned strip steak was tender and grilled; three eggs over easy; hash browns; sourdough toast...each prepared perfectly and remiinded us of Saturdays in college, when we'd splurge on steak and three egg omelets for breakfast at the counter at a long gone greasy spoon. Good times.

Connal's Sandwiches 1505 East Washington Pasadena, CA 91104 (626)794-5018 Website (the menu website links have old prices, the wall prices in the photo above are 'to go' prices, it's about 50¢ less per item when you eat in).

 

Nordstrom Cafe-Lunch and Snacks

mmm-yoso!!! a blog about food. Sometimes interesting food, interesting places and sometimes the comfort of repetition.  Today, Cathy is writing while Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are relaxing, or something. 

For the past few weeks, The Mister and I have had one criteria for food.  Wherever we go, it must be air conditioned...and have covered parking. More than once, we have stopped at Mission Fashion Valley mall.  For those of you non-San Diegans, here's a glimpse of the temperature around 1:30 last Tuesday... similar to this 2007 day (and coincidental visit to Nordstrom Cafe).Nordstrom is a higher-end retail/fashion store which has an in-store cafe, like quite a few other  establishments (linked in the second paragraph of that post).More or less cafeteria style, where you order and wait for your food to be assembled (or order, pay and your food is brought out to the table). There is a very attentive wait staff who will refill your beverages for you, even if only water.The go-to item for me here is the Roma tomato basil soup (cup, $3.95, bowl $4.95). I have been known to stop in here during the cold of 'winter' for a bowl of this amazing soup. As you can see, I order in each size, depending on other ordered items (and level of air conditioning inside the store). Tomato soup is always available and there is also a varying soup du jour.The accompaniment to the Roma tomato basil soup is a cheese topped 'crouton' as the staff calls it.  Crack is what I call it.Salads we've enjoyed in the past few weeks: Nicoise with salmon ($13.50).  The roasted salmon is coated with Dijon and fresh herbs; other items on the salad include green beans, kalamata olives, potato, egg and capers. The second salad is grilled shrimp and arugula with sweet corn ($11.95) which is wonderful and includes grilled polenta croutons. The bottom salad is chicken, apple and goat cheese ($10.75) and even though not in the photograph, has a lot of chicken breast under the plethora of ingredients including fresh apple slices as well as dried apple chips and spiced almonds.There is a wide variety of desserts to choose from, but we have defaulted to the creme brûlée  ($5.25) twice. When you are seated, your waiter/ess asks if you would like the brulee now, or a bit later...and so the sugar top is freshly torched and the burnt cream is brought out with a warm and crispy top.  You can see in the bottom photo that the cream part is flavored using real vanilla beans...

I hope everyone has been able to keep cool and is looking forward to some 'normal' weather. Hope you had a cool(er) weekend.

Nordstrom, 117 locations around the world.  Restaurant information 

Brno: The Dragon of Brno, Jiří Birk's Wheel, and other secrets of the town hall. Dinner at Stopkova Plzeňská Pivnice

After lunch, we had a nice little nap. When we awoke, the weather had cleared. This was the first time we saw such clear skies in the Czech Republic. The Missus was ready to go back out exploring again.

Brno was a city with a great sense of humor, it seemed to thrive on a good story, with that little "twist" to it. On one side you'd see the interesting statue, take a look from another angle and it would look a bit strange, perhaps odd, maybe somewhat creepy......

Up on Petrov Hill, we headed back to the Old Town Hall.....which is a little treasure trove of stories....

The first thing you really notice are the pinnacles above the portal of the Old Town Hall.....and you quickly notice that the center one, the tallest and most obvious is strangely bent. Of course there's a legend about this one, right? According to one of the stories, the Architect and Sculptor Anton Pilgram who built the portal and pinnacles found out that he wasn't going to be paid for his work; so he decided to leave his not-so-little mark on the Old Town Hall....another story suggests that Pilgram was too drunk when designing the pinnacle, which led to a "little problem" when it was built. Shades of the "Indecent Little Man" of St James Church!

During the late 10th and early 11th centuries, there are stories of a great beast terrorizing Brno. It is said to have lived in a cave near the Svartka River, eating and tormenting the citizens of Brno. A butcher came up with a plan to rid the city of the "Dragon", he filled a pelt with quicklime (Calcium Oxide) and set it in front of the cave. The beast, thinking it to be an easy mark devoured the lime filled fur bag. When the beast drank water from the river, the exothermic reaction killed the beast which now hangs in the Old Town Hall.

So here's the Dragon of Brno:

Hmmm....sure looks like a crocodile to me. According to what I read, this was probably brought back from the Crusades. Though I prefer the Brno Dragon story.....

And then there's my favorite. It's about this:

Yep, a wagon wheel, but not just any wagon wheel. You see, in 1636, in a pub in Lednice a wheelright named Jiří Birk claimed that he could fell a tree, build his wheel, and roll it from the town of Lednice to Brno (over 25 miles) in a single day. This seemed like easy money, so a bet was made. Jiří Birk was a real master of his craft, and he managed to do what folks thought were impossible and win his bet. The amazed Mayor hung the wheel in the Town Hall. All's well that ends well, right? Remember, this is the Czech Republic, and boy do they like to add those little twists to their stories. After the feat, rumors started going around that Birk had made a bargain with the Devil, who helped him achieve his feat. Folks started avoiding him, he lost all his business, and Jiří Birk died a broke and broken man.

As we made our way to Freedom Square, the sunshine made Brno seem like a total different city from the one we'd seen the day before. Folks were out and about, walking their dogs....you know, I think people might actually take their dogs to work with them...we say them on Trams and at all times during the day...even having lunch with their owners in business suits.

Freedom Square was abuzz; there was a band playing, people were milling about..... this actually did look like the second largest city in the Czech Republic.

Everyone loves a nice, mild, sunny day....as these two young men illustrate.

Man, those kids made me hungry. It was time for dinner. We decided to eat at this pub, which we found out was another Pilsner Urquell restaurant.

By now we were used to the drill in these places; you head right in and find yourself a table. We found an area away from all the cigarette smokers......some of these places can reek of cigarettes when busy. Luckily, it was still early.

I started off with a Fénix, a light, wheat beer with citrus tones. It was very easy to drink.

Well, you know what we started with, right? Pickled sausages of course. These were really light in terms of sourness and really just tasted like Kielbasa.

Even though we were no longer in Olomouc, I wanted to try the Pickled Cheese.

I really enjoyed this. It was a bit more ripe, funky, milky, and had less of a waxy texture than Olomoucké tvarůžky.

I saw Pork Cracklins on the menu and of course had to order it. Fried pork with crouton like cubes of bread that seemed to have also been deep fried. To be eaten with more bread! Of course, there was that ramekin of lard to use as a spread....so hell, I'm not complaining about this one bit!

We also ordered the Smoked Lamb Sausages.

These tasted a bit like merguez, but I feel it needed a bit more spice and it really didn't have enough stronge lamb flavor for us.

This was a decent meal. We avoided most of the heavy smokers and got a couple of pretty good dishes. Remember when I said, "once you leave Prague" things really got inexpensive. If I recall, the entire meal, including 3 beers came in under $25/US, which I thought was bargain.....I mean really, who serves an entire serving of lard here in San Diego? If you do, let me know!

Stopkova Plzenska Pivnice
Ceska 5
Brno, Czech Republic

Brno was a blast, there seemed to be an offbeat sort of humor and it was without a doubt a totally different lifestyle. In the morning, when we were leaving the apartment we noticed that trash was being picked up. One of the guys opened up the area where the dumpster was contained. He called the driver and brought out two bottles of Pilsner Urquell, which were either left for them, or just thrown away. You can be sure they weren'r going to let those bottles go to waste. They popped the tops and actually clinked the bottles together in a toast and chugged down the beer, both finishing with an "aaaah"....things sure were different in the Czech Republic.

We were leaving for Prague in the morning. Back on the Student Bus. There were so many here in Brno, but there's one thing left unsolved and is still bugging me. On Masarykova is the oldest pharmacy in Brno.

But I still can't figure out what the lobster has got to do with the place...lobster...pharmacy...what's the connection? Also, why only the body of the lobster....what about the tail? Brno has so many stories...this one has evaded me.