Revisits: Pho Ban Mai and New Mandarin Canton

Here's a couple of places I haven't been to in a while.

Pho Ban Mai:

A couple of weeks ago, when it was super hot, Lily and "YZ" wanted to grab some lunch. Everything just seemed a bit "too much" for the heat and this being a Monday, places like Sab E Lee were closed. We ended up going to Pho Ban Mai, which I seem to visit about once a year. I ended up doing the ordering and we started with the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings:

While the seasoning wasn't bad; I thought these were greasy, the bones in several were broken and the meat tasted a bit off like it had been thawed and then refrozen. Not good eats.

I also went with what I call the "Brodard South" dishes; the Nem Nuong Cuon and the Chao Tom Cuon. Like I mentioned before, these were right out of the Brodard playbook.

As before the Nem Nuong, the pork "sausage", was much better, more flavor, nicely grilled, and the addition of a touch of herbs along with the scallion complements the flavor of the meat. The Chao Tom, is a bit too rubbery and "squeaky" for me and is quite bland....which comes to the sauce....I keep on meaning to just get nuoc mam cham, the sauce here is not very good, very bland, lacking in flavor.

I've always enjoyed the banh xeo here; I think it is crisp and light, and I appreciate the ratio of fillings to the crisp "crepe". It's all about proportion to me when it comes to banh xeo.

Lily and "YZ" had never had banh xeo before, so I thought this would be a nice introduction. Man, Lily went after this like there was no tomorrow.....apparently, she loves bean sprouts, and the combination of the light crunch of the crepe with the crisp lettuce and herbs, dipped into nuoc mam cham was just what the doctor ordered for a hot day. This was a nice specimen, perhaps as good as what I had here in 2011.

Overall a decent meal; though there's one area that seemed lacking. When Pho Ban Mai first opened, the folks seemed friendly and attentive, during my last visit, the guys seemed more interested in socializing. This time around, they seem to want nothing to do with customers. In other words, it's getting almost borderline rude here. Not a good trend. I hope the next time I get my banh xeo fix, the pattern will be reversed.

Pho Ban Mai
8991 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

New Mandarin Canton:

Speaking of salt and Pepper Chickens Wings....we've been eating pretty good for a while and just needed to get our ABCDE (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment - "ab-cee-dee) fried food fix. It had been a while since we indulged in one of our guilty pleasures.

I'd always thought the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings here were pretty good and was disappointed that they weere closed during our Salt and Pepper Wing Challenge. Though we were even more disturbed that the owner had been stabbed and beaten to death.

As far the wings go, they've never been quite the same, but were still good, and usually held up well. The Missus had always enjoyed the salt and pepper shrimp without shell here as well. Which is what I ordered.

Man, what is going on here? The chicken, while crisp, had basically no flavor.....I had to roll it in the garlic-scallion mixture to get any flavor at all.

It had also been fried to death......dry as a mouthful of sand. Kind of sad. Looks like I'll have to start making the rounds searching for some good S&P wings.

To make things worse, the shrimp were even more pathetic.

Very bland, under fried and gummy batter....this was pretty bad.

It's quite sad when an "old standby" doesn't deliver....

New Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Road
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Comments

[kat]

disappointing chicken:(

[Sandy]

I enjoyed the banh xeo here and at Tan Ky Mi Gia. Haven't been to Pho Ban Mai in awhile, and I've been meaning to try banh xeo at Tim Ky Noodle. I always think Royal Mandarin's wings are the standard in SD.

[Nhbilly]

Rubbery shrimp is definitely sad. My mom makes it from scratch and it falls apart, texture thing people get use to and not realize it. Sadly I like shrimp roll to have a little pull.

[Kirk]

Very sad Kat.

Hi Sandy - RM used to be our baseline, but they had gotten worse and worse over the years. It's time for a revisit.

Hi Billy - I think it should have some chew and pull; but not be like a piece of tire.

[Soo H]

Oh no... Thanks for taking one for the team. I look forward to your future salt and pepper wing adventure. I usually go to Khan's Cave for wings.

[Junichi]

My favorite is the S&P pork at Mandarin Chinese across the street from Southwestern College.

[Lynn @ Oh-SoYummy]

I also like the banh xeo here although I haven't tried it in too many restaurants. This version is similar to what my mom made.

Too bad about the wings. I'm already looking forward to your review on mmm-yoso approved S&P wings! (or I must dig through archives)

[caninecologne]

The Mandarin across from SWC is my fave too! I'm glad it's close by.

[Kirk]

Hi Soo - I haven't been to Khan's since they first opened...maybe one of these days...

Hey Junichi - Mandarin is (or maybe was) owned by the same family as Mandarin Canton. They actually took first place in our chicken wing showdown:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2009/06/salt-and-pepper-chicken-wings-the-challenge-a-comparison-of-salt-and-pepper-chicken-wings.html

Hi Lynn - You can check the link above to see the results of an old showdown. I'm thinking I need to do this again.

Hey CC - They did real well in our S&P Chicken Wing showdown. It's been a while since I've been there:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2008/02/mandarin-chines.html

[Mary]

I went to this location about two times, always thought the one across from SWC was better than this one. Sad about the owner...

[Kirk]

Mandarin Canton used to be the better of the two Mary, until the owner got murdered. Hasn't been the same since.