Post #3000: It's back to the beginning - China Max

Back on May 26th, 2005 mmm-yoso came into existence and China Max was our first post. It's strange reading those old posts. In the beginning, I tried what many are better at.....all the "butterflies and puppy dog tails" stuff. But after a couple of weeks I realized that I wasn't doing myself nor anyone who read these posts any good. It was started to be kind of an eating, cooking, and travel journal. Plus, I noticed that I was my worst enemy when not giving my honest opinion. It's made thing much easier over the years.

Another thing about that first post....Ed from Yuma was there to join me for the meal.

So it's only fitting that we all get together at China Max for this wonderful 3000th post. Ed form Yuma, Tina, Cathy, and the Mister were present. The Missus has been kind of down on CM over the last couple of years so She decided to work instead.

Anyway, I thought that since everyone had a seat at the table, each one should have say as well. So here goes.

As with that first visit, we had the Peking Duck. It seems that the duck was lacking the dark and lacquered color I was used to.

Ed from Yuma: I liked the duck very much - specifically the skin and duck on the pancakes. Sometimes the sauce was not evenly spread, but the skin as always was tasty.

Tina: I liked all the dishes but my favorite was the duck in the bun pancakes. I liked that it had the duck skin and a little bit of meat.

Cathy: I could eat the little duck skin in steamed pancake forever

The Mister: Liked the lettuce cups, with the duck, best.  He said each flavor in the mix was distinct along with the still warm duck.

What's usually my favorite dish at CM; the Seafood Pan Fried Noodles....the flavor is mild, but the sauce/gravy usually has a wonderful texture and the flavor of each different type of seafood comes thru.

Ed from Yuma: I loved the mixed seafood on the panfried noodles; that has been one of my favorites over the years for lunch there.

We needed a veg dish so I went with the Egglpant with Pork. A rather routine send-up.

Ed from Yuma: The eggplant and pork dish was tasty, but the prep is fairly standard - it's something I can get even here in Yuma.

This being the mmm-yoso banquet we needed a centerpiece dish. I wanted the steamed spot prawns but they were out. So I went with the steamed sablefish (black cod), which was nicely steamed, great richness, a bit boney, but the flesh just melted in your mouth. Mild flavor, but just cooked perfectly.

Ed from Yuma: The sablefish was rich and delicate, but a bit bony.

Cathy: I really liked the sable fish; never had it prepared that way, it so nice...and the bones were almost edible-so soft.

The last time I had the Shing Do (sweet and pungent) Chicken was back in maybe 2003? So I decided to order it....when did China Max become Panda Express? It wasn't this bad back then.....

As I expected, from how much of this dish we had leftover......I got no comments from "Da Gang".... You can fill in the blanks.

It was a fantastic evening. I'm thinking we'll be doing this again soon.

Ed from Yuma: The conversation might have been even better than the food.

As it usually is when good friends get together! Thanks to all for being available for dinner, it's been too long.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111

Also, I think I'll be revisiting some of those places (that are still in operation) from the first couple of months over the next few weeks.

And thank you for joining us for this milestone post!

Comments

[kat]

what a great way to commemorate this! congrats:)

[jason]

3k! I wonder if there's an easy way to datamine the number of words you've written during those 3k posts.

[Kirbie]

What an amazing milestone! Happy 3000th post!

[nhbilly]

Congrats, you so old now ;-)

[Kirk]

Thanks Kat!

I wouldn't want to even guess Jason. My fingers would be afraid to know!

Thanks Kirbie!

Tell me about it Billy! ;o)

[jack]

That's awesome Kirk, congratulations to you along with Ed and Cathy!

[Kirk]

Thanks Jack!

[Lynn @ Oh-SoYummy]

wow 3000th post AND your blog is over 10 years old now! thanks for keeping us informed of the SD food scene all these years!

[Soo H]

Congrats on post 3000! That is alot of great reviews over the years!

[Hao]

TL;DR "The Missus has been kind of down on CM over the last couple of years so She decided to work instead."

[Kirk]

Thanks Lynn!

That's a lot of food Soo!!! ;o)

That's your perogative Hao.....

[Faye]

10 years...3000 posts...awe inspiring. Congrats to you, Cathy, and Ed.

We went to China Max some months ago and found it to be a bit 'meh'. The spot prawns you were speaking of (or wished to order) - are those the jumbo ones? I recently visited Catalina Offshore and saw some beautiful large (spot?) prawns !

[MrZ]

Congratulations on 3000 posts! I first stumbled on your blog while googling for reviews on Rickshaw Corner. If not for your blog I would have never known about (The Original) Sab-E-Lee, and after I took my coworker there he's eaten at one of the various Sab-E-Lee's at least once a week ever since!

[Green After the Rain]

Congrats on 3000 posts! That's a lot of food over the years.

I've always gone to China Max mainly for dim sum mainly because I don't have to wait for dim sum push carts to come to me.

[the office goat]

Congrats and keep up the good work!

Might have to try the duck there -- never been to CM, but the last place we got duck from (Sam Woo) was disappointing and this at least sounds better.

We just got back from ~2 weeks on Maui on a saimin & poke-fest. Boy was it HOT and humid there.

[Sandy]

Nice way to commemorate 3K posts by re-visiting the restaurant of post 1! It's been ages since I've been to China Max (usually for dim sum), and it would be interesting to see how it fares for dim sum now.

[caninecologne]

Congrats on your blog's longevity, 10 years is a long time and 3,000 posts is a heck of a lot of places! A big thanks to you, Cathy and Ed who continue to find great places to eat, near and far.

[hannah j]

Congratulations Kirk and thanks for inspiring your readers to try something new. MMM Yoso helped me find great food for so long now!

[Kirk]

Hi Faye - The one dish that I get when I visit are the panfried noodles. The rest....well let's just say CM has seen better days. It also might be your preference with this type of cuisine as well. I've bought spot prawns from Catalina before...they are really good. Don't mess around with them if you get them.

Thanks MrZ. Hope all is well in the PNW!

Hi Sarah - From what I heard; Emerald is, or will soon be doing straight up menu dim sum. We sure have eaten a lot over the years.....

Hey TOG - Just be happy you wren't here last week....man; if thought Maui was bad... As for the duck at CM, it's quite pricey and not as good as it used to be.

Hi Sandy - Thanks for being such a great long time reader and commenter....

Hi CC - Yeah, that's quite a large amount of posts. Thanks as always for your readership and support!

Hi Hannah - I'm glad you were able to find some good places to eat form our posts.

[Hao]

LOL - I actually read the post, but the sentence about the Missus basically mirrors my feelings about China Max. :)