Revisits: Tasty Noodle House and Dede's

Some Chinese food for you. One place new, the other has been around for a while.

Tasty Noodle House:

So, since the place first opened up at the beginning of September, fellow esteemed food bloggers like Jinxi, Faye, and Kirbie have all rotated through TNH.....and the results have been a bit mixed; especially with regards to the SJB. My good buddy Candice has gone a few times as well. So I thought it time that I rotate through and see what's going on.

So with coworker Calvin in tow, we went for an early lunch. Funny thing, our Server wasn't Chinese and couldn't pronounce any of the dishes, but was really very nice and tried real hard.

I thought the Chao Nian Gao on Kirbie's and Jinxi's post looked pretty good. So I ordered it.

I like this prep because there are subtle indications of the chef's skill in terms of handling the wok and seasoning. The flavor is usually nice and mild so there a nice balance between the slightly bitter vegetable - Jì Cài (薺菜 - Shepherd's Purse) comes through, usually with a touch of sesame oil. The rice cakes were a bit under done and on the hard side, but this wasn't bad at all. I think the version at Chef Zhu is better.

My favorite from previous visits, the Zui Ji - Drunken Chicken.

I like the version here because it's not timid, the wine flavor is upfront and strong. Most folks I know don't care for this cold chicken dish. Personally, I enjoy the bracing flavor.

This time around I decided to go with the crab and pork Xiao Long Bao.....

I'm pretty much done with the XLB here. This wasn't very good. The filling was too hard; there was a leakage problem, and the XLB that hadn't leaked had too little soup.

Calvin is a growing boy, so I needed to order something filling and went with the Mei Cai Kou Rou (steamed pork belly with preserved vegetable)....I know; it's a Hakka dish and the menu here leans toward the Hu Cai (Shanghai Cuisine) - Su Cai (Jiangsu Cuisine) style dishes. I thought the Hong Shao Rou I had on my previous visit wasn't cooked properly and was a bit under flavored so I thought we'd give this a try.

This wasn't very good. The pork was fairly hard and strangely dry, the preserved vegetable had no flavor, and the dish was spoiled by too much sesame oil which was basically the only thing you could taste.

Service, as on my previous visits was very nice. I was told that they do a decent chou doufu (stinky tofu) dish and that the Xun Yu ("cold smoked fish") is worth a try as well, so I'll probably return in the near future.

Tasty Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Dede's:

*** Dedes' has closed

It has been a while since I'd really had a meal at Dede's. I had dropped by about a year and a half ago and had a terrible version of Liang Mian (Cold Noodles). But it had been a good long while since I've really had a meal here. Lunch was with two of my favorite people; Reza and Lily, so we got to try a bunch of different dishes.

The Liang Cai (cold dishes) was nothing short of terrible.

The cucumber really lacked flavor and the fu qi fei pian was tough and dry, the flavor bitter from chilies that seemed to have been burnt, not scalded. It had no "ma", numbing effect, as in there was a lack of Sichuan Peppercorns, nor was there any depth of flavor from say, a dash of black vinegar....

The Fish with Pickled Peppers was ok.

It wasn't particularly spicy and the broth seemed to have a rather strong poultry flavor. The fish was tender, but also a bit gummy; perhaps from using too much cornstarch during the marinade process.

The dish I'd long been coming to Dede's for is the Cumin Lamb, Zi Ran Yang Rou.

So how was this years later? There are a lot more onions and the meat is lower grade and a bit tougher now. The flavor of the cumin was good, but I think this needed a bit more salt and I like a bit of garlic in mine as well. Not quite as good as I recalled.

We also got the Fried Intestine with Chilies.

This was actually a decent dish; the intestines were nicely prepped and fried; very crisp. The dish was not oily at all. Sadly, there wasn't enough Sichuan Peppercorn in this as well, making it seem quite incomplete in terms of flavor.

Dede's doesn't seem to have held up very well over the years. Kind of sad in a way as I can't seem to find a favorite in terms of Sichuan food. Though I recall Jinxi mentioning that Spicy House has relatively new owners yet again. So perhaps hope springs eternal, right?

Dede's
4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[kat]

:(

[Soo @ hungryones]

That's good you found a good drunken chicken spot! I'm fine with cold chicken.

[Nhbilly]

I guess I'm lucky so far with the current sechiwan restaurant in SATX.

[Junichi]

I didn't like their pork belly either. The version at Szechuan Chef is better but not by much.

[Kirk]

Yes, again Kat.

I love these cold chicken dishes Soo.

That's great Billy!

Hi Junichi - Have you tried the version at Golden City? I think it's better than both places.

[Faye]

That is really unfortunate about Tasty Noodle. I wanted to revisit to give their XLB another shot. I gave up on Dede's last year after their lunch specials changed but recently went back. They make a very good kai yang snake gourd that's been quite good last two visits.

[Kirk]

I actually thoguht the XLB was actually worse this time around Faye.

[Jim Gottlieb]

I thought that the new Chinese name (蜀百味) at Spicy House meant a new owner as it usually does in these parts, but they explained that they changed the name from 麻辣城 (Spicy City) because it caused confusion with the other Spicy City. They say they've owned the place for over two years now.