It's almost spring, so time to start clearing out that memory card. Here's threesome from several months back. As with these posts, it mostly photos.
China Max:
For some reason the Missus actually wanted to go on my typical Saturday "rounds" on this morning....I think it was because She was hungry. We had eaten at Zen Peninsula the week before and I guess She was wondering how a place like China Max would line up.
Short answer? It doesn't.......
Chicken feet looked good, very tender, but lacking in flavor.
The sauce/soup for the tripe was good, but it hadn't imparted flavor to the tripe.
The wrappers for the shrimp and spinach dumplings were too thick and this really lacked flavor.
Even my old standby here, the pan fried shrimp and chive dumplings weren't spared. Greasy and portions of the wrappers were splitting and burnt, making this bitter.
We've always thought that the gailan at China Max was done pretty well....this time it was over cooked.
I admit that it's pretty slim pickins' with regards to Dim Sum in SD......
Man, worse than back in 2012 when I thought things were going a bit downhill.
China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111
Iron Pig Alehouse:
**** Iron Pig has closed
We visited the week we left for Spain. And I think this place is getting better on every visit.
Iron Pig serves one of my favorite salads; the "Man Salad".
The Smoked Wings is one of the two items the Missus comes for; they can sometimes be too salty, or not fried right, but on this visit, things were right.
For some reason the Missus likes the Rib Tips here......I'm not a fan of the sauces at Iron Pig, so we get them without sauce. Now a good rib tip...crunchy cartilage, fatty tissue, man, it can be a thing of beauty. This was very close; it had been smoked perfectly, was moist and tender. The only (big) minus? It needed a more aggressive rub. This was nicely porky, but lacked seasoning.
Nice smoke ring though.......
Iron Pig Alehouse
1520 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
Tan Ky Mi Gia (El Cajon Blvd):
**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed
Yes, TKMG in Mira Mesa has closed, but the ECB location, formerly known as Hing Ky Mi Gia back in 2007 is still around.
Yes, time hasn't been very kind to the place; the lamination on the menus are peeling off and the tables have attained a robust amount of stickiness, but I still drop by every so often, mainly for breakfast, to see what's going on. A simple bowl of Wonton and Dumpling Egg Noodle soup for me on this day. It's gone up 50 cents since my visit last year.
For some reason the charsiu really struck me as not being as good as in the past.....not sure why that's what stuck in my head.......
Tan Ky Mi Gia
5237 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
kinda hit or miss...still I enjoy these COMC posts.
Posted by: kat | Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 07:53 PM
I like the ribs and wings at Iron Pig too?! You should try the ribs at Grand Ole BBQ. They dry rub them so you don't need any sauce. I tried their Texas bbq and their Argentine bbq before reviewing them. :-)
Posted by: Soo @ hungryones | Monday, 29 February 2016 at 09:08 AM
That's a lot of misses at China Max. Haven't been there in a while.
Posted by: Junichi | Monday, 29 February 2016 at 01:25 PM
Thanks Kat!
I have them on my list Soo....I'm just waiting for all the hype to die down.
It sure was Junichi...
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 29 February 2016 at 07:08 PM
I think its awesome that they have a "man salad" at iron pig. I need to go check it out sometime this year.
A lot of bloggers (including me and Soo) have hit up grand ole haha. It keeps popping up in my rss feed.
Posted by: Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy | Wednesday, 02 March 2016 at 06:32 PM
Hi Lynn - Grand Ole ha-ha! lol!
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 02 March 2016 at 06:47 PM