Revisits: Mama's Bakery & Lebanese Deli and Pinoy Fiesta

A couple of revisits from last month. Places I hadn't been to in a while.

Mama's Bakery & Lebanese Deli:

So here's a blast from the past. It's been over 3 1/2 years since I last visited.

And I was surprised to find that in addition to the simple, rather divey dining area.....

They've added additional seating out on the street, where there once were some 15 minute parking. They call it a Parklet and I rather like it.

I had my usual, the Garlic Chicken Wrap, now $7.25. You can tell I've been doing this blogging thing for a while....at the time of my first post on Mama's, the wrap was $4.99!

And while I had mentioned that the chicken in this wrap had gotten rather scarce back in 2012; there seemed to be even less of it on this day. And while I do enjoy the garlic paste and claim that it would make cardboard tasty, this is still a "chicken wrap". It just seemed to have less of everything, though the flatbread/wrap, made fresh on the "Sajj" was still warm when I opened it up and had a nice stretch to it.

It just didn't have enough filling. And as the saying goes; "Man does not live by bread alone".

I did notice another thing. I'd always thought that the "hot sauce" here tasted a lot like Louisiana style hot sauce. These days they leave the hot sauce dispenser out....it's Trappey's. I do like the way the hot sauce works with the wrap.

Mama's is one of those places that seems to have been around forever. We used to drop by every so often when we first moved to San Diego. A bit before my first post on the place in 2005, the place changed hands, to what seemed to be no detriment to the quality of the food. The folks here have always been pleasant. But it seems, at least in my mind, that the garlic chicken wrap has not aged well.

Mama's Bakery & Lebanese Deli
4237 Alabama St.
San Diego, CA 92104

Pinoy Fiesta:

I've been having to work weekends sporadically over the last couple of months. On those days, because I'm able to take my sweet old time going into work, I'll often take the "really long route" to the office. On one of those mornings, I stopped by Pinoy Fiesta. Another place I haven't been to in a while.

I noticed that a pan of kare kare had just come out, so I got that....and in a moment of weakness, even though I didn't care for the sisig during previous visits, I decided to give it another shot.

Man, that kare kare was really bland and the meat super tough, not a fan. And while the flavor of the sisig wasn't bad this time around, denotes, though it could have had a bit more spice, it was ice cold and super waxy...."fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice......"

Still, nice folks, but I'll wait a while before coming back here.

Pinoy Fiesta
550 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950

Comments

[kat]

:(

[Soo @ hungryones]

Doh! Doesn't sound like a good fiesta...

[caninecologne]

I've only had sweets from Pinoy Fiesta (cookies and yema). Their customer service is...uh...lacking.

I remember liking the garlic paste from Mama's but haven't been there in years.

[Nhbilly]

Charge more for nothing what a crappy deal.

[Kirk]

Yeah, kind of disappointing Kat!

No not really Soo.....

The folks Pinoy Fiesta have always been nice to me....maybe because it's really slow when I'm there CC. Tita's on the other hand!

Kind of sad Billy!

[Lynnea]

We just walked over to Mama's last night for take out =) we use Louisiana hot sauce but i think anything with a bit of tang makes those wraps so tasty.

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - That sauce and the garlic paste basically make that wrap....it's too bad the amount of chicken has gotten a bit "sparce" over the years.

[Lynnea]

agreed!! the really sad thing is that we eat so little meat these days that i haven't ordered the chicken wrap in quite a while :( but the fried eggplant is good and the falafel wrap is pretty tasty :) hopefully they'll have added back the chicken by the time I get around to tasting it again =D

[Kirk]

Yeah, we've cut down on our meat consumption as well Lynnea! I hope things fall into place when you do get that Chicken wrap. As always, it's great hearing from you!