Noodling Around - Revisits to Green China Grill and Pho Kitchen

All this rainy weather meant.....well lots of noodle soup. Here's a short round-up of revisits.

Green China Grill:

Heavy drops were coming down and I was dodging pot holes on Convoy. I just decided to give up and turned into ever evolving Plaza del Sol (BTW Tasty Pot is now open). It had been over a year since my last visit to Green China Grill, so I decided to drop in. Looking at the dining area; this place should be called  blinding green China grill. I was the first to arrive but withi minutes, the dining area started filling up. That woman sitting with a group seems really familiar too.

They now have a rather large menu with grilled items; various noodles, liang cai (cold dishes), and even yang rou pao mo? Go figure.... I went with the Beef Noodle Soup with Sour Cabbage ($9.99).

Man, that broth was blasting hot, which was good thing on a cold and rainy day. It was also deceivingly spicy and was quiet numbing (ma) as well. The amount of MSG has been toned down a bit since my previous visits; though I think it could still use a bit more beefiness. The preserved vegetable was your basic standard issue xue cai; like what you get at T&L. The noodles were nice a slippery; but is still missing that little bit of pull I enjoy in good "Lamian" (牛大碗). It has gotten better though.

The soup warmed me up and the spice had gotten the endorphin thing going and a nice sheen on my forehead. From that point of view, the noodle soup did its job. I need return more often.

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Wed - Mon 1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm

Pho Kitchen:

Last week it was raining cats and dogs....and I almost stepped into poodle! Ok, not funny....though that one is so bad the guys at work cracked up. I really didn't want to head out too far, so I decided to check into Pho Kitchen to see how they were doing.

The kids who work here are really nice. Looking over the menu I noticed they had Bun Bo Hue....hmmm....what the heck; it was pouring outside. I went with the "regular" ($8) bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

Pho shop BBH is a crapshoot and I let out a sigh when the typical pho sprouts and basil arrived.....

And just as quickly, they were removed from the table and replaced with this....ooh psych!

Purple cabbage? Not quite legit, but better than what it replaced.

  So what to say? There was lots of shredded lemongrass, though not too much of that flavor in the broth. You could make out the slight, funky taste of mam nem, which added a bit of savories to things. The spice was pretty basic, all front of mouth heat. At least it was steaming hot. The noodles were done adequately, though for once there didn't seem to be enough of it in this bowl. The meat was quite good. The thick cut beef shank had excellent flavor and there was a good amount of it, the tendon was decent as well. Nice thing about the pork hock; they'd removed the bones for easy eating. Though sometimes sucking on that bone is one of the best things about a bowl of BBH.

While not terrible, in terms of spicy, sour, salty, savory, and sweet flavors this was kind of lacking. I'll stick with the Pho next time.

Pho Kitchen
5375 Napa St
San Diego, CA 92110
Open Daily 11am - 9pm

Comments

[kat]

hope the rains have stopped!

[nhb]

Glad I got out of SoCal before it poured, but how bowl of soup does warm the soul on a cold wet day.

[Kirk]

They have....for now Kat!

So true Billy; it makes the cold and wet a bit more tolerable.

[jack]

I haven't been here in a long time as well. I"ll have to stop by again.

[Kirk]

Hey Jack - I think Green China Grill has gotten better - check them out again.

[janfrederick]

Thank you for reminding me about my needs... ;)

[Kirk]

You need it and need it now Jan! ;o)