Revisits - Bay Park Fish and Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen

A couple of revisits for a sleepy Saturday.

Bay Park Fish:

I've been trying to revisit places in my 'hood recently. I thought I'd start with Bay Park Fish, hard to believe that it's been almost five years since I last ate here. On this evening, every place was packed, and while BPF was busy, there was still room for one at the bar. So I had a seat, watched the game, had a brew, and decided to order an old favorite of ours; the smoked fish; which is now called the Smoked Fish "Stack" ($12).

They now "supplement" the smaller portion of smoked fish with romaine lettuce and avocado. It's still not bad. Decent smoked flavor, fairly balanced seasoning; a bit more mayo, celery, and stuffs than I recall.

Rather routine tortilla chips.

I'm not sure that this place has aged well. I know they've had to add, ahem, "sushi rolls" to the menu and they gave up on the fish counter years ago (you can find it at Catalina Offshore). The preparation of the fish here has never been my fave, but it's nice to see they are still going rather strong. After all, when we moved into the neighborhood, there wasn't much, and when Bay Park Fish opened in 2005, it was a big thing.

Bay Park Fish Company
4121 Ashton St
San Diego, CA 92110

Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen:

**** Spotted Cow has closed

I actually went to see what was going on with Myung In Dumplings now that they are under new ownership, but got there too early and I had no time to dawdle. Spotted Cow was open and even though the place had never been a favorite of mine. I'd pretty much had all of the noodle soups served here....and thought the perhaps the best of them was the BBQ Pork Egg Noodle Soup....and since I wasn't in the mood for a banh mi that's what I ordered.

Man, does this place like to top off their soup with a ton of greens. Like way more than the last time I had this here. I guess it's there to distract you from the thin, small slices, of pork, which, unlike the previous time I had this, was now a couple of slices dropped on the side of the bowl....which, while flavored nicely, was quite dry and tough. The ration of sprouts were attaining a nice brownish color, so those were left out.......... the "Mi", egg noodles, which were prepared in sight was nice, just enough "pull" and a slight crunch. The noodle portion size was also decent. The broth was really bad though.....basically salt water with very little flavor at all.

I'm sorry to say that, based on my previous visits, this was what I expected......though I had hoped for more.

Someone did mention that the Banh Xeo here is fantastic; but I didn't see it on the menu. I'm wondering if any of our intrepid readers have had it?

Spotted Cow Viet Kitchen (in the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, California 92111

Comments

[kat]

glad you are getting a chance to reconnect with some eateries.

[Kirk]

Mt too Kat!