Revisits - Chon Ju Jip and Pho 7 Cow

Well; last night was the good old Daylight Savings Time "Spring Forward"....so yes; I guess it's spring, though it's still kind of chilly out there. I'm not really complaining as it gives me more "soup time". Here are a couple of recent revisits.

Chon Ju Jip:

Man, has it really been over 5 years since I last visited? Time sure does fly. For some reason; my recent visits to Woomiok had me wondering how Chon Ju Jip was doing. The place was looking a bit beat and run down....do you remember when this was Ko Hayang Jip back in the 'oughts?

I stopped in for lunch and decided on getting the Galbitang ($10.95).

And just like the interior; the panchan seemed a bit old and tired. The portions were tiny and some of it was kind of on the dry side and very mild in flavor.

The Galbitang came in a sizeable bowl; it was nice and steaming hot. The rice provided was decent; though not very fragrant.

The soup did need a good amount of salt; though it was slightly beefy and not bad at all. The rice vermicelli was over done and mushy. The beef ribs were very tough and all the flavor had been extracted from the meat.

Kind of a sad metaphor for the current state of this tiny little shop.

Perhaps I need to return with the Missus for the Gamjatang or Heukyumso Jungol.

Chon Ju Jip
4373 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours
Mon - Sat 10am - 10pm

Pho 7 Cow:

In my very sad post on the sad state of Pho at Pho Lucky; "Alan" mentioned that perhaps I needed to head back out and start checking out all those pho places again. I was thinking about this while driving down to National City this past weekend. I recalled that Pho 7 Cow had made a decent bowl of Pho during my visits back in 2017. So, instead of hitting up my intended destination, I stopped by Pho 7 Cow.

Like on my previous visits there was a good amount of staff working and things went quickly and efficiently.

The basil looked like it was on brink of starting to turn color, but the sprouts and the cilantro were fine. I was surprised at the amount of meat in this; a small #4 ($7.75). The flank was tender but quite bland; the brisket better, the tripe, of which there was a good amount was well prepped, crunchy, with a slight offal flavor, there was one tiny piece of tendon which was on the hard side.

The noodles were in the typical clump on the bottom and took some work untangling; but was decently chewy and not over-cooked.

The broth was a bit richer than on previous visits; it was on the darker side, but clear. There was a slight hint of anise and onion, with a mild beefiness, and best of all; it wasn't too sweet.

This was not bad. Actually better than I expected. So perhaps I do need to "make the rounds" again at all of those pho shops.

Thanks for the suggestion Alan!

Pho 7 Cow
1025 Highland Ave
National City, CA 91950
Hours:
Daily 10am - 9pm

Comments

[Alan in Clairemont]

You are most welcome sir!

[kat]

decent but hopefully they’ll get better

[Kirk]

Thanks again Alan!

I hope so too Kat!

[Junichi]

It's soup weather indeed! Pho looks good.

[Kirk]

That pho was pretty good Junichi. Winter seems to still be hanging on.