Revisits - Village Kitchen and Taste of Hunan

A couple of revisits of places that are inextricably tied together.

Village Kitchen:

After our last ho-hum visit; I thought it would be a while before eating at Village Kitchen again. Well, make that like 6 months. The Missus wanted some Chinese food, actually we tried to go to Woomiok, but there was a 40 minute wait! So, we headed back to VK.

We ended up ordering a good amount of food; which fed us for several days after. Here's what we had best to worst.

For some reason, the Stinky Tofu Stew was especially good on this visit.

It was especially pungent, steaming, hot savory goodness. With just the amount of heat, acid, and saltiness to make this a pleasant dish.

Second place went to the Pork with Dried Cucumber Skin - they now make this with La Rou; smoked pork, which adds an additional dimension to the dish.

Interesting textures; from the fairly tender, not overly waxy pork, to the crunchy cucumber skin. Good heat from the chilies, and the "clean" slightly sweet-briny flavor of the cucumber comes through nicely in the dish. A bit on the greasy side though, but not bad.

The (now) classic Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg.

Not as much pidan (century egg) these days. Still, the eggplant was fairly smooth and quite smoky in flavor.

The Hunan Style Lotus Roots were cut much thicker than before.

Something was off with this dish as it had a weird bitterness to it.

And the worst dish of the and possibly the most unpleasant item I've had to eat at VK; the Wild Mushroom Soup.

It tasted the way it looks...….really bland; no flavor to....and I'm stretching here, calling it a broth. It was like warm tap water with a greasiness to it. The pork had a mild, unpleasant sourness and the mushrooms had almost no flavor. This was really bad.

There's one dish we wish they still had; the Smoked Pork with Dried Bamboo....sadly, no longer on the menu.

Service was lousy as usual. Though they really turn over tables fast. I guess we're pretty much stuck with VK in the Kearny Mesa area if we want passable Hunan. Portion sizes have gone up; while I still think quality and execution has gone down.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Taste of Hunan:

Some follow-up visits to Taste of Hunan. Man, this place is doing some major business these days.

I have new favorite (other than the fried pork fat.....which I hesitate to order, lest I drop dead at the table). It's the Smoked Pork and Preserved Green Beans Fried Rice.

While the La Rou here is not as good as the version at VK; it works in this dish. The pork is fried crisp like bacon, the preserved green beans add a salty component. Most of the rice is coated well in soy sauce and most all the grains are separated. I like the leftovers with a couple of easy-over eggs on them.

The Sautéed Beef Tripe with Pickled Radish is good pick. While we've had times when this dish is on the greasy side and it edges on being too salty.

The symphony of crunchy textures works well. For me; it's the Chinese celery that takes center stage here.

If you like textures, the Sautéed Dried Tofu with Braised Pig Ear might do the job for you.

Slightly soft and chewy dried tofu with the crunchy pig ear and Chinese celery to add that nice palate cleansing component.

The flavor of the Wild Mushroom with Pork is quite good. They obviously use the reduced soaking liquid of the dried mushrooms to make the sauce, giving this a very good earthy flavor.

It's the pork, which has been dry, tough, and tasteless the two times I've had the dish that brought this down.

Of course I had to try ToH's version of the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. Strangely, it was not as good as the version at VK.

It was not as creamy, in fact the eggplant was kind of stringy, and not as smoky as VK's version. It also lacked "kick". It did have much more pidan though and not as much green chilies, which threw off the flavor in my mind.

And the one item I don't think we'll order again. The Smoked Fish Tail.

Bony, hard, and really fishy, the Missus ordered this, but couldn't make it past two bites. It was super salty and personally, it lacked the sufficient crunchy that a good fish tail should have...being more hard then anything.

Service was quite good. I think the food here is less greasy, not as spicy, the flavors, at least of the dishes we like, much cleaner and perhaps with a bit more finesse than VK. The La Rou at VK is much better as is Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. 

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St. Suite E2
San Diego, CA 92131

Comments

[RedDevil]

Made it to TOH a few times now as it’s more convenient than VK and even though I get different dishes than you, it’s been pretty good.

[Kirk]

Hey RD - Try that fried rice...it's really good!

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

As soon as I saw your eggplant pic from VK, I wanted to visit there! I recently enjoyed the eggplant at Taste of Hunan so now I'm curious about the other version!

[kat]

at least there were some decent dishes...

[Kirk]

I think the version at VK; at least when we had it was better Lynn. Hope you get a chance to check it out soon!

At least, Kat!

[Junichi]

They can't all be winners I suppose.

[Kirk]

That seldom happens Junichi. Even at top end restaurants we visit. Half the fun is when you find a couple of "go-to" dishes you enjoy.

[mikew]

I tried the pork fat and couldn't eat more than 3 pieces before I felt my arteries hardening.

[Kirk]

Lol Mike! I know what you mean.