Sunday Stuffs - Ghost Pepper Wings from Popeyes, the "Weekender" from Bird Rock Coffee, Harvest Market (Balboa) is Closed, and Stuffs from D'Artagnan

Here are a couple more odds and ends for yet another day where it seems like the wheels on the year 2020 are coming off...….

Ghost Pepper Wings from Popeyes:

I had a few folks ask me about the ghost pepper wings from Popeyes, I guess since even though we haven't grown anything in a couple of years, I'm kinda fond of making stuffs out of ghost peppers. So, Bob and "ST", here goes.

Frankly, even though Popeyes was once upon a time a "guilty pleasure"; it seemed like the quality (and the size) of the chicken started diminishing over the years. Finally, I just tired of it all and I hadn't been to a location of Popeyes in at least 10 years! So, when folks started asking me what I thought about the "ghost pepper wings".....well, I wasn't sure. So, on a day where I had some time; I decided to try them out.....just to kinda see. I was surprised at the price; though they really push combos; you can get 6 pieces of wings only (they did include a biscuit) for $4.99. Just make sure to bust out that magnifying glass.....as you can see on the right, the drumette was basically the size of a soy sauce packet.

The batter on the wings were really crunchy...in fact it was mostly batter, very little meat, and quite dry......I know I always say that those jumbo sized wings really mess up skin to meat ratio; but microscopic wings that are mostly batter screw up the ratio as well.

As for the spice? Well, this ain't no Quaker Steak and Lube Triple Atomic Wings that's for sure. In fact, this barely registered in the heat department for me.....it was mostly salty, with a hint of spice, lacking in the fruity-fieriness that is the hallmark of good Ghost Peppers. Pass......

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Locations throughout San Diego

The "Weekend" from Bird Rock Coffee:

I had started ordering several cups of cold brew from Bird Rock on Morena, with no ice, a few times a week.

When the really friendly guy working there; the one whose been there for quite a while asked me what was up; I told him that we usually can't finish a whole coldbrew in one sitting so by having it with no ice; we'd just store it in the fridge. This is when he recommended getting something they call the "Weekender"; think of it as a growler of sorts. They cost $20 for 64 ounces so you basically get 5 1/3 portions for the price of less than 4. It's a good deal for us. We've been going thru about 1 every other week; though I'll still drop by in between those visits to get the Missus Her pour over fix. Though in this hot weather; we've been mostly sticking with coldbrew. I am a bit worried about all this plastic; so we're trying to find ways to reuse these when possible.

And I recommended Zgara to the guy...I believe his wife's family is from Greece as payback.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
1270 Morena Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110

Harvest Market on Balboa is Closed:

I had some merguez in my latest order from D'Artagnan and the Missus was eager to have me sauté them with lemon and wanted some pickled veggies, garlic paste, and flatbread from Harvest Market. So we jumped in the car and took the quick drive over and were rather shocked to find them closed:

That "closed due to Coronavirus" sign was really worrisome.

I asked around a bit and one of sources who works with the local government told me that he understands that Harvest Market has probably closed permanently due to lack of business, not an infection. This is quite tragic and I hope they decide to reopen.

Harvest International Market - Balboa
4220 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117 

And Speaking of D'Artagnan:

I recently realized that I'd placed my third rather large order from D'Artagnan. It seems that several items have become household staples. I recall mentioning the duck prosciutto in my Ume Dressing post....but we've been enjoying the charcuterie/pates/etc during the recent heatwaves that have swept through San Diego over the last couple of months.

There's always one king of promotion; though I always look for the free shipping deals. Things are packed well and everything arrives chilled.

So far, our staples are the Duck Prosciutto, Duck Rillettes (the Missus loves making a hash with duck fat potatoes/eggs/rillette) which freeze well.

We've enjoyed the Wild Boar Saucisson Sec and will probably order the duck version next time as well.

The Torchon of Foie Gras and the Mousses of Foie Gras are favorites and I enjoy the Pâté de Campagne.

Not a big fan of the Medallions of Foie Gras and Truffle; the texture is very crumbly and the overall flavor is a bit too much; even for us.

We also didn't care much for some of the pates as well.

And of course, we do need a "bit of cheese" to balance things out, right?

Which we get from Venissimo after all; we need to support local as well, right?

It's easy enough to Google D'Artagnan. I don't do sponsors, freebies, and such and really don't want to be bothered with non-edible Spam, so I won't do a link. I'm sure you can find them easily. When ordering; you may want to set a farther out delivery date to save on shipping; if you're not getting it free.

Anyway, I just kinda always wanted to start a post with Chicken Wings and end with Foie Gras....so, at least that wish has come true!

Hope everyone has a safe and productive week!

Comments

[Option TradeRN]

Popeye's chicken diminished due to spicy chicken sandwich popularity IMO.

[caninecologne]

Aw man, I really like Harvest Market. :(

I hope they do not close permanently. Their sweets/baklava assortment is amazing as well as their takeout salads (so much variety).

[RedDevil]

Had Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich today and thought it was pretty good for fast food. Saw the ghost pepper wings but didn’t get them (sounds like a good choice). Also saw a soft opening for Rakiraki (Mira Mesa location in same shopping center as Popeyes). Take care.

[kat]

manini chicken :(

[Kirk]

That's interesting OTRN.....like I said, hadn't eaten anything from Popeyes in ages.

I hope it's not permanently either CC.

Yeah, I'd hear about RR opening in MM RD......not a big fan of their overhyped, underwhelming, ramen though.

Really manini Kat.

[Som Tommy]

I didn’t think the wings were spicy either.

[Kirk]

It really didn't seem even moderately spicy ST.

[Junichi]

I thought their spicy chicken sando was quite good. I had it for the first time in Yucca Valley of all places. Those are some tiny wings. Will stick to the sandwiches if I ever get a craving again.

[Sandy]

I never tried RakiRaki when it was on Convoy, mostly because of parking issues. I'm willing to try it in Mira Mesa, which happens to be close to the Popeyes. That is a tiny wing, especially since that's a small-ish packet of soy sauce! Speaking of excess plastic, I'm trying to remember "no utensils" when ordering takeout and hoping the restaurant complies.

[Pam from Santee]

I cooked up some pork with Tianjin pickled vegetable and bamboo shoot last week. It came okay. Probably could have used more vegetable, but I'm always hesitant to put much in, even after trying to rinse out the salt. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Kirk]

That's probably a good strategy Junichi.

I'm also requesting that they don't bag up my stuff when the amount isn't too large Sandy. Those wings were really small.

Thanks for the update Pam.

[Soo]

Wow! I thought chickens had bigger wings. I've been getting Costco chicken about once a month and they have good size wings.

[Kirk]

Well these were more "nubs" then wings Soo....

[Junichi]

Curiosity got the best of me. Tried the ghost pepper wings last night. Man these things are tiny with barely any traces of heat. The KFC hot wings pack way more punch than these. Complete letdown.

[Kirk]

It's good to know that my visit wasn't just a "one-off" Junichi.....though that's kind of sad as well.

[Brian]

Went to their website and confirmed they closed the San Diego branch.

[Kirk]

That's a bummer Brian. Thanks for the info.