mmm-yoso!!!

Chicken Wing Thang - Katzya Revisited (H Mart Food Court)

**** Katzya has closed

One of the things about being on a trip for over a month; the fridge and pantry gets pretty bare. I spent last week and weekend catching up, restocking, and believe it or not; the Missus has been missing my cooking! Go figure. One of the stops was H Mart. It was just a tad after 11 and I was getting a bit hungry. I had enjoyed the Chicken Wings from Katzya on previous visits and the wings did well on my takeout visit, plus I'd last had wings from the recently opened Pelicana Chicken, so I decided to go for it.

I recalled that the Soy Garlic Wings were pretty good, so I went with that. When I last visited, the price of $14.99 for 7 wings seemed really high, and while still pricey, it feels less so these days with all the inflation.

I got the wings home and opened up the container and oh my.....

 These wings were just drenched in sauce. There was a huge pool of sauce at the bottom of the box. The two or three pieces on the top, while over sauced held up fine, but the pieces on the bottom were a soggy mess.

The texture of the meat was fine, moist, tender, lacking in any discolored spots, but it was just swimming in too much sauce, making this overly sweet.

For you reference, here's what I got back in 2019.

    Doesn't even look like it's from the same place, does it?

Another thing that was different was the the Mul Kimchi. But this change was an improvement, at least to me. The radish was not as sweet as on previous visits, making this somewhat refreshing. Though nothing could overcome the sticky sweet sauce overload.

Bummer, because I think the quality and size to batter ratio of the wings here are to my liking. I guess I'm back to just the fried wings here.

Katzya
(In the H Mart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Sunday Stuffs: O-To-San Kushiyaki & Ramen Replacing DduriBa and it Looks Like Andres is Reopening (Under New Ownership)

Here are a couple of items I noticed as I did my shopping errands this past weekend:

O-To-San Kushiyaki & Ramen Replacing DduriBa:

**** You can find a post on O-To-San here

In the old location of DduriBa I noticed a sign for  O-To-San Kushiyaki and Ramen - I guess it would be just like what "dad" would make.

Interesting location. I also noticed the "ZZ", so am wondering if this place will be owned by the ZZ:An folks?

4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Looks Like Andres is Reopening (Under New Ownership):

I went to grab some coffee from Bird Rock, when I noticed the yellow application for ownership change notice in the window so I walked over.

And yep, it looks like an LLC named Morena Ventures is taking over the spot; which is named Andres Patio Restaurant.

I know a lot of folks were quite sad when Andres closed after 40 years in business. I'm hoping for the best here......

Stay tuned!

1235 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110 

Have a great week folks!

Paris - Au Petit Versailles du Marais Revisited and Dinner at Granite

We were really enjoying our day in Paris and decided to just keep on strolling to Tuileries Garden.

Familiarity had changed our perception of distance in Paris. Places that used to seem quite far now seemed relatively close.

And we got to Tuileries Garden in what seemed to be no time at all. The Tuileries Christmas Market was being set-up and we could see that the Ferris wheel was already in place.

It would be in full swing when we returned to Paris.

Even though it was fairly chilly, the sun was out, so you could count on Parisians and a tourist or two (i.e. us) taking time to enjoy the day at the fountain and pond known as the Grand Bassin Rond.

It made for a relaxing afternoon.....

I'm not quite sure if it was the weather, something in the water, perhaps the air, or the environment, but we would readily adopt, the French equivalent of "Afternoon Tea", known as Le Goûter. We just seemed to flow into it. And it started on this day as the Missus decided She wanted something sweet and a spot of tea from that place She had come across when I took my baguette class on our last visit. So we headed back to the Marais and Au Petit Versailles du Marais.

After ogling the dessert collection.....

We headed over to the tea salon, grabbed an outside table, ordered the Missus's selected pastry, tea for Her, and coffee for me.

The woman working here is a hoot....she works real hard at wooing folks in who look at the menu sign and always says "best choice...best choice...." when you select one of the pastries.

I gotta say, I even enjoyed the Royal Caramel as it wasn't overly sweet.

Au Petit Versailles du Marais
1 Rue Tiron
75004 Paris, France

After our snack we headed back to the hotel and took a break.

I had made reservations for dinner with a restaurant I'd had my eye on since reading about it in Alexander Lobrano's blog named Granite. It helped that the restaurant was less than a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

Located on Rue Bailleul, Granite does modern French, and the chef Tom Meyer worked under Anne-Sophie Pic at the 3 Michelin starred Maison Pic.

The place looks quite modern.

The service was quite warm and yet professional and we got the 7 course tasting menu with a single wine pairing which the Missus enjoyed.

Things started out with an oyster course.

The brininess of the oyster was balanced out with a bit of sour tartness from green apple and the celery like flavor of lovage. The menu stated that kimchi was used in this dish but I couldn't detect that. Very clean and refreshing overall.

We both loved the Cepe; porcini mushroom which was wonderfully earthy.

The mushroom was seared perfectly with almost a buttery texture, though the other items on the plate added a bit too much sweetness for us.

Like the mushroom, the scallop was seared perfectly, the interior was perfectly rare and sweet.

Though there was a bitter component in the dish that distracted from our total enjoyment.

The Artic Char was wonderful.

Tender and buttery in texture; the lentils were wonderful and almost nutty, and there was a light sweet earthiness to the dish which elevated the flavors. The sauces really enhanced this dish.

Of all the items presented for this meal, we enjoyed the Pigeon Course the most.

 We were instructed to start with the "naan", basically a buttery cube of flatbread with wonderfully flavored fowl in it. The skewered liver was wonderfully gamy and delicious. 

But the real "winnah" was the seared pigeon breast which was quite tender, wonderfully gamy, the sauce featured chocolate which was more savory than sweet. There was so much complexity in the flavors. This was amazing!

The rose foam was a perfect palate cleanser.

I enjoyed the Pomelo Meringue as it wasn't overly sweet.

The Missus loved the chocolate; which was very decadent, without being overly sweet. The Earl Grey sorbet was wonderful as it added a grounding, almost lemon-orange flavor which went so well with the chocolate.

We enjoyed the service and pacing. And while I don't think we'll be returning; there are just too many options in Paris, this was a pleasant meal.

Granite
6 Rue Bailleul
75001 Paris, France

 

Paris - Chez Alain Miam Miam and Église Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles de Paris

After returning from our last trip to Paris, we contemplated a longer trip, which ended up being a whole month in France. As usual, we started in Paris, flying out on BA thru LHR. Like I mentioned in my previous post; while the Business Class meals on BA has to us seem better when returning to San Diego from LHR, overall, the food had improved from our last post-Covid travels.

These days we have a routine when flying into Paris in the evening. We catch the RER Blue Line from CDG to Les Halles and stay in the area. This time, since we'd be staying at AirBnbs and VRBOs for most of the trip, we did a hotel right outside Les Halles. One benefit of flying Business Class are the lay flat beds, where we can (usually) get a decent amount of sleep and work on getting our internal clocks adjusted. By the time we got to our hotel it was after 9pm, so it was right off to bed.

The next morning; well we slipped right into our routine.

We strolled over to Rue Montorgueil and had our Café Allonge at Café du Centre just like we usually do.

And just enjoy people watching......

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

This was a pretty quiet Thursday morning.

And we felt so relaxed and at home at our corner seats.

As for our plans; well, we went to the Marais and did our due diligence lèche-vitrine ("window licking" - the French term for window shopping). We spent a good amount of time licking 'dem windows and when it was time for lunch, well, we decided on a place I'd had on my list for a while. A rather small shop on Rue Charlot right around the corner from Marche Les Enfants Rouge, named Chez Alain Miam Miam. In fact, this was our original destination during a previous visit to the area, but both shops (they have a shop and a stand in the marche) were packed, so we ended up eating at Chez Taeko. I had read so many superlatives about the place; Food & Wine says it's one of the best sandwich shops in Paris and this YouTube video calls it the "Best Sandwich in the World"that I wanted to check the place out. We decided on having an early lunch to avoid the crowds and got there at 10am. The shop is tiny; the owner, Alain Roussel was manning the counter and we ordered our sandwich and went to one of the shared tables.

Eventually, the beast was brought to us.

The bread was wonderfully toasted and a textural treat; the tomatoes had a wonderful sweet acidity, there's avocados, wonderful caramelized onions, a huge amount of milky-earthy Comte cheese, and ham. The only thing we thought was there wasn't enough of a salt component. But this was quite good and one sandwich was enough for both of us.

In Paris, there are processes. Here, after watching other folks, I noticed that once folks finished their sandwiches, the plates were returned (by non-tourists) to a window and so I took our now empty plate there and got a huge "thumbs up" from the crew!

As we were leaving at around 11 there was a line already forming outside the shop. Not a cheap sandwich at 17 Euros, but it was lunch for the both of us.

Chez Alain Miam Miam
26 Rue Charlot
75003 Paris, France

On Rue de Bretagne, we stopped at Jean-Paul Hevin for some confections and Comptoirs Richard for some tea for later in the trip and took our time walking back to the hotel. On Rue Saint-Denis, right across from Raviolis Chinois Nord Est is a church named Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles de Paris which was built in 1235! On Rue Saint-Denis? I had wanted to check the place out on our last trip but it was closed the entire time. It must have been my lucky day because it was open!

There was one main reason for my visit. I'd read that the relics of Saint Helena were kept in the church. According to Atlas Obscura:

"As history tells it, in 840 a monk from Hautvillers, France returned from a trip to Rome with a surprising souvenir. He admitted he had broken into St. Helena’s tomb and stolen part of her body while he was there. Instead of ordering its return, the pope allowed the relic to stay in France since the item itself hadn’t protested the theft by miraculously stopping it (as other relics reportedly had)."

And in 1819 the relics were moved here. We found the stairs to the crypt were closed and only opened during certain hours. But again, fate intervened as a woman came by with the keys and went down the stairs and waved us down.

I'm guessing she is a regular worshipper here so they gave her the keys. She lit some candles, said a prayer, then left.

Apparently, parts of Saint Helena's body is wrapped and kept here.

It was an interesting stop.

From here we decided to extend our walk and visit some other familiar places before dinner.

It was a lovely day in Paris and we wanted to make the best of it.

We're Back! Dinner on BA and our First Meal Back from Sizzling Pot King

Whoa...well, after spending a month in France I'm having a bit of a time of it getting adjusted to San Diego time again. And that journey home; we stayed at CDG overnight with a 7am flight to LHR, which helps as we don't have to get up early. But then there's the 5 1/2 layover at Heathrow and then the 11 hour flight home. Which is why we fly business class. Though we didn't account for the fussy baby in the seat behind us, these things happen....so even with the lie flat seats...well, I got maybe an hours sleep?

On the positive side; I'd say that the meals on BA have returned to pre-Covid quality. And it's always been much better flying back to San Diego, than flying from SD to LHR. This was pretty good.

One of the things with leaving for a month is...well, the fridge and pantry were cleaned out before we left. We arrived home at around 6pm; it was already dark. In need of something convenient with a little zip, I did a takeout order from Sizzling Pot King. Funny thing; it was in the high 20's when we left Paris, so weather here in the 40's didn't bother me much, it was basically short sleeve weather, so I got some looks when I waltzed into Sizzling Pot King; seeing all those folks bundled up looking at me like I'm some nut wearing a t-shirt. Even the young man who knows my order looked at me strangely.

Anyway, we had the usual for dinner.

It was nice and decently spicy; with a mild "numbing" from the Sichuan Peppercorns...but I'm not sure if it was all the Sichuan we had in Paris; but this seemed to be missing something. Oh well, at the least it did the job.

Sizzling Pot King
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

And I quickly reverted back to my wimpy "San Diego weather" self......though for some strange reason, I feel somewhat out of sorts with regards to manners, pacing, and such.

I'm working on getting my act together and will have posts done.

Meanwhile.....even after a month....this is still on my mind!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fifty 9 Fifty Local Eatery (Tierrasanta)

 Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk and His Missus are currently in the same Time Zone (Pacific) and 'catching up'.  Cathy is writing.

In April, 2019, I saw that this new restaurant had opened on Santo Road at the 52.  Unfortunately things got busy and I forgot to follow through in 2019...then it was 2020 and, you know.  So many businesses in this mall have changed over the years, and Kirk's April 2022 post reminded me  to check it ut again. The Mister and I really like Peruvian food and stopped in a few times, passing Fifty 9 Fifty.  Finally we had a chance to stop in. 
 A sort of 'Gastropub' atmosphere with about 20 beers on tap, various seating sections (including covered outdoors), we were given a bottle of chilled water along with chilled glasses with our menu.
 A simple menu-and there is a Monday-Friday Happy Hour, too (from 4-6:30)
 We decided to try the Cheese Curds ($12). Wisconsin cheese, breaded and fried.  If you bite into a hot one, it does indeed 'squeak'..but otherwise it's just a good bunch of piece of breaded fried cheese, served with a very nice homemade Ranch.
 The Stuffed Jumbo Portobello mushroom ($15) can be a meal.  Cream cheese, mozzarella and parmesan topped with a panko crust and placed in balsamic syrup...Oh my!
 Cross section shows how many flavors you can get in a bite. 

 We also ordered a Cobb Salad ($14).  This tasted really good, very fresh ingredients (egg, bacon, avocado, tomato, gorgonzola and a nice Blue Cheese dressing.  The presentation...eh. 

A nice addition to this little neighborhood which withstood Covid-19.

Fifty 9 Fifty Local Eatery  5950 Santo Road San Diego 92124 (858)737-4665 open daily 11:30-9 website

Gate of Damascus (revisit)

Thanks for returning to read mmm-yoso!!! Again, Cathy is writing while Kirk and His Missus are nearing the end of their vacation.

I wrote about this new El Cajon restaurant in February of 2022.  In that post, the meal was a small sampling of a breakfast item, a cheese flatbread (manakish) and appetizers.  Everything was wonderful and so fresh.   We've returned a few more times.
 You can order 'to go' or find a seat.  The 'to go' menu is on the wall to make it easy for the 'to go' people.

 The 'for here' menu; a bit larger.

 A cheese manakish ($4.99).  A small version of a herby cheese pizza with no sauce.  Excellent fresh bread: thin, slightly crisp, slightly chewy.
 Here's a zaatar manakish (3.99) add cheese ($1.50).  Zaatar is a spice mixture of thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, sumac and salt.  It's herby, nutty, salty, savory and tangy.  Sumac by itself has the 'tang' you get from lemon juice.  In any case, this combination of zaatar and cheese is really good.
 Six tweaks of falafel ($5.99).  A nice version.  Quite crunchy.  The tahini dip is so creamy!

 Kabab Plate ($13.99) Two very large beef kabobs with rice, grilled tomato and raw onion.  Easily shareable.

An order of baba ghannouj (6.99) arrived with pieces of hot-from-the-oven pita. The roasted eggplant based dip is smoky and smooth and has a sesame flavor from the tahini.  Olive oil and lemon juice as well as garlic round out the flavors.  The version here is just lovely.
 The Appetizers plate ($15.99). Choice of four.  Plan on taking some home; the serving platter is deceptively deep. Hommus, fattoush, baba ghannouj and in the center, tabboule.  All the salads are made here daily.  The hommus and baba ghanouj are excellent versions.  The fattoush is primarily a 'bread salad' with the pieces of fried pit toping lettuces, tomato, cucumber and other vegetables.  It's another craving I've had.  The tabboule is parsley, tomato, cucumber, mint, green onion and bulgur-crunchy.  Its dressing (lemon juice, paprika, salt and pepper with olive oil) really showcases an excellent quality olive oil.   
 A single beef kabab ($3) is sometimes quite enough for a nice snack/small meal.  (This kabob is smaller than the two beef kabobs served on the kabab plate).

Quality, fresh food.  Nice people.

Gate of Damascus 1142 East Main El Cajon 92021 (619) 312-0427  Open Monday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Tues-Sun 8 a.m.-midnight website
 Free hot tea at the back; serve yourself. 

Where in the World Are We Part Deux

Wow, it's been quite a mega vacation. We're heading home soon, but I thought I'd do one more post. It's been nearly two weeks in our favorite city! Spending that time here has really enabled us to get a good feel for the city.

We've gotten to revisit some sights and locales.

And also check out other places from our "list".

Including the oldest pet cemetery in Europe.

Which has the grave of a Movie Star!

We revisited a city known for their Christmas Markets.

Which seemed busier than ever!

We took a quick day trip and visited a beautiful chateau.

And of course, enjoyed the Christmas lights and displays here as well.

And of course, there are pooches everywhere.

As for dining......well, we've hit up some old favorites.

And because of our time here, we're able to finally check out some places and dishes that we'd read about.

And along with French cuisine.....

We've really taken to the Asian cuisine in this fine city.

And this toro-sando was such a wonderful surprise!

There have been places that reminded us that we're overdue for a trip to Japan.

Speaking of reminding us of Japan. We had dinner at an underground, hidden Tempura Bar. It was delici-yoso!

And the Missus has been enjoying stopping at various patisseries and getting something to have with tea in the afternoon.

Well, we're off to dinner in a bit, so it's time for me to get ready.

Thanks as always for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!

China Fun (Escondido)

Thank you for stopping by mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog usually written by Kirk (but He is on vacation and Cathy is writing this post).

Earlier this year, some clients told me about a restaurant near their home (I asked, I always ask people where they like to go in their neighborhood; it's how I find places if not randomly driving and stopping).  I had seen the signage, since this is kind of across the street from the Escondido location of Vallarta Market/J & M's Family Restaurant/Farmer Boys.

 I don't know what it had been before, but it's a pretty large space.
 The menu is quite extensive.  Since this was a first visit...

 The Mister ordered the Ma Pu Tofu ($12.99).  Quite large, a nice heat/spice level, plenty of pork.
 My 'usual' first time eating at a Chinese restaurant, Egg Foo Young ($12.99) This choice was BBQ pork (getting to try another favorite in this order). 
 The BBQ Pork was inside (rather than on top of) the eggy vegetable filled pancake.  Another unique version and quite tasty.

We will be back to try more of the menu.

China Fun 1450 E. Valley Boulevard Escondido 92027 (760)740-8888 website Open daily 11 a.m., closes at 9:30 Sunday-Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday-Sat

A pot of tea is $1.99 and is quite tasty as well as being served in this pretty (matching) serve ware. 

Aqui Es Texcoco (again)

Thanks for stopping by to read this blog about food,  mmm-yoso!!! Cathy is writing today. 

We found ourselves in Chula Vista and stopped at Starbread Bakery for a small treat then walked next door to Aqui Es Texcoco (the same location which moved  one mile North on Broadway, South of H, briefly changed names from Aqui Es Texcoco to Al Pastor Authentic Mexican Grill and now it's back to the original name (same owners the whole time)). Traditional lamb barbecue has been served in San Diego County since 1990.  There are locations in Tijuana and in Los Angeles.

 We ordered a medium tamarind agua fresca (fresh water)($3.25)which is made in-house, not from concentrate. Excellent tamarind flavor; refreshing and not too sweet.
One complimentary lamb broth (consommé) was brought out because of one of our orders.  You can also order one small cup for $3.25.  A good deep flavor/concentrated fresh lamb broth made with lamb drippings and with garbanzo beans.   The lamb mixiote ($14.75). Mixiote is traditionally pit barbecue but can be made in an oven. Cubed meat mixed with pasilla peppers, thyme, cumin, garlic and cactus pieces.   Other spices are in the mix, too.  It's all wrapped in parchment paper then cooked (if pit cooked, it's wrapped in maguey leaves) (either way, it's slow cooked). This unique 'stew' has such a medly of flavors, including the unique robust (not really gamey) lamb .

 The Chicharron de Queso ($7) is just that- crisp cheese made on a flat top grill.  The guacamole is included and is always fresh (and wonderful). By itself, this is a decadent snack. An order of flautas ($9.50). Flour tortillas filled then deep fried to a light crispness, topped with lettuce, creama and shredded cotija.  The filling choices are lamb, chicken, potatoes or beans.  Three are are quite a meal, or good for sharing.  

Always a nice place to stop for a meal or snack.

Aqui Es Texcoco 520 Broadway Chula Vista 91910 (619)427-4045 Website Open daily 8 a.m.-9 p.m.