mmm-yoso!!!

Big Island - Koana and Mountain View Bakery (Mountain View), Chain of Craters Road, and Suisan (Hilo)

We had a wonderful first day and evening on the Big Island. Man, it's hard to believe that it had been a decade since we last visited.

And since we were staying in Volcano Village, we wanted to resurrect an old tradition we had. But first, the Missus wanted a nice cup o' joe. I had done a bit of research and found a place in Mountain View, about a 15 minute drive from Volcano Village that just seemed perfect for the "coffee snob" in the family. A place named Koana.

This specialty coffee shop only did pour over....like I said, this place would be perfect for the Missus, right?

The bright, rustic space was quite welcoming.

As was the owner; who kindly took time to explain everything they had for the day. 

In addition to the local coffees the place sold....

There were other local kine stuffs as well.

The Missus immediately homed in on the Paradise Coffee Kona Geisha Champagne Natural. The owner of Koana, Brian, told us that this coffee won the 2022 Hawaiian Coffee Association competition. Oh-kay.....

While we waited for our coffee we took a quick look around...the place has a real "old time" feel to it and reminds me of Honolua, way back in the 60's and 70's.

Meanwhile, I felt a bit peckish, so I walked on over to Mountain View Bakery. Man, the last time I was here was back in 90's, before I met the Missus.

This place is famous for their Stone Cookies and has been around since 1936! It's got a real old time, small town feel to it.

I got a taro mochi donut and a Spam Musubi. Breakfast of champions!

The mochi donut is made from glutinous rice and has a bit of a chew to it. It wasn't overly sweet. I liked it, but the Missus did not.

My musubi was perfect!

    The Missus loved Her coffee and wanted to buy a bag. So, we went in and took a look around and could not find the coffee. So we asked Brian who told us he had two bags left behind the counter. He sold us one. It was $95! The Missus just absolutely loved this coffee.

Thus is life in the mmm-yoso household. The Missus gets Her $95 Kona Geisha coffee and I get a......Spam Musubi! Sounds like a fair deal, right?

We also bought some other stuffs as well.

Koana
18-1325 Old Volcano Rd.
Mountain View, HI 96771

Mountain Vewi Bakery
18-1319 Old Volcano Rd.
Mountain View, HI 96771

From here we headed back into Volcanoes National Park and proceeded to do what has become sort a tradition for us; a drive down Chain of Craters Road.

It's something we've done on every visit to the Big Island since we got married years ago.

It all seems familiar, and yet, different on every visit.

It's a reminder of how amazing this "Blue Marble" we live on is. We make stops along the way. At familiar places, like the Hōlei Sea Arch.

And there's another tradition we have or at least had, which I mentioned in my post from all those years ago:

" We always drive to the end of Chain of Craters Road, park, it used to be that you'd park just a couple of yards from the flow, but now you walk about a half mile or so. I always take a photo of the Missus at the point where the lava is covering the road.

When we look back at the older photos, we've noticed that the flow has moved and even though things might seem the same when the picture is taken; looking at the photos all lined up reveals that nature never stays still. For us, this is a nice timeline of sorts....the Missus on the lava flow, moving, maybe at an imperceptible speed, but nevertheless, still slowly moving."

Well, with time comes change. What used to be this:

In 2012, is now this in 2023. Though it's chained off.

Of course soon enough the question of "what's for lunch" came up. Well, the Missus had Her heart set on Suisan, which has long been a favorite of Hers. We'd arrived in Hilo on a day when Suisan was closed. So off we went on an hours drive into Hilo!

    We were interested to see what effect the "time of Covid" had on Suisan and it was soon evident. Gone are the tables out front. You wait in line in front of the shop, there's a limit to the amount of folks they let into a shop at any one time.

Gone are the cold cases and the selection of poke is much smaller now.

We got a poke bowl with the Ahi Hawaiian and Shoyu Ahi ($15.50), a quarter pound Ahi Mango Habanero, and even went and tried the Scallop Lemon Shoyu and the Butter Garlic Prawns. We took our stuffs to the former location of the restaurant outside Suisan which is now closed and went for it.

 In terms of fish quality the ahi in the Ahi Limu and the Mango Habanero was excellent, tender and almost buttery. Some of the pieces in the Shoyu Ahi had "sugi" that made it chewy. I wish there was more limu in the Ahi Hawaiian, though the flavoring for all three poke was spot on, not too salty, but well prepped and seasoned. The Mango Habanero was a nice surprise, fruity spice, perfect salt, without being too sweet.

As for the "pupus", well, the Butter Garlic Prawns were really tough, not much garlic flavor.

The Lemon Shoyu Scallops were also really chewy and there was an amount of "grit" in it that we didn't enjoy.

Still, that poke did "hit the spot". We'd return one more time before leaving the Big Island; though we'd stay with just poke on that visit.

Suisan Company Limited
93 Lihiwai St
Hilo, HI 96720

mmm-yoso makes 18!

I was just going to start another post when I looked at the date and realized there was some significance to this day....at least for me.

On this date 18 years ago, we did our first post. Geez, 18 years, perhaps it's time to send the blog off to college, right?

Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought we'd still be around 18 years later.

And in typical fashion, I'm really not prepared for this post. So, how about some photos of neighborhood flowers from my walks?

Or maybe some utility box art?

In all seriousness, we'd like to thank each and every one of you, for the visits, comments, emails....the wonderful recommendations! We've had the honor and the privilege of "eating, then writing about it" for  5010 posts now. 

Hopefully, we'll have some delici-yoso posts coming up......

The last few years have been sometimes strange and difficult....things have changed so much, but it has made me appreciate more than ever being able to keep up with the blog.

I know I'm not up to date with technology. At some point, I'll have to either get up to date or say goodbye. Hopefully, it will be the former.

Until then....we'll keep rolling along.

Thanks again for helping to keep this little blog going!

GyroGrill Revisited

I was recently told that GyroGrill had won some kind of "Best Greek Food in San Diego" award. Whoa, that was a bit of a shock. It had been a while since I last visited, so I decided to head on over for lunch.

The good thing about GyroGrill is that they open at 10am as I'm not a fan of the "squishy" parking situation in the lot here. When that lot gets full, it's a pretty tight squeeze.

 And to be perfectly honest, I was interested to see what the price of the Gyro Combo was these days. And the sign said the combo was now $15. In case you're keeping score, in October 2020 it was $7.99 by January of 2022 it was $12.99. During my last visit, in April of 2022 it was $14. Well, now a year later it's $15. I guess I should be happy that it's "only" gone up a buck since last year, right?

And both the A-frame chalk sign and a page posted near the counter said something like "Awarded San Diego's Best Greek Food 2022".

By something called "the San Diego Award Program"? Well, talk about a generic sounding name. But seeing that GG is on the ballot again this year, I followed the link from the business website and it leads to this page on a UT website.. I quickly noticed an omission, can you figure it out?

Anyway, I ordered my usual, the Pork Gyro Combo. The really nice guy  from my previous visits was working and I took my order back to the office.

 Upon opening up the Gyro, I quickly noticed that things had changed. This was no longer marinated pork cut from a spit into thin slices. This was more like chunks of marinated grilled pork shoulder. Along with being chunks of pork, the meat was a lot darker in color than what I'd had previously. It was also tough and dry. In terms of flavor, this was on the salty side.

Lest you think I'm having a "senior moment", this is what it looked like on my previous visit.

I actually have enjoyed the cross-cut, chip like, fries even more than the Gyros at GG, crisp outside, creamy inside. These had changed  as well.

These were cut lengthwise and much thinner. They didn't stay crisp as long and were on the drier end of things.

Man, I miss the way those potatoes used to be......here's a photo.

Bummer.

Now, I know that there's more to Greek Food than Gyros, after all, we've had some nice meals in Greece. But still.......

GyroGrill
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121

Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant Closing at the End of May

In the comments of my post on Cafe Dore closing, FOY "Jessica" asked if I knew about Bolsa in Mira Mesa closing. Well, I didn't know and the news caught me by surprise.

So, when I had a some time I drove on over to the location of this long time, local Vietnamese Restaurant.

   And while from a distance everything looked like the status quo, there was this long note taped to the door.

And so it is true, Bolsa will be closing at the end of the month. You can also see a copy of the note in their Facebook page. I thought I'd go ahead and do this post quickly in case folks want one more chance to eat there. After all, if I recall Bolsa has been around for over two decades.

Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd Suite 118
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Sat - Thurs 830am - 9pm
Friday 830am - 7pm
Closing permanently at the end of May 2023

Another long-standing local restaurant closing.....

Thanks for letting me know about this Jessica!

O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen

I first noticed the sign for O-To-San back in December in the former location of Dduri Ba. I also noticed the logo under the sign and indeed Eater confirmed my suspicions, the shop was to be run under the same ownership as the AYCE Korean BBQ and AYCE Sushi Olleh shops. Not quite a great sign in my opinion, but while driving by on a recent morning at 1130 I decided to stop by and see what was going on. 

 On this morning the parking lot was empty. I walked on over and took a look at the posted menu and noticed the opening time was noon. I also noted that there were donburi and ramen lunch specials going for as low as ten bucks! In these days that's a bargain. I decided that I'd return on another day and check the place out. As I started walking away the "open" sign came on and the really friendly gentleman who runs the front of house waved me in. My lucky day I guess.

I really liked the rustic interior. They did a nice thematic job here. 

And the prices for the ramen and donburi for lunch were beyond reasonable for these times. So, it allowed me to try something from the kushiyaki menu. You know me; I tend to look at Tsukune, the simple Japanese chicken meatball as the bellwether for yakitori. It takes some skill working with minced chicken and fat to come up with something tender, moist, and unctuous. And whether it's in San Diego or in Japan I look to it as a guide of skill and care when it comes to yakitori. So, with the ramen for lunch being so inexpensive, that's what I ordered ($4). Good lord, was it a mistake.

  I would go on record to say this was more sausage than tsukune. It was hard, rubbery, tough.....I'm sure there are more synonyms I could come up with given time. Not much flavor at all....I guess that's why salt was provided.

This got me really worried about the ramen. I had ordered the tonkotsu ramen ($10).

 And my worries were well placed. Ok, so  since the ownership is under Olleh, my expectations were low, but this was even below that!

The broth, while it displayed globules of fat was insipid, devoid of any flavor save that of sodium. It lacked the richness of a true tonkotsu broth.

The overcooked tamago....well, I'm thinking O-To-San wants to give Santouka competition for the most overcooked egg.

 The chashu wasn't bad, nicely marinated, tender, decent porkiness. The noodles were standard issue, curly, a bit overcooked and mushy...which did nothing to enhance the dish. It had me thinking....at ten bucks what should I have expected?

This was quite underwhelming. But I decided to return for a follow-up visit. This time around noon, where the same kind and friendly gentleman guided me to a table. My thought was "perhaps the ramen wasn't to my liking, but I should try a donburi". And at ten bucks the risk level was fairly low, at least for 2023.

My ten-dollar dish allowed me to try something else from the menu, though I wasn't going to go for anymore yakitori here. I went with a order of Chicken Karaage ($7). What arrived was a much larger portion than what I expected.

In terms of the dish, it reminded me more of what Taiwanese/Chinese boba places serve as "popcorn" chicken then karaage. The chicken was enrobed with a lacquer style batter, quite crisp, though the chicken itself was quite mildly seasoned and on the bland side. It also started to soften up fairly quickly. The typical shoyu based dipping sauce was not quite up to the task. Strangely, what I think is sesame dressing for the shredded cabbage did much better, which led me to think, the whole dish might do ok as tori nanban?

I ordered the Gyu Don ($10 lunch special) as my main.

 I loved the presentation. And overall, I enjoyed this dish the most. Nothing fancy, just a by the book beef bowl. The beef was on the chewy side, flavors were quite typical, soy sauce - mirin - sake, which is not bad at all. A generous portion of rice....I wish there was more egg, but this was a decent donburi.

 Nothing fancy mind you; but for a ten buck for lunch...I wouldn't pay $15 to have this for dinner, this might work out fine for you. After all, how much is a bento from Nijiya these days?

Still, while the prices are right, at least for lunch, I see no reason to go out of your way to visit. The place seems like more of a group of concepts. In design and even in the name which is a play on words. When I asked if the place was named after someone's father, the really nice guy told me it "sort of is?" I was also told it is a play on words - O(saka) - To(kyo) - San (Diego). He didn't elaborate further and I didn't really ask. I'd had enough of "concepts" for a while.

O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Saturday Stuffs - Cafe Dore is now Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee and Farmer's Table (Bay Park) Becoming La Pastaia

Just a couple of things I noticed this past week.

Cafe Dore is now Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee:

I received an email that caught me off guard. It asked me why Cafe Dore had closed. What?!? I didn't know anything about this. So, last Sunday I took a shopping detour and headed down the 15 to check things out. And wouldn't you know it. The place is now called Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee.

Looking at the sign I was wondering when this change took place. Notice that it's been long enough for the "R" in "Restaurant" to apparently fall off the signage.

Our friend Google didn't seem to be much help either.

Kind of sad to see it's no longer Cafe Dore. My posts go back to June 2005, I remember seeing all the old timers drinking coffee in the place and playing those, ahem, "video games" (wink, wink) in the back of the shop. When I last visited back in November of 2021 things seemed to go the status quo. And even in the days of Covid, old-timers were gathered in the place and lighting up the 'ol cigarettes even!

Much like another closure of a long time restaurant, it feels like the end of an era. 

Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee
4135 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105

Farmer's Table (Bay Park) Becoming La Pastaia:

During one of my recent shopping trips up the block to Sprouts I noticed that Farmer's Table was empty so I walked on over.

   I was surprised to see construction going on and the note to the right. Well, I just posted on Farmer's Table in January! Looks like it's becoming a Italian Restaurant named "La Pastaia"?

Not too excited about this one as it looks like just a change in concept. I'm hoping the food served loses its overly corporate approach.

3055 Clairemont Dr.
San Diego, CA 92117

Gusto Grocery Italian Market

It's kind of funny how we run into things. I was leaving Costco on Morena after filling up on gas when I noticed a sign for an "Italian Market". When I did that "Google thing" I recognized the address. It was in the same business park as Rose Canyon Deli!

From what I could gather Gusto Grocery opened during Covid as a online store and has recently opened up what they call a "fulfillment center" and brick and mortar shop for folks who want to actually shop for "stuffs". In need for ingredients for my pesto chard, I decided to stop by instead of heading down to Little Italy and Mona Lisa for the Pesto Genovese that we like.

The actual shop is tiny; think half the size of Eurofood Depot. It's almost like a cubicle in size.

However, it is a cubicle stuffed with a nice variety of products with familiar names; like Bartolini, Rummo, San Giuolano, and Rigoni.

The location is quite interesting. It's actually located in the same structure as Rose Canyon Deli, just on the East side. There's ample parking and you can tell by the sign where the shop is.

Unfortunately, while they stock the Pesto we like, they were out.

Still, it's nice to not have to deal with the parking and such in Little Italy.

And while the selection of salumi and cheese looked rather small.

 I'm sure if you ordered online things would work out fine. And that guanciale looked really good.

I'm happy to have another option for specialized shopping.....close to home. Though the hours are rather limited, it looks like I won't have to go out of my way and struggle to find parking to get some of the Italian products we like.

Gusto Grocery Italian Market
4901 Morena Blvd Suite 314
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Mon - Thurs 9am - Noon
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 3pm
Closed on Sundays

Chicken Wing Wednesday the HitH Edition - Bay Hill Tavern and Fast Times

So yes, while doing my H(anging) i(n) t(he) 'H(ood) posts, I've been holding out on you. While doing those visits, I went and tried some chicken wings, a bar food staple if there ever was one. So here it is for you all.

Bay Hill Tavern:

So, what I've found with BHT is that the folks that work the bar are quite friendly and helpful. I know that "FOY" Som Tommy told me he likes the wings here. Anyway, I went ahead and ordered them.

 So, the wings usually come tossed in sauce, be it buffalo, BBQ (what was recommended here), or mango habanero. Well, I just wasn't a fan of these. While the wings were of decent quality and prepped well, it was kinda soggy when it arrived. I prefer my wings to have some textural contrast that doesn't include mushy. Plus, it was over sauced for my taste as well.

In my post on Bay Hill Tavern I mentioned how accommodating the folks working here were....and how they readily made suggestions for how they enjoyed the various dishes here. Que in Adam, one of the bartenders. He told me that he enjoys the wings simply fried with salt and pepper, sauce on the side.

And so I ordered the wings that way....he also instructed me to get the ranch, BBQ, and habanero on the side so I could determine which I enjoyed the best.

 And I guess I take direction fairly well. The wings not being drenched in sauce was much better. There was still some crispness to them and I got to determine which sauce I enjoyed the best. The habanero edges on a bit too sweet, but there's a bit of spice. The ranch will quell that. So, I will order my wings simply "salt and pepper" with habanero and ranch on the side.

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Fast Times:

Almost right across the street is another popular local hang out, Fast Times. While, like I said, the menu has me calling it "TGI F(ast Times)" it is still a favorite of folks. I went and ordered the wings. It arrived with both a "buffalo" type sauce and ranch.

    The wings looked lightly battered and fried. In fact, it had a decent light crispness. Until I really bit into them. Man, these wings were seriously freezer burnt. The wings were so gross and bitter. I mentioned this to the folks behind the bar and was told, "it looks perfectly fine to me....."

Go figure. Maybe it's perfectly fine for folks who come here?

I guess it's only the tater tots that I should order here?

Fast Times
3065 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

So there you go wings from places in my 'hood.

Paris Sandwiches (Mira Mesa)

Back in June of last year, I noticed that a place named "Paris Sandwiches" was opening up next to LHK in Mira Mesa. When I did a quick check on the listed URL a familiar name came up. Yes, Paris Sandwiches is under the auspices of Paris Bakery, an old favorite of mine. Paris Bakery and wholesale Le Chef Bakery produces the bread for many Banh Mi shops in San Diego. So, I'd know exactly where they are getting their bread from, right? To digress, I actually had someone send me an email regarding a really "special" Banh Mi I made and posted on over 15 years ago! Read it if you dare. I guess nothing disappears on the Internet?

Anyway, the shop opened back in January and I finally got around to visiting in between recent trips.

It's a simple counter set-up with a couple of tables and chairs outside. On both of my visits, the young lady working was very nice.

And yes, this is 2023, thus I didn't expect a $3.50 Banh Mi like I used to get at the ECB location, but I was glad that none of the Banh Mi's were in the $9 range!

Since JeffP was in the office on this day, I decided to order two sandwiches, the Dac Biet ($7.25) and the Bi ($6.75).

I got back to the office and split things up for us.

    First off, the bread was as I recalled from the "old school" location, crusty and fairly dense, with some yeastiness.

The Bnh Mi was much more "stuffed" than the versions I've had from the ECB location. And man, the jalapenos in all the sandwiches were no joke. The folks making the sandwich tend to bunch them together, so I learned to do a quick check. The pickled veggies were crisp and the flavor quite "bright".

The proteins were good, I especially enjoyed the generous portion of the funky-offally pate.

In my opinion, this was the better of the two sandwiches.

 I did find the ratio of Bi (pork skin) to be kind of small compared to the amount of pickled veggies and even cilantro. And of course, I think that it's all about ratios when it comes to these sandwiches. Strangely, I found that the Bi had an almost sweet-sour flavor? Though those jalapenos did a good job of clearing my sinuses.

A couple of days later I had a chance to drop by and grab another sandwich. Even though it was a weekend, I arrived early and the place was empty.

I decided on the Banh Mi Ba Chi (Pork Belly - $6.75).

 Much like the Dac Biet, this version had quite a bit more meat than what I've had from Paris Bakery. In terms of consistency, Paris scored well as the bread was crusty and yeasty, those jalapenos nice and spicy, and the pickled veggies nice and refreshing.

I did find the pork belly, while porky with a hint of sweetness, to be on the waxy side. So perhaps next time I need to go with the nem nuong?

Overall, this was much better than the mediocre banh mi I last had which cost me $9. It's great to have another option. I'm thinking I need to compare Paris Sandwiches to Phuong Nga one of these days?

Paris Sandwiches
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 630pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Closed on Sundays

Taichung - Taichung Second Market, Taichung Sixth Market, and a Visit to Dawncake

For our stay in Taichung, I selected Le Meridian. The rooms were the most comfortable of all the places we stayed at in Taiwan.

And there was a vast and good breakfast buffet.

The variety was quite impressive. A nice variety of Western and Asian dishes.

You were provided with a card for your table. You left it on the "green" side for when you went exploring for food.....

And then flipped it to "red" when you were done to let the folks know they could clear your table.

We enjoyed our breakfasts here.

We enjoyed our time here.

Unlike the other places we'd be visiting, I hadn't made any plans for our full day here. We had one destination in mind for the day, we needed to get some pineapple cake from Dawncake for my MIL. And while Miyahara was owned by Dawncake, we decided to walk on over to the main store on Taiwan Boulevard.

During our walk it seemed like Taichung is a bit spread out and there was only 1 MRT line in the city at the time of our visit. So, we didn't do much except explore. Like in other cities in Taiwan we found an interesting contrast of the modern and stylish....

With the old.....

As the architecture seemed to change on every block on this portion of Taiwan Boulevard.

There were many alleyways winding their way around, with some of them specializing in electronic shops or hot pot and the like.....

There also seemed to be a large number of 24 hour arcades in the area.

One of the places the folks at the hotel and the Missus's Instagram searches recommended we visit was Taichung Second Market. While we weren't very hungry due to just finishing breakfast, we headed on over to have a look.

During the Japanese Colonial Period, this was known as Shintomichō, a high-end shopping area. 

Now it's known as a place to get "good grindz".........

And as we soon learned, lines are usually a good thing in Taiwan and they can move pretty fast, like at this Lu Rou Fan stand.

There's quite a variety of food available.

Along with the expected produce, seafood, and meat purveyors.

Taichung Second Market
No. 87, Section 2, Sanmin Rd.
Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan

We stopped for a short tea break.

Where the Missus noticed a super long line going down around the block. She went to investigate and I crossed the street to take a photo.

Apparently, this is a very popular place selling Castella Cake, named Banshin Castella Cake.

Yep, those lines......

All of this and it was just after 9 am!

We headed further up Taiwan Boulevard, to the rather modern Xitun District, full of office towers and high rises.

 We came across what looked like a hotel....it turned out to be the Splendor Hotel, with a bunch of vendors selling all sorts of plants and crafts. The Missus read one of the signs and noticed that the building is called "Park Lane" and on the third floor was something called "Taichung Sixth Market". Since it was still early and Dawncake didn't open until 10 we decided to check the place out.

We caught the elevator up to the third flood and arrived at what I'll call a very modern food hall/market of sorts. There were some food stands but they weren't open yet.

Like I mentioned earlier; we were struck by the contrasts of the old (Second Market) and the new.

While all the food stands were closed, we found this tea booth.

The young man working the stand was so kind and friendly. The Missus loves Her tea and he took the time out to explain the source and flavors of all the tea; which was from his family's farm in Alishan and told us to have a seat.

He proceeded to make us multiple samples of each! Telling us to take our time and enjoy.

It was such a nice experience and we bought a couple of bags of tea. 

We'll make sure to return if we're back in Taichung!

Taichung Sixth Market (in Park Lane by Splendor)
403 Jianxing Rd.
West District, Taichung City, Taiwan

By now it was after 10am and Dawncake was open.

The Missus's Mom enjoys pineapple cake, so we decided to pick some up on every stop during our trip. Dawncake is probably the best known brand from Taichung.

The shop is large and bright. We were given some samples and the Missus got Her Mom a box.

Meanwhile, I came across something I had seen the previous night at Miyahara.

And this time I just had to get it.

It's actually tea that is sold in what could pass as an album cover. So, the Missus got more tea and I got that wonderful album cover...because "I'm forever missing them....."

Dawncake
No. 512, Section 2, Taiwan Blvd.
West District, Taichung City, Taiwan

Happy Mother's Day!