mmm-yoso!!!

Tom Cat Bar & Grill (Mira Mesa)

Here you are, reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Cathy is writing today because Kirk is busy doing fun stuff this weekend before the long Independence Day weekend.

After reading Kirk's recent post about revisiting Tim Ky, The Mister and I headed out that way, but decided to stop on the 'other side' of the construction in the parking lot- the Tom Cat Bar & Grill.

 When the Tom Cat first opened, Miramar Naval Air Station was the military base nearby.  Close to the Pacific Ocean, the base housed aircraft and squadrons which were assigned to aircraft carriers stationed in San Diego.  Among those aircraft was the F-14 Tomcat, hence the bar was initially a hangout for Active Duty and Retired military.  The base also was home to TOPGUN, the nickname for what was the Navy Fighter Weapons School.  (There was a base realignment in 1993 and in 1996, TOPGUN moved to Fallon, Nevada,  while the various Naval aircraft, squadrons and training were relocated to several bases and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was made official.).

 So now, the Tom Cat is a Sports Bar.

A simple, two sided menu is available.  We did notice a chalkboard with some specials, at the bar.

We decided to order the fried mushrooms ($9.25) from the appetizer menu.  The serving is quite large and very well made- light cornmeal based batter, surrounding large, meaty mushrooms, properly fried.  It's served with an excellent Ranch dip.

Then we ordered the Tom Cat Signature Wings ($13.25).  There are eight flavors to choose from and "Tom Cat Style' (grilled green onions and fresh jalapeño slices)  has the highest spice level, three chilis, but the nicely crisp wing breading was not spicy  if you didn't eat the fresh jalapeños.  Four large flats and four large drums and a lot of carrots and cucumber, this was certainly a meal in itself.  

The Cobb salad ($14.95) was nice to share.  Bacon, turkey and Blue Cheese crumbles, a hard boiled egg along with other vegetables and lettuce (as well as a squaw roll) in this deceptively large (deep) bowl made this  also a quite large meal.  

A nice place for lunch, dinner or a weekend breakfast.

Soo was here in 2021

Tom Cat Bar & Grill 9388 Mira Mesa Blvd San Diego 92126 (858) 566-5300 Open daily 11-11 Website

Let's Go Retro! The 2024 San Diego County Fair (Part Two- it's happening now)

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog, is being written by Cathy while Kirk and His Missus are enjoying these sweltering days in an area of aquatic coolness. 

I wrote a post about the 2024 San Diego County Fair, before it opened, a few weeks ago.  The Mister and I have attended the Fair a couple of times and will go again.  Here's a post about what you might see if you go there now.  It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and the last day is Sunday July 7.

 The front gate is crowded just past the metal detectors at 11 a.m.

 The Midway, with rides and  food booths There's Chicken Charlie, checking out a couple of his food booths as the Fairgrounds opened!
 The Fun Zone, with Carnival Games, is a typical American Fair activity.

The various Exhibit Halls are filled with so many judged entries

 Home Made, Gems & Minerals, Design in Wood
 The Paul Ecke, Jr. Flower Show, along with the Paul Ecke, Jr. Garden Show with the entry from the San Diego County Model Railroad Museum
 The Future Farmers of America were preparing to show goats..

There is a LOT more to do at the Fair, and that will be showing in my 'wrap up' post.  For now, let's talk about food.

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 Walking outside the Livestock Barn is an informative area sponsored by Hollandia Dairy.  Dairy cows were on display and a small booth was selling chilled bottles of Hollandia Dairy milk for $3.  There was signage indicating that these bottles were also being sold at Frazier Farms stores until the end of the Fair.  This Dutch Coffee milk tasted very fresh and was an unexpected treat.

 There are three adult-only 'Specialty Booths' at the fair-The Beer Experience,
 The Wine Experience,

 and "Destination Unknown", a sort of Speakeasy (you need to tell the password to the elevator attendant who will whisk you up to the rooftop bar overlooking the Race Track).

In the first Fair post, I linked the Food Map along with the $5 "Taste of the Fair food samples available on Wednesdays and Thursdays

 The Texas Style BBQ booth offered a 'BBQ Sundae'- mashed potatoes topped with plenty of hickory smoked meat, some bark, some BBQ sauce and topped with a grape tomato.  Tasting this BBQ absolutely made both of us want to order a full plate.

 A 12 ounce Aqua Fresca at Ricos Manjares Mosita (cucumber lime flavor) was worth the $5 and so refreshing.

 San Diego's Original Fish & Chips offered clam chowder fries.  French fries topped with a lovely, thick chowder filled with clams, some potatoes and topped with crumbles of bacon.  Definitely a chowder I would order if it was cooler.

 The Texas Donuts offered their plain glazed donut for $5 (regular $7) and it was kind of perfect.  We've always thought this booth has reasonable prices.  
 OH MY!  Dipping Dots 'taste' was a five ounce root beer float.  Wonderful tasting root beer.  Topped with vanilla Dipping Dots, it really was a different type of 'float'.

 On our second visit, we saw this Rowdy's Root Beer Float booth and it was also offering a $5 taste.  We had to.  Ten ounces of soft serve ice cream and not as much root beer; memories evoked and well, soft serve.

 This blurred out booth,'Eat At Joe's' was selling various fried items (zucchini, chicken strips, curly fries) the Taste of the Fair special was cheese curds!   The curds didn't 'squeak' when biting in, but were very tasty...as batter fried cheese should be.
 Maddie's Churros was offering one made-to-order churro and it hit the spot.  You know, fried dough rolled in cinnamon sugar...
 The Squeezers Lemon shaped booths are always part of the Fair and this year offered a 'Sour Apple Lemonade', small size (12 ounce) as a Taste.   First, the color.  Second- the flavors.  The mix of sour apple flavor and fresh lemons was really unique.  Another refreshing beverage.

 The Pan Fried Chicken booth offered two fried wings, hot sauce, carrots and celery with Ranch dressing for $5!  One drum, one flat and quite large.  Another mini-meal.

 We saw the Freeze Dried Candy booth last year but never stopped.  This time we did; I've been curious for a year. Quite nice and different.

 Of course, when leaving, we stopped here, as almost everyone does- always see people carrying large bags of Kettle Corn out the main gate.  The small sample of Kettle Corn made it home and even lasted a few days.  It was great; large, mushroom shaped popped corn coated in sugar and salt.   A Perfect treat.

 One thing we will pay regular price for is a turkey leg ($22).  Since we seem to only find raw turkey eggs (weight about two pounds) for $9/pound, it is worth it for us to purchase a large leg already smoked.
 We brought this one home, cooked some corn (3/$1) on the grill and had a nice dinner.

I hope you can get to the Fair.  Each of the samples we tried were excellent and were incentive to order something full size from that booth on our next visit.

Soo and Maggie also attended the Fair this year!

2024 San Diego County Fair Website Purchase tickets and parking online.  Open until July 7 (closed Monday and Tuesday)

Kiko's Place - the Seafood King Mariscos Truck now on Morena

For the last couple of months I had noticed that a Mariscos Truck had been parked off of West Morena, in the parking lot of Coles Fine Flooring. Taking a closer look, I noticed that it was one of the Kiko's Place trucks, I believe there are several trucks, plus one brick and mortar restaurant in San Diego.

Man, to think, there was a time when I wouldn't blink an eye at taking a drive down to Chula Vista to have some tacos eaten on the hood of my car, but that was over 6 years ago now. Of course time and inflation have changed things. Heck, the last time I'd visited a Mariscos Truck was when the Pacific Seafood Truck was in the outlet of V-Outlet, (which has been replaced by the La Chorreada Truck) over 4 years ago!

Over the last couple of months I'd keep passing that truck on Morena, making a mental note to drop by one of these days, and the recent heat wave seemed the perfect time. The truck seems to open for business around 9am, which is when I dropped by on this day.

The guy working was quite friendly. I also liked the fact that there were tables set-up on parking lot sidewalk of Cole's with everything from napkins to hot sauce, with trash cans readily available.

The very chatty gentleman asked me if I'd been here before and I told him that I had visited the Kiko's Truck that used to be on the corner of Friar's Road and Vias Las Cumbres, in the parking lot of the liquor store. He laughed and said "that's us!" We had a nice chat, I wondering why they had moved, after all, that truck seemed quite popular. He told me that they had so many regular customers and they loved the spot, but the owner of the liquor store wanted to start charging them $6000 a month to park there! Whoa..... So, they had to find another place, which is how they ended up at this location. He said he felt bad that many of his regulars now have to drive to see him, but really appreciated how many of them still do drop by.

After our chat, I walked on up to the window to order. And whoa....

Well, the last time I had a Gobernador or Tacos de Marlyn it was $4, which I thought was expensive then....now it's $8! The "OG" Fish Taco is now $3.50. The last time I had one from a Mariscos Truck it was $1.95. Well, it's indeed a sign of the times.

I decided to get a Taco de Marlyn; funny thing, I guess due to the "customer base" his taco is on the menu as Smoked Fish. I also got one of the OG Fish Tacos as well.

I was given a cup of absolutely scalding consomme. It was so hot that I wasn't able to finish this until after my tacos!

Not bad, a bit on the "thinner" side, strong celery tones, not overly salty, pretty good "seafoody" flavors.

Soon enough, my tacos were ready and I slid over to the "salsa bar", which is nicely protected from the elements by glass doors.

I basically just needed some lime and some salsa roja for the Marlyn.

The Tacos de Marlyn was definitely the better of the two.

 The generous portion fish has a mild smokiness, wasn't too salty, and wasn't fishy in the least. Think of it as "bacon of the sea". Not a big fan of the queso on the fish, but I really enjoyed and appreciated the layer of melted cheese on tortilla which ensured that things wouldn't fall apart. I do enjoy the onions and peppers and the tortilla was pliable did the job.

As for the Taco de Pescado. Well, this is what $3.50 buys these days. At least it wasn't as bad as what I'd last had at El Zarape.

 The fish was fried nicely, crisp, the flesh moist, no off flavors. The issue would be how skinny it was. There was so much cabbage and crema that it kind of overwhelmed the poor guppy..... Well, at least the tortilla held up, but I probably won't be getting this again.

Overall, I enjoyed that Taco de Marlyn. I recall not enjoying the Gobernador from this truck while it was on Friar's Road, but heck, that was about a decade ago! Though the thought of paying $16 for two tacos....well, I need to think about that! I wonder what prices would have been like if they had stayed at the old location and pay $6000 a month for a parking spot?

Kiko's Place-The Seafood King Mariscos Truck
1170 West Morena Blvd. (In the parking lot of Coles Fine Flooring)
San Diego, CA 92110

What's in a name? Cakey Bakey and Cluck n Sip

Recently, I had to get my iPhone battery changed. Our business of choice for this is iTech which is in the same strip mall as Balboa Market. Funny thing, there's a dessert shop here, the sign says "Balboa Bakery".

But, the actual name of the place is.....Cakey Bakey!

What a name!

We actually came here a couple of months back....you know me, I don't really have a sweet tooth. But on the first visit, the Missus tried a couple of items....there's a great variety of traditional Persian confections for sale, but the Missus was more interested in the "other stuffs".

Over time She's had most everything the place had to offer and has settled on one item She enjoys; the "Napolian" a mille-feuille type pastry. 

She likes that it's not too sweet and the crisp textures. 

I dunno since I've never tried it, but I'm not complaining as in these days of $10 and up pastries; well this is five bucks. So, I make sure to get one when I'm in the area.

Yes, Cakey Bakey......

Cakey Bakey
5921 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Cluck n Sip:

Well, on that same visit I needed to head on over to 99 Ranch Market. I went to use the restroom, it was 1030 and as I made my way past the food court, the place that I knew as Krispy Krunchy Chicken that had changed to Cluck n Sip was just putting out the first batch of chicken.

I noticed it was the same really nice folks working from the KKC days so I walked on over. I was told that the basic fried chicken recipe was the same as before. It was just a name change and there's some different sauces and such. Interesting.

I went and ordered six wings and some potato wedges. Of course, everything had just come out of the kitchen so it was all fresh.

    So yes, this was scalding hot. Did I notice a difference? Well, 6 wings were now $9.99 and it seemed to have much more black pepper and was even saltier than I recalled. Also, the coating got soggy quite quickly. Not sure if it was just my imagination, but it seemed that way. The wings were of decent quality, it was moist, but again really high on the sodium scale for me.

As for the Potato Wedges ($3.99), man this was a large portion for a "small size".

Like the chicken, it was like a sodium bomb. It was fairly crisp initially, but got really hard and chewy as it cooled.

Regardless of what I was told, I seem to detect some changes since the KKC days. Not sure I'll be back. Though I need to try the original location in Hillcrest one of these days.....

Cluck n Sip
5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111

Slurp (Liberty Station)

Recently, I was in the Liberty Station area, where in all honesty I don't spend much time these days since the Missus prefers the sourdough at Secret Sister to Con Pane. But here I was close to lunch time and I decided to get some lunch on this day. Initially my thoughts were on hitting up Latin Chef again or even the location of Chris' Island Grinds at this location, but really, I'd been there and done that.

Instead I had heard about a fast-foodish stand in the Public Market called Slurp and the Duck Noodle Soup. So, I went and located the stand.

Which was quite interesting as there was another stand named Slurp Taiyaki and Ramen in the food court, but it was the "true" Slurp that I actually wanted.

You see, I had an acquaintance mention one item on the menu they enjoyed, the "Roast Duck Slurp", basically duck noodle soup. There's a bunch of Chinese-Thai dishes on the menu, but that was what was recommended and that's what I ordered.

Which after ordering ($16) soon arrived in a nice tight package. This being a rather quiet day, I took it outside and proceeded to see what it was about.

 I appreciated the way things were packed though I told the woman I'd be eating this close by. There were containers of spicy vinegar and a decent chili oil (which I used) included in my package.

I found a nice al fresco space to have my meal.

And unpacked things. First impressions....well, that broth was scalding hot, the portion size was quite generous as it was more than would fill the bowl of ingredients.

The broth was decent, nice very mild flavor of duck, five spice, white pepper, not overly salty. Nothing amazing mind you, but better than I expected.

Poured into the container with the duck, veggies....well, veggies was broccoli, and noodles left almost one fourth of the broth leftover.

   Which led to an interesting concoction. The duck was breast, quite lean, a bit more chewy then I enjoy, with a touch of five spice seasoning, not bad at all. The fried shallots added a nice savory and crunchy texture. The broccoli really gave off "Panda Express" vibes but at least I got some veggies.

Sadly, the egg noodles were overcooked and mushy.

This was an interesting visit. Is this the future of food court cuisine here, which ain't terrible? But yet, it isn't great.....well, perhaps that's the definition of what they want the food here to be.

Slurp
2820 Historic Decatur Rd.
San Diego, CA 92106
Current Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat        11am - 830pm

Sunday Sandwiches - Bay Hill Tavern and Sandwich Emporium

Man, was it warm enough for you today? I was going to do another noodle soup post, but decided to spare you the torture. So, I'll just do one of these sandwiches posts, of places close to home...consider it a H(anging) i(n) t(he) 'H(ood) version if you will.

Bay Hill Tavern:

In my last post on BHT, I mentioned how friendly the bar staff is, and how gladly they'll share their favorite versions of items on the menu. Recently, BHT put a version of a Philly Cheesesteak, called the BHT Philly on the menu.

Now granted, I have a whole category for cheesesteaks, and as expected this really isn't what I would describe as one.

 

 The roll is too bready, but I do enjoy the caramelized onions, mushrooms, and peppers. The beef, which they told me is shaved rib eye is a bit on the chewy side, but nice and beefy. For me, this sandwich was much too dry, and the provolone-mozzarella mix lacked a nice cheesy punch and there was not enough of it. It's a bit on the bland side overall.

Now, the folks that I know at BHT like that I'm honest about the food when I try it. So, when I was asked about this, I told them what I wrote above.

Cue in Janeli, who bartends and also manages the place on occasion. She told me to try the cheesesteak with a side of the beer cheese, which is what they put on the Dirty Fries. I was a bit skeptical, but I guess I take direction well. On my next visit, I got the Philly, no fries (the sandwich is enough for me, plus not a fan of the quick to be soggy fries, or paying an upcharge for garlic fries. Guess I only like the dirty fries?), with a side of Beer Cheese.

   Knowing what kind of mess I'd be making, they kindly provided a knife to slice the sandwich and a ton of napkins. I truly had my doubts, thinking the flavor of the fonduey cheese mixed with beer and other seasonings might interfere with the sandwich. But, it actually made it better, adding more savory tones, and a pleasant creaminess to things.

No, it's not what I call a proper cheesesteak, but pretty good overall. Thanks to the folks like Adam and Janeli at BHT!

Bay Hill Tavern
3010 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Sandwich Emporium:

I took my car to Victor's for a good car wash. When I do this, I'd usually head on across the street and get a haircut, but on this day, since it was later in the morning and I was feeling a bit peckish, I decided to get a sandwich at Sandwich Emporium. I didn't realize that it had been a year and a half since my last visit!

I walked on in; the owners, the twins weren't in on this day....in fact, I haven't seen them in a couple of years.

I ordered my usual, the Spicy Julio. I took a seat outside and when my sandwich was ready, just ate it on the spot.

This sandwich has changed over the last two times I've had it. It much more mayo heavy, there less roast beef in it....food costs I guess, the avocado is a really mashed, and the sandwich is a bit of a mess. It's also not as spicy as before.

I really enjoyed it as used to be. Kind of sad actually.

Perhaps I need to change my habits and try something else next time.

Sandwich Emporium
3054 1/2 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

Road Trip - Bell's (Los Alamos) Revisited

When you stay at the Sideways Inn you can get a "knock & drop" breakfast in the morning. A simple breakfast that you mark off on a form the night before and find on your doorknob the next morning. All I really needed was bagel and OJ to get my day started.

We relaxed, went for a stroll, then checked out.

We enjoyed our stay here.

Sideways Inn
114 E Hwy 246
Buellton, CA 93427

One of the reasons we spent the evening in Buellton was to have lunch in Los Alamos the next day at Bell's. While we had enjoyed dinner at Bell's on a previous visit, it was the more "classic" French lunch that we loved. Thus, I had made reservations for lunch.

We got into Los Alamos a bit early, so we headed to the Los Alamos Gallery to browse and shop.

  We ended up getting a couple of gifts for folks. Downtown Los Alamos is basically a four block stretch, so we left our car parked on the street and walked on over to Bell's a block away.

The restaurant, which I believe used to be a bank had just opened for lunch service and we were the first through the door.

Just as on previous visits, the service was relaxed, yet professional, hitting a nice balance.

We started with the Chicken Liver Mousse.

Smooth, almost creamy, the pate had a pleasurable, rich funkiness, nice sweet-savory tones. The deep flavor went well with the strawberry jam, aiding in cutting the richness and the cornichon cleansing the palate.

The Missus loved the escargot during our previous visit, so we made sure to order it again.

And just as before, the Missus enjoyed the plump, "wild" Burgundy snails, surprisingly tender, full of garlicky goodness. Sadly, the baguette was also the same as before, much too chewy. Still, those snails.....

The Crepe du Jour looked interesting.

The tomatoes was an sweet-acidic-fruity flavor explosion! The crepe wasn't too sweet and the taste of cheddar came thru nicely without being overwhelming.

Of course I had to get the Beef Tartare.

This is still one of my favorite versions; tender beef, perfectly cut, nice balanced amount of capers, creamy egg yolk, nice touch of pungent tones! There was a generous amount of lightly dressed greens provided. Though again, that baguette. But, the tartare was so good, it was easy to overlook the bread.

We really enjoy lunch at Bell's and can't wait to return!

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440
Current Hours:
Thurs - Mon 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 830pm
Closed on Tuesday - Wednesday

Road Trip - Industrial Eats, Sideways Lounge, and Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden (Buellton)

We still had some time to kill after having lunch at Bar le Cote. We decided a nice walk would be in order. Since we'd be staying in Buellton, I looked for a place to take a nice stroll and came across the Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden. So, after doing some additional shopping in Los Olivos we headed on over.

We parked at River View Park which is attached to the garden.

As we walked past one of the buildings, we saw some signs which gave us a bit of a pause.

Hmmmm.....Mountain Lions AND Rattlesnakes? Okay......

Still, it was such a nice spot, we sauntered onward.

There were some nice little trails; signage for various plants, and some really charming art.

It was a nice place to spend an hour or two.

Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden
151 Sycamore Dr.
Buellton, CA 93427

We then headed to our hotel right down the road to check in. We were staying at a hotel that was known from a certain movie. At that time it was a Days Inn, but it has been rebranded and has taken on the name of that movie. It is now the Sideways Inn. If you'd like to see more locations from the movie, this is a good resource.

We took a short rest after checking in. Then headed out to our dinner destination. One of the reasons we decided to stay in Buellton was to check out Industrial Eats. Our good friend Candice, knowing how much we loved the now closed Tiger! Tiger!, mentioned that we should try Industrial Eats. She told me that while it's not T!T! it did give off the same type of vibe. By staying at our hotel, we were just a short walk down Highway 246 from the restaurant.

Industrial Eats is located in what seems to have been a warehouse or auto repair shop in a previous life. The wide open and airy space is quite welcoming.

Industrial Eats does it's own charcuterie and from what I understand works with local purveyors to create a farm to table experience. Much like how things went at Tiger! Tiger! you order at the counter. Things are written out on Butcher Paper, there's Pizza, Not Pizza, and Sandwiches.

And also specials on clipboards in front of the counter.

We ordered, got our number thingy, and had a seat. Soon enough, dishes started arriving. Based on the prices, we were a bit surprised as the dishes were larger than we expected.

First to arrive was the Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato, and Mozzarella ($16).

This was so refreshing. The mild sweet-bitterness of the watermelon, with the sour-sweet-acidity of the tomatoes really balanced things out. The basil added the anise tones, the balsamic a touch of fruity-sourness, and the Mozzarella, which was creamy-milky-sour! This was so good.

Next up was the Smoked Duck with Citrus ($16).

The toothsome duck had a mild smokiness, with a touch of an almost offal like flavor. The greens were crisp and fresh, the citrus added a nice acidity.

The White Shrimp and Garlic ($16) was quite good.

While the shrimp was a tad overcooked, it was still nice and sweet. The slices of garlic added some pungency, the broth was richer than it looked.

We really enjoyed the Spinach, Bacon, Blue Cheese ($14) which came crowned with a tasty sunny side up egg.

Loved the earthy, but not overly funky blue cheese and that delicious egg; the yolk was so tasty. The vinaigrette was perfect with the spinach and the cheese, and the bacon added a bit of salty-savory bites.

As you can tell, we really enjoyed this meal. It was quite a bit of food for two, but this was such a satisfying meal. It was the ingredients that were highlighted and we really did get Tiger! Tiger! vibes eating here.

Thanks for the recommendation Candice! We can't wait to return!

Industrial Eats
181 Industrial Way
Buellton, CA 93427

It was getting dark as we walked back to the Sideways Inn. As the Missus and I headed to our room, we glanced over to the Hotel's Bar.

There's also a food truck, but we'd already eaten. The bar looked interesting so we decided to get a nightcap.

The bar area had what looked like locals watching sports. I got a lager, which was fine.

Service was friendly, the beer nicely chilled, it was a nice end to a fun day.

Sideways Lounge
114 East Hwy 246 #9724
Buellton, CA 93427
 

Tim Ky Noodle Revisited

Recently, I was craving some Beef Sate with Egg Noodles "dry" (Mì Bò Sa Te Kho) and since I was in the office, I decided to head on over to Tim Ky, which used to be a fairly regular stop for me back in the day. Strangely, while I had done takeout from Tim Ky during Covid, I hadn't actually eaten in the place since back in 2019! A revisit was long overdue!

And since all these noodle shops open fairly early, I could roll on in for a 10am "lunch".

There's some construction going on in the parking lot and the shops look like they've got some new signage. There's now a menu outside the restaurant, I'm guessing to help folks do takeout, but the interior looks basically the same.

Another thing that's not the same (of course) are the prices. The Beef Sate Egg Noodle is now $15.69. I remember when it was less than seven bucks.

My dish arrived very quickly.

  And I proceeded with my "standard process" of mixing the dish to my satisfaction. I quickly noticed that there wasn't any "sauce" at the bottom of the bowl, it was merely a touch of sate sauce squirted over the egg noodles. This was not nearly enough to coat all the noodles and would not provide enough of that savory-nutty-pungent flavors for the dish. I ended having to add a rather large amount of the broth on the side to the bowl creating more of a soup, which kind of defeats the purpose of things. Also, the broth was quite MSG heavy, but at least wasn't bland. It was good in a soup spoon with a slice of meat and onion in it. The noodles were also undercooked and hard as well.

The meat was adequately tender and nicely coated, but the overall dish really didn't have that shalloty-garlicky-savory-lemongrassy-mild spice I enjoy. 

Needless to say, I was disappointed. Sigh.....

Which led me to wonder if this was the norm? So, I decided to head on back over and try one of the more "basic" items from the menu. When I arrived, the old timers were going full blast in the parking lot.

At the restaurant I had a bit of a dilemma; what to get won ton noodle soup or the dumpling noodle soup. Well, luckily all of these "Mi" places have combo, the Won Ton & Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($14.79). Which is what I got.

 The was a definite difference in the soup, it was way lighter and thinner than what I'd had here in the past, really lacking in savory tones; more like white pepper-salt water. There were 2 won ton and 3 dumplings....yes, I counted. The wrappers were very soft and tender; really enrobing the fillings. In fact, doesn't the won ton look like brain matter?

   The fillings, while being more chewy than I recalled, as nicely flavored, porky, hints of seafood, sesame oil, and so forth.  The char siu was hard and very tough and weak in the sweet-porkiness I enjoy.

The noodles this time around had just the right amount of crunchy-al dente pull for me.

This wasn't bad, but that soup was on the weak side. Hmmmm.....is this how things are these days?

Perhaps it was time for me to "make the rounds" and find out?

Tim Ky Noodle
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Daily 9am - 8pm

Baikohken Ramen

Has San Diego hit the saturation point for ramen yet? Well, perhaps not as it seems that Baikohken Ramen created a bit of a buzz upon opening in the former Menya Ultra spot in Hillcrest. Part of it was because the restaurant, which hails from Asahikawa, (which BTW has the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Japan, think minus 40) was mentioned in the Michelin Guide to Hokkaido in 2017. What was interesting was that Ramen Adventures wasn't too impressed with the Asahikawa location, calling it yet another chain. And yet, when I think of my favorite ramen shops in San Diego, be it HiroNori, Nagi, Menya, and of course Santouka (I need to make another visit to Ban Nai) are "chains" with multiple locations. Speaking of Santouka, the chain had it's start in Asahikawa, in fact, if you've read our little blog long enough, you'd know we went to Asahikawa just to visit the original location of Santouka! So, when thinking in terms of Asahikawa style ramen, be it ever so humble, I'd be doing a comparison to Santouka.

I'm not a big fan of trying to find parking in the little strip mall where Baikohken is located. Which they share with a couple of fairly busy businesses like Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. And this was before Baikohken started up weekday lunch service, so I thought myself lucky to get parking in the lot right at 5 pm.

The shop is rather tiny, so I can imagine how difficult getting a table during peak hours might be. I'd never been to this location of Menya, so am not sure how that would compare.

During my two visits, it was the same two folks working the front of house; both the older Japanese woman and the always hustling young lady were wonderful. Attentive, efficient, friendly.

Since I had my sights on doing a comparison with Santouka, I figured it had to be a shio ramen to start. I just decided to suck it up and go with the Shio Chashu Ramen......which is $22.95! Yikes. And to add to matters, I also ordered the 3 piece Karaage $6.95. Man, nearly thirty bucks for ramen and karaage without tax and tip! Is this the world we live in now?

First to arrive was the Karaage.

   The pieces of karaage were large, the batter slightly crunchy, the chicken was on the tougher chewier side. It was also fairly bland in terms of seasoning. Not my favorite version of this.

And then my ramen arrived.

    The broth was interesting, a lot lighter than I would expect for Hokkaido style ramen. It did have a good amount of saltiness and based on what I'd read, there's supposed to be a savory-seafood based component to it, like how Santouka is in Japan. I was looking forward to that, but I really couldn't make that out. As a whole, the broth lacked complexity.

The chashu looks like it was made from butt or loin, it had been marinated and seasoned well, but it was quite tough and chewy.

The menma (bamboo shoots) were nicely marinated. The cut was quite thick, which might give some folks problems, but was super crunchy.

The tamago looked great and was marinated well. Though, well, you know my pet peeve, right? The eggs were ice cold.

   The noodles were nice and springy, of the slightly thicker variety, much like what we'd had at Noodle Zero, though it was a bit under cooked and chewy for my taste.

Overall, a kind of mixed bag. Some of this could be attributed to having recently opened. But when you create a certain amount of hype, I would think that expectations would be rather high and I was just looking for a good bowl of ramen.

Well, based on this visit you know that I was going to wait a couple of weeks before visiting again, right? Anyway, I drove on up and this time, even though it was before five on a weeknight, I had to find street parking a couple of blocks away. Still, the place was just opening when I walked on over and I easily got a table.

The same two wonderful women were working the front of house.

This time, I wasn't going to be going for a $23 ramen. I decided to try the shoyu ramen.

Of course, I couldn't let things well enough alone, I wanted to see if the cold egg was the norm so I added that ($1.95) and also some Moyashi (bean sprouts - $1.95). Which brought my bowl to almost $19.

    Man, check out that chashu. It looked different from the version I'd had on my previous visit. It was still the same overly lean cut, but was also super salty. In fact, I wasn't able to finish it!

The tamago was even better in flavor this time around, but was still ice cold.

And salty is indeed the key word here; as the broth was also a sodium bomb. I couldn't really get past the saltiness. The texture is still on the thin side for this version as well.

Wanna see how much bean sprouts you get for two bucks here? At least it soaked up some of the broth and helped to cut the saltiness.

The one bright spot were the perfectly textured, springy noodles, that did a great job picking up the broth. Now it would have been great if it wasn't so salty....and I like salty foods!

Well, I decided that two initial visits would do it for now. I'll wait a while to revisit, hopefully things will improve.

Baikohken Ramen
690 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 12pm - 230pm, 5pm - 930pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Also, is it just me, or does it seem like Hillcrest is ramen central now? Isn't there like 5 ramen shops within a mile? I know UTC has 3 and near Convoy things are more spread out. What do you think?