Bopomofo Cafe - A Grand Opening Quick Look (the Food)

**** Well, much like my post on the recently opened Zhengxin Chicken Steak, this was kind of a spur of the moment stop.

The Missus and I were talking about our trip to Taiwan, we'd had such a great time. That's when I made mention of Bopomofo's Grand Opening in San Diego. We've passed Bopomofo so many times in the SGV, it's in the same strip mall as Golden Deli on Las Tunas Drive, where our favorite location of Tasty Noodle House used to reside and had always seem busy. So, of course, now the Missus was interested. I had heard of crazy lines and such, so I told Her we'd wait for a while before visiting, but She insisted on me checking things out.

So, I said I'd drive by when the place opened and if there was a line I'd bail. Well, guess what? It was right at 11 and there was no line!

Sigh.....

So, I decided to head on in and it turned out I was the fourth person in line! I wasn't going to be getting any tea or boba here; that's the Missus's thing. I looked over the food offerings.

Like the Eater's post mentioned, there's a good deal of fusiony items on the menu. And hailing from one of the hotbeds of "regional fusion", I've come to believe that "base/foundation" dishes are just as, or even more critical than the fusion stuffs. So, before trying out the Beef Noodle Soup Sandwich or the Mapo Tots, I thought I should try the Lu Rou Fan and the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken. But, on a interesting note; the guy behind me started chatting me up and he recommended the Hainan Chicken Tacos. So, I thought why not?

I placed my to-go order, paid, and waited. By the time I paid and walked to the stand up table to wait, the line was creeping to the door.

It did take 40 minutes for my to-go order, so I'm glad I went early. By the time I left, the line was out the door.

So, here's what I unpacked at home.

First up, the Hainan Chicken Tacos ($13.75). These were kinda tiny tacos for almost $14.

 The tacos were served on blue corn tortillas, that were very dry, tough, and really didn't add anything to the dish. Likewise the sweet chili sauce provided. 

I first tasted the chicken itself, which was not bad; though on the dry side; the "fowl-ly" ginger tones came thru nicely. But it was just lost when using the sauce and the cardboard like tortillas just made things blander.

As for the Lu Rou Fan ($14), you can tell this ain't Taiwan by the prices right? Well, I wasn't expecting Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice. And this wasn't close, but it wasn't terrible.

 

In terms of texture, the pork was on the tougher side, the rice was hard and dry, and they actually stretched things out with mushroom, which isn't a bad option. The mustard greens really woke you up since it was super bitter. The egg was warm, perfectly cooked, and seasoned. The flavor of the pork was quite anise-cinnamon forward and a bit on the saltier side of things.

Overall, not bad, but I'm not sure if this is worth $14.

And finally, the Popcorn Chicken ($12.50), I chose the "classic version" with dark meat (of course) chicken. I thought this was a decent portion for the price.

Sadly, the chicken had lost all it's crispness during the drive home. It was also on the dry side of the scale. Even after doing the air fryer "revive" step, it was still not as crisp as I like. Like the pork, this was a bit on the salty side of things; but I was happy to note that a decent, peppy pepperiness and the flavor of basil; not sure how that was since there was but a string of fried basil in the box, came thru nicely. I believe the the version from Soup du Jour (funny, I thought I did a post on the place, but I guess not?) is better both in texture and flavor.

The staff here were very nice. Wait times and such are rather long right now, but I'll attribute that to being newly opened. It seems, with places like Zhengxin and the soon to (hopefully) open Juewei, Convoy is in its next phase with these fast-casual places that are more targeted to the younger generation. I'm hoping that Convoy district will still cultivate mom-and-pop restaurants though.

As for Bopomofo; my next visit will have to wait, as I didn't think the food was enough to deal with the crowds. Unless of course, the Missus want to get Her tea/boba fix here.

Bopomofo Cafe
7951 Othello Ave. Suite 106
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 8pm
Sat - Sun 12pm - 8pm

Comments

[SageOlson]

I happened to be shopping at Target at noon today, so I decided to pop in since the line was to the door but not out the door. Waited a while and when I realized how long each transaction was taking and how long people who were seated had been waiting, I decided to bail. Combined with your experience with the food, sounds like I can wait on this one for a couple months.

On a completely unrelated note, I *finally* got to Sangucheria Peruvian yesterday and loved the choripan!

[Kirk]

Whoa Sage, you're fast! Yep, I'm going to wait a while before heading back.

[kat]

wondering why this place was named as such

[Soo]

The lines should get shorter pretty quick if they keep serving cardboard like tortillas and dry rice + chicken.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - Here's the meaning:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo

Hopefully it's just grand opening issues Soo!