Don Chicken (Encinitas) and Cal Pacific Orchid Farm

Recently, I was up in the Encinitas area and decided to make a couple of stops on my way back home. The First was to the Cal Pacific Orchid Farm which I had heard about from some folks I know who live in North County and also read this on Hidden San Diego. I decided to stop by. The huge greenhouse is located off of Orpheus Avenue which parallels the I-5. It was interesting finding the place as there's a discreet single lane driveway from the street which heads up to the greenhouse and the small parking spaces.

Many of the beautiful plants are in lovely arrangements and the staff are so friendly. The gentleman working that day was very nice and spent almost a half hour chatting with me. My grandparents on Maui grew orchids and my Mom had a couple of plants when we lived in Kaimuki. For some reason, I thought that orchids needed a rather humid environment to grow, but the gentleman went through some of the various species, how they thrive in San Diego, that they do like moisture, but not too much water and not too much direct sun....which is why we saw so many in the Cloud Forest in Ecuador.

The gentleman obviously enjoys his job and has a real passion for orchids.

One thing I found interesting is that Cal Pacific will "board" your plants if they are not doing well, not blooming, or in need of additional care!

The folks here are wonderful. I'm going to make sure to get my orchids from them!

Cal Pacific Orchid Farm
1122 Orpheus Ave.
Encinitas, CA 92024
Hours:
Mon - Sat 9am - 4pm
Closed on Sundays

Of course the next item on the agenda was......well, what's for lunch? A while back, someone, I don't recall who, asked me if I had been to Don Chicken. I looked thru my emails and searched through my comments but was not able to find that recommendation. Well, you know me, could I fight off the temptation of some "KFC"? Probably not. Especially when it's just a ten minute drive away.

Don Chicken is located off El Camino Real in one of the many strip malls lining the street. I arrived a few minutes before opening, so I headed over to Baker and Olive a few doors down to take a look at things.

The open sign lit up just as I started heading back toward the restaurant. Don Chicken is yet another chain from Korea, though my friends told me that the chain is really popular in Ho Chi Minh City? Which, for some reason made me think of Crispy Chicken n’ Tomato which declares itself the most popular KFC in Japan.

On this day, the place was a one man operation, at least while I was there. The menu features Oven Baked and Fried Chicken in various sauces. The specials include bulgogi, tteok-boki, a chicken sandwich, and even katsu. But, since this was a KFC joint, I was just going to get the Fried Wings. The wings only come in orders of 10, a bit much for me, but at least it was priced at $15.99, which was much cheaper per piece that the $8.99 I paid for 4 wings at BHC recently.

And after a short wait, my wings were ready.

 The wings came with a rather large order of Mul Kimchi, crisp, not overly sweet, a good palate cleanser for fry-o-lated foods.

As for the wings, well these weren't overly large, which I prefer as the skin/batter to meat ratio to more to my liking. The meat was moist and tender, no dark areas and no off flavors.

   The batter was somewhat crunchy, but it really got soggy quickly. The seasoning seemed quite mild, but I had a raging thirst after eating 6 of these wings. I took the remaining wings home and even tried to revive in the air fryer, but that didn't work too well. I'm thinking that if I tried this again it would have to be with some kind of sauce; but based on experience with other KFC chains of this ilk, I'm going to assume it's going to be too sweet and heck, it already gets soggy-mushy too quickly anyway.

So perhaps I'll just give it a rest? If you've visited Don Chicken what was your meal like?

Don Chicken
215 S. El Camino Real Suite G
Encinitas, CA 92024
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 11am - 9pm
Sunday 3pm - 9pm

Comments

[Sandy]

I'm in need of an orchid whisperer! I've passed Don Chicken a couple of times, but each time I had already eaten. I'll have to combine the two like you did the next time I'm in the area.

[Soo]

Orchids and fried chicken sound like a great way to spend an afternoon. I'll have to give them a try. I'll have lots of water ready.

[kat]

beautiful orchids

[Kirk]

Cal Pacific Orchid Farm was quite enjoyable Sandy!

Hope you enjoy it Soo!

They were stunning Kat!

[Loren]

I've eaten at Don Chicken once before and it seemed like a solid Korean fried chicken with a name that was very odd to me. It wasn't worth taking a long drive (for me) to get up there but if you're nearby should be a good option. The staff to me were the star of the show and were so wonderful.

[Kirk]

I think it's just a tad better than Crispy Chicken n Tomato Loren. I believe the name is a take on Don Quixote....on a never ending search for KFC?!?! ;o)