mmm-yoso!!!

Revisits - Mien Trung and Cafe Dore

A couple of early weekend meals since returning from vacation.

Mien Trung:

MT was actually my first meal after returning from our trip. Our flight arrived quite late; the Missus had to work the next morning, the weather had cooled and I was craving some Bun Bo Hue from Mien Trung.

The fellow....we've been coming here so long, I remembered when I used to refer to him as the "young man", made me feel quite guilt when he said: "it's nice to see you....you only come by once a year these days...."

Anyway, I got the #1; the regular sized bowl.

Scalding, spicy broth, bright lemongrass flavors, a slight funkiness from the shrimp paste; slippery noodles with a nice "pull" to them. I do wish they'd start adding banana blossom back to the veggies; though it was fresh and plentiful. The thinker sliced meat was flavorful and toothsome; I did wish the pork hock had a bit more meat and connective tissue and perhaps the tendon was a bit more tender. But this did hit the spot.

As usual, I wore dark clothing to hide the red dots on my clothes from slurping those noodles. And without fail; I always think about our good friend; Ed from Yuma, who would without fail always wear some light colored shirt when we ate here. He's always leave, smiling, happy, and with a nice little scattering of random red dots from the broth on his shirt. We miss you Ed!

This was a nice bowl on a chilly, damp day.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Café Dore:

Ah yes, one place that's still "old school"; Cafe Dore. Man, remember those days when they had the "video game" machines in the back? Except there were older Vietnamese Gentleman "playing" on those "video machines".....hmmm.... Well, those days are long gone. I recall when the older men used to smoke in the place. On one visit, somebody came to "inspect" and pointed at the "No Smoking" signs posted.....and the guys all looked confused and acted like they didn't understand....and since the signs were posted in English....well, maybe that hasn't changed as two guys were smoking in the place when I arrived. Though I did notice when folks start coming in; the smokers will head outside.

And neither has the about 12:1 ratio of men to women customers in the place. Most women just come in to do take-out orders.....though perhaps this is because I usually visit rather early in the morning? Perhaps most of the old-timers finish up and leave by lunch?

One thing that hasn't changed is the 7am opening and with the Missus having to work early on a weekend morning and waking me up.....well, I was hungry and wanted some noodle soup. Also, my Dry Cleaning Lady, had mentioned that Café Dore had started serving Mi Quang, so I wanted to check it out.

I arrived, sat at a table and was given a menu....right on the top was "Mi Quang Dore".....I guess their version of Mi Quang.

The broth wasn't bad; it had a nice tongue feel, though it was on the "sweeter" side. I made good use of the nuoc mam to bump up the flavor.

I really enjoyed the veggies....finally, some banana blossom! It was fresh through and through. Though the cracker was on the stale side.

Unfortunately, the noodles were on the overcooked side and there were quite a few smaller pieces of noodle floating around.

The selection of "proteins" was interesting; there was a good amount of chewy pork intestine, which was kind of bland....quail eggs; obviously canned. I didn't have high hopes for the two large shrimp; but it was cooked perfectly, very moist, and slightly sweet.

I quickly noticed that no one else was eating in the place and all eyes were focused on something.

That something was the Lottery Drawing on the screen.

As soon as that was over; half the guys in the place either left or went outside to have a smoke.

I finished up my tea, went to the register and paid for my Mi Quang.

While it wasn't bad; I don't think I'll be having this again. I'll probably go back to my old ways.

For me; Café Dore is an interesting slice of life, something totally different from hipster-rich San Diego. It just seems real and totally reminds me of Vietnam, be it ever so humble. Though without those little plastic "kiddie chairs"!

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Pho La Jolla Revisited

My 3 hours of meetings ran a bit late, I was starving, and wanted something to eat before heading back to the office. It was then that I recalled that Pho La Jolla was close by....and I hadn't been there in nearly a decade. Some pho sounded good, so I decided to grab some lunch.

The place was empty when I arrived; though folks quickly came thru to pick-up take-out orders. The Hispanic guy working the front of house was really nice to the "regulars".....but quite, ahem, perfunctory to me. I was somewhat relieved to know it wasn't personal as he was the same to anyone who came in to eat that he didn't "know".

What I wanted to order was quite simple; well-done steak, flank, tendon, and tripe....except there was a problem; they don't serve tendon and tripe anymore. It's been replaced by meatballs. Ok, how about the bo kho….nope, that's off the menu now as well.

So, I finally settled for the Bun Bo Hue....that would be the "Vietnamese Spicy Beef Soup" on the menu; not the rather strange sounding (in a Vietnamese Restaurant) "Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup" (well, maybe not since there weren't any Vietnamese working on this day as my order was called back in Spanish to the kitchen).

The sprouts and company was pretty much what I expected; sparse, but fresh. The BBH arrived in a rather large bowl; I took a sip and holy ms-heebie-geebies Batman! Man, it was super salty; I ended up using the two slices of lime trying to temper the saltiness. I had expected doctored up pho (obviously no pork tones) broth, but this was kinda funny....basically slightly metallic tasting pho broth with chili paste and voila, Bun Bo Hue! No deep savory flavors from shrimp paste; no lemongrass tones....lots of onions though. I guess they tried to balance the scales by using a ton of cilantro and scallions.

The beef and there was plenty of brisket and well done steak in this was decent; quite beefy, no off flavors. The cha lua of the "ga" (chicken) variety was passable, except for being cold. Of course there was no pork hock. But man, that bun was over-cooked and really mushy.

I've had some mediocre bowls of Bun Bo Hue over the years; but this might have been the worse. And with a $11.75 price tag and unfriendly service. Add no tripe, tendon, bo kho, and who knows what else? I don't think I have any reason to return.

Pho La Jolla
3211 Holiday Court #102
La Jolla, CA 92037

Mi Quang Mien Trung

I'm sure folks who read our humble little blog knew that I just had to check out Mi Quang Mien Trung when they finally opened in the old Da Nang Food To Go location. I was even more fascinated when the folks at Mien Trung told me they were not affiliated. So, two weekends ago, I drove on up to City Heights fairly early in the morning to find the place open.

I found some parking close by and walked in. Well, the place was half full! All old-timers...I guess I'm one "of them" these days, huh?

The menu is fairly tight, a good 20 items, Canh Bun, Bun Bo Hue, Banh Beo, Com Am Phu ("Hell Rice"), and of course the namesake Mi Quang ($8.50). Which is, of course what I ordered.

But first....some fairly decent tea....

I have to say, they've got the presentation done pat....this looked wonderful.

You have to love the vibrant colors and the symphony of textures; the peanuts, the crisp and sparkling veggies, the perfectly cooked, legit tumeric colored noodles. The shrimp, head and tail removed, but with the shell left on (yes!), was fresh, flavorful, and moist. I took a sip of the broth; in typical style, this had less than a cup of broth.....and how does that sound go? "moah-moah-moah......." It was so watery and tasteless; no porkiness or flavor of dried shrimp, or shallot. And that radioactive looking pork was dry and tasteless.

Man, it had started so well, and looked so vibrant. But in the end it was a bit of a let down. I'm not one who is just happy to "have something available". I'm hoping for better next time I have this here....

While eating, I noticed all the old-timers were eating the same thing. So the following weekend I headed back up to have the......

Bun Bo Hue ($8.50).

I was again taken by how lovely the bowl of soup and especially the bright and crisp veggies looked.

The noodles were cooked just perfectly and his was such a hearty and hot bowl of soup.

The broth had a nice mild porkiness, with a hint of onion/shallot, a touch of funkiness, however......

Yes...however....it lacked spiciness and that nice aromatic lemongrass flavor. Not enough annatto oil to give it that Bun Bo Hue "look" as well. It wasn't bad, but it didn't strike me as really being bun bo hue. The fermented shrimp and chili paste did help.

The pork hock was one pretty large slice of chewy-gelatinous goodness. The slices of beef and especially tendon were really rustic and thick......even chewier than Mien Trung's version. I really kind of enjoyed it in this framework.

To be perfectly honest, I might like this version more than what Hoai Hue offers, which I think is a bit on the overly sweet and lacks spice.

The gentleman working here is very mellow. I don't think the food is bad at all and will try out some other items in the future. It's nice to have places like this and Phuong Nga 2 opening up. It just makes "noodling around" that much more fun. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Mi Quang Mien Trung
4745 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
Hours:
Wed - Mon 8am - 8pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Returning to Mien Trung

The recent weather has been downright wintery; by San Diego standards. I even had frost on my windshield one morning....for the briefest moment. I'd been wanting to see if the soon to open Mi Quang shop was affiliated with Mien Trung. And since it had been a while since my last visit, the timing seemed right. Things were pretty quiet on this Sunday morning.

I'm wondering if it's just me or has the broth at Mien Trung gotten spicier over the last couple of years. There also seems to be quite a bit more meat these days. Nice spice, slight funkiness, definite lemongrass, and did I mention the spice? Soup was scalding; perfect for getting the sprouts and veggies to the right temp without compromising the broth. Nice slippery noodles and too heavy on the MSG.

One good hint for eating at MT, is to wear dark clothes......because of the red tinge from the annatto in the broth. My good buddy, the late Ed from Yuma would never fail to wear a white shirt when we ate here. He'd end up leaving, sweating and satisfied, but with a pattern of small red dots on his shirt.

There was a time when Mien Trung was a weekly ritual, but a very warm spring and summer had kind of put the place on the back-burner. There was also a rather "rough patch" of time where things weren't up to our expectations, MT has mostly returned to form.

And I really appreciated the place on this chilly Sunday.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Ginger Pho & Grill

A few months ago I received an email from "SomTommy". He asked me if I cold check out a place on Plaza in National City that supposedly made a good Bun Bo Hue. I really hadn't heard of a place in National City making at good BBH; but heck, I did get a fairly passable bowl of pho in the area recently so why not? Turns out the place is actually in the very busy mall that houses Seafood City on Plaza.

I did notice that there's been a bit of turnover in the mall since my last visit. Manila Resto is gone, there's a new, what looks like the ubiquitous Crawfish place, and a few places I don't recall seeing before. Though the veteran restaurants like Golden Chopsticks, Bread Deluxe, and Goldilocks is still doing good business. As was Porky's Lechon.

As for Ginger Pho & Grill, well, there were a couple of tables occupied; all getting pho, but I went with the Bun Bo Hue. This actually took a while to get to me; which had me a bit concerned as I saw everything else just rolling out of the kitchen in minutes.

Eventually, it did arrive. First thing I noticed was the strong orange color of the broth; orange, not red, and how cloudy it was.

The plate of herbs and veggies were very fresh; though mostly lettuce and purple cabbage with a sprig of mint thrown in.

The broth was quite spicy, an in your face blast of chili heat. There was a mild richness-fattiness to the soup. The rest of the broth seemed so plain in comparison; very little lemon grass flavor, no beef or pork notes, no sour or savory (shrimp paste) tones; it was basically just spicy.

The meat was well prepared; the rustic cuts were think enough, but not hard, there were two pork hocks in soup; one was wrapped in a nice, toothsome piece of skin; the other tasted slightly off, so I passed on that. The two pieces of tendon was well prepared and pretty tender.

The bun was cooked well, slippery, with a decent stretchiness to them. 

If the broth had a bit more than spiciness going for it; this might have been a pretty good bowl.

Recently, I had to drop by Seafood City, so I decided to try the pho at Ginger.

I went with good 'ol #4; the well done steak, brisket, flank, tendon and tripe. I went with the small size priced at $6.99.

This was an interesting bowl. First off, the broth was really mild and severely defatted. It was also barely over lukewarm. The basil had brown spots, but there was a generous portion of bean sprouts. To illustrate how warm the broth was; I placed half of the bean sprouts in the broth and they never softened.

I like my noodles "al dente", but this was too hard for my liking. I'm thinking the broth wasn't hot enough to finish cooking the noodles and what I got was on the too hard and chewy side.

The best part of this pho was the proteins; other than the tripe which was MIA. All the meats were fairly tender, especially the brisket and tendon.

There was a generous amount of noodles and meat in this $6.99 bowl of pho. I think this illustrates what the folks at Ginger believes folks are looking for here; large portion sizes and more meat.

Service was typical; perfunctory without being rude; efficiency rules. The restaurant is nice and clean, prices are reasonable. For me; there is better pho...and Bun Bo Hue out there.

Ginger Pho & Grill
1420 East Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950
Hours:
Open 9am - 9pm Daily

SGV: Sea Harbour Dim Sum; Norton Simon Art; Nha Trang Soups

Kirk and Cathy both work too hard, so today they're letting Ed (from Yuma) post here.

I recently wrote about seafood dinners Tina and I had on our first and last evenings in the San Gabriel Valley. This post is about the day in between.

That Saturday began just after 10 AM at Sea Harbour where we were seated immediately and asked what kind of tea we wanted. We hadn't thought about that so we went along with Jasmine which showed up quickly on our table:

It was pleasant, but our minds were on dim sum. We ordered items we had not had before, so no pork ribs, chicken feet, or shu mai. Instead, look at this pork and shrimp dumpling with truffle sauce:

Truffle flavors dominated. The shrimp and pork provided more texture than flavor - and that was fine with us.

The ox tendon and tripe in brown sauce was full of tender chewy tripe and tendon seasoned with five spice:

A lot of tendon and tripe. We both enjoyed our first few pieces, but this was one of those dishes where we could have used more pairs of chopsticks at the table. Too much of a good thing.

Tina had suggested baked mixed mushroom custard tart:

This was very tasty, full of mushroom flavors. The textures were perfect. The pastry was light and flaky, and the filling had little bits of crunch amid easy chewing slices of button mushrooms:

We also ordered the shrimp, dried scallop, and Chinese celery dumpling:

Kirk really enjoyed this dumpling on one of his visits to Sea Harbour, so we wanted to try it. He's right, the wrapper is faultless and the filling flavors spot on, the celery balancing the seafood:

On the other hand, I was surprised that Kirk never mentioned the steamed preserved salted egg yolk bun, which arrived looking pretty ordinary:

But inside was sweet gooey egg yolk:

The overall effect was like a warm rich sweet egg custard. The only problem I had was egg yolk squirting out of the bun when I bit into it. That could make for messy eating.

We thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Sea Harbour lived up to its reputation, and the price seemed reasonable:

Sea Harbour Restaurant, 3939 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770, (626) 288-3939

 

After dim sum, we headed up to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (website). As you'd expect, it has a modern and attractive entrance:

Our friend Penny recommended it, and we are very glad she did (thanks Penny). Though we did detour to find Adam and Eve by Cranach, we concentrated on modern art. There were five van Goghs on display including masterpieces like this portrait:

And even more Picassos:

We also enjoyed a special exhibit of works collected by Galka Scheyer, the art impresario who introduced modern art and artists (including Kandinsky and Klee) to California. While the Norton Simon is not on the scale of LACMA or the Getty, it is an impressive collection.

Norton Simon Museum, 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91105, (626) 449-6840

 

We wanted something simple and low-key for dinner. Vietnamese noodle soup sounded just about right, and Nha Trang - which specializes in bun bo hue and bun rieu - had a location about a mile from our hotel. It all seemed easy, we had no trouble finding a parking place, and then we realized it was closed (who knows why). So Tina's smart phone located another Nha Trang in Alhambra, not too far away:

Again we were eating early and were the first customers of the evening:

The small menu was printed on the placemats:

In addition to soups, we ordered eggrolls that were quite good, savory and crispy fried:

Originally there were more. They were served with lettuce and fresh herbs:

I only wish they had arrived before our soups, though we did manage somehow to eat all of them.

The soups came with a generous plate of shredded lettuce and red cabbage, lime wedges, bean sprouts, and abundant fresh herbs:

Really fresh herbs, bunches.

I got bun rieu:

It was decent with nice seafood pork tomato  broth. Compared with the version at Mien Trung, however, it fell a little short. The broth wasn't quite as stellar, and the tofu wedges were dense and chewy. The crab/pork meatballs were fine and flavorful, but I missed the light chunks of crab cake (?) at Mien Trung.

On the other hand, the thin noodles were well prepared and those abundant herbs really stood out when added to the soup. Took it to another level.

Tina had the bun bo hue:

Excellent. Lots of beef, tender and flavorful. The pork was represented by chunks of pig foot, which Tina enjoyed gnawing. The thick noodles, not all clumped together, were nearly al dente with a firm bite. The spicy heat got our attention, but was not overwhelming. While the broth was not especially beefy, it had a preternaturally dark brown color. All in all, a very good bowl.

We were looking for a low-key dinner with good Vietnamese noodle soups. And we found it.

Nha Trang, 417 W. Main St., Alhambra, CA 91801 (626) 588-2833.

Getting Back to the Routine - Revisits to Thai Papaya and Mien Trung

For some reason, we're taking a bit longer getting back to our usual routine after our last trip to Japan. Call it what you may...we might be getting a bit older....work has been much busier for the both of us....or whatever. Still, we're starting to settle in, which means visiting those familiar places. I'm not sure you got this out of my last set of revisit posts, but one thing I do miss when visiting Japan is food with a nice amount of spice. So naturally, I do a bit of catching up when we get back. Here are two recent revisits.

Thai Papaya:

It's been a while since we've been here. For some reason, winter just doesn't seem to be the right time for spicy Issan inspired Thai food. But this past weekend, with temps inching into the 80's...well, it was time.

Things have changed a bit since our last visit. The menu has been expanded and a lot of our Sab E Lee favorites are now on the current Thai Papaya menu.

We started with the Bamboo Shoot Salad; we're getting a bit wimpy in our old age and now went with a heat level 7, which was enough for us.

And some sticky rice. Nice earthy springtime tones from the bamboo shoots...almost meaty in texture. Good spice, a nice start to the meal.

We also got the Missus's favorite; the Papaya Salad with salted egg.....

In spite of being a bit short with the green beans; this was excellent. The salted egg adds a nice interesting pungent-savory layer of flavor to the salad. Loved the refreshing crunch of the shredded papaya, with hints of sweet-acidic tomatoes. On this day, that sauce was right on......I ended up dipping my sticky rice in it to get every drop. And for some reason, the pungent-sour flavors make the cabbage taste even sweeter.

As is the case with the Issan Sausage.

And while there might be better versions of Thai/Lao style sausage in San Diego these days....this is still a staple during our meals at Thai Papaya. It has that balance of sour-herbaciousness, that combines so well with the ginger and/or peanuts with a little ball of sticky rice; letting a bite of cucumber cleanse your palate between bites.

This was just the perfect meal on a nice spring day.

Thai Papaya by Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111 

Mien Trung:

We chose Mien Trung of all places on Easter morning for breakfast. And so did a bunch of other folks as the place was packed. The Missus had the Bun Rieu and I went with my usual Bun Bo Hue. We ate sitting elbow to elbow with other folks in communal style.

Man, this was a lot spicier than I recalled. Still; with all the veggies and herbs, slippery noodles, and deeply flavored broth......I worked up a nice sweat and got that capsaicin high....my head feeling nice and clear.

For more on this place; just enter Mien Trung in the search box......I think we've got over a dozen posts on the place.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Noodling Around - Revisits to Green China Grill and Pho Kitchen

All this rainy weather meant.....well lots of noodle soup. Here's a short round-up of revisits.

Green China Grill:

Heavy drops were coming down and I was dodging pot holes on Convoy. I just decided to give up and turned into ever evolving Plaza del Sol (BTW Tasty Pot is now open). It had been over a year since my last visit to Green China Grill, so I decided to drop in. Looking at the dining area; this place should be called  blinding green China grill. I was the first to arrive but withi minutes, the dining area started filling up. That woman sitting with a group seems really familiar too.

They now have a rather large menu with grilled items; various noodles, liang cai (cold dishes), and even yang rou pao mo? Go figure.... I went with the Beef Noodle Soup with Sour Cabbage ($9.99).

Man, that broth was blasting hot, which was good thing on a cold and rainy day. It was also deceivingly spicy and was quiet numbing (ma) as well. The amount of MSG has been toned down a bit since my previous visits; though I think it could still use a bit more beefiness. The preserved vegetable was your basic standard issue xue cai; like what you get at T&L. The noodles were nice a slippery; but is still missing that little bit of pull I enjoy in good "Lamian" (牛大碗). It has gotten better though.

The soup warmed me up and the spice had gotten the endorphin thing going and a nice sheen on my forehead. From that point of view, the noodle soup did its job. I need return more often.

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Wed - Mon 1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm

Pho Kitchen:

Last week it was raining cats and dogs....and I almost stepped into poodle! Ok, not funny....though that one is so bad the guys at work cracked up. I really didn't want to head out too far, so I decided to check into Pho Kitchen to see how they were doing.

The kids who work here are really nice. Looking over the menu I noticed they had Bun Bo Hue....hmmm....what the heck; it was pouring outside. I went with the "regular" ($8) bowl of Bun Bo Hue.

Pho shop BBH is a crapshoot and I let out a sigh when the typical pho sprouts and basil arrived.....

And just as quickly, they were removed from the table and replaced with this....ooh psych!

Purple cabbage? Not quite legit, but better than what it replaced.

  So what to say? There was lots of shredded lemongrass, though not too much of that flavor in the broth. You could make out the slight, funky taste of mam nem, which added a bit of savories to things. The spice was pretty basic, all front of mouth heat. At least it was steaming hot. The noodles were done adequately, though for once there didn't seem to be enough of it in this bowl. The meat was quite good. The thick cut beef shank had excellent flavor and there was a good amount of it, the tendon was decent as well. Nice thing about the pork hock; they'd removed the bones for easy eating. Though sometimes sucking on that bone is one of the best things about a bowl of BBH.

While not terrible, in terms of spicy, sour, salty, savory, and sweet flavors this was kind of lacking. I'll stick with the Pho next time.

Pho Kitchen
5375 Napa St
San Diego, CA 92110
Open Daily 11am - 9pm

Soup Weather - Revisits to Mien Trung and Pho Hiep and Grill (Linda Vista)

If there was one thing I missed during our last trip abroad, it would be noodle soup. That's the first thing I wanted when we got back. After a pretty warm start to November, we finally got some cooler weather, then even some rain.

Mien Trung:

So, having to work that weekend morning; I dropped by Mien Trung on the way to the office.

Admittedly, some of my last few visits to Mien Trung have been less than stellar. However, hope springs eternal, right? The place had been so good for so long. Plus, there's really not much open at 8am on a Sunday morning.

The place was empty and would stay that way for my entire visit. Except for three sets of customers coming in, to get pots of Bun Bo Hue for catering. I hadn't seen the young man at the counter in ages; it was nice seeing a familiar smiling face.

Then he told me that "Mom and Dad are on vacation"....uh-oh. In the past this was a bad sign. I be certain that the quality and the flavors of the food would be sub-standard.

I'm happy to say that this was not true.

The broth wasn't overloaded with MSG and the distinct lemongrass flavor came through. The spicy buzz of chilies on my tongue lasted through the entire meal. The broth was scalding hot, a must when it comes to these type of soups since, if you're like me, that entire pile of greens and sprouts will end up in the bowl. The noodles were firm and slippery, and the meat, which is usually rustically cut thick and rather tough seemed a bit more tender. Granted, it's not the same bowl I first had over a decade ago, but I think it's still the BBH in San Diego.

I left the place, having built up a nice sweat......not having spicy food in a while had kinda lowered my tolerance. But that nice little chili pepper buzz kept on going.

So perhaps I'm not worried about the day that "Mom" retires any more.

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Hiep and Grill - Linda Vista:

Along with all of these weather changes comes some side effects. In my case, my biennial raging sinus infection. After stopping off at the nearby drugstore to get meds I decided some hot soup might help clear things up a bit. And Pho Hiep and Grill was right around the corner. It had been almost a year since I last visited.

Anyway, I went with #4 - small sized.

The broth was a lot more clear than what I'd had on my previous visit. It also wasn't overloaded with MSG this time. It was however, pretty darn bland, lacking in beefy flavors, anise, or a even a slight sweetness. Perhaps my olfactory system was on the fritz, but I'm usually pretty good with regards to tastes even when I have a sinus infection. I added a bit of lime and I could clearly taste that.

The herbs and sprouts were turning brown, something I often see during the winter, but the portion size, something that has been quickly shrinking at most places was decent.

The brisket and tendon were quite good, though the fatty flank was very rubbery and there were but a few shreds of tripe.

The noodles fine and decently stretchy.

Kind of a mixed bag, but definitely not as good as I've had here before.

Pho Hiep & Grill
6947 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Duyen Mai

A couple of weeks back, I noticed that a place named Pho Duyen Mai had replaced Pho Nhu Y up on Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

What really piqued my interest was when my good friend "YummyYummy" told me that this place had some relationship to Pho Ban Mai. I also noticed that the place opens at 9am, which was great. As I mentioned earlier, my schedule is now chocked full of meetings, often between 11 am and 1 pm. So having another early lunch option was great. One morning, having had meetings from 7am all the way to 930, I was starving. I usually get to work between 6 and 630 and hadn't eaten anything that morning. I had meeting scheduled out to the early afternoon, so I escaped for a quick meal at Duyen Mai.

They've done a nice job with the place....actually done a bit of renovation. The menu really did look like Ban Mai.

I was ravenous, but really didn't want any noodle soup....I had on a light colored shirt and really didn't want to embarrass myself with blots of soup stains on my shirt. I just don't wear them with as much style as Ed from Yuma does after a meal at Mien Trung!

I decided to try the Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce ($9).

These were nicely glazed, though not as crisp as I prefer. The sauce was adequate, slightly sweet, savory, with the distinct flavor of ginger. The actual meat was on the dry side. Adequate, but nothing special.

If there was one dish which almost never let me down at Pho Ban Mai, it was the Banh Xeo ($8.50).

This was pretty much like what I had on my last visit to Pho Ban Mai early last year. The batter was light, though without as much coconut flavor as I recall, and not too oily at all. It was pretty light in the filling department; especially with regards to pork. Still, it's all about proportion with this, so this was not bad. The nuoc mam cham tasted a little watered down; but the herbs and lettuce were sparkling fresh. I could only finish half and took the rest back to the office; where "R" just devoured it. Apparently, she's a fan of Banh Xeo.

The folks here are very nice and friendly. I had short chat with the woman who I believe is the owner. She informed me that the had sold Pho Ban Mai a while back and after a break decided to open another restaurant.

I returned that weekend. I was surprised to see the place doing decent business on a weekend morning. While the customers seemed split 50-50 on my previous week. This time all were Vietnamese.

I recalled that "JanFrederick" had mentioned the Bun Bo Hue in the comments on my original post on Pho Ban Mai. I'd really never had the chance to try it. So, I decided to finally order it ($8).

In terms of Pho Shop BBH, this was ok. Basically, doctored up pho broth. It had some sneaky spice and the noodles were firm and slippery, but it really lacked the deep lemongrass-funky flavor of a great bowl of BBH. Not a fan of the beef which crumbled into little pieces when I tried to pick it up with chopsticks.

The herbs and greens were on the sparse side, but very fresh. I might try this again one day, but not for a while.

Returning to work and more lunch time meetings, I returned to Duyen Mai. This time I wore appropriately dark clothes. It was also about time I try the Nem Nuong Cuon.

Yep, these were the same "Brodard light" rolls as I'd had at Ban Mai. On the good side, not too tightly wrapped, fresh, herbs, and scallion. On the other hand; I find the dipping sauce to be rather bland and am not fond of the texture of it and on this visit, the fried egg roll wrapper was on the burnt side and gave off a bitter flavor.

I also ordered the Pho Filet ($10)....but due to mental vapor lock, forgot to ask them to put the meat on the side.

So of course the beef was overdone by the time it got to my table. In spite of that; the beef was very tender and had no off flavors. The clump of noodles at the bottom of the bowl was decent, not overcooked. The broth was interesting; perhaps a bit too defatted and quite dark. The flavor was onion forward, almost no beefiness, light anise, but at least it didn't have too much MSG. In spite of the rather over-powering sweetness of the broth, I think I prefer Char House.

Like all previous meals; while light on the quantity, the sprouts and basil were very fresh. I probably should drop by and try their house pho one of these days.

One tip....right now, all the spring rolls are a buck a piece. I don't see it mentioned anywhere. Even though the typical order is 3; they'll ask you how many you want and just charge you $1 each!

Finally, this past weekend, one last weekend visit. Again, all the customers seemed to be VN.

I ordered the Goi Cuon Bi - the spring rolls with shredded pork and pork skin.

This was pretty good; it was wrapped a bit too tight, but the "bi" wasn't too dry and actually had rice powder on it. Loved the herbs; the mint really brought the flavor of this up. The nuoc mam cham on this visit was quite good and not watered down.

Not feeling like soup or anything heavy; I ordered the Goi Ngo Sen ($10.99); the Shrimp and Pork Lotus Stem Salad.

I haven't had this in ages. Apparently this version has jellyfish in it....I saw but a few thin strands. This was mostly julienned carrots and cucumbers, with a generous dose of bean sprouts. There were quite a bit of shrimp; which had been sliced in half lengthwise. Not much pork and a few lotus stem, which were buried away at the bottom of the salad. It was dressed a bit too light for me, so I dumped the remaining sauce from the Goi Cuon Bi on it which helped. At least I ate healthy, right? And those spring rolls were still just a buck a piece.....

I really like the folks here; they smile and are pretty friendly. If I bring folks here; I'd probably stick with the spring rolls and the banh xeo....I'm sure folks would enjoy them. The menu is rather vast; I recall enjoying a couple of other dishes at Ban Mai, so I'll probably try them here in the future. Hmmmm.....I need to return to Ban Mai as well......

You might as well check them out while they're still a dollar a piece. I have a feeling that when that Grand Opening sign comes down; the prices will go up!

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
Open Daily 9am - 9pm