mmm-yoso!!!

Back to Golden City

Golden City is one of those places that Cathy, Ed from Yuma, and I, have posted on a number of times. I've been going to Golden City from my pre-blogging days when the place was on Convoy; to the reopening in October of 2005, thru changes in ownership and so on. It's always been a convenient place to grab a decent lunch, if you choose right.

And so; right before Christmas, we had some time on our hands and Calvin was starving, so we headed on over to Golden City.

I got my usual favorite; the Kwai Fei Chicken.

Which was sadly, not very good this time around. The chicken was dry and tough and that sauce had way too much scallion in it....it had turned green! Bummer....it had been a while since I'd had this and I was looking forward to it.

We also got the Chee Cheong Fun (rolled rice noodle) with XO Sauce.

Uneven cooking technique doomed this dish. The rice rolls were tender; but weren't evenly coated in XO sauce. Burnt bits didn't help things at all either.

The best dish of the day was the Roast Pork.

While not nearly as good as the "Macao Roast Pork" when it was on the menu....I don't know how many chefs ago; the skin was crisp; if a bit unevenly roasted. The pork was moist; with a good bit of fat, and not overly salted....you could enjoy the flavor of the swine.

You know; I'd always thought that Golden City in some form would easily outlive me......who knows; it still might. But this was definitely not up to expectations. Hopefully, things will be better next time I visit.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

San Francisco - China Live

It was funny how we ended up staying in San Francisco over the Labor Day weekend. Both the Missus and I had been working pretty hard and there was no trip in sight for a couple more months. It was a brutal Sunday here with record temps in the high 90's. For some reason, I decided to check to see what the weather was like in San Francisco.....61?!?!? I basically told the Missus "the heck (using a more colorful verb) with this....let's go to San Francisco." And She agreed. It had been quite a while since we visited the city; in recent years we'd stuck to visiting places to the North and the South of San Francisco. And I couldn't remember when we last visited......so I dug into my photo archives and holy smokes! Check out the date on this photo!

We last visited nearly sixteen years ago! It was when the Missus and I took Her parents to visit. A trip was way overdue. So, I booked our flight, hotel, and a couple of restaurants....two had been on my "list" and one was a recommendation of my good friend Candice. Instead of the usual suspects; like Gary Danko, et al....we were going a bit different this time around.

We arrived, caught BART, and managed to check into the Marriott Marquis early, at 10am! Things were looking up. We freshened up and just headed on out. I figured a lot had changed over the last sixteen years.....but of course, some things stay the same.

There's a certain nostalgia to walking through Chinatown, a mixture of old school, somewhat traditional businesses, it was almost comforting seeing Golden Gate Bakery and ducking into various food shops. Along with all the cheesy souvenir stores....good lord' where there always that many here?

One thing the Missus and I quickly noticed....Chinatown seems much cleaner and tidy than when we used to visit in the late 90's and early 'oughts. 

I had been fascinated with the opening of China Live. We'd been to a couple of branches of Eataly in Europe....in Florence, Bologna, and Copenhagen. And when China Live was touted as being the "Chinatown" version, well, I just wanted to check it out. I'd also heard that the food; while priced on the high side was pretty good.

There a small shop with a variety of items; some really interesting looking tea and other stuffs. And a rather "hipsterish" looking dining area....you know; all that wood.

I kinda knew what I wanted to order; Sheng Jian Baozi, the "Peking" Duck, and the Pork Belly. They were out of the pork belly, so I went with plan B....which they were out of as well. So, we just decided to try the wings.

Meanwhile, the Missus ordered some tea; not cheap at $13.95....but man; it was really floral and helped to cut through all the richness of the food.

First up; the Sheng Jian Bao ($12)….yep twelve bucks for 4.

The filling was juicy, light, and had a nice porky flavor with just the right amount of ginger to balance things out. The dough was terrible; it wasn't cooked correctly making the dough on the top really gummy, the sides mushy....and the bottom was way too thick. I mean, I really didn't expect anything like we get in China or even what my MIL makes....but that wrapper was a total fail. Still, the filling was really good.

When our duck ($26) arrived, the Missus and I looked at each other, rather disappointed. The color didn't seem right......but we were oh so wrong.....

The skin was oh so thin and crisp; the fat had been rendered....it seems into the flesh of the duck which was supremely moist. The sesame buns were hard and dry and the duck delicately flavored, so we ended up just making cucumber (which was very good quality), scallion, and hoisin sandwiches and just enjoyed the duck on its own. This is the best duck I've had in a very long time. Like I mentioned earlier, the seasoning on this was quite mild as was the duck which wasn't very gamey. This might be the best item we had on the entire short trip.

Based on the previous two dishes we were quite surprised when the "Chicken of the Sea" Crispy Wings ($14) arrived. There were ten wings in this dish.

I bit into one and cracked up...….growing up in Hawaii, one of the must have Chinese Restaurant dishes is Ong Choi with what we call "harm ha" (Shrimp Paste). The wings had been battered with that....it was a bit of overkill and seemed really salty. Though, unlike the usual MSG laden wings we often get; this one didn't bring on thirst......still it was waaaay too salty. The quality of the wings was excellent, no broken bones, no blackening of the flesh....the skin was thin and perfectly fried....the flesh moist, the size optimum for that skin to meat ratio......we'd have really loved this if it wasn't such a sodium bomb. 

The service was professional, the meal, not cheap at seventy bucks. The place did fill up quite quickly, a mixture of younger Chinese who seemed well off, Chinese tourists, hipster looking folk, and some families. We enjoyed our meal here.....and will likely return for that duck.

China Live
644 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 1130am - 10pm
Friday      1130am - 11pm
Saturday    1030am - 11pm
Sunday      1030am - 10pm

Leaving China Live; we headed to Stockton and started weaving our way past the markets and dim sum shops. Near Washington Street, I could here drums and percussion going....there was a Lion Dance happening somewhere.....

We found it happening in this street.

We got there just as the fireworks were going off.

The Missus and I laughed and basked in the noise, smoke, and shower of red paper......

It had been too long since we'd been in this wonderful city.

Sieu Sieu BBQ Revisited

As a sign of how long I've been doing this blog.....do you remember what was in the spot before Sieu Sieu BBQ opened in this spot in 2008? You'd be right if you said Maui Maui Hawaiian BBQ...funny how it went from one reduplicated name to another, eh? And before that; wasn't it something like Yakimono restaurant.....and for bonus points; do you remember when Sieu Sieu BBQ was in Linda Vista? Sheesh.....

Anyway, this one has been sitting around for a while. I took a revisit; it had been a couple of years.

I decided to get Ga Muoi - "salt chicken", something akin to Kwai Fei Chicken and Roast Pork with rice ($8.95).

The chicken came with the minced ginger and scallion "dip" and was on the dry side, but was nicely flavored....the ginger was chopped much too coarsely for my taste, making the flavor too strong.

The skin on the roast pork was too thick and hard and as you can see; the meat was really dry. Can't say it was bland though. Too bad, because on my last visit; the pork was way better than the roast duck.....

The rice, night have been the best I've ever had here, moist, hot, fragrant.

Well, even though the price was right.....it'll be a while before I return again.

Sieu Sieu BBQ
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Roadtrip - Revisits to Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Kang Lac Bakery, Lien Hoa, and Song Long (Westminster)

Whew; I need to catch up on all my posts! Since I've posted on these places a multitude of times; I'll keep it shirt and sweet.

This one is from back in August of last year. Basically, I had an all day meeting in Irvine. The Missus had the following day and night off; so we decided to stay in the area. We started things off well by having dinner at Sushi Noguchi in Yorba Linda (sorry no post on that one....next time). The next day after my meetings we headed off to dinner and was kind of unimpressed with Sichuan Impression in Alhambra. In fact we basically ate maybe half of what we ordered. Our hotel had a fridge, so I'd end up taking stuff back and then home.

Being somewhat disappointed in driving all this way, we decided to make a short stop. The Missus was really missing good jiaozi, so we decided to make a stop at....

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Man, it's been a good long time since we've been here.

The place is starting to look even more run down and the folks working a bit older. Though it's fun to get a smile out of the Missus when She hears the "Qingdao Hua"; the accent of Her hometown.

Two orders for us. The lamb versin; which doesn't have as much "soup" as before; but is still very gamey. And the vegetarian, which on this occasion was really good. The wrappers were nice; with that pillowy-pull to them.

The Missus had really been missing jiaozi it seems as She put these down in no time.

There was one rather sad moment during our meal. It was when the traditional garlic condiment came out. I've called this the Missus's "little dish of memories". Her job when She was a child in Qingdao was to pound the garlic for jiaozi in a mortar and pestle. Something She used to hate, but now loves.....in fact She did it with such relish the last time we were in Qingdao. Looks like they now put the garlic in a blender....very sad; because you really get the most flavor out of the garlic when you pound it; you release all the oils.....this really didn't have the "umph" we were used to. Perhaps the folks here have gotten old and tired of pounding garlic.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

The next morning, we got up rather early. Instead of just hanging out at the hotel until check-out and heading off to Sea Harbour, we decided to check out early and just do the usual two-fer of Lien Hoa and Song Long. We hit a snag as when we arrived at Lien Hoa; the place wasn't open yet. I had an idea. You see, years ago, "Beach" took me to the place right over in the next parking lot for a snack.....

Kang Lac Bakery:

The Missus had never had the Bot Chien here and it was right next door to Lien Hoa. So why not?

Radish and Taro cakes coated in crisp egg.

Man, that sauce is still good!

Tea for the Missus, some Vietnamese Coffee for me. The cost was like ten bucks. A very nice start to our morning.

Kang Lac Bakery
9301 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683

By now.....

Lien Hoa:

Was open.

And I got our roast duck; which I've posted on a number of times.

Lien Hoa BBQ
9311 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

And then it was time for "our real breakfast"......

Song Long:

Ever since "Kha" recommended this place to us years ago; it's become a real favorite of ours.

And I have to say; it's still a big favorite. Hmm......maybe we have some time next weekend?

Song Long Restaurant
9361 Bolsa Ave Suite 108
Westminster, CA 92683 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hong Kong BBQ (again)

mmm-yoso!!!, a blog.  Subject: food. Kirk is taking a mini-vacation this weekend, following a horrendous week of work.  Cathy is writing.  

Earlier this week, Kirk posted about Fung Fung Yuen, a new restaurant in Mira Mesa.  The Mister and I also wanted to try the new place, but our timing was always off and we just don't like waiting in line.  After reading Kirk's post, I'm glad we didn't bother.  In the same parking lot is the old movie theater turned grocery store, Vinh Hung.   Inside Vinh Hung is Hong Kong BBQ, which has been visited by Kirk in  2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012, while I wrote posts in 2009 and 2015.   The lunch menu is on the back page of the regular menu, but additional lunch items as well as the entire regular menu are embedded under the glass table top.
       Shrimp with pepper bean sauce ($8.95) (lunch special 43).  Black bean sauce, plump shrimp, onion, red and green bell peppers, water chestnuts and ginger.    Chicken black bean sauce ($7.95) (lunch special 5).  Quite a lot of stir fried chicken with the same vegetables as above.  On the menu, the shrimp has a red chili, indicating a slightly spicy item, but both plates had the same level of heat and flavor...we were sad yet satisfied with the plates.  Steamed whole flounder ($8.95) (Under the glass lunch special menu).  I really liked this preparation of the whole fish and the soy/scallion/cilantro flavors. (After reading this 2013 article in Smithsonian Magazine, I've opted to purchase whole fish as much as possible, so I know what I am eating).   Fried stuffed tofu ($7.95) (lunch special 31). A small, plump shrimp is on top of the soft tofu which is thinly breaded and fried to a light crispiness and is a tasty indulgence. I've ordered this more than once and sometimes crave it...stopping in a Hong Kong BBQ to get it as a quick meal.

All in all, a nice place to stop for a meal.  Consistently good. Underrated.

Hong Kong BBQ and Dim Sum 10550 Camino Ruiz  San Diego 92126 (858) 408-4888 Open Sun-Thurs 9-9, Fri-Sat 9-9:30

Fung Fung Yuen

Fung Fung Yuen opened this past summer (on the ever lucky 08/08) to quite a bit of hype and fanfare. My friends who visited soon after the initial soft opening told me the place really didn't live up to their expectations. So I waited about six weeks. We'd moved offices and was now a bit closer to the place. Three of us, Calvin, "BigD", and myself, made two visits, after which we decided to give it a rest.

The restaurant does remind me of those "Dim Sum Palaces" of my youth, a nice, rather large, space (formerly Hometown Buffet).

The place is set-up for larger "family style" parties.

During our visits, there only seemed to be 2-3 carts rotating at a time. During our first visit, we never saw the steamed dumpling cart, so no siu mai, har gow, etc. On both visits, we never saw any Cheong Fun.

I've decided to start with the best item we had; which coincidentally was actually ordered off the menu; the Roast Pork ($14.95).

The pork was moist, the skin, while a bit too thick was decent. A very nice dish overall.

A remote second was the tripe.

No off flavors, decently cooked, nice "crunch" the gooey sauce was a bit on the "sweet" side for my taste.

I think it's kind of sad that the two main reasons the Shrimp Siu Mai is number 3 was that it was hot and it wasn't overly tough.

The Soy Sauce Noodles was on the colder side, a bit greasy and overcooked.

Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf was barely past warm.

The rice was nice and tender, though the pork was really tough.

One look at the Har Gow and you can tell this wasn't going to be very good.

Dried out wrappers, hard and overcooked shrimp.

The Eggplant stuffed with shrimp was quite cold and greasy.

That sauce which was cold really didn't help matters.

The Ham Sui Gok, the fried glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with pork was also cold, thus the dumpling had become rather gummy. Check out the (lack of) filling, which was cold and tough.

The Bean Curd roll was at least served at a decent temperature. But the strips of vegetables were cut too thick and was undercooked.

Calvin just wanted the Xiao Long Bao.

Looking at the photo; you can kinda figure things out; cold, no soup, really thick, hard wrappers.

And yet, there was something even worse than the XLB; the Pearl Balls, these made with shrimp.

Cold, tough, some of the rice was just plain hard.

There's obviously some kinks to work out here.....things like keeping your product at a decent temp in the carts.....which, by the way, only made one pass, and then was gone. It was a rather unsatisfying two meals. I'm hoping they get things straightened out. I'm hoping they work things out. Folks were telling me how busy the place was, but on our first visit the place was one-third full, on our second even less.

For balance, please check out Kirbie's and Faye's posts.

Fung Fung Yuen
10660 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Revisits - Mignon Pho + Grill and Red Moon Noodle House

So, our office was set to move after years in the Serra/Kearny Mesa area. We'd be heading a bit North. Thus, I decided to revisit a couple of places before we left.

Mignon Pho + Grill:

Or as Calvin's wife calls it; "pho for folks who don't like pho". I dunno, it had been a couple of years, so I decided to check them out again.

I went with the "Trolley Bowl" ($10).

The noodles were decent, though in  clump, and the herbs and such were sparse though fresh. Still not sure why they serve ngo om (aka rice paddy herb), with its distinct flavor with the pho here.

The soup always seems to have kind of a bitter - tinny flavor to me. It's also quite weak and overly defatted. The proteins were tough and lacked flavor.

But, this place still seems to do good business. Perhaps it's the service which has always been friendly. Or perhaps it's the Lemongrass Fries, which is the best (only decent) thing I've had here.

Mignon Pho + Grill
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111 

Red Moon Noodle House:

Another place that I haven't been to in a while and haven't had great luck with. Though one of the folks that I used to work with really enjoyed the Singapore Noodle at Red Moon. So why not?

The really nice guy working brought me a fork to start? I had to ask for chopsticks? The dish, when it arrived, piping hot, looked quite impressive as it was topped with fried eggs.

Once you got past that though, it was a disappointment. The pork in this was really tough, almost hard.

There was way too much curry powder....it was definitely powder because it left a grainy, bitter residue on my tough. This was actually rather unpleasant to eat.

The noodles were too hard as well.

I took most of this home and had the Missus taste this......big mistake.

Folks have mentioned a "secret menu" (I've had the XLB, it's definitely bought frozen from somewhere else), but I've never received recommendations. So guess what? Singapore noodles....maybe that fork should have been a clue?

Really nice folks here too though....

Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I really liked the folks working at both places; but man, the food really didn't and hasn't been my thing here.

Vancouver/Richmond - Kirin Seafood Restaurant (City Square), Parker Place Meat & BBQ, and HK BBQ Master

The Missus and I really wanted to try out some Dim Sum while in Vancouver. We'd heard so much about the quality of Dim Sum in Richmond/Vancouver. The one little thing; we weren't quite sure when we'd return from visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge, so I didn't want to make reservations. Instead, after checking out the fun at Anime Revolution, we got on the SkyTrain and got off at the Broadway-City Hall stop and walked over to City Square Mall. We'd take our chances at Kirin Seafood Restaurant.

Of course, when we arrived, the first thing they asked us was if we had reservations. Though we had no problem getting a table as the place wasn't totally full.

We weren't super hungry and we had plans after lunch, so we ordered five items from the menu.

Starting with the tendon and tripe.

This was a nice and hearty dish, though pretty mild in flavor. The tendon had a slight chew to it; the tripe slightly crunchy with no off flavors. The Missus actually enjoyed the daikon more than anything else in this dish.

The Scallop Dumplings were a disappointment as the scallops were tough and overcooked.

The wrappers were very sticky and tore quite easily.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the rustic looking stuffed wintermelon.

The wintermelon still had a nice texture; providing just enough resistance. It had also absorbed the flavors of the pork and the broth nicely. The enoki mushrooms provided a nice, earthy taste and the pork was tender and just about perfect.

The Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling with Consomme was interesting.

The fried dumplings were excellent; the wrappers light, yet crunchy, the shrimp filling tender and flavorful. We both felt the consommé was rather bland and flat.......it was like watered down chicken broth in flavor and brought nothing to the dish.

After that rather bland consommé; we were a bit concerned about the Scallop and Bamboo Pith Fungus Dumpling in Supreme Soup, but this ended up being quite good.

Great flavors all around and the soup; while rather light had a nice balance in terms of seasoning to flavor.

Overall, while pretty good, based on all the great things we heard about the Dim Sum in Vancouver, we both thought Sea Harbour in the SGV was every bit as good if not better. I'll make sure to make reservations at Chef Tony or another place for Dim Sum the next time we're in Vancouver.

Kirin Seafood Restaurant
555 W 12th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3X7
Canada

After lunch we got back on the SkyTrain and headed on over to Richmond, getting off at the Aberdeen stop, and walking on over to Parker Place Mall and Parker Place Meat & BBQ. Yes, this place is located in a shopping mall.

The line here grows rapidly and moves quickly....it's to your benefit to have your act together and know what you want......when its your turn you need to be quick about it.

The Missus was really looking forward to some Roast Duck....so I got the Roast Duck on rice to go.

Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q (In Parker Place Mall)
4380 No 3 Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 4E8
Canada

Having gotten out unscathed; we headed to our next stop. If you thought Chinese BBQ in a shopping mall was interesting....try going to a parking garage.

For some Chinese BBQ......

This is where HK BBQ Master is located; just down the street from Parker Place BBQ. Again, a fast moving line for take-out....here there are a couple of tables as well. Some deal; roast duck on rice.

HK BBQ Master (In the parking garage of Real Canadian Superstore)
4651 No 3 Road
Richmond, BC V6X 2C4
Canada

Since we had restrained ourselves somewhat during lunch; we'd have this for an early dinner at the apartment.

Walking down No 3 Road reminded me of the SGV.........without the crazy traffic.....

Choices abound.....

And guess who we ran into on the SkyTrain back to the apartment?

Yep....good 'ol DV himself.

This woman couldn't stop giggling and taking photos of DV.

Being the ever so friendly Canadian version of DV; he waved the woman over and they proceeded to take a bunch of selfies! You gotta love it.

As for the duck? Well, in spite of saying we'd be having it for dinner, we did have a couple of pieces while it was still warm.....just for comparative purposes of course!

Here's Parker Place.

Here's HK BBQ Master.

While HK BBQ Master's duck looks a lot darker; Parker Place's duck won hands down; being more moist, with a nice amount of anise-beany-duckiness. The skin HK BBQ Master's version was rubbery, the meat dry, and while it had a decent duck taste, it wasn't balanced out with anything else. Of course, both of these are vastly superior to any roast duck in San Diego. I was told that HK BBQ Master makes great roast pork, but the Missus was after duck.

It was time for a nap.....then we'd be off to our next stop(s)!

Lunch Specials at Hui An Garden

Fu An Garden's short run ended back in January and the place became Hui An Garden. For some reason, I wasn't particularly motivated to visit, but over the last three months I decided to check out some of the lunch specials. Those visits, along with posts like Faye's, would give me some indication whether to make some time for dinner here.

The interior is basically the same....but I find the floors here to be kind of the sticky side these days.

On my first visit, I ordered; or thought I ordered the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice....but strangely ended up with Pork Fried Rice?

There was a slight bit of wok hay going on as it left a (very) slight smokiness; but as a whole this was pretty bland. Also, when having fried rice; I like to be able to count every grain should I want to. There were several clumps of rice in this.

Not sure about portion size (which was fairly generous), I also ordered the Bok Choy with Garlic.

This was a straight forward, typical stir fry; perhaps on the more oily side. This was supposed to be "baby bok choy", but were pretty large. The cooking was a bit uneven as the lower stalks of the bok choy was almost raw on the larger pieces. It also could have used a bit more garlic and white pepper.

On my next visit I made sure to get the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice. Man, this was a lot of rice!

And even though I used to make fun of the couple of pieces of plain blanched broccoli or carrots used on these type of lunch special dishes....here it's been replaced by a rather strange stir fried cabbage, flavored with a touch of soy sauce. The pork slices were decently cooked; tender, there wasn't enough preserved vegetable, nor was it very good as it didn't add enough of the nice sour-savory flavors to the dish. I finished all the pork and vegetable and still over half the rice left!

During this visit I noticed two older Chinese customers come in and order roast pork. Well, I figured it must be worth a try.

So I came in and ordered the Roasted Pork Belly on Rice. I told them to give me "half rice", but again something got lost in the translation as again there was a load of rice.

Actually, the pork was pretty good in terms of texture; the skin thin and crisp, the pork belly tender. The flavor was on the milder side and that sauce was not very good; almost bitter to my palate. This is probably the best item I've had here.

The next time I returned I walked into this.

I wasn't quite sure what was going on. Then I realized, it was "all hands on deck" as they were prepping box lunches....like stacks of food, which the tall guy carried out making several trips back and forth then left to deliver them somewhere. It took them a while to see that I was standing there.

I was curious about the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings on the menu. I wasn't too hungry, so I asked for no rice.

There were eight wings, not bad for $6.99. I thought the batter looked a little bit on the light side; but was crisp, if not especially flavorful. The wings could have used more "salt" and even "pepper". The wings were much better than the drumettes which were on the dry side.

So, tired yet? Just to compare this place to FuAn Garden; I decided to get the Roast Duck....for lunch it is of course on rice. I forgot to tell them to go easy on the rice, though I'm not sure it would have made much difference.

Actually, this isn't as much duck as you might think; it's pretty thin slices. While the duck was nice and moist, the skin decent, not tough, though a bit too flaccid for me. The duck was really short on flavor; lacking in richness or sweetness, without any bean paste flavor, and the cabbage was almost raw to boot.

In terms of pricing; every dish you see in this post was $6.99. So it's hard to complain too much; in spite of the handful of cabbage as the vegetable (not a garnish). The portion sizes, at least in terms of rice is quite large, the proteins, not so much. Looking back, I realize that perhaps I needed to go in a different direction here....maybe in the future. Though I probably should try out Noble Chef again first.

Hui An Garden Restaurant
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Ly's Garden, Almost 11 Years Later

On one of my recent honey-doo excursions in the area; I noticed that Lee's Garden had closed. It was kind of a surprise, since they had always seemed pretty popular. This left me wondering bout the sole survivor of the old trifecta of Lucky Star, Lee's, and the place that I'd always confuse with Lee's; Ly's. It seems that they were still open; at least the sign said so. I decided to check things out; even though the parking lot was completely empty....at 11am on a Saturday!

 

That might scare some people off; but I decided to forge ahead. After all, it had been nearly 11 years since I last visited.

The place looks pretty much the same; huge and cavernous. Perhaps it had reached the age of equilibrium. You know, it can't really look any older.....

I recalled the prices here being ridiculously low. Well, of course they've gone up (no more $2.75 won ton noodle soup), but are still quite inexpensive. Take, for example, my Roast Duck Egg Noodle - soup on the side, $5.95.

The egg noodles were nicely done; a tad crunchy with a bit of stretch to them. Flavored with a mild, but tasty soy sauce based flavoring. The duck; well, I've had better, but I've also had worst, quite recently as a matter of fact. The overall flavor of the duck was rather mild; lacking in richness or sweetness, while pretty meaty, the skin could have also been more crisp. I had expected a smaller portion and was surprised at the amount of duck I was given.

A bowl with pork neck; flecked with meat and connective tissue in broth was also provided. The pork was well flavored, but the broth had a metallic-bitter flavor to it that was unpleasant. I'm glad I got this with soup on the side.

As I ate three more parties came in......all of them folks older than me. I guess that must be the customer base these days.

The service was friendly and efficient; the prices just can't be beat.....though I don't recall them having Pho on the menu all those years ago. I'm not sure how much longer this place will hold on. All things must pass I guess. As once there were three; large Chinese restaurants in the area....the place for wedding receptions and banquets. Heck, I even went to a wedding reception at Lucky Star. Which just seems like a lifetime ago....

Now it's just Ly's......

Ly's Garden Chinese Restaurant
4350 54th St # B
San Diego, CA 92115