mmm-yoso!!!

Road Trip - Bistro Na's (Temple City)

One of the main reasons I was really excited about our road trip to the SGV, was our reservations at Bistro Na's. I'd read about the opening of Bistro Na's; supposedly serving "Imperial Court Cuisine", in places like Food Talk Central and various blog posts over the last two years. I'd had a taste of this style of cuisine during a our final meal in Beijing. And since this restaurant was an extension of Beijing's Najia Xiaoguan (那家小馆), I was quite excited.

And overall, even though the menu wasn't exactly totally Chinese Imperial Cuisine; at least in the way I've read about it, there was an interesting balance of flavors and textures with mostly excellent cooking technique. Also, one of the key elements of Jing Cuisine was the ability to blend the techniques of the Han, Manchu, Hui, and other ethnic groups as well characteristics of all other various schools, including the "Four Major Cuisines", the "Eight Great Cuisines", and all things in between.

Service was the best I've had in a Chinese eating establishment in years. It was gracious and efficient, and our main Server was amazingly warm and friendly, while being a total professional. Man, Ed from Yuma would have loved this place.

The location; right off Rosemead Boulevard was an area I hadn't been to in maybe 20 years! Man, has it changed. The last time we were in the area, at Xiang Yuan Gourmet, we came up Temple City Boulevard instead.

The parking lot for this strip mall is terrible, we ended up parking on the street across the way.

The interior is quite a sight to see....with warrens of rooms and booths. The décor is quite what I'd call traditional in concept. The menu; with every dish photographed is thick as a college textbook.

And of course, dishes are "social media" ready....though I'd never seen anyone take 12 photos of a single black cod dish until this day.....

The first dish up was the signature "Crispy Shrimp".

Man, this really set the stage for the meal. The texture of the shells, delicately thin and crisp, in contrast to the perfectly cooked flesh, plump and tender, was amazing. The sauce had some sweetness, but there was just the lightest touch of spice to move things along. The Missus preferred eating Hers separate, meat from shells, while I preferred mine together. If you have these, please eat those shells. Don't be like the "Black Cod Girls" and leave those behind. Excellent dish.

My favorite dish of the night would seem to be the most humble; the Chili Tofu Skin; yep bean curd skin.

The cilantro in this was really amazing...I know, that sounds weird, but it had a nice slight anise, that went along with almost a minty-celery flavor. The bean curd skin was so very crisp, yet light, the dressing, which had both a touch of cumin and what seemed to be a bit of Sichuan peppercorn, along with just the lightest touch of sesame oil just brought things together so well. It was so refreshing.

The one clunker for the meal was the Jellied Pig's Feet.

The texture was excellent, but the flavors seemed a bit off. It just didn't have enough porkiness for us. This was rather mundane.

What wasn't mundane was the "Secret Tofu". This was basically an steamed egg-tofu, laid on a bok choy leaf that's sliced, dusted, and fried.

Crisp and light, with a nice, pleasant egg flavor. The bok choy layer added a nice contrast in texture and a mild bitterness to the dish. The sauce added a mild sweetness and savory tones to the dish.

The Dry Braised Sea Bass was cooked perfectly; it was buttery and moist in texture. Our really nice Server kept warning us about how spicy it was....but it wasn't very spicy at all.

The sauce was fairly mild and straight forward, the topping which included mushrooms, bamboo shoots, scallions, and pork was nice as it added some contrast. The Missus enjoyed it, but I guess I wanted something with a bit more oomph? Though I've got to say, this tasted better then next day.

For dessert; there's a combination snack platter that has all those treats the Missus loved when going to school in Beijing. And even though it was a ton of stuff and $36, I told Her to order it. However, She decided just to go with this.....

It's "Milky Cheese"; basically milk pudding with cheese in it in the shape of a fish. The Missus enjoyed it; I'm not a big fan of milk pudding and the cheese aftertaste wasn't my favorite thing in the world....this coming from a cheese lover.

The Missus really loved this meal. I expected it to be much more expensive than it was....we regularly spend more at El Jardin. Of course we didn't order any of the really meat heavy items on the menu.

We'll definitely be back. Muslim style dishes are quite common in Jing Cai; and we saw several on the menu we'd like to try.

If you do decide to check out Bistro Na's; at least on the weekend, make reservations. There was a huge line of waitlisted folks outside when we left.

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 230pn, 5pm - 9pm
Fri - Sat   11am - 230pm, 5pm - 930pm

Road Trip - Northern Cuisine Restaurant (City of Industry)

We had missed one of our yearly appointments back in our old "neck of the woods" last year. So, we needed to catch up and get that taken care of this year. We decided to use some of our "points" and make it an overnight stay. Our appointment ended right before noon, so we decided to grab lunch close by. I had Northern Cuisine, a restaurant that opened at the beginning of 2017, in the same mall that used to house Cost Plus when we lived in the area.

The restaurant is good sized with rather large tables. Looking at the menu, it was quite obvious that large parties would fit in well. And even though there is stuff like Song Shu Gui Yu (松鼠桂鱼), "Squirrel Fish", and Peking Duck on the menu; there was just one item I really wanted. more on that later.

We weren't super hungry so we just ordered three items and it was still too much for us to finish. Luckily our room had a mini-fridge and I'd brought an ice chest along.

First dish up was the "Big Plate Cauliflower"......the Missus loves Her cauliflower and I often make a cumin - "ma-la" version at home so we were interested in how this would be.

This was pretty good; there was a light dusting of Sichuan Peppercorn which highlighted the mild sweetness of the cauliflower. All items were cooked nicely. The pork belly was very tender and while not exactly "la rou" (Hunan smoked pork), it did have a mild smokiness to it. The chilies added a sneaky heat to things and the leek a mild pungency. Pretty good dish.

The Boiled Bamboo Pot was interesting for one main reason.

It was the presence of a certain canned meat product....though I'm thinking it wasn't the most popular brand. It actually did well in this as the earthy and crisp bamboo shoots needed some saltiness and more depth. The shredded pork was tender, but didn't really add any flavor. Overall, a bit on the bland side.

And then there was the item I'd been craving.

The Tianjin Baozi. According to the menu and our server, this is made fresh to order. I hadn't had a decent Baozi in ages and have recently been craving the Tianjin Baozi from the Tasty Noodle house location in San Gabriel. We wouldn't have time to visit there; so I thought getting my baozi fix in at Northern Cuisine might work out.

And while I wouldn't consider this to be traditional Tianjin Guo Bu Li Baozi ("stuffed buns that even dogs would not eat") it was quite good. The bun, while not overly yeasty in fragrance was light and tender. Both the filling and dough was a bit sweeter than what the Missus's "Shandong - Beijing" palate enjoys, but we quickly found that a drizzle of black vinegar really balanced things out and even added another dimension to the porky goodness of the filling. So, even though I wouldn't consider these to be close to traditional Tianjin style Baozi, I enjoyed them. It was prepared fresh, both the dough and fillings were light, and the black vinegar worked magic in balancing the flavors out. And we could only finish five.....

The service was decent; much more friendly than what we're used to at Chinese places in our old 'hood.

Northern Cuisine Restaurant
17515 Colima Rd.
City of Industry, CA 91748
Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm
Sat - Sun 11am - 9pm

And those who are wondering how Frankie was doing while we were gone....well, "Auntie Ale" took good care of him....heck, he even made it to an "after-party"!

Thanks Auntie!

Revisits - Village Kitchen and Taste of Hunan

A couple of revisits of places that are inextricably tied together.

Village Kitchen:

After our last ho-hum visit; I thought it would be a while before eating at Village Kitchen again. Well, make that like 6 months. The Missus wanted some Chinese food, actually we tried to go to Woomiok, but there was a 40 minute wait! So, we headed back to VK.

We ended up ordering a good amount of food; which fed us for several days after. Here's what we had best to worst.

For some reason, the Stinky Tofu Stew was especially good on this visit.

It was especially pungent, steaming, hot savory goodness. With just the amount of heat, acid, and saltiness to make this a pleasant dish.

Second place went to the Pork with Dried Cucumber Skin - they now make this with La Rou; smoked pork, which adds an additional dimension to the dish.

Interesting textures; from the fairly tender, not overly waxy pork, to the crunchy cucumber skin. Good heat from the chilies, and the "clean" slightly sweet-briny flavor of the cucumber comes through nicely in the dish. A bit on the greasy side though, but not bad.

The (now) classic Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg.

Not as much pidan (century egg) these days. Still, the eggplant was fairly smooth and quite smoky in flavor.

The Hunan Style Lotus Roots were cut much thicker than before.

Something was off with this dish as it had a weird bitterness to it.

And the worst dish of the and possibly the most unpleasant item I've had to eat at VK; the Wild Mushroom Soup.

It tasted the way it looks...….really bland; no flavor to....and I'm stretching here, calling it a broth. It was like warm tap water with a greasiness to it. The pork had a mild, unpleasant sourness and the mushrooms had almost no flavor. This was really bad.

There's one dish we wish they still had; the Smoked Pork with Dried Bamboo....sadly, no longer on the menu.

Service was lousy as usual. Though they really turn over tables fast. I guess we're pretty much stuck with VK in the Kearny Mesa area if we want passable Hunan. Portion sizes have gone up; while I still think quality and execution has gone down.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Taste of Hunan:

Some follow-up visits to Taste of Hunan. Man, this place is doing some major business these days.

I have new favorite (other than the fried pork fat.....which I hesitate to order, lest I drop dead at the table). It's the Smoked Pork and Preserved Green Beans Fried Rice.

While the La Rou here is not as good as the version at VK; it works in this dish. The pork is fried crisp like bacon, the preserved green beans add a salty component. Most of the rice is coated well in soy sauce and most all the grains are separated. I like the leftovers with a couple of easy-over eggs on them.

The Sautéed Beef Tripe with Pickled Radish is good pick. While we've had times when this dish is on the greasy side and it edges on being too salty.

The symphony of crunchy textures works well. For me; it's the Chinese celery that takes center stage here.

If you like textures, the Sautéed Dried Tofu with Braised Pig Ear might do the job for you.

Slightly soft and chewy dried tofu with the crunchy pig ear and Chinese celery to add that nice palate cleansing component.

The flavor of the Wild Mushroom with Pork is quite good. They obviously use the reduced soaking liquid of the dried mushrooms to make the sauce, giving this a very good earthy flavor.

It's the pork, which has been dry, tough, and tasteless the two times I've had the dish that brought this down.

Of course I had to try ToH's version of the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. Strangely, it was not as good as the version at VK.

It was not as creamy, in fact the eggplant was kind of stringy, and not as smoky as VK's version. It also lacked "kick". It did have much more pidan though and not as much green chilies, which threw off the flavor in my mind.

And the one item I don't think we'll order again. The Smoked Fish Tail.

Bony, hard, and really fishy, the Missus ordered this, but couldn't make it past two bites. It was super salty and personally, it lacked the sufficient crunchy that a good fish tail should have...being more hard then anything.

Service was quite good. I think the food here is less greasy, not as spicy, the flavors, at least of the dishes we like, much cleaner and perhaps with a bit more finesse than VK. The La Rou at VK is much better as is Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg. 

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St. Suite E2
San Diego, CA 92131

Revisits - Green China Grill and Pho Kitchen

As I was getting things together for this post I noticed something. I've actually done a revisits post on these two places together before! Kinda funny; I'm wondering if there's some internal "calendar" that goes off when I eat at one of these places that automatically makes me go to the other?

Anyway, here goes.....

Green China Grill:

In addition to the earlier combo post with the Pho Shop; I noticed that I tend to revisit Green China Grill about once a year. Strange.

As you can see GCG is a green as ever.

This time around I went back to Beef Noodle Soup with Sour Cabbage, which is now $10.99.

As always; the soup was blasting hot; with a good amount of "ma", numbingness to it. I still think it could be beefier and a bit richer, but at least they didn't go too heavy handed on the MSG on this visit. The standard issue xue cai was fine; though I notice they've cut back on the amount of it provided. Too bad; it adds a nice sour-acidic dimension to the broth, along with a bit of crunchiness. The beef was on the tough side and could have used a flavor injection. Though the Lamian (牛大碗 - Hand Pulled Noodles) were excellent this time around. Perfect chewy-al dente mouthfeel, wonderfully slippery, I think they've finally got things nailed down with regards to the noodles.

Overall, a bit over-priced, but this basically delivered.

Green China Grill
4688 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Kitchen:

On a recent Sunday after working for a couple of hours I decided to head home. I'd been trying to fight off a cold and just wanted some pho relatively close to home. I thought about Pho Hut, but I'd never had anything close to a decent bowl of pho from there. So, I headed on over to Pho Kitchen. I went ahead and ordered the regular sized Pho "Tu Do"; basically pho with your choice of three proteins ($7.50).

When the basil and sprouts arrived, the expected small portion, I noticed that both the basil and sprouts were just on the verge of turning color.

The broth was super hot and like the typical San Diego pho broth, on the sweeter side. The soup lacked richness as it was severely defatted, though it had a hint of oniony-beefiness, an improvement over previous visits.

The proteins were quite good. Both the flank and brisket were tender; but not falling to pieces, and both were flavorful. The tendon, while a bit more chewy than I prefer was decent as well.

The issue this time around were the noodles.

While not in a clump on the bottom of the bowl; they were over-cooked and mushy.

It just seems like Pho Kitchen always just misses the mark on my visits. Perhaps one day they'll put it all together. All-in-all, not bad. It's "pho not to offend", if you like that kind of stuff. Service here has always been nice, which does make a difference.

Pho Kitchen
5375 Napa St
San Diego, CA 92110

 

Harmony Pot Sticker

Last week I read in Eater San Diego that guotie shop had opened on Engineer Road. So, having some time on my hands this past long weekend, I decided to check them out. According to Eater, Harmony Pot Sticker is part of a chain from Shenyang. I showed the Missus photos and She told me it does look like that style of guotie.

The shop takes the place of Korean Meat Market.

The menu is fairly tight, pot stickers, soups, liang cai, porridge, and some drinks.

The pot stickers range from the $8.99 - $9.99 price range, which is definitely not cheap. The young folks working here were very polite and quite a pleasure.

I decided to start with the Smacked Cucumbers ($4.99); which turned out to be a pretty hefty portion.

This was a decent version of the dish; balanced flavors, and not to salty. So, I guess if you're not feeling like making whatever version of Pai Huang Gua (派黄瓜) at home, this might do it for you. It's also quite refreshing and helps cut through any greasiness....which is something I needed on this day with the Pork and Cabbage pot stickers ($8.99).

These did somewhat resemble the Qingdao Guotie that I enjoy; except that these are quite elongated and open at both ends so you can see the filling. The wrapper is decent; nice texture with a bit of "pull". It was pretty greasy and the filling really lacked flavor....to the point that I had to actually pour black vinegar into the pot stickers which added some oomph and helped to cut the grease.

Since I was behind on work; I went in on President's Day and decided to reward myself with lunch afterwards....I thought I'd give Harmony another try.

This time I started with the Jiang Niu Rou; the classic cold sliced braised beef ($6.99).

This was much more moist and tender than other versions I've had recently. Nice beefiness; that sauce added a touch of pungent spice. a very nice dish.

This time; I decided to have the Pork and Suan Cai Guotie ($9.99); to see if the Missus would like these.

The filling was much better this time around; it actually had a bit of flavor from the pickled cabbage which really added to things. And while this wasn't greasy at all; it wasn't crisp enough....notice how the bottoms are too light in color; it just lacked the crunch I was looking for. Also, ten bucks for this was kind of pushing it....we were heading into DTF pricing here.

At this point; I think I'll give this place a rest for a couple of weeks. I think it shows some potential and surprisingly; it's the non-guotie items that I enjoyed the most. And then maybe I'll be able to take the Missus here.

And while this is more of a "snack" type of place; two orders of guotie and one side dish might do it for two of you....if you're not big eaters.

Harmony Pot Sticker
7905 Engineer Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon - Thurs  11am - 3pm, 5pm - 930pm
Sat - Sun    1130am - 930pm

Kangxi is Coming (has arrived as the new Village North)

First off; we here at mmm-yoso would like to wish everyone a wonderful Lunar New Year! Welcome to the "Year of the Pig"!

It was finally getting cool enough to start making Suan Cai again. It had been so hot for so long this past year. Once our first batch completed; the Missus wanted me to pick up some Suan Cai with Pork from Village North to mix up with our really cheesy fermented stuff. I dropped by and noticed that Village North was gone. It had been replaced by something called Kangxi is Coming?

A few weeks later I had an conversation with "YZ" about the new Chinese restaurant opening; she was referring to Taste of Hunan (which we ended up going to and enjoying) and I  Kangxi is Coming...… She had been wondering why I kept referring to some Taiwanese talk show as a Chinese restaurant until I presented her with the photo above. At which time she just cracked up.

Anyway, I waited a couple of weeks before finally visiting. Upon entering there were two things I quickly noticed.....

The first being that the interior looked unchanged. The second, well, the nice lady who worked at Village North was also working here. She was really happy to see me. And chided me for not dropping by sooner. She then told me that even though the owners were new and the menu was now more Sichuan and Hunan focused, the kitchen staff was the same, from Dongbei, trained in Sichuan kitchens.

The menu was an interesting "change" from the now ubiquitous book with slickly photographed dishes. And it there was an interesting variety of items....the really friendly woman quickly pointed out that several dishes I used to order were still on the menu.

Over time, I've made two visits, with a couple of repeat dishes; so here goes.

Fu Qi Fei Pian, something I always try to order when checking out Sichuan restaurants....and since it was on the menu....

This was an odd dish; the beef was nicely flavored on its own and there was actually tendon served up. It had a weird chili based sauce which was on the sour side and it totally lacked Sichuan peppercorn. Sort like they pulled some meat from the fridge; sliced it up, and dumped some sauce on it....which is what they probably did. It was obviously not marinating in anything.

I ordered the stir fried tripe; thinking it was going to be beef tripe; but it turned out to be pork tripe.

Chewy-crunchy; standard stir-fry, decent wok skills, but nothing special.

The other two dishes I ordered twice on different visits. It was an interesting in that both dishes were different during each visit.

First off; the Mapo Tofu on the first visit was really good.

Wow, it had a nice Sichuan Peppercorn "ma" thing going on along with a pretty spicy kick. It was spicy, the flavors sharp, the flavor of a decent chili bean paste came thru nicely.

On the next visit, the Ma Po Tofu looked totally different (photo to the right); it lacked Sichuan Peppercorn, was strangely sour, but was still quite spicy, with the thicker, more "gravy" looking sauce, and more pork. I preferred version 1.

Of course the item I usually ordered (mostly for the Missus) was the Suan Cai with Pork. On that first visit it looked like this.

It was amateur hour with the wok; no color, too much liquid...like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a hot pot or stir fry. It lacked the nice cheesy-savory flavor of fermented cabbage and was quite bland.

I decided to give it another try and this time it was better; while it still had more liquid than I care for in this dish; it popped with sour-salty flavor and there was a decent smokiness from "wok hay". It also had much more suan cai this time around. In this case, I'd take version 2.

I also ordered the Spicy Bean Curd Skin.

This was good. A nice crunchy texture, light spice, slight sweetness, good soy sauce, with just enough sesame oil to add a pleasant nuttiness to the dish. I could have gone with more cilantro, but this was a decent dish.

I used to enjoy the pork intestine dishes at Village North, so I ordered the Spicy Pork Intestine, which turned out to be pretty good.

This had a nice spiciness to it; the intestine was decently crisp as well. Good offal funkiness, without being off-putting. It also had a decent amount of Sichuan Peppercorn, something that is often in short supply in Sichuan restaurants these days.

Since Kangxi pushes their Hunan dishes and I'm a fan of La Rou with dried/preserved vegetables; I ordered the Preserved Pork with Pickled Radish.

Strangely; I found the Sichuan dishes here to be more spicy than the Hunan items. The la rou had a very nice texture; not overly rubbery, with a decent smokiness, but was really salty. I really enjoyed the pickled radish; nice crunch, good sour counter-point to the pungent and salty ingredients. I just wish there was more of it used in the dish.

So, overall a kind of mixed bag, and there seems to be; at least on my multiple visits (which is why I try to do several visits before doing posts) some variation in flavoring and cooking of dishes here. I did enjoy several items and the dishes that were spicy; we legitimately so. I did think the dishes here were more spicy that other Sichuan restaurant in San Diego and they seem to use more peppercorn as well. So, I'll probably be back....to try more items on that rather vast menu.

Kangxi Is Coming
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11am - 230pm, 5pm - 10pm
Fri - Sun   11am - 10pm

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

Taste of Hunan (Village Kitchen 2.0?)

So, right before Christmas "YZ" and I were having a little chat about a new Chinese restaurants opening......as the discussion went on, I realized we were talking about two entirely different places. I was mentioning "Kangxi is Coming" which opened in the former Village Kitchen location. "YZ" was referring to a place that was just going to open in Mira Mesa named Taste of Hunan. She had seen posts on WeChat about the grand opening. The funniest thing she said was "you should get WeChat...." Heck, I'm not even on Instagram...

Anyway, I did find the photos interesting, so Calvin and I decided to check them out.

It was before the posted opening time of 1130 and the place was already packed!

Apparently all that social media and having some kind of grand opening special (I believe you got credit dollars if you spent over a $100) really pulled people in.

A couple of things I found out upon arriving; first off, I recognized the really nice young man manning the hosts station from Village Kitchen, and he instantly recognized me. I had to laugh. According to him, the owners of Village Kitchen split up and the former partner decided to open this place. I'm not quite sure if I understood clearly, but I was told that either this is the original chef from VK; which will explain why the food there has gone downhill recently, or some other well regarded chef. Also, I saw a couple of dishes that are basically signature dishes at VK; i.e. the  Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg, which by the way I haven't gotten around to ordering yet. And items from my original visits to VK, that are no longer on the menu there.

The menu is that bright and glossy standard; while you use a secondary menu; with photos that you mark off selected dishes on.

The menu is not very large and one interesting thing that you'll find (only in Chinese) on the menu is that you cana bring your own seafood and have it cooked for you.

Interesting touches abound as rice is served in this metal thermos-tiffin kind of thing.

So, I've been here four times already, eating in twice and doing take-out twice. As you can tell; the Missus loved the leftovers, so while not wanting to go out for dinner, She sent me to get take-out....and do some shopping at TJ's in the same strip mall.

I'll go over the dishes from one that I really enjoyed but is kind of a wild card; then to our most favorite to least favorite in order.

With the interesting name of Fried Pork Fat with Green Pepper ($11.99); I just had to order this. The young man who knew me came over and stage whispered "this is the best dish on the menu". This was awesome....as in heart attack...awesome. If you've ever had Chinese fried pork lard; you'll know what I mean.

A light crispness; gives way to soft fatty...well, fat. It is lovely; this was seasoned perfectly; fermented black beans added that nice salty-savory touch. Slightly, but not overly spicy....this rather old-fashioned homestyle dish; the Missus told me how Her Grandmother made this, seemed decadent. Though I wouldn't have it too often and it doesn't hold up well as leftovers. In other words if you order this....go for it!

Picks:

The Sautéed Beef Tripe with Pickled Radish ($14.99).

I've had this three times. I quickly found that the dishes here aren't overly greasy nor gloppy; which does well in this framework. If you love the symphony of various crunchy textures; from the crisp-briney Chinese celery, to the firm and crisp tripe, and very nice crunchy pickled radish, this one might do well for you. The Missus will even eat this cold. On one of the visits; it wasn't quite as good, lacking in the bright flavors and crispness; but the other three times it did well. A slight amount of spice in this.

One of the dishes that was on the original Village Kitchen menu Hunan Smoked Pork with Dried Long Bean ($15.99).

While ToH doesn't make my favorite version of La Rou; on one occasion it was outstanding as the pork was smokey and not overly hard and chewy and the dried long beans had picked up some moisture and flavor and were perfectly crunchy, intensely flavored, and slightly moist. Still; it's a decent version of this dish, better than what I had at VK when it was on the menu. It does tend toward the saltier side though. On one visit it was quite spicy, on the others just slightly so.

Another good dish if you like "texture" is the Sautéed Dried Tofu with Braised Pig Ear ($14.99).

The slightly soft and chewy dried tofu with the crunchy pig ear....again, it's the Chinese celery that makes this dish adding a palate cleansing element and nice crispness to the dish.

And then our favorite veg; the Country Style Boiled Radish Leaves ($11.99).

We've tried this three times and it would have been four; but they were out of it once. I believe radish leaves are blanched, reducing the bitterness and increasing the mild sweetness. While still crisp it is stir fried with a copious amount of garlic and some chilies. Twice it was wonderful; garlicky, crunchy, pleasantly bitter, just the right amount of heat. Once it was mushy with way too much salt....still this is worth trying.

On the fence:

The time they were our of the radish leaves I ordered the Hot and Sour Chinese Lettuce ($12.99); it's "stem lettuce" also known as celtuce.

Nice crunch, but not much heat, nor sour, just way too much salt.

Pans:

During our first visit we ordered the Braised Beef Shank (way too dry and bland), Pig Ear (super salty), and Tofu with Spices (ditto) - $10.99.

Not great eating; but having this dish made me think that the pig ear and tofu might do well in a stir fry; which led me to order the tofu and pig ear on the net visit.

The House Special Pig Feet ($15.99) was also a non-starter.

Too tough and really salty; this just wasn't pleasant to eat.

Over my visits I've noticed that the food here; while being a bit on the saltier side; is not greasy, and attention is paid to textures.

The place has been very busy on all my visits; yet they've staffed well, though the food might take a while. All the folks working here have been pleasant, if not overly friendly.

The menu is an interesting collection of dishes; which made for an interesting little vignette. On one of the visits; while eating by myself a family; two adults and three adolescent/teen girls were sitting on the table next to me. I watched what they ordered, the girls got Honey Walnut Shrimp, Yangzhou Fried Rice, and jiaozi. The parents got Pigs Feet and Tripe. Ah yes, generations...…..

So now with Spicy Hut down the street; it might be that Mira Mesa might be the place for Sichuan and Hunan; much like it tops Convoy with regards to Pho! Hope they keep getting better!

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St. Suite E2
San Diego, CA 92131
Hours
Mon, Tues, Thurs 1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm
Friday           1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 930pm
Sat - Sun        1130am - 930pm
Closed Wednesdays 

Szechuan Chef-again

mmm-yoso!!! welcomes you reading this food blog over the busy holidays.  Kirk is working on some end of year stuff and Cathy is writing.  

The Mister has a new favorite restaurant.  Three times in December (so far) Szechuan Chef was his number one choice.  I wrote about Szechuan Chef in 2017, 2015  and 2016.  Kirk had an unfavorable post in 2013 and a slightly favorable post in 2017.   

Located in the corner of a strip mall on Convoy Street (Next to Shan Xi Magic Kitchen with It's Boba Time also on the edge of the mall), Szechuan Chef has withstood the test of lasting in San Diego for more than five years.   {noting that on one of our visits here, two busloads of tourists were dropped off for a quick snack at the back tables} 
A hot pot of tea is brought out as you are seated, a rarity these days to have no charge.  We ordered a scallion pancake($2.99) on this visit and it was flavorful, flaky, not oily and freshly made. 
The fish filet ($10.99) was not spicy, nicely garlic-y and had a nice crispness to the breading, even though there was a (non-sticky) sauce covering it. 
 The sizzling chicken ($9.99) was quite nice and provided some vegetables with our meal-garlic, Chinese celery, red and green bell peppers.  This was a pleasant dish.  On our next visit, our same waiter came out and took our order without writing it down (as he had the previous visit).  However, after a while, another waitress was poking him and pointing at us...and he walked over with this little plate of snacks from the liang cai- cold vegetable area, near the cash registers.  He had forgotten to put in our order and asked what the second item was...so we enjoyed the garlicky smashed cucumbers and delicious smoked pork pieces while waiting a bit longer. 
The Westlake Beef Soup ($9.99) was out first and was wonderful.  Minced beef, chicken broth, rice wine, tofu and egg with some scallion.  Simple yet hearty and filling.
 We had ordered a braised yellow croaker with noodle ($14.99) and this turned out to be a great choice. A slightly sweet and tangy/sour sauce complimented the meaty whole fish.  The noodles (which we had never ordered here before) were plump and flavorful, a great accompaniment (instead of rice).  Will order again.  The croaker remnants will someday be part of soup stock.  
 The spicy cumin deep fried fish ($11.99)was my choice the other day.  I really enjoy the spice, heat and fry of this dish here.  The onions, Chinese celery, red and green peppers are complimentary and can be tasted despite the heat of the chile and cumin.
 The 'Spicy Beef in a Pot"($12.99) was great-you could taste the (very tender) beef as well as the vegetables in addition to enjoying the (different from the cumin fish) chile heat.There were lots of leftover chiles.
 We decided to order our own liang cai on this visit (it's $7.99) and enjoyed the garlic cucumbers, smoked pork and tofu sheets (which had a nice sesame oil mix).

Szechuan Chef 4344 Convoy Street San Diego 92111 (858) 279-8881 Mon-Th 11:30-3:00, 4:30-9:30 Fri-Sat 11:00-10 Sun 11:00-9:30

Merry Christmas.....and a preview of an upcoming post....

Time seems to go faster every year.....suddenly it's Christmas again!

As always; we here at mmm-yoso wish you a Merry Christmas and the most happy of holidays!

Hope you get everything you wish for.....

And Santa doesn't leave you hanging....or visa versa!

And as I teased in the title; here's a new one for you. Just recently opened.....

You might want to check this place out.

And if you're feeling especially fat deprived (hard to think of that being the case this time of the year); you might want to try the dish called "Fried Pork Fat".

Interesting story behind this one. Stay tuned.

Taste of Hunan
9880 Hibert St
San Diego, CA 92131

Best wishes for a wonderful and safe Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by!