mmm-yoso!!!

Roadtrip - Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Bistro Na's (Temple City), and Song Long (Westminster)

Recently, the Missus and I was wondering how some of our old favorites were doing in LA and OC. We decided to drive on up and stay the night at the Courtyard by Marriott on Atlantic.

So, we headed on up and arrived at area on Garfield near Garvey just after 11am. And easily found street parking! On a Saturday? What the heck?

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Even though we hadn't been back here in over five years it looks basically the same.

QDBF had long been a favorite of ours for Jiaozi and there's an endearing quality to the place for the Missus. After all, She's from QingDao. She gets a kick from hearing the "Qingdao Hua" (青岛话) - the unique accent of Her home town. And every time we come here we recall the story of my MIL calling the place when the Missus told her that I thought the Jiaozi here rivaled hers! In case you missed it:

"the Missus called Her Mother....and guess what, Her Mother actually called QDBF! Among the things my MIL did find out was that the Owners are from the same neighborhood as the Missus's family. What She didn't find out was the recipe to their Jiaozi dough! Even using small talk and the "La Guan Xi" (doing the buddy-buddy thing) method didn't work. The response to the recipe request? "You come here eat, and we'll tell you the recipe!""

She never did get that recipe.......

Anyway, we ordered the Pork Tongue, the Shrimp, Pork, and Leek Jiaozi, and the Lamb Jiaozi (of course).

We were served glasses of water. Not really paying attention I took a sip....it was boiled water! We cracked up; it's how they serve water in China!

 The pig tongue was as expected, fairly chewy and very porky. Quite typical.

The one thing that has changed over the years at QDBF is the garlic. Garlic is the traditional condiment served with Jiaozi and other dishes in QingDao. Mixed with black vinegar, I always call it the Missus's "little dish of memories". When we first visited, it was done the traditional way, pounded in a mortar and pestle, the bruising releases the oils and flavors, and the garlic is surprisingly rich and mellow. Sadly, on our last visit, it had been minced in a food processor. You may think it's strange, but the flavor and texture is totally different, it's much more bitter in our opinion.

The jiaozi arrived in tandem.

 We quickly noticed that on this visit, the dumpling wrappers were very soft, lacking in the slight "pull" that we enjoy in jiaozi wrappers. The filling of the shrimp, pork, and leek was very moist and actually had a good amount of "soup" in them...very nicely flavored, though a bit short in the shrimp department.

The wrappers on the Lamb Jiaozi was the same.

 But man, that filling was so gamy, moist, juice just poured out of it when I took a bite.

While the wrappers were not "perfect" on this visit, we still have to find jiaozi we like better. It was also quite fun to take this little trip down memory lane. Hopefully we won't wait another five years to return.

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

After lunch we decided to take a stroll and were surprised to see how quiet things were; especially in the shopping plaza on the corner of Garfield and Garvey. Also, most folks we passed were of the older demographic. We hadn't been around here since before Covid and the place seemed to be missing the vitality that we remember. It seems that younger folks have moved on and away from the area, or did the shooting in January of this year have even more of affect of things? We stopped by Ten Ren Tea Time and the Missus got some Oolong for Her collection.

We got to the huge Courtyard by Marriott and was able to check in early. We went and took another stroll across the street to Atlantic Times Square and found that other than AMC, Daiso, and a couple of restaurants, many of the businesses were empty as well. What the heck? This had the Missus wondering how Focus Plaza, i.e. San Gabriel Square was doing. One of the Missus's first jobs waaaay back when was located here. We were shocked to easily find parking and then while walking around.....

Of course, the 99 Ranch Market was going strong. It seemed that all the businesses surrounding this mall was doing good business, so I went online to check and found that the mall will being undergoing renovation starting in August and will be rebranded as TAWA (the owners of 99 Ranch Market) Gateway. Whew.....

We then headed off to dinner. We last visited Bistro Na's on our way back from Monument Valley and Sedona. One Michelin Star Bistro Na's has become a favorite of ours since we first visited back in 2019 and we've revisited half a dozen times since. Though we hadn't been back in over a year.

Unlike where we had visited earlier, Camellia Square and the surrounding area was quite busy.

Bistro Na's:

As always, the service at Bistro Na's was top notch. Sadly, several of our favorite dishes were no longer on the menu. Though our "key" dishes were.

Like the refreshing Chili Tofu Skin.

And the smoky and tender Beijing Style Smoked Duck Breast.

The Crisp Shrimp is a must order here.

 We did notice that the dish has changed since our last visit. The shrimp shells and the shrimp seems to have some coating; like the tofu skin, the portion size is smaller. The shrimp is not quite as delicate as it used to be. But the flavor is still there and the shells and tail are a pleasure to eat.

As for new dishes; well, we ordered the Bittermelon with Pickled Garlic.

This was delici-yoso! Totally suan-tian-ku-la-xian! Sour and mildly sweet tones, tamed the bitterness initially. There's some Sichuan Peppercorn in this to numb you. The bittermelon comes on strong at the end for an interesting finish.

The Intestine with Laba Garlic was not quite at the same level.

The intestine was cooked perfectly, great texture and offal-ly flavors. But the sourness overpowered the dish and that garlic was potent and very bitter. Still, not a bad dish.

We did miss the okra and crispy lamb brisket. Hopefully, those dishes will be back on the menu soon.

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780

We took an after-dinner stroll before heading back to our hotel to relax.

As the sun went down, we looked out at Atlantic Times Square and noticed that many of the residential units seemed empty as well.

The next morning, we were up in the air about where to eat before heading home. I noticed that there was a Dim Sum place in the hotel named Chef Tony.

I did some research and found that Chef Tony is owned by Tony He of Sea Harbour. Hmmm.....while a bit fascinated, our last visit to Sea Harbour was not very good. We decided to pass. Instead, we decided to drop by another old favorite that we hadn't been to in a while, Song Long. In fact, like QDBF, we hadn't been back to Song Long in over five years!

Song Long:

We arrived around 930 on a Sunday and the place was empty when we walked in. The staff looked like they've put on some years as well.

We had to chuckle when the bread was brought to the table.

We ordered our usual; the Cha Ca Thang Long.

 Soon enough the large plate of bun, herbs, and veggies. And of course the Missus enjoys the Banh Trang Me dipping it into the mam nem. As for the Mam Nem, we noticed that it's not quite as potent as it used to be.

But, if we had any reservations about the Cha Ca, those were soon quelled when our sizzling plate arrived.

From the caramelized shallot to the tender fish, which almost had a mild sweetness to it, this was quite good.

The place filled up as we were finishing up our meal.

And though I have another location for Cha Ca in the area on my "list"; this really hit the spot.

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

We enjoyed this little road trip. It was good to know that our "old favorites" were still serving up food that we enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Meanderings - Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodles Opens, Pho Duyen Mai Under New Ownership (?), and What the Heck Happened to Nijiya's Chicken Karaage

A couple of things for a warm Monday.

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodles Opens:

I was driving on Engineer Road when I came across new signage over the shop that used to house Harmony Pot Sticker which closed during Covid and became some kind take out place named Burger Box that served chicken sandwiches, but kept the Harmony sign. 

I drove on into the parking lot to take this photo.

Seems like they just opened a couple of weeks ago. It's been a while since we've had a Yunnan Restaurant in the area, so will be interesting to check out.

Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle
7905 Engineer Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Duyen Mai Under New Ownership?:

My good friend Candice mentioned that the folks from Cross Street Chicken have taken over Pho Duyen Mai! Talk about catching me by surprise! Even though I'd already had lunch, I decided to drive on by.....and things look the same to me.

I'll drop by for some pho soon.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

What the Heck Happened to Nijiya's Chicken Karaage?:

I shop at Nijiya a couple of times a week and will grab a bento or some chicken karaage to have for dinner with some curry/onigiri/etc. The karaage, while not particularly crisp, had decent flavor, and was fine when heated in the toaster oven/air fryer.

So, I was intrigued when I saw this sign.

So, I decided to grab some to try. I thought the color was really pale.

It lacked flavor was not juicy in the least bit and super chewy/hard. I tried it again on another visit and the darn thing wouldn't brown at all, the coating was quite gummy. 

Sigh, another bites the dust. I'll have to stick with the shio koji fried chicken I guess. I spoke to an acquaintance who works at Nijiya part time and she agreed with me saying the karaage was so tough she could barely swallow it.

Sad.

Nijiya Market
3860 Convoy St Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Chen Golden Palace (El Cajon) (Chinese Cuisine)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog, written by friends.  Today, it's Cathy's turn to post.  

Since the onset of Covid-19, The Mister and I have made an effort to patronize local dining establishments.  While doing so, I noticed a pattern arising: the outside signage.

 Can't get much more generic than seeing something like this.  

We had also stopped here (Thai Food) in 2021 and then here (Chinese Fast Food) in 2022, finding some great meals.  Rarely do we 'research' where we are going to eat; we just drive and stop.   There is plenty of common/all inclusive outdoor  signage out there.  Each restaurant does have a formal name.  Chen Golden Palace, located on 2nd Street just south of I-8 in El Cajon, has Yelp reviews starting in 2010.  We've passed it a few hundred times.  Finally we stopped.
 Sure, you could walk up and grab a menu...but walking up and reading the walls can be more fun. 

 Walk to the corner, order and pay.  Have a seat. Condiments are brought out and you can hear the sounds of chopping and stir fry happening in the kitchen.
 Soon, a large bowl of Wor Won Ton Soup ($11.99) was brought out.  Chicken, shrimp and pork filled won tons (dumpling sized) along with a plethora of fresh vegetables made this a great meal in itself.
 Every vegetable was fresh and crisp.  The shrimp were plump, chicken pieces were moist and quite large and the dumplings/won ton were flavor filled. 

 Since this was a first visit, I had to order the Egg Foo Young ($12.99).  The chef here had yet another unique way of preparation.  
 The patties were batter dipped and fried to a crisp brown color, not filled with bean sprouts but instead, cabbage.  Topped with the chicken (you could also order pork or shrimp EFY), ubiquitous peas and carrots and a good (not too salty) gravy, all flavors and textures remained bright throughout the meal.

We will return.  What a great neighborhood place! 

Chen Golden Palace 530 N. 2nd Street El Cajon CA 92021 (619) 442-2541 Open Mon-Sat 11-9:30, Sun 12-8:30 website

Sam Woo-breakfasts

Well, you are here, reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Here's another post by Cathy, who is writing while Kirk and His Missus are busy and not writing. 

In the hallway of the 'original' (to San Diego) 99 Ranch location, is Sam Woo BBQ.  We try to eat a meal before grocery shopping (anywhere) and 99 Ranch is a regular stop.  The last time I wrote about breakfasts here was one year ago, so here's an update. 

 The menu is the same and the price of each item has increased by $1, to $8.50.
 Coffee (accompanied by sweetened condensed milk) remains at 70¢,
 as does the hot tea.

 This is #3, Fried Noodles with Bean Sprouts and Soy Sauce; always satisfying having a crunch for breakfast.  #1 and #2 are also noodle dishes.
 #31, all the way at the bottom of the menu, Fried Rice w/ Lunch Meat, is the only rice offered at breakfast and has a wonderful, smokey 'wok hei' flavor along with the "Spam", egg and peas and carrots.  Sometimes we will order it just to we can take home for lunch. 
 #10, Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup, is quite satisfying.  The dumplings are quite large, with pork and shrimp and the bok choy and egg noodles are satisfying to round out the meal.
 #8, Fish Filet Porridge, is almost always ordered just because it's a comfort-breakfast food. 
 You can order a Chinese Donut ($2), which is made fresh (used to have to run across the hallway to buy one at the 99Ranch steam trays ) and it is freshly fried. 
 Tearing the crisp, airy donut into the porridge brings up the comfort food factor. 

 #23, Roast Duck Lo Mein, is a great savory item.  The herby and savory 'soup' is just perfect for dipping both the duck and the noodles.   
 #24, BBQ Pork Lo Mein, is also a good choice on some days.  It all depends on what you are craving.  

Sam Woo BBQ 7330 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (858) 505-9888 open daily 9-9
 The hot food display window is filled in the morning.  The steam tray choices next to it are 'To-Go' or you can eat at one of the two tables in front of the display.

Soo was here in 2020 and had nice meals.

Takeout From Spicy House

The weather was fairly warm before we left for Taiwan. During one of my shopping trips to Nijiya, for some reason I was craving Sichuan Liang Mian. So, I decided to give Spicy House another takeout try.

Ordering was fast an my food was ready when I was done shopping.

The bag felt pretty hefty and when I opened the Sichuan Liang Mian I knew why.

   My goodness, this was a lot of noodles. I moved the noodles to a large plate, which turned out to be a good idea. Because when I poured the sauce over it there was all this "stuff" on the bottom.

It seems that SH doesn't mix their sauce for takeout orders. They just pour it into the container. The sesame paste, garlic, and ginger was all stuck on the bottom. I needed a spoon to get it on the noodles. Then I mixed it real well.

Well, the noodles were brittle, the overall flavor seemed watered down.

Kinda sad overall. I wish we had some good Sichuan here in San Diego.

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Taipei - The National Palace Museum and Lunch at Dian Shui Lou

Our next destination in Taiwan was to be Taichung. Usually, I'd arrange for transportation and time our arrival to close to check in time at our destination. This time though, there was a little problem. Apparently, there a holiday Qingming Jie (清明节 - "Tomb Sweeping Day") which is big deal in Taiwan. Traditionally, during this period  families visit the gravesites of their ancestors and clean (thus the "sweeping") the sites and present offerings. This was a Saturday and the start of a 5 day holiday weekend where it seems everyone travels. Well, I had a heck of a time arranging transportation and in the end we'd juggle the HSR (High Speed Rail), TRA (Standard Rail), and Private Car hire to get us to our destinations. There were no HSR nor TRA tickets available during regular hours. I finally managed to get us a high speed rail ticket form Taipei to Taichung that left at 545 pm. And our hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage.

So, this gave us more time to explore Taipei. We really wanted to visit the National Palace Museum. There was one item we really wanted to see, the Jadeite Cabbage, dating from the Qing Dynasty, it is probably the most popular item in the museum. In fact, folks I know from Taiwan have called it the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan!

Initially, the Missus wanted to walk the 5 1/2 miles to the museum! But I was kinda bushed from the 12 miles plus we'd walked the previous day and taxis were so reasonable in Taiwan, so I talked Her into getting a cab. Which turned out to be fun. The Missus got some good dining tips from our drivers and some input on the place we had lined up for lunch!

We arrived and paid admission, then headed to where the main treasure(s) of the museum are, only to find that the Jadeite Cabbage was on loan! Oh well, at least got to see this.

Can you guess what it is?

It's called the "Meat Shaped Stone" aka the "Dongpo Rou". Sure does look like it, yeah? Here's the version we had in Hangzhou....

Man, do the Taiwanese have a thing about food or what? So, while we missed the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan, I' dubbed the "Dong Po Rou" the "Venus de Milo of Taiwan"!

All kidding aside, the collection here was amazing.

We were especially impressed with all the jade carvings and vessels. Some were so tiny and of course in keeping with the food theme, see the "eggplant" snuff bottles?

The carvings and designs were so intricate.

There's quite a bit too see here, but we enjoyed the ceramics and jade collection the best.

 Of course, in typical fashion, when there's just too much to see, like when visiting the Louvre, we called it after about 3 hours.

I think the next time we visit, we might arrange for a private or small group tour to get the most out of our visit. After all, we gotta see that Jadeite Cabbage right?

It was time to head off to lunch. During our walk the previous day, we passed a location of Dian Shui Lou, a restaurant that specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang style dishes and also serves Xiao Long Bao. According to the Missus, the poster outside the restaurant indicated that DSL had beaten DTF for best XLB in Taiwan! So, we decided to head off there for lunch.

In the basement of the museum is info desk and the friendly folks there will call taxis for you. When the woman asked where we were headed, the Missus replied "Dian Shui Lou, Huaining Street." The friendly woman told the Missus that her family often goes there for celebration dinners! 

A cab was called for us and we were given the Taxi's number, clearly visible on the vehicle, and instructed where to wait.

Our Taxi Driver this time around was super chatty and was quite enthusiastic about food. In fact, he made a recommendation for Taichung, his daughter lives there, and for a place we'd visit later in the trip. He said he preferred DTF over DSL though.

The restaurant wasn't very busy when we arrived, though it filled up quickly thereafter. I believe folks with reservations were guided upstairs. The decor is quite upscale.

Of course, after seeing "Venus de Milo" we had to order the Dong Po Rou.

 The fat on this was quite velvety, but the meat kind of dry. The flavor was a lot milder, lacking in the sweet-soy, ginger, and slightly pungent tones I'd used to in this dish. It also had a bit too much of a greasy mouthfeel for us as well.

We also ordered the Crab Meat Rice with Egg Yolk.

Lovely looking dish, but the rice seemed to have the texture close to congee which we didn't care for. Not much "crabiness" to this as well. The egg yolk added a touch of velvetiness.

We also ordered the combination Xiao Long Bao. Which in retrospect might have been a mistake.

It's because our favorite was the traditional pork version. First off, the wrappers were too doughy for us, second, some of the dumplings, especially the versions with basil and the shrimp and gourd were really bland. Of course, there was the "19 folds make it better thing"......but as far as we're concerned, you can have 30 folds....if there's a lack of flavor and "soup" and the texture is not to your liking it doesn't really matter, does it? I could go on in detail about each flavor, i.e. the shrimp and gourd didn't have enough "soup" and was really bland, etc......but I won't. I'll only say this wasn't as bad as what we've had here in San Diego. Still, we weren't particularly impressed.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the Bittermelon with Salted Egg.

Nice puckery-astringent taste with the savory-salty flavor of preserved egg. This was quite interesting and satisfying.

We also ordered the Chou Doufu here.

But while being nicely fried; crisp exterior, creamy interior, this was not especially savory and funky.

As a whole this meal was our biggest disappointment of the trip. Still, in terms of damage, at least from the US point of view; at $60 this wasn't too bad.

Dian Shui Lou (Huaning)
No.64 Huaining St
Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100 Taiwan 

And we got to see what I call the "Venus de Milo" of  Taiwan.....

Takeout from Village Kitchen (Again)

I was recently referred to as a "Debbie downer" in the comments section of one of my posts. Which I actually thought was funny. So, perhaps for a change of pace, here's a more "positive" post! 

The Missus hasn't really been wanting Chinese food since we got back from Paris. We found a Sichuan restaurant that served simple, but really enjoyable food. We liked it so much that we ate there three times in two weeks! Go figure. But, on one of our "date night" dinners at EE Nami, we passed Village Kitchen and the Missus stopped as said "maybe we should get takeout from here soon". Which is how I found myself ordering takeout one evening.

The really nice woman who remembers me from when she used to be at Kangxi is Coming was working. She's always been so nice to us and was happy to see me. 

I went and ordered three dishes, two oldies but goodies, and because a favorite of the Missus, the La Rou with Cucumber Skin in no longer on the menu, something a bit different that I saw. The woman told me it "was good to come and order" because of the extra fees involved with online ordering.

In case you're keeping score, from left to right, the first two items are the Preserved Radish Skin with La Rou, the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg, items which we've ordered many times before. On the right is the Baby Bamboo Shoots with Minced Pork.

The Preserved Radish Skin with Hunan Smoked Pork was quite good, perhaps the best rendition we'd had from VK to this date.

Nice crunchy dried radish, with smoky and surprisingly tender La Rou, nicely stir fried, not greasy, decent spice. This was quite nice.

The Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg was my least favorite dish of the evening as I felt it was on the greasy side.

The Missus enjoyed all the pidan hidden under the mashed eggplant.

The big surprise was the Baby Bamboo with Minced Pork.

This dish also featured preserved vegetable, which added a nice sour-salty flavor to the dish. Great earthy-soy flavors with a mild spice, this is a new favorite of ours.

We were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed this takeout meal. We'd been doing takeout from Village Kitchen quite often in recent years and this might have been the best yet.

So, a week later, guess what the Missus wanted? It was indeed "rinse and repeat". And wouldn't you know it, we thought that this was even better than what we'd had previously.

Take a look at the Baby Bamboo dish, man, it was nice and spicy this time around!

   They sure didn't short us on the chilies did they? And more preserved vegetable which just lifted the dish in my opinion. Great smokiness to the dish, perfect amount of soy and sodium flavors.

The eggplant was better this time as well, less greasy, the mashed and melt-in-your mouth eggplant was quite good. There was definitely more spice in this as well. The Missus loved this.

And to top things off, the radish skin with la rou was better as well! There was much more smoked pork this time, the radish skin was so nice and crisp, this was quite enjoyable.

   Not sure who was cooking on this day, but I'm hoping the person will always be there on my visits! And the dishes really brought some heat this time around....maybe it was a new delivery of chilies? The one a sat next to while waiting for my takeout?

We go back a way with Village Kitchen to when they first opened. It seemed like the place had hit a rut for a while and was inconsistent. But while there were differences in the dishes for these two meals, they were both good. Here's hoping that this is how things will be from here on out!

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Taste of Hong Kong Revisited

I had been bugging the Missus to return to Taste of Hong Kong for those Chicken Wings I had enjoyed so much and perhaps we'd find something else on the menu that was tasty. Finally, She gave in and we returned early during a weekday. The place was empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up with families and large parties.

Looking at the menu I was immediately struck by this price change.

Good lord, those chicken wings had gone up two bucks in a month! Sigh-n of the times I guess.

Well, we ended up ordering those wings, some Chinese BBQ and two dishes that the Missus enjoys from Noble Chef. The service is a bit slow, but the folks working are very mellow and nice.

Things started out with the combination Roast Duck and Roast Pork.

 The skin on the Roast Pork was slightly crisp, but the flavor was way too sweet and the flesh was too hard and chewy. The skin on the roast duck wasn't bad, the fat had been rendered nicely, unfortunately this too was quite bland and tough.

We also got the Salted Fish Fried Rice.

The rice was hard, not coated evenly, there were clumps of rice, and the flavor was much too mild.

The Missus also wanted to try the Steamed Pork with Salted Fish. When it arrived the first thought in our minds was "where's the rest of it?"

And then there was that scum from steaming on the top off the pork, it tasted terrible and I quickly scrapped it off. Sadly, this had some definite potential as the pork was very moist and tender, but it was way too mild in flavor, the presentation wasn't very impressive, and of course it was topped off with that scum.

Last to arrive were the wings....which I had enjoyed so much last time. 

These were even more crunchy this time around, though there seemed to be less of that umami-salty-sweet flavor I enjoyed. And, it seemed like the quality of the wings had gone down. The flesh of several wings had dark spots and looked freezer burnt. The wings with the dark flesh were also overly dry. I was so bummed as I had really enjoyed the wings on my previous visit.

It seemed like we had an issue with every dish; which was really sad. I guess I'm not going to be able to talk the Missus into another visit to see if this was just an off night. Though I don't think they'll miss our business as the place was packed when we left.

Taste of Hong Kong
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Sunny Noodle

**** Sunny Noodle is now Spicy Noodle

Of course one of the first stops we made after returning from Hawaii was to Sizzling Pot King for takeout. While in the parking lot waiting, I noticed a newish restaurant in the strip mall named Sunny Noodle. I was a bit curious so I headed on over during a slow weekday to check the place out.

The place is spartan, though clean.

 I noticed that ordering here is done strictly with QR codes, something that I've gotten used to in my travels.

Looking over the menu and the condiments, I made this out to be more Northern style Chinese. Though the menu had a bunch of liang cai, sort of Sichuan cold dishes, and items like yang rou chuanr, lamb skewers, even xiao long bao, which made things confusing. The young lady was very friendly, but when I asked about the region of China where the owners/chef was from she acted a bit coy and said, "it's North, Northern China." I tried to get some clarification, but that's basically all the info I got out of her.

I had basically seen variations of noodle soup and a couple of items that interested me. So, I went with the "House" Beef Noodle Soup($14.99).

   The broth was clear and lacking in beefiness, was overly salty, and pretty "plain". The beef while a bit on the chewy side, had good flavor.

The noodle were hard rather than "springy".

Not quite what I enjoy in Beef Noodle Soup.

I had seen "Beef Wheat Cake" on the menu, which I took to be Xian Bing. When I asked if it was, the young lady seemed quite surprised. So, I ordered 2 at $1.50/piece. 

   You can tell one was pan fried a bit longer than the other. The crusts were hard and chewy; like a good amount of rice flour was used. The beef filling was very tasty though and a good dash of block vinegar helped things along. These were pretty small overall.

A couple of days after my meal, I heard that Candice had dropped by, so I sent her a text asking if she knew what region the owners were from. And to my surprise, it was Dōngběi! Well, maybe the lamb skewers.....but no suan cai, we still make several batches a year, and rice noodles for the soups, and what about the XLB? On the positive side, Candice identified two items she had eaten at Sunny Noodle and thought were decent. So I returned armed with that information.

Unfortunately, they were out of one of the recommended items, the Mixed Smoked Meat. They did however have the Spicy Beef Tripe ($8.99) which I would have never thought to have ordered in a Dongbei Cai restaurant.

This was by far the best item I had from Sunny Noodle. The tripe was light and crunchy, while it wasn't overly spicy. there was a nice refreshing component to the dish, along with all the wonderful cilantro that worked in perfect harmony.

In need of another dish, I went with the Leek-Pork-Shrimp Jiaozi. It's kind of funny, 12 dumplings for $14.99.....welcome to todays pricing where each dumpling costs almost a buck-and-a-quarter.

Actually, these were not bad, even though I got the Beef-onion instead of what I ordered.. The wrappers were a bit on the brittle side, in need of a bit more "pull". A couple of them had burst during the cooking process. This caused the fillings of the dumplings to become "waterlogged" during the boiling process.

The fillings, while a bit on the salty side were tender, juicy, and full of flavor if a bit on the salty side. The black vinegar helped balance everything out. Not bad.

My meals at Sunny Noodle were interesting; it's basically a hands-off business, you order via QR code, your food is dropped off along with the check, and then you pay. Actually, in these "days" of Covid, I don't mind that at all. I was the only customer in the shop during both of my visits, though there was a steady stream of takeout orders heading out the door.

I'm not sure if I'll return anytime soon, but it was nice trying someplace new for a change.

Sunny Noodle
8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Currrent Hours:
Daily 11am - 830pm

Crazy Duck

Back at the end of May, I read about a new "fast-casual" concept restaurant specializing in Roast Duck opening in Poway named Crazy Duck. We really enjoy roast duck, but Poway, man, that's over 20 miles away and with gas prices and such..... Well, I wasn't sure. But then I read Soo's post on the place and decided to check them out. So, back in July I made the 45 minute drive to the mall in Poway. Nestled between the combo of Jamba Juice-Chipotle and Pizza Studio-Starbucks-Baskin Robbins is Crazy Duck. 

I saw several roast duck hanging in the typical case as I walked in.

The place is very clean and spacious, during my visits it was a cashless process. It does look very "fast-casual".

Though the prices for the roast duck were not. It was $19.99 for a half duck in July of last year which is what I got.

I made the 45 minute drive home and the Missus and I set about to sample the duck immediately.

Sadly, this was a bust. The skin was rubbery and measures to "resuscitate" said epidermis failed. The meat was dry and tasteless and there was no "jus" to help support things. After the drive, the gas, and time...well, to say I was disappointed is an understatement.

And there was no way the Missus wanted to make an effort to actually drive to Crazy Duck and dine in. And so the photos sat........there were several moments where I was just going to delete the photos, but somehow I didn't. This is one of those situations where I felt a second visit was necessary if I was going to actually do a post. And so, I basically just sat on those photos. Then, at the beginning of December, Calvin wanted to meet for lunch. And even though he'd also had rather mediocre duck from CD, he was a good enough sport to agree to have lunch there. The one condition? "Let's have some duck, but not order a whole or half."

As of this visit, a half duck was now $20.99.

And the menu had been really expanded with a some noodle dishes, dumplings, including xiao long bao, and other items. 

We were told that the noodles were hand made, so we decided to order a couple of noodle soups and some sides. And because we were dining in, we were told to help ourselves to the "soup bar".

We both got hot and sour soup, which was quite salty, gloppy, and too much white pepper, though it hit it on the head in terms of "fast food hot and sour soup".

Calvin and I got some extra bowls and split the noodle soups. The Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, while not being spicy was the better of the two.

While the beef was on the tough side, the broth had some good beefiness, soy, anise, and other spices. Plus, the sodium was under control here. It was a heck of a lot better than what I'd last had at Formoosa. The noodles were a bit on the brittle side, but was not bad. In this case, the broth is what made this NRM.

The Duck Noodle Soup was interesting.

  The noodles were the same as the NRM. The duck was much better this time around; you can tell by the color, there as much more five spice flavor and the meat, while on the tough side had taste. The skin was still a bit rubbery for my taste, but the fat had been rendered nicely. This was a definite improvement.

The broth was almost a watery tonkotsu-like bone broth that really lacked flavor or richness. It was a bit of a "head scratcher" for the both of us.

We also got the version of Smacked Cucumbers.

Which had a good amount of garlic and a nice crunch, but was pretty mild overall.

We also got the Spicy Won Tons.

We both enjoyed the won tons, the wrappers had that nice balance of "pull" and tenderness and the pork filling was well seasoned. The "sauce" was on the "gravyish" side, not very spicy, but super salty. Those won tons were good though!

So, overall it seems that the duck is getting better, though the food is mixed bag. I do like this ownerships other restaurant Taste of Hunan, but it's a totally different style of Chinese cuisine. Perhaps if/when gas prices come down, I'll make the trek out to Poway again.

Crazy Duck
13487 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Sun - Tues, Thurs 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat 11am - 9pm
Closed on Wednesday

You can read Soo's post here.