mmm-yoso!!!

Sieu Sieu BBQ Revisited

Recently, the Missus was wanting some roast duck. All the usual suspects came to mind. But, for some reason, I was wondering how Sieu Sieu BBQ was doing. We used to go to Sieu Sieu back when they were in Linda Vista and our last visit was back back in 2018, my does time fly. And so I headed on over to Sieu Sieu.

Much has changed since the days of Covid. There's no more noodle soup on the menu nor is there a dine in option. These days it's all takeout.

It was quite interesting as I arrived right at opening time on a Sunday and there were actually two "old timers"....well, I probably qualify as an "old timer" these days....ahead of me. It was interesting to see what they ordered.

The two of them ordered the roast pork and the pickled mustard greens.

So, I got some roast pork, cut to order, and mustard greens, along with a half duck.

When I got home and decamped what I had bought. Well, I liked the mustard greens, but the Missus didn't appreciate the slight sweetness. I also noticed that there was pork intestine in this. A great bonus for me, but if you're not into it...well....

For me, this is wonderful side dish.

As for the Roast Pork. Well, it was so tender and juicy, full of flavor. But we didn't care for the way it was chopped.

Since part of the enjoyment of Chinese roast pork is the skin, and because it been obliterated into fragments when chopped, we could not enjoy the porky crunchiness of the pork. I'd also advise you to eat this in a timely manner as it gets drier and tougher over time. If they would chop this in a more thoughtful manner, it would be a real winnah!

As for the roast duck.

    Well, the flavor was on the milder side. The skin kind of rubbery. It did better brushed with the jus and put into our air fryer. It was, as with many versions of roast duck these days, very meaty, but quite dry. 

Well, it was great following those "old timers" here. That roast pork was really good, if they'd just chop it right. As for the duck; well, I'll just move on. Still, it was nice revisiting Sieu Sieu after all these years.

Sieu Sieu BBQ
7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Tues - Sun 930am - 630pm
Closed on Monday

Road Trip - Array 36 (Temple City)

Way back in March, the Missus had requested a specific road trip. We'd be taking our time to our destination. We first stayed in Carlsbad and had a fine dinner at Jeune et Jolie, after our morning coffee and some breakfast we headed to the SGV. As usual, we stayed the night at the Courtyard at Monterey Park and had made reservations for a restaurant in Temple City. I know what you're thinking, "sigh, is Kirk going to do yet another post on Bistro Na's?" Well FOYs, I'll give you a break from that for now, ok? I had read about a restaurant that opened in Temple City in October of last year. The place had Shanghainese influenced dishes along with an $98 Roast Duck dish carved tableside, which had to be ordered ahead of time. I'd read that the renovation of the restaurant, named Array 36 cost over 3 million dollars, with the goal of setting a new level of fine dining for Chinese cuisine in Los Angeles. So, of course we had to try things out.

I made reservations for 5pm, right when the place opened. 

As we entered, the haunting moodiness of the restaurant engulfed us. 

There's a huge hologram of a whale projected on the wall. It's quite a trippy scene.

We looked over the menu and placed our order. Soon enough, a serving of Kai Wei Cai, those little before meal snacks that are supposed to "open up the stomach" arrived.

The beans were quite nice; but it was the pungent-sour-mildly spicy laba garlic that we enjoyed. This was a great start to the meal.

Of course we needed to try the duck. There as no way we'd be able to finish a whole duck, so no "flaming fowl", the tableside torched and carved duck. No we went with the half roast duck ($68).

 
Which came with all the standard accessories. The fat had been rendered nicely, but the skin was not as crisp and delicate as we like. The flavor was quite mild and the meat tough and dry.

The dan bing, those "pancakes" one enrobes the duck and  accoutrements with were large, thicker then we like and on the chewy side for our taste.

There's a version of Dragon Well Shrimp on the menu, something we really love. We still talk about the wonderful version we had all those years ago at Jiangnan Restaurant in Beijing. It's called Stir Fried River Shrimp on the English menu. We got a small order which was $58.

Man, this was bad. The shrimp was overcooked and tough, was too salty, and lacked depth of flavor. 

We also ordered the House Special Smoked Plank Pork ($28).

The pork was on the chewier side of the scale, a bit too sweet for our taste, but heck, this was Shangainese influenced so that makes sense. Mild smokiness, decent pork tones. Not bad.

The last dish would prove to be a winnah! The Beef Fried Rice with Black Truffle ($22).

This was quite possibly the best fried rice I'd had in a while. While there was just a wisp of black truffle flavor; the rice was perfectly cooked and coated, the seasoning a nice balance of salt and savory. 

At least the meal ended on a high note. The service as excellent, the interior a world of it's own. But in the end, it's about the food, and sorry to say, in spite of watching that hologram whale swimming on the wall across us, I don't think the dinner was worth the $200 price tag.

Array 36
5449 Rosemead Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Road Trip - Happy Duck House (City of Industry)

After our stay in Buellton and having lunch at Bell's, we decided to stay the night in our old 'hood of Rowland Heights. We'd do some shopping, do takeout from Mountain House, and then have dinner in the area. One of the places I'd read about over the last couple of years was Happy Duck House, which had opened on Gale just west of Fullerton Road back in around 2015. After all our previous meals on this trip, the Missus would be wanting some Asian cuisine, so we thought this would do.

We had early reservations and the place was pretty mellow when we arrived.

After perusing the menu, we went with the Peking Duck three ways ($89), Duck Wings ($6.95), and some stir fried Ong Choi ($16.95). Yes, this wasn't going to be a cheap dinner.

Soon enough the accoutrements arrived and all looked well.

Then the Duck Feet, which were supposed to be seasoned with five spice.

 I say supposed, because this was very lightly seasoned. When highly flavored it's fun gnawing on "ducky" goodness, but this was strangely bland.

The duck skin arrived soon after.

 The dan bing, the pancakes to wrap the duck in was really good, great texture, nice and warm.

The duck skin however was not. The skin was on the rubbery side, the subcutaneous fat had not been rendered, and it lacked flavor, as did the duck meat which was also dry. This was strangely one of the blandest versions of Bei Jing Kao Ya we've ever had!

We each made one "wrap" and just quit.

We ended up taking the meat and the "skin" home, where I went and made fried rice with the meat, adding in a bit of the skin which I crisped up. As for the rest of the skin, I went ahead and brushed the skin with a combination of melted duck fat and five spice and did the air fryer thing, which helped a bit.

We loved the texture of the Bean Sprouts with Duck Meat.

The texture of the Bean Sprouts were excellent, they obviously know how to stir fry. However, there just wasn't enough duck meat to make a difference in flavor. The meat was tough and bland and they should have just used most of what was provided for the wrap to bump up the flavor here.

The one item that we really enjoyed was the Ong Choi which was stir fried to perfection.

This was the one dish that was seasoned well, enough salt and white pepper to enhance the slightly sweet-bitter vegetal flavor of the water spinach. The texture was just perfect, crisp, yet tender.

The last dish out was the Duck Bone Soup, which, like the preceding duck dishes was severely under seasoned and watery.

This was quite thin and in need of more flavor.

Overall, the service was quite good, but while the Ong Choi was excellent, the name of the place is Happy Duck House, not Happy Ong Choi House. And the duck dishes were all disappointing.

Well, at least we tried the place out. You can't win 'em all......

Happy Duck House
18210 East Gale Ave.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
  

Zhengxin Chicken Steak (Convoy), a Quick Look

This was just a spur of the moment stop, but I thought I'd share it with you all.......

We were driving down Convoy, when I noticed that Zhengxin Chicken Steak, which I had just noticed last month had opened! I'd neither heard nor read anything about that. I pointed the place out to the Missus who knew it was a major chain from China and since that crazy parking lot (actually, most of the parking lots on Convoy fit that category these days as the bike lanes have diminished street parking) was barely half full. It wasn't meal time, but the Missus wanted to have a look.

As we entered, I pointed out the menu behind the counter, with all the fried goodies, but the Missus was focused on something else.

All the skewers.... The young man working was so very nice and explained that the skewers were fried up and the special "seasoning powder" was used on them.

We decided to order a couple as a "snack". I was told about a 6-7 wait, so I had a seat, only one table was occupied at this off hour, while the Missus went to check out Iceskimo next door.

When my order was ready, the young man actually walked out and handed it to me! Such a nice guy. He also asked if we wanted "extra powder". I told him that we'd try things out as ordered and if we liked it we'd be back. He laughed and said "I hope you enjoy it!"

And so, arriving home for our afternoon snack. We had ordered Chicken Skin (of course), Gizzards, Lamb, all priced at $1.99 and a Chicken Wing, which I thought was strangely priced at $5.99, but was huge.

The scent of cumin was clearly present.

I had thought that the Chicken Skin wouldn't hold out on the drive home, but it was still pleasantly textured, the powder has a bit of smoky-mild spice, and we really enjoyed it. It just carried the flavor of the spices well.

The lamb was gamey, cuminy, and fairly tender, quite good. The spices really came thru well on the crunchy-poultry-fried gizzards. While the Missus enjoyed the huge wing, I thought it a bit on the tough side and somewhat bland. Though it could be that I had the lamb right before trying the wing. At $5.99, I'll probably pass on that in the future.

And I agree with the young man; some extra seasoning powder would be nice; especially since none of this was especially salty.

This was a nice, pleasant surprise. We really didn't expect much from yet "another chain", but we like the flavoring and the service was wonderful. I'll return to try the "chicken steak" soon; though I don't think the Missus will want to deviate from the skewers. 

I know, I usually do multiple visits before doing a post, but this was a pleasant surprise so I thought I'd share it with you. So, hopefully you don't mind a post on Zhengxin Chicken "stick".

And, if you do drop by Zhengxin Chicken Steak, let me know what you think!

Zhengxin Chicken Steak
4609 Convoy St. #C
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Meanderings - Juewei Coming to Convoy, SotBBQ Replacing Olleh Sushi, and Recently Consumed

We're recently back from yet another Road Trip and I needed to do my rounds this past weekend. Driving around Kearny Mesa I noticed a few new places.

Juewei Coming to Convoy:

I actually drove into Plaza del Sol on Convoy to see what was going on with China Max and noticed a new sign. Right next to Bonchon was this signage.

Whoa, could it actually be? We had been to Jue Wei Kitchen in San Gabriel for the duck neck, pig's feet, etc.......

So, just before typing this up I dropped by Eater San Diego and according to their post, it is true. Get ready for some spicy duck neck, pig ears, tripe, and all kinds of braised goodies!

4690 Convoy St #103
San Diego, CA 92111

SotBBQ Replacing Olleh Sushi:

While driving East on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, I noticed another new sign. This one for something called SotBBQ? This is in the plaza where the original location of Menya Ultra is located.

Less than two years ago Olleh Sushi replaced Old House Hot Pot, and before that it was Uniboil, which replaced Beauty Hunan, which replaced Szechuan Taste! Man, is this location cursed or what?

Well, we'll see how this works out.

8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

And finally.......

Man, this past weekend was a hot one, huh?

I really didn't want to work too hard at cooking and with the post 4th of July folks still crowding things....man, was the Little Italy Mercato packed. I couldn't find any parking at my usual spots and had to actually get metered parking!

Anyway, just to get a bit silly here, we had stuff from the farmers market; great tomatoes from Andrew at Indian Summer Farms, Fuerte Avocados from another stand. We had gotten a nice sourdough loaf from Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop, perfect for sandwiches, and so forth.....

For a light lunch I made an Avocado - Tomato Toast, with lardons of bacon and feta.....

And for lunch yesterday, it was a Watermelon-Bacon-Feta Salad with tomato, basil, cilantro micro greens, and butter lettuce.

Nice and refreshing.

What have you been eating to "beat the heat"?

Hope everyone has a great week!

Slurp (Liberty Station)

Recently, I was in the Liberty Station area, where in all honesty I don't spend much time these days since the Missus prefers the sourdough at Secret Sister to Con Pane. But here I was close to lunch time and I decided to get some lunch on this day. Initially my thoughts were on hitting up Latin Chef again or even the location of Chris' Island Grinds at this location, but really, I'd been there and done that.

Instead I had heard about a fast-foodish stand in the Public Market called Slurp and the Duck Noodle Soup. So, I went and located the stand.

Which was quite interesting as there was another stand named Slurp Taiyaki and Ramen in the food court, but it was the "true" Slurp that I actually wanted.

You see, I had an acquaintance mention one item on the menu they enjoyed, the "Roast Duck Slurp", basically duck noodle soup. There's a bunch of Chinese-Thai dishes on the menu, but that was what was recommended and that's what I ordered.

Which after ordering ($16) soon arrived in a nice tight package. This being a rather quiet day, I took it outside and proceeded to see what it was about.

 I appreciated the way things were packed though I told the woman I'd be eating this close by. There were containers of spicy vinegar and a decent chili oil (which I used) included in my package.

I found a nice al fresco space to have my meal.

And unpacked things. First impressions....well, that broth was scalding hot, the portion size was quite generous as it was more than would fill the bowl of ingredients.

The broth was decent, nice very mild flavor of duck, five spice, white pepper, not overly salty. Nothing amazing mind you, but better than I expected.

Poured into the container with the duck, veggies....well, veggies was broccoli, and noodles left almost one fourth of the broth leftover.

   Which led to an interesting concoction. The duck was breast, quite lean, a bit more chewy then I enjoy, with a touch of five spice seasoning, not bad at all. The fried shallots added a nice savory and crunchy texture. The broccoli really gave off "Panda Express" vibes but at least I got some veggies.

Sadly, the egg noodles were overcooked and mushy.

This was an interesting visit. Is this the future of food court cuisine here, which ain't terrible? But yet, it isn't great.....well, perhaps that's the definition of what they want the food here to be.

Slurp
2820 Historic Decatur Rd.
San Diego, CA 92106
Current Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat        11am - 830pm

Tim Ky Noodle Revisited

Recently, I was craving some Beef Sate with Egg Noodles "dry" (Mì Bò Sa Te Kho) and since I was in the office, I decided to head on over to Tim Ky, which used to be a fairly regular stop for me back in the day. Strangely, while I had done takeout from Tim Ky during Covid, I hadn't actually eaten in the place since back in 2019! A revisit was long overdue!

And since all these noodle shops open fairly early, I could roll on in for a 10am "lunch".

There's some construction going on in the parking lot and the shops look like they've got some new signage. There's now a menu outside the restaurant, I'm guessing to help folks do takeout, but the interior looks basically the same.

Another thing that's not the same (of course) are the prices. The Beef Sate Egg Noodle is now $15.69. I remember when it was less than seven bucks.

My dish arrived very quickly.

  And I proceeded with my "standard process" of mixing the dish to my satisfaction. I quickly noticed that there wasn't any "sauce" at the bottom of the bowl, it was merely a touch of sate sauce squirted over the egg noodles. This was not nearly enough to coat all the noodles and would not provide enough of that savory-nutty-pungent flavors for the dish. I ended having to add a rather large amount of the broth on the side to the bowl creating more of a soup, which kind of defeats the purpose of things. Also, the broth was quite MSG heavy, but at least wasn't bland. It was good in a soup spoon with a slice of meat and onion in it. The noodles were also undercooked and hard as well.

The meat was adequately tender and nicely coated, but the overall dish really didn't have that shalloty-garlicky-savory-lemongrassy-mild spice I enjoy. 

Needless to say, I was disappointed. Sigh.....

Which led me to wonder if this was the norm? So, I decided to head on back over and try one of the more "basic" items from the menu. When I arrived, the old timers were going full blast in the parking lot.

At the restaurant I had a bit of a dilemma; what to get won ton noodle soup or the dumpling noodle soup. Well, luckily all of these "Mi" places have combo, the Won Ton & Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($14.79). Which is what I got.

 The was a definite difference in the soup, it was way lighter and thinner than what I'd had here in the past, really lacking in savory tones; more like white pepper-salt water. There were 2 won ton and 3 dumplings....yes, I counted. The wrappers were very soft and tender; really enrobing the fillings. In fact, doesn't the won ton look like brain matter?

   The fillings, while being more chewy than I recalled, as nicely flavored, porky, hints of seafood, sesame oil, and so forth.  The char siu was hard and very tough and weak in the sweet-porkiness I enjoy.

The noodles this time around had just the right amount of crunchy-al dente pull for me.

This wasn't bad, but that soup was on the weak side. Hmmmm.....is this how things are these days?

Perhaps it was time for me to "make the rounds" and find out?

Tim Ky Noodle
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Daily 9am - 8pm

Taipei - Kao Chi Xinsheng Restaurant

On the way back from our Tea of Taipei tour, our driver/guide started asking about what we had enjoyed eating in Taiwan. Of course we mentioned Lu Rou Fan, Turkey Rice, and how I could not get enough pork chops! And inevitably, the subject of Xiao Long Bao came up. We mentioned going to the original location of Din Tai Fung on Xinyi Road which got a nice nod. Then he quickly asked if we'd been to Kao Chi. Kao Chi? Both the Missus and I had never heard of the place. He then wove us a story of how Kao Chi was started by Kao Su-mei (高四妹) 8 years before Din Tai Fung, back when DTF's owner was still only selling cooking oil. And Kao Chi should have been the famous Xiao Long Bao, but there came a moment when some international news outlet; I couldn't find much to corroborate my story except this, the owner of DTF got the interview instead and the rest, like they say is history. 

You know how much we like a good story! We decided to head to Xinsheng South Road, where the restaurant had moved from it's original location on Yongkang Street and check things out.

It's a nice, bright, and modern storefront. There's a case in front of the shop selling snacks. The restaurant is definitely not as packed in as DTF, more relaxed, and the Missus told me that the customers seemed to be overwhelmingly Taiwanese.

The Missus placed our order which soon started arriving. 

We had enjoyed all the veggies in Taiwan and when we saw white bittermelon on the menu we had to order that.

We loved the texture of this; slightly firm, yet tender. And for some reason, at least to us, white bittermelon while still being quite "puckery" is not a strongly bitter as the green species. 

And of course, we had to get the Pork Xiao Long Bao.

   So, how did this match up? Well, the wrapper was not as tender and more brittle than what we'd had at DTF. The "soup", the aspic based liquid was porky and flavorful. The filling was tender, though not quite as flavorful as DTF in our opinion. Though, it could be that having been to several locations of DTF around the world we've been indoctrinated?

What we really did enjoy was the Shen Jian Bao.

The buns arrived in a metal pan and really didn't look too impressive. But, with a slight adjustment of turning them over.....

At first glance, the tops didn't seem to be as fluffy as we'd prefer our SJB, but we were surprised when biting into them. The dough had a nice mild sweet-savory-yeastiness and that pan fried bottom really added to the textural contrast.

The filling was moist, slightly soupy, tender, porky goodness.

We'd gladly have this again!

Kao Chi Xinsheng Restaurant
No. 167號, Section 1, Xinsheng S Rd.
Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Man, we were so sad that our tirip to Taiwan was coming to an end. We'd be leaving in the morning. We decided to take a longer walk back to the hotel, walking all the way to Chongqing South Road. And this is where we came across one last, wonderful, surprise!

Stay Tuned!

Qin West Noodle (UTC) Revisited

My visits to Marugame had me wondering how Qin West was doing. They are basically neighbors at UTC. On both of my Marugame visits, I noticed how empty Qin West looked. Or perhaps it was just that Marugame was so busy? Since it had been over 2 years since my visits to Qin West, I made a mental note to do a revisit. And then proceeded to forget about it! Until a couple of weeks ago, when "M" was in the office. We were talking about Marugame, "M" lives in the UTC area and is originally from the Shanghai area. She mentioned Qin West, telling me their family gets takeout from there on a weekly basis! When I asked her what her favorite dishes were; she didn't mention any of the Shaanxi style dishes, but instead named some of the spicier, Sichuan leaning dishes. Quite a surprise for me! The next day I decided to order takeout from Qin West and looked online since the place is pretty much a fast-casual restaurant. I took a look at the online ordering options; and even though "No Service Fee" is indicated, things seemed somewhat expensive. So, I decided to drive on over and place my takeout order in person.

Walking in, I went and tried to use the QR code ordering process, but it didn't work. The guy working the counter told me to come over and place my order. And yes, I was correct about the prices. Each item was over $2 more expensive when ordering online!

I was told to return in 15 minutes to pick my order up. So, I took a loop around the mall, then returned. Qin West has an interesting way of announcing when your order; whether doing takeout or dining in, they use a megaphone to announce your number. The one issue being, is that sometimes they only announce the number in Mandarin! Which is what happened in the case of my takeout order. After waiting around ten minutes after returning to the restaurant, I walked over and displayed my receipt. Guess what? One of the items that arrived at the counter while I as waiting was my order! You gotta love it!

Anyway, I got the Stir Fried Spicy Chicken and the Liang Cai Combo.

When "M" described the Stir Fried Spicy Chicken ($16.25 - $18.75 with online ordering) I thought it was going to be like La Zhi Ji, but this was indeed stir-fried.

As you can tell, the portion size was pretty large. It was indeed spicy with both dried and fresh chilies used to deliver the heat. The chicken was on the tougher side, but what we (the Missus tried leftovers)  didn't enjoy was how salty this dish was. It was sodium overload.

I had recalled enjoying two-thirds of the Cold Dish - Liang Cai Combo before, so decided to order that as well. Man, two years ago, this was $14.75; it's now $19.75, what is that, like over a 30% increase in price. And just think, if you ordered this online for pick-up, it would be $21.95!

In case you don't believe me.

 It was a very large portion! Though you can see how thick the kitchen is slicing the tendon and pork ear now. Eating some of the pieces of tendon was like trying to bite into your flip-flops! The pig ear was crunchy and manageable. The smacked cucumbers were better than what I'd had here previously, with a decent amount of salt. The chili oil based sauce wasn't quite as spicy as I recalled and it had a hint of sweetness and more soy sauce, which wasn't a bad thing.

The Missus enjoyed the cucumbers.

This was an interesting visit, especially when looking at prices. I know that folks have recommended the fried rice and the shredded potatoes ("tudou si"), and I did enjoy the Yang Rou Pao Mo, so I'll probably return in a couple of months.

Though I'm wondering what prices will be like then?

Qin West Noodle
4353 La Jolla Village Drive (In UTC)
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 845pm

Saturday Stuffs - The Burger Joint Replacing SuperNatural Sandwiches and Zhengxin Chicken Steak Coming to Convoy

Just a couple of things for a typical San Diego "June gloom" Saturday.

The Burger Joint Replacing SuperNatural Sandwiches:

While heading back to the office after picking up lunch yesterday, I noticed new signage was up on the now former location of SuperNatural Sandwiches, so I took a quick detour into the parking lot.

 Well, so that gentleman I ran into while checking out what was going on here back in April was right. The location is turning into a burger and beer shop. I cracked up when I noticed "smashburgers" on the sign. I guess smashburgers are this year's birria or K(orean) f(ried) c(hicken)?

As I was leaving the parking lot I noticed the signage on the side of the shop. Both for the Burger Joint and also the Pizza Joint, which is also in this mall. I'm guessing the folks from the Pizza Joint is taking over this space?

Sad to see SuperNatural's run come to an end; after all, I'd been a customer from the days in the San Diego Public Market, but things were not quite the same, at least to me, after new ownership took over. So perhaps this change is for the best.

7094 Miramar Rd. #122
San Diego, CA 92121

Zhengxin Chicken Steak Coming to Convoy:

While driving back from Nijiya this past Sunday, I noticed new signage in the former location of Mochinut on Convoy, so I turned into the parking lot and took a look and a photo.

I made a mental note to check things out online, but didn't need to after reading this on Eater San Diego. According to the post, Zhengxin Chicken Steak has more than 20,000 outlets!

I'm surprised this didn't open at UTC!

4609 Convoy St. #C
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!