mmm-yoso!!!

Oahu - Waialua General Store and Dole Plantation

Before our last trip "back home", the Missus gave me some "guidelines" and places She wanted to check out. It was kinda strange because some of the places were major tourist spots. But in retrospect, it ended up being fun, because when I lived in Honolulu, we would never go to these places unless we had visitors. But heck, having left the islands a quarter of a century ago, I'm just a tourist these days too right?

One of the places was Dole Plantation. Yeeesh, the last time I was here was with the Missus, back in the late 90's. For me, "Dole" is the cannery in Kalihi, but this ended up being a nice drive to Wahiawa.

For me this was mostly a bunch of shops and stuff.

Coming from the grandson of immigrants who worked for Maui Pine; this seemed more about selling stuff than telling the story of those who worked. After all, my first job was picking pineapple over the summer.

I did enjoy seeing who was "really" in charge.

For those that don't know. You don't mess with the chickens here. There's a real "pecking order" (sorry, couldn't help it) in place. Even the cats know.....

The Missus did enjoy shopping here.

And She ended up buying a really cute bag.

Dole Plantation
64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy.
Wahiawa, HI 96786

In some ways, I really enjoyed driving here. In a previous life I did frozen food delivery. Being the low man on the "totem pole", my route was places like Whitmore Village. Heck, I used to deliver to the Iroquois Point Naval Exchange in Ewa Beach! This is why I always picture "that" Ewa Beach when we're there visiting my In-Laws! 

There was a place I had been wanting to check out near the North Shore. After a short discussion, the Missus and I decided to head on up to Waialua to get some poke at Waialua General Store. From what I recall the town was home to a major sugar mill back in the day.

The little shop in a strip mall, before you get to the "North Shore" kind of stuffs is quite low key. They do a lot of Filipino BBQ and such, but I just wanted some poke.

I could not believe the prices! The woman was so friendly! We got a "bowl" with the Hawaiian Style (aka Limu) and the Secret Spicy Poke. We were kind of hungry and were told to just head over to where the owner's husband was grilling things to sit and eat.

We walked over and the gentleman doing the grilling told us to have a seat. There were several "old timers" (like me) there and I had a blast "talking story" with them.

As for the food; the Missus also got Seaweed Salad, can't tell you about that 'cause I don't like it, and pickled mango which was quite good.

As for the poke, the quality of the fish was decent, wish there was more limu in the Hawaiian style, the secret to the "spicy" was kimchi, but this was still better than what I get here in San Diego. The Missus was hoping for a brown rice option, but c'mon, really?

This was quite good!

I was having a great time chatting with the "old timers"; about how things have changed, what it's like living in SoCal and then coming back home. And then it happened. The gentleman grilling  pulled off two skewers and told us; "here this is for you"! For real? My first thought was to turn him down, after all you want them to make some money or offer to pay....but you just don't do that here, that would be an insult. It was such a beautiful gesture.

The glaze had a nice sweet-salty-sour balance. Nice porkiness, fairly tender meat, it was quite good. The folks here were so friendly....like very old school style. We loved it. In the end I took a spare Hamilton and went into the shop and put it into the tip jar. The woman told me "eh, no need", but I said "no, I need".

This kind gesture made our day; the food was good, I loved the "small town vibe", if you want true Aloha Spirit here it was, or more precisely "lokomaika'i", to be generous, which is what the folks here were. It just puts you in the right frame of mind.

Waialua General Store
67-272 Goodale Ave.
Waialua, HI 96791

It was a wonderful day.

Dinner was, of course Jiaozi!

And after dinner we strolled on over to the beachfront in Ewa Beach.

It was a beautiful evening.....

And for a moment, all seemed right in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

Revisits - HFS at Centerpark Labs, Sue's Korean Kitchen, Ngon Ngon to Go, and Tenkatori

So, I've noticed something about many of the places I head to during lunch. I get into the office rather early and start getting hungry at 10am or so. I also don't care much for crowds. Thus, I've developed a habit of heading to places that open a bit earlier than the usual 11am start time. Also, for these takeout visits, I usually don't stray too far afield.

Having done multiple posts on all of these places, I thought I'd just do a "COMC" (Clearing Out the Memory Card) post.

HFS at Centerpark Labs:

A regular stop on the rotation since my first visit back in August of 2020, HFS has since moved their retail location. It's still a stop when I want decent poke here in San Diego. And they've become quite popular. Heck, there were folks waiting at ten minutes before the opening time on this day.

For lunch I'll usually get the medium poke bowl with brown rice ($19) and can usually get out quite quickly. I stay with the ahi choices here. Not a fan of the salmon and stuff.

On this day it was the "Pearl Harbor", which had some good spice and the Shoyu Ahi which had a better quality of fish; quite tender and creamy.

It's still my first choice for poke in San Diego.

HFS at Centerpark Labs
6835 Flanders Dr.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Thurs - Tues 10am - 8pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm

Sue's Korean Kitchen:

I've done a number of posts on Sue's since I first visited back in 2021. I like that they open at 10am and basically stick with one item on the menu, the Kimchi Fried Rice ($12.99). Though I've encountered "shrunken portions" at times, on my last two visits, things seem back to normal.

And though I've encountered "mushy rice syndrome" on a couple of visits, that was not the case this time around.

A nice Spam-i-fied, mildly spicy, fermented, carb load. The woman here cracks me up as she seems to remember me and what I order!

Sue’s Korean Kitchen
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd. Suite 109
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 10am - 9pm

Ngon Ngon Food to Go:

Ngon Ngon might be as far as I would usually wander for lunch. They open at 9am, though are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays......need to remember that. I've kinda stuck to one item since my first set of visits when they opened a year ago, the Bo Luc Lac.

They've kinda rearranged things in the small space within Vinh Hung Market.

I'll call in my order for #27, the "Cubed Beef Filet Mignon with Steamed Rice" ($16). Now while the though of comparing this to gourmet filet mignon might be a stretch, the beef is not bad. Slightly toothsome, edging on a bit too salty, with a touch of savory-sweetness.

I'm not the biggest fan of the salad as at times the greens have been starting to brown, but this time it wasn't bad.

Ngon Ngon To Go
10550 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 9am - 8pm
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Tenkatori:

And finally, Tenkatori. Another regular stop since I first visited two years ago. The place opens at 1030 on weekdays, which is great since I hate that parking lot. There is one key thing when I do take out. I always call in my order when they open at 1030. The online ordering ordering, even though it says no service fee adds on $2-$3. For instance, I ordered the Mega Karaage Don on this day. I called in my order which was $17.30, using Uber Eats for Pick-up it's $22.80! Ordering Door Dash pick-up it's $22.50. For pick-up!

Actually, I'm not sure why I ordered the Mega Don as it was way to much food....but what the heck; the chicken heats well in the air fryer.

Tenkatori Miramar
6780 Miramar Rd Suite 104
San Diego, CA 92121
Phone - (858) 200-2016
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 1030am - 2pm, 4pm - 8pm
Sat - Sun   11am - 230pm, 4pm - 8pm

So there you go...my recent early takeout lunch habits. I'm going to do turo turo in a separate post.

In your opinion, am I missing out on anything? And what have you been getting for lunch recently?

Turo Turo Tuesday - Kujo Eats (National City)

One of the benefits to putting together the "Big List" is that I needed to go over my former posts, which was a great reminder of places I hadn't been to in years. I went about checking on Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine, which had replaced a favorite sisig (along with fried chicken skin) spot of mine Conching and found that it was replaced by something called "Kujo Eats"? Now granted, these days I can't put it away like I used to and have really cut down on the amount of rice I consume. And though I've been trying to change things up a bit, with gas and food prices soaring, well, I've cut down on heading to places I once used to check out every 2 weeks or so to see what was happening. What really surprised me is that my post on Erlinda's is from 2014! Sheesh. As for Kujo Eats? Well, I went to the website which mentioned that the owner was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego! Plus they open at 8am in the morning? So, I could drive on down and (hopefully) avoid crowds.

Exiting the 805 on Plaza and driving east felt so strange. When was the last time I was in this area? I mean, the last time I actually visited Tita's was in 2013. I headed off to where Plaza turns into Paradise Valley and into the parking lot of Kujo's which looks basically the same as when it was Conching.

And other than the new signage, the two level interior looks the same as well.

The women working are super friendly and of course there were some items that immediately caught my attention.

I didn't come across anything that seemed to have touches of Hawaii until I got to the cashier. They had Spam Musubi for sale!

I got a two item combo with "fried rice" which was $13.79, a bargain these days, especially if your lunch (+ tomorrow's lunch) looks like this.

My goodness, the portion size.

I instantly dug into the sisig, which was just passable with hard and chewy or waxy chopped lechon. The skin had not held up well, even though it was a shade after 10 in the morning.

I can't fault the amount of pork in this; though I do enjoy a good amount of onions as well. This was just slightly sour, while I enjoy a bit more of a bracing flavor. It also lacked spice, one of my favorite things about sisig.

The best item in the plate was the "fried rice"; which was a pseudo garlic rice.

The rice had a nice texture, a good amount of garlic, and more soy than other versions. It was quite satisfying.

The Tortang Talong looked wonderful.

It was nicely coated with egg, though I thought it needed more seasoning, not enough salt and pepper for me. The eggplant was nice and creamy, with a hint of that "aubergine-y" smokiness. I usually like a hint of garlic in my Tortang Talong which I couldn't detect here.

So, this ended up being two meals and change (I still had rice leftover for another meal). 

I was going to do a post right then, but decided that I should go back for another visit. I did wait a couple of weeks though.

This time I got the Lechon Kawale and Kaldereta. Again the portion size was more than generous; especially the rice!

Most of the time, folks working at these turo turo places see that I'm obviously not Filipino and they won't give me the free sinigang that often comes with meals. It's not a big deal as the amount of food provided is more than enough.

But on this visit, the nice woman included the soup.

I enjoyed this; it was bracingly sour, had just enough salt too.

The Lechon Kawale looked quite good. 

The chunks of lechon were quite large; the skin crunchy, though I thought it needed more salt. The meat was on the drier side of the scale and very mild in flavor. It looked better than it actually was.

While not as garlicky as on my previous visit; the fried rice was still good.

I thought the Beef Kaldereta, while on the greasy side was good.

  The beef, in this case short ribs was tender, which was a good thing as the bones made things rather unwieldy. I really liked the tart-tomatoey flavors that permeated the beef as well. This went quite well with the mild pungency of the rice.

I'm glad I checked out Kujo's, though my arteries are probably not as happy. I need to get down here more often and really need to revisit Tita's after all these years.

Kujo Eats
3400 E 8th St. Suite 115
National City, CA 91950
Current Hours:
Mon - Sat 8am - 7pm
Sunday     8am - 6pm

Turo Turo Tuesday - Nanay's Best BBQ Revisited

After my last, not-so-great visit to Trining's, I decided that it was time to start revisiting all those "turo-turo" places in the area. Starting with the one closest to the office, Nanay's Best BBQ. Don't get me wrong, I was tempted to get some Kimchi Fried Rice from Sue's instead, both businesses open at 10am, but I held the course and decided to see how Nanay's was doing. How they were doing was pretty darn good at 1015 in the morning; there was a nice line.

I lined up and did the "point-point" (turo-turo) thing, followed the migration of hungry dudes upstream to the register and paid. Container in hand I drove back to the office and did the reveal.

  Yes, this is "half-rice" at Nanay's. The rice, which is predictably not of the best quality was decently cooked.

On this trip, I had ordered the "sisig-ish" spicy chicken, which was on the tough side, but had a nice amount of sour tones, if a bit shy in the spice department. Good amount of onions and the actual liquid below all the chicken tasteed pretty good.

The "BBQ Pork" while a bit on the chewy side had been nicely marinated, sauced, and grilled. Sweet and savory, this might have been the best item I've gotten from Nanay's! It went well with the rice. For some reason, I enjoyed the slightly charred pieces as well.

As I mentioned in my previous post on Nanay's, they seemed to have been improving over time. I considered this visit a "win".

Nanay's Best BBQ
6715 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 10am - 4pm
Closed on weekends

Thanks for coming along as I revisit these places!

Trining's Bakery & Cafe (Mira Mesa) Revisited

Recently, I as headed to Paris Sandwiches to grab me a banh mi for lunch. I parked and started walking over to Paris, when, for some reason Trining's caught my eye. It had been a couple of years since I last visited and I wandered on over. I wasn't sure the place was open since the sign wasn't on.

But as I walked on over I noticed folks eating and waiting for their orders.

    From previous experience I knew what was available from what was on the white board.

I saw a customer at one of the tables attacking what looked like sisig....it looked pretty good so I ordered that along with the Beef Kaldereta. These days a two item plate costs $12.99 and when paying I found out there's a $1 upcharge for sisig. I think it might be a good idea for folks to know stuff like that?

I drove back to the office and unpacked my lunch.

 So this comes with three, not two scoops of rice....really bad quality rice, the color wasn't right, no fragrance, terrible mealy texture.

The Kaldereta was the better of the two items. Though the beef was sinewy, it wasn't overly tough. Nice savory-tanginess. Though not quite as good as the version I had here last time, it was definitely better than the sisig.

This actually looked quite good when the guy was eating it and at first glance. A closer look and I started noticing how dark the lechon was. And guess what? Just like the last time I had it here, the pork was super hard. The peppers were "shibai" and there was almost no "heat", nor enough sourness, and not enough onion to make a difference in the dish at all.

Ok, so I got distracted. Sometimes you win, sometimes you get mediocre sisig...... There are, in my opinion, much better options in this mall.

Trining's Bakery & Cafe
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

 

White Rice Morena

Back at the beginning of the month, I noticed that Fusion Eats had closed. After reading this post on Eater, I realized this location was going to be an outlet of White Rice. As I was driving past this weekend, I noticed that the sign was up for "White Rice Morena" so I decided to drop by.

Of course, the issue with this strip mall off of Linda Vista is the crazy parking....finding something that is only 10 minute versus 20 minute, versus and actual parking spot. No wonder places don't last here. Anyway, I found parking and walked on over. The place was empty with no hours posted, so I asked the really nice young ladies if they were open. And received a very friendly "yes, welcome, come on in" almost in unison.

Other than the posted menu, strategically placed plants, and some art the looks of the place was quite austere. Which is why I wasn't sure it was even open.

My first instinct was to go with the dish I had enjoyed the most during my visits to the Adams Avenue location, the Tocino Manok. But instead, I decided to try out the Lechon Kawali ($15) and at the last minute added a side of sisig (not on the menu $10). The cheerful young lady took my order and it was a short 15 minute wait for my order.

 Arriving home, I quickly unpacked things and immediately went for the item I found the most problematic on my previous visits; the rice. Sadly, it was basically the same; hard and dry.

As for the rest? Well, the egg was a bit overcooked, but passable. I really like the pickled veggies, which have a nice sour-mildly sweet-salty balance. And the lechon was quite good, the skin which had a nice bubbly-fried appearance was a pleasant crisp to crunchy, the flesh tender and porky. Not bad.

As for the Sisig? Well, last time it was hard and rubbery.

While this version was still chopped too coarse for my liking and I thought it could use more chilies, the texture was fine, as was the amount of sourness. I think I'll stay with the lechon and try the Tocino Manok if I return. Now if "White Rice" could get their namesake item straightened out....

I do think that White Rice is an upgrade over Fusion Eats and can see them doing quite well with the USD folks. Hope it works out.

White Rice Morena
5299 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 8pm
Sat - Sun 10am - 8pm

Sunday Stuffs - White Rice Replacing Fusion Eats, Zen Curry Temporarily Closed? And Aldi Coming to Clairemont

Just a couple of items for a leisurely Sunday.

White Rice Replacing Fusion Eats:

A couple of weeks back, I noticed that Fusion Eats appeared closed, so I drove on in.

 The note on the door said "we are closed
 but to check for updates. Which almost hints that this might be a temporary closure? 

But things became clearer when I read this post on Eater San Diego. Apparently, this space will be a future site of a location of White Rice. They'll probably do well here. And I'm hoping that it might be better than what I had at the Normal Heights location.

5299 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92110

Is Zen Curry Temporarily Closed?:

Speaking of temporarily closed, I recently revisited PT Eatery. After finishing my meal, I took a walk to check out the location of YukDaeJung which is now open.

What caught my attention was that Zen Curry appeared closed.

    And here again was the note posted on the door stating "we are closed". I checked Google which indicated that the place is "Temporarily Closed" as well as that "four-lettered" site which also noted that the place is scheduled to reopen on September 1st. I also did a check on the Zen Curry website, which said the reopening date is TBD.

Interesting times......

7309 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Aldi Coming to Clairemont:

I had to go to the bank and was heading back home, taking the left onto Balboa west when I noticed that the former location of Rite Aid on the corner of Balboa and Genesee which closed during Covid and never reopened had a sign posted. So after making my left turn onto Balboa I headed into the parking lot.

Looks like there'll be a location of Aldi here?

This is going to be an interesting addition. I've been to the Mira Mesa location 2-3 times and thought the prices were good, with a small, tight selection, and super rude employees. So, we'll see.....

5270 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!

Jollibee (Cathy's visits)

mmm-yoso!!! , a food blog, is being written by Cathy while Kirk and His Missus are on the road. 

Jollibee, a chain originating in the Philippines, is the largest and fastest growing Asian restaurant company across the globe, with 1500 locations (70 in North America).  Three are in San Diego County.   Even though burgers are on the menu, Jollibee is primarily known for its "Chickenjoy"-marinated, hand breaded chicken which is never greasy and always crisp and juicy.   Each location has a Jolly Bee greeter at the door. 
 There are some specials near the ordering area as well as online if you pre-order.  

The restaurant is always clean, ordering is efficient.  As soon as you begin, there is another person or two listening and beginning to gather your choices.  By the time you pay, a tray or 'To-Go' bag is waiting.  You do have to fill your soda from the machine.
 A salty brown gravy is included with each chicken order.  That's a pineapple juice drink ($3.49) on the tray, which was filled from behind the counter.
  A three piece meal with one side -adobo rice- and beverage from the machine ($11.99).  Adobo rice is fried rice with pork.

Adobo is a method of cooking in the Philippines.  It is a braising of the 'protein' (although you can make adobo vegetables) in a marinade of five items: vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, soy sauce and peppercorns.
 The two piece combination with palabok ($11.99).  Palabok is rice noodles topped with a garlic-pork-shrimp sauce topped with sliced hard boiled egg; a really nice side dish.
 We also ordered the 'Limited Edition' fried pie ($2.99) which is coconut pineapple-large shreds of sweet coconut and chunky pieces of tangy pineapple in a flaky, buttery crust. The 'regular' pie (peach mango) is always satisfying.  
 On another visit, I picked up two Deluxe Chicken Sandwiches ($5.99) with a side of 'crispy fries', which remained crispy on the drive home.    "Deluxe" means the sandwich has mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.  It is served on a brioche bun.  As you can see, there was also a peach mango pie. 
 The chicken can be regular or spicy and regular is great-meaty, juicy, crispy and very large.  Packets of Cholula are available and compliment the flavor if you change your mind and want spicy.  I'm not crazy about brioche buns, since they basically don't absorb sauces (or juice) but this was toasted and fresh and not overly bready.

Jollibee has consistently great service and serves consistently great, fresh food.  An excellent chain. 

Soo wrote about Jollibee in 2021. cc wrote a couple of  Jollibee posts more than ten years ago.

Jollibee 8436 Mira Mesa Blvd San Diego, CA 92126 (858) 800-3130  Open daily 9-10 Website

Road Trip - Nochi Bakery (Gallup NM), a Story About Gallup N.M., and we Arrive at La Posada (Winslow, AZ)

We had a wonderful night of sleep after our dinner at Geronimo and woke refreshed. Sadly, we needed to leave on this morning. So we had a light breakfast at the hotel, drove to Whole Foods and bought up more of those Red and Green Chile Peanut Brittle and hit the road. Our next destination was a visit back to Winslow and this time we were actually staying the night at La Posada. We drove down the 25 thru Albuquerque and then west on the I-40. By the time we got to Gallup it was time for a break.

It was a pretty quiet Tuesday when we drove into town and parked. We walked around a bit stretching our legs after an almost 4 hour drive from Santa Fe and enjoyed all the public art.

While strolling along Route 66, we noticed a Filipino Bakery, in Gallup!

With a tight little menu of Siopao, Lumpia, and sandwiches....here in Gallup!

I decided to get something small to eat and ordered a Siopao, then some coffee at the next counter. We noticed what looked like a Filipino Market right next door....

And took a quick look while waiting for my steamed bun.

Which was ready when we walked back thru the doorway. We had a seat, and I had my light lunch.

The pork siopao was not bad.

 The bread was fluffy, slightly moist, a bit on the sweet side but that's to be expected. The filling wasn't too sweet, nice savory tones. Overall, a bit heavy in the bread versus the filling, but this wasn't bad at all.

Heck, I've had worse in San Diego!

The really nice and friendly young lady working the register me their family is originally from LA....now in Gallup of all places.

Nochi Bakery
107 W Highway 66
Gallup, New Mexico 87301

We took our time strolling back to our car.

While driving over the train tracks back to the I-40 West, I crossed over on the Miyamura overpass. Of course, the name got my attention. So, when I got back home I did that Google thing and found that the overpass (and a school in Gallup) is named for Medal of Honor recipient Hiroshi Miyamura who was born in Gallup. His parents were Japanese immigrants. Something I read in the Wikipedia post led me down a rabbit hole. When FDR signed Executive Order 9066 all persons of Japanese ancestry on the west coast were to be placed in internment camps. Cities not on the coast were given the option to do this or not. Gallup's citizens with the strong support of the Sheriff, Michael Mollica did not detain their Japanese-American citizens, the only town in New Mexico to do this! Here's more in the words of Hiroshi Miyamura himself, who passed away in November of last year:

The Only Town in New Mexico - Hiroshi Miyamura from Autry Media on Vimeo.

And more here if you're interested.

Once on the 40 west, it was a nice two hour drive into Winslow. Having been to this little town of around 10,000 before made finding our destination a snap. We had enjoyed our lunch at the Turquoise Room and checking out the La Posada Hotel on previous visit so much, that we decided to stay here for the night. We arrived and our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we headed out to explore the grounds of this historic hotel.

The La Posada has quite a history, a product of the Fred Harvey Company which built hotels all along major rail lines, allowing for passengers to spend a night and relax, or partake of the food in the restaurants manned by the Harvey Girls. Another familiar name associated with the La Posada is Mary Colter, who also designed the Desert Watchtower and was one of the few female architects of her time. In many ways this was to be considered her crown jewel. Unfortunately, the hotel opened right at the start of the great depression and remained open for only 27 years.

The La Posada was gutted and all the furnishings sold off. The building then became the offices for the Satna Fe Railroad. Finally, in a state of disrepair, threatened with demolition, Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion bought the property and set about restoring it to its former glory.

And it is something to see. We spent a good two hours just exploring the halls and the grounds of the hotel.

Along with all of the quite "interesting art" of Tina Mion.

Over the years many celebrities have stayed at the La Posada.

Though I'm still trying to figure out who "Needles the Wonder Dog" was.

We were enjoying wandering around the property. Trains go right past the back of the hotel grounds.

And if you'd like to relax and watch them go by....well, that's easy to do as well.

We were really enjoying our own little "tour" of La Posada and were only about half way done!

I'll get to the rest in my next post!

Thanks for stopping by!  

COMC: Revisits to Smack’N Guamanian Grill, R & B Filipino Cuisine, and Krispy Krunchy Chicken

I'm just going to do mostly photos in this C(learing) O(ut the) M(emory) C(ard) post. I've done so many posts on these places.

Smack’N Guamanian Grill:

Been here so many times since they opened in 2019. I usually get the same thing; the Chebot BBQ Chicken, which is now $17.79. It was $15.79 on my last visit.

For some reason, the chicken wasn't nicely grilled and was really chewy; the Kelaguen was super bland. This was disappointing. 

This is what it looked like on previous visit.

Man, raise the prices and cut down on the quality and execution? I hope this is just an aberration, but I'm going to give this place a rest for a while.

Smack’N Guamanian Grill
9506 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126 

R & B Filipino Cuisine:

Another regular "turo-turo" stop for me since I first visited in 2008! 2008??? Man, what were you doing in February of 2008? 

I basically get sisig and whatever just comes out of the kitchen or looks good. So this time it was the Sisig and Beef Mechado. I can't put it away like I used to, so I go with "half rice" nowadays.

  The sisig had decent spice, balanced with some good sour tones. This might be the best I've had here in terms of seasoning and flavor. The lechon kawale was on the chewy and hard side; but still, I liked the flavors.

R&B has this weird habit of keeping large and ponderous slices of meat in their stews, which I've mentioned before. The meat was tough and there was a kind of greasiness to the dish.

At least the sisig was good.

And I know what "FOY" JanFrederick was doing in February of 2008. He recommended that I give R&B a try....almost 15 years ago! Thanks Jan!

R & B Filipino Cuisine
11257 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Krispy Krunchy Chicken:

**** Krispy Krunchy Chicken is now a location of Cluck n Sip

This is totally "low hanging fruit". It's so easy for me when I'm shopping at 99 Ranch Market (I know of folks who still call it "Ranch 99", do you?). I place an order and return to pick it up on my way out of the store. It always handles the trip back home with no problem. And on this day, they fried it up fresh because there were no wings ready.

Potato wedges are usually a bit on the dry side; but like the name says the Krispy Krunchy Chicken, is still indeed crispy and crunchy. For me, this always needs Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco to cut thru the fried tones and saltiness. It's not amazing and worth going out of your way for, I call it "Popeye's elevated". But it's a pretty consistent product, convenient to get when I go shopping, I guess it fills a niche.

Krispy Krunchy Chicken
5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone has a great weekend!