mmm-yoso!!!

COMC: Hakata Ramen from Izakaya Masa

I know, I know, a ramen post on the hottest day of the year.... have I lost it or what? But this post is from all the way back in May...... there are so many COMC (Clearing out the memory card) posts, and I'm trying to catch up.

I hadn't been to Izakaya Masa in quite a while. In fact, the last time I visited, Masa was still serving lunch. For some reason, I always appreciated the place when it was still Teriyaki Cowboy. I always knew what to expect, decent, reasonable, semi fast food Japanese. When they became Masa, I found the lunches to be reasonable, but for some reason, I've never thought the place to be worth the special trip for dinner.  

So when I read Dennis's post after returning from China regarding Izakaya Masa's weekend lunch, and the Hakata Ramen in particular, I made sure to drop by. I had heard about Masa's Hakata Ramen from several acquaintances, as well as "sammusubi" in a comment on my Ramen Comparison post. Not much had changed at Izakaya Masa, things look basically the same.

 
A bowl here is priced reasonably at $6.95, and you can get various combinations (with gyoza or fried rice, or both) from $8.50 to $10.50. 

I decided to kinda go my own way, and started with something I think Masa does well. Chuka Kurage (Jellyfish Salad - $3.95).

Normally a great dish to have with drinks, I enjoy the refreshing vinegar-soy flavor, and the nice crunch.

Of course I went for the Hakata Ramen ($6.95):

The Tonkotsu style broth, usually the product of rapidly boiled pork bones, resulting in a rich, milky looking broth, was on thin side, missing the tongue coating richness I enjoy. I love regular straight up shio or shoyu ramen; but this is tonkotsu broth so my expectations are different. There was a strange, almost metallic tinged aftertaste that made me think that perhaps a "base" was being used to perhaps help things out? The chashu tasted a bit on the mild side, but were sufficiently tender and moist.

From my experience, one of the signatures of Hakata Ramen are the thin and straight noodles, these noodles had a decent "crunch", but were thicker than what I would consider Hakata style noodles to be.

Overall, this was a decent bowl, priced right, but not outstanding. Still, it's nice to have options in the Mission Hills area. Funny thing, just like Dennis, most of the folks who recommended the ramen from Masa to me personally, usually consumed it while, ummmm.... how should I say it? Well perhaps the lyrics to this song say it best:

"I'm just a little impaired
I know, right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me....."

And heck, it's probably better than a greasy California Burrito from Santana's up the street right? Right?

Izakaya Masa
928 Fort Stockton Dr
San Diego, CA 92103

Dinner with Friends - Sushi Yaro

Since Sushi Yaro officially opened on July 1st, I've been visiting at least once a week. I kinda hesitated in doing a post, since I've now known Sam for almost ten years. I really didn't want to seem to be "shill".... but Sam has served up some great meals over the years, not only to me, but to  other FOYs as well.  But much like your favorite watering hole, the relationship between a regular customer, and his Itamae is a very close one. Sam seems to have settled into Sushi Yaro, and the place is starting to have that neighborhood feel Sammy Sushi had. It does seem like the customers are focused on the "world of rolls", but Sam always seems to have something for me......

And once he got his kitchen guy back from a stint at Sakura, the kitchen food started getting better as well.

No, it isn't Ota or Kaito..... but I can't really afford to eat there three times a week. At Yaro, on a weeknight I can relax, have some sushi or sashimi, and maybe some Kubota Manju or Otokoyama, and the world becomes a better place. 

This is one of my favorite cooked dishes at Sushi Yaro:

 
Shishamo is really great stuff grilled.... but it is the female smelt, especially those laden with eggs that we're after. So what to do with the guys??? I guess Sam decided to batter them, and serve them tempura style. I was a bit surprised at the flavor, there's almost a savory sweetness to this. I had thought that Shishamo was a bit too high in oil to be used for tempura. 

And sometimes Sam will have something that surprise me, like the night he broke out some Razor Clams. The kitchen hadn't done a particularly great job with these.... but it was very thoughtful.

So obviously, it was just a matter of time before our "eating club" descended upon Sushi Yaro for dinner. What follows is mostly photos... many of which "my favorite Librarian", Jenne took.

I can't remember the last time I had oyster jun.....

 

As always, I had a wonderful time with Candice, Howie, and Jenne.... I can't wait until next month!

Sushi Yaro
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Geez you can even find them on Twitter.

I hope everyone is having a great week! 
 

Wa Okan- for lunch

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog.  This is a post about a lunch Cathy and The Mister enjoyed, while Kirk was working and ed (from Yuma) was recovering (from his broken arm) (in Yuma).

This weekend was another scorcher and apparently filled with events around town.  Every establishment that had air conditioning was crowded. The Mister and I had heard that Okan was now serving lunch and we decided we would try to get in there, and if we couldn't, we could always get something at Nijiya, right next door. 

Kirk has posted about Okan  a few times, even with a post of mostly photos and this is one of a handful of places where Kirk, ed and I have had a meal together. 

 The entire lunch menu is posted on the Sandwich board out front, but is also on the hand written menu you get when you sit down and are automatically served a cup of cold tea (no ice, just chilled strong brewed tea).
You can order just a "set" for $6.50  This consists of three "tapas"/appetizers (from left, cold Kambucha squash, a silk tofu based spinach carrot salad and a chiled cooked white sweet potato), light pickled vegetables in the center and brown rice with seaweed and a miso soup   
Which has a nice amount of chopped vegetables in it. 
For an additional $3.50, The Mister chose "ginger pork", which, as you can see, is pork belly, which was cooked in a light ginger sauce and served with the sliced cabbage topped with a kind of ponzu sauce.
 For $4, I chose the broiled salmon (which was served with an edge of crispy skin) on a vegetable ragout of sauteed red and yellow peppers, onion and tomatoes.

There was one other possible 'add in' for $4 this day, fried flounder in a ponzu sauce.  The menu at lunch is limited, as it would be at home. Cash only at lunch time. 

An excellent, tasty and pretty darn healthy lunch in the small ( 16 chairs at tables and 15 chairs at the bar) Homestyle Japanese restaurant in the corner of the mall.

Wa Dining OKAN 3860 Convoy Street, Suite 110, San Diego 92111 (858)279-0941 

Lunch M-Sat 11:30-2:30(last order 2:00 p.m.) 

Dinner starts 5:30 p.m. and ends 11:00 p.m. M-T-W, 12:00 a.m. Th-F-Sat and 10:00 p.m. Sun (last orders 30 minutes before closing all days). 

Website

   

Wa Sushi. Small place. Excellent food.

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog which is never on vacation.  ed (from Yuma) is resting.  Kirk is also resting. Cathy ate and doesn't rest. She is blogging today.

 
Wa Sushi used to be Haru-Ya. It's in the same mall with Khan's Cave  and Boll Weevil, kitty corner from the Registrar of Voters.  A few weeks ago, The Mister and I met to have dinner here and it was so very crowded. We would have to wait.  So we walked over to Boll Weevil and had some burgers.  The other day I was really craving 'food you can eat with chopsticks" and called TheMister and asked me to try meeting here again. We were lucky: there were empty tables.  We noticed the sign out front "All sushi and rolls 40% off".  We ordered from the regular menu.   The Mister's meal came with an excellent -not salty- miso soup.
We ordered the Japanese cucumber salad($3).  Crunchy cucumber, marinated with sweet (sugar) and a light vinegar, this was  
 
excellent.  I ordered the Assorted fish salad ($13). This is essentially chirashi, but sliced.  Usually chirashi pieces seemto be leftovers and chunks of fish. A large amount of *very fresh* sliced tuna, albacore, salmon, yellowtail on top of  mosty iceberg lettuce with a light, soy-ginger dressing.  Those 'crunchies' on top are fried pumpkin and very tasty. 
The Mister ordered the KinTara Misoyaki ($14).   Sea bass, marinated in miso, cooked until the skin was crispy but the fish stayed beautifully moist and flavored delicately with miso. The spring rolls were vegetable filled and fried properly, a light crisp, the California roll was made with real crab. The rice, salad and pickles were all fresh and tasty.

We were almost done and still had the menu on the table and the "40% off all rolls and sushi" sign still had us thinking.  So we ordered the "veggie roll" ($7 regular price).  Asparagus, avocado, cucumber, cabbage, carrot, fried tofu skin, surrounded with rice and wrapped with soy paper instead of seaweed.  An excellent dessert for us.  Total bill was $40.55 ($1.50 each for hot green tea, refilled constantly.)

Wa Sushi 9340 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard, Suite 8, San Diego 92123 (858) 569-9595

Sakura at the sushi bar.

This is mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Usually Kirk writes here about food he ate and adventures he had.  Cathy and ed (from Yuma) kind of intersperse with their own anecdotal meals, if there is such a thing.  Kirk is still 'vacationing' and Cathy is filling in so you will stay interested.  She is only a Temp.  

Hi.  I was cleaning out my memory card and enjoying again a meal I shared with ed (from Yuma) when he drove in (from Yuma) -a three hour drive- in March.   We who contribute to this blog think nothing strange of doing such a thing for food. It seems we who blog here all *really* like Sakura. So that was where he and I met up one evening.  Here's our meal. (Most of the photos are from ed-many thanks)
We ordered from the regular menu while waiting for our special/omakase (i.e., not on the menu) sashimi plate to be prepared by Kazu, the itamae (sushi chef), who recognized ed when we walked in.  From the "Hot" section: spinach with uni. I never had warm uni before.  This was wonderful: creamy, salty, rich. (OK, I'll get it out of the way: everything was wonderful.)
Shiokara: salty, slightly sweet, savory squid guts.  I've seen it on the menu, never had it before and will order it again.  Really good, chewy, not too salty, rich with a pleasant aftertaste. 

 
Agedashi tofu.  House made silken tofu,  deep fried.  I had a craving for this. Creamy and a little crunchy.  ed had never had this before. He liked it too. (The sauce on the bottom is sweet.)
 
Our special sashimi plate was finished by Kazu and proudly placed in front of us.    The "decorative" mackerel skeleton was to be used later, as were the shrimp heads. This was a selection of the freshest most flavorful items available.   So fresh that those shrimp -drunk with sake- were still alive and moving. Other items on there, tuna, octopus, abalone,squid, mackerel, yellowtail, salmon...   
Once we had consumed the shrimp, the heads were whisked away, lightly fried and brought back as part of a miso soup. 
We also had ordered some tempura vegetables, which were perfectly fried and not greasy. A nice crunch.   Plus we were eating vegetables in addition to the spinach uni...

 The Spanish mackerel skeleton was also whisked away with the shrimp heads, breaded, fried and brought back to our seats in this simple display. Yes, that's the head. With eyes.  The crunch of the bones and flavor of fried mackerel was a wondrous, perfect dish.   We squeezed lemon and dipped these cracker like pieces in the accompanying ponzu sauce. 

   
At some point, ed and I decided we needed some kind of carbohydrate and the crab fried rice looked interesting on the menu, because neither of us had ever had -or heard of- Japanese fried rice...then there was the crab factor.  Kazu grabbed the menu from us, looked at other things available and He also thought that might be a good way to end our meal.  So we ordered it.  This was wonderful!  Who would have thought of Japanese fried rice? You can see the corn, onion and carrots,  There was a lot of crab in here also.  Fresh and flavorful, a perfect ending to a wonderful meal. 

Neither of us had any Sake, although we both wanted it.  Hot tea and water were our beverages.  I know you are wondering, so here is a photo of the bill.     
 
 Izakaya Sakura 3904 Convoy Street 92111  It is in the parking lot with the Original Pancake House, all the way in the back, next to the Recruiting Depot.  The door way.  The Neon "Open" sign in the window.  No other signage.

Niban - Inexpensive. Good. Japanese fast food.

Welcome back to the blog called mmm-yoso!!!  Kirk is busy on his vacation, ed (from Yuma) is starting his vacation and Cathy is blogging.

Hello again.  I blogged about Niban back in 2006, when Kirk was on his 'first' vacation-from the blog, at least.. I thought it was time to take the camera with me on my most recent visit. A lot is the same. It is pretty much Japanese fast food.

    
 


The menu is still in the front window, with the daily specials in the display caseby the "in" door.
You walk in, order, pay then sit down.  A nice waiter or waitress will pick up our receipt stub and bring out your beverages (hot tea is free).
Miso soup.  Standard rehydrated with freeze dried tofu cubettes and a highly reflective quality.
One of the daily bento specials ($7.25).  Six California rolls (made with krab), teriyaki chicken, baked salmon and fried fish and fried shrimp with rice, salad, pickled bean sprouts. 
Seaweed salad topped with two pieces of pickled burdock ($3.25).  I almost always get this.  The seaweed is  crunchy, not really salty and fresh tasting, served on top of some lettuce, which I end up eating.
Mixed sashimi plate ($12.50). 4 pieces each salmon, tuna and albacore. The fish is fresh, not a bad quality, very good.  This is served with the rice, pickled beans prouts and  salad. A satisfying quick meal. 

Niban 7081 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard (at SE corner of the 805)(the Souplantation parking lot) San Diego 92111 (619)268-0465

B.H. Chung- Korean and Japanese (Icy Cold Hiyashi)

BH Chung has closed.

mmm-yoso!!! a food blog with photos, descriptions and observations about meals, condiments and other things a few of us want to write about.  Feel free to read about our adventures. Today, Cathy is writing. Kirk is on vacation. If you want to know where He and His Missus are, here's a clue:  Since April 21, I have not done any post with cuisine from the country they are visiting.

Hi again.  A few weeks ago, I found a parking spot in the Crab Hut /Crepe World /Shabu Shabu House / Yogurt World/Tapioca Express/Tofu House /O'Brien's parking lot and was happy.  This mostly food mall area may be referred to as 'The Parking Lot From Hell' by most of you, since more than 75% of the businesses here are restaurants(8 I can think of)  with seating capacities for at least 20 inside each.  I had to decide what I wanted to eat.
B.H. Chung's won.  A Korean BBQ and Japanese restaurant, I have found the food here always to be very well made, tasty and filling.  In addition, it could fulfill two cravings at one meal.  
So we ordered.  Japanese items.  Still, we were served panchan.
the mildest, shredded daikon in front.  The bean sprouts in back had a nice red pepper kick.  The bamboo on the right had jalapeño/green hot chiles. (The far left is the dipping sauce for our tempura appetizer).
Vegetable Tempura ($7.99). Lightly breaded, crispy fried and drained vegetables- onions, squash, carrots, green and red pepper and broccoli. 
The Mister ordered the Katsu Fish plate ($8.99).  The pieces of fish were standard cuts from frozen, again lightly breaded and fried-the fish itself was a nice flavor and flaky.  The rice was good and the salad dressing was house made.  The tempura dipping sauce was not sweet and may have been house made. It was not disappointing, but not a "wow". However...
I wanted cold noodles.  Hiyashi.  I ordered Hiyashi Soba ($8.99).  This is what I got.  Fresh cooked, really good soba.  In broth.  Cold broth.  See the ice cube?

This was *really* good and nothing like I had ever had before.  The broth was rich, did not taste watered down, the noodles were excellent.  Just the carrots, onions and bean sprouts, as you can see.  Sesame oil definitely in the broth...the half hard boiled egg, no meat.  Wonderfully unexpected and really good and filling.

Everything was unexpected and good, if not great.

B.H. Chung 4646 Convoy, Suite 110 San Diego 92111 (858) 495-0059 Website

Yoshinoya- chain food. Good chain food.

Yoshinoya has closed. It's Boba Time took this storefront space.

Just a blog about food we (Kirk, ed(from Yuma), Cathy, VickyL and a few others) eat.   That's what mmm-yoso!!! is.  Not "fancy" foods, healthy foods or anything specific.  You get to peek inside our eating habits and live vicariously.  Today, Cathy is blogging.

Hi.  Kirk is still on vacation.  It's only been a week.  Today I'm talking about a quick lunch at a fast food place.
This Kearney Mesa location of Yoshinoya has been in this mall on Convoy, across from the Weinerschnitzel for at least ten years.  The interior is clean and reminds me of Burger King or McDonald's...  I hesitated to categorize this as "Japanese" food.  Yoshinoya basically markets itself as "you won't leave here hungry".  The food here is inexpensive and for being food, is really not bad. Most people seem to order the teriyaki bowls (beef, chicken or steak, in combination and/or with vegetables on top of sticky rice).

Including the ordering area.
As well as the seating area.
However, the condiments offered are different...hot (ish) red  pepper and very pickled ginger (and soy sauce).
Then there is the food.  Some people complain that the usually ordered bowls are doused in teriyaki sauce, and I tend to agree, and order the sauce on the side or 'not as much sauce, please'.  Or I get this:  a BBQ combo bowl ($6.25).  Grilled, skinless teriyaki chicken and thin sliced grilled teriyaki beef  short ribs.  With fried rice, salad and noodles.  

All the items are not salty and not over-sauced. The rice is good, freshly fried, with some (probably) frozen vegetables and egg added.  The stir fried noodles are pretty good with cabbage and carrots added.  The salad comes with a packet of Italian dressing and is pretty standard.  

 
Sometimes, I want fried and get the large order (9) of sesame chicken wings ($3.79). Nicely fried, not greasy, topped with sesame seeds, juicy meaty and good.  This day , I decided to get a side of vegetables ($1.49).  This is *not* a weird, badly lit photograph.  The vegetables here are what I like to call 'neon veggies'. Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and some bok choy in this wonderful colored, not salty, thick neon yellow-green sauce.  I like it and at least like to think it is a healthy meal...

Yoshinoya 4344 Convoy Street, Suite F San Diego 92111 (858) 560-5163

Okawa Steak House and Sushi- Santee

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the food blog you are reading. A few friends contribute and write about what we eat.   Cathy is writing today.  The others (Kirk, ed (from Yuma), Vicky and a few others)  are apparently eating.

Hi.  It was lunchtime, The Mister and I were hungry, Okawa has opened. In Santee.

 
It is located in the same mall as Best Buy, behind the Burger King and technically is on the same (large) block where Costco and Home Depot are located, but on Mission Gorge Road...the South side of the block.

We were greeted promptly and a friendly Young Man asked if we wanted to sit at the Sushi Bar, a regular table or the Teppanyaki Table for Hibachi.
The sushi bar did look inviting, but I was not in a mood for that today.  So we sat at the teppanyaki table, with a group of four others, ordered hot tea and checked out the menu. 

 
We ordered, and soon salad and mushroom topped miso soup were brought out.  The miso was definitely not made from that miso paste or powder and had a light, crisp flavor.  The mushroom flavor was only in the mushroom, not the broth.  The salad dressing was the fresh tasting almost pureed ginger dressing which is served at most Japanese places.  This one seemed to have a touch of soy/saltiness to it.  (In a good way saltiness).  Soon our chef came out with a cart of enough rice for frying, vegetables for all six of us, and the proteins ordered as well as the sauces and other condiments necessary for each protein.

He proceeded to pour two sauces for each of us- a ginger based one and a mayonnaise based one.  Those who had ordered steamed rice had that served to us. 

Then the show began.

 
Rice, for those who had ordered fried rice, and already chopped vegetables for everyone were placed onto the oiled grill. (When The Mister and I got married, XXX number of years ago, our reception was at Kyoto, a teppanyaki restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan and everything was the same, except the veggies there came whole and the "show" took a lot longer to chop up everything...and the prices at lunch were a less...probably because it was XXX years ago). 

 The onion rings were taken apart, stacked, a bit of oil inserted and small volcano-like effects happened.

The rice was fried, with an egg, (which disappeared, whole, into the hat of the chef for a while) and then the crispier rice and veggies formed to spell out "I (heart) U"...upside down and backwards... and then those were served. 

The proteins were placed onto the grill (two orders of Banzai chicken, a split order of Samurai steak and Hibachi shrimp-you can combine on the lunch specials), Samurai steak, and Chilean sea bass.

The Mister's order of Samurai steak (medium rare), fried rice ($1.95 extra, but *so* crisp and tasty-a nutty flavor, probably because of the sesame oil...and butter) and some of his vegetables ($10.95).  

My Hibachi Chilean sea bass (with a teriyaki sauce, some vegetables )(I got the extra onions from The Mister, and from Our Chef) and steamed rice ($11.95). The sea bass was tender, moist, flaky and had just enough flavor (not overpowered by the house made teriyaki). 
...Our talented and amusing Chef.

An excellent meal that was a lot of fun to watch being prepared.  Total bill was $29.20-the hot green tea was $1 each and kept refilled, as were the other beverages at the table. Not an inexpensive lunch, but an excellent, fun lunch.

OKAWA Steak House and Sushi 9720 Mission Gorge Road, Suite A, Santee 92071 (619)258-9988 Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30-3:00 then dinner menu until 10:00  Sunday, no lunch menu, open 12:30-10:00

Wa Dining Okan in photos....

I've been told several times that many folks come here more to see what I ate, rather than to read about my meals! It really doesn't bother me one bit. After all, there are times when a photo speaks much louder, and all of that.

And since we've written about Okan quite a bit over the last two years. I thought you'd enjoy seeing what we ate, more than reading about it. You can of course read our old posts, the oldest of which dates back to September '08, or perhaps something from another blog, and there are quite a few out there for your reading pleasure.

So without further ado.... it's Okan in photos to end this dreary and wet weekend.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111