mmm-yoso!!!

Woomiok Weather

I don't know if it's me getting older or what; but this winter seems much colder than previous years. Even the temperature adjustment after returning from France, where we visited Strasbourg didn't last long. I started feeling really cold after days! And then of course all of that rain from the Atmospheric River, well we needed something warm and comforting to eat. It was time for us to get our fix form Woomiok. So, I did the usual thing, dropped by Woomiok right when they opened and placed my order for the Emperor's Soup and an extra side order of Bone Soup to go. I then headed to Nijiya to do some shopping.

The young man who took my order was a joy. My order was ready for pick-up when I returned.

Upon getting home I unpacked and laid everything out.

 I didn't realize it, but it had been over a year since I last visited. I did notice a couple of changes, other than prices which has gone up about $2 since the last time. There was a lot less rice and noodles as before; but to be perfectly honest, we don't order this for the noodles or rice. And there seemed to be a bit less meat as well.

Once the Missus got home, I set up the large dolsot with our Iwatani Butane Stove and we were off.

    The bone soup still has that nice tongue coating richness and once you add the salt and scallions to the mix it's quite comforting. Like I said, its really about the soup for us.

The baechu kimchi, jangahjji (pickled peppers and radish), and kkakdugi  (radhish kimchi) were all quite good this time around.

Here's a little hack we do and one of the main reasons we like getting this for takeout. While at Nijiya I'll get some soft tofu, which I drain and dry, then add to the dolsot. It really adds to the dish. Add the side order of soup and the tofu and this ends up being two meals for us.

It's really warm and comforting. And one of the first things we get when the cold starts getting to us.

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is keeping warm. And tell me, what have you been eating to warm your belly?

Chicken Wing Thang - Katzya Revisited (H Mart Food Court)

One of the things about being on a trip for over a month; the fridge and pantry gets pretty bare. I spent last week and weekend catching up, restocking, and believe it or not; the Missus has been missing my cooking! Go figure. One of the stops was H Mart. It was just a tad after 11 and I was getting a bit hungry. I had enjoyed the Chicken Wings from Katzya on previous visits and the wings did well on my takeout visit, plus I'd last had wings from the recently opened Pelicana Chicken, so I decided to go for it.

I recalled that the Soy Garlic Wings were pretty good, so I went with that. When I last visited, the price of $14.99 for 7 wings seemed really high, and while still pricey, it feels less so these days with all the inflation.

I got the wings home and opened up the container and oh my.....

 These wings were just drenched in sauce. There was a huge pool of sauce at the bottom of the box. The two or three pieces on the top, while over sauced held up fine, but the pieces on the bottom were a soggy mess.

The texture of the meat was fine, moist, tender, lacking in any discolored spots, but it was just swimming in too much sauce, making this overly sweet.

For you reference, here's what I got back in 2019.

    Doesn't even look like it's from the same place, does it?

Another thing that was different was the the Mul Kimchi. But this change was an improvement, at least to me. The radish was not as sweet as on previous visits, making this somewhat refreshing. Though nothing could overcome the sticky sweet sauce overload.

Bummer, because I think the quality and size to batter ratio of the wings here are to my liking. I guess I'm back to just the fried wings here.

Katzya
(In the H Mart Food Court)
7725 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Tofu House Mira Mesa (again)

mmm-yoso!!! is back again on this chilly day.  Kirk is busy with His Missus on another continent and Cathy is writing another post.  

My last post about Tofu House was in 2020 when we had to eat outside, because, you know, Covid-19.    The menu is on the wall, or you can scan a QR code and read the menu on your phone. 

 The Mister wanted Boiled Tofu, and it was furiously boiling when brought to the table!  He had ordered the 'Chef's Special' ($13) which included shrimp, pollack roe, clam, oyster, mushroom and kimchi.  (white rice is included, but the multigrain rice option is an extra $2; get it).  Great, fresh seafood and smooth, satisfying tofu.
 I've been craving something from a hot stone pot (because crispy rice).  Ordering the "Chef's Special Hot Stone" ($20) was just the flavor filled melange I wanted.  Marinated beef rib eye as well as beef short ribs over the sizzling rice, topped with plump shrimp and small but flavorful scallops really hit the spot. 

A flavor filled, warming and satisfying lunch.  This location has a better parking situation than the Convoy Street location.

Tofu House 9089 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92126 (858) 860-5296 Open daily 11-8 website
 Your condiments are brought to the table after ordering. 

Pelicana Chicken (Balboa Avenue)

I noticed that Pelicana Chicken was opening in a post last month, the latest in the "KFC invasion" of the Kearny Mesa area. In fact, I think there are more places serving KFC than pho in the area these days! Then just a few weeks later, while running some errands, I noticed that Pelicana was in soft opening mode. So, the next time I had some late errands to run (Pelicana currently opens at noon), I decided to stop by and do a takeout order.

I parked and walked into the shop and was greeted in a very cheerful and smiling manner. I was told that the place had only been open for less than a week at this time. So even though the place opened at noon, it was empty.

I know prices like this are pretty much the norm these days, but the amounts on the menu still gave me pause.

I placed my order and was told 30 minutes. So I made a quick Nijiya run and returned. I waited another 5 minutes and my order was good to go. At least it wasn't sitting around, right. 

I was wondering how the wings would hold up on the drive home, so I ordered the 9 piece Original Fried Wings ($15) and got the Original Sauce on the side which added another $1.50. It's free if you order it on the chicken. 

   The chicken held up quite well after the drive home. This batter is more of the "laquer" type and it was still quite crunchy. Not much seasoning though, so it really needs a sauce. The sauce came in a presealed container and was like a sweet (emphasis on "sweet") chili sauce that was kind of weak overall.

The Mul Kimchi was also provided in a presealed container.

   

This was not as crisp as I enjoy and much too sweet. Man, read that ingredient label. You know, sometimes I'd rather not know. It has sodium saccharin and aspartame, i.e. Equal®, and sugar (glucose) no wonder it's so sweet. Oh, and in case you didn't get your daily allowance of aspartame and want an extra one of these....well, that'll be $1.50.

I also considered getting the Sea Snail Salad, but really didn't want to pay another $24, so I just went with an order of fries ($6). As well as the wings held up on the drive home, the fries were a total fail.

You can tell by the color, these weren't fried enough. It was dry and they barely seasoned it at all.

Well, at least the chicken wings held up quite well.

A week later, I decided to give Pelicana another go. This time I decided to have the wings sauced and I figure I'd cover myself by ordering the "Crispy" Chicken Wings ($16) and went with the Soy Based Sauce. The young man working was awesome and efficient and I did the same Nijiya run. Timing was great as my order was approaching the counter as I walked into the restaurant. 

These wings are more heavily battered.

 The wings were somewhat unevenly battered, the pieces on the top were quite crunchy, but for some strange reason, even though I liked the fact this wasn't swimming in sauce, the bottom pieces had gone mushy. For some reason, the meat of the wings were drier as well. This soy based sauce was also too sweet for my taste.

Personally, I prefer the "original" prep to the "crispy", which is actually more "crunchy".

I'll chalk these visits up to the "soft opening" for now. Though the presentation, menu, and food has a definite corporate "feel", the folks working were very pleasant. We'll see what things are like in a couple of months.

Please read Soo's post here.

Pelicana Chicken
7767 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 12pm - Midnight
Fri - Sat 12pm - 1am

Midweek Meanderings - Red Moon Noodle House and Manna Rice Bakery Closes. Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake Coming to Convoy, and the Time Helen Keller Flew a Plane

I recently went and did a takeout revisit from Eastern Dynasty. Instead of sitting around and waiting for my order while the restaurant filled up, I went for a stroll. I do drive along Convoy quite a bit and will often see places closing and opening, but when walking you really do notice things. Another thing I noticed....perhaps it's always been this way, was how fast folks drive on Convoy. I swear, there were cars zooming by at over 50 mph! Taking turns with squealing tires! Yikes!

Anyway, I noticed a couple of things during my walk......

Manna Rice Bakery is Closed:

  Right in the same strip mall as Eastern Dynasty I saw that Manna Bakery was closed. Man, this is an oldie. I've never posted on this place. I think my last visit was in pre-blogging days, but I know they had a very loyal clientele. 

4688 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Red Moon Noodle House is Gone:

Walking to the strip mall with what I think is the worst parking lot on Convoy, I quickly noticed that all signage for Red Moon Noodle House was gone.

This closure kinda flew under my radar.

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake Coming to Convoy:

I walked down Convoy and managed to safely cross the street at Dagget and noticed some activity in the "other" infamous parking lot off Convoy where Jasmine, Dumpling Inn, and El Viejon are located. The sign is up for Uncle Tetsu Japanese Cheesecake right next to Mochinuts.

So, it looks like a location of this chain from Hakata, Japan is making its way down to San Diego. I know there are a couple of locations is the LA/OC area already, including one in our old stomping grounds of Hacienda Heights.

So, now with YikoYiko, Sunmerry, and Uncle Tetsu it seems we're going the way of Hot Pot and KFC in the area. When it rains, it pours, right?

4609 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

And  from the Cesspool of Useless Information Files: The time Helen Keller Flew a Plane

While walking I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and the episode with the story of when Helen Keller flew a plane! 

As stated in Britannica:

"In June 1946 an airplane traveled from Rome to Paris, crossing over the Mediterranean Sea. There was nothing unusual about this flight except one thing: for 20 minutes of the plane’s journey, one of its passengers became its pilot. The passenger was Dr. Helen Keller...."

And it's been verified by Snopes.

Amazing! And somewhat inspiring......

Monday Meanderings - It's Honeyjam Chicken Not JJ's and Olleh Sushi Replaces Old House Hot Pot

Just a quick post for a busy Monday.

It's Honeyjam Chicken not JJ's:

So, first off a big "THANK YOU" to "FOYs" Patty and Rena who gave me heads-up regarding what was going on with the spot that was initially indicated to be JJ Chicken. Patty was nice enough to comment on my it appears that JJ is not coming to Renaissance Center and on the very same day Rena sent me an email with a photo (Thanks so much Rena!) mentioning the same thing! So, of course I needed to do an update and a couple of days later I headed on down (up??) to Renaissance Towne Center and yes indeed it looks like Honeyjam Chicken and Beer is now taking the spot that was planned for "JJ".

And since there's a sign up, it looks like this one will actually happen!

8895 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122

Thanks so much Patty and Rena, I appreciate the time and effort you both expended. You know, I don't think our little blog would exist without wonderful folks like you!

Olleh Sushi Replaces Old House Hot Pot:

I noticed this when I was driving to Daiso. Looks like Old House Hot Pot is gone. Sorry to say I never had a chance to check them out.

Looks like the Olleh Kingdom is expanding. They already have a AYCE Korean BBQ in the Old Seoul - then Roadem BBQ spot on Convoy. This one is a AYCE Sushi....I guess they specialize in what my  good friend calls "All You Cannot Eat".....

8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

And finally......

My apologies for the blog being down almost a whole day over the weekend. Apparently there was an issue with Typepad's servers. It had been happening intermittently over the last month or so and this time; things went down for all their customers.

Now Typepad has notified me that there will be another downtime this month. But haven't been clear on specifics yet.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Sunday Stuffs - Pelicana Chicken Replacing Urban Eats and Flama Llama Replacing Chef Chin's

Amazing the changes one can see during a quick trip to Nijiya! Here are two.....

Pelicana Chicken Replacing Urban Eats:

Well, if you're keeping score (and I may be missing a couple of places here), Urban Eats replaced Hi Street, which replaced Char House. 

Established in Daejeon, South Korea in 1982, this chain serves up.......well, you guessed it, Korean Fried Chicken! I'm wondering if Kearny Mesa is in the competition for most Korean Fried Chicken places per square mile in the US? I mean, at HMart you have Katzya, right around the corner and ahem right across the street you have Cross Street, which is nearly across the street from BB.Q Chicken, right in the next parking lot in the Hive is Knockout Chicken, north of Balboa you have Bonchon, and in Zion you have Gala Chicken! And there I was complaining about all the Hot Chicken places opening in San Diego!

7767 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Chef Chin's Being Replaced by a Flama Llama?:

I saw construction going on at the former location of Chef Chin on Convoy, so I took a left into the parking lot.

Looks like a place named Flama Llama? So, I did a quick search and found this which states that the owner of Steamy Piggy and Formoosa is opening a restaurant that "will bring a new take on Latin American cuisine." I dunno, how about just having some good Latin American cuisine period?

4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

HMart and eating in the store (Mira Mesa location)

mmm-yoso!!! continues to be written by Cathy while Kirk and His Missus catch up from another wonderful vacation.

The Mister and I first discovered a Super HMart in 2012, actually on the same day that the first HMart opened in San Diego.  In 2013, I wrote a post about a meal enjoyed there, then in 2019 I wrote another post about more selections we've enjoyed before shopping in the store.  Post Covid-19, things have returned to 'normal' and today's post about the Mira Mesa location and its tiny food court area is to keep you updated. 
 If you walk in the entrance on the right, you'll be at the proper area. 
 If you had walked in the entrance to the left and counter-clockwise through the store, you'll see this overhead signage.
 Grab a container and choose from the hot/steam trays

 as well as from the chilled trays.  At the end of the line are canned and bottled beverages and the cash register and seating area.  Everything is $10.99/lb. {there is also a water fountain with cups in the seating area}

 The fried items seem to be fresh when we are here; lightly crisp and not greasy.  The squid and whole shrimp are a favorite (as you can see from these separate visits).  The chilled trays always hold something wonderful.  Each of these packed full trays weighed a little less than one pound. You can also order something from the kitchen- the menu board is right above the trays. The Bibimbap (mixed rice with meat and vegetables) has been a special taped to the bottom of the menu board for a while now ($9.99).  Steamed rice topped with a variety of vegetables and marinated tender, thin sliced beef (you can also get the beef in the per-pound steam tray) topped with an egg.  It's served with pickled radish, Kimchi and the mildly spicy, slightly sweet gochujang sauce.  A spoon is necessary for mixing the ingredients together.  You can have all of this served in a stone pot (dolsot bibimbap) so the rice is sizzling and brown/burned (in a good way) for $2 more (#10 on the photo menu).
#20 on the menu is 'pork cutlet' ($11.99).  Topped with teriyaki sauce and served with rice and salad, this is quite a large meal.  We were sad that on this visit, the pork was fried just about 30 seconds too long, leaving it a bit dryer and more chewy than usual.  

Once we finish our meal, we shop.

HMart 9440 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92126 (858)577-0060 Open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily Website

San Miguel de Allende (2022) - Fabrica La Aurora and Mercado del Carmen

We had one last stop for the morning and we headed north of the Mercado de Artesanías. It was getting pretty warm and we took our time, checking out various sights along the way.

There seemed to be quite a bit of construction going on with new houses popping up. From what we'd seen; SMA seemed to be pretty popular with Ex-Pats.

After crossing Arroyo de Las Cachinches we arrived at Fabrica la Aurora.

Formerly a textile factory and one of the largest employers in SMA, the mill closed in 1991 after the markets were flooded with imports and the old factory was converted into a warehouse. After artists displayed interest in renting and converting various rooms into studios and work spaces the factory was converted and reopened in 2001.

There are still artifacts and photos from the textile factory.

And there are over 30 studio and shops on the premises. It was a fun time checking things out.

As much as we enjoyed browsing, the highlight of our visit had nothing to do with all the arts and crafts.

The Missus and I decided to take a break, rather it happened when we decided to take a coffee break at the Café de la Aurora.

The Missus got some espresso and I a cold brew and we had a seat at a table.

While enjoying our break, I saw one of what I assume is an artist riding up the alleyway in his bike, along his side was his faithful pooch. The Missus had Her back to this so She didn't notice when the gentleman parked his bike and walked into his shop, his pooch decided to head into the café. 

This mutt walked past us and up to one of the tables on the other side of the café. He politely sat and stared at the folks who were having lunch. He sat so perfectly, with total focus on the couple eating that the Missus thought he was their dog! After getting no response, he turned around, walked past us and went to the table behind us and did the same thing!

That's when I figured out his "game"! This little fellow only went to tables with food on it! He ignored folks just having drinks! After getting no response, he saw the Server coming out with food and followed her to the next table. Amazing! The Missus and I were cracking up! Much like I did with "Tripod", I gave him a name; Juan. And this time I remembered to take a photo of the smart little guy. Why "Juan" you may ask? Well, I told the Missus that this little fellow believes he is the "chosen Juan"! She cracked up. Eventually his owner peeked out of his shop and saw Juan doing his thing and came with a leash and it was game over for the little guy....for now. It's moments like these that really make our travels fun.

We took the fairly long walk back to our accommodation. We stopped at a few shops along the way, but the Missus really didn't see anything She was interested in. And it seemed like the prices here were quite high.

As we got back to our B&B, I mentioned being somewhat hungry to the Missus. Right around the corner from our accommodation was a food court/hall named Mercado del Carmen. We decided to pop in for a look.

There were a number of stands in the food hall, featuring Mexican, French, Burgers, Pizza, and even Korean/Japanese....

And Peruvian.....

The Missus was craving rice; so we got a Bi Bim Bap and I went with some Cebiche from the Peruvian stand.

The Cebiche wasn't very good, the leche de tigre was very mild, watery, and this didn't have enough flavor overall.

The Bi Bim Bap was not bad.

As expected, the rice wasn't very good; but the kimchi was surprisingly decent, the cho-jang was legit, and that egg was a perfect sunny-side up. We were pleasantly surprised and the Missus got Her "rice fix" which would hold Her for the rest of the trip.

Mercado Del Carmen
Calle Pila Seca 19
San Miguel de Allende, 37700, Mexico

After the meal it was a short stroll around the corner to our room and an escape from the afternoon heat.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Stuffs, Is It Getting Hot Around Here Edition - Mike's Red Tacos Brick and Mortar Coming to Clairemont, Yin Tang Hot Pot Replacing A-Bowl, and Jomaru Korean Hot Pot Coming to Kearny Mesa.

Is it getting "hot" around here or what? I went and did my morning shopping this past weekend and decided to take a bit more time to see what was up in the Clairemont and Kearny Mesa area. And by coincidence all three places I noticed have a bit of "heat or spice" to them......

Mike's Red Tacos Brick and Mortar Coming to Clairemont:

I noticed the sign while driving up Genesee, so I took a short detour into the parking lot where Kroran is located.

This is where I believe Wings Republic was located. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the food truck, I'll probably check out the brick and mortar location when they open. I have a feeling they'll be pretty busy.

4310 Genesee Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Driving down Convoy, I went into the parking lot of Convoy Pointe Plaza to see what was up with the rebuilding of China Max (actually not much). And saw this......

Yin Tang Hot Pot Replacing A-Bowl:

In the former location of A-Bowl.

Bummer.....

4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Jomaru Korean Hot Pot Coming to Kearny Mesa:

Drove past the strip mall that houses Tajima, Song Hak, and Steamy Piggy. I noticed a sign saying "Jomaru Korean Hot Pot". 

The name sounded familiar....and reading this post jogged my memory. We saw Jomaru Gamjatang locations in Seoul. Never got to try them though.

4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Stay safe!