mmm-yoso!!!

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!

Natural Style Chicken (Point Loma)

Here you are, looking at mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk and His Missus are really enjoying themselves on their well deserved vacation (I have photographic proof).  Cathy is writing this post. 

I posted about Natural Style Chicken in 2007.  Kirk posted about it in 2014.  It's been more than seven years, the restaurant has survived through Covid and it's time for a revisit post. At the far (Northeast) end of the mall on the Northwest corner of West Point Loma Boulevard at Sports Arena Boulevard, a few doors down from the original location of Gaglione Bros, is the longstanding (more than 40 years) location of Natural Style Chicken.
 The menu is pretty simple, primarily consisting of rotisserie cooked chicken  which you can see spinning in the oven at the front window if you arrive early in the morning.
 A chicken teriyaki plate ($11.99) weighs close to (if not more than) one pound.  Rice, an iceberg salad and chicken- a LOT of boneless, skinless, tender, juicy rotisserie chicken.  Served with a warm, house-made teriyaki sauce that isn't too sweet and not salty; just right.  An easily shared meal.
 But, the owner is Korean and there are both kalbi and bulgogi plates offered.  The bulgogi ($14.99) plate is wonderful, with thin sliced, marinated beef, griddled on a stovetop with cabbage, carrot and onion slices.  So tender and so much flavor!  This day we opted for the vegetable/fried rice (+$2) which was made to order with carrot, onion and egg.  Very good (again, the plate was heavy and shared). 
 There are a few side dishes on the menu.  The onion rings ($4.99) are an excellent choice.  Hand battered, expertly fried, light, crunchy, not greasy.
 Chicken Kyoza (Korean gyoza/mandu)(five for 5.99, ten for $8.99) are also perfectly fried dumplings , filled with chicken and cabbage and served with a tart, vinegar-based sauce.  

You can't go wrong here.  Nice people.  Fresh, tasty, good food.  

Natural Style Chicken 3944 West Point Loma Blvd San Diego 92110 (619) 223-9887 Open daily 11-9

Sue's Korean Kitchen Revisited

I had an "out of the blue" hankering for some Kimchi Fried Rice today and since Sue's Korean Kitchen opens at 10am, it made for ideal takeout stop for an early lunch. When I arrived, I realized that it was basically a year ago that Sue's opened in the Plaza Sorrento "Food Court".

The same really kind woman greeted me and took my order....in fact she told me; "I haven't seen you in a while......" Wow, she remembered me? 

And while some of the prices on menu items have gone up; especially those that are meat based; my Kimchi Fried Rice with Spam is still $9.99. 

I had a short wait while my fried rice was made to order.......then paid, grabbed my bag and headed back to the office.

 Man, the fried rice seemed spicier than I recalled.....or maybe I'm just turning into a weeny in my old age? The portion size seemed a bit smaller, but it was still enough for two meals. The kimchi was cut into smaller pieces which I actually liked. There was a good amount of my favorite canned meat product so all was well. I enjoy the kimchi they use for the fried rice; it has some decent fermented flavor.

All-in-all it did the trick. Just like your favorite aunt would make.

The most interesting thing about this was my "wool gathering" as I waited for my fried rice. Three thoughts came to mind:

1 - Did "FOYs" Loren and Dereck ever get and share the Jokbal as they mentioned in the comments of that post?

2 - It suddenly hit me how much guts these folks had to open up a food business in the middle of a pandemic! I know that I wouldn't have been brave enough guts to do that! There must be a story to this.

3 - And for some reason; I thought about "Chicken Alice"; Alice Yang who passed away in 2015. Her chicken was a big part of my life in the 80's and 90's. You can read that part of the story in my original Chicken Alice post. And if you can get your hands on some Park's Brand Kimchi Sauce; you can make my my updated recipe.

And then I heard; "hello...hello...." Well, I guess I had really zoned out....my kimchi fried rice was ready.

It was time to head back to the office.

Funny the things that go thru your mind when you're waiting for some kimchi fried rice!

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

Have a great week!

BB.Q Chicken Returns to Convoy

Back in the fall of last year B(est of the) B(est) Q(uality) Chicken returned to San Diego taking the spot of a Convoy institution Ichiro's. Now honestly, I wasn't all that thrilled as my experiences  with the chicken at the former location. The chicken had a strange fishiness, that even the Missus could make out. So I really wasn't in a rush to check them out.

But then, my good "FOYs" Candice and "Xiāngjiāo" mentioned how much they enjoyed the chicken from bb.q; though that was tempered on the other end of things by my other "FOY" ChrisR who was kind enough to email me:

"Too much breading and not enough meat on the wings, though the proportion was okay with the legs. The soy-garlic sauce was blunt, overpowering, and, bizarrely, faintly sweet."

So, ok....looks like I had to check them out.

Just to be clear; each time I visited, I placed online orders......and each time I still had to wait when arriving at my given time; actually, on my last visit, I purposely arrived 10 minutes late....which made me worried about my wings just sitting cooling their heels....well, I guess chicken don't have heels...let's call it "cooling their metatarsals"....but I ended up waiting another 10 minutes for my food. Guess lunch business is booming?

On my first visit; I really wanted to "taste the chicken". That is, just breaded and fried without all the sauces and such. Unfortunately, wings were not available prepared that way, so I ordered the Golden Original Boneless (8 pieces $13.59). I also was curious about the Kimchi Fried Rice ($12.99). Man, almost thirty bucks for lunch!

I actually really enjoyed the Kimchi Fried Rice.

 It looked quite dark and that egg was overcooked for my taste, though the edges were nice and crisp. I really enjoyed the smoky spice, it was nicely seasoned, good pickly-fermented tones and decent saltiness. This was a nice version that I'd gladly have again.

As for the chicken......

 On the good side; unlike the chicken at the former "bb.q" there was no fishiness. The chicken was somewhat unevenly breaded, though it was nice and crunchy. In my opinion, this needed more seasoning as I thought it to be fairly bland and it seemed to have been fried fairly "hard" as the meat was on the dry side. At least it wasn't greasy.

The pickled radish, while a bit on the sweet side helped to cut the "fry-o-lated" flavors....

In some ways, at least in my opinion this was a much improved version of BB.Q Chicken. And of course, since I try to do more than one visit before posting, I returned and this time ordered the Ddeok-Bokki ($12.99) and got the Soy Garlic Wings (8 pieces $14.99)....man, who'd have thought we'd see the day when 8 wings cost like fifteen bucks???

As for the Ddeok-Bokki.

This was seriously not to my liking; the rice cakes were under-cooked and hard. I also like a nice coating on the Ddeok-Bokki, but this was more like a broth, which other than having some spice was really weak and watery. I'll pass on this in the future.

As for the wings.

The wings weren't evenly coated in sauce and I found the breading to be more hard then crunchy. The sticky sauce had barely any garlic flavor and was more cloying sweet than anything else. I'd prefer a more balanced flavor and more savory tones as well. The chicken, like on my previous order was also on the dry side. The drumettes were on the large side which threw off my preferred batter/skin to meat ratio, especially since the meat was on the dry side.

Still, my friends really liked this place so I decided to give them one more try. I wasn't in the mood to dish out thirty bucks for lunch so I just ordered the Spicy Galbi Wings.

Perhaps in some way, the third time was the charm. The wings were still more hard than crunchy, though the meat was quite moist this time around. While still being on the overly sticky and sweet side, things were somewhat balanced out by a mild spiciness and savory notes. Also note that the drumettes on this visit were on the smaller side which I prefer. So, if I ever come back, I'll try something inline with this flavor profile.

Overall, I find the breading on the wings here to be on the overly hard side. I also think the glazes used are on the sweeter side and lacking balance. Though I guess it's all about personal preferences. You just might enjoy the wings here like Soo does. So, give them a try and let me know what you think.

bb.q Chicken
4344 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 1130am - 9pm
Fri - Sat 1130am - 10pm
Suday 12pm - 9pm

Prime Grill Revisited

I've been approaching dining out with some trepidation as we enter the post-Omicron period. We're still a bit cautious, preferring to dine outdoors, except when that option is not available and the Missus is craving something. In those cases, we go as early as possible. The Missus was craving the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap from Prime Grill and also the Dak Bulgogi. So, we arrived right around 4pm and while the place was busier than I expected, we were seated all by our lonesome all the way in the far corner.....which was just fine by us.

The Missus ordered the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap and though I would usually order the Bi Bim Naengmyun, it was much too chilly for that, so I went with the combination Gopchang Jigae and Dak Bulgogi (for the Missus).

Soon enough the panchan arrived.

Man, it seemed that the panchan here was on the weaker side during our last visit; you remember when San Diego hit the yellow tier and there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel? This was even more bland; especially the baechu kimchi and kkakdugi (radish kimchi) was especially bad; look how pale it is.

And then we had our Prime Grill "moment"; there always seems to be one when we eat here these days. When the gyeran jjim (the steamed egg) arrived, the Missus asked for some sesame oil. The woman's response?

"Why....what do you need that for?"

"For the gyeran jjim"

"Humph....." At which time she walked away.

We did get our sesame oil though.....

    You gotta love it! Soon enough our food arrived. The Missus enjoyed the no frills but tasty dak bulgogi. I enjoyed the funky elasticity of the gopchang. The mild spice from the jjigae and the molten temperature of the tofu. It warmed me up nicely.

I also had fun kidding the Missus.....She finally got a taste of what it's like....you, similar to my "Why you buy so many" moment at Zion Market!

And as usual, the Missus enjoyed Her Dolsot Bi Bim Bap.

She always lets the bi bim bap "rest" to develop a nice, nutty, crisp crust. Then mixes the bowl pouring in some cho-jang and even some of that hard fought sesame oil. It's all there, mild spice, salty-savory tones from the bulgogi, slight bitterness, crunchy textures, mild sweetness...aaahh....a "bowl like life".

Prime Grill
4620 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

I was just thinking as I looked back at our post from June of 2021, how optimistic I felt....and then...well, you know what happened. I've been gone form the islands for over 25 years now; but still believe in bachi (bad karma)......I hope I didn't open up another can of worms with this one!

It's Getting to be Soup Weather Again - So it's Emperor's Soup from Woomiok

Usually, during normal times; I really look forward to cooler weather where I can avail myself of various soups.....of course, with the pandemic....well, I don't think I'll be dining in at your local neighborhood pho shop for a while. But that doesn't mean "no soup for you (me)" during this time. We've found what works (and doesn't), though there's still much to try. And Woomiok does real well as takeout. And it had been a while since I'd done takeout. So, it was the typical drill, head on over, place my takeout order, then head to Nijiya to do some shopping. By the time I'm done shopping, my order is ready.......two birds with one stone and all of that.

We've got the drill down at home as well.

   The set-up with our dolsot and Iwatani Butane Stove at the ready. The panchan was quite good this time around, with the baechu kimchi having some nice fermented tones.

I tend to eat more rice with my soup, with the Missus enjoying the tendon, trumpet mushrooms, and leaving most of the rest of the meat to me. The Missus enjoys more salt in Her bowl, while Ill go for the carbs.

Man, having this at almost a rolling boil really does provide that "aaaah" factor.

Sure did hit the spot!

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 737-4599
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 9pm

So, what have you been eating/craving now that the weather is cooling off?