mmm-yoso!!!

Zion Market - A quick look at the new location

Well, as I mentioned in my post this past Sunday, Zion Market finally opened in their new location which had first been announced way back in 2022. I've got a love-hate relationship with Zion, which I won't go into detail about. But, we needed fermented kimchi, a staple in the household, so I thought I'd give the place a visit this morning, like right when they opened since I'm somewhat familiar with that parking lot which seems a bit on the small side for the market.

I got into the lot and parked in the last row. The lot was pretty full, except for the tow rows of EV dedicated parking. There's still construction going on, so hopefully there's more parking in the future....especially since I'd heard the Marugame and Bafang were planning to open a shop here! Yeeesh, can  you imagine how crazy it'll be?

Anyway, Paris Baguette's shop is right past the front entrance and seems to be larger than the previous location.

The spacing between the cash registers and the shelving was quite spacious.

It's funny, the produce section, which is where I spend most of my time at Zion looks basically the same as did the prices.

And other things as well. I got hit by a shopping cart driven by a wild "Halmoni" while taking this photo. I wasn't even in the middle of an aisle!

How long until the "Please do not throw the fruits and vegetables" sign goes up?

Anyway, I got what I needed.

And fighting the temptation to get the heck out of Dodge, I decided to take a quick look.

The shelves for the house prepared panchan and food is quite large, but I'm guessing they are still working on things as it was more than half empty.

Speaking of prepared foods; I don't recall the "old" Zion having such a large quantity of refrigerated packed foods.

It could just be that I was always on a "mission" when I shopped at Zion that I never noticed before.

There was one last section I wanted to check out; the meat department. It was kind of interesting as the cold case for meats was rather small, though what was available there was the $$$ stuff.

I asked the guy who was stocking where the typical sliced ribeye was and he pointed to one of the freezers? Hmmm....this is interesting, I'll need to follow-up leter.

Also, while I've never bought the marinated meats from Zion, I noticed that the butcher case that stores the prepared meats has it in pre-packaged containers; another change.

Well, while some things seemed the same; I'm not sure about the parking....I'll be coming early and hopefully during the week and having the standard 10up sliced ribeye frozen is not something I'd really go for.

So, we'll see in bit.

Zion Market
8330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 9am - 9pm

So, my good "FOYs"; if you drop by the new location of Zion, please let us know what you think!

Happy New Year!

Ah yes, another year passes and we turn the page to 2025!

Just like I've been doing every NYE morning since way back in 2005, I went to check out what was going on at the various Japanese markets. These days, it's mainly Nijiya that does Osechi.

It seems that Mitsuwa does preorders and I'm not sure about Tokyo Central, which didn't have anything out when we visited.

I got some stuffs from Nijiya as well as Kinpira Renkon, Konasu Karashi, and Karashi Mentai Takana from Niitakaya, the Tsukemono stand in in Mitsuwa. It made for a nice lunch.

Instead of having this as basic okazu, the Missus wanted a salad. So, I put one together.

This was a nice lighter lunch. We would be having NYE dinner at Et Voila, taking JJ along. I'll get that post done in a bit.

While walking on Adams, we noticed a wedding taking place at the Adams Avenue Theatre. On New Years Eve???

Well, the groom ain't got no excuse for not remembering their anniversary date, right?

Anyway, as we upend the calendar for 2024, and turn the page to 2025, we'd like to wish everyone a wonderful, safe, and delici-yoso New Year!

Happy New Year!

Milan - Duomo di Milano Rooftop, Lunch from Rossi & Grassi Srl, and Starbucks Reserve Roastery Milano

The day before we headed to Liguria was going to be our busiest in Milan. We had activities scheduled for both the morning and afternoon. Like basically two of the major sites.

We headed out to the first. I had gotten Fast Track Tickets for the Duomo di Milano, which included access to the Terrace, i.e. the rooftop of the Cathedral. I really wanted to check that out after seeing it on an episode Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy where he visits Lombardy (I hope his new upcoming shows do well). I thought both the architecture and the view was fantastic.

Our assigned time was 10am, so we headed out a bit early. We were way ahead of schedule when we reached bustling Piazza Cordusio. Among all the financial businesses and high end shops we noticed a location of Starbucks Reserve Roastery. Though we're not big fans of Starbucks, we had been to Seattle location of the Reserve Roastery, so we were interested in taking a look.

As one would assume for Milan....this location was pretty fancy.

   The line for coffee was crazy; so the Missus got some tea which She rather enjoyed and I had some sparkling water.

It was an interesting place to visit. There are currently six Starbucks Reserve Roasteries around the world. If you'd like to see what the Tokyo location looks like, you can check out Kat's post here.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery
Piazza Cordusio 3
20123 Milan, Italy

It had started drizzling and things seemed a bit "wet" when we got to Piazza del Duomo.

But heck, we weren't going to let a little drizzle stop us. We were zipped up by the elevators to the "terraces". To a world of spires, statues, and gargoyles.

We were told that many of the statues were carved as a gift to God and were only seen by the workers who climbed the stairs for hundreds of years. Now an elevator can whisk you up in minutes.

It's as if you've entered another world. The amount of work is stunning. No wonder it took almost six centuries to complete.

The view, even on a drizzly day was wonderful as well.

If you ever have the chance to visit the Duomo, we highly recommend doing the rooftop!

Once back down on earth, we entered the cathedral. There's so much to see....I'm just going to post on a couple of tihngs that really caught our attention.

The nave of the Cathedral is impressive, at a height of over 200 feet and stretching over 500 feet long!

There was an "interesting" statue of Saint Bartolomeo, one of the 12 apostles. Check it out.

Bartholomew was famously martyred; skinned alive and beheaded by the Romans.

We also went to the basement of the Duomo, which was quite interesting. The highlight were the ruins of the Baptistery of San Giovanni alle Fonti.

The Baptistry was constructed in 378 AD and is where Saint Ambrose (who became the Bishop at the Duomo) was baptized.

There are different foundations of churches that stood here before the Duomo. Many artifacts, even some tombs.

Yes, there's much to see here. Especially if you go from "top to bottom".

I had thought 2 to 2 1/2 hours would be enough, but it wasn't. We needed to get some lunch and a take a break before heading to our afternoon "appointment". So, we took our leave. We'll be sure to return someday.

As for lunch. Well, we headed back to the apartment. Because we had a nice sized kitchen we were using it for breakfasts and such. We passed this shop on Via Ponte Vetero and walked on in.

The place had a good selection of prepared foods, salumi, and stuff. Though it was kind of pricy. Still, I couldn't resist the Porcini mushrooms, which heated up well! 

Earthy, nutty, slightly sweet, in need of salt, but there was some in the cabinet.

I also wanted to try the Cima alla Genovese; which had everything from offal to boiled eggs to pistachios in it.

It's basically stuffed veal belly. Boy, this was potent! But quite filling!

Luckily we had some bread leftover from breakfast.

Yes, this place was quite expensive for a deli; in fact, this cost more than the dinner we had in a restaurant on this day! Still, it was great to be able to try this!

Rossi & Grassi Srl
Via Ponte Vetero 4
Milan, Italy

It was time for a nap; then we needed to head on out to our next "tour"!

Stay tuned!

Midweek Meandering - Coffee Culture replacing Hola Paris, Isa.Bella Closes, and an update on the Karaage from Tokyo Central

So, last week "FOY" Junichi was kind enough to let me know that Hola Paris had closed in the comments of one of my posts. Ever the thorough investigator, he even mentioned their Instagram site. Which states their last day of business was November 10th.

So, this past weekend, on the way back from my errands, I decided to drop by.

Coffee Culture replacing Hola Paris:

And it looks like a coffee stand named Coffee Culture is replacing Hola Paris.

Sad to see Hola go. It seems that the Urban Market can't sustain businesses.

2548 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110

Funny how random conversations can provide interesting info. I saw Nate the owner of Poseidon Project while getting my caffeine fix at Bay Park Coffee. He mentioned that isa.bella, the pizza place that used to be in the old  Boll Weevil location on Avanti, off Morena (you can find my post here), then moved to the food court at Clairemont Town Square had closed. 

A few days later, I was over at TJ Maxx doing a bit of shopping and decided to hop on over.

Isa.Bella Closes:

And yes, the sign is gone.

So, it looks like the they are closed. Though our friend "Google" says "Temporarily Closed".

And their website says they are looking for a "new home".

On my last visit to Main Chick, I had made a mental note to check them out....but I guess that note never got filed? 

So, we'll see.....

4705-A Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Update on the Karaage from Tokyo Central:

 A few months back, I noted how happy I was to have found a replacement for the "new and improved" chicken karaage at Nijiya, which I thought was pretty bad. At that time Tokyo Central was touting their chicken karaage, which turned out well when heated in our Air Fryer.

Well, on recent visits, I had noticed that the chicken karaage, at least the one's in the warmer looked terrible.

I tried this twice and was not a fan.

And then I noticed that the "original chicken karaage" in the warmer looked different.

Hmmm......

And then I went in and found both versions in the bento case. Both are called "Original Chicken Karaage" but look vastly different.

The one with the "Wagura" label costs $5.49. The other is sold by weight.

The one sold be weight is the one I get. It's much better when heated in the Air Fryer.

Like we needed more confusion?

Tokyo Central
8125 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

London - Early Access Tour of Tower of London, Lunch from Fortnum & Mason, and Twinings - The Strand

**** Not much food in this one. So unless you'd like to see photos of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, you can turn back now and return tomorrow!

Looking back, it did seem like we were making up for lost time in London. Trying to get in all the places we should have visited long ago. One of those places is the Tower of London, originally  started in 1066 by William the Conquerer as a symbol of power, to instill fear and awe in the Londoners he had conquered. Talk about a "royal flex". Being the center of power and having many roles; prison being one of the foremost of them.

We really didn't want to do the very popular Ceremony of the Keys....by 9pm we'd want to be settling in. We would be flying to Milan the next morning and while it wasn't a very early flight, I just wanted to be well rested. Instead, after doing a bit of research, I found an Early Access to Tower of London Tour and decided on that.

So, we took the Tube from Piccadilly to Tower Hill. Arriving early, we grabbed our caffeine fix, before finding the meeting spot. The group consisted of about 15 people on this morning.

The view of the Tower Bridge from here is quite outstanding.

We entered and the first stop was watching the Opening of the Tower Gates. The Tower is still considered a palace, so of course there's a process and ceremony. Handled by the Beefeaters, the official guards of the Tower.

The Yeoman in charge this morning was really funny as he explained the process that has been in place since the 15th Century. He cracked a lot of jokes at the expense of the officer walking over the keys.

They keys were exchanged....various funny comments made and the guards moved about to open up the Tower.

One of the benefits to having this tour is that we are the first folks to see the Crown Jewels.

No photos allowed; but let me say, it's quite impressive. It was great getting early entry as we could take our time; our guide waited outside until everyone was finished. As we moved on to our next stop there was a huge line, like of over a hundred people it seemed!

The tour was fun, along with going over the history of "The Bloody Tower", there was a lot of other info provided. Like about the The Royal Menagerie. For over 600 years the Tower housed a collection of animals "gifted" to the Royal Family. Thus, you'll find sculptures that commemorate those animals that were created in 2010.

Those Baboons looked quite lifelike from a distance. If interested, you can read more about that here.

The views from the walls are also quite nice.

This is the Tower Green. A site that supposedly marked where scaffolds were located. The location is much disputed.

I had recently read Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife, so of course I had questions about the Ravens at the Tower.

The Ravens of the Tower are believed to be the protectors of the Tower and the Royalty. The legend states: "If the ravens leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall.

We really weren't aware that other country's celebrated Halloween and really enjoyed seeing how they did!

And of course, the last place was the actual White Tower.

Which was an interesting place to visit as you're introduced to life at different statuses medieval London and then the bloody history of the Tower is exposed.

The Royal Armory has displays of arms over the centuries......

And then you'll find something that seems out of place; like this chair.

It turns out that this chair was used in the last execution at the Tower of London. Of an German spy named Josef Jakobs on August 15th, 1941.

All in all, having access to the Tower before opening and the Crown Jewels before the Masses made this a worthwhile tour.

The tour had taken about 3 hours. We decided to walk back to our hotel in Piccadilly. As for lunch; well, remember I mentioned the lower level food hall at Fortnum & Mason? We decided to stop by and just got some freshly made pasta.

As well as some broccolini.

The pasta was a nice al dente, but the Carbonara like sauce was bland and too thick. The broccolini was overcooked and under seasoned. Still, not terrible.

We took a break and had a nice nap. Upon awakening the Missus, who loves Her tea wanted to visit the flagship Twinings shop in the Strand, so we decided to walk on over. The Strand looked like a major theatre district with some interesting structures.

 The location of Twinings in the strand dates back to 1706! It's a nicely lit small shop. The Missus enjoyed shopping here and just had to get the special King's Coronation Blend.

The Missus did enjoy the Darjeeling Blend and the young lady working was very nice.

At this point we headed back to the hotel. We had put in a decent amount of steps on this day and a nice nap sounded perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!

London - Checking out Fortnum and Mason

Man, time is flying by isn't it? We've been doing so much traveling since Covid subsided. I think with getting older comes more a sense of urgency. The desire to get those "bucket list" items is higher. What do you think? Anyway, hopefully better late than never.

We had flown thru Heathrow so many times. Mostly as a layover to Paris. This time, we decided to stick around and explore London a bit. After consultation with the Missus, I booked our stay in the Piccadilly area. Yes, it's tourist central, but heck, we are tourists after all, right? We stayed at the Dilly a historic hotel.

As we usually did we flew on British Airways, Business Class. And as I mentioned in a previous post, it seems that the food has returned to pre-Covid levels.

That celeriac gratin was pretty good.

I did make the mistake of ordering the "Full Breakfast", which lived up to its name....I was quite full after this.

The Heathrow Express made getting from the airport to Piccadilly a snap and our hotel was centrally located. We had slept well on this flight and the Missus arrived just rarin' to go. I had made dinner reservations at a place I'd wanting to visit since I bought their cookbook in 2016. But first, the Missus wanted to explore a bit. Thre is of course, so much to see here!

So we headed on out from the hotel.

This seemed to be a rather "high-rent" district. It was fun to see a K Minamoto here....we always stop by the Ala Moana store when "back home".

There was one place in particular we wanted to check out. When at Heathrow, we always stop by Fortnum & Mason, just to have a look around. In fact, we once bought one of their pre-packed "hampers" for a pretty penny to snack on while waiting for our flight. 

The Piccadilly location was located a block away from our hotel.

F&M touts itself as an "upmarket" department store....well, no kidding!

One of things that surprised us was how popular Halloween seemed in London.

And even though it was early October, the store was all decked out for Christmas!

We enjoyed checking out the various floors and the decor.

So fancy! 

Much like those Japanese Department stores, the lower level features a "food hall"; though it's obviously not your run-of-the-mill food floor.

We spent a good amount of time here and would end up getting some lunch to-go a couple of days later.

It was a nice place to see all those things that you can't afford!

Fortnum & Mason
181 Piccadilly
London, United Kingdom

We took a walk a bit further afield, even checking out a rather upscale shopping arcade on the way back to the hotel.

Back in our room, there was a knock on the door. One of the hotel's staff dropped off some "welcome gifts" for us!

This was a nice touch!

We were really enjoying things!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cuisinery Food Market (Eurofood Depot) Revisited

Since Eurofood Depot moved and became the Cuisinery I've been stopping by every 2-3 weeks. Of course, getting the escargot is a must. It's now a staple of the household. I'm usually wary when places are taken over, but in the case of Eurofood Depot, it seems to have really improved the variety of items. There are, of course stuffs that I won't get, like tamales, bacalao croquettes, various seafood, prepared meals, and non-French items. But, we have come up with some items we've enjoyed.

What we've also noticed is that prices on some items have gone down by a buck as well.

And it seem that the Cuisinery is always coming up with some kind of marketing thing. Recently, they started opening on Sundays, and with that, it seems that they now have coffee, tea, and donuts....

Not sure about this....seems very 7-11.......

I do like that the charcuterie and cheese selection has been expanded. Especially since they now carry Epoisses, which Lazy Acres and WF also carry; but they sell it in half sizes.

Yes, it's that stinky, washed rind, cheese that we enjoy. In that previous post I shared the urban legend that Epoisses is banned on public transport in Paris (it's not).

The Missus also enjoys the Brie-style sheep based Perail Papillon.

These are not always in stock; so if you specifically want it, I've been advised to call ahead.

All of this is good, but for us, it's a couple of the frozen food items that we enjoy. Yes, there's the escargot, but after trying a couple of items....yes, there were some not so great choices, there are two that we keep in the freezer for those "lazy nights".

The Bacon Wrapped Wagyu was a surprise.

I do two phases in the air fryer, starting with a air roast and ending with an air fry to crisp up the bacon. I was surprised that the bacon crisps up nicely. It's a savory-salty-beefy treat.

Really nice with a crisp beer or glass of wine.

The other being the Caramelized Onion, Feta, and Bacon Bites. I'll usually make half a box. I'll do the air fryer thing, starting at the prescribed temp, then raising it up by 20 degrees at the end to crisp things up.

It turns out light, crisp, sweet-savory-salty.......

This was a nice surprise. Trader Joe's has a version of this that was terrible, so I didn't have high hopes, but this one is another keeper.

I enjoy shopping at Cuisinery Food Market. This is what I'd hoped Picard was going to be (it was not). There always seems to be something new; whether I'm motivated to try it out is another story, but it's always interesting. Nice folks working as well.

Cuisinery Food Market
7340 Miramar Rd. Suite 105
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri  10am - 6pm
Saturday   10am - 5pm
Sunday      9am - 2pm

Midweek Meanderings - Paragon Deli Closes, Pho Nom Coming to Convoy, and Wooltari Premium K-Food Coming to Clairemont Mesa

Just a couple of things for this "hump day".

Pho Nom Coming to Convoy:

I saw this when driving down Convoy, in the old Mr Moto Pizza location.

That drawing looked really familiar, so I asked one of my contacts, and sigh...yes, it's the Viet Nom - Formoosa - Steamy Piggy folks. I guess Convoy needs more over-priced, hipster-concept Vietnamese food, right? 

I wonder if they're going to do that "get a free dessert for a Yelp review" which you have to show your Server before getting your freebie stuff?

4646 Convoy St. Suite 114
San Diego, CA 92111

Wooltari Premium K-Food Coming to Clairemont Mesa:

Now this one has me a bit interested. I saw this sign when I had to get some hard wood charcoal at Barbecues Galore for a recent revisit to June Lake (more on that later)

I know folks who do online ordering from this company. They do a lot of prepared, frozen, gourmet type Korean products. It'll be interesting to check out.

According to Google, they are set to open on October 3rd.

7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

And Sadly, Paragon Deli Closes:

Man, this one caught me off guard. Cathy sent me a text with this screenshot. This seems to have happened rather suddenly?

I know it was a favorite of Cathy's and while I only did one post on the shop, I had gone back a couple more times. I was meaning to return and get another Francesinha, but sadly that will not happen now.

Man, we recently lost Perry's; Tip Top is closing at the end of the month, and now this..... Quite sad.

2724 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106

Midweek Meanderings - Champs Korean BBQ Replacing Seoul Korean Tofu House and Chicken Karaage from Tokyo Central (Marukai)

Just two quick things for a "heat wave Wednesday"!

Champs Korean BBQ Replacing Seoul Korean Tofu House:

I saw this while driving back from shopping at Nijiya.

I know that this used to be Convoy Tofu House, then it became Seoul Korean Tofu House. Now it looks like it's going to be yet another AYCE Korean BBQ. Because well, like KFC and Hot Pot we can never have enough AYCE KBBQ, right?

4229 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Chicken Karaage from Tokyo Central:

I started seeing these signs posted when entering Tokyo Central (aka Marukai).

Hmmmm.......Ever since Nijiya went and changed the recipe for their karaage I've been looking for a replacement. And the price at $10.99 a pound isn't too bad. After all, the regular price on the frozen Ajinomoto Karaage is $10.99 if I recall.

So, after about the fourth or fifth time seeing the signs I decided to go for it. I walked over to the warmer and bought me a small portion.

Once home I opened it up and had a taste. I liked the flavor, decent soy tones, without being too salty. I did find that it was on the more soggy side.

So, I ended up putting it in the air fryer for like 6 minutes and it was like a whole different dish!

Nice and crisp/crunchy. Heck, even the Missus liked it! So, even though this won't stop me from getting my Tenkatori "fix", it's a good option when heating in the air fryer.

Tokyo Central
8125 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone is keeping cool and comfortable during this heatwave!

Road Trip - Charlie Brown Farms (Littlerock, CA) and Dinner at Cantarito (Lancaster)

So, if I said we'd be going to Littlerock and Lancaster, perhaps you'd think we'd be going Arkansas and Pennsylvania? Well, actually no. You see the Missus had a specific destination in mind for this road trip which started with a sort of "staycation" in Carlsbad and then took us to the SGV for a night. We took our time to our "destination" for this RT; the city of Lancaster in the Northern part of Los Angeles County. Why Lancaster? Well, the Missus had a specific reason which I'll reveal in an upcoming post.

We'd be taking the 210 to the 14 from the SGV to Lancaster. While doing a bit of research, I saw that there's one of those roadside stops like Eddie World and Bravo Farms that I enjoy so much fairly close by. So, we took a short detour on the 138 to Charlie Brown Farms.

While not as large as other places we've been to; I have to say, the amount of "stuffs" here was crazy!

Along with the usual nuts, peanut brittle, and varieties of candies and sodas that will bring a nostalgic smile to your face......

There was a huge variety of other food as well.

We ended up getting a bag of the fried garlic, which I really enjoyed.

And there are some interesting canned and bottled foods available.

Just in case you need some pig's feet, lips, & hocks in your life.

There's much more than food available as well.

All of those novelty items.

And you just knew that Elvis had to make an "appearance", right?

    As I took my bag of peanut brittle and the fried garlic to the register; the guy in front of me bought a $170 worth of bottled sodas! I asked the friendly cashier about this and she told me "it's totally normal"! Whoa!

There's a place that serves minidonuts, and a BBQ restaurant, funnel cakes, ice cream, and shakes.

This was a fun stop!

Charlie Brown Farms
8317 Pearblossom Hwy.
Littlerock, CA 93543

Our room at the Residence Inn Lancaster wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we decided to head out for a stroll.

First thing we noticed was all the Air Force and Aerospace monuments.

Then I realized that Edwards Air Force Base was just a short distance from here! Duh!

There was also quite a bit of Public Art.

I came to find out that Lancaster is considered one of California's Cultural Districts, like Barrio Logan. There an Museum of Modern Art, but it closes at 4pm on Sunday, and would be closed on Monday so we missed out on visiting.

As we were checking things out on the "BLVD" I received a text message that our room was ready and we checked in.

We had but a small, early lunch, so I looked over my "list" of places in walking distance where we could have an early dinner. Cantarito, a Salvadoran restaurant was just two blocks away. Since it would be closed the next day, a Monday, we thought we'd dine here.

This seemed like a good option so we walked on over. We were the only customers in the place on a warm Sunday in March. The woman working was very friendly.

We ordered three pupusas and the yuca frita o sancochada.

First to arrive was the salsa and the curtido.

The salsa was the typical thin, not overly spicy version tat we're used to at Salvadoran places. But that curtido was awesome, it was fermented, nicely sour-savory-tartness, with hints floral-anise-citrus hints. I'm thinking they use a good amount of Mexican Oregano? We went thru two bowls of the stuff. The woman working got a kick out of the fact that we enjoyed the curtido so much....we could eat it like we would kimchi!

And then my cerveza arrived. It was simply a Modelo; but the Missus saw that frosty mug and immediately took control of it.

It was so refreshing on a rather warm day! Talking about "hitting the spot!"

As for the pupusas? Well, the Loroco version had too much cheese, we didn't care for the texture as it was a bit on the chewy-doughy side. The chicharron was actually ground pork. The best one was the hongos as it provided some earthy-mushroomy goodness, though it was suffering from some "leakage".

As for the Yuca Frita o Sancochada, well, this was an interesting dish.

   This was a huge, but interesting dish. The menu said pork rinds, but this was fried chunks of pork. Man, it was quite porky and full of flavor, but really hard and chewy, like chunks of fried jerky. Make sure your teeth are in good shape if you order this. We enjoyed the yuca. While the exterior was crisp, the interior just melted in your mouth, the texture was amazing! I don't think they do the usual "boil and fry" here. I'd gladly get the yuca again!

Overall, a decent dinner; not impressed by the pupusas, but the curtido and that yuca was so good!

Cantarito Salvadorian Restaurant
730 W Lancaster Blvd. #102
Lancaster, CA 93534

After dinner we took a stroll. It seems that Sunday evenings are pretty quiet in downtown Lancaster.

There was one place that we dropped into that was quite lively.

It seems that this is a Craft Beer - Underground Bowling Alley.

We popped in to take a look, but didn't hang around.

There was one other place that looked pretty lively and we'd end up having dinner there the following evening.

On this evening, we just took a stroll around town and enjoyed the public art.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!