mmm-yoso!!!

Mom's Pho and Grill

As I've mentioned many times before, I always appreciate all the tips, notifications, and recommendations I receive from all of you! And I'll say it again, I don't think this blog would still exist if not for all the wonderful comments and emails I get. Way back in October of last year, FOY "Laurie" mentioned that that the old "ABCDE" (American-Born-Chinese-Dining-Establishment) in Tierrasanta Town Center had closed and was going to be replaced by a Vietnamese Restaurant. Laurie was good enough to keep me appraised on the situation in comments of various posts.

Recently, recovering from the crazy adjustment in weather from 85 degree (not the bakery) and humid Taiwan, to chilly 50 degree San Diego had me wanting some noodle soup. It was time to get back out there and get some pho. Now here's the crazy thing. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of times I actually had pho in a restaurant totals......three! Yes, the guy whose done 150+ posts on pho only had three bowls dining in over the course of the last three years. And one of them was in Montpellier, France!

So, it was time to get back on that pho train and since Laurie had told me that Mom's Pho and Grill had opened back in January, I decided that it would be a good place to have my first bowl of pho in over 6 months.

The restaurant opens at 9am; I got there at 930 and was the only customer in the place, which is spacious, clean, though a bit on the dark side in terms of lighting.

The woman working led me to a table and handed me a menu. I quickly noticed the standard accoutrements laid out on the table.

Not wanting to hem and haw over the menu; I just went with Deluxe Mom's Pho without looking at the price ($16.99). 

I was in for a bit of shock when the sprouts and basil hit the table.

Is this the standard post-pandemic plate these days? Good lord, perhaps there's bean sprout supply chain issue? While waiting for my bowl to arrive I counted the bean sprouts, all 16 of them. This was even more shocking since I had gotten us Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga the day before and this is what I unpacked at home for our two bowls.

Anyway, my bowl soon arrived with a nice-looking beef rib floating on top.

    The broth looked very light, yet cloudy, and had what I call the "San Diego sweet" pho broth flavor. At least it wasn't overly salty, but it also lacked beefiness.

The noodles were in the typical clump in the bottom of the bowl and was on the mushy side.

There was quite the variety of meat in this. It was supposed to have rare steak, but I couldn't find any. The beef that I thought could have been rare steak at one point in recent memory was dry and tough. The brisket and flank were dry and lacked flavor.

 There were two strips with nicely done tripe and some very thinly sliced tendon which also wasn't bad. And of course there was that beef rib. The meat on the rib was quite tough and as you can see trying to get it off the bone resulted in the meat peeling off in one large piece. It did have a decent flavor, but was quite chewy. It definitely wasn't like "Dem Bones from Duyen Mai".

As a whole, I think Laurie summed it up well when she said that it was pho ""not to offend" somewhat toned down".

Still, I wanted to try some other items from the menu and happened to find myself in the area again. This was going to be a takeout visit. I really didn't feel like trying any of the Com Tam, stir-fry, or bun dishes. And since it was, ahem, "Fry-day", I decided to order a couple of appetizers to go.

I went with the Cha Gio and decided to try out the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. Both items did well on the trip home.

The Cha Gio (3 for $5.99) was nicely wrapped and because of the layers more hard than crisp.

The filling was slightly porky in flavor and was highly prosessed so you really couldn't tell what was in there. The nuoc mam cham was overly sweet and needed more fish sauce.

The Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings (8 - $11.99) were actually not bad.

More on the crunchy side, these were perhaps a bit over-fried as the flesh was on the dry side. It wasn't overly salty, and the wok'd garlic-chilies-scallions-onions gave it a nice zip. This won't make me forget any of our favorite versions of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but it was decent.

The gentleman working here is quite nice and friendly; the woman working is quite reserved. Perhaps I'll return when I'm in the area to see how the place is doing.

Mom's Pho & Grill
10645 Tierrasanta Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92124
Current Hours:
Daily 9am - 830pm

And thanks to Laurie for letting me know about this place and getting me to pho-rage for pho again! 

Thanks Laurie!

Montpellier - Cuisine S, Cathedral Saint-Pierre, and Famiglia (In Les Halles Castellane)

Night drew its shades quite quickly in Montpellier. One moment I was staring out from the balcony, albeit with a sweater on, then "bam" darkness had descended. And along with that came a drizzle, not heavy mind you, just enough to be irritating. 

And then the cold arrived.

We'd had decent luck with non-French cuisine thus far and thought some soup would be great. I did some searching for ramen, but those places didn't look to promising. I did better with pho and one of those shops was fairly close to where we were staying, Cuisine S. Getting there was a bit interesting and round about as the place was fairly close to the train station. We walked past several Thai Restaurants and countless Indian places, all of them sparsely occupied. The street seemed dark and quite empty, the Missus was getting a bit nervous. It was a pretty dramatic change when we arrived at our destination.

All those folks waiting outside are food delivery couriers waiting for their orders! The restaurant itself was three-quarters full and we easily got a table. But there was one table where no one sat and the packages of takeout a delivery items were placed there. There was a constant stream of food packages being placed on the table and folks picking stuff up!

The woman working was very nice and we were quickly given menus. We opened it up and started cracking up.

They sure were playing up Obama's Bun Cha experience with Anthony Bourdain! The Missus ended up ordering the Bun Cha avec 2 Nems.

I, on the other hand, got the Pho Dac Biet, which seemed quite pricy at 15 Euroes, but heck, this is France and perhaps the ingredients are difficult to find?

Anyway, soon enough my pho came out.

 There were no herbs and veggies on a plate; what little there was had already been dumped in the soup; which had a weird tinge that was almost grey. The broth tasted like salt water with some beef bouillon dumped in it. The slices of beef were tough and tasteless. The banh pho were of the thicker variety and were just a tad overcooked. Man, this was even worse than the stuff we had in Paris a few years back.

The Missus fared slightly better.

 The best item were the "nems", which we call Cha Gio, it was light and crisp and the filling while on the chewier side had a nice porky flavor. The bun was overcooked. The bun cha dry, tough, and bland. The nuoc mam cham suffered a from a serious shortage of fish sauce. I'm just going to stop here.....

And still, those takeout and delivery orders kept piling up......

Again, the woman working here was so very nice and sweet. She spoke English, so I asked her about all the delivery orders and she told me: "every day is like this"! Go figure!

In the end, perhaps I pushed for a "bridge too far" this time.

Cuisine S
20 Rue Aristide Ollivier
34000 Montpellier, France

We slunk back to the apartment.....

When we awoke the next morning, I could tell the Missus was getting a bit restless and was ready to move on. So, I quickly tried to figure out what to do on this day. I did some quick checks and found that the Cathedral, which we saw the previous day was open from 1030 - 1145. Luckily, the apartment was fully stocked with coffee pods and I ran downstairs....it was very convenient to have a Carrefour City right on the ground floor along with a large Monoprix in the Shopping Center. I grabbed a yogurt for breakfast. We made a plan for the day, I did a post, and then we headed out at around 945am.

By now I could tell that this part of Montpellier was getting a bit too small for the Missus.

We actually did a loop and followed the tram tracks, passing the old Ursuline Convent.

Which was built in 1641 and became a women's prison during the French Revolution and is now called the Agora, which houses the National Choreographic Center.

Then down the winding streets of the old town; up stairs, down stairs.......

Until we turned the corner and the massive Cathedral Saint-Pierre stood in front of us.

The Cathedral was open for visitors so we stepped in.

The structure was commissioned by Pope Urban V in 1364 and became a cathedral in 1536.

 The church is dedicated to Saint Peter. We spent about a half hour exploring a bit. It does really look like a fortress, especially form the exterior with the two huge pillars in the front. Indeed, it is often called "Fort Saint Peter".

After our visit, we felt a bit hungry; it was still fairly early for lunch in France, so we decided to head on over to Les Halles Castellanes and perhaps get something to eat back at the apartment.

After doing a couple of "laps" around the the market, we decided to get some pasta from a stand named Familglia.

All the pastas were made in the stand and they had some really good looking stuff. 

In the end we got the Ravioli de Truffe with Pesto and the Gnocchi with Truffe and Champignon (of course). The service was very friendly and nice.

We got back to the apartment and I reheated the pastas.

The Truffle Ravioli was a perfect al dente.

The filling was a mild cheese with a wonderful amount of truffle flavor! The pesto was very weak though. It really didn't have any pine nut flavor, so I'm thinking it was made with walnuts or something similar.

The Gnocchi was surprisingly good.

The texture was smooth and fairly light. The sauce was mushroom and truffle forward, just what we wanted. Decent amount of salt as well.

A pretty good meal from a random stand in the market.

Famiglia (In Les Halles Castellane)
8 Place Castellane
34000 Montpellier, France

Lunch was a success, but my next mission? Find something to do after lunch!

Dining In at Pho Duyen Mai and How to Get "Them Bones" (Xí Quách Suon Bò) Now

I have really been enjoying the recent cooler weather. It has given me the chance to "catch up" on places that I hadn't visited in quite a while. And now that I've started dining in, albeit with some caution, I have started "making my rounds". In my post on Pho Lucky's reopening, I mentioned wanting to return to Pho Duyen Mai. In the comments section "FOY" Dereck noted a recent visit to Duyen Mai and indicated that "the soup was pretty good the noodles were a disaster. Literally there was a pile of little pieces floating around halfway through the bowl." So, I really wanted to check things out. Luckily, it was about time for Calvin and me to have our "monthly" lunch. And since Duyen Mai opens at 10am, we could minimize the chances of a lunch crowd.

I arrived a bit early, about a quarter to ten and Duyen Mai was already open.

We looked over the menu and then asked the woman who always works here if they still served the rib bones (Xí Quách Suon Bò). She told us that they still serve them, but only after 1230pm and that there's a limited amount each day. So, we were too early on his day.

Calvin remembered that I used to order the Nem Nuong Cuon from here for the crew at work and we had an order of those to start.

Decently wrapped, herbs and veggies fresh, crisp fried egg roll wrapper along with a lightly grilled nem nuong. I call these "Brodard light". The dipping sauce was a bit too mild for my taste. Still, not bad for San Diego.

As for my pho, I got the #27. Well done steak, brisket, flank, tendon, and tripe - a small is now $11.50.

 The herbs and sprouts were sparkling fresh, though there was no ngo gai. The broth was quite clear, perhaps a bit too defatted for me. It was also "sweeter" than I prefer and quite "salty" but better than what I'd recently consumed at Pho Lucky, at least in terms of beefiness. There was a very mild hint of anise flavor in the broth as well.

Dereck had mentioned the noodles being in little pieces during his meal. This wasn't the case for us, but even though the noodles weren't clumped together, they were overcooked and mushy.

As for the proteins. Overall, minus not having the Xí Quách Suon Bò, this might be the best beef I've had at Duyen Mai. Other than the well done steak which was "cardboardish", the flank was beefy and firm, the tripe had a nice crunch without being hard and rubbery, the brisket was super tender with nice "bovine" tones, and the tendon was decently tender.

 Admittedly, I was disappointed in not being to get "Dem Bones", but this was an ok bowl of pho especially for the Kearny Mesa area, which may have the most KFC, hot pot, and such, but seems to have seriously fallen off with regards to Vietnamese cuisine over the past decade.

I'll probably return for the pho with Xí Quách Suon Bò.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 10am - 9pm
Closed on Tuesdays
"Them Bones" (Xí Quách Suon Bò) served after 1230pm

Pho Lucky Reopens

I was quite happy to see that Pho Lucky was reopening. Once upon a time we enjoyed the pho so much at Lucky that it was on our regular rotation. Over the years it did "pho" out of favor with us (sorry, I couldn't help it) but, at least for me I replaced the pho with the banh mi bo kho which was was my favorite version in San Diego. I was quite excited at the possibility of having the bo kho so I headed over the first chance I had. 

Man, they've done a pretty nice job renovating the interior.

Being used to the "old" Pho Lucky, I was a bit taken aback when I was greeted with a smile and lead to my table. Everyone was quite pleasant.

I was given a menu...and sadly, there was no bo kho on it. When I asked, I was told that "maybe it might be added in the future". For now; it's almost all pho. So, since I was going to get the pho, I went with a small bowl of the #3 ($10.95)....which used to be the #4 in the good old days, the well done flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe....which they spell as "stripe" on the menu.

One left over procedure from before is the delivery of utensils and napkins in a basket.

What was totally different from days of yore, is that metal bowls are now used to serve the pho.

In terms of appearance, the broth wasn't cloudy if a bit overly defatted. 

    In terms of flavor, I took a quick sip of the broth just as it was delivered and.....sigh.....just slightly beefy and it had that feature of "San Diego Pho".....the broth was overly sweet and quite thin.

I was glad to see not one, but two leaves of ngo gai....I must have hit the jackpot!

I then went to check the noodles....and sigh number two....it was in a clump in the bottom of the bowl.

   I did notice something interesting as I went to add the bean sprouts to my pho. It was studded with ice! I guess this is what keeps those sprouts fresh and crisp? Not a great move to add to your pho though.....

As for the proteins....well, the two items I really enjoy were on the endangered list. The tendon was nice and tender; but only two small slices, and only two little wisps of tripe. I guess they might have a "two per customer" limit? The flank was decently tender and quite beefy, while the brisket was on the drier side.

Sadly, the noodles were mushy.

And sad kind of sums my feeling; though I did feel a bit out of sorts. When I thought about things, I wondered when was the last time I actually dined in and had pho...it was in March of 2020! Before the pandemic. Keep in mind that we have over 145 pho related posts. Geez, it had been so long. I'll give Lucky a "pass" this time around and drop by in a couple of months to see what's up.

Meanwhile, I need to drop by Duyen Mai, after all....

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Have a great week everyone!

Pho Lucky Reopening in Mira Mesa and it's been 900 Days......

**** You can find my post on my first visit to Pho Lucky since the reopening here.

My buddy "Calvin" told me that he heard Pho Lucky was reopening so I headed on over this past weekend. And guess what?

This brought a smile to my face. While perhaps the pho was not always consistent, Pho Lucky made my favorite version of Bo Kho. Though looking at the sign, I'm thinking this might be a whole new set of folks? Hopefully, we'll soon see.....

9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

And it's been 900 days......

I went over to Nijiya to do some shopping....something I do a couple of times a week it seems.

And for some reason; I flashed back to this:

And this.....

And then I did a quick check on my date/time calculator and saw, that it was going to be 900 days since "that day".  I think of that day being March 16, 2020 when all the closures pretty much started. Like I mentioned in my TK Donuts post it really hit home on the 18th of March. I was already going to work super early; like before 5am and by now nothing was open for coffee, not even 7-11 or Starbucks. I drove down Clairemont Drive and onto the I-5 North and saw not a single vehicle....getting off at Nobel Drive, ditto.....nothing until I passed a police cruiser near Genesee. It was eerie, like I was transported to some sci-fi movie.

I'll never forget that morning.

And of course, since this is a food blog, I mourn the loss of so many places, some personal favorites, and others places with a long history in their neighborhoods. So many places......

Things continue to change; new challenges arise. Frankly there were times when I wondered if I should keep on posting So many have stopped or moved on to the latest platform/app. But the desire to eat and share our meals/shopping/travel hasn't abated. For this I thank all of you for the wonderful comments and emails!

Take care and have a wonderful weekend!

Midweek Meanderings - Sushi Yorimichi replaces Thai Papaya, Matoi replaces Shirahama, El Viejon Seafood opening soon, and Pho UTC and Grill has Closed

Here's a collection of what I've seen over the last few weeks.

Sushi Yorimichi replaces Thai Papaya:

**** You can find a post on Sushi Yorimichi here.

This one was first mentioned to me by our "FOY" Junichi, who noticed it was replacing a favorite of ours Thai Papaya.

My photo was before our recent road trip and my understanding is that they have recently opened. A "FOY" actually visited and told me they do everything from sushi to ramen to yakitori.......

I'll reserve the rest of what was written until I (maybe) will visit in the near future.

Sushi Yorimichi
2405 Ulric St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Matoi replaces Shirahama:

Which I just noticed on one of my trips to Nijiya.

Shirahama has been replaced by yet another "omakase" place, this one run by the folks from Hane Sushi. I do have quite a story about Shirahama....perhaps one day I'll share it with you.

Matoi
4212 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

El Viejon Seafood replacing Chungchun Ssal Hot Dog:

**** You can find a post on El Viejon here.

This one really popped out at me when driving North on Convoy.

If I recall, this was the location of Chungchun Ssal Hot Dog.........

Anyway, I understand this is a project from the folks that own Lupe's.

4619 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Pho UTC and Grill has Closed:

On a recent visit to Chicago Fire Grill I noticed a slew of "for lease" signs. One of which was for Pho UTC.

8915 Towne Centre Dr
San Diego, CA 92122

Pho To Go From Pho Hoa Huong

The Pandemic has really accelerated the Missus's online purchases....to the point that She often doesn't remember what has been delivered. Of course, while the Missus is very good at ordering and opening things up at home, as I noted before, She's not really very good at making trips to the Post Office to pick up or to do returns. Well, at least when I had to make this last trip to the Post Office, it was to return items. Luckily, working from home, I was able to schedule a quick trip to the Post Office. It was between meetings at around 10am and when thinking about what I'd be picking up for lunch in the area, the solution quickly became clear...….the "fastest pho in the west" might fill the bill.

So, just over a year to the day I last visited, I dropped by Pho Hoa Huong, this time for takeout. I placed my order.....for good old #4 (now $10) and headed to the Post Office where there was no line. I basically made it back to PHH in ten minutes and guess what? My order was waiting....in fact, the nice gentleman saw me walking over form my car and brought my order out to me! Man, it's such a far cry from those days when they basically dealt the menu out to you and then hovered over you to order. Not that I miss those days at all, mind you!

So, unpacking at home...man, the Pho broth was super hot! And in character it was quite dark, though a bit less fatty than before.

As I mentioned in a couple of recent posts....it just seems that portion sizes have increased quite a bit during the pandemic. Since I got home with a good amount of time before my next call, I decided to have an early lunch.

The broth wouldn't need much heating and the noodles were nicely under-cooked. So, I briefly brought the broth back to a boil, then easily separated the proteins and herbs/veggies from the noodles. I placed a noodle strainer in the noodle bowl, placed the banh pho in it and then poured the boiling broth over it, separating the noodles easily.

There was a decent amount of sprouts and a ton of sliced jalapeno. A couple of leaves of good looking ngo gai....though the basil was starting to go bad with most of the leaves discolored.

The broth was pretty dark and I noticed that distinct sweetness that pervades pho broth here in San Diego; not as bad as most other places, but it looks like it's creeping into the "old school" places like here. At least it wasn't overly salty. There was a mild anise-beefiness to it as well.

The noodles were just spot on perfect; even better than what I've had when "dining in" during those pre-Covid days. Once unclumped it had a nice al dente pull.

I was quite impressed with the tripe; clean finish with a good crunch to them. The rest was fine; the tendon was decent, the flank was actually better than the brisket, with a nice toothsome chew and good beefiness. The brisket was too tough for that cut and lacked a good bovine flavor.

This might be the best overall non-frills pho I've had in a while....of course, I haven't had much pho during these times. But I was quite satisfied with my lunch.

Pho Hoa Huong
6921 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 8am - 9pm

"Them Bones" (Xí Quách Suon Bò) and Nuoc Beo From Pho Duyen Mai

A couple of weeks back "FOY" Sage  sent me a Tweet letting me know that Pho Duyen Mai now had an option for "Fatty Broth with Green Onions" for 50 cents extra. Well, that got my attention as I figured it was Nuoc Beo. A lot of places will provide Nuoc Beo on request; but I don't recall seeing it on the menu in San Diego. So, when our latest storm hit; you know 50 mph winds, hail, locusts....water turning to blood (this is 2021 after all)......I decided that a bowl of pho (while I still had a chance), with some extra fatty broth would really hit the spot. I was tempted to do the online ordering; but quickly noticed that they didn't have "Them Bones" as an option online. So, I decided to drive on over on my way back from the office to check on Frankie. The nice woman was working who remembers me, even with some groovy longer hair and a mask on. She quickly told me that they did indeed have Beef Rib Bones available, which I added to my order.

This being yesterday....Monday the 26th, Duyen Mai was still doing takeout only, with only one party at a time allowed inside the front door at the table.

I was my order would be ready in ten minutes and waited in my car....and about eight minutes later, I was waved back in to pick up my order.

It felt quite hefty and I was a bit surprised when I unpacked things.

Man, along with a larger portion of broth like I had last time; there were four full ribs and all the meat. I was also shocked at how much bean sprouts were included as well.

The beef rib meat was much more tender than on previous visits. It came off the bone cleanly and I shredded it into a bowl with my hands.......nice beefy goodness right here.

I actually saved half the meat and a third of the broth with some bean sprouts and had that as a starter for dinner.

I got the #27...you know tendon, tripe, well done meats....especially since I was taking this togo. A little of the nuoc beo went a long way....not very beefy, though quite "lardy" and the scallions adds a bit of seet-pungency to things.

The proteins were in good shape; I especially appreciated the crunchy tripe, with no off flavors with the tender tendon as a foil. The well done flank as toothsome, but not tough and the brisket was nice and beefy.

Like I previously mentioned, there was a ton of very fresh bean sprouts and also a good amount of basil, which was on the precipice of starting to turn color. That lime came in handy as the broth; while decently beefy...something that is quite rare when it comes to pho in San Diego these days; featured something else that is the status quo with SD pho broth; it had that "sweetness", though it wasn't overly salty.

The only thing problematic were the noodles. Since it was packed with all the ingredients on it; I just moved it to a bowl. I should have removed all the toppings; though getting all the scallions and cilantro might be problematic and poured boiling water to separate. While the noodles were nicely prepared.....it still had some nice "strecth" to them; it was quite a task separating them without tearing the noodles to shreds.

Still, I have no complaints about this (1 - 1/2) meal(s). That rib meat was a winnah' and having the optino for Nuoc Beo.....well my old buddy Dennis of a Radiused Corner would be all over that in an instant.

Much thanks to "FOY" Sage for letting me know about Nuoc Beo and getting Duyen Mai back on my radar. It was so nice on a windy, chilly, rainy day.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 560-5354
Current Covid-19 Hours:
Wed - Mon 10am - 8pm
Tuesday   9am - 8pm

Getting "Them Bones" to go From Pho Duyen Mai

During my recent visits to Golden City; I couldn't help but notice that Pho Duyen Mai was closed. I was somewhat concerned....in my opinion Pho Duyen Mai made one of the better bowls of pho in the Kearny/Clairemont Mesa area.....I know, that's really not saying much as I think the pho in the area ain't that great. But then again; they have "'Dem Bones" (Xí Quách Suon Bò), simmered beef rib bones that does double duty....helps to make the pho broth, then served as a side item. Though other places, like PT Eatery has tried to do this (it wasn't very good), none in San Diego compare. So, while driving past a couple of weeks ago, I saw the "We are now open" sign.

A couple of days later I called before opening (they are currently open at 10) for a takeout order, asking if they had "Dem Bones"......and yes, they did have them. I also ordered a #27......the pho with the well done steak, flank, brisket, etc..... Ready in 15 minutes was what I was told.....and yes, it was ready to go when I arrived. I did notice a couple of curbside pick-up customers as well.

So...….how was it? Well, things were nicely packed, the portion size seemed larger than I recalled, especially the broth.

And holy smokes....how did they know I enjoy bean sprouts....sheeesh…..

And of course "Dem Bones"...…..

Holy smokes....this was more food than I could finish.

There was way too much broth so I saved almost half of it. While not as "sweet" as on my previous visit; it was still quite salty....though I could really make out beefiness in the broth.

All the proteins were fine; but of course I mainly focused on all that rib meat; while still not quite as tender as on the first couple of times I had it; it was more tender then the last time I had it. It was nice and beefy as well.

The noodles were terrible; just plain hard and brittle......I think they need to pack that separately.

So, the Missus ended up having a nice little appetizer of sorts when She got home that evening. I scrapped off about half the rib meat, and soaked, then simmered it in the pho broth. Man, She scarfed the whole thing down in a minute....not even once mentioning anything being too salty..... so maybe I'm the one being too picky here?

In fact, She said She might be wanting this sometime during the week....go figure?

I'm glad to see Duyen Mai back in action....I'll probably order some Nem Nuong Cuon and such for the skeleton crew at work one of these days.

Pho Duyen Mai
5375 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Covid-19 Hours:
Daily - 10am - 7pm

Hope everyone had a safe weekend. What places are you happy to see opened again?

Noodling Around City Heights - Lotus Garden

While making my way to Northgate Market to get some pig's feet, I noticed that there was a "Pho" sign on the awning of Lotus Garden. Looks like the Lotus Garden was expanding the menu from the seafood and the typical Chinese dishes served there.

Since Lotus Garden opens at 9am, I decided to visit when finishing up my shopping in the area.

As it was fairly early in the morning; it was easy finding parking in back of the building, where it shares the lot with Minh Huong Supermarket. looking at the sign above the doorway; I guess it's now Lotus Garden Seafood and Pho.

I walked in and the friendly young man directed me to a seat. It's a pretty nice dining area and I believe they have even more space in the back dining room as well.

Man, the menu here has over 120 items on it.....and there's a second menu with pho on it as well. I was going to order the pho, but noticed all the egg noodle and hu tieu items. And seeing that this place is a (sorta) Chinese restaurant; I decided to get the BBQ Duck Egg Noodle Soup ($8.99). I really didn't expect much, but was quite pleasantly surprised at what I got.

The blanched bean sprouts was a good first move. The broth of the egg noodle soup, while being on the salty side also had some savory notes to it; with a heck of a lot of oniony-slightly pungent and a light, almost seafood like flavor. The fried shallots was also a good move aa was all that scallion.

The noodles were decently prepared, with a nice pull to them.

The most surprising thing for me was the duck.

While being perhaps a tad on the dry side; the skin of the duck had been crisped up nicely, no rubbery skin here, and there was a nice salty-sweet flavor to the skin. I also enjoyed the quite gamey flavor of the duck...perhaps not everyone's cup of tea; but I enjoyed it. This was actually not bad at all and really didn't need any sauce, or jus on it at all.

I really liked the young man working; I believe his name is "Tu", he was quite friendly and we chatted about Little Saigon....I believe he's from the OC, and he even told me he knew of a place in his 'hood that made pretty decent duck...."Lien Hoa?" I asked and he seemed surprised. And then I mentioned always getting a side of the "jus" with my duck from there....he cracked up.

I decided to return the following week to try the pho....and of course, when I first try a place's pho...it's the dac biet ($9).

The basil and sprouts arrived; even though a few of the basil leaves were starting to discolor; there was enough of it so that it didn't really matter. And of course the Ngo Gai was present, crisp, fresh, like a pungent cilantro with a hint of sweetness.

The broth however, was underwhelming. It was cloudy, severely defatted, lacking in beef flavor and....as is typical in San Diego these days, too sweet and overly salty.

The rare steak was tough and dry, the flank too chewy and flavorless, though the brisket was fine, tender with a mild beefiness, the tendon was soft and buttery, and the tripe was crisp and crunchy, without any off flavors.

The typical clump of noodles was decent as well; edging on over-cooked, but okay. Still, I don't think I'll have the pho here on future visits.

I had taken a closer look at the menu on this visit and wanted to try something I saw on the menu so I returned the following week.

This time I had the House Combination Egg Noodle Soup ($7.99), which was pretty much fishball city.

The bean sprouts weren't as well blanched on this visit. The soup was also more salty; with that annoying "sweetness" to it. I needed all of the lime to help temper it.

The noodles were prepped perfectly; nice al dente pull to them.

There were some pieces of meh shrimp in the broth, fairly muddy in flavor....the item I enjoyed the best were the pleasantly toothsome and mildly funky pork stomach.

But the item I had really come to try was the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($8.99)….well, there's a "Doritos" version as well, but I stuck with the, ahem..."classic".

The wings were fried fairly well; being quite moist and tender. The batter was  bit too soft and got soggy quickly. The garlic was burnt and bitter, not great eats in my book. It wasn't overly salty and could have actually used more seasoning....though no more of the bitter garlic. Not sure I'd have this again, but it wasn't terrible.

In the end, Lotus Garden was not bad....I mean, I'd eat here every so often if it was in my neighborhood as it's better than the options that I have near by. I enjoyed the young man who served me on my first visit and there are still items on the huge menu to try.....heck, I haven't even gotten to the Beef Sate Egg Noodle yet.

Lotus Garden Restaurant
4007 Euclid Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105
Hours:
Open Daily 9am - 10pm