mmm-yoso!!!

Honolulu - Oahu Grill (Kaimuki) and Manoa Falls Trail

The day after returning to the Ewa side, the Missus wanted to do more stuff. She also wanted to restock on the Li Hing Mango from the Crack Seed Store. After thinking a bit, I came up with another easy hike walk in an area the Missus wasn't too familiar with. Another place I hadn't been to in decades; Manoa Falls. So, I drove on up H-1, got out on University and drove into the valley. Man, how long since I'd been here? There was a point in time when I used to go to the long defunct Contemporary Cafe to listen to the Guitar Monster do his thing. Another long  story that perhaps I'll get to one day.

Anyway, the drive to the parking lot brought back major memories. Here's one for the old timers; remember Paradise Park; all the birds, the duck show, the maze? I know it closed in 1994, it kinda looks haunted now! I also recall scenes from Lost were filmed here as well. Anyway, all those memories came back as I parked the car in the lot that used to be for Paradise Park ($7). And of course, I instantly saw the parking lot "manager" walking over!

I guess my "papers" must have been in order were allowed to pass. And we headed off to the trailhead. But not before seeing this....

Yes, that young lady had a cat on a leash! She was heading off the trail, so I'm guessing the two of them went hiking ?!?!? You never know what you'll see.....

Once past the shipping container entrance; the trail was quite lush, cool, and even though we ran into folks along the way, quite peaceful.

It's a super easy hike to the falls; which was just a trickle on this visit.

I could tell the Missus was a bit underwhelmed by this hike, but I enjoyed it.

After our hike, we headed on over to the crack seed shop. We did make one stop in Manoa with the intent of having what we got there for lunch, but we ended up keeping it in the cooler and having it with dinner. More on that in a future post.

Getting to Kaimuki, parking was hard to come by on this day. I ended up finding a spot in the lot between 11th and 12th avenue and we walked on up to the Crack Seed Store. Mission accomplished, we walked back to the car. Just as we were about to leave I noticed a place I had read about several yards away.

You know, I've been quite sad since my go-to Ono Hawaiian Food closed. I had also been wanting to get some lau lau and I found out the Missus was craving it as well. So, here was our opportunity.

The restaurant is fairly small; like a single hallway. They were somewhat busy, but we had no problem finding a table.

There seemed to be only two women working; one doing the front of house, the other cooking.

We got some lau lau ($16) and an a la carte Tripe Stew ($15).

 The Missus enjoyed the poi, it was nice and thick but not too sour. The lomi salmon was interesting; the Missus liked it, but I think it's because it was mostly tomatoes, there was hardly any salmon in this.

As for the lau lau, well there was a good amount of smoky-chlorophyllic-savory luau leaf. The pork was on the dryer side, but not bad. Overall pretty good and much better than what we can get here in San Diego. The Missus enjoyed the haupia.

As for the Tripe Stew.

There was a nice offal-ly funkiness, good acidity, the tripe was a bit on the chewy side, but the savory tones did well.

This was a nice local meal; which is something we were looking forward to.

Oahu Grill
1137 11th Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

After lunch we took a stroll down Waialae. It was interesting to see the new businesses and yet it was finding the places that had been there since "small kid" time that brought a smile to my face.

And Jade Building is still the tallest in the area.

There's a part of me that will always be from Kaimuki.......

Thanks for stopping by!

Dalu Hawaiian BBQ

It's not very often that I read about a plate lunch place opening in Eater, but back in June I noticed an entry for a place named Dalu. So, doing the Google Maps thing, I noticed it was located in Rancho San Diego; man that's over a 20 mile drive for me. And yet, I was intrigued. I also noticed that the place opened at 10am, which fit fairly well into my weekend schedule. So, I decided to head on over. 

I arrived at the CottonWood Plaza right past ten am. I guess I shouldn't have been worried since there was basically only one other car in the part of lot where Dalu is located.

It's quite a large space. The place has a full on, almost kitschy, stereotypical Hawaiian theme. A bit over-the-top.

There's even a sort of tiki-ish bar in the place as well.

The young lady working the counter was very nice and friendly. I inquired about the ownership, to see if it has roots "back home", but was not given a straight answer, so I'm figuring not? The two guys working the kitchen were conversing in Spanish. But what the heck, I was here, right? I decided to try a mix plate, to get a taste of more than one item and I selected the Katsu Mix ($18.25).

I as kindly given a cup some H2O and passed this quite different teriyaki sauce warmer thingy????

I had a seat and the young lady actually brought my order to the table. I had totally thought I'd have my name called and would pick up my plate at the counter. Very nice. Not so nice, I noticed there was no katsu sauce. I waked on over and asked if they had katsu sauce and was given some. So, please note; if you get the katsu here, I think you might have to ask for the sauce. I don't think it would be fun doing takeout and finding no sauce with your katsu.

As for the plate; well, it was good sized.

   As I figured it was typical "LA Kalbi" - flanken/cross cut ribs. First thing I hit up was the mac salad. It was quite plain , with a few strands of carrots. It needed some salt and pepper and was kind of "watery" as the mayo hadn't really coated the macaroni well.

The rice was moist and fluffy.

The breading on the katsu had adhered well to the chicken, which was fairly moist, but on the tough side and in need of seasoning.

  At most places, the chicken would be tenderized to an even thickness, but this was not, thus some bites were pretty thick and tough.

As for the "katsu sauce"; sigh. Just take a look. This was weird, like ketchup watered down with vinegar.

A for the rest of the proteins; well the Ribs were teriyaki style, not kalbi, so the sauce for both that and the teri beef were the same. A thicker glaze and on the really sweet side.

The teri beef, though on the thicker side and not coated thoroughly actually handled the sweet soy better.  The ribs were really tough and chewy.

Hmmm......not quite what I expected. Nice folks though. After this meal, I contemplated doing a post or perhaps not doing one at all. After some thought, I decided that in cases like my maiden voyage to Dalu, and because prices were not crazy, it would be better to do a second visit, in spite of the distance. I guess if I had enjoyed this visit, I would have had no problem with a post. I know.....I'm kinda weird.

Anyway, a couple of weekends later, I drove back east, arriving again right after the ten am opening time.

There was a different young lady working this time; but she was just a nice and friendly. As to what to order? Hmmm.....it had been a while since I'd had a decent loco moco and Dalu's made a "mini loco" which was priced nicely at $11.25; yep over ten bucks, but considering that I'd recently had an avocado toast for $12, this seemed a bargain.

Of course I ordered my egg easy-over. Again the young lady delivered my plate to the table. She asked me if I wanted some teriyaki sauce....what???? I asked for Tabasco, but was told they didn't have any.

    On this visit, it seemed like the gentleman who I believe is the owner was working the kitchen, so I was interested to see how my food would turn out. The first good sign was the mac salad, which while still in need of more salt and pepper was evenly coated and the mayo not runny like on my last visit.

And as I was about to "dig in", the young lady returned to my table, handing me a bottle of Tabasco! She told me; "I asked and they had a bottle in the back". So nice, yeah?

And a thought came to me as I prepared to dig in. I hadn't used the Modified Rubio scale in ages. For those who don't recall, it's a scale originally developed by James Rubio who had the now defunct Big Island Grinds blog that I modified and have used many times in the past. Funny thing, I haven't used the scale since 2019...another thing that Covid seems to have derailed!

To quote that post of long ago:

"The original Rubio Scale measured each item on the Loco, I decided to take the "base" items, the Burger, Gravy, Egg, and Rice. To this I added "Stuffs", that include macaroni salad, Spam, or any other item that comes with the Loco. All items are graded on a scale between 1 through 5, with 2.5 being average."

Anyways, here goes:

BURGER: Thin, lean with no filler, on the tougher side, but not bad. 2.5

EGGS: Nice and runny. Would have been perfect with more crisp edges and if the eggs were seasoned. No "off" flavors. 3.5

RICE: Decently cooked, fragrant, you could make out every grain. 2.5

GRAVY: Thick, rich, on the gluey end of the scale and quite salty. 2.0

STUFF: The Mac Salad was better this time around, but man, I wish it was seasoned better. 2.0

The total? 12.5, perfectly average.

I also had an interesting chat with a customer who sat on a nearby table. Apparently, this used to be a taco shop named David's Fresh Mexican. But a few months back, the owner, his name is Luis switched it over to Hawaiian BBQ. So, I'm guessing a minimum connection with the islands? 

Overall, the gals working were really nice; the food better than L&L, but below what I expect from Island Style Cafe, Homestyle Hawaiian, Leilani's, etc. I had fun visiting and getting out of my typical "range", but the drive is really not worth it for an average plate lunch. 

If you check them out, let me know what you think!

Dalu Hawaiian BBQ
2451 Jamacha Rd.
El Cajon, CA 92019
Current Hours:
Daily 10am - 9pm

Midweek Meanderings - Da Kine's Back to Only Catering and Green China Grill is Officially Lanzhou Noodlelicious

Two quick items for a lazy (me) Wednesday.

Da Kine's Back to Only Catering:

Well, the saga of Da Kine's continues. As I'm getting older, I really can't put it away like I used to. I now kinda space out my plate lunches. I thought I'd head on down to La Mesa and see what was up with Da Kine's. I did a quick check to verify hours, when I noticed that the address was different as was the name - it now said "Da Kine's Hawaiian Catering". I went and checked Nelson's Facebook site and yep.....man, things ended at the La Mesa shop back in June! I must be losing my touch!

I quickly contacted "FOY" Kerri who verified that Nelson was just doing catering for the time being while looking for a new location.

I'm guessing you can contact Nelson via Facebook if you have any ideas.

In the meantime, if you need some catering:

(619) 581-5613
6334 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115

Hope he finds another location soon!

Green China Grill is Officially Lanzhou Noodlelicious:

Remember, during my post about my last visit to Green China Grill, I mentioned that the business was listed as Lanzhou Noodlelicious? Well, I did a quick stop to see what was up with the reconstruction of China Max since the fire.

Passing the former Green China Grill; the sign now says......

Lanzhou Noodlelicious......so I guess Green China Grill is now officially Lanzhou Noodlelicious. Not sure about this name change.

Lanzhou Noodlelicious
4688 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

I'll drop by again soon just to check in to see how "noodlelicious" things are.....

Kalei's Kitchenette

A couple of months back I heard about a plate lunch place opening in Rancho Penasquitos named Kalei's Kitchenette. I noticed that the place opened at 10am, so I decided to take the drive on over and get there before the lunch crowds. 

The shop is quite tiny with just a few indoor and outdoor tables and counter seating.

And the menu is quite concise as well with basically six items available not including poke bowls on the weekends and specials.

One thing that quickly caught my attention were the photos and the chef's story. He's a real local boy from Maui. What really grabbed me was the photo to the right of the story. The Chef, Andy Mangiduyos graduated from the same High School as my mom (many decades later of course), Lahainaluna!

Of the menu items, four of them can be made into a mixed plate, called "Kalei's Plate" ($17).

I decided to get the Huli Huli Chicken and Garlic Chicken to start things off. You can also choose your "sides", two of them for your order. Of course I got rice and mac salad.

 The plate was quite heavy on the proteins. Personally, I liked having only one scoop rice as I will often tell the folks at turo-turo places to give me "half rice" these days. 

The rice was cooked fine. The mac salad wasn't coated evenly and was quite bland.

The Garlic Chicken was the better of the two proteins as it was crunchy, much like Taiwanese "popcorn" chicken. Though I would have liked a heavier garlic flavor, it was seasoned decently, good salt and pepper and was far from bland.

    I've yet to find decent Huli Huli Chicken outside of Hawaii and versions I've had here in San Diego have not been very good. Too much ketchup and sweetness to things. And while this version was better than what I'd had previously, it was still not my favorite. The chicken is supposedly marinated and smoked, but I really couldn't detect much smoke flavor. They tangy sourness of the sauce was a bit too much for me. The texture of the chicken was fine and the flesh was fairly moist.

That visit was back in July. I had meant to return, but the distance from work was a bit of a hinderance. Finally, I found a window of opportunity for a takeout revisit. This time I decided on the combo of the Teriyaki Beef and Kalua Pork. This felt even heftier than what I'd ordered before and upon opening.....

    The mac salad, though a bit over-mayo'd was nicely seasoned this time around. I could make out hints of vinegar which really elevated it. 

Man, look at all that beef and pork!

The teri beef was nicely marinated, though it was a thick and chewy cut. It didn't need the extra sauce on it as it had enough flavor. I used the leftovers of this to make a teri-beef sandwich for dinner!

   I liked the kalua pork, it was moist and tender, not overly salty, with a decent smokiness to it. In fact, the Missus tried the leftovers and said it tasted familiar. Hmmm....... This is probably the best version I've had in San Diego.

I do wish Kalei's was a bit closer to home. But the distance is probably better for my waistline and cholesterol, right? The young lady working on both visit was very nice. The shop is small and other folks I know have complained about the wait time during peak periods, so that should be accounted for. As for the loco moco? Well, I'm saving that for another day!

Kalei’s Kitchenette
9926-F Carmel Mountain Rd.
San Diego, CA 92129
Currnt Hours:
Tues - Sat 10am - 6pm
Closed on Sundays and Mondays

Postscript: As you all probably know, there was a tragic event that occurred between my two visits and Andy (Kalei is Andy's son) being from Lahaina coordinated the transport of donated non-perishable items flown to Maui on Alaska Air. I loved seeing the HFS truck in the video on Kalei's Instagram page. They've currently paused the donations of supplies, but different options are noted on their Instagram page.

Takeout from Homestyle Hawaiian (Mesa College)

Right before our trip to France I was wondering "what can't I get in Paris"? Over our trips it seemed that Paris has done a pretty good job of answering the call for our cravings whether it was Ramen or Chinese (we gotta work on getting some good Vietnamese in Paris....I know it's there...). In my mind it was either tacos or a plate lunch. Now, I've  seen more than a few taco places and also quite a bit of poke shops; there's even one on Rue Montorgueil! But I have yet to see a plate lunch spot. There was even a place named Honolulu Arts Et Métiers less than two blocks from where we were staying in the Marais on our return trip. But a look at the menu revealed poke bowls....and jiaozi? It looked like a Chinese restaurant in disguise.

In the end, I went with my gut, and growling stomach, deciding on Homestyle Hawaiian's Mesa College location. Especially since it had been over a year-and-a-half since I last visited.

Things have been rearranged a bit since my last visit. HH is always trying different "stuffs" and now there's something called "Dirty Soda" on one side of the shop and the counter has been moved to the north end.

At the time of this visit, the 2 item combo had gone up a dollar since my previous visit to $15.95.

I got the usual, the mix of Chicken Katsu and Korean Chicken.

Unpacking the plate I knew just by the heft that the portion sizes had gone down since my last visit.

   No longer would I be getting two meals out of this. Even the amount of rice was less. The sauces are provided on the side so as not to make the breading/batter soggy. The katsu was breaded nicely and still crisp, though for some reason the chicken tasted like it hadn't been seasoned and was quite bland. Even with the Hawaii style katsu sauce (ketchup based) provided.

The Korean Chicken was on the dry side though still crisp and that sauce, with a combination of sweet and salty just does the trick for me. Still, I think it used to be better before.

 The rice was moist and did the trick. While the mac salad wasn't quite as good as what I'd had on previous visits; a bit too much mayo and very bland. It needed more salt and maybe some black pepper as well.

Still, not a bad lunch overall.

Man, it's hard to believe that that I've been coming here since the place opened in 2009, before Mo's kingdom of restaurants expanded to six locations. And though I haven't seen Mo in a almost a decade, I still think of him whenever I get grindz here......remembering the days of Da' Kitchen and Mo's Island Grindz. 

My how time flies!

Homestyle Hawaiian Island Style Food
7524 Mesa College Drive
San Diego, CA 92111

Having a Hilo Loco at Leilani's Cafe

I recently had a morning appointment in North PB. I decided to skip my usual breakfast....I've been doing a lot of Overnight Oats recently. I skipped breakfast because I'd be close to Leilani's Cafe and it seemed like a good time to have a Hilo Loco. It was a tad past 830 in the morning, most of the morning coffee folks had gone, and the remote workers have started hitting up the coffee chops in the area, so Leilani's wasn't busy at all.

 It had been over 2 years since I'd last had a Hilo Loco from Leilani's and it was (of course) a takeout order. This time, with no one eating outdoors, I felt comfortable having my Hilo Loco at one of the (farthest) tables on the lanai. In terms of prices, the Hilo Loco had gone up a buck since October of 2020; it's now $13.75.

There's something about the vibe I get from Leilani's that always takes me back to the "old days", you know, when Da Kine's was in PB, Kealani's in Encinitas was still open. And whenever I do a post on Leilani's I often get too wordy. From my Leilani's Hawaiian Restaurant post, when they had a place in Serra Mesa (I believe this spot was being renovated):

"I've noticed that here on the mainland, we have been inundated with a number of "Hawaiian BBQ" joints. So it goes without saying that most people I've met think that Hawaiian BBQ is the ubiquitous "plate lunch". Nothing wrong with that, but the plate lunch is much more than the corporate Hawaiian BBQ, which when done well, is a good value(there are several L&L locations in Honolulu that I like), but when done with only the profit margin in mind(which happens often), is really lousy. If you grew up in Hawaii, you're sure to have your favorite(s), whether it's Rainbow Drive-In(my personal favorite), Masu's(RIP Masu's), Richie's, Zippy's, Cafe 100, Grace's, or any number of places, and there are many. You'd also realize that there is life beyond the BBQ Chicken, BBQ Beef, and all the generic items served in those Hawaiian BBQ places. Each one of the places mentioned above have their own versions of the "standards", each with it's own "food personality" of sorts. In addition, other "standards" like Beef Stew, Sweet Sour Pork, Chili, Mochiko Chicken, etc, are also available."

Ok, 'nuff said.

You know, I totally expected to be called to the window to pick-up my locomoco, but the really nice young lady brought it out to me.

   So, how was this? First off, the rice isn't as well coated as before, though it still has a decent spiciness and some nice chunks of Portuguese Sausage. The burger has always been lean and without filler, which makes it nice and beefy if a bit more chewy than others.

I had thought that the gravy at Leilani's tended to be on the "gloppy" side, but this was nice and smooth with a creamy tongue feel. There's some beefiness to it, though it was on the ssalty side for my taste.

The egg, well this says it all......nice and runny....just perfect.

In the end Leilani's delivered pretty much as expected. Not a perfect loco moco, but one that's comforting and for some reason always brings back memories. Hard to believe I first did a post on Leilani's back in 2006! Man, what were you doing in November of 2006? Well, maybe I don't want to know......it'll make me feel "REALLY" old!

Leilani's Cafe
5109 Cass St.
San Diego, CA 92109
Hours:
Daily 7am - 2pm

This one is for "FOY" ChrisR who went to UH Hilo and is always nice enough to let me know where he is finding (or not finding) good grindz in town! 

Da Kine's Reopens in La Mesa

**** This location is closed and Nelson is currently only doing catering

I know a lot of folks have been waiting for Da Kine's to reopen in their new location in La Mesa. I need to thank "FOYs" KerriK and DerekR for keeping me in the loop and providing updated information for me. So finally, a couple of weeks back Kerri told me that Da Kine's was in soft opening mode. Now I needed to make some time to check them out and I finally managed to do so this past weekend.

I've noted my history with Da Kine's in previous posts and Nelson even mentioned the reason he "gave" the various locations and "trademark" of the restaurants to employees during a visit to the defunct Linda Vista location.

When it comes down to it; it seems that "Uncle Nelson" as I've heard folks calling him has a connection with ex-pat Kama'aina's of a certain generation and their "ohana". I will agree, that be it for better or worse, his plate lunches do take me back to "those days". Simple, no muss, no fuss, no pretense "high maka maka" grindz. Beneath that kind of gruff exterior there always seemed to be someone who cared about folks....I posted on Da Kine's helping to sponsor a concert by Kalapana back in 1999, when I was doing a consulting gig here in San Diego. I had already moved to LA and was feeling a bit homesick and that concert lifted my spirits.

So, it was good to see the sign up for Da Kine's when I arrived.

There were also folks lined up outside the door when I arrived, 10 minutes before the 11am opening time.. That photo above was taken as I left the place.

The interior seemed quite modern, a change from the rustic themes of his former locations. There's both table and bar seating, all backed with a wonderful mural....with Valley of the Temples and Mokoli'i (Chinaman's Hat) in it. 

It does look a bit modern and hipster. I would have taken a better photo of the mural, but several tables were quickly taken by folks who ordered ahead of me....one of the guys got three cans of Hawaiian Sun for himself! And he opened all three cans at once when he got to his table......nothing worse than needing a "POG" fix, right?

The young man working the counter was very ncie; though I could see Nelson holding himself back from actually working the line as he was training his kitchen staff.

So Derek, they do have kalua pork on the menu....I know you enjoy Nelson's version; of course they have a loco moco......but I had a bit of a drive so I thought I'd give the Teri Chicken ($15) another try.

 First off, the good.....man, I really enjoyed the mac salad here, just as good as what I'd had at the Linda Vista location. Nicely seasoned, liked the amount of black pepper, amazingly still chilled after the drive all the way to Bay Park, just enough mayo. I've had mushy rice at Da Kine's in the past, but today it was perfect. You could see every grain, but it was still moist and tender.

As for the chicken? Well, at least it wasn't overly salty, but it could have used a bit more color and a stronger marinade/sauce (if he's still just "dipping" his chicken). It was not as dry as what I'd had before though.

So, perhaps when I do drop by again, I'll dine in and get a loco moco or kalua pork; or maybe Kerri, you could let me know if Nelson's going to have chicken long rice and lau lau on the menu?

In the end, if only for sentimental reasons, it was good seeing Nelson running around the kitchen area in his shorts and sneakers, teaching the young one's how to scoop rice and stuffs.

And the folks in line were a lot younger as well.......a couple of them looked like they might not have been born when I made my first visit to Da Kine's back in 1999. So I guess Uncle Nelson is feeding a whole new generation.

Da Kine's
7436 University Ave.
La Mesa, CA 91942
Current Hours:
Tues - Sun 11am - 6pm

Monday Meanderings - Da Kine's Opening in La Mesa , Paris Sandwiches Coming to Mira Mesa, and Sau Voi Deli Closes

Well, this post was supposed to go up on Saturday except that I ran into all kinds of issues with uploading photos and comment notifications. Things finally seems straightened out today. And perhaps there's a silver lining on this one....read below:

Da Kine's Opening in La Mesa: 

**** This location is closed and Nelson is currently only doing catering

*** You can find a post on Da Kine's here.

KerriK has been a wonderful "FOY", keeping me updated on what's happening with Da Kine's reopening in La Mesa.

Anyway, last Friday Kerri emailed me, letting me know that "Uncle Nelson" had updated his Facebook page informing folks that Da Kine's was (finally) (re) opening sometime this week.

That's a screenshot on the right.

So, this was all ready to go...and then I suddenly couldn't upload photos! Sheesh.....

But I guess it was fate; because Kerri, via our good old "Coconut Wireless" shot me an email this afternoon with the simple line:

"Nelson has declared tomorrow, June 7th, at 11:00am, as the opening."

So perhaps the delay was meant to be?

Thanks so much Kerri, for always thinking of us, and for all the support over the years! We appreciate it so much!

Da Kine's
7436 University Ave.
La Mesa, CA 91942

Paris Sandwiches Coming to Mira Mesa:

After picking up lunch recently at R&B, I saw the sign for Paris Sandwiches while driving back to the office. I needed to run some errands on Saturday so I went to check things out. Located next to Luong Hai Ky, now known as LHK.

The place really looked like it was open already; but a quick glance as I was passing by revealed that work is still going on.

I was wondering about the place and the name; so I followed the URL posted on the sign out front and guess what? The other address listed is for Paris Bakery on El Cajon Blvd!

I guess we know where the bread is coming from, right?

10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Sau Voi Deli Closes:

I guess I haven't been to the Clairemont Mesa location of 99 Ranch Market for a while. On a recent shopping trip, I was shocked to see that Sau Voi Deli had closed!

And from what I could gather, they've been closed since the end of February!

Even though SVD was never a favorite of mine, it's sad to see such a long standing business shut down.

7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Anyway, hope everyone is in good health.

Take care and have a great week!

No Sandwiches from Sandwich Island

I had been wanting to return to Sandwich Island since I'd done my original post back in October. A couple of weeks after, I finally decided to return. I was thinking about getting a sandwich but then I saw this posted.

Whoa, a bento box for $8.75???? I couldn't help myself and ordered it. The container was quite hefty and there was even some miso soup included.

But let me set your expectations right now.....

   As you can see; it's a very generous portion of food. Though it's truly "SYSCO - city", if you know what I mean.

Don't get me wrong; I've had worse at many other places for much more money.

But, like that frozen from a package eggroll....

To the very salty; un-miso-ey, miso soup.....also obviously form a package. This was like making a large plate from stuff you have in the freezer and around the house.

Though chicken was nicely griddled on the flat top, it was dark meat chicken which prefer....I've had worse at L&L, the sauce was pure, salty, Yoshida's, or something quite similar. I will say the rice was nicely cooked, moist and tender.

I enjoyed the green salad and the edamame was a nice touch.

   And based on recent prices; this was bargain. I feel like I got what paid for here. And how often these days can you say that. Though a coworker told me that they've increased the prices again recently. Still, I know a lot of folks who would pay 10 bucks for this nowadays. 

Sandwich Island
7350 Trade St.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 630am - 3pm
Closed Saturdays and Sundays

Pacific Plate

**** Pacific Plate has closed

Recently, I had to get some replacement parts for the Missus's camera. Andy at work, who's also a professional photographer recommended that I go to Nelson Photo Supplies in Point Loma. It was a great recommendation as they were amazing and it's always fun to see folks as nerdy about something as I am about food. Anyway, I was a bit hungry as I left and since I hadn't been in the area since before the pandemic, I thought I'd see what was up with Embargo Grill. Well, what was up with Embargo Grill was......well, they were gone! I guess they're another casualty of the pandemic....sad. Still, I needed something to eat and I noticed a place called Pacific Plate at the corner of the strip mall.

So I decided to take a quick peek inside.

And.....it turns out Pacific Plate does various plate lunches...many with names that reference various video games "Haduken" or animated series, "Kakarot"....though to be perfectly honest; a first glance I saw "Kaka-roach"..... Along with musubis and of course, the de rigueur poke bowls and such.

I decided to get a mixed plate....well, here it's called a "2 Item Plate" ($15). I walked up to the counter and the young lady.....well, she really wasn't into it, greeting me with a "yes". Anyway, I placed my order, waited about 15 minutes, the young lady plopped the package on the counter and walked away. Since I was the only customer in the place I figured it was mine and luckily I was right.

I had ordered the Teri Beef - Chicken Katsu combo; you get two "sides" with a plate so I chose rice and mac salad (of course).

   Well, this was interesting; the rice was really mushy, the mac salad had too much mayo and lacked salt. The teri beef was the better of the two items; it was adequately tender, though quite bland. I had to use some of the watered down teriyaki sauce for more flavor.

The chicken katsu had been fried too long and the panko breading was really hard and slightly bitter. The katsu sauce is "local" style and ketchup based.

Pretty mediocre overall. Also, there were no utensils or napkins in the package......but I was having this at home so it was ok. Though I could imagine if I'd decided to stop and eat at a park or something, I would have not been happy at all. There was no sign nor indication in the shop saying that utensils would not be provided or that you had to request it.

I wasn't quite sure I was up to it; but since I decided to do a post on this place, I went ahead and revisited.

This time, the young man was very nice, he even walked out my order and handed it to me....and guess what, there was a fork included....though strangely, no napkins?

I went with the combo again and after giving it some thought, I decided not to get the kalbi....not a big fan of the "LA Kalbi" most of these places use. So, I decided on the Teri Chicken and Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings.

   I decided against the mac salad this time around went with the coleslaw, which, while very generic at least had some flavor. The rice was much better this time around.

The salt and pepper chicken wings didn't hold up well during the 15 minute trip back home; it had gotten soggy and greasy. In terms of flavor, this was not bad, not overly salty. The garlic had been fried and mixed in with what looked like crisp panko. The wings could have used bit more spice.

The teri chicken was better, it was dark meat, so it had more flavor and was sufficiently tender, though, like the teri beef, it needed that generic teriyaki sauce.

For some reason Pacific Plate just didn't "scratch that itch" if you know what I mean. And at fifteen bucks a crack, well, I don't think the quality of the product nor the execution is particularly good. 

If you do check them out; let me know what you think!

Pacific Plate
3960 West Point Loma Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours:
Daily 11am - 8pm