mmm-yoso!!!

Back to the Routine. Revisits to Taisho, Tiger Tiger, and Zarlitos.

As I've mentioned in other posts, the past year, now year and a half has gone by in a flash. Our schedules have made it difficult at times to get back into our routines. Finally, after several trips, a heck of a lot of work, things are settling down. And we're getting back to those places that need no introduction for those who've been reading our little blog over the years.

Taisho:

It's been a while since we checked out Taisho; a least 4-5 months! For a place we used to visit every week.

It's still as good as ever. Now open seven days a week.

I'm hoping we can make it back more often.

Yakitori Taisho
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Tiger! Tiger!:

Now that it's warming up; the Missus is in the mood to return to Tiger! Tiger! After a bit of a slump, it seems the food here has returned to form.

The "Ramen Sausage" was the oddest sounding item we came across. It turned out to be delicious. The sausage kind of had the flavor of a chicken-ramen broth. It was a nice surprise as we were ready to not like it.

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104 

Zarlitos:

When it gets too warm for our usual weekend breakfasts at Aqui es Texcoco; it's time to head back to Zarlitos. These days, the Missus actually orders the Poke-silog.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

To all of you who still read the blog after all these years; I think this is post #3851 or something like that. We thank you!

As does Frankie.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Saturday Stuffs - How About a "Poke-silog" for Breakfast (Zarlitos), The Fire Spot Coming to Convoy, and Other "Stuffs"

Pokesilog?:

So the Missus wanted a nice, early weekend breakfast at one of Her favorite spots. We were met by the same very sweet and pleasant young lady, that usually works on the weekends.

We were seated and handed the usual brown, sticky, well-worn menus. I was going to get "the usual", a Chicksilog. But as we sat, the young lady handed us this additional menu. "Zarlitos Family Restaurant Secret Poke Menu" it says.

Along with the poke on one side, it also lists....good lord....Poke Fries? Shades of Pokiritto; Poke Burritos? Even more hilarious, something called "Hashbrown Thing". Hashbrowns topped with spicy tuna, Spam, and an egg? I think this takes the poke on everything fad a bit too far.....

Somehow, the Missus talked me into ordering the Pokesilog ($9).

Ok, so the Missus got the egg, which She enjoyed, the rice was hard and not so good. You know what I think about the so-called "Seaweed Salad", but the Missus had no qualms about that and the Tuna Scrape; you know, the stuff they put into that spicy tuna roll you get at those gringo sushi shops; probably from True World Foods, was nice and spicy. That was a large batch of surimi...all fine. I chose the Spicy Garlic Poke, which was perhaps a bit too sweet, but I couldn't complain about the quality of the fish on this visit. And only nine bucks.....take that "Chi-poke" shop!

The menu is currently only available from 8am to 2pm during weekends.

And, if you actually do try that "Hashbrown Thing", tell me about it, ok? I'm probably going back to my Chicksilog next time.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

The Fire Spot Coming to Convoy:

I noticed that some work was going on at one of the shops in that strip mall with the worst parking on Convoy. So I took a quick look and found that something called "The Fire Spot" was taking the Print Shop's place.

Couldn't find much online.

So your guess is as good as mine......hot pot? Sichuan? Meat Skewers?

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

My favorite license plate frame of the week....or maybe year:

Obviously a very proud mom!

Is the 'C' supposed to be a 'G' or am I supposed to add an 'R':

I noticed this sign while waiting at the traffic light on the corner of Convoy and Clairemont Mesa.

I never noticed this sign before, but am pretty sure it's been here for a while. You'd think they'd fix it, right?

It did have me thinking what the correct spelling should be....'Massage' or add an 'r' and it becomes 'Massacre'.....

And then I got this texted to me:

Wow, who knew.....

Though I did ask the question; shouldn't it be 2 eggs and 1 wiener?

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Breakfast Revisits - Zarlitos Family Restaurant, Elijah’s Restaurant & Delicatessen, and Poke Etc

A couple of breakfast revisits.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant:

It's already been established that Zarlitos is the Missus's favorite breakfast stop. Basically, it's poke for breakfast. And the Missus can sometimes put away a pound of this stuff.

I however, had to still work and find the perfect breakfast counter-point. It became a real "Goldilocks" type of moment. No, not that Goldilocks; this Goldilocks!

The first time...well, I just had to try the sisig. But man, this was way to sour for breakfast.

As a whole not too bad in terms of sisig; but I wanted a bit more spice. The pork was crisp and not overly chewy, but it was just missing something....and perhaps was not the best choice for breakfast.

On another note; a friend sent me a bunch of postings last month....apparently Anthony Bourdain anointed Sisig as the next big thing. I dunno, I think my first post on sisig was way back in April, 2006. Hey, even an old fuddy-duddy unhip food blogger enjoys a moment where one of his favorites dishes; one with its own category list hits the spotlight. As for the next big thing? Hmm.......

Next visit; I went the ex-pat local boy route.....the Spamsilog.

Man, talk about too much of a good thing......I expected like maybe two slices, max. But this was three fairly substantial slices. Way too much saltiness. Even though the Spam looked undercooked; it was strangely crisp. I think it was dumped in the fryer. In spite of this not working out, I did find part of the equation. First off, I'm not a big fan of the standard garlic rice here...and they do give a lot of rice. I got steamed rice and found that the Missus sharing a good amount of it....and one of my eggs to boot.

So we were at two out of three here.......almost there.

And then I ordered the Chicksilog; the fried chicken quarter, rice, and eggs.

The chicken is simply fried; but the fat has been rendered out from under that crisp skin. It's obviously been double-fried. That skin was nice, light and crisp, with a enjoyable level of greasiness that just goes well with some vinegar.....yes, vinegar is a must as it really cuts the fattiness.

That's two easy-over eggs hiding below the fried chicken. I share one egg and about a third of the rice with the Missus, along with a bit of the chicken....of course She loves that skin dipped in vinegar. I place the egg on top of the rice; break the yolk, and add shoyu.

As Goldilocks said; "this one is just right".......

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

Elijah’s Restaurant & Delicatessen:

I'd managed to bring back a pound of Schwartz's smoked meat from Montreal and the Missus wanted me to track down some Rye Bread. For some reason; I recalled that Elijah's sold their own rye bread. "AlanH" had also recommended the goulash soup, which was a Wednesday special at Elijah's, so I got there right before 11am on a Wednesday to check it out.

This being a breakfast posts; you can kinda figure out how I fared. The really nice gentleman informed me that they weren't serving the goulash soup at this time.

So I took a look at the menu.

Breakfast I believe is served all day....for some reason the Reuben Omelette ($10.95) jumped out at me. So I ordered it. Man, talk about a load of food.

And to be perfectly honest; I kinda enjoyed it.......slight sour and crunch from the sauerkraut; sliced corned beef added meatiness and saltiness, the Swiss cheese a blanket of milky comfort, and for some reason Russian Dressing.....now, when I used to work in a restaurant during my younger days; we added a dollop of mayonnaise to our scrambled eggs for extra richness...here it's the ketchup in the dressing, along with the mild acidity from the cheese that really helped things along.

The potatoes were nicely fried and seasoned....the Missus really likes the potatoes here, so I saved most of it for Her. Along with half the omelette which I had later on for dinner.

So I struck out on the goulash soup, but didn't do badly at all.

Elijah’s Restaurant & Delicatessen
7061 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Poke Etc:

I know poke at Zarlitos and Longanisa at Poke Etc? What can I say? I'd actually been wanting to try the Ilocano Longanisa, something that I haven't had since my days "back home". Like I mentioned in my Poke Etc post last year. My Filipino friends back home were Ilocano and that was the type of longanisa I was used to. Man, when I had my first Longsilog here on the mainland!

Anyway; the Ilocano Longanisa here comes with eggs and rice, with an amazing price of $4.95! So finally, a year later, I made my way back and ordered it.

For some reason I expected easy over eggs; but man, that's a lot of eggs and longanisa for five bucks. The eggs weren't seasoned and were on the gummy side. The rice was better than on my previous visits. Maybe because it was 10 in the morning. Something was not right with the longanisa; I'm used to garlic hints with a sour, vinegar bite....but these tasted, well, almost rancid, bitterness. It also smelled kind of strange.....sort of cheesy...which I love in cheese....but not quite here. I'd actually taken this home before eating or I'd ask the really nice woman about it. So basically decided to cut my losses.

I'll probably go back to the poke here during future visits.

Poke Etc
916 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950

Pacific Poke Co.

I first noticed this place during one of my visits to Mama Cinia. It hadn't opened yet and I had to sigh at what looked like yet another "Chi-Poke" place. A few months later, I intended on getting some pho at Cow Cali, but there was actually a bunch of people waiting in line.

PPC was right next door and had just turned on the "open" sign. So, I thought why not check them out.

And yes, this was indeed one of those pick some seafood; pick some toppings, make a bowl kind of place. They also had Spam Musubi, miso soup, and a couple of other items on the menu.

I ended up ordering a Large Bowl ($12.50); four scoops of protein, I did like that they had a marinaded version, almost like real poke (not), because the fish looked a bit dried out. So I got that, with the sweet and spicy sauce. Nice that they didn't charge extra for avocado like a lot of places do; white onions, cucumbers, and green onion. Simple is best.

This was actually not bad; the fish was relatively tender, not much connective tissue, no off flavors, the marinade and the "sauce" worked rather well. The avocado was starting to brown, but was fine. There was one sneaky little move....I don't remember requesting any wasabi, but I put this little lump of what looked like smashed avocado in my mouth....ho-ly smokes....try eating an entire spoonful of wasabi!

While not really "Poke" to me, I thought this was pretty good; perhaps on par with Tokyo Deli and much better than other versions I've had.

And yet, I just kinda let it go at that for a few months. Then a few weeks after reading Kirbie's post, I decided to head back. In search of a light lunch, I went with the Large - Salad option. And I did appreciate the availability of Hamachi, since many places don't serve it based on food cost. 2 scoops Ahi, two Hamachi, marinated (of course). I was a bit surprised at the rather small size (even for me a rather light eater)  of the salad. Back "home" we call this "manini".

Man, this was on the small side....but all would be well if the fish was good. Which it wasn't. The Hamachi tasted a bit off; on the fishy end of the scale, I pushed that off to the side...my salad got even smaller. The Ahi this time had too much connective tissue and was too chewy. Well, the masago and the rest of the ingredients were decent.

In the end; I'm not quite sure which bowl is the norm here. All I've got to say is YMMV. And I really don't feel like a tie-breaker visit right now. Maybe one of these days.

Pacific Poke Co
9168 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat 11am - 830pm

Poke U

Yet another one of these "Chi-poke", fast casual places. This one in the food court of Zion Market. The now ubiquitous, pick the seafood, pick the toppings, pick the sauce.......kind of place.

It's the typical drill, you pick what you want...rice or salad, etc.....fish scooped with what looks like a 1/2 ounce scooper....and you get....

Well, not that. That's a real poke bowl....from Ono Seafood. This was $7.50 back when we visited; I think it's now like eight bucks or so.

Here's the $9.95 bowl + $1 for avocado since looking at the fish, I thought I'd needs something with a bit of creaminess to set things off.

Folks were nice....they gave me some miso soup...pretty dark looking stuff, but it was not bad. Not too salty. The tuna and salmon looked just barely passable and the albacore not too good, so I went with tuna, salmon, and two scoops of scallops, which was a mistake as the scallops were still slightly frozen and had none of the nice sea-salty sweetness I enjoy. The tuna was on the dry side, the salmon passable. The rice was adequately prepared; though the cho-jang like sauce was watered down and lacked enough of the sweetness of versions I enjoy.

Still, two of the good things about the place is; they open at 1030 and I often have weird lunch hours, and they are fairly close by in the Zion Market Food Court....where I usually don't have to fight tooth and nail for parking.

A couple of weeks later I returned.

In the mood for something lighter, I went with the salad version of the medium bowl...again $9.95 + $1 for avocado.

This time around I had some albacore, which wasn't very good, slightly off tasting. The salmon had a lot of connective tissue....the tuna looked decent and I got a double scoop, which was good move. The soy-mustard dressing added enough moisture to things....as you can tell it's rather dried out; though not as bad as what I recently had at Poki One and Half....plus they know how to spell poke.

What did make me laugh was when one of my coworkers accidentally called this place "Pork U"..... The shop also makes everything else the other places in the food court don't...from ramen to teriyaki bowls to (con) fusion "nachos".

As for all these poke places? Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens when we hit saturation point. So far; I think the best of these places, not including the ones that actually "make" poke might be Tokyo Deli Downtown?

Poke U (In the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily
1030am - 830pm

Revisits - Villa Manila and the Missus's Favorite Poke Spot (It's Zarlitos!)

A couple of revisits for you.

During the short week between Christmas and New Year, I decided to take Calvin and JohnF out for lunch. We usually eat along the rather close confines of Kearny Mesa....but this was the Holiday Season, so why not relax a bit (even though they had to stay at work even longer on this day)? John is from NorCal and Filipino.....the big joke with him is that when it comes to food, he says, I'm "more Filipino" than he is. He is also a pretty big eater, so I thought a visit to Villa Manila would be fun.

Ordering was to the point; bagoong rice (sorry no photo, though JohnF said his wife loved the leftovers), and of course Crispy Pata (a small portion).

From the looks I didn't think this was going to be as good as previous versions I've had here. But man, this was worth the "meat sweats". The skin was crisp, all that gelatinous goodness was there, the meat was moist, what more could you ask for?

I had to order the Bicol Express....which is not quite what is used to be.

There's not quite the same amount of bagoong alamang, so the flavor while still on the salty side, doesn't have as much of that savory finish. The pork is still tender, though the portion size has gotten smaller.

And then there is the Nilagang Baka, the beef shank soup. Calvin, whose Missus is Vietnamese really enjoyed the beefiness of the broth. You should have seen the look on his face when they came to refill the broth!

Overall, still a nice meal. Even though VM is not quite what it was before.

Villa Manila
500 East 8th Street
National City, CA 91950

So, the Missus didn't believe me when I said that Zarlitos made some decent poke. But an interesting thing happened. During the nice Bitter Brothers Anniversary dinner, Candice mentioned the poke at Zarlitos to the folks sitting with us. Turns out it was Keoni Simmons (and yes, his dad is from Hawaii), who confirmed my belief that the poke Zarlitos makes is legit. And so that conversation with the Missus went on as we headed to Hogetsu Bakery. So She relented and we decided on stopping at Zarlitos.

Where she proceeded to eat a pound of poke. Now, even though I make Spicy Tuna Poke for the Missus, I'm not a big fan. The Missus enjoyed the version here.

First off, the quality of the fish is decent, no fibrous "suji". I think this would do fairly well "back home". These days, I put a bit of wasabi in my spicy tuna poke and that's what the Missus was missing....no major complaints on this though.

The Limu poke was a bit more problematic. The fish was of decent quality, but there was too much sesame oil in this...and yes, it wasn't salty enough...when was the last time I mentioned something not having enough NaCl?

Also, this version of "limu" poke used wakame....I mean, really? Even Poke Etc down the street used Limu Kohu. Still, this was much better than those "Chi-Poke" places that have sprung up everywhere.

Of course the Missus needed some rice; so I ordered the Longsilog.

Which was passable.

In the end, while it's not Tanioka's, Fresh Catch, Suisan, or Ono Seafood, it'll do until we get back home again.....hopefully soon.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

Pata and Poke (for real) at Zarlitos

So during my rather unsuccessful romp through all those new "poke" places; and those are truly hard quotation marks, I really didn't have anything I truly enjoyed, anything that would make me forget places "back home".  During that time, I heard Zarlitos mentioned twice. Once by a fellow Ex-Pat Kama'aina. Zarlitos? Poke? Digging a little bit I read that Zarlitos won both the San Diego and Orange County "I Love Poke Contests" in 2015. I hadn't been back to Zarlitos in almost five years, so I thought why not....perhaps there's some changes in store there.

Arriving and walking into the place, it was evident that this was still Zarlitos. The sticky tables and even more sticky menus; no poke in sight. Until I saw the small greaseboard on the pillar, with four varieties of poke written in red. From there, it was easy to order.......

The "Mini" (again, it's all relative) Crispy Pata and Shoyu Poke...pata and poke, that's music to my ears. The pata was over-fried and dry and though the skin came off in a nice little strip, much of it was hard versus crisp, more like leather than the best chicharones. It was pretty bland as well. For this, I'll stick with Villa Manila.

The garlic rice was decent; moist and the garlic wasn't burnt and bitter.

And now......this.....

I actually sent some friends back home the photo. They thought I was back home and went to Fresh Catch. The fish was decent quality, not too much "suji", no off flavors, good texture. The flavor was perhaps a bit too sweet and I could have used a tad more saltiness; but this was by far the best poke I've had recently. It made my day.

Most of these "chi-poke" places I've been to are just a concept, somewhat high on style, low on good grindz. At Zarlitos, there's none of that. I wanted and got, decent poke. How's that for innovative?

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

Sunday Stuffs - 99 Ranch Market's Soft Opening, Poke and Pintxos at Poseidon Project

A few things for a slow Sunday.

99 Ranch Market on Balboa's Soft Opening:

Like many other folks I know, I've been watching for any indication the new 99 Ranch Market would be opening. The other day I noticed some notices were posted. I drove on over to the parking lot and took a look.

The flier says  - Soft Opening October 20th; Grand Opening October 22nd.

So there you go.

5950 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Poke and Pintxos at Poseidon Project:

Like I mentioned in a previous post; I've kind of taken to the Poseidon Project, the little beer bar and bottle shop in my 'hood; Bay Park. It's a nice, neighborhood place, but it's a beer bar and bottle shop and doesn't serve food. Which can be a bit of a problem in this area.

I'll usually drop by on Saturday evenings when the Missus needs to work and have noticed that there's usually one and sometimes two catering folks coming in to serve food.

The usual Saturday stand is by a company named ILNLYF Foods, which you might know from the Little Italy Mercado. And yes, these guys serve poke.

I've yet to find decent poke in San Diego and I really had my doubts about these guys. And the first two times I tried the poke I was underwhelmed. I did enjoy that this isn't the typical San Diego "Chi-poke" set-up; the fast-casual fish with sauce thing. I did find the fish to be on the mushy side and the poke sort of waterlogged; as if they dumped a bunch of frozen fish into the marinade.

However, the guy serving the poke is very nice, friendly, Samoan, who has family and spends a good deal of time in Hawaii.

And wouldn't you know it; the last two times their version of shoyu poke has been pretty good. As you can tell; not too much "suji" (connective tissue) in the fish. It's been marinated....not just sitting around with some sauce thrown on it. I'd like a bit more onions, but the kimchi cucumbers are a decent addition. I was told that because their customer base at the Mercado's said it was too salty; they've had to change to low sodium shoyu....so they told me to visit them at the PIF and other festivals where they "don't hold back".

Tried it again recently and I gotta say; it's a two fer two...though i'm not a big fan of the "fried rice", which was too hard and dry. I'll stick with the white rice....though they did have a decent mac salad a few weeks back.

Also, on occasion there's young lady who makes paella, and later on some Saturday evenings she'll bring in some Pintxos......you know what that is, right?

They'll tell most folks this is "tapas", but the young lady is from Bilbao. In Basque country, they call this Pintxos.

Some Tortilla Espanola, maybe a version of Champinones Al Ajillo, Boquerons, or Crouquettas de Pollo. Nice folks.

I'm not sure what the entire lineup of food purveyors is; so you may want to call ahead on a Friday or Saturday to see if they'll have anything; 619-230-5334.

Over the last couple of weeks; I've noticed a couple of things; the beer cooler doesn't have the variety it used too; they don't always have all 8 pulls going. I really like this place and hope this isn't a bad sign. I've enjoyed meeting some of my more like minded neighbors, the two and even four-legged ones.....so I'm hoping Poseidon hangs on and maybe gets a kitchen, or something.

Poseidon Project
4126 Napier St
San Diego, CA 92110

Donburi Kitchen

Back in June, I noticed a shop in the former Fish Bucket location in Tierrasanta. The name of the place? Donburi Kitchen. In spite of the location I was fascinated; since I've long thought that a good Donburi shop making classics like Gyūdon, Tendon, Oyakodon, or Katsudon would be a great fit for San Diego. So a few weeks back I dropped by during lunch to see that they had just opened. Notice they still have awning from the Fish Bucket in place; "Seafood Market - Fish Grotto"?

Nice young man greeted me at the front door....looking around I kinda knew that my wish wasn't going to be granted here. The menu was confirmation. Poke Bowl; Ramen on the menu, spicy tuna roll, California roll (though there was Hamachi kama and Chirashi) on the chalk board. The only traditional "donburi" I saw on the menu was the Unadon. So, basically your neighborhood Japanese (in name only) jack-of-all-trades kind of place. Nothing wrong with that....but what the heck was I going to order. I asked the young man who suggested ramen; so I went with the Tonkotsu ($8) and some Chicken Karaage ($4.25).

I was a bit surprised at this as it was more "Toriten" (Chicken Tempura) than actual karaage. I quickly noticed that breast was used for this. Even though the batter quickly got soggy, the chicken was very moist and tender, with a pleasant flavor, like it had been quickly brined. Eat this quickly and it's pretty good. Not a big fan of the Sriracha Mayo though.

As much as the chicken was a pleasant surprise, the Tonkotsu Ramen was routine - except for the bok choy......first time for that in my ramen. The broth was quite indistinct, being more of a shoyu-tonkotsu kind of thing and really lacked the nice tongue coating feature that makes a good tonkotsu broth.

The noodles; standard issue, were a bit over-cooked for me. The egg was a bit of a mess, it looked like there was some trouble peeling it, but it was decent marinated and not ice cold. The one saving grace was the chashu, which was fairly tender, and had a nice flavor. This was perhaps a bit better than Izakaya Kanpai about par with Ototo, basically lower second tier ramen. Funny, a guy came in and also ordered ramen; tasted the broth, then requested Togarashi, Sriracha, and Vinegar for his ramen......

About a week later I returned, basically to go ahead and try one of the Donburi....but man; it was so darn hot. There was also one thing I wanted to try. I rather enjoyed the Chashu last time around so I started with the Ponzu Chashu, not cheap at $5.50.

This was actually pretty good, the ponzu didn't take away too much of the flavor of the chashu which wasn't particularly sweet, but had a nice shoyu-sweet flavor. It looked like the exterior had been torched/seared. Man, serve this with some negi and over rice and you'd have a decent Butadon. Chop it up and mix with negi and some of the cooking liquid and it would be a decent Chashu Gohan. Hmmm....I might request that one of these days.

I really didn't want rice on this day....but what the heck to order. Well, I gave in and tried the Poke Salad, which was priced at $7.

I gotta say; they did a pretty good job of hiding most the short comings of the fish, by coating it real well with the sauce. Lots of connective tissue, but it wasn't too tough or stringy nor was it overly mushy. The sauce seemed to use gochujang as the base; tasting like a milder "cho-jang", sweet-salty-mildly spicy. Decent amount of avocado, enjoyed the scallions, the greens not overly dressed. Would have liked a bit more onion and perhaps some tomato in this. But overall, not bad.

So, one more visit to finally try a donburi here. But first, I started with some Agedashi Tofu ($4).

The tofu had a nice molten interior but was too lightly dusted/battered as it really lacked crispness. The sauce tasted like a watered down "mentsuyu" (concentrated soup base) that had been cut with some wakame to add more flavor. It was a bit too mild for my taste.

I actually enjoyed the no-frills salad, the dressing was decently refreshing, the greens nicely dressed.

Not knowing which bowl to get, I went with the east way out and got the Teriyaki Chicken version ($7).

Fairly decent rendition of teri-chicken. The chicken breast was again nicely moist, the sauce a bit too salty for my taste, but not offensive. Dig the Vietnamese Pickled Daikon and Carrots! Not a huge portion, but good enough for a decent lunch for me.

Overall, a decent neighborhood "San Diego - Japanese" joint....I heard three people come in and ask what "chirashi" was. Very nice staff, decent prices, for some reason this place reminded me of Izakaya Kanpai (which I have to revisit one of these days) with a less ambitious menu. I was told that one of the owners was formerly part owner of Fish Attack....which kind of made sense. This was decent neighborhood food not to offend. I'd even order take-out if the place was in my neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Donburi Kitchen
6030 Santo Rd
San Diego, CA 92124

Poke Etc.

A few weeks ago; I was in National City and decided to check out what was going on with Point Point Joint. When I drove into the parking lot I was shocked to see PPJ was gone! Wow, first Conching's and now Point Point Joint! I guess I really don't get down here near enough these days. The other thing I was surprised to see; though I probably shouldn't have been, was a place name Poke Etc had taken PPJ's place.

I was just going to get into my car and as we say back home; "hele" to somewhere else. But I decided to take a peek inside; which was kind of interesting. The lay-out seemed very much PPJ; in spite of the freshening up, it still looked a bit worn.

I really wasn't interested in the poke....more interested in the "etc".....stuff like Shoyu Chicken, Lau Lau, Kalua Pork, Teriyaki Chicken....I'm not sure when I last had Ilocano Longanisa. My friends growing up were Ilocano, so I was kind of used to the vinegary; garlicky longanisa. The first time I had Longsilog in San Diego I was rather shocked at how sweet it was. But over the years I've come to enjoy it.

There a collection of "stuffs", an almost random collection most of which you can get from Marukai, and a reach in fridge with Hawaiian Sun, haupia, mac salad, Portuguese sausage (sorry not "my" brand")...you know, etc....

I'd had enough "Mainland poke" for a while so just went with the Lau Lau Combo ($9.95)......not really expecting much.

You know; the lau lau wasn't bad....I mean, it wasn't "really" lau lau if you know what I mean; it was missing the very important salted butterfish, which adds an awesome salty-savory touch to lau lau and is all important. The difference between this and what I typically get here on the mainland is; and it pretty much holds true for most frozen lau lau, is that it was moist, not too salty, it had quite a bit of luau leaf, but I love the steamed taro leaves, which have a smoky, flavor. Again, not really lau lau, but the pork shoulder was moist, tender, and not too stringy. What really put a damper on things is the lack of "chili pepper water"....bummer. The rice was on the dry side foe my taste; especially when eating local kine food.....

I hadn't read the menu very closely; instead of the usual mac salad, this came with a scoop of poke. Oh-oh....... There's basically 8 different poke, already made; over ice, just like home. I'm a purist, so I decided on the Ahi Limu and was pleasantly surprised.

First off, the fish was decent quality; think basically Safeway or Foodland on Oahu. The limu was actually the fine Limu Kohu.......not the hard branches. Some not so great pieces, but mixed and coated evenly, not too salty; a bit of shoyu; this wasn't bad at all.

So I returned and decided to see how the loco moco ($8.95) was. I should have probably just gone with maybe some poke and rice.....

Doesn't the loco moco look like some Edvard Munch inspired, food emoji basically saying "don't eat me"?

This wasn't good eats, from the very gluey, tasteless gravy; which had the same viscosity as the egg yolk. They just kind of oozed into one another. To the burger which was pretty darn tough, to the rice which was again on the dry side. I just didn't care for this.

The onions might have added to the dish; in this state they added some flavor; but just think if they'd been caramelized a bit more; it would have added some depth.

So, I decided to come in and just get a poke bowl......I got the "Create your own bowl" which was reasonably priced at $8.95. Of course I hot the Ahi Limu and this time added the Kimchi Poke.

On this day the Ahi Limu wasn't right; the fish wasn't coated well, there were too many pieces with tough connective tissue; and in spite of the Limu Kohu, this seemed off. The fish in the Kimchi Poke was slightly better, but not by much. Not a big fan of the flavors which was more salty than spicy. It just wasn't very interesting. To make matters worse, the rice was even more dry than before.

I mean, it's ok to have some pieces with "sugi" in them; but not so many......

Poke Etc was starting to be a bit of enigma; I just couldn't put my finger on what this place did consistently well. I decided to pay one more visit. I was going to order the Shoyu Chicken; but it didn't come with poke and I wanted to give that one more shot. So I decided on the Island Bento ($11.95) to go. The menu states Teriyaki Chicken, Tonkatsu, and Poke. This is what I got.

I have no idea what this was supposed to be, but I don't think it's what I ordered. That tonkatsu was pounded very thin, breaded, then fried to a dry, stringy place that can only be described as death. What's up with the bland sautéed onions and the frozen peas and carrots? Kind of sad because the Ginger Ahi was nicely flavored, not too much ginger, good soy, not too salty, the fish was nicely mixed and coated well, and there were only a few pieces with too much connective tissue. I'd easily have that again.

After this....four visits in the can; I decided that I need to give the place a rest. I'm still not quite sure if they can put out a consistent product; though I do like the "old school" style poke....when it's on. If one of those "Chi-Poke" places (i.e. San Diego Poke Company, etc....) could get it right, it would be great. The woman who works here is really nice and friendly....and heck, I saw boiled peanuts for sale; I need to bring my own chili pepper water though, and there's still that Ilocano Longanisa I have to try one of these days........one of these days.

Interesting to note that Poke Etc is a chain of (currently) four shops, two in Long Beach and one in Carson. I'm sure we'll see more pop-up here in San Diego.

Poke Etc
916 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950