mmm-yoso!!!

Monday Meanderings - Smack'n Guamanian Grill Coming to Miramar, No Moa' Poke at Zarlitos, and Some Snackage

I haven't done one of these for a bit, so here are a couple of things I saw this past weekend.

Smack'n Guamanian Grill Taking Over the Bann Bann Cutlet & Teriyaki Location:

Noticed this as I drove past the old Bann Cutlet & Teriyaki location on Miramar. In case you don't know; Bann has reopened in the new H Mart.

I'll miss Bann, but it looks like some Kelaguen is coming our way?

9506 Miramar Rd
San Diego, CA 92126

No Moa' Poke at Zarlitos:

I was hoping to grab some poke this past weekend so I drove down to Zarlitos, which I thought made some pretty decent poke, it had become a favorite of the Missus, and I enjoyed having a "Poke-silog" from time to time. First thing I noticed was a sign on the door announcing that Zarlitos was raising their prices. I walk in and quickly noticed no poke in the fridge and a sign that said there has been a management change and no more poke.

Looks like I'm going to have to work on a replacement.

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

And finally......

A Bit of "Snackage":

During my last trip to the SGV for an appointment; I stopped by Hong Kong Plaza, which has gone thru so many changes since we lived in the neighborhood in the late 90's. I quickly noticed how much HK Market had changed; especially the snack selection. So, when we recently drove up to the SGV for lunch (that post is coming soon), I convinced the Missus to drop by the market.

At first She wasn't too keen on the idea......but then

She saw the snacks and had a pretty good haul.

The salted egg fish skin is pretty heady stuff; deeply savory, and not cheap at almost ten bucks a package.

We did have a good time.....and because I was curious, I also got a bottle of the 3 year aged black vinegar ($8.29!!!) for my jiaozi as well.

While I was there, I actually saw a customer grab that bottle on the left, open the cap, and pop the tab to have a whiff. Sigh.....some things never change.

Hong Kong Supermarket
18414 Colima Rd #1
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Traditions- 2019 calendars, Rosca de Reyes and fresh roasted chestnuts

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and sometimes food is a small part of the posts.  Today, it's about 2/3. Cathy is writing.

Happy New Year and thank you for the good wishes via Kirk's post.  It's a time of finishing up the holiday season, rearranging and writing '2019' on paperwork.   Part of my regular activity consists of acquiring new calendars from various businesses and sometimes posting about them with photos.  This year is the same. 
It started out slow; there were four Saturdays before Christmas in December 2018.  A lot of businesses waited to do their giveaways with a purchase.


Then giveaways began en masse and my friend, cc, helped by also collecting some of the calendars from various South Bay businesses.  I had told her that it was sad that our, 'regular' calendar from Orchard Supply Hardware (which closed in October) would be missing after giving away a train-centric calendar every year since 1931.  She even purchased one calendar for us (the outhouse one on the bottom right corner of this last photo (it will hold a prominent place in The Mister's office). We actually needed to find space for two more calendars because now there are so many.  

Within some of the above linked posts there has also been mention of Rosca de Reyes, a traditional Mexican bread shared on the 12th night after Christmas (Epiphany, January 6, Feast of Three Kings), usually while taking down Christmas decor. (In France, the traditional bread is Galette de Rois).  cc and I did a small 'food crawl' the other day and stopped at three South Bay bakeries.

 All of the bakeries had beautiful window art advertising the upcoming holiday.

They also had beautiful displays of the roscas for pre-ordering...
 as well as plenty of samples.

However, I had already pre-ordered (as well as picked up and mailed one Rosca on Thursday) from Su Pan. I was there at 6 a.m. today.
and Roscas as well as other fresh baked sweets were everywhere, fresh and ready to be picked up.  
A Grande for our neighbor and a Chica for us.  Fresh..so very fresh; the car smelled great.  Three slices with breakfast was perfect!

Another annual tradition is to take advantage of the freshly roasted chestnuts from in front of Lucky Seafood Market (which ran out of calendars before we got one). The little tent covering the chestnut roaster has disappeared, but the roaster, attached to a propane tank is right there at the door. (Apologies for the thumbnails, something happened with the phone update and the large size shows up sideways, but clicking on these enlarges and makes them appear upright...I don't know...).

 

There is one more annual tradition, which will be posted soon.  Does anyone else have unusual traditions?

Tommy's Restaurant (San Clemente) after a visit to the Mission San Juan Capistrano

Thanks for reading this food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk has been away for a few days, resting and Cathy has been taking some 'staycation' time and is writing today.

Having an out of town guest is always a reason to also do something out of the ordinary.  We want to show friends how and where we live and not do too many typical touristy things.  The Spanish Missions in California are a strong part of our history and always fascinating as well as educational.  We thought a short drive up the coast would be fun. Mission San Juan Capistrano, the "loveliest of the Franciscan ruins",provided us with insight as to how the missionaries and indigenous natives lived  and built their self sufficient compound, with gardens for food,  vineyards (for wine used during mass), a baking area, stables and all in all a small city
with a church next to the cemetery.  (This is the second church built on the grounds,   the original 'Great Stone Church' with its Greco-Roman style architecture was felled by an earthquake on December 8, 1812). 

A great day of walking, listening to a well recorded self guided tour and learning so much.  

Mission San Juan Capistrano Website

We left just after 1 p.m. and although hungry, didn't want to stay in town, instead driving a few exits south to the signage we had seen so many times over the years.Yep.  Tommy's Restaurant.  We had always been curious but usually were 'almost home' so had never stopped.  
The view from the parking lot is of the ocean. 
Inside...well..look for yourself...


A 50's diner with beautiful upholstered booths and a fresh flower on each table.  We had just missed the 'lunch rush'.
The menu accommodated each of us.  The "2x2x2" breakfast ($8.99) had some really great, sweet fluffy and tender pancakes along with perfectly over easy eggs and two slices of quality, thick meaty bacon.
The Monte Cristo ($9.99 plus $1.50 for substitution of onion rings) was really well made, with plenty of ham and turkey (and melted Swiss) on a nicely fried eggy french toast.  The rings were surprisingly good; whole onion slices in the crispy corn batter.  
  The 1/2 sandwich (with soup or salad, $7.99) was a wonderful choice.  The clam chowder (soup of the day) was definitely made from scratch, had a clam juice based broth, filled with clam pieces as well as finely minced (yet still crispy) celery and with several (but not too many pieces of) skin on diced potato.  Tuna salad on marble rye bread with lettuce, tomato and pickle was a great sandwich. It wasn't a 'solid' tuna, which meant it accommodated the various ingredients and had more flavor.    

We will definitely stop here again.

Tommy's Diner 1409 El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 (949)498-7000 Open Daily 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Website

Tapioca Express, again

mmm-yoso!!! is this food blog.  Kirk is, right now, taking a well-deserved break.  Ed (from Yuma) is having some connectivity problems.  Cathy is awake and writing about another of her adventures with food. 

I first discovered the concept of tea houses and boba in 2007 and subsequently wrote about some of the food choices enjoyed from Tapioca Express, as well as other places. Yes, they seem to be beverage oriented, and I get beverage overwhelmed.

 This is the menu board at Tapioca Express.  The first FIVE columns are beverage choices, the last two columns are food choices, where I zone in.  (My beverage choice is always the 'Coffee Milk Tea' ($2.98), either hot or cold, no boba, no added sweetener).  Our shared meal this day consisted of a boiled pork dumpling plate ($4.98) which comes with steamed broccoli and a vinegar-soy dipping sauce.    Fried shrimp rolls ($3.98) with a mild level of spice.  These are pleasant, with a good crunch.The calamari (always rings)($4.28) are quite meaty, a good choice with an added bonus of fried basil, which i really like.    When I thought we were finished eating, The Mister walked back into line and ordered the Chinese donuts ($4.28) which came out piping hot.  These are a fried bread dough, not a typical donut batter, and served with both whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk.  A delightful end to another light meal.

Tapioca Express 4646 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858) 636-7889 Open Sun-Thurs 11:00-midnight, Fri-Sat 11:00-1 a.m. Website There are three stand alone San Diego locations as well as a few food court locations. 

Public Square Coffee (La Mesa)

Here you are once more, reading mmm-yoso!!!. a food-centric blog. Kirk has been having some really busy days of late and so has Ed (from Yuma), so it's Cathy doing the blogging today.

We've been having some really dry, hot weather lately.  Since home has no air conditioning, The Mister and I go out when still cool to run errands and grab a bite.  In keeping with a New Year Resolution, 'shop local' isn't easy yet it turns out to be quite rewarding.  One day last week, we were heading to Swami's in La Mesa for a refreshing beverage and noticed this new storefront, two doors west. 

 Public Square Coffee took over the space of a long time coffee house/gathering place, Cosmo's Coffee, which unceremoniously closed about a year ago.

  

The space has been refurbished and is brighter.  Since it is a 'soft' opening, there is a sort of temporary menu taped near the cash register, as well as a simple beverage menu on the wall.

 

 

 

 

More photos of the refurbishing, including a very nice outdoor patio area in front.  

 

Deciding on a Cold Brew (large, $3) and a pour over (Columbian, $3.75), we were delightfully surprised at the 'for here' pot and cup brought out on a personalized board (see the 'square' symbol in the bottom left corner? It matches the designs out front) and the large size glass for the cold brew.  Each coffee was very good. 

   

Returning a few days later, we ordered a  'Gibraltar' ($3.25)-two shots of espresso mixed with about the same amount of warmed milk. This was also very good, if not a bit too mild for my taste.

We ordered a 'Rooted Salad' ($5.95) described as having kohlrabi, golden beets, celery root, green apple, orange, greens, candied almonds and a lemon maple vinaigrette. Other than no kohlrabi or celery root and instead slices of wonderful radish, it was a good salad.  Since Public Square is still in its 'soft opening', we understood.  

Then we saw this at the top of the menu.

  

Homemade sugar scones ($3.50 each), with a choice of flavored butters (50¢ each) (or two scones and a flight of all six butters for $9.50)...and so we did.  

First, the scones are *perfect*; flaky, buttery and creamy.  The rock sugar topping is not disturbingly crunchy nor too sweet.  

2. The butters were such a variety of flavors: pumpkin spice (which I imagine will change with the seasons), guava, cinnamon, maple cayenne, blueberry tea and Nutella bacon. Each was unique, not salty (except for bacon pieces in the nutella) and oddly, began melting from the bottom of the cold, wood tray.  

This was very good and far more interesting of a sweet than some sort of baked or fried pastry.

A very nice addition to downtown La Mesa village.  Here is a link to cc's post about her recent visits.

Public Square Coffee 8278 La Mesa Blvd, La Mesa, Ca 91942 (619) 777-8273 not really a website link  Mon-Sat 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday 7 a.m.-5 p.m. 

Your personalized order is written onto the back of one of the 'Carpe Diem' cards you see in the above (10th and 11th) photos.  Open and read a good thought for your day.

  

Sauces, Salsas and when you can't decide, Divorce (Divorciados)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog.  We thank you for stopping by to read.  On this lovely Friday of a very busy October weekend, Kirk is working a lot of stressful overtime, while Ed (from Yuma) is gearing up for a busy weekend of research for future postings and Cathy is relaxing in front of the computer and writing this post.

For the past few decades, I've been more than interested in condiments.  Numerous varieties of ethnic cooking are common here and so many ingredients are available.

Living in San Diego County, the varieties of sauces and salsas used in and on and with Mexican food are numerous.Walk into any generic grocer and the choices are overwhelming...

  Walk into a Mexican Market and the choices increase exponentially.  

 

Step into any taco shop and the fresh made vats of salsas and condiments are unique in flavor and selection.Have a seat at primarily mariscos (seafood) restaurant and the hot sauce selection on each table leads to some interesting flavor points if you become curious about what makes each differ from the other.Depending on what you order, at certain establishments, the 'proper' salsa/sauce (made in the restaurant) will be brought out to the table. One of our favorite Mexican places, Maritza's (it's in Clairmont; I'll have a post ready soon) makes a special chopped green salsa, served only with carnitas, which are prepared and served only on Wednesdays.  It's multi flavored with a medium heat, a little salty and compliments the chunky seared pork absolutely perfectly.Then there is mole: complex flavored, multi ingredient sauces with flavors unique to various regions of Mexico.  The above breakfast (over eggs) mole is from Vanessa's Deli and has a distinct sweetness.These three moles served over chicken enchiladas from Rana's (again, I have a post forthcoming) are each wildly unique: the red mole is poblano chili based and, like the other two, is made with more than 20 ingredients, the white mole has pecans in its base while the green mole uses fresh herbs, tomatillos and sunflower seeds.  Each is wonderful on its own and when I can't decide..well the 'Tricolor' plate is my choice.The enchilada suizas at Ponce's is my usual choice.  Suiza means 'Swiss' and the sauce is cream based, thick and with a mild green salsa mixed in for this version.Similarly, the Karina's sauce is green and creamy, but more of a culiché sauce: cream, poblano chilis and garlic dominate the flavors.Sometimes, I crave a rich flavored, chili pepper and tomato based red enchilada sauce on top of cheese filled corn tortillas.  The above is from my neighborhood taco shop; each taco shop makes a unique version. 

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Then, there are this days when I can't decide and everything sounds good.  The wonderful Mexican people have a solution on their menus - Divorciados!

Huevos divorciados (divorced eggs) is a Mexican breakfast made with two fried eggs, separated in the above version by refried beans and potatoes (I've sometimes had chilaquiles as the separation food item).  One egg is covered in salsa roja (red sauce) and the other egg covered in salsa verde (green sauce), giving each egg a distinct flavor.  (The above Divorciados Plate is a breakfast item at El Portal ). Dropping in at Carnitas Uruapan, there is a white board of daily specials and lately 'Carne Divorciados' has been an available special.  

The top plate has the red sauce covering chicharron (fried pork rinds) and the green sauce covering pork pieces.  

The second plate has the green sauce covering chicharron and the red sauce covering beef rib meat (they were out of cooked pork at the time of our order).  You can see how different the sauces are from the same kitchen on different days.  

Finding new flavors makes me happy, finding divorciados means I don't have to make many decisions on some days...

Have a great weekend!

Elixir Espresso Bar (Westfield UTC) and Elixir Espresso and Wine Bar (Westfield North County)

Thank you for (once again or first time) stopping to read mmm-yoso!!! a blog about food.  Since Kirk is vacationing, Ed (from Yuma) decided to also take some time out for a road trip and Cathy is staycationing in San Diego, walking around malls for today's post.

It really has been years since Either The Mister and I have ventured into a Shopping mall.  This year, we decided to make our daily walks a bit more interesting and that's worked out.  

We went back to Westfield UTC with the intention of stopping here for a respite. This rather large kiosk is in  between the Banana Republic and Anthologie stores (and on the way to the parking garage-which was the only reason we noticed it). It opens at 7 a.m. Mon-Fri and at 8 on Saturday, 9 on Sunday...before the mall opens.  

You order and pay at one window, find a seat and your order will be called when it's ready.Peeking inside, you can see the crêpe machine and to the right is the espresso machine.  That's all that is on the menu here...coffees and crêpes.Calabria Coffee is what's used, and it is excellent and artfully prepared.  [That's a small latte above ($3.50)]Since it was early, we decided to share a breakfast crêpe ($5.25).  The description is simple 'ham, egg and cheese'...so I assumed the egg would be scrambled, cheese melted in and sliced deli ham would be laid on top and the crêpe would surround it, like a burrito...but no!

Notice the edge of the egg over the edge yet baked within the thin pancake-like crêpe.  The ham was *really* good- a smoked ham, cut in chunks, not slices.  The cheese added a good tangy flavor with gooey melty component.  Far more than I expected at a mall kiosk.  Wonderful food here. 

Elixir Espresso Bar  La Jolla Village Drive 92037 (858)   Open daily 9-8 website

 
The weather started getting warmer a few days later, and we decided to go walking at an enclosed (air conditioned) mall.  Westfield North County mall it was!Traveling down the third set of escalators, I noticed this large open eating area from above and was surprised at its name when we stopped to look. Elixir Espresso AND Wine Bar...The menu board was similar, yet had additional food items, and in the seating area, the clipboard menu was most interesting...Sandwiches, bakery items, gelato and wine, all out in the open part of the mall.  Crazy.  We had to.First, we ordered a Viennese crêpe ($4.75) Simple, filled with honey and cinnamon (and served on an appropriately sized and shaped plate, although I thought the hot dog liner paper was a good way to serve the outdoor crêpe at the outdoor kiosk). This was a nice way to enjoy a sweet crêpe.

The clipboard menu had a 'Flatbread' section on it...and the Pears, Bleu Cheese and Coastal Cheddar ($10.75) sounded nice.

Wow.  Thinly sliced pears overlapped and covered this freshly made, soft yet baked to a light crunch flatbread.  The toppings of the Bleu and Cheddar, melted in and melded with the bread and pear and this was wonderful.  If we had ever thought to do this at home, a nice glass of wine would accompany it.  

We have learned to stop and enjoy our breaks and so far, we have been really pleased.   

cc has been to the downtown location of Elixir, which has an interesting past...

Elixir Espresso and Wine Bar 200 Via Rancho Parkway Suite 9000 (Westfield North County, in front of Nordstrom and bottom of escalator) Escondido 92025 (760)741-1488 Website

2015 Rose Parade Rose Parade float road test #1-and a food road trip

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog with posts centering around food, sometimes sharing the process which the acqusition of said food occurred.  Kirk is busy, Ed(from Yuma) is busy and Cathy is writing. 

More than a month ago, friend and fellow food blogger, cc, asked (another friend and food blogger) CAB and I to accompany her on a celebratory (beginning of vacation) food crawl 'Up North'.  CAB unfortunately had a change in plans and couldn't make it.  I discovered on Wednesday before our scheduled crawl that the first Rose Parade float road testing was also going to be held that Saturday morning.  Checking out the road testing is something The Mister and I do and share here on the blog ( I also share decorating and other 'behind the scenes'  posts about  float consruction). I felt guilty, A) Because The Mister wouldn't be able to come with us and 2. For asking for a slight change in 'plans'. Except our plans included and lot of 'maybe here and maybe there' places to visit and eat..so I added one in.  Of course it had to be the first thing we did that day, because testing begins at 7 a.m..  In Pasadena.  

At the end of this epic day (I was at cc's home at 5 a.m. on the dot and got back to my home at 6:35 p.m.), I was exhausted, had driven 314 miles and had 327 photos on my camera (many were the same subject from different angles) and so this post is mostly photos. Details in future posts.

First the 2015 Rose Parade.  The floats tested this day were all sponsored by service (volunteer) organizations.  The theme of the Tournament of Roses parade is "Inspiring Stories". The Grand Marshal will be Louis Zamperini, WWII POW, Olympian and the subject of soon to be released movie, Unbroken.  Each float is the interpretation of the theme by each participating organization. 

Rotary International (the color coded float, depicting a wishing well and candles). Lions Club International (in it's rebar and partial coccoon stage)(can you see a wave of water and surfboards?).

Odd Fellows and Rebakahs, their float is depicting the Unknown Soldier Tomb.
Kiwanis International (being parked back into the Phoenix Decorating Company barn)(the doorway is the maximum height and width a float can be, or collapse down to, to be able to pass under street and signal lights along the parade route).   
Lutheran Hour Ministries.  This float is titled "The Bible, God's Story".

This will be the Donate Life float.  It's in the basic stage of construction and testing.  Those detailed butterflies are just so beautiful. You can see the float driver in this photo.

Now, to the food portion of this post.  In order: what we ate and did. One photo from each place.  

Yep.  We did a LOT in a few hours.  It was fun, educational, tasty and only slightly exhausting. The details will be revealed in future posts.  Feel free to guess or ask questions.  Hope you are having a good week!

Where we ate: First photo  (Cream Pan) 2nd photo (Jones Coffee) third photo (Euro Pane) 4th photo (Galco's) 5th photo (Mae Ting's) Next photo (LAX-C)  Next few photos: Velveteria, Chinatown, Queen's Bakery, Brodard,  85C,  The Snowflake Factory,  and finally The above photo, a Jesuit.

New Places, New Snacks (Donut Panic, Old Street Food and Paris Baguette)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog written by three friends: Kirk, who is not on this continent, Ed(from Yuma), who is not in this state and Cathy, who is right here right now.

A couple of new places and a few new menu items have entered my life within the past couple of weeks and I thought I'd share, before writing a complete post...you know, in case you might want to try something new over this three day weekend.

The signage isn't up yet. The name really is "Donut Panic" and it's a small shop in the mall anchored by Souplantation on Mission Gorge at Vandever (near the 'other' Kaiser) run by a daughter and her father. The 'regular' daily donuts are always fresh and good, BUT on Saturday and Sunday around 9 a.m. and on Wednesday after 6 p.m.--- Vegan Donuts come out of the kitchen.  You read that right- no eggs or dairy go into these-the magic ingredient is potato- and each is topped with wonderful, imaginative, fancy flavors and sold at reasonable prices ($1.50 each). Above is a cross section of one with orange almond icing. The texture is light, crispy. The photo of four (clockwise, from bottom left) has the flavors of earl grey tea, vanilla (yes, I know it's pink), chocolate espresso almond and the maple "bacon". (The 'bacon' is unsweetened coconut dipped in soy sauce and flavored with liquid smoke has the right texture and flavor). There are other fancy flavors offered: saffron cardamom, green tea and quite a few others.  There are also some filled offerings ($2 each).  

I found out about this place from good friend and fellow blogger, cc (there's a link to her first post at the bottom of that link).  On Friday, there are fresh vegan cupcakes..a post will be up soon.

Donut Panic 6171 Mission Gorge Road San Diego, CA 92120 (619) 280-1894 

The only English on the sign (that isn't a menu item) is "Old Street Food", so I'm assuming that's the name, since I don't read Korean.  Located in the center of Zion Supermarket, by the Fruits and Vegetables. Open on Monday, when Gala Chicken, the other shop in that center area is closed, we had to stop, look and order.

You order, then the once fried items are taken to the back stove and fried again.

This solid packed box with squid legs, octopus, purple sweet potato and pumpkin was $6 and still fresh and crispy when we got home. We could have eaten at the counter here, but were full...because 

We saw this when we walked into the Zion complex and had to stop.

There are five flavors, three sizes.

Here's a photo of a small ($3.75) green tea shaved ice (excellent flavor of green tea) topped with sweet beans, mochi, sweetened condensed milk and some peanut powder. We saw a large bowl being brought out to a couple and it was HUGE!

Paris Baguette (inside Zion Marketplace) 7655 Clairmont Mesa Blvd. San Diego 92111 (858)650-0404  website

I hope everyone is having a nice and safe three day weekend.  Have a good Memorial Day weekend.





 

The Food Court at Seafood City (Tapioca Express, Filipino Desserts Plus, Valerios and Grill City)

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Usually Kirk is writing posts about food, but right now He is very busy 'researching' so he will have some interesting posts. Ed (from Yuma) is also in a 'researching' mode. Today, Cathy is writing.

More than 14 months ago, I started to write a post about an epic day of visiting a plethora of places to eat in Chula Vista with fellow food bloggers, cc, writer of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High, who has taught me so much and Dennis, who writes A Radiused Corner,  another blog that is so informative as well as fascinating.  That post seemed frighteningly long and I have left it 'on hold' for all this time.  One of the places we stopped that day was the "new" Seafood City, on Orange at Melrose in Chula Vista. 

This still is the newest location in the County (new in 2011) and since discovering it, The Mister and I shop here fairly regularly, always having a bite to eat in the adjacent Food Court area before shopping.

Yes, it's a Food Court with nice, heavy wood picnic table seating; so much nicer than plastic seating. Standard Filipino chains are here (I've posted on Chow King, in various ways more than once and Kirk has posted about Jolibee in various ways).  The other places here are also interesting...

The colorful wrapped candies are pastillas and made with milk; a favorite.

Other desserts are sold here also. Mostly made with rice flour, I've tried bites of many of them at parties and visits with friends and really like the selection.

The steam trays here are fascinating.

As are the grab and go foods.  

On a recent visit, we shared this ukoy (fritter)($2). Onion, potato, plantain and a head on shrimp, fried into a neat patty and served with black vinegar.  This is a current craving. 

We also grabbed one of these to share ($1)-the cashews are very good, crispy and the cookies were not too sweet.   Filipino Desserts Plus Website multiple locations

At Valerio's, we bought this still warm bibingka ($2.50), a coconut milk/rice flour based cake that is baked inside a banana leaf. It's a special item for us. Valerio's Bakeshop, multiple locations, no website.

Almost every visit here ends up with something from Tapioca Express.  Snacks of fried chicken nuggets, tofu and squid rings, seasoned as spicy as you wish and served with either ranch or sweet and sour sauce along with some sort of beverage is always a meal.  Tapioca Express, multiple locations. Website

A more or less new addition to the Food Court is the freestanding Grill City grill (not in this photo) and steam table area. A chain, all locations are inside Seafood City stores.

Above, fried chicken skins, a pork adobo kabob and a whole stuffed squid. All are really good items; I am always up for fried chicken skins as a snack. Pay attention to that statement. 

The squid stuffing is a wonderful mix of vegetables: tomato, onion and bell pepper. 

On another visit, a slice of grilled swordfish and a grilled stuffed eggplant (inihaw) was our meal. So good and so fresh. The fish is served with a fresh mango salsa; a perfect condiment.   (Prices for a la carte veggies are $3, $6 or $9, depending on size)(Prices for a la cart meat and seafood are $3.50, $6.50 and $9.50).

We enjoy this Food Court area and look forward to our drives to Seafood City market.

Seafood City (also a link to Grill City) website 285 East Orange Chula Vista 91911 (619)621-2050 Open 8am-9 pm daily