mmm-yoso!!!

Ngon Ngon Food To Go

Back during June of last year, I saw this signage on the side of Vinh Hung Market when I first noticed Paris Sandwiches was opening in Mira Mesa.

Ngon Ngon Food to Go? Well, that was interesting. Then of course, we did a bunch of travelling. And then, on one of my visits to see if Paris Sandwiches was open yet....they weren't, I decided to check things out.

Ngon Ngon has one of the shops down the hallway, before you get to Song Huong, right across what I think is a Filipino Bakery that never seems open?

Even though the name of the shop includes "Food-To-Go" there are several simple tables for those who want to dine in.

One thing I liked right away was the menu....this ain't your typical pho shop.

I went ahead and did a take-out order for something I hadn't had in a while, Bo Luc Lac. I then went and got some 85 Degrees stuff for the few folks in the office. When I returned my order was waiting. These folks are pretty darn fast.

Here's my Bo Luc Lac ($16).

   This was actually not bad. The large salad did have some brown leaves, but while the rice looked dry, it wasn't.

The beef was pretty good, with a pleasant toothsomeness. The sauce was a bit on the saltier side, but not overly so. I do like a hint of sweetness and deeper savory tones in my Bo Luc Lac, which was missing here. I usually expect a bit more green and red bell peppers, but really enjoyed the onions in this as it added a much-needed pungency to the dish.

This was actually better than what I expected.

So, I fully intended to return; though I guess with my schedule, trips, and such, I kind of left this place on the back burner. And when I did return to the plaza, I usually ended up going to Paris Sandwiches. Of course, it took one of our great "FOYs" to wake me from my slumber. In my post on Kumo Japanese Sandos, "Elle" inquired if I'd ever be doing a post on Ngon Ngon. Oh, yes! Thanks for the reminder Elle!

I really wanted to try a couple of dishes. So, on one of the days Calvin was actually in the office, we decided to head on over for lunch.

We started off with the Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($9). These came out super-fast.

So, I believe the wings were being kept warm then fried quickly again before serving. The interior was on the dry side, but the batter was quite crunchy. Not much in terms of butter, but there was more than enough garlic to ward off any possible vampire attack. Good amount of salt as well.

Of course, we had to try the Bun Cha Hanoi ($15).

  A generous plate of fresh-looking bun, basil, mint, et al was provided. The nuoc mam cham was on the sweeter side of things. The sauce for the Bun Cha was on the sweeter end of things but wasn't too bad. Loved the pickled veggies, which helped to cut the sweet and saltiness. There were two good size pork patties, which were on the chewier end of things. The actual pork slices were much more flavorful in my opinion.

This was a pretty good version of the dish. I'd order this again.

The last item to arrive was the Cha Ca Thang Long ($17). This looked pretty bad.

While it arrived on the typical sizzling plate....well, it wasn't sizzling. The dill and onions were soggy and wilted, and the fish cold. This was quite strange. Totally a far cry from our favorite version in SoCal. The fish tasted slightly muddy as well.

It did come with the usual accoutrements and the Mam Tom wasn't bad at all. 

A pair of women came in a bit after us and ordered the Cha Ca and it arrived sizzling; so perhaps this was just a mistake? Perhaps our plate was sitting for too long? Still, even if it was an "oopsie", this is bad quality control.

I'll give them a pass this time.....

The woman brought us some rice pudding for dessert which was a nice touch.

As things stand; I'd have the Bun Cha and Bo Luc Lac again and I may try a couple of other dishes at this no-frills stand. The woman working is very nice and with Bolsa closing, this place fills a niche.

Ngon Ngon Food To-Go
10550 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Tues - Sun 9am - 8pm
Closed on Mondays

Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant Closing at the End of May

In the comments of my post on Cafe Dore closing, FOY "Jessica" asked if I knew about Bolsa in Mira Mesa closing. Well, I didn't know and the news caught me by surprise.

So, when I had a some time I drove on over to the location of this long time, local Vietnamese Restaurant.

 And while from a distance everything looked like the status quo, there was this long note taped to the door.

And so it is true, Bolsa will be closing at the end of the month. You can also see a copy of the note in their Facebook page. I thought I'd go ahead and do this post quickly in case folks want one more chance to eat there. After all, if I recall Bolsa has been around for over two decades.

Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd Suite 118
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Sat - Thurs 830am - 9pm
Friday 830am - 7pm
Closing permanently at the end of May 2023

Another long-standing local restaurant closing.....

Thanks for letting me know about this Jessica!

Saturday Stuffs - Cafe Dore is now Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee and Farmer's Table (Bay Park) Becoming La Pastaia

Just a couple of things I noticed this past week.

Cafe Dore is now Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee:

I received an email that caught me off guard. It asked me why Cafe Dore had closed. What?!? I didn't know anything about this. So, last Sunday I took a shopping detour and headed down the 15 to check things out. And wouldn't you know it. The place is now called Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee.

Looking at the sign I was wondering when this change took place. Notice that it's been long enough for the "R" in "Restaurant" to apparently fall off the signage.

Our friend Google didn't seem to be much help either.

Kind of sad to see it's no longer Cafe Dore. My posts go back to June 2005, I remember seeing all the old timers drinking coffee in the place and playing those, ahem, "video games" (wink, wink) in the back of the shop. When I last visited back in November of 2021 things seemed to go the status quo. And even in the days of Covid, old-timers were gathered in the place and lighting up the 'ol cigarettes even!

Much like another closure of a long time restaurant, it feels like the end of an era. 

Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee
4135 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105

Farmer's Table (Bay Park) Becoming La Pastaia:

During one of my recent shopping trips up the block to Sprouts I noticed that Farmer's Table was empty so I walked on over.

   I was surprised to see construction going on and the note to the right. Well, I just posted on Farmer's Table in January! Looks like it's becoming a Italian Restaurant named "La Pastaia"?

Not too excited about this one as it looks like just a change in concept. I'm hoping the food served loses its overly corporate approach.

3055 Clairemont Dr.
San Diego, CA 92117

Paris Sandwiches (Mira Mesa)

Back in June of last year, I noticed that a place named "Paris Sandwiches" was opening up next to LHK in Mira Mesa. When I did a quick check on the listed URL a familiar name came up. Yes, Paris Sandwiches is under the auspices of Paris Bakery, an old favorite of mine. Paris Bakery and wholesale Le Chef Bakery produces the bread for many Banh Mi shops in San Diego. So, I'd know exactly where they are getting their bread from, right? To digress, I actually had someone send me an email regarding a really "special" Banh Mi I made and posted on over 15 years ago! Read it if you dare. I guess nothing disappears on the Internet?

Anyway, the shop opened back in January and I finally got around to visiting in between recent trips.

It's a simple counter set-up with a couple of tables and chairs outside. On both of my visits, the young lady working was very nice.

And yes, this is 2023, thus I didn't expect a $3.50 Banh Mi like I used to get at the ECB location, but I was glad that none of the Banh Mi's were in the $9 range!

Since JeffP was in the office on this day, I decided to order two sandwiches, the Dac Biet ($7.25) and the Bi ($6.75).

I got back to the office and split things up for us.

    First off, the bread was as I recalled from the "old school" location, crusty and fairly dense, with some yeastiness.

The Bnh Mi was much more "stuffed" than the versions I've had from the ECB location. And man, the jalapenos in all the sandwiches were no joke. The folks making the sandwich tend to bunch them together, so I learned to do a quick check. The pickled veggies were crisp and the flavor quite "bright".

The proteins were good, I especially enjoyed the generous portion of the funky-offally pate.

In my opinion, this was the better of the two sandwiches.

 I did find the ratio of Bi (pork skin) to be kind of small compared to the amount of pickled veggies and even cilantro. And of course, I think that it's all about ratios when it comes to these sandwiches. Strangely, I found that the Bi had an almost sweet-sour flavor? Though those jalapenos did a good job of clearing my sinuses.

A couple of days later I had a chance to drop by and grab another sandwich. Even though it was a weekend, I arrived early and the place was empty.

I decided on the Banh Mi Ba Chi (Pork Belly - $6.75).

 Much like the Dac Biet, this version had quite a bit more meat than what I've had from Paris Bakery. In terms of consistency, Paris scored well as the bread was crusty and yeasty, those jalapenos nice and spicy, and the pickled veggies nice and refreshing.

I did find the pork belly, while porky with a hint of sweetness, to be on the waxy side. So perhaps next time I need to go with the nem nuong?

Overall, this was much better than the mediocre banh mi I last had which cost me $9. It's great to have another option. I'm thinking I need to compare Paris Sandwiches to Phuong Nga one of these days?

Paris Sandwiches
10606 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 8am - 630pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Closed on Sundays

Mom's Pho and Grill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks Laurie!

Takeout from Mignon Pho + Seafood

On a recent shopping visit to Nijiya, I decided to give Mignon Pho another try. I've never been a fan of the pho and the last time I did takeout, the banh mi wasn't very impressive, to date, the only item that I had enjoyed from Mignon Pho were the lemongrass fries, though I didn't think it would hold up well as takeout. I really like the folks working here and decided to try something else from the menu.

   The place had one table going when I arrived. The young lady working was quite cheerful and I looked over the menu. I came to the "rice plate" portion of the menu and realized I hadn't ever tried any of those dishes. So, I figured I'd go for the gusto and have the rice plate with "Bi, Cha, Thit, Dau Hu Ky" (shredded pork skin, grilled pork, steamed meat loaf, and fried bean curd). Which, in the typical Mignon Pho "not to offend" was called ahem,  "Yummy in my Tummy" ($15.75) on the menu. I placed my order, did my shopping and returned. After a five minute wait I was food to go. The young man bringing me my order even apologized for having me wait a few minutes!

Man, this was quite a hefty container which I unpacked when I got home.

    Well, if you're keeping score this is how it went. I really prefer this dish with com tam, broken rice which lends a nice texture and fragrance to the dish. This one used Jasmine rice which would have been perfectly fine if it wasn't so dry and hard, like it hadn't been cooked long enough.

The Bi, shredded pork skin was missing rice powder which adds a nice nuttiness and was also really dry....speaking of dry, the grilled pork, if a bit on the salty side and in need to sweetness at least had flavor but was super dry and tough.

   

The "Cha" was on the dry side and really mild in flavor. The best overall item was the fried tofu, which was crisp light and moist, but was also in need of more flavor. The nuoc mam cham was super watered down and overly sweet.

So, it's back to the drawing board I guess. Like I said before, I really like the folks working here and really wish I could find something I like.

Mignon Pho + Seafood
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Monday Meanderings - Mister Falafel and Mi Pana Closes, Dinner with Friends at Kingfisher

Recently, I got some bad news from two of my "FOYs".

Mister Falafel Closes:

"ChrisR" sent me an email saying that Mister Falafel had closed! Whoa, now I hadn't heard about this one! Of course being that Mister Falafel is a bit hidden from the street and is mainly a warm weather location for garlic paste, I hadn't really dropped by in a while. So, on the way home from errands I decided to see what was going on. And sigh.....yes, the place has been gutted. It seems Mister Falafel is no longer.

The folks here were so nice!

First La Miche, now Mister Falafel. This is so sad. When will the bleeding stop?

4461 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Mi Pana Closes:

This one is from our good friend "Ale". She sent me a text directing me to Mi Pana's Instragram. And yes, there it was.....

I really enjoyed my meals at Mi Pana and probably should have revisited.

This seemed so sudden and even caught "Ale" by surprise as she had just been there recently.

2241 Highland Ave.
National City, CA 91950

Dinner at Kingfisher with Friends:

I know, you want a post and I don't blame you. Especially with all the accolades Kingfisher has gotten since they opened, the 50 Best New Restaurants by Bon Appetite listing, a Michelin New Discovery Listing, and with the chef being a James Beard Semifinalist. I'll say that the food was excellent and I'm sure to be back. But this dinner was more important than me doing a post.

You see, this dinner has been over four years in the making. There's a part of me that Covid had eaten away. The part that enjoyed spending time with my friends. Friends that have shared many fun times together, like bringing a whole roasted pig to Karaoke or celebrating Thanksgiving in August, or doing a trolley scavenger hunt. We've gone to dinner roadtrips and even a wedding in Ciudad Obregon! We've been thru births and weddings.

My good friend Candice had been trying to set something up for months and finally, we were all together! It had been so long! I didn't realize how much I missed them all (and you too TFD!).

And as often happens when good friends meet, the conversations, jokes, and laughter all came together seamlessly. It was if we had just seen each other yesterday.

And while the food was fabulous, catching up on things was more important on this day. I didn't even take photos of all the dishes, but here are a few.

Yes, it's as good as it looks, but I'll wait to return when I can spend more attention on the food before doing a real post.

So, here's to friendship and making up for lost time. Thanks for setting things up Candice!

Kingfisher
2469 Broadway
San Diego, CA 92102

Have a great Valentines Day everyone!

Bun Bo Hue From Da Nang Corner

The Missus wanted me to do an Uncle Tetsu run. So, I decided to grab some lunch to go in the process. I recalled thinking the Bun Bo Hue from Da Nang Corner wasn't too bad when I last had it....oh my, a year ago! So, I parked on a side street, walked over to Da Nang Corner and placed my takeout order, then went over to grab the Missus's cheesecake. 

My order was ready when I returned and I headed home.

I immediately unpacked things when I got home. 

 I set about reheating the broth and moving the noodles and proteins to a proper bowl. One thing I noticed was that the broth really didn't have that wonderful lemongrass-beefy fragrance of typical bun bo hue broth. Though I was prepared for the lack of banana blossom and such this time.

Once things were ready, I had lunch.

    Well, that decent bowl of Bun Bo Hue I got from here might have been a fluke as this broth had no lemongrass flavor.....in fact, other than being terribly salty, it really lacked spice and beefiness. I used the whole container of mam tom and it was still bland.

I wish there were more veggies as the portion size seemed quite small.

The meatballs were tender and the rustic cut beef was fine, the beef shank was just bone and the tendon was way too rubbery this time around.

The Noodles had been cooked too much and were mushy. I only pour boiling water quickly over noodles to revive so I don't think it was that action making the noodles mushy.

Bummer. Maybe I hit the lottery the last time as I thought the BBH was not bad. Or maybe that's the norm and this was a "one-off". I guess we'll need to add possible consistency issues to the list as well.

The state of Vietnamese food in the area has really nose dived the last couple of years.

Da Nang Corner
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

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

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

And then the cold arrived.

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, soon enough my pho came out.

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

The Missus fared slightly better.

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

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

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

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

Cuisine S
20 Rue Aristide Ollivier
34000 Montpellier, France

We slunk back to the apartment.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Cathedral was open for visitors so we stepped in.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Truffle Ravioli was a perfect al dente.

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

The Gnocchi was surprisingly good.

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

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

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

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

Tim Ky Noodle (Mira Mesa)

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today; Kirk and His Missus are enjoying the start of a lengthy vacation in another country.

The Mister and I had planned to try out the recently re-opened Pho Lucky, but decided against it and instead walked to the other end of the strip mall to Tim Ky Noodle, which Kirk had written an indoor eating post in 2019 and a "to go" post in 2020.  {The Mister and I have been here previously but I never posted.}

The two sided, laminated/ easily sanitized menu is a bit pared down from pre-Covid-19 days. The majority of choices are Vietnamese with some Chinese choices also.
 Still, hot tea  is brought out when you are seated; some things are back to normal.
 The seafood chow mein (crispy noodles) ($15.99) was quite large, filled with shrimp, fish and scallops as well as very fresh vegetables.  Excellent.  
 The salt and pepper fish filet with rice ($16.99) was also a very large portion.  Light and crisp fry (proper) and onion were all that was needed for this meal.  We did have leftovers of both.  

Another survivor of the Covid-19 shutdowns.  

Tim Ky Noodle 9330 Mira Mesa Blvd. San Diego, CA 92126 Daily 9am - 830pm