Latest Posts

Sizzling Saigon (Santee)

Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

It’s funny how I sometimes find new places to visit. For example, I was updating “The Big List” and other posts. I sometimes do random checks to see if places are still open and started wondering about Sab E Lee Santee….man it had been how many years since we last visited? It had apparently gone thru a change in ownership and name to Faidang Restaurant, so I added it to my “list”. A few months back, I decided it was time for me to finally check the place out….and oh my, Faidang had permanently closed due to various “creatures”! It was now a Vietnamese restaurant named Sizzling Saigon. Hmmm…… I waited a couple of weeks before actually heading out East on the 52 and back to a locale that was once fairly familiar to me, but where I hadn’t been in maybe 5 years?

And there it was…Sizzling Saigon. Taking a look at the sign gave me a slight pause. Under the name of the place was written “Asian Fusion”? Double hmmm….. Still, I had driven all the way here.

The young man working was very nice as I was seated and handed a menu….which gave me another hard stop.

My goodness, in what universe is pho now almost $21????

And in this alternate universe, Bo Luc Lac is cheaper than the pho???? And the even the Bun Bo Hue is $21???

Well, this mad my decision quite easy; after all the place is named “Sizzling”, right? I decided to go with the Bo Luc Lac ($17.89). My order took awhile, but it looked quite good when it arrived.

I guess I didn’t read the fine print. This comes with fried rice; which, while nothing special in terms of flavor, the rice was fairly evenly coated, the texture fine, and a rather nice surprise.

While the beef was definitely not filet mignon, it was decently tender, nicely marinated if a bit too salty and in need of more complex umami tones; like perhaps a bit more fish sauce and pungency.

My pet peeve with this one is that the bell peppers were basically raw and too hard and crunchy. Not the largest portion, but with the fried rice, not bad at all.

I think the version at Ngon Ngon is better; but this was not bad at all.

This meal, combined with the really friendly service, had me wondering what that $21 bowl of pho was going to be like. So, of course I made time to return. The same really nice young man was working. I went and ordered the Pho Dac Biet ($20.89). And soon the “tools” and accoutrements arrived…..

I say tools because this was included with the napkins, spoon, and chopstick.

The young man told me that the chili oil is a “must have” for the pho? Hmmm again. As I anticipated, no Ngo Gai; it’s “Asian Fusion” after all.

And then my pho arrived.

At first glance quite impressive that bowl was a molten, bubbling cauldron of broth crowned by a beef rib. Seeing this arriving at my table I was really worried that the young man would spill some on himself or get burned by that stone bowl.

The plate of rare steak, beef flank, noodles was impressive. Though upon further review; it seemed to have all been premade and put in the fridge, because as hot as that bowl of broth was, the plate itself was ice cold.

That portion size of noodles was no joke either. The banh pho was of the “wider” type and because of being pre-portioned was a huge mass stuck together. And the bowl of broth was filled to the top, so you couldn’t put all the noodles into the soup at once. The scissors did come in handy here. At least the texture of the noodles were good.

The actual broth was tongue meltingly hot, but really lacking deviod of beef and any pungent tones. Thus the chili oil I guess. While not overly “San Diego sweet” in flavor, it was very bland. I used all the basil, onions, scallions, and even wishes there was more cilantro. It took me twice the amount of time to taste a spoonful of broth without burning my tongue.

The texture of the beef rib was on the chewier side, but came off the bone cleanly. It was really mild in flavor as well. There was a half a meatball swimming in miasma.

The beef flank was, as expected being served cold, super chewy once heated in the broth, but also lacking in beefiness.

The one blessing of having the broth served so hot was that a single dunk would get the rare beef done. Sort of like a pho shabu-shabu I guess?

Overall, I think of this bowl, much like what is served at Phonomenal to be more of a “marketing” angle, perhaps anticipating an influx of influencers? But, if you like a showy bubbling cauldron of broth, with a large portion of noodles and meat, without caring much about flavor, this might be for you.

At least the Bo Luc Lac wasn’t bad. Though like I said, I prefer the version at Ngon Ngon.

Sizzling Saigon
9159 Mission Gorge Rd.
Santee, CA 92071
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

Hong Kong Kitchen & Dimsum Opens Part 2

Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

So, in part 1 of my posts on the newly opened Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum, I went over two visits, that were basically solo because the Missus just didn’t think the place was worth a visit. So, after some not so bad food, I thought the Missus would be all for a visit. Well, She was not! Calvin however, whom I hadn’t had lunch with in a while was up for it! So we met right at the 10am opening time. Seems that Calvin, who lives in Scripps Ranch and has roots in the SGV has been down on the d-sum North of the 8 in town for a while. So, I thought we’d have some fun….he’d pick 4 dim sum items and I’d go with two mains and we’d have some fun.

So, in terms of the dim sum, in ranking from first to worst.

Scallop Dumplings ($9.50). These were by far the best items I’ve had at HK Kitchen thus far.

The wrappers were adequately thick, with a nice mild stretch to them. The scallops were tender and sweet; this was quite good.

Second was the Siu Mai, which I covered in my previous post. This was even better as you can clearly see….

The filling much more tender, decent savory-porky tones, the wrapper tender as well.

Took a bit into the Cheong Fun ($8.50) that Calvin ordered and went “what the heck”? Calvin had ordered the Char Siu version. I guess I expected the shrimp version.

So this was a bit too sweet for my taste. The rice roll was fine; perhaps a bit too brittle. The sauce was overly salty for my taste.

The Turnip Cake with XO Sauce ($14) was a fail. Both of us lamented the lack of the savory-umami tones and mild spice provided by XO sauce.

In fact, there seemed to be a total lack of the savory punch needed for this. The turnip cakes interior was mushy and this was a bit on the greasy side. Which reminds me that the Missus wants me to make my own XO sauce and it’s been a while since I’ve made turnip cake at home.

As for the two mains.

The Black Pepper Beef ($28) was fine, though not as good as what I get from Eastern Dynasty.

It was fairly tender; though the sauce was on the sweeter side. The sugar snap peas were nice and crisp.

Of only I knew about the XO Sauce when I ordered the Shrimp with XO Sauce ($25).

While the shrimp was adequately cooked, fairly tender, with a slight sweet-savoriness; there was a lack of XO in this dish. Thus not fulfilling the umami potential of the dish.

Still, this was a decent meal. Calvin mentioned that he’d definitely return for the dim sum here….looking out into the parking lot, we noticed that it had filled by 1115! So, if you’re thinking of going for dim sum; I’d suggest getting there early. You can read about Soo’s recent visit here.

Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

A San Diego Bakery Price Check

Bakery, Sandwiches

My recent visit to Barrio Donas had me a bit shell shocked when it came to prices and had me wondering how much a Huevo a la Mexicana Bolillo was at San Diego Bakery. Surprisingly, it had been over a year since I last visited and over a year-and-a-half since I last posted on the place. So, last Sunday, I decided to head on over to see…..

Just as I drove into the parking lot, another car left, so I managed to get a parking space. The shop was doing steady business when I walked in; like Lucy’s Bakery, all those hard working guys needed breakfast, right?

Looking up at the menu; which, since my last visit has transitioned from the chalkboard to a video display, I saw that the A la Mexicana was now $7.50 (I believe it’s just $6.50 at Lucy’s). It was $6.50 on my last visit here a bit over a year ago and $4.99 back in December of 2023.

Still, it’s less than Barrio Donas which is now $10.50 and with prices these days, this seems almost like a bargain!

The sandwich itself was a bit of a mess; though toasted, crisp, light, and yeasty, the bread was crumbling apart as I opened it.

This was oozy, eggy, cheesy messiness. And those serranos had a “bite” of their own too.

This was actually quite filling for breakfast….at least for me. I do wish there was more beans as there barely seemed to be any. And perhaps less chilies; though it did shake me awake!

With prices these days, it’s good to know you can get a breakfast bollilo or preparados for less than $8. I mean, how much is a banh mi these days?

San Diego Bakery & Café
6959 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Tijuanero By Tijuanazo (Little Italy)

Dog Friendly, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

Every Saturday, as I’m walking to the Little Italy Farmers Market, I’d past the little shop in progress at the corner of India and West Hawthorne. The one that used to be Swagyu. It seems that Tijuanero, which was to be the second taco shop opened in San Diego by the folks running Tijuanazo in Hillcrest was taking forever to open. It’s such a tiny space, that I was wondering if it would even open this year? Then the Hillcrest shop closed…and suddenly there seemed to be some activity on this corner, which by that time I saw was going to be named Tijuanero. In fact, JJ and I walked past on a Saturday several weeks ago and I saw a gentleman working on getting tables set-up, so I stopped and said hello. I asked a few questions and he nicely responded. The shop was going to be open at 11am, I was kinda bummed because I knew that Tijuanazo opened at 8am and I was hoping to stop by on the way back to the car from the Farmers Market. But whatever, I was looking forward to some decent Adobada. I’m glad I mentioned that to the gentleman as he told me that Adobada was only served on weekends!

Well, I decided to see if we could find parking in the area on a Sunday morning and we were in luck as I found a spot on Ivy Street where I usually park on Saturday mornings. It was just past 11 when we walked over. Unfortunately, they weren’t open yet and I was told to come back at 1145. Sigh…..

So JJ got to stroll thru Little Italy and down to Santa Fe Depot and back. And the place was indeed open when we returned.

We walked over and were asked if we were doing takeout or dining in. After saying we’d be eating there we had a seat at one of the tables.

I’m used to tacos in the four dollar range these days, plus, this was Little Italy, so prices didn’t surprise me. I placed my order…and then was told that they weren’t serving adobada on this day…..but it was a weekend, right? Ohh-kay. I decided on a taco de asada and chorizo ($4.15 each), and a birria vampiros ($3.95). I asked if they had water; tap or bottled, cause you know, I’d share it with JJ and they had neither…..

Some lime and cucumber was provided.

And after a short wait, my tacos were delivered.

You could tell the tortillas were made inhouse, though they did not hold up real well. Nice maizeyness though. Loved the generous amount of guacamole as well.

I enjoyed the chorizo more than the asada. The chorizo was slightly spicy, nice smokiness, nicely seasoned.

The carne asada was really tough and chewy. It was also too sour.

It really needed more seasoning, that wasn’t puckery-sour!

The Vampiros was interesting.

Loved the crisp vampiro; think of it as a nice crispy mini-quesadilla of sorts. The birria was quite chewy and like the asada lacked seasoning….not a good thing for birria! The one thing that got my attention was the salsa roja….my goodness…Muy (with a capital “M”) caliente! In fact, it completely nullified whatever flavor the birria had! I did need more napkins to wipe my brow than to wipe my hands!

I’m thinking that the chorizo would probably stand up nicely to that salsa.

As for if I return? Well, with telling me to come on a weekend for the adobada and not having any on a weekend! Then telling me you open at 11, but when I arrive, you didn’t open until 1145….and then not having agua? Yes, this place has recently opened and I expect there to be hiccups, but man this was like chronic singultus! And they also operated in Hillcrest for over a year as well so you would think they’d have their systems down. Perhaps if they did open at an earlier hour or actually served adobada when they claimed to…… Kind of sad since the Tijuanazo brand has a bunch of taquerias in TJ. As things stand; I’m in no rush to return.

Tijuanero By Tijuanazo
2102 India St.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours (Supposedly):
Sun – Thurs 11am – 10pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 11pm

Also, please note that the parking around the shop is actually a pay lot, Tijuanero does not validate parking.

Sizzling House Has Closed, Juewei becoming L.A. Hot Duck, and Isaki Japanese Restaurant Taking the Former 85°C Spot

Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Desserts, Japanese Restaurants, yoso-silly

Here’s some stuffs I noticed in the Clairemont Mesa/Kearny Mesa area recently.

Sizzling House Has Closed:

Noticed this during our most recent visit to Eastern Dynasty.

Whoa, Sizzling House didn’t even last a year. So, much for the sizzling plate/pepper lunch fad, huh? Looks like this is going to be an outlet of Las Vegas based Urban Matcha…so one feeds another?

4698 Convoy St. Suite 107
San Diego, CA 92111

Juewei Becoming L.A. Hot Duck:

Also during that visit we noticed a new banner covering the Juewei sign.

Funny thing, I just mentioned how dissatisfied we’d been with our most recent visits to Juewei in my post on Spicy Duck Wang La Ya. Juewei seemed to be constantly changing concepts, last I saw they were trying to do Hot Pot, before that they had initiated doing skewers. They had an inconsistent inventory of items we enjoyed and we just decided to stop and not waste our time there.

So, I’m not sure if it’s still the same owners with a new concept….I do know there’s a LA Hot Duck in Rowland Heights. What’s up with all these places from the SGV opening here? They do not appear to be open yet; so we’ll see!

4690 Convoy St. #103
San Diego, CA 92111

And finally….

Isaki Japanese Restaurant and Nothing Bundt Cakes Taking the Former 85°C  Spot:

I noticed some signage on the doors of what used to be 85°C off Balboa so I walked on over. Looks like they’ve split the spot into two businesses.

One of the signs said Isaki Japanese Restaurant.

And the other looks to be another franchise of Nothing Bundt Cakes.

I don’t have much to say about this one…..

5575 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Oishi Sushi on Blvd – Lunches with JJ

Dog Friendly, Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

I’m still looking for those perfect Asian dining spots to have meals with JJ. In terms of Japanese cuisine; well there’s Tanuki, where JJ does like the service and we thought some of the dishes were enjoyable; but it’s more of an early dinner spot for us as the lunch menu is quite limited. I had read about Oishi Sushi on Blvd and thought that perhaps JJ and I should give it a shot for an early lunch. So we headed on over.

Remember when this tiny shop that faces ECB was Medina Moroccan-Baja Kitchen?

Anyway, we arrived and took a quick peak around the tiny dining area and front porch before the nice Server sat us.

We didn’t have a chance to see the sushi bar area, but I can imagine how packed things can get here.

I was handed a menu, of which one whole side is “specialty” sushi rolls; like 41 in all with “14 basic rolls” on the other side of the menu. Yes, I did count them. The other side has more of what I’m looking for as I’m not a “sushi roll” kinda guy. Everything from ramen to yakisoba to nigiri to pulled pork sandwiches? Hmmm….. I guess they’re trying to please everyone here.

You know my strategy when wanting to see the quality of the usual “sakana”. I got the Chirashi ($28).

My goodness, the amount of rice was crazy? Did I look like I was a sumotori in training? I was able to finish less than half of the rice and took the rest of it home! Which was of decent quality; the shari was quite vinegar forward.

While the fish was routine; in my opinion, it was of much better quality than Kiiro, and the cuts much thicker.

My least favorite was the overly chewy and slightly metallic tasting Akami Marugo, much too lean. The Salmon was cut quite thickly and was fine.

The Hamachi was pretty tender, though on the drier side. As was the hirame.

The “Spicy Tuna” was made with scrape (nakaochi) which actually had a nice texture.

I thought the tamago was on the sweeter side and my favorite item in the chirashi was actually the hotate; scallop which, even though was a half slice was very tender and sweet.

Like I mentioned earlier, while the fish was fairly routine, it seemed to have been handled with some care; the quality, portion size, and execution much better than Kiiro in my mind.

I would also say that Oishi is more “Dogs Allowed” than dog friendly, though JJ didn’t mind.

A few weeks later I decided to revisit with JJ. It was basically at the same time as my previous visit and the place was quiet and relaxed. It was also the same woman as before.

This time I decided on some Chicken Karaage ($13) and not really wanting any otsumami or sunomono….I had thought the scallop was good on the Chirashi so went with a Scallop Handroll($7.50).

The portion size of the Karaage was quite large, but you see the immediate problem I had with this, right?

Yes, the chicken had been sliced…probably to check doneness? Real amateur hour here as this results in drier chewier pieces.

This also seems to be white meat; sigh…what’s up with places serving that as karaage these days? Perhaps it’s to control inventory, since they already make katsu and teriyaki chicken, so they only want breasts? Which are too dry and bland for karaage.

The batter got fairly soft rather quickly, but the seasoning had good soy-savory, slightly sweet tones. Still, the cutting before serving and the use of white meat is a deal breaker for me.

The hand roll was also quite large.

The hotate coated with salty-briney-crunchy tobiko. Like before, the scallops were nice and sweet and the amount of hotate was quite generous as it ranged all the way to the end of this rather large temaki.

The rice was a bit drier this time around; but that shari was just as strong. No complaints and I’d say that this was well worth the $7.50.

Overall, I’d say Oishi is pretty much in the same vein as Kiiro. Kind of a Westernized fusion (and portion sizes) of Japanese food serving everything. I enjoyed it more than Kiiro and it was nice having JJ along for lunch. Both lunches were on weekends at 11am and we were the only customers dining in until just before I finished my meal. I think it’s time for me to return to those more traditional favorites of mine…..

Oishi Sushi on Blvd
2850 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Sun – Wed 11am – 10pm
Thurs – Sat 11am – 11pm

Koon Thai Kitchen Revisited

Thai Restaurants

With the recent warmer weather; the Missus has been craving some Thai food. Since we needed to make a Nijiya run on that day; I suggested revisiting Koon Thai. Our last three visits had been for takeout, all of which had been during Covid. Looking at my posts, it had been over 8 years since we’d actually dined in at Koon! Crazy how time flies!

We arrived right at the 11am opening time and were seated.

Looking over the menu; we went with three dishes, one we had seen on posters on the window, one an item we’ve been ordering for years, and the third was what the Missus was craving, which was the Larb (Chicken – $11.95).

Based on recent dining; we were quite surprised at the prices here! We ordered the larb medium spicy, which was too mild. The ground chicken was overly chewy, though there was roasted rice powder and good amount of cilantro. It definitely needed more heat to balance out the sour-acidity.

The one dish we’ve been ordering over the last several years is the Khao Karr Moo, which is also nicely priced at $15.95.

There was much less of the braised pork leg, with several chewy pieces. During the last few times I’ve gotten this, I’ve noticed that the amount of pickled greens has gone down…..such was the case today as well. On a positive note; the boiled egg was adequately done.

The rice was fine; though the sauce was overly sweet, throwing off that savory-sweet-herbaceousness that is key to this dish.

Since the other two dishes were quite inexpensive, we thought we’d order something a bit more “fancy” and went with the Basil Duck ($29.95). This would end up being our favorite dish of the day!

The duck had been seasoned and fried nicely; crisp skin, moist flesh, with that savory-gamy flavor. There were actually two legs included in this. The sauce which contained a good amount of green beans, onions, and carrots was a bit thin; but the flavor, herbaceous-savory tones and a hint of sweetness and anise went really well with the duck.

It also came with a large bowl of rice.

Overall, we didn’t think this was an expensive meal, though we were only impressed with the most expensive dish. We noticed the customers who came in after us and what they ordered…cream cheese won tons….a ton of pad thai…green salads…fried rice…interesting! The woman serving us was very nice and even helped me pack our leftovers to go.

For some reason, the dishes seemed quite mild to us. I think we’ll need to start re-exploring options with regard to Thai Restaurants. We’ve been kinda lazy as Koon’s location is very convenient for us.

Koon Thai Kitchen
3860 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 430pm – 9pm
Friday 11am – 3pm, 430pm – 10pm
Saturday 11am – 4pm, 5pm – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm, 5pm – 9pm

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (Rolando) – Reader Recs

Plate Lunch

Way back in my post where I noticed L&L was coming to Clairemont Square “FOY” Kimo mentioned that he thought the Chicken Cutlet at the L&L in Rolando was decent. Which he also indicated in the comments when I actually tried the Chicken Cutlet at the new location in Clairemont as well. I finally made the decision to actually out (thanks Kimo). My first post on L&L in San Diego was way back in May of 2005! Yeesh! And of course during revisits I’ve noticed how the franchising of L&L had really driven down the quality of food over the years…so much that I really don’t even consider it “local kine grindz” anymore. In fact further visits to that location in 2015 and even the one…the first to open on the mainland in Rowland Heights in 2016 (since closed) really displayed how the brand had “jumped the shark”…or perhaps “jumped the shaka” years ago. In fact in October of 2018, I did some revisits to that set of places I first did my posts on in post #3951 and if you look at the end of the post; I actually went to that Rolando location of L&L and I was clobbered by the “smell of both what seemed like rotten seafood and burnt meat” that I just couldn’t endure staying. I believe that location closed during Covid.

Anyway, I went looking online for the Rolando location and was surprised to see that it is located in the massive Rive Student Off Campus Housing.

Man, what was here before? And has it been that long since I’ve been in the area? Anyway, there was a lot of parking and I headed on in.

The young lady working was very friendly and I quickly noticed that prices here were cheaper than he Clairemont location, so I decided to get a regular sized Chicken Cutlet ($14.99).

And after ordering I went to check out what kind of “stuffs” was available and unlike the Clairemont location they actually had Tabasco! Coming from a kid raised in HNL, this was always a must have for stuffs with gravy.

The place was pretty quiet during my visit.

As for the Chicken Cutlet.

Man, the portion size was huge. The rice was decently cooked and moist.

The Mac Salad was typical L&L, a bit over-mayo’d, but ok, needed some salt and pepper.

The gravy was decently seasoned and not overly gluey and with the Tabasco to add acidity and some spice…well, things improved.

The katsu was fine, decently fried, the chicken moist, the breading not falling off the chicken. I definitely needed some salt and pepper, but was not bad.

I have to say; this was much better than what I’ve had at the Clairemont location. And while I wouldn’t go out of the way to return, this was probably the best thing I’ve had from L&L in years! So thanks “Bruddah Kimo”, it may not be my first choice for plate lunch in San Diego, but at least there’s some redemption for the brand! And I’m sure hungry students from SDSU appreciate the reasonable (for these days) prices. Though I remember when everything at L&L was under ten bucks……

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
6353 El Cajon Blvd. Unit 120
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 9pm

Road Trip – Tiger Bar, Pino Pies, the Fern Lake Trail, and More June Lake

Australian/New Zealand Cuisine, BBQ, Road Trip, Sierra Nevada, California, Travel

Less than a month after returning from Mammoth, we were headed back. This time we needed to make a stop at June Lake. Just as the previous year, the Missus’s coworkers were camping out at June Lake and wanted me to cook for them. So now, with JJ in tow I prepped and we packed up everything and heaed on out to June Lake. We again stayed at the June Lake Villager, we like the rooms, which have kitchens and they have dog friendly accommodations.

And upon arriving, we headed straight down the street to Gull Lake.

And of course the Beware of Cats they Will Attack Dogs Sign. Which seemed like a good photo-op for JJ.

And of course………that cat was present!

We got JJ dressed in his life jacket……

You see, we had a plan…..at this time JJ was afraid of water…even little puddles! We needed to cure him of this fear. So, I decided that JJ had to learn how to swim, the way I did “back home”……

And he was a champ! In fact, I have a video somewhere of folks hanging around on the dock…they asked us if this was his first time swimming and we said “affirmative”. Well guess what? They were all cheering him on!

The rest of the day was quite busy with additional prepping, then cooking and such. So, we didn’t do much else until the next morning when the Missus….well, you know….”needed” to go on a hike.

We did the Fern Lake Trail which Alltrails grades as “Hard”.

There was a 1,550 foot elevation gain and was pretty steep; but JJ did well….better than me to be honest.

Here he is telling me to hurry up!

Nice secluded lake at the end.

Where JJ got to show off a bit more…..

Lunch was leftovers and we relaxed. When dinner time arrived, well, it was going to be interesting. You see, other than the local pizza place, there was really nothing open for dinner that was dog friendly. Heck, even June Lake Brewing, which was basically outdoors did not allow pooches. In fact, we’d seen dogs leashed up on poles on South Crawford Ave while their owners were having brews and eating al fresco several yards away. Sorry, that wasn’t for JJ!

So what we ended up doing was that the Missus hung out with JJ who was pretty pooped, while I walked across the street to Tiger Bar and ordered the special of the day Baby Back Rib Plate. We had thought the rib tips were pretty good on a previous visit, so we went with that.

I had a seat at the bar while waiting and had a Pilsner and admired the decor!

When our dinner was ready, I strolled on back to the room and we had the remainder of our leftovers and the baby back ribs.

The portion size was quite generous; though the fries got soggy quickly.

The ribs were decent, not very much smokiness as you can tell by the lack of a smoke ring. The meat was very moist, though I should have asked to have the commercial grade BBQ sauce separate.

Tiger Bar & Cafe
2620 CA-158
June Lake, CA 93529

We love June Lake, but the lack of dog friendly dining kinda dampens things.

The next morning the Missus wanted to do the Gardisky Lake Trail again on the way to Mammoth.

I needed a bit of breakfast, so we walked over to Pino Pies. This used to be the Lift which was our stop for coffee in June Lake, but now the place specializes in Meat Pies….and coffee.

Being one of the few places that opens early in the morning in June Lake, it was fairly bustling. The Missus watched JJ while I went in to order.

And of course I had to try one of their New Zealand Hand Pies.

Even though it might seem odd for breakfast; I decided on the Lamb Pie ($13). The Missus got Her latte and I had an Americano.

The Lamb Pie was pretty good.

The best part was the crust, which was quite fairly flaky and buttery. It had been nicely heated for us. The filling seemed more “beefy” than “sheepy”, but the lamb was very tender and the filling quite rich.

I’m fairly certain we’ll be back….if we can find a pup friendly place for dinner in the area…or perhaps, we’ll just have to pack our own food.

Pino Pies
2587 Hwy 158
June Lake, CA 93529

And the hike to Gardisky Lake was as lovely as before.

Though I still wasn’t “fast enough” for JJ!

And by now; JJ had no fear of “dem big puddles”!

Next stop….lunch in Mammoth!

Crack Taco Shop

Taco Shops

Recently, I had to take my car in for servicing and decided to wait. I was a bit hungry and wanted a bit more than the usual coffee shop fare I’ve usually gotten in the area. I headed on out and this time walked in the opposite direction of my usual path to the corner of Fairmount and Camino del Rio North. And I then recalled a taco shop that Cathy had posted on in that strip mall. Having noted that other than Stabucks, it was the only place open at 8 in the morning in the mall.

Named Crack Taco Shop.

Cathy had noted that this shop had been opened by the owners of Seaside Market in Cardiff, which was noted for their tri-tip. So, I headed on over.

The place was empty during my entire visit….but the lovely smoke and fragrance of meat permeated the place. You could see the smoke floating above the tables…..I’m surprised the smoke alarms weren’t triggered!

The woman working was very friendly and sweet.

And I decided to try the Al Pastor (of course) and the Tri-tip (double of course) tacos, $4.95 each.

I took a seat at one of the tables; hoping I wouldn’t walk back to pick up my car smelling like I’d just eaten at a Korean BBQ……

And soon enough, the woman came by with my tacos and some fairly picante salsa roja.

The tacos were quite hefty; though I’m not sold on paying over four bucks a piece for these.

The tortillas were interesting, on the fluffy side, though decently maizey, and held up well.

The guacamole was creamy and nicely flavored, and almost refreshing. Sadly, that’s where all the positive vibes ended.

The Al Pastor had obviously been reheated on the flat top and was very tough.

More like a gringo adobada, quite bland in flavor, missing the smokiness and sweet-tangy touches….this was just plain bland.

As for the so called Tri-tip…man this was also on the tougher side, though more tender than the Al Pastor.

The tri-tip, other than being salty, was so bland. Really lacking in beefiness, smokiness, or other basic flavoring. It was nice and greasy though.

I think this place might have gone downhill since Cathy ate here a bit over three years ago and during Soo’s visit over four years ago.. Personally, I think your friendly neighborhood taco shop might do better than this!

Bummer….

Crack Taco Shop
4242 Camino Del Rio North
San Diego, CA 92108
Current Hours:
Daily 7am – Midnight

Well, I need to find places to grab a morning bite round these parts……..