Finally got to check out a ramen place I've been wanting to go to a few weeks back called Foo Foo Tei in Hacienda Heights off Seventh Ave. The place is a little small, but the wait was minimal.


A cutoff picture of their menu.


Miso Pork and vegetable ramen with extra egg. The ramen came out very hot, so +1. The broth had a strong pork/meaty flavor to it, which overpowered the miso a little bit. There was a lot of veggies in this with cabbage, onions, and some sprouts. The pieces of pork were big, chewy(but not overwhelmingly so) and almost sweet tasting. And yes, there werenoodles underneath it all, which I found to be perfectly cooked. This was a pretty big bowl that I had trouble finishing.

Service was friendly and efficient. I'd come back here again to try something else on their menu. Nice to know somewhere I can get my ramen fix now.


15018 Clark Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

On the way back, I stopped by Beard Papa's inside the Puente Hills Mall (same entrance as AMC Theatres) to get some cream puffs. If you've never had it before, I think it's worth a try. I don't really like cream puffs, but I think the word "cream" is a bit misleading here because it's more of a custard. They have regular (vanilla) in which you can see the specks of vanilla bean in the cream and some other flavor of the day. I recommend their regular. It is a bit pricey with one being over a buck, but it's a nice treat to have every once in a while.


The puffs are a bit flaky and airy. The nice thing about them is that they're filled to order, so no soggy puffs, unless you leave them out for a while.


Worker X making my order.


I got 6 for around 10 bucks. The more you buy, the cheaper it gets. Sorry, I should have taken a closeup shot of the inside, but we all ate these pretty quickly.

They've also got some drinks and other things, but otherwise not too big of a menu.

Beard Papa's
1600 Azusa Ave #160
City of Industry, CA 91748

Convoy Tofu House

Ah Convoy...the place to get (most of) your Asian cravings. I headed over to Convoy Tofu House with a friend to get lunch before I left. This place is in the same plaza as Victor's and I made a mental note that I'd have to come here next time to check out Wal Mi Do (read mmm-yoso's review here). My regret that day was that we didn't stop by K's to get some sandwiches...


The Kimchi Soondubu (Spicy). There was a slight sour taste, which may have been from the use of kimchi juice in their soup. There were also big pieces of pork, which was a stark contrast from the puny pieces of beef or pork you get at other places. This was pretty good, and probably the best soondubu that I have had in while.


The banchan from top left and going clockwise: seaweed, soy bean sprouts, potatos simmered in some sweet soy sauce, kimchi, mook (acorn jelly), and fish cakes. The banchan was good, and I also liked how the waitress left us a pitcher of tea.


Teriyaki chicken. The chicken wasn't dry and had a pleasant chew. The sauce tasted a little burnt, but otherwise, this got a solid B in my book.

Service was friendly, and the total price for 2 tofu soups and the chicken ran about $33, which is pretty much the same as other places I've gone to.


4229 Convoy St
(between Armour St & Othello Ave)
San Diego, CA 92111

Lastly...


Some of the Delirium family. Belgian Ales. I haven't tried the Noel yet, but I have had Tremens on tap. Don't let the happy elephants and dancing crocodiles fool you. There's a reason it's called Delirium...


I drank the Noctorum (8.5%) last night. It was a lot darker and heavier than its sister Tremens. Very enjoyable with a fruity aftertaste.

And with that said, your weekly lazy Sunday update is complete. Have a good one folks.

Lazy Sundays are hot hot hot!

Oh me, oh my! I am loving my break so much! Onto my SD adventures...

Ba Ren is a Chinese restaurant off Clairemont Mesa that specializes in Szechuan/Szechwan/Sichuan cusine. After a friend told me about Ba Ren, discovered through Kirk's blog, I learned a new level of what spicy meant, and it quickly became a favorite to eat at with friends . They have a huge menu here, and I'm not even close to trying it all yet. It was nice to come back and see that everything was still the same.


Dry cooked beef. Lots of red peppers and peppercorns in this one that combine to give one helluva spicy punch, and the chili oil creeps on you, like a surprise kick in the nuts. Underneath this was a good amount of soy bean sprouts, which you mix all together. Sometimes, I find that the spiciness level fluctuates here. Although the dish was spicy, it didn't have me downing water like I usually do. But then again, I steered clear from a lot of the peppers after suffering on the john the night before. I noticed that there were some jalapenos, which I hadn't seen before...


Chicken with pickled peppers. Chicken with some peppers, green onions, mushrooms and celery. This wasn't too spicy, and we had no problem finishing this up quickly.


Double cooked fish in chili sauce. (Honestly, I always get confused with this dish and the boiled fish.) This was delicious, and looking at it now makes me want it again. Large pieces of fish along with black bean, slices of garlic, and peppers. I find it always nice to order one dish that isn't spicy to give your mouth a break. Their double cooked pork is also pretty good.


As we were halfway into our meal, one of the ladies came out with some complimentary bowls of chicken noodle soup. Woohoo! I thought the noodles were kinda gummy, but the broth was quite good. It kinda tasted like the same soup base as a wonton or three sizzling rice soup. Why the free soup? I read on Yelp that they were celebrating their 6th year anniversary and that this dish was called "mi xien."

I don't remember the exact prices, but the total came out to $40 for three dishes + rice. It is a little pricey, but I think it's worth it. I also recommend checking out their little display in the front for some appetizers. Service has always been friendly, and this visit was no exception. And if you can't handle the heat, you might want to bring your own water bottle...


Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
(between Clairemont Mesa Blvd & Conrad Ave)
San Diego, CA 92117

San Diego Part III: More tacos and a visit to campus

Although we ate to the point of almost puking the night before, the taco feast was far from over. Cold weather and rain be damned...we were off to German's on University and 35th for lunch.




If you can tell by the pictures or the menu, the truck specializes only in seafood. No prices are listed and I'm not sure how much it was because a friend bought us lunch, but reading on Yelp, people seem to agree that it's cheap. It's a truck for goodness sake!

I ordered the shrimp cocteles, one marlin taco, and a mixed seafood taco.


While we were waiting, the lady gave us each a cup of free soup. FREE? SOUP? The lady had won my heart. The soup warmed us quite nicely in the chilly weather. It was a vegetable broth with some oregano and bay leaf, and I found pieces of cabbage(?) and celery in it, as well as a piece of small fish. Score!


Para mi bebida, I got an apple cider. I've read that Mexican sodas are better than American(i.e Mexican vs. American Coke) because they use real sugar instead of corn or fructose syrup. This was definitely toothsome, but oh...my poor teeth.


Medium camaron cocteles. I've been craving a good ceviche for quite some time now and finally can die happy. There was a good amount of shrimp in this one with bits of red onion and cilantro.


Marlin taco served with some cooked peppers and onions over gooey Mexican cheese. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. That taco is huge! This isn't one of those small tacos, where you can eat it in a couple of bites. This was my first time having marlin aka billfish. It honestly tasted like meat. Could it have been smoked? It may have been the seasoning, but I thought it was pretty damn tasty.


Mixed seafood (mariscada) taco. Everything from squid to scallops to fish was in this. Even found a small mussel. I liked it, but it was kinda hard to eat as a taco. It was better off on its own with some hot sauce.


A picture of the feast we had and the array of hot sauces available.


Habanero hot sauce. "Very Hot." I put a few drops of this on my taco to see what it was like, and this was no joke kid. While at first, it has an enjoyable burning taste that is well manageable, the hot sauce creeps up on you and sucker punches you in the mouth, leaving you to down your Jarritos or sangria. I felt like if I put this on my skin, it'd burn me.

Mission Como Buenos Tacos completed. I wanted to try some other tacos here, but I was stuffed and learned my lesson from the night before. I'd also like to try their 7 mares caldo the next time I come down. There is limited seating with a few tables, but people were friendly and didn't mind us sharing their table.




Marisco's German Taco Truck 3
3504 University Ave
(between 35th St & Wilson Ave)
San Diego, CA 92104
*The next part consists of a walk down memory lane, so the food stuff ends here people. Don't say I didn't warn ya...*

Afterwards, I visited the ol alma mater. I hadn't visited campus since I graduated last year. The new Price Center is huge! I had to walk around a bit to get my bearings. Wendy's is no more, and Fez is out of a job....


I picked up some of these at the small market they had inside. When it comes to gummy candies, you can't beat Haribo. Their gummys have a nice resistant chew that makes it fun for the whole family, and its intense flavors will make you keep poppin them in your mouth. I love their gummy bears, but have to limit myself eating them because they'll kill your teeth. Their techno bears are awesome too.


Good ol 705 Camp Snoopy on the outskirts of campus.


My short stint in production for catering. They were closed though.


Which tree isn't real?


Many hours (mostly naps) spent here.


Hello there!


Peterson Loop with some naive freshman waiting for rides, not knowing that Kyrie always lags. haha =)


I had to visit Eastbluff too. Our neighbors definitely hated us.

Man, I missed San Diego.

San Diego Part Dos: Salva Las Trocas!

Hola.
After some careful perusing on Yelp, I chose to check out Tacos El Paisa with a few friends. If you're a UCSD student reading this, let me share with you my two cents. The popular hangouts a.k.a. The Big Three: Rigobertos(formerly Robertos II), Sergios and Cotis are always good because they're close, open 24 hour, and got some bomb pollo asada fries. But if you're looking for some flavorful meat and so good you-want-to-kick-someone-in-the-face tacos, you gotta go elsewhere mang...(I hate the word "mang" and would never say it, but for some reason, I like how it looks when written out/said in my head).


When we arrived, we were a bit confused because there was an inside seating area, as well as a truck. We went inside, and there was a kitchen with a counter, so we tried to order there, but we were told to order outside. I felt everyone was staring at us because we were the only Asians in there. When we went out, the man in the taco truck must have sensed how lost we were and beckoned us towards him. He was a very friendly guy and expertly cut some adobada on a plate for us to sample. (I wish I could think of the proper word I want to use to describe him. He was a very efficient fast working man who bobbed his head and bounced his body along with the music while he made the food. Anyhow back to the post) The adobada was GOOD and had a slight spiciness to it. I wasted no time in telling him what I wanted, but he pointed me to the stand next to the truck. You order there and give your receipt to the man in the truck, who then proceeds to make your order real quick. So I ordered four tacos: asada, birria(shredded beef), cabeza, and adobada.


The menu. Unfortunately, no lengua that night. Fresh made to order tortillas, as you can see the lady making them.


I was also excited about this trip because I read that they had some good aguas frescas, and I had never had them before. The drinks they had were strawberry, cantaloupe, jamaica, egg nog, and horchata. I got the strawberry, and it was muthaf****** delicious (if my language offends you, I'm sorry, but I only use the word to demonstrate the extremity of how tasty this was). It tasted a bit like a milkshake, but more strawberry flavor than milk and without the thickness. I also got the try everything else but the jamaica and found that the cantaloupe one was really good too. (They'll give you samples if you ask for it.)


While we were waiting, I noticed someone cooking up the asada over coals. What was in that pot though?


A closeup of the meat being grilled, along with some chilis and onions.


The young man working the grill soon came over carrying out a plate of some veggies, salsas, and guacamole, as well as those grilled onions and chilis for all of us. I particularly liked the green salsa.

When this came out, we were all smiling from head to toe. I mean, I've seen pictures of this on other blogs, but to finally experience this myself was awesome. Maybe you're thinking, what the hell is this guy raving about. It's just a plate of some stuff, so what. I guess I was just happy because this was something new for me. It just kept getting better and better, and the food hadn't even come out yet! The service was so friendly and accomodating. I LOVED it!




They also had red chilis too.


Inside the pot were beans! Everyone got a cup of that as well, and they were good. (If you're wondering why some pictures were outside, they originally thought we were gonna sit outside, but with the cold weather, there was just no way and we brought everything in.)


These were some big tacos with generous portions of meat. I particularly liked the asada because you could really appreciate it being grilled on the coals. The birria was also good, and I thought the cabeza was okay.


Being the big eater (I prefer this term over glutton or fatty) that I am, I went out again and ordered a buche(cow stomach) taco and a pollo quesadilla. It was my first time having buche, and I thought it was a bit oily/salty, but was still good with the salsa. The pollo had a bit of citrusy flavor to it and went great with the mexican cheese.


Inside look of the quesadilla.

Overall, I loved everything here and would definitely come back here again. I've read on Yelp that they have some other locations around Daygo as well. Not only is the food delicious, but the workers are all friendly and make you feel welcome. Fresa aguas frescas ftw.


Tacos El Paisa
3069 National Ave
(between 30th St & 31st St)
San Diego, CA 92113

San Diego Part I: Thumpity Thump Thump...

Heyo.
I am back from my short trip to SD. It was great seeing everyone again, especially those who I had not seen since I had graduated. Being able to come down after such a long time made me realize how much I missed San Diego...Anyhow, enough on the nostalgia and onto what I had for lunch.
I met with some friends at Madras Cafe in the Indian Plaza off Black Mountain Road and Miramar for their buffet lunch, which was around 8 or 9 bucks. The place serves southern Indian food and is vegetarian. I don't remember exactly how many different items there were, but it was around 10-15.


All their ware is stainless steel from the trays to the cups. There is a pitcher of water on each table, which is a good thing for people like me who drink a lot.


Here's a plate of all the stuff I got. I really need to start taking some notes; I can't remember much but will try my best. From the top left corner and going clockwise, a spinach dish, okra (which had a spicy kick to it), cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes that was cooked with coconut, two types of rice, pickled lemon(i think), pakoras, and a salad with yogurt on it. I don't really know much of the names or what was in it. On the top three dishes, I did see some kind of seed that tasted like licorice. One friend remarked that none of the ingredients seemed very fresh.


There were also two kinds of soup available, and although I had both, I only took a picture of this one. It was sour tasting and had tomatoes in it.


Shortly after we had gotten our food, a waiter came out and gave us each an idli, which is a steamed cake made from fermented black lentils and rice. I enjoyed this and wish I could have had another.


We were also given a masala dosa, which was a crepe made from rice and lentils and was filled with potatoes. To the right was some kind of puffy thing. I've tried to look it up, and I think it might be puri. My puff was the only one that came out deflated. Winner! It was a bit oily, and I thought it was okay. There was also something else available that could have been puri, but I didn't take a picture of it. All I know was that on my first bite, it tasted like a shrimp cracker.


There were also two types of dessert available. One was some kind of sweet milk dish, which I thought was a little watered down, while the other was a rice pudding? dessert that was way too sweet.

The service was friendly when we first came in, but disappeared from sight soon after. I know this is a buffet, and it's all about self sevice, but they never took our plates away, and the place wasn't that busy either. Also, memory is a fickle thing, but I thought that the food was better on my previous visits. I've heard that there is some good Southern Indian places in Artesia and will definitely have to try one of those places out to get a more rounded view on what Southern style is all about...

I ate two plates and boy was I full. I definitely regretted eating too much because this stuff did not go down well, and my stomach was killing me later on that night.


9484 Black Mountain Rd
(between Activity Rd & Miramar Rd)
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 695-6229

What was for dinner? A sweet taco truck found through Yelp. Lots of pictures. Comin soon...