Of course, after the movie, we were pretty hungry. Astroboi and I aren't big popcorn eaters or soda drinkers...Today I learned a brand new way to get to Hillcrest from Mission Valley without taking the 163.
Call me naive, but I never knew about this miraculous and freeway-less route!
You drive up to Hotel Circle North, near Kelly's Steakhouse and go under the 8... There is a street called Bachman, which leads up to Hillcrest behind Scripps Mercy Hospital. Well, there were some other side streets we went on but I don't remember them.
It was still cool knowing this. I really hate getting onto the 163 from the 8. In fact, I don't really like freeways period but they are a necessary evil. After checking out the dismal parking situation over several blocks worth, we decided to just bite the bullet and park in the structure by the theatres, across from Snooze.
As you can see, a beautiful sunny day in the low 70's. Earlier this morning, it looked like a very Morrissey day with a chance of rain, even.
Our destination was Pink Noodle. I had a selection of coupons and this is what we decided on.
Astroboi hadn't been here before and of course, this was another opportunity to try something new.
Looks like the craptastic and childish box art (if you could call it that) has been mercifully removed. There were large canvases or delicately detailed acrylic paintings hanging now.
We sat our selves since we didn't see anyone out in front. I walked to the back counter to get our menus and that's when the guy in the back saw us. Hello, Bueller?
The menu is still the same from before.
I liked that this coupon didn't require us to buy drinks, but we did anyways!
Astroboi's iced tea and my Thai iced coffee. I think that was way too much cream they put in there. We were not given waters.
There were two other occupied tables at the restaurant. It was so very dead. The man was the only server. Below is Bert's Pad Thai with tofu and chicken. It's in there somewhere. Wait, there's a tofu piece in the front. He really like his dish but wished there was more cilantro.
I got noodles too, but instead of drunken or pad thai or pad see ewe, I got the "River Noodles" which I didn't realize would come in this huge fkg bowl.
From the menu description for River Noodles:
"Festival of Flavors - Common of Thai (WTH?) big bowl soup rice noodle or egg noodle with chicken and Pork ball with these unique spicy and sour delicacies in a light soup for an ambrosia bowlful"
Heh? Maybe the original description as in Thai and they used one of those online "translators" and that's why it sounds all garbled? Plus no punctuation either. Some commas and connecting words would be nice.
The man brought out the huge bowl while my eyes bugged out. He laughed and said, "Let's see if you can finish it!" The soup was so fragrant...there were chopped scallions, peanuts, and basil leaves in there.
They only had rice noodles (no egg, I asked) and they were not clumpy, thank goodness. The broth, wow...it was really flavorful. I could taste the lemongrass but there were other ingredients I couldn't place.
Speaking of ingredients, I remembered in the menu description that the soup was supposed to have "Pork balls" (yes, the "P" was capitalized for some reason). There was only chicken in my soup. When I asked our server about the non-existent pork balls, he explained that he didn't put them in because most people don't like them, that they're too "chewy", etc. Well, I would have liked to decide that for myself. I told him, "Well, I like the pork balls..."!
To my surprise, he said if I waited, he would boil me some to add to my soup. Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, he came with with a rich flavored both with two pork balls (I wished there were more) floating in them.
Your basic pork ball. Just like a fish, beef, or shrimp ball. They do have that interesting spongy texture but it's something I'm not averse to. Maybe this guy figured all the uh, yuppies here wouldn't like it. I mean, a lot o the ethnic food in Hillcrest is kind of dumbed down. This "food censorship" if you will, reminded me of the time I was at Mea Kwan in downtown Chula Vista and ordered the Som Tum (papaya salad) which was supposed to have salted blue preserved crabs and dried shrimp. Turns out those ingredients were omitted by the owner because the "Americans" didn't like the smell. WTFkgF!
Not that the pork balls had a bad odor, but the guy told me that most people didn't like them. Anyhow, I'm glad he gave me some after I asked about it, but it really should have been included in the soup especially if it's in the menu description. People have eyes. They can read. If they are turned off by the term pork balls or are afraid to even taste them, they can ask to have it omitted instead of having it removed without consent. That's my opinion.
An a nicer note, I complimented the server on the soup when he asked if we liked our food. I asked him what was in the broth besides lemongrass. He seemed happy that I asked and told me, "Galangal, star anise (which explained the slight licorice flavor), and pickled garlic". I knew there was something I couldn't quite place, so it was cool knowing this.
On another note, it looks like Ralph's Hair Place still exists. Last time I was here, I thought it was the same side as Pink Noodles. It's right across the street. I remember getting my $10 haircuts there back in the late 80's/early 90's in college.
Previous visit to Pink Noodle:
February 2012
You know the drill. An outing is not complete without something to satisfy our sweet toofs. Up next, dessert around the corner!
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