Return to Matua's Sushi Bar & Islander Grill

[Relocated to the where Sushi on a Roll is, next to Cafe Virtuoso in Barrio Logan. However, the site says that they are temporarily "remodeling" and will reopen 28, 2017]

Another Friday without TC..

who was busy enjoying a school event (a music festival) so we had dinner on the west side of Chula Vista earlier this evening...

Chamorro Grill, coupon fail + Halo Halo revisit

Our first choice of dinner tonight was Cafe 21 on Adams. I had forgotten that they were remodeling so Bert and I headed down to Grantville...

to this stripmall located across from Kaiser Hospital on Zion...

Homestyle Hawaiian, Linda Vista + Lion Coffee

Continuing our vacation routine of going out to lunch with friends, TC and I had the pleasure of meeting up with Carol of CAB Cooks...

over at Homestyle Hawaiian near Kearny HS...

Junz Terikyaki & BBQ + a price hike at Hammond's

Near the northeast corner of 30th and University is a place that we'd always walked by and well, kind of ignored.

It was an Islander style eatery and I figured, I could get that kind of stuff down south. My original plan that day was for TC and I to have lunch at Nate's Garden Grill with TC, but after arriving there, didn't realize it was closed on Mondays, so....

TC wanted something Asian and thought it would be cool to try this place out, the place we know as the restaurant with the advertised "completed meal" photo ($4.64 for the record)...

Matua's Sushi Bar & Islander Grill

[Relocated to the where Sushi on a Roll is, next to Cafe Virtuoso in Barrio Logan. However, the site says that they are temporarily "remodeling" and will reopen 28, 2017]

One of our high school friends posted some party pix on his fb page featuring a new Guamanian restaurant in Chula Vista...

Guamanian? My interest was piqued and then even more so when I learned that the owners of this place were the same folks that did the now defunct Yokozuna's in Chula Vista...

A visit was in order and in tow with me and TC were KD and her daughter...

Guahan Grill

Everyday during my vacation, I planned something different for everyday. Whether it was with TC, or all of us, or with a friend, there was something  fun to see or do and a good place to eat pretty much every day. This day was no exception. We thought we'd make the trip up to Oceanside to try out a Chamorro place in this strip mall...

Guahan Grill is a bit out of the way for us, now that Yokozuna's (before they turned into Yokoz and sucked completely; they are now closed) and Islander Grill are now gone.

Besides Guahan Grill, the only other Guamanian place is Chamorro Grill on Mission Gorge Road (by the Kaiser Permanente Hospital near Zion).

Return to Homestyle Hawaiian

After having gone here a few weeks ago, we thought it would be a fine time to return...

to Homestyle Hawaiian. With me were my friends and lunch partners, La Ley, Mr. TJ as well as MFH (the newly retired)....

We snagged a corner table and when I looke dup, I saw these specials and a taped on review, which upon closer inspection...

Homestyle Hawaiian - Chula Vista

Tucked into a tiny building next to a dental office and a car tune up place is the newest location of Homestyle Hawaiian.

I was so happy to see a new lunch time offering so close to home. Homestyle Hawaiian opened in April, but it was only recently that I had a chance to visit with my friends, La Ley and Mr. TJ...

MJ's 3x

Sometime last week I had lunch with a few friends at a local fusion place...

It was their first time there. For me, my third but I'd been wanting to go back...

Return to MJ's Yogurt Time & Deli

With one and a half weeks of vacation left...

I thought it would be good  for TC and I to make use of some coupons for our lunch outings...

D Street Noshery - PDX 671, Fuego de Lotus & Bailey's

Our awesome lunch from one of Portland's food pods...

The D Street Noshery....

Let's take a look...

Musubi craving...

This weekend I was out and about thrift store shopping for candlestick holders (for future cake plate projects). Since I was in the area, I decided to stop by Chamorro Grill since I hadn't been here in awhile...

I really just wanted a small snack...

Taste of Polynesia

Right off the 94 and College where it turns into Federal is this strip mall (see sign below):

This was our next stop. From Soul Food to Samoan Food at Taste of Polynesia.

It's a combination mini-grocery store and sit down eatery. It's not fancy or anything so don't expect china plates, real silverware and linen napkins. This is down home Islander food folks.

The young lady working there was really cool and showed us everything in the steam trays. She didn't even mind me taking photos (I asked politely if I could) and said, "Do whatever you need to do!"! Love it!  These were Pork Sausage links and Corned Beef.

These were Turkey Tails and Lamb Ribs.

The one exposed tray had what they call "Sapasui" ("chopsuey"); it was kind of like pancit but with chapchae like noodles. It had slivered carrots and cabbage along with chicken flavored with soy sauce. I liked it but it was a bit too salty for me. TC enjoyed it later for dinner.

These were steamed taro, a staple in Samoan food. Other items in the trays included shoyu chicken, pork chops, fish, and curry chicken.

Fresh bananas and taros were along the back wall.

The girl working there was really patient as she explained Samoan cuisine to us.

I liked the bilingual sign:

There were a couple of cold cases with drinks...

One side of the store had traditional Samoan clothing and a wooden display case with floral hair picks (jasmine flower) and jewelry.


There were shelves full of cream crackers, chips, soy sauce and other items. The other side had shelves filled with canned sardines and corned beef.

This was one of the desserts - Panikeke (fried dough):

This flower shaped one was called Masi Saina - it looked really pretty. These had green onion and garlic filling. It wasn't sweet but kind of heavy tasting. They tasted better warmed up rather than cold.

These chips were "Burger Flavoured" and were from Fiji. I bought a bag and they did not taste like burgers at all. They were really salty and shaped like wagon wheels.

Turns out that we were still full from the chicken and waffle at Annie Belle's. We had the Tongas plate to go (3 items plus a taro). Bert chose the Lamb Rib, the sapasui noodles, and the Turkey Tail which came with this huge taro half. The taro serves as the starch and it didn't really have much of a flavor. Bert liked it more than I did while TC didn't like it at all. (I took this food shot while at PubCakes)

While it was really fatty, we liked the turkey tail. I wished we got more than one of those. TC ended up finishing it off. I had more of the noodles because I don't really like lamb. We want to try the other items on their menu like the chicken and the fish. So next time, we will actually sit down and eat here...

Our next stop, dessert at PubCakes...

Back to the Grill...

Last week, we used up this coupon I had - $9 for $22 at Chamorro Grill. It was by America's Daily Deals which is like a wanna-be Groupon. I didn't care who it was from, I took advantage of it because we really liked the food here. It's on Mission Gorge Road in the strip mall across from Kaiser Zion Hospital.

TC and I hung out near the front while Bert ordered our meal...

Next door is a Polynesian dance studio:

The view from the front window:

That night was the Pacquiao vs Mosley fight. We all know who won that one. Now he just needs to fight Mayweather or someone who is WILLING to fight instead of running away like a Pu$$y. It seems like Pacquiao's talent is being wasted on boxers who don't really want to fight but just want the paycheck. Manny truly fights the good fight but it's kind of an empty victory if his opponents don't give their all. I'm not hating on Pacquaio, but am just disappointed that there aren't better fighters to fight him.

All right, this is what we got. Red Rice. In the back, Chicken Curry. In the front, Kadun Pika (which we loved last time), Mac Salad, and 2 Kelaguen musubis.

That Kadun Pika was super awesome! I have a recipe for this that I need to experiment with. I need to find out what types of peppers they use in here. The chicken pieces were meaty (thighs). The sauce spicy ("Pika"). Tasted so good with the red rice or alone. Leftovers were enjoyed the next day.

TC really enjoyed this, the Chicken Curry. Again, thigh pices with green peas and diced carrots (I don't care if they're frozen - it was good!)...Delicious the next day!

I think I like this kind of Musubi now - Instead of regular white rice with Spam, it was red rice with Chicken Kelaguen! Two of these by itself would make a nice meal. Everything was enjoyed by all.

We also "lightly" doused our red rice with their housemade finadene sauce too.

I wish Chamorro Grill was closer to home (Chula Vista). It's the next best thing besides having a Guamanian friend who can make this stuff for you. Once I figure out the Kadun Pika recipe, I'll be posting that!

Hafa Adai!

This weeked we finally used my SignOn SD coupon (kind of like Groupon...) for Chamorro Grill. The Chamorro place near us, Yokoz (formerly known as Yokozuna's) suckz veiny hairy goat ballz now that their ownership has changed which seems to have affected the quality of their food and service. The other Chamorro place we tried in the past was Islander Grill on Park Blvd but I heard they are closed now (we went back in November 2006; we'd gone several times but that was the only one I'd posted).

Since I started this new nutritional plan this week (more on that in a separate post), little did I realize this would kind of be like my last meal, a send off so to speak before eating "clean" (supposedly) for the next three months. But enough of that!

 "Welcome to Grantville"- the neighborhood that's near East Mission Valley and Allied Gardens. This is the sign off Friar's Road as you head towards Mission Gorge. You can see the Kaiser Permanente Hospital at Zion in the distance.

Near the hospital is a strip mall across the street. There used to be a Vietnamese fusion joint there, Rice Jones. This was back in 2000. They opened up another location in Hillcrest but it lasted only a few years and I believe it is now another restaurant. Anyways, after reading about Cathy's posts on Chamorro Grill, it was time to finally go check it out! This is on the corner of Mission Gorge and Allied Rd. in the Village Square strip mall.

We got there around 12 noon...Parked right in front, so score!

Their menu board:

Ooh, I will have to come back in three months for that pork adobo! The kelaguen wraps are just kelaguen with tortillas (I asked). I'd love to try that escabeche next time too.

Love their "Hafa Adai" paper towel holder. They had a bunch of different carvings with "Hafa Adai" on it. Here are their specials. I like how they have "tinola" on their specials board. Tinola is one of my favorite comfort foods (it's a chicken and ginger based soup with chayote or green papaya and spinach); I love eating it on cold rainy days. I've never had a fish version though, only chicken so that might be worth trying in the future.

Nice sage green walls with islander decorations - a mix of Guamanian, Hawaiian and Filipino in there..as you will see in a few moments. Although you can't see the detail from the photo below the big framed poster in the middle is an illustrated map of Guam. A group of 20-somethings came in and were pointing out the places they knew on the map.

The blue reusable shopping bag was a gift from TC. She got it from the Uglydolls booth at the Comic Con last year (since I didn't go). It has Ice-Bat on one side (I "ice cube" you!) and a few of the other characters on the opposite side. The bag usually attracts attention from small children and teenage girls because of the cuteness factor.

All right, the Barrel MEN! Small and large versions. Or maybe the smaller one of them is the Barrel WOMAN (where the boobs pop out)?  There were tiny little nipa huts that said "Philippines" on them as well. Plus several Pittsburgh Steelers helmets on the shelves here and there.

So, I used my $10 for $20 coupon and paid about $2 more for all that you see here (except for the sodas which Bert covered as an afterthought).

Chicken Kelaguen with red rice. We thought it was okay and couldn't really taste the coconut. The rice was really good - not mushy or sticky. Loved the color and the flavor too.

Pork Kalua. This was just a side order. It was all right but I'm not sure if the smoked flavor is real or if it's liquid smoke. I'm not the best judge of that. My husband really enjoyed this and practically finished it all.

A side of red rice (because we weren't sure if the rice with the kelaguen would be enough):

A side of Mac salad - This helped cool down the heat from the Kadun Pika. TC had most of this. I liked how it wasn't so creamy and overladen with mayo but I wished there was fruit in here (like apple bits or pineapple).

A side of Shrimp Patties:

This wasn't what I was expecting because the version I had long ago at Yokozuna's was shaped like an actual patty and I was disappointed because it was so dry. This, however, was a golden brown fried nugget of awesomeness with ground shrimp with peas and carrots inside. It was like a savory donut with shrimp. More please.

We'd never had this before, the Kadun Pika:

This was braised chicken thighs - you could taste the onions, garlic and most of all, the chili peppers in there. The peppers, along with the somewhat soothing counterpoint of the coconut milk made this our favorite dish of the day (except for TC because she didn't like the spiciness). This is something I am going to learn how to make because I want to be able to make this whenever I want instead of driving my sorry ass all the way up to Chamorro Grill! Seriously though, this was quite filling and would have tasted great with white rice as well.

We brought home our leftovers (kahlua pig, red rice, kelaguen and Kadun Pika) since there was so much food.

There was a condiment tray at the front counter and I noticed that the guys who own this place also sell a few products. They have their own finadene bottled finadene sauce and a finadene spice shaker.

They are $5 each. When I go here again, I'll get one of these...

Who else ate at Chamorro Grill?

Well, of course, Cathy from Mmm-Yoso who went here last May 2010 ...
and Kirk himself went there a few months later and had their kelaguen
Plus the mixed bag of Yelp reviews here

The girl working the counter was really nice. The cashier brought our food out to us and, like you saw in previous photos, it was all in styrofoam containers. I wish they were on regular plates instead of using styrofoam which is seems wasteful and is bad for the environment. But I'm sure they have their reasons for it like maybe not having to wash dishes. I like how casual it was here and how diverse the clientele was. I saw people of all kinds there - white, black, Latino, Asian, and Filipino (us), people eating alone, in groups and as families. Very nice to see that.

We would definitely go back here again and try their other dishes. I really liked that Kadun Pika so I'm searching for a recipe out there so I can make it for myself anytime!