Asia Cafe

The weekend forecast was nice, warm and sunny. After a quick stop at the CV Library book sale (wow, children's books were only .10 each!), TC and I had the morning to ourselves. Bert, on the other hand, had the unsavory task of helping his older brother try to extract what he suspected was a dead opposum in their parent's garage. His bro recognized a "familiar" pee and/or dead animal smell in the garage much like the smell he encountered last year in their back yard shed. When they cleaned out the shed, the remains of two 'possums were the culprit behind the odoriferous assault on the senses. Unfortunately, this time, they did not find any 'possum remains, but rather, it's fecal remains. I'm sure that varmint peed in there too. To say the least, Lysol was unleashed in great quantities to rid the garage of the infernal scent.
Anyhow, we all wanted to have lunch out today. We set off to the Chollas View neighborhood. Below was an art project near an empty lot near our destination...

More of the art posters/photos (well, the backside)...

You can't see the place right away. It's behind this oil change place on the corner of 47th and Market Street.

Asia Cafe is in a small and old looking strip mall which has a lot of Lao businesses (food market, coin laundry, nail/hair shop, video and import store).

For inquiring minds, here's a post about Lao cuisine, and MMM-Yoso's post of Asia Cafe here along with an old post of mine here :

I hadn't been here in awhile. This time, we sat on the opposite side of the restaurant (to your right when you walk in). There are 5 tables that seat 4 each plus one long table in the middle that seats 9. There weren't too many people there that day, but they did brisk business with takeout I noticed.

In my old post, I mentioned (or was that an older post?) that their menus were old and the prices were wrong. Well, this time, they redid their menus. These were nice, crisp, new and laminated. The prices also looked updated. Before it seemed like their prices were too good to be true, then you got slammed with a bill that was higher than you thought you paid...At least they got it right this time!

The guy in brown is one of the son's. His parents run the place; his mom cooks in the back kitchen. He's pretty nice (it's either Scotty or Johnny) and mellow.

Condiment tray:

We started off with the fresh Spring Rolls ($3.00) which weren't on the menu. It comes with a side of peanut sauce. TC enjoyed 1 and 1/2 of this...

Cross section of the spring roll. These were of a decent size and quite filling. Fresh shrimp, lettuce, mint and beansprouts. No cellophane noodles in here!

I liked that they brought out Christmas plates for us. People at other tables also had mismatched plates!

Bert and I both ordered Lao iced coffees ($2.00 each):

As usual, I ordered the Nem Khao ($5.50) which is not on the menu. This is Lao fried rice.

The greens to go with the Nem Khao (green leaf lettuce and cilantro):

A close up of that awesome crunchy fried rice! I just love this rice because it has so much flavor and texture from the green onions, garlic, finely chopped peanuts, the sour sausage and the crunchy rice crust! I could eat this every day!

The sticky rice ($2.00) - this was quite a lot of rice! I don't remember having this much of it before, but when I checked my old post, it was the same. This rice will be for dinner later on! TC loves sticky rice because we let her eat it with her hands like you are supposed to.

The Lao BBQ chicken ($5.00). This was an appetizer but we ordered this for TC to eat with the fried rice. She had the drumsticks only. The rest is for us later!

That chicken skin was so good! You could really taste the spice paste they put on there... Wish I knew exactly what was was in it. I could definitely taste the ginger and garlic and I think there was turmeric as well (yellowish color).

Bert's Spicy Noodles with beef ($5.75). You could actually smell how hot and spicy that was. He predicted that this dish would do some internal "damage" within 12 hours.

My Chicken Larb ($6.00). Larb is the unofficial national dish of Laos.

An overview of part of our table. This was a lot of food. We'd have to take some boxes to go. I don't know why I ordered the Chicken Larb...I remember Lotus ordered the pork larb last year and didn't like it. It tasted a bit fishy which threw me off because it was a ground chicken dish. I did eat one cucumber! But I didn't really like the texture of the larb. It looked like tuna fish.

This must be an old sign...it says to add .50 to any item on the menu. When I checked the menu against the receipt, it matched up.

With our three take out boxes in tow, we left Asia Cafe and headed back to the car. We parked next to the Lao nail and hair place. There was a gangster looking guy smoking right in front of our car. He had long hair, was wearing a wife beater, long baggy jean shorts, white socks and white tennis shoes. He also had a lot of tattoos. I didn't think he would appreciate me taking a snapshot of him. We still had a kid's bday party to attend later that afternoon. At least we know we'll have good leftovers for dinner!

Unfortunately, Asia Cafe was out of their fried bananas in a ziplock ($5.00), so I bought these fried pork rinds in a ziplock instead ($2.00). They'r a little different than the pork rinds I grew up eating. These are long, skinny strips with a thin line of hard meat in them. Instad of just the nice, fluffy skin or occasionally the piece with a bit of meat and fat...mmmmm...I haven't had pork rinds in a long, long, long time!

This place is near the corner of 47th and Imperial. Looks like Lao Plaza is now Mekong Village:

Heading home to the 805 South under the skinny bridge in National City (47th St):

Accent? What accent?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Greenbox #3...

Can anyone guess where this is?

The answer next week!

Phil's

Today we went out with two couples whose kids are TC's classmates...our destination? Phil's BBQ on Sports Area Blvd. Here are some reviews from Yelp's, My Burning Kitchen , and the GLT . After reading some reviews and also Chowhound afterwards, I saw that there were quite a few folks who didn't like Phil's style of BBQ. Not being a BBQ connoisseur, I just rolled with it. Below, on our way to Phil's, passing by the Sports Aroma billboard. Ah, the Sports Aroma...the site of many a concert in my youth...INXS in '88 (with Public Image Ltd. opening), Van Halen's OU812 tour (1989), and the Cult in 1991, with Bonham opening! The last time we went to this dump was 4 years ago for the Ringling Brothers Circus. Never again! The show was just godawful - those poor animals doing tricks they shouldn't even be doing!
Phil's is in this old wooden strip mall next to the Men's Fashion Depot...Across the street is Bakers Square.

Look closely...it's Yakitori II Japanese restaurant. Back in my naive youth, this was about as "exotic" as it would get for us (in our late high school and early college years).

We got there before 11 am and waited for them to open up. Luckily, there wasn't a long line. The Chargers opening game (in which they kicked the Bears' asses) was that day. The kids chose a prime spot - a booth underneath a plasma screen where the menfolk and the kiddies would be. The wives (us) sat at a separate table next to the booth.

This was my friend's order, the BBQ chicken and baby back ribs with a side of macaroni salad.

This was part of our order, a side of corn on the cob with two beef ribs.

We also had chicken and baby back ribs with a side of potato salad.

We should have ordered some onion rings because they are known to have some decent rings here. But I didn't think of it at the time. I thought the food was okay but nothing so earth shatteringly awesome. The sauce made everything taste the same. I ate just two baby back ribs and a tiny portion of the beef rib (took it home later). No rice. Just a bit of mac and potato salad.

For me, the meat just tasted like the sauce was slapped on at the last minute. I don't know. I've been kind of stressed lately from work, that maybe I'm not able to enjoy my food as I used to. That better change dammit. But really, their food was okay - it didn't suck, but I wasn't that thrilled. The ambiance was loud and noisy sports bar, which isn't my thing. Lots of Chargers fans there that day. We left at 1 pm and got home just in time to watch the opening (just a few minutes late). Well, Bert watched. I went out for some "retail therapy".

Coming soon

I snapped these photos a few weekends ago. There is a new Fresh & Easy being built across from Kmart on East H Street. This place used to be an Auto Zone. Wonder how this place is going to do because....

of this...Just a few hundred feet away, right NEXT to Kmart is the makings of another small food market, North Park Produce. This store front used to be the Good Guys.

I think it's kind of lame to build two small food markets within close distance to one another. Just a few feet up the hill from this place is Costco. Well, I will wait and see how these markets fare and check them out once they are open.

Celadon

Today was Bert's bday and he chose Celadon as our dining destination. This post was actually written on 9/9, but I had in it blogger on 9/8!

Joining us was Lotus (sans Thor who was in Dallas for work). You can see Lotus and TC about to enter the restaurant, located on 3671 5th Avenue in Hillcrest. This was the former site of MIXX which closed several years ago. Here is a recent review from a local food blogger and Yelp's . Celadon has had three locations over the past decade. Their first location was across the street on the site of Hash House a Go Go. Then, it moved to University Avenue, near the Hillcrest sign and took over the former Thai Foon restaurant space. We had a memorable dinner there a while back with a "free show" by a pair of amorous lesbians (with one in male drag). Now, Celadon is back on 5th and has a new look. Black and white...very modern. This is the lounge area. You can see me (ha ha! my first appearance on my blog) on the far left corner.
When we walked in, I remember feeling a bit of deja vu. Then I realized, this used to be Mixx, which I hadn't been to since TC was born. After passing the white baby grand, you go up a short flight of steps into a fairly long and dimly lit dining area. There was also a patio out in the back.

Bert had the Thao Tini ($11---yikes!) which consisted of Absolut Pear, Absolut Vodka, sweet and sour, triple sec and pear juice. There was also a very alcoholic maraschino cherry at the bottom of the glass. He ended up having two of these. I was the designated driver last night.

Our appetizer was the Fresh Spring Rolls ($8.00). It was your standard spring rolls with glass noodles, tofu, carrot, mint, and lettuce. The sauce was peanut plum. TC really enjoyed hers (eating 1 and 1/2 pieces). We told her that night, "No fried rice because Mommy makes it better at home anyways!". She was going to eat what we were eating. As usual, she was the only kid in the place.

The ceilings were a lime green and the decor stark black and white. I didn't take too many photos here since it was dark, but as it was, no one paid attention to me snapping away with my meddlesome flash.

I liked their wall paper though!

We had the first booth in the corner by a wall with built in shelves.

While waiting for our courses, I accompanied TC to the bathroom. They had this blingy chandelier in there. These were those pyramid shaped studs that you see on punk rocker belts. Very Billy Idol.

It's hard to see, but the sink was a glass bowl over a black cabinet. Very cool.

Even the bathroom had nice wallpaper!

This was the Larb Pla ($21) which was steamed (but you could also get it fried) red snapper served with green mango, red onion, scallions, Thai herbs and spices, and lime juice. The spice level was mild since we had TC with us. Fish is something we hardly ever order, but after this dish, I'd try it again. It was so tender and just melted in your mouth.

We also had the Papaya salad ($9.50), which had shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrots, cilantro, green beans, dried shrimp, peanuts, and a wedge of green cabbage with a chili lime dressing. We ordered this mild as well, but if we didn't have our daughter with us, it would have been spicier. I'm glad that Lotus liked this dish. She was expecting orange papaya not green papaya which tastes much different.

Something about a strawberry as garnish in a Thai restaurant doesn't seem right to me...Hmmm. Well, this was the Gai Qua ($15) which was a noodle dish. It had wide and flat rice noodles with chicken and squid (we also added on pork), scallions and, according to the menu description, egg (which I didn't really see or taste). But wow, this dish was really good! We liked the texture of the rice noodles and the sauces. I wish I had asked our waiter more about what was in it.

A close up of the rice noodles:

While we're on the subject of waiters, the only think we didn't like about this place was the overeager waitstaff who hovered (uncomfortably so at times) to take away our plates. Our main waiter who was Thai was very helpful in describing our items. The non-Thai guys (busboys?) tried to take away one of our plates while it still had food on it. This happened several times. I forgot which one of us, but we told him we weren't done yet. Duh! They could have waited from afar instead of at our backs. Most good servers can tell when their customers are through and will discreetly come and whisk your plates away.

The food was so good, there were no leftovers to take home that night! Our child enjoyed all of the dishes (she's not picky, thank goodness) and we had great company with Lotus. Afterwards, we had a slice of cake at our places before taking her home. Another visit to Celadon will definitely be in the works...

Assorted photos

A couple of weeks ago after church, one of the Fil Am groups were selling lumpia, 5 for $2.00, so we bought some as a snack...
They tasted all right, but it wasn't the same without sauce, which wasn't available. Maybe the lola's didn't want a lot of mess! The filling was a bit sparse. Man, this needed some La Choy!

TC's bday was last week and we had the family over at our house. Along with ordered lumpia, and pancit made by my mom, we also had rotisserie chicken and pinakbet. This version had Chinese sausages and no bagoong. This is a dish I really love but hardly make because Bert doesn't like bittermelon, eggplant or okra, the key vegetables in pinakbet!

TC's cake was made by a friend who used to work for Kona Kakes- it was mango with mango mouse filling with little bits of real mango in the middle. It was very light and not too sweet. The cake was also pretty tall, but hey, I was able to finish my piece!

Although my nephew's bday was one day before TC's, my bro celebrated it last weekend. Here are some assorted photos from the picnic. It was on 9/2 and it was muggy and hot that day. These are some pastillas that my sister bought. Unfortunately, no one got a chance to taste them. Someone put them in the ice chest where the drinks were. The package was open and the water seeped into the wrappers and ruined the pastillas. I like the ones straight from the Philippines - the kind made from carabao milk!

Assorted rice cakes from one the the Filipino bakeries in National City (yeah, which one?). My favorite are the purple ones - ube flavor with the fresh grated coconut.

The bday picnic had standard picnic food for the kiddies such as hotdogs, hamburgers and pizza. My mom made pancit bihon (noodles for 'long life'). There was also lumpia and those ubiquitous salt and pepper chicken wings that grace every Filipino party table. My brother also bbq'd chicken (see below the pancit pic).

Bert's Bday

My posts have been a bit "dry" lately. Work has been a total byatch. No time to post or even read my friend's blogs or my fave food blogs.

Today was Bert's bday! Dinner was at the newly remodeled Celadon. Pictures to post later. Our dinner companion was Lotus (Thor was MIA in Dallas for a work related trip! Hi Thor if you're reading this!). For one of Bert's gifts, I got him the 28th anniversary edition of one of his favorite movies, "The Jerk" ("The new phone books are here!", "and this chair..."). It's a guy thing.

In short, dinner consisted of:
Papaya Salad
Sticky Rice
Larb Pla (steamed fish with Thai herbs)
Gui Gua (no, not Goonie Googoo)....I think that's what it was called (it was a noodle dish)

I'll have to look at my notes.

Anyways, pictures later...tomorrow, we're having lunch with some friends (their kids are classmates with TC) at Phil's. I've heard a lot about this place. People either seem to love it or not care too much for their style of barbecue. I'm going to try it and decide for myself. I'm not a huge meat eater, but we'll check it out. I hope it doesn't suck too badly.

Whew!

Okay, I survived the first day of school...now the test is surving the rest of the year!

But seriously, it was mega crazy today with parents, teachers and students complaining about everything and me feeling pulled in twenty different directions. Not just me, but the whole department.

The first two weeks, we have to balance the teachers numbers. Yeah, we take care of them so they aren't over their contractual limit, but no one takes care of us counselors. They all think we drink coffee all day and read the paper when in reality we were working like mad trying to put out fires and fix schedules...I know, weh weh...but I just needed to vent.

Okay, when's the next holiday?

Things to look forward to:

1) the weekend! (which is also bert's bday)
2) catching up on watching my dvr's of anthony bourdain's 'no reservations' so I can just veg out
3) trying to decide where to eat with my lunch/dinner friends at the end of this month
4) trying to finish reading some books/graphic novels I've started but haven't finished

Bert in NY

Bert left for NYC Friday night for the US Open. He'll be staying @ N & L's place in Astoria (Queens). Free lodging, plus only 30 minutes away by subway to Flushing. Hopefully they'll catch some good matches on Sunday. Hmmm, Andy Roddick? I heard he likes "adjusting himself" a lot! I have never seen it myself, but ewwwww~ I'm sure Bert will post on his US Open trip when he returns.

Work has been a total drag. School opens on Tuesday. Counselors will be working on balancing classes for the next two weeks as well as fixing errors in schedules, etc. Today TC and I will be going to my nephew's bday party picnic. Tomorrow, Bert returns! Yay!