Liang's Kitchen San Diego - Opening Week

Date of Dining: 9/30/2011 

Price: $5-7 per dish, at least 3 dishes per 2 people

Location: 4681 Convoy St. #D, San Diego, CA 92111

858-277-5573

The Quick Bit:

+ Enjoyable Taiwanese Tapas

+ Low Prices

Δ Parking lot needs to be doubled in size

Δ Not as good as other locations

Disclosure: My party received a 10% off the bill "grand opening"discount. I presume all diners got this same discount and don't know how long the promotion goes for.

Liang's Kitchen (or Liang Mama in Chinese) is a burgeoning Californian chain of what is classified as "little eateries" in Chinese culture. The concept of the little eatery is somewhat analogous to a fast food restaurant except that you still sit in the restaurant to enjoy your food. Thus, it's probably more like a Chipotle, Rubio's, or Elevation Burger in terms of fast food.

In doing some research about Liang's Kitchen, I came across this article, which seems to be the seminal work in providing background information on Mama Liang. I recommend you read the well-written article, but I'll go ahead and paraphrase. While Liang's Kitchen is referred to as Taiwanese cuisine (including here), it is more specifically military village food. Military village food is essentially a mix of several different types of Chinese cuisine such as Sichuan, Hunan, Taiwanese, and Cantonese. The military village was where military families from all parts of China blended together after initially fleeing to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War.

Mama Liang is a real person and mother of Ivan Liang, who is the owner of the Liang's Kitchen empire. Mama Liang opened her first restaurant in 1981 and retired in 2000. When his mother sold the restaurant, her son Ivan modernized the operation and started the current growth boom of the Liang's Kitchen empire throughout California and even New York. The philosophy of the food is twofold - to preserve military village cuisine and to stay true to Mama Liang's recipes.

The cuisine at Mama Liang's is mostly a collection of small plate foods or tapas. They seem to be best enjoyed in a group where each person can sample a little of each dish. Since the plates are small, a group of about 6 is probably the largest group before doubling up on orders. The signature dish is the beef tendon noodle soup, but other favorites include the special oil onion noodle with egg and sesame cake with beef.

I've previously dined at the Liang's Kitchen location in Irvine, so I will compare the dishes where applicable. Since there was no real progression to the menu, I'll simply give comments in the feedback the dishes arrived. Also, I didn't order the dishes, so I'm guessing to some extent what some of the dishes are.

Stewed Appetizer - Mixed Combination 

The stewed appetizer combination contained stewed bean curd, stewed peanuts, stewed pig ear, and (I think) stewed pig's stomach. Stewing in this case means that the items are simmered in a predominantly soy based braising liquid. They are then allowed to cool off before being sliced and dressed with additional chili oils/sauces depending on the portion. 

I found this particular preparation of the stewed appetizers to be enjoyable, but not exceptional. The peanuts retained a nice crunch while getting the sweet soy broth. The pigs ears were slightly undercooked so that the gelatin didn't properly soften, and the pigs stomach was slightly chewy. However, I thought that overall the contrasting textures and preparations ultimately worked well together. Unfortunately, the added bits of chili and spice were not sufficiently aggressive to really elevate this dish. Had the seasoning been slightly more aggressive, I felt the dish would have overcome the slight undercooking of the proteins.

Special Oil Onion Noodle with Egg

This was my favorite dish of the night. After receiving this dish, one mixes the onions, egg and oil together with the noodle to integrate all the flavors. The onions were excellently prepared and imparted a deep rich flavor to compliment the noodles, while the runny egg yolk added and earthiness to round out the dish.

Beef Noodle Soup with Thick Noodles

I actually didn't get to try this dish, but I've enjoyed it at the Irvine location in the past. The noodles are a thicker variety, which adds a rustic touch and actually holds up to the deep flavor of the stewed beef broth well. The soup contains Taiwanese lettuce, green onion, cilantro, and Chinese pickles. The vinegary bite of the pickles are a nice acidic contrast to an otherwise rich broth.

Stewed Pork Thigh

This was one of the better meat dishes of the night. The pork was stewed until tender and retained a lot of moisture. I was not a fan of the added sauce (I think it was oyster) as I felt the pork didn't need it to stand up on its own.

Steam Vegetable - A Vegetable

Yes, the name of this vegetable is A Vegetable. The A Vegetable was slightly overcooked, but the oyster sauce, ground pork, and fried garlic garnishes added additional flavor elements to the dish and made it enjoyable. It was a nice change of pace from the predominant meat dishes.

Black Bean Dry Noodle

Note: I might have the name wrong on this dish

This was my least favorite dish of the night. The noodles are mixed with the sauce like the special oil noodle, but I found the sauce prepared poorly. The flavors were a bit strong, and the bold flavor was actually overwhelming to the point of becoming unappetizing.

Stewed Tofu

I found this dish a little flat. By now the repeated use of the sauce (oyster?) was getting a little old and the addition of the weak sambal was not enough to balance the dish. The tofu was well-prepared and enjoyable though.

Special Red Pork Cutlet

This was basically some deep fried bbq pork. The bbq pork was actually well seasoned and flavorful. Where I didn't like this dish was the texture as the pork was slightly tough to chew. However, it was the better of the two dishes when compared to...

Fried Pork Cutlet

The pork cutlet was typical of what can be expected from many Chinese fast food places, but this particular one was a little tried and the texture was a bit tough. The meat itself was also lacking a bit when compared to the red pork cutlet.

Sesame Cake with Beef

I enjoyed the preparation of the sesame cake wrap, but found the beef a little dry. The wrap contains Chinese pickles to add an element of acid, in addition to cilantro, but I felt the balance of pickles to cilantro was a bit off as I could have used a little more freshness. This was actually a little disappointing as the version of this dish from the Irvine branch was exceptional.

Beef Tendon Noodle Soup with thick noodles

This dish is essentially identical to the earlier Beef Noodle Soup except that instead of just stewed beef, there are pieces of stewed tendon. As a lover of the gelatinous tendon I am much more a fan of this preparation than the previous. However, both dishes were nice and stand up in their own right.

Sesame Cake with Pork

Of the two sesame cake wraps, this particular one was more enjoyable because the pork was moist. The wrap was similarly unbalanced (for my tastes) in the pickles to herbs, but this bothered me less with the pork wrap.

Mix Black Bean Dry Noodle with thick noodles

I thought this dish was excellent. This dish illustrates the textural similarities of the soy beans (2 preparations stewed and steamed), tofu and ground meat even though each has a unique, yet similar flavor. This highlights how tofu and soy beans can be used as a meat substitute in some Chinese dishes that require ground meat.

Spicy Sausage

The sausage actually contained a fair amount of spice, which impressed me. It was fried on the outside so the casing had a nice texture to contrast the spicy mix of meat within the casing.

Conclusion:

I hate to attach any sort of "best of" moniker to any restaurant. However, with the dearth of good Chinese food in San Diego, Liang's Kitchen stands out among the pack. I'm going to go ahead and refrain from attaching any adjectives to the restaurant for now simply say that I would return and I would mention it as one of the Chinese restaurants to visit in San Diego.

Had the food been up to par with the Irvine branch, Liang's Kitchen San Diego would be enjoying a bit award. However, there are still some issues with the food to work out as the restaurant discovers its identity, so this will have to wait.

Read more...

Elevation Burger

While eating at burger places for the next iteration of the burger shootout, I happened to hear about a new place that had opened called Elevation Burger. I tried to do some investigation, but I was ultimately unable to decipher if it should have fit in the fast food category or casual dining.
Upon visiting, the restaurant is clearly in the same vein as Five Guys and belongs in the fast food category, so I went ahead and added Elevation Burger to the Fast Food Burger Shootout. For a complete review of Elevation Burgers organic, grass fed, free range double beef burger, please refer to the shootout.

One interesting thing I did notice at Elevation Burger was that they were also serving both vegetarian and vegan burgers. We asked the cashier about the vegan burger and decide to get one to go with the beef burger as well.

The veggie patty is made on premises and seems to be a blend of rice, corn, green and red bell peppers, onions, carrots, and bread crumbs. The patty was surprisingly moist and very flavorful. One impressive part of the veggie patty was that it knew it was not going to simulate beef, so it didn't try to; instead the patty focused on delivering a nice blend of chopped vegetables to give its own unique flavor.
The vegan burger was also surprisingly light on oil and there was virtually no grease.

Conclusion:
It was refreshing to see that a burger restaurant can offer vegetarian and vegan burgers that are also compelling in taste and flavor. As the new winner of the Fast Food Burger Shootout, Elevation Burger definitely deserves a kilobit award.

Read more...

Hinotez - Grand Opening

Date of Dining: 9/23/2011
Price: about $8 per bowl of noodles
Location: 7947 Balboa Ave. San Diego, CA 92111


The Quick Bit:
+ Increased variety of Japanese noodle dishes
+ Well-prepared noodle dishes
+ Larger location than Yakyudori
Δ Some kinks have yet to be worked out with the grand opening


Hinotez is the the newest brainchild of the Hinotetsu restaurant group, who is also responsible for Yakyudori. Hinotez is a menrui-ya, which is just to say it's a casual noodle restaurant. Much like the Star Trek reboot, Hinotez seems to be a Yakyudori reboot with an expanded menu and a larger dining room to accommodate the larger crowds. There are updated special effects come in the form of a more upscale dining room complete with lens flare

Ok I lied about the lens flare, but it is a nicely updated dining room. In addition (not pictured) there is a dining area in the back as well as a private dining room.
While I did miss the soft opening, I did manage to make it to Hinotez for the "grand opening." I guess you can say I missed the midnight showing but caught the movie on opening night. At the time of the visit, Hinotez does not have a liquor license. Knowing this would be likely, I brought a bottle and asked if we could open it, but the restaurant refused. They must have been thinking that I brought Romulan Ale and not just a regular beer. The party in the private dining room seemed a little inebriated raucous though; clearly they actually did bring the Romulan Ale...


Appetizers:

fried oysters

karage - fried chicken

takoyaki - octopus fritter balls topped with bonito shavings

All the appetizers suffered from the getting the kinks worked out of a new restaurant. I suspect the fryer was new and they were still following the cooking times of an older fryer since every fried item seemed a little overcooked.
The flavors and seasonings corresponded exactly with what you would get at Yakyudori. If you enjoyed these items at Yakyudori, you are just as likely to enjoy them at Hinotez.


Ramen:

tonkotsu ramen

tantan (spicy sesame) ramen

miso tonkotsu ramen

Unlike Yakyudori, the tonkotsu ramen is available during all hours at Hinotez. I had just a little of each of the ramen and they seemed to suffer a little when compared to Yakyudori. The noodles in the tonkotsu ramen were a little overcooked. The table was happy with the flavors of the tantan ramen, but it seemed to be missing an egg (not sure if it's supposed to come with one).


Udon:

hot udon - tempura and tororo (grated mountain potato)

At Hinotez, the noodle dishes are ordered as a plain noodle and then toppings are added for additional charge. The plain noodles seem to simply be the noodles in dash garnished with some green onions, and then the additional toppings are added on top or on the side. Although I didn't get to taste this dish, I'm going to go ahead and pull a Kobayashi Maru result (beat the impossible) and say that I thought this was a good dish. It certainly looks good and those who tried it seemed to enjoy it.


Cold Soba:

cold dipping soba - assorted tempura

The menu features cold dipping soba vs cold soba, but I'm not sure what the difference was. I went ahead and got the dipping soba, which came with a green onion and wasabi garnish and a huge bowl to dip in. The wasabi appeared to be the powdered wasabi, but you can't really expect fresh wasabi at the $4.50 (plain) price point. The soba was well prepared and all the flavors were enjoyable. I would love to see a fresh wasabi topping for this for some additional charge, but I don't think that is going to happen.


Conclusion:
Overall I was pleased with Hinotez. The visit was not without its flaws as spoons were not provided with every dish that required it when they came out, and service was generally slow. However, I have confidence that these minor issues will get worked out in time. I have a feeling that Hinotez is going to live long and prosper, but the service ruined it's chances of receiving an award during this visit. I do plan to return in the future and see if the issues are worked out.

Read more...

Gourmet Food Truck Update

With the closing of Restaurant Week, I'm getting back to business and will be posting a series of updates over the next week. Some of the posts may be shorter than normal, but hey you're going to get a lot more updates.

It has been awhile since I last (seriously) wrote about Gourmet Food Trucks - it's almost like how long George Lucas waited to resurrect Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (I promise this will be better than that movie though) - and a lot has happened in between. The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 started and finished featuring San Diego's Devilicious (who was unfortunately eliminated in the 2nd round), Blanca closed (more on this soon), El Bulli closed, the #2 (Rivals) ranked basketball recruit committed to my UCLA Bruins, and all of MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen aired.

In that time, I was not resting; I actually was eating at food trucks quite frequently. I never really figured out a good way to cover food trucks since posting about each visit was not necessarily enough information for each truck, and some of the trucks I never really felt like I wanted to re-visit to get more than the initial impression. Instead of just covering a single truck I decided to just lump together many of the trucks I've visited. I'll hand out awards at the end to any trucks that deserve them. (I did visit some other trucks but they will show up in the food truck burger shootout update).

Pierogi Truck:

For those that don't know, Pierogi is a polish dumpling whose filling usually consists of potato or spinach. A pork belly is the traditional topping.

Potato and Cheese Pierogi - grilled onion, bacon, chives, sour cream

(left) Spinach Pierogi - sour cream (right) Meat Pierogi - grilled onion, bacon, chives, sour cream

I had high hopes for this truck - perhaps too high. While I wasn't expecting a huge amount of wow factor, the pierogi were a little too rustic for my taste. The pierogi was also a little too dense and didn't exhibit any sort of light fluffiness that I was told to expect.

Curiocity Catering Truck:

Curiocity is one of the new ventures of Chef Antonio Friscia of Stingaree. It caught my eye as the signature dish appeared to be an Alaskan King Crab risotto called The Deadliest Catch.

Green Flash Double Stout Beer Brat - carmelized onions, sesame bun

The brat was a relatively standard brat. For $6 though, I thought they could have at least toasted the bun...

Alaskan King Crab Cake - truffle aioli

The crab cake was probably the best dish I sampled on this truck. I was not a fan of the truffle aioli as it was basically some mayo mixed with truffle oil; two canned/jarred products plopped on top of some Alaskan King Crab.... The crab cake was cooked well and the bits of corn added some nice sweetness. There was very little "extra filler" to the crab meat.

Thai Chicken with Jasmine Rice - red/green onion, lemongrass, mint, cilantro, fresh squeezed lime

While the mix of ingredient properly reflects a Thai flavor palette, the overcooked chicken, lack of thai chili, and conservative use of lemongrass caused this to seem like a bastard "westernized" version of what it could have been.

Deadliest Catch - Alaskan King crab, rice, parmesan (should also have sweet corn and spinach)

I asked for the risotto even though they didn't have all the ingredients on the truck. I didn't feel the rice was arborio, but it was cooked well. Unfortunately the lobster stock seemed to have reduced a bit in the fridge and caused the dish to be a little too salty. It did have enjoyable flavors otherwise...

SD Sushi Ninjas:

Sushi Combo - tuna, salmon, yellowtail, snapper, shrimp, spicy california roll

I don't really consider this truck to be a "Gourmet" truck as the level of the food seemed a bit low. I don't really have anything better to say than that, so I'll stop while I'm ahead...

Slow Cal BBQ:

The Slow Cal BBQ Truck I featured previously just opened this week. I stopped by to check out what they had going. Unfortunately, they didn't really have all the kinks worked out yet so they're only serving the polish boy topped with pulled pork, a pulled pork sandwich, and a brisket sandwich. I settled to try the pulled pork as it was both recommended and I had pleasant memories of it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich - hoagie, coleslaw, sweet bbq sauce

On the whole, the pulled pork sandwich was very enjoyable. The slaw without mayo was a nice touch as was the sweet and tangy bbq sauce. This particular pulled pork was cooked well but lacked some of the smokiness that was in the meat last time. Hopefully this will be resolved.

Collard Greens and Okra

What really stole the show for me was the collard greens and okra. Much is said about Southern Collard greens, but I've never eaten any that I thought was better than just some stir fried bok choy until I tried this. Chef Melvin seemed to apply some creole spices from his roots to this, which really kicked it up a notch. The collard greens were well cooked and not too bitter. The okra added some contrast in both flavor and texture.
I asked the truck when we could expect ribs and chicken and it seems like they should hopefully have it within two weeks.

Devilicious:
I've covered Devlicious extensively in the past, but the Fall 2011 menu revamp is in full swing.

Shrimp Po'boy

The quality of the shrimp used is superb. I'd call this more of a prawn po'boy, and it is awesome. Most importantly, the shrimp are not overcooked.

Blackened Prime Rib Sandwich

If  you dare, ask them not to trim off the fat and you will really enjoy the flavors of this dish much more. The prime rib was cooked perfectly and very well seasoned to be intensely flavorful.

Spicy Tuna Nachos with a quail egg

Big fan of the quail egg and the flavors of the spicy tuna. Hated the texture of the raw fish. I just think it doesn't keep as well on a truck...

Pork Cutlet Sandwich (with extra fried egg)

The pork cutlet was fried perfectly, and the egg added the extra earthiness to tie everything together.

Chicken Enchilda (with the $2 upgrade to caprese salad)

In case you were wondering what the caprese upgrade looked like, I decided to get it the one time to get a photo. Personally this is the only time I'll do it, but I've never been a fan of Caprese and I've been spoiled by the burrata at Whole Foods Encinitas.
The chicken was moist and well cooked with some nice Mexican spices. However, I found this dish very strange in that it was in a sandwich instead of a tortilla, and it wasn't really the comfort food expected from Devilicious... It was still enjoyable, but it did just seem a little out of place to me.

Dark Stout Brat with sauerkraut and mustard.

I didn't really like the way the brat fit in the bun; perhaps they could butterfly the brat so that each bite of the sandwich contains some brat. I did enjoy the flavors of this one over the Curiocity version and the sauerkraut definitely outshone grilled onions.

Not your Mama's Dessert-wich - apple pie, sharp cheddar, cinnamon

I didn't understand the flavor combinations of this dish.

Dessert-wich - Nutella, marshmallow, cinnamon

This was a real hit for me and I struggled to only eat half. The nutella and marshmallow work really well together and remind me of a s'more. The cinnamon and bread was the perfect medium to enjoy the chocolate hazelnut marshmallow.

As Devilicious already has the kilobit, it didn't move anywhere in classification. Slow Cal BBQ has some potential, but I will want to see an expanded menu before it gets awarded anything. The other trucks failed to impress me.

Read more...