Friend's House

I (Jenne) was just getting over a cold, and this was the most comforting thing I could imagine right then.

So many panchan!  I had trouble fitting them all in one picture.

A spinning wheel?

This was SO HOT it took me forever to eat but it was delicious.

Rating: Two thumbs up
Date: 2/23/13
Time in: 12:46 PM 
Servers' recommendations: #11 (Dol Sot Bibim Bap), #12 (Kim Chi Dol Sot Bibim Bap), #17 (Man Doo La Myun), #22 (Soon Do Boo), #27 (Gae Ji Jae) 
What we ordered: #11, #17 
Number in our party: 2
Final check amount: $20.50
Price per person: $10.25
Notes: 

•  It's very cozy inside.  They have X factor!  The place is full of the strangest assortment of knick-knacks, so it really does feel like you're at a friend's house -- a friend with a kooky grandmother who collects all kinds of junk at flea markets. There's an antique telephone where you walk in, and the stereo looks like a fake plastic rock.   
• The booths are private with high wooden walls, and the cushions on the benches are really homey and cute.
• The panchan is especially good here; they must make it themselves.  The potato panchan is delicious and still a little warm.  We asked for a second helping.  The jelly is better here than at other places.  It's usually so bland.  We don't get the lettuce with the Thousand Island dressing though -- ew.
• The ramen dish is very comforting and well-seasoned.  There are TONS of noodles (probably 3-4 packs of ramen noodles) that aren't overcooked.  It has scrambled egg (and we all know how I feel about egg on anything) and carrots in it, with furikake sprinkled on top.  It's just the right level of spicy.  And it has dumplings in it!  The dumplings might have been packaged, but they're flavorful.  This would be a great hangover/cold food.
• The bibim bap is also yummy.  The vegetables in it taste very fresh and are nicely cooked.  The dish is REALLY hot -- it sizzled for almost the entire meal.  That means there's a lot of good rice crust.
• The servers could check in a little more often with water refills, but they were really nice.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION 
Address: 4647 Convoy St, Ste 101A
Phone number: 858.292.0499
Website: http://friendshousekorean.menutoeat.com
Accepts credit cards? Yes, 25 cents for orders under $10
Parking: Shared lot, still crowded
Ideal group size: 1-4
Noise level: 2

The Fruit Shop

Dragonfruit are surprisingly bland (or should I say delicate?) -tasting considering what they look like.

These are what's inside the jackfruit.  They taste sort of like honey and gasoline-flavored cantaloupe, but in a good way.

Rating: Two thumbs up!
Date: 2/23/13
Time in: 12:38 PM
Time out: 12:43 PM  
Owner's recommendation: Mangosteens
What we bought: Mangosteens, papaya
Number in our party: 2 
Final check amount: $15.31 for a bag of a dozen or so mangosteens; $10 something for a smaller pack of mangosteens and a package of Hawaiian papaya
Notes: 

• The family who owns the place is SO nice.  They make you feel very welcome, and they shower you with samples.
• They like to tell you all about the fruit you're getting, but you might not understand a thing they say.
• They have a lot of fruit that's been cut up beautifully and packaged.  Thank God for that; we would have no idea how to cut into a jackfruit.  Have you seen how giant those things are?  They look like creatures out of "Monster's, Inc."
• I love getting a coconut juice there and taking it to Dumpling Inn.
• This is one of the few places we know that carries mangosteens, which are apparently very difficult to import.  If you've never had a mangosteen (and I hadn't until Jenne bought some from this shop), you should go buy some RIGHT NOW -- it is mangosteen season!  They taste like strawberry Starburst in fruit form. 
• They don't have the most reliable hours -- they told us that they close earlier in the winter because they're afraid to be there after dark.  Aww.
  

STORE INFORMATION
Address: 4619 Convoy St, Unit A3
Phone number: 858.268.0888
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheFruitShop
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Crowded shared lot
Ideal group size: Any
Available vegetarian options: ALL!
Noise level: 2

Off-Convoy: Yamadaya

They have a nice patio, but it was a little too cold to sit there.

Note that the kara-age is fried BROWN! not pale beige.

Simple yet tasty salad.

Mabo-don.

Miko's tonkotsu shoyu ramen with GIANT piece of kakuni.

Plain tonkotsu.

My tonkotsu shoyu "Yamadaya" style, with both chashu and kakuni.  Get this one!

Rating: Two thumbs up, gold star potential (two thumbs up from Glennis and Laura too!)
Date: 2/15/13
Time in: 6:46 PM, sat down at 7:07 PM
Time out: 8:02 PM 
Servers' recommendations: Tonkotsu ramen
What we ordered: Yamadaya ramen (tonkotsu shoyu broth) with extra firm noodles with kara-age and salad (Jenne); kakuni ramen (tonkotsu shoyu broth) with mabo bowl and salad (Miko); tonkotsu ramen (Laura); tonkotsu ramen (Glennis)
Number in our party: 4 (Glennis and Laura as guest judges)
Final check amount: $48.81
Price per person: $12.20 average
Notes:

• The service was much friendlier than at Yakitori Yakyudori, but they weren't the most efficient.  The staff was always running to and fro and dropping things.  Seriously, we saw servers drop something at least 4 times during our visit.
• The ramen broth was flavorful and fatty.  We liked the tonkotsu shoyu better than the tonkotsu regular.
• Both the chashu and the kakuni were DELICIOUS. 
• The kakuni ramen had a GIGANTIC SLAB of pork belly on top, and I can't tell you how satisfying it was to take giant bites of it.  I daydreamed about it for days afterward.
• The marinated eggs were quite good.  I really can't do without the nicely marinated egg in my ramen anymore.
  
• I do prefer the eggier, curlier ramen noodles -- they had straighter white noodles here.  I wish I could get just the noodles from RakiRaki and have Yamadaya use them.
• I (Jenne) am a total princess and the pea about overcooked noodles, so I got mine extra-firm. Good call. They understand it better if you say you want "hard" noodles.
• The kara-age was the best we've had in town.  It is SO DIFFICULT to find chicken that's properly fried on Convoy.  Here, it was crispy and well seasoned.  We were annoyed when the chicken came out with no mayonnaise on the side, but then, we didn't even miss it!
• We liked that the salad was cabbage instead of lettuce, and the dressing was tasty! It was a nice break from the ramen and chicken, which can get heavy without a vegetable break.
  
• The mabodon was just okay.  The rice was dry and rather flavorless.  Stick to the ramen + kara-age + salad combo.
• Laura says that it was the closest she's had to the fabulous ramen she had in Yokohama on her Japan trip.
  
  

RESTAURANT INFORMATION 
Address: 4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
Phone number: 858.483.3431
Website: http://www.ramen-yamadaya.com
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: A shared lot that's GIANT but still doesn't seem to have enough spaces
Ideal group size: 1-4
Available vegetarian options: Edamame and rice...?

Who not to bring: Vegetarians
Noise level: 3.5

Pho Convoy Noodle House

Egg rolls that don't make you wish you had ordered more?  Sad.

Broken rice dish -- I (Jenne) liked the chicken best.

Noodle dish--I thought it was kind of greasy and cafeteria-ish.

Beef wrapped in grape leaves.

They give you, like, an entire forest to go with the beef.  There are also rice paper wrappers that you dip in hot water.  I do always like an interactive meal...

Rating: Two sideways thumbs
Date: 2/13/13
Time in: Jenne arrived at 6:30 PM; Nick and I got there very late at 6:55 PM (Sorry, Jenne)
Servers' recommendations: #100 (Hủ Tiếu hoặc Mì Áp Chảo Gà (hoặc Bò): pan fried chicken with assorted vegetables with egg noodles)
What we ordered: #100, #56 (broken rice with pork and shrimp), Bò Lá Nho (beef stuffed in grape leaves)
Number in our party: 3 (Nick as a guest judge)
Final check amount: $45.85
Price per person: $15.28
Notes (general comments in black; Miko's comments in blue; Jenne's comments in orange):

• Sad.  Convoy Noodle House used to be our go-to for our weekly pho trips.  It was once a favorite.  Somewhere along the way, we started going to Saigon or Ca Dao instead, but we still thought Convoy Noodle House was good stuff.  At this visit, however, none of the dishes tasted very good.  Had we gotten snobbier or had the food gotten worse?  We think it might be a little of both.
• The chicken in the broken rice dish tasted like grilled chicken sandwich at Burger King (which used to be called the BK Broiler, but now it goes by another name).  It was good, but that was a bit weird.
• I have to say that I'm not a fan of the beef dish -- it's too sweet, and the meat's not fluffy enough.  My old roommate used to order it a lot because she was on a low-carb diet, and she really liked it.
• The egg rolls were not great.  We didn't even finish the order between the three of us.
• They packed up our leftovers for us.  We love it when restaurants do that.
• I didn't try it on this visit, but I think the three-bean dessert here is my favorite in San Diego, and for that, I still give it a sideways thumb.  
• I do like the beef dish, but I think it wasn't as good as it used to be.
• We didn't have them this time, but their smoothie drinks are usually really good. Except the avocado one.  Gross.  I tried it once to be adventurous, but just.  No.
• I do also like the bean dessert with the weird neon colored jelly things.  Yum!

RESTAURANT INFORMATION 
Address: 4647 Convoy St
Phone number: 858.277.0133
Website: http://www.phoconvoy.com
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Shared lot, still crowded
Ideal group size: Any
Noise level: 1

Mapo BBQ Korean cuisine

Miko remarked on the "blinged-out" menu.

Bland panchan and weird-tasting kimchi.

I was charmed by the "Help Roaster" logo.

Bland mushy dumplings.

Bland tofu stew.

Rating: Two thumbs down
Date: 1/26/13
Time in: 8:46 PM
Time out: 9:31 PM 
Servers' recommendations: Tofu stews
What we ordered: Bean paste tofu stew, boiled dumplings
Number in our party: 2
Final check amount: $17.26
Price per person: $8.63 (but we were still hungry)
Notes: 

• It was surprisingly spacious inside.
• It was rather difficult to get a recommendation from the servers.  The first lady didn't speak a whole lot of English, but the fluent guy had trouble too.  They kept waving vaguely at the menu.
• The boiled dumplings were clearly from a package.  In fact, they tasted suspiciously similar to the frozen Daylee Pride gyoza that I get at the Asian market.  I was not pleased -- for the same price I paid here for a dish of 10 dumplings, I could get a bag of 40.
• The panchan was bland, and our favorites (potato salad, fish cake) were missing.  The kimchi had an odd flavor to it -- sweet and musty.  
• Gah, the stew.  It tasted like miso soup, but with tough, stringy beef and clams that were definitely not the freshest.  We did ask for the stew to be mild, but it was so bland that we were forced to mix the kimchi into it.  And then we'd realize that the kimchi tasted funny and made the stew taste even weirder.
• This was incredibly rude of me, but I called Red Moon Noodle House on my cell phone and ordered Singapore noodles while I was still sitting at the table, waiting for the check.  My mother would kill me if she knew.  I couldn't help it; the disappointing meal had taken away any shred of courtesy I'd had!  And we knew Red Moon was closing in just a few minutes!

RESTAURANT INFORMATION 
Address: 4647 Convoy St, Ste 104 
Phone number: 858.565.0403 
Website: http://mapobbq.blogspot.com 
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Shared lot, still crowded
Ideal group size: 2-6
Available vegetarian options: Vegetable tofu stew, chivas [sic] green pancake
Noise level: 2

Dede's Chinese Cuisine

Cumin lamb, yum.

Cold appetizers -- cucumber pickles, seaweed, "husband and wife."

Deep-fried chicken with dried pepper -- this was delicious and also good cold the next day.

Fish with pickled pepper -- meh.

Pea shoots with garlic -- I (Jenne) really liked these.

Dramatic adding of the chicken to the sizzling crispy rice!

Crispy rice with chicken.

Rating: Two thumbs up
Date: 1/26/13
Time in: 6:56 PM
Time out: 9:20 PM 
Servers' recommendations: Cumin lamb, deep-fried chicken with dried pepper, crispy fish with sweet and sour sauce
What we ordered: Cumin lamb, deep-fried chicken with dried pepper, fish with pickled pepper, crispy rice with chicken, pea shoot leaves with garlic (daily special, not on the menu), cold appetizers 
Number in our party: 6 (with Arun, Victoria, Dora, and Mara as guest judges--this was a first for us, guest judges who were strangers from the internet!  It was a Metafilter meetup, organized because someone had posted a link to the blog and people were curious to try a Convoy restaurant.)
Final check amount: $72.31
Price per person: $12.05
Notes: 

• The cold appetizer that we tried was the "husband and wife" beef dish.  I (Miko) couldn't be a fair judge, since I can't handle offal in general, but Jenne reported that the tendon was a bit too chewy. (Tendon is usually kind of rubbery-firm, but you should be able to bite through it easily.  As far as I could tell there was no tripe in it, which is so totally fine with me. --Jenne)  The cucumbers were good in it, but the seaweed wasn't as good as others we've had.
• The cumin lamb had a unique flavor that we hadn't tasted before.  Arun is half-Indian and eats a lot of cumin, but he had never had anything like this lamb.  The onions in the dish were nicely cooked -- not raw or limp.
• The crispy rice was our favorite dish!  It wasn't spicy, so it was a nice break between the other dishes.  It had a comforting, home-cooked flavor, and it was seasoned just right. (Even though we asked for it without MSG!)
• I would prefer the fish with pickles without the celery -- I thought that the celery flavor overpowered everything else.  Arun thought the fish was too soft.  Jenne and I wouldn't order it again.
• According to Dora, the pea shoots were greasier than China Max's, but they were more tender.  Arun says they were standard -- not bad, not amazing.
• The steamed rice was cooked well!  Rice that comes in big portions in plastic pots is often dried out, but not here!
• I (Jenne) have been to Dede's several times before and I thought they were a bit off their game this time, but everyone seemed to enjoy it even so. 
• The portions were giant! We ordered 5 dishes for six people, which is usually a bit on the low side I think, and we had a huge amount of leftovers. This is not a bad thing!
  

RESTAURANT INFORMATION
Address: 4647 Convoy St
Phone number: 858.297.5999
Website: http://www.dedessandiego.com
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Shared lot, very crowded at dinnertime
Ideal group size: 1-6
Available vegetarian options: We didn't check. There might be vegetable/tofu dishes, but we're not sure if we could trust that there's no meat product (like oyster sauce, for instance) hidden in it somewhere.
Noise level: 3, but it was a 3.5 or even a 4 by the time we finished because there was a big jolly party at the table next to us.

Nozomi

It's very cute inside.

Lovely tomato?  Is it made with fish??

Tasty miso soup.

Rice cake yakitori -- it's a good idea!  Just needs better sauce.
This sauce was not delicious.
I think it would be good with just a little soy sauce and sugar.

They have a LOT of different rolls including something called the "Bill Gates Roll".
Does it use money instead of nori?

Okonomiyaki -- just kind of sad.

Miso salmon -- it sizzled excitingly as it came to the table, and we liked that it had a lot of vegetables, but the seasoning was kind of blah and the salmon was overcooked.

The rice was cooked well, but tasted of nothing.

Rating: Two thumbs down
Date: 1/19/13
Time in: 11:15 AM
Servers' recommendations: Miso salmon a la carte 
What we ordered:  Miso salmon a la carte, rice cake yakitori, okonomiyaki
Number in our party: 2
Final check amount: I forgot to write it down, but according to my bank statement, I paid $19.62 (including tip, and I tend to pay at least 20%)
Notes: 

• The inside was very cute and carefully decorated, but even then, it doesn't quite have x-factor.
  
• Everything was a tad on the expensive side, $1 or 2 more than we'd expect it to be.
• The server was friendly and gave us one concrete recommendation.  We liked that, especially because the menu was very lengthy.
• The miso soup was good.  It tasted like they actually made it.
• The salmon was okay -- the thick fatty parts were pretty tasty, but the thinner half was dry and overcooked.
  
• As Jenne said in the captions, the mochi dish would have been good if they had used a different sauce.  This one tasted like an overseasoned spicy ketchup.
• The okonomiyaki was gigantic.  Anything tastes good with tonkatsu sauce and mayonnaise drizzled on it, but the pancake itself was gummy and chewy, and the bonito flakes on top tasted stale.
• Jenne would disagree, but I'd rather go to Nozomi than Chopstix.  But that ain't saying much. 
• Nozomi is kind of like a Japanese version of Ranchos in North Park.  Plants outside, lots of vegetarian options, and food that doesn't taste very good.    

RESTAURANT INFORMATION 
Address: 4637 Convoy St, Ste 104
Phone number: 858.569.7773
Website: http://nozomisushiandteriyaki.menutoeat.com 
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Shared lot that's big for Convoy. It has spaces during the day, but hardly any at dinnertime.
Ideal group size: 1-6
Available vegetarian options: Very pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan-friendly, with a menu specifically for them. More sushi roll options for vegetarians than other sushi spots.
Noise level: 3 with no one in the restaurant -- the music was loud, especially for an early lunch.

Jasmine Express

They are not kidding with this. 
While we were waiting around, a guy lopped off about half of it with a giant cleaver. 
I mean GIANT.

There are very busy ladies behind this counter. 
Make sure you know what you want!

They have a whole section of hot dishes that looked amazing--
we'll have to come back for lunch sometime.

Honey BBQ pork--
the container seemed to contain the same sauce that was already on it.

Fried ham-sui-gok, creamy egg yolk bun.

Inside the fried ham-sui-gok.

Shrimp rice roll.

Stir-fried sweet rice.

Steamed BBQ pork bun.

Elegant dining atmosphere.

Note: Our New Year's resolution is to post within a week of visiting a restaurant!
 
Rating: Two thumbs up
Date: 1/12/13
Time in: 11:10 AM
Time out: 11:55 AM
Servers' recommendations: We didn't get a chance to ask for one -- they looked awfully busy, and we were awfully hungry.
What we ordered: Shrimp rice roll, fried ham-sui-gok, steamed BBQ pork bun, creamy egg yolk bun, stir-fried sweet rice, honey BBQ pork
Number in our party: 2 
Final check amount: $20.95
Notes: 

• Jasmine Express is the take-out section of Jasmine Seafood Restaurant.  We decided to count it as a separate place.  There are two picnic tables outside if you want to sit and eat. 
• The BBQ pork was tasty, and it would be so good in fried rice!  I did run into some gristly bits though. 
• The fried sweet rice reminds me of takikomi gohan.  
• Make sure to come early in the day -- they run out quickly, and the food is freshest right when they open at 11. 
• I love the gelatinous deliciousness that is the shrimp rice roll.  Yummm.
• We were surprised when we took our first bite of the fried ham-sui-gok.  The outside crust is DELICIOUS, like a thin layer of really good fried senbei.  Underneath, it's a layer of mochi, and then pork filling in the middle.  The pork filling was a little sweet for our taste, but we liked it dipped in the tangy sauce for the shrimp rice roll.
• The steamed BBQ buns were better than we remembered from our visit next-door.
• The creamy egg yolk bun was also lovely. 
  

RESTAURANT INFORMATION
Address: 4609 Convoy St, Ste A
Phone number: 858.268.0888
Website: http://www.jasmineseafood.com/jsr/html/home.html
Accepts credit cards? Yes, $10 minimum
Parking: Crowded shared lot
Ideal group size: Any
Available vegetarian options: Baked desserts, healthy vege dumpling (doesn't that sound sooo appealing...?), seared vege tofu rolls, vege rice roll, steamed Chinese broccoli
Noise level: 1