Chon Ju Jip

First Visit

Rating: Two thumbs up, gold star potential
Date: 6/29/12 
Time in: 7:35 PM 
Time out: 8:34 PM

Servers' recommendations: LA galbi, gai bi chim, hae mool pah jun (seafood pancake), dduk bok ee

What we ordered: LA galbi, hae mool pah jun, dduk bok ee
Number in our party: 3 (with Elise)
Final check amount: $37.55
Notes: 

• It's an itty place that's easy to miss.  We had to search for the door to get in.
• Really cute and homey atmosphere.  There's no music, which is unusual for a restaurant.
• We had an adorable little server, very enthusiastic.
• There's free tea upon arrival!  But it's room-temp.
• The menu doesn't have any English explanations.  I'm not that familiar with Korean dishes, so I was lost.  Thank God Elise came too.
• The panchan is the best we've had so far.
• The dduk bok ee is so good!  I've never had any with ramen in it before.
• The LA galbi is tender, juicy, flavorful, and delicious.
• The seafood pancake is excellent.  Mmm, teeny-tiny octopus and baby shrimp.  The calamari in it is tender, and the pancake itself isn't too doughy or chewy like we've found at other places.

Second Visit



We may have mentioned once or twice that
we love this kind of potato salad...

Some little sweet beans -- we thought the panchan here
was really good and not from the same mysterious panchan store
that most of the other Korean places seem to use.
(Is THAT what they're doing at Manna Bakery?)

Ddukbokki!  I am predicting that
this will be the new Asian food fad
-- the pho of the 2010s?
Note that this version has ramen noodles
and an egg (just for Miko!)



Pork bok kum.



Deng gachi ge, furiously boiling!





Rating: Two thumbs up!
Date: 7/3/12
Time in: 8:46 PM

Servers' recommendations: Combo pork bok kum + deng gachi ge, seafood pancake, dduk bok ee, LA kalbi, gai bi chim

What we ordered: Recommended combo, seafood pancake, dduk bok ee
Number in our party: 4 (with Elise and Sarah H.)
Final check amount: $39.71
Notes: 

• This time, our server was not the friendliest.
• But the seafood pancake and dduk bok ee were just as amazing as last time!
• I was not a fan of the deng gachi ge -- it smelled like kiriboshi daikon, which I've always hated.  Elise would also like us to note that one of the panchan tastes like you licked a hippie.  We have no idea what exactly it was.
• Our favorite Korean place other than Jeong Won!  Chon Ju Jip gets a gold star!

RESTAURANT INFORMATION

Address: 4373 Convoy St

Phone number: 858-268-0835

Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/chon-ju-jip-san-diego

Accepts credit cards?  Yes

Parking: Incredibly crowded lot

Ideal group size: 2-4.  You could maybe get away with 6.

Available vegetarian options:  We have no idea. The menu had no descriptions.

Noise level: 3

Walmido - CLOSED

Truffed?

We really really wanted the popcorn lobster roll
...but we had too many things already by the time we noticed it.

Miko with the Miko roll!

Closeup on Miko.

Yakisoba!  The best one we've found so far.

Seared tuna and salmon.  The tuna was TERRIBLE, really weird texture.
The salmon was a solid effort -- would eat again! 

These little rolls were tasty and half price!  PRACTICALLY FREE!

Seafood pancake.  Not the greatest.

Rating: Two thumbs up, solely due to the yakisoba

Date: 6/17/12

Time in: 5:39 PM

Servers' recommendations: Miko roll, seafood yakisoba, nigiri and happy hour rolls (because they're super-cheap!)
What we ordered: Miko roll, seafood yakisoba, avocado roll, California roll, spicy scallop roll, seared tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri

Number in our party: 3 (with Sarah M.)
Final check amount: $57.38
Notes: 

• There is apparently a Korean menu we didn't get to see! 
• The yakisoba is the best we've had on Convoy, and we'd come back just for that.  The seafood is a little fishy to Jenne.  Sarah and I found it fine.
• The salmon nigiri was decent.
• The seafood pancake was giant, expensive, and not very good.
• The edamame was cold and unsalted -- double-fail.  Although maybe we shouldn't complain, since it was free.
• The rolls tasted good -- lots of avocado, lots of crab, and lots of spicy!  But they were so deformed!  We had to laugh at how lopsided they looked.
• The seared tuna was truly terrible.  It might have been blow-torched?
• There's a longer wait than I'd like between dishes.
• The water is room temp, which we didn't find enjoyable.
• The server and the sushi chef were very handsome.
• The server boxed up the leftovers for us, which we always appreciate.
• Walmido has a very pleasant atmosphere--it looks much nicer inside than outside.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION

Address: 4367 Convoy St 
Phone number: 858.571.1888
Website: http://walmidosushi.menutoeat.com
Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Crowded lot -- hard to find spaces!
Ideal group size: 2-6
Noise level: 3

Katzra/Katsura

Salad with tasty dressing!

Cucumber pickles!  This is unusual and AWESOME.

Yellowtail and tuna -- just okay.

This French kiss roll had WAY too much going on.

Katzra roll: the salmon was much better than we expected!

Forgot to take a picture of the uni. 
It was kind of gross though, with a weird chemical taste.

The apprentice chef gave us this mystery roll on the house!  It was tasty.

Fancy oranges

Rating: One thumb down (Miko), one sideways (Jenne)

Date: 6/8/12

Time in: 8 PM

Time out: 8:54 PM

Servers' recommendations: Tuna, yellowtail, salmon, live sea urchin

What we ordered: Yellowtail and tuna nigiri, French kiss roll, Katzra roll, miso soup 

Number in our party: 4

Final check amount: $45.23

Notes: 

• We wondered if they gave us special treatment because they saw that I was taking notes.
• The chef came to the table to give us his recommendations and was very friendly and non-intimidating.
• The nigiri had no wasabi on it.  We did not like that.
• The tuna and yellowtail was a bit fishy and a little mushy.
• The salmon was surprisingly good.  Creamy and delicious.
• The French kiss roll was a bit of a mess.  It's a common mistake with Western sushi rolls, trying to stuff anything and everything in there.  And then they're too big to bite into and they fall apart, so you can't get all the different flavors together anyway.
• They gave us lot of free stuff!  The underling chef made us a roll at the end, and it was creative and tasty.  It was made of soy paper, salmon, crab, and sesame vinegar.  They gave us fancy sliced oranges too.

5/10 UPDATE

I (Miko) recently went to Katzra, and they had recently remodeled and reopened. And it was so terrible! Everything tasted a little off, and the crunchies were stale. Therefore, I have changed my rating (with Jenne's permission), even though I did not go on an official  Convoy Conquest visit.

RESTAURANT INFORMATION

Address: 4225 Convoy St

Phone number: 858.279.3430
Website: http://katzra.com/

Accepts credit cards? Yes
Parking: Crowded lot with itty-bitty spaces
Ideal group size: 1-4

Noise level: 2.5

Who not to bring: A big group of people, vegetarians