Home-made Bao Zhi + Potstickers: Roger sux at pinyin

Alright let's get this out of the way first: I don't know a lick of pinyin. What I do know, however, is that my feeble attempts are usually kind of close to the correct spelling. Don't look at me like that. Hey cut it out! At least I'm fluent in and can read Mandarin.

One of my mother's students--Mrs. Chin--is a fantastic cook, so we invited her over to pass on to us skills that only Chinese grandmothers have. Hell, even then, not all grannies know how to cook. During this visit, Mrs. Chin taught us how to make Bao Zhi, which are essentially steamed buns with a savory filling. Think: Cha siu baau from dim-sum, but requiring more technique to make.

Pork+cabbage were the main ingredients today, though there are numerous other types of fillings. Since we were a bit too generous with the filling for each bao zhi, we had no choice but to make potstickers. ...God I hate pinyin.

I will post the recipe soon after I translate and organize the notes Mrs. Chin gave us. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

Lots of perfect ones, but can you spot the Ugly Ducklings? Those little folds are freakin' hard to make.

Mrs. Chin works at a blistering pace!

This brought back memories of my childhood. Play-dough was awesome.

That's how much filling you can stuff into a potsticker!

Perfect bao zhi, but burnt potstickers. I won't get distracted by Giada De Laurentiis next time...

Sushi Deli 2

Friends and I recently went to Sushi Deli 2 next to Horton for their happy hour specials. It was fun hanging out, but damn...the crap that was served to us left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Prices during happy hour are pretty sweet. Hand rolls are half price (roughly 1.25-50 each) and sake is hella cheap. And yes it's sake not saki, goddamnit! Even the staff there got it wrong. I think Sapporo was cheaper too, but I don't remember. Nigiri runs about the same price as the hand rolls. Doesn't sound too bad right?

Wrong.

Our orders took a full half hour to come to us as surrounding tables filled and emptied. Apparently if you order off the happy hour menu, Sushi Deli will take their sweet ass time to prepare your meal. But why would they do such a thing?! Oh to run out the clock, of course! We arrived thirty minutes before the end of happy hour and Sushi Deli did not want us to place additional orders at the discounted price! Honestly, though, it doesn't matter either way because after your first glance, bite, or sniff, I'm sure anyone with functional tastebuds would just get up and leave.

Let's start with the handrolls. I mean...how can you screw up a hand roll? Oh I know! You can use thick, damp nori that is impossible to tear. While you're at it, why not use overly sweet rice that has been heavily pressed before it's tossed into the fridge? I assure you refrigerated rice takes a whole lot of effort to chew. The spicy tuna was quite a contrast with the rice. Sushi Deli must have used a food processor to chop up the tuna into a spreadable paste. How considerate of them! They must have realized that since the rice is so hard to chew, they'd do us a solid by filling up the hand roll with spicy tuna that requires no chewing whatsoever.

Hand rolls were bad, but they were heavenly in comparison with Sushi Deli's nigiri. I had ordered the tuna and hamachi as a litmus test. I laughed out loud when my server set down my order. I've never eaten light-brown hamachi before, and as much as I like taking risks, I did not intend to spend my graduation week sitting on or huddled over a toilet. Maguro was the same story--limp pieces of rotting fish. I'm not exaggerating. Meat becomes discolored and starts to give off unpleasant odors when it rots. Duh. Common sense right? Well looks like the folks who run Sushi Deli think it's fine to serve this shit to customers.

The various "imaginative" rolls (lol @ the Mexican roll) served at Sushi Deli are equally horrendous. Same story: poorly prepared rice, rotting fish, etc. Sushi Deli attempts to mask these shortcomings by over-saucing each roll. Hell, if it still tastes bad, every table has a bottle of Sriracha for further flavor masking.

You would think a place like Sushi Deli would get shut down either due to failing a health department inspection or lack of patrons. Nope. Nuh-uh. Sushi Deli is as popular as ever with up to an hour wait during dinner. I have noticed that most of the clientele are young college students or twenty-somethings probably drawn to the "hip" ambiance created by the "Asian" decor. Or maybe they get off on eating shit a la 2-Girls-1-Cup. No don't Google the video...it is not for the faint of heart. Even Clooney couldn't handle it.


Interestingly enough, there are many very positive reviews of Sushi Deli on Yelp! and blogs like Plate of the Day. Keep in mind over half the people on Yelp! don't know what the hell they are talking about. Sushi Deli 2 is just terribad.

How can one not recognize rotting flesh when it's just stinking up the plate in front of you?

This is by far the most negative review I've ever posted. It'll likely be the last raging/vulgar post that will find it's way to my blog. I apologize if I offended any readers. If you honestly enjoy dining at Sushi Deli, all the more power to ya. It's nice to be easily satisfied. I mean that in a good way. Honest! I just get really worked up when it comes to food...you know, like how some folks go bonkers over politics.



EDIT: Due to the late hour when I wrote this post, I neglected to mention the discrepancy between Sushi Deli 2 and Sushi Deli 1. Thanks for the reminder Marie! While prices are very affordable in both locations, Sushi Deli 1 serves up some pretty damn good food. Moowie has actually done a terrific write-up on Sushi Deli 1. Check it out



Sushi Deli 2's address provided as a formality. I truly hope all of you trust me enough not to try out this horrible restaurant.



Sushi Deli 2
135 Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101
619-233-3072

Graduation!

WOOHOO! I'm finally done with school. Laters, UCSD. With all the excitement going on there hasn't been and won't be any new posts for awhile. Don't worry though, I got a lot of San Diego eats lined up for a writeup.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the beach! Fabulous weather today. You oughta come out too! Lots of hot co-eds will be present ;D

Phil's BBQ

Brief post since my head is all fuzzy from studying. Went to the new Phil's BBQ location on Sports Arena just to see if the food had changed since my last visit a year ago at the original Mission Hills location.

I'm sad to say that the ribs from the new Phil's does not measure up to the original. Not even close. Preparation lacks care and professionalism. Though the sauce is still wonderful, it cannot make up for dinky sized CHARRED ribs with less meat than the original version. I had more than one rib that was completely charred and inedible. My two friends also had similar problems with their orders. Seems like mass producing ribs for the line that circles around the building has significantly brought down the quality (and size) of Phil's BBQ ribs. I won't be coming back.

If you still decide to go, don't forget to order the onion rings. They are fantastic. Also, you can skip the side orders. They are pretty standard and not worth mentioning. Baked beans were okay, though. Skip the BBQ chicken. It's just chicken brushed with BBQ sauce. You can make it at home.

Wow I sound pretty grumpy and disorganized in this post...my apologies. But seriously though, Phil's has gone downhill. Way way downhill.



Phil's BBQ
3750 Sports Arena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
619.226.6333