Convoy New Restaurants

[mliew]

Haven't seen much (if any) talk about Convoy changes recently. Have noticed a couple new places popup and wanted to see what people think:

- Nam Am Vietnamese restaurant (http://www.yelp.com/biz/nam-an-vietnamese-restaurant-san-diego) in the same strip mall as China Max/Spicy City. Seems they don't have any official website yet. Couple of the reviews mention handmade noodles in the pho which sounds promising.

- Koon Thai Kitchen (http://www.koonthaikitchen.com). Read a review from Kirk a few weeks ago and he didn't sound too impressed. Looks pretty americanized but was wondering if maybe they have a couple standout dishes.

- Reopening of Luong Hai Ky where Phat was (their original location). Never really understood how Phat and LHK were related but it definitely seemed they had a connection. Perhaps same owner wanting to try out a different menu that failed? In any case LHK is back. I wonder how the quality is compared to the Mira Mesa location.

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Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107, San Diego, CA 92111

[mliew]

Couple updates:

- Izakaya Sakura is finally open for business again although according to their signage this is a "soft" reopening so their hours are not posted. Not sure why they are doing this. I noticed that they did update some of their menus and seemed to add a couple new items but everything is the same for the most part.

- New Shabu Shabu place has opened two doors down from Sakura (Shabu World or City or something like that). Personally I'm not a huge fan of japanese Shabu Shabu but if they also serve authentic cook yourself style Sukiyaki I would definitely be willing to give it a try.

[karaethon]

Didn't even know Izakaya Sakura had closed... why did the close and reopen?

[honkman]

Fire next door which also effect them a bit and they decided to use the time to "clean up"/repair/upgrade their restaurant

[shouzen]

We went this weekend and Fidel Castro's portrait is still up on their wall... go figure. Remodeled bathrooms has nicer fixtures now, yay.

[honkman]

There is a portrait of Fidel ? I guess I go there most of the time for lunch with colleagues and don't look around enough. At which wall ?

[mliew]

Yeah I've never noticed any picture of Castro either. Shouzen: Are you referring to the picture of the man wearing an orange jacket in the corner where the bar seating wraps around? If that's the picture you are talking about I'm pretty sure it's not Castro, but I could be wrong.

I agree the remodeled men's room is much nicer. It used to be really dark in there with just a single bare light bulb.

[shouzen]

I believe that's the one I'm referring to. If it's not him, I'd say it looks a heck of a lot like him! Actually, the next person who goes there should ask them who it is and we'll know once and for all!

[honkman]

Just to make sure - We are talking about the picture on the very right with the guy in the red jacket ? I never really looked at it but always had the impression it might be a picture of Ernest Hemingway

https://img-s.foursquare.com/pix/UWXK...

[mliew]

Yeah thats the one. Funny you were actually able to locate a picture of it.

[RB Hound]

Are you guys sure this isn't the world's most interesting man? Stay thirsty, my friends.

[shouzen]

Haha, nice find :) I thought it was too skinny to be the Papa.

[mliew]

I saw that Savory Garden has opened in 99 Ranch (where 168 Restaurant used to be). Anyone been yet?

Apparently it's Taiwanese themed with a menu similar to Liang's Kitchen according to a yelp review.

[thebrocklee]

I was hoping this place would be good, but I didn't have a good experience there. The service very was slow, despite not being that busy. I ordered 牛肉麵, and it was just beef, noodles and no real veggies. The meat to noodle ratio was off (too much noodle), and the both was bland. Probably not going back.

[cgfan]

I wonder when they switched over?

I was just there (Restaurant 168) last Friday and had a Niu Rou Mian and I kinda liked it. The beef was really tender and very tasty, unlike Liang's which was tough and flavorless, the soup was really brothy and mildly spicy, unlike Liang's (Liang's was also strangely sweet, I thought), though the noodles were really not doing much (this is where Liang's bowl rocked and 168 fell flat).

Assuming I got lucky and it still was Restaurant 168 on Friday.

[honkman]

If you were there last Friday it was already Savory Garden

[mliew]

Yeah, I think when I was there they hadn't gotten around to taking down the 168 signs yet, but it's been Savory Garden for a couple weeks now already.

[mliew]

I had the opportunity to try Savory Garden over the weekend. Overall impression is that it was good but nothing outstanding. We had the Xiao Long Bao, Green beans with ground pork and fried chicken wings. They did a good job with the XLB in that almost all of the dumplings were intact and contained a good amount of soup. The chicken wings were very large but the batter was a little on the heavy side and too salty. We ordered the green beans because it seemed a lot of tables were ordering them -- again they were good but the dish could have used a little more sauce.

Overall not bad and definitely an upgrade from 168.

[chezwhitey]

Tried it out too over the weekend. In a nutshell, 1/2 the quality of similar places in l.a. at a markup of 30%. At least they are trying.

[hye]

Wait, there's decent NRM in San Diego? I gave up on it after trying the version at Spicy City 2 (i.e. after the changeover from Shanghai City).

[mliew]

I had read that Liang's Kitchen was opening a location in San Diego. It's a taiwanese chain with various locations in CA. I read on Kirbie's blog that they had taken over the space next to Tajima on Convoy. I thought they wouldn't be open for another few weeks at least but we happened to be thinking about eating at Tajima and to my surprise they were open! I guess they soft opened yesterday with their grand opening scheduled for next week sometime.

They seem to be working out the kinks in their service as expected but they were attentive enough and the mistakes were minor. The food quality was excellent and on par with their Irvine location. Definitely nice to know there is another good Chinese option in the area, as I feel SD severely lacks in good Chinese food options.

[karaethon]

Really? I'll have to check it out... I'm a fan of the Irvine location...

[cgfan]

karaethon, I have this strange feeling that I've eaten there a number of times without ever having known their name...

By chance are they that tiny eatery just to the "right" of SW Seafood & BBQ on the very south side of the plaza? Just trying out a hunch...

[karaethon]

I think you're thinking of Nice Time Deli (now 101 noodle express). I think the place you're describing is between Chef Chen and Sam Woo. It's on the outer corner closest to Walnut and next to Tapioca Express.... It used to be a Japanese "fast food" place...

[daantaat]

ooh, will have to check it out!

[karaethon]

I did check it out last night. They are giving 10% discounts to all bills for their grand opening. It's not as good as Irvine, but (at least some dishes) it will be easy to say it has the best "Taiwanese" food in San Diego.

Should have a review up early next week

[hungerpane]

Will have to check this place out, too.

[mliew]

Couple updates:

I went to LHK a couple weeks ago. The place looks more or less the same as it did before. Had the garlic pork chop and the noodle soup. Like MikeC reported the quality seems to be more or less the same as the MM location.

Also I noticed there is a new fusion place called Coconut Tree that opened in the Tapioca Express strip mall (aka worst strip mall to find parking in ever) where Crepe World was/is. Seems that they divided up the space that Crepe World used to have into two restaurants, perhaps it's the same owners? Reviews on yelp seem to be mixed for Coconut Tree. Has anyone been there?

[mliew]

Had a chance to try Nam Am over the weekend. Bullet points are:

Pros:
- Ambience is nice and modern, much more classy than most other pho places in the area (on par with Pho Mignon + Grill).
- Prices are comparable to Pho Convoy and Pho T Cali.
- Meat quality seems to be a notch above the previously mentioned places. Both in the sliced beef in the pho and the grilled pork chop.
- Noodles are supposedly handmade. They are wider than the standard pho shop noodles and had a nice chew to them.

Cons
- Pho broth is on the weak side.
- Pork chop/ steamed egg meatloaf was also on the bland side.

The staff is very nice and friendly and most of them seem to speak english. Will definitely return to try the special appetizer menu which contains the more authentic Vietnamese dishes.

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Pho T Cali Restaurant
7351 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92111

Pho Convoy
4647 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111

[daantaat]

How weak is the broth? As weak as Pho Ca Dao?

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Pho Ca Dao Restaurant
8373 Mira Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92126

[mliew]

It's been a few years since I've been to Pho Ca Dao so it's hard for me to compare. I don't remember the broth being particularly weak at Pho Ca Dao. In any case the broth at Nam Am was probably one of the lighter ones I've had anywhere around SD, very sparse on the fat/oil and was pretty one note without the addition of any of the condiments. Perhaps they are following the style of Pho Mignon by trying to make the broth more "healthy" by removing most of the oil.

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Pho Ca Dao Restaurant
8373 Mira Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92126

[karaethon]

You can ask for extra fat/oil from any pho restaurant and they should bring it out for free. If the broth itself is too thin though, no amount of fat/oil will help.

The broth at Pho Mignon isn't thin in the sense of flavor, but it definitely tastes like it is missing the "comfort food" quality of pho. Adding the fat/oil just to their broth just brings back that "comfort food" quality (but doesn't really add much flavor).

[mliew]

Yeah I think in this case the broth was just too thin and adding the fat/oil probably wouldn't have helped.

Interestingly on Yelp people seem to recommend the chicken pho. Seems that they use free range chicken. Might have to give that a try.

[mikec]

According to the waiter at LHK on Convoy, the owners of LHK wanted to try something different, so they tried the Phat concept through its two renditions (boiled chicken and then Vietnamese buffet). I think the quality at the LHK on Convoy is at least as good as the MM location of the few things I've tried.

[karaethon]

I also noticed a Cali Baguette next to Chin's. Not sure how new that is though...

[mliew]

Yeah, I noticed that also. I think it's been there for about 6 months or so. Haven't tried it either, but have heard it's pretty good.

[daantaat]

One of my friends loves Cali Baguette. He swears it's the best deal in town. Something like $3-4 for a banh mi on fresh bread. I have yet to check it out.

[kare_raisu]

Its the best in town I have had and my favorite right now. Bread is tasty and texturally spot on, veggies and meats super fresh. Saigon Sandwiches, Cafe Dore are close to it though.

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Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave, San Diego, CA 92105

[karaethon]

Is the Cali Baguette on Convoy the same/related to the Cali Baguette on Mira Mesa and Black Mountain? I thought the one in Mira Mesa was allegedly "the best"

[AtomicSuplex]

I think they're ok, but since you're in the area, why not just go to K Sandwiches? I think they're bread is much better.

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K Sandwiches
7604 Linda Vista Rd, San Diego, CA 92111

[kare_raisu]

No way - K's is beginners banh mi. and bread is better at cali

[chezwhitey]

I've had it 2 or 3 times. I really like it a lot, maybe better than k's. They have decent but not great noodle soups as well.