mscinda

Baguette Express

mscinda — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Baguete Express

5125 El Cajon Blvd.

www.baguetteexpress.com

I have not been here in a couple of years (since they opened). I can’t remember why I never returned. They are in the process of renovating right now. When you walk into Baguette Express, there’s a dining area and as you approach the counter there are tables of yummy goodies and gift items like bamboo plants.

I didn’t really see anything I wanted on the tables. But the counter…

Look at all the yummy goodness here.

I had to get the egg rolls, they were calling to me.

I ordered the dac biet as usual.

The bread is a baguette, unlike the sandwiches at my beloved Saigon.

The filling is the usual: pickles, cucumber, jalapeno slices, cilantro, cha lau, headcheese, pate,and roast pork. With homemade mayo. I have to point out the parts that I liked and not liked. I must rave about the bread. It was amazingly light and crunchy on the outside and the inside was moist and chewy. It had a buttery flavor I think. It was very good.

Now to what I didn’t like: the pickles. I guess I’m used to the ones at Saigon. The pickles here were lacking in flavor for me. The cucumber tasted off for me.

The other sandwich we ordered was the bbq pork. Same bread and filling but instead of the deli meats, it has bbq pork which wasn’t dry, but was very sweet. It didn’t taste like bbq pork that I’m used to. It was an ok sandwich. Again, the bread was delicious!

Overall, I would return to Baguette Express. It was clean and the gal at the counter was extremely nice and efficient. I think if I get another sandwich, I would as for extra hot peppers. But I will for sure return and get their bread.

the Greek Corner

mscinda — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:10:00 +0000

the Greek Corner Restaurant

5841 El Cajon Blvd.

San Diego, CA

I drive by this place a lot since I buy groceries often on El Cajon Blvd. Last Friday I decided to stop in and try it. I really should have read the yelp reviews first. I have a weakness for gyros and falafels.

The restaurant itself was dark and not lit very well. I could barely read the menu. I was ordering carry out. (And yes I even tipped. I’m so scared about not tipping. I might offend someone, they might spit in my food or I might get arrested.) I was too distracted by the lack of lighting that I didn’t even look at the rest of the restaurant. I did notice there was an organ or piano tucked off into a hallway. There must be some big celebrations at night or weekends there.

We ordered fries, a falafel sandwich, and a combination plate. No pictures of the fries (which were the BEST thing we ate there). They were like McDonald’s fries but heavily seasoned with pepper.

This is the falafel sandwich. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the cook/gal microwaving them!! Yes!! I almost wanted to cancel our order. I thought (since I’ve made them before) that falafels were deep fried. Look at the sandwich. Can you even tell what it is? I thought falafels were to keep their round shape even if it’s in a sandwich. I even googled it to see what it should look like and this wasn’t it. And the worst part, it had no flavor and the texture was all wrong. I thought about putting the sauce that came with the combination plate for more taste. But that sauce was runny and had no flavor either.

The combination plate came with pita slices, rice, a salad, gyro meat, and a beef skewer. The only thing that had flavor was the rice. And that tasted like it came from a box. Both the beef and gyro meat tasted like they weren’t seasoned. How can Greek food be tasteless? And the food cost $22. I’m glad I tried it so I know to never go back.

Banh Bao Throw Down

mscinda — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:59:00 +0000

For the past few weeks I have been craving banh bao. I do all my shopping on University Street and the markets there don’t seem to have any ‘fresh’ ones when I go. So no banh bao for me. I decided to attempt my own. I’ve only made it one other time, but it was the bbq pork version. They turned out yummy but that was a couple of years ago.

I had mentioned it to my brother, who is a really good cook (like my mom) and it turned out he had the same idea. So we had a Banh Bao Throw Down, which I declared him the winner. You can find his Banh Bao post here.

As a child, I only remember my mom making these once. Her advice to me was to use boiling water for the dough and to add water chestnuts to my pork filling. I wanted my buns to look pretty and I researched how to fold them. By research, I mean I watched a few youtube videos. It seemed like all the instructors were very quick in showing their technique. So I was unable to copy them, but I’m sure with more practice I will eventually make prettier buns.

This is the flour mix I used.

16 oz Bot Banh Bao flour mix

1/2 C Sugar

1 C Milk

1 T Oil

Take 1 T of flour from the package and set aside for later use (I am assuming for when I roll out the dough). Mix the sugar and flour Gradually add the milk and knead for 15 minutes. Add 1 T Oil and knead for 10 minutes. Cover the dough for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, take one piece of Chinese sausage and cut into 12 pieces.

Boil 3 large eggs and once cooled and peeled, cut into quarters.

Make other part of filling by taking 1/2 lb of ground pork and marinating it with some minced garlic, sugar, black pepper, and oyster sauce.

I wonder if the technique is to take the rolled out dough, top with the meat mixture that has the egg and the Chinese sausage inside it? That is the only way I can figure out to keep the bun a round shape.

Divide the dough into 12 parts and roll the dough thinly.

Put filling into the middle and roll sides up to form a round roll.

Boil water in a steamer, add 1 T of vinegar to help make buns white. Steam the buns for 15 minutes then take the cover off and steam for 6 more minutes.

I let the buns cool for maybe 2 minutes before eating. I like to eat them immediately. They aren’t pretty but they were delicious.

Next time I’m going to make HUGE buns and go with my mom’s advice to use the boiling water in the dough and fatter meat for the filling. I don’t like water chestnuts so I won’t be adding that to my filling. I do love the egg and the Chinese sausage in them. Reminds me of my childhood. My dad would always bring me back one from the Asian market. I remember the dough being moist, not dry and the filling so flavorful.

I had fun cooking these buns. Thank you brother for inspiring me and challenging me.