Dumpling Inn is the ultimate comfort food

Oh, how I love dumplings! They may be my favorite comfort food. And how amazing is it that they are becoming more commonplace in American cuisine? Finally, what took so long?

Dumpling Inn serves my favorite Xia Long Bao in San Diego. I realize saying this may cause a little controversy, I know there are a lot of Din Tai Fung lovers out there, so hear me out. I’ve been going to Dumpling Inn since well before it moved into this giant location with the Shanghai Saloon. If you’re local to San Diego and familiar with Convoy Street (where pretty much all of the amazing Asian food in San Diego resides), you may remember long ago when Dumpling Inn was located in what is now a little Boba Cafe in the left-corner of the shopping center where the current location resides. There were about 6 tables in the old location, and you would walk up and add your name to the list hanging from the door. Gaging by the number of names ahead of you would determine how many beers you would need to tailgate with in the parking lot as you impatiently waited for your turn. Ahh good times! My point to this little trip down memory lane, is that Dumpling Inn was the introduction to my love affair with Xia Long Bao. I absolutely love these morsels of love that burst with flavor (and soup) in your mouth. Along with the Xia Long Bao, the food here is consistently delicious, and there is really not a bad option on the menu — have you tried their fried rice? Best fried rice ever.

Long story long, here are some of my favorite options at Dumpling Inn:

Potstickers

Xia Long Bao (AKA Soup Dumplings, AKA Xiao Long Bao)

Pork and Chive Dumplings in Spicy Soup

Beef and Scallion

Sauteed Chinese Green

Not pictured is one of my favorite dishes - the Green Bean Fish with Black Bean sauce. It’s a fabulous and savory dish of flash fried sea bass with perfectly crunchy and bright green beans in one of the best black bean sauces I’ve had. It’s delightful and makes for some really tasty leftovers. Try it!

The potstickers are maybe just as exciting as the Xia Long Bao. They come out hot with a perfect seared crust on the bottom. they also make for some great leftovers if you don’t finish. Surprisingly, they travel well!

I highly recommend using the dipping sauces for your dumplings and be sure to ask for the spicy oil if it’s not on your table. I like to blend 2/3 soy sauce, 1/3 rice vinegar and add spicy oil + red chili flakes to your spice level of delight.

Warning: The Pork and Chive Dumplings (or choose any dumpling you like) with spicy soup is not for the faint of heart. It’s spicy, like the kind of spicy that gets ya if you inhale too quickly — unctuous and garlic-ey and delicious. This one will clear your sinuses and make your nose run, but it’s worth every savory and spicy bite!

A tip for devouring your Xia Long Bao is to scoop it onto your Chinese soup spoon, swoop some dipping sauce and take a bite — that way if the soup spills out of the dumpling it lands in the spoon and not the table. This is the suggested method for polite eaters that don’t want to gobble the whole dumpling down in one swift bite (I don’t really get how it’s possible, but for those that can actually restrain yourselves, give the spoon a go).

Dumpling Inn is one of my FAVORITE restaurants in San Diego, and is a fantastic spot for brunch or dinner, or your favorite sporting event. You can post up at the bar, munch on dumplings and your favorite craft beer and catch up on the game. I mean, does it get any better? I invite you to explore everything on the menu here, there is not a bad option, but don’t forget the dumplings!

Dumpling Inn

4625 Convoy Street

San Diego, CA 92111

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ

Neighborhood:  Kearney Mesa, San Diego

Price: $$-$

Vibe: Small, casual and lively – make reservations. Japanese room dividers separate most of the tables for a little privacy. Can accommodate larger parties of 8-10 with beer towers to boot!

If you’ve read anything else in this blog, you’ll know that I’m kind of obsessed with Asian food.  There is so much to explore in this cuisine!  I promise I won’t stop until I’ve tried it all….at least that’s the goal.  Which brings me to my discovery of Japanese BBQ.  I’m sure that you’ve tried or at least heard of Korean BBQ. Where you are seated at a table with a mini grill in the middle where you cook and flip the meat yourself. A lot of Korean BBQ joints offer an “all-you-can-eat” menu, and while this is delicious, it can sometimes feel like quantity over quality. Japanese BBQ is not the all-you-can-eat type of fare.  You still order meats and cook it yourself, but as you can imagine when it comes to anything with Japanese, it’s meticulous.  The cuts of meat are perfect morsels - probably cut and defined for both the perfect cook and the perfect bite.  It’s an experience.  One that you must try at least once.

Tsuruhashi is in a little strip mall off Convoy Street in Kearney Mesa – where most of the authentic hole-in-the-wall gems are found in San Diego.  You’ll immediately be greeted by the warm buzzing atmosphere of the BBQs sizzling and the diners happily engrossed in conversation as you walk in the door.  The tables are all separated by large booths and wall-hangings, so you are able to stuff your face in privacy. 

The food options are many and there is really nothing that isn’t good – some of the more ethnic options (tongue, intestine, heart) are not for me, so this won’t be a review of those menu items. But we did try a lot of food and had a lot of fun cooking and eating it.

Our order:

Assorted Kimchi

Assorted Seasoned Vegetable

Waygu shortrib

Waygu sirloin

Prime Cap Rib Eye

Onion Prime Rib

Garlic in butter

Stone Pot Bibimbap

Assorted Kimchi and Assorted Vegetables

To start, I suggest getting the assorted seasoned vegetable and the assorted kimchi (if you like kimchi).  These are great appetizers – the assorted vegetable is unique and fun to try, featuring a small sampling of bean sprouts (LOVE), Royal Fern and spinach.  Try this.  The kimchi sampler is the same with 4 different types of kimchi made with different types of cabbage.  These are also great to eat with your meats as you BBQ!

Another side dish that is fabulous and goes well with the meats is the Stone Pot Bibimbap.  All vegetarian, this comes out in a sizzling stone pot.  I recommend letting the server stir and serve it up for you.  Lots of unique flavors and spice in this yummy side.

For BBQ, they were having a special on the Waygu – so we simply could not pass that up!  We don’t always go so bougie…well, that’s kind of a lie, we love to splurge at Food Club!

Waygu Short Rib

Onion Prime Rib

There really are no rules when it comes to how and when you want to BBQ.  What we like to do is cook each cut of meat at the same time.  The grill is not that big, so it’s not meant to smother with loads of meat. Take your time with Japanese BBQ and savor each bite, the meat deserves it.  Because the pieces are small, they do tend to cook fast, so keep an eye on your gill!  A couple of minutes on each side is all you need, typically.  I like to alternate between the dipping sauces as I enjoy what we pull off the grill.  All of the meats are fabulous and if you don’t feel like splurging on the Waygu (which is absolutely divine by the way), I highly recommend the Prime Rib!

BBQ, drink, and eat to your heart’s content!  And repeat.

Do you have a favorite order at Japanese BBQ? Share it with us!

Tsuruhashi

3904 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 92111

Yakyudori for delicious ramen, gyoza and wings?

Nagoya ramen - spicy bamboo shoots, chives, stir fried minced pork

Neighborhood: Convoy Street, Kearney Mesa, San Diego

Price: $

Vibe: Intimate and smokey, there are a few small tables and seats at the bar/BBQ where you can chat up the chefs cooking up yakitori

I often talk about Convoy Street in this blog. For those not familiar, Convoy Street is bustling little Asia-town, situated in the heart of Kearny Mesa in San Diego. This area is teeming with delicious delights of all ethnicities and varieties. One goal for this blog and our “food club” is to explore this area more. There are many Convoy restaurants that I know and love. But for each that I know, there are a dozen others that have not yet been explored. There’s a lot of eating to do and I’m working on it.

Until I get around to exploring some new Convoy restaurants, let me share with you one that I’ve frequented for at least the last decade, probably longer. Yakyudori is a small and unassuming Japanese BBQ restaurant tucked away off-Convoy next to Starbucks. I realize that typically one goes to a yakitori restaurant to get, well, yakitori.  Yakitori is a Japanese BBQ style of cooking that involves skewering the meat or vegetable with “kushi”, a type of skewer made of bamboo or steel and cooked over a charcoal fire.  This usually makes for a smoky atmosphere in the restaurant, and it may overwhelm at times, but it’s a good smoky.  Yakitori is delicious, don’t get me wrong, but when I crave my favorite bowl of ramen, with the spicy broth that makes my nose run, with ground pork (instead of chatsu) and bamboo shoots – my favorite is Yakyudori.  This amazing little BBQ joint is a lot more than just yakitori and I’m here to share with some of my favorite, non-yakitori items.

ipad to order your meal

The appetizers are wonderful. The gyozas are always a good option, you can order them steamed or fried, and the chicken wings are just delicious! Very crunchy and great seasoning.

Gyozas

Salt and pepper chicken wings. Try them!

Let’s get down to the real reason I keep coming back, my favorite bowl of steaming spicy broth – the Nagoya ramen.  People looking for some spice in their ramen are probably going to get swayed into ordering the “spicy miso” or “spicy tonkotsu” broth, but don’t let the simple name fool you. Nagoya is spicy!  The kind of spice that makes you watch yourself as you inhale before a good bite or wow, it’ll get ya! This simple ramen dish is minced pork (my fave), spicy bamboo shoots, and minced chives. Feel free to make your add-ons, but I like this one as it is.

Have you been to Yakyudori? What dishes do you love? Share in the comments below!

Nagoya ramen

Yakyudori

4898 Convoy Street #101,

San Diego, CA 92111