–China Fun in Carmel mtn area of rancho Bernardo is now Spicy house from Convoy and is a huge upgrade on authentic, non-hot pot, Chinese food in this area. The signage may still be China fun and it seems they still serve Americanized food from the old China fun menu whereas the spicy house menu has more authentic dishes. Service is efficient and not necessarily warm. Very happy to have this close by.
Atlas international market (same owners as balboa market) is open in poway and has an international food court (yes in poway) with Indian, Korean, sushi, pizza, Persian and a bakery with fresh sangak bread. I have not eaten at any of the places but have high hopes as I walked through prior to opening and the menus looked good. The market is also terrific for Asian (compared to other places in area, not compared to hmart or 99 ranch), Indian and middle eastern groceries. They actually have a pickle barrel!
Kikos food truck is now consistently parked at poway Rd and pomerado rd in poway. Not as good as mariscos German but still really good.
If anyone has any recommendations for any type of food anywhere in Sd county or beyond, let me know.
Yes, Atlas is really nice. I like it way better than North Park Produce down on Poway Rd. Thanks for the intel on Spicy House nee China Fun. Have you tried Hunan Chinese over in RB? Yeah it is pretty much Americanized Chinese food but they do have a separate Chinese menu, which to my gringo palate is pretty interesting.
Just ate at Atlas food hall. Place is super busy for the gran opening. The options: fresh baked Persian breads and pastries, juice bar, doburi bowls and japenese ramen, Persian kabobs and stews, pizza and pasta, Korean noodle soups and rice dishes including Korean style ramen, Indian curries, burgers, sandwiches and salads. We had Korean ramen (great), goat curry from Indian place (also very good), aguafrescas from juice place (good) kids had pasta and pizza (not good).
Cannot believe this kind of place is in Poway. Excited to go back and try more places!
Ortiz Bakery…they used to have really good Oaxacan-style tamales and a decent champorrado on weekends, don’t know if they still do since it’s been a while since I’ve been there.
Vamos a Texcoco in Vista for pretty authentic barbacoa including the head or full leg if arranged. Much like Aqui in National City but maybe a bit more rustico. We had a nice lunch there a couple of months ago, biggest issue is that it’s a 30 minute drive for us otherwise it’d be on the regular hit list. http://vamosatexcoco.site-boosters.com/
Bivouac Ciderworks in North Park makes one of the most outrageous pork burgers (sandwich? creation? monstrosity?) in SoCal.
Aptly named “Pork Pork Pork Sandwich,” it comes with a longanisa sausage patty (but, of course), then it’s topped with pulled pork (what else, right?) and then finished off with slab of pork belly (were you expecting bacon?).
More intel on Atlas food hall. Ate at Single fin kitchen (I think that’s the name). Had a single fin donburi bowl that was pretty good for these parts. Wife had ceviche donburi which was also good. This is the same place that is going in to the new Little Italy food plaza so relevant to South Bay folks too. They also have ramen which I didn’t try.
Also learned the Korean place in this market is the same one (same owners) as the one in the Wholesome choice market in Irvine.