Sunday lunch in University City

For lunch today, we stopped for lunch at Chicago on a Bun. It's located in the Renaissance Towne Center, a little strip mall in the middle of tons of new-ish housing.

The restaurant's filled with Chicago memorabilia and I believe they bring in the ingredients from Chicago-based suppliers.

My last review ended with a comment about having Costco's polish dog for less and I'd say that thought repeated itself again this time. The last few times I've been here, it's been pricey but good. This time, the Polish dog was dry and they really skimped on toppings.

I had ordered grilled onions, which didn't happen. The kraut that's visible on the left side? That's all there was. The dog was grilled to dryness and not juicy at all. D.'s Polish dog had a meager sprinkling of grilled onions. In the past, the onions were piled on dog and the dogs were juicy and plump.

The best part of the meal were the chips and the fries. Potatoes are sliced at the perfect thickness and fried crispy for great chips. They're not too thin and not too thick.

They were fantastic, but our meal was $17 for two people. Those are some expensive fried potatoes. Overall, a disappointing visit.

The trend continued as we headed next door to Wired Bistro. The staff was very friendly and service was excellent. They even brought us water while we waited for our takeaway box. I ordered a lemon-sugar crepe. I was disappointed to see it doused with whipped cream, but the crepe really took me aback. It was very eggy and dense, like a thin omelet. It was undercooked, too thick, and contained too little flour, which was disappointing.

All the crepes I've had in San Diego have been dense and doughy. I've kind of given up on finding one that's crisp, light, and a bit tender in the middle. It exists on this side of the pond, as I found it at Profi's Creperie at Reading Terminal Market in Philly, but not here, yet. The mission continues!

Phuong Trang, revisited

I amended a statement I made in my previous post about Phuong Trang. I said "...all the dishes are above-average and the service is quite good.". Well, I corrected that to some of the dishes (namely, the ones I order all of the time) are above-average and the rest are average. Nothing is terrible here. Phuong Trang is a place for indoctrinating Vietnamese food newbies. The food is good enough and served in a very non-intimidating environment.

D. and I started with the nem nuong cuon or grilled pork spring rolls. They're decent, with good pork flavor and an interesting twist: a little bit of Thai basil. I'm used to mint and cilantro in spring rolls, but Thai basil is a nice touch.


They wrap the rolls with the ends neatly cut, which is odd, but they're so tightly wrapped that it isn't a problem.

I'd flavor the nem nuong a little more and grill it a little longer for more smokiness.

D. ordered one of their best dishes, bo xao xa ot, beef stir-fried with lemongrass, onions, and hot peppers. Served with steamed rice, it's tart with lemongrass and fiery from the peppers. The onions are sauteed to perfection, adding both texture and flavor to the dish.


I ordered the ga ca, which literally translates to "chicken fish", but means chicken and fish noodle soup. The greens were kind of meager. I'm not sure if mint is traditional with a clear-broth noodle soup like this, but it would have been a nice touch.

The chicken was all white meat, so it was really dry. Pieces of white fish, I think cod, were poached and still fairly smooth and moist.


The chicken broth was decent and helped by the chives, scallions, and cilantro. The noodles were a bit overdone and soft, which hasn't happened much in my experiences eating here. I've had the tom ca (shrimp fish) and it's much better combination than chicken and fish. It's really good with the clear glass noodles, which they do pretty well. I asked for them this time, but they gave me the regular rice noodles. Oh, well.

Meet Kim

I'm always excited to add a new food blog to the list and I'm especially thrilled to add this one. Foolin' Around in the Kitchen is written by my friend Kim. She's the "K." of the Halloween cookie and pretzel post and the giant cupcake post. She was also one of the primary cooks from Girls' Night, introducing me to her fabulous sweet potato casserole. Look for hilarious stories of Kim's kitchen adventures and photos of her projects, especially her gorgeous cakes.

Denizens of the interweb, say hi to Kim!