Basa Basa

1/17/13

With something great, comes something disappointing.  It kind of pains me to say it.  I want it to be good, but maybe it is because I feel more sorry than good about the lunch I had.  How many times do I have to eat somewhere, when I know it isn’t going to be any better than it was when I first came?  There was nothing wrong, per se, about the meal or my experience at all.  I know I am not a huge wing fan, but I sometimes like to think that maybe I could be.  I guess it just isn’t the case for me at Basa Basa.

My friend and I came for a weekday lunch and were the only people there.  Someone came and left, I’m not even sure if they got anything while they were there.  Back to my story.  I ordered the Basa Box, which is 6 wings with rice and mac salad and weighs in at $10.  For six wings.  For six chicken wings.  I just thought I’d clear that up.  Let’s get the sides out of the way:  white rice (nothing to say), mac salad….meh.  It was okay.  I’ve had better and I’ve had worse.  Seems like it was a bit flat.  I think there was more macaroni and mayo in it than anything else.  The wings come in 3 flavors, so to make it easy on myself, I got 2 wings in each of the flavors.  All of them came out hot and crispy, and smelled good so I was excited.

I started with the Basa Ono, which is a Thai inspired cilantro seasoning.  It was a bit sweet and a bit tasty.  But the problem is that the coating slides right off and then I’m looking at goose-pimpled chicken skin, which doesn’t really appeal much to me.  I moved on to the Basa Yaki, which was a bit teriyaki and a bit flat.  Finally I get to the Original, which is the Korean spicy.  It kind of reminded me the General Tso’s chicken you can get from a grocery store hot bar (like Safeway).  I wanted it to be better, but it just wasn’t.  The chicken itself maybe could have been more cooked, I am sketchy about chicken, and having the batter come off and exposing an ugly chicken wing was hard for me.  It really wasn’t terrible, but for the $10 I spent, I’m pretty sure I’d be happier at one of the other places.  That’s probably why no one else was in there.

The most telling part about the whole experience, was as we walked back to my car, my friend asked me which of the wings I liked best.  I didn’t have an answer.  Not because they were all so great that I couldn’t choose between them, but more that they were all so lackluster that I almost forgot immediately after we left what it was I had.  Nothing stuck out.  I hate to say this, but I don’t see it lasting.

24th and Meatballs

1/22/13

My first taste was really because I went next door to Uno Mas and my child decided that she didn’t want the taco after all but wanted a meatball.  So off we went to check it out.  For $2.50 she got probably a 2-inch diameter chicken meatball on the cutest little bun ever with cheese sauce.  The cheese smelled like fondue, so I wanted in on it, but had just eaten like 4 tacos and felt I shouldn’t.  We took the meatball slider back to Uno Mas and rejoined our family for her to eat it there.  She took maybe a bite or two and called the whole thing off.  It totally paid off for me, as I got to eat the other half, after my mother in law had a taste.  I walked away wanting more, but knowing that it wasn’t going to happen that day.

The following week at work, I still had the balls on my brain, so I drag my poor co-workers along.  These people are good sports; like sidekicks in my food problem, and they seem only too happy to join in on the experiment.  Off we go to get some balls.  I love the fact that this place totally plays on the “balls” aspect.  Fantastic.  Nothing better than going on a lunch here with your co-workers and hearing your boss’ boss order Balls Balls Balls, while another co-worker exclaims:  “I got a Ball in a little bun!”  It’s the little things for me, total toilet humor, but we are all in on the joke.

It worked out like this: I ordered the meatball hero with the chicken meatballs and cheese sauce, which is pictured to the side.  The other people who came with me ordered: Balls Balls Balls, which was a big bowl with 3 large balls covered in the sauce of choice, accompanied by a piece of bread (I should have gotten this), another ordered 3 sliders of various meats and sauces, which she loved, and the other person got a big bowl of pasta with balls and sauce on top.  My sandwich was a typical case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach.  3 balls doesn’t sound like much, but the cheese made it even more rich, eventually, I had to abandon the delightful hoagie/baguette that had soaked up the cheese in order to eat the meat.  Seriously, it was like fondue after all, but with meatballs on top.  That may sound gross, but it is not, believe me.  Plus, it had a yummy pickle.  Don’t know if that was housemade, but I liked it just the same.  The seating situation here is a little better than the tacos next door, and there appeared to be some decent wines available as well as beer to go with your meal.  All in all, everyone seemed pretty thrilled with what they’d gotten and there is talk of a return visit.

As a side note, a couple of other friends I work with went the following week and got the balls and did not like the chicken ones that I thought were so tasty.  They felt that they tasted a bit “off” like either they were turning or the spice wasn’t quite right.

Obviously, I had to go back.  So I took a friend with me for lunch.  In order to get a better idea of what I was getting, I ordered 3 sliders:  1) the Ball of the Day, which was a spicy beef and pork, with marinara sauce, 2) the Spicy Pork, with pork sauce, and 3) the Italian, with cheese sauce.

The first one, the Ball of the Day, did indeed have a bit of kick to it.  Coupled with the marinara sauce, it was a tender, spicy delight.  I couldn’t wait to dig into the next one, which was the Spicy Pork.  The meatball itself was a bit less spicy, but still tender and yummy.  The pork sauce was a red sauce with pulled pork throughout, and it was cold.  At first, I was hoping it was because it’s pretty cold in there, but I eventually just picked the sauce off, because cold pork on a hot meatball just wasn’t right.  Moving on to the Italian, with the cheese sauce.  The sauce was hot and it is super rich and tasty.  It’s just like the fondue I remembered from my last trip.  The meatball itself was pink inside.  As in undercooked meat pink.  I ended up abandoning the meatball, but I ate the cheese covered bun.  I will chalk this up to an off day.  But if I get an undercooked meatball next time, I’m returning it.

Uno Mas

1/12/13

Barbacoa Taco!

First stop I made at the Oceans, and I could almost just stop here.  I love tacos.  So much so that I even have a t-shirt that says so.  Autentica’s Oswaldo Bibiano makes a great taco, for the most part.  But I have to get this side note out of the way:  I hate on Autentica, I hate on it so hard.  I find the food there flavorless and seriously, offensively overpriced.  I cannot say enough, how much I dislike that place.  But I love Uno Mas.  I cannot believe that both places came from the same man.

Black Bean

Here, I can find a good taco. It may not the best or cheapest taco, but if I include the price, flavor and atmosphere in my assessment, then Uno Mas is up there in my book.  There are a wide variety of tacos that one can choose from, ranging from the more adventurous to the plain jane.  The barbacoa beef taco ($2) was tender and flavorful and not a bit of weird meat in it.  Couple that with the selections of salsa at the counter, and you’ve got a deal.  The rockfish taco ($2.75) was good, the fish was flaky and fresh tasting.  For my child, I got the black bean and cheese tacos, and on a return trip, I got one for myself.  The bean tacos are a bit smaller and they could almost be compared to a mini bean quesadilla, but they were tasty, even if you have to eat twice as many because they are really small.  The pork carnitas taco was the biggest disappointment to me, I love pork in all its various forms, but this taco had more fat in it than meat.  The meat that was in it was a bit greasy, from the fat, and lacking in flavor.  I will likely return and give it another shot, but La Sirenita or Ole Ole Ole has a far better carnitas, although La Sirenita is kind of dark and grody inside and doesn’t serve alcohol, while Ole Ole Ole is a cash only shop, therefore gets a thumbs down in that department.

Fatty pork taco

The tacos themselves are really small.  I am a small person and need about 4-5 tacos in order to eat a full meal.  My heart breaks for a person with a big appetite, especially at $2-3 a taco.  This is kind of where I see the same “deal” that I experience in my hated Autentica.  But whatever.

The atmosphere is sparse, but that is the whole point.  You are basically at an indoor food cart, the intent isn’t for you to stay long after you’ve eaten, total utilitarian, with high stools, which suck for small children and if you are disabled or in a wheelchair, you are totally screwed, again not the point.  I’m just sayin. It’s pretty cozy in there.

Beer selection is modest and in bottles, but you can pick out something to wash down your delicious tacos, unless you are on a work lunch, which half the time I am, so I am just wishing I had a beer instead.  My co-worker/friend is totally having a yen, so we’ll probably be back next week.  Another upside is that all these little shops in the Oceans kind of work together, so if someone from your party gets something next door, they can bring it in and join you, which makes it a great choice for a group, so long as you can find seating to go with.