Korean Corn Dogs are Trending
Plus: LV Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade Coming; Mission Valley Wormhole Closing, and Aquarium Fish Depot
You might think you know what a corn dog is, but it may be time to update your thinking. That’s what I found out this past week. It turns out sometimes a corn dog is just a corn dog, but oftentimes it is much more. Let me explain.
You know Steve and I try to keep up with the latest fads (not really, you’re thinking). In support of that quest, we heard about Korean Corn Dogs and wondered what all the buzz was about. After all, we had been to Korea many years ago, and it seemed at the time that everything there was kimchee, which is really hot cabbage, so I was surprised to hear about these dogs.
We did a little reading and found that all-things-Korean are taking off in the U.S. One such thing is Korean Corn Dogs. This item is not just a hot dog dipped in a batter of corn meal and then fried, like the kind you would expect to find at a county or state fair. No, it is much more. To find out for ourselves, we traveled north up Convoy Street to Two Hands Seoul Fresh Corn Dogs. This cute little place is tucked into the side of the Sunrise Towne Plaza, 3860 Convoy St. Suite 100. It’s only been around for about a month.
A Korean Corn Dog consists of various fillings placed on a stick, then coated with a yeast based batter and rolled in panko crumbs and deep fried. It is then coated with various coatings and served with various sauces. They are a very popular street food in Korea.
Fillings can be 100% beef sausage, half sausage and half mozzarella, whole mozzarella, half mozzarella and half cheddar, spicy beef sausage or vegan sausage. Once fried, they can be coated in many things such as:
Potato Dog - potato cubes wrapped corn dog with dirty sauce; Two Hands Dog - sprinkle signature seasoning with sweet ranch sauce; Crispy Rice Dog - crispy rice puffs wrapped corn dog ; Classic Dog - combination of sweet and savory taste; American Classic - old fashioned state fair style classic corn dog; Injeolmi Dog - bean powder with sweet sauce; and Spicy Dog - rolled in Hot Cheetos and drizzled in spicy mayo.
One sauce is a spicy mayo; one seasoning is shaved Hot Cheetos. The sides include dirty fries, kimchi seasoning fries, and Elote, which is an ear of corn wrapped in a semi spicy sauce and seasonings.
They also have slushes and sodas.
It is hard to describe these corn dogs. Katherine, who served us, was very helpful as we had not been there before. Since Steve and I do not eat meat, she suggested one of the cheese fillings such as mozzarella or mozzarella and cheddar. And, of course, the corn on the cob has no meat. After you select what you want inside, you let her know what coating you want. Steve chose the Potato Dog, which you can see from the picture, looks like something from outer space. I chose the corn on the cob as that sounded safe to me. We were accompanied by our former cub and now full-fledged reporter, Nicole, who is very adventurous. She chose the Spicy Dog with a filling of half sausage and half mozzarella cheese, and covered with spicy sauce and shaved Hot Cheetos powder. Whichever dog you get comes on a stick, but is considerably larger than your run of the mill corn dog, and very filling.
We also got an order of Dirty Fries which were Tater Tots with spicy sauce and Cheetos powder. Too spicy for me, but the others loved them.
My corn on the cob on a stick was terrific. Spicy, but not too hot. It was very flavorful and I could have eaten two. Steve loved his Potato Dog. The stringy cheese and the crispy little potato cubes were excellent. Nicole loved her Spicy corn dogs as things cannot be too hot for her. She especially liked the Hot Cheetos powder. Our meals were so filling we could not eat all the fries.
The restaurant has outdoor seating, but no seating indoors. You can call in your order and take it out. Nicole told us that at night, there can be a long line down the street – that is how popular is is getting to be, although it’s only been open about a month.
We urge you to try this new establishment. It is hard to describe the dogs but they are delicious to eat. I think they are called Two Hands because it takes two hands to eat them, and especially with the stringy cheese melting down in the middle. Give it a try and tell them you read about them in the Linda Vista Update.
You can check out their entire menu here.
Two Hands Seoul Fresh Corn Dogs
3860 Convoy Street Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92111
858-737-4234
Hours 11 am – 8 pm on Weekdays, 11 am- 9 pm on Friday and Saturday.
LV Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade Coming Soon
Mark the date on your calendar! April 23, 2022. It’s less than a month away.
Yes, after a two-year pandemic-related absence, the 37th annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade will be returning to our community. With the exception of the recent two year hiatus, the LV Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade has been held since 1985.
Signifying the end of COVID restrictions, the theme of this year’s event is “Come Out and Play.”
As usual, the Fair (which goes from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm) promises a wide variety of food vendors, including ethnic food trucks, amusement rides, multi-cultural performers, information booths, and local dignitaries.
The parade begins at 11:00 am and will progress south along Linda Vista Road, beginning near the Linda Vista Cooperative Charter School, passing the reviewing stand positioned near Yum Yum Donut, and ending at Comstock Street.
Anyone who is anyone in Linda Vista will be there enjoying the festivities. So plan to attend. Don’t miss out.
If you have questions about participating as a vendor or performer, please contact the Fair Coordinator (Lauren Garces) at LindaVistaFair@gmail.com
Hurry! Mission Valley Wormhole About to Close
One doesn’t normally associate Mission Valley with complex hypothetical scientific concepts involving the ability to travel billions of miles through space. In fact, if you’ve experienced MV rush hour traffic, you’ll know how hard it is to travel just a few miles and still make it to your destination on time. However, I contend there is one feature of Mission Valley’s infrastructure that can be easily likened to a wormhole.
According to the website www.space.com, “the wormhole theory postulates that a theoretical passage through space-time could create shortcuts for long journeys across the universe.” Wormholes are very hard to explain, and I only got a B- in my high school physics class so I am definitely the wrong person to explain such esoteric concepts to the general public, but suffice it to say that wormholes can theoretically allow humans to travel across the universe without the current limitations of faster-than-light speed.
In my opinion, Bachman Place, a street that runs up from Hotel Circle Road South to the Hillcrest neighborhood, serves as a sort of wormhole for San Diegans. This street allows commuters to avoid the oftentimes congestion limitations on travel presented by frequent traffic jams on Route 163. You can take Bachman Place, starting next to the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Mission Valley and end up near the Scripps Mercy Hospital complex in Hillcrest in no time at all (the road eventually ends/intersects with Lewis Street), thus defying the normal parameters of time and space, and rush hour traffic. The road also provides access for the many people utilizing the UCSD Medical Center parking lot, which sits adjacent to the road.
This little known road, about eight tenths of a mile in length, has often been referred to as one of Mission Valley’s best kept secrets. That must be true because I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. I’m guessing the first rule about using Bachman Place has been…”Don’t talk about Bachman Place.” I discovered this magic portal, not while driving, but while on one of my exercise walks through the valley. It’s a tough uphill climb, but easy on the downhill return trip back into the valley, and it’s a fun way to access Hillcrest by foot or bike. My wife discovered it when a Lyft driver chose to take this speedy route up to Hillcrest.
I’ve never seen it congested, which is quite a distinction for any Mission Valley Road.
Unfortunately, as reported in a recent issue of the San Diego Union Tribune, the road will soon be closed for the next two years due to the UCSD Medical Center associated construction (a 3 billion dollar upgrade of the Center) that will be occurring in and around the road area. In this sense, Bachman Place is very much like a wormhole in that wormholes are theorized by physicists to be very unstable—they are thought to stay open for very short periods of time before collapsing upon themselves. Yes, think of all those movies and TV episodes in which characters like Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise have a limited amount of time to go in and out of a mysterious portal before it closes. Accordingly, if after reading this article you now want to experience traveling via this San Diego wormhole, you only have till April 3 before it closes (or collapses on itself) for the next two years.
And then after April 3, you’ll have to rely on Route 163 and all of its conventional time-space limitations to get from Mission Valley to Hillcrest.
Aquarium Fish Depot for All Your Aquarium Therapy Needs
Ed. Note: This the second in a series of articles about interesting venues located along the new Blue Line Trolley extension that begins at Linda Vista’s Tecolote Trolley Station. In last week’s issue, we featured an article on Dan Diegos Euro Café and Pub, which is near the Clairemont Street Trolley Station. This week we go further north to feature Aquarium Fish Depot, located within a healthy walking distance from the Balboa Avenue Trolley Station.
There is no getting around the fact that we live in stressful times. I don’t need to tell you that Will Smith is not the only one feeling fed up, angry and anxious. Many of us feel the same way. News about COVID, rising inflation, the homeless, a drought, and Vladimir Putin is enough to make us feel a bit paranoid.
How to best cope with the present circumstances and relieve our anxiety? Well, we can always turn off our favorite cable news network. We can always take up exercise, or practice meditation. We can also temporarily shut off the world by binge watching our favorite Netflix or Amazon Prime show. And we can also resort to a healthy dose of aquarium therapy.
What is aquarium therapy? I’m glad you asked, because a recent visit to the Aquarium Fish Depot, located near the Balboa Avenue Trolley Station (on the new Blue Line Trolley Extension) led me to look into the many great stress reducing attributes associated with aquarium therapy. In case you haven’t heard, aquarium therapy “is a concept whereby interacting with fish can have a positive effect on a person’s well-being and mental health.” According to one website, there is something about the hypnotic effect of watching fish swim back and forth in a tank that relaxes one’s mind and eases muscle tension. Watching fish has been proven to reduce our heart rate, lower blood pressure, decrease muscle tension, and boost our moods.
Here in San Diego, if you want to undergo aquarium therapy you can always visit a large aquarium venue like the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla…or, take matters into your own hands and set up an aquarium somewhere in your home. If you are going to take this latter option, I advise you to pay a visit to Aquarium Fish Depot. This large facility (a 5000 square foot warehouse), located at 5121 Santa Fe Street, in an industrial-type area situated between I-5 and the trolley rails (parallel to the Costco on Moreno Blvd), has a fantastic selection of fish and some great aquarium set-ups on display to help you decide on the kind of habitat you’ll want to eventually select for your own fish. The business’s website claims that it is the largest freshwater fish warehouse on the West Coast. It has been operating here since shortly before the start of the pandemic.
Once there, you can check out various rows of freshwater fish; the rows are divided up by regions of the world and social/physical characteristics, to include Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi, South and Central America, and community/rainbow fish. Each row is fascinating, with fish species ranging from common tropical fish like guppies and barbs to more exotic cichlids and discus fish. Prices range from $6.99 for a guppy, to $15.00 to $25.00 for the majority of fish, to $199.99 for a Red Texas Cichlid, and up to $299.99 for a Synodontis Granulosus (a fish from Africa). In effect, there is something for everyone, no matter your fish expertise.
While there I especially enjoyed watching a large, red-striped Oscar fish swimming in one of the tanks. He seemed to be following me, trying to catch my attention. A staff member informed me this fish had been turned over to the facility by his owner who realized a baby Oscar eventually grows into a large adult Oscar requiring a large 100–130 gallon aquarium. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have enough room in the house for such an aquarium. Hence, I left the facility without adopting him.
In addition to all the fish, Aquarium Fish Depot also has a great selection of aquariums, from sharp looking one gallon desk top aquariums for Betta fish, to larger 100-plus gallon sized aquariums designed for larger fish. The aquariums reflect aesthetically pleasing, sleek, modern designs with attractive lighting set-ups that can serve as appealing additions to any rooms in the house; just the kind of room accessories intended to improve your mood and reduce your blood pressure.
Finally, in addition to satisfying the needs of individual local customers, this business also ships overnight orders of fish all over the country.
The business’s staff members are extremely helpful in answering questions about fish, aquariums, and water. They seem to take great pride in their knowledge of all-things-fish, and their desire to watch over the fish entrusted to their care. Ask them questions and they will make your visit an educational experience.
So, if you are interested in lowering your blood pressure, if you are tired of all the bad news happening in the world and the anxiety it produces, or if you are just interested in acquiring a new pet and his/her aesthetically pleasing glass home, you may want to pay a visit to Aquarium Fish Depot and check out what they have to offer. Take the trolley (and a walk), or just drive there.
5121 Santa Fe Street (Suite F)
San Diego, CA
Hours: Mon - Sun: 10:30am - 6:30pm
info@aquariumfishdepot.com
858-926-2060
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