Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Best place to get a cheap plate of "crying tiger" in Chollas View

Place

Asia Café

4710 Market Street, San Diego

If anything could metaphysically counterbalance the Snooty Asian (hip and in Hillcrest) it would be the Asia Cafe (4710 Market Street, 619-527-1917), which has iron bars on the windows and shares a parking lot with a Chollas View garage.

Nevertheless, Asia Cafe still manages to deliver some tasty Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese food for precious little money. Huge bowls of pho are $5-$6 and the salads, like the precious green papaya salad, are about the same. A huge variety of stir-fried dishes are in the paltry $6-$8 range. Here’s a funny story: the beef with basil shared the English language description with another dish. Exactly. Word for word. As though they contained the same ingredients cooked in the same way. The Lao names for each plate, however, were totally different. At least, they looked that way. I don’t read Lao.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The beef with basil dish, by the way, was quite good. Plain, but tasty enough to satisfy my extremely picky teenage brother, who likes almost nothing and hates much.

A shrimp and squid stir fry, filled with those creepy little baby corns, broccoli, carrots, and cabbage, as absolutely loaded with shrimp, despite the Asia Cafe’s rock bottom prices.

For me, the standout dish was the “crying tiger.” I’ve seen dishes with this name presented half a dozen ways, always involving some sort of spicy meat. Asia Cafe’s was a big plate of spicy, chopped beef laced with mint leaves and green onions. Very good, especially with a little side of white rice.

Sure, the ambiance was a little funky and the older couple who run the place charmingly puttered around without rushing to serve anybody, but being able to load up on Thai/Viet/Lao food for a pittance makes Asia Cafe a lunchtime winner in a somewhat food-deserted end of town.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Place

Asia Café

4710 Market Street, San Diego

If anything could metaphysically counterbalance the Snooty Asian (hip and in Hillcrest) it would be the Asia Cafe (4710 Market Street, 619-527-1917), which has iron bars on the windows and shares a parking lot with a Chollas View garage.

Nevertheless, Asia Cafe still manages to deliver some tasty Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese food for precious little money. Huge bowls of pho are $5-$6 and the salads, like the precious green papaya salad, are about the same. A huge variety of stir-fried dishes are in the paltry $6-$8 range. Here’s a funny story: the beef with basil shared the English language description with another dish. Exactly. Word for word. As though they contained the same ingredients cooked in the same way. The Lao names for each plate, however, were totally different. At least, they looked that way. I don’t read Lao.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The beef with basil dish, by the way, was quite good. Plain, but tasty enough to satisfy my extremely picky teenage brother, who likes almost nothing and hates much.

A shrimp and squid stir fry, filled with those creepy little baby corns, broccoli, carrots, and cabbage, as absolutely loaded with shrimp, despite the Asia Cafe’s rock bottom prices.

For me, the standout dish was the “crying tiger.” I’ve seen dishes with this name presented half a dozen ways, always involving some sort of spicy meat. Asia Cafe’s was a big plate of spicy, chopped beef laced with mint leaves and green onions. Very good, especially with a little side of white rice.

Sure, the ambiance was a little funky and the older couple who run the place charmingly puttered around without rushing to serve anybody, but being able to load up on Thai/Viet/Lao food for a pittance makes Asia Cafe a lunchtime winner in a somewhat food-deserted end of town.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.