We were down by the La Jolla Cove again when my wife and son told me they were starving. Having the beginnings of a sinus headache—I think from the Santa Anas— I wanted something like soup, preferably pho, or possibly ramen.
I used my trusty phone to locate something. I was surprised to find Crab City so close. I never noticed it there before—across Prospect Street from Cody’s. How had I not seen that before?
Turns out it’s only been in that spot for a few months, and you do have to look up to see it. We had actually eaten on that ocean view patio before, back when it belonged to the now defunct Olive & Basil Restaurant. It is a really nice patio.
They do pho although it seems like the specialize in crab and Cajun seafood boil. We started with the garlic noodles, which everyone loved. As a shared appetizer, they are good, but it is always a little awkward to share noodles. We also had to ask for chopsticks. I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to use a fork on a plate of noodles—well, except to use the side of the fork to cut off the noodles as I try to divvy them up on three separate share plates. The fork did come handy for that.
II first fell in love with garlic noodles in San Francisco, where I got a main dish of garlic noodles with big cubes of seared filet mignon. These were great to start, but these are just the noodles and a lot of chopped garlic, no protein.
We all got different pho, and they all had strong broths. The broths were really good. Pho Ga (chicken), Pho Bo Vien (meatball), and Tai Gau (Rare and Fatty Brisket Steak Pho.)
My son doesn’t like big pieces of fat in any kind of food, but he was smitten with the fatty brisket. He got a big piece of fat, but because it was sliced so thin, he loved it.
I feel really guilty that we didn’t try any Cajun seafood. It’s just not what we were there for. We’ll have to go back. The view was gorgeous.
Here is their website: