Photo by David Hodges/Staff
MJ’s Yogurt Time and Deli defies categorization. Stashed in an ordinary strip mall is an extraordinary culinary adventure born to an exotic borderland lapped by the Pacific Rim.
Created by a pair of friendly young men dubbed MJ and Chef Kevin, the Asian/Mexican/Islander fusion restaurant is a cauldron of creativity, a studio for its multiracial culinary artists. MJ’s is the birthplace of a South County staple called longanisa fries. It is a layered dish of Cajun or plain fries, covered in fried longanisa sausage, a type of pork sausage common in Latin America and the Philippines.
“We are not a traditional taco shop or a hamburger place,” explained MJ. “People don’t know this type of food, so you gotta prepare yourself because even our sign out there says ‘yogurt,’ so you never really know we have food. The only way you’ll know about our food is if someone told you or if you saw us in a magazine.”
MJ’s Yogurt Time and Deli opened nine years ago and has earned rave reviews from the San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Magazine and Los Angeles County food publications.
MJ’s is Yelp’s second highest rated restaurant in Chula Vista, behind venerable Tacos El Gordo.
MJ’s signature longanisa is cooked on a flat top griddle that is Chef Kevin’s cooking canvas, along with the all-important fryer. Sliced longanisa and fries are accompanied by any of an array of meats chosen by the customer, chopped into pieces like carne asada. Chef Kevin is standing by with marinated pork, apple-pear glazed beef, Alaskan pollock or herb chicken. Fried eggs are the finishing touch. His master work is garnished with aioli, a sweet salad of cabbage and carrots, sesame seeds and cheese, with a side of Chef Kevin’s mild or spicy “red dragon.”
MJ said the restaurant and its exotic Pacific Rim foods bubbled up from his multicultural upbringing.
“We didn’t really come up with it,” he said. “It’s just how we grew up.”
MJ said the restaurant feels like a potluck with a group of diverse friends.
“San Diego County is so multicultural that this is how we eat at a party,” he said. “You don’t know it until you have our food, when you put your plate together, you may have like a pizza or a carne asada, you may have some Filipino food on there. So really you had a fusion plate but didn’t know it.”
A three-way marriage of Pacific cuisines raised in America produced mixed-taste offspring like the pallet of fries and some very original burritos. Tasting the food begs the question, why had they not been combined sooner?
MJ’s also sells frozen yogurt in a variety of flavors, but it is not limited to a cup. One popular way to get it is as a filling for their very popular Wow Macarons. With flavors like green tea, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and purple taro with Fruity Pebbles, the colorful cookies go perfectly with the wacky compendium that is MJ’s cuisine. They also sell out quickly.
Social media is an important selling tool for MJ’s. Chef Kevin and MJ post pictures of their food on Instagram and invite customers to post pictures of their orders along with specific hashtags as a way to promote business. MJ said this strategy works particularly well with the macarons.
“It’s crazy with macarons,” he said. “We sell them on social media. Once they get posted, people rush over to get them.”
MJ’s yogurt smoothies are refreshing and unique, melding flavors like horchata and white chocolate with Thai tea.
MJ’s menu is as flexible as a yoga instructor. It is infinitely customizable. An array of meats can be added to sliders, salads, tacos, fries or plump, California-style burritos. One of MJ’s favorite creations is the 805 South burrito. It is a carbohydrate bomb that weighs about as much as a laptop and is filled with lumpia, fries, eggs, meat and cheese.
After almost a decade of business, MJ and Chef Kevin still express surprise at the legion of longanisa loyalists. MJ, the peppy yet zen front man, said the deli will roll with the tide.
“We didn’t expect it to be where it is at and it is not where we would like to be at, but we’re moving (forward) and it’s nice because people are actually enjoying our food.”
