Cooking For One Ain’t No Fun – Review of Pick Up Stix in Point Loma

Pick Up Stix
3365 Rosecrans St.
San Diego, CA 92110
619-758-9041

By Judi Curry

As far back as I can remember I have always cooked for many people.

Beginning with my family of 5 – three daughters, husband and myself, trial and error was the key to breakfasts and dinners.

Later on, as my family grew to 18 grandchildren and the number of foreign language students that I have hosted – 598 – (not all at the same time!) I developed many different recipes that eventually made way into the three cookbooks that I authored.  I always had “guinea pigs” to try the new concoctions that I was developing.  I made it a point not to serve the same meal to my foreign language students for at least 6 months!

Now, because of COVID, several of the English Language schools that I dealt with have closed.  One of the remaining schools placed a student with me on October 31, and he was a great guy. However, he is only 19 and really didn’t want to do his learning “on-line” and I did not feel safe from COVID by having him live here.  After he told me that he “discovered” Black’s Beach, I asked the school to move him, and with his agreement, it was done.  And so I find myself with no one to cook for, talk to, or even do laundry for.

Almost every day my “Bestie” asks me what I had for dinner, and I usually answer “nothing”, or “a cup of ramen” or some other instant meal.  (I have lost 11 pounds since not having students!)

I have been so cold the past few days that I have been eating a lot of soups.  I thought it might be nice to have someone else make the soup so decided to place an order at Pick up Stix on Rosecrans in Pt. Loma.  I didn’t want to go out so decided to have it delivered.

The minimum order for delivery is $15 so I placed an order for 3 pieces of Cream Cheese Wontons; one Spring Roll; 1 medium Won Ton Soup, and a Honey Crispy Shrimp with Brown Rice.  Along with the order I requested 3 packets of hot mustard.  When asked if there was any special delivery instructions, I requested that when the order arrived that the doorbell be rung.  The total order, along with the tip, was just over $20. (A  lot more than I would usually pay for a meal just for me!)

The first thing that happened was that I received a text telling me that the driver “is approaching with your order.  Enjoy your meal.” I wasn’t too sure by what “approaching with my order meant” so since I had been told in an earlier text that she would be here at approximately 5:36pm, I looked out the window at 5:40pm to see if she was here yet. Imagine my surprise when I saw the bag of food on my wet doorstep with no one around. I am not sure when it was delivered, but the doorbell was not rung.

“Medium” ?

I unwrapped the food and put the soup in the microwave to heat it up. It looked good, even though the “medium” container looked fairly small to my eye.  The broth was good; the carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts were tasty.

Wish I could say the same thing about the wontons.  With the exception of two wontons, the others were dried out; leathery; hard to chew and looked like they had been left out to dry out for days.  It spoiled the entire experience, because it was the wontons that I wanted in the soup.

The cream cheese wontons were good; the three packets of hot mustard that I requested added to the flavor, as did the sweet sauce also packed with the order.  The spring roll was also a nice addition to the meal, and after warming it in the microwave it was hot and crispy.

Crispy Honey Shrimp

The description of the Crispy Honey Shrimp was intriguing.  It was “Crispy Shrimp tossed in a sweet honey sauce, garnished with diced red peppers and green onions. Served with fresh wok tossed vegetables, broccoli, carrots, red bell peppers and onions and your choice of white or brown rice.”

The shrimp was good, except that two still had their tails on and I hate to either put my fingers in my full mouth to remove the tail, or to spit it out.  But the flavor was good.  I wish that the vegetables had been “woked” more.  They were almost raw and hard to chew.  They were pretty however.

The fortune cookies – two of them – were cracked and crumbled. It didn’t make a difference in the fortunes themselves, although the one that told me that I was going to be offered a sports contract soon brought giggles.

All in all I can only give the meal a “C” rating.  I wish the soup had been better; I wish the veggies had been cooked longer; I wish the tails were off the shrimp, etc.

I think that I will try cooking for one again with a different attitude. Maybe my next cookbook will be geared to the single person.  Happy Holidays.