Poznan pt 2

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Poland

This is part two of a visit to Poznan.  If you missed the first part you can find it here.

We continued to patronize the wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel in the mornings and had lunches brought in so the evenings were the food highlights for the last two evenings.

Wednesday night we went back the Stary Browar and to the Piano Bar restaurant.  We had the entire compliment of people working on the project so we had a large round table that accommodated all 14 of us but still allowed conversation with everyone.  In spite of the presence of the eponymous Piano no one played while we were there and none at the table admitted to being a pianist.  So we just had socialize and eat.

My first choice of meal was a grilled ostrich steak but they were out of ostrich so I settled for lamb chops.  As settling went it was a nice back up.

The lamb came with a few little potatoes and a pureed carrot sauce that made a good combo.  The lamb was tender and very mildly seasoned so the taste of the potatoes and carrots were very much in play.  I don’t say this often but the side salad was actually more interesting from a flavor standpoint.  It had some baby greens, sun dried tomatoes, marinated pears and Gorgonzola cheese.  The slight bitterness of the greens contrasted with the sweetness of the pears and the texture of the tomatoes made them standout and of course Gorgonzola.  A glass of Lech Premium beer washed it all down.

On the final night, since we had to be up at an unbelievably early hour to go to the airport, a couple of us decided to eat at the hotel bar again. Before I get to the food I have to go off on a quick tangent.

The waiter we had was a tall, thin fellow with very close cropped hair.  He was a very model of a cordiality and precision as he took care of us but it was bugging me because he reminded me of someone and I couldn’t figure out who until after I got back home.  This guy was a dead ringer for Christopher Eccleston during his Doctor Who run. It’s probably just as well I didn’t figure it out then as I’d likely have made some sort of time lord joke he’d not have understood.

Ok now back to the food.  I decided the to just go with the next thing on the menu after the duck I’d had the first night which turned out to be veal loin.

Let’s do a trip around the plate because it’s not easily apparent what each item is.  Starting at the 6 o’clock position we have and egg yolk confit, at 9 we have buckwheat groats wrapped in cabbage and topped with a couple cloves of roasted garlic.  At 12 is a hunk of wholemeal bread toast topped with more garlic and at 3 o’clock is the veal loin. All served with a thyme sauce.

That hunk of veal doesn’t look very big but somehow it seemed bigger when I cut into it (see what I did there Whovians?)  The veal was tasty and tender but again the sides held my interest more.  The egg yolk confit had the consistency of a thick custard and unsurprisingly tasted just like egg.  The buckwheat groats were an interesting change of pace on the grain front and I enjoyed them.  The cabbage wrap was tender and not fall apart soggy like I was afraid it might be.  The toast and roasted garlic was good but since I’d be trapped in planes for 11 hours the next day I didn’t want to subject people to the aftermath of a 3 clove meal so just had one.  I have to say as hotel restaurants go I’ve had great experiences both times I’ve been to Poznan.

From a culinary standpoint this trip was a winner on every front.  The food was great, the people were friendly, the atmosphere was welcoming and the company was outstanding at every meal.

 

Poznan pt 1

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Poland

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After a bit of a holiday hiatus the Culinary-Passport is back with a two parter from a business trip to Poznan Poland.  After a couple of flights, one long and one delayed we got into Poznan, got to the hotel, checked in and unpacked we were pretty much beat.  That being the case we decided to dine in the hotel bar area which got their food from the hotel’s restaurant.  The restaurant was just a bit fancier than we were feeling so it was really the best of both worlds, casual atmosphere and fine dining.

The hotel we stayed in was the Andersia and their restaurant is Flavoria which also served the daily breakfast buffet which I’ll get to next.  The bar had a fun sort of retro feel to it with these interesting scoop shaped stools that felt like something out of a 70’s vision of the future.  The bartender who was also our server spoke pretty good English and was very friendly and helpful answering questions on the menu.

For my first meal this trip to Poland I went with duck as it was mentioned as a good local choice.

The grilled duck came on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with pear chutney and caramelized endives in a marjoram sauce.  The duck was good, it was a bit tough to cut but it was easy to chew.  There was very little seasoning to the duck so the other dishes added the flavor highlights and every side was delicious.  My favorite though was the pear chutney.  Accompanied by a half liter of the Lech lager on draft it was a successful first meal.

Our room rate came with the breakfast buffet served in the restaurant.  The buffet was outstanding and designed to offer something for everyone no matter your culture.  In addition to eggs, bacon & sausage that are standard fare for us they had a salad bar with vegetables & fruit next to a cheese and cold cut section.  Across from that was a pastry, waffle, bread & roll section not far from three different hot cereal options that varied each day.  There were also selections of smoothies, yogurts, juices, milk, teas & coffees.  If you couldn’t find something to enjoy from this buffet you had to be basically dead.  For my first breakfast I went mainly protein with a slice of melon and one of bread as nods toward balance.

The eggs had such dark orange yolk I thought they had cheese in them but it was all egg.  I got one of each of the sausage options.  The white sausage was best described by one of my colleagues as tasting like a hot dog.  The reddish brown one was like a mini kielbasa and very good.  The sausage wrapped in bacon also had a light coating of cheese so while the sausage wasn’t as good as the mini kielbasa the combination was outstanding.  I couldn’t pass up grabbing a deviled egg from the salad bar area because who doesn’t love a deviled egg.  I didn’t toast the bread but it was a nice multigrain with some big seeds to give it texture and crunch.  The cantaloupe was ok but the mango orange juice was a fruit win.  Coffeewise I snagged a cup from the plastic urn because I didn’t feel like participating in the coffee dance around the fancy cappuccino / espresso machine.

The second evening after a long work day we went across the street to a mall built where an old brewery had been, Stary Browar.  One of our local colleagues was our guide & interpreter and after a bit of shopping we adjourned to one of the restaurants in the mall, Weranda which was an interesting place.

We dined in a loft section of the restaurant.  I’m not sure how best to describe the place as it had big pictures of tribes people of varying cultures, hanging mobiles of orbs and stars plus plants all over the place.  The picture directly across from me hanging above 3 of my dinner companions was a man with 1 tooth and two circles in his nose and a piercing or two, smiling like he just won the lottery.

I chose the grilled pork loin in mushroom sauce as my entree while three others opted for the burger and another for one of their huge salads.

You can’t even see my pork loin for the mushroom sauce but trust me there was a nicely grilled hunk of tender pork hiding under all those mushrooms and they made a tasty combo.  Alongside  the pork I got buckwheat groats with goat cheese and a pickled cucumber salad.  As good as the pork and mushrooms were I really enjoyed the novelty of the sides more.  The salad consisted of sliced cucumber pickles that had just a few pieces of onion in the mix and the tart acidic taste made a great contrast to the creamier mushroom sauce.  The buckwheat was ok but the addition of the soft tangy goat cheese brought it up a few notches.  To wash down the meal I started with a Polish craft porter and finished with some of the fruit infused water, both of which deserve a mention.

  

The porter was an accident.  Our local guide was a bit of a beer connoisseur and currently on a black IPA kick so she was trying to order the two of us one.  After a long conversation with our server she thought we had one on the way.  He showed up with two porters and that garnered him a couple of side eyes.  I decided to keep mine since they didn’t really have a black IPA.  It turned out to be a good pairing with meal.  It had a chocolate & molasses flavor that gave it a sweetness that cut the tartness of the pickled salad and goat cheese.  Towards the end of the meal I opted for water instead of another beer.  The water was served in a large carafe and had raspberries, lemons, cucumbers, mist and probably some other fruit leisurely bathing in it.   I definitely got the cucumber and mint tastes with undercurrents of lemon.  It was refreshing but not how I’d want my water every day.

By all accounts the burgers & salads were also excellent.

Day two had to be considered a culinary success.  Next week we’ll hit the last two dinners.

 

 

Pollo Rapido

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Guatemala

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From Belgium last week I took the culinary-passport across the Atlantic and a bit south to Guatemala in the form of Pollo Campero.  This particular location is on South Blvd in Charlotte but this is a chain that originated in Guatemala with one families secret chicken recipe.  I’m sure there’s a GFC joke in there somewhere if I tried hard enough but I just ate and don’t want to work that hard.

Anyway, the interior is very much a fast food décor, you order at the counter, they give you a number to display at your table and deliver it to you when it’s ready.  I was going to say the menu is limited but in this case I think focused is probably a better description.  Like the name says they are a chicken place and you can get it grilled or fried, and also in a bowl or empanada.  I opted for grilled.  They also have interesting signature sides.  If you want fries with that you can get yucca fries, plantains are an option as well as street corn salad which is what I went with.  They also had rice, beans, slaw and regular fries for the less adventurous.  For drinks they had Pepsi products, water, tea and some you don’t see everywhere; horchata, Jamaica and guava.  Even though I knew it was going to be sweet I got the guava.  I did consider the Jamaica which was made from hibiscus.

OK a side note here on the guava.  When I decided on the drink I said, “I’ll take a guava.”  I pronounced it with the hard G.  The young lady behind the counter looked at me and said “So you want a guava?” pronouncing it basically without a G but adding that little sound I can’t replicate in writing but sounds something like an h & w combined with the urge to spit.  “Yep, that’s the one,” was all I could say as I thought to myself that she sounded just like me when someone mispronounces something and I use it in my next sentence so they can hear it correctly without having to be an ass and blatantly call them out on it.  Well played counter girl, well played.

Alright back to the food.

The chicken was very good.  I honestly couldn’t tell exactly what spices they used other than some mild peppers and a little garlic and maybe onion powder but the citrus was very evident but not in a bad way.  I’m not actually sure if the green sauce on the side was supposed to go on the street corn salad or for the chicken so I tried it with both and it worked for either.  The corn salad was cilantro, tomatoes, corn, with some white crumbled cheese and peppers.  I liked it ok but it’s not something I’d want often.  I got tortillas with the meal instead of the dinner roll since I figured that fit the theme a little better.  Overall it was a nice Sunday lunch and a nice departure from other fast food chains that are so much more prevalent.

Check out the Tell Me More page for a turkey soup recipe, some music, a fact and shopping opportunities.

 

Belgian Breakfast

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Belgium

Image result for belgian passport stamp

From Syria last week I continued west to Belgium and if you search Belgian food you’ll inevitably come up waffles.  So the passport went to Cast Iron Waffles in the Ballantyne, NC area for their “authentic Belgian Liege waffle”.  Now to be transparent I have had these waffles before at work for a special occasion breakfast so I had a good idea what I was in for except these would be hot of the iron.

The place is pretty easy to find as it’s right on the corner of a couple of side streets but parking is pretty scarce.  Luckily I got a place on the street right in front since it was just after 7:00am.  The outside is brick and the interior continues that design with some brick façade inside and a café appearance.  You order at the counter and they have a few tables in a seating area and they do “to go” business as well.

I went with a “naked” waffle although they did have plenty of toppings if I’d wanted some additional flavors with my breakfast.  To wash it down I opted for plain coffee rather than one of the expresso drinks they serve.

Naked in this case did include a dusting of powdered sugar, which honestly was just gratuitous sweetness.  I’m not going to do it justice but let me try.  The waffle is made from a very sweet batter that has enough sugar in it that the very hot waffle iron creates caramelly crystalized areas across the waffle.  Those spots give you an occasional sugary crunch that compliments the soft pastry like interior of the waffle.  It’s like a sweet bread but a bit denser without being heavy.

I’m definitely more of a savory breakfast person than a sweet breakfast person but one of these once in a blue moon is a treat.  Like I said there are other toppings you can get but aside from maybe a sprinkling of cinnamon I think you start getting too sweet at a certain point.  Adding syrup to these would be a travesty and now that I think about it I didn’t see a bottle of syrup in the place.

As I mentioned I just went with a standard coffee so I can’t speak to their specialty coffee drinks but the Saratoga dark roast I had was very good plain coffee. So the pre-sugar crash verdict is this was a fine Belgian breakfast that is worthy of recommending but only one or you’ll go into a sugar coma.

Be sure to check out the Tell Me More page for a recipe, the 2017 Belgium Eurovision entry and more.

 

Syria-sly Good

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Syria

Image result for Syrian passport stamp

Earlier in the week I was looking for some new restaurants / countries to take the culinary-passport when I stumbled across the Golden Bakery in Charlotte.  It is a bakery owned and operated by a Syrian family and it looked like they had some items I wouldn’t be finding just anywhere.  After making the drive to Sharon Amity rd. I found the bakery in an old strip shopping center.  There are a couple of other ethnic restaurants sharing the parking lot with it and a middle east market next door.

When you walk into the bakery you see the counter and display cases to the left, a couple of café tables in the small area in front of the cases and a pass through into the market next door on your right.  I considered grabbing something to eat there but the tables were both occupied so after a short perusal of the options I decided to buy a mixed dozen of the fatayer(s).  I’m not sure how that should be pluralized.  And because I’m not leaving a bakery without something sweet I got a couple of the pistachio baclawa (yes that’s how they spell it).  I was given a ticket and directed to the market side to pay for it so I walked around the market for a bit and picked up some coffee and twigs as you can see further down the post.

The twelve fatayer consisted of two of each of the six types they carried and were easily enough for 3 meals.  Not bad for $12.99.  For lunch I had a soujok, chicken, spinach & feta, and beef.  These I just pulled out of the bag and ate as was.  First let me say the bread was great.  It was heartier than a pastry dough and a bit more dense than a straight up bread dough.  Each filling had a distinctive shape.  The half moon was filled with soujok, a spicy sausage.  It did have a little heat to it and was slightly greasy and bled through the bottom of the dough.  It was tasty though.  The closed pinwheel looking one was filled with ground chicken and something I’m not sure of but it was good.  The spinach and feta was square with an open center.  This was one of my favorites.  The feta was mild and paired with the spinach in an almost creamy consistency.  You got a nice taste of the slightly bitter spinach, the mild cheese and the sweetness of the bread.  Very nice!.  The beef also had an open center.  There was a touch of spiciness to this one as well as a bit of green pepper to enhance the beef.  I tried the other two for dinner along with a couple of reruns.

I smartened up at dinner and popped these in the oven for 10 minutes to warm them up and it did enhance the experience.  The triangular one was spinach filled.  This was probably my least favorite of the six but still not bad.  The spinach filling had some olive oil and lemon juice that gave it a tart flavor.  The canoe shaped one with the open center was plain cheese and was very good and in the top two for me.  It was very simple with bread and a mild, buttery flavored cheese.  I’d be happy to have any of these again but uncharacteristically I think two of the non-meat options were my favorites, the spinach & feta and the plain cheese.

I didn’t forget the pistachio baclawa.  This wasn’t as sweet as most of the Greek baklava I’ve had but it was still plenty sweet and the pistachios were a nice little change of pace and added color.  They also had walnut and almond variations as well.

As I mentioned I walked around the market and saw lots of middle eastern groceries in Arabic that I had now idea what it was but I did see coffee that had cardamom that looked interesting so I grabbed a bag and at the register they had natural licorice root that was really twigs to chew on but still worth the few cents they cost.  So on the coffee brainiac here missed the part, in English mind you, that said Turkish coffee.  That stuff was ground quite fine.  I have a couple of fill-it-yourself K-cups so I thought what the heck let’s try it.  Let me save you some trouble if you ever think the same, don’t do it!  The Turkish coffee and Keurig did not play well together.  The grounds packed so tight against outlet that it took like 10 minutes to fully dispense 8 ounces.  On the upside the coffee was nice and strong with a serious cardamom kick.  The other downside was cleaning the K-cup of the sludge.

As I said I’d definitely visit this place again and they have a number of other middle eastern items to try plus personal size pizzas for those who might not want to go out too far on a limb.

You can find a recipe for a fatayer on the Tell Me More page, along with some music, random facts and Amazon search results for Syria.

 

Comforting Jerk

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November Food Truck Friday

Sadly this was the last Food Truck Friday of the year so there was no way I was going to miss it.  It also marked the opening of the ice rink that will stay up through mid-January.

As normal I stopped by the beverage tent and acquired a beer to sustain me while I perused the offerings of the trucks.  The selection of beer wasn’t as great as previous weeks but they did have a Harvest Lager that seemed appropriate for a cool November evening.  After sufficient perusing I settled on the Comfort Food truck as they had a couple of different items that looked good.  Standing in line I met a local attorney who happened to be a Gamecock fan and it naturally came out that I was a Dog fan and we still managed to maintain a cordial conversation.  Politicians could learn from our example.  Anyway, I decided to try the Mango Jerk Chicken w/ yellow rice and mac & cheese.

The chicken was great.  The mango flavor was very understated but the jerk sauce was very much in evidence.  The chicken was fall off the bone tender too.  The yellow rice was actually spicier than I would have expected but tasty too.  The mac & cheese was surprising because they used pasta shells instead of the traditional elbow macaroni. It was good, not great.  While I ate the Fantasy Band was treating us to music that made it understandable why they are a popular wedding band.  There were some Commodores & Sam Cooke that I recognized and others I didn’t but they all had a nice beat and you could dance to them if that was your thing.

After the meal and on the way out I decided to grab a little something for later at the JessKakes truck.  My plan was to get banana pudding but they had sold out so a jumbo red velvet cupcake was plan B.

Overall it was a fine evening of good food, drink and music.  It’s going to be a long few months until food truck season starts again next year.

Lunchistan

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Pakistan

From Oktoberfest last blog I took the culinary-passport east to Pakistan via Zafram Kabab Palace.  I was actually trying to find a place that served Afghan cuisine and this place popped up but the best they really had that I could see was something they called Afghani rice with a couple of dishes.  Instead they mostly had Pakistani and Indian food and that’s what they advertise.  I decided what the heck I’d try them out.

They started out with a big downgrade from me.  I got there at 11:30, which is the opening time on their website, on their door and at least two places inside the restaurant but they were not yet opened.  There happened to be a family of folks from somewhere in southeast Asia who got there before me and were waiting as well.  We all sat in our cars for about 5 minutes and then they got out and stood around the door, at this point they had a few more join the initial crew so there were 8 of them.  One guy got impatient and banged on the door when he saw someone moving around inside.  That person unlocked the door and while I didn’t hear the whole conversation I saw one of the women tapping her watch and heard the guy say “12:00 o’clock”.  Every one of us immediately looked at the sign on the door that said 11:30 and then back at him like he was nuts.  We got in though and waited while they stocked the buffet.

The buffet was apparently the what they expected everybody to have because there was no offer to bring a menu or even a casual wave of the hand at the huge pictures of their food hanging from the walls.  At this point I was kind of just wanting to eat and leave so I decided to go with the buffet, in spite of the fact they didn’t have any damn kababs on the buffet.

The picture above was my second plate.  The first one I had a bit of goat biryani, white rice and chicken kadhai and some vegetable pakora.  The kadhai was chicken in a spicy tomato gravy and was quite good.  The pakora was essentially a battered potato slice along with a bit of other vegetable stuck to it and deep fried.  The second plate I had tandoori chicken pieces (they cut those chicken pieces very oddly), some white rice and pakora in a yellow curry gravy along with some naan to sop up the plate.  I didn’t catch the name of the yellow veggie stuff but it was suggested by the guy running the front who had become quite solicitous once everyone got in and got seated.  He came over a couple of time to make sure everything was good and on the first trip I got him to hook me up with a mango lassi, one of my favorite drinks.  The orange pile on the plate is gajar ka halwa, a carrot based pudding kind of thing.  The carrots were grated small and almost granular so it had an interesting texture.  It wasn’t as sweet as I thought it was going to be at first, which was good.

Overall the I’d give the place good marks for the food but they lose some for their apparent disregard for time and schedules and the initial greeting from the front man.  He made most of those back after the fact but first impressions do matter.

There’s a good recipe for kheer and a nice video on the Tell Me More page so check it out.

Next week is the last food truck Friday of the year so I’m going to have to go hard at finding new countries or new restaurants for old.

Oktoberfest

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Germany

Last week was busy and resulted in posts for successive weeks.

The surrogate for Germany was the Old Town Rock Hill Oktoberfest.  It was held downtown at Fountain Park which is the same area they have the Food Truck Fridays.  I parked a little further out than I do for the FTF’s expecting a larger crown but I needn’t have.  There were more people leaving as I got there than there were arriving, not a great sign.  I have to admit I was disappointed as well.

As I walked up I could hear the band playing something that wasn’t quite German but there was definitely some “oompah” in there.  The first tent in line was the ID check and beer ticket tent and what’s Oktoberfest without a beer?  I got a souvenir stein because I needed one more thing to try to fit in a cabinet.

For the price I would have expected it to come with at least one beer ticket but nope they were sold separately.  Well I had a couple of beer tickets and a mug so I figured I was at least partially set.  So here was my first disappointment.  I was really hoping for a biergarten and I’ll not lie I was hoping for fraus walking around with multiple liter steins in each hand serving up good German bier.  Alas that was not the case.  There were a couple of beer trailers and the one with the better beer had a line that was quite long but I persevered and wound up with a Dream Chasers Waxtoberfest beer.  That was enough to get me through my next disappointment.

There were only two food vendors, a pizza truck (WTH?) and the Wurst Wagen which had a line to rival the beer trailer.  How they could have 20 plus food trucks monthly for Food Truck Fridays and only two vendors for a once a year event is beyond me.

The one positive of standing in the line for my wurst was that I got to meet the winner of the wiener dog race.  For a 4 time champ and 2 time second place finisher Oscar was pretty humble and didn’t care for posing for pictures so you’ll just have to accept my description.  He was a solid brown dachshund with some white around the muzzle showing his veteran status and a pretty laid back demeanor for the holder of so many trophies.

The Wurst Wagen had a decent selection of sausages; weisswurst, bratwurst, knockwurst & kielbasa with sides of bacon potato salad, chips or sauerkraut.  I went with the weisswurst and sauerkraut.

The sausage was good but not really hot enough.  The guys were relying on a steamer they were keeping the sausages in to heat them up as they were precooked.  The problem was they were moving them so fast they didn’t have a chance to get very warm before getting served.  The taste was good and the German mustard and sauerkraut were good accompaniments.  I had just enough beer to make it through the meal and a couple of songs from the Foothills Oompah band.  I spent my second ticket on an Old Mecklenburg Mecktoberfest which tasted more like a good German beer than the Waxtoberfest, which had a hint of fruitiness to it.

That was good for a few more songs as the sun set and the fountain to my left got lit up.

Despite the disappointments it was a good evening and I can hope that next year will be better but I’ll let you know either way.

 

Nana & The Kids

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Oct Food Truck Friday

Well it was another Food Truck Friday in Old Town Rock Hill and out I went looking forward to another good time.  As usual I stopped by the beer tent to get a little something to walk around with.  They had a beer called Ghost Rider Spiced Ale from Palmetto Brewing Co.  I got it because of the name, Ghost Rider being a comic book character appealed to my nerd side.  I took my first sip and it was a bit of a surprise as I discovered where that name came from.  The initial impression “This is just another IP..Hey!”  The Ghost in the name comes from the ghost peppers they add to give it a little bit of a burn.  It was interesting but honestly I’m not a fan.  It did keep me going until I got around to deciding on which truck I was dining from.

This week Nana’s Porch struck my fancy as the place to pick up a comforting meal.  I mean what says homey like Nana’s porch except maybe her kitchen.

They had several things that sounded good but the Barnyard burger won out with a side of smoky mac & cheese just to keep the comfort coming.

It doesn’t look pretty but it tasted good.  The burger looked hand patted and it was a generous portion.  The burger was sitting on top of some grilled onions and topped with pulled pork and homemade pimento cheese all sandwiched in a grilled bun.  The burger was cooked more thoroughly than I normally prefer but it had a good flavor especially garnished as it was.  The mac & cheese got its smoky flavor from gouda cheese plus paprika sprinkled on top.  It was dense, cheesy, filling and tasty.

I enjoyed the meal to the musical stylings of Kids In America playing on the stage.  They played early 80’s music that made you feel like you were sitting in an MTV flashback.  You know, when they actually played music.  I kept expecting Downtown Julie Brown to stroll out and veejay the event.  It’s not easy to see in the picture but the band members were sporting headbands, leg warmers, lab coats, and other style choices straight out of the 80’s.

While I was enjoying an after dinner cider this guy decided he wanted to be friends and unfortunately you can’t get a sense of perspective from the picture but he was big enough and wolf like enough I was looking around for Starks.

Another good FTF with one more to go this year.

 

 

 

SEA Food

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South East Asia

This weekend the South East Asian Coalition held their Street Food Festival and I couldn’t pass that up.

The festival was on Central Ave in the Plaza Midwood section of Charlotte.  They were using a parking lot for the festival and there weren’t really any provisions made for other parking so it was mainly street parking often in areas that weren’t really designed for it.  I found a spot I felt wouldn’t likely get me ticketed or towed and parked.

As I said they were using the parking lot and had three food trucks and several tents set up to serve food and a dozen or so other tents with crafts, organizations and drinks.  I have to say I was expecting more from a street food festival.  Two of the food trucks I was familiar with and have eaten at one already and the other was serving up only bubble tea.  The three tents that were to serve food were still setting up and didn’t start serving until after 12:00 and then it was nothing I couldn’t get at most Asian restaurants around town.  I overcame my disappointment and decided to go ahead and try the Yummi Banh Mi food truck.  Specifically I got their Vietnamese rice bowl with lemongrass pork and the free range egg add on.

For the record I took several pictures of the truck and in every single one someone walked in front of the logo.  Once I waited until the coast looked clear and just as I was pushing the button a kid ran through the frame so here’s the best of the lot.  More importantly though the rice bowl was very tasty and very generous.  It consisted of steamed jasmine rice with cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon reslish, cucumber, jalapenos, the fried over medium egg and the lemongrass pork served with a vinegary dressing.  The lemongrass pork was sliced thin and cooked tender with a hint of the lemongrass flavor and some other mild spices.  I added a pack of soy sauce and that really made the whole thing just great and it alleviated some of the initial let down.

To drink I decided to try bubble tea since I’d never had it in spite of seeing it in quite a few Asian restaurants over my lifetime.

The Boba Café truck was only serving bubble tea but they had quite a few flavors to choose from.  My choice was mango because I just love mangos.  The drink looks small if you use the normal concept of a straw to inform your perspective but this straw was huge in diameter.  It was like one of those plastic pixie stix straws we’d get as a kid when we were flush with cash and needed a sugar rush that would last all day.  It had to be big because the boba are apparently tapioca balls about the size of a sweet pea that they put in the bottom of the drink.  If you’ve never had them they’re kind of soft and chewy without much flavor except being a little sweet.  The tea in this case was a little bit of green tea and the flavorings they used were powders that went in along with ice to form a blended ice concoction they dumped on top of the tapioca balls.  It had a good mango flavor and the tapioca made chewing your drink a thing so it was cool.

On my way out I saw a sign for Viet Coffee over one of the tents and thought I could go for a swig of coffee after that rice bowl.  So it turns out a nice, smiling older Vietnamese lady was sitting there making iced coffees, mixing them one at a time.  She had her strong brewed coffee, she’d add a little sugar, a couple of teaspoons of Eagle brand condensed milk, whisk them up add a little water and ice before giving it another good stir and you were good to go.

It was nice and strong and a nice way to wrap up the visit to the street food festival.  So after my initial disappointment I was able to finish with three positive experiences and that has to be a win for the afternoon.  Next weekend I have Food Truck Friday and Octoberfest Saturday so that should be good for a couple of posts.