Meals & Wheels

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Food Truck Saturday

After taking a couple weeks off during vacation I hit an event I’d been waiting on for a couple of months.  The folks who run Rock Hill’s Food Truck Friday rescheduled the July event to coincide with the Saturday opening ceremonies of the BMX World Championships being held right here in Rock Hill, SC.

In addition to the usual area around Fountain Park loaded with food trucks and live music they blocked off a few more streets, doubled the number of food trucks, added a kids ride and bounce area, increased the number and location of tables to sit and dine, had twice the beer tents,  another stage with music, and finally an area where they had guys doing bike riding stunts.  Whew, that’s a lot of stuff for a Saturday evening.

It was hot.  At 6:00pm it was 96 degrees or 36 depending on your flavor of temperature.  So naturally my first goal was to secure a beverage from the closest beer station.  The beer stations had local craft brews, some not so local craft brews and a couple of national beers.  I was trying to decide between a stout and a brown ale which I figured would be lighter on this semi-hellish day.  The woman waiting on me said “You want to sample it” when I voiced that thought.  It took a second before I realized she wasn’t asking me and she had the tap going before I could respond.  As she gave me the cup she told me she and her cohort had just sampled both and I needed to make an informed decision.  I was also presented with a sample of the coffee cream stout.  Both were actually good but the brown ale was a bit hoppier and more bitter than I was expecting while the stout was smoother and went down well so that’s was the starter beer.  First hurdle cleared it was time to examine the food options.

There were a number of taco & sandwich trucks as well as BBQ of different varieties.  Ethnically inspired trucks, a couple of seafood trucks and desert trucks with those ice cream & Italian ice doing a brisk business.  I settled on Thai meatball sliders with cilantro lime rice from the Plated Palette food truck.

The two beef meatballs were covered with a Thai sweet chile sauce and served with a cucumber slice and spinach on a soft slider bun.  They were good but I have to admit they were a tad awkward as they wanted to shoot out of the bun with each bite.  The rice seemed light on the lime and just a little better on the cilantro so it turned out to be mostly just rice.  I did find a nice place to sit which occasionally got a wind assisted spray from the fountain.  A bonus was it was only a short jaunt to the BMX trick area for some after dinner entertainment.

 

After that it was time to obtain another brew and contemplate dessert possibilities.  This time I went the opposite direction of the stout and opted for a Catawba Brewing White Zombie witbier.  It was lighter and a little more refreshing than the stout.  I found a nice spot with a reasonably regular breeze to nurse my zombie and people watch as I continued to contemplate dessert.  This really was a world event as I saw folks from not only USA teams but from Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Australia, South Africa, and from their speech some from eastern Europe.  Those were just the ones who advertised their teams so no telling how many other countries were represented.  Nice exposure for the local area.

I finally decided on dessert and since it had plunged to 94 degrees by 8:00pm I elected to have a root beer float from Hillbilly Bob’s Homemade Soda.

Here’s what I can tell you about Hillbilly Bob’s root beer float.  It is not sugar free, it is quite good and they float a single serve vanilla ice cream cup, Blue Bell in this case, on top of that root beer.  Well not the cup, just the ice cream.  I didn’t bother to check my blood sugar when I got home because I didn’t want to blow the glucometer.  To go with my dessert I was treated to a band of 4 white dudes doing a credible job on a Prince tune.

Despite the heat it was a great evening and even though it won’t be as grand I’m already looking forward to next month’s Food Truck Friday.

 

H&K Lunch

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Lebanon II

In this case H&K is not referring to the firearms company but hummus & kebabs.  My last run at Lebanese food was at a great restaurant in Columbia, SC (see the post).  I decided to try a Lebanese place marginally closer in Matthews, NC called Kabab-Je.

They are located in a very busy shopping complex and you have to look closely to find them among all the other restaurants and shops.  They have a large outdoor seating area and if the weather had been just a few degrees cooler I’d have opted to enjoy al fresco dining.  The interior has plenty of seating and I was immediately shown to a table.  In the middle of the restaurant is a rectangle of display cases showing food available to take out as well as what you can order to eat in.

Even though I was by myself I ordered the hummus appetizer because, well hummus.

It did not disappoint.  Their hummus is thinner and creamier than most of that you find in grocery stores.  When the young lady brought it there was a well of space in the center that was designed to hold some additional olive oil if you wanted it.  I did.  The hummus was served with a warm, fresh pita that proved to be a delicious hummus delivery system.  I got about half way through the hummus before my kafta arrived.

The kafta was two skewers of spiced minced lamb and beef charcoal grilled.  They were served with grilled vegetable and basmati rice.  The vegetables; peppers, zucchini, onions, carrots, green beans, and yellow squash were soft and lightly seasoned.  The rice was basmati with saffron and topped with some carrots and some golden raisins that added a bit of sweetness.  The kafta was excellent.  It slid off the skewers easily and still had plenty of juice that enhanced the seasoned meat quite well.  It was fork cutting tender as you’d expect from properly grilled ground meat. The mixed lamb and beef had a nice flavor and was complimented by the rice and vegetables.  I’m not sure the photo does justice to the size of the portions but there was a lot of food here and after eating half the hummus I had to walk away with significant amount of rice still on the plate.  Oh, the lettuce was sacrificed as well.

The food was top notch and the server was friendly, attentive and fast.  That was something I noticed.  They had plenty of staff and none of them were dawdlers. They got people in and out without making anyone feel rushed at all.  If they were closer I’d be a regular.

If you missed the last Tell Me More page for Lebanon click the link now.

 

Two For One

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Venezuela

Image result for venezuelan passport stamp

This was one of those weeks where things worked out a bit different than planned and actually that was OK.  When I was searching for someplace new to have breakfast a few weekends ago Ava’s Café popped up and I saw they billed themselves as a Venezuelan restaurant.  So while I didn’t go for breakfast I filed them away for as a potential blog candidate since I hadn’t done Venezuela.

This was the day I decided to try them out and off I went.  When I arrived where it was supposed to be, it’s not there.  I mean the building and everything was where it should have been but not Ava’s.  Where it should have been was another little eatery called Me-A-More Café.  I figured maybe it was just a name change since the sign said Café & Latin Street Cuisine so I might still get Venezuela out of this.

The place is small and well lit with 8 or 10 tables and was not very busy when I went in so I was promptly greeted and seated.  The menu did have an item specifically called Venezuelan Pabellon as well as several more Latin American sounding dishes.  I was still in business.  I ordered my dish and fired up my Kindle app to wait but they brought out a little appetizer to get me started.

Now my first thought was “That’s a skimpy bowl of chips, they must not be doing that well.”  Upon closer inspection I realized those were plantain chips and the dip was some kind of mayonnaise based dip with a herby tang to it and a little went a long way.  The combo was good since the slight tang of the sauce balanced the faintly sweet starchiness of the plantains.  Certainly it was something a different.

While I was chowing on the chips I learned some stuff through overheard conversations and direct communication with the staff.  First was they replaced Ava’s here but kept a large part of the menu from Ava’s.  The new owner is also the chef and is from the Dominican Republic and has added a some Dominican items (there’s my 2 for 1, I can come back for Dominican).  The young woman who waited on me was from Haiti.  The owner asks for feedback and actually accepts criticism with grace, seems to be appreciative of the feedback as a way to improve, and isn’t afraid to acknowledge it when she agrees.  I know this last because she spent several minutes talking to a guy who had suggestions for improvement on each of the items he had eaten and she was just as nice and smiley when she walked away as she was when to walked up.  Kudos to her.

The pabellon consisted of rice, black beans, fried ripe plantains and shredded beef.  Nothing fancy about this dish and there’s a lot of commonality with some of the other South American cuisines I’ve had since starting the blog.  The biggest differentiator was the shredded beef which was lightly seasoned and not at all spicy which I was expecting it to be, at least a little.  It all went well as filling comfort food.  In conversation I learned the Dominican version uses red beans, green plantains & shredded pork.

On the way out I decided I’d grab a snack for later and got a guava and cheese empanada.

Later has come and gone so I’ve tried it out and I’m a fan.  At first I thought the cheese was simply cream cheese but it’s something made in house apparently from some other soft white cheese that’s sweetened and has something a little tart added in.  The guava element was jam or preserves that were not too sweet and the empanada crust was soft and just a bit chewy.

Overall I’d say while the afternoon didn’t go as planned it was very successful.  The food was good and they had some nice changes of pace like the plantain chips plus everyone in the place was super friendly.  If you’re local here’s another chance to support a non-chain small business and get rewarded with good food and service.

Check out the Tell Me More page for more on Venezuela

 

A Taste of CLT

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Charlotte

The Taste of Charlotte Festival  is a 3 day, 6 block long celebration of area eateries in uptown Charlotte.  In addition to the food tents there are vendors, entertainers on four stages and attractions for the kids.  I couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip through my fingers so I ventured forth to the trusty light rail and rode it to a stop just two blocks from the festival.

A couple of procedural notes for anyone planning to attend in the future.  The food, beverage and attraction vendors accept only festival coin of the realm.  There were several coin purchasing stations along the 6 blocks of Tryon that made up the festival venue.  They sold Large cups (15 coins) and Small cups (7 coins) for $20 & $10 respectively.  That was if you paid cash, if you paid by card I understand from some grumbling there was a $1.50 add on per cup so cash was the way to go.  As the mathletes among you have already calculated that works out to $1.33-$1.43 per coin.  The food items ranged from 2-4 coins with the majority being 3 coins or $4.00.  Beer & wine were 5 coins each and I didn’t pay any attention to sodas and water but they were likely in the 2-3 range.

I’d scoped out the list and figured I’d grab a couple of beers (10 coins) and at least 3 samples (9 coins) so a large and a small cup were right in the ballpark.  With my plan and cash in hand I walked to the coin location nearest one end, got my coins and began the stroll down Tryon in search of interesting food.

I didn’t have to go far before hitting Brazz Carvery & Steakhouse’s tent.  They had stuff wrapped in bacon so yeah I ponied up 3 coins for 2 pcs.  They had three options; filet wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in bacon or scallop wrapped in bacon.  They were grilling them on skewers in the tent so you got to see and smell them as you stood in line to order.  Most people were getting two of the same thing but I figured why not ask for two different ones and it confused the kid for a second but I got one piece of the filet and one scallop.  They came served with a sweet chimichuri sauce.

They were as good as they look.  Tender hunk of beef and a scallop cooked just right wrapped in bacon it was a nice way to start the festival.  I only made it a few steps before hitting American Burger Co’s tent and the lure of their jalepeno pimento cheese slider had me parting with 3 more coins. I grabbed the miniature burger and stepped into the shadier sidewalk to enjoy the treat.

It wasn’t very spicy but it did taste good and the slider was medium and still a little juicy.  My Leinenkugel summer shandy washed it down nicely.  Having parted with half my coins 10 minutes into the festival I figured I’d better pace myself and be more discriminating.  I passed up some good looking food and spent a few minutes checking out one of the bands at the center stage as they cranked out some good classic tunes.

After the musical interlude I spied the McCormick & Schmick tent and they had a blue crab dip for two coins that sounded like something I needed to pair with my newly purchased Pacifico IPA.  It turned out to be a good match.

Served with pita points the dip was good but less crabby than I expected.  Good but not great.  Four coins and a block to go.  Mert’s Heart & Soul pulled me in to try their Southern fried fish bites over rice at the perfect price of four coins.

This was the most substantial of the 4 items I tried with 3 chunks of salmon with a light deep fried coating.  There was a little seasoning plus the drizzle of the mustard based sauce with a hint of spice and sweet.  This sat on a bed of rice I’m not even sure with what it was seasoned but it was a little tangy and a lot tasty.  It turned out to be a nice wrap up to the festival.  I was at the last block  and the light rail terminus was just a couple of streets over.  I felt like my $30 was well spent this afternoon and my only regret was I hadn’t discovered this a few years earlier.

Fork Me

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And Then There Were Cupcakes

I was minding my own business at work and decided to check my twitter feed and a food truck I haven’t checked out before tweeted they were at a location only a few miles away.  I chunked the lean pockets in the freezer and jumped in the car to check out the Roaming Fork food truck.

I found them parked in a busy office park along with a couple of other trucks.  I was hoping to try one of their fried deviled eggs but they weren’t on the menu so I kept it to their special of the day, Korean fried chicken plus a side and drink.

They had three choices for the side; something, something cauliflower, truffle fries and a fresh fruit cup.  The cauliflower was never in the running and the truffle fries just seemed a better match for the chicken.  In hindsight the fruit probably would have been a better choice.  The chicken was lightly coated with seasoned flour and drizzled with a honey Korean barbeque sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  I got two small wings and a breast in the meal so the portion was nothing to complain about.  The taste of the chicken was pretty good by itself but the drizzle of sauce did compliment it well.  My one gripe with it was that the breast was cold in the thickest part.  I don’t mean like not hot, room temperature kind of cold but a been in the cooler for a while and not heated long enough to drive out the chill kind of cold.  Fortunately I like cold fried chicken well enough to power through but it was disappointing.  The truffle fries were ok but not as good as I was hoping for. The flavors were good and I’d try something else from them without hesitating but this trip would only get 3 out of 5 forks from me.

On the other end of the scale was my happy discovery.  I noticed all three of the people in front of me ordered and then immediately walked over and ordered something from this blue van so it must have been some kind of rule right?  Turns out that little blue van was Cupcake Delirium.  Well since it was a rule I had to try one and as the gentleman running the window said I could save a bundle on the unit price if I bought 4.  Lord knows I like a deal so since they were out of the Red Velvet cupcakes I had to settle for; Pecan Pie, Death by Chocolate, Bourbon Caramel Bacon, & Nutterbutter Fluffernutter cupcakes.

Now lest you think to yourself “that boy don’t need all them cupcakes”, I did give half of them away, ate one at lunch and managed to save the other for an after dinner snack.  The one I had with lunch was the Pecan Pie cupcake and I have to tell you it was a very, very good cupcake.  In addition to the decorative pecan nestled atop some damn fine buttercream frosting drizzled with caramel the cupcake had a hunk of pecan pie baked in. You heard me, it had pecan pie in the cupcake.

Quite the tasty treat.  I have reports that the Bourbon Caramel Bacon had the best bacon ever tasted on it and the Nutterbutter Fluffernutter was the best cupcake ever.  Personal experience let’s me tell you the Death by Chocolate was not lethal but it killed any chance I had of losing weight that day.  In case you can’t tell I’m a fan of these folks and not just because of the awesome cupcakes but I like the way they operate.  When I got the 4 cupcakes the guy said if I brought the box back or took it to their store and bought more I’d get a free cupcake (a $3.00 value).  Plus the packaging for their cupcakes is a plastic cup turned upside down and the cupcake bottom fits perfectly in the lid rim.  Ingenious money saver!  If you make it to Pineville, NC look these folks up on Main St. or if you see them at a food truck rally make a point of grabbing a cupcake or four.

 

 

Mangiare a Milano

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Italy

As promised last post this week is devoted to the food & drink from an overnight trip to Milano.  The trip was quick but we managed to have some great meals just by wandering into places we were passing by.

I was joined on the trip by friend and co-worker Levina and we decided to go towards the downtown area and start roaming around.  The cab ride made it quite clear there was at least one pizzeria per block so we walked only a little way before we found one that looked very inviting, Ristorante Pizzeria da Sasa.  The waiter was standing in the doorway smiling and waved us in to enjoy some pleasant outdoor dining.  His English was only slightly better than my Italian but we managed to get drinks ordered and an English menu.

The beer was a local draft that tasted like a lager and it was nice and cold.  We placed our orders and while we waited they provided us a wonderful eggplant appetizer with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese accompanied by a basket of fresh bread.  It whetted the appetite for our entrees.

The entrees we ordered were spaghetti with garlic oil and spicy peppers and the calzone Napoletano which had tomatoes, mozzarella, ricotta and spicy salami.  We shared the dishes so we could enjoy each.

The spaghetti was cooked just right and the simplicity of the garlic olive oil and peppers meant you didn’t have a ton of competing flavors and could enjoy those tastes.  The calzone was cooked in a real pizza oven with fire and everything, witness the slight char.  There is no substitute for a good wood or coal fired pizza oven.  The fillings weren’t as copious as they are in a lot of the calzones here in the States but the ingredients tasted fresh and the salami was spicy as advertised so it was quality over quantity.  Pizza & pasta, what more iconic first Italian meal could you ask for?  Well maybe an espresso to put the capper on the meal.  The staff was very friendly and inviting and I’d recommend this place to anyone.

From this leisurely lunch we walked, bussed and subwayed around Milano until we would up at the Duomo where we spent a little time gaping before deciding we’d really pay attention to that the next day and chose to stroll through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II next to it.  This place was loaded with high end shops and some nice restaurants as well so we stopped at one, Ristorante Galleria,  more for something to drink than a meal since lunch had been so substantial.

We settled on the cheese plate which came with five different cheeses with preserved figs and a basket of assorted rolls.

I’m not even sure what all the cheeses were except good.  The brie was obvious and there was parmesan and what I think was romano but it could have been some other hard cheese. It was mild and had a kind of nutty flavor to it.  The other really soft cheese was akin to bleu cheese but it was more finely veined and creamier and the last was a semi-soft cheese that had a bit of a tang to it that went well with the roll laced with pumpkin seeds.  So this was a light dinner but very tasty and filling.  Of course there’s always room for gelato.

I had hazelnut topped by mixed berry and as you can see it came with some crispy thin cookies that you had to eat just to gain proper access to the gelato.  Sacrifices must the made.  This was a nice place that matched the high end shops surrounding it in that it felt fancy but dress code wasn’t really that much of an issue if you could pay the bill.

When we got back to the hotel we relaxed and I had a darker local beer and Levina enjoyed a cappuccino.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel which was not bad but not blog worthy either.  Lunch was at a restaurant off the Duomo’s square and was mostly notable for the lack of ability to communicate.  We ordered panini sandwiches and Levina asked if it was toasted and was told “No!  No toast!”  I tried to mime both pressing something and also closing a panini press but the answer was the same.  Of course we’re thinking “how is it a panini if it isn’t toasted?”  They arrived, pressed and toasted.  It was no better or worse than any other busy café next to an Italian landmark.

Great trip, good food, you should go.

Germany part Zwei

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Germany

I had the chance to take the culinary-passport on the road for work and Germany was the place to be.  We landed in Frankfurt, spent our nights in Friedrichsdorf and hit some surrounding areas for meals.  This will be a picture filled post highlighting several great meals over the trip and I have to say there was not a bad meal among them just shades of good or great.

There were several meals at the Mercure Hotel restaurant including the first one from a lunch buffet.

You could pay for one trip or multiple trips and I decided one trip would be enough for my time distorted self.  There were a lot of nice options but I went with the turkey roll, which had turkey wrapped around dressing / stuffing, as my meat.   I added an eggplant mixture plus some other mixed vegetables, half a boiled egg, a rice dish with shrimp and a coarse brown roll.  It was a good, filling meal but not really spectacular.  I’m going to cover all the meals at the hotel together so these won’t be in chronological order.  The next meal covered here was the evening before a quick trip to Italy (more on that next post).

This wonderful little container of goodness was the Frankfurter “Dreckschipp”.  It had me at meat with sides of meat.  The contents were, filet of pork, pork cutlet, nuernberger (sausage), and bacon with a mushroom cream sauce and in a nod to healthy I opted for mixed vegetables but to keep things balanced the pan fried potatoes finished out the meal.  This was a great meal that wasn’t as heavy as it might sound.  The portions were enough to give you a good taste without making you overstuffed and the pan fried potatoes were well cooked and seasoned.  The last dinner was also at the hotel.

Here we had the bacon wrapped veal rolls filled with rocket (arugula) and the rosemary potatoes.  The veal was tender and tasty and the arugula was interesting.  The rosemary potatoes were one of the few disappointments of the trip.  They were roasted just a little too fast and had a mild burnt taste.  One thing I didn’t mention was they provided a bread appetizer with several spreads including butter, olive oil, creamcheese & chives, and something else I can’t remember.  Overall I’d give the hotel restaurant good marks.

The first evening we went for dinner at a great place in Bad Homburg called Shreinerei Pfeiffer.  I have to thank Yelp for this find.  The place had a great atmosphere.  You enter via a little alley and they have seating inside and out plus a hybrid that had one wall open to the outside and we sat at a table in that section.  The walls had old carpentry tools hanging from the walls and the furniture was all heavy wood.  You can check out their link for more info if you are so inclined.  I ordered up the Hessenschnitzel.  It came with a salad that tasted pretty good but it was the first time I ever remember getting corn on a green salad.

The Hessenschnitzel was fantastic.  It was your basic pork schnitzel but they had it covered with onions & melted cheese curd with a side of fries too.  It wasn’t pretty but it sure was one of the best schnitzels I’ve ever had.

Of course I had to wash it down with something so the first choice was the Kronenhof hell beer (picture below).  Nice light, smooth beer that went well with the meal.  I also had a Radler which it turns out is basically a shandy.  I’m not generally a fan of mixing beer with other stuff but this was a nice refreshing little capper to the meal.

The next night we walked to a place called the Lindenhof in Friedrichsdorf.  We had our own room with a big table to accommodate our good sized group.  After an aborted attempt to get the Schweinehaxe (pork knuckle) which they had just sold out of I selected the Ochsenbrust and the house draft pilsner.

Ochsenbrust is beef brisket and came with a generous helping of potatoes and one of the primary reasons for getting it, the local green sauce.  The sauce is yogurt based with 7 herbs and boiled eggs and went nicely on both the beef and the potatoes.  The beer was nothing remarkable but it was competently pilsnery.

We had a full team dinner at Stangs Restaurant in the Friedberg Golfclub.  We sat outside and enjoyed the mild temperatures and beautiful view.

What you can’t see, because I cropped out the people in the shot, is the pond just to the bottom of the frame and close to our tables.  This provided a lovely breeding ground for the multitude of little black, annoying bugs that harassed us throughout our time here.  They were honestly so bad I was encouraging the smokers to light up so the smoke would drive them away.  In spite of the little pests we did manage to get good meals out of the deal.

Just FYI in case you are as ignorant of this as I was but April through June is spargel (asparagus) and strawberry season in this area and it is such a big deal that EVERY restaurant we went in had a special seasonal page or separate menu dedicated to them.  That being the case I figured I’d have to try them at least once while I had the chance especially since we had been passing the fields that they’d been harvested from.

No for the regular asparagus I can get at the grocery stores here in the US I’m a take it or leave it kind of guy but after trying these I get why the Germans are enthusiastic about their spargel.

What you see in the photo above is the white asparagus with two kinds of ham, what they called raw and cooked, plus a side of boiled potatoes and house made hollandaise sauce.  The asparagus was tender enough to easily cut with your fork and had a light flavor that was even better with the hollandaise slathered all over it.  The ham portions were small but that was ok because they were just an accompaniment to the star of the meal.  The potatoes were boiled potatoes and nothing special except when supplemented with a dab of the hollandaise.  I had a house pilsner while we were waiting for the meal but with the meal I had a glass of apfelwein, which translates to apple wine but is better known to us as apple cider.  It paired well with the asparagus and ham.  If it hadn’t been for the bugs this could easily have been the best overall meal of the trip considering the outside dining, view and quality of the food.  I’d still go again given the chance but I’d take a citronella candle to be on the safe side.

I think there is no substitute for eating a culture’s food on their home turf and this trip to Germany didn’t change that opinion one iota.

 

 

MRE Showdown pt 2

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USA

Welcome to part two of the MRE showdown where we focus on US meals ready to eat.  These are individually packed meals rather than a full day in a package.

These were also purchased from Amazon and depending on where you buy them can cost as much or as little as 40% for three meals as the Russian ration pack.  I did like being able to read what the meals were so there weren’t any big surprises on the entrees.

First up was the Chicken Pesto Pasta.  You can see below the contents packaged and then unpackaged with the associated accessories.


The contents of this meal were the chicken pesto pasta, Italian bread sticks, cheese spread, patriotic cookies, cinnamon bun, lemon lime drink mix, powdered red pepper, coffee and accessories, toilet paper, matches, moist wipe, gum and the chemical heater.

I used the supplied chemical heater to warm up the entrée and it worked very well.  The contents are that visually appealing but when I added some of the ground red pepper it tasted fairly decent. The chicken looked and tasted like chicken and the pasta wasn’t mushy and there was a pesto flavor so it lived up to the billing but didn’t really exceed expectations.  The Italian bread was soft, dry and broke up easily.  It had some specks of herbs and made a decent platform for the cheese spread.  Oh the cheese spread.  It was essentially cheez whiz in a pouch instead of a can so if you like that you’d love this.  The patriotic cookies were like sugar cookies in shapes as the name says; Statue of Liberty head & torch, Uncle Sam’s face and hat, the flag and the letters USA.  They were tasty.  Last but certainly not least on the food front was the cinnamon bun.  Another casualty of preservation by limiting moisture.  It had a good flavor but was very dense and dry with a very thin liquid layer of cinnamon in the middle.  The drink mix made a Gatorade like drink that wasn’t bad and provided some electrolytes and carbs.  The coffee was standard instant coffee, nothing notable.  Overall I’d say this was a pretty passable meal not something I’d want daily but certainly something I would complain about if I was out in the field.

Next up on the hit parade was the cheese tortellini in tomato sauce.  In the spirit of balance I decided to try a vegetarian option because they exist.  As you can see from the picture it also wasn’t going to win any prized for presentation.

 

The meal had the tortellini, soda crackers, peanut butter, an energy bar, mango-peach applesauce, grape drink mix, the accessory pack with hot sauce and powdered raspberry drink mix and the highlight of the MRE and hearkening to their roots a pack of M&M’s.

The tortellini tasted just like you’d get from a can in the store and benefitted greatly from the addition of the packet of hot sauce, which was from Louisiana was not Tabasco.  The crackers were a bit like the bread from the previous meal in that they were dry and fragile but didn’t have snap like a crispy saltine cracker does.  They were passable with though when covered in the peanut butter which had a nice peanutty flavor.  The mango-peach applesauce was a sweet mush that had a vaguely mango taste if you didn’t think about it too much.  The energy bar was one of those chewy sort of chocolatey bars that you feel like probably had some other kind of good for you stuff but didn’t care bad enough to check the label.  It was typical for its type.  The grape drink tasted like an artificially grape flavored Gatorade wannabe.  The M&M’s were of course melt in your mouth, not in your hand delicious.  Final assessment of this one is that even if it was vegetarian it was very edible and honestly quite filling.

The final entry in the US MRE lineup was Mexican Style Chicken Stew.

 

Although it did not look pretty it was my favorite of the 3 meals.  It had a surprising amount of chicken and it was spicy enough to justify the Mexican label.  In addition to the stew there were “vegetable crackers”, Cheddar cheese pretzels, cheese spread, applesauce with raspberry puree, a lemon lime beverage powder and oh yeah! M&Ms again.  The vegetable crackers were dry and a bit odd but I crumbled half in the stew and cheesed the other half so they were edible.  The cheddar cheese pretzels were simply cheese Combos.  The applesauce did have a faint raspberry flavor but otherwise it was unremarkable.  Of course the M&Ms need no additional detail.  It was a very edible meal that definitely fills you up.

In the final tally I have to give the win to the US MREs for taste and overall quality.  If you’re looking to grab something for your next camping trip grab some MREs and remember to pack out your garbage.

 

 

 

SF for a Berry Good Time

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Strawberry Festival

Since it’s festival season and festivals have food trucks and tents it seemed like a good opportunity to support a local event by heading to the SC Strawberry Festival.

I met up with friends and we toured the car show, crafts, kids play area, and then the food zone.  The choices were many and varied from corn dogs to fried soba noodles with deep fried most everything and the heart healthy Krispy Kreme burger.  Here’s a shot of a small portion of the food vendors.

From this cornucopia of culinary concessions we settled on Georgie’s Just Good BBQ and their array of smoked and grilled goodness.  The BBQ nachos were a leading contender early on but by the time we hit the front of the line the power of suggestion won out and the Carolina Cheesesteak was the choice for lunch.

This bundle of beef brisket on a bun was served with grilled onions and cheese sauce and a bag of chips.  The brisket was tender and had a nice smoky flavor that was enhanced by the grilled onions and the gooey cheese sauce guaranteed you were going to use a napkin or sport a cheese mustache and goatee.  Very tasty indeed but not so filling as to keep one from having a little dessert and of course at a strawberry festival there’s gonna be shortcake.

I might have forgotten about pictures until I was 75% done but from the remnants I’m sure you can see the scarlet strawberries smothering shortcake & strawberry ice cream topped with a bit of whipped cream.  Yeah that was worth eating plain oatmeal for breakfast to conserve calories and stomach space.  The meal was accompanied by good conversation and the Carolina Rhythm band provided the soundtrack.

Good meal, good friends, good day.  They do it every year make plans to check them out next year.

 

Noodles in the Wings?

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Japan

Today felt like a sushi for lunch kind of day.  NC Noodle Bar came up in the search for local (Rock Hill) sushi and was some place I hadn’t been before.  It was one of many but I’m so glad I decided to check them out over the others.

At about 4 miles from my house it was pretty convenient.  I got there fairly early for lunch and was the only patron.  It’s a fairly small place with about 9 or 10 tables and 4 seats at a counter.  I was told to have a seat anywhere and they’d be right with me.  Of the three people I saw working there all of them were very friendly and smiled a lot.  They have menus on the table but they also bring over a paper sushi menu with “happy hour” and regular pricing and I was in during happy hour.  Score!  As the name implies they have various noodle dishes from southeast Asian countries but also salads, soups and rice dishes.  The post is tagged Japan because I got sushi which is a fairly recent addition to their menu.  I placed my order and the guy who took my order was also the sushi chef so that was interesting.  They brought out a single chicken dumpling as a free appetizer.  It was crunchy and you can see from the picture it wasn’t steamed but I’m not sure if it was baked or fried.  Either way it was a nice little start.

I ordered the stuffed wings and the NC Noodle Bar Special Roll.  The roll was ready just a bit before the wings so I actually ate that before the appetizer.  I thought it was visually appealing but you can judge for yourself.

The roll had red and white tuna as well as salmon.  There was a slice of avocado on each section and each slice was topped with a dab of sauce and there were 4 different fish eggs represented.  The interior of the rolls had cucumber and some crabmeat and cream cheese and there was something crunchy.  It was very enjoyable and quite filling so the appetizer was looking like desert.

The stuffed wings were “huuuuge”.  They were deboned and stuffed with mushrooms and rice noodles and deep fried.  A sweet sauce accompanied them but it was a bit too sweet for me.  Those things were good and I don’t know how they do that magic but I’m glad they do it.  Between the dumpling and the big sushi roll I had to bring one home with me for a snack later.

There is no question I will be going back here and recommend it.  It’s not big or fancy but the food was great and the staff was very pleasant and helpful both of which are high on my list of desirable traits in a restaurant.  One question I forgot to ask was why they are called NC Noodle Bar when they are located in SC but that’ll have to be on the next visit.