Spots For Dates » street food

Red Sesame Chicken Bao from Chairman Bao Truck

Lando — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:06:28 +0000

Chairman Bao Truck. steamed bun. chicken. red sesame sauce. sliced pickled carrots.

Multiple Bay Area Locations
Chairman Bao Truck

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Preparing a Roli Roti Porchetta Sandwich mobile rotisserie. porchetta. crispy skin. Acme Bread soaking up all...

Fried Chicken Sandwich at Bakesale Betty buttermilk fried chicken. jalapeño coleslaw. torpedo roll from Acme Bread...

Preparing a Roli Roti Porchetta Sandwich

Lando — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:49:52 +0000

mobile rotisserie. porchetta. crispy skin. Acme Bread soaking up all the pork juices. the makings of the perfect pork sandwich.

Multiple Bay Area Farmers’ Market Locations
Roli Roti

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Fried Chicken Sandwich at Bakesale Betty buttermilk fried chicken. jalapeño coleslaw. torpedo roll from Acme Bread...

Foodbuzz Blogger Festival 2010 Opening Night

Lando — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:56:17 +0000

It was just about a year ago, I was writing a post recapping the 1st Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco. I can’t believe that a year has already gone by and that the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival just wrapped up this past weekend. Here I am again, recapping this year’s event.

Friday night started off with our Opening Reception and Street Food Fare. Hundreds of food bloggers strolled into Herbst Pavilion in Fort Mason to kick off the weekend. After a quick welcome from Foodbuzz and a foodie gift exchange with fellow bloggers, Foodbuzz finally turned us loose to savor all of the various food from restaurants and street food vendors that were in attendance.

A spread of Mission Minis Cupcakes was on display. The little cakes were arranged in an artful mosaic way, spelling out Foodbuzz. It definitely caught the attention of many.

Our first bite of the evening was some of Daniel Isberg’s Viking Gumbo. It was hard not to line up when we saw them mixing up the batch of gumbo to serve up. Spiced and seasoned just right to warm up the evening.

4505 Meats’ had a Pork Loin Sandwich on the menu. The pork loin was brined in jalapeño liquid and encrusted in corn meal. To finish the sandwich, it was topped with beans, onions, and a coriander aioli. A side of airy-melt-in-your-mouth Chicharrones was served as well. The Chicharrones ended up being my favorite of the evening. I only wished that Chef Ryan Farr had Lay’s Family Sized bags of Chicharrones to give away that night. I’d be first in line to grab a pack.

RoliRoti was busily assembling their Porchetta Sandwiches. I’ve spent many Saturdays at the Ferry Building Farmers Market enduring long waits in line for their porchetta sandwiches. There even were times that I waited in line and came up empty handed because they ran out of porchetta to serve. Just watching them slice the roast and wipe up the juices with the bread will get you to wait in line to get your hands around this sandwich. Being able to pick up a sandwich without the long wait was a blessing.

With all of the savory food surrounding us, Straus Family Creamery was serving their ice cream to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.

It seems that you can’t talk about street food without mentioning tacos or taco trucks. So seeing Tacolicious featuring some of their tacos during the event fit the whole theme of being at a Street Food “Fare”. I was able to try their Guajillo Braised Beef Short Rib tacos.

Namu was also in attendance showcasing their take on street food with their Korean style tacos. What makes it a Korean style taco? You take the idea of a taco, but instead of a tortilla, you have slices of toasted seaweed, and you layer in kalbi – traditional barbecued Korean short ribs, rice, tomatoes, and top it with a kimchee salsa.

Does fine French food and street food add up? Well, for Spencer on the Go, that’s their entire concept – taking French cuisine and serving it from their converted taco truck. Here, we waited in line to order their New England Lobster Cappuccino, Escargot Puff Lollipop, and a Braised Lamb Cheeks Sandwich. Seeing French food come out of a mobile kitchen like this will make you rethink your perception of what street food is.

To think that this was only the beginning… We looked forward to what was in store for the weekend ahead.

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A Bite of SF Street Food Fest 2010

Lando — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:37:09 +0000

La Cocina’s Second Annual San Francisco Street Food Festival concluded yesterday bringing on food loving crowds from all over the Bay Area. I had the chance to attend again this year. Although during last year’s event I did experience a few setbacks – limited space for the crowds of event goers that arrived, long lines, and vendors running out of food – I still tried to make the most of it and overall had a good time. Despite what had happened last year, I thought that having an event like this would help spread the awareness of smaller food entrepreneurs. It was good for the city and for the community.

This year’s event aimed to avoid the problems of last year’s event by providing more food vendors and space to accommodate all of the crowds, while still remaining true to the same concept of bringing together street food vendors and restaurants to celebrate their passion for food. Just a quick stroll down Folsom Street, I could already tell that this time around, things would go much more smoothly. By having more vendors and space at the event did help spread out the crowds so that the lines for food wouldn’t be so long. Below are some of the sights of yesterday’s event and what I was able to sample:

Pork Sisig Tacos from Hapa SF

Melon, Duck Prosciutto, and Lardo Salad from Flour + Water

Pork Sausage with Butter Bean Salad from Flour + Water

Curtis Kimball of @cremebruleecart armed with his torch

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée from @cremebruleecart

Chef Mourad of Aziza busy on the Grill

Fried Chicken with Harissa from Aziza

El Porteño Empanadas filled with Beef, Olives, Raisins, and Egg

A look at the Kung Fu Tacos truck

A list of all of the participating vendors of yesterday’s event can be found here. To learn more about La Cocina and the SF Street Food Fest, visit their FAQ on their website.

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Feasting the Streets of San Francisco’s Street Food Festival

Lando — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:04:52 +0000

The crowds were in full effect on Saturday at San Francisco’s Street Food Festival. Street food vendors and restaurants gathered together on Folsom Street, in front of La Cocina, to celebrate the city’s growing affinity for street food culture. From Curry to Adobo, the number of food carts tweeting their locations to hungry city roamers is on the rise. Who can blame them? This city embraces great food and will go out of their way in search of it.

We arrived at noon to pickup our passports. From there, we had to make our way through the crowds (again) and finally said to ourselves that we would go back later in the day to see if the crowds would die down. Fast forward three hours later and the crowds were still there. That wasn’t the worst part. Some of the food that we wanted to try began to run out. No oysters from Poleng Lounge or hot dogs from Chef Jaime for us.

The time to hit all of the vendors was impossible, so you were left to carefully chose what you wanted to eat. Knowing you could be in line for more than 30 minutes added to how important that decision would be. Although their offerings sounded good, we ended up skipping booths like Delfina and Aziza because we had already had a taste of their food at their restaurants. All of us wanted something new to try.

Looking back, we knew the lines would be long, but with enough patience you were rewarded with good grub.

To start things off, a couple of sandwiches from Kasa. On the left is the Kati “Bun”, which was supposed to be charbroiled chicken, wrapped in roti, but Kasa ran out of roti and served it on a bun instead. On the right is a Pav Bhaji – a serving of spiced potatoes on a bun, which reminded me of a samosa. Both stayed true in being classic street food dishes from India.

We were in line sipping on Black Milk Tea from Slanted Door, while waiting for…

Slanted Door’s Lemongrass Pork Vermicelli Bowl. Tender barbecued pork was served on top a bed of vermicelli mixed with their sweet fish sauce. I haven’t ate at any of Charles Phan’s restaurants yet, but this small sample is making me want to.

We had a quick dessert before we left – A smore from Kika’s Treats. One fluffy marshmallow between dark chocolate and Kika’s famous caramelized graham crackers.

You could say that La Cocina accomplished what they set out to do – getting San Francisco together for the love of enjoying food. I would call it a crème brulee-baconwrappedhotdog-chickensandwich-slowroastedpork-vermicellibowl-oyster-smores-n-tacos feasting extravaganza. If you haven’t found out by now, this city loves to eat.

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Global Street Food at Susan Feniger’s Street

Lando — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:23:28 +0000

I wouldn’t consider myself a picky eater, but when I’m out on a trip and visiting new spots, I do want to go eat at a place that I can’t find at home. When I was hunting down restaurant recommendations in L.A., I asked fellow food blogger Chrystal from DuoDishes for her pick on some good local spots. She mentioned a restaurant called Street which quickly caught my attention.

Street is an idea by Chef Susan Feniger and she uses Street as her canvas to portray her interpretation of street food from all around the world. Street isn’t just an average restaurant, but a way for you to globetrot on a plate to sample global street food without leaving your seat. This was something I wanted to check out because there isn’t a restaurant like this in the Bay Area that has street food as their main focus. Our first stop, Singapore…

Kaya Toast – toasted bread spread with a sweet coconut jam, served with a fried egg drizzled with dark soy sauce. With the egg yolk broken, it was just calling for us to take some of the toasted bread and dip it, making sure to get some of the salty soy sauce. The flavors work, bringing together the sweetness from the coconut jam with the savory egg yolk and salty dark soy sauce. Next, Hawaii…

Hawaiian Alanui Poke – diced Ono fillet and avocado marinated in a dashi ponzu sauce, served atop a crispy sesame rice cake. Texturally, the soft fish and avocado mixture complemented the crispy rice cake. It was definitely not your ordinary tuna tartare, but a street food version of it. Then, it was off to Korea…

Korean Short Ribs with Mushrooms & Asian Pear Salad – the first dish in L.A. that made me say, “Wow.” It had deep flavors of sesame that was only enhanced by how soft and tender the short ribs were. The preparation that was taken to braise the beef to perfection is what holds this dish together. We returned back to Singapore for our last dish…

Mayasian Black Pepper Clams – simmered in oyster sauce, palm sugar, soy, and lime. The sweet clams tucked in their shell offered a bold hit of pepper flavors.

Vision of what cuisine a Chef will focus on seems to be a crucial element in the restaurant world. So, with Street serving flavors of India and Asia, one can wonder if that vision is clear. From the eyes of a traveling Chef, Susan Feniger will tell you yes. She gives you a taste of what the world has to offer without boxing herself into just focusing on a single cuisine. I felt that eating at Street was a unique experience that was enjoyable. Flavors were bold and the idea of having a restaurant focus on street food is attractive to those looking to explore a little bit.

The food that we ordered is only a small sample of what was available. It’ll be up to you to see how you want to eat your way through the world when you visit.

Street
742 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.eatstreet.com

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How Good Are Pink’s Hot Dogs?

Lando — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:10:48 +0000

Our experience with Pink’s was pretty straight forward.

“Let’s grab a hot dog at Pink’s before dinner.”

“Sure.”

We hopped in the car and headed down to the corner of Melrose and La Brea, only see the line curve along Pink’s hot dog stand.

“That’s way too long of a line to wait in. Let’s check back later after dinner.”

About two hours later we backtracked to Pink’s only to see the same long line. Our dreams of biting into a Pink’s hot dog were shattered. We weren’t in the mood to stand that long of a line.

I woke up the next morning feeling lucky and still craving for a Pink’s hot dog.

“I want to try to see if there’s a line at Pink’s.”

Back to Pink’s and our eyes lit up in surprise. There wasn’t a major line. It was the perfect opportunity to finally grab a hot dog without waiting in line for too long.

Behold the ultimate breakfast to start any day…

The Mulholland Drive Dog. You can call it a hot dog-Philly cheesesteak hybrid. Imagine a Pink’s hot dog, topped with strips of bacon, mushrooms, and onions, all smothered in nacho cheese. This thing was loaded.

For something tamer, the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog can satisfy any appetite. You get a Pink’s hot dog topped with strips of bacon, cheese, tomatoes, and their famous chili to finish it.

If you’re in L.A. and see the line at Pink’s stretching around their stand and wonder if they’re good… Wonder no more.

Pink’s
709 N. La Brea Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.pinkshollywood.com

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Sip and Sample These Street Food Snacks

Lando — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:27:44 +0000

One of the beautiful things about the Philippines is the love for food everyone has. You can walk around local markets and find street food vendors offering drinks and snacks. Many times you will find vendors huddled close together with their moveable food cart serving hungry lines of mouths just waiting for a bite to eat. Having a moving restaurant helps their business stay close to crowds.

With the heat and humidity on full blast, you could always use a drink to cool off. A nearby vendor that specializes in Cantaloupe Juice and Sago’t Gulaman was just the answer to the heat.

The Melon is sweet. Strips of the cantaloupe meat float around your cup, so you get some with each sip you take. If you finish all of the juice, the cantaloupe strips are layered right in the bottom of your cup, all ready to be snacked on.

Sago’t Gulaman is a mix of sago and agar agar in a sugary caramelized liquid. This dark colored refreshment is sweet to the taste and filling with all of the sago and gelatin like cubes.

Right next to the beverage cart was a fish ball vendor. Fish meat that has been pressed and shaped into small balls are fried here. Other freshly fried goodies from chicken balls, squid balls, and tofu were available. Take your skewer and poke at what you want. Dipping sauces are there for your picking. Some sweet and spicy, while others are tarter like a vinaigrette.

Of course this is only a small sample of what street food is available. Just about every corner you turn, you are sure to find something else to snack on.

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