Food Truck Event 092113

This past weekend, I attended another food truck event. Since I'm on a restricted nutrition plan, I had to see what was the healthiest item I could possibly eat. It was sort of my 'cheat day,' but I made sure to not eat anything to fatty or deep fried!

The first stop I went to was to Crisp Creperie and I ordered their Proscuitto and Brie crepe w/ almond butter, arugula, and apples.

It was indeed a fairly big crepe and it cost $12. The pricing is a little higher than i'd like for a crepe, but I wanted to try it so forked up the cash.

I will say that the crepe was very good though. They weren't stingy on the ingredients either (and I would hope not since I did pay $12 for it). The only downside to this is the crepe dough/pancake thing itself. I wish there was a little seasoning to it instead of tasting like plain flour. Even a little pinch more salt or something would've been better. Other than that, I did enjoy this crepe and unlike other crepes i've had, I had to use a knife and fork to actually cut it and eat it up.

The other item I tried (just a small piece from what my dad ordered) was from Outside the Box, which is basically a Paleo diet sort of food truck where they don't use any processed foods and supposed to have more healthier foods.

We tried the Pork Belly , and I was a bit confused of the fact that it was on the menu since pork belly is not really healthy at all. I guess is just that is local and better raised swine? I'm not sure. Anyways, this item came on a bed of kale and we did expect something more than just a few slices of meat on greens. It was also a really long wait for this item so may not really be worth it

The pork belly was $8 for 4 slices. The flavor was decent but the meat wasn't overly tender. I wasn't too impressed with this and would have rather tried a different item from them.

The Other Side of Broadway

This will sort of be a random post and mini review of my day yesterday. I had an appointment in the afternoon in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle on the side of Broadway with less of the bars and more of the casual food and local businesses.

It is always interesting there with fun characteristics and personality of the location. On my walk back, the first thing that caught my attention was this stone sculpture like baby plastered on the side of a recycle bin!

It was too good not to take a picture of. And not to make it more typical for being in Seattle, but I'm pretty sure that is a Starbucks card right next to it. Haha. Not sure if the person wanted to be creepy, have fun, or was just bored, but it definitely made a  statement and got my attention.

After my appointment, I walked with my friend to go get some lunch.

On our walk to the Melrose Market for some grub, I saw this beautiful flowering tree out in the front of apartments. It also turned out to be a sunny and warm day so the flowers just stood even more out to me. The place right on the top middle with the flowers outside made me think of how cute and lovely it would be to live there and walk out to some gorgeous flowers.

Right across from those flowers is Melrose Market which contains a few stores such as Homegrown a sandwhich shop, a few shops, cheese and meat counters, and other quaint things. I love how the stores inside use mainly locally produced items and it just makes the place feel really homey.

Since I am on a pretty strict nutirtion plan, I decided on a vegetarian half sandwhich at Homegrown.

My choice was the Portobello + Goat Cheese w/ caramelized red onions, mixed greens, and a hazelnut arugula pesto on whole wheat bread.

The size was just perfect since I am now eating smaller portions. They make their own bread I believe and for the most part use what is local which is awesome. It is more on the healthier side, but they don't lack in flavor. The portobello mushrooms added a meaty texture to the sandwhich which, for me, made up for the missed meats in most sandwhiches. The greens added a nice fresh crunch, the caramelized onions were the perfect sweetness and added an extra element and layer of flavor to the sandwhich. The hazelnut pesto held the sandwhich well together and balanced it all out with its earthy flavor. I think hazelnut is an awesome alternative to making pesto as opposed to pine nuts, since I do believe they are cheaper and less fatty (for a nut that is). This was $7 + tax for half a sandwhich, which can seem a little high for some people, but you have to remembr the quality of the ingredients used that makes up for it.

Then on my walk back to my car, I noticed this awesome Pokemon wall of cards on the window of a coffee shop! I love how it has the rainbow effect and that the cars are alternated with the element energy cards. Sorry, but I really geeked out! It was a "nerdy" moment for me, whatever that really means. It made me really happy and made me thought of my childhood.

Overall, it was a short lovely afternoon where I got to spend time with my dear friend, try a new place out that i've always wanted to try, and see some really neat things.

For those who may be visiting Seattle, I highly recommend checking out the Capitol Hill area if you want to try good food and be in a good, fun environment.

Since the warm and sunny weather is becoming less and less, I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to go out for a walk and try some place new! =P

Kokiri Korean Restaurant Review !

This post will be short and simple to get a glimpse of a Korean restaurant I tried a couple of weeks ago.

A few pages of their menu below. Everything looked so good!

First up is Pajun/pajeon, or the Korean green onion pancake with seafood. I usually like most restaurant's pajun, but this one was exceptionally good. The octopus/or squid pieces inside were nice and tender and not chewy at all, which tends to be the case with a lot of restaurants. The batter was also not overly thick and had the nice crisp to the bottom of it as well.

Now my personal favorite dish, dukbokki/toppokki, was next and I usually order this wherever I can if they serve it. I liked that the sauce wasn't too over the top spicy but still had a kick. The rice cakes were nice and chewy and the added slices of fish cake is a plus. 

Now probably the most worth it dish was this Kalbi tang aka kalbi/short rib soup. It was packed with flavor, loaded with meat, and had veggies and egg dropped into it. The soup was very robust and full and had almost a creamy like consistency to it without the actual dairy. 

They also had a typical assortment of banchan (side dishes). My favorites are usually the potato salad, fish cake, and cucumber kimchi. They're version of the cucumber kimchi was by far one of my favorites out of all the ones i've tried.

I highly recommend coming here for dinner if you want good Korean food at a good price. You know a place is good when everyone in the restaurant is Korean except you! The only negative I have to say about the place is the service since it did take some time to get served and some of the Korean servers can seem to be rude.

If you can get over that (or just go with someone who can speak Korean) then go check this place out.

The restaurant is located south of Seattle in Federal Way.

Sam Choy's Poke to the Max-Food truck + festival

Food trucks have become all the craze lately and when there is a new one that pops up that gets everyone hyped, I am always looking forward to trying it!

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Renton Uwajimaya Polynesian festival where Sam Choy's Poke to the Max foodtruck was present and I took this time to try as much as I possibly could!

First I have some brief pictures of the festival which had booths for t-shirts and Hawaiian paraphernalia along with other vendors.

 Then there were performances by various groups and even contests.

And of course there were more food vendors. I only had one malasada (portuguese doughnut) that someone had shared with me and I didn't try any of the Hawaiian grilled food (but the people that did try it loved the huli huli chicken).

I did, however, have a 'local style shaved ice' and had one on Saturday and another on Sunday.

I heard that they make their own syrups and they do have really good tasting ones.

 

The one on Saturday had ice cream and azuki (japanese sweetend red beans) on the inside and for the syrups I had Guava, green watermelon, and Tigers blood (this flavor has a hint of coconut and I really only liked it for the name!) The portion is huge and the ice is nice and finely shaved so it isn't chunky like a typical snow cone.

On Sunday I had another snow cone with mango and li hing mui (dried preserved sour plum) with a snowcap (condensed milk poured over the top). The best part was the snow cap since it hardened over the ice and was just tasty goodness all around!

Now the good part comes Sunday, when my friend and I waited 30mins before the food truck opened to be first in line to try Sam Choy's poke truck!

Pokē is the Hawaiian verb for "to slice or to cut" and for food wise, it is a raw salad (usually with raw tuna, or salmon--can also have tako (octopus) or tofu.

Being as I would probably not have another opportunity soon to try it, I went ahead and got 4 different things.

From L to R, T to B:

Salmon poke over salad, Loco moco, Ahi tuna over rice, and a shrimp boat sandwhich.

The Salmon and salad had marinated raw salmon on top of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickeled beets, shredded carrots and fried wonton strips. I usually don't like salmon poke but I really enjoyed the flavoring of this one. I just didn't like that the salad cost more than if I had it over rice. My mom thoroughly enjoyed this one though, mainly because she really likes fresh salads.

The one I mainly ate was their version of a loco moco. It is a bit different than the ones I'm used to (white rice instead of friend rice and more gravy) but I like this one a lot. The fried rice wasmade out of brown rice I believe (which is a plus) and had all sorts of veggies in it (though I couuld do without the green beans). The burger patty was moist and the friend egg on top had an oozing yolk, which is my favorite. It was topped with grilled onions and some gravy (which sank to the bottom). It was a very generous portion and I even took some the next day for my lunch at work. The best part was mixing the egg all around the patty and rice making it a good combination.

Next up, I wanted to try the ahi tuna (what the truck is known for). I had the spicy version and I really did love the flavor of this poke. I'm not sure if I liked it as much over rice but it was brown rice so I always approve of that! The only down side is that some of the tuna was cut with the chewy tendons in the way so it made it hard to eat some pieces. Other than that, the flavor was excellent, but should be eaten more quickly if its over rice in case the eat ends up cooking the tuna.

The last thing I wanted to try was the Shrimp Boat Sandwhich. I think this was my favorite item. I love shrimp and french bread, so this made for an excellent sandwhich and reminded me of a po'boy ( a traditional sub sandwhich from Louisiana using french baguettes). The shrimp itself was a good size and had a nice soft crunch on the outside but wasn't dried on the inside. The sauce on top was a little tangy and had a sweetness to it that just melted on top of the shrimp. I was indifferent about the cilantro and could have had it with or without it but since they added it on top of the sandwhich, it reminded me of a banh mi (a Vietnamese sandwhich also made with french bread and usually with cilantro inside). They weren't cheap on the shrimp either and loaded it in.

Overall, I was highly pleased with the food on this foodtruck. In total, for 4 dishes, which were a decent sized portion, I spent a little over $40 (the poke ones cost the most). They have other dishes such as the poke in wrap form, and tonkatsu (pork breaded cutlet) and I believe yakiniku as well ( I think??)

You can check out their Facebook page HERE for their future locations!

I think you should try them at least once especially if you like trying new foodtruck

 

Rumba Rhum & Food: Review

Late post. About a month ago, some friends and I went to Rumba--basically a Rum Bar that serves food such as empanadas and tacos and other yumm foods. Located in Seattle's Capitol Hill, this place has a whole bar full of different rum and has a small but delicious menu. Check out their menu and pricing HERE.

 

The place is small and right next to Tango (another amazing place I highly suggest checking out). It is very dim inside with candles lit to create a more intimate ambience.

I wanted to try each of the empanadas and was very pleased with all of them

The one on the left is is the Chicken empanada which was probably my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but the others were better (in my opinion.). It just wasn't as fragrant and flavorful as the other two.

The one in the middle is the Chorizo filled empanada and was my favorite one. The smokey flavor of the sausage went very well with the potatoes and cheese. Plus, one of my favorite fillings in an empanada is potato so it was just the perfect combination.

The last one on the right was also very delicious. It was the vegetarian one with corn, olives, sun dried tomatoes, apples and some other ingredients. I loved the sweetness that the apples brought to it and also loved the distinct flavor of the sundried tomatoes. This one carried a whopping of flavor.

Close up of inside of the empanadas.

My friend had the red beans and rice and I had tried some. You can't go wrong with red beans and rice and they made theirs the way I prefer which is less of mushy bean. Topped with pico de gallo? Even better.

I didn't get to try the chicken wings, but my friends said it was 'bomb'.  I did get to try the Yucca a.k.a. Cassava (a type of root) chips and the way they're prepared you can tell their homemade (or at least I think they are). Shredded in long pieces and fried to a crisp.

Their tacos were really good too! They had 3 kinds--Tilapia, squash, and carnitas but I only tried the tilapia.

I loved the mango salsa they used to balance the fishiness of the tilapia and their sauce/dressing to go over the tacos was also really delicious. It was a cool, creamy topping and with lime juice added on top--a perfect match.

Another one of my friends had the coconut prawns. I had a piece of one and it was very tasty. The coconut shredding was nice and crisp and the shrimp was plum and juicy, not dried out at all. I just kind of wished they served a little more on it.

Then for dessert, I wanted to try these Rumballs, which is a cake batter soaked in rum and rolled in pecans (I think). These cakes were fully loaded with rum in each bite and you could definitely taste the alcohol. I don't think I'd be able to eat more than one ball so its a nice little sweet treat to have (if you like chocolate and rum that is).

Lastly, another one of my friends ordered the Fried Bananas Foster. I'm not a huge fan of banana desserts since I don't really like cooked bananas, but the friend coconut around the banana along with the coconut ice cream made it a lot better.