Seattle Street Eats
Exploring Seattle's Food Truck Scene
Buns on Wheels – A Fanciful Tale of Gourmet Burger Tasting
0930 days
by Sandra
in Gourmet Food Truck
This guest post was written by Sandra Sullivan, the sometimes wine blogger of OpineYourMouth.com fame. Find her on twitter: @SandraSullivan .
The fact that I found a parking spot outside the devil parking lot in downtown Bellevue was a sure sign that Buns on Wheels was my destiny in brightly-painted mobile truck form. I had heard of Buns on Wheels, as one of its new stops is the lovely Queen Anne Farmers Market, but had yet to meet someone who had partaken in their “buns”. Heh.
Buns on Wheels Gourmet Burgers
Being the food truck Captain Cook that I am, I decided to sacrifice for the greater good and try Buns on Wheels out! Lucky for me, today was their Bellevue (my lunchtime stomping grounds) stop. The sun shone and the summertime smell of backyard barbecued hamburgers tantalized. The meat smell was heavy and thick, almost too thick to breathe when you stood downwind… but it’s a special kind of nostalgic perfume that called to us hungry patrons. There were a handful of anticipatory folks waiting on their meals, but the ordering window was as empty as my stomach. I briefly contemplated ordering the veggie burger (you can have any of their toppings on a veggie patty!). But to truly judge… you should order their special specialty, yes? I spent no time waffling over their short menu of three burgers; one scantily clad, one cheesed, and one “Fancy” – arugula, red onion jam, horseradish sauce, and blue cheese. The Fancy sounded like a sure thing (much like the Reba song of the same name)! The gentleman that took my order was friendly, even stopping to show me the brand of veggie patties (Amy’s) when I asked if they made their own. Each burger comes with a MOST generous portion of steak-cut truffle fries. I have to say that $12 is awfully steep and certainly a splurge for lunch, which definitely sets the bar a little higher in the gourmet-this-better-be-frickin-awesome category. I waited, tempting twitter with initial details of my prized burger, for about 10 minutes while they prepared my food. My nicely packaged , adorably stickered box of goodies managed to survive the quick trip back to my office, fries still retaining their fresh-from-the-fryer heat (and a heady truffle cologne).
Glorious truffle fries with a gourmet burger. Where's my shake?
Of course, who can resist sampling them immediately? If they had been in a bag, I would have been stuffing them in my face en route. Golden, crunchy, sea salt bedazzled and truffle scented, they were truly a great fry. In fact, I shared them with my office to resounding “OMG THESE ARE SO GOOD!” outbursts. The burger, on the other hand… First bite was total blue cheese domination; it obliterated any other possible flavor. The meat was luke-warm and pink, which is fine for some, but I like medium well on my burgers (Buns doesn’t ask your preference). Second bite I could taste the horseradish sauce and red onions – which was a favorite bite, as the meld (each flavor complementing the other in a symbiotic, we-play-nice-together sort of way) was excellent. Unfortunately, the rest of the burger was a hopscotch of flavor composite. I would even say that the meat was rather bland in and of itself… no strong grilled or even salt and pepper taste. Size-wise, it was in the medium category, which I am thankful for. I certainly don’t need *THAT MUCH BURGER*, and since the fries are so good, you will be *plenty* full, I can guarantee that. As for other offerings that I did not consume, there were little brownie bites offered for $1 at the counter. The requisite sodas, water, etc. And it looks like you can add bacon to any burger for an additional $1.50.
I fully support their gourmet burger M.O. of using only organic and fresh, using recyclable containers and composting anything compostable. Their beef is premium, 100% natural, certified organic, grass-fed. And I also celebrate another entrant in our burgeoning mobile food-truck scene. But I think I’ll have to go back for another try before I consider myself a Buns Groupie. 
Taqueria La Pasadita – A Quick Look
0957 days
Recently at a neighborhood gathering, I asked a professed foodie what their favorite taco truck in town was.
Without hesitation, he pointed me over to a taco truck at a combo 76 Station/Starbucks. I’d seen it quite a few times as I drove around and definitely had it on my list of places to try.
Flash to today when we decided that with all the 
healthy cooking we’re doing this weekend (recipes coming up soon on Cook Local,) we thought that lunch today could be a little… unhealthy.
So while I was out doing a Home Depot/Lowes run (Note: No matter which store you go to first, the second store will have what you need,) we were trying to decide on lunch. What sounded great was a big pile of spicy chicken strips from Ezell’s along with a couple rolls, but since I just happened to be driving by this truck, what harm would a couple of tacos do?
So, first thing I notice, the truck is now way back behind the building, making it a little harder to find. No more street view drawing in the crowds quite so easily, but there’s signage and the truck is still open, so they must be doing good. Good enough that since June, they are now 24 hours a day.
Let me say that again: A 24 hour a day taco truck.
That is less than 10 minutes from my house.
Ok, sure, Memo’s down on the Ave is a 24 hour shop too, but this isn’t a Mexican food blog, it is a street food blog.
So anyways.
It’s a nice little stand. Asada, Adobada, Pollo, Carnitas, Cabeza and Birria are your $1.20 meat options. Tacos come with your standard lime and a nice little pile of pickles carrot chunks.
The adobada was spicy and not too bad.Pork wasn’t too fatty and was plentiful.
All in all, I’m looking forward to giving this place a real review. And hopefully not at 2am in the morning.
I’m just not sure that I’m ready for the cabeza yet.
Mobile Chowdown V: Eat Like A King
2963 days
Marination Mobile at Mobile Chowdown
(This guest post was written by Katelyn Hackett, freelance writer and recipe editor at ManTestedRecipes.com. Find her on Twitter at @k_hack.)
Food trucks allow me to indulge in one of my greatest urban fantasies, which is to sit on the hood of my ’97 Toyota Corolla in jeans and Birkenstocks, listening to rap, while eating the kind of food honest-to-God royalty in yesteryear could only dream about. For under $10, for instance, I can buy access to a Skillet burger with grass-fed beef, Cambozola cheese, and bacon jam—and on my lunch break, without having to dress up or otherwise be an adult in a strenuous manner. No need to commit to the whole restaurant experience. (Time enough for that after work.)
The only problem with incorporating the whole food truck thing into my day-to-day is that I’m currently living up North, and the best food trucks don’t make it to Bothell. Mobile Chowdown, which is a recurring event where more than 20 food trucks all open up for business in one spot for a few hours, struck me as an excellent way to taste what I’ve been missing this year; so, when the gates opened on Friday night at a parking lot by Qwest Field for Mobile Chowdown 5, better believe I was there with my favorite blue jeans on and cash in hand.
I started off with a palate-cleansing salted brown butter Rice Krispy treat from Street Treats. Royalty eats dessert first if they damn well please, and what better combination of high- and low-brow to set the mood for my night than a fancy Rice Krispy treat? It was delicious, though I agree with John that it coulda done with even more salt (go read John’s write-up of the same cookie).
Chicken curry taco from Fusion on the Run
Next, since I was expecting to be able to order smaller bites at the many food trucks I wanted to try (false), and since tacos are always a good idea (true), I stopped at Portland’s Fusion On The Run. The marinated beef tacos with cilantro sauce were more aggressive and interesting than the pork with mango salsa, but I’d eat both again. More tacos at Curry Now, where the chicken curry tacos come assembled with impressively handmade flatbread. The curry itself wasn’t terribly exciting, and our tacos were too messy to eat without a fork, though my companions seemed to like it well enough. Then I had a good chile truffle from Hot Cakes. The spice came into play at the right time, which is at the back of the bite, with good-quality chocolate deep enough to hold the heat.
Peacemaker Po'Boy from Where Ya At Matt
Already starting to feel full but happy from the tacos, which is a common side effect, I decided to brave the lengthening line for New Orleans soul food from Where Ya At Matt. While in line, I sipped at an unconscionably expensive IPA from Pyramid Ale, which cost me something like 40 cents a sip at $8.50 per cup. Uhh, just the one beer, thanks. (Note to Pyramid: I probably would have bought two at $5 each and you would have walked back across the street to your offices with more of my money.)
After a solid wait in line, I asked Matt to hook me up with “something with oysters.” He recommended the Peacemaker Po’Boy, a giant fried oyster and bacon sandwich with lemon aioli. My friend ordered the day’s special of shrimp and grits, and Matt threw in an order of beignets. John’s written about the ecstatic Peacemaker experience before.
Better even than the po’boy (I know! Such riches!) was the order of creamy shrimp and grits, with a spicy, complex sauce that brought everything into sharp focus one second and blissed me out the next. I love me some grits anyway, as long as they’re done right (and these were perfect, texturally) but the sauce really makes this dish something to seek out. I don’t think it’s usually on the menu, but if you see it as an option, I’d tell you to get it–maybe even instead of the Peacemaker. The beignets were light, eggy, and hot.
Shrimp and grits from Where Ya At Matt
After soul food, somehow determined to cram yet more delicious gourmet food into my belly in the names of research and pleasure, I went over to Maximus/Minimus for a pork sandwich. From what I’d read about the truck’s flavor profiles, I’d hoped for a spicier sandwich, but it really was fine not to deal with extra spice after the po’boy and shrimp at Where Ya At Matt. I was especially delighted by the toasted bun that held its integrity and crispness even when met with the pork. I wish I’d been able to try the truck’s macaroni and cheese, but they were out by the time I got there.
Next up (more! More!) was a cup of apricot sorbet from Parfait Ice Cream, which smelled and tasted like a real apricot, fresh from the tree. Impressive feat, and I just wish at that point I weren’t stuffed to the gills from pulled pork, fried oysters, and various ethnic fusion tacos, because I think I would have been able to appreciate it even more. The folks in line with us enthused about the butter toffee, and I would have liked to try the mint stracciatella–“It’s like lying down in a field of mint,” my friend raved. But after sorbet, I couldn’t force myself to take even one more bite of anything. Not even the famous kimchi fried rice with egg from Marination Mobile, though I walked out with a stinky take-out container full of the stuff for later.
All in all, a huge indulgent foodie success. I ate like a broke crown princess on her day off, met interesting people in line, shared bites with my fellow food tourists, and vowed to make it down to the city more often—if only for the promise of another taste of those shrimp and grits. My thanks to everyone involved with Mobile Chowdown, and my sincerest envy directed at all those who have daily access to such glamorous food in such a reasonable, jeans-friendly context.
Big House BBQ. Tasty, if you can find them
0992 days
I love giving restaurant recommendations. I’m an enabler. I do it well, I think. I try not to enable bad behavior.
For instance, I’m not about to recommend an awesome gin to someone on the wagon.
But asking for a restaurant recommendation is a two way street if you want to do it well. So, let’s lay some ground rules.
- Be as specific as possible with where.
- How many people, and are you included?
I’m going to assume a range slightly greater than what you ask for. Best restaurant in Seattle? I’m going to include some East side restaurants too. Fremont? I’m going to think about Ballard and Wallingford too.
You’d think this would be easy, but no, apparently it isn’t. If you’re looking at a group of 10, I’m not going to be recommending the same places. And it is important to know if you’re asking for you, or someone else. I generally know your allergies, but I’m not always going to assume that you’re the one going.
Budget? Event?
Date nights, cheap dinners, they shift the scale.
Now, in exchange for helping me help you, I promise two things:
I’m never going to recommend a restaurant that I personally haven’t eaten at __or__ that someone whose opinion I trust doesn’t vouch for.
And I’m never, ever, ever going to promise that you’ll like a pizza, chili, or bbq restaurant. I’ll admit that I like them, but these three foods are so regional, so ingrained into what one likes and doesn’t like, that I will only say if I like it. These foods are like religions to people.
And all that diatribe was just a lead-in to what I want to talk about.
Big House BBQ is both a catering that promises to bring the Q to you as well as a BBQ truck that can be found normally in Issaquah, across from the Fred Meyer/Home Depot/Krispy Kreme complex, although their calendar isn’t updated, so who really knows. All I know is I found them there on a Thursday and a few times before that on random days of the week.
Not to mention a few times when I couldn’t find them and worried I had actually imagined the whole thing.
So, like I said, I won’t say whether you’re going to like this BBQ or not.
I know some of you won’t. I know some of you will.
I don’t think it’ll win any major BBQ awards, but then, at the same time, there are a TON of good BBQ producers who will never win an award, so take that as you will.
Me? Personally? I enjoyed it.
Enjoyed it enough to go three times, no less, which gave me enough time to walk my way through most of the menu.
The menu is mostly typical BBQ fare: Pulled Pork, Brisket, Smoked Chicken sandwiches for $8, with the option to add a couple sides for a buck.
Generally they have some extra stuff too, St. Louis Ribs, chili, hot links, smoked corn on the cob…
Unfortunately, it looks like all I have pictures of is the brisket sandwich and the chili. Not a clue where the rest went, but I’ll talk a little bit about everything I tried.
The pulled pork sandwich was definitely not the worst pulled pork I’ve ever had, although I can’t wholly say it was the best either. It was a good, solid sandwich. I wasn’t left hungry, had a good portion of pork, while the St. Louis ribs were…
Well, ok. I have a gold standard for ribs. The Rutherford Grill in Rutherford, CA. Just an excellent, fall off the bone pork rib.
These ribs? Again, not quite as good as that, but tasty.
The chili, however, is a winner, although, to be fair, as I said above, I won’t recommend it. I will say, however, that I personally loved it. Not too spicy, but flavorful and chock full of meat.
Are you catching a theme here? You are not going to go protein hungry here.
If they happen to have the hot links, I’d actually even more recommend the Chili over the Hot links. Admittedly, I was recognized on my third visit and ended up with an extra hot link, but we went without a roll and still one of us got two meals out of it.
We aren’t light eaters either.
Well, I’m not. The wife might be, since I ate that bowl of chili along with the brisket sandwich all in one sitting.
And did end up a little bloated.
But it was good and worth it. The brisket, along with the other theme, isn’t the best ever. It doesn’t break apart when you pull it like it should, but that could just as easily been this one smoke.
Sure, consistency is the hallmark of a great restaurant, but the occasional twist is what happens when it comes to cooking low and slow, especially if you’re not doing the amount of business that some of the big joints do where you can hide the bad with the good.
So, all that said, this was a tasty, tasty sandwich. I mean, just look at it.
That is a boatload of food. The $8 at first seems insane, but, at the same time, you’re not going to be left hungry.
Seeing all that reminds me that I should mention the sauce.
… It’s ok. The spicy is marginally spicier than the sweet. The sweet is sweeter than the spicy. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
Looking at their online menu, they have a smoked meatball sub that I desperately want to try.
Which is funny, if you know me and my general hatred for meatballs.
So, overall, my thoughts?
They are definitely worth the money and, as a lunch option in Issaquah, isn’t a bad one. And go for the chili smothered hot link.
The Affair of the Taco
01001 days
There is an understated beauty in a taco. All it is, according to the Real Academia Española, is a corn tortilla folded around food.
Admittedly, that vaguely implies that the corn tortilla isn’t food itself, but, hey, let us ignore that for now.
You can, practically speaking, put anything into a corn tortilla and, at least by that definition, it becomes a taco. Well, so long as it is food.
But still, this is the tale of a taco truck.
I’d had dalliances with taco trucks before.
I had a tremendous crush on Gordito’s Too when it opened in Ballard, and has since disappeared.
But Rancho Bravo, a few years back, became my first full blown affair.
My wife was out of town on business or somesuch and I made the executive decision to drive to Wallingford to try out the taco truck we’d been thinking about trying out.
It was probably a mistake. (more…)
One Sweet Mother-Trucker
41009 days
So, like I said earlier, it’s kinda funny how I’m going to be reviewing street food when most of it wouldn’t qualify for what we look for in meat sourcing in restaurants. After all, most taco trucks aren’t sourcing high quality, antibiotic and hormone free, pasture raised beef and pork.
Heck, I’m not entirely sure they’re all looking at fish that are on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List. But still, I do what I do for the love of food.
This particular truck I’m looking at right now, however… No such issues with sustainability in that sense.
There is, however, a minor issue with sustainability in two other senses.
First, I’m a diabetic, so I need to sustain a low blood sugar.
Second, I am fond of my current waistline, so I’d like to sustain that particular measurement.
Let’s talk about Street Treats, the food truck dedicated to the fine art of dessertery. Yes, I said dessertery. I can make up words too, but I won’t compare myself to Shakespeare.
Side note: I once considered starting a farmer’s market food stand selling freshly.. uhh… brûlée’d crème brûlées. I worked on perfecting a basic crème brûlée. I started figuring out the flavor combinations that could possibly set the world on fire. S’more crème brûlée. Hot pepper crème brûlée. Lemon rosemary crème brûlée. Even bought myself a kick-ass torch with a belt holster and a remote fire wand.
Actually, I still harbor that idea I guess.
But Street Treats doesn’t (yet) do crème brûlée. What they do do, however, they do very well, at least based on the two items we got at the South Lake Union Block Party.
Their menu is sort of basic. Cookies, cookie sandwiches (the peanut butter with homemade marshmallow fluff, for example) and bars. With two imported additions. The first is High 5 Pies, the awesome hand held pies from Fuel Coffee. The second… well, it isn’t a menu item per se.
It’s an idea. And what sells better than an idea?
They take Bluebird Ice Cream and let you pick a flavor to sandwich between two luscious cookies, also of your choice.
The Ice Cream Sandwich
Like I said, you pick the cookie. You pick the ice cream. They make the sandwich.
So, at heart, this isn’t something that can exactly be reviewed. After all, it’ll taste different based on the.. oh, lets just say gazillion possible permutations. Our particular sandwich was peanut butter ice cream nestled between two vanilla bean cookies.
Now, ok, these aren’t your Its It style sandwiches, giving you lockjaw as you practically have to unhinge your lower jaw to be able to squeeze your mouth around the sugary goodness.
No, this is a much more muted affair. Somewhat more than a dollop of ice cream, there’s enough to give you a bit of creamy goodness with each crumbly, chewy bite.
The cookie itself… well, I use crumbly above, but, it wasn’t a dry crumbly. It was a a moist crumbly. It was a good cookie crumbly. It broke apart easily, but didn’t just explode.
Honestly, if there was anything I would change about the ice cream sandwiches, it’d be this: Let me pick two different cookie types. One for the top, one for the bottom. Heck, maybe they’d let you do that anyways, if you asked. I think a molasses cookie and a honey cookie with vanilla (or even the stout) ice cream would be incredibly awesome, don’cha think? Heck, the molasses/stout/honey cookie? Call that a black and tan.
And save me two. I need to go run a half marathon so I can eat them.
So, we ate the ice cream sandwich as an appetizer while waiting in line for Where Ya At because, frankly, it was damn hot out. But I knew we’d need dessert, and on the menu was a particular treat that I love, with a added hit.
Salted Rice Krispie Treats
I have a vague confession to make. I grew up loving rice krispy treats. Ok, that’s nothing to confess.
How about this: Once I grew up, I never found one that tasted like the ones in my memory, apart from those vending machine monstrosities in their blue tinfoil containers. They tasted right, even tho my brain rebelled and said that these were insanely fake.
So there we go: My favorite rice krispie treat was the equivalent of a fast food burger.
Yeah, I said was.
This was almost exactly how I remembered growing up.
Perfect.
Made even more perfect with the addition of a hint of salt. Unfortunately, it was only a small hint. I thought it could actually be taken up just a shade more.
There are culinary meetings that I’d like to make happen. This is one of them.
Street Treats? Can I introduce you to Secret Stash Salts? I grabbed the jar of the limited edition Vanilla Salt and sprinkled just a smidge onto the treat? It rocked. I can only imagine how the Almond Cardamom or Coconut Masala would taste.
So, I’m torn.
This isn’t exactly a truck you’d run to just for lunch. It is dessert. Now, if they were right there when I walked out of dinner? I’d be there. If they were parked next to another wagon? I’d be there. If they just happened to be parked where I was? Well, ok, I’d buy something for dessert that night.
Where ya at? Matt brings the Cajun
01013 days
While I do have a couple other trucks on deck for review, I wanted to look at one of the newcomer’s on the scene, Where Ya At, for my first actual review.
And why yes, that is an odd name for a truck, isn’t it. Named for the traditional New Orleans (or should I say N’Awlins?) greeting, owner/chef Matthew Lewis (formerly of Canlis) brings forth some recipes from his upbringing: Beignets, Po’Boys, Muffulettas, Rice and Beans, Gumbo…
I’ve always been a fan of New Orleans cuisine, even before I ever visited the Big Easy, even though some of the options were less than stellar (no matter which region I was living in at the time). So, when I heard that this truck was opening, bringing a completely different element to the Seattle street food scene, I knew I had to look into this. Imagine my happy surprise when today, Friday the 13th, my last weekday as a free man, unchained to any work related yoke, Where Ya At’s twitter feed announced that they’d be down at the South Lake Union Block Party.
Well, sure, that threw our afternoon plans to catch Scott Pilgrim down at the Cinerama, but, bro’s before ho’s and sammies before cinemas.
The line was long, the heat was oppressive, but, we couldn’t resist waiting.
Of course, the ice cream sandwich from Street Treats helped keep us cool, and the hunger at bay while we waited and pondered what to eat.
Good enough time to talk up the Where Ya At menu options, right?
First, you have the po’boys. I’m not going to get into the naming of the sandwich. It isn’t too far off of a submarine, a grinder, what have you. Normally you see them with fried seafood options, along with some variations on a theme and Where Ya At is no different.
Today, at least, they had:
- Fried Shrimp
- Fried Oyster
- Pork
- The Peacemaker (Fried Oyster, Cheese and Bacon)
Or that’s what I remember, anyways. A few other items too…
- Red Beans and Rice
- Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo
- Beignets
Or, you know, you could just look at the list on the side of the truck.
Let me say, first off… Somehow, we didn’t get beignets. Not exactly somehow. We had an ice cream sandwich. We had a salted rice krispy treat waiting for dessert. So no beignets for me today.
And, for the non-food of the gods people:
a) It’s pronounced ‘ben-yays’
b) I almost always pronounce it beg-nets.
I don’t blame people for not being able to pronounce it.
Anyways. We decided to get a po’boy and a muffuletta, because we like variety. Spice of life, right?
The Muffuletta.
A traditional New Orleans sandwich, muffuletta refers to both the bread the sandwich is made from, a large round loaf of bread, some 10 inches in diameter, and the sandwich itself. Cut the round piece of bread in half, top it with an olive salad (Matt’s, or a relation’s, recipe) and then some sliced cold cuts (mortadella, salami, ham, soppressata, coppa) and some cheese (provolone, swiss.)
In some ways, it’s hard to say anything about this sandwich. The bread, while good, is still just a sesame seeded roll. The ingredients, again while good, isn’t anything but cold cuts and cheese. There isn’t a springing into fusion or ‘creativity’ by adding chorizo or goat cheese or any other fanciful ingredients. But there shouldn’t be. This isn’t a sandwich that should be played with, even though sure, each individual ingredient could be of better, or worse, quality.
This is a plain, honest sandwich, and yes, it is a good (and big) one. You can taste the meats individually, but they still combine together to give a big overall taste. The olive salad was dry, but in an incredibly good way. I mean, you can easily end up with an olive salad that is too oily, soaking the bread and making for a messy eating experience, and not in a good way. Oh, and it was, to quote the Mrs, ‘Delightfully olivey’.
This is definitely a fine callback to New Orleans, and sorta makes me wish I could walk over to Cafe Du Monde after for a coffee. Could there really be a better praise for such a staple? We would definitely eat this again without question.
The Peacemaker Po’boy
The stage: A baguette, 10 inches of carby goodness.
The players: Fried oysters. Bacon. Cheddar cheese. Lemon Aioli. Bread and Butter pickles.
There are probably two schools of thought here[1]:
- That sounds awesome.
- That sounds disgusting.
Hey, you in the first camp?
You’re right.
The fried oysters were plump, saline-y, with a good breading.
The bacon, smoky, crispy and layered over the bottom of the sandwich leading to almost every bite filled with oystery/bacony goodness.
The cheese was… well, ok, it was just pretty normal cheddar, but, if you like cheddar, you know what it brings, and it brought it.
If anything, the lemon aioli was the only thing that felt superfluous. But it’s hard to say that is 100% accurate. Think about it this way: If you’ve only ever drunk a gin and tonic and never had a gin straight up, you have no idea what the tonic actually brings to the table. You just know what a gin and tonic tastes like. That’s how I felt about the aioli. While I didn’t taste it outright, I’m not sure it was unnecessary. Just like a squirt of lemon juice brightens the taste of a soup without actually tasting lemony.
And the bread and butter pickles give a sour balance to the salty oysters.
Simply put, this po’boy was a little bit of Heaven.
On the one hand, I know I need to go back to Where Ya At and try other items off the menu. The pork, for instance, sounds awesome. Fried shrimp is always a joy.
But, on the other hand, not getting this po’boy will be exceedingly difficult.
Honestly, it is a lot like the midnight cuban at Paseo (or whatever they call that bad boy sandwich now). I know that there are better sandwiches there, the shrimp, for instance, but, at the same time, that midnight cuban is by far my favorite sandwich in town and I can’t stop ordering it.
That is exactly what this sandwich makes me feel like. A giant roadblock that keeps me from trying anything else on the menu and loving every minute of it.
So, simply put, we loved the food we ate. We want to go back and eat more. I definitely recommend trying them out.
[1] Ok, there’s probably a third camp thinking ‘That sounds distinctly non-kosher, three ways from Sunday.’
Welcome to Seattle Street Eats
0I’ve been sitting on this for upwards of a year now and wondering when I was going to finally do something with it. It started when I tried to find a good, up to date listing of the taco trucks in the area.
There isn’t one anymore.
So, I thought about trying to take over the one site that existed previously to see if I could do for Taco Trucks what MSG150.com is doing for the International District.
I thought about this as I stood outside of Marination, waiting on my order, and realized (even though Marination is selling me some awesome tacos) that Seattle’s street food scene is so much more than tacos now. It is burgers. It is hot dogs. It is ice cream.
And yes, sure, it is tacos.
I wanted to create a site… this site… where we could talk street food. The news, the events, reviews (or, more like review wannabees).
Some of you know me for our sister site, Cook Local, where we do seasonal recipes using ingredients from our farmer’s markets, trying our best to be locavores and only eating sustainable foods. Even when we go out to eat, we try to stick to ethical meat sources.
How can we jibe that with street food?
Strictly speaking, we can’t. Yes, some vendors are serving ethically raised meat, but not all of them.
But street food is something, for some reason, I feel a connection with. I grew up in a small town, street food didn’t exist there. Heck, for that matter, neither did Wendy’s until the late 80s (although yes, we had a McDonalds, a Burger King and a KFC that then went out of business.) Restaurants were local affairs.
And what could be more local than food served out of a truck.
Ok, well, lots, but still. Street food just feels more real compared to even your independently owned brick and mortar Italian joint, even if that food truck is actually owned by a brick and mortar joint.
Now, up above, I suggested that my reviews may not be great. I should probably explain what I mean by that. An ‘ethical’ reviewer is going to hit the same restaurant 2-3 times, try as many items as possible, and the same items multiple times. I’m probably not going to do that. But I’ll be honest and I’ll tell you exactly how many times I went there, what I did, how I tried the food. I just can’t afford, in time or money, to do the multiple visit thing.
So now you know what I want to do here, well, besides updating the design of the blog and stuff like that.
I want to talk about street food in Seattle. Hopefully I can convince y’all to stay with me.
Be sure to check the Contact Me page if you’d like to recommend a food truck for me to check out.
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