On the Road: The Lot / à la carte (Bend, OR)

A couple of things to apologize for today.  First of all, I'm WAY behind on my posts again.  Secondly, a lot of the upcoming posts will be road posts, so I guess I should half-heartedly apologize to those of you who think I spend too much time writing about places that aren't local.  That having been said, this will at least be a quick one, so bear with me.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had two coffees in pretty short order on my last morning in Bend.  After that I headed to 7-Eleven to stock up on cherry Slurpee and Red Bull for the trip home, and discovered that they don't have a public restroom.  I couldn't remember where the nearest rest area on the freeway was, so I asked the cashier who was ringing up my purchases where the nearest public restroom was, and he told me it was around the block where the food trucks were.  Food trucks?  On a Sunday?  This I had to check out.  And that's how I found myself at The Lot.

Bang on the Wall Burgers

Okay, this is going to be such a quick one that usually I'd go back for a second visit to pad it out, but it's a means to an end so bear with me.  Tonight from 5-8 pm is the second weekly installment of Food Trucks in the Park at Ann Morrison Park downtown, courtesy of Idaho Food Truck Coalition.  I went last week, when unfortunately the weather wasn't welcoming and the turnout was kind of sparse.  As I walked the line of trucks, they were pretty evenly split between trucks I had already written about and trucks I hadn't yet visited.  However, there was only one truck I had visited but had not yet written about, so it seemed like a good time to remedy that.

Bowld Over

Yesterday, I wrote a review of a new truck on the local street food scene called Mad Mac (spoiler alert: I wasn't a fan).  What I didn't mention is that the same owners brought two trucks to Boise when they moved here.  That's right, the mac and cheese truck has a sister truck that I visited the very next day at the very same spot.  I'm sure at least one or two of you are thinking "Come on, give these people a break!", but hear me out.  You just might be surprised.  I was.

Mad Mac

Ah Spring, when the food trucks are in bloom.  The Southern Idaho Food Truck Feast is still going strong on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  The Idaho Food Truck Coalition is becoming a great source to keep track of which trucks are where on any given day, as well as arranging for a gathering of vendors at Ann Morrison Park on Thursdays.  And the old reliable Food Truck Rally peeps are having their first two events of the year this month on the 15th and 29th.

While we have lost a few trucks and had a few others who have evolved into brick and mortar locations, others are popping up to take their places.  One of the newbies, Mad Mac, transplanted here from Utah at the beginning of the year.  As you might expect from the name, they specialize in macaroni and cheese concoctions.  And since they're one of the regular trucks on Slanted Rock's rotation, they're in my neck of the woods fairly often, and I took advantage of a particularly nice day a few weeks back to check them out.

On the Road Again: PDX Street Food (Island Grill, The Whole Bowl, The Frying Scotsman)

Okay, so I did a local post last time, now back to my most recent trip to Oregon.  There's been a lot of talk recently about Portland being the best food city in America.  I don't know about that because my own travels have been fairly limited, but it's pretty damned good.  It's definitely the epicenter of street food in this half of the country.  Still, even with several trips to Stumptown over the last few years and 200 or so vendors to choose from, I'd never had any street eats there.  I decided to remedy that on my most recent excursion, so after hitting Starbucks so Miss Golden Rule could get coffee and breakfast (oh the humanity), we took a detour to downtown PDX on our way to the Coast.  I had done my homework and narrowed it down to a couple of eateries I wanted to try in different areas of town, so I just went with the one that sounded the most enticing to me at that particular moment: The Frying Scotsman.

Treats and Tragedies on the Road: Valentine's Weekend in Seattle, Day 1 P.M. (El Borracho. Beko Gourmet Dog Japon)

I was able to contain myself until my phone reached 60% charged, and I decided that was sufficient.  Even if it wasn't, I was getting restless.  It's hard to stay quiet and still when you're in a dark room full of sleeping people in the middle of the day when there's an amazing city waiting to be explored.  I crept out of the room in search of lunch.  What I had in mind was a cluster of food trucks that we had passed earlier on our way to the hotel...

Just a few pics from last night's Food Truck Rally...

I'm not going to go through the effort of posting them again here, so let's try this Facebook embed thing.

Another great Food Truck Rally!
Posted by Treasure Valley Treats and Tragedies on Saturday, April 18, 2015

Food Truck Happenings

Pressing matters first:  Today marks the first Food Truck Rally of the year.  The festivities will be at Meridian City Hall from 4-8 P.M, to celebrate National Library Week, and the line-up so far is as follows:

A Cupcake Paradise
Archie's Place
Bel Cibo Truck
Genki Takoyaki
Mosaic Crepe Co.
P. Ditty's Wrap Wagon
Tiki's Shave Ice
VietMOM Grill


However, just because this is the first official Rally of the year, that doesn't mean that the trucks have been idle.  Thanks to the fine folks at the Southern Idaho Food Truck Association, you can catch up with new kids and old favorites on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 5-8.  They need to be a little better at utilizing social media to get the word out about which trucks will be out which evenings, but you can get a general idea by visiting their Southern Idaho Food Truck Feast page.   Each evening takes advantage of a different church parking lot, which is kind of ingenious since they tend to be huge and underutilized at night.  Wednesdays you can find them at Cathedral of the Rockies at the corner of Amity and Maple Grove in Meridian...

while on Thursdays they move to the Church of the Nazarene at Euclid and Hale near BSU.

Just FYI, more trucks tend to show up on Wednesdays.  I've only briefly visited each location so far, but here's some of the things I've tried:

Starting off with Wednesdays in Meridian, The Cuban Panini truck is actually an outpost of Casa Blanca Cuban Grill on Overland, and as such you'll recognize most of the dishes from that menu.

Cubano Sandwich

Such as the Cubano sandwich seen above, which it pretty much exactly the same as their restaurant version.  I do still wish that their roast pork was a little moister, but hey, it's still delicious.

Spam Musubi

This Spam Musubi came from Tiki Teriyaki, one of the newer players on the scene.  Honestly, I prefer my Spam grilled a little more and I'd rather sauce the finished product myself, but more people serving this dish is never a bad thing.  This was all I had room for after the Cubano, so unfortunately I didn't get to try any of their plate lunches, but I have my eye on their pork adobo for my next visit.  Plus, they have coconut rice!

Ham and Cheese Crepe

Moving on to Thursday nights downtown, I finally caught up with Mosaic World Crepes for the first time since the demise of the West End Food Park.  Or rather, my roommate's younger daughter did.  She ordered the Ham and Cheese crepe, the name of which is kind of a disservice to the actual item, which includes prosciutto, bacon and cheese.  The kid dug it but did remark that she would prefer a cheese with a stronger flavor.  I think I've been spoiling that kid with all the smoked and sharp stuff.

Darjeeling Momo's Combo Meal

As for me, I got to visit Darjeeling Momo their first night out.  The brains behind this truck actually used to work at the now defunct Momo Food of the Himalayas in Meridian, which was one of my all-time favorite restaurants.  They have some fine-tuning to do, but I'd say things are promising.  I likely wouldn't order the chicken curry again, it's just too much of a pain in the ass to eat marinated chicken on the bone with plastic utensils and no place nearby to wash your hands, but whatever that chicken veggie rice salad stuff is underneath it, I could eat that all day long.  The momos are good, but just at the moment they only have the pork variety, and their chutney is more tomato-based that Momo's proprietary sauce.  Still good, just different.

Blues Burger with garlic fries

And because I starved myself all day to bank valuable internal real estate, I still had room to stop by Burgerlicious for the first time since that truck changed hands.  I'm happy to report that the garlic fries are still awesome, the burger patties still juicy, grass-fed and nicely charred, the buns still well-toasted, and the sauces as good as ever.

That's the just tip of the iceberg, though.  Many other trucks show up on these nights, including: The Kilted Kod, Il Segreto, The BBQ Guy, Fresh Betty Spaghetti, Bang on the Wall Burgers, Twisted Palate, Slow River Coffee, Scotty's Hot Dogs, etc.

So there you have it, three specific times and places to track down food trucks, and two of them happen weekly!  Get out there and support your local food trucks!  Don't make me come looking for you...

Nobody said it was gonna be easy, I guess...

So the West End Food Park has barely gotten started, and they're already in trouble by some accounts.  I had hoped the worst had passed once the Kickstarter was funded (after all, some people tend to be more likely to support something once someone else has done all the work), but between the busy Summer season  for the trucks and the variety of excuses from potential patrons as to why they can't or won't show up, it seems like WEFP is having trouble shifting up to the next gear.  The first time I want down there, there was literally one truck in a cracked asphalt lot.  Now there are portable toilets, a hand sanitizing station, covered seating, and painted parking spots for both trucks and patrons.  I've only made it down three times myself so far, but each time has offered different eats and general improvements.  How about some visuals?

The beginning...

The BBQ Guy

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Turkey Leg, tender enough that it can be eaten with a plastic fork.

Covered seating!

Idaho's Best Corn Dogs

It's not just a cute name.  These are giant, hand-dipped and delicious.  They even have honey available as a garnish.  Don't knock it unless you've tried it!.

The Beer Guys

Genki Takoyaki

Fully garnished pork dumplings (even bonito flakes are included).  Delicious!

Mosaic World Crapes

The "Ham and Cheese" - Cheese, prosciutto and bacon.  The crepes were a little thicker and chewier than others I've had, which was not a bad thing because it makes them more substantial.

Just look at all that porcine goodness!

Beurre-Sucre - Just butter, cinnamon and sugar.  Simple and perfect, like a piece of French toast that has soaked up way too much butter, because we all know that way too much butter is still never too much butter.

So you see, it's coming along.  Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of people are holding off.  They don't like the location, they're waiting for more trucks to show up, they're waiting until things are fully up and running so they can get the full effect, blah blah blah.  What it boils down to is that the few trucks making an effort down there?  They're the pioneers.  If you want eight trucks to show up, you have to go down and throw some money around right now even though there are only two trucks.  If those trucks are making profit and selling out of their supplies on a regular basis, other trucks will notice and take a chance.  I know the ground floor is not glamorous, but people in Boise have to learn not to be so casual in their approach to things like this, because nothing is ever going to be perfect, and without support it won't even get close.  Take a chance!  I'll even make it easier by including WEFP's newsfeed below so you can see what trucks will be there and when, so get down there and help it become what we all want it to be.

Street Food Weekend

Even though it ended up so bloated that I posted it as its own review, my visit to El Habanero was just the first of what ended up being four street food meals last weekend, and it was originally supposed to be part of a compilation write-up.  Here are the other places I finally got around to checking out...

Scotty's Hot Dogs has been around for less than a year, but they've been pretty prolific.  They have a couple of regular lunch spots, occasional gigs at places where adult beverages are vended, and have made appearances at Boise Music Festival and a few food truck gatherings.  I caught up with them at Settler's Park in Meridian, where they were taking advantage of the warm weather crowds.

As you can see, the menu is a little limited.  If you're looking for mustard, chili, relish, sauerkraut, or (blech) ketchup, you're out of luck.  Scotty's specializes in two things: big dogs cross-cut and grilled, and their signature sauce.  The staff are genuinely friendly and proud of their product.  I'm something of a hot dog purist, and since I was going out of my comfort zone anyway, I decided to shoot the works and ordered one with everything.

Scotty Dog

This was a good quality dog, and I'm a big fan of the cut-and-grill method, which I see far too rarely.  Getting all of the available toppings might have been a mistake, because it was nigh impossible to eat the thing without making a mess.  I have to say it though: I'm not a convert.  The thin, red sauce was too sweet for my liking, and got very sticky as it dried.  If they would make some of the more classic toppings available, I would definitely seek them out again, but I don't think that's likely to happen.  Still, they seem to be doing pretty well with their own thing, so more power to them.

Like most meat enthusiasts, warm weather turns my thoughts to barbecue.  More so than normal, even.  So when my roommate decided she wanted to hit up The Cheesecake Factory's curbside to-go service for a sandwich, I stopped at Back Porch Smoked BBQ on the way back home.  After perusing their menu, I ordered a family meal to split with the roommate's younger child, a budding barbecue enthusiast in her own right.  I chose the half pound of shredded pork, slaw and potato salad as my two sides, and added on a couple of ribs for good measure.  Two things took me by surprise here.  First, I was asked if I wanted the pork heated up or if I wanted to take it home and warm it myself.  Second, when asked what sauce I wanted, I was given a choice of Sweet Baby Ray's (one of my favorite store-bought sauces, but still a national brand, pre-bottled one), or their house Carolina-style mustard sauce.  I opted to have my pork heated and served with a little of each sauce.

Potato Salad and Cole Slaw

The kiddo decided to skip on the sides, but her mother sampled them.  We both agreed that the slaw was one to pass on, being mostly dry and tasting basically like plain shredded cabbage.  It got pushed to the side pretty quickly.  The potato salad seemed to have been made with Greek yogurt rather than mayo, which took us aback at first, but I have to admit that it kept growing on me as I ate it.  By the time I finished it, I was a fan.

Individual "Rib Snacks"

The ribs were a hit with both myself and my young dining companion, especially the skin.  The kid has mentioned them several times in the days since, and if I were to return for anything, it would be more ribs.

Shredded Pork

I would not return for the shredded pork, however.  It was a little too finely shredded for me, a little dry, a little bland, and still a little chilly.

Shredded Pork with mustard sauce

I wasn't a big fan of the mustard sauce, either.  It lent some much-needed moisture, but didn't have the tangy quality I'm used to in that style, not to mention being a little thick and kind of...chunky?  I think I'll stick to my smoky sauces.

The next morning, on my way back to Meridian, I finally stopped by a place that came up in a conversation about tamales on my Facebook page last year.  Well, not a place so much as a car that happens to be parked across from the Catholic church at the corner of Meridian and Chinden on Sundays.  There, a woman and her kids peddle pork and chicken tamales for a buck a piece.  I decided to surprise some of my family, and purchased ten of the pork ones.  I was about to ask for recommendations for warming them, but when the bag was handed to me I could feel the heat coming through it.  Nice!

Pork Tamales

The tamales themselves were hot, moist, and big.  When I cut into one, the angry red color of the filling had me bracing for spiciness that wasn't there.  In fact, there just wasn't a lot of flavor at all.  I was wondering for a moment if I'm becoming jaded or something, but my Mom (the biggest spice wimp I know), my eight year-old niece, and the roommate's six year-old daughter concurred, all saying they would be better with some kind of sauce.  I don't know if they tone them down for the gringos or what, but I need a little more kick.  Looks like I will continue to get my tamale fix at Lorena's.

Not a very thrilling write-up, I know.  Good dogs with toppings that didn't grab me, hit and miss barbecue, and tame-ales.  Still, it was exciting to try so many new places in the course of less than 24 hours, and I'm sure there are those among you who would be perfectly happy with at least some of this stuff.  You are, as always, invited to try the stuff yourself.  I'm always up for hearing other people's opinions.

El Habanero

I woke up at eight o'clock.  I was getting my hair cut at ten, but I had something I wanted to accomplish first.  You see, a year or so ago I was driving through Eagle and came across a bright yellow trailer with "El Habanero" emblazoned on the side.  There were no hours, menu or any indication of what the trailer was for, but I made a mental note to look them up later...which I promptly forgot.  However, I did stumble across that same trailer months later in Boise, set up in the parking lot of Eddy's Bakery on Five Mile.  I was on my way to Pad Thai House for dinner so I didn't stop, but this time I did remember to look them up.  The menu was interesting, and I was interested in checking them out.  As happens so often though, circumstances conspired to keep that visit from happening.  On this bright Saturday morning, that would finally change.  Sort of.

Mythical Munchies

You may notice that I don't typically include a lot of background information about eateries and chefs in my reviews.  Unlike print publications and some of the other bloggers around, I value my anonymity, the primary reason for which is the fact that when I go to a place, I want to be treated like anyone else walking in off the street.  I don't want special treatment, free food, or extra effort put in on my account.  I want the same experience anybody else would have, it keeps things objective and fair.  So, I don't really ask for people's life story while they're making my food.  Still, sometimes the aesthetics of an eatery tells you something about the people behind the scenes...

Potentially amazing thing developing here!

How would you feel about Boise having a fixed, permanent spot for food trucks?  Check out the video below, and then please consider contributing to the West End Food Park Kickstarter campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2138950445/west-end-food-park.

And the gold medal for drunk food goes to...

I'm just one man.  One man with limited time and financial means.  I would love to visit more places than I do, but even in a mid-sized metropolitan area like Boise, there are a lot of eateries to choose from.  I will sometimes catch some static about which places I choose to visit and when, but there are a lot of factors.  First of all, the tastes and cravings of the people I'm dining with often come into play.  Then there is the location factor; if you're close to my home or work, I'll probably get around to you more quickly.  If it's a place I'm really interested in, I will go out of my way.  Sooner or later.  Of course, I get recommendations for places to hit from people on Facebook, through e-mails to my site, from people I know in everyday life who are aware of this little hobby of mine...and of course, every once in a while I'll get an invite from a proprietor or PR person.  I keep track of them, and I usually get around to trying the places.  It may take a while (sometimes a LONG while).  I've gotten hints, suggestions, passive aggressive insults.  In at least one case I've gotten continuous, albeit friendly, pleading.  It's been going on for quite some time now, the kind of length of time that makes me feel guilty.  But here's the thing, the guy is only open from 10 PM until 4 AM and in one of the busiest downtown nightclub areas, and I tend not to be downtown much, especially in that area and during those times.

Last night, there was a big shindig downtown to celebrate our new skyscraper, and the man in question opened up a couple of hours early to take advantage of the crowds.  It seemed as good a time as any to keep my word, so I braved the crowds, the parking headaches, and the lame music.  David, this one's for you...

Chai-Yo Thai

So, a couple of days after my previous trip, I had occasion to be in Twin Falls again (don't ask).  But given my previous good luck, this time I decided specifically to see what else Mountain Home might have to offer.

When it comes to aggregate review sites for restaurants, I've always been partial to Urbanspoon, so I turned to them for information.  Friends, let me introduce you to the highest-ranked eatery in Mountain Home...

Burgerlicious

I receive a fair amount of (mostly) good-natured teasing regarding how much I focus on burgers and food trucks here.  So, for all of those people, here's a review about a burger truck!