Many other people were told there would be food

Gowanus Food Truck Festival
Brooklyn Yard

If you haven't heard, food trucks are totally having a moment (or maybe it's the dawn of a whole food truck era, which would be cool too). Cities like Portland have embraced the phenomenon by simplifying permits to allow the mobile food scene to flourish. High-end fusion taco trucks prowl the streets of LA along with their more modest, established predecessors. And in New York, even high end restaurants have gotten in on the act. Brooklyn Yard, a waterfront space on the Gowanus Canal, hosted a gathering of food trucks recently, featuring stars such as Halo Berlin, Rickshaw Dumplings, Pizzamoto, and some artesanal juice and ice cream.

The line to get in was RIDICULOUS. I would've turned around and left were it not for my friends who were already in line. Once we got in, I surveyed the options and all of the well-known, buzzed-about trucks were mobbed, basically. To honor my vegan gf, I headed to Cinnamon Snail, a truck serving organic/vegan fare (plus there was no line). In my heat and hunger-induced frenzy, I hit the wrong button on my camera and shot some video of my sandwich with special appearances by my sunglasses and crotch.

Cajun grilled tofu with arugula, tomato and garlic aioli (that's flavored mayo to those of you who lack Continental flare). The sandwich was well-done and satisfying. The tofu was firm and well-seasoned. The tomato and arugula gave it a nice freshness as well.

UPDATE: as part of their Cheap Eats issue, New York Magazine just put out its list of NYC's best food carts, including some that were at the food truck festival.

what the pho?

A-Dong Restaurant
Des Moines, Iowa

pho (beef noodle soup) with fresh fixins! sprouts, peppers, mint, cilantro, and basil; plus red chile sauce.

Fun fact (or "phuong fact", as I'd say to my Vietnamese friend): a "dong" is defined as "the basic unit of money in Vietnam" (among other things). I asked what the restaurant's name means and that wasn't it, though (I forget what it is exactly but I would've remembered that).
Anyway, After some wandering on the east coast, I finally found myself back in the heartland. Because I came back hungry and didn't have any food at my place on account of my trip, I headed to A-Dong for some pho, a quintessentially Vietnamese dish that consists of beef (and, depending on the exact variety you get, some combination of tendon, stomach, and the like), onions, and lots of fresh herbs served on the side. The pho that day was good, but not amazing. The meat and fixins were fine but I found the broth to be a little plain. The chile sauce livened it up, but still, I was not blown away. I've been a few other times and, again, good but not great. I'll definitely keep hunting for other spots in town that might be further from downtown and a little more authentic . . . (teaser for future post)

Hot Dogs to Save the World

Bark Hot Dogs

Park Slope, Brooklyn

Many people say getting a "dirty water" hot dog (out of a streetcart) is a must-do for any visit to New York. For those with more discerning palates (or more of a social conscience) there's Bark in Park Slope. It's a perfect storm of every fashionable food buzzword you can think of: local (the "Resources Menu" lists where every item is produced), organic, artisanal, sustainable (the tables are salvaged wood, the napkins, silverware, etc. are recycled or biodegradable).

Sauerkraut dog with mustard and a pickle. The menu says the kraut is "oak-barrel aged"

Definitely better than a dirty water dog. You can taste the quality of the ingredients, but I still wouldn't make a habit of eating $5 hot dogs (or hot dogs in general). Glad to have checked it out.

veggie dog with mushroom-chickpea topping and pickled garlic mayo; fries.
(my friend's. I only had a bite, but it was definitely tasty)

An outpost of urban cool

Habana Outpost
Fort Greene, Brooklyn

I set out w/ my gf on a hot morning to explore my old neighborhood. After a very long and ultimately unproductive walk to a hole-in-the wall roti shop in Bed-Stuy that was closed, we met up w/ a friend of mine at Habana Outpost, a pan-Latin spot that attracts the neighborhood's hip crowd- youngsters and parents alike. Patrons order inside but the food is actually prepared in a truck that's parked in the courtyard. Music plays and the scene is festive. I think there are solar panels. I was still living in the neighborhood when the place first opened, and was drawn by the space and the fact that they had a bike-operated blender. It was always broken when I'd go before and this time the story was that they only used it on the weekends.

The grilled corn is a trademark dish. It has a generous dollop of mayo, grated cheese, some sort of seasoning powder, and lemon- very good but what wouldn't taste good w/ all that on it. The quesadilla was fine too. The space and the scene are the main attraction, but the food is definitely good (no matter how cool a spot it was, no one would come if the food were bad)

courtyard and the truck where the magic happens

Grilled corn and chicken quesadilla with white sangria.
cameo appearance by my friend's torso

Take another little piece of my heart (on a skewer)

Yakitori Taisho
5 St. Mark's Place, NYC


Skewers of bacon-wrapped scallops, chicken, octopus, heart, and gizzard (left to right)

I've always been a lover of strange meats and Japanese yakitori places offer a world of offerings in that regard. Yakitori means "grilled chicken" but is used to refer to the practice of grilling other stuff on a skewer as well. Down in New York's East Village, there is a block that has cramped Japanese places sprinkled in among the other basement-level offerings. Taisho is supposedly the best, and I always thought the place three doors down, Oh Taisho, was a blatant ripofff meant to fool tourists w/ its identical font. Turns out they're owned by the same company. They offer some actual dishes (you can sort of see my friend's yakisoba in the background) but a variety of skewers (generously brushed w/ terriyaki sauce and/or pepper) and a bowl of rice does it for me.

Taste what the fuss is soba about

Soba noodles with grated radish and mushrooms
Soba Nippon- New York City

We start on the road, as the launch of this blog happened to coincide with a trip to the Orient (of the United States).
(that's a joke of sorts. expect a lot of dry humor)
I'll be back in the heartland soon enough writing hard-hitting expose's re: the taco trucks of Des Moines, so my friends among the coastal /"lamestream media" elites may soon lose interest; but in the meantime I have some food to share.
We start in midtown, at one of NYC's premiere soba spots. My original hope had been to write about one of the many high-end ramen shops in NYC but my friend Kleo(whose name has been changed for her protection) couldn't get away for lunch long enough to trek downtown. But soba is still plenty interesting.
Soba are thin hand-pulled buckwheat noodles that can be served cold w/ dipping sauce or hot w/ broth. I chose cold to get the full soba experience. From what I'd seen on "Anthony Bourdain:No Reservations," soba noodles are a big deal b/c of the meticulous, painstaking way in which they're prepared. And you have to respect the fact that they're the centerpiece of the dish and not just an accompaniment to some protein. I tried a few bites plain (no dipping sauce) to get the full experience and . . . I'd have to say something was "lost in translation" (though eating them didn't cause me to exchange longing glances w/ anyone across tiny alleyways). They were good but not transcendent and certainly not worth what this place was charging for them. I fully admit that it might be a cultural thing and that my tastebuds, overstimulated from a Western diet, may not be able to appreciate the subtle grace of the soba. Things got a little awkward when the dipping sauce came into play, as it wasn't immediately apparent how the sauce/garnishes should all be eaten. Still, I improvised the best I could and enjoyed the noodles more with the salt/spice of the dipping sauce (with some radish dissolved in it for even more kick) and mushroom.

Why are we here?

Welcome to my food blog. As I've been discussing this new project with people, I've been asked to outline its exact purpose/angle (oblique, I'd say). A fair question and one whose answer I've been sort of ambling toward gradually. Basically, I really like food, especially talking about it, so I'm putting this together for the simple purpose of sharing what I consider to be interest.
To place this w/in the spectrum of other blogs: There is no strict geographic focus- I live in Iowa but take full advantage of my travels to eat. There are no recipes, yet. I don't yet have a clear definition of what constitutes "interesting food" and thus merits mention- I guess I kind of know it when I see/taste it. Perhaps it's any place that you want to tell your friends about after, whether that's b/c the food is so amazing or the setting is so offbeat. The places/food you'll see featured here will mostly be from modest/hole-in-the-wall type places. . . not because I think haute cuisine isn't as interesting, but mostly b/c these are places I can afford! This is not a "foodie" blog where you can expect to find sophisticated analysis of the food. I don't have the palette or inclination to offer musings on a dish's "umami" or split hairs between varieties of cheeses. I often eat too fast to really reflect on the find shades of a dish's flavoring. But I have been described as a "good eater" and like to analyze stuff so there shouldn't be too many awkward silences in the posts. So off we go without any further ado . . .