Another new truck. More Korean food.

"Rain, rain, go away.  Come again another day..." so I can stay dry while heading out to look for food from a truck.  The rainy day, combined with what seems like a whole lotta trucks in the shop, made for a light selection of trucks out and about today.  Luckily, Kimchi BBQ Taco had quietly pulled in to Farragut Square for a soft opening.  The attractive truck is serving the widest variety of Korean food to date from a truck in DC:

I'm trying to decide between 3 & 3.5 honks, but will be generous on their first day out.  Plus, if Yellow Vendor, AZNeats, and this guy were lined up in front of me, Kimchi BBQ wins, so I suppose it makes sense to drop them in at 3.5 honks in the review (with pic) in the first post:

Kimchi BBQ Taco (@KimchiBBQ on Twitter) -- First meal on their first day and pretty decent... It took forever, although they weren't really ready yet to take orders (at 11:53!) and ordering was challenged by the horrendously loud noises the various power generating devices created.  (A regular portable generator sitting outside, the running truck, plus something else involved with their propane tank under the truck I think.)  BUT, the food worked.  For $8, I got a bulgogi box (Kogi) which came with a scoop of white rice, a salad, and a choice of two dumplings.  The meat was flavorful and well trimmed. Meanwhile, the pre-packaged pork dumpling was substantially better than the kimchi one though both were in desperate need of some sort of sauce.  Then, like AZNeats, they only had sriracha.  No gochujang, which continues to be a bummer when Korean trucks don't have any on board.  However, a notable highlight was the salad dressing.  It's a traditional Asian-style miso dressing done quite well.  There are plenty of other interesting options available on the menu, so I'll be back to check them out soon; hopefully whatever I order will come with a salad so I can get some more of that delicious dressing.

Grateful & Content

During the short week last week, I visited four of my 4-honkers to enjoy some of my favorite truck foods in a week dedicated to giving thanks: Hula Girl, Pi, Fojol of Merlindia, and Far East Taco Grill.  In addition, I was able to finally make it to PORC on Monday for a couple of side dishes for sampling.  My first review with photos for PORC has been included in the first post under 3.5 honks, with photos:

PORC (@porcmobile on Twitter) -- After a long wait, I finally visited PORC for a couple of sides to my Hula Girl steak sandwich during Thanksgiving week.  When I head to a lunch spot on any given day, it is not unusual for me to grab food from several trucks so I can bring some chow home for snaking.  If it is a new-to-me truck, I'll usually sample everything while it's hot/fresh, and then pack up the rest for later.  So on this day, I ordered some mac & cheese along with some spicy 3-bean chili with hatch chile-chicken sausage from Simply Sausage.  The first thing I noticed was neither selection was particularly (temperature) hot, both being lukewarm at best in the time it took to walk from Farragut Square to my office a block and a half away; note this has not been a problem in the course of my daily visit(s) to the trucks.  The mac & cheese was enjoyable ... obviously freshly made without too much cheese to weigh it down, although in my opinion the cracked black pepper was substantially in excess.  Next up, the chili, and they weren't joking when they bill it as "spicy".  Served with sour cream and shredded cheese, it really needed to be warmer.  But EUREKA!  I got the ticket!  I brought it home and had the container over two sittings over the Thanksgiving break.  Scrape the huge dollop of sour cream and cheese off the top, scoop out some chili, heat it up, and re-top with sour+cheese.  YUMMY!  Nice (spicy) heat.  Kick ass sausage.  Satisfying beans.  Perfect for a chilly day.  (Pun intended.)  ;-)  Totally worth 3.5 honks.  One last comment on this chili to the guy serving it up on the truck: provided the chili is actually temperature-hot, top with the cheese first, rather than the sour cream, so it's ooey-gooey melty.  Thank you.

The other thing I sampled last week was the Haupia from Hula Girl, a coconut pudding topped with toasted coconut and macadamias.  I love, love, love coconut, but this didn't work for me.  The texture probably was exactly what it is supposed to be, but just wasn't my thing.

Sorry for the delinquent post.  Thinking about what's for lunch today now....