Sesame Seeds & A Quesadilla?

I've been touting Far East Taco Grill nearly since Alex started just after Labor Day of 2011 and I will continue to because the food has remained both original and high quality.  In the 7-8 visits I've made, each and every time there has been something different on the menu from the last time.  Last time it was a kim-chicken quesadilla while today's visit featured a steak & corn one.  Marinaded rib-eye steak with the spicy corn "slaw" along with cheese and topped by crema, "#15 sauce," and sesame seeds.  I hadn't tried the #15 sauce previously because I'm in love with the spicy pineapple sauce, but it is sweet and tangy.  Tasting it by itself, I thought it might actually be too sweet for a quesadilla, however the crema diluted much of the sweetness so the blend worked nicely.  As usual, the beef and corn both satisfied.  For me, the only downside was the sesame seeds; they added a textural component that clashed with the corn pressed in the quesadilla itself.

Steak & Corn Quesadilla (w/ crema & #15 sauce) from Far East Taco Grill

Happy Weekend, folks.

Bump for El Floridano

Finally ventured back to El Floridano today.  For a short while I've been getting the feeling it was possible Stefan's organization issues might have improved, and with not much going on at Farragut today that I was really in the mood for, the Ho Chi Banh Mi began whispering my name.  "Thai-style" turkey meatloaf with pickled veggies, tamarind BBQ sauce, cilantro and arugula.  Other than being a logistical nightmare to eat, it was a commendable banh mi.  Take a large, fluffy sub roll, fill it with thick slabs of meatloaf, then stuff it with a variety of other ingredients and try to eat it -- I'm guessing you'll have a little trouble too.  But if the biggest problem is maybe getting only veggies in one bite and only meatloaf in another bite is the worst problem of the day, then things must be going REALLY well.  Other than the use of the BBQ sauce, another interesting change is the use of green mango instead of daikon in the pickled vegetable mix; it added more of a crunch than you might expect from the more traditional radish.

Bumping El Floridano to 3 honks, and recommending either the HCBI or PCL for your next visit.

Struck by Amorino's Arrow

When there is a pretty large, static menu available, is it really fair to give a singular rating after only one visit?  I don't know... I may have to ponder that.  BUT, if I were to give the new truck coming from a brick-and-mortar Amorini Panini honks, I'd give my sandwich 4 honks and the chili 3.  With a slightly different menu and higher prices than the Penn Quarter storefront, they have motto of "The Panini ... Done Right".  That they do!  My Southwestern was very generous for $6.29 both in the size of the bread slices, but also in the fillings stuffing the two slices of (your choice) sourdough or wheat.  The menu describes Amorini Sauce as being sweet & tangy mustard yet fails to describe what Amorini fire sauce is.  Can't complain though; it is delicious.  Still a tangy mustard I think, although there is also a decent hot pepper base without being too spicy.  The cheese melted to a lovely 'goo' and the sandwich was otherwise perfectly grilled.  As a bonus, the styrofoam containers they use are manufactured with ventilation holes in the top so your hot panini doesn't go in and steam, making it less crispy before you have a chance to dig in.  Kudos on that!

I also ordered a side of turkey & bean chili, not realizing how big the sandwich would be.  (I would have gotten the 1/2 panini & soup had I known.)  It was fine.  Not BBQ Bus, PORC, or Tops American Trucks level, but pleasant anyway.  About what you'd expect as a "soup of the day" offering.

Bottom line, I will go back without hesitation, and might even try something else.  The food was high quality and a good value.  Scoring at 3.5 honks ... the average of 4 & 3.

One further note, they are the first truck I've encountered that actually charges tax directly.  No doubt it has something to do with the brick-and-mortar location, but I wasn't anticipating an unrounded total check.

Tasty Kabob rebranded a truck to Tasty Fried

From the creators of the popular Tasty Kabob series of trucks now comes Tasty Fried, serving a variety of fried chicken or fish with picnic-type side dishes.

They've only been out a few days but currently seem to be focusing attention on their local college clientle at GWU who already get one of the 4 Tasty Kabob trucks each day.  The prevailing theory is the truck has been rebranded from one of the 5 TK trucks which were at one point circling the city.

I ordered fish & chips, along with a 3 piece tender meal wanting to try some potato salad.  Alas, no potato salad so no tenders for me then either as I understood the breading to all be the same; I'll just have to make do with sampling the breading on the fish only.  Reasonably light with nice flavor, the frying batter was actually quite enjoyable, but it was overshadowed by the fish.  Some bites were flaky and pleasing, yet others were chewy and kind of fishy tasting (not in a good way).  I believe it was due to the skin which remained on the small filets and when you got toward the ends of each piece, there wasn't enough flesh to compensate for the flavor the skin imparted.  On the other hand, the fries were crispy and gently seasoned.  Good job with those.  I did find prices to be reasonable - more so in comparison to what Tasty Kabob is charging against its competition.  3 honks.

Do you like good food? (and GARLIC?)

After months and months of planning, Borinquen Lunch Box finally started trolling the streets of Washington on Thursday, and the parking gods allowed them to bless Farragut with a visit to kick off a new week.  Serving Puerto Rican food, I understand the menu varies somewhat day-to-day.  Beef & chicken empanadas ($2/each), 3 types of sandwiches (all $8), and a special of chicken fricassee over rice ($7) totaled today's offerings.  After hemming and hawing between the Cuban and churrasco sandwiches, I landed on the churrasco because there was a special note that said it was made on freshly baked bread, which I had seen a photo of earlier in the day.  Let's just say I'm lucky I had no afternoon meetings, because hours later the garlic is still "with" me.  Having said that, the sandwich was incredible.

Lean skirt steak was marinated, chopped, and grilled, then generously stuffed in a half loaf of pillow-soft bread topped with tomatoes, shredded lettuce, shoestring potatoes, and "Puerto Rican sauce" (thousand island-ish made of ketchup, mayo, and garlic.)  Upon reading the menu I wasn't sure about the potatoes as they just seemed to unnecessarily add more carbs, but they did a perfect job to collect and retain some of the wonderful meat juices, particularly given how delicate the 'Pan Sobao' became by the same juices.  But as I said before, you need to really be aware that between the marinade and the Puerto Rican sauce, this sandwich is aggressively garlic-y yet possessing very appealing flavors overall if the garlic doesn't bother you.  It doesn't bother me, and the visit is worthy of 4 honks.

Other notes --

1. I didn't love the chicken empanada I ordered just to try, but for $2, it fairly priced and could make a light snack.
2. While this was not the slowest service one is likely to encounter with such a new truck, they would really benefit from leveraging the passenger jump seat up from to take orders from; both folks on the truck were operating out of one little window and that can quickly add unnecessary chaos.  I suspect it may have something to do with the fact the order taker didn't appear to speak Spanish and the (seemingly high) volume of people wanting to order in Spanish were forced to speak directly to the chef.  (Of the 7 people in front of me, 4 ordered in Spanish.  They all also spoke perfect English, but insisted on Spanish.)  Anyway, had the order taker been up front, the same interaction with the chef would not have been possible.  (Good or bad... HUM???)  Plus, of course, the muddled activity at the window would have been lessened.
3. After placing my order, I received a loyalty card good for a free sandwich after 5 punches, along with a Blow-Pop.  Love the loyalty card, not sure I get the Blow-Pop, but ok.  Cute I guess.
4. Finally, I wanted to recognize my truck cohorts for the organization of the line.  I've been noticing the trend over the last several weeks of the respectful (to other pedestrians) line, and today was no exception.  

Granted, this forms most easily when trucks are literally stacked on top of one another, but since the crowded sidewalks is one of the complaints of the truck-naysayers, I thought good truck-izens should be called out as well.

Weekend of Meatballs, Part 2

Sunday's project was buffalo chicken meatballs, linked from the same page as Saturday's lemongrass seasoned 'balls.  The idea is to make a single bite of flavor of buffalo wings but without the mess.  And it mostly succeeded.  Chicken and hot sauce with some eggs and breadcrumbs to hold it together, then baked.  The recipe even called for celery, a traditional side to wings, but I didn't have any so instead I minced another semi-traditional side, carrots, and added some ground celery for flavor.

Next time I plan on adding more hot sauce, and think I'll try adding some blue cheese crumbles directly in to the meatballs.  I will make these again as they are a nifty alternative to the usual wings.

Think we'll be hitting 4000 hits today on the blog.  Thank you so much for your interest!

My Weekend of Meatballs, Part 1

What better thing to do on Super Bowl weekend than experiment with some meatballs.  About a week ago, a friend posted on Facebook a link to a whole bunch of meatball recipes and a couple immediately jumped out at me.  First up, Lemongrass-Chicken Meatballs on Rice Vermicelli.  While there are a lot of components, there's nothing particularly difficult past a bunch of fine chopping.  The scallion oil and dipping sauce were both quite nice, but the grilled meatballs I found dry.

The next day I wanted to try and salvage the 9 leftover meatballs I had, so I took to slow braising them in a spicy Thai red curry sauce to impart some moisture.  We have a winner, folks!  With a slight char flavor from the grill still noticeable, the curry flavor paired perfectly with the mild lemongrass and garlic of the meatballs.  Then, saucing the whole plate with a bit of braising liquid and a dash of the dipping sauce made for a lovely juice I almost wanted to eat a whole bowl of on its own, like soup.

Today I'll be trying out Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls for the game.  Here's to hoping no re-invention is necessary...

PORC BBQ

I've noted before I was advised to get the pork BBQ from PORC and today I succeeded in that task.  Yet, even as I approached the truck, I started (again) thinking about changing my mind for something they were calling a "smokey sloppy joe".  Luckily there was a two meat plate available offering both the BBQ and the 'Joe, along with slaw and an additional side.  Of the two, I preferred the beef.  The exceptionally tender Angus beef was clearly braised with tomatoes and onions after smoking, creating a mild but delicious sauce.  On the other hand, the pork was slightly chewier in the sense it didn't fall apart as easily.  That more than likely works out better when put in to a sandwich, but then again, a sloppy joe is called that for a reason so if you ordered than in a roll, it should be sloppy.  For me, the pork just on the plate could have used a little more BBQ sauce because it is not cooked in a sauce but rather is doused on top for serving.  Granted, that helps in that you can pick which sauce you want (mild, medium, or hot) but it also means it's probably mostly gone by the time you get to the bottom of your heap of pork on a plate.  My 'hot' selection was peppery and vibrant, and pretty good but wasn't what I had the smudge of last week. On its own, the pork probably could use a bit more seasoning, but the sauce surely made up for it.

To cap of my plate of meat (and vinegar-based slaw) was my other side: a mint chocolate truffle.  It is really worth going to the truck just for this.  Creamy.  Rich.  And a pleasant mint flavor.  The flavors are reminiscent of Ben & Jerry's Mint Oreo ice cream, to me -- it is one of my favorite flavors of ice cream ever.

Perfectly content with my 3.5 honk rating.  I'll be back again soon.

On a side note, yesterday I visited Dorothy Moon to discover they now have chimichurri as a topping option.  Get it on your burger and then ask for a bucket on the side to dip "anything you may have lying around the office to eat" in.  Your significant other may not want to kiss you after, but it will totally be worth it.

Happy weekend, all.  See you next week.

Too hasty with Tops? Yes.

In my first review of Tops Truck, I gave them 2.5 honks because I didn't take the menu as very original, despite generally enjoying my food.  After a return visit today, I realized may have been too harsh because I haven't really held that standard for anyone else.  I mean, take Dorothy Moon for example -- an unbelievable burger scored them 4 honks on the first try, and what's particularly original about a burger (other than DC had been craving a burger truck.)

So today I took the opportunity to make another trip while enjoying some lovely weather at Farragut Square, and man is that chili good!  Not real spicy, but a nice tang with tomatoes, a few green peppers, and pinto beans.  For me it topped french fries and well melted cheese.  Don't plan on eating it all yourself.  Correcting my earlier mistake by bumping from 2.5 to 3.5 honks purely for the chili.  (Sorry folks for the earlier comments, but I really thought the bun needed help.)

Disappointed, and Not So Much

I was having a heck of a time trying to decide what to get today for lunch with only a handful of trucks tweeting they'd be nearby, but I hadn't had Red Hook since just before Thanksgiving so I figured that would be a good choice.  Hopefully today was just an off day because I'm sure hoping things haven't changed so drastically (for the worse) in the last two months.  Typically my roll is gone long before all the lobster, not just because it is well moistened by the butter poaching liquid, but because there is just so much lobster.  Today I practically had half a roll left and the substantially smaller quantity of crustacean was quite dry.  Really a let down.

On the flip side, I also decided to give House of Falafel another whirl now that the menu appears mostly "stabilized", not expecting much.  At first I ordered a beef shawarma, but noticed a couscous selection instead, offered with the same beef as the sandwich.  My plan was to sample while hot, then eat later, however I was still very much hungry after the weak Connecticut roll.  Since my expectations were low, I ended up reasonably surprised.  The beef by itself was well seasoned although a tad dry on its own.  But when eaten in a mouthful of all that was served, you're unlikely to be bothered by the lack of moisture in the meat for nestled between the beef and the couscous was, what I'm going to call, a middle-eastern style ratatouille.  I distinctly was able to identify at least zucchini, garbanzo & lima beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, onion, and tomatoes.  It could have used some more seasoning, and the couscous could be a little less mushy, but the combination of everything came off pretty well. 

The owner seemed crankier than I remember, and appears to not have figured out yet his business would do better if he leveraged social media like the rest of his truck brethren.  Not that there's a site to speak of up yet, at least www.thehouseoffalafel.com is no longer getting a '404' error.  Sticking with 3 honks.

Bangin' Bang Tang

More props for Alex at Far East Taco Grill for constantly evolving his Asian-taco fare (and then some).  During Friday's Farragut Friday visit, I was able to make my first visit of 2012 to find a new menu item and other changes. 

To start, many of the condiments have changed form, at least a little.  For example, there are no longer separate cheese and/or crema options; instead, there is a cheese-crema, which is crema with the cheese mixed in.  A new-ish addition, while it's been on the menu a while, the spicy corn slaw is worthy to eat a whole bowl of, although I don't find it that spicy.  But, the most important change in the "toppers" is the return of the pineapple sauce, this time kicked up a notch.  I had been begging Alex to bring it back after it had been off the menu since my inaugural visit in September, and I found zero disappointment with its delicious return.  There are a few additional minor changes, such as the departure of cilantro on its own; instead there is some chopped cilantro in the onion-lime finisher.  I was concerned the onion might be a little over-powering for a workday lunch, but the lime juice and Kosher salt to a decent job of tempering the red onions.  Having said that, not everybody is a fan of onions, so I'd like to see solo-cilantro return as an option.

On the protein side, the chicken has been elevated with a new marinade dubbed "Bang Tang", adding a little heat, yet moderate enough for those who don't care for spicy food, particularly once topped.  The chicken is now also part of a "Kimchicken" quesadilla ... just what you'd think: kimchi, chicken, and cheese grilled in a flour tortilla.  If you're not sure what to make of it, I wasn't either.  The whole thing works though, especially with the spicy mayo and sriracha it is topped with.  (Really.)  Eat it while it's hot though -- I wasn't able to finish before I was called away to a meeting, and when I got back to my desk, I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable.

Kimchicken Quesadilla from Far East Taco Grill

FETG has handily become one of my very favorite "go-to" trucks.  Thanks Alex; keep up the great work.  Maybe you should change the name of the truck to "Far East Taco Evolution" for all the changes you make to continually make to improve the dining experience.  :-)

In other news, long-time coming Borinquen Lunch Box launches today, unfortunately at L'Enfant.  I really want to try the churrasco sandwich.  Good luck folks!

PORC & Big Cheese

Yesterday I made a revisit to PORC and my own inaugural visit to Big Cheese after having a craving for some Cowgirl Creamery goodness.  After my last visit to PORC then being told next time I should get the mainstay pulled pork BBQ, I still was delinquent in that task although it is will now be a priority.  (The box my sausage came in had a smudge of BBQ sauce on it which I couldn't resist sampling -- holy crap that was good!  So, next time, I swear!  I just have to be in the mood to have more of a mess consuming my workday lunch.)

So, what did I get?  Well, not quite what I expected, but still tasty.  Lamb & beef merguez sausage with fig goat cheese.  You can see from the tweet I was expecting some sort of balsamic onion reduction which I did not receive yet was really looking forward to.  Instead there was a whole bunch of mustard which, to be fair, I think I might have been posted on the menu board when I got to the truck but failed to pay enough attention.  Anyway, it's tough to go wrong with any sausage selection, particularly coming from Simply Sausage, and this one didn't disappoint with its fresh flavors joining a little heat.  Plus, the goat cheese was awesome.  Mild, creamy, and modestly sweetened by figs.  As I've observed at other places, while I thought there was too much bread (crumb) for the offering as a whole, I was impressed at the elevated quality of the it over a more traditional deli sub roll.  Sticking with 3.5 honks and will be definitely going for the BBQ next time.  BBQ Bus, watch out!  ;-D  (jk)

Second stop was to grab a sandwich from Big Cheese, coming out with an initial 3 honk rating:

Anything that involves cheese from Cowgirl Creamery can't be 1/2 bad, particularly when we're talking the rich & creamy Mt. Tam...  And this grilled cheese with apples and honey wasn't (1/2 bad).  As one might imagine, a grilled cheese really should be eaten right away when it's most ooey-gooey.  Unfortunately I walked 2 blocks in 50* temps to my office which steamed the bread more than I would have liked.  My fault and I'll know next time.  Bites which included apple were better than those without apple where I just ended up with mostly a mouthful of just wholegrain bread.  It is a pretty good sized sandwich, but isn't close to filling me up at $6.50.

Mt. Fuji from Big Cheese

Mikala is my new BFF!

So I get a tweet out of nowhere this morning about 11:21: "Steak sandwich??"

HA!!!  I had to love it.  Mikala, proprietor of one of my "go-to" favorite trucks, Hula Girl, knows which stop I mostly use, what I eat, and how I take it.  Thus the ping.  I told her I'd be there in 10 minutes if she wanted to make it.  Sure enough, it all worked out perfectly.  (Yes, my friends with me did make fun of me.)

Actually, when Mikala sent me the text I explained I would be trying Fojol's new Thai truck for the first time today, but that I did want her sandwich for later.  (Trust me, I've had it cold many times, and it is just as good!!)  Off I went across Farragut Square to the land of Fojol.  At 11:35 they said "we're going to be 15 minutes."  Grrr!  Ok, back to Hula to pick up my sandwich and see what everybody else was getting.  Bottom line is no food was served from Volathai before 11:57.  The guy standing at the window kept saying things like "we have a different model than the other trucks" and "we cook everything once we park".  Fine, so get there earlier....?  Whatever.  It has been a couple of weeks; you're not that new any more, plus, the Fojols definitely know how to run a truck around here.

Anyway, I had a pick 2 with penang chicken and beef drunken noodles.  ($8)  The chicken was juicy, mixed with large chunks of carrot & strips of red bell peppers, and served over basmati rice.  While there were substantially more veggies than chicken, the coconut-curry meal was good: a bit sweet and more spice.  But then there was the drunken noodles.  It contained a large number of vegetables (red & green bell peppers, broccoli, onions, etc) and a little zesty beef, all coupled with wide, fresh rice noodles.  I make Pad Kee Mao for myself all the time, and I know what a challenge it can be to cook the noodles properly, particularly the fresh kind (which these were,) but these were quite mushy.  Based on a review I read of Volathai last week, I expected some really kicked up heat on the palate, but didn't find it particularly fiery, at least not for my taste.  There was one other issue you can learn about if you read my Twitter feed, but I'm not going to memorialize it here.

I haven't been shy about expressing my adoration for the Fojols first two ventures, but this one falls short.  3 honks.

Have a good weekend all!

I'm a dope: Apparently I didn't know what Gumbo was

Last week I made my first return visit to Cajunators since their soft opening at Truckeroo in August.  As each day's menu is posted to Twitter, I've been a bit disappointed I don't recall seeing jambalaya return to the menu since that day because I enjoyed it, evidenced by the 3.5 honks it received.  Figuring an updated review was due, I headed out to find the Cajunators truck when they were nearby and decided to try a couple new-to-me offerings.  First, the fried chicken.  OK, so fried chicken isn't new to me, and I normally go for grilled/griddled or baked/roasted chicken, but this was well seasoned in a flavorful batter and not greasy.  You can select 3 pieces from the usual suspects of thigh, wing, drumstick, breast, with one side for $8.  All-in-all, a tasty-great deal.

And then I thought I should actually get something more cajun than just the seasoning on my fries, and lucky-for-me, the menu offers a side of gumbo for $3.  Perfect, I'll have that!  Now, what's gumbo, because clearly I have no idea?  Actually, other than jambalaya (including one of my favorite dishes to prepare for myself at home, pasta jambalaya,) I haven't personally experienced much in the way of food from the Big Easy.  In my head I had the idea gumbo was kind of like jambalaya but more soup-y.  Apparently I was wrong because when I got back to my office and opened the bag, frankly I was a little scared to see a small cup of a dark sludge-looking concoction.

Once I stirred it around a bit, I found some tender white rice at the bottom.  "OK, I can do this..."  Chicken and andouille, and (as I've now educated myself) probably okra along with other vegetables.  A little spice, a little tang ... The whole thing was altogether delightful, despite an unexpected impression at first gander.  While it wasn't the soup-ish selection I was expecting on a rainy winter day, I'll go back again for more.  Sticking with 3.5 honks.

What a difference a month makes

Service is still a little slow, but appears to be slightly more efficient aboard the Kimchi BBQ Taco truck.  They got a cashier which is helping, but the cooking team also looks to be operating much better together.  Plus the horrendous generator noises of their opening days has been somewhat muted.  Today at Farragut Square, they were the only truck with a line; the smell from their truck overwhelmed the air (in a good way) and while I waited, I heard no less than a half dozen folks walk by musing outloud "man, that smells good" as they perused the menu.  And I was convinced without a doubt today my original "tip" to 3.5 (over 3) honks was totally the correct call.

Today I enjoyed a spicy pork kogi.  I previously had bulgogi twice, in two different fashions, and quite liked it.  The pork was rockin' though.  Lean, but juicy.  Flavorful, without being overpowering.  The dumplings are still nothing to write home about, however Kimchi BBQ Taco has enough sauces on the counter now to rival the Sauca trucks in the early days, so you can try doctoring the mandu if you want.  Run, don't walk, next time they hit a street near you.

Spicy Pork Kogi from Kimchi BBQ Taco

You also may have noticed I added a new tabbed page to the top of the blog with just the reviews.  I'm hoping that will make it easier to find the food you want to eat.  Enjoy!

House of Falafel MIGHT be trying harder

While at Farragut today for another very enjoyable lunch from Dorothy Moon, I saw the latest iteration of "renovations" to the House of Falafel truck, a truck constantly trying to find itself.  Still no wrap, but there are a couple real decals depicting the name of the truck, plus notations for both Twitter and a website.  Surprisingly, the Twitter account actually has been up a while at this point, but is barely ever used (no shock there,) and the website link printed on the truck doesn't exist (again, no surprise.)

I still don't get the way the menu is posted... an ongoing problem.  This time it's printed in horrible italic print which is hard to read on its own, but then it's posted on a "noisy" (and ugly early-80s style) background.  With a quick glance, as one might imagine he's still doing Mediterranean food, but with a few mods to the last menu I saw.  (Sorry I didn't snap another pic, but you wouldn't have been able to see it anyway.)

Soon I'll consider another visit to try a shawarma -- it can't be worse than DC Shawarma!

On a totally separate side note, Dorothy Moon's double went up by a buck (DUH!) and a triple was added to the menu.  In addition to my halal effort this weekend, I apparently was in a major cooking mood because I also made two savory jams: a bacon jam and a spicy red onion jam.  I didn't end up making the burger I had planned to put them on (yet) but it hit me like a ton of bricks: wouldn't it be awesome if savory jams became a specialty of Dorothy Moon's burgers?  OMG I'd be doing something really fun in heaven, more than just being there.... :-)

Happy New Year & Happy Sunday

Happy New Year, folks!  So it's been a few weeks, but I was away for the holidays and returned to only 3 days of work this past week.  I did manage to grab a couple of my favorite lunches this week, from both Goode's and Hula Girl.  But this weekend, as I often find myself craving some of my favorite lunchtime treats when I'm home, I occasionally attempt to re-produce them myself, and this weekend's project, halal!

Now, of course I did not use chicken killed properly or anything, but rather whatever well trimmed, boneless, skinless chicken thighs were at the market.  I found two recipes on the Internet which sounded like they might be close, and luckily both came with a version of the white sauce, so that was attempted too.  In the end, I used combined variations of each of the two recipes, and realized when I am shoveling my favorite halal in to my pie-hole, the flavors have already combined, so it was now hard to think about the separate components uniquely to come up with the proper seasonings.  This was particularly true for the white sauce.  Both white sauce recipes used yogurt and mayo for a base, but they both also called for garlic, which I never recall tasting in the white sauces from HGP/HG or DCK&G.  Anyway, I winged it and used my own cooking skills to come up with the closest I could think was correct.  Just as with the real stuff from the trucks, once combined, (rice, chicken, white & red sauces,) the result of my project was pretty close, although as I went and tasted individually as I was going, I surely had my doubts.

A couple things I know weren't right.  All the halal chicken in DC arrives more orange-y-towards-red than yellowish-towards-brown when coming off the griddle, and I still can't figure out what creates that color.  I used paprika, saffron, a dash of chili powder, and even some hot sauce when cooking, but the turmeric, coriander, and cumin dampened those brighter colors.  Another wrong: one of the recipes also called for a dash of curry (which I didn't think was right) but it was such a small amount, I didn't see it as a big deal.  When it hit the pan though, as you might imagine, the curry smell was pretty powerful.  No big deal for me because I love curry, but I'll definitely leave it out next time and just stick with the little bit of turmeric. 

Anyway, all in all, not a bad first try in my opinion.  Any advice to correct my wrongs would be well appreciated.  Next time I hit a halal truck, I may have to think harder and separately reconsider my spices in anticipation of my next attempt.

Battle of the cheesesteaks!

As the year is coming to an end, and my remaining days at work even more quickly, I've spent much of the week enjoying my go-to favorite offerings from the trucks, even when I had holiday parties to attend where food was being served.  This included stops at Red Hook, Dorothy Moon, Hula Girl, Goode's, and BBQ Bus at Uncurbed, plus I'll be trying to make it to Far East Taco Grill before I'm done for the year midday Wednesday.  But today, in addition to my 1-day tardy hook-up with my jerk chicken cheesesteak from Goode's, I decided to battle it against the new cheesesteak offerings coming from Korean truck, AZN Eats.  I mean, if it's not going to be Philly style, why shouldn't a Caribbean cheesesteak be matched against a Korean one...? %-)  Goode's is tough to beat, although AZN was a formidable competitor, allowing for a rating bump from 3 to 3.5 honks in the updated review:

AZN Eats (@azneats on Twitter) -- UPDATE (16Dec): A few weeks ago AZN Eats announced they were going to start serving cheesesteaks using the beef options on their menu and I thought, "Now there's an idea!"  How can you go wrong with long marinated beef making out with some cheese wrapped in a sub roll?  And AZN Eats didn't.  Exactly what you'd expect, with Kalbi being served for $8 and bulgogi for $7, with provolone and cabbage, although I asked for no cabbage.  I doused it with the "AZN Spicy Sauce" then thoroughly enjoyed the fusion offering.  Other than the fact there was too much roll (see the pic,) the sandwich is enough to elevate AZN from 3 to 3.5 honks.

In cart news if you missed it earlier this week, District Taco announced they are opening a second brick and mortar in the first few months of 2012, this time in Metro Center, so District Taco will finally be in the District.

BTW -- It was awesome to see EVERY SINGLE SPACE at Farragut Square occupied by a food truck today.  Have a good weekend everyone!

Lasagna Plus...?

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to say about the new lasagna truck which started almost two weeks ago but doesn't yet have a twitter account.  Ironically most of us first learned of this truck from Brian at Basil Thyme.  Both trucks serve basically the same thing for the same price -- several varieties of lasagna for $8 on their own, or $10 as a meal which comes with a drink & dessert.  The differences in the meal?  Brian has fresh desserts and a nice "garlic crouton" on the salad (think a thick slice of french bread with garlic seasoning with a slight toast on it) whereas the new guy serves a single serving pre-pack of Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies and gives two thin mass produced breadsticks.

Now, for the differences in the lasagna... recall I actually really like Basil Thyme's lasagna but am totally put off by Brian's obsession with "we serve in less than 60 seconds and others don't" attitude because (1) for the most part the "others don't" sentiment isn't true, and (2) how hard is it to serve a slice of lasagna from a tray made earlier in the day?  Anyway, Lasagna Plus' serving (which arrived in less than 30 seconds, btw) wasn't as light as Basil Thyme's.  The sheets of pasta were probably fresh but weren't as perfectly delicate and/or were slightly overcooked.  While the lasagna could have used more seasoning and fresh flavors, overall it still tasted reasonably good.  I swear, despite what I'm about to say!  However there was something going on with the cheese I can't put my finger quite on, thus, why I'm perplexed about what to think about it.  It wasn't bad; it was just odd.  I hesitate to toss in a word like "gummy" because of the connotation, but the texture in my mouth was kind of that.  And not every bite either.  Maybe it was just too much cheese in certain spots among the layers and they congealed when it cooled down.  I really don't know.  3 honks is a reasonable score until I can figure this out....

Uncurbed, but not unfortunate

In fact I was quite fortunate to be invited to the opening night of Uncurbed DC.  We were early to arrive, and sadly early to leave with a long drive ahead of us, but I was so pleased to have participated at all.  Tadd & Che transformed an upstairs apartment in Georgetown into their own mini-restaurant with personal touches, including a fully decorated Christmas tree next to a fireplace.

Small tables in a number of rooms were covered with paper and stocked with #3, #5, and #24 sauces along with plastic-ware and napkins.  In addition, over the last few days they were able to get permission to serve alcohol, so several beer & wine selections were available to wash down the mouthwatering Q.  While Tadd worked the truck and general goings-on outside, Che played the very gracious host inside.  (Although I can't say which locale was warmer because inside the house was pretty freakin' chilly, despite a couple of small space heaters -- it is an old, vacant townhouse in Georgetown, afterall.  Insulation and caulk easily were more of an afterthought, back in the day...)

I suspect most of the festivities (or enjoyable havoc?) caused by the invitee-only guest list might have occurred after our departure as I saw a number of posts from other truckers come in throughout the evening, particularly if DCSlices was tending bar.  Here.  Here.  Here.  And here.  Plus I know others were there quietly showing some support as well:

I can't say how excited I am for BBQ Bus to be blazing the way for the next gen of pop-up dining experiences.  Even according to the invite, as far as anyone knows, this was the first such event in the country.  Who says DC doesn't have a serious food scene?  Bleh!

Rain & Protesters

Persistent rain and pesky Occupy protesters clogging downtown kept a whole lot of trucks off the road today so the options seemed quite few going in to my lunchtime.  Luckily I was running late because a (relatively) late tweet from Dorothy Moon had me out the door in a split second.  Fourth day out and already running pretty efficiently.  Their Facebook page advertises a pretty extensive burger menu so I don't know if it is because they are so new and are just trying to feel things out, or if maybe the rain, and therefore lighter demand, caused a stunted menu but the offerings were pretty simple: $6 for a single, $7 for a double.  You could select as many toppings as you wanted for the inclusive price, including bacon, 3 kinds of cheese, an egg, several sauces & condiments, plus a bunch of vegetables.  The review and photo are published under 4 honks:

Dorothy Moon's Gourmet Burgers (@DorothyMoon1 on Twitter) -- Nearly two months ago I mused, for a town that LOVES its burgers, we didn't have a truck serving up any.  Alas, that is no more because we now have exactly that: an amazing burger truck!  Cooked to order, reasonably priced, and good service, particularly for a group who's only been serving for 4 days.  They'll put whatever they've got on the truck on your 1/4# (pre-cook weight) burger with soft bun, and the selection is pretty decent, although they will only cook it medium-well; I asked for mid-rare.  All was fine though ... the burger was perfectly juicy despite being only slightly pink.  I may have said this before and even meant it, but I had to have broken a new record with exactly how quickly I inhaled my double burger it was so good.  Provided the all-around quality stays high, Dorothy Moon will quickly have a large and loyal following, however at some point the menu will probably need to expand past simply a single and a double.

BTW -- Sorry for the quality of the photos.  For some reason my iPhone has been having issues with the camera for the last few days.

My office's holiday party is coming up, and I think I might have convinced the organizer to get the food from trucks.  If we can work out the logistics, I'll start reaching out tomorrow to some folks about options.  I've managed to convince a bunch of folks in the office truck food is great, but I want to get them all anxious to try the constantly evolving menu roaming the city each day.

If only the guys from BBQ Bus would switch teams

...then I could marry one, have his adorable babies, and always be well fed!  OK, well not really but you all know by now about my love affair with BBQ Bus.  (Besides the fact I'm a girl, they probably wouldn't want me anyway since I had Che and Tadd confused for one another.  Sorry guys for the prior confusion, but Che was always responding to my tweets and blog posts, yet Tadd was at the window knowing everything about them.)  :-o

Anyway, free lunch was being offered at work today as a part of a conference I'm participating in, but the Guinness beef stew with fire-roasted corn was calling my name 5 blocks (sans umbrella) through the rain.  It was obviously cooked low and slow because any alcohol taste of the beer was totally gone leaving just a rich and creamy medley with tomatoes and onions.  Piled on white basmati rice with a generic roll on the side, I did find it was better with hot sauce when I got back to work.  Had I known while I was still at the truck, I would have doused it with some #24 sauce which I snuck a taste of while I was waiting.  Believe the advertisement of "tangy with a KICK"; it would have been a perfect accompaniment for a little extra punch.  Then there was the fire-roasted corn, which needed no improvement at all.

I took a photo to include but it came out particularly poorly.  As a perfect winter-warmer, I'm sure I'll have another chance soon to snap another.  You guys have really elevated yourselves to truly be one of my favorite DC food trucks.  Until next time.... 

For the rest of the dish on BBQ Bus, don't forget to check out the first blog post here.

The worst yet

I am a genuine lover of food trucks and generally try to give the benefit of the doubt, particularly in scoring.  Today's review will follow suit with a generous score of 1 honk for DC Shawarma.  And it's really too bad because I was looking forward to it, even mentioning on the 18th of November I was considering a long trek just to try it as I love shawarma.  See the review and another photo in the first post:

DC Shawarma (@dcshawarma on Twitter) -- Normally I'm willing to give any truck a second try, but unless something substantially changes, I won't even take that chance on one of the newer trucks roaming the streets of DC.  DC Shawarma serves exactly what you'd think, chicken or beef+lamb shawarma's and falafels, all either over rice as a platter or in a pita.  I ordered the chicken sandwich; I can't even say "I had the chicken sandwich" because after 2 bites, it was in the trash.  It was terribly dry to the point it was chalky tasting.  The not-totally-burned pieces were equally dehydrated, and the rest of the accompaniments ("salad", tahini, garlic sauce) didn't help either.  1/2 honk awarded for the garlic sauce and 1/2 for putting themselves out there at all, for that alone takes some guts.

I normally take my photos before digging in to my meal, but after I doing so in this case, I took another to illustrate what I am trying to say:

It can't be because the chicken was sitting on the grill all day because we were there at about 11:25.  It could be they're serving meat from another day, although I would find that pretty hard to believe.  I just can't come up with an explanation about how perfectly good chicken got so overdone.

Kimchi BBQ Taco was back at Farragut today too, and I found the menu so intriguing the other day, I went back to try something else.  This time I got a K-Town hot dog.  The following update is appended to the original review with an additional photo:

Kimchi BBQ Taco UPDATE (1Dec): Only a few days out, but still in desperate need of organization and another set of hands.  A K-Town hot dog took 20 minutes at 11:40am with only one other order placed ahead of mine.  Call it a Korean chili dog or something... this was pretty good.  Bulgogi and a choice of kimchi topped a Nathan's Famous hot dog in a toasted sub roll.  I got some gochujang to spice it up, (BIG YAY for getting some out there!) but forgot to top it by the time I got back to the office and inhaled the dog.  Next time I'll choose a different kimchi because the "sweet-n-spicy radish kimchi," which looked like a spiced up version of (one of my faves) pickled carrot & daikon, doesn't really come together like it should.  Sticking at 3.5 honks, but will start heading down if service (time) doesn't improve.

Only 11 more days of work in 2011, and with some holiday parties mixed in, I feel the year closing quickly for me and my truck friends.  See y'all next week!

Am I Kraving Kabob?

Apparently today I was craving steak & cheese from Kraving Kabob, although it's quite possible something else would have been a better choice.  Good news and not so good news in the review (with pic) posted under 3 honks in the first post:

Kraving Kabob (@kravingkabob on Twitter) -- I get that I probably didn't order the right thing for a truck whose specialty is middle eastern food like kabobs, falafel, gyro, souvlaki, etc. by getting a steak & cheese, and next time I'll try something different, but it's what I was in the mood for today.  (They also serve fish & chips.  The owner said they get fresh fish from the Maine Avenue market and marinate it 24 hours.  Nice!  However, it was tilapia again, and you know how I feel about that.  Personally, I'd happily pay more for better fish.)  First of all, I like they are early, like WAY early, because I'm starving by 10 o'clock usually.  Food is cooked to order, and the steak used in my sub looked fresh, not like frozen "Steak'Um" when it was tossed on the griddle.  All good.  There was nobody around when I placed my order of "steak & cheese with easy onions only, plus fries" they started cooking right away.  I went on to make a point of "no lettuce, tomato, or anything else, please" and then proceeded across the square to get some food from a couple other trucks while I waited the 5 minutes I was told the food would take.  Upon return there was still nobody there and I was simply handed a bag of food as I headed back to my office to eat.  Perfectly convenient; no problem.  Then I open my order and it's got loads of lettuce, tomatoes, a mayo-based sauce, and a dash of green sauce.  Grrr!  There wasn't anyone there, so one would think they could focus on getting the only order at the time correct.  OK.  I'm fully aware I'm dwelling on this story excessively, so I apologize, but I was pretty annoyed.  From what I could taste of the green herb-based sauce, I would totally order it on purpose again, and maybe even get extra to dip my fries in... fries which need a hole poked in the top of the container after they're cooked so they don't steam and get soggy.  Anyway, three honks for the food overall. 

I think I might be cranky today.  :-/  For real though, I will look forward to going back to try something else next time they come around.

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....

Mess #1 and Mess #2

So many choices to choose from at today's Farragut Friday, although I nearly made the trek over to Franklin to get a taste of the new Shawarma truck and to pick-up some bacon BBQ meatloaf for the weekend.  Instead, I stuck around my local spot to once again try Far East Taco Grill and to finally try Carnivore BBQ.

While I was away I noticed FETG was serving up tacos "dirty style" but then just as quickly stopped serving them because of the time it took to make them.  Since service can sometimes be slow there anyway, that was probably a good idea, although they really should figure out a way to expedite because, if you haven't had it yet, y'all are missing out on a treat.  I arrived very early for lunch today, and without a crowd they were willing to hook me up for an extra $2 total for all 3 tacos.  What is dirty style?  They take your complete order per taco, slaw, sauce(s) and all, and grill it an extra minute or two with cheese for an ooey-gooey mess.

The owner asked me to let him know what I thought, so here it is: flavor is great, although I would leave the slaw off the grill and top the tacos after if for no other reason is it keeps some of the crunch.  Plus, I think most of the cilantro is lost being served like this, so either use more, or keep that for post-grilling too.  But, you're still serving up some of the best tacos in town!  (After my experience this week, Chupacabra is the only taco competition, but they're obviously serving up something different than you guys.)  An update and a photo of my dirty style tacos have been appended to the prior review, still under 4 honks:

Far East Taco Grill (@FarEastTG on Twitter) -- When I first saw the menu for Far East a few weeks ago, my immediate reaction was "wow, that's exactly what TaKorean serves," but I also was plainly aware of the (now) hoards of halal/kabob trucks roaming DC's streets which all seem to survive, so maybe not such a big deal.  It took a very long time to get served, and when I got my order it was wrong.  But after I finally dug in, I was quite content: marinated & grilled chicken and beef, with a choice of 4 slaw options, options for chopped onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, and a lime crema, plus a choice of 4 additional sauces.  THAT is what gets 'em to 4 honks!  Besides the proteins being juicy and flavorful, the sauces rock, even including the lime crema!  I particularly enjoyed the pineapple sauce although I wish there was also a spicy pineapple sauce to choose from, or at least if I could have sriracha AND pineapple rather than one or the other.  (I'll ask next time.)  Even the kimchi slaw option is better here than TaKorean in my opinion.  3 tacos for $8 is a buck cheaper, but was the starting price when the blue guy started out too, so I wouldn't be surprised if that changed.  Really nice job guys.  Giving you the benefit of doubt that it was one of your first couple of days and service will improve, so 4 honks!  UPDATE (18Nov):  It's been a little while.  There is now a pork option and the pineapple sauce is gone having been replaced by some sort of sesame sauce.  Total bummer, because that pineapple sauce was da bomb.  (I didn't try the new sauce.)  If you have an opportunity to hit this truck when there's no line, fork over an extra $2 and ask for your tacos "dirty style" -- don't ask, just do.  I promise you'll love it, but for real, they won't do it for you if there's a line.

Next stop, Carnivore BBQ.  Now I know there is always a HUGE line for this truck, but after my first experience, I'm guessing it's because they serve arguably the best deal in terms of pounds of food per dollar.  I ordered the pork and got an enormous tray filled with a split roll "stuffed" with pulled pork, 3 sauces, and slaw; I can't even call it a sandwich... My unfortunate review is posted under 2.5 honks, along with a picture:

Carnivore BBQ (@carnbbq on Twitter) -- You'll definitely get a lot of food for your dollar at Carnivore BBQ, but will you enjoy it?  For me, not so much.  I found the pork both dry and excessively fatty, as hard as that is to do.  When I was asked about what sauce(s) I wanted, there were plenty to choose from, so I just asked for it to be spicy which ended up meaning 3 sauces topped the meat.  Maybe a mistake was made since the bottles weren't marked but one of them was cloyingly sweet with some strange tang.  The slaw was ok, although it didn't have a particularly "bright" color you'd like to hope for in a fresh slaw.  I'm sorry, but I won't be rushing back.

Talking about balancing the scores

Yesterday I mentioned if the only thing I ate from Chupacabre was the turkey taco, they'd be at 4 honks, but I wanted to balance my rating based on all the selections from the menu I had an opportunity to try.  So, to be fair, similarly, if the jerk chicken cheesesteak is the only thing I'd ever had from Goode's Mobile Kitchen, they'd totally be at 4 honks too.  That cheesesteak is to die for.  Just sayin'....

Kaiser Soze

Finally back from vacation and I stumbled upon the new truck Chupacabra at Farragut today, while I had totally been planning on grabbing a BB from Fojol of Benethopia.  WOW!  I was giggling I was so satisfied after enjoying one of my selections, and when a co-worker came in to my office to discuss a problem, all I could say was "Chupacabra".  She said "Huh?" and I repeated "Chupacabra" for a couple of go-rounds.  (I'm really not joking, and afterwards I thought the exchange reminded of a scene from Usual Suspects...)  Plus, I know I'm sounding like a broken record again, but kudos to the owner who was warm and engaging.  The review and photos have been added to the first blog entry under 3.5 honks:

Chupacabra Taqueria (@chupacabraDC on Twitter) -- A kick-ass logo to go with a (mostly) kick-ass new truck!  Serving a variety of both classic and not-so-classic tacos, I ordered 3 with an order of posole soup on the side for a nice warm up on a rainy day.  First up, the traditional "Al Pastor" with pork & grilled pineapple.  The tortilla made this next to impossible to eat for it fell apart with the first bite, but the flavor was authentic ... just like I got from a street vendor last time I was in Mexico.  Next, the pot roast taco, and while this one was also quite difficult to eat, it almost wasn't worth the effort.  I LOVE pot roast, but I think it may just not work in a taco -- it was too soft, too wet, and needed more flavor.  Then the heaven's parted as I dug in to my final selection, dubbed the chupagobbler.  It was a whole, perfect Thanksgiving meal in a couple of bites, which surprisingly didn't fall apart like the others.  Roasted turkey, cumin gravy, garden sage stuffing, and a cranberry pineapple compote.  OMG!  Had I gotten only these tacos, we'd be at 4 honks, however I feel I've got to average my total experience out.  The soup had rice instead of hominy due to a delivery problem, explained upon ordering.  Although it wasn't particularly (temperature) hot, the flavor was nice, and the avocado added a perfect creaminess.  When the hominy is added, I imagine I'll be dining on the posole frequently as the winter goes on.  Everything was served with cilantro and finely chopped onions along with shaved radish, which is a nice change from the more conventional shredded cabbage.  They also offer a salsa bar with a variety of fresh selections to doctor up your order.

Just before leaving for this last trip, I was able to try Kabob Bites again, but didn't have the time to update the post.  Unfortunately KB remains at 2.5 honks with a photo added and a couple of comments about the buttered chicken.  Bottom line is it is tough to compete with the buttered chicken from Fojol.

Red Hook Lobster Trucks

I guess my review of RHLP doesn't say much, although I hope you can get the excitement from the "short n' sweet" nature of the post.  It is soooo good.  Really.  But I wanted to expand a bit after having lunch there again today.  My parents are both from Maine, thus I've spent more than my fair share of time there throughout my life visiting family and what-not.  As all good down-easters (and offspring) know, the BEST lobsters are the small ones because they are sweeter.  Yes, I know when you go to a fancy steakhouse, they highlight the grand size of the crustaceans, but you should be asking for the SMALL ones!  But don't worry, with the legal minimum size for fishermen to keep what's caught, even the smallest is about a pound.

With that "lobster-math" in mind, the rolls Red Hook serves have at least a lobster and a half of meat on each.  So now that you know smaller is sweeter, hopefully you can imagine how awesome the treats from this truck really are....  Better yet, you'll also figure out the $15 price tag is actually quite fairly priced.  (How much is lobster per pound in the grocery store which you then you still have to pull all apart and prepare perfectly...??)