Food Truck Friday - Now Make Me A Sandwich

This week, we finally feature a truck I see ALL the time - parked here in SLU, parked just off McLellan and Rainier in the evenings, and on the road between the two during my afternoon commute - the aggressively named, Viking emblazoned, Now Make Me A Sandwich.



On my first visit, I went for the Turkey Special ($9), which had sliced turkey with bacon, avocado, tomato, arugula and rosemary aioli. The bread was soft and a good ratio to the fillings, which were packed with flavor, particularly courtesy of the aioli and bacon. It was moderately messy, but held together to the last yummy bite. My only complaint was the amount of avocado, which was more along the lines of a smear of avocado than what I'd expected (sliced avocado).

I posed a question to the food truck email list at work and got a very strong recommendation for the ThanksGetting sandwich ($9).  It's essentially Thanksgiving all rolled into one easy to eat package, with bacon thrown in for good measure:  Sliced turkey, bacon, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, and rosemary aioli on a grilled Telera roll.

I worried the stuffing would have celery chunks, or that the gravy would make it terribly messy, but neither was the case.  A couple bites in and I could see why my coworker gets this sandwich every time.  It's delicious and complex and moist and conjours good memories.  It turns out Thanksgiving in June is pretty great.  I'll absolutely be back for this one again.

Memento - A Literary Feast

Tonight was the final round of our current season of Memento - the meal planned backwards and eaten forwards. This round was hosted by Lizzie at Carolyn & David's house, with a theme of "A Literary Feast". Each of us picked a favorite book as the inspiration for our course, and read a bit from it when presenting our dish.



The first appetizer course was from Lizzie herself, inspired by Christopher Moore's novel "A Dirty Job", in which the protagonist realizes he's death. Her Hell inspired dish was Deviled Cheese Toasts - featuring white and yellow sharp cheddar cheese, mayo, peppers, pickles, and Franks red hot. It was accompanied by a Bloody Mary with a Bacon swizzle stick. A wonderful, playful start to the night.





Dan & I were up next, taking inspiration from a favorite book of both of us, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chomsky. It's a coming of age tale about a lonely high school freshman who finds friends in some seniors and begins to participate in life for the first time. It's a very sad story that taps into some of my own memories in ways that make me cry just thinking about it. Dan read a piece from the book that spoke to him, then I cried my way through a particularly moving passage for me.

As I read the book a second time on my Kindle, I highlighted ever reference to food in the book, hoping for inspiration. Unfortunately, it's mostly french fries and pot brownies, so not quite what we were looking for. But in true literary style, we used a pun playing off the book's title:

Faux Porks of Bean a Wallflower - two types of vegan bacon bits (Frontier Vegetarian Bits Bac'uns, 2.7-Ounce Bottle and homemade sunflower bacon bits) atop a Cannellini bean garlic parsley purée, with a homemade gluten-free cracker covered with edible bibiscus, lavender and brassica flowers.



Because it comes up a few times in the book, we served our dish with a bottle of brandy.

Inspired by the pot brownies in the book, (which is the chapter my passage was from), we also served everyone an edible flower called a "Buzz Buttons" that makes your mouth tingle and your salivary glands go into overdrive. We all had fun trying them out and then inviting the kids to try them, too. They're not a drug or narcotic, but have a similar effect as Szechuan peppercorns.





Next up was the Salad course from Marcy & James, which James had taken the lead on using his favorite Hemingway novel as his inspiration, "The Old Man and the Sea".

Their salad of butter lettuce, avocado, cucumber, and tomato was topped with pancetta, grapefruit, and some wonderful tuna (a fish referenced many times in the book), with a bright white vinegar, mustard, garlic and olive oil dressing.



Taking inspiration from a book neither had read, Anna & Jason's Entree course was courtesy of "Lolita".

The decadent dish was a Pork tenderloin with sweet spicy rub, roasted potatoes and a bacon wrapped fig with goat cheese, all drizzled with Sriracha aioli. And in her signature plating style, Anna included a strawberry and a sprig of rosemary on the plate.
Strawberry rosemary

They served it with a hearty red wine.





Although she couldn't be with us due to a friend in need, Nancy inspired the book Linda chose for the second entree course's inspiration: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".

Playing off the many food references in the book, and sharing some of the stories themselves, Linda served a vegetarian Meatball with Coffee Sriracha glaze, and Arugula salad with pumpkin butter vinaigrette, pumpkin seeds and creamy goat cheese, and Smashed potatoes. To accompany it she had coffee stout beer.



Carolyn & David, along with Logan & Zoe presented the final course, a dessert inspired by "The Hunger Games".

We were each presented with a plate with something under a piece of paper with the Mockingjaylogo on it, from the book. We were then invited to light the paper on fire. It turned out to be Flash Paper, resulting in a show stopping presentation to the dish (and lots of fun with fire).



Under the paper was a delicious Goat Cheese Cheesecake with a Pistachio crust and "Nightlock" berries (actually blueberries).



Tonight was also Anna's birthday, which we celebrated with a champagne toast before the meal, and then she received a 'cake' near the end of the meal with a candle to blow out. The cake turned out to be made from mashed potatoes.



It was great hearing about some books I've not read that friends really love, and enjoying a wonderful meal together. This turned into the longest Memento ever, with Dan & I getting home after midnight - a good end to a fun season.

Food Truck Friday - Contigo

My first visit to Contigo was long ago, when I believe they first started visiting South Lake Union with their 'Modern Mexican' food truck. Somehow, it wasn't until today that I made it back.



On that first visit, I started with a Pork Carnitas Taco ($2.5), which I recall being good, but not mind-blowingly better than the tacos down at El Tajin.



I also ordered the Sweet Potato and Pecan Gordita - a delicious little fried ravioli of dough, packed with sweet potato goodness. I recall it was like a little bite of Thanksgiving.

My visit to Contigo today was after their 2014 Taco Truck Challenge win.  This time I went for one of their 'Bowls' - a huge portion each of rice, beans and the meat of your choosing.  I went with the Chicken en Mole. ($8.25 + tax).

During my very brief wait, I got a sample of their habanero lemonade, which was excellent and left a burn in your throat (but not mouth).  It was a clear sign that they don't shy away from flavor and heat, which was reiterated when I dug into the rich mole chicken.  Each piece was coated with the sauce, which was more like a dry rub, and filled my mouth with flavor with each bite.  A little spicy, smokey, and just plain good.  The price seemed steep, but the portion is huge, and the service was quick and friendly.

Memento: Southern

Tonight was Memento time again - our bi-monthly supper club potluck. This was the first time hosting the group for Linda & Nancy, at their beautiful home in West Seattle. Celebrating Linda's roots, the theme (revealed at the last Memento) was 'Southern', with two mandatory, classic Southern ingredients picked at random for each course.



Linda & Nancy started us off with their plate, celebrating Black Eyed Peas & Cheddar Cheese. They did so in the form of two deviled eggs and two fritters. The first egg was a smokey pimento cheese deviled egg with chorizo, and the second was a Sriracha deviled egg with pancetta. Alongside them on the plate were two black eyed pea fritters (Johnny cakes?) with porcetta. And of course there was a big punch bowl full of delicious Southern Comfort punch that Linda whipped up soon after Dan & I arrived. Everyone agreed that Linda's deviled eggs were the best they'd had.



Next up, Carolyn & David payed homage to Tomatoes & Cornmeal. Their inspiration came from comfort food - specifically their son Logan's favorite: tomato soup and grilled cheese. A delicious tomato bisque soup with a beautiful swirl of cream shared the plate with three cornbread cubes, one with a decadent topping of melted cheddar cheese - which makes me want to top every batch of cornbread I make in the future with cheddar cheese.



Another queue I'll be taking from this Memento is a square, rather than long rectangular table arrangement. It was wonderful to be able to talk with everyone around the table, and a peak under the tablecloth revealed it was simply two folding tables side-by-side. It also would increase tablespace for dishes for events like Thanksgiving.



Our third course was created by Lizzie to feature the seasonal flavors of Sweet Potato & Pumpkin. First was a green salad with red onion and goat cheese, using roasted sweet potatoes as a perfect replacement for croutons, and a little crunch courtesy of pumpkin seeds.



Alongside the green salad was a 4 oz mason jar filled with what's known in the South as a 'congealed' salad. Not the most appetizing name, but it's essentially a gelatin salad. This one was sweet potato, with a smoother texture courtesy of the sweet potato. It was topped with whipped cream and pecans. Despite the name, it turned out to be absolutely delicious, tasting like Thanksgiving.



Dan & I supplied the fourth course, inspired by Rice & Molasses. We stole a page from Marcy & James' playbook and merged Southern Italian food (specifically Sicily) with American Southern food, creating an Arancini di Riso.



Neither of us had heard of them before they became the dish du jour on the Halloween episode of Top Chef, and Dan quickly thought of using that as our rice component, then stuffing it with molasses baked beans.

Using Food Network's recipe as a jumping off point, we made and cooled a batch of simple risotto first, then combined it with parmesan and eggs and rolled it into balls. We pushed a little bit of red kidney beans (cooked with some vegetable stock and molasses) into the center and chilled them. Ultimately, they were rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried at 350 degrees F until golden brown.

Dan made a peach sauce with Sriracha (a happy accident that this ingredient popped up again) to top the arancini, which was very good. Spicy and sweet.



I also made an agar-agar aspic of collard greens & shiitake mushrooms with vegetable stock spiked with liquid smoke and soy sauce to take the place of pork products so commonly cooked with collards. I warmed it to 140 degrees F still in the silicon molds, submerged in our Sous Vide Supreme. Unlike gelatin, which melts when reheated, agar-agar never unsets. I unfortunately didn't get the collards completely encased, so my cubes fell apart a little, but I think still tasted good.

Dan also revived his cocktail from last year's Oscar's - a combination of ginger ale, bourbon, peach nectar, and campari.



Highlighting Peaches & Greens, Marcy & James served the penultimate course. An epic pork meatloaf topped with yummy peach chutney. It rested on a bed of collard greens. Although we repeated collards in our course (planned based on theirs), the two shared little in common. Where ours were cooked down, Marcy & James still had a crispness to them, and they didn't shy away from cooking them in some bacon.



Rounding things out, Anna & Jason put a Seattle-meets-the-South take on Buttermilk & Brown Sugar.



First came out cream and sugar, then cappuccino cups of Americano coffee. Although the South is more about tea than coffee (as Anna pointed out), going with an Americano seemed appropriately Southern, it it's own way. And Linda & Nancy had sweet tea on hand, of course.



Finally, they revealed mini bundt cakes of buttermilk pound cake filled with a cinnamon struesel - their wonderful Southern take on coffee cake - paired with roasted granny smith apples. The cake was designed to share, so everyone shuffled to sit next to their spouse, which proved very good timing.



Carolyn & David passed out the invitations to our next event, which they'll be hosting.



The invite for our February get-together, arrived in suitably Willy Wonka fashion, a la the golden ticket. The theme will simply be 'Chocolate' - which their kids ask for each time they're hosting. Dan & I should have a challenge, given we have the traditionally salad course.



The night also ended with a surprise gift for David, several months in the making. David loves skulls, doesn't drink, but adores those Crystal Skull vodka bottles. He has a small one, but Anna & Jason bought a big bottle and were gracious enough to drink it. They passed the bottle to me on Halloween, to let me get creative with it. I filled it with water and Glycerin(to make the water more viscous) and a few colors of Martha Stewart Glitterthen put it on a Multi-Color LED Light Base.