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.

Food Truck Friday - Falafel Salam

There are a few trucks in Seattle offering up Middle Eastern favorites, one of which I visited for this week's Food Truck Friday: Falafel Salam.



On my inaugural visit, I went for their namesake Falafel, as part of the Middle Eastern Salad ($8). It was a big portion and the falefel were great. Not raw in the middle or overly fried. It was several weeks ago, and I honestly failed to write down much more detail. But hopefully the pictures help. I believe that's a tahini sauce on top.




This week, I returned and went for their pita sandwich, opting for the 'Purple Style' rather than 'House Style', and the Organic Chicken Shawarma, Spicy ($10). Purple Style includes purple cabbage slaw, tzatziki and creamy sheep milk feta, whereas the House Style includes 'Arab salad' (cucumber, tomato, cabbage, parsley, lemon), tahini, and a dash of pickled mango. It's all packed inside a homemade pita.

I took my lunch to the outdoor Van Vorst courtyard so my dog, Hilo, could get some outside time and sniff some random dogs and people. He ended up getting to meet a little girl, which he did in his usual fickle way (walk up, sniff, turn around and walk away - realizing they have no food - just as hands try to pet him). But it's great to see him so comfortable around people of all ages, given what a nervous boy he was 3 years ago. But I digress.



My first bites were super messy, and I'd foolishly only grabbed a single napkin. I was convinced that my beard was full of delicious, creamy feta mixed with tzatziki. The next bites were full of meat... lots of meat... moist meat with a decent amount of flavor to it. Initially, I balked to myself that the 'spicy' wasn't presenting itself, but then I realized their heat likely comes from cayenne... about the time the glow began in my mouth. Still not spicy by Thai, Indian, or Mexican standards, but enough to warm you up. After I chowed down on the meat, I came to a solid layer of slaw... still with about half the soft pita left. I diligently ate my vegetables, and was delighted to find another layer of meat below the slaw. Seriously.... MORE meat. And this meat had all the juices from the meat and slaw and was even more delicious. It might've also had more spice, but it was more likely the cumulative effect.



Falafel Salam is definitely a spot I'll return to, and one I'd recommend to friends. If I wasn't trying to re-lose 10 pounds I keep gaining back, I would've also tried the baklava. Maybe next time.

Food Truck Friday - Happy Grillmore

Although I still haven't tried any of their beef burgers (that sounds pretty heavy at lunch time), this week I'm showcasing the very colorful food truck Happy Grillmore.







Last year, I enjoyed their salmon burger - but honestly don't recall any details of how it tasted, though don't recall being disappointed. Their online menu says it includes 1/4 lb wild Alaskan salmon patty with honey chipotle aioli, spinach, arugula and a sweet and spicy pineapple slaw. I don't remember it being spicy hot.







This week, I tried to go again at their scheduled open time - 11am. I waited 15 minutes, and at 11:15 asked when they'd actually be opening. They said another 10-15 minutes, so I walked off to find something else. Lucky for them (but not me), I didn't find the other truck I was looking for (reportedly up by REI, but nowhere to be found), so I looped back and got in the line that had formed, now that Happy Grillmore was open. Service was pretty quick - though slower than it could be because they give you a choice of cheese, and (if ordering fries) a choice of dipping sauce, which delays each transaction.







But soon enough, our burger was up. I chose the "Shooter": 1/4 lb black bean chipotle patty with Tillamook cheese (I opted for pepper jack), spinach, arugula, roasted red pepper aioli and spicy mustard on a toasted ciabatta. I'm always nervous when burgers are served on ciabatta - not because I don't like ciabatta, but because restaurants often pick very big, thick ciabatta rolls that throw off the burger to bun ratio completely. This was no the case here, where the bun was well balanced and the veggie patty satisfying.



Although I can't say there was anything exceptional about either burger I tried, I would definitely go back to try other burgers... particularly if I could catch them on a weekend or evening, when I'm more in the mood for a beef burger. Of course, I've learned to not necessarily count on them to be open at 11, when I eat lunch (and they're scheduled to be open), so I'll have to play it by ear.

Food Truck Friday - The Grilled Cheese Experience

I'm once again bridging time with my Food Truck Friday post. I first visited The Grilled Cheese Experience back in September, but finally made it back this month.







Back then, I went for the Super Deluxe ($10) - a very crispy, very buttery grilled cheese sandwich with smoked chipotle cheddar cheese, bacon, greens, sun-dried tomatoes and avocado. I found it a little on the greasy side, which I realize now may be due to the Parmesan Sourdough bread. The flavors were outstanding, though.







This time, I opted for the Bluesy Girl ($10) (despite feeling a little emasculated when ordering it). This one features smoked Jack cheese paired with smoked chicken, Gorgonzola, caramelized onions and greens, served on a bacon-crusted bread. I didn't experience the same greasiness as my previous visit, and was happy that the blue cheese didn't overwhelm all the other great ingredients inside the sandwich... nor did it turn my tongue numb, which some blue cheese does to me. (Anyone else have that issue?) As you can see from the picture, they included a free 'shot' of their tomato basil soup on the side - which proved challenging to transport back to the office without spilling while also wrangling my 55lb dog.







The next time I visit The Grilled Cheese Experience I've got to remember one of the additional add-ons they offer. I tasted a bite of a sandwich once that had it (thanks to my pal Clover Honey), and it's super decadent. What add-on could I be talking about? Mac & Cheese. Yes. Mac & Cheese ON a grilled cheese sandwich. Ridiculous? Genius? You make the call. I may opt for their $6 basic grilled cheese plus the mac & cheese ($2) to enjoy the purity of it. We'll see.

Food Truck Friday: Tacos El Asadero

I'm having a little 'staycation' this week, extending my Memorial Day weekend a couple extra days. So today's Food Truck Friday gives you a break from the South Lake Union focus, and takes us instead to my neighborhood: South Seattle.







There are two buses in South Seattle converted to food trucks, both named Tacos El Asadero. I'm not sure if they're the same company, but I do know the one on MLK and Othello - right next to the Light Rail station, is delicious. A couple friends of ours moved to our neighborhood but a little closer to El Asadero, and go there a LOT. Somehow, though, Dan & I have never made it together - but I've been on my own. Way back in October 2010, I visited to try the Lengua Mulitas, ordering from the window on the side of the bus. Lengua is tongue - one of my favorite cuts of offal and a favorite taco filling. The tongue was tender and the tortillas were crisp, and, like everything I've ordered, it came with two little sauces - green and red.







This week, I returned for the Spicy Pork Torta - a Mexican sandwich. Given the spring rains this week, the window was closed - but the bus itself was open. I hadn't realized it, but most of the bus interior is a dining room, complete with a TV showing telenovelas. There was a group already eating inside when I arrived, but I opted to get my food to go - since Hilo was waiting patiently in the car. The sandwich was very messy (the spicy pork kinda fell everywhere, to Hilo's delight), but was full of flavor. It wasn't hot spicy, though, so I poured on the red sauce to add more kick.







I'm not sure whether the return of Huarachitos, which is going in right across Othello from El Asadero, will lead to them moving or struggling, but I know I'll be back to try more of the menu, and don't doubt our neighbors will, too.

Food Truck Friday - Jemil's Big Easy

After overhearing rave reviews from a couple coworkers (Dan & Porter), this week I made Jemil's Big Easy my food truck of the week, and circumstances allowed me to go three times and try four menu items. And I'm glad I did.







I started off with the Blackened Chicken Po' Boy sandwich for $7.99 - one of several po' boys they sell. On any given day, they have three standard ones (chicken, shrimp and catfish), plus one or more specials (I've seen oyster and crawfish). The portion is good and the flavor was great. The chicken was seasoned and cooked well, and the accompaniments (lettuce, tomato, pickle, special sauce) made for a moist, flavorful bite. Coincidentally, Dan (who recommended the place) showed up just after me, and when our orders were up, we realized we ordered the same thing. It turns out it's Porter's favorite sandwich, so I guess I chose correctly.







Next up, I returned with the intent of trying one of their rice dishes. With three to choose from I was torn. I ended up doing a little research to better understand the difference between Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Etouffee. As blogger YumSugar explains, Gumbo is a soup served with a side of rice, Jambalaya is a similar to Paella - rice cooked together with stock, veggies and meat, while Etouffee is meat/seafood served smothered in roux (gravy), often over rice. Armed with that, I opted for the Jambalaya (medium size for $6.99). It was indeed very similar to paella, though darker in color. Mixed into the rice were chunks of chicken and sausage, and the dish had a satisfying heat to it - not overwhelmingly spicy, but noticeable.







For my final visit for this post, I decided to go all out and ordered the $9.99 Muffaletta sandwich (nicknamed the 'Big Ass Sandwich' at Jemil's), plus the dessert of the day - a Bread Pudding served with Whiskey Sauce ($3.99). The sandwich was indeed huge - nearly the size of a dinner plate. It contains cured meats and an olive 'salad' that reminds me of tapenade. They have the sandwiches pre-built, but then cook each one to order on the flat-top. The result is a warm, somewhat greasy sandwich with TONS of flavor. And it's way more than any sane person would eat in one sitting. This is easily a 2 person sandwich, at least. I ended up getting through about half of it, then stashing the rest for tomorrow.

Of course, I ate dessert first, knowing the sandwich would fill me up. The bread pudding wasn't warm, but was still delicious. It's incredibly dense and moist, swimming in a sweet whiskey sauce. It's also a non-ridiculous portion... or maybe it just seemed small compared to the sandwich.







After months of not being inspired to try Jemil's, I'm really glad Dan & Porter were talking it up. Everything I tried was full of flavor, and the service was quick and incredibly friendly. I'll definitely be back to try more of the menu.

Food Truck Friday - Xplosive

This is the first of what I hope to be a series of weekly posts featuring Seattle-area food trucks. I'm kicking things off with the food truck I waited a long time for: one that features bánh mi.

Bánh Mi are a Vietnamese sandwich served on a baguette, usually with a mayo, a mix of carrots, daikon (a radish), cucumber, jalapeno and cilantro, plus a protein like tofu, pork, or chicken.

4 years ago, I went on a bánh mi binge for my Frugal Fridays series, but was already fully in love with these sandwiches. When my work had offices in the International District, these were the go-to lunch item for a LOT of people, given they're a) ready to go b) cheap and c) delicious. One of the chief complaints I heard when we moved to South Lake Union was that lunch options were too expensive (aka there were no bánh mi for $2.50).

I was elated when Xplosive Mobile Food Truck showed up on the Seattle food scene, with regular visits to Boren & Harrison. They have their own unique take on the bánh mi - combining Filipino flavors with the Vietnamese format. They also feature Filipino/Vietnamese fusion tacos and bún (vermicelli bowls).



On my first visit to Xplosive, I opted for the full-sized Chicken Adobo Bánh Mi, which I was shocked to discover was as long as my forearm, yet was only 6 bucks. The adobo flavor was there, but it still tasted solidly like a bánh mi, so was wonderfully satisfying after so long without one. It was more than enough for lunch, which made me wonder about another menu item: the "grenades".



The grenades are bánh mi sliders, which go for just $3 a piece, including tax... very close to the old I.D. standard bánh mi pricing. Given how substantial the full size is, my hope was the grenade would be the perfect lunch portion. Today, I went for the Lemongrass Tofu Grenade, which measured in at five inches - not quite on the same scale as similarly priced bánh mi at places like Saigon Bistro. The flavors were good, and there was a nice balance between the heat of the jalapeno and the other flavors. I may end up a little hungry later, but maybe that just means I should've ordered one of their dessert items. My only substantial complaint would be the wait. My first visit seemed extraordinarily long, given the line of people waiting already and my own wait. Today, I got there right when they opened (before they remembered to turn down the music so they could hear my order), but there was still a bit of a wait. I'm so accustomed to bánh mi being a grab and go item (rather than any component being cooked to order), that even 5 minutes seems like a long time to wait. Maybe I just need to adjust my expectations.

Remembering Caesar & Celebrating Life

The last couple weeks have done a number on Dan & I emotionally.  We returned from a long weekend over at Sun Lakes (the annual Dembiczak family trip), and noticed Caesar was acting strangely and not eating or drinking.  We took him in to see Dr. Kung at Rainier Veterinary Hospital.  Dr. Kung (an amazing vet, if you need one) noted a few new issues that were presenting themselves, and that it was very likely that Caesar had either a stroke, or has a tumor that's grown large enough to impact his brain functioning.  He did some blood work to confirm it wasn't an electrolyte imbalance,  but the tests came back negative.  He recommended we see a veterinary neurologist, to confirm the diagnosis and learn about our options.  This Wednesday, we took Caesar in to see Dr. Kline at VCA, and she concluded the same thing - a traumatic brain event of some kind.  Our options were to put him through tests to determine which kind of event (stroke or tumor), but the bottom line was his quality of life would not get significantly better.   He'd been fighting IBD for the past year and a half, and was down to under 6 lbs - so we decided it would've been cruel to put him through the tests only to know what's wrong, when in the end he'll only suffer more

Friday night, Dr. Barry Rickman, VMD from Peaceful Companion came to our home, administered a strong anesthetic, took a paw print of Caesar for posterity, and then gave him a lethal injection.  Dan held him in his arms the whole time while I sat with them.  Before the final injection, Barry stepped out of the room for a minute so we could tell Caesar how much we love him, one last time.  It was possibly the hardest thing Dan or I has ever gone through, as he's been Dan's companion for 14 years, through good and bad times.

In addition, Tuesday Dan learned that his uncle Don lost his battle with leukemia and heart issues.  And I learned that my aunt Ellen has been diagnosed with lymphoma and would be going into surgery on Monday.  (Thankfully, it's been typed as a lymphoma that responds well to treatment and has a high recovery rate, as my uncle, Ellen's brother, passed away from the rare Burkitt's lymphoma.)  For those of you who know Ellen, you can follow her journey through recovery here.

With so many dark clouds circling, today, we had a few friends over to celebrate life.  We kinda needed to be with friends, after days of tears.  And, of course, there was plenty of food and drink.

Ruth came over with bookmarks she made of pictures of us and Caesar, and brought her famous St. Louis Deep Gooey bars and a pineapple.  Jason & Jayson came over with mimosa fixins, cinnamon rolls and strawberries.  And Anna, Jason and Otis came by with a whole mashed potato bar - complete with bacon bits and sauteed morel mushrooms.



I made a blackberry refrigerator cake using a recipe I saw on SeattleTimes.com (based on a recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion).  The cake used both vanilla and almond extract, and was fairly dense.  When combined with the marscapone/whipped cream frosting, the almond and texture lent a very 'wedding cake' taste to the whole thing - though it wasn't quite up to wedding cake standards, given it was lopsided and the frosting was a little sloppy and sparse in spots.

I also made some chorizo sliders with avocado, carmelized onions (from our garden) and Sriracha mayo.




I tried something new while making the sliders, and thought it was novel enough to share.

We always start with King's Hawaiian Rolls Original Hawaiian Sweet Rolls 12 ct. ( 2 packs ) as our slider buns, which come in a 12 pack, attached to one another in a 3 by 4 roll grid.  Without breaking them apart, I sliced them in half, creating a sheet of top buns, and a sheet of bottom buns.


Next, I mixed about a pound of chorizo with a pound of ground pork, and then flattened and formed it into a rectangle, the same size and shape as the buns.  The Hawaiian rolls come in a waxed cardboard container that can be used to do this perfectly.  Then I scored the meat, pressing part way through to create a 3 by 4 grid, matching to the buns.



Keeping the meat as a single sheet, I set it on the hot grill pan on the stove, cooked them on both sides (flipping very carefully), and then pulled them off and set the whole sheet of meat on the sheet of bottom buns.




I loaded the buns up with toppings, popped on the top buns, and then put a 6-inch bamboo skewer through each one and served.  People just tore off a slider when they wanted one.  It was way easier than making 12 individual patties and balancing them on the buns.  I'm definitely using this trick the next time I make any type of sliders.




   

Goodbye Lunch @ Flying Fish

Today was the last day for my office mate, who scored a job at one of the biggest and best law firms in Seattle. To send her off properly, a bunch joined her for lunch at Flying Fish.



I sipped a hibiscus drink called Aqua d' Jamiaca, which was a little strong in flavor (it wasn't alcoholic, but could've used something to water it down a bit.)



For my lunch, I went with a sandwich billed as a Chicken Banh Mi - the Vietnamese sandwiches that many folks at my company became positively addicted to while we worked in the International District. This, however, was not anything like the banh mi I love. It was served on ciabatta bread, slathered in so much mayo that my hands became covered every time I took a bite, and the ingredients fell all over the place when I tried to eat it. Good banh mi are often considered such because of the amazing baguettes with which they are made - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, denoting the French influence on Vietnamese cuisine. The baguette is sliced only part way through, creating a perfect pocket to safely house the tasty filling, held in place with just a light spread of mayo. Ciabatta was too dense, and being sliced in half didn't hold anything in place - which may have explained the extra mayo as an attempt to cement the filling to the bread. The sandwich also looked a little lonely on the plate.

That said, maybe I would've enjoyed my lunch more if our server wasn't so obviously having a bad day, and visibly frustrated with our table for not giving him all our attention when he wanted it. The restaurant is fairly loud at lunch, so I think our group of 8 didn't all hear him ask about drinks - creating some confusion.



I wasn't the only one who ordered the "banh mi", and the other folks seemed to enjoy it - though one smartly asked for no mayo. But the two people that REALLY enjoyed their lunch were the two that got the Kobe burger. It came with fries and looked delicious.