After weeks of waiting (Alice!), I finally made it out to this fairly new Thursday nights only pop-up restaurant, no longer a Mission Street-Food taco truck. Now Mission-Street Food, the team has been using this Chinese restaurant between 18th + 19th the last 2 Thursdays (they will be closed the rest of November). At first I was hesitant about the move away from the fun and laid back appeal of the taco truck, but the whole pop-up concept worked out just fine. The only real advantage from the customer's point of view is not having to brown-bag it. You can still BYOB, or get one of theirs for a buck.
Tan and I shared 4 of the 5 available dishes, where the one we didn't try was a vegetarian version of the smoked rice. The smoked rice had a very nice char flavor - I normally don't like smoked things, but it was also seasoned well which brought out other flavors so it wasn't just concentrated on the smoke. The coconut curry soup was my fave - very rich, lots of depth, and just really tasty.
The week's special was a rare beef and glass noodles app, served with fried lotus chips. It wasn't really what I expected - instead of the traditional thinly sliced pieces of raw beef, we got ground meat, like a steak tartare. It was OK - pretty basic. I think it needed some (or more?) acid.
The PBJ (pork belly + jicama wrap), their signature thus far, was actually disappointing for me. Maybe because there was a lot of hype around that dish so my expectations were high... but I just didn't like my pieces of meat. They were overcooked - dry and almost completely fried fat. I know pork belly is all about the fat, but it shouldn't taste like fat - it should taste like yummy pork goodness, which it didn't. I'm sure if I got better pieces of meat it would've tasted better, so it isn't just about execution.
Overall, the food was good - comfortable and in a relaxed environment. It didn't blow my mind, but this type of food isn't necessarily supposed to. And for $9? Yes, that's right. HELLZYEAH I'm going back!
P.S. Sorry for the horrible photo - it was REALLY dark in there and I don't like using flash in restaurants. That's the best one I had (soup + rice).
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Mission-Street-Food
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
What A Wonderful, Magical Animal
To celebrate 53 years of cumulative old age, Mike and I, along with some talented friends, ate a lot of pork. Carnitas, Korean BBQ spicy pork, meatballs, kimchi fried rice with Korean pork belly, Chinese BBQ pork... the list goes on. Dessert? Bacon cheddar apple pie and [applewood and apple cinnamon] bacon cinnamon rolls.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Boozin for Barack
I made some Mexican chocolate cupcakes with dulce de leche cream cheese frosting that I brought to an election party. To make up for the craptastic picture, I will include the recipe and my "yes we can" playlist (which I made during the primaries) after the jump! What a momentous day for American history and American people.
RECIPE: Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup APF
3/4 cup cocoa
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 t vanilla
1 stick butter
1.5 oz mexican chocolate
0.5 oz chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne
YES WE CAN/angryhippiemix
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
Revolution - Elliott Smith (Beatles cover)
Pull Up the People - MIA
The People - Common
One Mic - Nas
You & Whose Army? - Radiohead
Table by the Window - The Botticellis
I Feel Like A Child - Devendra Banhart
Scenic World - Beirut
Fools - The Dodos
Shift - Grizzly Bear
We Shall Overcome - Bruce Springstein
Knock On Wood - Justin King
Solo Su Voz - Juana Molina
Secret of the Easy Yoke - Pedro the Lion
A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
Love, Love, Love (everyone) - Akron/Family
