Maybe Tomorrow

* Update 09Jul09: no tomato salad today (corn salad). Ryan Farr is up and running - chicken beer sausage -- best part was perfect toasted bun:dog ratio. Namu lines are getting longer than Tacolicious....

A few months ago I posted about the new Thursday market at the Ferry Building, something I've been looking forward to. Well, last week it finally came, and what an unexpected clusterfk it was! Eight word reaction: Ferry Building "street food" with Ferry Building prices. Apparently, Daily Candy was the primary source of the yuppie mob (I didn't know people actually still considered it relevant) and Tacolicious was the unfortunate target. I felt so terrible for them because they were clearly unprepared for the unending line, and the gusts of wind kept blowing their tickets away. I was one of the many victims of the lost tickets, and had to wait patiently as they scrambled around their tent.

The tacos were street-size, but the filling was pretty skimpy for $3.50/taco. I would only consider getting the short ribs again (mmm cola-braised) but I'm not sure I would wait in the ridic line for those prices. Maybe once they smooth things out.

Saturday's most popular truck, Roli Roti, was serving up some steak sandwiches (no porchetta, unfortunately) which were a little too chewy... should've been cut into smaller pieces. Their simple tomato salad was the highlight of the entire market -- fresh basil and cleanly dressed in olive oil and a little salt. Really the epitome of summer produce! No frills needed when you have tomatoes that sweet.

Namu's booth had prices more reasonable than their restaurant. Okonomiyaki - at $7 (still overpriced), it could've used a lot more filling/seafood, since it was mostly batter. "The real Korean 'tacos'" were the best deal, but were pretty much just ssam using nori, so don't expect a Kogi rival here. They tasted great, but the signage was a bit patronizing. They ran out of kimchi fried rice even before the peak lunch hour began, but it was fine with me since I didn't need to spend $8 on a cup of that.

With all that said, Thursdays have great promise once they work out the kinks. Tacolicious, please put weights on your tickets. Namu, please lower your prices or justify them by giving more food or more value in the amount of protein you put in your dishes. I'm excited to see what/who else will join the market, but in the mean time, I think I'll let the crowds die down a little. Or not. See you Thursday?