San Diego Fall Food Truck Festival: Fantastic Fun Fare for All

Since the last visit to the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the San Diego Craft Beer Festival in September, my buddy Mark (since upgraded from Uber driver status) and I have been eagerly anticipating more events at the racetrack.  Lucky for us the Bing Crosby season at Del Mar just started, and the Fall Food Truck Festival was storming out of the gates.  Another beautiful day in Sunny Southern California meant a quick trip down to the Del Mar Fairgrounds in blue-skied San Diego to soak up some sun, stuff our stomachs full of food, and wage a few bets on galloping equestrians.

Over 30 food trucks arrived including local favorite Carnitas Snack Shack, Food Network Food Truck Face-off winner Mess Hall Canteen, and the ever popular Cousins Maine Lobster.  These three had the longest lines as they were the most well known, but there were no lines for beer... none.  That meant that the queues were all but forgotten about by the time the last sip of brew was consumed.

We headed straight for the pork.  What's better than an ungodly combination of shredded pork, bacon, and deep fried schnitzel? Nothing, I tell ya.  Nothing.  The carnitas, its house special, was so tender, juicy, and flavorful that the bacon was barely noticeable.  The Triple Threat Pork Sandwich cannot be passed up.

In addition to the Triple Threat sandwich, the Carnitas Snack Shack also makes a mind blowing Pork Belly App.  Upon first glance it looks like nothing more than a slab of charred pork, but one bite will make you fork the pork immediately.  The sweet and spicy glaze that glistens atop the slow cooked sexiness is what pulls the entire dish together.  The salad on the side, although overshadowed, is light and refreshing.  The frisee, apples, radishes, and lemon vinaigrette were a somewhat healthy balance to the substantial amount of sinful swine that we had just ingested.

We jumped at the chance for a lobster roll and clam chowder from Lobsta Truck.  The traditional split top roll was overflowing with New England's finest crustacean dressed lightly with seasoned mayo.  There was no mistaking the fresh lobster claws.  They were pointing straight at us from within the bread saying to us... you.  You... eat me... eat me nowww.

Every so often we would exchange glances (compliments in the food world) at others' food.  One item that caught our attention was the Kobayashi fries from Chop Soo-ey.  Criss-crossed golden waffle fries with crisp fatty bacon, streams of ranch dressing, and pico de gallo made for the perfect Asian fusion.  Wait, what's Asian fusion about these fries? Nothing, I don't care.

Think we had enough? Not us.  A trip to the fairgrounds requires a funnel cake.  It's obligatory to close off an already life threatening meal with more fat, sugar, and carbs.  Ice cream? Check.  Chocolate syrup? Check.  Whipped cream? Check.  Powdered sugar? Yes, please.  And strawberries to make the funnel cake healthy.  Oh, who are we kidding...

We interspersed the bites of food with chugs of beer and horse races.  There may even have been a few shots of Maker's Mark here and there.  (If your buddy's name is Mark, the Maker's Mark has to happen.  Gotta follow the rules, man.)  The biggest bet was made on Race 5, which was when Ice Cream Truck took the win.  It's only fitting that a horse named Ice Cream Truck wins at a Food Truck Festival.  More money for food and drink now... I'd call that #winning.

San Diego Fall Food Truck Festival
Del Mar Fairgrounds
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.  Del Mar, CA 92014
(858) 755-1167

ML - 20151107

Post 83: Lobster Rolls - Aunt Li Had A Pair of Lobster Tails

Auntie Li had a pair of lobster tails, so I made them into lobster rolls... without taking any pictures.  So I went out and bought some more lobster, made some more lobster rolls... and took some pictures along the way.

This time I brought home two live lobsters from 99 Ranch.  At $9.99 a pound, it wasn't too bad of a price considering the season, but at a combined total of 11 pounds, the two live lobsters went way above and beyond my budget.  As a struggling yuppie (not only am I no longer young, nor do I live in an urban community... I am far from professional), it hurt my wallet.  But when the lobster rolls were ready to be eaten, the hurt became a paradoxical painful pleasure that was simply beyond description.

The most common way to tell whether or not a lobster is fully cooked is by checking the color of the shell.  Most people will say that a lobster is done once its shell is bright red.  But when cooking a King Kong lobster like this one (its full body barely fit onto my 18 x 24 cutting board), sometimes the meat in the middle isn't always fully cooked even when the outer shell is red.  Many sites that I read suggest to boil lobster for 10-12 minutes per pound, so that was the recommendation that I followed.  I had one big ass lobster.

To the mayonnaise I added minced garlic, finely chopped red onions, black pepper, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Toward the end I tossed in just a pinch of chopped basil, a hint of olive oil and just a few drops of butter just for that seafood essence.  The amount of mayo to add to the lobster tail meat depends on personal preference, but I would suggest to make sure each chunk of chopped tail meat is well coated by it.

And in case you were wondering what kind of bread pairs best with lobster salad, it's got to be the softest rolls on earth... King's Hawaiian.  Just an extra squeeze of fresh lemon, and you've got yourself some pretty dreamy lobster rolls.  And for the many, many friends who thought I was making lobster sushi rolls... these are, in essence, lobster salad sandwiches.  I got good laughs from the many, "You're going to make sushi?" comments.  The lobster rolls were rich from the mayonnaise but light from the lemon and basil.  The sweetness from the bread brought out the seafood saltiness of the lobster.  Oh me, oh my... they were delicious.

Oh, and I had a whole bunch of potatoes lying around, so I made a skillet of cheesy bacon potatoes while I was at it.  I tossed in a handful of chopped Serrano peppers for that nice spicy kick.  This was the best breakfast skillet sans eggs... and eaten at midnight.  Take that, Denny's.

Thank you Aunt Li for employing me to cook those lobster tails the first time.  Thanks to my roommates for enduring the ever squeamish task of boiling a live 5.5 pound lobster with me... twice.  Flashbacks of that scene from Julie & Julia appear.  Many extra thanks for my awesome cousin for shelling lobster meat with me for hours... literally.  Until the next gift of food, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

This post features photography by Monica Han.

ML - 20120407-08

Post 48: No Boos for Nobu (LA: West Hollywood)

I bought a Gilt City certificate for Nobu a while back, and since it was about to expire, it was finally time to make a reservation.  Procrastination... isn't that how we all do it?

So Allie and I went to West Hollywood to check out world-renowned, eponymous chef Nobu Matsuhisa's restaurant Nobu.  The Gilt certificate treated the two of us to four tapas style plates and two drinks each.  Dessert was not included, but of course, we caved into the demands of our sweet tooth.

Here's what we ordered:

Shiso Asahi and cucumber martini

A cold beer is simply great.  But throw in the fragrance of shiso leaves that permeate through the crispness of the bubbly Japanese alcohol, and your simple cold beer becomes a truly refreshing beverage.  The combination is as beautiful as the pairing of mint and chocolate chip ice cream.  It's cold.  It's sweet.  The green waltzes across your tongue.  It's calmly exotic.  Pour me another, please.

Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño
Yuzu, soy, jalapeño

The combination of soy with an Asian citrus and a Latino pepper produces a great blend of salty, sour, spicy flavors.  But the flavor may have had too much strength for the delicate yellowtail.  I like to know that the sashimi is fresh when I bite into it, but the sauce almost drowns out the natural freshness of the yellowtail.  Perhaps if the ingredients were separated upon serving, it would be easier to control the desired amount of sauce, japaleño and garnish.  Personalization... who doesn't love that?

Oysters with Nobu sauces
Nobu salsa, Maui onion salsa, ponzu

Whenever I encounter a raw oyster, I feel like I am holding a newborn for the first time.  It look so squishy, and I'm afraid liquid will gush out if put too much pressure on it.  A part of me doesn't want to touch it at all because... well, it looks gross.  The liquid surrounding the raw oyster is like the saliva that pools up around the baby's mouth.  Ew.  But once the fear has been overcome, whether it's swallowing the oyster or holding the fragile infant, the reward is tremendous.  It's a newfound love connection.  Three oysters between the two of us... sorry Allie, but I'm holding onto the last one.

 
Lobster sashimi tacos
Wasabi aioli, tomatillo salsa in wonton shells

I've had lobster sashimi before, and I'll tell you right now that soy sauce and wasabi alone cannot mask the intimidation that is a piece of lobster sashimi.  But drizzle wasabi aioli and tomatillo salsa over the piece of uncooked crustacean and wrap it with something deep fried and crispy, and the lobster becomes nothing more than a piece of shrimp cocktail.  The citrus from the lemon brings the flavor the creamy spiciness of the aioli and salsa forward, which really tops off the taco.  If there's one way to have lobster sashimi, this is it.

 
Wagyu tacos
Aji amarillo, spicy cilantro in wonton shells

To yin out the yang of the lobster tacos, we ordered the wagyu beef tacos.  Whereas the sauce stood out in the lobster tacos, the beef really shined here.  It was marinated and seasoned right, and the flavor was strong but not salty.  In just one bite, it was easy to tell that the filling was made with beef and that the beef was done right.  The lime and the cilantro cut whatever grease happened to be there.  The wonton shells cracked under the pressure of excitement, which led to beef and sauce getting all over my hands.  But hey, that was just another excuse to lick my fingers.

 
Wagyu and foie gras gyozas
Ginger, megi, scallions with orange ginger den miso and jalapeño ponzu

If you can imagine a fatty meat mixed with another fatty substance, wrapped in a layer of carbs and then fried to a crisp, you're imaging Nobu's wagyu and foie gras gyozas.  This is the higher end version of the deep fried butter from the county fair.  Fat fried in more fat... mmmmm.  Shivers.  The gyozas, although delicious, hung in purgatorial limbo.  I couldn't tell whether I liked the filling or the gyoza skin more or whether I prefered the ginger miso or the jalapeño ponzu.  Shrug.  I'm guessing that's why both sauces are provided with the overstuffed gyozas.  You can nom and dip repeatedly until you make up your mind.  But it was hard to make up my mind... bring on more gyozas please.

Scallops truffle panko crust
Panko crust, sauteed mushrooms and mizuna, yuzu truffle butter

The scallops dish was the first course that didn't feel like just a small tapas plate.  The scallops were delicate but robust from the panko and truffle combination.  The mushrooms were hearty and provided more substance for the stomach.  And the peppery mizuna, reminiscent of arugula, cleansed the palate from the buttery truffle and the truffly butter.  Compared to the previous dishes, this was like a full entree.  Allie liked this dish so much that we ordered another; it was the only dish that we ordered seconds of.

Foie gras and crispy soba
Shredded daikon, sugar snap peas, aji amarillo with soba crackers

More foie gras? Can't stray from a favorite.  By this point in the meal, Allie and I were both rolling from how unbelievably full we were... but no matter because there was still the fat-bursting taste of foie gras to consume.  And although the foie gras was prepared perfectly, what really held my attention was the daikon that trapped the fatty oil and sauce within its hairlike strands.  It was as if prey had been entangled in the tentacles of a giant King Kong octopus... and devour was the only verb that the octopus understood.  Muahahaha... the analogy only works if you think you are the octopus.


New tiramisu
Tipsy coffee sponge, tiramisu gelato, frozen chocolate, kinako powder, Thai coffee drip

Asian inspired tiramisu? No, this new tiramisu is not from JJ Bakery.  It's from Matsuhisa-san's restaurant, and it is the ultimate example of a deconstructed dessert.  The new tiramisu looked like a house before construction... the coffee sponge, substituted for lady fingers, provided the foundation for the building... the frozen chocolate was the concrete; only it was better tasting and not as hard... the kinako powder, made from soybeans, could be thought of as the insulation for the house.  It was a little chalky, so it was probably best that we didn't breathe it in.  And the roof? There was no roof.  There was only tiramisu gelato.  Sips of the Thai coffee in between each spoonful of tiramisu made me appreciate the dessert even more.  Forget the roof.  This dessert went through the roof.  Let it rain Thai coffee over the house.

We also ordered a second dessert called the Cebu kamameshi, and it came in a metal cauldron that was cooked over an open flame.  It was filled with vanilla flavored risotto, purple yam ice cream, purple yam pieces, mochi pearls, and soba pop crunch.  Although the ingredients and presentation gave it a bit of avant-garde appeal, it was simply not cooked to its full potential.  The texture of the risotto tasted like stale Rice Krispies; but had it been cooked down to its meant-to-be-softness, the dish would have been tops.  The dessert was sweet... but naturally sweet.  Sweet from the roots of purple yam and vanilla rather than sweet from syrups, sugar, and chocolate.  If it wasn't for the cardboard risotto, the kamameshi would have been extremely addicting.

So no boos for Nobu.  The food was tasty, and the service was attentive al dente.  We could tell that our server had a true passion for food, possibly just as much as passion that was conveyed on our plates by the master chefs in the kitchen.  Between the yellowtail and the kamameshi, Allie and I became slightly intoxicated... but from the food more so than the wine.  Oh, did I mention we had a couple of glasses of wine? Nobu is a bit pricey, but the food and drinks make it worth the visit.  We will return! We hear they have great happy hour...

Until then, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20110122