3/22 Sabora Street Truck

Sabora Street Truck

These nice folks sell “arepas” – which I had never had before. Always game to try something new, I bellied on up to the window.

The dish:
I ordered the chicken arepas, which came with fried potatoes. I also snagged an order of churros, so that I could give you, gentle readers, a full report. See how I sacrifice for you?

If you’re like me, you don’t know what an arepa is. Let me enlighten you – it’s essentially a sandwich on cornmeal “cakes.” Filled with your choice of meat, pico de gallo, and some shredded cheese.

The service:
Pretty good. Although there were a large number of people in line, it went pretty quickly. Considering that it’s a gorgeous spring day, who could complain about standing outside for 10 minutes?

The price
Arepa - $9; Churro - $4

The look:
The arepa dish was very pretty. It smelled and looked delicious as it was passed over to me. For a minute, I considered finding a place to eat in the park instead of walking back to my office. But, reason prevailed, and eating at my desk is better than balancing a potentially messy lunch on my knees. Who wants to wear arepa all day?

The churros were a little disappointing. Two inch segments of fried bread, liberally sprinkled with sugar, and a messy cup of dulce de leche.

The taste:
I’m a tad conflicted with the arepa. I found the corn cake to be very problematic. Too sweet, too dry, and not sturdy enough to maintain structural integrity once the pico de gallo soaked into it. I scraped the insides out (shredded chicken, pico and a little bit of cheese) and ate that on its own, and that was VERY tasty. The potatoes were good too, and were covered in the “juce” from the pico. That made the texture a little “off,” but it still tasted good. I did like that the amount of cheese used was moderate - it complemented the other ingredients very well.

As for the churros – there’s no conflict. I didn’t care for them. In the spirit of full disclosure, the last churro I ate was probably 25 years ago at the Orange Coutny Fair. I remember it being hot, sweet and cinnamony, and was one long piece of pastry. It was so yummy to my young palate that I gobbled it up while it was so hot that it burned all the way down my throat. This was a dish full of smaller pieces, and the coating seemed too thick. All I could taste was grease and sugar; there was nothing delicate about it at all. The dolce de leche didn’t improve the situation- gooey and too, too sweet. I paired it with a cup of strong coffee, which improved the experience a bit, but not enough. I still ended up pitching the dish while it was almost full.

The verdict:

The insides of the arepa were very well done, but completely overwhelmed by the corn cake and the churros were just made of no.

For the price, you can get a better food truck lunch. I spend $13 on lunch and dessert, and much of it was inedible, leaving me with a fairly expensive, fairly light lunch. I won’t be going back – though I should stress that if the components that were so troublesome for me wouldn’t trouble you, then you should try it.

3/1/11 Where's the Meat

This truck serves BBQ sandwiches. You can't mess up BBQ, right? Eh...maybe you can.

The dish:
I ordered the "Oink Oink," which is unsuprisingly, pork. It comes on a sub roll with creamy cole slaw and spicy BBQ sauce.

The service:
Very good. One person taking orders, another person handling the cash, another making the food. A smoother and speedier transaction than I've had with other trucks.

The price
$7

The look:
Nothing special. You do get a substantial sandwich for the price.

The taste:
Almost unnoticable. The slaw wasn't particularly creamy and lacked flavor. The BBQ sauce wasn't particlularly spicy, either. The pork was hard to eat - very fatty and had a rather unappetizing greyish tinge. The bread was really fresh and chewy.


The verdict:
Meh. I wasn't really impressed with this sandwich. But the service was very good, and the quantity of food you get is good for the price point. I wouldn't get this sandwich, but I would try the truck again. They have a chicken sandwich that looked pretty good...maybe that will be a better experience.

(I tried to find a website, but couldn't track it down. They are on twitter @wheresthemeat)

2/28/11 TaKorean

Korean Tacos? Seriously? I'm equal parts confused and starving. This is nothing new, arguably it's my natural state. So let's give it a shot.

The dish:
Chicken tacos with kim chi "slaw" and "the works"

The price:
$3 each/3 for $8. I threw caution to the wind and ordered 3.

The look:
I should have taken a picture - they were soooo pretty! The nice man even wrapped the paper dish in plastic wrap to protect it from the torrential rain that was falling from every direction (even up, I think). It was a pretty impressive porion of food - I could definitely have ordered 2 instead.

The taste:
OK, I admit that I approached this culinary fusion with some skepticism. But, wow was it good. Sure - two tacos would have been perfectly satisfying, but I am very happy I went for three. They were so delicious that eating them put me into a trance-like state. These tacos will haunt my dreams. I was nearly inspired to compose very bad poetry in their honor.

They were nice, meduim level of spicy - a little zingy, but the flavors still came through. The chicken was moist and tender, though I think it could have been cut into smaller pieces or shredded for improved consistency. The corn tortillas were lightly grilled - just how I like them. The tortillas held up to the process of eating them - it was nice not to have all the contents spill out.

The verdict:
Holy dancing cats, this is the best lunch I've had in a long time. If you see this truck or this questionable fusion of cuisines elsewhere, TRY IT.

http://takorean.com

What's this all about?

I've developed an unhealthy obsession with DC's food truck revolution. Must. Try. Them. All.

I'm going to try a new truck or a new dish every week, and write about my feelings. If you don't like food or people who talk about it a lot, you will be very bored (possibly annoyed). Other topics might creep in, but this will mostly be about my food adventures in DC.

Enjoy!