Friday, March 13, 2009
Fried Chicken @ Terry's
God, fried chicken good. Waiting 3 hours for?!?!?! Terrible. Thats all that needs to be said. 3 freaking hours. Hmmm, maybe thats why the chicken was so good, because I consumed 4-10 beers over the three hours. Goodness.
T-Town Taco Trucks
Growing up as a teenager in California led to a certain father-son ritual which revolved around eating; well as a teenager, all father-son outings involved food. One, however did endure over the years, visiting and sampling various Taco trucks around the area. Now, for the past six years I find myself here in Tacoma. A place where my father does not live, the Mexican food is consistently decent (at best), yet the yearning for a plate of dollar tacos of various and questionable meat origins, still exists. So I present you this, my story of long lost love, of midnight eats, and an attempt to rekindle that feeling in your stomach that only 10 bucks worth of cheap, delicious tacos can fill.
The smell that triggers the memory:
It was 1:00am, I depart with several lovely friends from the New Frontier bar downtown. My head is filled with thoughts of grandeur, success, dreams & inventions on the horizon, and for some reason terrible jokes about Jesus & Heaven. I know tomorrow I''ll be flat on my back disowning my lovely friends, and swearing off alcohol for 10 hours. Then the noise begins, it starts in my stomach and soon spreads to my soul. It represents a hunger, a need, for cheap, delicious, soul-satisfying food. As we open the door to leave, the light shines upon us, blinded the smell hits me first, I know this smell. Composed of a certain type of grease, fresh cut limes & onions mixed with cilantro, add to that a hint of exhaust. This is the smell of a taco truck. Enriques taco truck to be exact. 3 Tacos later (damn those bartender tips, alas that's all the cash I had), uno de birria, uno de carnitas, y uno mas de pollo. I was satisfied. What I remember from the experience? Not much, but i'm in doubt as to whether or not the experience happened, after all how often do you wish a taco truck into existence? And it works?
South 12th & Junette
I've consumed ~ 15 Tacos from this truck. Good? Yes, they add the nice compliments of a roasted jalapeno, pickled carrots, spicy verde salsa. Carnitas were delicious, not dry, Birria (consistently my favorite) was good with ample amount of grease/fat (growing up Chinese, you gotta love it). I stayed away from the chicken, because seriously? Who would get chicken when pork is available? My co-worker/friend/fellow fried chicken lover, had a burrito. Skip the burrito, this truck has TACO written on the front for a reason. One regret, it has been to damn cold to eat tacos outside.
The smell that triggers the memory:
It was 1:00am, I depart with several lovely friends from the New Frontier bar downtown. My head is filled with thoughts of grandeur, success, dreams & inventions on the horizon, and for some reason terrible jokes about Jesus & Heaven. I know tomorrow I''ll be flat on my back disowning my lovely friends, and swearing off alcohol for 10 hours. Then the noise begins, it starts in my stomach and soon spreads to my soul. It represents a hunger, a need, for cheap, delicious, soul-satisfying food. As we open the door to leave, the light shines upon us, blinded the smell hits me first, I know this smell. Composed of a certain type of grease, fresh cut limes & onions mixed with cilantro, add to that a hint of exhaust. This is the smell of a taco truck. Enriques taco truck to be exact. 3 Tacos later (damn those bartender tips, alas that's all the cash I had), uno de birria, uno de carnitas, y uno mas de pollo. I was satisfied. What I remember from the experience? Not much, but i'm in doubt as to whether or not the experience happened, after all how often do you wish a taco truck into existence? And it works?
South 12th & Junette
I've consumed ~ 15 Tacos from this truck. Good? Yes, they add the nice compliments of a roasted jalapeno, pickled carrots, spicy verde salsa. Carnitas were delicious, not dry, Birria (consistently my favorite) was good with ample amount of grease/fat (growing up Chinese, you gotta love it). I stayed away from the chicken, because seriously? Who would get chicken when pork is available? My co-worker/friend/fellow fried chicken lover, had a burrito. Skip the burrito, this truck has TACO written on the front for a reason. One regret, it has been to damn cold to eat tacos outside.
Yakima & South 38th
My bud and I stopped here to refuel before heading into the East Asian Supermarket (more on this establishment later). Wolfed down a carnitas & birria (the staples) taco in 35 seconds. Delicious, they also have a 2 for a buck deal on puerco y pollo tacos... I'm wary of this. Not great tacos I would say, use a red salsa, skimped on the cilantro and onions. Birria was good though, stewed and cooked much longer than other taco trucks, had that delicious red look to it. Damn, i'm getting hungry.
I know there are more Taco trucks out there. I will find you, believe me that, I will find you...
Side note: Thanks Pops for getting me hooked on these
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My Lunch List... Part 1
I eat out for Lunch a lot... to much. And yes I capatilized "Lunch" because I see it as an event, something to look forward to and plan. I also try to keep my lunch options below 10 bucks. So in an effort to provide me with something to do at work I will try to critique my lunch outings. Here are the past two days:
Thursday, February 19th - All Star Burgers (6 of 10)
Grease is good, and if your in the mood for a it then stop by. Had a mushroom swiss burger that fell apart due to the large amount of grease involved in its creation. Delicious! Onion rings are better than normal with the proper crispy/almost burnt ratio I enjoy. Remember! GREASY & SALTY are the main qualities of All Star Burgers. It was also very reasonable priced with a normal burger going for 2.50ish, fries 99cents. boyah!
Wednesday, February 18th - Tatanka Take Out (7.5 of 10)
Should get a higher rating. Had the salad (in an effor to curb my terrible eating habits, seeing my lunch for today didn't help). Which included: Feta, Kalamata olives (diced), Tomatoes, Romain lettuce, Ground Bison, piece of rye toast. Very good, very filling, very expensive (9.50!!!) Thus, if your into this kind of health food then knock yourself out. Otherwise skip the bison, skip the salad. Hit up Freighthouse square... More on this later
Thursday, February 19th - All Star Burgers (6 of 10)
Grease is good, and if your in the mood for a it then stop by. Had a mushroom swiss burger that fell apart due to the large amount of grease involved in its creation. Delicious! Onion rings are better than normal with the proper crispy/almost burnt ratio I enjoy. Remember! GREASY & SALTY are the main qualities of All Star Burgers. It was also very reasonable priced with a normal burger going for 2.50ish, fries 99cents. boyah!
Wednesday, February 18th - Tatanka Take Out (7.5 of 10)
Should get a higher rating. Had the salad (in an effor to curb my terrible eating habits, seeing my lunch for today didn't help). Which included: Feta, Kalamata olives (diced), Tomatoes, Romain lettuce, Ground Bison, piece of rye toast. Very good, very filling, very expensive (9.50!!!) Thus, if your into this kind of health food then knock yourself out. Otherwise skip the bison, skip the salad. Hit up Freighthouse square... More on this later
An Ode to Fried Chicken
Oh Chicken, Fried Chicken,
With you I am smitten.
Crunchy skin and juicy meat,
Constantly drives me to eat,
Only the purest and best I desire.
Alas Tacoma lacks this one good meal,
And I thus I constantly out the liars,
Who claim their chicken is a deal.
Emotionless bastards they do not know.
The pain and suffering, the aching hole.
In my heart due to their lies,
Chicken, Fried Chicken, you I both love and despise,
Chicken, Fried Chicken.
My addiction to you is not healthy,
But you make me warm, in my heart & belly.
Yes Fried Chicken is delicious and holds a place in my heart. Alas I cannot/have not found a place in Tacoma worthy of my addiction. Fred Meyer can satisfy the cruelest of cravings, next on the list is Popeyes, KFC (usually gross), Stadium Thriftway, Southern Kitchen, and the cream of the crop. Not in Tacoma or WA alas is the holy grail of fried chicken: Roscoes chicken and waffles.... mmmmmmmmm
With you I am smitten.
Crunchy skin and juicy meat,
Constantly drives me to eat,
Only the purest and best I desire.
Alas Tacoma lacks this one good meal,
And I thus I constantly out the liars,
Who claim their chicken is a deal.
Emotionless bastards they do not know.
The pain and suffering, the aching hole.
In my heart due to their lies,
Chicken, Fried Chicken, you I both love and despise,
Chicken, Fried Chicken.
My addiction to you is not healthy,
But you make me warm, in my heart & belly.
Yes Fried Chicken is delicious and holds a place in my heart. Alas I cannot/have not found a place in Tacoma worthy of my addiction. Fred Meyer can satisfy the cruelest of cravings, next on the list is Popeyes, KFC (usually gross), Stadium Thriftway, Southern Kitchen, and the cream of the crop. Not in Tacoma or WA alas is the holy grail of fried chicken: Roscoes chicken and waffles.... mmmmmmmmm
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Things that come in bowls...
Alright since work is slow here is another post/ode-to-food-in-bowls:
Infinite Soups
God bless the Clapps. These 'salt-of-the-earth' type people are the willy-wonka style geniuses behind Infinite Soups. Imagine a place where you can almost see the teeming flavors in the air, where you can get a hearty cup of soup for 2.50, where you can sample over 20 types of soup to determine your choice, image Infinite Soups. This wonderful little shop located on Tacoma Ave right next to Malarkys Billiard Hall (a great place. Go inside, order 2 Bob Marleys, fork over $10 before you drink, consume said drinks, wake up 2 days later with a killer hang-over, a dog named pebbles in your house and a tatoo of the once and former pebbles the dog, oh you'll also wake up somewhere in Alabama). Anyways, I digress; Infinite soups is delicious. I bet you $5 (equivalent to a bowl of Pho) that you will find something to enjoy there. Oh btw they don't have any seating so get your soup to go, grab a mickeys 22 ounce from the convenience store across the street, hit Wright Park and pretend to be homeless as you eat your soup and drink your paper-bagged beer. Life experiences guys, life experiences.
Korean Bowls and the wrath that follows:
Be forwarned that this post does mention the after-effects of super-spicy korean food, in detail. This ones for you Leif.
Kim-ChiChige, Dol Sup BiBimBop, Spicy cold noodle soup, tofu hot pot. One things the Koreans got right are their bowl dishes. First they have totally wicked stone bowls that they fill mainly with super-spicy chili paste. Second the variations of super spicy chili paste are friggin awesome. Third, Koreans being hateful (i'm Japanese, Chinese & Korean. My Korean side hates the rest of my body) have developed a delicious food that doubles as direct retaliation against all other ethnic cultures (except maybe Indian) in the world. What happens? Shit happens, terrible, terrible shit. As red and hot as lava, you will literally cry from your butt after enjoying the greatest spicy meal of your life. Here is the DL on some of my favorite butt-hurting, soul-scorching, mind-numbing, bowl-using Korean dishes.
Kim-ChiChige (spelling is wrong)
Kim Chi (spicy pickled cabbage) bowled with pork and tofu in with chili's added to it. So good you can't stop eating it, so bad you can't stop shitting it. It really is delicious but I am only allowed to have it once a month as I habitually lose 10lbs after eating a bowl of it.
Dol Sup BiBimBop
While not a soup, this korean style fried rice is totally sweet simply for the fact that it comes in a friggin hot sizzling stone bowl. Comes with the general assortment of pan-chan on it (small korean side-dishes), topped with a fried egg. Toss it all with the jug of Korean style spicy ketchup they provide and bam you got instant deliciousness. Don't touch the bowl, it really is hot. Really, don't do it.
Tofu Hot Pot
This is the capstone of Korean bowl food. First it is similar to Kim-ChiChige in the form of super spicy, super red, wreak your gut 2x over style. BUT it has delicious additions of egg, mushrooms, seafood, and beef. It will fill you up, make you feel all warm inside, then give you something to talk to with your guy friends for the next 10 days... BTW you'll still be feeling the effects for 10 days. Do it, life experiences guys. Life experience.
Infinite Soups
God bless the Clapps. These 'salt-of-the-earth' type people are the willy-wonka style geniuses behind Infinite Soups. Imagine a place where you can almost see the teeming flavors in the air, where you can get a hearty cup of soup for 2.50, where you can sample over 20 types of soup to determine your choice, image Infinite Soups. This wonderful little shop located on Tacoma Ave right next to Malarkys Billiard Hall (a great place. Go inside, order 2 Bob Marleys, fork over $10 before you drink, consume said drinks, wake up 2 days later with a killer hang-over, a dog named pebbles in your house and a tatoo of the once and former pebbles the dog, oh you'll also wake up somewhere in Alabama). Anyways, I digress; Infinite soups is delicious. I bet you $5 (equivalent to a bowl of Pho) that you will find something to enjoy there. Oh btw they don't have any seating so get your soup to go, grab a mickeys 22 ounce from the convenience store across the street, hit Wright Park and pretend to be homeless as you eat your soup and drink your paper-bagged beer. Life experiences guys, life experiences.
Korean Bowls and the wrath that follows:
Be forwarned that this post does mention the after-effects of super-spicy korean food, in detail. This ones for you Leif.
Kim-ChiChige, Dol Sup BiBimBop, Spicy cold noodle soup, tofu hot pot. One things the Koreans got right are their bowl dishes. First they have totally wicked stone bowls that they fill mainly with super-spicy chili paste. Second the variations of super spicy chili paste are friggin awesome. Third, Koreans being hateful (i'm Japanese, Chinese & Korean. My Korean side hates the rest of my body) have developed a delicious food that doubles as direct retaliation against all other ethnic cultures (except maybe Indian) in the world. What happens? Shit happens, terrible, terrible shit. As red and hot as lava, you will literally cry from your butt after enjoying the greatest spicy meal of your life. Here is the DL on some of my favorite butt-hurting, soul-scorching, mind-numbing, bowl-using Korean dishes.
Kim-ChiChige (spelling is wrong)
Kim Chi (spicy pickled cabbage) bowled with pork and tofu in with chili's added to it. So good you can't stop eating it, so bad you can't stop shitting it. It really is delicious but I am only allowed to have it once a month as I habitually lose 10lbs after eating a bowl of it.
Dol Sup BiBimBop
While not a soup, this korean style fried rice is totally sweet simply for the fact that it comes in a friggin hot sizzling stone bowl. Comes with the general assortment of pan-chan on it (small korean side-dishes), topped with a fried egg. Toss it all with the jug of Korean style spicy ketchup they provide and bam you got instant deliciousness. Don't touch the bowl, it really is hot. Really, don't do it.
Tofu Hot Pot
This is the capstone of Korean bowl food. First it is similar to Kim-ChiChige in the form of super spicy, super red, wreak your gut 2x over style. BUT it has delicious additions of egg, mushrooms, seafood, and beef. It will fill you up, make you feel all warm inside, then give you something to talk to with your guy friends for the next 10 days... BTW you'll still be feeling the effects for 10 days. Do it, life experiences guys. Life experience.
Holy !@#$
It has been almost a year since a posted last. Well since I am the only one who reads this I guess I don't really owe anyone anything. But I did promise myself in an early post that I would blog about Pho on Sundays & Vien Dong. Well first things first Pho on Sundays:
Sunday Pho:
Once upon a time I woke up Sunday afternoon and realized: a) my head felt like millions of tiny mice had tap-danced the night away on my naked skull wearing clogs b) my clothes were covered in mud, dirt and blood (hopefully my blood) c) I was friggin starving. The solution? Quite simple you would think: Pho. So I got my lazy, still-slightly drunk, physically hurt body out of bed and attempted to roll for some Pho. I got 2 closed signs, now Pho like air/water/food & shelter should be something that is available to people 24/7. The fact I couldn't find any not only hurt my pride but also my physical/mental health as I proceeded to cry in my car until I found another delicious bowl food: Kim Chi-Chige. More on this later.
Vien Dong:
In my quest for delicious meat-based broth & noodles I was pointed towards Vien Dong. While some say it is better than V&V I must disagree. Excellent Pho? Yes. They rock a Southern Vietnamese style of Pho that has more cilantro and includes Chinese style chashu that is downright delicious. Also, since they have little to no seating you often get pho splash-back from other, close by tables. This causes both pain and longing as while boiling hot, sometimes you get hit with another style of pho that makes you realize you'll have to come back to sample them all. 6 of10 easy breezy.
Sunday Pho:
Once upon a time I woke up Sunday afternoon and realized: a) my head felt like millions of tiny mice had tap-danced the night away on my naked skull wearing clogs b) my clothes were covered in mud, dirt and blood (hopefully my blood) c) I was friggin starving. The solution? Quite simple you would think: Pho. So I got my lazy, still-slightly drunk, physically hurt body out of bed and attempted to roll for some Pho. I got 2 closed signs, now Pho like air/water/food & shelter should be something that is available to people 24/7. The fact I couldn't find any not only hurt my pride but also my physical/mental health as I proceeded to cry in my car until I found another delicious bowl food: Kim Chi-Chige. More on this later.
Vien Dong:
In my quest for delicious meat-based broth & noodles I was pointed towards Vien Dong. While some say it is better than V&V I must disagree. Excellent Pho? Yes. They rock a Southern Vietnamese style of Pho that has more cilantro and includes Chinese style chashu that is downright delicious. Also, since they have little to no seating you often get pho splash-back from other, close by tables. This causes both pain and longing as while boiling hot, sometimes you get hit with another style of pho that makes you realize you'll have to come back to sample them all. 6 of10 easy breezy.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
V & V Pho
V & V Pho off of 56th and South Tacoma Way is hands down the best Pho in Town. Nothing is better. No MSG yet wonderful savory broth, solid fresh springrolls, good beef & carrot soup, excellent prices (a small for under 5) combined with excellent service, always good parking and simple, solid pho all make V & V excellent. Team that with the tag line "pho and jazz" and you make for a very nice pho eating experience. So what else is their to say about such a wonderful pho place? Combinations, these people have real tendon (think melt in your mouth), homemade meatballs (excellent), and really good lemonade sodas. The combos are killer, fatty brisket, real lean brisket, steak, tendon, the whole nine yards. Go there, now...
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