| rev:text
| - I'm as amazed as you are that I'm giving this event a full five stars.
This is my second time here. I managed to score a free wristband and +1 again (much love and respect for Drew A. & Yelp, as well as Red Dragon). I learned through the grapevine that we had to go through the VIP entrance for wristbands because they had the list, so I walked around the perimeter to get there. Luckily, I met a nice lady who knew about the Yelp list.
After scoping out the place (and putting in an order while waiting for my friend to arrive), I commenced on a 4 hour feast that was surprisingly full of hits. Buckle up tight, it's gonna be a long read...
- Fukuburger: yes, I know it's local. Yes, locals should want to try out of town food. But Fukuburger is just so dang good that you can't pass it up. I thoroughly enjoyed my #4 Kinoko (mushroom) burger and a few bites of my friend's #2 Tamago (egg). Best truck here, as I knew they would be. The festival price was $6 per burger, by the way.
- White Castle: major props to Jennifer L. She was already in line, and she was so nice as to get me extra sliders. I handed her 2 for $2 (out of a sack of ten sliders, I think). Verdict? "It was okay." I saw that the line was still pretty crazy on Friday, but it was a little better on Sunday when I looked. They brought in more manpower and machines this year, and I saw lots of people walking around with binders full of wom... I mean boxes full of sliders.
- Jogasaki Sushi Burrito: took the plunge this year. We went for the 4B, which had spicy salmon, shrimp tempura, and eel. I love all of the ingredients, and it wasn't that much of a surprise that I loved the combination. They were even nice enough to cut it in half for us to share! It was $14, but the $8 is about half the size and easier on the stomach if you're solo.
- Phantom: interesting Asian/Mexican fusion going on here. We went for the JuDu fries (medium for $6?), which had pork belly, an awesome sauce, and a nice complement in the cilantro. But I felt that the fries were underdone and kinda grainy. At least they absorbed the sauce well enough. I would suggest the JuDu taco, which should have the upside of the pork belly without the dead weight of the fries.
- Tornado Potato: heck no, I'm not going back for those flavorless spuds. Actually, we saw some strawberry lemonade earlier and decided that a refreshing drink would be well worth the $3.50. It was okay. I probably would get a refreshing dessert at this point next time instead.
- Vizzi Truck: ... we ended up with these potatoes instead. They were called confit crispy potatoes, but they weren't crispy at all, and they didn't seem to contain any horseradish in the creamy sauce or any bacon. They were still pretty decent, however, and it was a surprisingly gigantic portion for just $4. If that's a markup, then regular Vizzi-tors (haha, get it?) must be getting a great deal.
- Fluff Ice: I chose this place over some of the Hawaiian-style shaved ice trucks based partially on a friend's recommendation. She said it was better than local shop Snowflake Shavery, and I have to admit that it's hard to argue with that statement based on my order. It was a combination whose name escapes me, but it's Thai Tea fluff ice with egg pudding, lychee jelly, and condensed milk.
Come to think of it, I may not have gotten the condensed milk, but it was still great. The texture felt the same to me as Snowflake's version, and the Thai Tea flavor was quite pronounced, as opposed to the subtle snow ice at Snowflake. The cost was $5 for my "regular"/"medium" size, which I'm now thinking may be normally referred to as a small size because it was the second smallest of the cups that were visible. Oh well, special event markup, right?
- Jogasaki, part 2: by 8pm, there was quite a big line. I feel like the line may have been big because of the line. People wanna go where other people are because it's obviously going to be good, right? Amazingly, I got through the line in about 20 minutes (so maybe 1 min per person at most) and got my to-go order soon afterward. It was a 4B.
By the way, the Sunday night Jogasaki was monstrous.
[UPDATE: Went again on Sunday night. Four star experience for Sunday alone, with pretty solid items from Buttermilk, Q Up BBQ, Dogzilla, and Tropical Shave Ice. Preferred some of my Friday choices, but these trucks aren't bad.]
Overall, there are still two certain things about Foodie Fest: death (from boredom in lines) and taxes (aka raising the price). But think about it: it's a captive audience (think any fair or amusement park), there's so many options in one place, and a lot of these guys are from out of town and need the extra gas money anyway. As for lines, there were hardly any at the gate when I left each evening, and White Castle will be White Castle, but the true food trucks are pretty efficient. So just make sure to get free tickets or pre-pay online, and then somehow get lucky as I did on the first night.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)