Eat Real Festival 2016

I volunteered with setup for Eat Real Festival 2016 but this time I stuffed vendor badges instead of goodie bags. This was much easier and didn't end with washing and drying all the cookware for the chef demos.

I returned for lunch on Friday. I usually case the whole festival first, but couldn't resist a crab cake near the entry. It was served on a bun, with slaw.

  

Mozzeria was there, with their fancy pizza truck, but Tea Time occasionally eats at their brick-and-mortar location in the Mission.

After checking out the rest of the offerings, I decided on a poke bowl. This looked so good that I forgot to take a picture of the truck.

And for dessert, I again had a chocolate fudge popsicle from Fat Face Popsicles.

The Eat Real Festival is on for the whole weekend, and there are more vendors on Saturday and Sunday. More Festival-goers, too, which is why I go on Friday, but if you don't mind crowds, you will be rewarded with a wider choice. There are also exhibits and free samples, which vary from year to year. This year Clover was giving away yoghurt and Toyota was giving away plants in pots that could be decorated on the spot, among other swag.

SFSFF Part 2

Tea Time took a look at the list of vendors for the San Francisco Street Food Festival 2013 and knew there were specific places we wanted to try, old favorites we were destined to visit. However, there were plenty of passport tickets to go around and whenever someplace had an enticing menu item we would stop to spy. If it was something we couldn't do without then someone would stand in line while the rest o' the gang looked around a bit more and/or waited at a stand-up table for the food to appear. (Don't worry, we took turns standing in the lines!)

So we knew up front that the fresh Marin Miyagi Oysters on the half shell from Basa Seafood were on the list. What we didn't bargain for was this delicious  Spicy Salmon Poke. Once we saw it, we had to have it! The spice was just right and the seaweed salad filled our greens spot. The chips were extraneous to us, but we saw many people using them instead of a fork, scooping up the salmon and eating the chip too.  Tea Time knows better than to fill up on store bought carbs though. There's real eating to be done here! For instance, we each had a delightful (free!) california roll as we waited for our bounty from the Basa booth. It was the perfect appetizer.

'Oh Oysters, come and walk with us!'

Awesome Salmon Poke! One of our favorite dishes of the day.

No 'r' in August, but that's okay!

Everyone got a free sushi sample

Tio Chilo's caught our eye with their Grilled Quail. This was another big bite dish so it came with a side of vinegar style coleslaw. (Members of the coleslaw club rejoice!) It's always nice to get a red cabbage slaw, since many people just use the green stuff. We didn't gawk into the kitchen, but presumed that the Quail must have been cooked using the 'Brick' method as it was charred and flat.

Quail and Coleslaw-a big bite

 












Oh, we love Bahn Mi! This festival gives us all sorts of goodies, one stop lunch to dinner shopping, you might say. Central Kitchen gave us this Bunny Bahn Mi which we thought might be vegetables...but lives up to its name serving us rabbit on a bun (HA!).  This Vietnamese sandwich featured slaw with bits of rabbit and even rabbit pate. The fillings were tasty, but the roll didn't have the crunch we require. We've tasted a myriad of different types of Bahn Mi out there in the wide SF resto world and we've learned to love a sammie with the crunchy crusted french roll. Perhaps it was the workings of SF weather though, sometimes the best bread can feel down when served out of doors! Also, we paired our bunny with some carrot, juice that is. J.K. needed some extra veggie servings and insisted we try their drink. Central Kitchen is full of good ideas!

Bunny Banh Mi

We had already tasted their excellent pizza at the resto, so we went with more burrata to take along to the adult beverage area. The mini pizza oven was awesome although not quite as beautiful as the one at Mozzeria the restaurant.

Here we are at the other end of the festival, ready to kick back and relax at the bar with Rye on the Road (and burrata from Mozzeria). There was a choice of three drinks similar to what was served at their bar on the night of Bite Me.  J.K. (of course) chose the tequila and lime juice version. Angela tried the VX Swizzle (Appleton VX rum, lemon, black tea syrup and bitters) which had her coming back for seconds. Another awesome thing about the bar? All proceeds, including tips, were donated back to La Cocina.

T&L for J.K.

(Half eaten) burrata with chips from Mozzeria

Some of our drink carnage*

We also snorked down Tequila Jelly Shots from the Sweets Collection. These are the big brother sizes compared to the samples at the Bite Me preview night. Those pretty flowers had some real tequila to give it a kick.

Did you see any famous foodies eating at the festival? We caught a glimpse of a Serious Eater on assignment in our fair city. He looks pretty happy with his job (and his Mozzeria slice)! Tea Time is pretty sure we ate more than lots of people, but let us know your favorite item from this day of flavorful debauchery. Look for our other posts on the SFSFF 2013!

We spotted Hambone, and, sure enough, Kenji was at the other end of the leash.

*photos at bar courtesy of fellow StrEater Constance

Bring on the Mootz @ Mozzeria

Update 2022: Mozzeria has currently closed their brick and mortar (we miss you!), but you can still visit their food truck! Check out their schedule https://mozzeria.com/menu-foodtruck/ and eat on the hoof. 

Welcome to Mozzeria! They first wowed us with their offering at last year's Street Food Festival (an amazing La Mia Oca Burrata ), and we finally made it to the resto to eat our way down their menu. Mozzeria is a smallish cool, clean and quiet place to grab a thoughtful well-made dinner. J.K. and I were waiting outside at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening when they opened so we got a table, even without a reservation. Phew!
Mozzeria has wine and an array of non-alcoholic drinks. So I opted to get a Pink Lemonade with Thyme to start the meal. It was pink and delicious, just see for yourselves.While waiting for our food to arrive, we perused the art and decor (and fellow diners).

Housemade Pink Lemonade with Thyme

Party of one? Welcome!

Money trees!

Original Art.

Old School, New School Pizza Tools.

 We were doubly lucky since Mozzeria has a $20 3-course special menu available on Wednesday nights. This includes your choice of an appetizer, a pizza and a dessert. How could Tea Time resist this deal? We didn't! We chose one $20 dinner and then opted to order a second appetizer and a pasta main dish. Somehow we also ended up with two desserts!

If you've been a faithful reader, you won't be surprised that we got the Fava Leaf Salad as one of our appetizers. It's got so much going for it, just in the name! Salad (we love it!) and Fava Leaves–my chance to introduce J.K. to these flavorful and luscious greens. This salad takes it up a notch, as you can see we had to leave two photos in our post just so you can get a look at all the goodies hiding in this creative presentation.We also got the Mozzeria Bar, which is a slab of Mozzarella in a golden, crunchy deep fried shell with Pomodoro sauce and basil. This happily paired with our healthy salad and we were in appetizer heaven. Our new motto at Tea Time is "Can't go wrong with fried cheese!"

Avacado schmear, fava greens, pink grapefruit

Goat cheese, toasted nuts, thin sliced beets!

Oooey, Gooey yummy Cheese.

Mootz with red sauce.

We chose the Pizza Margherita for our $20 dinner entree. This is foldable pizza, the kind with the wood-burning oven crisp crust and the perfectly light toppings of red sauce and cheese. It's a big size, but with a thin crust that makes it not too overwhelming on the carb front. The Pea Agnolotti  pasta dish was right up our alley as well, featuring white beans, plump two bite raviolis, crispy pancetta, basil and fresh tomatoes. Our server poured a rich broth over our pasta dish tableside.

We're going back to try the Duck Pizza, but we started with the classic Margherita for our first visit.

Pea Agnolotti-- a new to us pasta dish with broth.

As for dessert, we picked the Bombolini which are simply the best doughnuts ever. Our dessert plate came with a schmear of dark rich chocolate and little clouds of whipped cream to contrast these hot sugary delights. This was the dessert which we chose for the $20 meal (fava salad/pizza/bombolini). Then, somehow, J. K. and I ordered a second dessert. Really, we didn't mean to! But luck and chance brought us the Mozzeria Brownie. Which isn't just a brownie! This dessert dish features a plethora of ingredients to mix and match. Caramelized banana, vanilla ice cream, a slightly spicy brownie, fruity sauce, whipped cream and nuts!

Bombolini -- lemon  / cinnamon / chocolate anglaise

This dessert is just labeled "Brownie" on the menu, but it's so much more!

The staff and chefs at Mozzeria are friendly and fun. Overall each dish was presented in a thoughtful and lovely fashion, in addition to being quite tasty. Their webpage suggests you make a reservation, and while Tea Time got lucky with a table, if you want to eat there on a weekend, make sure to get your name on the list!

Our Pizzaiolo Poses With The Oven

Fold your pizza, it's the polite thing to do.

After all that food (especially the two desserts) we decided to walk most of the way home. On the way, we saw many interesting sights, including a (literally) handicapped parking meter and a fancifully decorated car.

San Francisco is an awesome place to live (and eat). You never know what you'll find around the corner. It took us a while to find Mozzeria, but they certainly lived up to our memories of the SF Street Food Festival* dish they had on offer at last year's event. Let's hope they choose to participate again! But even if they don't J.K. and I are already planning our next trip to the Mission to get some more Mozzeria!

*Hey,  if you're ready for a day of eating, let us know! We'll be there... walking up and chowing down all day at the food festival on the 17th of August. Make sure to get your passport to flavortown!


Update:

We finally made it back to Mozzeria, this time for lunch, and our long-awaited duck pizza. We started with salad, of course. Specifically their Kale Salad featuring:  squash / blue cheese / pumpkin seed / grapefruit and dressing schmears on the side. They make everything picture perfect at this resto!

Our work of art salad, delicious and beautiful!

This is a cheese-less pizza, served with hoisin sauce and greens on the side. If you add the veggies, folding your slice is a must, to keep them from falling off. We were delighted to find Mozzeria open for lunch! Their pizza is a perfect meal for an hour lunch break, since it's hot out of the oven in just a few minutes. It's an awesome deal as they're currently knocking down the price of your pizzas, some are only $10 each. So don't worry about a reservation for dinner when you can choose your seat for lunch!

Duck Pizza!

Gussied-Up Slice

Food Festival part 3

Here we are again. Still eating at the SFSFF 2012. Right now we're eating More Dessert! 

We weren't expecting much from Clairesquares' fried caramel pop, served with raspberry sauce, so we were pleasantly surprised by the warm and gooey inside. It went well with the raspberry, even though the raspberry sauce unfortunately didn't fix the Virgin Hibiscus Sangria (see Food Festival, part 2).

Then our mouths met with Hella Vegan Eats Pad Thai Spring Rolls with sauce, plus also a Green Curry Paleta. The green curry paleta was another big hit. None of us knew what a Paleta was, and even though we like green curry it was a no because our tummies were reaching capacity. Then Angela saw it was really a frozen popsicle and the Paleta was our new best friend! It got 3 smiles with a nice blend of sweet and savory so charming we didn't even mind the curry texture. The 'spring' rolls had pleasing crunch and the flavor profile of  a noodle-y plate of pad thai! We did have some questions if they qualified as 'spring' rolls since they were fried. Anyone know the definition?

Mozzeria's La Mia Oca Burrata: Hand pulled fresh mozzarella with creamy ricottta wrapped inside, garnished with cherry tomato, basil oil, balsamic vinegar and crispy crostini. We all voted that if there was enough room in our tummies later we would eat this again (and again). Angela is not usually a fan of boring old ricotta, but the pairing helped balance the 'no flavor' flavor of this cottage cheese competitor.

Onigilly: Spicy Shrimp, Teriyaki Chicken and Vegan Eggplant, washed down with Ginger Green Tea Lemonade. Onigiri are super easy to make at home! This Food Fest Onigilly had some scintillating  flavor options and the edamame were a marvelous bonus snack. The tea was palatable.

Also featured, our fork stash. Yes Stranger, you are welcome to share a fork. If you want our cooties!

La Victoria's Tres Leches Goat Milk Blueberry Parfait. We sauntered past this booth noting how appetizing their menu looked, but when we walked the strip a second time dessert was on the menu (again). Creamy, fruity, light and cool this would be a yummy treat any day. Since we had a Mission Summer Day of Sun to celebrate along with the smorgasbord of food at our fingertips this layered confection was a hit! We couldn't wait and took the first bite before our photographer was ready.

How can we have consumed any more food at the San Francisco Street Food Festival (version 2012)? Well, we did a lot of walking too!! Really. Urban hiking. Come back for the last toothsome morsels to be posted as part 4 in a couple of days.

 Have any of these pictures inspired you to try a new recipe or restaurant? Let us know what you think about this outrageous day of gluttony.