Lobsta Truck

I caught up with Lobsta Truck at 5th and Minna Streets. The menu isn't extensive, but both the lobster and crab are available either Connecticut (butter) style or Massachusetts (mayo) style. I didn't taste the crab, but I can report that the lobster is top quality and compares favorably with Jimmies of Savin Rock There aren't enough sides, though, unless you like soup with your lobster. I'd rather have coleslaw and fries. So instead of soup, after I devoured my lobster roll, I headed over to the food court at the San Francisco Center for a scoop of Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate ice cream.

Red Sauce Meatballs

I finally caught up with Red Sauce Meatballs, at the Streat Food Park. The menu is short, but it covers everything that can be done with meatballs. I chose a one-of-each meatball sandwich, with cheese. Unfortunately, they were out of parmigiano, but the proprietor suggested a substitution of ricotta. It was messy, but tasty. The arugula on top is a nice touch, too. He also gave me a veggie ball to try. It, too, was excellent—a real veggie ball, not fake meat.

If you're not into meatball sandwiches, you can have them on pasta. And there is a bowl of meatballs for the low-carb crowd.

Eat Real Festival

Angela had such a good time volunteering at the San Francisco Street Food Festival that Tea Time volunteered for the Eat Real Festival in Oakland. Due to Angela's work schedule, we signed up for the pre-festival set-up shift, starting our stint by stuffing goodie bags and then performing other tasks as needed.

Angela then had to work on Friday, so I attended the Festival alone, because I wanted to avoid the weekend crowds. It's very easy to get there–take BART to 12th Street Oakland and walk down Broadway to the end of the street, then turn left. There's also a free (you can't miss it–it's green) shuttle bus along Broadway that runs every 15 minutes, but it's only a 15 minute walk.

If you can't find the Festival, head for Heinold's.
It's in the middle of the action.

SpongeBob's Car.
Answer a few questions and you're entered to win one.
Plus, you get a choice of trinkets.

It can get very hot in Oakland, and while there are vendors selling soft drinks and adult beverages, the Festival provides free water. Bring your own cup or bottle, though.

After checking out the booths on Palm Plaza (and acquiring some swag), it was time for lunch. My first stop was The Whole Beast, which offered a seasoned lamb rib with persimmon/pomegranate coleslaw. There was also lamb poutine, but Tea Time is very fond of ribs, coleslaw, persimmons and pomegranates, and there they were, all in one very tasty dish!

 The signage was as good as the food.

 This was the "lamb lounge." It was a very sunny day, which made photography difficult, and the sign didn't make it into the picture. 

On the way to discovering the lamb booth, Fat Face popsicles had caught my attention, so that was my next stop.

It wasn't an easy choice, but
I finally settled on Strawberry Lemonade.

Then I decided to check out the Market, and was delighted to find Bittersweet Cafe, which Tea Time used to frequent when they were on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. I bought a Brownie and ate it while walking around looking at the other booths.

That's my brownie on the right–even bigger than the sample!

Other treats!

Next I discovered Starter Bakery, which had a large selection of Kouign-Amann in many flavors. But it just wasn't a possibility after that brownie, so I bought two (original and double chocolate) to take home and share with Angela later.

Two views of the ones I brought home:

  

Peter Brydon at Barlovento Chocolates plied me with samples of his excellent chocolate, but it was just too hot to attempt to bring chocolate home. I hope to encounter him again in cooler weather.

I had really thought I was finished eating for the afternoon, but when I took one more walk around the Festival to see if there was any thing else I wanted to photograph, I noticed that there was no line at The Chairman's truck, and I couldn't resist the Pork Belly bao. This is the first time I have ever seen The Chairman without a line, and it probably won't ever happen again.

You can't miss The Chairman's truck.

While I was waiting for my bao, a large group of people appeared!

The pork belly is hidden under a generous serviing of turmeric pickled daikon.

 And then I spotted the Stroopie booth, but by then I really couldn't eat another bite!

I can't explain this.
Extreme flagpole climbing?

Swag! We were pleased to learn that the goodie bags were for all the volunteers, so we each got to take one home. Yes, another bag, courtesy of Whole Foods, which also donated the Kettle Corn. Other highlights of the bag were the official Eat Real apron and a wooden spoon from Anolon.

Festival swag was equally generous. Toyota gave a choice of SpongeBob trinkets (I chose the rear view mirror dice but there were also sunglasses and dual keyrings), another Festival apron, silk screened on the spot, and another choice of trinkets after rolling giant dice. I won hand sanitizer, but was able to trade it for yet another bag. There were also lunch bags and sunglasses. I also won a bag from Love with Food (please, let me know if you need a bag!), which had packets of pickle salt (for use on food, not pickling salt) and some candies inside. Also another scraper, this one from East Bay Municipal Utility District and Our Water Our World. Lip balm from Fans of Lamb. And organic string cheese from Organic Valley, who were also pouring glasses of milk.

The highest food price at the Festival is $5, but if you're having a whole meal, it can add up. Here's my breakdown for the afternoon. Well, not including BART fare.

Lamb rib:     $5.00

Popsicle:      $3.50

Brownie:      $4.00

Bao:             $4.00

Kouign-Amann (2):  $7.50

SFSFF Part 3

After our libations from the bar and a little rest at the picnic table there, we moseyed over to Hella Vegan Eats for our Doughnut Burger. Here's a bit more info about this fun catering team. "In August 2011, HVE was invited to join La Cocina SF's incubator program, a ground breaking platform for low-income food entrepreneurs to manifest their passions into self-sufficient businesses with the help of volunteers, donated resources, and the encouragement of La Cocina staff. They are now working to promote their business and earn the capitol needed to become mobile food vendors. They will be catering from La Cocina's green kitchen in San Francisco, offering a large menu of innovative vegan delights." Yes, Hella Vegan Eats is one of the many businesses grown out of the La Cocina program. Their doughnut was a sweet treat as always.

You can now catch the Hella Vegan Eats Food Truck (Yup, they're mobile now!) at Delores Park. Get the update on their whereabouts...vegan food for all!

A bit disheveled from being cut in half...

Working hard to get that vegan food out to the eaters!

La Victoria Bakery Corp was another booth that has been on our mind since the last SFSFF! We ate their  Tres Leches Goats Milk Blueberry Parfait late in the day last year and it was a refreshing mouth full of cake and berries with sweet creamy goats milk. Additionally, Mel and Joel got a Goats/Milk Custard Cornet. (Angela knows these as Creme Horns.) For this post, Angela read up a bit on their website and found they offer a lot of awesome community interaction, such as children's baking classes. They are located in the Mission so J.K. and Angela will stop in there next time we wander those neighborhood blocks!

So nice they ate it Twice! A pic of #2.

Blueberry Parfait

J.K. loves a bit of local color. Across the street from the La Victoria booth was a

Local Author, trying to sell his book. He, too, seemed to be doing about as much business as the Maytag repairman. If you love the Giants, we can probably figure out his address for ya. 

Local Author, Author!

Here is a resto that's been on the "let's eat there" list for a while. Quite a while, actually. Radio Africa Kitchen officially transitioned from a pop-up to brick and mortar store over a year ago. However, it's a bit far from our stomping grounds (Bayview) so we just haven't made it over there. All the better for us to try their Grilled Flank Steak Big Bite at the 2013 festival. We'll make it down south eventually and then you can read about our Radio Africa adventure....

Flank Steak bowl

Popsicles are always on the menu at Nopalito! J.K. and Angela were becoming the last holdouts from our group, but we knew it was time to stick it out and start on desserts. Our parfait had filled us up a bit, but popsicles just melt around the edges–right? So we walked back down the blocks of booths, keeping an eye out for something we just couldn't live without and kept cool with our iced pops. Nopalito has two locations in the city, the original in NOPA plus their new Inner Sunset outpost. So get your fix while 'summer' is on here in the city!

Need a Popsicle? Just head to the resto!

Dark Chocolate on the left and Strawberry on the right.

No one can say it better than La Cocina. "D'Maize  is a family owned Salvadorean catering business serving up some of the best pupusas in the bay @lacocinasf represent!" (via Twitter) D'Maize Catering will bring their home cooked food to you! Recently they catered for Zynga, and their chef is so excited to get you hooked on Salvadorian food that they recently offered Free samples to people who email them on Facebook. That is service with a smile!

Our meatful pupusa! Yum-o.

This Frankaroni on a stick from 4505 Meats was one of the best things we tasted. Mac 'n' cheese and bacon, fried on a stick! It was supposedly a small bite, but the four of us didn't even manage to finish it while walking to our friends car. They took it to go which was pretty simple since it already had a stick.

A state fair type treat made into street food!

J. K. and Angela are getting filled up to our eyeballs, but we've still got a bit more walking to do and a lot more tickets to use up! Fortunately there's always something going on at the festival besides food. Well, the people watching is really what you do while eating your next street food treat. There are vendors with games and dancers to entertain, just take your pick of what to watch/do while you wait for the next chance to nab that one treat you've waited for all day.

Aztec Dancers  Did A Long Set

See Them In Action!