Sometimes the most comforting food in the world is the kind you buy from a cart along the street. In Poland in perogies, Vietnam it's pho, in the U.S. it's more often than not the great hot dog. Given, a pretzel or churro can also be equally pleasing, but I love me a good hot dog. It is one of the worlds greatest foods. You can keep your truffle oil, your designer chocolate, your fancy shmancy French food.Give me a foot long, onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup, and some spicy mustard thank you. My personal hot dog dives are Luau Dog on CSUS, The Hotdogger in Davis, and a little cart I love on 20th Street during the Sacramento Second Saturday.
What are you favorite street foods and where do you go to find them?
I wish that you could get more street here in the Netherlands, they've got too many rules. :(
ReplyDeleteThat picture makes me ready for lunch!
ReplyDeleteI am also a fan of the simple Hot Dog. Sometimes, if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll branch out to the Italian Sausage Sub.
Best street food ever? When I lived in Tokyo, the Sweet Potato Man used to appear in the cooler months. He'd have a cart full of hot stones in which the sweet potatoes baked. And man, were they ever tasty--particularly if your hands were cold and you were coming off a god-awful shift of language lessons. Of all the things I miss about Tokyo, I may miss the Sweet Potato Man most of all...
The hot dog guy in front of Press Club at midnight...after the likker has soaked in and you are hungry, just enough fuel to keep me dancing until 2 am. Sweet relish, ketchup and spicy brown mustard. Maybe a seranade from Downtown James Brown while I eat said Hot Dog to keep the night interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite hot dog is just outside the Instructional Bldg. at school. You can have American or Tijuana style. The Tijuana "dog" is a hot dog wrapped in bacon cooked on a flat top grill topped with grilled onions, jalapeños, and mayo. The heart attack will only cost you a mere $2.00.
ReplyDeleteWeinerworks in Citrus Heights on Maidson is FANTASTIC! You can't go wrong with simmering anything beer. Mmmmm....
ReplyDeleteHey Roya Rose - is Isaac still serving in front of the Press? I haven't been in over a year, but last I checked he was GONE! :(((( I loved Isaacs chili dogs....with pepper jack cheese on top.
ReplyDeleteThe Taco Truck [LaGuanakita] that sits in the parking lot of Mi Rancho Super Mercado at 2251 Florin. It is there 8-10pm, M-Sat. Fabulous papusas and tacos...friendly service.
ReplyDeleteDuring Goombay Festival here in Key West, which happens in mid October every year, there is a street vendor who makes fresh conch salad right in front of you. It has loads of flavor from the fresh veggies and conch. Oh whew, he does not skimp on the hot peppers! Folks, like myself, will wait in line for an hour for a bowl!
ReplyDeleteArepas here in Miami are very popular. 2 corn cakes with a cheesey middle. mmmmmmm que Rico!
ReplyDelete(as they say here)
We ain't got much street food here in Richmond. That being said, there are 2 local favorites that we enjoy on a weekly bases.
ReplyDelete#1-Beautiful local family that makes fresh tamals and sells door to door, they come once a week.
2#-Have 3 El Salvadorian grocery markets within walking distance and have premade meat marinades for you to consume.
Buuuut, like the costco vending type dogs nearly better.
Biggles
On hot dogs, my favorite is to get the dinner franks from Morant's Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen and have them at home. They (and their other sausages) are of great quality and are delicious. They do grill various types of their sausages with onions and peppers in a tasty bun for lunch along with some very tasty potato salad. Not exactly street food, but they only have one table and 3/4 chairs.
ReplyDeleteIf you see the BBQ grill out in front, that means they have grilled sausages to sell.
I like a bag of roasted chestnuts in the winter. Makes me come over all Dickensian. And if I'm by the sea, it has to be fish and chips, with maybe a pickled onion on the side.
ReplyDeleteI wish we got more street food here like in India :)..used to love the kulfis (icrecreams) and garbanzo curry topped over a veg cutlet..yum can smell it now as I type
ReplyDeleteStinky tofu in this little courtyard next to Chinese market in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteIn Cape Town it was the paaper bites you could get fresh from a small stall on Thibault Square. You had to be there early in the morning to get the really fresh ones though. Paaper bites are strips of the pastry used to make samoosas that are deep fried, salted and sometimes flavoured with spices.
ReplyDeleteIn London I loved the caramelised peanuts or the roasted chestnuts that are so common in the winter months.
Dublin alas does not really do street food although in the last year a few mobile hot dog stalls have appeared (haven't tried one yet though). There is a cool little kiosk type place on O'Connell Street that sells fresh fried doughnuts though - those are great for the occasional treat.
the street food here in Ghana would be some Chichinga ( beef kebab on sticks ) , plantain and yam !
ReplyDeleteDefinitely would select the one u got there over these :)
One of my favourite street foods is porchetta in Tuscany. In most of the tuscan hill towns a part of the town transforms itself into a market on a particular day. There is always a porchetta truck selling this treat.
ReplyDeleteGenerally on display will be a whole roasted pick, covered with crackling skin rubbed with salt and spices. The vendor carves it off and piles it on to bread for the most amazing sandwich!
Pizza by the slice - anytime, anywhere! Brings back Chico memories... also, during a college backpacking trip, Belgium had the best street vendors at night. All fried goodness!
ReplyDeleteThere are no street foods in Orange County, but we do have a number of excellent roach coaches. Mmm... Carne Asada burrito...
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed reading about all the interesting street foods from all the places your readers have been, but I have to share my favorite street-hot-dog story: good Lobster Bisque from a hot-dog stand.
ReplyDeleteAnn Arbor's Le Dog is a hot dog stand barely larger than a cart -- think a toll booth or two stuck together. {Sarah has probably told you how I talk about Ann Arbor too much; it was my Davis when I was in college}
http://photos.imageevent.com/ralf/mi/annarbor/websize/PIC44096.jpg
It serves hot dogs, but the owner is a trained chef and so will serve whatever challenges his cooking skills and feeds his neighbors. Lobster Bisque is a perennial; if you look at the picture, you'll see his hot dog stand is serving Gazpacho soup, peach soup, and beet borscht tomorrow.
"It’s slow food, but fast!" the owner says. He serves food-conscious ingredients, in season, and his only franchisee is his wife's stand three blocks over in one of the offices. This is the opposite, in many ways, of the street food that others are talking about -- the mundane, unpretentious, cheap food that has local character. Le Dog has moved beyond their original menu (LEmonade and hot DOG that gave them the name) to very non-local classic chef dishes, yet it is somehow the same as that street food - unpretentious, comforting and cheap. He wrote: "some days I still want to serve [at the stand] roast duck or pheasant under Styrofoam."
It is delightful to get quality slow food, in a hurry, for five dollars. It is delightful to show that good food, even gourmet food, can be unpretentious, cheap and accessible without having to stress about which fork to use. It is delightful, and it is delicious.
{quotes from Gastronomica magazine, Winter 06}
Australia - a street food free zone...
ReplyDeleteor matbe it's just me, but i have no memories of any.