Tuesday, May 03, 2011

I Have An Eating Problem

Jon's Street eats



This is certainly not a food review. Probably more about how crazy I am about food.

If we ever decide to go out and share a meal together, don't ever take me to a food court. I love to eat all sorts of different foods, so if you present a bunch of choices to me at once, my brain will lock up and I won't be able to make a decision for hours. Whether a simple mall food court or a ethnic smorgasbord like the Emeryville Public market, I can walk circles for hours bouncing between a cheesesteak to a hot bowl of udon to Korean BBQ to Indian goat curry until everyone else have eaten, digested, and finished the complimentary mint. If it was up to me, I would get the sampler plate, with a bite from every place. Wouldn't that be the best ever? Maybe a bite size cheese-on-a-stick followed by a mini Stromboli washed down with sip of Thai iced tea with maybe a baklava for dessert? I'm not good with food and choices. Which is a long way of introducing my dilemma today...

I am currently serving as stay at home parent while the wife is in Minnesota enjoying her own food adventures (and maybe attending a graduation somewhere). With a toddler involved, it pretty much involves a morning of television with the likes of Mickey Mouse, a blue dog appropriately named Blue, and some sort of oddly shaped figures who likes to dance. Combined that with older kids with a very active softball schedule, I have been pretty much a car service with a bonus title of short order cook. So on my last full day as daytime nanny (and not even those hot ones that Jude Law might run off with), I decided that I needed to do something that I wanted to do for a change. And what I want to do it eat something good.

My first thought, of course, was the myriad of food trucks that I follow on Twitter (shameless plug) who are almost never where I am. The closest area where the good food trucks go seems to be Emeryville. (and by good, I mean just the current crop of gourmet food trucks. Not your run of the mill taco trucks, which I also love, and is pretty sure densely populates my neighborhood. But that is another day's eating/blog post) It seems that some cities are just more food truck friendly. If you drive down Hollis St in Emeryville at lunch time, for example, you can usually find 3 or 4 trucks parked and ready to stuff your face. But which place do I go? Who knows when I would be able to get this chance again? (Please, food truck community, someone come on out to Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek where I work) There was only one thing to do: I made a couple of stops.

A food truck feast

So I ended up with a lunch that looks like this. Seared ahi tuna roll from Jon's Street Eats. Short rib taco and BBQ pork slider from Mogo BBQ. Is that a lot of food for lunch? Yes. I couldn't eat it all, but the different tastes was so satisfying. It was definitely worth a short wait with a sleeping 2 year old to carry around. (More food for me!)

I started this by saying that you should never take me to a place with too many choices. Let me amend that. If you are anything like me and like to try a lot of different things, please come along on one of my eating adventures. I can't possibly eat a whole serving of everything (I try sometimes though. Ugh. I need a just inspiring post about a workout routine). Let's all get something different and share it with each other. Apparently I am a social eater. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Chinese people often eat their meals family style, sharing several dishes. I'd love to discuss it over some pad thai and fried chicken though. Won't you join me?