Emporiyum DC

Another year, another awesome Emporiyum.  I'm just loving the Baltimore/DC food scene these days.  There are all sorts of fun events that showcase the awesome chefs and restaurants we have here in MD.  The best event to do this is the Emporiyum - 2 days & over 30 restaurants, food trucks and foodie businesses, showing off all the amazing food they create.  

This year's was in the Union Market Space in DC, which was the best venue yet, in my opinion.  There was tons of space - full of tons of people of course.  And if you got tired of the Emporiyum, you could just mosey on next door to the actual Union Market and check out all their yumminess too. 

There were quite a few new places, but some of the old favorites were there as well. I was sad to see that no Voltaggio restaurants were there.  They are of course, always my favorite.  In fact, there weren't any real celebrity chefs there besides Erik Bruner Yang - the rock star of ramen (which I will say, that's a name he truly deserves - yum!)  My other complaint was the complete lack of anyone selling water.  The drink stalls were selling only alcohol - not even sodas were being sold.  That's a little ridiculous.  I had to beg a cup off the Living Social people and use the water fountain to fill it.  Other than that, it was a rousing success as always. 

They even seemed to realize that if you make smaller portions or give free samples, people will eat more.  Half size sandwiches were being sold as well as individual sized pies or single cookies.  That was my most favorite part.  Yay Emporiyum people, for getting a clue!

 These pieces of art were made completely out of plastic cups.

Reflective Air Stream Selfie!

And here's the important part - the food!

 Erik Bruner Yang's awesome Ramen - So delicious!

 This was the best thing I ate all day!  I have no idea how to pronounce it, but it's basically a wafer, with to die for marshmallow on top, covered in chocolate and coconut. OMG! It was life changing : )

 According to the Top Chef judges, Mike Isabella's Pepperoni sauce was life-changing.  Obviously they never had the marshmallow cookie thing I had before this.  It wasn't bad but I'm no Isabella fan, so that may have clouded my judgement. 

Dooby's was my favorite from last year, and this year it was my second favorite this year.  I have no idea what they put on that fried chicken but it's spicy and sweet and perfect.  The honey chips were also unbelievably tasty. 

I {Heart} Austin!

I had the most fabulous time in Austin!  It's up there in the top 5 of my most favorite places. I ate... A LOT!  I saw a lot.  I sweat a lot.  And most importantly I enjoyed every minute of it.  So much so, that I'm already secretly planning in my head a return trip soon. I'll have loads more to say in the very near future.  For now, I'm working on organizing all the photos (600+!) and wishing I was still there.

 Austin, I {heart} you!

A Taste of Three Cities

This year was the third year for The Gathering's Taste of of Three Cities - a food truck meet up with trucks from Baltimore, DC and Philly.  And I just have to say, it was their best year yet!  They finally nailed the perfect location - Patterson Park.  For the last few years, they've had it in a huge open area, on black top with zero shade and no place to sit or eat.  And of course, it's always HOT.  However this year, they held the event in a park with loads of trees and allowed you to bring in chairs to get comfy in the grass in the shade.  It was fabulous!  

As for the food, it's always delicious!  There's just so much to choose from.  You can find pretty much everything you want, and then some - and I most definitely did!  The only complaint I had, and it's the same complaint I have every year, is the lack of "tasting" menus.  The event draws something like 60 trucks, and every truck is serving full portions of all of their items.  The problem with this is, you get stuffed after only a handful of trucks.  If they really wanted you to try everything, they'd start serving miniature sized versions of their items.  They'd still be making money because I guarantee more people would buy at a lower price point and everyone would get to taste test everything!  Emporiyum wizened up to this fact this year.  Hopefully, the Gathering will catch on soon.  

Even without the tasting portions, I was able to try a bunch.  If you ever plan to go, here's your plan of attack.  Take a friend with you that loves to eat just as much as you do, then share everything you purchase.  If you're sharing, you can try twice as many trucks : )

First up was the Arancini from Di Pinoteca - The Best thing I ate all day!  It was ginormous and delicious!

Cheese Curds were up next from The Cow and the Curd - I'd had these last year and they were so good I've been dreaming about them ever since.  Unfortunately, they weren't as fabulous this time around.  Don't get me wrong, they were good, but they were also super greasy.

Then on to Cuban Mac and Cheese from a truck that only sold Mac and Cheese (Sorry, I can't seem to find the name right now).  This was our least fave of the day.  It was just too much everything and seeing as the box it came in weighed about 3 pounds, we were never going to be able to finish it.  It sounded like it would be delicious with pulled pork, and cheese and mustard, but the mustard I thought would be mixed in was actually slathered all over the top of the concoction - yuck!

For the last savory meal of the day, we had tacos from DC Tacos.  I read the list and most of the tacos seemed to have things I didn't like on them, but I chose to ignore and just try a steak taco instead.  And honestly, it was delicious!  The meat was perfectly cooked and while I'm not exactly sure what all was on top of the steak, it all tasted pretty good together!

Alas, it was time for dessert.  When attending the food truck gatherings, the Cheesecake Truck is always, always a must.  Who can resist chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick? Sadly they weren't offering my fave banana this year, but the Cookies and Cream cheesecake certainly made up for it.

Last but not least, was an Elvis cupcake from Iced Gems - another must and my personal fave of all the cupcake trucks.  They have about 40 different flavors to try and they're always yummy!

PS: Please excuse the lack of pictures - apparently my photography skills go down, while the food intake increases.  Basically when I eat I take terrible photos...

Empori-YUM

This weekend, the second sort-of annual Empori-yum in DC.  It was held in Union Market in Northeast, which was a super cool and trendy venue.  The vendors were all in a working warehouse - complete with rolls of fiber and cabling, concrete and steel) - with all sorts of "Yum"s around; one made with Peeps or another with hot pink fiberglass.  It was all very hipster but really cool too.  I'm not sure whose idea this was or who's in charge of the whole shabang, but they are fantastic at their jobs!

The Good:

~ DC's had considerably more vendors than Baltimore's.  There had to be at least 25 this time around as opposed to the Baltimore's dozen or so.  And the range - anything from almond milk to shake shack - was quite wide.  

~  The free samples this time around were also pretty amazing.  You had to pay for lots and lots but you could also sample lots and lots too.  I had noodles, smoked meat, caramels, grilled cheese, spicy nuts, toffee pretzels, and grits.  All were delicious!  Then of course there was the actual real food you had to buy...

~ The ramen from Toki Underground was fabulous as usual!  Oh my goodness, where has that been all my life?  So delicious!  Then there was the Smores pie from Butter + Scotch. Loved the toasted marshmallow on top.  The crust and the pie itself were pretty good but the marshmallow was the best!

The Bad:

~ Momofuku Milk Bar was all out of the Crack Pie when I finally got around to their booth - oh so depressing!

~ The Pork Buns from Eastside Kings, which were a last minute purchase when I saw someone else's, were not how I'd imagined pork buns.  The bun itself wasn't bad, and the pork was good, but the weird things on top and the shrimp sauce were so not my thing.  I needed to get another snack just to get the taste out of my mouth.

~ Shake Shack was only selling hot dogs and maple custard - not the cheeseburger and chocolate custard I was hoping for.  

All is in all, it was an awesome experience.  I wasn't thrilled about going at first because of the cold weather and the ridiculous drive (that sucked even more than I'd thought it would), but I'm pretty happy I went, and will most definitely be going next year as well!

Have Fun. Eat Tacos.

In just a few months, I'll be heading to Texas.  Austin to be more precise.  And I'm pretty excited about it.  I know there are loads of fun things to see in Texas' state capital.  It's a funky, weird little town and it has a super cool vibe.  But the number one reason I'm thrilled to be going is the food.  Austin is known to be one of the up and coming food towns in the US.

Every single day I look at Pinterest, I find yet another place to try.  Between the serious food truck scene, the breakfast tacos and all the brunches in and around town, I'm on foodie overload.  

After falling in love with this little print this morning, I made the mistake of clicking on it and finding out that it was courtesy of yet another awesome looking restaurant.  How in the world am I going to fit all of this into 6 days?  Think I can get a doggie bag, or 2 or 10?

A Taste of Three Cities

Last year, the Gathering held an event called the Taste of Two Cities that included food trucks from Baltimore and DC.  It was a fantastic success!  This year they went one better and had a taste of three cities - Philly included this time around.  And once again it was a phenomenal success!  Somehow these events just keep getting better and better, and it's about the best way I know how to spend a summer Saturday - Delicious food, wonderful friends and gorgeous weather!

Unfortunately the girls and I were a little too busy chowing down to take pictures, but I'm sure you can find pics of loads of yummy dishes on their websites.  We only tried a few of the 50 trucks but given a few more days, I'm sure I would have enjoyed at least something fantastic from every truck!

Deep Fried Cheese Curds from Cow and the Curd: Oh my goodness, where have these been my whole life?! To Die For!

Chicken Arepas from Delicia's: Not like the arepa I made in high school but it had guacamole and Guava salsa that I actually enjoyed so it was still a win!

Lobster Roll from Red Hook Lobster: I now cannot wait until Boston next month to have another of these delicious sandwiches!  I've never been one for cold seafood but this may have converted me.

Pierogies from Busia's Kitchen: I had these last year but they were still yummy.

Black Truffle, Bacon and Cheese fries from Bistro Lunchbox: Yet another meal I could eat every darn day.  Delicious!

Cookies and Cream Dipped Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Truck: Also a repeat, also delicious!  I can never turn down dipped cheesecake.

Cupcakes from Iced Gems: I've never seen a truck with so many choices for flavors yet every darn flavor I've ever tried is scrumptious!

Empori-YUM!

Baltimore's Foodie Powers that Be have been really on the ball lately.  Because of the success of Smorgasburg in NYC, they decided to hold something similar called Empori-yum. Restaurants and food companies from Baltimore and a few from NYC and DC as well, came together this weekend to celebrate local food.  There was cheese, and booze and sweets and about a hundred other things which were all pretty darn delicious!  Oh, and there was Bryan Voltaggio, who I may or may not have stalked with my camera...

Sea Salt Caramels to die for!

 It's Bryan Voltaggio!!!

 Toki Underground Ramen!!!!!!!

 Pho and Banh Mi Taco from Pho Wheels - Yum!

 As you can see, I was a HUGE fan of the Ramen!

 I now understand why Momofuku Milk Bar calls this Crack Pie - I was jonesing for another slice 3 minutes after I finished this one.