Eat Real Festival--Oakland 2012 (gourmet street food event)

Another successful event at Jack London Square in Oakland. This is becoming a street food event that I will look forward to every year. I love the way the organizers incorporate other activities like this year's "Meatopia", where you buy a ticket and get to eat as much meat as you want. Not sure if that's really for me, but I do love the variety of all the trucks and booths with wonderful offerings. I went twice this year so I could taste as much as I could. Here are my top picks for this year.

Tru Gourmet Dim Sum
http://www.trugourmet.com/menu.html
I have to start off giving props to my Chinese food makers. I love dim sum and finding really good dim sum is not as easy as it may seem, given how many dim sum restaurants there are. This place also uses organic ingredients, which is not typical. I was amazed at how fresh every ingredient was. It's difficult to keep the skins of each piece moist without drying them out and they did a fantastic job of that.



Sea scallop dumpling and Sui Mai (pork & shrimp)

El Sur
Empanadas Artesanales
http://www.elsursf.com/
I do love a good empanada and El Sur makes great fillings and crusts. Flaky on the outside and oh-so-savory-delicious on the inside. I also thought the vintage 1970 Citroen H-van from France was a really nice way to deliver their food.


Pollo Saltado (chicken, onion, tomato, olives) & Parisien (country ham, prosciutto, 5 cheeses, chives)

Saruno Burger
Japanese style burgers
http://www.sarunoburger.com/
I've never heard of or seen this truck before and I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't expecting much, but the flavor combinations of their Tsukune Slider was really tasty. It was a chicken burger made from organic chicken thigh, shiitake mushrooms and edamame that was very moist and flavorful. Thumbs up!

Belcampo Meat Co.

Butcher shop meats

http://www.belcampomeatco.com/

This brand spanking new company just opened up in the States this year and will also be sustainably raising meat with farms in Belize and Uruguay concurrently. They're bringing back the butcher shop experience of yester-year and after eating some of their offerings, I must say, they do it well. I couldn't believe how tender that meat was.



Grilled Lamb with grains, aromatic herbs and hot sauce.



Milk Poached Veal with young carrots, greens, meat broth (so tasty) and wild sage.



Good Foods Catering
Urban Style Barbeque
I couldn't find a web site for them, so I don't know where they're based out of, but I did enjoy them at this event. They offer some good slow cooked food. Below is their pork belly slider. That was a very tender piece of pork belly with a nice mildly sweet bbq sauce.

Koja Kitchen
Reinvented Japanese-Korean food
http://kojakitchen.com/
This is the only truck I've seen that actually posts their menus on flat screen TVs. Very techno-savvy. Excellent food as well. Their Kamikaze Fries were topped with minced Korean BBQ beef, kimchi, green onions and drizzled with their signature sauce and Japanese mayo. Yum. Their homemade chocolate mochi in their Mochimisu was a delightful dessert. Not too sweet but oh-so-satisfying.

Kamikaze Fries

 

Mochimisu (their version of a Tiramisu)

The Whole Beast
Nothing goes to waste
http://www.thewholebeast.com/
I love the concept of eating the whole animal. My family has been doing it for decades and why not? If you're going to kill and eat something, use the whole thing. That's how one can really show respect for the life of an animal. The way they cooked the animal was spot on as well. Tender and full of flavor.



Lamb Gyro (an amazing combination of flavors)

Lamb Poutine (braised lamb in a superb gravy atop crisp fries)

4505 Meats
Producers of Porcine Pleasures
http://www.4505meats.com/
I'm liking the revival of old-school butchery, where it's seen as a fine craft that takes years to perfect. I definitely appreciate it. This company has not disappointed me yet. They had a special dish at this event, and it was appropriately named Fat Bastard. Housed between a thick, buttery toasted English muffin was honey mustard ranch, chicharrones, pickled jalapenos, greens, aged Gruyere, a wonderfully flavored and juicy pork & beer sausage, and homemade sauerkraut. A bit messy, but absolutely worth it.

Fat Bastard

Chimichurri Fries (super crispy fries with a nice spicy chimichurri sauce)

Another Eat Real Festival has come and gone and all I'm left with are my photos and my memories. I look forward to next year!