FOOD TRUCK MAFIA (NEWARK) - The Dog (and Burger) Days of Summer...

September.

The end of summer.  Though in California September usually brings the beginning of the hottest season of the year, it officially marks the end of our balmy, beachy out-of-school days.  The hours of daylight grow shorter as the bright blue-gold sunlight turns to amber, as though to coordinate with the papery leaves that will soon flutter down from the trees.  When I was a kid, summer meant lazy days spent boating, waterskiing the many canals and throughways of the Sacramento River Delta.

My childhood memories of summer are vivid.  The smell off the water, vaguely fishy and tinged with mud, everywhere it ran brown and murky and deep. The yellow speedboat that carried us was fast, so fast everything around was a blur, a rush of reeds, gold and green, like living sunlight as we thumped hard against the river delta.  The waves splashing up over the bow left a soft mist on my face that the sunlight and the wind would whip away as soon as it was deposited.  Those glorious trips across the open water were something splendid.  There was little speaking, just the roar of the engine churning the water, the air rushing against my ears and the constant sun on my skin.  And that glorious smell of the rich delta mud.

Hot, Crunchy Outside -
Creamy Inside -
Shrimp & Cheese Empanadas

Our final trip was always in late September or early October.  Those last days of summer carried their own kind of magic. My father called them Indian Summer, and they signaled not just a return to school from a time of what seemed like endless freedom, but a kind of communal closure as we all moved into fall together.  The drive home on our last outing always seemed to  bear a harvest moon.  It hung in the sky, large and luminous over the Delta, visible out the back window of my father’s car as we drove home for the final time.  That moon in my long-ago childhood memory still lingers in the sky, a perfect orb of yellow gold.

September begins our journey into fall, and Labor Day weekend signals the dog days are upon us.  A uniquely American holiday, this three-day weekend is more than back-to-school specials and furniture sales. It is a shared kiss goodbye to our collective summer vacation. Everyone, everywhere has fired up their backyard grill one last time.  Goodbyes are often bittersweet.

Crazy Fries.  Crazy, man.

This past weekend, the question arose in our household of how to mark this auspicious occasion and give sweet summer a proper sendoff?  An effective scout, the BH often discovers foodie-related tidbits while reading his morning paper.  Openings, events and happenings.  He happened to run across an event that sounded perfect: a gathering of the Food Truck Mafia, culinary gypsies who travel from one location to another to bring their individual brands of tasty treats to the hungry.  The Food Truck Mafia was scheduled to be at Newpark Mall on Monday.  Being Labor Day itself, this event seemed the perfect way to celebrate the end of summer.  After quickly double-checking the schedule we planned our final day off around it.

Grillstars manage a crowd of The Hungry!

The trucks set up and begin serving at 4:30, running until 9:00 pm.  We got there at five, and were immediately greeted by strains of Michael Jackson at a high volume, a heavy-set DJ playing boisterous dance tunes for the crowd.  The afternoon weather was gorgeous, more like mid-summer than September, and the crowds were diverse.  A collection of every age and color, all gathered under the Blue Top for some grub.   It felt like an oversized block party.  They had provided several tables to make eating some of the more challenging carry away cuisines easier.  Children ran from one truck to another, squealing out their choices for dinner to parents who could barely hear over the booming music.  Everywhere a variety of locals and shoppers who had wandered out of the mall to see what was going on were chowing down on a plethora of cuisines. The colorful trucks formed a big “U”, not unlike chuck-wagons circled to feed the field hands after a six-month tour on the cattle trails.  Yet there were no marauding Indians in sight.  The mood was festive and the smells welcoming.

In an attempt to be scientific in our ordering, and to make sure we sampled as much as was possible on a first visit, we walked by each of the trucks to absorb their menus before ordering.   It rapidly became clear we wouldn’t be able to sample anything close to everything, even one item per truck was overly ambitious.  We soldiered on, narrowing our choices to four savory and two sweet dishes.

Butterfly Shrimp

We began with a threesome of Shrimp & Cheese Empanadas, mini hot pockets of spicy goodness, served hot out of the fryer (and I mean hot) offered up by the first truck whose wares we sampled, Marisco's El Malecon. We found a couple of seats at a communal table and enjoyed a few bites of our empanadas.  Since it was their party, we were in agreement that we had to sample something from Grillstars and I’d selected (and ordered) a side-dish they were offering titled  “Crazy Fries”.  After placing that order, I imagined I would be handed a basket of fries and go off to sit with BH until we polished them off.  Best laid plans and all, the wait turned out to be over twenty minutes.  (Tho well worth it taste-wise, the standing around was not particularly pleasurable.  I wonder if there might be a better way to call out orders to keep people from having to stand while they wait for their meals to come up.)  Making the best of the wait, I observed a little of the food truck culture firsthand.  The salesgirl from El Malecon came over to order a burger, and Grillstars’ chef insisted that her money was no good there.  It would appear to be the custom that food trucks feed one another’s staff for free.  Like family. Classy.

 After my twenty minutes of running over to our table for a bite of empanada and running back to the Grillstars' truck to wait on my order, I was at last presented with a gimongous order of hot-out-of-the-fryer french fries, beautifully cradled in piles of smoky grilled beef, creamy nacho cheese, crumbled bacon and a lovely little dollop of fresh sour cream.  Every bite was covered with toppings, and every mouthful of the crumbled burger meat carried the lovely smoky flavor of freshly-grilled beef.  Absolutely worth the long wait. The cheese was a nice gooey consistency, sticking to the fries without being gummy, the bacon bits and sour cream coming together nicely, adding their own tasty music to the mix.  It was the best plate of “topping” fries I’ve ever had.  All for around four bucks.

Twisted Chill serves up organic
Soft Serve

Next up was the Butterfly Shrimp & Dipping Sauces from Bigg Shrimp’n.  These kids know their shrimp— we were served large, beautifully butterflied, whole prawns fried up in a light golden almost tempura-style batter that was almost effervescent.  Closer to cotton-candy than dough.  The sauces were fresh, made in-house, and just delicious.  We tried the Sweet & Sour (reminiscent of a Thai tomato-garlic sauce, it bore no relation to the thick red sauce of my takeout-Chinese childhood) and a Seafood Cocktail Sauce.  Bigg Shrimp’n’s Cocktail mixture was mildly spicy, with fresh horseradish being beautifully blended with fresh, ripe tomatoes.  Right then I was diggin’ the fresh trend in food prep.

Next I tried the Lamb Curry offered up by Munch India.  The meat was tender and fluffy and the curry mild yet packed with flavor.  The basmati rice was aromatic and light, and served as a perfect foil to carry the thick sauce over the lamb.

Creamy Soft Serve covered
in yummy strawberries,
toasted coconut & chips

By the time we’d finished off our four savory treats we were ready to move to dessert.  We went first to the colorful blue truck with the pretty girl on the side (fun design).  Twisted Chill is run by Jesse Soares & Michael Moules and the duo serves up a non-dairy soft serve.  Now ordinarily I’m a fan of “real deal” foods, but their organic take on this American favorite was no joke.  The creamy delicious red velvet version was sweet without being overly so, the flavor unique and craveable and the mouthfeel was creamier than a teenager’s pillow.  The guys offer up all manner of fresh fruit from within the truck and an assortment of dry organic cereals, chips, sprinkles and other treats in the self serve compartment outside the truck.  In addition to serving up great desserts, the guys are affable and informative.  I think they will do very well at this.

Our last stop was at That’s Sweet! Desserts, a cupcake and assorted baked goods truck whose list of wonderful flavor combos taunted us with it’s variety.  We settled on a Coconut Chocolate, Chocolate Orange, Sea Salt and Caramel and a mini Peach Pie.  The BH and I have at this point consumed every last bite, but I was in love with my first mouthful of the Chocolate Orange.  Moist, kissed with citrus and just sweet enough, this gal can bake.  Lucky us.  We had the Sea Salt later that night and the hint of salt and finish of toasted caramel, still linger on my palate urging me to return for more.

Sea Salt & Caramel Cupcake

The experience was a delight.  I’m a fan of fine dining, but who’s the rule guy who says a great food experience can’t be found on a truck in paper containers?  Not I.  These gatherings are a perfect time to gather with friends and family, enjoy the fading sunlight as the days grow shorter until the damp months are upon us and we are forced to retreat back into our homes to shelter in place until the sun, and the trucks return.

Their schedule can be found on Facebook at the Food Truck Mafia page. Check it out.  Make a memory of your own.  Have the crazy fries, I dare you!

Among the Participants:

Phil Woodman & Patrick Clarke’s GrillStars
Food Truck Mafia - Facebook
@Grillstars - Twitter
http://www.thegrillstars.com

Bigg Shrimp’n - Facebook
@BiggShrimpn - Twitter
 http://www.biggshrimpn.com

Jose Hernandez Marisco's El Malecon
Facebook under Food Truck Mafia

Chef Diana Afroza’s Munch India
Munch India - Facebook
@munchindia - Twitter
www.munchindia.com

Jess Soares & Michael Moules’ Twisted Chill
Twisted Chill - Facebook
@chilltruck - Twitter

That’s Sweet! Desserts
That's Sweet! Dessert Truck - Facebook
@thatssweettruck - Twitter
http://www.ThatsSweetBakery.com

NINKIMONO - First class Sushi in a strip mall?

Well, apparently the answer is yes. Almost a year or so ago, the BH and I decided to finally try the little restaurant inside the strip mall very near our home. It used to be a Hof Brau and had been recently re-modeled into a Sushi joint. We saw the "Grand Opening" sign, but the BH was really intrigued by the "all-you-can-eat" flyer that had been sent to our home. Since limitless food is like a siren song for this man, I agreed to accompany him to the restaurant as an experiment in dining.

We found the interior of the restaurant, called Ninkimono, pleasantly surprising. Classy, sleek and black, it was more San Francisco than it was "strip mall Newark." The tables are all equipped with gas flames, that are used in the preparation of Shabu-shabu. We had never tried this before, but since at our first visit it was part of the "all you can eat" offer, we tried it on our first visit. Diners are brought large plates of vegetables and meats, intended to be cooked in a tub of boiling broth. It was tasty, but nothing that really rocked my boat. Next we tried a variety of the fancier sushis. We didn't come close to finishing any of it, of course.

On the next visit, they were no longer offering the carte blanche all you can eat meal. They had altered the menu to an extremely confusing set of choices for various fixed prices, some of which included the Shabu-shabu. The "all you can eat" menu seemed much too prone to abuse, and given the amount of food wasted on our first visit, an entirely understandable decision on the part of management on many levels. It had to be much to expensive to keep indefinitely. However, it did seem that they were still feeling their way as to what amounts to charge for what sort of meal. To date, I am never sure when we go if the menu / cost options will have changed, again.

At least for my darling BH and I, that initial all you can eat experience allowed us a really unique opportunity to sample types and preparations of sushi rolls and specialty dishes we would never have otherwise tried. Ever since, we've kept quite a few of them on our regular menu when we dine there.

The last time we went, we ordered several of the dishes we had learned to love on our first visit. We began with traditional salad and miso. The miso was okay. The salad had the dressing flavor just right, but the lettuce was drenched. Unfortunate beginning, but we just won't order either again.

Next we had one of our favorites, Beef Carpacchio (a platter of paper thin slices of barely cooked red meat and a lovely sort of "au jus" to dip it in). It is really a lovely blending of the flavor of good red meat, and the slight hint of juices that enhance that flavor. I really love this dish. Way more interesting than the Shabu-shabu and of course, I don't have to try to figure out how to cook it myself.

We next received our Snow Rolls (a lovely tempura covered mess of crab meat and tasty goodness), which are a solid sushi roll smothered in a crunchy and light fried tempura batter topping. At least that is what it appears to be, I haven't actually asked the sushi chef. The snow rolls were quickly followed by a tray of bacon wrapped scallops. These were good, the bacon was fresh and I love a good bacon wrapped anything, but they weren't extraordinary. But that sorta figures, since it's not a dish normally associated with sushi. We finished off the meal with an Orange Blossom Roll and a traditional Spicy Tuna Roll.

Since the BH doesn't really do the "spicy" thing, the latter was mostly for me. I have to say it was very well done. This guy is a solid sushi master. The tuna roll was nice and spicy, without overpowering the flavor of the tuna too much. But the Orange Blossom was a real delight. Presented as petals of an orange blossom (of course), the dish consists of several large pieces of salmon slabbed over rice with some tuna. The flavors were more subtle and unusual than any other sushi roll I have tried. There was a hint of orange peel, but it wasn't bitter it was sweet. It was extremely light and delicate, as though the dish were flavored with the "essence" of orange and not the juice itself. Outstanding dish.

Other dishes we love, but didn't have on this occasion are the Godzilla Roll, or the Raiders Roll. The latter is not a roll, but is scallops cooked hot in foil, wrapped in something delicious. I can't remember all the ingredients, so will update later, I just know I love it.

I think that if this restaurant ever figures out it's own marketing, it will be outstanding. I believe they have a first class sushi chef here, but maintaining a restaurant of this quality in the suburbs where people are used to eating a fast-food burger more often than not may be a challenge, particularly in this climate. I hope they make it.

Ninkimono

5790 Jarvis Avenue

Newark, CA 94560

510-793-2988

Price: Moderate - Expensive (as with tapas, depends on how much is ordered)

Dining time: Could easily get out in an hour

Table size: Adequate for food served