Eat the Street: Winter Fest 12/16/11

Decided to go to ETS and have a mini BP reunion with my frennies Skye T and Lei G :). I hardly get to see them because we all dont work together anymore :(Sorry Skye hope your having splendid times at hell without us lol.
None of us had been to an ETS event before so we were not totally sure of what to expect. All we knew is there was gonna be food so we were prepared to have a moww fest. We arrived there around 7 and found parking in the back lot where we assumed everyone else was parking. Like a minute after we park some lady tells us that they just announced theyre gonna start towing all the cars in the parking lot. Wtf? So she’s like yeah she’s moving her sister’s car and just got done moving hers. How nice of her to give us the towing warning but when we asked her um where did you park, she fully sprinted off lol. I’m thinking she didnt wanna give up her secret parking spot. Well whatevers we found another parking lot that had available parking and was closer to the event anyways. In your face lady! Just kidding, we were just happy we found parking :)
We crossed the street and walked through the gates and were kinda overwhelmed by all the food trucks. Where to start? That wasn’t very hard, we headed straight for the Unilocal booth like the true nerds that we are. Yay we got to see Em and Thom! and even had a photo op with the infamous Unilocalmas tree :). Yay Unilocalstick too which i used to bribe my little cousin with to join Unilocal the other day lol.
After we left the Unilocal booth we split up and hit the food spots. Turner went to some booth that was serving garlic shrimp, Lei went to get a Bacon wrapped hotdog and I went to get a bbq steak taco from Korean Fresh grill. The taco was pretty effen good, they were on the smaller size but the price was worth it. Lei loooooved her bacon wrapped hotdog and Turner the shrimp connoisseur freak seemed to enjoy her shrimp. Ok round two and we were back at it. This time we stopped at Momo burger and got an order of they’re spicy sweet potato fries. They were ok but not what we expected. I wish they had the garlic fries :(
Next we hit up Local Stop’s truck and ordered the Da King Kamehameha buger. all-​beef patty, kalua pork, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, swiss cheese and nalo greens encased in a malasada. There was too much action going on with that burger so i passed on tasting it. The frennie said it was good so I’ll take her word. I’m a weird eater, I like my burgers simple and if you seen that thing it was far from simple. Honestly it kinda scared me lol.
Grabbed a Spicy Ahi Pok’e bowl from Ono food and headed back to Momo Burger and ordered a kimchee burger. The Spicy Ahi was fresh and the it was a pretty big serving. It was ok and would have been way better if they used less ginger. The ginger in the spicy ahi blend was way too over whelming. Like eating raw ginger and I couldnt finish even a quarter of it. Of course I offered my friends but as soon as they tasted it, I could see that this Pok’e bowl was destined for the trash.
I waited almost 20 minutes for my Kimchee burger from Momo burger to be ready. I was expecting awesomeness because of all the great Unilocal reviews they got but honestly the burger was sub par. It was decent but nothing spectacular. A bit dry and not really Kimchee tasting at all. I shared that with the friends too lol
I ordered tamales from i cant seem to remember? I had a taste of one and it was ok but not like the tamale’s i crave from cali (I conveniently left them in Lei’s car lol but her husband seemed to enjoy them so they didnt go to waste).
By now we were ready to end our ETS experience with something yummy. So we decided to stalk Andrew over at All kine Icecream. We knew he was guaranteed to give us a happy ending before heading home. Non perverted happy ending, just had to clarify that for all you food pervs lol.
We found Andrew’s truck and he was pretty busy in there. We ordered the Strawberry Shortcake Sundae and the Devil Sundae. We had sampled these two deserts the weekend before at Unilocalmas and it was soooo good :) So damn good we didnt mind waiting 15 minutes to get our deserts. We were fricken elated when it was finally done. We took them and found a table asap and indulged in the yumminess. I will admit that when we were waiting, we bitched about how effen long does it take to put a piece of cake and ice cream on a plate? But we were being foolish and i take all the smack talk back! Andrew is an effen artist! lol seriously he makes some amazing creations and it was worth the wait. A perfect ending to our night :)
We looooooove Andrew :)))))))

Is it considered a biased review if I was also working at a stand here? lol. Hope ya’ll enjoyed the free samples of Chronic Ice Tea! Hehe.
Anyways, I enjoyed the event either way. Lots of new trucks, but the one truck that stood out the most for me was Street Frites. They were basically fresh potato fries, but they came with a variety of 15~ or so dipping sauces– i.e. Garlic Aioli, Bacon Jam, Spicy something and another. lol too many to remember. Everything Tastes Better Fried truck, was going off~ lines for days, the Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association did a few shows as well. That was pretty awesome, bringing us all some good luck for the new year of the DRAGON. I especially enjoyed the ice skating rink, that was really interesting, wish it could have been a little bigger, I felt very inclined not to go in there and be run over by children lol. But, at least all the kids looked like they had tons of fun! Thanks Unilocal Booth for the cool koozie and the neat-​O picture!

Street food culture is something we don’t have in America. In other countries, micro businesses that usually do one specialty item only, magically appear in the night life scene. Tempting your senses with the smoke and aromas and sounds of something good to eat that’s hand crafted and not from a pre portioned vacuum pack, heated in the microwave. In America we have the food truck craze going on, and Hawaii has joined in on the action.
Local food trucks serving plates, were the original plate lunch back in the day some 60 years ago. The concept of entrée, two scoops rice and macaroni salad for the working people where the trucks would park near, is a Hawaii phenomenon that did not and for the most part still does not exist on the mainland. You could say Hawaii had the creative food truck concept long before the mainland.
I have been going to our Eat the Street every month for the last year and enjoyed some great variety. Yes, there are still some unoriginal trucks serving «meatball» sandwiches made from costco bread and costco vacuum packed meatballs, but there are stand outs. The street frites stand gives a noble attempt, but unfortunately in the climate and logistics of the street, the oil could not get hot enough for the flash fry crispness that is indicative of frites (or Belgian fries to you). The array of sauces they serve are a mouth watering treat. At 4 bucks… why not, you get a choice of 3 sauces!
The Winter wonderland event had the most trucks and stands of the year. Not to mention the added family bonus of the ice skating rink. There is also face painting and balloon sculpting to keep the kids happy or for adults to wear a balloon hat to entice the ambience. The truck with the filipino style Fil-​cheese steak is a personal favorite over the last year, but high demand can sometimes create inconsistencey, such as undercooked peppers and onions, and a change of breads. Their adobo fries are a twist and well made and tasty.
I forget the name of the truck, but I think it’s the only one that serves bread pudding. Some of the tastiest bread pudding on the island… ono! The Italian beef truck makes a great play of this classic Chicago sandwich and is one of the only places to get it on the islands. Soul has been a perrenial presence at this event and others, serving honey fried chicken, ribs, black eyed peas, cornbread and specials with military precision, that makes me feel it is the most efficient truck out there. And the food is terriffic.
This last event, we were honored with the Unilocal booth that featured a strangely decorated moving Christmas tree. You had to be there. I wish Eat the streets participants and promoter the best for the coming New Year. I hope the events grow larger, and competition gets fierce. It’s the only way to bring the best out of people. As the food truck owners learn over time how best to produce there proud creations in the most profitable way possible.
One thing I was happy about, was this last event had enough garbage cans and the garbage nazi’s were not there… Joy! Really… you want to go truck to truck with just your two hands, so you need spots along the way to dispose your stuff. Not a centrally located place where your full hands have to determine what items go into what bin! Seriously… just as I thought I figured it out after several months of sttendance, I got reprimanded for throwing the plastic spoon in the non-‘food pile, because that particular spoon had a hole in it, and goes with the food garbage! #@!!!&% You!!! And sorry I missed scraping that last bit of rice before throwing my plate away… it’s garbage!
But all in all it has been a glorious year of eating and fun, looking forward to 2012!

Great event! The location was great and have lots of parking available near by. Special appearance with lion dance, which my 5-​months old daughter totally enjoyed. Took picture at the Unilocal booth with Emi. Saw the ice skating rink and snow globe.
LOTS and LOTS of food trucks. I had the fried spicy bomb from Hawaii’s Fried Musabi, spicy ahi bowl from Ono Food and grilled mahi mahi from Kois. All the food tasted great. There’s a tent with tables and chairs, but the place was just so packed with people that its hard to get a seat.

What a fun time! Sadly, I only had the chance to try the Korean Grill’s Korean style steak tacos before I got full. They were yummy! I also requested the super duper hot sauce which was delish and spicy as well. I took home a red velvet and a cookies and cream whoopie pie, (two for one sale), from Fairy Cakes… they were good!

Is it possible to load up on too much GOOD FOOD!!! we did the usual last night and consumed an unthinkable amount of food… was it worth it??? Yes. I would say my two favorite items at the event were the 1) Fried Spicy Bomb from Hawaii’s Fried Musubi truck and 2) the Kalua Pig Nachos. The Fried Spicy Bomb came with three pieces of fried chicken which almost rivaled the spicy bomb itself, nom nom nom. These are better than any friend chicken I had every had. The Kalua part of the Kalua Pig Nachos were so tender i almost died. Also, the sauce was cheesy and had a hint of sweetness which mixed things up a little… I always like a surprise =)
I also tried the Ono Pops, Cream dessert (Pineapple Li hing… super bomb), and the Thai Iced Tea from the Fried Musubi truck. My friends sampled the shrimp mac and cheese, kim chee fried rice, hot dog/​sliders, and smores… and they said everything was really good. Overall, we spent a little over 2 hours making our rounds and nomming hard core.
The only slightly negative thing is parking… we were told to park in the parking lot across the venue and when we arrive all ready to nom, a lady from the event told us they were going to start towing cars so we moved our car to a metered space on the street.
TIP: BRING WATER BECAUSE YOU WILL GET THISTY… they sell water and drinks at most of the stands but I would consider brining your own as it is FREE!

ETS Winter Fest Edition!
I was worried that this new location wouldn’t pan out, but thankfully it did. There was a lot of parking around the area and the lines at each truck were short to moderate, nothing insane like previous events.
Forgot the other names, but these are the two place I remember trying:
Momo Burgers: Bacon burger was not bad and the kim chee burger was a little plain.
Street Fittes: $ 5 for a cone of fries and your choice of 2 «signature» dipping sauces. I really liked it, simple, and there was a variety of pretty insane sauces. I ended up getting the bacon jam and vanilla shake (yeah, crazy).