#11: Street Meat Culture

One of the things I like about festivals is the high concentration of food booths in a small area. Contrary to mall food culture, in my experience, there's always been some degree of cultural identity with food trailers and booths that leaves one with the feeling "this is awesome and I can't get this anywhere else.

Austin, as of late has been banking on the trailer food culture. Or maybe it's because we're in a recession and they can't afford to lease a building. My honey plum forwarded me this blog on a pan Asian booth at the back of a bar on the East side of town. Everything looked good, I'll give it that credit. The beet fries were fabulous in both flavor (mildly sweet) and texture.

The pork buns were a scam. Seriously. It may not look like your typical Char Sui Bao - but it is. With cucumber. It's Chinese food in overpriced, "pan Asian" clothing. What sucked more was getting less and paying more for it. Really, to people who are actually amazed by this, go to a dim sum place and get Char Sui Baos and ask for some cucumber on the side.

The Curry Buns tasted like some odd kitchen experiment that my little sister could have crapped out. I think the main challenge with those is to achieve the crispy texture while not maintaining all the grease involved. Even then, the innards were not that impressive. You know the peanut sauce that comes with spring rolls? Slather that on a deep fried bun and top it with some of those greens that come with your Pho.

I'm not fond of the gourmet street meat movement. I'd imagine there's more discontent to come.

addendum:

I failed to mention that my great white pumpkin of a boyfriend has been around my family eating events long enough to discern what good Asian food is and even he agreed that East Side King was over-hyped. Next time, we're going to the trailer that blares out the tejano music. >:)