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Hobee's Oscar Breakfast

Oscar Food

I have friends who host an annual Oscar party which I look forward to going to every Oscar season. Sometimes folks dress up (I haven't yet but maybe next year), we play Oscar Bingo (cry winner, cry!) and of course we chow down on a big feast of Oscar related food. Mr. L and I try to contribute a food that references a past movie (we had a sausage pizza delivered reminiscent of Fast Time at Ridgemont High) or a current movie (Balloon Pops for Up). Normally we've seen most of the Best Picture nominees so it makes it easy to come up with some sort of Oscar food idea.

This year though, we've only seen one of the nominated movies...The Help...which meant a complete lack of knowledge about what kind of food might have shown up that we could duplicate. Yes, a Chocolate Pie with a, er, surprise, crossed my mind but I figured since pretty much everyone I know saw The Help, that there might be more than one Chocolate Pie showing up on the table. So I went on a search, looking for some ideas of possible foods I could bring to the Oscar Party.

Below is a list of ideas that I found (just in case, like me, you waited until the last minute). None of these are my original ideas so if you're looking for the recipe, just do a Google search like I did. Some are plays on the title of the movie, some are foods that might have been served in the town or era of a nominated movie, some were foods that were actually served or cooked in the movie.

THE ARTIST
Black and White Food (black and white cookies seem to be the trend)
Smoked Salmon Canapes
A Tart (for The Tartist)

THE DESCENDANTS
Ice Cream
Mai Tais
Slow-Cooker Kalua Pork on Hawaiian Rolls
The Crescendants (something made with crescent rolls)
Spam Mushibi
The Decendips (some sort of dip)
Any Hawaiian food

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Fig Newtons
New York Style Pizza
New York Cheesecake
Something Extremely Hot and Incredibly Crunchy
Extremely Cold & Incredibly Sweet
Extremely Green & Incredibly Salty
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Toast
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Roast
Any food that might normally be found in New York

THE HELP
Fried Chicken
Lemon Meringue Pie
Chocolate Pie (sans merde)
Deviled Eggs
Mini bite-sized Chocolate Filled Tarts
Luncheon salads made of aspic
Finger Sandwiches
Hamburger HELPer
Any food that might have been served in the 60's or in the South

HUGO
Croissants and Milk
Petit Pains au Chocolat

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Macaroons
Cheese plate
Quiche
Midnight in Pear-is (something with pears)
Mushrooms in Paris
Any French Food

MONEYBALL
Ballpark Franks
Peanuts in the shell
Beer (poured into paper cups)
Cotton Candy
Cookies or Cakepops frosted or decorated like baseballs
Honeyballs
Soft Baked Pretzels
Pigs in a Blanket
Boxes of Cracker Jacks
Ice Cream Malts
Popcorn
Meatball Sliders (Moneyball Sliders)
Garlic Fries
Twinkies
Meatballs in a crockpot with BBQ sauce (Moneyballs)
Billie Beane Dip
Any food that is shaped like a baseball, might be served at a ballpark

THE TREE OF LIFE
The Brie of Life
The Tea of Life
The Tree of Life (make a broccoli tree)
Pasta Salad starring Brad Pitted Olives
The Tree of Life Cereal

WAR HORSE
English pub style food
Recipes with Turnips (the families failed crop)
Apples and Oats Cookies (what the horse was fed)
Stout Braised Short Ribs
War Horse-Radish Roll Ups (recipe online)
Apple Pecan Crisp (made with apples and Oats)
Something made with War HorseTershire Sauce

Then of course there are foods that are nods to movies that were nominated in other categories:

Girl with the Chicken Hong Sue
Girl with the Pan Fried Tofu
The Girl with the Dragon Fondue
My Week With Marinated ______ (pick your food)
My Week With Maryland Crabs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Marshmallows
Tinker Tailor Soldier Pies
Tinker Tailor Soldier Fries
Turkey Taco Salsa Spy
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-ghetti
Hamsformers
Pies of the Planet of the Apes
Fries of the Planet of the Apes
Iron Ladyfingers
The Eggs Hangover Easy
Octopus In Boots
Souper 8
Chili Con Carnage
Rice of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Planet of the Grapes
The Ides of Margarine
Red Trail Mix
Gin and Tin Tin Tonics
Margarine Call
A Better Life Cereal
Albert Cobbs Salad
Rango Mango
Pina Colada

Yes, some of the above are pretty esoteric and if you don't know the movie or haven't seen it you might not get the reference. I'm sure the day after the Oscars, you'll be able to find many more cool takes on food that was served at the many Oscar parties that will be held tonight.

What am I making? I've narrowed it down to bringing a dish from a movie that I figure most folks at the party probably haven't seen. If it turns out, I'll post it here later this week.

Feel free to add any of your ideas, or links to Oscar food you made and served in the comments below!

 

Christmas Cookbook Bonanza

Since I collect cookbooks, I love getting them as Christmas presents. Every year I usually find one or two under the Christmas tree. This year though, was an absolute bonanza!

I received new cookbooks, old cookbooks, used cookbooks and pamphlets that I know must have had a special place in someones collection. Several had been on my want list for some time (I think my Amazon wish list of cookbooks is about fourteen pages long).

But my favorite this year, which came from my Aunt and Uncle in Oregon, wasn't a true cookbook...it was an envelope which had some Nut Tree recipes inside which brought back a ton of memories of my childhood.

Now unless you had to drive Hwy 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento years ago, or lived near Davis, California, you probably have no idea what Nut Tree is or actually was. Started in 1921 as a roadside fruit stand, the Nut Tree became a must stop on the way to and from my Grandmas. It had a restaurant, bakery, a gift shop, toy shop, giant wooden animals to play on and a little train that you could line up to take rides around the area.

Now as a kid, it was always fun to stop at the Nut tree for cookies, riding the train and climbing on the animals. But it was the restaurant that always made me feel special. With my Grandma living in Davis, if we wanted a "grown up meal" (mostly lunch for us as kids but there were some dinners) you got dressed up and went to the Nut Tree Restaurant. Supposedly the restaurant was one of the first places to serve "California Cuisine" which to me back then meant lots of wonderful fresh fruit and vegetable plates. Standing in line on the ramp I was always full of anticipation at dining with the adults and it was always a special treat to be able to eat there.

Unfortunately Nut Tree as I knew it, closed down in 1996. There is currently a "Nut Tree Plaza" where the old place stood, which is nothing like the original...it's now full of chain retail shops and restaurants that have none of the charm of the old Nut Tree.

I love the fact that this simple envelope of recipes (16 all together) could bring back so many wonderful memories, not only of time spent with family and friends as a kid, but of wonderful meals  and food (anyone remember the pink chocolate covered strawberries they used to sell?).

I plan on getting out these little recipe cards this summer and making myself a giant Nut Tree meal. In the meantime, I think the plethora of cookbooks I received over the holidays will keep me knee deep in new recipes to try!

Operation Pantry Project

Last year, during the month of January, I made some cooking resolutions. To be quite honest, I wrote them down and then completely forgot about them. Same thing happened the year before...I even posted the resolutions up on the blog. If I actually followed through on any of the cooking resolutions I've made in the last few years, it's probably been by accident, not a conscious effort to keep up with the resolution. So maybe this year, I thought, it's best that I make no New Year cooking promises.

But in looking back on those resolutions (haven't tried Beer Can Chicken yet or made biscuits from scratch) one kind of stuck out for me...Better Use of Leftover Fridge Ingredients. I've actually made a good effort the past couple of years to not let ingredients or leftovers in the fridge become science experiments and end up in the garbage can. We have regular "fridge tapas" nights were we have bits and pieces of what I might find in the fridge. Mr. L and I will split the last four jalapeno olives left in the jar.  A portion of lasagna that wouldn't feed one gets divided between us. 3 slices of salami left? Dab some cream cheese on them, add a sliver of pepperocini or jalapeno and yes, that's part of our "tapas" dinner.

Alas, this resolution didn't seem to make it to my pantry (or freezer for that matter). You see, as a "food enthusiast" I kinda collect foods.  I can't go on vacation without finding interesting local foods that need to come home with me. Visiting the Liberace Museum in Vegas? Oh, they sell Liberace Lemonade, I must buy! I need a bottle of Kyles Golden Syrup to make a dessert but they only sell them in cases? Well, I can figure out what to do with those extra 5 bottles right? Oh look at that, ostrich jerky, we should so try that! It doesn't help that grocery stores are full of "bright shiny objects" as my husband calls them. To most folks that might mean diamond bracelets or Jimmy Choo shoes. For me bright shiny objects are interesting food products that just need to be bought because someday I'll figure out what to make with them. So my pantry is full of strange shaped pastas, canned pumpkin because there was going to be a shortage (the fact that I rarely use canned pumpkin didn't enter my mind), three different colors of quinoa, gifts of salts of the world received as a Christmas present, strange flower scented honeys, gourmet mustards, boxes of Ina Gartens mixes picked up at Williams Sonoma and I even think there might be a jar of sauce from Targets Giada promotion.

Mr. L tried to put away some items in the pantry recently and I realized after he stood there for a minute that he was probably calculating the amount of time it would take him to pull everything out and rearrange the items just to fit one more in. I countered the exasperated sigh I heard from him with the suggestion that we play a little game with our pantry. Every week, he gets to pull an ingredient out from the pantry and I'll figure out what to cook with it. I saw a light in his eyes. Yes, he could pull something out of the pantry and put in that one little item that he was holding in his hand and escape. Thus began Operation Pantry Project.

I'm going to use "Pantry" here to incorporate more than the jumble of goods you see in the photo here (there is another shelf that isn't pictured by the way, and all those shelves are a good two feet deep). I'm going to include the canned goods shelf and the oil and vinegar shelf under our kitchen island, the freezer in the garage (which is full) and the, ahem, for lack of a better description, overflow pantry shelves also located in the garage. Oh and some of the stuff stuck in the shelves on the refrigerator door. This is going to be a grand undertaking indeed.

I think this project will also help me get out of a bit of the cooking funk I've been in. When you have a gazillion, too many, a lot of cookbooks you are trying to cook from, figuring out which recipe to make can be a bit daunting. Now that I know I'm going to have to cook that 8-pound pork shoulder Mr. L just picked from the freezer or that I will have to make something with that jar of organic flower blossom triple filtered honey, it might be easier to find recipes to coincide in that stack of overflowing cookbooks.

There is of course, a slight problem to this and that is the accumulation of more goods that need to go into the pantry. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So what does this all mean? Well, the first thing I need to do is go through everything and toss any items that have expired. I'll take foods that I know I'll just never get to or at least not before they expire and donate them to the local food bank or homeless shelter. I'm sure my coworkers will be gifted with a few items (will I ever really use that can of Liberace Hot Cocoa Mix?).  I'd like to suggest that maybe my readers do the same. Take a bit of time this weekend to clean out your pantry. Get rid of stuff that's old and donate that stuff that you know you'll just never cook with to a place that can put it to good use. And then pick something from that cupboard or freezer that hasn't seen the light of day in a while and make a feast!

The Kispy Kreme Burger at Mojo Burger

I've been hearing about a burger made with a Krispy Kreme donut as the "bun" for years. Also known as a Luther Burger, this treat has been on my radar for years. Alas, most of the Krispy Kreme restaurants closed around here during the low-carb craze. You can though, find Krispy Kreme donuts pretty much at every grocery store in the area...boxes of the cake or glazed or even donut holes sit on tables near the entrance of even gourmet grocery places around here.

But cold, old, glazed donuts don't do much for me. I prefer them warm right out of the oven. My favorite  donut actually comes from Stan's Donut Shop in Santa Clara. There is nothing like a hot, warm, glazed donut fresh out of their fryer. Seriously, if you are in the area, you need to check them out. But a Krispy Kreme donut? It's been ages since I've had one.

Cue to the end of last year when I saw that one of our local burger joints, Mojo Burgers, was having a special. $5 for a Krispy Kreme Burger. Really? It kinda helped that there was a Mojo's right near where we lived. A Krispy Kreme Burger? Of course we had to check it out!

When Mr. L and I placed our order, we decided to get just one Krispy Kreme Burger to split between the two of us. Because really, how good could it be? It's kind of like the old trick where when you cook something new for guests you have the number to a local pizza delivery place on hand just in case. Just in case the donut burger sucked, we ordered a second "normal" burger to split between us.

And then the Krispy Kreme Burger arrived. And it had cheese! Fer cryin out loud, cheese and donuts?  Cheese and donuts and bacon and hamburger? This was going to be awful! So we split the donut burger in half and each of us tentatively took a bite. Then we took another. Then another. Then we both realized the other should have bought their own damn Krispy Kreme Burger! Yep, Mr. L and I are indeed fans of this rather strange donut burger.

Now before you cry foul, think about it for a minute. The donut is just like having some maple syrup on your bacon or sausage when you get pancakes at your local breakfast place. Or say the sweetness of having caramelized onions on your burger. And the cheese? I think it's just in there to counteract the sweetness of the donut, though next time we'd probably get the burger without cheese. But the donut burger as a whole? It honestly didn't taste half bad. Would I get it again? Sure (of course maybe after I've run a marathon to work off the calories). But it was worth trying at least once, so if you have a chance, go for it.

Alas, Mojo Burgers no longer offers this amazing hamburger treat. But all is not lost to anyone in the San Jose area. You see, I hear a new Krispy Kreme will be opening up at The Plant soon (between Wing Stop and Five Guys)...which will give each of us a chance to make our own delicious Krispy Kreme Burgers! Parties at my house!

Red Posole

Though I've previously bookmarked recipes for Posole on blogs and in recipe books, I've never made it before (or eaten it for that matter). The magazine I got this recipe from, Skinny Slow Cooker (a Better Homes and Garden Special Interest Publication that says display until March 13, 2012), had two recipes for Posole...Green Chili-Pork Posole and Red Posole. The only reason I made the red version first is that I had some pork shoulder in the freezer and figured this recipe was a good use of it.

I have no idea how authentic the recipe or flavors in this dish are, but we loved it. The fact that I could just toss everything together in the crock-pot and have a wonderful dinner when I got home made this dish even better. I did cut up the pork and onions the night before and measured out the spices. Got up in the morning, tossed everything in the crock-pot and came home to a wonderful smelling house! Do remember that you don't add the cabbage or enchilada sauce until half an hour before the dish is done (I almost put them in at the start!).

RED POSOLE
(Skinny Slow Cooker)

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch-cubes
2 15-ounce cans hominy, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 14.5-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce
Lime wedges
Fresh pineapple wedges (optional)

In a 4 to 5 quart slow cooker combine pork, hominy, onion, green chiles, chile powder, oregano, garlic, and cumin. Pour broth over mixture in cooker.

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 9 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 4 1/2 hours.

If using low-heat setting, turn cooker to high-heat setting. Stir in cabbage and enchilada sauce. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.

To serve, garnish with lime wedges and, if desired, pineapple wedges. Makes 8 servings at 279 calories a serving.

Note: I used white hominy because that was the only kind I found. I used a large carton of chicken broth that was not low-sodium and had an ounce or two more broth than called for.

Note: I cooked the Posole on high for 9 hours.

Note: I did not add the pineapple (pineapple?) but I did add a quick spritz of lime just before serving which brightened the flavors a bit.

Definitely make this again. Loved the crunch of the cabbage as, adding it late, it didn't get all mushy. Though this works fine on it's own, I can see serving this over rice (which my Mom did and loved) or maybe even polenta.

There are a ton of great sounding crock pot recipes in this magazine, all low calorie which is great this time of year!

 

Meat Sauce Over Rice Stick Noodles

When my Mom and I decided to make a Filipino dish called Pansit for Thanksgiving, we set out to find the correct noodles to go in the dish. It's been a while since we've made Pansit and we weren't sure exactly what noodles to buy as all the packaging seems to have changed. We found some "Oriental Style Vermicelli" at a Korean grocery store. The ingredients were listed as 'Mung Bean Flour and Starch'. They looked like the noodles we usually use...where you just put them in really hot water to soften up.

Not wanting to wait until the holiday to make sure we had bought the correct noodles, I tried to find a recipe in one of my cookbooks that could incorporate the noodles. I found this recipe for Meat Sauce Over Rice Stick Noodles in the Martin Yan Quick & Easy cookbook. The recipe called for Rice Stick Noodles but I figured the noodles I had would work.

Alas, these noodles were the kind you had to boil for 5-6 minutes to be usable. Yes, it was amusing watching me stand over the noodles in a bowl full of hot water for ten minutes trying to make them pliable. I finally boiled some water and tossed them in for a minute to get the noodles right consistency.

Other than having to deal with the noodles issue, this recipe was fairly quick to put together. You do have to let the ingredients marinade for a bit, but the meat sauce comes together quickly and you can be cooking the noodles while prepping the meat side of this dish.

Great flavor in such a small package. Not serving the meat sauce on the requested noodles wasn't a problem as Martin Yan says that it can be served over wheat noodles or steamed rice (I'm thinking even thin spaghetti noodles would work). Yan also said you could add some rich broth or pickled vegetables to the recipe. I found the meat sauce had a wonderful deep flavor and made a nice comforting dish while I panicked about not finding the right noodles for the Pansit dish!

MEAT SAUCE OVER RICE STICK NOODLES
(from Martin Yan's Quick & Easy)

Marinade:
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon cornstarch

3/4 pound ground pork, beef, or chicken

Sauce:
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
4 cups cooked rice stick noodles
Chopped fresh cilantro and green onions for garnish

To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the ground meat and stir to distribute evenly. Let stand for 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Place a stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Add the oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the garlic and the 2 green onions and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Add the ground meat and stir-fry until browned and crumbly, about 3 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, about 30 seconds.

Divide the cooked noodles among 4 large soup bowls. Ladle about 3/4 cup of the meat sauce over the noodles in each bowl. Garnish with the cilantro and green onions to serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Note: Per Yan, it's important to use dark soy sauce as it adds an intensity you can't get with regular soy sauce. I found some in my local grocery store and at a local Asian market.

Note: I used pork. I used dry sherry.

Note: I don't own a conventional wok. I own a Pampered Chef wok looking non-stick pan. It works fine  for most dishes like this I stir-fry.

Really nice flavor to this. Lots of ingredients, but once they are measured out everything comes together pretty quick. I'd definitely make this again using any type of noodle I happened to have in the pantry (or even rice).

 

Amaretto-Baked French Toast with Pecans

We don't get too fancy on weekend breakfasts. Fried eggs and bacon; omelets; English muffins with jam and, on rare occasions, French toast or waffles. Normally if I'm making French Toast I have to make them in batches...the first batch Mr. L starts eating while I'm making the second batch for me (yes, you can put the first batch in the oven to keep warm while you make subsequent batches but it's just not the same to me). I'd much rather sit down to the table at the same time and have a wonderful breakfast with my husband.

This recipe fit the bill. I loved the convenience of just serving this hot out of the oven and both Mr. L and I digging in together. It was simple to put together, had great flavor and would even be nice enough to serve to guests.

I did make the mistake of putting some of the bread into the bowl as I was cutting it up. Which meant that the first pieces of bread really soaked up the batter and once I started to "mix" the ingredients there wasn't a lot of batter to mix in. Some of the bread was then dryer than others. I'd put the bread in all at once to get the bread more evenly battered.

Though I usually eat my french toast with no syrup (just butter and sugar) this really needed syrup to bring everything together. It was a bit dry (I think that's because some of the bread crumbs got no love from the batter) but that could also be I cooked it too long (I was using a gas oven in the mountains and things didn't brown like I thought they would).

This recipe came from a wonderful blog called Sweet Paul. He puts out an online seasonal magazine and this recipe came from the Sweet Paul Magazine Spring 2010 edition (you can buy printed copies...they are so beautiful you'll want to!). The photos on the blog are amazing and not only are wonderful recipes featured but great decorating ideas for the home are included.

 

AMARETTO-BAKED FRENCH TOAST WITH PECANS
(Sweet Paul Magazine Spring 2010)

3 eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons amaretto
1 loaf brioche bread, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon butter (for greasing baking dish)
1/2 cup pecans
Maple syrup, to serve

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and amaretto. Add brioche cubes and let mixture stand (soak) for five minutes.

Spoon into a 9" x 12" well-greased baking dish; sprinkle with pecans.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden.

Pour maple syrup over bread and serve. Makes four servings.

Note: The recipe also states that you could use challah bread instead of the brioche.

Note: I was able to find a fresh loaf of brioche bread at my local Lunardi's.

Note: Cut up the bread and add it to the batter all at once so the bread evenly soaks up the mixture.

Note: A little amaretto in your coffee while you eat this French Toast is heaven.

Definitely will make this again and I'll serve it for breakfast the next time I have overnight visitors.

Food Truck - Chairman Bao

A few years ago when the food truck obsession hit in this area in full force, there were only a handful of trucks you could find here in the South Bay. Most of the trucks that were getting notoriety, were those that were found up in San Francisco. One of the more popular ones I constantly heard about was the Chairman Bao truck.  Supposedly inspired by the street food of Asia, the Chaiman Bao food truck was reported to serve food that was "bold, spicy, unique, fast and delicious".

Controversy aside*, and a big fan of pork buns, the Chairman Bao truck quickly went to the top of my list of trucks to try. Alas, it doesn't come down to the San Jose area often. The last time the truck was down this way at I time I could get to it, I waited in line almost an hour before bailing and getting something else to eat (you can read about that here). But the Chairman Bao truck has stayed on my radar with me hoping to eventually give it a try.

A month or so ago, while returning from a morning event in Mt. View, Mr. L and I started discussing the subject of lunch. I remembered that there was going to be a food truck gathering somewhere in San Jose that day (Moveable Feast), and after a quick check on Twitter, I found out that Movable Feast was going to be near Garden City which was on our way home (well, not directly, but not so far out of our way).

Imagine my surprise and delight when we parked and found that one of the trucks there that day was the Chairman Bao truck! Imagine my horror when I realized that though the other four trucks were open and serving customers, the Chairman Bao truck was still not open for business! Yikes, visions of another long wait flashed through my mind. So Mr. L and I went and got some food from a few of the other trucks before heading to the Bao truck to wait in line.

And yes good things come to those who wait.

The Bao truck serves two types of "buns:

The "Baked Bun" is a "light and fluffy hamburger-sized bun with a lightly sweet golden-brown crust and soft center, overflowing with unique fillings - perfect for a meal".

The "Steamed Bun" is a "smaller taco-sized fluffy, white, clamshell-shaped bun with a slightly sweet flavor and doughy texture - perfect for a snack or get 3-4 for a meal"

Since we'd just had food from several different trucks (all not bad by the way), we decided we needed to stick to the snack buns so we ordered our buns steamed.

The fillings offered that day were: 

Muscovy Duck Confit with green papaya, pickled red onion and mint for $4.50 (steamed only)... (I understand Duck isn't always on the menu).

Tender Pork Belly with Pickled Daikon (steamed $3.25, Baked $6.00)

Braised Pork with Savoy Cabbage and Preserved Mustard Seeds (steamed $3.25, Baked $6.00)

They also had some chicken and tofu options but HELLO it's me, you think I'd get past ordering anything but the pork? So we ordered one duck (since duck is a favorite of Mr. L's), one braised pork and two pork belly.

Now mind you, I'd been waiting to try these for a while. And I'd basically already eaten lunch,which made these buns more, er, after lunch? I shouldn't have worried. The pork buns were actually quite tasty. The meat was tender and flavorful though a bit much on an already full stomach. We preferred the pork belly over the braised pork...more a taste and texture thing I think. The veggies (pickled daikon and cabbage) went nicely with their respective porks. I probably won't order the braised pork again though as other pork offerings from other trucks seemed better. I'd definitely order the pork belly again because, well, it's pork belly!

But the true star of Chairman Bao? The Muscovy Duck Confit Buns. Moist, tender, tasty. You know when Mr. L and I wish we had chosen the duck over anything made of pork that it has to be good. It just all seemed to work together, the favor, the texture, the toppings. We would definitely order the duck buns again though I'm not sure they offer them on a regular basis.

Will I go out of my way to eat at The Chairman Bao truck again? Probably not. But if I happen to stop by one of the food truck get togethers that I frequent every now and then, and the Chairman Bao truck happens to be there, I'll definitely get in line for that truck first and get me some duck and pork belly steamed buns!

*There seems to be some discussion on the legality of this truck using the "Chairman Bao" name. I believe since our visit, the truck is now just named "The Chairman".

Note: It looks like prices have gone up at least 25 cents per item.

 

 

Merry Christmas