Wow, You’ve Got Something There! – Hot Smoked Salmon from Kaboom Box and the Art of Conversation!

Each year new food carts are added to the Downtown Vancouver landscape, increasing the variety and choice us food lovers have.

Despite the new purveyors, I always return to one cart - The Kaboom Box (an oldie but a goodie).  This cart was apart of the first wave of licenses issued by the city and has been at it’s location on Granville street between Robson and Georgia since the inception of Vancouver’s successful street food program. 

There are two things about the Kaboom Box that I look forward to each time I visit: their hot smoked salmon and the conversation.

I will help lost tourists and individuals navigate the streets of the downtown, providing advice when asked specific questions.  However, I will admit I am one of those aloof Vancouverites that aren’t readily willing to strike up 20 minute conversations with random strangers on the side walk or on public transit.  Amongst my friends, I’m can become a windbag when talking about food or hockey but out in public I clam up.

Normally at a food cart, I order, step aside and wait for my food quietly.  For whatever reason, that didn’t quite happen at the Kaboom Box 3 years ago.  Owner Andy and chef Brian are very friendly folks, the charismatic types.  They are eager to answer any questions you have about their menu and are very outgoing.  

The next thing I know I’m engaged in a 5 minute talk about the Canucks (I think I was wearing a jersey that day) with them.  Upon each subsequent visit, if the boys aren’t busy serving other customers we discuss general topics like the weather, the street cart program, salmon, current events and of course the Vancouver Canucks.  The photo below is from the Kaboom Box website, Andy is in the red apron and Brian in his chef attire.

I will admit I learned quite a bit about the street food program from speaking with Andy and Brian and it made each visit better than if I just silently waited for my food.  So much so I try out my conversation skills at various restaurants and food carts and it has yield a more rewarding experience. 

Of course, these Kaboom Box conversations would not occur at all if their smoked salmon weren’t so tasty.

The salmon is smoked on the cart.  It is smoky, salty and sweet which permeates the entire piece of fish while still retaining that distinct salmon taste. 

Normally I don’t like my salmon cooked well done because it often dries out by the time it reach that level of doneness.  However in the case of the Kaboom Box smoked salmon it is still moist and tender.  Sometimes, you will bite into a pocket of salmon fat which just enhances the richness and overall tastiness of the piece of fish.

There are two ways to enjoy the salmon: in burger form or in their house salad.

I usually go for the burger combo.  Sandwiched between a toast whole wheat bun is the salmon, a mustardy napa cabbage slaw (also contain red cabbage and carrots) and a chipotle mayo.  All the ingredients work well.  The slaw gives the burger a burst of flavour and crunchy texture.  The chipotle mayo gives the ensemble a bit of spiciness.

The fries are similar to MacDonald’s fries in their thinness but are much crispier.

In comparison, the house salad (not pictured) is a lighter and more basic way to enjoy the salmon.  The tasty salmon sits on salad greens, a few cranberries, almond slivers and is dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette.

Either menu item is great way to enjoy Kaboom Box’s signature smoked salmon.  I look forward to returning to this food cart for my salmon fix and to discuss all the changes that are going to happen to the Vancouver Canuck this coming offseason.  We might even be talking about the dismissal of coach AV this week.

Since Kaboom Box is a food truck, here’s their website and twitter account so you can better keep track of its location and menu offerings.

http://www.thekaboombox.com

https://twitter.com/TheKaboomBox

Wow, You’ve Got Something There! – The Taste of the West Coast from The Crab King

Every so often, in addition to memorable tastes, words in amusing sequences form in my consciousness and remain with me for days.  They flit and flutter in my head.  Often, it is just one witty phrase that perfectly describes a meal I’ve had.  However, for reasons unbeknownst to me (maybe it was the beautiful day in which I enjoyed my meal), my recent visit to the Crab King spawned so many neat word combinations that it naturally formed a poem.

So for your enjoyment (hopefully), rhyming verses about a seafood shack.

I sought quiet respite in a land far away,
which looks more once upon a time, than present day.

Heartbreak!  My Canucks, lead by Cory,

went due south but could not claim glory.

I moved, with bright sunshine casting a warming glow,

forward on wooden planks to my target below.

Nestled among sea faring vessels,

a shack serving clams, crabs and mussels.

A bounty of seafood, a west coast feast I seek!

A crab boil, much cheaper at home, one might critique. 

I retort, try things once to gather,

grand stories to tell one another.

Waiting, we watched the murky brown water lapping

around the still hulls of trawlers not out working.

Eager to make tunes of cracking sounds,

our cooked meal arrives we pounce like hounds.

A whole Dungeness crab sits regally on top.

Once extracted, its meat is firm with a sweet pop.

Delicious is this prepared fresh crab,

fishing from its shell, more meat I grab.

Clams and mussels, opened wide, adorn the platter.

They are tender and plump, great with garlic butter.

They flavoured the cooking water used,

maybe parsley and garlic, I mused.

Two skewers of grilled seafood were also present:

A white fish, salmon and shrimp but skill was absent.

Chewy and dry, too long on the grill,

the cubed morsels were not a big thrill.

First crab, then bivalves are the tasty attraction

but corn, spuds and shrimp round out the presentation.

Laughter echoes, as errant shells fly

from clumsy use of tools we rely.

Needing a recess within greater Vancouver,

I found it near a pier by the Fraser River.

With the tasty crab by the Crab King,
I feel a happiness renewing.

Wow, You’ve Got Something There! – I love Peppadews!

There are restaurants I will never be able to faithfully review since I won’t be able to eat much at them.  I can’t handle spicy foods and it’s simply not a case of developing tolerance.  I tried that - the chillies overwhelm my prescription heartburn medicine and I got insomnia for days due to severe acid reflux.  Never again!

So I’m resigned to fact I will never be able to eat cool sounding capsicums like:

- The Scotch Bonnet

- The Ghost Pepper OR

- The Facing Heaven Pepper (I know it’s called that because the end of pepper grow up facing the sky but sometimes I honestly think it got it’s name from the fact your face is facing the heavens as you have passed out from just eating a few a these Hot Hot peppers.)

It’s really unfortunate as the trend in Chinese cuisine in Vancouver is the spicier cuisines.  New restaurants featuring traditional Szechuan, Hunan & Beijing foods are appearing to feed the hungry from the wave of Chinese immigrants from Mainland China.  (If the spicier Chinese cuisines are something that interests you, I recommend this article from wisemonkey.ca, http://wisemonkeys.ca/2013/04/kingsway-vancouvers-new-spice-route/)

Not only do I miss out on these exciting new eats, the closest veggie pepper I get to consume is the pedestrian Bell Pepper.  However I think I found a cool non hot pepper to call my own.  I introduce the Peppadew! 

This little sweet pepper hails from South Africa and is a type of Capsicum baccatum (thanks Wikipedia). They are the size of cherry tomatoes and are pickled. Peppadew is the brand name, similar to how acetaminophen is almost exclusively known by its brand name, Tylenol.

The peppers themselves are sweet with sour tang from the pickling and slight hint of heat.  These peppers are pickled to reduce the their spiciness and this version is the only kind I’ve seen commercially available for purchase.

I first discovered these exotic (at least to me) peppers, on my trips to the Dirty Apron Deli.  Peppadews top the crab & shrimp salad baguette that is freshly made upon order.  In addition to the already mentioned ingredients there is also avocado and cilantro to complete the ensemble.

The baton like bread is crusty but give way to a spongy interior.  The crab and shrimp is mixed with minced parsley, red onions and mayo.  Although you can tell it’s not freshly shelled crab meat, both it and the shrimp have that distinct sweet with a slight briny seafood taste.  In addition to the creamy mayo, the avocado adds another level richness.

With the exception of the either love it or hate it cilantro (which added some texture), the overall sandwich is quite mild and understated in taste.  The Peppadews added the most flavour.  Its burst of sweet and sour added a need punch to the sandwich.

These South African peppers are what make the sandwich for me.

I look forward to seeing how else Peppadews can be used in cooking beside being a tasty condiment (stuffed would be cool in a tapas restaurant, just saying).

PS: Is there a name for this phenomenon, the one where once you become aware of something, you spot them everywhere.  Once I discovered Peppadews, I’ve seen them everywhere, including the deli section at Safeway.

Food Rumble: Downtown Fish Tacos

What is one to do when two eateries, literally located next to one another, are serving almost the exact menu items?  Well, if you are me: I narrowed my eyes, shifted my gaze the between the two competitors and thought ….

Welcome to the latest installment of Food Rumble!

I love fish tacos whether they are the Baja style utilizing battered and deep fried fish or the healthier grilled fish.  I was actually very surprised to see that both Feastro the Rolling Bistro and the Tacofino taco truck (sometimes parked side by side to each other near the art gallery) offer almost identical Baja style and tuna tataki grilled fish tacos.

A comparison of downtown fish tacos would not be complete without including La Taqueria's pescado taco to this rumble. 

When it comes to fish tacos, for me, the fish has the star!  Everything else so be they to support the Fish and not take away from it.  So let’s see how our contenders did.

Contender #1 - Feastro the Rolling Bistro (They also have a location by the Art Gallery)

1)Baja style fish taco:

Feastro uses a six-inch flour tortilla as a base for all their tacos.  A single piece of Red Snapper bathed in a chickpea batter is used.  The offering is finished with a tomato & star anise chutney, shaved cabbage, tikka masala yogurt and hand cut salsa on top. 

I felt the fish was lost amongst the ingredients in this taco.  The batter yielded a crispy piece of fish but I felt it needed to be even crunchier to stand up to the wet salsa, yogurt, and cabbage.  The flavour of the snapper also didn’t stand up well to the bolder tastes of the other ingredients, especially the tanginess of the salsa and the star anise in the chutney.  The fish just didn’t work in this taco - it needed to be meatier and much more crunchy.

2) Non Deep Fried Fish Taco:

Feastro’s Tuna Taco was essentially a fusion of Japanese ingredients like Tuna Tataki, wakame, pickled ginger, tobiko and bonito flakes in a taco.  In addition to the Japanese ingredients there was shaved cabbage.  Unlike the deep fried fish taco, the single piece of grilled albacore tuna stood out.  The tuna tataki was grilled on the outside, but raw on the inside.  You could taste the charring from the grill and the creaminess of the tuna. 

You could taste all the components, which lent a different taste and texture to the taco.  The only thing I really couldn’t taste was the bonito flake. However, I felt some of the ingredients with stronger flavours like the wakame and pickled ginger overwhelmed the Tuna at times. As a result the taco was good but could be better.

Contender # 2 – Tacofino Cantina

1)Baja style fish taco:

Tacofino also uses a six-inch flour tortilla as a base for all their tacos.  In this taco you got two pieces of deep fried ling cod done in a tempura style, shredded cabbage, salsa and chipotle mayo.

Since they were prepared in chunks, the deep fried ling cod held its own in this taco.  It was crunchy and flavourful even with the presence of the tomato heavy salsa.  The cabbage gave this taco a little more texture but the star of the show was the fish.  This was a well executed Baja style fish taco.

2) Non Deep Fried Fish Taco:

Much like the Feastro version, I was concerned with all the ingredients in the Tacofino Tuna Ta-Taco.  It contained 2 pieces of tuna tataki (grilled alabacore tuna), a soy dressing, sesame, wakame, pickled ginger, wasabi mayo, shaved cabbage and salsa. 

This taco was a mess.  Although the tuna was prepared perfectly, the soy dressing overwhelmed everything.  All you could taste was the extremely salty dressing, hints of the tuna and pickled ginger.  All the other flavours that could have been in this taco were lost.  In addition, I felt the texture was a little off.  Everything in the taco felt mushy including the cabbage, which was strange. 

Contender #3 – La Taqueria

1) Non Deep Fried Fish Taco

La Taqueria is the only contender that uses a corn tortilla, which are half the size of the flour version used by Tacofino & Feastros.  Unlike the flavourless flour renditions that simply serve as a vessel for the fillings, the corn tortilla adds a subtle roasted sweet corn taste.

The filling for the Pescado taco is made with a white fish in the zarandeado technique.  The zarandeado method is a traditional fish preparation hailing from the Pacific coast of Mexico.  The whole fish is split into 2, marinated (usually with soy sauce and other spices), sometimes brushed with mayo and then grilled.  Not sure if La Taqueria follow the technique faithfully but the fish tasted sweet, creamy and salty with a little bit of spiciness. 

The taco was top with a salsa, slices of radish, a few shreds of cabbage and thinly julienned white strips, which I think were diakon radish (not 100% sure).  The salsa provided tartness to the taco while the other vegetables provided a crunchy texture.  I really like this fish taco as it was flavourful without being complicated.

FOOD RUMBLE CONCLUSIONS:

After trying all these fish tacos, Tacofino’s Baja style deep fried taco was the rumble winner hands down.

Between the two Tuna Tataki tacos, Feastro’s was the better executed as the ratio ingredients used worked better and allowed all the components to be tasted. 

However, in the non-deep fried fish taco group La Taqueria’s Pescado taco was the best.  I felt the 2 two tuna tataki tacos from both trucks used too many ingredients that often competed with one another and the wonderful albacore tuna was not the star. 

It seems both eateries wanted to do a Japanese fusion taco to appeal to Vancouverites’ love of Japanese cuisine and as a result crammed all the Japanese ingredients that could get their hands. 

In this case, less would have been more (lose the wakame, tobiko and bonito) and that’s why I preferred the Pescado taco.  The zarandeado style fish was the star and all the other ingredients were complimentary and served a purpose.

Wow, You’ve Got Something There! – Wraps from Mangal Kiss

The weather in Vancouver is dreadful between the months of November to March.  As a result many of the street food carts go on hiatus during this time, since no one wants to wait for their food in the bone chilling rain. 

However once the cherry blossoms and tourists appear with the warmer weather of April, the transient food sellers return.  In the case of Mangal Kiss, they went through a metamorphosis during their absence and returned to the street with a newly painted food cart.  Bye-bye tin can, hello larger cart with a snazzy awning and a new beige colour scheme.

I dearly missed Mangal Kiss during the winter months.  I feel their wraps represent what a lot of Vancouverites are looking for in good food: fresh and healthy ingredients prepared in a tasty manner.  Although they do a great job of grilling their meats, the highlights of their wraps are all the veggies they load into the wrap.  It’s like a salad you can hold in your hand and feel good about for making such a healthy but yummy lunch choice.

It seems I was not alone in appreciating the food from this cart on Georgia Street.  There was a queue of people waiting for their order when I arrived and they had sold out many of menu items.  Fortunately for me, they still had their lamb kebab wrap available, which is my favorite.

All the wraps use the Persian bread called Taftoon (a seasoned flour leaven bread that is traditionally cooked in a clay oven). It’s somewhat similar to pita bread but softer and hefty enough to hold all the ingredients in.

The lamb kebab was made with lamb, onion and parsley.  The kebabs were placed on the grill only when ordered, had a distinct lamb flavour, were seasoned well and had a slight spicy kick. 

In addition to the lamb that was prepared expertly, the wrap comes with a large volume of fresh and diverse array of tasty vegetables.   No iceberg lettuce here.  For the lamb wrap, there is thinly sliced radishes & cucumbers, gourmet salad greens, tabbouleh, hummus and a tangy white dressing.

On a second visit I wanted to have their chicken wrap, which comes with different ingredients for the wrap.  However, they had already sold out of the chicken skewers and they ran out of the Taftoon bread.  Instead, they offered me a Beef platter, which consisted of all the ingredients of the chicken/beef wrap but served like a salad instead.  In the end, it worked out for me because it allowed me to photograph all the fresh vegetarian ingredients in a neater fashion.

When I open the take out container, the platter was visual stunning with vibrant colours and it stimulated the appetite.  There was shredded purple cabbage, beets, pickled turnips, cucumbers, radish, spiced Moroccan carrots, gourmet salad greens tabbouleh, couscous, and hummus.  There were also 3 sauces: a tangy white dressing, an orange sauce that was sweet and spicy and lastly a BBQ sauce that was savory and spicy.

With exception of the gourmet greens, all these ingredients can be found in the beef/chicken wrap.

The beef was tender, prepared medium well and delicious.  However all the vegetables were the star of the meal.  They were fresh and provided different tastes, like sweet, sour & spicy, and textures.  Although I enjoyed the platter, I would have preferred the wrap, as more flavours and texture would have merged together in one bite.

The only issue I have with Mangal Kiss is that it’s not a grab and dash type of lunch since they only grill your meat when you order it.  However good things take time to make.   I feel the food served by this cart is full of flavour and very healthy (you definitely get at least 2 servings of your daily intake of vegetables).