Street Food Around the World

Thank you thank you for your kind words about my brother’s graduation. I have lots to get done around here before leaving tomorrow morning so let’s get going!

Here are all my lists and some study materials sprawled out in my “office”. More like my kitchen table, but when the roommates aren’t home I can get things done there. Love my lists!

I picked up this book at a used book store over the weekend, and although I’m only 50 pages in its been really good. I have a hard time sticking with books, so I’ve been pleasantly attached to this one and I can’t wait to unplug on the plane with it tomorrow. Has anyone read this?

And after a long afternoon of homework it was time to squeeze some fun into my day. I treated my friend to dinner last night as a thank you for doing me a favor, in addition to it being her birthday last week.

We walked down the street to a cozy, funky restaurant called Duino Duende that I’ve been wanting to try for years. I don’t go out to eat very often at school mostly for financial reasons. Everyone is sort of on the same page, so we mostly save eating out for birthdays or occasional celebrations.

The menu here is so eclectic, which is the main reason we picked this place. Everything from Chicken and Waffles to Falafel Wraps to Carnita pork tacos. They do spin offs of street food around the world, and indicate on the menu where each recipe is inspired from.

We started with a couple of drinks; I ordered tequila, lime, and soda water after we discussed how tequilla is an upper and I decided I could use a little pick-me-up Adrianna got a house made raspberry lemonade mixed drink- too sweet for me but tasty.

And after a little deliberation we decided to split a starter, a small plate, and a main dish so we could try everything we wanted. The menu also included a symbol for gluten free options, so I felt good about what we were ordering, and that it wouldn’t make me sick. Also, almost all of their sauces, dips, etc. are house made and most use locally sourced ingredients, indicated on the menu as well. Love supporting restaurants that care about their impact. (We basically had to beg for straws because they don’t support using them…. talk about caring about their impact.)

We got Tostones (Cuba); hand cut plantain chips served with chipotle aoili and banana ketchup(!). We inquired about this banana ketchup first and the waitor said its house made and a puree of plantains, and other things that go into normal ketchup and that just about everyone loves it who orders it.

At first bite they were very fried tasting, but as I continued they had a really good sweetness to them and although I liked the aoili much better, the banana ketchup was also licked clean. Possibly thinking of recreating that, but definitely thinking of recreating the plantain chips soon!

Then our other two dishes came out; greek kabobs (Greece) and baja fish tacos (So.Cal).

The kabobs were two veggies kabobs marinated in zatar spices served over steamed kale with feta and olives. Adrianna is very Greek and I absolutely love Greek food as well so this was an easy choice and we both loved it. We thought it could have used a thaziki sauce or some dressing to dip it into. And I obviously gobbled up all the kale they were placed on. (I almost made us order the steamed kale starter but Adrianna wouldn’t let me since I eat that everyday anyways.)

And lastly, the dish I’ve always wanted to get from Duende; the Baja Fish Tacos, which were tilapia in a tomatillo salsa served in corn tortillas stuffed with lime cabbage, sour cream, and served with coconut rice and pineapple salsa. It came with two so we each took one, and although I picked around the corn tortilla- not my favorite- all the insides were fantastic. LOVE lime!

And of course everything was smothered in their house-made hot sauce. Another thing I’ve been wanting to try to make recently!

So it was a great night, perfect company and conversation, and really good food. Now it’s back to those lists and getting things accomplished before I head out. Like I mentioned blogging will be spotty for the remainder of the week, but there will be plenty of picture taking while I’m with family and a good recap when I get back!

Happy Tuesday Folks!