Eat Real Festival - Truck Pageant

Best Looking Truck?

Trucks at the Eat Real Festival 2010- A Sampling

Ritual Coffee Roasters - always a long line, and one of the the few coffee specialists I could find.

Vamos Primos

Chairman Bao. Saw the line. Said FORGET IT. The longest line I saw:

And the picture doesn't show how the line bends--it's longer than it looks!

Kung Fu Tacos. Not much a of a line.

Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q

Curry Up Now from the side. Wanted to try it but I was too full of bhel poori.

Curry Up Now's side view.

Filipino eats

Eat Real Festival: Review & Tips

Imagine a waterfront parking lot filled with trendy and popular San Francisco area food trucks and farm products. That's Eat Real for you. Scroll down for tips and what to expect, including photos from the farmers' market there.

Proselytizing "sustainable," "local," and "organic," these trucks feature everything from Indian burritos to Pan-African vegetarian food to empanadas to lumpia to steamed dumplings. Reflecting the LA Korean food scene, there were also many Korean eateries featuring fusion.

Soleil's African Kitchen

Tips:

1) Go early.
2) Check out the farmers' market, located inside one of the buildings.
3) (Assuming you hate lines like I do), make a list of the trucks you'd like to try by checking them out on the web beforehand and go to them first. Very likely they are on other people's lists.
4) Parking is available on the streets when you go early.

All-grass fed dogs from Let's be Frank - Been wanting to try this LA-based truck (a stand here) since I heard about it on Good Food a few years ago!

Argentine Asado at Primo's Parrilla

Pros:

• Trendiest trucks, including the crazily-mobbed Roli Roti, all in one place.
  
• Can try lots of samples. People--vendors and customers are friendly.

Bhel Poori from Soul Cucina. Sanitized version of Indian Street food.

Soul Cucina stand

Tried the dulce du leche. Flakey and buttery...delicioso!

This is what happens when you wait too long.

Cons:

• Lots of people.
  
• Long lines for the popular trucks.
  
• Portion size could be smaller and prices cheaper. Most entrees were $5 and large enough for a meal (for a petite person or child). Hard to try everything you want without risking being gurney-ed out.
  

Tried this last year. Fun to see the gargantuan-sized pans. But I didn't find the paella to be flavorful though not bad for having been made in such a ginormous quantity. But I wasn't going to wait in line for this again.

Drink tickets are obtained in a separate booth, centrally located. I found out the hard way, but it was easy enough to purchase my drink ticket.

Pomegranate kombucha. I am not enough of a connoisseur to know if it was high quality kombucha or not (I have only had GT's before)...it reminded me of beer without the alcoholic kick, flavored with pomegranate essence... Not unlike GT's.

Barlovento Chocolates from Oakland

Fresh, hot noodles

Organic Mexican

Vesta Flatbread

"Seasonal, local, sustainable"

Straus Farms - the dairy that lots of high-end restaurants seem to use.

If only I had more stomach space...

The Farmers' Market at the Eat Real Festival

The farmers' market at Eat Real is "inside" and features produce, olive oil, baked goods, and prepared foods.

Gorgeous colors, as are typical of Bay Area farmers' markets in summer.

These swirly "Spicy Veggie Wraps" from Tofu Yu, new to the food scene and local, are light and appetizing, making for a great summer snack. The veggies inside taste crispy fresh.

Bolani (flatbread) from Bolani (company)--my new obsession. The spinach bolani is their best seller and man! It is no wonder why. I bought a package that day and then went to Andronicos that week and bought three more packages. I had it for dinner four times that week. Will be writing more about this place in a coming blog.

Quesero Salazar

How could I not photograph these blue beauties. I have no idea how they taste but they make for great camera candy.

For the drive home, at 300 Webster Street, a quick walk away.