Heard through the grapevine that my beloved Oakland was having a food festival. At first I thought, how quaint. But as I browsed the website,
Oakland Eat Real
it became clear that this was da BOMB!
Most attractive feature? Street Eats - a party town of taco trucks and street food stands, none priced more than $5. Brewery sampling, live music, farmer’s market, foraging/canning guide, crafty vendors, desserts galore. So perfect.
Our snobby sister by the Bay San Fran often features glittering food festivals at the ferry building or various swanky locales, but at prices which top $125 to attend (not counting parking & toll)-even die hard foodies like us have never attended.
I knew I’d hit the jackpot within minutes. P and I waded into the crowd with YM and tried to decide if we should get in line for luscious smelling BBQ or keep browsing. Suddenly, the crowd parted as a Pedi Cab decked in red signs wheeled up: Ritual Coffee. MMMMmm. That is some good non-wimpy coffee we had up in Napa. The young woman astride the bike hollered out: “iced coffee?” Good Lord, did someone just read my mind? Are the psychic gods of food granting wishes today?! It was 90 degrees, I was faded from morning run, and ice coffee was precisely what I craved. A man sitting in the cart fixed up my coffee as directed and for $3 I was a revived woman.
Next up- Goat ice cream. My bambino was a teeny ice cream sandwich, P had coffee flavored and YM’s was a Cajeta: Mexican Dulce with Texas Toffee. Has anything so luscious ever come out of a goat before? I wonder.
We spied Kika’s of SF, gourmet S’mores. As the woman at the counter explained how even the marshmallows were home made- we snapped photos and stared at the S’mores being browned individually with a creme brulee mini-burner and YM stops her mid-spiel: “We’re sold. You don’t have to explain!” $3
Gourmet S
We stood in the eternal line for Seoul on Wheels Korean Taco truck & loaded up on Spicy Pork and Chicken tacos ($3 each) with Honey Citrus iced tea/lemonade ($2)and it was DANG good- they sold the heck OUT hours before the festival was set to close.
Seoul on Wheels
Managed to save one for my office spouse & familia who arrived on a night pronounced “too hot for cooking anyways”. We bribed young D with Pop Chip samples so we could wait in line at Jim N Nick’s for Hot Pork Link served on Saltine with Pimiento ($5), and BBQ sliders ($5)-they’d run out of pork and Tri tip but were subbing Turkey, and it went great with the fresh roasted corn.
We swam upstream past the Sexy Soup being sold via bicycle, the SOLD out Good Humor and Joe’s Street Food stands & I eyed the Strauss family ice cream booth. We chomped on BBQ while the kids flung themselves down a grassy slope repeatedly and the men ventured out for Mason jars of beer ($25 for 4 beers).
Last bit we could cram into our guts after the raw milk and jam tasting (got some locally made Apple Butter & Ollallieberry jam for $10) was Poleng kitchen/Street Ramen with pork belly and “17 hour” pork broth ($4 plus more for meats. $2 for an odd but refreshing barley tea shot with aloe cubes) MmmHmmm.
We stuffed ourselves in time to music, until the stage was overtaken by the butchering contest-where teams of professional butchers dispatched carcasses for style and speed in front of a large crowd, next to the Bay and speedboats.
So much more to see & learn, this fest will surely be an annual destination for us! If we lived in O town I’d want to attend all 3 days of the festival.
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