Food Truck Dossier: Aloha Streatery

Food Truck: Aloha Streatery

My First Thought: "Oooh, food truck plate lunch?"

Reality: To paraphrase the one and only Sir-Mix-A-Lot, "I like baked buns and a bit of rice/No other brahs can deny." Aloha Streatery has a focused selection of golden baked buns with various fillings and a couple of generally healthier rice-based dishes

Toddling Toward Three: A Second Year Blogiversary Post

Surprise, surprise - two years and this blog is still alive and kicking. I can't rightfully say whether I expected this or not, but I am quite happy to still be pounding on the keyboard on a regular basis cranking out these blog posts

My posting pace that first year was rather surprising and highly unsustainable (over 150 posts that first year) - for someone whose bills get paid by other time-consuming sources, that just wasn't going to workout in the long run. This year, I aimed for a more sustainable two posts per week and hit that mark pretty much on the mark; as Goldilocks might say, that number was "just right."

I could get into really specific detail about the breakdown of these posts, but that would be highly boring so I won't. Suffice it to say, the posts are nicely broken up mainly among Columbus-based eateries, beer and brewery related posts and travels from both within and outside of Ohio. Mix in some music events, local attractions and festivals, and my continuing ice cream journeys, and it made for a pretty nice cornucopia of topics covered this year.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Year 3): My Name Is Joe, and I Love Ice Cream

Joe Biden goes down on some scoops of ice cream recently at the
Jeni's Ice Cream location at Columbus' North Market
(photo source: businessinsider.com)

"Hi, I'm Joe Biden, and I love ice cream."

This simple statement made my heart go a flutter, knowing that the Vice-President and I share two things: the same first name and a love of ice cream. A bonus cherry on top for the love of Columbus-area ice cream, as demonstrated last week with his trip to Jeni's for a waffle cone and a couple scoops.

Of course, I have nowhere near the personal cachet as the Veep, but I choose to ignore that factor in issuing this invite to Joe to join me for ice cream.  Heck, I'll even pay for that sweet treat - just give me the word Joe, and we're all set.

And while I would prefer it to be in the state of Ohio (we have plenty of awesome ice cream candidates here), I am willing to take it on the road, as my spouse and I did not too long ago. Maybe these two places will whet the Veep's appetite:

Southern Road Trip: Best of the Rest (Pt. 2)

Yes, there's more! We hit a plethora of noteworthy eateries on our road trip that didn't get previously covered in my previous Southern Travels posts - the second and final part of this mini-series continues below:

San Antonio - B&B Smokehouse

The third item food item that my spouse agreed we had to have while we were in Texas (outside of kolaches and crawfish) was BBQ beef brisket. San Antonio's B&B Smokehouse, located in the Harlandale section of town, proved it had the chops to serve this area staple.

An old-timer in San Antonio's BBQ scene (starting in 1958 as Hal's Drive-in and Bar-B-Que), B&B offers a few twists beyond the traditional BBQ menu in its mains (po-boy sandwiches, burgers and chicken tenders area available) as well as their sides (onion rings and creamed corn). Even the condiments were also diverse: bottles of traditional sriracha and sambal oelek stood right next to their hot sauce and balsamic vinegar counterparts.

Southern Road Trip: Best of the Rest (Pt. 1)

As much ground as the previous couple of weeks of Southern road trip blog posts covered, not every place we visited made it in. However, that by no stretch of the imagination means that they aren't worthy of a mention. These next couple of posts touch on an eatery from each of the major cities we encountered during this road trip that we found to be worth the consideration at the very least.

I know I can't personally start the day without a good cup of coffee, but the following two places add much more to the equation other than that caffeinated elixir.

Dallas - Cuban Dulceria International Bakery & Cafe

A longstanding Dallas-area tradition, the Vasquez family has been serving their Cuban specialties to Dallas-area residents since 1979. They may have remained pretty much only on the radar of the locals, but a couple of unrelated pushes from as different spheres of fame as you can imagine (President Barack Obama efforts to normalizing Cuban relations and a Khloe Kardashian reference to cortaditos) has bumped into modest eatery much higher onto the culinary radar. In fact, the demand created has encouraged the owners to open up a second location in the area.