Food Truck Dossier: Ajumama

Food Truck: Ajumama

My First Thought: "I haven't ventured into Korean food too much, and for no particularly good reason, but that truck looks promising."

Reality: In many ways, this is an elaboration and reaffirmation of this previous post I had written well over a year-and-a-half ago in relation to two of Columbus' most prominent food trucks, Catie Randazzo's Challah! and Laura Lee's Ajumama. Challah! itself warrants an update post in the near future as they have expanded their horizons, but for now, we concentrate on Lee's venture.

Food Truck Dossier: Nothin But Nadas

Food Truck: Nothin But Nadas

My First Thought: With "nada" meaning "nothing" in Spanish, we have Billy Preston here, right? (Nothin' but nadas leaves nothin'...okay, it's a big stretch, but that's how my mind works.)

Reality: The food truck's name really doesn't lie: this trailer serves nothing but freshly fried up empanadas with various fillings. Despite a noticeable warning sign about the empanadas being super hot, I've found they generally are sufficiently cooled off enough after a couple of minutes to be handled safely by both hand and mouth.

Ninth Annual Cbus Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show (11/20/2015)/Brothers Drake/Tokyo GoGo Food Truck

This Friday, my spouse and I had the pleasure of a return visit to the annual Cbus Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show, held around the date of this legendary guitarist's birthday (Hendrix would have turned 73 years old on Friday, November 27th.) This gathering, put together by Theo Perry (of Theo's Loose Hinges), brings together a collection of talented local musicians to blaze through a number of both familiar and deeper Hendrix cuts.

Unlike previous years, a scheduling issue brought the show from its usual home at SoHud's Rumba Cafe to the sophisticated digs of Brothers Drake, located where the Weinland Park and Short North neighborhoods intersect. In addition, the show was forced to an earlier than normal time slot (the guitar strumming began in earnest during the meadery's happy hour.) These changes, however, didn't stop a large crowd from showing up to watch locally talented guitarists pay homage to a man who still holds incredible influence in today's music world.

Jeffro Jam of Jam Cave Productions led things off with a version
of Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" on his Keytar, and came back
with a Hendrix-styled montage that referenced artists
like Prince and Bob Marley

Veteran jazz guitarist Derek DiCenzo got to let loose some rock chords
on Hendrix favorites like "Manic Depression" and "Purple Haze"

.

Kenny Delicious, aka Kenny Caterer (drummer for Theo's Loose Hinges
and Lead Singer/Guitarist for Doctor Kenny Delicious), cranked out
the well-known "The Wind Cries Mary" as well as deeper
album cuts like "Castles Made of Sand" and "Red House"

Event organizer Theo Perry seemed to channel Jimi himself on his
renditions of "Machine Gun", "Crash Landing" and "Foxy Lady"

David Martinez of The Old Norths and Slight Rebellion finished out
the solo portion of the show with Jimi tunes like "Stone Free",
"Voodoo Chile" and "Bold As Love"

Columbus musical veterans Maxwell Button (drums) and
Nathan Smith (bass) provided solid backing throughout each set

All performers joined each other on stage for some final Hendrix
tunes, including a rocking version of Jimi's "Hey Joe"

For future information about next year's Jimi Hendrix tribute series (next year's tenth annual show, to be held sometime in November, should be a momentous one indeed), please refer to Theo Perry's Facebook feed.

Brothers Drake/Tokyo GoGo: I had previously blogged about Brothers Drake (and their sister meadery on the West Coast, San Francisco Mead Company) on this prior blogpost. We had become intimately familiar with their mead products over the years (and of course, we couldn't not order a mead drink or two on this occasion) but until this visit had no thoughts about exploring the cocktail side of the menu.

Brothers Drake's Meadhattan and Wild Sweet Annie, prepared with
care by one of the meadery's bar staff members

This new outlook on the mixed drink side of the adult beverage world was inspired quite a bit by revelatory experience received this summer. when we had a taste of the world-class cocktails during our fine tasting menu dinner at Delaware's Veritas Tavern. Since then, we've been willing to explore this world a bit more, and the unique mead-based offerings of Brothers Drake provided an intriguing opportunity. Indeed, from their Meadhattan (Wild Ohio mead, mixed with OYO Bourbon, cherry juice and Angostura bitters), the Wild Sweet Annie (my spouse's go-to this night, with Wild Ohio Mead, OYO Whiskey & ginger liqueur) and the Rosemary Fizz (a mix of their Motive Mead, Watershed Gin, lemon juice  and soda water along with a sprig of fresh rosemary) provided tasty accompaniment to the music this night.

Providing the food this night was what can be called Brothers Drake's resident food truck. Tokyo GoGo, operated by chef Miki Ashino, offers a selection of  Japanese-styled bar food items with a rotating selection of daily specials, as well as a special Ramen night on Tuesdays.

Clockwise from top: Karaage (flash-fried chicken thigh pieces), Pork Gyoza
Dumplings, and Korokke (fried potato balls with molten cheese interiors)

  

For just under $20, we picked up four different items that not only paired well with our mead drinks, but also were quite delicious in their own right. Their special of the night, fried tempura fish cakes, were nicely crispy with a pleasantly fresh-tasting, lightly chewy filet, while the Korokke balls and uniquely fried pork Gyoza dumplings (which came attached to each other in what seemed to be crepe form) were gobbled up with equal enthusiasm. However, our favorite dish by just the tiniest of margins so far is the Karaage - this crispy savory dish is a definite reorder again on a future visit.

As equally good as the food items were the variety of multi-profiled sauces that came with each item; we found ourselves enjoying experimenting with how the different sweet, spicy and savory taste profiles each item interacted with each dish. We look forward to another sampling of this food truck's offerings on another future visit to the area.

Brothers Drake Meadery
26 E. 5th Ave (Short North/Weinland Park)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 388-8765
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Tokyo GoGo
typically in the parking lot of Brothers Drake
(614) 916-6476 (MISO)
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First Impressions: Winking Scotsman and Bentos

The Tartan panel on the side means meat pies are a cookin'

Winking Scotsman: From Honeykiss to Sassafras to Dough Mama and beyond, the Columbus area has more than its share of wonderful, generally sweet-ingredient pies from which to choose (I really don't know how I could possibly choose if they had a Columbus Underground-styled Best Bites: Pies event similar to their Best Bites: Dessert event held earlier year.)

Savory pies are a bit more of a challenge. Empanadas at the three El Arepazo locations are always an option, and Salam Market on Columbus' Northeast side has been heralded for its Middle Eastern meat pies, as noted in this Columbus Crave article.

It was about this time last year when I was getting my taste of a more English-style of savory pie in the pasties that are common through Northern Michigan. While that first tasting was decent enough, this year's take on the meat pie I've happened on this year is not only much tastier but much closer in the Winking Scotsman food truck.

I caught the this new food truck in the parking lot of Palmer's Beverage Center on Indianola Avenue in Clintonville a few times before I dropped by to sample their goods. The menu was very simple - the owner Scott, who was quite affable, said that his side items simply weren't selling, so he decided to pare it to the bare bones pies, chips and beverages. Interestingly, I had actually caught him in an unusual position: he had sold out of his original batch of pies for the night (his best sales day so far, he stated) but if I came back in a half-hour or so, he'd have some fresh baked ones and give me a pie for half-off.

To paraphrase an oft-repeated movie line, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Meat pies = yummy + filling. And a lucky bonus half-off for coming back

I decided to give both pies a try, and like the Northern Michigan pastie, these pies did the trick of providing some portable, filling food. These pies were much tastier than their pasty cousins we sampled up north as well, sporting a pleasant wheaty crust and fillings that were neither too drippy or dried out. While both were good solid creations, my spouse and I gave the nod to the poultry side, with a juicy chicken interior backed up with tasty mushrooms, the light tang of feta and a touch of bacon goodness..

The latest whereabouts of the Winking Scotsman can be found on their feed on Street Food Finder.

Winking Scotsman Food Truck
Various locations around the Columbus Metro
(614) 556-1190
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Bentos Food Cart offers freshly made, modestly-sized meals
with an eco-friendly touch

Bentos: my experience with the bento box is fairly limted, ranging from a fairly traditional culinary version (those offered by the Japacurry Food Truck in San Francisco) as well as an athletics-related food version (in triathlon terms, the bento box is a little bicycle case where I would keep those nasty tasting gels and other energy supplements in triathlon-style events.)

In terms of the Columbus food cart Bentos, owner Shannon Bowman offers an American take on the traditional type of Bento Box, providing freshly made, organic-when-possible meals that can be catered to various dietary needs (paleo, vegan, etc.) Bentos even sports a eco-friendly aspect to its meals, as the containers and eating utensils are composed of biodegradable materials.

In many ways, the boxes sold from the food cart would be a perfect side item for another food truck's entree dish, or a perfectly-portioned side dish for a midday bite. Prices all are fairly reasonable, with everything we saw priced at $4.

The Peanut Thai Noodle Salad with salted Edmame sported some overly chewy noodles but otherwise was pleasantly tasty . The Dueling Salads, a newer item, was a better creation, with a zingy yogurt dressing to link the coconut rice salad and raw carrot salad (while some may prefer to keep the salads apart, the two dueling entities mixed together proved to be a winning combo for my palate.)

A selection of more comprehensive catered lunch items can be ordered through the Bentos website. Those who order 10 or more of these can receive free shipping of their orders depending on the zip code provided or may be picked up at their 231 E. Livingston Street location (Bentos uses the facilities found at The Kitchen to prepare their meals.) These lunches also generally include their pecan rum cake, a decadent creation I had the fortune to sample at a recent event of theirs.

Whereabouts of the Bentos Food Cart can be found on their website.

Bentos Food Cart
Various locations around the Columbus Metro
(614) 715-4515
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