Some of the best street food I've had throughout the years (and the places I got them)!
(1) Burritos from El Matador taco truck in LA. Go for $5 a pop ($1 for tacos).
(2) Stir-fried noodles with sprouts from the guy with the wok behind Qingdao University. The guy will hold back on the MSG if you don't want/like it. Also available with rice or flat noodles. A lunch-sized portion that is unfinishable goes for 3 yuan (or about $0.45).
(3) Spicy tofu with flat rice noodles from the other guy behind Qingdao University. The guy will cut the noodles right before serving them and will spread a generous portion of peanut sauce on the whole dish and some lajiao (or spicy sauce) for good measure. Extra lajiao if you're my friend Tendai. A bowl of tofu and noodles will go for about 4 yuan (or about $0.60).
(4) Los Hot Dogs de La Gonález Suárez. A hole-in-the-wall hot dog place in Quito at the González Suárez avenue (right past Hotel Quito and right before the Guápulo road down to the valleys). You can get a hot dog with everything (onions, tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish, and even pineapple marmalade) for about $1.50. Add an extra $0.25 for a glass of soda. They have both pork and chicken hot dogs so if you can't eat pork like me, that's a gift from heaven. They're open late (up until 4 or 5 am I think) and they make a great meal for when you've got the drunchies. In fact, if you're partying in Quito, chances are you'll end up at this place at some point during the night. Quiteños don't drink on an empty stomach.
(5) Grilled corn on a stick with chimichurri sauce and then topped with mayo and cheese at Montañita, Ecuador. Sounds gross, right? It is actually really good and not that greasy. Again, a great drunchie food. Also good to just sit and chow down at the beach. A normal-person sized one will go for $1, but if you're extra hungry, the big ones go for $1.50.
(6) Empanadas de viento (literally, Wind Empanadas) from Montañita. Wind empanadas are just empanadas with cheese inside of them. But the cheese sticks to the wall of the things so they seem like they're hollow or just have air in them. Usually served up sprinkled with a little sugar on top as per tradition. They go for $1 for a huge one.
(7) NYC pretzels. Served with mustard. 'nuff said. Forget how much they go for.
(8) Nutella crepes off any vendor in Paris, France. Back in the day when I visited Paris, they went for about 1.50 Euro a pop. They might have gotten slightly more expensive since then, considering this was 8 years ago.
(9) Empanadas de morocho at the Atahualpa Soccer Stadium in Quito. They're the kind of thing that is dripping with grease and will probably give you a coronary if you eat more than one of them in your life. Also, you really don't want to know what the hell it was fried in. But for $1 you'll taste some of the best (and crunchiest) empanadas this planet has to offer.
(10) Vlamaase Frites (fries) off of a side street behind the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. For 1.5o Euro (about $1.95) you can have a klein (small) paper cone full of thick belgian-style fries with any of the 30 sauces offered at the little hole-in-the-wall. I recommend eating them Dutch-style with plain and regular mayo on them. You can add a second sauce for an additional 0.30 Euro.
Friday, January 7, 2011
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Montañita food isn't great drunk food. It just seems that way because you're usually drunk when you're in Montañita.
ReplyDeleteNot true. We ate it while sober too. It was still good!
ReplyDeleteJust wait until you get to Xi'an--it has AMAZING snack/street food. So much muslim food. And did I mention the dumpling banquets? Fortunately you're coming a couple months in, so I will have scoped out the good eats by then.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it!