Hot Tamales and Frozen Fantasies
Mountain View Festival Has the Perfect Summertime Food
NOTE: Content below is from 2009 event. Check back 3-4 weeks before the event for updated information.
There’s something about the high energy of a summertime street fair that really stimulates the appetite. With its 25 food vendors, there will be plenty of fabulous food for everybody at the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival, September 11-12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Castro Street.
Serious meat eaters will be guided by their noses to the sizzling grills of the Armenian Trex Fraternity, where beef and lamb kabobs are tucked into lavash flatbread with onions, tomatoes and parsley. If you’re partial to sausages, you’ll have a choice of the plump Polish sausages cooked alongside corn on the cob by the Kiwani’s Club, or the smoked Dakota bratwurst—a blend of turkey, pork and beef—from the Lockeford Meat and Sausage Company, served with onions and sauerkraut. But for some there’s no street meat as satisfying as a Philly cheesesteak. Hoagie Steak Out offers both beef and chicken varieties, with toppings including freshly grilled onions, jalapeños, mayo and mustard.
For lighter sandwich options, check out the succulent garlic chicken with sautéed red peppers and onions or the slow-cooked barbecued pork at Earthly Delights. Of course, you’ll have to leave room for their irresistible Parmesan garlic fries. Oriental Cuisine Express lends an Asian accent to the festival, with its steaming bowls of rice topped with teriyaki chicken and vegetables, and their orange chicken or barbecued chicken with fried rice and chow mein. California BBQ also does chicken teriyaki, in either a rice bowl or a sandwich, as well as chicken and pork kabobs. For a Southeast Asian accent, Thai Stick offers thinly sliced, delicately seasoned barbecued chicken- and pork-on-a-stick. The chicken can also come over rice or wrapped in a spinach tortilla.
If you prefer a French accent, there’s Lemoine Crêperie. They prepare the traditional crêpes of Brittany with either savory fillings like cheese, spinach, ham and bacon or sweet temptations such as strawberries, cherries, peaches and the intensely hazelnutty spread, Nutella. And with a nod to comida mexicana, The Tamale Factory serves the authentic masa pockets wrapped in a corn husk and stuffed with pork, chicken or cheese with jalapeños. They also have carne asada or grilled chicken tacos and sides of rice and beans.
So what’s the matter with a thick Chicago accent or maybe one from New York? Two local pizzerias—Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi Too (thick-crust Chicago) and Amici’s (thin-crust New York)—will be duking it out with competing styles of cheese and pepperoni slices. FJ&L are throwing an extra punch with tiramisu for dessert. For the surf ‘n’ turf crowd, there’s the fried calamari and smoked turkey legs at Willow Street, along with fried zucchini and artichokes and garlic fries. The menu at Sonoma Teriyaki is 100% seafood, with crispy fish and chips and fried-to-order calamari and prawns.
Moon River Corn Company rushes super sweet late-harvest corn directly from local growers and roasts it right in the husk. Their giant baked potatoes are a meal in themselves, with toppings from simple sour cream to colorful alternatives like tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Still hungry? Try tackling their mound of cheesy nachos topped with tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole and jalapeños. Or have a second helping of roasted corn or baked potatoes at Ear Good Corn Roast.
For those who can’t get enough of sweet ‘n’ salty popped corn, there’s Old Tyme Kettle Korn, Suitcase Ron’s and Cosmic Kettle Corn. The Cosmic folks also offer their signature “pot holes.” Similar to doughnut holes, they’re actually made with potatoes and can be dipped in chocolate or cinnamon sauce. There’s also Cosmic cotton candy, in a rainbow of flavors from banana to blue raspberry to pink vanilla watermelon.
Mid-September promises to be hot, and Barrett’s Lemonade will be there to quench your thirst with fresh-squeezed hand-shaken classic lemonade, diet lemonade and even strawberry lemonade. Little Beez Italian Ice imports an East Coast classic that has the smooth texture of sorbet and authentic direct-from-Jersey flavors such as cherry, lemon, blueberry and mango. More icy-cold treats will be available from Hawaiian Snow Shave Ice, serving ice cream bars, ice cream cones and root beer floats. Frozen Fantasies uses bananas, strawberries, peaches, pineapple and mango to put together a variety of fruit combinations for frozen chocolate-dipped fruit kabobs and dairy-free frozen fruit smoothies. For good ol’ ice cream there’s Baskin Robbins, with scoops of classics like vanilla, chocolate, mint chocolate chip, mocha almond fudge and rainbow sherbet, and everybody’s favorite—frothy and refreshing root beer floats. |
