Thursday, May 26, 2011

Street Vendors make my Heart Happy.

If you're anything like me, you adore street food.  Anything you can get from a vendor on the street, whether it's a food truck, a fair, or a large outdoor event, just seems to taste better.  Maybe it's because I'm hungrier, or maybe it's the fresh air.  Whatever the cause, I'm always excited when I get the chance for street food.


Some friends and I were out of town last weekend for a music festival.  It was all music, all the time, from about 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.  Since there were about a zillion different bands I wanted to see, there wasn't much time for food.  I also tend not to eat much (or anything at all) when I'm out in the sun for awhile.  At that point, all I want is water.  By about 7 p.m. each day though, the sun had started to set, there was a little bit of time before the headlining acts took the stage, and I was getting hungry.  While I could have made the three block trek back to our condo and grabbed a sandwich, on Saturday and Sunday, I opted to hit the street vendors for food.  Sorry, y'all...no pictures, as my camera was pretty well covered in sand (did I mention this festival was on the beach?), and I didn't want sand in my dinner.


After surveying our options, and trust me, there were a ton - everything from crawfish etouffee to Asian cuisine to funnel cakes - we decided to hit the stand serving Greek food.  I have a huge affinity for street gyros, and Saturday's was not a disappointment.  The marvelous combination of lamb, beef, tzatziki sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions is one of my favorites.  It's hard to screw up, but these were particularly good.  L & E decided to get the Chicken pita, which looked to me like a chicken version of the traditional gyro.  They seemed to enjoy it.  We all loved what we ordered, although I'm not quite sure how much food tasting was actually going on, since we all pretty much inhaled our pitas.  Add in a couple cold beers and some fantastic music, and we were set.


Sunday found us in much the same situation.  After aimlessly wandering down food row, M & I decided to go with a good southern staple - pulled pork BBQ sandwiches.  Superb choice.  The bbq sauce was somehow sweet and spicy all at the same time, the pork was tender, and the french fries that accompanied it were crunchy and salty.  I'm super happy that I grabbed a fork though, because the bun was saturated with bbq sauce by the time I was halfway finished, and it started to fall apart.  Truly it didn't matter, because like on Saturday, I was wolfing down this sandwich.  It was absolutely delightful, and a firm confirmation of my love for street food.


Plus, the cold beers and dancing on the beach for three days definitely didn't hurt.

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