Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Recent Food Truck Tour Stops - Sushi Fix & AZ Canteen


So it's been a while since I've done a post on lunchtime visits to some of the downtown Minneapolis area food trucks. I'm a creature of habit, frequenting the same three food trucks most of the time, but in the past weeks I've tried a couple of new trucks.

First up is Sushi Fix.The truck is normally parked between 7th & 8th street on Marquette when it's in downtown Minneapolis. The owner: Enkhbileg “Billy” Tserenbat, who is a former executive chef from Yumi Sushi Bar.


Nothing is pre-made. Everything on the menu is made to order. The fish they use is as fresh as possible delivered to the them the night before they use it.  No fishy smells, it is so tasty & tender, not hard & cold from sitting assembled in a package with fake green plastic leaves beneath it.



For $15, I splurged I tried that day's special...  
"The Hennepin Roll: Inside: shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber Outside: Spicy Tuna, Tobiko, Sweet sauce."


 It was a good sized portion, so I shared a piece with an inquisitive co-worker. We agreed it was the best sushi either of us had eaten in a long time & could hardly believe it was made in a truck. Yum!


I had also heard good things about Andrew Zimmern's newest food truck venture called AZ Canteen from Jason DeRusha on Twitter. AZ Canteen is normally parked a couple of trucks down from Sushi Fix on the same block. While Jason was singing the praises about the tongue he had eaten there, I was more eager to try the Andouille, Oyster & Crab Gumbo.



This particular recipe is a bit different than the Baton Rouge-style Gumbo I grew up with my Daddy making for me, which was always chock full of shrimp & crawfish, beside the sausage & chicken. 




The different ingredient in this cup was oysters. I admit I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was actually really enjoyable. The roux was well made & the gumbo had a nice consistency - not too thick or thin There was even a taste of okra in the cup. Light on heat, it could have used a few splashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce, but for a dish made for a MN palate, it was pretty tasty.



The logo design is very quirky & fun.



In honor of the Great Minnesota Get Together, aka The MN State Fair, Smack Shack came up with a Lobster Corn Dog in a  Sweet Corn Batter & served with Lemon Chive Aioli, which was incredibly yummy. We have been begging & pleading on facebook for them to be brought back to the truck before the season is over.


Last but not least, our building management held a get together in the lobby for tenants of the building. Although this has nothing to do with food trucks, I had my first taste of "ice cream", or Raspberry Sorbet as this variety was, from Izzy's Ice Cream Cafe. It was good - I might just be tempted to stop by their store in St. Paul sometime with my Munchkin & try out some other flavors.


So that's it for a while. This coming weekend is the 3rd annual Minnesota Blogger Conference. I'll be attending & will place recaps of the sessions out here. Renewed inspiration for getting my blogging grove back is what I expect to find, along with a taste of Muddy Paws Cheesecake & a new avatar/head shot.