Salt Lake, Vietnam and Umphreys

So as all of you, my devoted readers, may have noticed, this is not the post about Five-Guys vs. In-N-Out. I realized that I lack sufficient information to make the final call. Eating at Five guys only once, and eating at In-N-Out like 12 times is not fair. SO, I will put it off till I get down to Five Guys again. HOWEVER, I do have an exciting food adventure to share

JUBBY!

Again, my good food buddy Jubb and I traveled to Salt Lake for a concert. I was without Mrs. Hunter on this one. Despite being one man down Jubby and I ventured south and decided to go for some Asian wonderment. Jubby guided me to a place he has eaten at before. He served his mission in Cali speaking the language of the Viet. SO, he took me to Cafe Trang an all Asian, but specializing in Veitnamese Cuisine Cafe of sorts. Interesting side note, Jubby says that Vietnamese noodle shops have one of two names, and Cafe Trang is one. So, we walked in and were seated amongst Salt Lakes elite. A group of wine drinking, adverb using, intellectuals.

I said in faith, Jubby, what should we get? He broke the menu down for me, and after a failed attempt at communicating with my waiter we managed to order. [ I attempted to ask him if their was anything bizarre or not commonly ordered as I often do, and he proceeded to stare at me.] Despite this fail, Jubb and I decided to order  to share so we could try more things. We decided on,

• Chả Gio
• Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho
• Hot Pot (The grill version)

FIRST!

Cha Gio

The Chả Gio was by FAR my favorite. This was kind of sad because it was the starter. HA. I suppose it was just because of my lame, fat riddled pallet. Yes, I love fatty things, you will learn this soon enough, you will notice a trend of my favorite dishes. The Chả Gio is the Vietnamese version of egg rolls, and might I say, I think the Vietnamese have got it figured out! It really was more of an egg log, it reminded me, as far as presentation goes, of some sort of "loaf". It was one long roll cut Juliann style in about 8-10 pieces. It was filled with the usuals but it was, Pork for the meat and carrots and cabbage and others. The breading seemed thicker than just usual rice paper. What made the dish however, was the sauce. A wonderful blend of hot spice and fish sauce. WONDERMENT! I love it. It added a nice fishy/spicy and rich flavor. Really really good.

Jubb and I are both pros with chopsticks, [I like to tell myself I am, when I'm really not, hehe] so we dunked and ate this dish in about 1.7 minutes.

Out of focus Cha gio

SECOND!

Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho

Hot Pot (The grill version)

Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho

We ordered both dishes and planned on sharing. First the My Tho.


 This dish was wild, I really liked it in principle, meaning I like all the ingredients, but their was something off about the dish. I couldn't really figure it out and I still cant. I really cant tell you why I didnt like it. It seemed fairly normal for the type of dish, glass noodles, and yummy vegetables, still confused. It was pretty fishy tasting and had half inch pieces of intestine.

Intestine

My bowl

The intestine was actually pretty good. Ive had it before, but only ground up with other meat parts. GUESS WHAT! So have all of you! Hot Dogs and Sausages baby. This intestine was very minerally, that really isn't a word, but thats the best description for it. Chewy, like all innards are, opaque in color and very minerally. Almost like it had been soaked in natural sea water. I cant really rave about it though. Pretty bland. I also had meat balls. OH BOY! I really like meatball. EXCEPT, these aren't your typical meatball, they aren't ground beef then hand packed and cooked, they were FINELY ground and then boiled, so the consistency was like almost like the top layer of Jello when it hardens too fast. It was very chewy and firm, not moist and soft like Italian Meatballs. They tasted okay, not much seasoning, but meat is meat. ha ha, oh, it  also had two large prawns, and quite a bit of my favorite!! Chashu Pork! 

Chashu Pork

by far the best of the meats in the dish. Overall, pretty bland. 

NEXT DISH PLEASE!

beef.....yummm.

This next dish was great fun!

On the Grill!

Veggies

Ive had Chinese Hot Pot before, which is basically the same ingredients as you see here, but added to a pot of boiling water that is on the table. This version has a small butane grill table side. Im such a sucker for interactive dinners. HAHA, I know some people think they are cheesy and just a gimmick, but I think they are  fun! So this is what they brought, Thin slices of garlic marinated beef, carrots, lettuce, shoots and some bitter leaf I'm not familiar with, and CILANTRO!?! what? I didn't know Vietnamese food used Cilantro, Jubby said its huge in Vietnam. Hmm? who would have guessed, I love it t so it was great! We threw the meat on the grill, along with some purple and white onions and a ,it seems like 1/8, stick of butter. mmmmmm. 

After the meat is about cooked,  you prepare your....wow really struggling to describe this bad boy. I'm sure there is an awesome word for it, but since I'm illiterate to most food terms, It will be called a rice Tortilla. HAHA Its thin piece of rice paper, that is pretty firm, So, they provide a bowl of hot water, you soak the rice tortilla in the water and it softens right up into a gelatinous wrap of sorts. You slap some meat on her, some veggies and wrap it up. Here is my first attempt.

First attempt

Second attempt

Wow, haha, it looked even worse in real life. HAHA, tasted great though, I just over packed it with veggies. I love em you know. I figured it out by the second one! It was really good. I really like this dish. The meat was tender because it was so thinly cut, the veggies were in good shape, no rust, the shoots still had a nice crunch. It was served with the same fish sauce and chili flake as the starter. I really like this sauce. Very very tasty. I am going to have to get some for home. The only complaint I had, was that by the time we got everything cooked and put together, the rolls got pretty cold. I'm sure that was just because I was slow and terrible at it, but as you will see, I HATE food that is the opposite of what it is supposed to be. If its a cold dish, I cannot handle it being warm, and vice versa.




Overall the Night was great, we made it the  Umphrey's McGee show, and had a great time. The good was overall very very good. I Highly recommend Cafe Trang. However, I don't just recommend the restaurants I visit. I recommend the EXPERIENCE! Get out of your Anglo comfort zone and try something new and exciting, just eat it! Its FOOD!

Moochies

Moochies Storefront

So there is this guy, his name is Guy. You may have heard of him. Guy Fieri. Well he is a dude who has recently become quite famous with his show, "Diners Drive-ins and Dives". He "drives" across the country in his red mustang and showcases all the mom and pop shops and hole in the wall types that we have never heard of. Its awesome. A lot of fun. So we might as well get this out of the way. Moochies was featured on triple D (as its called). That is their claim to fame. I think its sad however. Even with this national attention, this obscure little house/eatery is relatively unknown by us norther folk. They recently remodeled too, so if you do go, it wont have the creepy old feel that it did before. Its still a little creepy I must say, but not as much. They had all sorts of weird decorations in there. Its also a lot cleaner looking, which is nice. Okay, enough rambling. So why is Moochies on here, why is it the first post? Well it hits the nail on the head of why I created this blog. Its a small little independently owned shop with a LOT to offer. The shop claims top be a "Fresh Italian Take-Out" lets be honest. There is TWO things on their menu. All the other stuff is just fluff. They sell homemade meatball sandwiches and real...bonified...humongous Philly cheese-steaks. Oh boy. This is all I get. This is why I go to Moochies. Did I mention its in SLC, who cares. Its worth the drive. Did I mention its $9.50 for a 12 inch sandwich. Its worth
every single penny. Some may say, wow, thats an expensive sandwich, I say...have you had one? Its gets cheaper and cheaper after every bite.

The Philly

I blew this picture up as big as it would let me so you can see the meat to bun ratio. The pepper to onion and meat ratio. GLORIOUS! This sandwich is heavy. My wife had to move it to put our drinks down and she couldn't. She asked for help. In fact we had to ask my buddy Jubb to help move it with me. It weighs approx. 436 lbs. I might be exaterating a little, but without argument, its one of the biggest sandwiches you will ever eat. I cant finish it(usually). But its close. Take a minute and look at it again. Notice the large strips of steak. There is no fat on these strips. They are thick cut and there is LOTS of meat. I really like mushrooms so they throw those on for me too. Now to the sauce...

The Sauce

This sauce makes the sub. The sub is good don't get me wrong, it has high quality ingredients and its cooked well, but the sauce takes it to the next level. The sauce is a mayonnaise based white sauce with jalapeño bits. Its quite hot, probably a 5.5-6 on the Kyle's Spice Scale, (from this time hence it will be known as KSS)
This sauce changes the game entirely. It adds a creamy texture and the kick, well I love a little kick. It really makes a stellar sandwich.
If you don't know how to order a Philly, they will help you out. Its pretty basic. They WILL put onion and pepper on if you don't ask them not to. The sandwich will fill your mouth, both with the sheer girth of the thing, but also it will fill your mouth with a very intense flavor.
So all things considered Moochies Philly is a must try. You need to feast.
Its a fun place to eat, and eat a lot.

KICK OFF!

Hello! I have attempted to blog in the past(complete failure). I have decided that it failed because I really didn't have the slightest clue what to write about, I didn't have any guidelines, nothing relevant or really anything worth saying. But then the other day I was speaking to some friends about my food-escapades and I realized that I FLIPPIN LOVE FOOD! hahaha, I love it. I don't just love to eat it like some, or cook it really, but rather I love the wide variance found within the culinary world. I especially love international cuisine. I love trying things that I have never even heard of. I love being told what I ate after I have eaten it! There is something thrilling about exotic food. Not in the fear factor kind of way, but I get a huge kick out of eating something and experiencing a taste or texture that has NEVER passed over my mouth ever before. Its something completely unique and genuine. SO, that is this blog. It will be about the weird, the unusual and fun foods that you can get here in Utah, and also maybe some throwback stuff about my greatest food moments of the past. I will occasionally review a new or recently popular eating place, and of course I will recommend restaurants that are in your backyard that you have probably never heard of!
ps. I'm in school right now and im really poor, SO, the restaurant reviews might be few and far between for at least a while! But thats the great thing about food! You don't have to be rich to enjoy it! Even really good food!
So lets go, we are officially FOOD BOUND!!!