Every now and again, impromptu food and wine events pop up in Napa and quickly acquire a healthy following of fans. That is until such events hit the city's revenue radar and the powers that be, unable to fiscally benefit from such an event, decide that the location isn't ADA compliant or some other such nonsense.Food Truck Fridays (FTF) is one such improvised food event held in a downtown car park/dirt plot on the first Friday of each month. FTF had it's inaugral event last November and in just 3 months, with the growing trend towards mobile food, it has become quite the Friday night destination. Forget Napa's $200 degustations (think Morimoto), Vinogirl was in search of just one particular food truck - Dim Sum Charlies.
One of the things I miss most about no longer living in Liverpool is the easy access to great Chinese food, so when I heard about Dim Sum Charlies I was very interested to try what they had to offer. So, Vinomaker and I, accompanied by a few good friends, as many bottles of good wine, and the disliked (but in this case necessary) Go Vino glasses, headed down to First Street to see what all the fuss was about. Sure enough, in the advertised location, we found a bevy of food trucks all, incidentally, offering a dish containing rabbit in honour of Thursday's Chinese Lunar New Year.
Oh fun! Tables, outdoor heaters, good company, lots and lots of people, a crystal clear star-laden sky, and scrumptious dim sum served from a converted Airstream trailer (I want an Airstream), the event was a hit with one and all. Yes, our dim sum order was wrong twice and one order of sui mai never even appeared, but overall the food was delicious and reminded me of home, so these little hiccups can be overlooked. Besides, by then the wine had worked it's magic and all with the world was good.
Whilst dining alfresco, we mused about our friends in Wisconsin with their newly fallen 18 inches of snow and 5 foot drifts...the February weather in California is more often than not a treat.
A belated gung hei fat choi to you all!
7 comments:
I'll stick with tans chippy and panda express for now.
Well, you are not exactly well known for being adventurous in the food department, but my sister-in-law would have been happy. (No chickens feet though!)
I'm all for a nice Chinky Chonk but what was the 'swallie'?
We have Mick's Plaice - a chippie van operating out of Downham Market....but in my youth, I remember a big converted coach selling Pease Pudding and Saveloys around the Elephant and Castle.
LR: A Rousanne/Marsanne/Viognier blend from the California foothills, a Washington state Syrah, and a Napa Syrah.
Affer: Oh how I wish there was a chippie van in Napa.
oh em gee-- saw the steamer baskets in the photo and immediately began to hanker mightily for dim sum. I miss that, too, because there was excellent Chinese of all varieties in Dallas. I spose it's a tradeoff. At least I can live vicariously through you, dear!
Phlemmy, it's a deal - just so long as I can live vicariously as a gun-toting, cowboy boot-wearing, hot Texas (dog)momma through you :)
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