Monday, December 01, 2014

Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile Food Truck

I don't exactly seek out food trucks.  But, my blog has an entire label devoted to reviews of them, so, it turns out, I do encounter them a fair amount.

Recently, one of the cafes at Google's Mountain View campus was undergoing renovations, and to handle the displaced diners, they brought in food trucks from the surrounding towns.  I'm not in Mountain View very often, but when I was, this seemed like a great opportunity to try out some different local cuisine!  Who knows, if I found a truck that was awesome, maybe I would seek it out.

The first one I encountered was Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile, based out of Palo Alto.   I'd never heard of them, but they have been around the South Bay in several forms, starting as a stall at local farmer's markets, and then operating a full service restaurant, Oaxacan Kitchen, in Palo Alto.  It has since closed, and the food truck is the only remaining business.  They serve the South Bay and are also available for catering, cooking classes, and team building events.

Their featured product is their Oaxacan Mole Negro, which you can also buy online, and is what started the business at the farmer's markets.  It wasn't available on the menu the day I visited however.
Grilled Wild Salmon with Mixe Glaze, Oaxacan Black Beans, Mexican Rice.
I eagerly ordered the Grilled Wild Salmon, as I love seafood, particularly glazed seafood.

"Fresh Wild Salmon grilled, served on a bed of organic vegetables and a fragrant house made glaze."
I opened my box, and was immediately confused.  I expected a large salmon filet and a generous portion of veggies.  Instead, my box contained more Oaxacan black beans and Mexican rice than anything else, and these items were not even mentioned in the description.  I don't like beans, or rice, so I didn't even try these, and wouldn't have ordered them.  Describe them as "Our famous black beans and Mexican Rice".  So, uh, I guess they are famous?

The "bed of organic vegetables" was a scoop of kale, butternut squash, and sweet potato.  The squash and sweet potato were in small cubes, the kale a bit nonexistent.  The veggies were unremarkable, the only thing to note was that they were barely lukewarm, and thus, not very tasty.

But I ordered this for the main dish anyway, the salmon.  It was a really thin strip, with some skin on.  Like the veggies, it was also barely warm.  It was very fishy.  Covered in albumin (that white layer that you sometimes get on poorly cooked salmon).  And the glaze?  To be fair, I don't know what mixe glaze is supposed to taste like, but I did not like this.  It seemed to have soy sauce, tomato, cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, mace, and star anise ... a very strange combination for my palette.  I was hoping it would taste more like teriyaki.

I didn't like anything in this.  The biggest flaw was the fact that it wasn't hot, but even so, it really wasn't my thing.
Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile on Urbanspoon

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