ABQ Food Trucks - Talin Market On Wednesdays

The Food Trucks lined up

Food trucks have become pretty popular in the past few years with Food Network shows and food trucks evolving to cater to foodies around the country. There is the stigma of "roach coaches" associated with food coming from a truck, but in the past few years many of my meals have come from these mobile culinary facilities. Thankfully, I have not gotten food poisoning or found any surprises in my food. In Albuquerque on Wednesdays at the Talin market we are fortunate to see a pod or group of food trucks set up shop in the parking lot. The day I went was a lot attendance day according to one of the vendors. According to him they normally get about six trucks, but today it was only three. He speculated it was due to bad weather, but I was glad to have the time to see the trucks. Overall, it's a really cool experience to be able to try different foods in one outing. If you go keep in mind seating is an issue, there is no real seating or tables. Below are summaries of my experience at each truck.

Make My Lunch

Potato Bacon Soup

The lady who ran Make My Lunch was very pleasant. I think she became excited once she knew of my excitement about the experience about the Talin Wednesday food truck gathering. She struck me as a well seasoned veteran of the food truck circuit and she gave me some stickers for the food truck group as well as for her truck. The truck struck me as a deli on wheels. She offered some sandwiches that looked like great selections, but I was limited by my crazy idea of trying each truck. From my little research into her business I guess her company does catering services for large events and will make you a healthy lunch and drop it off. Maybe this food truck gathering is a way for her to advertize.

I wanted to get a Cuban sandwich, but I opted for the soup of the day option which was the potato bacon soup pictured to the right. I like how she minded the details like her truck presentation, choice of quality utensils, and  food appearance. The soup tasted good, but not great. This may have been due to her trying to reduce fat content in her food. The potatoes were undercooked, the texture was waxy and little crunchy for a potato. Overall good, but not great. I may need to try more of her food to give a better review.

Bill's BBQ Truck

BBQ is easy to make, great BBQ is very difficult to make. I've judged a few BBQ contest and cooking on the road is very hard, but a lot of folks do it. Talking to Bill was a very pleasant experience, but his Q is good, but not great. I was sort of put off by the color of his sauce. I think it was too much mustard that gave it that odd color. The meat's favor was OK, but it was over cooked because the meat just fell off the bone. I know what you're thinking, "isn't fall off the bone good?" It is not in competitions and this instance. I felt in this case the fall off the bone was too much fall off the bone, the texture in the meat was mushy. Bill did have a very nice smoker. 

 Oz Patisserie

 Oz Patisserie was great but due to being on the road their pastry that I bough was still frozen. I broke my first utensile digging into my dessert which was excellent, but needed some time to thaw.

Overall, it was a great experience. We are not on the same scale or quality as other markets but kudos to Albuquerque and Talin for persuiing the food trucks. I would give all of this a score of three and half stars out of five.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/ABQ-Food-Trucks/144504942304388

Cool Water Fusion

 Cool Water Fusion is a cool restaurant. The food is familiar with a unique twist. An example of this would be their blue corn crusted fried chicken. Tucked away in a strip mall near Wyoming and Menual the restaurant is not visible from the street. The dining area is small, dark, well decorated, but very nice.  Their beer/wine selection is OK, but definitely nothing to write home about. Pictured to the right and below were the appetizers we got on our first visit, blue corn dusted onion rings and the spinach/artichoke dip. The onion rings were excellent. The textures in the onion ring were phenomenal; the crust had a complex crunch with an onion that maintained it natural crunch and flavor. 


I did not take a pic on my steak, it was good, but not great. The reason I say this is I LOVE rare steak. I would get my steaks Pittsburgh more often in this market if I could, but most places in our market cannot make the black crust on the outside.  The blue corn crusted fried chicken my friend ordered gave me a really bad case of food envy. The pieces pictured below and right were small but very flavorful. The corn and mashed potatoes were an excellent paring. My main gripe about the fried chicken was the size of the pieces of chicken.
I can't recall the fish dish pictured below, but it was pretty tasty from what my friend said.
Below is one of the desserts we ordered it was the bread pudding a la mode. It was really tasty and texture wise true to bread pudding.

Our server was a freak of nature. When I say this she did not have an arm growing through her forehead, but that she was pleasant, personable and a medical student.  Cool Water Fusion is a great culinary wise, but could use more space and better wine/beer list.

I would give Cool Water Fusion a three and a half stars out of five.

Kim Long Asain Cuisine

Cha Gio - Egg Rolls

In the past few years more Vietnamese restaurants have been opening north of Lomas which is great, so not all the restaurants are located in one section of town. About a year ago, Kim Long Asian Cuisine opened up. I didn't hear about it until a few months ago from a friend. Kim Long is tucked away in a strip mall on San Pedro south of Uptown. The parking lot for the strip mall is not too spacious, but it's sufficient. The restaurant does have a bar area that faces a TV and a few tables to the right. The place is nothing fancy, but it's pretty clean and the restrooms are OK. This is defiantly a small business, which I think is great.   

Banh Beo Chen

According to my friend this place put taro in their egg rolls. This is the first time I've heard of someone putting taro in their egg rolls. The taro didn't really change the flavor of egg rolls, but it did add a slight crunch which was great. The Banh Beo Chen is something I have not seen on any menu, but according to my aunt we have a relative that makes this dish on occasion and I've eaten it before. This was a rice cake in a small bowl topped with pork and shrimp bits. This was a tasty appetizer that was not too heavy.

Bun Cha Han Noi Kim Long

 A dish a friend of mind recommended was Bun Cha Hanoi, which I'd never heard of. My friend has been in Hanoi for more than a year teaching English so any input he has about Vietnamese food may be worth a look. The Bun Cha Ha Noi I would describe as bun or vermicelli noodles with different components, like  dish of pork in broth, a veggie plate, and nuoc cham. The pork dish had onions on top with grilled pork and meatballs in a clear broth. The broth was a little salty but over all the dish was good. When all of this was put together to eat the whole was greater than the sum of it's individual parts.

Pho Dac Biet

Bun Bo Hue

The big meal in Vietnamese food seems to be pho. I LOVE pho. It would be in the running for Anthony Bourdain and my last meal. The pho here is good, but not great. The parts that go into it are great, but I felt that the broth lacked in complexity or depth. Don't get me wrong this is good pho, but definitely not my favorite for Albuquerque. The bun bo Hue was excellent, not as good as homemade, but great for a restaurant. I did get mine with blood pudding and pig's feet. If you don't like that stuff request it without. This broth had a rich lemon grass flavor that was spicy. This dish was great.  The picture below is what my aunt ordered on one of my many visits in a fairly short time. It was a rice and pork dish. I tried a bit and it was pretty good.

I enjoyed Kim Long Asian Cuisine. They server some beers and their modest beer selection offers some good stuff like a few Marble Brewing selections and Fat Tire. It's nice to wash down your bowl of Vietnamese with some suds. The service here is good; the staff is quick and polite. They offer a lot of different dishes and everything I've had is excellent. I would give Kim Long a rating of four out of five.

http://www.kimlongalb.com/