Food is SOULFUL when it's served out of a window.

Bustling along my enchantment with street food, I must devote some time to say a word or two about Little Skillet, the little sister to Farmer Brown. With street food widely becoming 'hip' these days, it seems like everyone is trying to get in on the act. And rightly so...consumers simply are adjusting themselves and their spending habits to the fact that the economy is constantly taking a dump. But it's hard to become accustomed to great food and gratifying culinary experiences and quit cold turkey. Food is the quintessential nexus between people of all different race, ethnicity, and background. It is politically correct pornography. So when someone asks me what I think of when I catch wind of the concept of fried chicken and waffles with mushroom-herb gravy and maple syrup for $8.50 out of an alley window (360 Ritch), it's hard for me to remain reticent. Cuz that just sounds damn good.


I know, chicken and waffles, big deal. But it's hard to find chicken these days that actually tastes like chicken...not the steroid infested, hormone injected birds that plague most of our grocery stores. This bird was fried so that the juice and moisture were locked inside and the chicken wasn't spongey like the salt water permeated bird that we're so used to. The breading was crisped splendidly with the perfect amount of seasoning and a hint of spice, I'm guessing from cayenne. Needless to say, it was very satisfying. The waffle was perfect. Texturally, it was spot-on. I love waffles that are browned just enough so that you have that light and subtle crunch with it's surface, but the inner core is that magical oxymoron constituted of both a dense and fluffy consistency. The syrup wasn't overloaded with sugar and wasn't too viscous. If you go, make sure to get the mushroom-herb gravy. Hearty and earthy, I even just like savoring in it on it's own. As a whole, this box served as validation, that simplicity executed correctly, is often times, if not more, just as fervent as food complicatedly executed.


As much I enjoyed the chicken and waffle, I didn't quite 'get' the andouille sausage waffle dog ($9) that I had. This picture isn't taken well...you can't really see the waffle that the sausage is sleeping on. I had heard so much about the waffle dog before my first trip here, and I guess the hype got to me a little bit. But I will admit, that this wasn't the bacon wrapped waffle dog that many people have raved about. Upon my first bite of the andouille dog, I immediately wanted to dismantle it and consume each component of it separately. The andouille was excellent, peppery with just the right amount of heat and spice. It was juicy and unctuous. It was topped with sauteed onions. The waffle 'bed' was conceived with corn meal. Essentially, it was a piece of corn bread. And it was good corn bread...moist and cakelike, but not overly crumbly. I think where the combination of the two lost me, was that the corn meal waffle was more of a corn bread cake than a waffle. There lacked a strength and elasticity in the foundation of the waffle for the andouille to make it work for me. Separately, I would have delighted in it, but together, it served more like a sausage in a mushy bun. Nevertheless, I'm still on a mission to try this fabled bacon wrapped waffle dog that everyone coos about. The andouille waffle dog was accompanied with freshly fried potato crisps.


And of course, I had to order a side of fries. They were solid. Fresh potatoes, cut and fried to golden goodness with the 'meat' having that subtlely grainy and sultry tissue. Nicely seasoned, they satisfied me very much.

I don't know what it means when people delight in picking up food out of window in the back of a building in an alley. There is quite a bit of fodder that comes to mind and can be associated with some pretty dubious images. With that said, when the food is good, let's just calm down and eat, even if the only place to enjoy such sustenance is on the cement loading dock across the alley way.

Kitchenette: Gourmet Lunch Grub out of a loading dock.

During this time when the economic recession has hit everyone of any industry, we've seen an emergence of restauranteurs and food proprietors opening up street food joints, all in efforts to allow consumers to enjoy delectable food, orchestrated with organic and sustainable ingredients, at prices a fraction of what it would cost to sit and dine inside their restaurants. Chez Spencer's Laurent Lategly has a taco truck nessled on 7th and Folsom serving French fare. The people that brought you Farmer Brown, opened a window that they call Little Skillet on Ritch right off of Townsend that serves chicken and waffles and other southern fare. At the Lung Shan Restaurant on Mission in between 18th and 19th, a guest chef and crew are brought in every Thursday and Saturday nights to put together a menu for Mission Street Food. It's poignant insight into how the food industry is trying to beat the downturn. And who doesn't love street food? It's cheap and often times, something very minimal-cozy about it, to steal a phrase from a friend of mine.

So that brings me to Kitchenette for today's chalk talk. Kitchenette isn't exactly 'street-food.' It's more or less a lunch stand that runs out of a loading dock on Illinois in between 20th and 22nd (apparently, there is no 21st there). The selling point is that everything that they use is organic and sustainable, even the cups, utensils, and box-wear that they use. The menu changes every day with usually two main entrees to boot, always under $10. They do gourmet sandwiches and handheld type of fare, making it very 'street-food' and 'grub-to-go' friendly.


This particular afternoon was a Thursday and I took the 22nd from my place to go outbound and get to the last stop, 20th and 3rd. The menu for that day announced Korean Tacos. They were white corn tortillas filled with kabi-style beef, marinated and grilled. Nicely cooked medium rare, they were tender and tasty. They were topped with three different types of salsa: roasted tomato-sesame salsa, spring onion-cilantro salsa, and avocado salsa. They also added some spicy cabbage. The heat was nicely balanced with the acid from the avocado salsa. And the cilantro was maybe the best part of the taco, very bright and bold in flavor with a very round bitterness to it. This was $8.50. The only problem that I had was that I wanted more. $8.50 for a few gourmet tacos that were excellent just was still a bit pricey for me, considering that I left needing to eat something else still.

The chicharrones ($3 bag) were fantastic. Pork skin cracklings are usually too heavy and saturated with too much oil for my taste. These, on the other hand were fried to a crisp, yet light and airy in texture. Seasoned with simply salt and a little sugar, I could probably eat them all day. The strawberry-rhubarb refresher ($2.50) is exactly that, quite refreshing. It wasn't overly sweet and sugary and it was touched with just the right amount of acid and tartness.

The total damage was $14 + $1 for tip. Not exactly 'cheap' for eating off of a loading dock standing up, or if you are lucky to get a bench. Not too expensive, but considering that I still needed some more chow afterwards, I could probably find other places to satisfy my hunger for less than that. Nevertheless, it is an experience that had its share of high points and I will be sure to visit again on another day, when they have heartier sandwiches on the menu.