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SJ Homegrown

Posted By Bill On Friday, April 1, 2011 @ 23:52 In performances, art, Santa Clara Street, retail, events, San Jose, El Camino Real, restaurants | 1 Comment

[1] CIMG0186
Saturday, April 2, 2011 is a big day in Downtown San Jose. Two of AllCamino’s favorite entrepreneurs, [2] The Usuals and [3] Treatbot, have conjoined to turn San Pedro Square into a serious San Jose fab fest. They’ve organized a pair of events called [4] San Jose Made and [5] SJ Eats. San Jose Made is a wares faire featuring locally produced apparel, accessories, and other items. SJ Eats is a gathering of my new favorite thing: gourmet food trucks.

This is the second San Jose Made event. The first took place at the Mayberry Workshop Pop-Up shop on Santa Clara Street on January 29, 2011. It was a collaboration among The Usuals’ Mari and Mike Millares and the Bay Area Die-Hard Mayberry family. Regrettably I had to miss that one because I was up at MacWorld in San Francisco. I plan to attend this one though.  As before they’ve invited a bunch of vendors who will be selling cool stuff: t-shirts, jewelry, portable electronics, a real variety. Find the full list on the San Jose Made web site. I know a few of them from The Usuals and other places, folks like Cukui, Kerfufle, and Mayberry Workshop. Others are new to me but have cool names like Bad Ass Chica, Booger Kids, and shop.find.love. There’s a baker coming called The Hole Cake who sells candy-coated bite-sized cake pops on sticks. I’m there.

This is the first ever SJ Eats and it’s taking place in the historic [6] Fallon House parking lot at N. Almaden Ave and W. St. John St. I’m really excited for this. I’ve been waiting for a gourmet food truck caravan to roll into San Jose since I started frequenting them individually last year. Ryan Sebastian, the Treatbot dynamo, has pulled this together. The event will have two shifts, lunch and dinner, and will feature local trucks and some well-known heavy hitters from other cities. Here’s the lineup:

Lunch (11:30 AM to 3:30 PM)

  • [7] Babaloo - Fresh and healthy Cuban cuisine, based in Carmel. Haven’t tried them, but I’ve yet to see a food truck with a liquor license so I suspect they won’t have Mojitos on the menu.
  • [8] Bill’s Beer Steamed Hot Dog Cart - San Jose doggie wagon, but new to me. Sounds like they take frankfurter abuse to new heights. I am intrigued.
  • [9] Chairman Bao - From San Francisco, really outstanding Chinese-fusion buns. Try the duck. You won’t be disappointed. I once drove an hour just to get them.
  • [10] Hapa SF - Filipino truck, also from SF. I sampled their lumpia at [11] Edgewood Eats and they were great, but I think it’s just the tip of their culinary iceberg.
  • [12] Kara’s Cupcakes - Local gal bakes good. This pint-sized truck is as cute as the half-pint confections they’re famous for.
  • [13] Louisiana Territory - One of my South Bay favorites. It’s always a good time when Cherie and the LaT rolls. You can’t go wrong with their menu but my pick is the popcorn shrimp po’ boy with a bread pudding chaser.
  • [14] MoBowl - Oh MoBowl, so clever, so delicious. San Jose’s own Chef Andrew is seriously pumped up to represent the 408 against all comers. Their five-spice pulled pork packs a punch, but their new barbecue chicken bun is looking at you, @ChairmanTruck!
  • [15] MoGo BBQ - The Godfadda of mobile eats around these parts. Their Korean tacos and burritos are an homage to the genesis of the genre. I’m partial to their chicken and pork. My biggest beef is they can get a little slow sometimes. I hope they bring their “A” game.
  • [16] Sam’s Chowdermobile - All the way from Half Moon Bay, what they do to a lobster roll is obscene. Obscene, I say! I imagine the arguments in their kitchen: “Scotty, I need more butter on this sandwich!” “But Sir, ye canna break the laws of fezzix!”
  • [17] Treatbot - Ice cream. Karaoke. Reppin’ San Jose’s East Side. Your host for the evening. Perfection.

But wait! There’s more! Half of the trucks are staying but some new ones are rotating in for the second seating.

Dinner (5:00 PM to 9:00 PM)

  • Bill’s Beer Steamed Hot Dog Cart
  • Chairman Bao
  • [18] Curry Up Now - This Peninsula-based Indian truck has been around for a long time but ironically I’ve never tried them. They even do a regular rotation on El Camino Real. They’re bucking the trend and opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in San Mateo soon.
  • [19] Little Green Cyclo - Street-style Vietnamese grub. I’ve been watching them for a while but haven’t connected yet.
  • MoGo BBQ
  • [20] Roli Roti - Not a Scooby Doo interjection, a rotisserie chicken truck that’s been delighting farmers’ markets for years. I’ve heard great things about them and hope to sample their wares.
  • [21] TacGos - Haven’t tried them but tasty Mexican always sounds good to me. Their motto is, “Fresh, fast, affordable & around the corner!” and that is so true. I mean literally, their business address is right around the corner from my house.
  • [22] The Wow - San Jose newcomer slings silogs: Filipino rice plates. The chicken silog and corned beef silog are my favorite. I have it on good authority this is straight up home-cooking…chicken-and-rice for the soul. Don’t miss their fried banana rolls.
  • Treatbot

What I love about these twin events is that they are bottling the abundant raw creativity and talent in the South Bay food and fashion scenes, and unleashing them in unused spaces. This is all happening in San Pedro Square which is bustling nicely and very hip on its own. Still I think the influx of commercial energy that is coming to the vacant shells that were Spiedo and Tied House will be transformative. This is a formula that begs to be repeated. The beauty is this guerrilla art-ification can happen anywhere. But only in San Jose.

San Jose Made

San Jose Made LogoVendor Faire
Saturday, April 2 · 12:00pm - 8:00pm
San Jose, CA
151 W. Santa Clara Street
65 N. San Pedro Street
San Jose, CA
[23] http://www.sanjosemade.com/

SJ Eats

SJ Eats LogoA Moveable Feast
Saturday, April 2 · 11:30am - 9:00pm
Fallon House Parking Lot
Almaden Av and Saint John St
San Jose, CA
[24] http://www.sanjosemade.com/sjeats/

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URL to article: http://allcamino.com/2011/04/01/sj-homegrown/

URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31397911@N00/5581019455/
[2] The Usuals: http://www.shoptheusuals.com/
[3] Treatbot: http://www.treatbot.com/
[4] San Jose Made: http://www.sanjosemade.com/
[5] SJ Eats: http://www.sanjosemade.com/sjeats/
[6] Fallon House: http://www.historysanjose.org/visiting_hsj/peralta_fallon/
[7] Babaloo: http://twitter.com/#!/babalootruck
[8] Bill’s Beer Steamed Hot Dog Cart: http://billdogs.com/
[9] Chairman Bao: http://twitter.com/#!/chairmantruck
[10] Hapa SF: http://twitter.com/#!/HapaSF
[11] Edgewood Eats: http://www.facebook.com/EdgewoodEats
[12] Kara’s Cupcakes: http://twitter.com/#!/Karascupcakes
[13] Louisiana Territory: http://twitter.com/#!/LATCajunCookin
[14] MoBowl: http://twitter.com/#!/eatmobowl
[15] MoGo BBQ: http://twitter.com/#!/MoGoBBQ
[16] Sam’s Chowdermobile: http://twitter.com/#!/chowdermobile
[17] Treatbot: http://twitter.com/#!/treatbot
[18] Curry Up Now: http://twitter.com/#!/CurryUpNow
[19] Little Green Cyclo: http://twitter.com/#!/lilgreencyclo
[20] Roli Roti: http://twitter.com/#!/RoliRoti
[21] TacGos: http://twitter.com/#!/TacGos
[22] The Wow: http://twitter.com/#!/TheWOWTruck
[23] http://www.sanjosemade.com/: http://www.sanjosemade.com/
[24] http://www.sanjosemade.com/sjeats/: http://www.sanjosemade.com/sjeats/

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