1. Saltena
We made a beeline for the One World Pizza booth. And we came back for seconds, too. This place is probably the only restaurant in the state that
sells saltenas, a very popular Bolivian pastry. Similar to the empanada, it's baked with a stew-like meat, vegetable, egg, and potato filling. You can also buy a veggie saltena, which sounds kind of weird to me. A saltena is inherently meaty, but maybe I should let my stomach do the judging. Anyways, saltenas require a spoon to eat, or else you'll just end up spilling the juices everywhere and burning your hand. So it was kind of hard to eat without a spoon, but nonetheless delicious and totally worth the burn. The liquid had the distinctive red tint from a spice called palillo. Ki and I made these for our mom, and they're pretty hard to make, requiring at least two day of preparation: one day to make the filling with gelatin and allow it to firm up over night, and the next to bake it at a high temperature. Good thing we can buy them for a relatively good price in Champaign (although not Raleigh, unfortunately). Even though the saltenas in Bolivia are better, with pieces of beef instead of ground beef, mini-eggs, and olives, beggars can't be choosers. And when you're looking for saltenas in the middle of a giant cornfield (i.e. Illinois), you are certainly a beggar.2. Crab Rangoon
The single crab rangoon was a pretty small portion, but still good and worth the one ticket (if only we'd been tipped off that 1 ticket items are typically a rip-off. More on that later.). No picture of this one, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. The wrapper was nice and crispy, and the filling was very creamy. Unlike other crab rangoons I've had, the filling didn't just taste like cream cheese, but actually had the taste of crab and herbs. It came with a syrupy sweet and sour sauce. Typical american-chinese fare, but who doesn't like a little fast food?
3. Muffaletta
Ki and I had this huge New Orleans sandwhich (think the width of a small pizza, the height of a chocolate cake, and the soul of a burly Italian man) when we went to New Orleans. We loved the soft bread, mix of deli meats (salami, ham, etc.), and best of all, the salty olive tapenade. Even though neither of us are big on meaty dishes, the overal combination was great. Plus, it reminded us that we must finally make that olive tapenade we've been talking about for a month. McAlister's was offering a taste portion for 2 tickets, and it was also well-worth it. The picture isn't great, but the sandwhich was stacked with meat, a slice of cheese, and a mix of olives.
4. Samosa
Euro-mart isn't really a restaurant, but actually
an international specialty food shop. They do, however, offer a few snacks in their deli, and we got to try one of them. I love indian food, so I definitely loved the spices in the veggie samosa, which was filled with potato and peas. Markita wasn't crazy about all the potato, but I felt that it carried the flavor well. My only qualm was that the guy microwaved it before serving, so the dough on the outside had some mushy parts. I realize it's difficult to maintain quality at an outdoor festival, but it would have been better if they'd stored them under a heat lamp to maintain crispiness. Still, it was good, and again, the picture doesn't really do it justice5. Chicken Pad Thai
Pad thai is another favorite of mine, and the sample portion Ki and I got was definitely worth it. Probably not as authentic as I would hope, it was a good fast-food type dish. I noodles were greasy (in a good way) and had plenty of peanuts. Some pad thai's don't have enough peanut flavor, but this one definitely did. I also have a picture of the chicken basil with rice. Apparently it wasn't all that great, and a little too spicy. Seems like Ki and I picked the good one.
Booyah.6. General Tsao's Chicken
So this was the first real disappointment of the Taste. It was one of the few items that only cost 1 ticket, and I was expecting the taste portion to be on par with the taste portion of the pad thai. Not quite. The sample size reminded me of when I used to walk by the foodcourt at the mall to grab a free sample of chinese food on a toothpick (ok, fine, I still do this). It tasted ok, nothing special. A little too much grizzle for my taste, but that was kind of expected. I added the fork to make it look more paltry. And Ki's smile is a frown in disguise.
7. Kettle Korn
Yum! I love sweet and salty combinations such as chocolate covered pretzels and trail mix, so I knew I would like this ketle korn. It would have been better warm and fresh from the kettle, but was tasty nonetheless. And for a taste portion, Ki and I got a pretty sizeable bag-full.8. Chocolate Dip n' Dots
This stuff reminds me of trolling the mall back in middle school, trying to look cool and shopping at Limited Too. This mall food staple made an appearance at the Taste. When they're still frozen they stick to the sides of your mouth and you can't really taste anything. However, once it starts melting, the ice cream gets really creamy. I hear they have Dip n' Dots ice cream cakes, which I'm really curious about.
9. Chocolate Dipped Pineapple
Disappointment number 2 at the taste. We had one ticket left and decided to go for something refreshing. It was basically a bite-sized piece of pineapple with minimal chocolate coating. It's as if they were trying to rip us off. I'm surprised the vendors could sell this to me with a straight face. If I were them I'd probably start laughing about how much of a sucker these people are. Oh well, even though it was a disappointing end, the overall experience was great. Lets hope the Taste of chicago is just as good.
