Umami Moto

May 20, 2011 | by Ben 1

We’ve hit up the Umami Moto food truck a number of times at North Union Farmers’ Market. As I normally shop there in the morning, our first sampling was breakfast, the rice crepes and Thai omelet.

(Rice Crepes)

Both were quite good, especially for the price. The crepes have a satisfying, toothsome texture, and the scallions were a nice counterpoint to the eggs. What really made the breakfast dishes, though, was their spicy-sweet red sauce, which we’d gladly buy bottled.

On a subsequent visit I picked up lunch, Pad Thai (Vietnamese hot) ($7), Vietnamese Grilled Meatballs ($3) and a double order of potstickers ($6).

I really liked the pad thai, which had a good peanut flavor, chewy rice noodles and well-textured, meaty tofu. The mouth-coating spiciness, though, somewhat overpowered the other flavors. Next time I’ll just get “hot.”

We all enjoyed the meatballs, which were nicely grilled and well-complemented by the spicy-sweet dipping sauce.

The highlight might have been the potstickers, though. Tim Wu wrote … continue reading

Dim and Den Sum

June 1, 2010 | by Ben 4

I have been eagerly awaiting an opportunity to try out the new Dim and Den Sum food truck, and when we finally got there Sarah was converted as well.

We drove out to Marcus Thomas last Thursday (on Emery Road–workplace of Cleveland Foodie) to pick up lunch at the truck. We came towards the end of their stint (1:15) but fortunately they weren’t out of anything. We ordered two tofu tacos, a beef shank taco, and the tater tots.

The sliced beef had an intense roasted meat flavor which was nicely balanced by the fresh greens. It was 85+ degrees out, but the taco was fresh enough to be enjoyable.

The real star was the tofu taco. The tofu was tangy and earthy, and the Killbuck Valley mushrooms and greens added a sharpness and depth of flavor. This is the perfect summer food, very satisfying but light as well. Both tacos also had freshly cut corn which added sweetness … continue reading