Shereen Arazm's Take on Episode 11

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Posted by : Guest Blogger, Tue, Jun 21 2011

I love the idea of street food! I am super excited about the new food truck craze that has been sweeping the U.S. I love the casualness about it and the flavours always pack a real punch.

In L.A., one of my favourites is the fresh fruit carts. They're all over the city and you can just grab a big, yummy bag--yes I said bag--of fresh, sliced fruit (mango, watermelon, cantaloupe, papaya, jicama and oranges with big chunks of coconut). They slice it in front of you, squeeze two baby limes in it, sprinkle it all with chili powder and salt, and shake up the bag. It's $4 and you can buy it on the street on the go.

I even follow certain food truck locations on Twitter! So, needless to say, I was really excited to see what our great chefs would prepare on street cart day.

Here we go...

The sloppy Joe's from Rob ROCKED. He made them with chorizo on yummy, fluffy buns. He's also had ham 'n' cheese sandwiches with a smoked ketchup. I was so impressed with his layered flavour profiles in these really basic items.

Dale was at a loss apparently with the countries he picked. It is a disappointment for me because I love Indian food and a good roti, so I was looking for an interesting combination from him. He made a soup, which I wouldn't have done for street food. Also, he should not have made a salad. Soup and salad isn't what I think of when I'm thinkin' "street." We got heat in the curry, but there were no real layered flavours at all. This is not Dale's bag.

Dustin made a great mini pizza with duck confit, béchamel and onions. He also made a tuna Nicoise sandwich. I really liked how Dustin combined both countries. In fact, so far he's done that best.

Francois' street food was hard to eat with our hands and was quite bland. Again, I'm not feeling the soup on a street cart. Vietnamese and Chinese food is really not "bland" tasting food and that is all we came up with that day.

Then there was Connie who pulled Germany. Will she sausage or won't she? I hoped she would. It's in her wheelhouse, so how could she not? Well... she did!

We were most excited to try Connie's sausage and Pad Thai. Maybe that's why we were so disappointed in her cart. Everything was so bland and so boring. It is NOT the impression you want to give in terms of street food. In fact, it's the opposite.

I was wrong, this was the hardest, worst judges table so far. The chefs are all so good and I didn't want to send any of them home because of street food cart mishaps. The eating part was so fun. This part sucked.