Burger Theory - Adelaide, South Australia

Great news: Adelaide has its first modern food truck! The food truck phenomenon has had a re-birth in the US over the last few years, starting with Los Angeles and spreading to most other major cities including Austin, Chicago, New York, Boston, DC and more. Check out roaminghunger.com for more info about food trucks in the USA. The new generation of food trucks aren't like the old roach coaches of yesteryear. These new fandangled food trucks have fancy names and eye catching paint jobs. The owner-operators make their food using premium ingredients, move to various locations around their cities and communicate with their customers through Twitter and Facebook. I honestly didn't expect to see one of these new breed food trucks in Australia, let alone little old Adelaide. But believe it or not, the day has arrived and our local food truck trailblazer Burger Theory is open for business!



The truck "Pearl" came all the way from Queensland. I can imagine it would have been a pretty interesting journey. She was then painted by local artist Sam Evans.



So far, the menu is pretty limited. It's just burgers and burritos right now, but they do plan to expand in the future to include fries, additional toppings and maybe more.



We went with the No. 1 Burger and the No. 1 Burrito on our introductory visit. The burger meat is Coorong Angus Beef and the bun is from a local favourite, the Red Door Bakery. The No. 1's toppings are American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato and Truck sauce.



The No. 1 burrito (which is also a vegan option!) has black beans, iceberg lettuce and tomato in a warm flour tortilla.



We also managed to snag one Small Batch Triple Choc Cookie from the fridge. This was definitely the highlight. The not-so-secret ingredient of molasses made it extra chewy and added another dimension in flavour. Awesome! You can also get these cookies from Wilson's Organics if you can't find the truck and need your cookie fix.



If you do spot this truck in your area, please support the street food revolution in Adelaide. While I think there's still room for improvement, I look forward to undertaking further testing of the Theory and following their progress. I hope this is the start of some great street food for Adelaide.



Of course, the best way to find out when and where to find the Burger Theory truck is via their Twitter feed, their Facebook page or their website.

UPDATE (16 Sept 2011): 
Burger Theory now uses Breadtop buns for their burgers instead of the ones from the Red Door Bakery. This is a very important and exciting development. The new Breadtop buns have that perfect balance...soft enough to get out of your way when you go to take a bite, but strong enough to support the burger. Plus they've got that slight crunch in the middle from toasting on the grill and they're full of flavour. Props to the Burger Theory guys for thinking of Breadtop as a supplier. Genius! They've also added a handy Calendar to their website so you can plan your burger attacks in advance.





Update 20 June 2012: Cookies and burritos are no longer available, but fries are!

Sushi Gallery - Adelaide, South Australia

We've never actually tried the sushi from Sushi Gallery on Payneham Road (if you want sushi, you'll need to pre-order or go for lunch), but every dish we've ever eaten there has been fantastic. This little gem of a cafe is run by a Korean family who really care about the quality of the food they serve.



On a busy night you may have to wait up to 45 mins for your food to arrive, but you will be rewarded with a delicious, affordable and satisfying meal. Food comes with complimentary cold water and kimchi (pickled vegetables w/chili). The Bulgogi Donburi (front $10.90) & Japche (back $13.50) are pictured below. The noodles in the Japche are made of sweet potato...refreshingly different.



One of the better known Korean dishes is the Bibimbap. It's a bowl of white rice with sliced veggies and usually sliced beef and a fresh or fried egg on top. The Bibimbap at Sushi Gallery is the best we've tried. Here's one that comes in a hot stone pot, the Dolsot Bibimbap ($12.50).



Another recommended dish is the Ttukbaegi Bulgogi ($12.50) which I'm still trying to learn how to pronounce. It's seasoned beef with Korean sweet potato noodle and vegetables in a hot pot.



Yet another option is a Chicken, Pork or Fish Katsu ($11.50). From what I can tell, this is a Korean take on Western fried foods. Very tasty!



For dessert, I recommend a trip across the road to the Lucky Mart Korean shop for an ice cream or packaged dessert. (note: they close at 8pm) We usually go for the Melona ice cream but we recently tried the Corn ice cream and it was both strange and awesome at the same time!



Sushi Gallery for lunch or dinner (closed Sun) and Lucky Mart for dessert makes for an awesome Adelaide Korean meal combo.

Update 5 Feb 2012:
We've been back to Sushi Gallery a couple of times recently to try the sushi at lunch. It's the best sushi I've had in Adelaide and made fresh after you order. Delicious! A must try for all sushi lovers.


Avocado Shrimp Roll ($9.50)


Teriyaki Chicken Roll ($6.90)

Katz's Delicatessen - E. Houston Street, NYC

No visit to Manhattan is complete without a stop at a Jewish kosher style deli. One of the best known and most popular is Katz's Delicatessen, established in 1888. They coined the phrase "send a salami to your boy in the army" during World War II and were featured in the movie "When Harry Met Sally" among others. You can see signs mentioning both of these claims to fame in this photo.



The staff are quite pushy when you open the door, trying to get as many people in and ordering as quickly as possible. We were handed a little white ticket and told to hurry up to the counter to place our order. We took the advice of our server at the meat counter and went for the pastrami on rye. Excellent choice! Hand sliced meat, fresh bread and absolutely delicous. We also got some pickles on the side which I was anxious to try. There were two types of pickles made on site, a typical kosher style dill (the greener coloured ones) and a very sour pickle (the browner ones) which tasted like nothing I've ever tried. Fascinating to me because I love pickles. I still prefer my Texas style dill pickle, but the sour one was mouth-wateringly good.



Lucky for us, we had spoken to a local who told us if we were going to Katz's, we should tip the guy at the meat counter when placing our order to get more meat in our sandwich. A $5 tip did not go astray. We got this ridiculous pile of meat in our sandwich as a result of our generosity! It wasn't a cheap sandwich in the first place (about $15 I think), but we shared it between the two of us and certainly felt we got our money's worth.



An awesome pairing with the pastrami on rye is a Dr Brown's soda. Dr Brown's is now owned by Pepsi but still made locally in College Point, New York. The name apparently goes back to a doctor who used to treat immigrant children in the area and developed a kosher seltzer containing celery seeds, which was the precursor to one of the 6 flavours available today called "Cel-Ray." Somehow celery flavoured soda didn't sound too appetizing so we went for Black Cherry instead. The other Dr Brown's flavours are Cream Soda, Orange Soda, Root Beer and Ginger Ale. You can get a Coke or Pepsi pretty much anywhere, but Katz's is one of the few places where you can get a Dr Brown's.



After our sandwich, pickles and Dr Brown's soda were gone, I took our white ticket up to the drinks counter and ordered a New York Egg Cream. This is a concoction I had heard of many times before but had never tried for myself. I got vanilla (they also have chocolate) because I thought it was the more traditional option, but apparently chocolate has its own Brooklyn Egg Cream tradition. The other ingredients in the drink are...no, not egg or cream...just milk and "seltzer" which is carbonated water. Simple, but delicious. There's something about the mixture of the milk and the seltzer that just works really well.



People, there's a reason why Katz's has A) been around since 1888, B) is featured in numerous films and folklore, and C) is generally packed with tourists and locals alike. They're good at what they do and it's a real New York City experience. I hope they'll be around for another 123 years.