Street Grindz Eat the Street Food Truck Rally

If you’re a foodie, than this is your place! Virtually every imaginable food is available ! Mexican street tacos? Yep. Brazilian cheese bread? yep. Indonesian fare? Poke bowl? Crepes? Yep. My favorite? The Mexican corn on the cob, ahi-​stuffed jalapeños and Nosh cheese bread. Go early… It gets packed. The only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is lack of seating… Bring your own chairs! But go… And bring a large appetite!

Great event, different food themed each time, lines can get long and parking is horrible, but all worth it if you ask me.

SO crowded and loooong lines. Recommend going early before the crowd shows up. Good selection/​options to choose from.

I love Eat the Streets! Such a great selection of food, which has been excellent all around!
It does get a little crowded, so go early if you want to try a little of everything. I cannot even list everything I’ve eaten, but I have gone to the MIlilani and Kakaako events and they were both great.
I love the yakitori vendor and that creole/​down south cookin. Sorry. can’t remember the names. I had some shrimp n grits that were to die for! I’m sure if I eat it enough, I would. The gravy was so rich!
Expect to spend at least 50.00 per person. That’s minimum!
Definitely check it out at least once. Great time for the whole family. You will enjoy it!

I LOVE the concept here at Eat the Street. I mean, after lunch hours what are you going to do as a food truck owner? Not much. It’s appealing to me as I do not work anywhere near a food truck, so it’s still a bit of a novelty to me.
I RARELY get to go to eat the street, as my Fridays are always packed with other less enjoyable activities. In March, went early (5:00) so I can’t comment on the crowds, but I did notice the Japanese tourists. Please excuse my tangent here, but OMG! These tourists are taking over MY side of the island: Eat the Street, Kahala Mall, Manoa Marketplace and Café Kaila. What’s up with this?
But I digress. Here’s my Eat the Street suggestion: turn it into more of a grazing thing rather than a one shot meal. Let me give you an example. If you go to the Iolani Fair, you have to choose only one booth and $ 10+ later, you have a complete meal. Then that’s it. You are full for the rest of the night. At the Punahou carnival, you can get a $ 2 hamburger then a 50 cent malasada, and a $ 4 gyro and to be honest, you end up eating ALL NIGHT LONG. But at least you get to try everything. I think Eat the Street should be more like the Punahou carnival as oppose to the Iolani Fair. I mean come on, I attend the event to try different foods from different trucks. Don’t make me choose only one truck. If I wanted to eat at one truck, I would just find that truck on a regular day and and eat there. Let me graze all night and be merry.
One more request: MELT truck-​I LOVE YOU. Come back. Please?

This was my first time at this of event, and it was awesome cuz there was so much food!
I had to walk around the whole lot 3xs before I made my final decision of what to get
If only I had gathered more friends so everyone could buy something different and share potluck style! Or if I could multiply myself so I could wait in every long line annnddd get a little bit of everything.
It was definitely taco ecstasy there. I went to the «Melt» lunch wagon and ordered a Kabocha Bacon melt. It was definitely something different! I loved it and even recommended it to a stranger!
I also had the kalua pork nacho. I had a couple pieces and gave the rest to my boyfriends mom who couldn’t take her hands off the takeout box! My boyfriend ordered pastele stew with gandule rice and oh my that was muy delicioso! The nacho and pastels stew was from the «Local STOP» wagon.
I decided that I just might have to hunt these wagons down for more food in the future! We also tried a Japanese taco from the «Shogunai Tacos» that was «eh alright»
What I noticed was there was a massive line for the «Gogi Korean Tacos» & «Xtreme Tacos» if I had more time and patience, I would’ve definitely hit up those wagons.
Not only were there taco wagons, there was dessert! I saw Coldstones Icecream, some interesting flavored Popsicle from Onopops, my all time favorite: ChimneyCakes (mega-​delicious with nutella spread), and Fairycakes.
I also found the Unilocal stand which was really nice because they were passing out tote bags, shot glass, mints and some other cool items just for signing up for the Unilocal newsletter. So I had goodies to take home.
There were nice people walking around passing out a Malama card that was hanging on a lanyard and a brochure of all the wagons and what they specialized and how their sales are going to help Japan.
Like I said in the beginning, this was my first time going to an Eat the Street and most definitely not my last. I’ll be looking forward to «The Great Hawaii Lunch Wagon Festival»

My first Street Grindz ‘Eat the Street’ event. This cool event needs a better name. My friend commented that it sounded like some cheap porno movie, like a cross between bangbus and bumfight.
We arrived at 5:20 and circled the block once. We ducked into the lot and found a parking stall. The guy with the security shirt said anything not marked ‘EYE’ or coned off was free to park in. When we got back to the car 3 hours later, someone keyed my door and my wipers were yanked up. WTF.
We went straight to the Gogi Truck, I knew I wanted to try that first. We saw the huge line at Melt, but it paled in comparison to the Gogi Truck line.
See my review for the Gogi Korean Taco Truck here:
Next event, I suggest spreading it out on a Saturday or Sunday to help reduce lines. Say 11am-​7pm or something. If they could secure the Kakaako parking lot instead, it might be even more winnaz

Another awesome event. This is a must go to event for any true Unilocaler or food person. Just be prepared for lines.
This time the event seemed more organized and had almost double the amount of food trucks. It was held in a much larger space which I think helped the overwhelming crowds that flocked to this event. There was also a lot more publicity with kitv4 news and nonstop Honolulu so the crowds were even larger and earlier. By 515 pm, there were some lengthy lines at some of the favorites… Eat Gogi and Melt. The event was from 5 – 9 pm. I knew from experience that being there at 5 would just be too late to secure what foods I wanted. Last time I was a half hour early, this time an hour.
Nonstop Honolulu was kind enough to provide a map via twitter a couple of days ago which I studied to get my game plan I’m order since I was going alone and had no team members to conspire with to stake out different lines at once.
There was more seating and 24 trucks lined up in a circle. It was a circle that made your head spin and your tummy growl. Where to go? What to eat first?
So I told myself when I was planning, I would try a different food truck, last time I went to Melt for the duck confit sandwich and a red velvet and cream cheese filled cupcake from Let Them Eat Cupcakes.
Oh but these two places know how to reel you back in… especially you, Melt! As soon as I heard Melt had a $ 14 special surf and turf, I knew I had to be in that line. The combo consisted of a lobster bisque soup and a steak melt sandwich. OMG, the soup was delicious with huge lumps of lobster in it. It had a rich creamy flavor. The steak sandwich had thinly sliced beef, horseradish watercress sauce, gouda and caramelized onions. The melt was yummy…
I did like the duck confit better… but this sandwich was a close second. What made the sandwich was the caramelized onions and horseradish. Last time they had a few sandwiches to choose from, this time just a classic or the steak. And of course their signature tomato soup.
Before Melt, Fairy Cakes opened up early so I was able to snag a vanilla cupcake with Tahitian buttercream. It was pretty presented cupcake that tasted a good as it looked. They even had lilikoi and red velvet whoopee pies. They had brownie lollipops, huge brownies and 4 different cupcakes. This was a new street food to the event but a popular newbie.
Then of course, the other cupcake competitor, Let them eat cupcakes. This time they added two new flavors, snickerdoodle and Li hing mango. And they brought back double chocolate and the cream cheese filled red velvet. The cupcakes are moist and heavenly. They are sitting I’m my fridge, waiting to be feasted on tomorrow ao to be continued on the cucpcake review.
There were some new trucks that has some great offerings and there were some familiar faces. I wish I could have samples more trucks. There was a great variety of food from traditional tacos to Asian tacos to Filipino food. And don’t forget desserts from cupcakes to chimney cakes to ono pops. I didn’t get to try mu h but did manage to snap a photo of every truck.
One suggestion, smaller portions so we can sample more trucks and have more money to go around! So should I be there and hour and half prior to start time at the next Eat the Street ;) ?
^_​^*~

Wanted to write this review before the 2^nd Eat the Street Food Truck event!
So, I agree with my fellow Unilocalers that this was an AWESOME idea! To have «too many people» is definitely a good problem to have!
I hope this next one corrects a few of the problems… i.e., the lines and service of the food!
For the first time, it was pretty good. It wasn’t organized very well, but I guess who could expect the turn out that it did!
The Melt line was crazy and so was the Gogi truck! I’ve had both before so I didn’t wait in those lines!
We had the Shogunai Taco truck, Tacos Vicente, and Let Them Eat Cupcakes.
First, the Shogunai Taco truck — they were VERY unorganized and couldn’t keep up the demand. Their «Moroccan style fries» were VERY un-​flavorful and just run of the mill frozen fries out of a bag. Not impressed. The quesadilla (can’t even remember the name!) was not impressive either. It was just ok. My friend had the other most popular taco which was pretty flavorless when compared to other taco trucks.
The Tacos Vicente truck had things a little more organized. We ordered the Al Pastor taco and it was SO good! A little pricey but delicious! Wish they would come to the East Side once in awhile!
Then we went to Let Them Eat Cupcakes. This was definitely a let down! The frosting was definitely not quality cream cheese frosting like I’m used to! And we had the red velvet, and tres leche, and both were pretty bland! And the quality of the actual cake was fluffy, but nothing to write home about! Extremely disappointing!
I hope the next one this Friday will be great! I’m excited!

Who doesn’t like the idea of 10 great food trucks parked in one location? Great idea right? In fact, an awesome idea! I love it! Oh wait, I did love it until you realize that there are several thousand people who are just like you and the location and food trucks might not be able to handle it all.
That’s just what happened. I love the idea and the location was great, however the trucks couldn’t keep up with the barrage of people and the thought of waiting an hour for some tacos from Gogi or a sandwich from Melt just made me cringe. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely obsessed with all of the truck’s food, however the thought of waiting that long when I am insanely hungry wasn’t that great.
Great idea and great trucks, good execution. However, the trucks really gotta sharpen their knives and get the food out quicker so that the lines won’t be as bad and make it a great experience!

What an amazing event! A huge mahalo to Poni A. and her husband for organizing this incredible food truck bonanza. The StreetGrindz Rally quickly became one of the most buzzed about happenings on the Island — THOUSANDS of people came out to sample some of the yummiest street truck food in the Universe!
I was staffing the Unilocal table near the entrance so didn’t wait for hours and hours to get food, but not to worry, I didn’t starve! My boy brought me a delightful grilled cheese and tomato soup combo from Melt. We were pretty impressed that they texted us once the food was ready. Everyone stopped by to show me what they got… the Gogi dogs looked AMAZING! And of course, my chef-​crush, Sean Priester, was represented by the Soul truck, serving up his heavenly fried chicken. Elite Unilocaler Lori I. came so well prepared, I could hardly believe it – she had half a dozen Tupperware containers and folding chairs. She’s SUCH a pro!!!
The live DJ really helped give this event a party vibe and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. The only complaint I heard was that the lines were too long… what a problem to have for a first event! Most organizers would worry that not enough people would come… not the case here! Really can’t wait until the next StreetGrindz Rally! I will come early with an empty belly. ;o)

What can I say about Street Grindz?! AWESOME! This event mystified the organizer’s expectations as far as the turnout of patrons. Expecting 800, there were a few thousand people hovering over chicken tacos, grilled cheese, fried chicken and the like. This was the perfect venue to get a taste of food truck delicacies and experience fast food on a new level.
I went for the grilled cheese and tomato soup at Melt … a little too much butter, but it’s to be expected when you are flinging cheese to the masses. We were wroking the Unilocal booth so that’s all we had time for, but if you were willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to an hour, you could have tantalized your taste buds on a variety of food truck creations and anomalies.
Great publicized event that hopefully will have additional street eats next time around!

I actually can’t remember the last time I bought anything from a food truck so I honestly didn’t know what to expect from going to this event.
I have to thank my friend Mark Y. who saw this event posted on Unilocal and his thoughtful suggestion of «trying it out.»
We got to the event shortly after 6pm and I totally didn’t expect it to be so crowded! I just couldn’t believe all these people showed up and were crammed into this tiny parking lot. I am just glad my friend thought about splitting up to buy the food at different trucks otherwise we might not have been able to try any food at all as the lines were getting longer and longer by the minute. He decided to stand in line for Gogi Korean Tacos, while I stood in line for Melt.
Well, I can honestly say I can’t remember the last time I stood in line for anything that long. My best estimate is that I stood in line for AT LEAST 1 hour if not longer. I actually began to lose hope the first 20 minutes I was in line as the it didn’t seem that the line had moved at all! I also started to get hungry at some point and almost thought about giving up. Thankfully my prayers for food were answered in the form of 1 red velvet cupcake from Let Them Eat Cupcakes hand delivered by one of my friend’s co-​workers who also happened to be at this event. The cupcake was good, not bad… it fulfilled my immediate need for some kind of nourishment. I’d choose the red velvet cupcakes from Hokulani Bakery over these any day.
I finally make it to the front of the Melt line (believe or not!) and order the duck confit melt (a special just for this event!), the triple melt, and a cup of the tomato soup (thanks to Tricia M.). I thought I would have to wait forever for the food, but luckily it was ready in about 10 minutes from when I placed the order. The duck confit sandwich was just delicious! Easily the favorite of the 2 sandwiches that were ordered. The tomato soup was wonderful! Very flavorful and just overall good soup!
The tacos from the Gogi Korean truck were overall good, it was just the wait time for the food that was such a pain. Of the 3 types were tried, the winners were the spicy pork and the bulgogi tacos.
Bottom Line: I think this event was a great opportunity to try food from these different places/​businesses. I would absolutely go again… but it would depend on which trucks would be there and if it’s at a bigger parking lot /​area/​venue.

While leisurely strolling towards Street Grindz around 7:00pm, I was thinking «how difficult could it be to score a sandwich from melt?». Answer: Really difficult. Almost impossible.
After surveying the different lines for about 5 minutes, I decided on plan B which was leaving and meeting up with some of my peeps at a restaurant. I found out later that a friend waited over 2 hours to get through the Melt line. The lines for most of the other trucks looked equally as long and no wonder: an estimated 1000+ people attended the event!
I really like this concept (bonus pts for having a dj) and plan on attending the next rally. But I’m also keeping my fingers crossed for improvements that will make future rallies more user friendly yet still profitable for the food trucks.

Street Gindz event was really cool because there was a choice of many different trucks at one place that I have never seen before, or could have a chance to eat at since they rove at so many places. I am glad I went to the event.
However, although the event stated that it started at 6pm, I found out that it would have been better to go earlier. A friend of mine went at 5:15pm and said the lines weren’t that long.
I forgot the address, but knew that they were along Kapiolani Blvd., so as we drove, you could see all the trucks parked in the parking lot from the street. My family arrived at 6:15pm, and the lines to the popular trucks were ridiculously long. I decided to stand in line for the Gogi Truck, and it took me an hour and a half just to order my food, then another half hour to wait for it to cook. The Melt truck was the same, but the good thing is, if you have a group, you can split up and have them order for you at other trucks rather than standing in line at each truck. We only ordered at 3 places since it was so crowded:
Le Crêpe Café — The crepes were actually very tasty. We ordered the strawberry/​banana crêpe for $ 7, which my son totally devoured, and the Tsunami crêpe for $ 8, which was stuffed with cheese, chicken, fresh tomatoes, basil, etc., which blended in nicely. It was surprising the line was short for this vendor because I thought the crepes were pretty good.
Gogi Truck — Korean tacos/​quesidilla/​hotdog/​slider — this truck was too popular that it took us an hour and a half just to order our food, then another ½ hour to get our food. The food was ok, and different since it has korean food wrapped in tortilla. The positive side of standing in line is that you can talk to people and find out about other restaurants that they have eaten at.
Melt — another ridiculous line that my friend had to stand in for about an hour and a half also. I didn’t think it was worth the wait to get the triple melt, but at least I didn’t have to stand in line for it after standing in line for the gogi truck.
Shogunai Tacos — after standing in line for half an hour, They ran out of food and closed down, so we weren’t able to order any food from there.
In all, this event was awesome although the lines were super long. There were tables with chairs in the middle of all the trucks for you to sit, chat and eat, or, like my son who was hungry, he sat on the pavement next to one of the lunch trucks to eat his food while I stood in line. An event right in town, if you go with family and friends, want to meet other foodies and dont mind standing in long lines to try different trucks that you have never been able to find during lunch, this is an event to attend.
I also got a cool Unilocal bag and bottle opener at the Unilocal booth! Thanks Streetgrindz, and Unilocaler Nicole and Kyle for this event!

This is a great concept, but we just don’t have enough food trucks in Hawaii to pull it off yet! I felt so bad for my co-​worker tonight. When I first told him about this event, he was so super duper excited when he heard the Melt truck would be there. Grilled cheese was his favorite food and the truck had always eluded him. This was his chance!
Uh. .. riiight. The poor guy waited over 2.5 hours for his sandwich. I felt SO sorry for him. .. and for myself, because I really wanted to ditch him and go home but that would have been really mean. First, we waited in line an hour and a half to order. Twenty minutes later, his gf and I got our sandwiches, while he had to wait another 30 minutes for his! They were nice about it once they realized they lost his ticket and they refunded his money, but wooow. Standing in line for that long made me realize how much I hate these events. .. they just aren’t worth the wait and cost.
Happily, as we were leaving (he was the last person to get his food – all the trucks had already closed), Soufiane from Le Crêpe Café saw us and came over to say hello. He gave us a crêpe for the road, which was a great touch to an otherwise frustrating night. Merci bien, Soufiane, et à bientôt!

I’ve had a twitter account for a little over a year now and until very recently my only «following“s were food trucks. I’m not joking. What’s even more sad about this story is that until Street Grindz I never even patronized a single one of them (my favorite foodie friend Lori I. was kind enough to shove half of a Shogunai taco in my mouth one time but that’s the extent of my street food experience). Behold, the heavens opened and granted us a miracle — Street Grindz organized the food truck rally and every hungry, food loving islander was on it like spam on musubi … that’s a whole lot of people. Make that over a thousand people crammed into the jazz minds parking lot on Kapiolani plus at least ten trucks, several booths and a tent smack in the middle as a make-​shift cafeteria/​dining area.
I can see why people were frustrated when they showed at 7 (the event was published to be open from 6 – 9) and had to wait in insane lines just to order and then wait another insane amount of time for their food but luckily I was with the vet herself who got us early access and got to try a whole shetload of food (see Lori I’s review and add the fact that I saw quite a few other friends and as I am known to do went ahead and helped myself to bites of theirs as well).
Overall, don’t come here hungry, come ready to party. Everyone you know is gonna be there and the music will be pumpin — I know next time to have not just my water bottle but my party cup too!

I am not on twitter or facebook so I was in food truck heaven! I didn’t eat all day in preparation for this. I got there at 5pm and waited for them to finish setting up. Once Kyle H. and Ryan C. showed up we got our GAME ON! (divide and conquer):
SOUL PATROL:
I started my musical truck charade with:
Buttermilk fried chicken plate ($ 10)
All nicely battered with some kind of honey/​buttermilk, all crispy crunchy outside and nice and juicy inside. It could have been the cornbread that got on the chicken that made it a little sweet, but I liked it. I’ve never had collard greens before so I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like but it was ok, the coleslaw was tasty, the beans were a little more firm/​crunchy than I’m used to but I think this might have been my FAVORITE dish of the night! The gumbo ($ 9) and Southern Iced tea ($ 2) was great too. I can’t wait to go eat at his restaurant now!
GOGI TRUCK:
I’ve had these before so they were all amazing as usual, Gogi started having long lines right away… Hey Esteban, love your review on the face of the Gogi truck!
BI BIM BURRITO $ 6 took this one home to-​go, so still in my fridge
SPICY PORK TACO $ 2 awesome as usual, my favorite at Gogi.
GOGI DOG v2.0 $ 6 heartburn in a bun, delicious with the hotdog covered with spicy pork, some chili/​mayo aioli type sauce, furikake,
MOCHI RICE dessert dish $ 3, looked kind of like the Filipino mochi rice dessert dish and tasted similar. Someone tell me what this is called:
XTREME TACOS:
I’m not sure what makes these Xtreme, the Baja fish taco was ok, but I just came back from San Diego and Rubio’s, home of the fish taco, so it’s unfair to compare the two. Carne Asada burrito was another ok, but we put that in my rolling cart to save for another day. Next up:
MELT:
Why do so many people want to eat a freaking grilled cheese sandwich!
Or was it the duck confit melt, which made its debut at Streetgrinz? I had a request from Traci H. to bring her back a duck confit melt, so hubby was nice enough to stand in the long-​ass line for Melt. He started standing in line during the daylight, but by the time he got to the front of the line (45 min later), it was nighttme! He ordered the food and was told that they would send him a text when his order was ready, probably around 30 minutes later. After reading some of the other reviews, I guess we were lucky we only had to wait 75 min from start to finish.
DUCK CONFIT MELT $ 10
Gruyère, duck confit, apple mostarda, onions. WINNER!!!
(Yeah, I didn’t understand a word of that either:
Gruyère is one of the most famous Swiss cheeses. It is made from cow’s milk and has a nutty, slightly sweet taste with complex musty and mushroomy notes.
Duck confit is a French dish made with the leg of the duck. The confit is prepared in a centuries-​old process of preservation that consists of salt curing a piece of meat and then poaching it in its own fat.
Mostarda is an Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard flavoured syrup.)
MALIA’S PASTELES and POKE:
Thanks to Kyle H and Ryan C for hooking me up with some of
Malia’s pasteles ($ 3) and the Gandule Rice. It was so dark, I couldn’t really see what was in the pastele, but I think it was pork, olives, some kind of cornmeal. Definitely better than tamales, which tend to be dry and skimp on the meat. The gandule rice, a Puerto Rican dish with Hawaiian flavors, was great and better than regular Spanish rice.
LE CREPE CAFE:
Kaelen’s Strawberry and banana crêpe aka his dinner:
By this time, I was hearing «When are we going home?» but wait! I left my kids at home! It was my HUSBAND who was done and had enough of this craziness by 7:30! There were long lines at every single truck, not enough trash cans, no place to evacuate your bowels unless you went to Femme Nu (!!), and no lights in the dining area (which we were lucky enough to have a few seats in), so we had to call it a night.
Thanks to Poni A. and Streetgrindz for putting this event together. I don’t think they ever anticipated over 1000 people showing up for this, so I’m sure next time there will be more room — maybe Aloha Stadium parking lot?

What’s not to love when you have an opportunity to sample tasty food from most of the island’s food trucks in one big lot, right? Throw in a dj spinning good music, even better! Too bad I left unsatisfied.
We got there an hour after the event started. It was already chaotic:
The dining area was almost full as well when we arrived:
30−45mins later, the dining area was filled to capacity:
We ended up eating in the next parking lot over… on the curb, like most of the attendees… in front of a strip club, lol.
Loved the concept but it was a mess. Ridiculously long lines and by the time you get to the front to order — they’ve ran out of food! A lot of people in our lines were getting agitated and some gave up and left. There was a father and baby waiting patiently behind us at Soul Patrol that eventually left when his agitated wife approached him and demanded to go home.
We were only able to get to 2 trucks: Soul Patrol
and Malia’s Pasteles & Poke after standing in line for almost 1.5hrs total
.
The 3 of us decided to stand in 3 different lines and order for each other. Sadly, the 3^rd line (Let Them Eat Cupcakes) was way too crazy so my friend gave up. It was a good thing that he ditched that line bc they ran out of cupcakes way before he would even get near to the front of the line.
KIM CHEE SHRIMP (½ lb $ 8): Generous amounts of shrimps and cucumbers in a tasty, spicy kim chee sauce. The shrimps were shelled but the tails were left on. I guess the marinade broke it down bc we ate it tails and all while standing in line for Soul Patrol. I would get this again.
PORK PASTELES ($ 3 each): I got 2 of these greasy bricks and regret it.
It’s the reason why I’m staying up late and writing this review. My stomach is aching and gurgling so much that I can’t sleep, too much grease! Ryan R said that his friend also ordered the pasteles & disliked it. My 2 friends each took one bite and left it alone. I finished up the entire 1^st pastel and tossed the 2^nd away.
I’ve had my shares of tamales and pasteles. Malia’s has got to be the greasiest & under-​seasoned ones yet. I was so excited as I unwrapped it and saw the amt of pork and whole olives inside. Unfortunately, it was bland. Kyle H said it was the best item she’s had there, perhaps I had a bad/​rushed batch? The gelatinized liquid from the meat mixture wasn’t very pleasing to the eye:
Soul Patrol’s intact menu looked really promising as we stood in line. Sadly by the time we got to ordering, all they had left was 4 orders of the «mini» fried chicken plates and Shrimps & Cheesy Grits. The shrimps & grits was later put onto the menu as a backup when they ran out of food.
BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN mini plate ($ 8):
Comes with collard greens, buttermilk cilantro cole slaw, a biscuit and chicken gumbo.
The chicken was piping hot and oh-​so juicy! It was a little sweet for my taste but delicious! I loved the nice crunchy batter!
My friend Louis is from Texas so he loves his southern/​soul food. He enjoyed the chicken gumbo. We all agreed that the collard greens were overcooked and under-​seasoned. I didn’t get any smoky, saltiness flavors from the ham hock.
SHRIMP & CHEESY GRITS ($ 13): My favorite dish of the night! Not really cheesy but still delicious. The garlicky bacon gravy was really good! I think it helped make the dish a lot more creamy bc the grits was sort of dense towards the center. The sun-​dried tomatoes adds another dimension to the dish with its sweet/​tangy/​fruity flavors.
Aside from the stomach ache from the tamales and long lines, it’s an interesting experience. I probably would go again if they decide to throw another one. Hopefully at a bigger venue & with better preparation so that they have enough food for everyone. Running out 2.5hrs before closing time is kind of lame.

Wow. Awesome concept. However, too many damn people in too small a space. After waiting twenty minutes in a line that didn’t move, we decided to bail.
Sorry Street Grindz. I’d love to try it again sometime soon. Somewhere with more space.