Night Market – Callowhill

Whats this I see? What’s this aroma dancing around with different flavors? Why are there masses of people invading this section? I know what this is, this is a friggin Philly Block Party ! This is Night Market that invaded Callowhill St. in Northern Liberties like U2 did in «The Streets Have no Name».
When Philly does a Night Market nothing come close to anything you’ve ever experienced. NYC, D.C. Bean town, you guys are second rate compared to this block party of all blocks parties. Man I do love these types of festivities that Philly puts on every year. This being the second Night Market event this year, this was a whole new venue for this area.
Northern Liberties got a taste of what 2 and a half blocks of 70 food trucks, beer tents of Yards and so forth keeping the masses well hydrated and fed. A stage set up playing some of the local flavors that can be heard by Vine St. Expressway. Boom now this is a friggin party!
Now if you haven’t found anything to satisfy your curiosity from Mamma’s Meatballs (Spicy FTW) to homemade Waffles completely covered in Nutella or chicken, even pork belly, down to that famous Mac and Cheese truck. If you haven’t found anything at one of these, then I don’t know what to tell you. Banging Taco and Empanada trucks, to Korean BBQ that will make your eyes open to a crab cake so big you’d think you’re on the Deadliest Catch. Night Market is the perfect set up for neighborhoods to shine with the surrounding business, eateries and watering holes to get recognized as you walk the streets.
This is a foodies exercise basically, the gym is there to prepare you for these types of events/​festivities every year. Perfect way to train is to walk with the hoards of the hungry on-​goers that over flow the streets.
(P.S.) Use the sidewalks to maneuver around, that is the best advice I can give you for the amateurs, the untrained.

I love Night Markets. The one on callowhill was a little more spread out and spacious than South street which was nice. The crowd was great and not too shoulder-​to-​shoulder. All my favorite trucks were there: mom moms polish truck, which I drool over their Perogies and Galumpkis. The Mac Mart truck which I’m in love with their creamy cheesy amazing Mac with the best toppings, and totally worth the super long line. The tot cart, although I feel the cheese was a tad skimped this time, and the cheese curd truck. I tried some new things this time: the Arepas truck was really good, we tried the guac & chicken, the beef, and the pork. I loved the Bluecoat Gin tent. I didn’t remember seeing them at the last night market, so that was great. And the Cider guys with that delicious 10% dry cider is amazing!
My only complaint is there were much less beer tents than south street, so the beer lines were so long it deterred me from drinking at all. We ended up going into Prohibition tap room for beers cause the lines outside were just way too long. Get more beer tents! But overall, amazing event as usual!

I’ve been to few night markets in the past, and they were absolutely great. Callowhill market was no different to any other night market. All kinds of food trucks, and entertainment, were scattered around the market, covering few blocks of the city. One thing I really didn’t like; the confusing layout of the the market. I was about to miss a whole section, since I didn’t receive the market map, from where I’ve entered. I could’t even find Stephanie S, and I lost Michelle P in the crowd.
Call it obsession, perhaps just a minor love-​obsession, a night market obsession. My first iftar of Ramadan was at the night market. I was anxiously waiting for the sunset to to break my fast and to try some of those awesome trucks. My first stop was the Rio Brazilian Steak Truck, I got the Ipanema (a sirloin sandwich with pineapple.) The sandwich was okay but it took more than 25 min to make, other than the time I was waiting in line to order! From Brazilian truck to Chinese one, Dump-​N-​Roll truck served a decent Vietnamese iced coffee, which was much needed after a long decaffeinated day, but the dan dan cold noodles salad was a bit bland. I was looking for few trucks in mind, and when I didn’t find them, I started to wonder, where the hell they are were hiding?!! Now that I met Nando F, we were both looking for them. Finally, we found them, on 12^th st.- If I just had a map then!!! Anyhow, by the time I found the MacMart, every every last piece of macaroni was SOLD-​OUT! good for them, bad for me! So, we decided to get Nutella waffles from Foolish Waffles truck. We waited less then 10 minutes and got the LAST Nutella waffle piece, and we had to share it. Yummmmm. delicious! On our way out, I stopped at Roe stand to get a Thai bubble tea, which wasn’t bad, the best part was Nando’s reaction to it. It was his very first, and I bet, last sip of bubble teas EVER.
Bottom line:
— Not Hungry? No Problem. Don’t fret. There were/​and always will be plenty of yummy snacks to much on.
— Your tummy was/​is hankering for more than a treat? No worries, 70+ food trucks lined up to serve everyone some extremely delicious food.
— Not sure if you want to grab a bite? Seriously??? try to stroll around without your stomach growling. Impossible!
Four Unilocal

I’ll admit, I’m a Night Market hater. I’ve had miserable past experiences waiting in lines and getting shoved by crowds.
The Callowhill Night Market was relatively close to home and literally on the same block as my friend’s place. My friend invited a few people over to his apartment that overlooked all of the activity; it was a pretty sweet view. We ended up hanging out at his place way too long and didn’t make it out to Night Market until it was almost half way through. Maybe it was the food and drink pre-​game that helped, but I actually found this Night Market to be rather enjoyable.
There was enough room to walk and the lines weren’t overly out of control. At least not most of the ones I saw. I had several trucks in mind that I wanted to hit up, but that just didn’t happen. Everything was a bit spread out and Noble Street going OVER 13^th made it a little hard to seamlessly wander.
Surprisingly with all of the people out at this event, I was bumping into people I knew left and right. Meeting up with others was also fairly simple. I feel that doesn’t happen a lot with these types of things.
I do have eater’s regret and wish I tried more. However, based on this experience I’m willing to give Night Market another try. And most of these trucks are pretty easy to find around Philly anyways. It’s not like this was a once in a life time opportunity.