Food Cart Wednesday + A New Friend!

Today is Wednesday and food carts were here again.  I helped a user with some computer issues (ya know, cuz that's what I do) and while I was waiting for processes to finish, we were chatting.  She and her husband had  recently gone to The Keys on vacation (he's a diver and fisherman) so we had lots to talk about and became fast friends.  Her name is Rachelle and she works here at The SF Chron part time (in the basement) and also part time for Hearst, our parent company at another building in the city (The Hearst Building).  We chatted for a while that day and talk eventually turned to food cart Wednesday.  We decided that we'd be friends and that we should seal the deal by the adding of calories to our bodies on the next Wednesday.  That was last Wednesday and unfortunately, she caught the flu bug that's been going around and had to leave early that day.  Ever persistent, I hit her up again today and we had a nice lunch date.

Today was the first Wednesday since they started doing the food carts here that was not so cold that I was shivering while waiting in line.  A nice, temperate day in the high 60s which made it possible to sit outside where the band was playing while eating which was a great treat.  Rachelle and I checked out today's offerings and because I got tied up and caused us to miss the 11:30 start, when we arrived at 12:15 the tunnel was PACKED with people.  It also took a little while to figure out who was waiting in which line as a couple of them had sort of merged their tails together.  Rachelle decided to try Iz It, which is a Nouveau Hawaiian cart.  Their big specialty is their five-spice-scented fried chicken but they also serve "spammers" which are sushi rolls with marinated grilled Spam and "kickers" which are their take on tacos.  I had decided to try more than one cart (ya know, cuz that's what I do) and headed down to the Ebbett's Good To Go truck.  They offer unique takes on traditional sandwiches like their Cuban sandwich which has jalapeño relish, ham, and Gruyère cheese on crusty bread.  They sell out of their meatball sandwich every week so it must be delicious and it is apparently rather spicy according to a Tweet I saw.

So I  got in the huge line for Ebbett's and Rachelle went back down to wait in the considerably smaller line for Iz It.  After waiting a couple of minutes with zero movement, I realized I was still going to be waiting long after she had her food and so I decided to join her at Iz It.  I was still able to try a couple of different things because their selection was so varied.  The special of the day was "Screamin' Scampi" with garlic rice and Rachelle chose that, a small chicken kicker taco and a mini guava cupcake (a girl after my own heart with the variety).  I went with a small steak kicker taco, their five-spice-scented fried chicken with rice (I made them give me the garlic rice like on the scampi, ya know cuz that's what I do), and a mini guava cupcake (I asked for mango but they slipped up and gave me guava, no harm no foul).

Rachelle made me eat one of her three shrimps because she knew she'd never finish everything she ordered and it was very tasty (but they left the shell on - I hate that so much).  The fried chicken was crispy and delicious and the rice was rice but much improved by my garlic request.  The steak taco was pretty tasty, but the marinade was a little on the sweet side for my taste.  The guava cupcake not only had guava frosting, but it also had guava in the cupcake itself because it was moist and flavorful on its own.  We sat at a table and chatted and listened to the band and after lunch I took her on a mini tour of the 3rd floor where the news room and everything else is as she'd never seen anything but the basement.  She really is a lovely woman and we're going to have lunch again next Wednesday.  Looks like I've made a new friend!

Iz It Rachelle?  Yes it Iz.