Walk there, waddle back.

Woke up this morning to find out that Jill decided to play hookey from work. Facebook had revealed to her that Skillet would be parked behind Theo Chocolate in Fremont. We've both had Skillet before, I was fortunate enough to meet Chef Joshua Henderson during a field trip in culinary school. He showed us around their truck, the commissary kitchen they were cooking out of and we got to taste all the food that day. A great trip all around and one of the reasons we decided to hire Skillet to cater our wedding.

Today we met up with a friend of ours, local artist Jonathan Wakuda Fischer. The boy had never eaten at Skillet so I knew it would be fun to see his expressions as he took his first few bites. He got the burger which is their signature food topped with their signature condiment, bacon jam! Upon picking up the burger, he was slightly worried it would fall apart, something I can't stand when eating a burger.  If it doesn't stay together, I'm not getting all the ingredients in each bite, which makes me sad. Don't make me sad, it's not pretty. To Jon's delight the burger stayed together and I could hear the content as he took his first few bites.  Not in words at first, but the sentiment was there. I took a bite of Jill's burger, the magic was still there.

While Jon and Jill ate their burgers, I let my eyes and camera delight in the beauty that was my braised duck leg special. It came with a nice side of veggies and a kale caesar salad. I picked it up by the end of the drumstick and was happy the thigh didn't come crashing down. Despite what some might think, you can over-braise meat. Not this duck leg, the meat came off the bone with little effort and the skin was not chewy or soggy. Sprinkled liberally on top of the leg was some chopped fennel fronds and sage. The giant pieces of sage were a bit much and I ended up picked them off. Had they been fried, it would've been perfect.

Full of food and sun, we fed some ducks a couple pieces of fries and without thinking waddled away. I hope the ducks didn't take too much offense.

Street food showdown #1

Bored and restless I decided to walk into Fremont and poke around. This lasted all of 5 minutes when I realized my stomach was making death threats in the form of muffled cries and gargles. Simultaneously I looked up and saw a beacon of hope in the form of a hand molded pie. Pie is the name, very original, and they make both sweet and savory pies. I'm not huge on the sweets so I went over the savory list and picked out a classic, English beef pie. I don't like eating what I consider street food inside the establishments, mostly because they are boring but also because I was alone and didn't feel like reading The Stranger.

Pie in hand in box I was headed home when I realized I would want/need more food. Just around the corner from Pie, in an alleyway, is a russian dumpling place called Pel'Meni. They serve two things; Potato filled dumplings and beef filled dumplings. I went with the combo and got the works which consists of a mild vinegar hot sauce, curry-like seasoning, sour cream and a slice of pumpernickel bread.

The Pie
I really like the crust on these guys. Flaky and light but not so much so that it falls apart in your hand. That would make for some messy street food. The beef filling was very good with a lot of onion flavor. I just wish it was a little saltier. The filling was a good consistency, not runny with juices so as to get your hand sticky, but not dry either. The only disappointment came in the form of some bitter burnt pieces of onion on top.

The Dumplings
The beef dumplings are delicious. They pop in your mouth with nice saltiness and good spiced flavor. The vinegar sauce and seasoning gives it a nice kick and the sour cream adds a nice fatty mouth feel to give the flavor more time on the palate.  The potato dumplings are the opposite.  No flavor and certainly not enough salt.  They fall flat in the mouth and no amount of sauces could help out these poor souls.  If I had to do it again, I would go all meat.  If I were a vegetarian, I would skip it all together.

If I had to choose, I'd go back to Pie and try some different pies.  Some of them might not be as good as the one I had but the diversity keeps you going back for more.  If I had to choose again AND I was slightly inebriated, which I usually am when trying to make these decisions, I'd get some meat dumplings and get sloppy in the alleyway.  It's not all about the food, sometimes you just gotta go with your base instinct.