626 Night Market Recap (July Edition)

Over the weekend, the 626 Night Market made its triumphant homecoming to the Santa Anita Race Track after spending time in Orange County and Downtown Los Angeles. Of course to mark the occasion, I had to go with my foodie friend and partner in crime Chef Jay. So what did I eat?Jay and I got there pretty much right at 4 pm. It's not that we don't like the going at night when everyone is out and about, it's just that going right when the night market opens is the best option for serious foodies. Lines are minimal and we also get to chat with friends and meet new ones. Since at the time, not every vendor was ready yet, we made our way to Lincoln Lee's La Sriracha Macha stand. I was just planning on saying hi since I had his amazing Mexican/Asian fusion spicy sauce already, but it turns out they had food too! Who knew? And shark meat was on the menu! I had to say yes! Shark meat tacos! How fun was that? #Sharnado goes 626! Here's a close up of my Shark Taco. Definitely a must try for adventurous food fans. I'll be writing more about this dish later so stay tuned. (Shark Tacos definitely deserve their own article.)Jay and I also tried La Sriracha Macha's Lobster Roll. Tasty!You've had horchata, but what about Seoulchata? Korean fruit horchata from La Sriracha Macha booth as well. Grubco had fried Nutella Wontons.At the DTLA Night Market, I had gotten Lotzatots's unique tatertots with uni cream. Of course, I had to get it again. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.... well, that's the excuse I used to justify the dish! What I really love about each night market is that many of the vendors try to do new items each time to keep things fresh and exciting. Lotzatots did a special steak burrito with tater tots and gave customers the option to customize it too. I added uni cream. Obviously. Jay and I did more walking. We were so so full. The meat looked so good. What to do?Pho tacos! Pho tacos! Did someone say pho tacos? 2 of my favorite cuisine all slammed packed into one dish? Yes, please! The exciting pho tacos was from Rakken. I always notice Rakken at the night markets because of their shirts. Live their motto: Play hard. Eat harder. What better motto than that?What great shirts! You win! At this point, I was ready for something sweet to munch on and something to quench my thirst. Popdup enticed me with their unique drinks and old school traditional Thai popsicles! Here's my order of Thai Iced Green Tea with traditional Thai Popsicle for extra good measure!I got to try some of Popdup's Thai Tea chocolate truffles as well. You can definitely see the Thai Tea filling inside. At this point, we needed a heartier snack. Off to Mama Musubi we go! As usual, Mama Musubi did a special musubi for the night market. This was the Crack Bacon & Avocado Aioli. Seriously? How do they come up with these ideas? Amazing! No wonder they're lines wrap around the corner and back at every event they show up to! Mochi Coconut Cream in all different flavors at Mama Musubi! You can read more about them in my previous LA Weekly article here. Coconut cream gives the mochi a soft, tasty texture. You are able to appreciate the mochi with coconut cream more so than you are when you have an ice cream mochi. The ice cream is so cold that the mochi skin also hardens. The end result is that you are eating ice cream and not enjoying the mochi in all its goodness unaltered. Speaking of lines... This was the line for the Ramen Burger. It's so long you can barely tell where it ends. Luckily for my readers, you know that the Ramen Burger is opening up shop in Koreatown. Read my informative LA Weekly article here! Of course I had to show support and stop by the AFC Soy Foods booth to grab some soy pudding. If you've been following me, then you know AFC gave my followers all free soy pudding! Details are here. Don't worry if you missed it though, print out the voucher and bring it to the next 2 626 Night Markets! Potted Ice Cream! I ended the day by supporting Master Goh. Dragon Whiskers is an ancient Chinese art form. You really have to give props to people who are still carrying on the traditions!Drunk 'N Dunk Churros in little Chinese takeout boxes. Choose between Chocolate Kahlua, Bourbon Dulce de Leche, & Blackberry Rum from the Solid Coffee stand. 

At this point, I called it quits.I had dinner plans with my mom. Yes, I ate all day and had to leave a food event to go and eat again. Priorities! Had a great time meeting and just talking to everyone that stopped by. Jay, on the other hand, kept right on and chugged through the night for both days. He is a serious trooper.

To check out my latest food ventures, follow me on Instagram here.  Twitter here.  Facebook here. 

Follow Jay on his food blog here to see what Jay eats!

Until next time! Ciao!