As a child, going to a food court to eat was just about the greatest thing to do. I could get fries with a taco, maybe throw a slice of pizza on there and top it all off with a root beer float. Sure, it wasn’t a healthy place, but I was a growing boy. Most food courts have lost their allure since then, but the new food truck craze has given my old love of food courts a grown-up spin. Apparently the Miracle Mile loads up with food trucks during lunch, so when I was finally able to get there, I wanted to take advantage. A few trucks that I had been to before were there, along with a regular taco truck that was either reaping the benefits of these newbies or losing a lot of business to shiny and newer trucks. For the first part of my modern food court meal, I decided to try out Bool BBQ.
A long time ago, I had written off Bool BBQ as a Kogi BBQ imitator (both have a four-letter, foreign-sounding word followed by BBQ), and the truth is that they really do have some dishes similar Kogi. Yet, at this point, it’s like calling Burger King a McDonald’s imitator. Plus, they have made their menu unique by getting a little Brazilian and offering pastels. These looked the most interesting to me and apparently they were each a handmade shell filled with cheese and a meat choice. This veggie-free dish sounded too good to be true, so I ordered one with chicken.
Since it was handmade, it took a little while to cook, but when it was done, it looked pretty awesome, like a crispy pillow of Brazilian joy. It came with pico de gallo and a spicy aioli. I tossed the pico aside and delved into this Brazilian pastry. The shell had a tiny bit of sweetness and a soft crunch (how’s that for an oxymoron?!). Inside, the cheese and chicken were strewn about, but I was a little disappointed that there was so little inside. Alone, the pastel didn’t have a ton of flavor, but with the spicy aioli, it tasted pretty great.
This pastel was a great idea and had there been more meat and cheese, I would have liked it even more. It was a little expensive at 4 bucks, considering it wasn’t terribly filling, however, I was happy it wasn’t so filling when I moved on to another food truck for the second part of my lunch. Check back tomorrow to read about that…
