PGH Dining: Franktuary Food Truck

When my in-laws were in town we stopped at the Lawrenceville Farmer's Market, and there it was: the famed Franktuary food truck. Ever since Pittsburgh's first restaurant week, I'd been hearing about Franktuary and their delicious offerings {no pun intended} at their location downtown.  It was on my list of places to try, but it jumped the line quickly when I saw the truck in the parking lot of Goodwill.  

{Book Club} Same Kind of Different As Me

Full Title: Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent.

I read Same Kind of Different As Me for the book club I’ve recently joined since moving to the PGH area. {Side note: I was invited to the book club after meeting a local writer at a happy hour at Round Corner Cantina.  We bonded over the fact that she lived and covered the turmoil surrounding the border towns in far south Texas for almost 10 years.  Chance meeting!}  It was a very unlikely book for this particular club to read, as other titles have included Madam Bovary, The Tiger’s Wife, Picking Cotton, and The Saskiad.

A friend of mine saw that I was reading the book from my page updates on my Goodreads, and asked a simple question: What is this book even about?  I completely understood his question, and was left somewhat puzzled after reading the back cover as he was, too. The summary leads you to believe it will be some epic inspirational story, but that's far from the truth, in my opinion.

If I had my way, which is the cynical type, the summary would look something more like this:

The first third of the story is about a husband and wife trying to save their marriage {after he has cheated on her with a much younger woman}, and along the way the wife is called to serve God through volunteering at a dilapidated, slummy soup kitchen.  As the chapters continue, each written from either the husband’s prospective or from the homeless man on the cover’s prospective, the two are pushed into an unlikely 'friendship' by the wife. This whole arrangement seems forced, unrealistic and very unlikely. This is the second third of the book.

The final third of the book is spent detailing the last days of the wife, who has cancer that cannot be squashed by treatments.  It's not inspirational - it's a beating.  

I love inspirational reads. Reading something uplifting has always been a respite for me.  Had I known this book was riddled with unbelievable partnerships and the process of dying through the viewpoint of a depressed, cheating husband, I would not have opened its pages.

Coming from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which happens to be the setting for the book, the story was immensely boring to me because it was so typical: the religious, well-off couple feeling like they need to 'give back' and volunteer.  It just gave me a sense of disenchantment.

I did enjoy the telling of the homeless man’s early life, and learning how one can be so shut-off from the constantly developing world.  Of course, these chapters required very little research, as it was most certainly first-hand.  I also liked that it was a very short read.

Bottom line: It was far too religious/preachy and emotionally weighty for me to enjoy. Most of my book club agreed with these points.

Book Club Vote: 2 liked, 6 disliked, 1 did not vote.

Goodreads Review

Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together by Ron Hall

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Questions from 'Burghers

I had a coworker from another section of my department ask me today how long I’d been here. It’s been a little more than three months since I started my new job, and it feels like I started two weeks ago. Time flies!

He also asked where I lived, and I told him in Upper Lawrenceville. This led him to ask what he really meant to ask, which was if I was from here. This was phrased as, “But, you’re not from here, are you?” No, sir, I am not. After I told him I was from the Dallas area, he got really quiet and deadpanly asked, “Are you a die-hard Cowboy fan?”
This seems to be the natural series of questions I always get from ‘Burghers.
However, even after I admit I’m not a Cowboys fan {rest assured}, they are equally appalled that I’m “not really into sports,” either.
Sometimes you just can’t win!

Dallas Dining: Dough

This post is very much over-due, but I couldn't let it go any longer! The opening of Dough has been all over Twitter, and I was going to try to make it. I had to attend a City Council meeting that night, but luckily, we were out of there quickly!

We waited at the bar after making a reservation, but only briefly. (I would have made one in advance had I known I would definitely be going.) We ordered two glasses of wine on a seemingly random wine list, then were seated shortly after. We were fortunately enough to be seated next to the prep area, and as we sat down, noticed the oven!

Evidently, both the San Antonio and Dallas locations ordered their ovens from Napoli, in order to have TRUE napoleon pizza. Great idea, guys!

We ordered a small salad, which was nothing to write home to mom about. The pizzas we ordered, however, were incredible!

We ordered a fontina and mushroom pizza, and a regular margarita. You HAVE to try a place's margarita pizza - it's the standard. Both were excellent, down to the yeasty, soft crust. Good, quality ingredients.

Then...was dessert. As we had been sitting behind the small wall of glass, we noticed a few tables had ordered a particular dessert. Come to find out it was a nutella panino.

Holy crap, it was incredible! They sandwiched nutella and marshmallows between house-made bread, then grilled it and served it with whipped cream and homemade caramel. TO DIE FOR.

I would go back for the dessert alone.

Food Trucking: Nammi Truck

It's time for another Food Trucking blog post! An evening last week we went to have dinner at the Nammi Truck, which was parked on the corner of Montfort Drive and Belt Line in a Walgreen's parking lot in Addison. We had heard about the Vietnamese @NammiTruck on Twitter, and decided to go try some of their fare.

Nammi Truck

Menu on the blackboard

 After checking our their modest menu, written on a chalkboard affixed to one end of their truck, we decided on a chicken rice bowl, a traditional barbecue pork bahn mi sandwich, and two lemonades. Check out that option for adding pate to your dish! After we paid {VIA iPHONE!}, we were handed our lemonades; however, these were no ordinary lemonades. They were BASIL lemonades! In my opinion, it was the best thing I had!

My BBQ Pork Bahn Mi

Michael's Chicken Rice Bowl

I would definitely go again, especially for that basil lemonade. They also had a few homemade sauces - cilantro cream and spicy mayonnaise - to add to your rice bowl or sandwich. Great job, Nammi!
Result:Customer Service: 9
Taste of Bahn Mi/Rice Bowl/Lemonade: 7.5
Price: 7

Food Trucking in Dallas

Austin has always been cool. To me at least. Austin has a lot going for it - nature, outdoorsy activities, unique shopping, and FOOD. In the past 10 years, Austin has been collecting and growing it's food truck scene, as have other large, 'cool' cities in the United States. Dallas is just now catching up. Within the last 6 months Dallas has adopted an ordinance allowing for mobile food units, aka Food Trucks. Go Dallas! It's about time.

Originally I heard about this news on Twitter. I came across a food truck reporting twitter feed, and the rest was history. Original Source: @BigDFoodTrucks
D Magazine is trying to catch up. End of story.

First Round
Il Cane Rosso "Food Truck" - Wood-oven grilled pizzas
I'm not sure who first tweeted about this "food truck," but it is definitely a "Portable Oven." It even says that on the Il Cane Rosso's Web site. So, that's was a letdown when we arrive on a weeknight to the Sigel's parking lot on Greenville. They were parked outside under the awning of the liquor and spirits store. We were told by the oven workers to go inside for a quick wine tasting, then peruse their menu before ordering. Once inside, the wine tasting folk told us they only had 4 dough balls left, and could only make that many more pizzas. With no wine in hand, we rushed back to the cash register to order a pizza quickly. Once we ordered, we started making conversation with the Pizza Maker and Manager. I said I was thrilled to come try the pizza and didn't know it existed before hearing about them on Twitter. The pizza maker asked if we wanted the dough recipe. We said sure. He said, "It's water, flour, salt and yeast," or something to that effect. I replied that's how pizza doughs are usually made, but I'd need the proportions in order to make it correctly. He said "yeah right" and went on making our pizza. Attitude much?
We went back inside to get away from Tacky the Pizza Maker, and looked over the selection of pear and raspberry liqueurs. I looked up after a while and the Oven Manager was holding up my pizza and shaking it towards us. No one came in to let us know it was ready. So after being told to go in, quickly pay, harassed about dough, etc., I was finished with Il Cane Rosso. Maybe I insulted them by saying I'd never heard of them, but that was no cause for rudeness. Plus, the pizza was overpriced and nothing fantastic.
Result:
Customer Service: 2
Taste of Pizza: 6
Price: 3

Stay tuned for the next Food Truck I try!