Capital City Family & Food Truck Festival

The second annual Capital City Family and Food Truck Festival was today, Saturday June 11th, 2016, in Gage Park. I've been looking forward to this ever since last year when the first one ended. I knew that this year would be something to look forward to. How can you go wrong with over 20 food trucks from three different states, entertainment for the entire family and a beautiful summer day? You just can't.

I arrived early so I could get a good parking spot. For those who came later, Visit Topeka had free shuttles set up with Topeka Metro to get people from Hayden High School to Gage Park, that way people didn't have to fight for parking within the park. Smart move. Still, there seemed to be a few spots here and there so if you were intent on parking inside the park, you probably were able to.

This year, the trucks were all lined up on the same side of the road, pointing the same way so the lines were all formed easily and it was easy to figure out which line went to each truck. Last year I know there was a problem with that, but that wasn't even an issue this year. Also, because there were so many trucks, lines weren't long and wait times were short and sometimes non-existent. I hardly waited for anything I ordered, so that was nice. I've waited as long as an hour before for a food truck.

For my first venture, I tried Twisted Asian. This particular truck

was at last year's festival and was one of the first trucks to run out of food because it was so popular and everyone wanted to try it. I didn't get any then and was looking forward to trying it this time. It was the first truck I went to and I ordered something different than I originally planned because I asked the guy what he recommended. He said to get the Twisted Lomein and I did. The noodles were sauteed in what tasted like a peanut oil with cabbage, fried egg and just a little bit of Sriracha sauce on top for a nice kick. The noodles were tender and fried just right to where they weren't chewy at all. My friend Kelly got the Chicken Fried Rice and that looked amazing as well. She even let me try a bite and I think that's what I'll be getting next time, only with the pork. The fried rice is on the bottom, then it's topped with shredded meat of your choice -- they have pork or chicken.

Next, I wanted something cold and something sweet, so we went to Coffee Cake KC. I've been to this food truck in the past but that's okay, I remember loving their coffee cake and had to get more. I also tried the Baron, a frozen chocolate coffee drink that's to die for. I told the lady I wanted something with chocolate and coffee and asked her what she would recommend. She said, "The Baron," and it was perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I got my caffeine fix and my chocolate fix at the same time, while also cooling down with something frozen.

I walked by a tent where fourteen chunks of fudge of all flavors were lined up for sampling and purchase. I had to try some and I sure did -- I probably sampled six different fudges before settling on the Black Cherry Bourbon fudge to take home. This place was called Chocolate Moonshine Company and I'd never heard of it before. I was happy to sample their fudge and would love to do so again in the near future. Note to fudge lovers: Ants love fudge, too so don't leave your bag of fudge sitting anywhere because ants will swarm and steal said fudge before you blink an eye. So yeah, don't do that.

For my next meal I wanted something different. I'd been walking by this one truck all day that kept catching my eye. The name: Fine Thyme Foods. The menu featured items that seemed a little different than the other trucks I'd seen at the festival. Their Blueberry BBQ Pulled Pork had me intrigued but even more were the crepes. Made fresh inside the truck, the crepes were filled and topped with interesting flavors I just had to try. I went for the Good Vibrations, a vegetarian option. I felt like most places had pulled pork on their menu so I chose something that would be a little harder

to find elsewhere. This crepe was filled with quinoa, topped with a kale mixture and dressed with a lemon poppyseed sauce. The crepe was light, fluffy and warm and I would love to eat one just alone, maybe with some powdered sugar on it or something like that. The poppyseed dressing had a honey flavor to it that I enjoyed and the kale had a slight crunch to it. I do wish there was a little more texture to it, but overall I enjoyed it. I look forward to trying their other menu items, too.


After all this eating I was thirsty. I kept seeing people walking around with these huge cups of fresh-squeezed lemonade and knew that I wanted one as soon as possible. Later, when I looked at the temperature gage on my car it read 97 degrees, so I know I needed something cold and refreshing. The stand was called Poppin Squeeze and had all sorts of flavors for their lemonade and they sold kettle corn. I got a regular lemonade because I'm not much for the syrup that's used for flavors. Half the fun is watching them make your drink: They cut the lemon, squeeze it with a hydraulic press then add sugar, water and ice and shake it up until the sugar dissolves. Yum. It's so sweet but that's okay. As it melts it doesn't matter because the ice doesn't really water it down or anything.

I was pretty full at this point so I took a break. It was cool because a few friends and I were sitting on a curb and all of a sudden, this guy showed up and started juggling fire and doing tricks and entertained us for over 30 minutes. At one point, I looked around and saw a good sized crowd of people gathered around applauding and oohing and aahing and I felt like I wasn't even in Topeka. It's pretty cool that things like this are happening in Topeka.

After hanging out for awhile, I decided it was time to eat more food. Kelly wanted tacos so we went to Taqueria Mexico Lindo. I ordered two tacos, one asada and the other pastor, both came on fried corn tortillas topped with fresh cilantro and onion and a side of hot salsa verde. Ah, so good. The tacos are exactly what I wanted, fried but tender, stuffed with meat and cilantro, (I take most of the onions off, but leave a few). I stupidly didn't taste the salsa before pouring it all over my tacos. Bad idea. It was spicier than I would have liked it, although the flavor was undeniably tasty. I got over the spice and ate them anyway and enjoyed them still. Next time I will sample the salsa before drenching my food in it. I should know better!

For my final two stops I decided to get items to take home since I was so stuffed and it was hot. I knew as soon as I cooled down I would be hungry so I wanted to be prepared. I went to Torched Goodness, which I've talked about in the past at a different food truck festival in downtown Topeka last fall. I think I even tried them at another festival in Lawrence, KS. This time I asked for just the custard and no brulee because I can do that myself at home. I just wanted them for later. He happily obliged and sent me on my merry way. I have those beauts in my fridge for later tonight and tomorrow.

My last stop was at the bacon food truck. The name is Bacon Wagon and they're from Ozawkie. I had heard someone talking about their pulled pork donut and was intrigued. I know I said pulled pork seemed to be on every menu, but this was being served in a unique way and I wanted to give it a shot. I found out it was called the Maple Bacon Pulled Pork Donut. At first I was hesitant about the maple part of the whole thing but the guy let me sample it before ordering and it wasn't that corn syrup stuff that's sold at stores, this is real maple syrup and I can get down with that. The donut as built like a sandwich with pulled pork and bacon in the middle and the maple syrup drizzled on top. It all sounds so strange but went together pretty well. The pulled pork and bacon were smokey, the donut sweet and the maple syrup complimented both. I do think a knife is needed to eat this one, since you can't really pick it up with your hands unless you want to be sticky for the rest of the week and the bacon is hard to cut with a plastic fork. Still, I enjoyed it.

The entire festival was a fun time for me and my friends. Everyone seemed to be happy with the layout and the variety of trucks. I had no complaints and can't wait for next year. I saw where the shelter houses around the park were open to the public and those are air conditioned. That was a great option on a 100 degree day in June. I'm exited to see what's in store for next year.

The Row House - Guest Chef Nikki Fiedler

Tonight, the husband and I ventured out to the Row House. Ryan knows the guest chef, Nikki Fiedler from his childhood and he heard she would be designing the menu this week. Nikki is the director of the culinary program at Washburn Tech and started out in the kitchen at the Row House. I was excited to try her dishes after checking out the website.

Mixed Berry Fizz

The Row House is exactly that: A house, situated near Topeka's downtown on Van Buren in a small row of houses. It's tucked in the middle with a beautiful flower garden on the front porch. Behind the restaurant, there is also a food garden where the chefs get a lot of their menu fare. Nikki said she wanted to serve a lot of the food she likes to eat herself while utilizing fresh garden ingredients at the same time. I have to say, she did well.

The menu at the Row House is different than any other in Topeka. I've found many like it in other cities around the United States, but Topeka is Topeka and there aren't many (if any) fine dining options. The Row House has a $43 tasting menu where you get a taste of every item on the menu. The portions are smaller but there are so many of them, and they are so spaced out, you will be full by the end of the meal. This particular menu had one salad, one soup, three entrees and three desserts.

To start, I ordered a cocktail. The Mixed Berry Fizz was fruity and fizzy and garnished with a fruit puree "ice cube" and made with house-infused triple berry vodka, Creme de Cassis, lemon juice and lemon-lime soda. The drink wasn't strong but at the end I could definitely taste the vodka. I liked how the fruit puree slowly thawed out and dispersed within the drink because it helped the drink from watering down. I would order this drink again, and I'm not much of a drinker. This was the perfect summer cocktail.

Our first course was an amuse bouche: Baguette with whipped butter, dill, radish and cucumber. The butter was soft and the dill fresh from the garden. I liked the crunch of the radish and the fresh cucumber all paired well. I was ready for more.

The soup came next. In the summer the menu usually features a cold soup and this one was no exception. A honeydew melon puree with mint and clementines. The mint was robust but not overpowering like mint can be, but the honeydew actually paired well with it. The bits of clementines broke up the texture for me a bit and I kind of wish there were more of those. I didn't personally like the texture but the flavors all complimented each other well.

The vegetarian entree was probably my favorite part of the entire meal. Beet and carrot "noodles", goat cheese, spiced pecans, Swiss chard tossed in a thyme vinaigrette. The "noodles" were shaved pieces of beets and carrots and they were crunchy and sweet yet earthy paired with the Swiss chard that was wilted and soft. The goat

The vegetarian entree

cheese added a sharp, creamy flavor. This was texture heaven for me but the flavors were part of it, too. It had a little bit of everything.

The sliced beef tenderloin with port and plum sauce was my next favorite. The meat was cooked medium, atop a summer squash and corn succotash. The plum sauce was sweet and smoky. I would love to eat a bowl of it like soup. The succotash was cooked to perfection: Edamame, corn, yams, zucchini and yellow squash. I don't usually like yams but these were sweet and tender and I didn't mind them at all. That plum sauce, though.

The salmon was good, but the other two entrees were by far my preference. That does not mean, however that it's not good, it's quite the contrary. The salmon was seared and topped with a lemon dill aioli and served with a golden raisin quinoa and sauteed grapes. The sweet grapes and chewy raisins had most of the flavor in this

dish, and I hardly noticed the quinoa. The salmon wasn't dry, which most salmon usually is and the aioli gave it that lemon zest that goes so well with fish.

Dessert was decadent. The plus side of a tasting menu is you get three desserts, which makes the decision pretty easy. The chocolate zucchini cupcake with ganache was soft and moist and rich because of the ganache. The cupcake was fluffy and rich at the same time and that's usually what I look for in a chocolate cupcake and who doesn't love ganache? The most interesting of the three desserts would have to be the peach and basil crumble with whipped buttercream. The basil was a little overpowering at first, but I think that was because I bit right into a basil leaf, but after a few more bites, the peach flavor came through and I found the basil was more of an undertone. Nice and refreshing, the blue and black berry sorbet with lemon shortbread cookies we the perfect finishing touch to the meal. Cold, fruity and fresh, the sorbet was full of berry flavor and the little lemon cookie was crispy and zesty.

The menu changes weekly at the Row House, so if you want this particular menu you'd have to go Check their website for their weekly menus and special messages from the chef.

Friday or Saturday night. Make sure you call and make reservations, though, or else you may not be served. I know on holidays they are always packed and for days such as Valentine's Day, you have to call weeks in advance for a reservation.

If you haven't checked out the Row House, I recommend it for any special occasion or just dinner on a Thursday night. This was my type of place and I wish there were more here in Topeka. What's cool to me is that the menu changes all the time so you get seasonal items as well as something new every time. The chef, Greg Fox and other kitchen workers all serve the food alongside the front of the house staff and I love how they all work together. Everyone is accommodating and if there is something you can't have on the menu, the chefs will use their culinary abilities to whip up something special just for you. A girl at the table next to us was allergic to melons of all types, including cucumbers. I noticed how she still got every course, but was served something different than the rest of the table.

So, check it out. I highly recommend it.