FoodieLand is a food festival that sets up shop in different cities every year: San Diego, San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Las Vegas, etc. It usually hits San Diego at least twice a year, both in Del Mar and in Mission Valley. I missed the last one in May and the Del Mar Racetracks, but attended the one happening this weekend (June 14 - 16) at SnapDragon Stadium in Mission Valley. I went to this food festival last year and had a decent time. Since I hate crowds, I went close to opening at around 3:30pm and there was actually a decent amount of people.
If you haven't gone to one of these, it's basically Fair Food without the fair. A lot of unique foods and at a not so cheap cost. I went to the 626 Night Market in San Diego a couple of months ago and the prices for those stands felt way more expensive ($18 for a taco) and I didn't enjoy it as much. The prices at Foodie, while much more expensive then say a food court, didn't give me sticker shock. And the food portions were decent.
I could have taken better pictures of the stands and the prices like I did with the 626 Market. Frankly, the festival is pretty big and I just had option anxiety on the selections. I wanted to take pictures of most of the stands so people would get a good look at the selections. There were alot of crafts both, a few carnival type games, and a sound stage for nightly shows or DJ's.
Here are a sampling of the food stalls:
I made it a point not to eat the same things I had last year. After scoping out all the stalls, I tried to fomulate a plan to try as many new items
Some samples of the food injested...
Mr. Teddy Baker
This place had the Japanese Katsu sandwiches, the type with the really soft bread and panko fried protein. Their menu selection was small but it all looked good. They had wagyu beef sandwich but it was the ground meat.
I went with the beef gyu katsu sandwich, which was panko fried beed tenderloin
It was a massive piece of meat. The meat to bread ratio was insane. I was expecting this to be tough and hard to chew (and possibly choke on) but it was incredibly tender. The breading was nice. The sauce was bottled and probably bought at Costco but it was fine. It was a good sandwich and it hit the spot.
Honolulu Sushi Taco
This place piqued my interest. It was unique and also bite-size, leaving more room to explore. Basically, they make a taco shell out of seaweed, which is tempura fried to keep it's structure. All tacos have rice, spicy mayo, cucmber and green onion. The protein selection include assorted salmon and ahi tuna, soft shell crab and a veggie version
I got the Volcano Salmon. As much as I like ahi tuna, if there is a choice of tuna or salmon, salmon usually wins
The pictures suck. It was a pretty good taco. The salmon wasn't mushy like with the poke I got at 626 Market. The shell was pretty crisp and held the whold thing pretty well.
Sugar Mama - Sugar Cane Juice
I love getting Sugar Cane juice in Singapore, especially since it freshly squeezed per order. It's not the same experience in the US, at least not at these Foodie fairs.
I was getting parched and needed to wash away the sins of the evil calories i injected, with even more calories. I had Sugar Mama last year and enjoyed it. I failed to get a picture of the menu selections as they had unique flavors. I'll do better next time.
I got the waternelon. It was the right amount of sweet and it hit the spot.
Corn on a Stick
While I was scoping out a stall, a stand that specializes in corn was next door, and the craving for corn on the cob hit me. They had elote, which is the roast mexican corn usually doused in mayo. This stall had both corn in a cup and on a stick. What makes this corn unique (although not really a new concept) is that they offer toppings like crushed Doritos, Taki, regular or Flamin Hot Cheetos
I chose the corn on a stick with regular Cheetos. The cool thing is that they plate it in a Cheetos bag with a good amount of uncrushed Cheetos you could snack on after you've finished the corn.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like I took a picture of the stand so i don't remember the name. It'll be easy to find. A passerby commented on how good it looked. Also, some social media dude asked to take a picture of me for some site. I should have asked which one. So i may be on a site somewhere.
HGG Tanghulu
Tanghulu is a Chinese candied fruit snack with an thin hard candied shell. I saw them at the 626 Market but didn't get a chance to try them (I think they were a bit more expensive there and there was a constant wait to replenish the fruits).
HGG Tanghulu is one of the stands that offer it. This one has a good variety and seem to have a larger supply than the other stand
I got the grape and Mandarin Orange. These were sooooo good. Nice crunchy shell, sweet and juicy. I honestly could have order 2 or 4 more or these.
Good Vibes
Out of all of the stalls that day, Good Vibes seemed to have the longest. Just like in Singapore, find the stall with the longest line, and join the line.
They specialize in Hawaiian food like their shrimp bowls and masubis. They hsave unique masubis outside of the usual Spam Masubi (like garlic or popcorn shrimp, spicy tuna, or beef bulgogi). I had their garlic shrimp masubi last year and it was pretty good.
What caught my eye was the Kalua Pork Sisig Egg Roll. I love sisig and eggroll so it was a no-brainer.
It came topped with a lime sauce and green onion. I must say I was disappointed with it. Traditional Filipino sisig is usually fatty and drippy. This was not. I think it had cheese in it. At this point though, I was at my limits, so it probably dampered my enjoyment of this
Ensaymada Project
This place caught my eye and I made a mental note to stop by this stand on the way out. It's a Filipino bakery that specialize in brioche type baked goods. They have several unique flavors, including banana nutella, cookie butter crumble, oreo, and several others.
On the way out, I picked up the maple bacon and dulce de leche to enjoy later at home
More Pics
Here's pics of food i didn't partake but good to note
All in all, it was a good time. Just temper your expectation on the food prices because after all, it's fair food. Between FoodieLand and 626 Market, FoodieLand is much better.
FoodieLand - SnapDragon Stadium Mission Valley
Snapdragon Stadium
June 14 - 16th
Friday - 3 PM to 10 PM
Saturday - 1 PM - 10 PM
Sunday - 1 PM - 10 PM