NORDIC FOOD TRUCK....WELCOME TO FISHVILLE

It's a chilly, blustery day in San Francisco so of course we are going to hit up the StrEat Food Park. But don't fret, they have great indoor seating with heat lamps, of which we will take full advantage. Wandering around the park I peruse the menus and try to find something to tempt my taste buds. Cold day, hot food, hmm...maybe something comforting and fried. That's when I spy the Nordic Food Truck, run by Chef Pelle.

It looks like they specialize in some dishes from Northern European countries. I see lots of fish things, though looks they are branching out with pork sliders. Odd, but not what I'm in the mood for today. Then I spy their fish and chips. Tempura fried Icelandic cod with french fries and a watercress caper dill remoulade sauce for dipping. We also get a cup of the soup special, a white bean and vegetable with sausage, because, you know, it's cold. 

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I got. There were four long fingers of fish with a bushel of fries. All of it was hot and crispy made to order. I won't call it a tempura batter, it was somewhere between that and beer battered, but it was good and didn't overpower the fish with breading. The fish was also light and flaky and being a big fan of dill I thought the remoulade was a great compliment. It was like a step up from plain old tartar sauce and the addition of watercress gave it a fresh brightness and kept it from being like a glob of mayo with relish added in. They also threw in some fresh made pickle slices that were crunchy, sour and sweet--very tasty. The fries were also nicely done--crisp outside, soft inside. The whole basket was $11, which was actually a pretty good price when you compare it to some of the other fish-n-chips in this town and how much they give and charge you for. The white bean soup was good if a bit on the thin side. Had it been thicker it would have been perfect. The veggies and slightly spicy sausage were a great combo in the tomato based broth. And again there were plenty of both in the soup, so almost a good job. 

Let's be honest, doing fish and chips shouldn't really be that hard. Any decent cook should know how to batter and fry something without burning or over cooking it. But sometimes, it's the cooks ability to do these simple things over and over again perfectly that set them apart for others. If Nordic can be this consistent pumping out busy food truck fare, I'm more than happy to go back and try their Swedish meatballs or their more adventurous fare--tunnbrodsrulle anyone?