Place: La Papa Baked Potatoes & Roasted Corn food truck

Category: Food Truck

Website: https://www.facebook.com/La-Papa-Baked-Potatoes-Roasted-Corn-106680274139511/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-papa-baked-potatoes-and-roasted-corn-salinas

Location: Mobile, Sand City, CA 93955

Date of visit: 2021 March 3

 

Post No Bills
Post No Bills craft beer house at night.

On Wednesday, March 3, 2021 I went to Post No Bills Craft Beer House in Sand City but this is not a review of the best beer bar in the area. If you haven’t been to Post No Bills and you like beer, you should check it out. They have a nice selection of beer on tap (including almost always a quality German beer) and a good bottle selection. They also usually have a cider on tap if you are gluten free. While they do not sell hard liquor, I believe they also have wine.

Before the pandemic Post No Bills would often, but not always, have a food truck parked out front because they don’t have a kitchen. You could also bring your own food. However, with the current restrictions requiring them to sell food if they want to be open for anything besides to-go, they need to have a food truck in order to serve beer for the patio. One thing that is nice is they have a variety of food trucks and not the same one every day. I don’t think any of them have been bad, but of course it always depends what kind of mood you are in which ones are better.

On this day, they had a new-to-them food truck: La Papa Baked Potatoes & Roasted Corn. I have never had food from this food truck elsewhere so I decided to give it a try: after all I am a big fan of baked potatoes. I should state for the record, this food truck was not an actual truck, but an oven on a trailer and a tent but I consider any mobile food option that is not a hot dog cart a food truck for purposes of Ed’s Eats.

Baked potato
A baked potato from La Papa Baked Potatoes & Roasted Corn.

I got the standard potato which comes with sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, spring onion, and pickled jalapenos. I got mine without sour cream for the simple reason that I do not like sour cream. The potato itself was perfectly done. I expected a really good potato because you can’t expect to make any money with a baked potato food truck if you can’t make a good baked potato. However it exceed expectations. It was almost creamy inside. I am not sure what their trick is but if you like baked potatoes you will enjoy it.

The toppings were tasty and they put a good amount of them on the potato. They also offer meat on top of the potatoes for an added price. I believe they had both asada (beef) and carnitas (pork). I think if you are hungry you should go with one of these. While I didn’t try either, they looked good and of course, would be more filling than the regular offering. I didn’t try the corn so I can’t comment on that but I heard the roasted corn was also very good.

Service was quick and friendly and I’d say the price was fair: maybe not a bargain but definitely reasonable for what they offered. I think next time I partake one of La Papa Baked Potatoes & Roasted Corn’s offerings I’ll try one with meat on it because as I mentioned above they looked really good. As I said above, definitely check them out if like baked potatoes.

Place: German Restaurant Stammtisch

Category: German

Website: https://www.stammtisch-seaside.com/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/german-restaurant-stammtisch-seaside-2

Location: 1204 Echo Ave., Seaside, CA 93955

Date of visit: 2020 December 22

Stammtischschnitzel
Stammtischschnitzel (breaded pork steak, smothered with fresh bacon, mushrooms and sautéed onions) from German Restaurant Stammtisch.

On Tuesday December 22, 2020 I order takeout from German Restaurant Stammtisch. I heard about this restaurant slightly after I moved to Monterey a few years ago but for some reason I thought it closed. I think I had the location incorrect and I saw a new restaurant open where I thought it was. Regardless of the reason, because of that I never been here. Definitely my loss! I really enjoy German food and the meal I got from Stammtisch was outstanding

With COVID restrictions not allowing dine-in (or even outside dinning) right now, Stammtisch has a limited menu available for takeout but that menu includes many of the items you would expect. After going back and forth between Jaegerschnitzel and Stammtischschnitzel, I chose the latter mostly because I figured the gravy in the Jaegerschnitzel might soak into the meat too much as I drove home after picking it up (although I’m sure I could have asked for the gravy in a separate container). Additionally the Stammtischschnitzel has bacon in it so of course that was also a huge factor! Their menu describes it as “breaded pork steak, smothered with fresh bacon, mushrooms and sautéed onions.” It was served with home fried potatoes, salad garnish, and the soup of the day. I also got some German beer (on tap) to go (it was a lager but I am not sure what brand).

Cream of Asparagus Soup from German Restaurant Stammtisch

The soup of the day was a cream of asparagus. It was amazing. I can’t say I’ve had cream of asparagus soup a lot but I do enjoy cream soups (usually cream of mushroom or cream of broccoli) and this was possibly the best I’ve ever had.

The pork was cooked perfectly and the topping of bacon, mushrooms, and onions was delicious and the amount of each ingredient was good. I particularly liked that they did not use too many onions. I would highly recommend the Stammtischschnitzel. The fried potatoes were also extremely good.

I felt the price was better than average for the area considering the quality and quantity of food. Service-wise it is hard to judge when getting takeout but the food was ready when it was supposed to be and the staff (owners?) were very friendly and even gave me an extra container of beer for Christmas (They mentioned that they needed to use it up or it would go bad, so I was happy to help them out!). They also helped me carry the food out to my car. The interior of the restaurant looked nice and I look forward to dinning in person at some point in the future.

Really, everything was excellent and my only complaint is I didn’t go here sooner! If you live in the area (or are visiting) and like German food, definitely check German Restaurant Stammtisch out.