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Oakland Bites: An Egg Roll Convert

on February 28, 2009

After weeks of grocery store, mealy tomatoes, I headed to the farmer’s market in hopes of finding some that were miraculously delicious. This far from peak season, it proved impossible, and I just couldn’t get excited about the booths of kale, lettuce, honey, and a whole lot of citrus. After wandering the market gauntlet for a while, I noticed that one booth had a regular line of two or three customers.

At 10:45, Andy and Cindy Thai Cuisine was handing out full-on savory meals to customers who didn’t care that it was still breakfast time. And neither did I.

Since rent is due tomorrow, I opted for the cheapest thing on the menu–two chicken egg rolls for $4.50. I’ve never been a big egg roll fan–always seemed like a waste of calories for not that much flavor–but since the five year-old behind me could handle it, I figured I could too. Turns out, that kid has great taste.

The perfectly crispy exterior was filled with free-range chicken, zucchini, shitake mushrooms, ginger, carrots, and cilantro. Though a a lot of egg rolls have filling that has been diced to a mush, these had large pieces of everything, and the texture was almost like biting into a mini-burrito. The combination of the ginger and the accompanying sweet chili sauce was delightfully spicy, and surprisingly sophisticated for something that came out of a booth on a street corner. I would happily go back again and make a more serious investment.

You can catch Andy and Cindy at any of four area farmer’s market’s–Temescal (Sundays, 9-1), Grand Lake (Saturdays, 10-2), Berkeley (Saturdays, 10-3), or the Tuesday Berkeley market (Tuesday, 2-7).

For a detailed menu, and information about their commitment to free-range and organic food, click here.

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Photo by Basil D Soufi
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Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.

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