Chicken tocino from Kali’s Kantina. (Rachel Pinsky)Photo Gallery
The downtown weekend Vancouver Farmers Market has grown bigger and more crowded over the years. I love that market, but it’s also nice to go to quieter companion events. Recently, I hunted for lunch at the East Vancouver Farmers Market, which occurs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays from June until the last week of September. It’s at 17701 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., nestled between Hopworks Brewing and Parkside Loft Apartments.
Downtown farmers market favorites like The Green Grocery, Hummus Hummus, Sabor Mexicano and Funky Fresh Juice trucks clustered around the square. But I was seeking food I hadn’t eaten recently.
I tried Kali’s Kantina months ago at Recluse Brewing in the Port of Washougal and have fond memories of the fresh, made-to-order Filipino food. Kali’s owners, Josh Willams and Grace Williams, started with a hot sauce company called 2 Angry Cats and more recently opened their Filipino food business Kali’s Kantina.
Their short menu offers a variety of proteins (short rib adobo, chicken tocino and grilled tofu). They created their lumpia recipe by blending their grandmothers’ recipes.
When I visited Kali’s at Recluse Brewing, I had grilled tofu, chicken tocino and lumpia. Each protein comes with steamed white rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, topped with a fried egg. I loved the marinated atsuage (fried) tofu from Ota Tofu from that first visit, but at the East Vancouver Farmers Market I was more in the mood for the chicken tocino — chicken thighs marinated for three days in brown sugar, pineapple juice, tamari sauce and secret spices — then grilled to order. The chicken was as succulent and flavorful as it was the first time I tried it. The rice was tender and the veggies fresh.
To be honest, I was drawn to the market by PI Square Pizza, a Detroit pizza booth adding inventive toppings that aren’t normally found in Detroit. I’ve been eating Detroit pizza since I was able to chew solid food, but I realize that it’s unknown to many outside of the Motor City. It’s often lumped into the Midwest deep-dish pizza category, but as any Detroiter or Chicagoan knows these cities’ pizzas are very different.
Detroit pizza is baked in a special rectangular metal pan. The original recipe was created by Italian immigrants who got metal trays from nearby auto factories to make their pizzas. Anodized aluminum pans made by Lloyd Pans in Spokane Valley are the industry standard for present-day chefs.
Detroit pizza dough isn’t thick or heavy but airy and light. Toppings and cheese are placed on top. As it bakes in a hot oven, the cheese melts around the pizza, creating a lacy casing. Tomato sauce is dotted on top of the toppings and cheese.
Sally Huynh of PI Square offers two classics (cheese and cheese and pepperoni) and two special pies every week. Each pizza is baked to order. On my first visit, she teamed up with Briel’s Barbecue to create a pie with smoked barbecue chicken, peach bacon jam and Alabama white sauce.
“I thought of this in the shower. Pizza is like a salad with bread under it or a sandwich with one side of bread,” Huynh said.
This salad or sandwich epiphany led Huynh to create her first barbecue-topped pizza. I was skeptical of someone putting unusual things on top of my beloved hometown pie, but this pizza was a revelation. The crust created a textural counterpoint and nice sponge for the flavorful barbecue and creamy-yet-tangy white sauce, and the crisp cheese mixed well with the smokiness of the tender chunks of chicken. Why hadn’t someone done this sooner?
I also liked PI Square’s zucchini and garlic with shaved lemon and Parmesan cheese pizza. It was excellent, but her Houston-meets-Detroit barbecue pie was something I can’t stop thinking about. I’m sad I missed the Reuben-inspired pizza she made with Flavorsmyth BBQ’s pastrami (brined for two weeks then smoked for 14 hours) combined with cumin kraut from The Fermininsta, then drizzled with Reuben sauce.
If You Go
What: East Vancouver Farmers Market
Where: 17701 SE Mill Plain Blvd.
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays through the end of September
I also visited Husubi Poke, next to PI Square, which offers poke by the half-pound ($15) or pound ($25) as well as spam musubi (one for $4, two for $7) and onigiri ($2 for plain rice or $6 for salmon or tuna). I got a half-pound of the spicy ahi poke island-style (with plain rice onigiri $16, with spam musubi $18). The ahi tuna in the poke was fresh and velvety, sliced into chunks and tossed in a spicy mayo sauce mixed with crisp onion slices. The plain rice onigiri was warm and tender. An exquisite dish.
My last stop was at Tammy’s Cookie Company. It was surreal to see owner Tammy Brennan in real life. I follow her on Instagram along with her other 100,000-plus followers. It was a treat to finally eat her drool-worthy baked goods. Brennan offers a wide variety of interesting flavors like lemon meringue, sticky toffee pudding, fig and honey, and strawberries and cream as well as classic chocolate chip and gluten-free cookies like classic chocolate chip and strawberries and cream (all $4 per cookie). The classic chocolate chip was excellent, but I was blown away by the lemon meringue. The thick, chewy cookie on the bottom was reminiscent of a graham cracker crust. It came topped with a bright, citrus lemon curd and crowned with a fluffy meringue.
My trips to the East Vancouver Farmers Market reminded me that I need to visit Clark County’s farmers markets before they close for the season (except downtown which is year-round). It also made me realize that some of the best food in Clark County is at the farmers markets. In a perfect world, there would be a food hall filled with these culinary treasures open every day of the week, all year round.
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