Chef Michael Young has been a busy boy. First he got the Bodega Food Truck up and running and now he’s putting the finishing touches on the Valencia Luncheria Food Truck. Holy crap, yes, it’s true. Valencia + food truck = DA BOMB!
The food truck serves two purposes:
1) It’s an easy way for Valencia to cater parties and events.
2) It’s an easy way for your to get your Valencia fix when you’re not near their Norwalk spot.
Starting off, they will are offering arepas, burritos, salads, and a few other options. As they go out and make food, they’ll tweak and change the menu if need be. Their plans right now are to hit up Landmark Square/Vets Park in Stamford two days a week, so get ready! And, they will certainly be hitting up other spots around Fairfield County, too, so make sure that you’re following them on Facebook, and Twitter.
For more information about hiring Valencia for catering or parties, please call ’em up at (203) 453-5928.
Update: Please be aware that Valencia had to cancel this event.
With all the beer, wine, cocktails and liquor in America today, it’s crazy to think that just 94 years ago Prohibition reared its ugly head. Although we know it didn’t stop the truly devoted who brewed moonshine and other crazy concoctions, nor did it stop the mafia from controlling the illegal trafficking of booze…nor did it stop one rum runner named Captain Bill McCoy. Although didn’t drink liquor himself, he smuggled in illegally popular unwatered-down rum into America from the Bahamas, fueling the speakeasies during Prohibition.
But, thankfully we’re way past that dark moment of our history. So, as George Santayana says, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” You best believe we ain’t letting that crap happen again…
And that’s where Chef Michael Young’sValencia Luncheriacomes in with their Bootlegger’s Party. Chef Young and crew have created a bash to celebrate the awesomeness of liquor and food together as one. The drinking, dancing, eating, and reveling goes down from 7-11 pm on January 21. Tickets for this illicit event are either $55 per person or $100 for a couple. The windows at Valencia will be blacked out and the staff will be in costume from the 20s and 30s (we’d pay to $500 to see Chef Young dressed up). They’d love for you to come dressed up too, though they told us it’s not totally ncecessary…but seriously, don’t be a Bootlegger’s Party pooper.
–Video about A Buck for a Beer fundraiser fromItsRelevant—
Back in early November, we told you about our effort (A Buck for a Beer to Support Hurricane Sandy Relief) to work with Fairfield County restaurants to make a difference. The idea was simple: when a certain beer was ordered at a restaurant, a dollar would be donated toAmerican Red Cross. After we wrote some of our favorite restaurants, we heard back quickly, owners eagerly hopeful to get involved. While the first night of the fundraising week (11/7) wasn’t the best start because of snow, people were eager to go out, eat some food, drink some brews, and make a difference all week long.
“We got an incredible amount of support from our customers that the word had spread to. From a woman stopping me on the street when I was changing our menu box to tell me she was coming the following day with a group of friends just to support the cause, to Friday night when another woman came in with a group of people who had really been affected and were stoked about the idea of drinking and helping. One customer actually put her credit card down, and handed out drink tickets personally to her friends to use only towards beers that fell under NY/NE. Very cool. It gave people a release and a temporary distraction. And while they were enjoying each other’s company, they in turn were helping and that got people excited.”
Going to diners for breakfast is such a CT/Long Island kinda thing to do. It’s not to say that diners aren’t great, they are comforting, dependable, and just damn good. But, sometimes you have to branch out and try new things. So, we decided to add some spice to our breakfast by heading to Valencia Luncheria–one of our faves for lunch and dinner, good, down-home, Venezuelan. We walked in just in time to get a table, though it took quite a while for our waitress to take our order. It’s understandable, though, because it was just her taking orders and serving. When we got our meal we were dying of hunger and dove in, but not before taking some good pics. You know, that might be the hardest part of having OmNomCT: delaying our needs and gratifying our hunger just to get some good photos. We like to call it our “saying grace.” :)
Well, let’s get down to it. I ordered the Red Smitty tortilla wrap and it came out much like a burrito, but cut in half. Gooey cheese lined the inside of the tortilla, surrounding beautiful and smoky chorizo. You could taste that they had grilled the chorizo which gives even deeper flavors to the wrap. Throw in some chipotle for additional smokiness and my add-in of black beans and you’re almost there. The real star of the Red Smitty was the egg, though. It was light and fluffy and had such a fresh taste to it. Unable to resist one of my favorites, I asked for plantains on the side and they were fried very well and oh-so-sweet.
Our waitress also gave us a bowl of rice and beans out of confusion, but who are we to deny a challenge? I took that opportunity to try their two sauces: a hot and spicy chipotle sauce and a puréed cold vegetable sauce. The red sauce was smoky and had a really good heat behind it–definitely not subtle. The green (vegetable) sauce was chunky, but not too thick, and had lots of fresh flavor playing off the cilantro. Kristien went wild with these sauces in her dish (which she absolutely loved): the Typico Breakfast. In Costa Rica, they call this Tico Pinto. As she dug her way through the eggs, over easy, beans and rice, and plantains we talked about how much we missed being in Costa Rica and how much we loved the food. Valencia, though, took us back.
Platanos, Por Favor! For the Gringos, That’s Plantains
If you come here, you come here for the amazing food, the freshly made juices, and the authenticity. It’s one of the best dives in Fairfield County for sure. Service might be slow, but if you can get past that, you’ll keep coming back. Also, coming in at just $20, this was a pretty damn cheap meal. It’s also BYOB, so bring $5 for a bottle ($10 for 2 or more) with a nice deep South American red to go with the food here. Jennifer Young (her husband Michael is the chef extraordinaire here) explained, also, that there is no fee for bringing in your cerveza! You hear that Food Plus Beer? Just remember, cash only! Oh, and hey, guess what? Guy Fieri was here!
Dan and Kristien Del Ferraro
OmNomCT 
Recent comments…