TL;DR - Unique delicious offerings from a Chamorro food truck from super friendly people!
I feel it is important to add some narrative to this. My girlfriend and I were going to stop at the foodtruck market by Costco for lunch en route to the beach. On the way towards Costco we saw one small food truck with "Nengkanu" written on it as we passed. Both of us were stumped and had no idea what that meant. We continued on but realized when we arrives that the Costco foodtrucks arent open on Sunday. We didnt check first, so our fault. But we agreed to go find out what this mysterious new red and blue truck in the KMart/Uhaul parking lot was, so we went back to try it out.
We were both super happy that circumstance steered us back. I was raised in the Midwest and had never heard of Chamorro before I came here, and now I had found a place that served its cuisine! I love trying new things so I am grateful that this place is sharing their culture like this! That said - I have never had Chamorro food before, so I cannot make educated comments about how this stacks up to other Chamorro BBQ. So instead of that kind of judging I am going to share what I learned from my experience today to help others who might not have tried this style of food before.
First - ask the ladies working there! My girlfriend and I are not bashful so we just asked away, but the ladies were incredibly gracious and obviously proud to be sharing their culture with newcomers. There was no intimidation or laughing at our expense, they were as nice as could be. Do not be afraid to ask them about the food if you are unsure of what it is!
We got the Nengkanu plate (basically a sampler of most of what they offer) and two empanadas - one spicy and one regular.
We ate the empanadas first. My girlfriend thought the spicy was too much and claimed the regular for herself. The regular was not spicy at all, in case you are sensitive. I thought the spicy had a nice kick without going too far. I would say the heat level is on par with a solid dose of sriracha.
Next my girlfriend pulled the plate out of the bag and immediately laughed at how heavy it was. This Nengkanu plate is no joke. Splitting was a good choice for us - but we had also noticed that they offer different plate size options. I love it when restaurants do this!
The ribs and chicken seemed perfectly normal and delicious to me. Had I been served these meats at a Midwest barbecue I would be confused that they were missing barbecue sauce, but other than that it was just good honest barbecue. Both of us were actually a little confused at what made this particularly Chamorro.
Next we tried the Kelaguen. It is a cold chicken salad served "dry" (as in it is not a creamy mayo based chicken salad) and had some really bright herb flavors. It reminded me strongly of larb from Thai/Laotian restaurants that I have tried, but it was not spicy at all as some larb can be. I also dont think it had fish sauce, but the cold minced meat and strong herb flavors were there.
Then we considered the little containers of watery looking sauce that was included. Apparently this is "finadene" and it was a game changer. BBQ is often all about the sauce and that is true here. For mainlanders, this sauce will remind you of the vinegary North Carolina style BBQ sauce. Once we got into that our eyes were opened. This next part will probably either makes Chamorros laugh or cringe... I don't even know because I don't know if this was proper of not! We started by dipping chunks of meat in the finadene and that definitely changed it from something familiar to something new (and delicious). Then we got ambitious and sprinkled it on the kelaguen and the rice and all over the meats. Apologies if this is wrong or offensive, we just got into this sauce! They had actually given us two cups - one unmarked and one with a "p" which I guessed was for "pika" which I had looked up and found means "spicy." We both like this sauce better and it was not strongly spicy but had a nice zing.
After the meal my girlfriend (who had also monopolized and enjoyed the pickles, I am not usually a pickle person) noted "wow I think these people like vinegar!" It was not meant in a bad way as we had both thoroughly enjoyed the meal. I noted that even though this was a heavy meal the bright acidity from the sauce made me not feel like I had just had a heavy meal, which was really nice! Later in the evening we both agreed that we are going to end up craving the sauce and probably return soon
Thank you to this food truck for sharing your culture in such a friendly way, and I truly hope people that have not had this kind of food give it a try! read more