Koja Kitchen: The Divine Wind of Waffle Fries

It’s no secret that the American palette loves crunchy, salty, fatty and sweet. Preferably, all together. While standing in line for Sam’s Chowdermobile, my eyes kept diverting from the slider-esque portions of lobster rolls for $5 to the constant flow of customers holding gingham boxes of two-person portions of waffle-cut fries topped with brick colored meat.

I switched lines.

Koga food truck placed itself in the competitive market of mobile eateries in 2011. From my observation, their Kamikaze fries have to be their most popular item. This little number consists of: salty and crunchy deep fried waffle-cut french fries, then topped with Bulgogi, that Korean grilled beef that’s sweet and aromatic, umami from sesame oil, savory and beefy, and slightly prickly with spice. I normally shun the scallion garnish for color, but this time it gave a little freshness. Also, the illusion that perhaps it’s healthy. And if it wasn’t spicy enough, I topped my fries with an oxbow of Sriracha.  

I stood under a nearby tree and passed the fries back and forth between myself and my dining companion, both of us shifting our feet impatiently while the other contently held the bowl and grazed without a sense of urgency. The problem with most Asian food (even if it’s modified for the American palette) is the combination of spicy, sour, sweet and salty, is it’s extremely comforting. Meaning, it’s highly addictive. I’d be hard-press not to believe that this was the last meal of many a Japanese aviator during WWII, leaving this world far more happier than knowing they were sacrificing themselves for mere nationalism. We couldn’t get enough of this bad-for-you-but-no-one-cares jumble of goodness. It seemed like something only a stoner could come up with this concoction  But, if stoners are making Bulgogi like this, I may have to take up substance abuse.

You know, other than consuming mass quantities of food.