On Sunday we attended the Eat Real Festival in the beautiful Jack London Square in Oakland. This is our second year at this wonderful event, filled with small bites from local food trucks, restaurants, and vendors, as well as DIY classes and cooking demos. (See pictures from 2012 Eat Real Festival here.) It usually takes place during September for one weekend only, from Friday to Sunday. If you are ever in the area when the event is taking place, I highly recommend it! Admission is free, and all the dishes are $5 or below. Plenty of parking garages nearby as well as several options for public transportation. Take a stroll along the peaceful waterfront while sampling gourmet bites of food, a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. PS – bring a picnic blanket!

Here are some pictures of all the delicious food we ate. A good tip is to go with lots of friends so you can try a good variety of food without getting full too quickly. There were so many vendors I wanted to try but ran out of stomach space…

The busiest time was from noon to 1pm. Popular trucks had longer lines, but the lines moved pretty fast in general.

Spicy Shrimp Rice Ball (Onigiri) from Onigilly. $3.00/each.

Chicken N Waffle from Soul Groove with jalapeno cole slaw and maple bbq sauce. The waffle was a bit dry but it was very, VERY tasty. $5.00/each

The breakfast sandwich from the very wonderful Bacon Bacon truck. The bacon was cooked to perfection, and the sandwich was elevated to another level with their amazing bacon jam. $5.00/each

No way I was going to pass this up. Chocolate covered bacon from Bacon Bacon. Thick cut bacon FTW! $3.00/each.

Thank you for making awesome bacon!

Roast pig with corn bread plate from Chop Bar. 3 different sauces: Mole, BBQ, and Tomatillo. Very delicious but was a little bit disappointed to not get a piece of crackling skin. $5.00/plate

See the whole roast pig in the back?

Mangonada from Nieves Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican artisan ice cream parlor. This was so refreshing with mango sorbet, sweet mango chunks, chili, and a tamarind stick candy to chew on.

Beef Pho Rolls from Rice Paper Scissors. $5.00/plate

Mochi from Simply Mochi. This was from menu C, which has red bean, green tea cheesecake, and peanut butter. The peanut butter one was to die for! $5.00/plate (3 mochis).

Fresh stroopwafel by the Stroopie Gourmet!! We tasted this delectable treat in Amsterdam, and even though one can find pacakged stroopwafel in markets in the States, nothing beats a freshly made one! Piping hot with its ooey gooey buttery goodness. $4.00 for caramel stroopwafel.

A yummy bourbon peach smash cocktail to fight the heat.

This place should change their name to I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Vegan! This is the “Lusty Lovers Taco” from Hella Vegan Eats. It’s got mac-n-cheeze, bbq peach “chicken”, chipotle toasted corn flakes and scallion. Uber tasty. $3.00/each

Yummy popscicles from Fat Face, a company from Davis. We got the mango sticky rice (life-changing!), and the melon horchata. Nice flavor combos on the menu, kudos to making unique and delightful treats. $3.50/each

Chocolate Stout Donut holes from Dora’s Donuts, made from Rogue’s stout. Cake-like texture and pretty addicting. $5.00/box.

We also saw Charlie Hallowell from Pizzaiolo giving a cooking demo on making chicken liver pate. (Read my previous post on the fabulous eats from Pizzaiolo)

Until next year!