While wandering around the mass of people hustling on and off trains, Lisa and I both remarked how Stockholm felt like a full-on metropolis. This was in comparison to Copenhagen, which feels like a more historic version of Portland, Ore.

After checking into our hotel room (thanks Marriott points!), Lisa and I set off to explore the city. We walked across the bridge to Sodermalm to find dinner, only to find out how expensive dining out really is in Sweden. So we settled on a filling plate of fried herring with lingonberry jam and mashed potatoes from a cart, a food truck trend that I wish we could import to the States.

Then we set about to stroll along the cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan, the historic (albeit tourist-filled) district of Stockholm. Both of us were somewhat on-edge from traveling, so our night ended with a gelato and a few beers at the hotel. Little did we know what we were in store for tomorrow.

One of the newest trucks to arrive is Where Ya At Matt, and it didn’t take much to convince us we needed to check this one out immediately. Glowing review after glowing review aside, the menu is enough to start planning your weekly lunch schedule around a visit. Fried oyster po’boys and jambalaya? Yes please.

The natives are curious

We headed over to their regular Friday spot in Interbay. I was worried there would be a long line, but it was only a couple people deep. More of a concern was our arrival time – we got there around 1:30, the final half an hour of their lunch stint. By that time, they were out of oysters (nooooo!), jambalaya and the infamous beignets.

We were mildly upset, but hardly discouraged. This is part of the food truck dining lifestyle that you have to accept as a matter of course. Vendors will be closed when the website says open, they will invariably be “cash only”when you only have your credit card on you, and running out of popular items is inevitable. The casualness and unpredictability is inherent to the medium.

So: no oysters, no problem. We opted for the shrimp po’boy and an order of red beans n rice.

Shrimpy goodness

Caveat here: I have never been to New Orleans (hoping to change that this year, though) and have never eaten the real thing. That said, this was a damn good sandwich. The remoulade-esque sauce is the perfect foil to the savory crunch of the battered shrimp, and the bread, lettuce and tomato are fresher than what you get at many sit-down restaurants. And the red beans n rice were approximately one-third each rice, beans and super-porky sausage chunks.

It was an ideal meal for a grey Seattle fall day. I will be back, and early, to try the oysters and the beignets.

Well, my love affair with the mobile foodistas has grown exponentially since we’ve moved out to Seattle. In the eight months we’ve lived here, there have been several addition to the fleet of food trucks, each seemingly outdoing each other in terms of quality and flavor.

Not just content with gyros and tacos, we’ve seen a sea change in mobile food competition. The entrepreneurs are innovative and creative.

I thought about this today as I pulled up to Beacon Hill with Lisa and we stood in line at Marination Mobile, a Korean-style taco truck that offers such delicacies as Aloha Sliders and Kimchi Quesadillas. The veggies in Seattle have tofu options as well. For around $7 a person, the quality of the food was well above what’s out there in terms of fast food (outside of In-And-Out Burger, but that’s for another post).

Serving up some fabulous Korean tacos in Seattle

The trend in Seattle began with Skillet, which began slinging gourmet truck food a few years ago out of an old silver Airstream. Skillet upped the ante, offering burgers with local, farm-raised beef, bacon jam, arugula on gourmet bread. Poutine (the Quebecois treat of fries topped with piping-hot gravy and cheese curds) was another option. Lines started queueing up and business boomed. Aside from a few health code violations, Skillet has been a success in Seattle.

Competitors sprouted up not soon after. We’ve enjoyed veggie BBQ (yes, really), from the Maximus/Minimus truck, a which happens to be shaped like a pig. If you want an octopus taco, get thee to Eastlake and visit the Tako Truk late nights on the weekends. Added bonus: you can follow them on Twitter (like you can most of the food trucks) to stay in the know about locations and 86s.

The Piggy Truck

And as much as Seattle has advanced in terms of street food, Portland has us whipped, unfortunately. A lot has to do with regulations that Seattle has now finally laxed on, but a recent trip to Portland presented us with enough evidence (over 400 or so vendors!) to come to that conclusion. Such options ranged from a vendor specializing in nothing but grilled cheese, one of my favorite comfort foods. One section of PDX had a confluence of trucks all happily competing with one another. This site keeps readers up to date on the food cart news in Portland.

Back in Seattle, I’m just glad to see our city has jumped on the street food bandwagon. This was cemented when I bit into an incredibly flavorful slider of shredded pork and Korean slaw. And as much as Seattle has grown in this regard, there are still some great old-school options. During the blizzard this past winter, Lisa and I trudged our way from Mt. Baker to Rainier Valley to the taco bus. Another fantastic option is Rancho Bravo in Wallingford. These are my rebuttals to those who believe Chipotle is an acceptable lunch option.