FOOD & DRINK

Downtown Millbrae a Culinary Crossroads During Art & Wine Festival

With Premium Wines, Microbrews, Margaritas and Mojitos
to Complement the Fab Fare

Are South America, Greece and Vietnam on your summer vacation wish list? You’ll get a taste of these destinations and more at the Millbrae Art & Wine Festival, September 1-2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Broadway.

Start your adventure in Venezuela, with traditional corn delicacies from Pica Pica Maize Kitchen, where every item is gluten free. They offer three styles of maize breads: arepas (grilled white corn-flour cake), maize’wich (sweet corn bread) and cachapa (sweet corn pancake). The breads can be filled with your choice of pabellón (shredded beef, sweet plantains, black beans and cheese), pernil (pulled pork with sliced tomatoes and avocados), pepeada (chicken salad with avocado), caribe (black beans, sweet plantains and cheese), or a vegan combo of black beans, sweet plantains, tomatoes and avocado. They also offer fried yuca and plantains.

Traveling up to Central America, you’ll find Salvadorean pupusas from Sweet Delights. These corn masa cakes come filled with cheese and additional options of delicate loroco flower or chicharrones (pork). The pupusas are accompanied by curtido, a vinegar-y cabbage-carrot-pepper relish. Sweet Delights also cooks up a broad menu of traditional street-fare favorites, from burgers (beef, turkey, salmon and mushroom) and hand-dipped foot-long corn dogs to gyros, artichoke crab cakes, mushroom cheese steaks, and Parmesan-fried zucchini and artichokes. They serve gourmet funnel cakes for dessert, with fresh strawberries, bananas or mango and whipped cream.

The romantic whiff of French crêpes will send you sailing across the Atlantic to Lemoine Crêperie, where you’ll have to decide between sensible savory fillings like ham, cheese and spinach, or decadent temptations like fresh strawberries and whipped cream or that irresistible chocolate-hazelnut spread, Nutella.

Hop over to Spain and dig into Addy’s Paella, the traditional dish with chicken, shrimp and sausage slowly cooked in an enormous cast-iron pot with saffron rice.

Bobby “The Greek” Gekas hails from the romantic shores of Greece, bringing the Slow Food tradition to his offerings from Ultimate Souvlaki. Sink your teeth into his succulent souvlakis—small kebabs of lamb, chicken, swordfish or baby octopus. Or try his sheftalia—traditional meatballs from the island of Cypress made with lamb, pork, red onions, parsley and spices. They all come with pita, yogurt-cucumber tzatziki, tomato and onions. Bobby also prepares handmade dolmas and baklava.

Greek fare is also featured at Duke’s Wrap Delight, where you’ll find spiced beef-and-lamb gyros stuffed into pita. For a taste of the Middle East, the pitas are filled with falafel and tahini. Then there’s the good-old American pork-and-beef sausage with grilled onions and peppers, Philly cheesesteak, and ribbon fries.

Gourmet Faire has its own version of Greek gyros, as well as a couple of unique approaches to seafood. Their fried calamari is marinated in key lime juice and served with a lime-watercress pesto. And their latest invention—crab fries—starts as beer-battered garlic fries and gets a topping of Dungeness crab aioli with an extra sprinkling of crab on top. It’s no wonder they won this year’s Best Overall Food prize at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

If you’re looking for light food with plenty of flavor and crunch, check out the Vietnamese cuisine at Saigon BBQ. Their delicate spring rolls are made with rice noodles, shrimp, steamed pork and lettuce in a translucent rice-paper wrapper. Thin strips of flavorful barbecued chicken and pork come four ways: on a stick; on a baguette with pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeño; with rice vermicelli noodles in a sweet-and-sour salad; or over garlic noodles.

For a Japanese take on barbecue, Sonoma Teriyaki serves teriyaki chicken on a skewer or on a bed of rice with steamed carrots and broccoli. Vegetarians have the choice of chow mein and fried rice with veggies.

Swinging westward from Asia to Hawaii, make a stop at Aloha Joe’s for his signature tropical sandwich. He puts together a daring combination of shredded beef, black beans, pineapple-mango sauce, chopped cabbage and tangy aioli, all inside of a soft Hawaiian flatbread. Or just grab one of his pineapple skewers for a quick snack.

Back on American turf, Mike Hutslar makes no bones about his best-selling item. He calls it the “giant bad-ass sausage”—a fitting name for the ½-pound of smoked pork and beef with grilled onions and sauerkraut served on a hefty roll. He also serves a mean deep-fried combo of breaded zucchini, mushrooms and mozzarella, along with corn dogs and curly fries.

Earthly Delights does a good job of filling people up with Philly cheese steaks, Italian garlic chicken sandwiches, Cajun chicken sandwiches, barbecued pork sandwiches, and Parmesan-garlic fries.

Aroma Concessions also has an extensive all-American bill of fare, with smoked turkey legs, chicken Caesar wraps, tri-tip sandwiches, hot dogs, corn dogs, fried zucchini and artichokes, roasted corn and garlic fries.

And coming directly from Manor Coffee Shop in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood . . . Silly Spuds. This wacky, deep-fried potato spiral served on a stick was recently featured on KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area. It’s the latest innovation of the Jeung family, which has run the all-American diner since 1967.

For an American classic that’s been around (according to legend) since the 1700’s, pick up a bag of the sweet-‘n’-salty kernels at Olde Tyme Kettle Corn booth.

If you’re in the mood for sweet-‘n’-cold, opt for the frozen yogurt at Kurlander Soft Serve, with flavors covering the spectrum from chocolate, vanilla and strawberry to butterscotch, piña colada and—if you dare—blue goo.