The Convoy District and the Asian-Pacific American Coalition presented their third annual Night Market in San Diego on the 25th and 26th of June. Traditional food, music and entertainment filled the parking lot at the Kearny Office Park from late afternoon to well into the night.
Though on a smaller scale than their sister events in Orange County and Los Angeles, the San Diego Night Market grows in size and popularity each year.
This year’s food selections were as varied as they were delicious, including the usual Chinese, Japanese and Thai as well as selections from Laos, Viet Nam, Korea and Hawaii.
Night Market Delights
If you weren’t there this year, here’s what you missed:
- Flavors of Laos: grilled chicken, bab lao lao, pad thai noodle, kua mee noodle, fish cake and lobster balls.
- E & Drink Restaurant: garlic sausage, pork belly rice bowl, dynamite pancake , spicy fried calamari, mango shaved ice, popcorn chicken and egg waffle to tempt visitors.
- Cali Corn offered corn either on the cob or in a cup in 5 flavors: TJ Corn, Garlic Lover, Sweet and Corny, Ragin Cajun and The Ranch.
Cali Corn
- Lobster Noodles: noodles with either shrimp, lobster or both.
- Main Squeeze got creative with lemonade which they sold in refillable quart mason jars. Flavors included the traditional Classic and Strawberry as well as the Spicy Pirate containing cayenne and sea salt, Jolly Roger with watermelon and Peachy Peach with white peach juice.
- Potato Swirl World: potato chips on a stick which are becoming popular at fairs, as well as boba smoothies, Thai tea and funnel cakes.
- Vinh Long, Food to Go brought an extensive menu which included fish dumpling, pulled pork and skewered shrimp, just to name a few.
- Rakken tempted with garlic crab fries, Pho, yuzu steak, carne asada, al pastor or pork belly tacos, and shrimp taquitos.
- Beignet Belly was the place to satisfy your sweet tooth. They served a simple beignet dusted with powdered sugar plus toppings like nutty caramel and maple bacon, guaranteed to satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths.
- Island Style Poke : 3 flavors: Shoyer Ahi, Sweet and Spicy Ahi and Spicy Ahi in a bowl with rice and pineapple. They also served Kahlua pig sliders with pineapple slaw.
- Seoul Street specializes in Korean and Fusion Cuisine. They shared their BBQ bulagi fries, BBQ wonton tacos, BBQ mixed rice bowl, Korean sandwich and more.
- Waffleland also brought something to feed the sweet tooth with their 6 flavors of waffles served with or without ice cream.
- Chef Huyen of Serial. Killer Cuisine cooked up three kinds of sandwich: pork bao, Kalibri beef, and curry chicken bao as well as serving prawn crackers to compliment the sandwiches.
Japanese Yaki Tori BBQ
- Japanese Yaki Tori BBQ offered both common and exotic fare. From chicken thighs to quail eggs, skewered meats and vegetables to Takoyaki, it was hard to choose what to taste.
- Garlic Noodles and Grill served up noodles, Vietnamese style. Fat noodles were paired with chicken, shrimp, tiger prawns, lamb chops or veggies. The spicy sauce was certain to get your attention!
Garlic Noodles and Grill
- Mr. Joe’s Taco Shop, while not precisely Asian-Pacific, did a brisk business with nachos, enchiladas, burritos and tortas.
- Momo’s Jianbing made Chinese pancakes while you watched, topped with bacon, hot dog, and ham.
Despite having three of us to share the food we sampled, we found the food very filling and the portions large enough that we were all full long before we’d made our way around to all of the booths. But that leaves us more to sample next year!
Celebrating Asian-Pacific Culture
Though the food was clearly the draw, it wasn’t the only Night Market offering. The Happy Hoopers and an incredibly talented group of break dancers showed off their acrobatic
Break dancers
skills while visitors were just beginning to work their way into a food coma.
Entertainment also included musicians, the Legendary Lion Dance, dance competitions and even a cooking demonstration with Chef Cathlyn Choi. The entire event fully embodied the mission of event hosts, the Asian-Pacific American Coalition: to engage, educate and empower the API community.
Choosing the Convoy District as the venue for this message is no accident. One third of the district’s residents are Asian-American. Small wonder that Council Member Chris Cates, Congressman Scott Peters and a representative of Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office were on hand to show their support for the event.
Stay tuned for coverage of the Moon Festival on September 10th.
