The 4 Elements of Deliciousness

I was feeling rogue.  Best beware when I'm feeling rogue.  Serious stuff goes down.

It's last semester senior year, and I felt like trying a foodtruck I hadn't visited yet.  Turns out that it was fairly easy.  I've drifted into a comfort zone, visited the same foodtrucks over and over - don't want to mess with a "real"-ly good thing.  But then I heard that the Philly foodtruckers were thinking of unionizing and hey, if they can do something crazy, then so can I!  You go foodtruckers; stick it to the government and park on whatever sidewalk you want!  Just so long as you're still willing to sell me something that tastes good and is absolutely horrible for my health, you've got my full 2000 recommended daily allowance caloric blessing.

So I've heard of this truck called Bui's a couple of times - it's got some awesome artery-clogging, fat-filled meals of happy contentedness. So last night (I'm trying to appear "normal" by saying I only thought about this the day before.  I'd actually planned this for a couple of days) I'm like, yeah, that's what I'm doing for lunch.

And, this morning, it just so happened that my path took my right along Bui's at 38th and Spruce.  No kidding, I was still at least 150fit away and I could smell the bacon cooking.  That's what mornings are supposed to smell like.

My heart started beating faster and my legs nearly pulled me to the truck window to eat "lunch" at 9am.  Somehow I resisted.  I'm not saying eating lunch at 9am is a bad thing.  It's just that when you've planned something for so long, it's important to stick to the plan and not throw in any crazy variables.

It was a smart move too.

Forget the 4 elements according to Classical thought.  This sandwich has the four elements of deliciousness: Egg, bacon, ham, and sausage.  Booyah!

(it also has cheese and a mysterious orange-y substance called "Bui sauce" - it tastes good, that's all that matters. i don't ask questions - but i couldn't include them in the metaphor cause that'd obviously mess it up, duh)

I had a hunch about this sandwich.  So, after some careful investigation, which really consisted of me sitting down and trying to think up something that I thought was clever (it's obvious that I have very low standards for myself and why I never discuss posts beforehand with people - partly because they'd be shot down pretty quickly and partly because I make it up as I go), I ascertained two possible reasons for why this foodtruck is named "Bui's."

1) The owner's last name is Bui and the truck is, in fact, named after the owner.

Generic, traditional, not all that suspicious, but doubtful.  If it's not interesting, it's probably wrong (I could swear that's how Sherlock solves his cases).

The second, much more sinister, and, in my view, much more likely explanation (that was a lot of commas) is that this foodtruck is part of an underground, multi-national organization of foodtruckers bent on a evil plot - a plot they think everyone else would consider so absolutely far-fetch that we would fail to sense it even if provided a stark, blatant clue right under our very tongues.  And I, with my enhanced sensitivity to my gut instincts, have seen and tasted it.

2) It has something to do with buoys (you know those things that float out on the water and every little kid wants to take home even though he has no idea what they're supposed to be - don't tell me I was the only one who thought that way).  I don't know what exactly it has to do with that, but all I know if that Bui = buoy.  You can't argue with the evidence.  Possibly, they want to make us as fat as buoys.  Wouldn't surprise me.  But if all their food tastes this good, I'm down with helping them out.

After all, consider that this sandwich is called the Hangover Special.  I'm pretty sure it's because your stomach is hanging over your pants after eating it.

(imagery is more effective when it's true)

I really enjoyed this one.  Every single bite in fact.  Crunch on the outside, fat in the middle...yummers.

And that right there is the "Bui sauce" dripping down.  Had a nice, spicy kick to it.  Definitely an honorary bonus element.

Thought I'd switch up the godbite picture and do a godbite video.  It allows the necessary visualization of all the needed angles.  Feel free to slow it down and pause as needed.  Sometimes still imagery just doesn't cut it.  Maybe next I'll experiment with 3D.

Get "Real"

So what does the phrase, "get real" actually mean?  I never really completely understood it.  It comes off as a bit condescending and stuff.  Are you calling the guy a fake or something?  I doubt it cause that doesn't seem to be how it's used.  (Kinda like, "dude you're such a fake, you're almost like a mannequin.)  Is it an androgynous version of "man-up"?  Possibly?...but unlikely.  Is it telling a person to quit their daydreaming?  Better not or I'm going to have series issues now because I like to spend my free time daydreaming....about food...j/k...but only kinda j/k...I do daydream, about real things, occasionally.

Or, perhaps it's a simple affirmation of the superiority of real things over fake things.  That makes sense, right?  Like real fruit over wax fruit, real corn over candy corn (did you know candy corn actually has wax in it? No joke. Take a look at what the all-knowing authority has to say about it.), and real dogs over fake dogs.  Unless you're "I can't believe it's not butter," you haven't a shot over the real thing.  <--so dramatic, that commercial.

But anyways, I combined the real and the fake all into one today - I ate candy corn and real corn at the same time. 

Actually, I had what I affectionately know as American-Chinese food (fake Chinese food).  Ya know deep-fried chicken and fried rice with that marvelously sticky-sweet sauce goobed all over it.  The kind of food where it doesn't matter whether you order General Tso's chicken, Sesame chicken, Grandmother's chicken, or just-make-up-any-name chicken because it all pretty much tastes the same.  Oh yeah, I love that stuff to death.

So what about it was real you ask?  Well, I got it form the food truck called the Real Le Ahn, as opposed to the one right next to it named Le Ahn.  Not sure what the story is behind those names but I'm sure it's a good one.

Whenever I see these bags I always think they stole them from Walmart. 

Couldn't wait to open it.  Notice I kept the bag underneath.  It's packed so jam full and there's so much of that heavenly, heart-clogging sauce that some came out of the sides.  BUT, messy is good.  You know a man had a good meal when he's wearing half of it on his face - unless he was on a date because in that case he was probably only on a date for less than half of the meal.

Take a gander at that.

You just go ahead and tell me that isn't one attractive looking serving of sesame chicken and fried rice in a Styrofoam dish!  Forget those decorative garnishes and square plates! *psh*

Personally, however, I believe it's a bit of a waste to have a boat of sauce sitting on one end while the chicken and fried rice at the other are missing out. 

Ev'ry ones invited to the party!

And though the veggies are nice and all, they're not the reason I eat this.

It's all about the fried chicken and fried rice.  You be looking at the godbite right there.

To describe it, I'll use another phrase that I'm not completely sure I get but that I feel is apropos...    

...It was real.

Fat Sandwich godbite

So when do you start a blog?  When you get a good idea?  When you have some down time?  When there's nothing better to do?  How about during one of the busiest times to date in your life?  College...senior year...applying to medical schools...traveling for interviews....yada yada yada.  Why not though?

So many years ago my brother and I were eating lunch and he stops and turns to speak to me.  This in and of itself is highly unusual because it's become almost an unwritten law in our house that when there's eating to do, everything else must wait (also because if you take your eyes off your food someone might steal it.  I'm one of three boys).  So he says, "You know that last bite of any sandwich?...that last one that you want to be slightly bigger and better than all of the others?  It's my favorite part of the sandwich."

I couldn't contain myself with the excitement I was feeling and shouted, "Yes!!!! It's the godbite!"  It's the last little piece of heaven of almost any food.  From ice cream, french fries, and cake to pasta, fish or even fillet mignon.  Turns out, the more people I've talked to, the more people I've found who know exactly what I'm talking about!

So back to my original question - with my passion for the godbite, my love for eating food, and the fact that every single background on my desktop is a picture of food (except for the few pictures of my dog an cat) it was time to start talking about it.  Who doesn't like talking and listening to people talk about food?


And what better place to start than the R U Hungry food truck at Rutgers University in New Jersey.  It's so good! You gotta go there!  They make these awesome creations called Fat Sandwiches.

Yeah, that's a fat sandwich.  Almost anything an everything you could want goes on one.  This one is called the Fat Beach (a polite phonetic substitute for its original name).  It has cheese steak, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, ketchup, lettuce and french fries (a given on any or their sandwiches).  Could you ask for anything more?

My brother, Logan (right), and I (left) thought we could because we decided it needed a bit more ketchup - personal preference though.  We also think synchronized food eating is the newest up-and-coming sport.

Big bites are definitely the way to go.

Like I said...big bites.  No foolin'.

Even if you end up not being able to chew said big bite.  Hey, it happens.

And sometimes you just need to pull a french fry out and eat it on its own.

That just leaves the matter of the Fat Sandwich godbite.  Of course it all comes down to personal preference, but the middle of this sandwich is where at the good stuff is at.  You get a bit of everything.  So you have to eat from each end until left with a perfect, somewhat too big to chew piece that you stuff into your mouth and hope no one is watching until you have time to wipe off all the ketchup from your nose, chin, and back of your arm (hey! how'd that get there?).  Is eating a sandwich that way difficult?  Yup.  Sometimes it'll shoot out the opposite end if you're not watching, but in the end, the godbite makes all the effort worth it.