Pastel Pizza at Gosling and Kuykendahl

Pastel Pizza has let the food truck go in our area and set up in brick and mortar. Stopped in the other day to see what was new.

Nothing new on the food front. They have a variety of filled Venezuelan pastry products--empanadas, tequenos and pastelitos. I got a shredded beef empanada and a pizza pastelito, chased with a Malta soft drink.

The food is fine--not amazing, not bad. Most if not all the food is packaged and frozen, so if you bought the product you could bake it at home.

The store is comfortable with basic decor. They do want to be kid-friendly--there's a food truck shell with a play kitchen inside so kids can play food truck. Everything was clean and neat when I was there, including the bathrooms (gendered but identical). Service was fine, I was the only one in there so hard to really judge.

Mainly Pastel Pizza is an inexpensive meal. I had a nice lunch for just under $12 with tip. If you want Venezuelan-style food and don't want to spend much, this would be your place.

My Yelp Review

Icy-Licious Shaved Ice

Back to see what's new at the Plaza de los Food Trucks.  This week I had dessert at Icy-Licious Shaved Ice.  It's pretty basic shaved ice with the usual selection of flavors.  You can also get a bowl of ice cream--not sure what flavors they have.  The staff is very friendly, the shaved ice quality is good (no big chunks, it is finely ground) and it is reasonably priced starting at $5 for a 12 oz cup.  This trailer must be pretty new, I can't find a social media presence for it.  Look for it as a good dessert option if you're at the Plaza.

Cajun Street - Kuykendahl

The latest location for this local chain opened across from the Kroger at Rayford and Kuykendahl. Normally I'd give a new place past its grand opening to settle in, but I was in the mood for Cajun food and wanted to show some support. We got the fried chicken tenders with seasoned fries, the shrimp etouffee, some beans and rice, and the Bourbon Street pecan pie. Washed down with a drink from the fountain.

It's difficult to get white meat chicken tenders to actually come out tender, and they didn't quite succeed here. The tenders were on the dry side. The fries were ok, ordinary fries with a little seasoning (like Tony Chachere's but I don't know if that's what they use).

The shrimp etouffee was very good, and an interesting presentation. You get seven whole shrimp in the etouffee sauce with a cake of perfectly done white rice in the middle, so you can dredge the rice through the sauce with your fork. The sauce was salted exactly right and had great depth of flavor. The shrimp were done nicely with good snap. It's a great dish, easy to recommend.

The beans and rice was good--had very good flavor but the beans were a bit broken. The pecan pie was a good sweet version--tasty pecan filling with a very firm, sugary crust.

The interior is plain but clean and inviting. The bathrooms were clean and ready. Service is friendly and enthusiastic. The fountain was working fine (it is a Pepsi shop, just saying). They did not have barbecue when I came in, so the full experience is not quite there but they were ready with what they had. I'm rounding up to 4 stars. I would skip the fried stuff and go for the Cajun dishes.

My Yelp Review