Summer Street Meats Vol 1: Puerto Rico Remix Recap

I was lucky enough last night to attend the epic Street Meats picnic (thanks to Steven of Hub Food Trucks for the invite) at the Rose Kennedy Greenway!

roxys boston

The food was a collaborative pop-up project between Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Samuel Monsour featuring a Puerto Rican Remix theme.

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What is a pop-up? It’s a one time food event, usually featuring a unique partnership between chefs and restaurants/event hosts that results in some creative dishes you won’t see anywhere else.

Street Meats: Puerto Rican Pork Party

This was my first pop-up event, and I have to say, I was really impressed with the quality of food. Time for show and tell!

street meats roxys

This delectable menu featured:

Lechon12 hour skin-on roasted pork shoulder

This was some serious pork paradise – the 12 hours showed on this tender and perfectly spiced pork.

pork street meats

MorcillasPig’s blood & rice sausage with clove, allspice and nutmeg

I won’t lie – I was a bit nervous about trying this blood sausage. Visions of Dexter and True Blood swarmed my mind. No need to fear though – this morcilla featured a pretty low blood ratio. Honestly, I never would have guessed it was vampire-friendly – it tasted like a solid sausage, totally creepy-free.

morcilla

MampastaeoCrispy griddled left-over rice and beans

MofongoGreen plantain, garlic & chicharrón mash smothered in sofrito

I had to be repeatedly reminded what this was called (let’s face it, to the foreign mouth, “monfongo” doesn’t roll of the tongue), mostly because I kept talking about how much I liked it. It’s not every day you’ll find me eating plantains, but they are a great substitute for the common potato staple. The sofrito topping definitely made this dish (in essence a thicker, spicier, more complex tomato sauce).

Mampastaeo

[Monfongo to the left, Mampastaeo to the right]

Tostones de PanaTwice fried breadfruit

I considered this the sleeper hit of the meal. With a texture very similar to fried plantains, these slices of fried breadfruit were terrific (and salted perfectly).

tostones-de-pana

PiqueGarlicky hot sauce with chile de árbol and pineapple

Not pictured, but a great dip for the pork.

Tres Leches Horchata (Drink)— Traditional horchata prepared with three styles of milk

As foodie Brian (aka @hybernaut) warned, you probably shouldn’t drink this if you’re a diabetic, but for us green-lighted sugar-addicts, this thing was off the wall! So tasty!

tres-leches

The weather could have been a little kinder (cold and grey, but the rain held off), but overall Street Meats Puerto Rico Remix was a success, filling many a happy belly with porky wonder and some unique side dishes that made up, at least for me, many “first”s.

street meats rose kennedy greenway