This year, the San Diego Tet Festival has a new venue. Instead of Qualcomm Stadium Parking Lot, the festival is being held at Balboa Park. Just like last year, I decided to attend early on opening day, which will allow readers to check it out if they so desire, and not make me feel so bad about posting about a festival after it has ended.
The change in location is interesting in a couple of ways. The grassy setting makes for a more laid back vibe, and the "cultural village" looks much better on grass than on asphalt.
On the flip side; because of space limitations, some areas, like the rides looked really "squeezed in".
As always various vendors, businesses, and community organizations were represented.
Of course, you’re wondering about the food, right?
It seems that the laid back attitude had spilled over to some of the food booths. Last year, I arrived right after opening, and all the booths were manned and ready. This year, most of the booths weren’t ready when I arrived at about 5pm:
This booth still wasn’t open when I left at about 6pm. Too bad…..
I was looking for my "meat on a stick" fix…..
So I just moved on down a few booths to get my fix:
mmmmm..meat on a stick, it just wouldn’t be a festival without it!
When I saw the sign for Banh Kot, I just had to check it out:
I couldn’t wait to get ahold of one of those little pancakes/crepes. But as my luck wo
uld have it, just as I got to the window, the booth lost power…so no Banh Khot for me! Bummer……
Moving further down the line, was this booth with no sign:
As I peered through the screen, I could see lot’s of goodies. So I ended up making most of my purchases here. Arms loaded down, I walked toward the eating area, carefully balancing all my food.
Funny thing about these festivals…you never know who you’ll run in to. I first ran into Ellen, aka Mizducky, as I was finishing my meat on a stick….we had a nice chat, and caught up a bit. A while later, as I was giving the food booths one last pass, who in the world do I run into, but Candice Woo! After a quick go round, we found Ellen, and sat down and had a nice chat. For some reason, this just seem to make this festival that much better…..munching on food and "talking story" with two of my favorite people!
Back to the food….it is festival food, and YMMV. But for me and the Missus (and I think Candice and Ellen will agree), the Nem Chua was a winner:
Sour, tangy, and salty…this package of pork sausage "patties" was worth the $5. Chewy, but not tough, and with nice bits of pork skin……the Missus is munching on another as I type up this post. Of course if Vietnamese/Asian food is not your "thing". There is the ubiquitous Kettle Corn booth, Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy…though I don’t recall seeing a funnel cake booth, but I’m sure it’s hiding out the somewhere.
Some observations: There are decidedly less food vendors than last year, and probably fewer booths as well. This doesn’t mean that you won’t find some good eats. The admission is the same as last year – $5 for adults, $4 for children. I had no problem finding parking, but I’m thinking parking may be more difficult over the weekend. I’m also thinking that the smaller venue, may mean things get kinda cramped, but hopefully I’m wrong.
San Diego Tet Festival
Balboa Park
Friday, Feb. 8th: 4pm-10pm
Saturday, Feb. 9th: 10am-10pm
Sunday, Feb.10th: 10am-8pm
Admission – $5 Adults, $4 Children