Food on Sticks

The third stand we visited at the Viva La Comida street fair was Mama's Food, a Chinese/Korean food cart from Flushing. They specialize in grilled/griddled things on sticks so we got just that, something grilled/griddled on a stick.

The main thing that everyone seemed to be getting was grilled octopus on a stick. I mean, you couldn't go more than a few people without someone with a foil wrapped stick with pieces of octopus poking out of it.

As you can see, they were making tons of these on a near constant basis. The recipe itself is simple. They took pieces of octopus (both body and tentacles), strung them together on a stick, and griddled them. They were basted from time to time, and once they were finished the octopus would have one last slather in marinade and a shake of sesame seeds.

I honestly have no idea what they put in the marinade, but it's really tasty. My uneducated guess is that it's a soy-based marinade. They also have some hot sauce mixed in that tastes similar to a gochujang or maybe even a kimchi pickling brine. The flavors on the octopus were amazing. It had just the right amount of saltiness, sweetness, and spice. It was a touch chewy in certain parts, but overall it was cooked nicely. I chalk that up to needing to get as much out as they could as their line was always fairly long.

I would love to get another one of these if we ever find this cart again. The problem is that, whenever we do make it out to Flushing, there are so many other places we want to try as well. I guess all we can do is make several trips and do our best to gorge every time.