Hi-Licious Street Kitchen

Mario Pacetti Thursday, August 4, 2016 Comments Off on Hi-Licious Street Kitchen
Hi-Licious Street Kitchen

Lately, I’ve been seeing a new food truck in town. But I’ve been beyond busy and have had no real chance to go check it out.

But after all the good things I’ve heard about Hi-Licious Street Kitchen, I felt I needed to make the time. My sister Tricia had stopped by and had the dumplings and a noodle dish. She absolutely loved the food. I had to try it for myself.

Chelsea and Mac met me on Ryan Street by the sewing place next to Project Fit so we could check it out. I asked the cooks what their favorite items were. Without hesitation, they both said I needed to get the rib plate and the Spicy Chicken. One of the guys said the ribs were in a savory gravy-type sauce. He seemed to like this dish so much that I just ordered what I was told to.

The rib plate came with a very nice portion of ribs that looked like they’d been cooked down for some time. The gravy had a very noticeable soy flavor, but it was savory, just as it had been described. The meat was so tender you could just pull it off the bone. Mac absolutely loved it.

The dish came with fried rice and a very interesting bean salad, which I’d never seen as an Asian-inspired dish. It had kidney and black beans, corn, red onions, and, I believe, some cilantro. And it tasted as good as it looked.

The fried rice was great. But the cook wasn’t recreating the wheel; she just makes damn good fried rice.

The spicy chicken was right up my alley. The chicken was nice and crispy; it was tossed with green peppers, carrots, chilis and some sort of spicy sauce that brought the entire dish together. I could see myself getting this dish every time as one of those go-to dishes you choose when you just can’t decide what you want.

We also got two orders of egg rolls. To be honest, I’ve had more Asian meals ruined over some bad egg rolls than anything else. But this sure as hell wasn’t one of them. The egg rolls were crisp and fried just right. And they clearly had just come out of the fryers, as the there was no sign they had been sitting under heat lamps.

The thing that really caught my attention about Hi-Licious was that owner Haili started giving free lunches to law enforcement in the various areas where she was serving lunch on the days in the wake of the attacks in Dallas. This was a great thing. The fact that hers was such a new place meant that the free meals had to put a financial hit on her. But she didn’t care; she wanted to show her support for the people who sacrifice for us each day. That alone has earned her my respect, and she gained a loyal customer.

Please come out and show this generous woman that we appreciate her and her contribution to our community. Follow her Facebook page so that you can get her weekly schedule. You may get a chance to try her amazing food.

I had to throw this little extra bit in: recently, Chelsea and I decided to have breakfast at Cotten’s Downtown. Now, we’ve been there on several occasions, and not once have I left disappointed. But Kate’s always been there. As a former restaurant owner, I know that sometimes in the owner’s absence, the food quality can drop off.

This was surely not the case this time, as the food was fast and fresh and cooked to perfection. We had the hash brown mountain, which has eggs, bacon, sausage, jalapenos, cheese and white gravy, all on top of the hash browns. This is the BOMB.COM, and is by far my favorite breakfast item in town.

I love the feel of this place. It’s one of only a few places downtown that still has the feel of how downtown was when I was a kid 30 years ago. Kate, you keep up the great work.

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