At the intersection of Plum Street and Fourth Avenue in Olympia sits a collection of small restaurants and food trucks. They offer coffee, sandwiches, cupcakes, tacos and Assyrian food.

Assyrian food?

Nineveh Assyrian food truck owner Lisa David is used to the puzzled looks and questions: ” ‘Is that like Syrian? What’s shawarma?’ I tell them it’s Middle Eastern,” she said. “We get a lot of people from (Joint Base Lewis-McChord) who spent time in Iraq. ‘We hung out with Assyrians in Mosul,’ they’ll tell me.”

Assyria, the empire, may be long gone. But its descendants still maintain the culture and traditions. For David and her brother Jacob, one of those traditions is food.

Their culture is rich in history and food. But the pair can only make a fraction of what they want to in the confined space of their mobile restaurant.

“This is our interpretation of Assyrian street food based on how we grew up,” Jacob said.

The recipes from which they cook have been passed down from generation to generation in the David family. Assyrians are no different from most cultures in that respect — food is intertwined with history and homeland.

Modern Assyrians, who follow the Christian faith, make up small pockets in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. They are what’s left of the once vast and formidable Assyrian empire that spanned from about 1,800 B.C. to 600 B.C.

The Davids’ father, Sargis, was born in Iran but immigrated to Baghdad with his parents as an infant. In 1964, he came to Chicago and eventually settled in Toledo, Ohio, where he opened a sub shop and deli that he still operates. Mother Jacqueline is a second-generation American of Polish and Russian Jewish ethnicity.

Lisa came to Olympia to study ceramics and printmaking at The Evergreen State College in the late 1990s. She teaches ceramics part time at the Olympia Regional Learning Academy.

The siblings bought the used food truck in April 2011 in Michigan. Jacob and a friend drove it to Olympia, and it went into operation in October of that year after retrofitting.

The Davids take pride in their truck’s appearance. Assyrian motifs on the truck were designed by Seattle graphic artist Julia Bork and painted by sign painters Ira Coyne of Olympia and Japhy Witte of Seattle. Coyne’s work, including the truck, is featured in a new book “Sign Painters.”

The truck attracts a wide variety of customers — including the occasional Assyrian.

“All Assyrians know each other,” Jacob said. “There are so few of us.”

“There are few degrees of separation,” Lisa said.

She told the story of an Iraqi-born Assyrian who recently dropped by the truck. After a few questions and phone calls, the man realized he had gone to school with Sargis David in Baghdad.

Those Assyrian connections led to Lisa being featured on Chicago-based “Assyrian Kitchen” — an online forum with cooking videos and recipes. The site caters to the wider Assyrian community and those interested in Assyrian cuisine.

Lisa and Jacob worked in their father’s restaurant and sold flavored vinegars, mustard and hot sauce at a Toledo farmers market as teens. Lisa cooked at Quality Burrito, a downtown Olympia restaurant and lounge, before opening the food truck. She still tends bar at Quality Burrito.

There are many traditions associated with Assyrian food culture, the siblings say. One involves a yearly feast of lamb to honor each village’s patron saint. Another is built around a yogurt soup called booshala, which is made and eaten while singing a particular song. Another food, mergimmeh (lentil and cracked wheat patties), is consumed during Lent.

Assyrian home meals typically involve seasoned stewed meat with rice, a cracked wheat side dish, a side of greens and pickled vegetables.

Popular Assyrian street food frequently takes the form of shawarma — thinly sliced seasoned meat stacked on a rotating skewer that cooks in front of a vertical grill. The meat is then sliced off vertically and quickly grilled before being rolled in a pita with sauce and vegetables.

Unlike some Middle Eastern eateries, the Davids eschew pre-made ground meat cones, or gyroloaf, and make their own shawarma from slices of beef, lamb and chicken.

For seasoning the shawarma, Lisa uses her aunt’s combination of allspice, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, nutmeg, cardamom, garlic and a touch of cinnamon.

“I grew up cooking with my dad and my grandmother,” said Lisa, who now cooks with her aunt in Chicago during frequent visits there.

Perhaps Nineveh’s most unusual menu item is the pita-wrapped burrito-like sabich. It’s filled with hard-boiled eggs, fried eggplant, hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, tahini sauce, housemade pickled beets and turnips, and pickled salty/sour mangoes. Flavors change with each bite. A vegan version substitutes potato for egg.

Nineveh also offers dolmas — grape leaf-wrapped rice — which are common across the Mediterranean. Each country/culture has a slightly different variation.

“Some are wet, some are dry,” Jacob said. “There are sour variations and sweet variations.”

Even within Assyrian culture, there are variations. The Davids’ aunt makes hers with dates and tamarind. Lisa’s tends toward a lemony and dill variant.

Despite their cuisine’s Middle Eastern origins, the Davids use as many local products as possible. They bought 2,000 pounds of produce from local farmers in 2012. They use Washington-grown chickpeas for their hummus and falafel.

Smaller items round out the menu. Battered and deep-fried cauliflower is served with a homemade aioli. Pita chips are flavored with za’atar — a blend of thyme, oregano, sumac, sesame and sea salt. A new item, bourek, is like an Assyrian egg roll.

On the sweet side, they sell sodas from Lebanon and housemade date and coconut rolls flavored with walnuts and cardamom.

Lisa also runs a busy catering business. Most of her customers want her Assyrian menu. Next up on the Davids’ to-do list is opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Olympia that will allow them to serve a more expansive menu.

“Being in a truck, we’re limited on what we can do,” Lisa said.

But for the moment, her focus is on her food truck.

“It feels good to serve 100 people out of a tiny space,” Lisa said. “I own it, and I don’t owe anybody any money.

http://www.aina.org/ata/20130510000248.htm

Although it’s wet and freezing outside, there is lunchtime bustle around the food trucks at the intersection of 4^th Avenue and Plum Street in downtown Olympia. People are even lined up. It’s as if the wagons have circled up and you get to pick which option tantalizes you most. Wait no longer to discover the buzz in and around food trucks. Here a just a few reasons:

Food trucks are springing up at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Plum Street in downtown Olympia. A Taco California burrito can satisfy even the biggest appetite.

Breathe our glorious Pacific Northwest air.

Spending a few minutes outside each day will get your blood flowing and give you first hand information about the weather. It’s really not raining all the time. You might be able to walk from your downtown office or from wherever you were parked for your downtown errands. There are a few free, off-street parking spaces between the food trucks and The Filling Station Espresso.  Alternatively, press the meter button and get 15-minutes of free parking, long enough to place your order. Read the posted menus while you walk around the trucks, thus augmenting your appetite. Share picnic table seats with other diners.

Expand your culinary geography.

Get your bite of Mexico from Tacos California (360-870-9032). Just saying their name gets my son smiling. He said their burrito is “big enough for one lunch plus a snack,” but I noticed that his burrito did not survive long enough to eat any of it later.  My veggie burrito was nicely merged flavors of grilled onions and peppers. My leftovers provided his snack – nice of me to share.

Tacos California has three other locations:

800 Sleater-Kinney Rd. SE Lacey  360-789-9767

Harrison Ave. in West Olympia  360-789-9305

7619 Martin Way E. Tanglewilde 360-789-6333

Nineveh was once a city of Assyria (more ancient times) but now it’s painted on the side of one of the trucks. At Nineveh Assyrian (360-513-7072), you discover Middle Eastern dishes like falafel, shawarma and tabouleh. My pita, called the sabich, was packed with fried eggplant, organic hard-boiled egg, hummus, amba (pickled mango) and topped with fresh vegetables. You could substitute potato for the egg for a vegan option.

Stephanie Scott, assistant baker for Abby’s Cookies and Cupcakes, operates a popular sweet stop after a hearty lunch in downtown Olympia.

Truly out of the ordinary, I appreciated the various tastes and textures of this ‘sandwich.’ Though not a fan of garlic fries, we did order the hand-cut fries. They turned out to be wedges of potatoes – crisp and warm – that came with a garlic aioli that reminded me of tzatziki without the cucumbers. The sauce was excellent on the sandwich, too. I have become a fan.

Be sweet.

When I indulge in treats, I expect fresh and real ingredients. That’s what they use at Abby’s Cookies and Cupcakes (360-561-9413). All made from scratch with no artificial flavors, colors and no shortening (that means there’s butter), you won’t find a bad choice. Yes, there are even gluten-free and vegan options from which to choose. Their goodies are also located the Co-op, Tofu Hut, Bayview Thriftway and the Hands On Children’s Museum. Owner Abby Mondau is happy to fill your order for weddings, baby showers and any other sort of party. On an exciting note, Mondau and her team are working on opening a new cafe in the south Capital neighborhood this spring.

Get pumped up.

We love our coffee in the northwest. Once a real gas station, The Filling Station Espresso (360-754-8415) handcrafts beverages.  You can go decaffeinated, if you please. Walk up or drive through.

Support the local economy – even on Sunday.

Ian Shulman, owner of All Fed Up, believes in food that is simple and clean.

Ian Shulman, owner of All Fed Up (360-464-5757), believes in food that is simple and clean. Trained at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland along with his wife Angela Isaacson, they like being part of the community. Using fresh, local and organic ingredients, All Fed Up will fix you a stellar breakfast burrito (can be eaten for any meal) or sandwich. You will also find soup on tap. Shulman realized it was challenging to find a quick breakfast on Sunday, so he is there to serve you. My stomach was happy to get fed that cold Sunday morning.

Don’t fret about the weather. The enclave with numerous edible possibilities will warm you up. Yes, some days you’ll want the comforts only a dine-in restaurant can deliver, and that’s to be expected. But in-car dining on a blustery winter afternoon is its own kind of picnic.

The day after our lunch I was reminded of our dining pleasures as the scents floated out of my car as I opened the door.  They surrounded me as I settled into the driver’s seat. I inhaled deeply, remembering that life really is delicious.

Eat Well – Be Well.

http://www.thurstontalk.com/2013/01/16/olympia-food-writer-dines-on-tasty-food-truck-meals/

By Brett Cihon | WeeklyVolcano

Grub on wheels....

The new mobile food court at the corner of State Avenue and Adams Street in Olympia opened Tuesday, consisting of four mobile food trucks representing four different businesses: Kell’s Kitchen, Barb’s BBQ, Ricardo’s Wood Fire Pizza Express and The Firehouse Grill’s Extreme Burgers. Working under the joint venture Oly Foods, the four businesses came together after a change in Olympia’s regulations made it easier for mobile food trucks to maintain a permit. It’s rad. And tasty.

[Oly Foods - food cart court, State Avenue and Adams Street, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday, Olympia]

http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/restaurants/food-matters/2011/08/olympia-food-cart-court/