If you're a food lover and have spent any time eating in places like Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, Austin, Chicago or San Francisco, you'll have undoubtedly indulged in the often surprisingly upscale cuisine from mobile food carts that sometimes take up entire blocks. In the last few years, the food truck craze has made its way to Alaska and Anchorage in particular, which, according to the city's Department of Health and Human Services, counts 85 permitted mobile trucks.
If you haven't mustered the courage to sample any of these movable feasts, keep in mind that many of these trucks are owned and operated by accomplished chefs and true food innovators; they are licensed and permitted by the cities and have to adhere to strict health codes. The good news for you is that you don't have to book a table ahead of time and you can follow your favorite trucks on social media to know where they will be on certain days.
Some of the more remarkable food offerings in the Anchorage area come from a bright yellow rig called The Magpie Kitchen at Large. The Magpie started out as a booth at the Anchorage Farmers Market at 15th and Cordova. Owner and chef Amanda Cash is a mother of three and found herself longing for alternatives to the demands of traditional restaurant hours, so she decided to take her food on the road.
"The food truck scene in Anchorage is in flux," Cash said, "with trucks opening and closing after one season or changing hands. There are a few, like Urban Bamboo and Boomba Laddy's, that have been around for several years now and have owners that are invested in their success and understand the business. The food truck carnival (Thursdays at Chilkoot Charlie's) is a wonderful venue that solidifies us as a legitimate community and allows the public access to us all in a convenient location."
Cash, a self-described "farm-to-people" enthusiast, describes her food as "casual rustic food that I want to eat. I take raw Alaskan ingredients and create delicious concoctions influenced by the American Midwest and South and my time on organic farms."
Her favorite meal of the day is breakfast and, luckily for us, Cash offers it all day long, including biscuits and gravy, barley pancakes and farm-fresh filled omelets. Lunch might find her frying up crispy-edged green tomatoes for a stellar BLT, serving up Copper River Salad with Lolla Rossa lettuce, basil, snow apples, kohlrabi and Easter egg radishes, or blackened Copper River salmon and bacon balsamic vinaigrette with rosemary toast and smoked Sitka salt.
One of The Magpie's more popular sweet items is the Kaity Cake, based on a Depression-era hot milk cake (recipe below) that Cash has made her own by subbing in Alaska barley flour for white flour (you can substitute half whole wheat and half white for the barley flour). I also tested this using almond milk and the result was light and fluffy. It was kid-approved, topped with berries and powdered sugar. "Mmmm ... tastes like corn," said the 8- and 9-year-olds. "And like banana bread," affirmed the 5-year-old. The adults gobbled it up as well.
Cash's next goals for the kitchen at large? She wants to bring the flavors of The Magpie to parks, like Cuddy, Balto Seppala, Kincaid and Lyn Ary, "so locals can jump off the trail or playground to refuel." After the summer, she also has her eye on possibly converting another trailer to serve hot food during the winter. "Or perhaps a food truck collective warehouse with winter hours or maybe bottling my house-made flavored sodas!"
The possibilities are endless. What's sure is that whatever is next will be unconventional and very delicious.
Kim Sunée is the best-selling author of "Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home." She ate and lived in Europe for 10 years before working as a food editor for Southern Living magazine and Cottage Living magazine. Sunée has appeared several times as a guest judge on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America." She lives in Anchorage and her latest cookbook is "A Mouthful of Stars." For more food and travel, visit kimsunee.com or instagram.com/kimsunee.
The Magpies Kaity Cake (barley hot milk cake)
Recipe kindly shared by Amanda Cash of The Magpie Kitchen at Large. If barley flour is unavailable, use half whole wheat flour and half white flour. "The sugar," she explains, "should create a lovely crunchy top layer." Because barley flour yields a more moist and denser cake, it's important to thoroughly grease and flour the pans for easy removal of the cake. Leftovers can be layered with whipped cream and berries for a summer trifle.
Butter and flour, for greasing pans
1 1/4 cups whole milk
Zest of 1 lemon, lime or orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups barley flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 to 2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
Optional toppings: fresh, soft whipped cream, caramel, or jam
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly grease sides and bottom and flour one (9-by-13-inch) pan or two (8-inch) square pans. Or, for easier removal of the cake, grease the pan, line with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on either side, and grease the parchment again; dust with flour.
2. Heat the milk and citrus zest in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat to a low simmer. Add vanilla; remove pan from heat and let mixture cool slightly. Add barley flour, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl; stir to combine and set aside.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat together the butter and sugar (1 3/4 cups for a slightly less sweet version) until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Strain the zest from the milk mixture; discard zest and set milk aside. With mixer set on low speed, add 1/3 of the barley flour mixture and 1/2 of the milk mixture to the butter-sugar-egg mixture; blend to combine, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Add another 1/3 of the barley mixture, the rest of the milk mixture and the remaining 1/3 of the barley mixture. Blend just to combine.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and give the pan a good solid tap onto the counter to even out the batter. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Invert cake onto a rack and let cool. Serve with whipped cream, caramel, jam or fruit coulis, or brush while warm with rum or Grand Marnier for an adult treat.
The Magpie, hours and locations*
Monday-Thursday: 7 a.m.-10 a.m., 36th and Spenard
Tuesday: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. or later, Cuddy Family Midtown Park
Wednesday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m., APU Farmers Market on APU campus
Thursday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Spenard Food Truck Carnival at Chilkoot Charlie's
Friday: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. or later, Balto Seppala on Wisconsin
Saturday: Lyn Ary or various festivals
*Check the Magpie Kitchen's Facebook page for updates on hours and locations.