Lowell Folk Festival is coming up this weekend, and our family is planning to go on Saturday. We had a great time last year trying out various food vendors, with the Burmese and Portuguese dishes being the standouts. (We tried the Nigerian stand but the portion was shockingly small and goat was so stringy that we were still picking it out of our teeth later that day…so I think that’s a pass for this year!)
Does anybody have recommendations or what to try at the festival, or, a nearby Cambodian restaurant that we can try? Have always heard great things about the Cambodian restaurants in Lowell but could use some pointers on which one to go or interesting dishes to try out.
Here is the vendor listing on the festival website; the menus are still 2016’s but I imagine things will be more or less the same.
We normally make the rounds to the booths near Boarding House Park: especially St. George Church for schwarma and St. Patrick’s for tostones (and any other fried treat that may call to us). Also we enjoy the losh kebab sandwich at the Armenian booth near JFK Plaza. Not that we necessarily end there, but those dishes tend to be on our list.
@tomatotomato Haven’t seen the St. Patrick’s stand before but the menu looks great; will be checking out these for sure. Thanks for the recommendations!
@kimpaige@passing_thru Thank you! The yelp pictures look great. I think we’ll stop by if we make an early exit from the festival and still have any stomach space.
Food vendor list and locations for 2017 are finally posted, waaay at the bottom of this page. (You’ll be scrolling for awhile!) Images of each stand’s menu are available at the link: http://lowellfolkfestival.org/about/eat/ethnic-food/
Hope to wander to the Folk Festival for music and food later this afternoon.
Swung by last night and visited the Burmese booth for takeaway. They have a larger menu and more salads this year; the shan tofu was excellent. I hope to make a day of it tomorrow and am looking forward to trying more things.
Went to the festival today and had the losh kebab sandwich from the Armenian stand which was excellent. Also tried the chicken gumbo from a New Orleans stand that I haven’t seen before. Nicely smokey and not too hot for my wimpy taste (hot sauce available on the side however).
@sunnyday, so glad that you enjoyed the losh kebab yesterday. We had them too and thought they were especially good.
The new-to-us item that we tried was a Brazilian-style hot dog. Had to try one after I saw someone getting one (Brazilian stand near the Dutton Street stage). The volunteer asked if I’d like it garnished with “all the colors of Brazil.” That meant mustard, ketchup, mayo, diced sweet and green peppers, diced onion, corn, peas, and a sprinkle of (I think) potato sticks on top. The hot dog itself is in a tomatoe-y sauce.
Hot dogs aren’t really our thing and I wasn’t sure about the garnish combo, but so much fun to sample!
