Food Stalls at the Lowell Folk Festival

Every year the Mo and I attend the highly popular Lowell Folk Festival.  We don't visit to take in the global musical performances and admire the artists; we go to eat the food and drink the booze.

Since there are three different setups for the ethnic food tables, it's hard for us to make it to all of them. We try to get one or two staples from each tent and share.  Pricing is really reasonable with heavenly appetizers starting at $ 2.00 each to dinner entrees in the $ 7.00 range.

To say the least, we started our food tour starving and felt like we needed to be carried out on a wheel barrow by the time we left.

Although Lowell has had a bad rap in the past, the city has transformed into an up and coming city with great restaurants, art studios and unique shops in the downtown area.  The state university has earned many prestigious awards and recognition and the city's arena and stadium has attracted many visitors over the past decade.

We hit up the first stall we saw, which was the Hispanic one.  The Mo and I shared an empanada and a bacalao (deep fried salt cod fritter).  Both were only $ 2.00 each.  Surprisingly it was my first time eating bacalao and I really enjoyed it.

Before we met up with the Khinn sisters, the Mo and I grabbed a Greek marinated lamb kebab from the Hellenic stall.  The fresh of the grill gyro was soft, hot and amazing!

Our friends BG and Lisa tried the Greek spinach pie and dolmas (Grape leaves) and said it was OK.

Next up was the ever so famous Filipino tent. This has got to be the most popular food tent at the Lowell Folk Festival.  Each time we visit, the queue takes up almost half the street and full of people waiting for pancit bihon (glass noodles), meat skewers and of course, lumpias (similiar to eggrolls)

Although we weren't patient enough to wait, our friends Thai and Fifi grabbed us some BBQ Pork skewers to try.  The meat was flavorful and tender. Absolutely delicious!

We grabbed a couple of samosas and Jamaican beef patties from the Jamaican/Indian tent.  There was limited offerings.  Although Thai approved of the beef patties, he thought they were identical to the ones that are store bought.

Although we didn't try any of the homemade fried dough, Thai mentioned that the price was the best around at only $ 3.00 each for a gigantic piece.

After slurping down some freshly squeezed lemonade, we made our way to the Dutton Street Dance
Stage area.

The Brazilian food tent caught my eye and I grabbed another "Empananda-like" fried appetizer along with a mashed potato stuffed ball. Both had a tomato base and the texture was not appetizing.

There were a couple of African stands, a Thai stand and Burmese food.  By now, I was too stuffed to continue.

Fifi tried the Thai fresh spring rolls and she wasn't a fan.  She ended up throwing it out.

Only a couple of us was brave enough to grab dessert. Thai and Fifi split a fried dough and Lisa and BG got a chocolate covered banana. Everyone agreed that it was delicious.

On our way back to our car, we stopped by our friend's new business venture.  Sam and his father started Spice Venture, an International food truck in the Lowell area.  We arrived a bit late but they were happy to serve us a combination plate that had a little bit of everything.  The food was great and I can't wait to go back again.