THE FOOD FEUD
By bringing Latin American Street Food Inside, Roswell’s INC Combines the Best of Both Worlds
By Bret Love
INC Street Food
948 Canton St, Roswell
770.998.3114
Although you don’t often see it in Atlanta, in some American cities there are budding feuds between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants. These mobile eateries serve up street food fare fast, and at prices the rent-paying restaurants can ill afford to match. The battle has gotten so bad along L.A.’s Miracle Mile (where some owners estimate food trucks have cut their sales by 20%) that the restaurants recently enlisted help from a city councilman to outlaw these portable proprietors.
Hicham Azhari, Fikret Kovac and Executive Chef Richard Wilt– the team behind Roswell’s dearly missed Little Alley and the always-busy Salt Factory– sagely recognized how the economic downturn was impacting the way people dine out. Their latest venture, INC Street Food, is the best of both worlds, offering up robust Latin American street food in a hip atmosphere at recession-friendly prices.
The interior design quite literally brings the street inside, with vivid graffiti lining seemingly age-worn walls, rustically painted tables and sturdy industrial-style light fixtures. The open kitchen is cleverly designed to look like a food truck, complete with metal sides, a license plate and a ladder on the back. Lively Latin music pulses through the speaker; the bustling bar attracts a colorful, multi-racial crowd; and the waiters are dressed in jeans, baseball Ts and shoulder bags reminiscent of young street vendors. It’s all very casual and cool, the kind of jumping joint you’d see on a weekend night in urban Brazil or Colombia.
“All the Mexican restaurants in Atlanta are basically the same,” says Azhari when asked about the inspiration behind his new venture. “I can recite their menus by heart. But the real food of Latin America needs to be discovered.”
To that end, Wilt has crafted a diverse menu drawing on traditional influences spanning Central and South America. Posole– corn soaked in limewater and lightly fried to tangy, crunchy perfection– is brought to the table as a unique alternative to chips and salsa, providing perfect accompaniment to the sweetness of the INC Margarita, which comes with a Chambord Raspberry liqueur floater. The Bocaditos (or “starters”) are universally excellent, from the Argentinian Style Empanadas and Gaucho Marinated Skirt Steak Skewers to Salvadoran Chicken Pupusa and steamed Pork Tamales. At under $10 each, they could easily be combined for a shared tapas-style meal.
Their tacos (served with arroz Mexicano and black beans) are a world away from what you’d expect at a typical Mexican joint, stuffed with everything from Chili-Rubbed Skirt Steak and Seared Ahi Tuna to BBQ Octopus and melt-in-your-mouth Veal Cheek. You can also get more substantial entrees such as Brazilian Style Fish Stew, which has a delicately spicy coconut milk broth, and Pollo Con Poblano Salsa Gratinados, a roasted half-chicken served with chili potatoes, poblano and queso.
The kitchen had not yet started serving desserts when we visited during INC’s opening week, but their Aguas Frescas (including authentic Coconut water and rice and cinnamon-infused Horchata) offered a refreshing end to our meal. All in all there were surprisingly few kinks left to be ironed out, foreshadowing a bright future for INC Street Food on the burgeoning Roswell restaurant scene.
(originally appeared in Jezebel)
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