Yummo Street Food

It appears that Yummo has closed up for good. I was in there Monday or Tuesday for a froyo and noticed that only half the flavors were there and the toppings bar was only half filled. I guess they were just selling through the rest of the froyo.

What’s going in next? I don’t know, but I can tell you what I’d like to see. I think they hit a homerun by selling the Korean BBQ tacos. The 3 tacos for $2 was a great deal and tasted great too. I think even if they were $1/taco I would still go once a week. But I would expand on the idea and make it into a street food stand.

I don’t know how much this idea is inspired from this weeks “No Reservations” special on street food, probably not much since I thought of it last week. But I would really like to pick up corn dogs, tacos, Korean tacos, grilled chicken, gyros, kebabs, some kind of meat on a spit etc. from the place. I’m assuming Rob Dalzell still holds the lease to the place and I trust he could come up with a simple 10 item menu.

The Power and Light district has nothing like this within its confines. The sausage carts are set up across 13th and many people don’t carry the cash necessary to engage in commerce with the carts. Street food with a little bit of ethnic flair could be a big seller, especially after 10 PM. A nice size lunch crowd hits the block where Yummo is so it would get plenty of eyeballs. Not everyone has time for a sit down lunch so street food is a great option. Plus, there’s plenty of places to sit in the area so you can turn much of the retail space into cooking area.

Rob could also create some P&L branding and call it ChefStreet. ChefStreet right next to ChefBurger (Rob’s other P&L place) could become a destination for grilled meats.

I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy but I’d much rather see ChefStreet than something like Panera.

Yummo Tacos

I noticed as I was walking about the Power & Light district today that the Yummo soup sign said that they were no longer serving Souperman soups at the Yummo store (both places owned and operated by Rob Dalzell). It also advertised $2 FroYo ($3.50 with toppings) apparently abandoning the pricing by the pound which usually resulted in me having $3.75 FroYo. They also had a sandwich board out front that advertised Korean bbq tacos 2/$2. I was shocked I didn't see the modern day Tom Joad, Meesha, inside eating Korean bbq tacos (if there's something free, Meesha will be there, if there's something severely discounted, Meesha will be there).

I had various lunch thoughts in my head before I saw that sign. They were all abandoned immediately and I headed into Yummo. Rob was manning the counter. I ordered the tacos and chose the short rib meat option (pork and chicken? were the other 2 options). Rob turned around and started to prepare my tacos. Since Rob and I are old buddies I made some small talk asking why they abandoned the soup. Rob said it was too hot for soup and then he confirmed my suspiscions when he said "I have to find a way to pay Cordish rent". He was hoping to be able to sell the tacos to the drunk late night set.

As any restaurant watcher knows, when a restaurant starts abandoning concepts and trying new specials and menu items, the restaurant is probably in trouble. I've been to Yummo maybe 20 times and walked by it over a hundred times and I would guess that I've seen a customer in there 1% of the time. They may get quite a bit of business with the later night crowd, but if they're open during the day, I would think they would have customers every once in a while.

As for the tacos, they were pretty good. $2 for a somewhat filling lunch is unheard of in this day and age. The sausage carts around the Sprint Center cost $3 for a hot dog. The tacos are definitely the better option. They come with some kind of tortilla, not the same as tortillas you usually see, but tasty nonetheless. I got a generous spoonful of short rib meat and it was topped with some form of asian slaw with onions, carrots, radishes and purple cabbage. Each taco was topped with a white sauce that I can't name but it was tasty. The whole dish was quite good and had a fair amount of spice. If I had had 5 beers, I might say this was a perfect taco, but since I didn't I would point out that it was a little salty. The tacos were full of flavor though and for $2 I would recommend them. I find it hard to pick nits on a food that cost me pocket change.

You should give Yummo a try for both the yogurt and the Korean barbecue tacos. If you don't do it soon, though, they may be gone.

UPDATE: Apparently this taco deal is developing. They are only offered on Tuesday through Friday and may be 3 for $2 when you go. Blog pal Meesha has pictures and his own korean taco story here. Mention the KC Hot Blog or KC With a Russian Accent when you get your tacos and you'll get.. well you'll get nothing, but it would be nice to mention us.

Yummo, For Realz

I noticed today as I ventured into ChefBurger for lunch that Yummo, chef Rob Dalzell's newest restaurant(I hate saying "concept") was open(right next to ChefBurger). I must say when I heard Rob was going to open up a frozen yogurt shop, I was a little disappointed, not because I don't like yogurt, but because I'm not a big dessert person and don't typically seek dessert out.

I ate my ChefBurger, which I really enjoy now that they have the MF Combo (ChefBurger, waffle fries and soda for $7.99), and waited a couple of hours to burn off some of that load. A ChefBurger typically fills me up for an afternoon and I generally only require a small snack for dinner. But not today, today I knew that I was going to get myself some frozen yogurt. Why, you ask. Because I care about you, our dear readers (and I want to be the first to Yelp it).

As I was waiting the requisite couple of hours it took to burn off some of my burger, I noticed several people in my office carrying around little cups of what looked like ice cream. I went up to one of my friends in the office who was eating from a little cup and said “are you eating AGAIN?” (it's just that pleasant to work with me). She told me that the Yummo place is FAN-tastic. Yummo was the talk of the office for the next hour as more people went out to get some.

So about 2:30 I ventured down there with my health conscious workmate, Muddy Mo, to get us some yogurt. We walked in and it's mildly confusing what to do. Lucky for us Rob has painted on the wall instructions for what to do.

1. Grab a cup
2. Choose a flavor
3. Pick your toppings

Along the right hand wall were about 12 ice cream machines. They actually look like the smoothie machines at a QT. Above each ice cream machine was the flavor and nutritional information denoting the fat content, sodium, sugar and all that stuff those who frequently read nutritional information are familiar with. I noticed that most of the yogurts had 0g fat and around 100 calories. I had a tough time choosing between pumpkin and gingerbread and then I noticed my favorite flavor, pistachio. I nearly jumped out of my pants to get to the pistachio machine. They also had chocolate, vanilla, green tea, cappuccino, white chocolate macadamia, blueberry and a couple of sugar free variations of those.

I did misundertand one of the instructions that was on the machine. It said something like “only fill the cup half full so it doesn't spill when blended”. To me that meant only fill the cup half full, which I did. Then I went over to the toppings station and had a tough time deciding what to put on. Well, that's not entirely true, I loaded up on raspberries, which I love. I also threw on some Cocoa Pebbles and strawberries. But I stood at the toppings bar like a dunce for a long enough time that Rob was probably starting to worry about me (yes, Rob Dalzell was working the counter). There was all forms of cereal in the toppings bar from the aforementioned Cocoa Pebbles to Lucky Charms. There were 3 syrups, chocolate, butterscotch and I think apricot. There was also fresh strawberries and raspberries as well as cookies, gummy bears and candy bars. When you're done with the toppings you take your bowl of yogurt to the counter and Rob asks you to put it on the scale. You see, they charge by the ounce and it's 49 cents/oz. A stupid question to ask would be “how much is it per pound?” and I don't know anyone that did that, but I thought I would point out that it would be a stupid question to ask. Muddy Mo came over to the counter with his bowl of yogurt completely filled up, nearly overflowing from the bowl. I thought to myself what an idiot Muddy Mo is for not being able to read the signs. I thought he was going to get yelled at by Rob, but Rob said nothing. Then I realized that we had bowls, not cups, the cups were for smoothies, you know, the things that get blended. My brain really does shut down when I'm under pressure.

As Rob was ringing up Muddy Mo I asked him if today was their first day open. We had the following conversation*:

Rob: We opened yesterday [Thursday 10/30], we're going a soft opening to get our feet under us and work out any kinks (remember the ChefBurger make your own burger debacle?).
Me: Do you mind me writing about this on my food blog.
Rob: I knew I knew you, you're that guy, what's your name, Bull E. Vard? I was so happy that you started a food blog. You're really my favorite food and beverage writer.
Me: Thanks, I try.
Rob: Please, write, write away, whatever you write would be greatly appreciated. I'm just thankful I get to serve you.
Me: Thanks Rob.

*Portions of this conversation are patently false.

Muddy Mo and I ventured outside to the gazebo like thing and sat down at a table. Yummo does have tables inside the store but it was such a nice day that outside seemed to be the place to be. My pistachio yogurt was astoundingly good. I couldn't believe that it might have actually been healthy. Muddy Mo said that he usually shies away from fat free yogurt because it's generally horrible but Yummo yogurt is fabulous. In a taste test he didn't think he would be able to tell this fat free frozen yogurt from full fat frozen yogurt. I would never purchase anything fat free because of diet, but eating something fat free that tastes this good just feels good overall. I think I will be going back several times a week. I can't wait to try the pumpkin and gingerbread flavors before they go away. So anyway, I can't believe you finished this drivel and didn't leave to get some Yummo.