Monday, February 15, 2016

Street

Sit down at a booth where the tabletops were painted by a local artist. While you鈥檙e reading the menu, try not to get distracted by the large, five-foot-wide burger sculpture, or the stoplight hanging casually over the bar. During the time you wait for your food to arrive, take a trip to the restrooms, where more of this off-the-wall art continues, including a mural of a burger-praising goddess, and where graffiti lines the walls.

collage of artwork at Street

This is STREET: a restaurant dishing out contemporary听American cuisine with an Asian twist. Located in Portsmouth, a 20 minute walk from听Market Square, where the Wildcat Transit conveniently drops off. Walk inside, and set your senses free. Friendly chatter, dissolved by clanging pots and pans, echoes its warm industrial style of exposed air ducts, adorned with paper lanterns and string lights. Absorb the aroma of tantalizing ingredients brewing from the kitchen, which can only be the curry combined with chipotle, garlic听and ginger. Graze the menu, and you鈥檒l see items that stretch from cinnamon-sugar empanadas and Korean BBQ听to Thai ribs and bibimbap.

people eating in Street

Now wait anxiously as your food is being prepared. This is the most difficult part, but don鈥檛 worry 鈥斕齝urry fries to the rescue!

I听ordered the Cemita: fried chicken, avocado, fried queso fresco (Mexican cheese) sprinkled with fresh cilantro, jeweled pickled onion, all on听a sesame seed bun slathered with chipotle mayo. They don鈥檛 mess around: this sandwich has some serious crunch. When you first bite into it, you get the crunch of the fried chicken听and the crustiness of the queso fresco. Counteracting this is the gooey cheese听and the creaminess of the avocado. The chipotle mayo is lightened by the fresh cilantro and the acid from the onions cut through its heat.

cemita sandwich and fries at Street

On the side was a large basket of curry fries, which is an order large enough to feed three hungry adults. Seasoned with curry spices, drizzled with curry mayo, and served with a side of 鈥斕齳ou guessed it 鈥斕齝urry ketchup. This is an order you don鈥檛 want to pass up. The fries, like the sandwich, packed some colossal crunch. Not those soggy, bottom of the barrel fries. No, these came with a crispy, fried outer crust, able to withstand any obscene amount of curry mayo and ketchup.

From the moment I walked in, all I could ask myself was, 鈥淗ow did I not know about this sooner?!鈥

The best part? Restaurants like STREET听are only a bus ride away from campus. With the use of Wildcat Transit, you have access to Newmarket, Dover, Portsmouth听and Newington. Grab your friends and head to the Fox Run mall, or spend the day window shopping in Market Square. With the Wildcat Transit, students are mere minutes from cities off-campus. Take advantage of the bus services that are available 鈥斕齛fter all,听they鈥檙e free to students!

There鈥檚 more information about Wildcat Transportation on their website, and you can like them on .

Street is on , and you can find out more on their too.