Eureka’s Friday Night Market festivities are in full swing on the blocked-off streets of Old Town each week (but for the July 4 break). As you weave through the musicians, vendors and performers, here are a few new food stalls to check out.
Summer ceviche
Arcata Pizza and Deli (APD) has lately branched out with a stall at the Friday Night Market, Oyster Fest and at the newly launched bi-weekly Humboldt Dockside Market at the foot of Eureka’s C Street. The last should be no surprise if you’re already wise to the line-caught fish and chips at APD, provided by the owners’ fishing boat.
The stall offers a cardboard tray-straining heap of ceviche made with line-caught rockfish, tomato, mango, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro and lemon and lime juice. Firm chunks and tart juice balanced with the light sweetness and piney flavor of mango are summery and fresh. The guacamole is extra because it’s 2025, but it’s good and the order will feed two ($15/$20). You may need more chips.
Take a bao
Getting eggrolls stuffed with cellophane noodles, ground pork, slivered carrots and cabbage that’s hot and crispy from the fryer is not an opportunity to be squandered. At the K&D Kitchen tent, $8 will get you a trio of substantial, hand-rolled ones. They are an excellent one-handed walking-and-talking treat to enjoy while catching up with the friend you ran into by the Romano Gabriel sculptures.
But don’t skip the scratch-made bao filled with plum-red stewed pork and cloud ear mushroom ($5). The steamed buns are fluffy and mildly sweet, and there just aren’t many places in the county making them fresh. The world can be harsh, but someone has kneaded dough and stuffed it with marinated and roasted pork in a glossy, sweet sauce for you. Break one open and inhale its healing steam.
Linda, Linda
La Linda Argentinian Empanadas, in case others pop up, is the one with the bear gently holding an empanada in its cuddly mitts on the logo. The namesake, made with organic ingredients, comes in beef, chicken or mushroom with rainbow chard ($5 each), the last of which comes recommended and is the surprise frontrunner. This is not to say the picadillo fillings — tangy, spiced and rich with little chunks of potato — aren’t delightful, stuffed as they are in a deceptively thin crust that holds up to generous helpings of meat.
But the mushrooms and chard have such lovely flavor, reaching their full potential as a homey street food, which is something we need more of. The crust, more delicate than some other iterations, is flaky and crisp-edged. Dunk every last buttery scrap in the bright green chimichurri sauce for the full, verdant effect.
Dog days
This could be the summer you broaden your hotdog horizons. The El Salchichón stand has been staked out around town with its amped-up sausages, elote and inspiring collection of condiments. (As is so often the case with mobile operations, your best bet for tracking it down is social media.) The hot sellers at the market are the L.A. Dog and the Chile Relleno Dog (each $10).
In truth, the order started as a comparatively simple bacon-wrapped dog, but a gander at said sausage topped with grilled onions and peppers, pickled jalapeños and a day-glow dune of crushed hot Cheetos on top made the upsell. Less devastating to one’s tummy than it sounds, the L.A. Dog lights up every quadrant of your brain with texture and tang.
The chile relleno option is just as it sounds, with a cheese-stuffed, egg-dipped and fried pasilla pepper snuggled up next to a grilled beef hot dog in the bun. It’s topped with chile relleno sauce, pico de gallo salsa and crumbled bacon, ketchup and mayonnaise, but it’s the little paper Mexican flag that makes you feel like it’s a party. Look around — it kind of is.
Share your tips about What’s Good with Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her), arts and features editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in The Man Who Unsolved a Murder.
