Where Ya At

Where Ya At is a creole food truck that can be found at one of several locations in Seattle (depending on the day). I found the truck at Starbucks Headquarters on a Tuesday.

Owner/Chef Matthew Lewis, a New Orleans native, loved to help his mother and grandmother in the kitchen as a small child. He followed his passion for food after college, working under several top chefs and graduating from the Culinary Institute of America (second in his class). He worked in a couple of Seattle-based restaurants before opening Where Ya At in the summer of 2010.

It's normal to see lines for Matt's food at peak lunch hour!
(At Starbucks HQ)

Menu in mid-October 2011
Note the pumpkin items on the menu...especially the Pumpkin Beignets!

I ordered a small gumbo ($5) and Matt's seasonal Pumpkin Beignets ($5). The gumbo is the traditional chicken and sausage variety, with rice, roux, bell peppers, and all the other fixin's. The pumpkin beignets intrigued me: pillows of deep-fried dough anointed with Matt's secret pumpkin pie sauce and dusted with powdered sugar (of course, the regular beignets are similar, just without the pumpkin pie sauce). It's not every day that I can find a truck that serves beignets, let alone any type of creole cuisine.

Small Gumbo (Where Ya At)

Pumpkin Beignets (Where Ya At)

The hearty, delicious gumbo was delicious. It didn't come at me with an overkill of flavors, but instead  channeled the comfort food vibe from Matt's truck to my stomach. It's a dish I could eat every week, no doubt about that.

And then I got to the pumpkin beignets, which I'll basically sum up as unfairly good. It made me so happy that I don't have to travel to New Orleans to get the real deal. The pumpkin pie sauce was off-the-charts awesome, and even though remnants of the powdered sugar got on the table -- and heck, even on me -- it was well worth every penny spent.

Other popular menu items include the po'boy, a traditional sub sandwich from Louisiana. You can get oysters, shrimp, roast beef, "Big Bold Creole Pork," portobello, catfish, andouille sausage, or a "Peacemaker" (fried oysters, bacon, Mama Lil's bread and butter pickles, and lemon aioli). Matt even slings up muffulettas, jambalaya, red beans and rice, shrimp and grits, and more!

This is a truck that I highly recommend and makes me wish I was raised in Louisiana. Just killer food. 8.5/10