MOBILE — Space Dust, Tang aioli and fried chicken with an incredible crunch. This is not your average trailer park. PP Hospitality Group opened Parc Le Tralour Food Hall and Event Center July …
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MOBILE — Space Dust, Tang aioli and fried chicken with an incredible crunch. This is not your average trailer park.
PP Hospitality Group opened Parc Le Tralour Food Hall and Event Center July 17, and it is rolling along with three brand-new restaurant concepts and the return of Panini Pete's to downtown Mobile.
Gulf Coast Media first reported on "Panini" Pete Blohme's, Nick DiMario's and David Kabakoff's plans for the Parc Le Tralour Food Hall in 2022. The space in the RSA Bank Trust Building was formerly the home of Moonpie General Store.
"This food hall and event space is a mixture of modern-day and old school approach to the hospitality industry. Modern technology meets hard work, preparation and flavor out of this world. Trailer trash only!" DiMario texted from out of town.
Instead of standing in lines, diners can find a table, scan a QR code, order from anywhere and pay. The QR code is unique to each table, allowing servers to bring deliver your order straight to your table. For anyone looking to pick something up on their lunch break, order at the to-go counter. There is also a bank of "food lockers." Order online, and the to-go order is prepared and placed in the locker at the time specified for you to pick it up.
Blohme gave a run down of operations and the different dining options. Let's start with hours. Right now, the food hall is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. When the liquor license comes through, they will add happy hour from 2 to 4 p.m. The space is also available for private events in the evenings.
"We kind of went down Main Street. We've got pizza by the slice. We've got street-style tacos with beans and rice. You know, the popular stuff. Panini Pete's is back after five years, and it's back in downtown, so everybody's fired up about that," Blohme said. "And then, Astronaut Chicken, I think, is the most new and innovative thing we've done. Chicken is king, so we jumped on that bandwagon."
While Blohme may see Astronaut Chicken as jumping on the chicken bandwagon, it is far from anything offered on the Alabama Gulf Coast.
Children of the 1970s, '80s and '90s will know the brand name Tang, but teens and 20-somethings may be clueless. Tang is a powdered drink mix formulated in the late 1950s by General Foods Corporation. Sales were poor until NASA sent it on John Glenn's Mercury flight in 1962 and then on subsequent Gemini missions.
At Astronaut Chicken, Tang aioli is the signature sauce served on most of the items. Once the liquor license comes through, there will also be a Tangarita that will send adults to the moon.
Another uniquely PP Hospitality spin is the use of Space Dust, also known as spice blends. Diners have four flavors to choose from for fried chicken. Mercury Dust has some heat, G-Force is a blend of black pepper, turmeric, cardamom and some secret additions, and Jaxa Dust is a nod to the Japanese space program with a touch of heat, hints of citrus, sesame and ginger. All American is, well, it's no space dust.
The crunch achieved on the fried chicken is impressive. Blohme said they use some nontraditional ingredients in the breading mix.
"It's all about the crunch, man. We've got Rice Krispies in the breading and all kinds of fun stuff. It's got really good crunch, and it's just killing it," he said.
When experiencing a food hall, it is a good idea to bring enough people to sample a little of everything. My party of three pushed the limits to sample from each concept.
At Astronaut Chicken, we ordered the fried chick bowl, grilled chicken bowl and fried chicken sandwich.
The bowls are loaded with beer-cheese mac and cheese, tots, a choice of fried chicken or grilled chicken and topped with Tang aioli and green onions. The fried chicken bowl has the option to select a space dust flavor. Both styles of chicken were great, the tots are crisp and seasoned, and the beer-cheese mac and cheese is beer-forward. The Tang aioli complemented the flavors.
The fried chicken sandwich is served on a hearty brioche bun that stands up to the crunchy and juicy fried chicken thigh. The chicken was well dusted with Mercury Dust, which lent a building heat while the Tang aioli helped balance the heat. The sandwich is also topped with house-made pickles, lettuce and tomato and comes with a side of tots.
The menu consists of bowls and street tacos that offer four proteins: fire-roasted chicken, pork carnitas, shredded beef or fish. There is also a snacks and sides section that includes queso and chips, red salsa and chips, salsa verde with chips and Mexican rice and beans.
We ordered one fire-roasted chicken taco and one shredded beef taco. They were topped with cilantro, pickled onions, queso fresco, sauce Hermanos and a lime wedge. Diners have the choice of corn or flour tortilla, and we went with flour, which is best for juicy tacos. And these were juicy tacos.
The chicken arrived with red salsa. It was a good chicken taco, but our table favorite was the shredded beef with the salsa verde. Next time, we will have to sample the pork carnitas and fish to see which is our favorite. These are not tiny street tacos. They are filled to the max and excellent value.
It is always great to have a pizza option when you have a fussy eater in the group because who doesn't like pizza? The pies were hot, the cheese pull social media-worthy, and the slice was large. The kitchen team kept the pizza pumping from the oven. All around a solid slice.
Panini Pete's has returned to downtown Mobile after a five-year hiatus with all the top hitters. The menu has been paired down from the original location, featuring the a house roasted turkey, house roasted medium-rare roast beef, Pete's muffuletta and Pop's mozzarella and tomato paninis. There is also a garden salad, and side options include orzo pasta salad or chips.
Need a sweet treat after all that savory food? The menu included chocolate chip walnut pecan cookies, mocha brownies and beignets when we visited.
"We will start probably next week opening at 8 a.m. for beignets and café au lait," Blohme said.
