Greenwave Beth take us on their culinary tour of the US
GREENWAVE BETH have just wrapped up a quick lil trip around the USA over March. They played nine shows over a two-and-a-bit week period, including a few shows at this year's South By South West, arguably the globe's biggest gathering of up-and-coming artists.
You may or may not remember correctly, but the pair traveled to Tokyo last year to play a few shows, and whilst they were there, they put together a bit of a tour diary for us to have a squiz at.
Well, this time around, they've done the same for their trip in the USA, but they've gone and done one better. They've documented their food experiences from places across the country and put them all in once place for us, complete with contextual explanations and reviews to boot.
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Ah, America. The land of the free, plus 20% tip. The land of $1 pizza slices, street-side hotdogs, hot pretzels and an ungodly cream cheese-to-bagel ratio. With 21 days of tour ahead of us – travelling from the West Coast to the East via Austin, Texas – this was our chance to launch mouth-first into the curious culinary world of the United States.
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PORTLAND
The way Cody saw it, this double slice order in Portland only cost $2. The way we saw it, this order cost him 3 weeks recommended intake of cheese in one sitting.
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NORTH PORTLAND:
Top: Fish Po’Boy sandwich with chips
Bottom: Pulled beef brisket sandwich with chips
Unseen: The 30min food coma nap we took on the bus back to our hostel.
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OLYMPIA
This fountain in the middle of Olympia is always flowing with the purest water from a natural glacial reserve in the surrounding mountains. People come from miles around to fill up jugs, bottles and bongs with this super fresh, super cold water. We used it as a chance to brush our teeth.
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SEATTLE
We channelled Stella Donnelly in Seattle with some much needed and much delicious vegetarian pho. Easily the most healthy dish of the entire tour. Our own slice of Vietnam / Marrickville.
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SAN FRANCISCO
Our friends warned us about portion size in America, so in San Francisco we opted for beef burritos that were only as big as our heads.
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OAKLAND
Featured: The “San Franciscan” sandwich, a plateful of potato hash and a club sandwich that needed 2 plates to fit.
This corner diner in Oakland (over the bridge from SF) offered a grilled sandwich called the “San Franciscan”. It was just cheese and onions. Still can’t tell if this was a legit sandwich or if they were having a dig. Either way it was delicious.
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MISSION DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO
Right after our show in San Francisco, Will went on a solo-venture to try out this iconic “Krispy Krunchy” chicken, served from a petrol station in the Mission District. Emphasis on the “Krunchy”, he nearly broke a tooth.
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JOSHUA TREE
We finally did the In-N-Out thing on our way back from the LA desert. The secret is to order it “Animal Style”, and they’ll put burger source, melted cheese and onions all over your fries. We mistakenly ordered it “Jungle Style”, so our fries came out plain, cold and gross. The burgers were incredible though.
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AUSTIN
On tour, the idea of 3 square meals a day goes completely out the window. Instead, it’s more like 1 giant rectangular meal at midday followed by 5 or 6 small, triangular snack meals throughout the rest of the day. Here is us at yet another Austin diner, getting our midday load up of beige in the form of quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, pancakes, bacon strips, fried potatoes and 4-5 refills of filtered coffee.
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SXSW, AUSTIN
One of our best shows in Austin was at Do512 Lounge. Alongside free cocktails, the rider also featured complimentary B-12 shots administered by a paramedic out the back of the venue. It meant breaking our cardinal tour rule of “no needles”, but it also warded off 16 days of hangover – so who’s the real MVP here?
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AUSTIN
On our final day in Austin, we treated the tour family to a mid-arvo lunch of handmade pasta at Gino’s Vinos. Gino was a lovely guy, and his 4-cheese ravioli was out of this world. His blood orange martini won the award for best cocktail in Austin in 2012. And his penchant for celebrity impersonators won our hearts in 2019.
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NEW YORK
The bodegas in New York City are incredible. On any street corner you can find a life-changing Philly Cheese Steak cooked by an aggressively enthusiastic sandwich prep at 2am. Well, at least on this street corner in Brooklyn we did. I can’t speak for all the street corners in New York.
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All words & photos by Greenwave Beth
Intro by CAITLIN MEDCALF
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