Stockton: Angel Cruz Park

On the way home from Tahoe, we stopped again in Stockton for food.  Since we're obsessed with El Grullito's tripe tacos, we went there first.  Afterwards, we set out to check out Angel Cruz Park, which is apparently where people in the know go to get good Cambodian/Laotian food.

We arrived at the park to find multiple food vendors with tables spread beneath the trees:

Besides food, there were also vendors selling produce and other little knickknacks.  We, of course, focused on the food.

Having gone to college and pharmacy school in Stockton, T was our guide.  We let her do all the ordering and essentially just followed her around like baby ducks.  

There were a few papaya salad ladies in the park.  Two of them had really long lines.  T said they were both good, so she picked the one that also was selling grilled sausages:

Given that we also had dinner plans, T didn't go too crazy with the ordering.  We got freshly pounded papaya salad, which came in a bag:

The bags came with a mix of crunchy papaya, greens, tomatoes, and some pretty funky seasonings:

As they say, if your papaya salad isn't funky, it's not worth eating.  Actually, nobody says that.  Except me.  And I stand by that statement.  I might be weak when it comes to spiciness, but I can take the funk.

You can customize how spicy you want your papaya salad to be by telling the lady how many chili peppers you want.  T ordered one with four peppers for herself and CK.  For me, she asked for none.  

There was actually a different vendor that T wanted to get sausages from, but when they told us the next batch wouldn't be done for another 45 minutes, we opted to just get the grilled Lao sausages from the papaya lady's table:

The sausages were slightly sweet, very fragrant, and super juicy:

If COVID is interfering with your travel plans and you're missing street food in Asia, Angel Cruz Park is the next best thing.  I'm a big fan.  I wanted to buy some more (both sausages and papaya salad) to go, but the lines were so long that I gave up on that.

The next time I'm in Stockton though, I'll be at that park ordering a bunch more stuff.  I'm not sure the exact times the vendors are at the park, but it looks like they might be there every day between 2:30pm to 6:00pm.  Don't quote me on that.

Do bring cash though.  You're going to need it.  Since T did all the ordering, I don't know the exact cost of everything we ate, but I do know we spent a total of $17.  Not bad at all!

Angel Cruz Park

110 Segovia Ln

Stockton, CA 95207