626 Night Market — Attraction in Arcadia

The 20-22 August 2022 occurence of the 626 Night Market (Instagram @NorCalNightMarket) at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA, was our first-ever visit to this long-running event. On balance, it's a solid four-star date-night happening, with music, games, a good variety of food and drink (including "full bars") from trucks and booths. The only down-sides are the long lines at times and the prices (which I didn't find particularly onerous but I heard comments...).

Pro-tips:

REMEMBER WHERE YOU PARKED YOUR CAR! It's a big parking area and you don't want to end the night with an unintentional hike. BRING CASH or feed the expensive on-site ATMs. Some vendors take cards, others aren't so equipped. BE HUNGRY! It goes without saying that there's a lot of food here, both in quantity and variety. The hunnybunny and I had an unexpectedly large social lunch and so we delayed arriving to the Night Market until we were ready to dig in. Be better prepared than we were. :-) WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES because it's all walking. BRING LAYERS to deal with the heat of the day to the chill of the evening.

Parking is $10, debit cards preferred; all quick, pleasant, and efficient. Helpful staff. Porta-potties are scattered everywhere, from the parking area to the event grounds, with several brick-and-mortar bathrooms in the main area.

Once past security - also pleasant and efficient - you're in the main product vending alley, where you'll find everything from artwork and stickers to CNC-milled wood chain necklaces, blinking things, miniature "forever flowers", and other essentials. Some vendors are set up to use cards, others Venmo, and others take only cash. Pricey ATMs on-site. Hand-washing stations too.

Once through the vending alley you'll find huge, bright markers on the way to the 626 Night Market stage. A variety of acts cycle through, a nice audio backdrop.

There are two ways into the food area: one near the beginning of vendor alley, the other at the far (stage) end. I'm unclear whether the large spacing was planned or due to the pandemic; I was expecting a much more cramped experience (like my visits to the markets in western China) but there was a lot of space that needed walking through.

Booths ring the main asphalt area, a handful of food trucks are parked in the center, joined by a carnival games area (costs extra) and picnic tables for communal (but socially-distanced) dining.

We walked away with a paper cone of Chick N' Skin, which was saltier and drier than I expected. The supplied sweet-and-sour sauce was sorely needed to balance the dish.

The crispy SPAM musubi was a big favorite of the hunnybunny! The hints of furikaki made the dish for me.

Egghausted's black truffle cheese omelette was tasty and a wee bit sweet; perhaps a dessert, perhaps not.

Having had ribs earlier in the day (elsewhere) I needed more at the night market. We got the chef's blend original flavor; a tasty, traditional dry rub that was less sweet and saucy than I expected, but satisfying. The 'bunny mentioned that they weren't sliced for serving a la minute but perhaps had been near a steam table, and she was absolutely right! I'd try a sweeter, sauced variant next time.

In my many trips to Edinburgh, Scotland, I've passed by the deep-fried everything (except the fish-and-chips) just because I'm not that much of a sweets guy. Here we tried the deep-fried Oreos — OMG, it was a party in my mouth!

Other options that we didn't sample included lobster-and bulgogi-topped fries, wagyu yakitori, ramen hamburgers, any of the six flavors of roasted corn-on-the-cob, garlic shrimp, whole grilled lobster, and funnel cakes and deep-fried Twinkies. (The latter because of the huge, persistent lines at that booth.)

Be prepared to wait in long lines (at times), to being inundated with lots of people (still a bit of a shock in these virus times), and some participants who are still challenged by the whole mask-wearing thing.

This was a...

Overall. Very well done this year at the Santa Anita Park. It’s a night and day comparison as to when they first started the event a few years ago. Definitely worth the visit. Will return. Thought it’s interesting that my friend who lived in Taichung Taiwan says “The 626 Night Market puts the 逢甲夜市 to shame”. It has its own unique SoCal Asian American / fusion spin on the image of night market. Finally, this Asian American style feels like home.

Recommendations:

If you hate waiting in line and being in a crowd, arrive as early as possible before 4 or 5 pm for plenty of close parking, with minimum to no wait to enter the venue and also near zero wait at the food vendors. By 6 pm a crowd forms. By 7-8 pm you can barely walk in the huge crowd, not only with long lines at the food vendors but admission line circles all the way around the venue.

Arrive super early (when they open) and make a quick browse through all the vendors first without purchasing. Several similar vendors but prices vary.

*This year, several vendors offer unlimited drink refills with purchase, for as low as $5 a cup！ Definitely a steal! (I got 4 refills! And several options to choose from!)

Eat till you’re full (hopefully before 7 pm) then hang out to watch performances (several to choose from), check out Dream League to rest your feet and play unlimited free games (racing, LAN, dancing, etc.) or walk around to browse the arts & crafts vendor. It’s a better use of your time to eat early rather than to wait 45 minutes in a popular vendor line to buy a giant squid.

Many delicious vendors, some are way more popular than others, but I won’t provide my opinion here. It’s best to just go try out whatever that fancies your heart. Even if you bought something that didn’t taste as good as you’d expected, It can’t possibly be close to or worse than eating from random stands at night markets in Asian countries where you end up with unstoppable diarrhea. If that happens here, it’s unforgivable and there’s no way they’ll survive in this competitive environment. So....

And they’re back!

I feel like there were less vendors compared to pre-covid. We went before opening and they didn’t let ppl thru the gates until 4:00pm hit exactly.

The sun was hot so I really wish they had more shade and seating. For the amount of ppl there, there really should be. I mean idk what our admission ticket $ goes towards but obvi it’s not towards providing tables, chairs, and shade. The benches and seating that are there are far and few in between.

It’s gets busy reallllyyy fast! Which is why we go early. The lines are def long but you gotta patient because sometimes- the wait for your food after you’ve waited in line to place your order is even longer!! :0

A lot of drink vendors but they’re all very similar with agua fresca type drinks. Boba spots too like Milk Tea Co. and even the sugarcane locals VitaCane and Big Daddy Cane.

Grilled and fried squid are my favorites. It’s big and shareable. They have scissors out for you to cut it and there’s a sign that ask you to wash your hands before using but there’s literally no sink nearby and the hand sanitizer was out (they just opened it was only 4:15pm)

The Mijitos Chilitos candy place was a highlight! Their spicy candies were actually spicy and really good. I tried the spicy sour war head gummies. Not too sour, tastes more spicy & salty. The lollipop was good too!

Yes, everything is expensive and overpriced. If you think it’s good then it’s worth it.

HYDRATE!! If you are going when suns are blazing, don’t make the same mistake as mr. it was 90 degrees out and I left my hat in the car. I almost fainted from the heat. Good thing we found a seat and I felt better but while I was resting I saw a little emergency crew in a golf cart pass by with their lights on so I can’t imagine what was going on.

Parking looks like it far but the walk goes by fast.

I’d def recommend if you’ve never been before. I feel like we didn’t enjoy this time as much because none of the food looked really amazing and that we...