A smidgen over a year ago, I chased down 5411 Empandas by Harpo Studio for my first food truck experience. A coworker had told me about them, and we fumbled our way through finding the stop and checking their ETA on Twitter, then cheered along with a small group of 4 other people waiting to see the big baby blue truck roll up. Less than a week after, I was sprinting down Fulton in a freezing fall day behind another blue truck: Flirty Cupcakes. I was hooked.
One year ago today, along with help from family and friends, I launched FoodTruckFreak.com. I wanted to create a space for fellow food truck devotees to find the information they want about all the trucks in Chicago. One year and 156 blog posts later, I have a lot of great memories that never would have happened if it weren’t for this site and all the wonderful people I met as a result of it.
- One afternoon Samich Box made a special delivery rolled up to my office in a deserted area of the meatpacking district and shared enough samiches for the whole office as they were awaiting their license. They made me a rockstar around the company that day.
- I have many a story that involve sharing a cocktail (or two…) with food truck owners, but there’s somethings even a blogger won’t share
- So many Thursday evenings in the summer spent grazing (or tapeando) around Ethyl’s
- Googling for hoooours to find any information about that Mexican truck everyone was talking about but didn’t know the name of. They know the name now (very well): La Adelita Truck.
- Shuffling over to Clinton & Lake during the maiden voyage week of The Schnitzel King this past fall, and seeing a festive turkey perched proudly atop the little wagon.
- Noshing on my first bahn mi (ever!) from Duck N Roll and dining together at Chen’s on a cold night (there’s a pattern developing here…), talking about being Loyola alums and what we hoped to see change (in legislation) for Chicago trucks
- Brown Bag was the only truck that regularly came a few blocks from where I used to work. I feared withdrawal when I switched jobs, but the stars aligned and now I only have to go half a block for my weekly Brown Bag. Also, I attempted to get brisket a good 6 times before the universe would allow me to have it. Long story (ask me sometime).
- I started going to one truck so often and loving one thing so much, I have a “regular” order. Whenever Laura form Cupcakes for Courage sees me, she informs me of the availability of sprinkle-colored cupcake balls. I still maintain that there is an addictive substance in those babies.
- Meeting up with other area food truck trackers (Avi, Andrew, Todd) - thought our sites serve the same purpose and in most cases would be a reason we might not come together, it was the reason we did. We all share the same love for food trucks (and nerdy techy ways)
- The day Nancy Loo and Rowena Li interviewed me for WGN was a proud one. Not gonna lie, it was something my 10-year-old-self hoped my older self would do at some point.
- Spending 2 hours on the phone talking about life and trucks with Lupita of Sweet Ride shortly after I met her
- The Guidette sandwich from Slide Ride. I loved that Guidette almost as much as I love the prego Jersey Shore one.
- Trying a dandelion naanwich from gaztrowagon. This one was of many culinary firsts for me that stretched me out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad they did.
- When Phil Foss opened El Ideas while he was running Meatyballs Mobile, a friend and I snagged resos the first week or two they were opened. To this day, it remains one of the most memorable experiences ever. From start to finish, it truly was an experience. The food (one dish in particular) was reminiscent of a meal I had at Arzak when I was living in San Sebastian. Embarassing anecdote: it was also the first time I tried fish and seafood. Another long story. Well worth it.
If I didn’t mention you here, other awesome truck owners, it’s likely because it’s 2am and I’ve been working on fighting the legislation for 6 hours straight so my brain’s a bit fried. There are so many other amazing experiences that meeting the truck owners and the readers of this lil blog have afforded me, if I named all of them this would quickly turn into a tome. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for your support and lovin’ over this past year.
If you told me a year ago that the site’s birthday would fall smack dab in the middle of one of the most momentous weeks in Chicago food truck history, I would have high-fived you and asked you read my palm. The timing is crazy (awesome).
Thanks for everything food truckers & fellow food truck freaks. Now, go win/eat some sweet treats to celebrate, generously provided by Cupcakes for Courage, Flirty Cupcakes, and Baby Cakes. Click here to win the sweet stuff: https://woobox.com/gfb4tk Winnin’ starts at 9am CST.
