What We Ate @ Food Truck Social 2013

September 22, 2013

Food Truck Social 2013 was a success and we hope you got to enjoy it, too. But, if you didn’t (or even if you did and you enjoy #foodporn, which we bet you do), we put together pictures of what we enjoyed for your viewing pleasure.

My partner in crime for this adventure was my friend Tessa (@nuprinz). BTW She’s an awesome swing dancer and if this super awesome Charleston video with amazing shots of our beautious city gets 10k views she gets pied in the face (and they’re close), so take a look.

We hit up the Windy City Patty Wagon first. Being a big quinoa fan, the turkey & quinoa patty with pepper jack, a tangy slaw and aioli sounded provocative. It actually came with tomatoes

Turkey Quinoa Patty from Windy City Patty Wagon

Turkey Quinoa Patty from Windy City Patty Wagon

too, and a side of delicious housemade potato chips. First off, the sandwich was GIGANTIC. Literally as big as my face. As I bit into it, I tasted the delicious crust and char on the patty. I love a good char! Turkey burgers are usually underwhelming, right? They’re usually the “I’ll throw you healthy peeps a bone” afterthought item on a burger menu. Not this one. Not to put too fine a put too fine a point on it, but it’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten from a food truck. Ever. It didn’t taste like quinoa nor turkey, but rather an incredibly moist curry-seasoned falafel. Even my pickiest preferences were satisfied: e.g. the height was optimal; it was hearty but I didn’t have to unhinge my jaw to take a bite. My only criticism was I really dislike tomatoes and they weren’t mentioned on the menu. Also, the aioli looked like a pesto aioli, so I wonder what sauce was actually on the sandwich.

The Juddlys: Drunk & Sober

The Juddlys: Drunk & Sober

Next, we mozied on over to Fischman’s Wagyu Wagon and ordered the Drunk Juddly: 80% wagyu beef 20% bacon patty slider with onions caramelized in Maker’s Mark (hence the drunkenness), sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese, arugula, and garlic aioli. We happened to run into the burger’s namesake, @TheJuddly (who happened to be sober, for the record). He said they created the burger by his request after learning he had a less-than-awesome burger from a well known burger joint. Juddly is a total food truck freak and has been a strong supporter of our trucks for a long time! The slider came with a side of fries

that, I think, overshadowed the slider. The slider was good but the fries were ridiculous. (All of our trucks seem to be hitting the fries out of the park! Fat Shallot’s truffle aioli fries, anyone?)

Bahn Mi Long Time from Chicago Lunch Box

Bahn Mi Long Time from Chicago Lunch Box

Tess picked next! Bahn Mi Long Time from Chicago Lunch Box. I’m going to preface this with saying I’m no expert in the bahn mi; Tess on the other hand has had much more filipino food than I; same goes for Juddly who also tried a bite. They both really liked it and vouched for its authenticity. The sandwich had longaniza sausage and liked that it was sliced in long strips to make for cleaner/easier eating; the sausage was topped with jalapeños, cucumbers, carrots, and onions. It was all very fresh, the baguette was light and flakey. I thought the sandwich was missing something; it was slightly dry. That said, I would definitely try another menu item from the truck.

This picture doesn't do the Pork Nachos justice.

This picture doesn’t do the Pork Nachos justice.

On the restaurant side, we tried an al pastor taco (pork shoulder, pineapple, onion, cilantro) from Big Star. Amazing as usual. Then, despite our stomachs crying for us to stop engorging them, we ordered the pork nachos with kimchi and jalapeño aioli from Saucy Porka. The nachos were another one of the dishes I’d categorize as “addictive.” They were nicely spicy for my taste (medium heat tolerance) and a bit much for Tessa (weakling heat tolerance), and a good pork-to-chip ratio (Yeah, I said it.).

Al Pastor taco from Big Star

Al Pastor taco from Big Star

In sum,

Cooking Demonstration over a Beer

Cooking Demonstration over a Beer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got dishes one at a time, and took a seat at the picnic benches. Usually, someone would ask us where we got what we were eating and what we thought of it. The crowd was really friendly and laid back. We arrived at around 5pm, so I’m not sure if we just missed the huge crowds that usually gather at these kinds of events, but we never waited more than 6 or 7 minutes from the time we got in line to when we had food in hand. The one exception was at the very end of the night when it got cold and everyone wanted hot donuts and coffee from Beavers:

In summary, this is how we feel about Food Truck Social 2013 and fall food truck gatherings in general:

emma-stone-excited-2

Top Food Truck Blog Award

Voted Top Food Truck Blog