5 Reasons I Love The Great Food Truck Race

It’s NO secret I love TV.

I’ve been equally open regarding my love of food. So, whenever the worlds of TV and food collide, you can bet I’m buckled in for the ride.

There are tons of culinary competition shows out there (and I watch most of them), but one of my new favorites is The Great Food Truck Race. If Top Chef and Cannonball Run had a baby, it would be this show.

It’s an 8 week road trip from Malibu to Miami and the second season just started on Food Network.  After watching the first episode, I’m happy to report it’s still a tasty little morsel.

Here’s 5 reasons why:

1. Tyler Florence. Tyler Florence. Tyler Florence. Yum. 
2. The prize is for real. $100K in cash. Not a fake title as executive chef at a restaurant they may never work in. Not a restaurant makeover of a business that may not succeed. Cash. And while that may not go super far to support a restaurant with 4 walls, I’m guessing it’s a jackpot for one with 4 wheels.
3. The challenges in each city all come down to who makes the most money. Earn enough and you move on to the next. Earn the least and drive home, broke and humiliated in your giant yellow truck shaped like a banana. Ouch. That stings.
4. The cities they visit are like a character in the show. Teams start each leg from scratch without supplies, permits, parking spaces, or customers. And each place they visit throws its personality into the mix, for better or worse.
5. Food trucks are just plain awesome.

Forget restaurants.  Some of the best food in the city is coming from trucks.  We’re NOT talking street meat here. This is not fast food -- it's food served fast, with good, local ingredients. Plus each truck usually has a gimmick, which I kinda love. And they’re easy to find... like right now! 

A quick check of my handy Eat Street app (iPhone, I heart you so much I could EAT you), shows Korilla BBQ, who just happens to be in the race (go NYC!!), Cupcake Stop, and Feed Your Hole trucks all within a few blocks of my apt. 

Good thing I’m afraid of the dark, or else I’d be chowing on a Porkinator right now like it was my job.

Sold yet?

Whet your appetite with the meals on wheels that I've eaten recently (glamorous desk not included):

Wafels & Dinges
Motto: Good Things Belgian
Order: The BBQ pulled pork on a Brussels wafel, with a side of slaw and a coolickle (kinda like a red pickle)
Tip: Try their Spekuloos Spread – it looks like peanut butter and tastes like gingerbread cookie goodness.

Red Hook Lobster Pound
Motto: Serving the best crustacean in the nation
Order: Lobster roll, Maine style, on a buttery toasted bun split down the middle
Tip: Bring a $20 -- the roll is $16 alone, pricey but loaded with big chunks of tasty lobstah.

Mexicue
Motto: The sweet, sweet love child of red-hot Mexican cuisine and down-home barbeque
Order: A smoked short rib taco, BBQ beef brisket slider, and pulled pork slider.  I like to call that the Carnivore's Trifecta.
Tip: Budget about 30 minutes for this one, the line is long, but worth the wait. 

Eddie’s Pizza Truck
Motto: Home of the Bar Pie
Order: No clue.  The first time I tried to eat here, they closed the main window in my face.  The second time, they gave me attitude about needing to order through the passenger seat door instead of the giant, gaping hole on the side of the truck.  Needless to say, I left.
Tip: I hear the wait is 20 minutes.  Hopefully they're as good at making pizza as they are at being rude.

So, do YOU have any favorite food trucks?  List them below! 

And remember, this is best left to professionals: Don’t cook and drive.


tags: city life, entertainment, food