New Thing #75 - Food Truck Friday

Food trucks have been gaining more and more momentum over the past few years, even garnering their own show on Food Network. While they've been a staple on the east and west coasts, they're relatively new to the St. Louis area, or maybe to any area in St. Louis that I go. Last year, Sauce Magazine, a local restaurant guide/magazine started Food Truck Fridays in Tower Grove Park. On the second Friday of every month, a dozen or so of the area's finest food trucks would line up in the southwest corner to sell their wares for a mass of hungry people. There was not one single time that I was able to go last year. I was always either out of town or had other plans.

I was bound and determined to go this year, and fortunately, I was free for the first one. My friend Brenda was also miraculously free, and since I have Friday afternoons off, and she has every other Friday off, we could get there early for a parking spot and try to beat the crazy rush.

Even though it didn't start until 5:00, we headed to the park around 4:30 to get a parking spot and just enjoy the park on a gorgeous Friday night. The weather was perfect, and the smells coming from the trucks were amazing. If you overlooked the diesel smell, that is.

18 trucks lined the street, selling everything from Mexican hot dogs to sushi, sausages, Italian delicacies and cupcakes. Some were already serving, but others were still firing up their grills. We took the time to look at the menus on each truck to determine which truck we'd be eating from.

Le Food Truck - From L'Ecole Culinaire (a local culinary school) featuring gourmet foods like duck confit quesadillas.

Holy Crepe! - Sweet and savory crepes.

Hot Aztec - Mexican food including bacon wrapped hot dogs. Yum! (Although said hot dogs are also covered in mayo, mustard, and ketchup. Blech!)

Summer Truck - lots of organic food and vegetarian dishes. They did have a pork slider that sounded intriguing though.

Sarah's Cake Shop - 'nuff said

Guerrilla Street Food - Grilled food with Asian influences, including Filipino beef kabobs.

Banh Mi - Asian of some sort.

Go Gyro Go - Greek gyros

Lulu's Eatery - Local and organic, farm fresh foods

Schlafly Beer Truck!

Shell's Coastal Cuisine - Self-proclaimed "Floribbean" food including fish, tacos and cubans.

2 Girls 4 Wheels - Pulled pork, grilled cheese, chili and other American favorites.

Chop Shop - Sushi (no thank you)

The Sweet Divine - Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies

Seoul Taco - Asian inspired tacos

Zia's - St. Louis/Italian favorites!

Falafelwich Wagon - The only one not making fresh food, but they still had a long line.

The Sausage Syndicate - German sausages AND snazzy dressers

Whew, we finally made it to the end, and now we had to decide what we were actually going to eat. I immediately knew I wanted a cupcake or dessert of some kind, but I figured I should probably get an entree to start off with. I was torn between Guerrilla Street Food and Hot Aztec. The thought of a hot dog wrapped in bacon and covered in cheese sounded heavenly, but I didn't want to be that annoying person that asks for half of the toppings be left off.

Brenda knew what she wanted, so she headed over to Seoul Taco to get a bulgogi steak and a spicy pork taco. 

I hopped in line at Guerrilla Street Food for their Chicken Adobo - tender chicken braised in soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, peppercorns and bay leaves, served over rice.

Best. Choice. Ever.

Chicken Adobo and a Schlafly beer. Perfect Friday night.

Brenda's tacos.

I was incredibly impressed with my chicken dish, and I think I scraped the paper bowl clean. Brenda was equally impressed with her tacos, but thought they weren't quite enough food for the money. She opted to try the sweet potato fries from Lulu's, but since they were essentially just soggy strings of sweet potatoes, she was unimpressed. Bummer. Hopefully dessert would be better.

Stay away from these. 

 For dessert, the first stop was the Sweet Divine. Look at their adorable menu!

I wasn't sold on any of the cupcakes (one was made with dill pickles...SICK!), so I got the banana whoopie pie - two banana cookies filled with cream. 

The cookies tasted EXACTLY like my grandma's banana cookies that I make all the time. I mean, exactly. Should I see if they stole the recipe?! ;-) I wasn't a fan of the icing/cream in between though. Too sweet.

Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the whole damn thing. No judgement!

Next stop, Sarah's Cake Shop. I got a zucchini cupcake for later, and Brenda bought a salted caramel cupcake with a Twix brownie for later.

Zucchini cupcake.

Brenda's spoils.

It was a fantastic night for eating and people watching in the park. The weather was great, the food was equally delicious, and we were able to get our food before the lines were too long. If you live in St. Louis, I highly recommend this outing. Just get there early or you'll be in line for awhile.