Food Trucks!!!

It’s official—Kansas City has gone food truck crazy! In the past few weeks, there have been food trucks at every major event and there have been major events just for food trucks. On one day, there was Food Truck Fridays at The KC Star and First Fridays at The Truck Stop at the Crossroads. Both of those events were followed by a Westport Marketplace event which featured over twenty different food trucks.

And you know that food trucks have officially arrived when they are featured at the Public Grand Opening of THE cultural center of Kansas City, the new Muriel Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

It is an exciting time for the food truck culture in Kansas City. Popular trucks are popping up at events everywhere and new trucks are joining the scene. Trucks that are new to me include: Best Barbecue, Grits N Gravy, Home Town Market, Rock-N-Moroccan and Traveling Burrito and Elotes. I am looking forward to trying something from every one of these trucks in the near future!

If you missed the Westport Marketplace on September 17^th, you are out of luck. There will not be another this year. It is such a great event; the only one at which you can buy alcoholic beverages to go with your meal. It lasted all day and sometimes was held on Fridays and Saturdays. They provided djs to spin great tunes and lots of artisan booths for browsing and shopping. The location was as close to perfect as you could get down in Westport—the Backyard at the Beaumont. There was plenty of room for a plethora of trucks, tables and chairs, and a nearby parking garage. I am hopeful that they will hold more of these events next year.

If you have never been to The Truck Stop at the Crossroads in Kansas City, you are IN luck. This Friday, October 7^th, is the last First Fridays event of this year at The Truck Stop at 21^st & Wyandotte. The event organizers are pulling out all the stops for this last food fest. The public is welcome between 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm to stop in and try a wide variety of menu items from ten different food trucks, including an all-natural and organic barbecue truck that is brand new to the scene*. Here is the list of trucks that will be in attendance:

Curbside Cuisine

The Tamale Wizard

Smokin' Fresh Streetside BBQ

Indios Carbonsitos

The Magical Meatball Tour

El Pueblito

Cajun Cabin

Lutifi’s Fried Fish

Chubby’s

DecoCatering

VJ Los will be spinning tunes from 7:00pm until 10:00pm for your listening enjoyment. There is nothing to stop you from dancing if you're feelin' it! If that is not enough to entice you to come down, there will be random drawings for FREE FOOD. Simply fill out a slip of paper to enter the drawing and you will be the winner of a free menu item from one of the food trucks in attendance. And one of the best things is: there is no charge to attend The Truck Stop.

If you haven’t been down to The Truck Stop this year, make sure you come down this Friday. There is no guarantee that this venue will even be in existence next year. The event space was donated over this summer by Copaken Brooks. It’s possible that if other development opportunities present themselves in the coming months, The Truck Stop will be no more. If you have been curious about what you are missing on First Fridays, now is the time to find out. Bring your lawn chairs and make a night of it.

PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR: Friday-October 7^th from 6:00 to 11:00-First Fridays-The Truck Stop at the Crossroads, 21^st & Wyandotte, brought to you by Copaken Brooks. Sure, you can check back on my webpage in a few weeks to see the pictures, but wouldn’t you rather BE IN THEM??

*In the interest of full disclosure, my hubby is the owner of this new food truck-Smokin' Fresh Streetside BBQ. I’m not going to pretend that I am other than a shameless self-promoter—it’s good stuff! But as Lavar Burton used to say, "You don't have to take my word for it..."

Food Truck Owner Profile: Adrian Bermudez

As I've said before, one of my favorite things about food trucks is the passion and creativity of the owners that run them. I love to talk to these folks about food. They are so enthusiastic and they all have very interesting backgrounds and ideas. They are combining foods and flavors in ways that I would never have thought about doing. They all have their own stories.

I have created this format so that I can profile the different food truck owners that you will find around Kansas City. The questions will be mostly uniform. If you think of questions that I haven't asked here, feel free to leave them in a comment and I will consider adding them in future.

First up--one of my favorites, since I am a lover of both barbecue and Mexican foods--Indios Carbonsitos' Adrian Bermudez.

Name: Adrian Bermudez

Name of truck: Indios Carbonsitos

Describe the kind of food you serve: Mexican Barbecue (MexiQ)

Where are you from? Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. My parents brought our family over when we were younger in order to make a better life for us. I graduated from Westport HS.

How long have you been running your food truck? Since February of this year (2011).

What made you want to start a food truck? Love of food, love of the community it creates, and love of making people happy through food. I always knew I had a product folks would like and a truck was the perfect avenue.

Where did get your inspiration for the kind of food you serve? My father- I would always be with him as a young boy and he absolutely loved getting tacos, tortas; you name it. He also had a knack for grilling and that stuck with me as well, since I’m a pyromaniac. The two things really go hand-in-hand. Seeing how something as simple as a $2 piece of meat, some simple sauces, and tortillas can bring such joy to people created the spark in me.

What is your favorite thing about being a food truck owner? Meeting people you would normally never have the opportunity to meet. In a day you can meet anyone from a CEO of a business on down to a guy that’s down to his last $5. I also like the mobility of it. If I had a brick and mortar restaurant I’d have to be stuck at the location whether it was good or bad (hopefully I would have done some research to make sure it was good), but even then all the research in the world won’t guaranteed a certain location will do well.

What is your least favorite thing about being a food truck owner? Our economy; soon though, it should start picking up. Another thing is the rules and regulations that are outdated on the Kansas side.

What are your favorite restaurants in town? This is a hard question. There are a couple that I like but for certain reasons. I’m a burger freak, so Ruby Tuesdays comes to mind. Yes, I know, it’s a chain restaurant but you have to understand the reasoning behind it. I like their $10 burger because it is one of the few places that will make a burger medium rare (my preference) and most places won’t go lower than well done. For any cook/chef that is a travesty!! Also, they make the most wonderful garlic/mayo that I use to dip my fries. There are other restaurants that used to be my favorites but have changed so much (to accommodate the Taco Bell-style of food) that I cannot name these places anymore. Same for American/Chinese, etc. Let’s just say I’m still looking but am very excited to one day try the Brazilian restaurants in town. When I do, it will only be my oldest and myself since we are the true carnivores of the house.

What food trucks do you like to eat from when you aren’t eating your own food? Magical Meatball tour!! CoffeeCakeKC, Gary’s on the Go. Mind you, I haven’t tried everyone’s but those are the top three SO FAR. You might ask my 10-year-old his favorites since I think he HAS tried every single one out there.

What are your other hobbies and interests? My family is my major hobby. It may sound funny, but with a full time job and doing this there isn’t much time left for “family time;” that’s why you will see my older boys and my wife with me in the truck most of the time. I just can’t wait until my youngest is old enough to also tag along. Every minute possible I try to be with my family.

I also love to read about current events, how things are going in other cities for food trucks and foodies alike. I also love to draw and create things, but with my carpal tunnel syndrome in my hands it is very hard and painful to do, so I do it very little now.

Do you have any future plans for your food business? Absolutely!! If everything goes well we would love to do this full time since I currently have a full time job. Eventually, I would like to have a truck in Denver, Colorado. Poor Denver doesn’t have any good BBQ joints out there and much less a MexiQ truck!! Maybe some day we will have a restaurant of our own as well.

Is there anything else that you want people to know about you or your food business? This is a family-owned, grassroots truck with no backers or sponsors trying to make a buck. This is food made with love, so you can taste and cherish my childhood years with my father and how wonderful TRUE street food can really be.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I have eaten several different items from the Indios truck and none of them missed the mark. When my hubby found out that there were barbecue nachos on the menu, he knew right away that he had to try them. I was dubious, but agreed to share an order with him. I was unprepared for how good they were. Brisket, "Nacho" cheese and barbecue sauce over chips just didn't sound like it was going to meld, but, oh was I wrong about that! It came together very well and I found that I couldn't stop eating it. And so, a word of caution: If you try the torta ahogada, make sure you get your own. Don't try to share it with anyone, because you will not be able to put it down. I'm pretty sure torta ahogada means "addicted to this sandwich" in Spanish. I don't have a picture of the sandwich because as soon as it was in my hand, I wanted to start eating it and once I started, I couldn't stop.

Kansas City - Embrace Your Inner Foodie

Kansas City has an identity crisis; that is no surprise to anyone. Some people have suggested that we all embrace our cowtown roots as our identity. There would be nothing wrong with that, except that we are no longer a cowtown. It seems too much like a manufactured label when you have to create a cattle drive in order to embrace your identity. Some have suggested that we should promote ourselves as a sports town. I love sports as much as the next person, and that seems to be the problem—what town ISN’T a sports town? And how can we bill ourselves as a sports town when the populace won’t support the NBA and/or the NHL?

So, in the search for identity, we should look at what stands out about the people here. You know what stands out about Kansas City? Kansas Citians love to eat.

Maybe you would look at that as something of which we should not be too proud. I would say there is nothing wrong with loving food. There seem to be a great many people proudly wearing the label of “foodie.” Think about the proliferation of food shows on television, the advent of the “celebrity chef,” and how many cable network channels are devoted to food. Think about how many restaurants we have and how all of our events include food—even going to a football game. I’m not talking about HOW MUCH we eat, per se, just how much we LOVE FOOD. Who do you know that doesn’t have a grill in the backyard? When was the last time you heard or participated in a conversation about food that turned into a passionate recommendation of some new dish or restaurant? Embrace it, Kansas City, we are a Foodie Town.

I view the current increase in food trucks in Kansas City as a logical extension of who we are. Most of the people running food trucks around town are passionate about the food that they serve from those trucks. They aren’t just out there to make money. It is important to them that people love the food they serve as much as they love to make it. There are many people in Kansas City who are passionate about cooking, but not everyone can afford to open up their own restaurant. Especially in these tough economic times, when even brick and mortar restaurants struggle to make a profit, it makes sense to keep your overhead low. Hence the current food truck trend.

On Friday nights in Kansas City, you can be part of the trend and embrace your identity as a Kansas Citian by stopping by 21^st and Wyandotte, The Truck Stop in the Crossroads, to experience the culinary passion of your fellow foodies.

Friday, August 19^th, found The Truck Stop full of mobile chefs offering a variety of specialty foods. Lufti’s Fried Fish, Curbside Cuisine, Gary on the Go, The Tamale Wizard, The Funnel Cake Truck along with first-time attendees Indios Carbonsitos and The Magical Meatball Tour offered their wares. The Barbecue Nachos (Indios Carbonsitos) and the Sampler Platter from the Magical Meatball Tour were particularly spectacular. These were both delicious, filling meals that will satisfy your love for great food at a very economical price.

Above: Indios Carbonsitos' Fabulous Barbecue Nachos. Brisket, Cheese, BBQ Sauce and chips combine for a surprisingly delicious fusion of flavor.
The Magical Meatball Tour's Sampler Platter includes an absolutely delicious vegetarian meatball that even you carnivores will love!

One more thing that I wanted to mention to all of you surburbanites; if you aren't venturing into the City for your entertainment on evenings and weekends, you are missing out. As we were leaving The Truck Stop on Friday night, up in the sky I saw the most awesome, strange and wonderful fireworks I have ever seen. I still don't know what exactly it was--it HAD to be fireworks, but I have never seen fireworks stay lit for such a long time. They were flying around the sky in formation above the city. Where were they coming from? I still don't know. My camera is too cheap to have taken decent pics, so you will have to take my word.

If you aren't at The Truck Stop on Friday nights, you don't know what you might be missing.

My Horrible Blunder

Okay; I suck. I was supposed to blog about the Westport Truck Festival that took place in July, and, obviously, I didn’t. Do you know why? Because I forgot my camera. Duh.

There were great pictures to be taken-tables full of people, a guy walking on glass, little kids creating their own makeshift mosh pit. Who wants to read a blog without pictures? My hubby took pictures on his phone, but my computer refuses to recognize his phone when I hook it up, so, again, no pictures. I suck.

I have to briefly say, however, that the Westport Truck Festival was a really great time! There were more food trucks there than were at First Fridays at The Truck Stop and there were other vendors and DJs pumping out jams. I ran into some people that I hadn’t seen in years and remembered what a Friday night in Westport can be like! The parking was great, the people were great, and, oh yeah, MARGARITAS!! (Not the best I’ve ever had, but better than none at all.) Alcoholic beverages were provided by The Beaumont. Very nice.

I missed telling you all how fantastic the inaugural outing of the Magical Meatball Tour was; succulent meatballs in thick sauce that melted in your mouth. Delish! And I missed explaining to you the difference between a Philly Steak Sandwich and a KC Philly, because I know a Philly Cheesesteak when I taste one. (I applaud Gary for being honest enough to call it like it is.) Good stuff! And CoffeeCakeKC was so overrun that they had to schlep more cupcakes in (no easy feat since Westport was packed with people). GoodYou, Indios Carbonsitos, Curbside Cuisine and Jerusalem Café had lines so long that I never even got near their trucks. And I met new truck and cart owners that I could have told you a thing or two about (Gary on the Go, Frank’s, The Funnel Cake Truck, Guerrilla Gourmet).

But I suck because I don’t have any pictures. I promise that next time I will do better.

New First Stop for First Fridays:The Truck Stop in the Crossroads

The most exciting thing about food trucks is that the people who own and operate them are passionate about the food they are serving and have an opportunity to share that passion with other people all around the city. For many, the cost of opening a restaurant prohibits them from otherwise being able to share their culinary passion with anyone other than family and friends. Food trucks are the great equalizers on the culinary scene. They are small business in its simplest form and a great opportunity for people who love to eat food to experience the handiwork of people who love to cook it.

The past two weeks in Kansas City have been very exciting for me as a food truck fan. Last week, Friday, July 1^st, the Truck Stop in the Crossroads debuted a monthly event of mobile culinary goodness. Several food trucks from the metropolitan area gathered at the Crossroads to offer their tasty dishes at First Fridays in the arts district. The use of a lot at 21^st & Wyandotte has been donated by Copaken-Brooks so that this will become a monthly event throughout the end of October.

As early as possible on Friday, I headed down to the Crossroads district along with several family members and friends. We had to park several blocks away, as it was a little tricky to find parking, but we managed. Sadly we passed the now-famous shiny airstream trailer of Chef Patrick Ryan—Port Fonda—sitting in its usual Friday night spot at the Rieger Hotel. Since he has a regular spot on Friday nights, his trailer was not a participant in this particular event. The Truck Stop event started earlier than his regular hours in Port Fonda, so there was nobody there when we walked by, although later when we left, there was a very long wait for those inclined to avail themselves. Passing close to the line, the chatter was that it was worth the wait, no matter how hot and sticky the weather.

As we came around the corner at 19^th and Wyandotte and I saw the food trucks in a circle surrounding an area filled with tables and chairs, I couldn’t help but think of a line from some western—circle the wagons, boys! Surrounded by taller buildings, there was some nice shade to be found at the Truck Stop, a welcome retreat from the summer sun that still baked at 6:15 in the evening. There was even a port-a-potty (though I don’t know if that was due to the forethought of the organizers or whether it had been brought for construction workers working on a building close by).

Curbside Cuisine, Jerusalem Café, GoodYou, Los Tules and CoffeeCakeKC were the trucks in attendance at this inaugural event. I headed straight for the yellow truck that has been around the Kansas City food truck scene longer than all of the others there—Jerusalem Café. Because there was so much good food in one location, and I wanted to try as much of it as I could, I shared a meal with my husband. We had a tender and tasty gyro and a cup of the best lemonade I have ever tasted. If it sounds silly to go on about lemonade, you should understand that I don’t even care for lemonade. This lemonade, while not overly sweet, was flavorful, thirst-quenching and, best of all, fresh-tasting. The gyro was excellent--pita soft and firm, meat tender and artfully seasoned, and drizzled with just the right amount of sauce.

My daughter and her boyfriend headed over to Curbside Cuisine for a hot dog and a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. He is a hot dog aficionado. He ordered his dog Chicago style and gave it high marks for flavor. She enjoyed the Philly Cheesesteak, one of her favorite foods. Their servings were ample, affordable and restaurant-quality. They were well-satisfied with their choices and, I think, pleasantly surprised.

After polishing off our gyro, hubby and I headed for Los Tules. Their truck serves up menu items from their restaurant at 1656 Broadway in the Crossroads district. They generally don’t have their truck out at night, so this was a special chance for me to try what they had to offer. I had a delightful carne asada taco with spicy tomatillo sauce. The corn tortillas were warm and supple, the meat tender and savory and the sauce was just hot enough to burn my lips as I was eating it. And this is where my lemonade transcended mere deliciousness and became my savior, as the sugar in it was just enough to counter-balance the little bit of spice in the tomatillo sauce. Delicious. Meanwhile, my hubby polished off the tamale he had ordered with gusto. He is very picky about his tamales and is often disappointed by the imbalance of the meat filling, either not enough or too much. He pronounced the tamale a success with the proper balance, excellent flavor and perfect texture.

GoodYou was offering their jerk chicken sandwich and the burger that was voted Best Burger at the Bonnaroo Music Festival this year. Sadly, we didn’t save room for these sandwiches and so did not get to enjoy either one that night. However, my friend’s daughter ordered the burger and proceeded to dissect it. She said the hamburger was delicious, but it turns out that she doesn’t like bread. This is no mere bread, though; this is a delicious brioche made by Farm to Market, a local organic bakery. Having had it before, I can attest that it is heavenly. This tragic mauling of a piece of art in the middle of the art district was a minor blasphemy. But, hey, you know, kids; what are you going to do? We chose not to condemn, but to use this as a teaching moment.

Everyone in my party capped off their meal with some delicious offering from the big orange CoffeeCakeKC truck. Those that ordered the mango smoothies were amazed by how good they were. Having previously tasted their strawberry lemonade smoothie, I was not surprised. Smoothies can be thick with sweetness and artificial in taste, not so the smoothies served here. The taste is sweet, but naturally so, with the fruit flavor taking center stage and these smoothies are lighter than any I have had elsewhere. Others in my party chose to top dinner off with one of Ms. Nene’s delicious cupcakes. Darth Chocolate and Pink Lemonade were enjoyed in all of their luscious baked glory. I, however, chose to end this culinary adventure with something different and ordered an iced Mexican-spiced cocoa. It…was…fabulous.

As we lingered over our desserts, I noticed the variety of people milling about and sitting at tables. It was a friendly and casual atmosphere. Groups of people came, browsed, ate and went on to their First Friday revelry. Other people seemed to enjoy the opportunity to chat with the operators of the trucks and the chefs seemed to enjoy the exchange. As time passed, more people started arriving and my group moved on to make space at the tables.

I have heard that the organizers of this event hope to add live music to this venue in the future. Though, as a music lover, it would be a welcome addition, I couldn’t help but think that the lack of music this night added an opportunity that might otherwise have been lost for people to mingle and chat with both strangers and friends. Listening to the comments that people made about the food and the atmosphere added a layer of enjoyment and created a kind of music of its own.

Next stop--the Westport Food Truck Festival!

KC Experiences Renewed Interest in Street Food

Google Food Truck KC and you will get 1,620,000 hits. You will find enthusiastic articles, blogs, reviews and more pertaining to the sale of food from trucks and carts in the Kansas City area. You will be directed to mobile phone apps that will help you to track these trucks and carts. And you will see pictures that make you drool with anticipation.

Kansas City is experiencing a street food renaissance. There have always been street food vendors here, most famously at night in the Westport area. But the food trucks out on the streets today are being manned by trained chefs and passionate foodies serving the quality fare that you would normally expect from a restaurant. Mexican, Greek, Dessert Food, Gourmet Coffee, Organic fare, Fusion foods and much more. And they are multiplying.

This is becoming such a phenomenon that local businesses like the Kansas City Star and The Roasterie have sponsored food truck gatherings. Next weekend, July 7th & 8th, 2011, The Pitch and Boulevard Brewery are sponsoring the Westport Food Truck Festival, a two-day event with food, drink, music and crafts. And just this evening, Copaken-Brooks opened a space for food trucks to gather every First Friday weekend until the end of October in the Crossroads district at 21st & Wyandotte.

If you haven't heard about this phenomenon, stayed tuned to this spot. Here I will blog about my culinary adventures in Kansas City's food truck community. I will seek out trucks and carts and profile the people who operate them. I will provide pictures and food reviews, menus and prices. I will keep my finger on the pulse of the KC Street Food Renaissance and give you all the details.

Stay tuned--it's going to be awesome!