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!