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..."