Food Truck Friday is here: Meet the vendors and their delicious eats
Curated collections are all the rage. We want — no, sometimes need — someone to wade through the clutter and lead us to a delicious gem.
When we’re talking food trucks, some specialize in just one thing — like creme brulee — and aim to make it the best example of its kind. Others serve a full menu that constantly changes based on the whims of the chef.
But when you are fortunate enough to gather nine of Kansas City’s best food trucks in one parking lot? Well, it’s time to zero in on a couple of the most popular items for an edible twist on what trendwatching.com has cleverly dubbed “curated consumption.”
Yes, the lines at The Star’s Food Truck Friday can be long, but as a longtime fan, I’ve ferreted out the items worth the wait.
Join us from 5 to 8 p.m. to kick off Chow Town’s fourth annual Food Truck Friday events. We’ll be noshing in the Star's parking lot at 18th & McGee streets.
Beauty of the Bistro
Pork bahn mi ($8)
The Boom Boom and Blue Moon Burgers are already legend; in my book, some of the best in town. The Crawfish mac ’n’ cheese is also a scandalous twist on an American classic, oozing with three cheeses, crawfish, green onion and corn.
But the season’s newest addition is what I’m after. The pork bahn mi — a take on the fusion French/Vietnamese sandwich staple — includes smoked pulled pork, pickled carrots, fresh sliced cucumbers, jalapenos and cilantro on a toasted French baguette that has been dressed with both chipotle mayo and a raspberry-jalapeno spread.
The funny thing is owner Sidney Fish had never had a bahn mi. She got the idea from photos she had seen of the Lone Wolf Bahn Mi truck in Tulsa, Okla. “I guess I was struck by the freshness of the vegetables,” she says.
It has become her personal favorite, one she eats every day when she’s on the truck — only she eats it as a bowl, without bread. And you can order it that way, too.
Twitter @beautyofbistro; Facebook
Street Wings
Cinco de Mayo chorizo-stuffed wings (4 for $7)
Michelle and Jeff Franke started out with Little Italy, a food truck offering traditional recipes from Michelle’s family. Then they added a wings truck and started specializing in stuffing the chicken wings with all kinds of things.
Street Wings provides a food that is perfect for playing with a variety of flavors. To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the couple went into their test kitchen and created a wing stuffed with a spicy chorizo and queso fresco drizzled with a “sassy” Sriracha over the top.
Twitter @StreetWingsKC; Facebook
Crave of KC
Chicken fusion tacos ($3 each)
“I want a hot body … but I also want tacos.” — Jack Black, in cult classic “Nacho Libre”
I feel ya, Jack. The line is always long at this splashy neon-orange and yellow truck. The loaded nachos are a fresh bet: a mountain of layered homemade tortilla chips with melted cheese, black beans, fresh pico de gallo, onions and chopped cilantro, creamy avocado sauce, and chicken or carnitas, or both.
But don’t miss the truck’s best-seller: chicken fusion tacos: herb-marinated charbroiled chicken wrapped in flour tortillas with a tangy Asian slaw, a slightly kicky housemade peanut sauce, pico de gallo and melted Colby Jack cheese. Doesn’t sound like it will work, but it most certainly does.
“I think it’s our best-seller because it’s different,” says Chris Ireland, co-owner of the truck with her husband, Joe.
Go ahead. Pat your happy tummy.
Twitter @CraveofKCTruck; Facebook
The Moose Truck
Shrimp and grits ($7)
The blue truck with a moose mascot is where chef Ryan Sneed and crew do their spin on a down-home Southern classic: a white cheddar grit cake topped with spicy slaw and three beer-battered shrimp topped with a Tabasco creme anglaise.
“It’s a real crowd-pleaser, I think because it looks pretty cool and it has a bite, but not too much,” says Bethany Inman, sales and events manager for KC Hopps Restaurants and Breweries.
The company owns a string of homegrown eateries, including Barley Brewhaus, the Alley, 75th Street Brewery, O’Dowd’s Little Dublin and Blue Moose restaurants.
A trend to watch: The Moose Truck has more than doubled its booking for wedding receptions this year.
Twitter @moosetruck; Facebook
Monk’s Roast Beef
Poutine ($5.25 small, $6.50 large, plus $1 for extra beef)
At first you think, a truck that sells only roast beef? Naw, there’s poutine, too.
Barron’s “The New Food Lover’s Companion” calls poutine — pronounced poo-TEEN — “the ultimate French-Canadian junk food.” Picture a bed of French fries with a gob of Shatto cheese curds and a ladle of homemade brown gravy.
Delish, eh? And rich.
Owner Ken DeBenedictis grew up in New England and says, “It’s kind of the fan favorite up there. They have, like, poutine restaurants, and at 2 a.m. after a hockey game everybody is standing in line for some. It’s really a phenomenon.”
Even McDonald’s has a version up north. If you want to make it a full meal at Monk’s, ask for it with extra beef.
Twitter @monksroastbeef; Facebook
Torched Goodness
OMG special creme brulee ($5)
One of the things that tickles me most is when a food truck takes on a dish that is considered, well, more silver spoon than plastic spoon.
Creme brulee has become much less haughty, thanks to Torched Goodness. “We were trying to bring something to the streets that is not easy to come by,” says Julia Ireland, who co-owns the dessert truck with her husband, Eric Ireland.
Eric, a Le Cordon Bleu grad, doesn’t dumb anything down: He’s using local ingredients and torching a la minute, or as it is ordered, so the sugar topping stays nice and crisp, breaking into crunchy shards when tapped with a spoon.
As you might expect, the truck offers more than traditional vanilla, including sea salt caramel, lavender, rosewater, root beer float and lemon coconut. But new to the list in 2015 are a few OMG specialties: S’more the Merrier (chocolate with toasted marshmallows and graham crackers); Coconut Strut (sea salt caramel with toasted coconut and caramel sauce); and Creme de la Cookie (vanilla with Oreo cookies and caramel sauce).
“During the long winter we had a lot of time to dream up some new things,” Julia says.
Starting this year, Torched Goodness also operates a food cart in front of Liberty Hall: 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, and will make appearances at the Lawrence and Olathe farmers markets.
Twitter @torchedgoodness; Facebook
El Tenedor
Puff pastry dessert ($5) and paella ($10)
Chef Carmen Cabia is originally from Barcelona and worked at the now closed Lill’s on 17th. She continues to do fantastic tapas from her small trailer, including croquetas, empanadillas and Spanish meatballs.
When the weather is hot, she adds a gazpacho to the menu. And due to popular demand, she always has a paella on board.
Over the past few years, it has been amazing to see is how Cabia plates her fabulous tapas from quarters so close it might seem like clowns bursting from a toy car.
Best bet: Buy one of everything she brings.
Cupcake Cruiser brought to you by the Sweet Tooth
Cookie dough cupcake ($2.50)
The cupcake craze may have subsided slightly, but a good flavor is still gold.
The Cupcake Cruiser’s house flavor fave: a chocolate cupcake with a cookie dough center, cookie dough frosting and a sprinkling of chocolate chips. “We carry it on the truck all the time,” says Tiffany Boggan, whose Blue Springs bakery offers 17 flavors daily.
Boggan and her mother, Rhonda Hayes, bought the Cupcake Cruiser business a year ago but were “off the grid” for a few months when their van died. They’re ready to get back out there with a new, flashier van, one Boggan affectionately calls “Wendy the Wagon.” Boggan has even ordered headlight eyelashes to add personality to her cruiser.
Boggan says the addition of a truck has helped her get to know the community better. And, in addition to weekly stops around the metro, she has expanded her efforts to include fundraisers.
You might even see her roaming in your neighborhood: She has received licensing to sell cupcakes along with the ice cream trucks. She’s just waiting on a sound system.
Twitter @TSTCruiser; Facebook
CoffeeCakeKC
The Baron ($4)
Michelle Ferguson and business partner Kimberly Niebaum had been fans of CoffeeCakeKC since it got its start four years ago. They liked the coffee and the culture surrounding a well-crafted cuppa — “no judgment at the coffee truck — ever!” Ferguson promises.
When the funky orange truck was for sale, she knew it was time to quit her job as a graphic designer and hit the road. She had a two-week crash course from previous owners Melanie and Brian Jurgens. But otherwise things remain pretty much the same.
“We didn’t want someone else to buy it and change it,” Ferguson says.
Try CoffeeCakeKC’s most popular drink, the Baron: a frozen blended Mexican hot chocolate with a double shot of espresso. The truck uses Mother Earth Coffee, a direct-trade coffee distributed by locally owned Paris Brothers Specialty Foods, and I can vouch that the brew will help you get your buzz on.
Twitter @coffeecakekc; Facebook
Jill Wendholt Silva is Chow Town’s food editor, lead restaurant critic and blog curator. Reach her at jsilva@kcstar.com, @kcstarfood and @jillwsilva on Twitter and Instagram.
Food Truck Friday
Join us from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday to kick off Chow Town’s fourth annual Food Truck Friday events. We’ll be noshing in our parking lot at 18th & McGee streets.
May’s featured trucks include Beauty and the Bistro, Street Wings, Crave of KC, Moose Truck, Monk’s Roast Beef, Torched Goodness, El Tenedor, Cupcake Cruiser and CoffeeCakeKC. Plus, if you’re 21 and over, you can hang out at Revel Traveling Bar, an Eddie Crane pop-up concept.
Save the date for more food trucks in June, September and October.
The evolving wedding scene
Who needs beer cans tied with string to the back of your car when you can use a food truck at the reception?
When the wave of gourmet food trucks started rolling through Kansas City about four years ago, hungry fans flocked to street corners in search of the rolling restaurants. But most successful food truck entrepreneurs built a name at festivals, then moved on to fill out their dance cards with more reliable event catering and private parties.
Bethany Inman, catering and events director for KC Hopps, says wedding bookings have more than doubled this year for the Moose Truck.
Beauty of the Bistro owner Sidney Fish says some of the weddings she has catered include the standard food truck fare, while others feature fancier options, such as a tenderloin, served “truck-style” — catered through the window, in paper boats.
Chris Ireland, co-owner of Crave of Kansas City, says she has been asked to cater sit-down wedding dinners and to provide late-night snacks for the dance. But two mothers of the bride called back to say that if they had it to do over again, they’d skip the sit-down catered dinner and hire the food truck instead.
Overall, local food truck operators say bridal magazines and last summer’s “Chef” — a movie about the passion and pluck it takes to run a successful food truck operation — are responsible for the bump in their business.
“It always cracks me up,” Fish says. “As soon as someone discovers food trucks or they have seen ‘Chef,’ they suddenly seem to see them everywhere. They were always there, they just weren’t paying attention.”
Jill Wendholt Silva, The Star
This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Food Truck Friday is here: Meet the vendors and their delicious eats."