I’m sort of addicted to food trucks, but fortunately my thriftiness and geographically undesirable work location keeps me from visiting them every day and ballooning to an unhealthy weight. The Seattle summer food truck season kicks off next weekend with the Mobile Food Rodeo, a gathering of dozens of food trucks in one convenient location (or in this case two locations – the International District on Saturday, Fremont on Sunday). These mobile food rodeos quickly become too crowded for my taste and patience levels, but I usually get there a little bit before it opens and quickly hit up a few trucks to try some new ones.
If there aren’t enough interesting new choices next week, I will be hitting up one or more of my old favorites:
The Box – Whenever I see this truck I have to get the pork belly hum bao. It also has a pretty good chicken karaage that comes with a side of chop salad.
Caravan Crepes – This is probably my favorite food truck, especially in the summer when they have crepes with fresh berries. Their menu is always changing and I have never been disappointed by any of their sweet or savory offerings (though I prefer the sweet).
El Camion – I’ve been going to the El Camion in the Aurora Home Depot parking lot since before food trucks were even a thing. I have never strayed from their carnitas tacos, but they have a huge menu that I’ve only heard good things about. It’s the trifecta of cheap, tasty and filling. If only the wait wasn’t so long.
Grilled Cheese Experience – It’s hard not to love a place whose grilled cheese sandwiches also have cheese on the outside of the bread – some of them are served on parmesan encrusted sourdough. The last time I went, my friend and I were served by a guy with an Australian accent and both given 1-1/2 sandwiches. Definitely a grilled cheese experience!
Marination – Korean tacos and spam sliders make me happy. One of these days I need to try the kimchi fried rice and drive to the West Seattle brick and mortar.
Maximus/Minimus – Who wouldn’t want to eat at a truck shaped like a pig? Vegetarians, I guess. Great BBQ pork sandwiches and coleslaw (and I don’t even like coleslaw). Along with Marination, this is one of the original Seattle food trucks.
Molly Moon – I visit one of their shops at least once a month, but the truck is special because it has ice cream sandwiches that none of the shops other than Madrona offer. No matter how long the line is, I will wait in it to get one of those sandwiches made with praline cookies.
Narwhal – Narwhal has one of the coolest looking trucks around and served me the single best (and most expensive) food truck dish I’ve ever eaten – melon cucumber Dungeness crab gazpacho. Sadly I have not seen the truck since, but a web search tells me it still exists. Must find it again this summer.
Sam Choy’s Poke to the Max – Poke to the Max has a number of Hawaiian dishes, but I go for the ahi tuna poke and spam musubi. The poke comes with rice, but I often get it without, which is what the picture shows. If you want to sleep through your afternoon, get the loco moco.
Street Treats – This place is dangerous. They offer make-your-own ice cream sandwiches, where you pick the type of ice cream and cookies. My mouth still waters when I think about the chocolate peanut cookie/peanut butter ice cream combo I had a couple years ago – with cookies that were still warm.
Tuscan Stone Pizza – I’m not a big fan of non-traditional California Pizza Kitchen type toppings, but I loved the mango coconut shrimp pizza I had from these guys at a Mobile Food Rodeo a few years back. I don’t think it’s on their normal menu, but I’ve had nice traditional wood fired pizzas from them since.
314 Pie –I haven’t actually tried this one yet, but a friend told me about it, and I’ve wanted to eat there since I read it serves the pies the owners fell in love with in New Zealand and Australia. I know the feeling – I’ve been craving these suckers since having the perfect one in New Zealand in 2010. Plus I like the clever name.
I’m looking forward to gorging myself this summer.
roamingcpa 