Category Archives: Food Trucks

Fantastic Filipino Feast From the Foodee Festival

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We’ve already established I have an alliteration addiction so let’s move past the title and talk about the f-ing food from Saturday. And by f-ing I mean food trucking. I’ve been waiting for this weekend semi-patiently for a month or so after first getting wind of the FoodeeFest that was going to be at the Anderson Mall. It promised 30 food trucks and other vendors and I love me some food trucks so there was no way I was missing it. Judging by the crowd I was not the only one.

Fortunately the mall provided plenty of places to park and still be only a short walk to the event area. Once I got there I did what any smart person does at an event like this and walked the full circuit to see all my options before deciding what to get. There was a nice variety of foods, beverages, deserts, and crafts in trucks, trailers, and tents. The first place that caught my attention was a wood fired pizza truck, then a Cajun truck, a soul food trailer, BBQ sauce and rub purveyor, and a cheesecake pusher, it was beautiful. Food trucks checking the international box had food from Greece, Italy, Mexico, China, Japan, Ireland (it was a loaded potato truck but I’m counting it), and a Kabob truck that covers any number of countries.

I almost went with the Kabobs since they looked mighty tasty on that grill but as you can guess from the title the Philippines was also represented. There were actually two selling Filipino food with very similar offerings and price points so I went with the one I was closest too at the end of the circuit. I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of the vehicle but I got the signboard and picture menu covered here.

They had a combo plate that included either the adobo chicken or liempo, pancit, 2 lumpia of your choice and rice. Variety? Yes please, I got the pork lumpia, and the liempo to go with the pancit and rice.

The little flag was a nice touch. All of the food was great but I will say the liempo meat was pretty salty. The rice wasn’t so it was best to match the two bite for bite. The plate was $20, which for the portions and the fact that is was food truck fare was actually a decent deal. The lumpia dipped in the doctored up soy sauce were outstanding. The pancit noodles had a few green beans and carrots so I felt like I could count that as a healthy side. Overall it was delicious and I’d definitely try them again.

A couple of observations from this “festival”. On the whole these food vendors seemed to be turning the tickets faster than most food trucks I’ve been to. I don’t know if it’s just their overall experience traveling with the group setting up these events or what but the lines of waiting people were not quite as long as I expected. It could have been the volume of options as well. Regardless of the reason it was a good experience. Also asking if they prefer cash or card can save you money. I saved a almost 2 bucks paying cash. Lastly for my Augusta / Aiken / Columbia people this same group is rolling into Aiken May 3-5.

Parking Lot Deal for Shrimp

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I joined a Facebook group. What are things you might regret Alex? In this case it worked out well for me. Specifically it is a group of people who post about Oconee County SC food places. Like a good group the opinions vary on what’s good and what’s not and either people are generally willing to agree to disagree or the moderators quickly put the hammer down on trollish behavior. I mean it runs the gamut of someone posting about how tasty the Waffle House is to someone else talking about the grade of bean at a coffee house. Since the international food scene is kind of thin in these parts I figured it would give me a heads up on new places. I might also discover new options I haven’t considered.

There was a post saying the Blue Ridge Grill food trailer was parked in the Advanced Auto parking lot just a few miles from the office. I dig mobile food venues and I needed a valve stem cap so it was like fate was pushing me there. Good old fate.

There was no line so I knew I shouldn’t have any issues with time but I also wondered if that was a sign of the quality of the food. Only one way to find out. I checked out the menu board and then just asked them what they were particularly proud of today. The lady taking orders deferred to the guy making the food who said the Coconut Shrimp were something else today. I told them to hook me up because that was what I had been leaning towards anyway. While they prepared my food I ran into the auto parts store and took care of business. By the time I came back they were just closing the lid on my lunch.

I smelled that shrimp all the way back to the office and by the time I got to the table I was salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs. There were 9 shrimp, some coleslaw, fries and cocktail sauce in the box. Oh and the lemon garnish and two weird pieces of lettuce I assume were to add color. I was pleased with the look of those shrimp because the shredded coconut was abundant. Here’s a close-up.

These were some of the best coconut shrimp I’ve ever had. After trying the first one au naturel I decided to dress one up with a little cocktail sauce. I’m not a big cocktail sauce fan but I did want to judge the quality. It was decent but honestly it took away from the taste of the shrimp and kind of felt like an insult using it. I ate them slow to savor them. The slaw was ok and I almost skipped the fries but apparently the close proximity to the shrimp imparted some goodness on them and I ate few.

Overall I was well pleased with the parking lot deal I’d made with the folks in the Blue Ridge Grill trailer.

Here Be Cheesemongers

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Last weekend was a fun food filled frolic for the old culinary passport. Ok, there was no frolicking, I might have gotten caught up in the alliteration. Anyway, I drove up to visit my sister Lynn and family. Plans had been made to go to the Pimento Cheese Festival in Cary, NC. We’d been a few years before and it seemed like a good reason to hang out. The day was nice, not too hot and no rain so good June weather.

They had one street blocked off, food trucks lining the way, a kids area set up and a beer garden just past that off to one side. I guess you could drop off the kids and hit the booze. At the end of the street they had a decent band playing some 80’s & 90’s tunes.

Now the thing was every truck had to have at least one dish that featured pimento cheese, because, you know it’s right there in the name, Pimento Cheese Festival. Some had to be pretty creative to earn their spot. Like this one.

Most kept it simple and just threw some pimento cheese on fries or sandwich or whatever they normally served but that wouldn’t do for me so we walked the entire length looking for interesting and I settled on the Big Mama wrap.

There was a lot going on here. All the components were ok and I wanted to love it but I only liked it. I think part of my issue was the fact that although it was a wrap it wasn’t something you could eat with your hands because of the pimento cheese topping it. Sitting on church steps trying to cut that with cheap plastic cutlery was a less than a stellar experience. I did appreciate their creativity though.

After that mild disappointment I figured I’d try, try again so to the ice cream cart we went. Surely not, you say, but yes they had it.

And I got it.

My sister took the saner option and got Pina Colada ice cream. Not me boy. It was the pimento cheese ice cream sandwich all the way. Yes it was as weird as it sounds. The sugar cookies that it was sandwiched between were sweet and chewy while the ice cream was sort of sweet and cheesy and a bit salty. Talk about cognitive dissonance. My brain kept rebelling at the sight of what should be a wholly sweet treat that kept hitting the tongue with savory blasts. I’m glad I tried it but I’ll be just as glad to never try it again.

After this we walked to see the beer garden offerings. To get there we had to pass through the children’s area where they had giant red solo cups and big white balls and it looked like they were teaching the kids to play beer pong. With that disturbing visual in mind nothing was striking my fancy among the purveyors of beer until we hit the Vicious Fishes tent and I saw the Here Be Dragons IPA.

The geeky name pulled me in but the tropical aroma and taste had me really enjoying this hazy IPA. Multiple hop varieties gave it, to me, a hint of mangos and tropical fruit that made it an enjoyable way to finish up the the early afternoon listening to Spare Change and hanging out with my sister.

Quite a good afternoon. This was such a food filled weekend I’ll cover the Turkish restaurant and breakfast next week.

And the BBQ Was OK Too

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I collected my last Seneca data point on the BBQ front from a relatively new BBQ acquisition spot. I don’t call it a joint because Cole’s Southern BBQ is a food trailer in a semi-permanent spot. They do catering but 3 days a week they park at the same place on Sandifer Blvd. They have plenty of parking and some picnic benches so you can eat on site. You get the food truck experience of ordering at the window and standing around talking to other folks (or not) as you wait for your food.

The day I went was beautiful, blue skies and low 60’s. I didn’t even mind when Random Stranger #2 waiting on his food too decided to start chatting. He did affirm one of my side choices as the best he’d ever had other than his own. That sounded promising.

I did chat with the owner / smoker a bit about his sauces based off the sign below. I knew I’d want a couple for the ribs and wanted to make sure we were cool.

He told me to get what I wanted and that was for the abusers. He said a guy the other day got one sandwich and literally 10 little cups of mustard sauce. Turns out they sell bottles of the sauce and there’s one I’d actually consider, spoilers.

Staying true to the methodology I got 2 plates for 3 meals. I did get him to throw in an extra 3 ribs because the normal platter only comes with 3. I could have been fine with just 3. Let me just tell you right now based on the weight of the plates I was not going to be complaining about skimpy side portions.

With the sandwich I got slaw and Brunswick stew and with the ribs I got baked beans and potato salad. Sauces were Carolina Vinegar, Hickory & Cole’s Southern Sweet Heat.

He was quite generous with the sides as you can see. I just wish they’d all been great, they weren’t. The baked beans were fine, nothing you couldn’t get from a can. Potato salad tasted just like Food Lion deli potato salad, again just fine. The coleslaw continued the just fine trend and seemed like it came straight from a carton. Now the Brunswick stew was very much the best of the lot and was worth the trip. This was the one Random Stranger #2 said was the 2nd best he’d ever had. I have to agree it was pretty dang good. Sweet and smoky tomato based stew with loads of meat and some corn and lima beans thrown in for good measure.

I fixed my sampler plate and proceeded to judge.

I’ve already covered the side so lets talk about the meat. The sandwich had lots of well smoked meat that was probably the most juicy or moist of any sandwich I’ve had during this experiment. In fact it destroyed the bottom bun turning it into a soggy mess on the ride home. That didn’t stop me from eating all the pork with a load of the Carolina vinegar sauce. It was probably the closest to the eastern North Carolina BBQ sauce I grew up knowing was the “right” kind for BBQ pork. On the whole pretty good.

The ribs were quite large and meaty but also the fattiest of any I tried. You could tell visually they were well smoked but there was actually fairly little taste from the smoking. That made a neutral pallet for the sauces if that’s your favorite part. The pork itself was tender but firm so you had to put in a little effort pulling it off the bone. To me that was good. The sauces I tried with the ribs were very different but good in their own way. The Hickory Mild was thick and sweet with a molasses and hickory flavor combo. The Cole’s Southern Sweet Heat seemed like a combination of the vinegar and hickory with a doubling down on the black pepper. To me it was the best of the lot and maybe my favorite of the local sauces I’ve had.

Overall I liked Cole’s and when I crave BBQ and the day is nice this is probably where I’ll head.

Actually after all that I’d say in general Little Pigs is my go to but in certain circumstances I’d recommend Black’s Smokehouse and Cole’s Southern BBQ. I think Black’s has the best tasting ribs and for a beautiful day and a bowl of Brunswick stew burn rubber to Cole’s. As a BBQ place Heavenly Hog is a hard pass for me.

Greek Week or Maybe Weak

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Passport Stamps | Greece

Friday night, food trucks, family, Greek food and music, what’s not to like? Lines. Lines are what’s not to like. Fortunately the other stuff made up for it.

It was that time of the month again at the Columbia County amphitheater for Food Truck Friday. I met my sister, brother-in-law and nephew there, all looking forward to some good food. The theme was theoretically Greek food. That was kind of thin since they only had one food vendor offering Greek food and another pizza. If you wanted deserts you had two trucks and a couple of tents to hook you up. The line for the Greek truck, The Mad Greek, was very long so we decided to find a seat and listen to the band, Pure Indigo, and hope it calmed down a bit.

We grabbed beverages prior to our seeking spots in the amphitheater. For my first drink I went with a local Savanah River Brewing beer called, No Jacket Required. It was a decent pilsner that went down easy on a warm evening.

After 45-60 minutes of chatting and listening to the music the line hadn’t noticeably eased up so we decided to bite the bullet and join the queue.

A quick aside. The conversations now are much different than 20 years ago. At one point my brother-in-law and I were enthusiastically discussing our favorite Great Courses and how Einstein’s theories can be tough to wrap your head around. Very different.

Anyway we spent a long time in line to place our orders and then another fairly long time waiting. I was number 91 and as I stepped into the crowd of waiters number 64 was called. The main benefit of all this waiting was I got to spend a lot of time with the family. Finally my number was call and I got my order of a Greek Dog and Spanakopita.

I almost hate to admit it but they were worth the wait. The Greek Dog was a pretty simple concoction of a grilled beef frank topped with olive tapenade and crumbled feta. It was a delicious but very salty combo. I like tapenade quite a bit so it was great topping for me. The spanakopita was outstanding. The pastry was flaky and crisp on the outside and the spinach and feta filling was perfectly balanced. The reports on the Greek potatoes and dolmathes were that they were also outstanding. We were hoping they had a brick and mortar location locally but turns out they are out of Marietta. I don’t think I’d drive that far but if I see them again I’ll be in the line to try some of their other fare.

Another good evening.

The Three B’s

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I’m a tad tardy getting this written up but I didn’t want to just let it go since it was an important event for me in this pandemic influenced time.

For this entry the Culinary-Passport was all about the B’s. Columbia County Parks and Rec was having their Boots, Brew & BBQ event Friday which sounded interesting. It moved from interesting to “Let’s do this” when my sister sent me a text asking if I was going. She and my nephew swung by, picked me up and off we went, images of food trucks, beer in plastic cups (or a bottle of Sprite for the underaged) and live music dancing in our heads.

This would be the first fairly large live event I’d been to in a year so I was excited and also interested to see how folks handled it during these interesting times. It was about what I expected. Some masked, some not. The space between people sitting in the amphitheater was probably a little greater than in “normal” times. The folks in lines were observing more personal space than I’ve seen at similar events in the past, which suited me fine because I’m not a fan of people breathing down my neck.

The music was good, varied with a slant towards country. They were obviously experienced at events with diverse groups. When they broke into Gimme Three Steps I was on board. There were at least half a dozen options for the BBQ portion of the evening, some food trucks and some pavilion covered spaces. We opted for Pot Smoker BBQ.

It was a fairly good choice. It had the longest line but the benefit of the wait was one of the folks running the truck periodically walked the line giving out pork rind samples and copies of the menu. The menus helped keep the order line moving. I decided to pig out (pun intended) on the pulled pork plate that came with two sides.

Are you looking at the picture and asking, what the heck is that taking up half the plate? Well, what had happened was, they had pork rinds as a side option. I’d never had that as a choice of side before so I had to. For the second side the obligatory mac & cheese side was a no brainer. They threw in the slice of white bread because that’s what happens around here.

The picture is deceptive because the pig skins are covering half the BBQ depriving you of the full effect of the generous serving size of pulled pork. The pork had a nice smoky flavor and with the spicier of the various sauces added it got some heat, tanginess and a hint of sweetness. Overall a nice combo. The skins had some BBQ flavoring on them and a good crunch. I wouldn’t have them as a side again but I’d definitely munch them as an appetizer or snack. The mac & cheese was a minor disappointment primarily because it was cold. The flavor wasn’t bad and it had something added that gave it a reddish hue and an interesting flavor. I’m not sure what it was but it made it stand out from the myriad of mac & cheeses I’ve had in the past. If it had been hot or even warm I might be giving it an enthusiastic thumbs up, as is though it’s a thumb sideways. I may venture to the brick and mortar location to give it another shot for a final decision. I really enjoyed being out on a pleasant spring evening with family, dining, chatting and listening to live music. Looks like there will be a monthly Food Truck Friday here May-Sept so I expect I’ll be posting a few entries from those.

Friday Crab Day

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Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted due to a combination of vacation and sloth. However it was the third Friday of the month and if you don’t know by now that’s Food Truck Friday, put it on your calendar.

This month started way less hellish than last month at a much more tolerable 82 or 28 for the C folks. The sun was shining and the music was blaring when I pulled into the parking spot and the early crowd was robust compared to the last few FTFs.

A quick swing by the adult beverage tent secured me a Damn Yankee IPA from Southern Barrel Brewing. It was a passable and hoppy way to pass the time as I wandered from truck to truck looking for inspiration and dinner. The crowd was larger than normal and there were so many children running around the fountain I saw 3 separate instances of mothers mistakenly grabbing somebody else’s kid when they got too close to the water.

The bright red of the Baltimore Crab Cake Co caught my eye and lured me in.

The offering was slim; a crab cake sandwich, she crab soup, coleslaw and chips. The up side of that was the service was faster than just about any I’ve ever had at a food truck. I got the crab cake sandwich and because they had a money back guarantee on their homemade coleslaw I felt challenged to try it.

Up to this point the band had been inoffensive, not bad, not great, just live elevator music but then they hit us with Wagon Wheel during the brief time I was at the Baltimore Crab Cake truck which earned them some point with me. Sandwich in hand I settled in to see what else they might have up their microphones.

The photo will serve as my awkward segue back to the sandwich. The crab cake was loaded with lumps of real crab and spiced with Old Bay seasoning and enough filler to hold it together during cooking and long enough to get it to the bun but then all structural integrity was out the window. They had a mustardy, slightly spicy remoulade to accompany the sandwich. All good but I’m not sure I’d do it again for $11. The coleslaw was good enough I didn’t test the guarantee. It was mostly diced cabbage rather than the more common shredded or sliced. It had a bit of dairy flavor I couldn’t quite peg like they added a touch of sour cream or buttermilk to the recipe. Thankfully they didn’t add sugar and make it a sweet coleslaw. Overall it was a decent meal and with the amount of real crab I was okay with the price point.

That pretty much covers the food portion of the blog, now we’re on to the experience of the evening. After finishing the meal I wandered over to the other beer tent and got a Passion Fruit Kolsch beer from New Belgium Brewing. For those of you that gagged a little right there let me say it was really decent. I’m a big fan of passion fruit and was a mildly disappointed the flavor wasn’t stronger. This had just a enough of a hint that if you didn’t know what it was you’d think it was just hops. It also was more fizzy than heady. Not a bad choice to kick back and enjoy the band that was getting me even more on their side with the Zac Brown / Jimmy Buffet Knee Deep song.

I found a good spot along a low wall to perch and enjoy the PFK, the band who has belted out Black Water at this point got some applause out of me. I’m feeling in a generous spirit, watching this diverse crowd of all ages, ethnicities and Breakfast Club stereotypes enjoying a night out in harmony and thinking this is just people being people. It made me smile and feel good about my community.

Now before you start thinking “Damn, the pod people got James”, let me just tell you I wasn’t quite ready to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with everybody. There was a dude next to me talking to a couple of his buddies going on and on about his golf equipment, his carbon shaft, big club heads, putter faces and in a tone of voice that made it sound just that dirty and creepy. Then he started talking about this guy he played with the other day. He regaled them (and me due to proximity) for 10 minutes with stories this guy told him about holes in one and famous people he’d golfed with, etc. and finished with “but he’s a drug addict so he might have been lying.”

As I was rolling my eyes a fellow who looked like a 5′ 5″ Lebron James miniature walked by and the band started playing Drift Away. So I smiled at mini Lebron and drifted away from that group.

Friday Night Dumplings

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The August Food Truck Friday started and ended as a hot one. When I headed down there at a bit after 6:00 pm it was 91, “feels like” Hell’s front porch and got hotter by the time I arrived. According to the weather app it was 93, “feels like” Satan’s armpit. OK, the “feels like” might have been numbers but sweat was dripping on the screen so I had to interpret. Anyway I went gamely forth to acquire food and drink.

Of course the first stop was the beverage tent where there were plenty of uninteresting options plus one called Shadow of Death from Snafu Brewing. I really wanted to try that but it was so hot the thought of that heavy stout made cringe so I settled for the Kick Plastic Pilsner from SweetWater Brewery. It was much lighter than the stout and more appropriate for the conditions. I didn’t take a picture because you’ve all seen a cup of Miller or PBR.

After scouring the choice of trucks this month the Dumpling Girls grabbed my attention with their pan fried dumpling combo. The Batman hat the young lady taking the orders was wearing didn’t hurt either.

They had pork & shrimp or chicken variants to choose from. I got chicken dumplings with 2 spring rolls as my side accompanied by the spicy sauce on the side.

The dumplings were steamed and then pan fried. I’m not sure what else they had in the pan but they picked up some fond from the pan and a soy glaze that went nicely with the ground chicken, herb filling. The “spicy” sauce was a bit of a disappointment on the heat front has it had no kick but it did have a good flavor. It was thin chili oil sauce that complimented the dumplings very well and honestly I was dredging the spring rolls through it as well. So it wasn’t hot but it was tasty. I’ll tell you what was hot though. the temperature.

I didn’t stay long after I finished my meal and beer but I did have to linger long enough to hear the band finish one of the most unusual mash-ups I’ve heard. The band was the Kevin Nichols Band and they skewed towards country but played other stuff as well. The one that caught my attention as I was about to leave though was Folsom Prison Blues. It was going along fine, I was finishing a spring roll and all of sudden the words weren’t making sense so I paid attention and there it was. Pinball Wizard sung to the tune of Folsom Prison Blues then he just segued right back to Johnny Cash and finished it off. I was left with that “what just happened” feeling and as you try to wrap your head around how that combo was possible I’ll just sign off.

TGIFTF

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June’s Food Truck Friday

It was my time of the month, that third Friday when the food wagons circle around the fountain and feed the crowds. This month was one of the best attended I’ve been to so crowds indeed.

My regular parking lot was closed and I had to find a spot further away. That gave me the chance to put in some additional walking time which worked out well in the end. As protocol dictates I grabbed my beer on the way in, a nice cream ale from local favorite Legal Remedy Brewing.

I had my eye on three trucks and after writing off the heavy Italian menu of one and another not convincing me the fancy chicken slider was going to be worth what they were charging I strolled down to the Herban Legend truck and there menu board had more than one item I would have been happy with.

I was just about to order the Filipino Friday Pork Sisig but swerved at the last minute and chose the Caribbean quesadilla hoping it wouldn’t be as heavy on a 90 degree evening.

This was just about right quantity wise and it was delicious. In case you didn’t read the board it was Jamaican Jerk beef (ground), mango salsa, cheddar and jack cheeses topped with an island remoulade sauce and grilled in a tortilla, as you do with quesadillas. As much as I enjoyed it I have to say the Jamaican Jerk spices were less like a jerk and more like a tug. On the other end of the scale the mango chunks were huge. Just what was called for.

So one thing that annoyed me was all the skinny people walking around showing off by not sweating in spite of all the heat. Fortunately I was sharing a table with a good sized bald guy and his kids and he was eating spicy food and having my back as a fellow sweater. Solidarity.

After eating I strolled a bit and listened to the band, whose name I don’t recall but they were good. I did crack up at this older couple who was checking out the menu on the expensive truck and the lady says,”The cheeseburger is $12.00!” in an tone of total incredulity. Her husband turns to her with a disbelieving look on his face and says, “But it’s coming off a truck!” While I don’t disagree the price was high I’m guessing they aren’t big into the food truck scene if they were that scandalized by the pricing.

Well after being smart and eating lightish plus walking around instead of sitting like a lump I thought I deserved desert and found myself standing at the window of The Art of Baking truck. The desert I went for is probably something my southern ancestors would consider blasphemous but it was called The Golden One and was banana pudding (ok so far) with sliced strawberries (what?) and golden Oreos (well now you’ve gone too far) in addition to the traditional Nilla wafers.

I wasn’t visited by ghosts of disappointed relatives so I guess it was alright. I know one thing it was delicious. The strawberries tasted fresh like they’d been added just before I ordered and the Oreos were used sparingly so they were like a little treat added to the banana pudding experience. I ate it sitting in front of the fountain waiting for the shifting wind to send a little mist my way.

I had one more beverage ticket in hand and nowhere else to be so I got a Funky Buddha Coconut Porter. I mean come on who doesn’t love a good porter and coconut is great so how could this not be a winner.

It was a winner too but not without consequences. The porter was smooth and with moderate bitterness. The coconut aroma is the first thing that hits you as you go in for a sip. Then the flavor hits after the initial porter taste rolls past your tongue. The thing is porters aren’t really light even if they add tropical flavors and on top of the desert I felt like I was filled up like a big bellied Buddha. I’m surprised no one rubbed it for luck. This is where that longer walk back to the car came in handy.

Food Truck Friday never disappoints.

CC:FTF

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Food Truck Friday

This blogs been in the hopper waiting a while since the event was May 3rd. I was meeting a friend and former colleague to catch up and I was in charge of finding a spot with food trucks. After a bit of searching, filtering and decision making our target was the Cabarrus County Food Truck Friday. The event is held at Gibson Mill in Concord and I have to say it was worth the drive.

The parking is around back by the Cabarrus Brewing Co., what a convenient thing. There are plenty of picnic tables with umbrellas outside and some seating in the brewery’s tap room. Another convenience is a satellite bar outside in a corner of the picnic area. The evening temp was just about as good as you could ask for and since I got there first I decided to recon the satellite bar and picked up a Spring Street Blue which was a blueberry wheat beer. It wasn’t bad, the blueberries added some nice color but the flavor I thought was a bit muted.

After a just a bit my friend showed and we toured the food trucks to find out which one was going to receive our patronage. After much consideration Big City Bites was the winner.

We jumped right on their special of 3 sliders and added a side of fries each. As they were taking a while to get the orders up we ventured into the taproom to acquire liquid accompaniment for the meals. Jody went with a bourbon barrel aged ale which looked, smelled and tasted like it meant business. I selected something more on the tropical scale with their The Floor is Guava. I only got that reference as I was writing the blog, initially I just thought is was a weird name but now I get it. In any event, the drink was a sour beer made with, surprise!, guava. The sour actually went pretty well with the sliders, especially the Cubano. Speaking of the sliders.

From left to right they are the Cubano, the Pulled Pork Italiano and the Chicago Italian Beef and anchoring the top of the take out tray were the crispy, well cooked fries. All three of these sandwiches were good and offered a nice variety of tastes. The beef sandwich had some peppers and crumbled cheese and was pretty good but #3 of the trio for me. The pulled pork had green peppers, roasted red peppers, shaved cheese and some tender, moist pork slotting it solidly in second place. As mentioned the Cubano was my favorite with the tender slow roasted pork, ham slices, with Swiss cheese, pickles and tangy mustard pressed and grilled. An excellent choice of meals to go with a years worth of catching up with a friend. Thanks Jody Sneed for sharing the meal and time.

As a postscript I believe they are running the Food Truck Friday every Friday until sometime in October. They had live music, are family and pet friendly so if you’re lost for someplace to eat on a Friday pile the family in the car and explore your food truck options.