Thanksgiving (the real one, not that Canadian knock off)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

First off, let me begin by saying that I am not one for cliches. I am not one of those people that gets sentimental about things. I do not do the X number of days of Thanksgiving "thankful" social media posts, and that is not what I am trying to achieve here. But, I am very blessed and do have a lot to be thankful for. An incomplete list goes something like this: my faith, my wife, my family, our friends, my job (not this hobby, but my job that pays me actual money), good local food, my 3 readers, and my food truck family.

My food truck family works hard to bring excellent food to the people, at reasonable prices. Most of them are hard working weekend warriors, like myself, working day jobs and then running a food truck in their limited free time. Only instead of pushing keys on a keyboard like I do, they work for hours: prepping food, taking orders, being a line cook, struggling to break even, driving home, and then spending hours more cleaning their trucks (to meet health department requirements). This is a tight-knit community that looks out for each other. They have also been very kind and really supported me since I first started blogging. They have been here since Day 1! And when you are from where I am from, you look out for those that look out for you. All of that being said: I raise a Thanksgiving toast to you, Mr. Food Truck Owner/Operator Guy (in my Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" commercial voice).

Although, the days that are nice enough for my food truck fam to go out are few and far between at this time of year, they rallied together for a rare November meet-up earlier this month; here are a few of my takeaways.

One new truck to the local scene (whom someone at KCFTA needs to tell to get a Twitter account) is Chickhoovenswine. Chickhoovenswine brings their brand of championship barbecue (along with all of the hardware that comes with it) to the streets. As the name may (not so subtly) hint at, Chickhoovenswine can rock out with just about any kind of meat in the smoker: Chicken, Beef, or Pork. 

I gave the "Hoggy Style" sandwich a shot, because, well, I mean, how can you not with a name like that? The Hoggy Style consists of delicious pulled pork, smoked sausage, and creamy slaw piled high. Chickhoovenswine also has 3 distinctly unique sauces available for saucing, if you so choose. I can't wait to try more from this truck!

Another newcomer, Organized Chaos (who has a Twitter account, that will tell you where to find them), prides themselves in what they consider to be a eccentric take on fusion sandwiches. If you are anything like me, you LOVE a good sandwich! My love for sandwiches runs so deep that I may even give the "Sandwich King" Jeff Mauro a run for his money! You can even ask my wife, if I had to eat one thing, every day, for the rest of my life, it would be a sandwich. Organized Chaos can feed your insatiable itch for a good sandwich.

Of sandwiches that Organized Chaos has on their menu, I have had two: the Tequila Chicken and the Bahn Mi. The Tequila Chicken is as tender as you could hope for a chicken sandwich to be. It is topped with melted cheddar cheese, cabbage, cilantro, and chipotle mayo. The Bahn Mi, which could probably be considered the signature sandwich for the truck, is Marissa's (co-owner/chef of OC) take on a Vietnamese classic. Tender, delicious, pork meatballs, pickled veggies, cilantro, and Sriracha mayo all on a toasted hoagie bun. The only thing that can bring the Bahn Mi down is the pending shutdown of the Sriracha plant.

Other big sellers that OC offers, that I have yet to try, but will be back soon to try are: the Chorizo Mac & Cheese and the Buffalo Chicken Balls. Give them a follow on Twitter, they have a couple engagements left this year, check them out!

Now that I have covered the new kids on the block, I want to give a shoutout to some of the usual suspects too. Indios Carbonsitos has yet another new creation that will change the way that you think about Mexican food AND BBQ. He calls it the "Triple C", but I call it the "Triple 'Si'", because I cannot say "yes" to this burger enough! The Triple C burger is a Chorizo, Chihuahua Cheese, and Chipotle sauce topped burger. This burger has kick, but will not melt your face, perfect for someone like me that cannot handle the hot sauce equivalent of sulfuric acid. This burger is up to snuff with all of the other amazing menu items on this truck, you are doing yourself a disservice if you have not had Adrian's creations yet!

Lastly, my wife (at her ripe young age) had never had a Twinkie (if you can believe that). I knew that for her first Twinkie experience I would have to do it right. Luckily for us Funnel Cake Truck was at this event with his namesake desserts, along with deep fried Snickers, Oreos, Twix, Reece's and... wait for it... Twinkies! We were in luck; instead of suffering through the cheap, dry, plain worn out Twinkie, we got the funnel cake batter coated, deep fried, melty, gooey Twinkie. Top that sucker with a little bit of powdered sugar, chocolate, or cinnamon and you have a damn good way to end a meal (in which you had already eaten way too much anyways). My wife left the truck claiming that she had a new favorite dessert, that it is safe to say that although this was her first Twinkie, it will most definitely not be her last!

I hope that this short list of truck food has somehow, some way, provided you all with something to be thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving! Whether it is for the amazing food, the means by which you have to provide for your family, or for those that have always been there for you. I hope that you and yours have a happy Thanksgiving and safe Turkey Trotting!

In case you were wondering, I will be spending my Thanksgiving at the KC legend, the Golden Ox. I will either see you there, or let you know how it was afterwards. For having lived in KC my entire life, it is a shame that tomorrow/today (depending on how you look at it) will be the first time that I have been to the Golden Ox.

The Comeback of the Summer!

The summer of 2013 could very well be called "The summer of the comeback", especially around Kansas City. The Royals have come back from a miserable June to play meaningful games in August. Signs like the one pictured below are popping up all over town to advertise the return of Twinkies. But both of these stories pale in comparison to the comeback story of the summer.

Billboard for Twinkies' comeback

Just over a week ago, the four-plex that a local food truck owner (Michael Bradbury) and his family were living in burned to the ground. The fire started in the unit above his, but between the fire and the subsequent putting out of the fire (using thousands of gallons of water), Bradbury and his family lost everything that they had. That includes the keys to his food truck. To a small business owner, losing they keys to your business (and your income) would be like taking away Carlos Santana's guitar (only without the safety net of having already sold millions of records).

Bradbury Fire

Michael owns and operates The Funnel Cake Truck. As the name implies, he serves funnel cakes (with batter made from a secret family recipe) as well as anything that can be dipped in his funnel cake batter and deep fried (such as: Oreos, Rice Crispy Treats, Corn Dogs, and Twinkies). Much like the plight of the Twinkies that he deep fries, people have recently taken Michael and his funnel cakes for granted (myself included). It was as if they (he and Twinkies) would always be around, always be there for you to buy NEXT time, until one day you found out that they may not. When Twinkies' future was in peril, buyers came out of the woodwork to ensure that Twinkies would be around for generations to come. That same thing happened for Michael and his family this evening.

Partial shot of the crowd that showed up

In less than a week, area food trucks put together a rally for their brother. They got: a venue, a gang of trucks ready to donate their profits to the Bradbury family (they actually had so many that they had to start turning trucks down), started a facebook event, and invited almost every news station in town to cover the story. An incomplete list of trucks (and mobile food vendors) that helped out in some way: Wilma's Real Good Food, Beaty of the Bistro, Indios Carbonsitos, Smokin' Fresh Streetside BBQ, Crave of KC Food Truck, Monk's Roast Beef, Prairie Fire Oven, Jazzy B's, CoffeeCake KC, KC BBQ Truck, Brock Hops, Coach's Kettle Corn, and Chef Baldee's Pizza.

No amount of money can ever take away the helplessness that you feel when you lose everything (something that most of us cannot even fathom), but with the help of some close friends (and hundreds of complete strangers) hopefully Michael can now start to get back on his feet! I hope to be seeing him on the streets for years to come!

The Guest of Honor getting interviewed

This event (and post) were all about one man (and his family, of course), but I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't include photos of some of the awesome things that trucks brought out tonight.

Boulevard Terra Incognita/Sasparilla Pork Slider
(from Wilma's)

Boom Boom Burger (from Beauty of the Bistro)

Mango Lemonade (from Coach's Kettle Corn)

Then, of course:

Wifey loving the funnel cake

Food Truck Friday (and Saturday)

Every First Friday, in Kansas City's Crossroads District, a food truck rally called The Truck Stop takes place. The Truck Stop started in 2011 with just a hand full of trucks. It has since outgrown its lot that maxes out at 15 trucks, meaning that you will be getting rotating cuisine each month. This is a sampling of some of the new trucks that I have tried and some new menu items from other trucks. They are all 100% awesome!

In honor of the hot dog carts in New York and the artisan dog scene in Chicago, there is a new hot dog truck in town, The Dogg House Grill. The artisan hot dog is completely in play right now, but has mostly been isolated to larger cities (and that chain drive-in that doesn't even require its carhops to wear skates). There have been a few brick and mortar hot dog joints pop up around KC, but there is something that just feels right about the mobility of a truck when it comes to serving hot dogs. In fact, the first street vendor that I ever got food from (aside from the ice cream man, of course) was a hot dog vendor across the street from Bartle Hall. The Dogg House does it right with giant Vienna all beef dogs. They offer the classic Chicago and New York dogs along with their own dogs with a KC spin. I had the KC Dog (pictured to the right), polish dog topped with sweet KC style BBQ sauce, bacon, and onions, it indeed screams KC. Next time I think I am going to give the Piggy Back Dog a shot, dog topped with BBQ pork and slaw.

The Funnel Cake Truck is around for all of your fair food needs. He does a great funnel cake that is surprisingly filling after a long day of hating cancer during Crawl for Cancer.

Lutfi's Fried Fish is an urban staple in KC for years and now has a food truck (and a new location in midtown). Lutfi's has wonderful fried catfish, perfectly flaky on the inside with a crispy cornmeal breading on the outside.

El Tenedor is a new truck on the scene. The owner is the chef that made the paella Fridays (now weekends) at Lill's on 17th famous, this fact made the paella an obviously choice for me. Paella is a traditional Spanish dish made with saffron rice and assorted meats. This particular batch was made with chicken and chorizo (of the Spanish variety, which is different than the Mexican variety of chorizo), I am unaware if the alliteration was intended. This paella is incredible, fluffy, and also very reasonably priced given that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Looking forward to the seafood paella as soon as its offered. By all accounts the Spanish crepes at El Tenedor, are incredible too.

Sadly, it has been a few months since I have been able to catch up with CoffeCakeKC and grab a Pablo from them. CoffeeCakeKC is exactly what it sounds like, a coffee and dessert food truck. It is some kind of wonderful with the homemade sweet treats and micro roasted coffee (that you can buy by the pound as well). But what is The Pablo you ask? The Pablo is single handedly, both, the best coffee drink and the best hot chocolate that I have ever consumed. It is a Mexican hot chocolate (think regular hot chocolate, add cinnamon) with a double shot of espresso. The creaminess of the hot chocolate, the tame fire of the cinnamon, and the perk of the micro-roasted espresso shot is like heaven in a cup. As I have said before, I am not a huge foo-foo coffee guy, but I would drink this in the middle of July on a day that the Commerce Bank sign read 105 (like today).

Cajun Cabin is owned by a New Orleans transplant who decided that the best way to cure his home sickness was to bring his delicious cajun food to the hungry folks in Kansas City. If you think about it, it is the perfect marriage: bringing the big bold flavours and large helpings at reasonable prices to a blue collar city that grew up on jazz. After sampling the jambalaya (made with chicken and sausage) and the shrimp and corn chowder in all of their deliciousness, I decided that I had to have the Cajun Dog (a foot long polish sausage smothered in the awesome jambalaya. This dog was extraordinary! The jambalaya was very thick and chunky (not runny at all, as all good jambalaya isn't), full of meat and wonderfully seasoned. This is not just a little bit of jambalaya on top of a cafeteria style hot dog, this is a bucket full of jambalaya dumped on a gigantic polish dog, as seen in the picture. I cannot say enough about this place and will definately be back for a full order of corn chowder.

P.W.A. Islanders offers up Hawaiian specialties. The pork bun was great, the bread was so soft! For those of you that have never had a pork bun, my wife likened it to a bierock (only a Hawaiian version, obviously). The bread was not like that of the King's Hawaiian brand, but that probably keys you in that this is authentic Pacific Island food, kind of like how real tacos taste nothing like Taco Bell.

Last, but certainly not least, an update on Indios Carbonsitos. The Chihuahua Dog! A Nathan's Famous dog topped with pinto beans, jalapenos, two strips of crispy bacon, Adrian's homemade garlic/jalapeno mayo, and (most importantly) cotija cheese. I am sure I am forgetting a few toppings on there because this thing was loaded, the poor bun never had a chance to hold it all. I had never had the cotija cheese before, and to a newbie it looks like a really finely crumbled queso fresco. Adrian educated me and let me know that this is because it is a dryer cheese, making it more accepting of the fine crumbling. The saltiness of the cotija, spiciness of the jalapenos, the creaminess of the pinto beans, crunchiness of the bacon, all thrown on top of a hot dog is a perfect storm of intense flavours. Lets just say that I had to finish it with a fork after the bun threw in the towel. Another great menu item from Indios!