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!

Indios Carbonsitos - Best Burger in KC

The first time I talked to Adrian, from Indios Carbonsitos, was on twitter @INDIOSCRBNSTOS. The first time I met Adrian was later that night, under the 12th street bridges, by the haunted houses. In my search for the great street taco in KC, I had come across Adrian's unique breed of what he calls MexIQ. What caught my eye was his street tacos, but what peaked my interest was the BBQ tamales, I had to try them. I packed my wife up in the Civic and told her we were going out for date night. She didn't exactly expect a food truck under the 12th street bridge, but boy is she glad we went!

When we got to the food truck, I had to try the BBQ tamales (Adrian even makes his own BBQ sauce, both hot and mild). My wife wanted the pulled pork quesadilla. While I have not been a huge fan of quesadillas since I have become a Mexican food snob, the pulled pork in the quesadilla just set it off. After talking to Adrian a bit, he told us that he added the pulled pork quesadilla so that vegetarians could order it sans the swine (he is such a man of the people).

We talked to Adrian for a while, telling him about our surprise trip to Guadalajara and how it lead to a culinary awakening. He told us about how Mexican people loved to BBQ and how it is the perfect fusion. He then insisted that we try the Torta Ahogada, it is a Mexican sandwich made with braised pork, avocado, and pickled onions that has been either topped with (or dunked in) chili sauce (depending on how you order it, but ahogada literally means "to drown" en Espanol, do it!). The creaminess of the avocado mashed up with the hot chili sauce is the perfect pairing, it is like Yin and Yang. We finished up with a strawberry pecan tamale. I was a bit sceptical, a sweet tamale? Oh man was I in for a treat! We now have a favorite dessert, strawberry pecan tamales, it is the perfect blend of masa and the sweet strawberries topped with an awesome glaze. We now order the strawberry pecan tamale every time we visit Indios.

We have had the tacos, tamales, quesadilla, torta, and just about every item on the menu at Indios, but the best, by far, is the Indios Burger! No comparison, this is not only the best burger in Kansas City, but the best burger I have had anywhere! I don't know how he makes the burger itself, but he puts it on a bun with an awesome combination of sauces, a Mexican weenie, melted cheese, fresh veggies, and a slice of grilled pineapple. The burger is juicy. The flavoring is perfect, I don't know why he serves it open faced (other than to show it off, because there is no need to add anything to it). The Mexican weenie adds a great flare, but the item that sets the whole thing off is the sweetness of the grilled pineapple.

The claim has been made (by an ex-Jack Stack employee) that Adrian's brisket is better than Jack Stacks. He gave me a taste of it when we were at his truck on a slow Sunday. The next week, I had to have Jack Stack to verify the claim. The lady that made the claim was not only not crazy, but very correct. Adrian has the best brisket in town! His torta ahogada would also go toe to toe with Oklahoma Joe's Z-man and Carolina for the title of best sandwich in town.

I honestly cannot say enough about Adrian as a chef or as a man. He is a family man to the core. Wherever you see the Indios Truck, you can almost bank on there being a slew of family members in toe. Whether the kids are taking orders, kicking a soccer ball around, taking the photo of my seen to the right, or attempting to light things on fire, the his family is a huge part of his business. The craziest thing about Adrian is how he finds time to work a 9-5 job, do maintenance on his truck, and smoke all of his meats, all in time to work in his truck all weekend. He knows my wife and I by name, he remembers our orders, and knows what items on the menu we have and haven't tried. He carries a full line of Mexican drinks: Mexican Coke, Jarritos, Horchata, Mexican Hot Chocolate, and Agua De Jamaica. He can also be credited with broadening my search for finding the best Mexican street food in KC, to finding the best street food period. Which is ironic, as I think Indios Carbonsitos is the best , most creative, and most awesome street food I have ever had! Thank you Adrian!