Boston Food Truck Throwdown (by Kosta)

A couple weeks ago on a crisp fall day the crowds were out in force for the first Boston Food Truck Throwdown.  The Greenway at Dewey Square was the site for a festival where Boston battled New York City for the title of best food truck. The Throwdown was conceived by Sarah Ross, the founder of Kickass Cupcakes in conjunction with the Dewey Square Greenway Committee. Kickass Cupcakes had been attending festivals for a year or so and decided to host their own. They sent some feelers down to NYC and managed to put together this great event.

Steph Santos of Death Waltz 76’ and myself got to Dewey Square at 10 am before opening and proceeded to try and work our way through the 14 trucks, 7 from each city. All the trucks were confident in their products but were also there to have fun and do the best they could regardless of the outcome.  Everyone was very happy and gracious, and seemed to be having a great time.

Mei Mei is a Boston truck run by three siblings that serves up an array of Asian inspired menu items along with bar food. All their ingredients are local and humanely raised. They came with 1500 hand filled dumplings ready to serve! We tried their Mac and Beer Cheese, which was creamy and delicious, and a special for the day, a ginger macaroon with maple bourbon buttercream that was so rich and a perfect size.

The next truck we ran into was Lobstah Love, a Boston based truck that’s all about the lobster, complete with a charming and excited mascot running around in a lobster outfit.  This truck boasts a 7-time award winning clam chowder that is “clawlicious” and has been operating for about 5 years.  We talked briefly with one of the chefs, Justine, who called lobster the king of food, and there’s nothing else she’d like to be serving up. We tried the Lobster Bisque which was a creamy broth full of shredded lobster.  I would love to try their lobster roll someday, it looked amazing.

We tried to get over to Roxy’s, a Boston run grilled cheese cart, but the lines were a testament to its popularity.  They were running almost their full menu and were old hands at festivals, having done many in the year and a half they've been operational. 

Wafels and Dinges were there and raring to go.  They had a reputation to protect as one of the first food trucks in NYC, having started up in 2007. They left at 2:30 in the morning to set up early for the festival and kept up the energy and banter.  As they said their waffles are full of magic, unicorn tears and a secret ingredient. We got to sample their Double Throwdown waffle; a special for this event, which included a large waffle topped with bananas, spekuloos spread (a gingerbread spread), ice cream, and whipped cream for a ridiculously decadent and tasty treat.

Nuchas, another NYC truck, was serving up delicious hand-crafted empanadas. This truck is fairly new, having started in July and they’ve done so well in competitions that they are getting instant recognition. We tried two of their best sellers; the Argentine and the “Sweet Empanada.” The dough was flaky and light on both of them. The Argentine had a chili-like mixture inside of it comprised of ground beef, onion, peppers, spice and a savory sauce. The sweet empanada was like apple pie with cranberries and nutella, making a very good dessert.

Big D’s Grub is a Boston truck that has been around for 2 years.  They were serving up their full menu and it was quite good.  We tried the spicy pork tacos, which had chunks of Korean style BBQ pork with a cucumber and scallion salsa over the top in a double layered corn tortilla.  I do love a good Asian inspired taco.

Bon Me was a Vietnamese inspired truck that’s been operating in Boston for a year and half. Steph tried a Deviled Tea Egg, which had a dollop of spicy mayo and a dusting of cayenne on top.  The egg was soaked with tea making for a very different deviled egg experience.  They also were serving up a special “Bon Me” sandwich, which is the traditional bahn mi with a hotdog for the filling, mixing the best of traditional truck food with Vietnamese cuisine.

Bian Dang was a New York truck that we didn’t have a chance to sample food from but were told their traditional pork chop with rice and pickles is their highest seller and probably the dish to try.  They kept the energy up with dance music going in their truck and quickly and efficiently dealing with the throngs of people.

Staff Meal is a Boston truck I’m familiar with, a local taco truck that does not serve anything vegetarian. This day, though, they broke down and served an amazing Mushroom Bibimbap Taco with Black Bean Mayo, Kimchi, Fried Rice, and Fried Garlic.  They are seriously depriving people by not adding vegetarian options. From Steph: “Why would you even make a taco this delicious if you’re never going to let me taste it again!!”

There were a few other trucks at the festival, but by the time we managed to do the rounds the crowds were closing in and it became harder and harder to get near the truck.  By noon, the lines for most of the trucks were almost an hour long, but it was a testament to the food that everyone seemed happy and satisfied.

There were 9 categories and NYC won out taking home 5 of the awards.  Boston did win the People’s Choice award, with residents showing love for their home city.

Best Sweet Item - Wafles & Dinges (New York City)

Best Savory Item - Staff Meal (Boston)

Best Taco - Fishing Shrimp (New York City)

Best Vegetarian Item - Wafles & Dinges (New York City)

Best Asian Inspired Item - Bon Me (Boston)

Best Sandwich - Lobstah Love (Boston)

Best Seafood Item - Nuchas (New York City)

Best Crew - Wafles & Dinges (New York City)

Best Truck Design - Roxy's Grilled Cheese (Boston)

I can't wait to try the trucks we missed, and I have a few new places to hunt down in NYC now! 

Food on the Road - Tour Day 4 - NYC, Jersey Turnpike, Philly

The incredible after-party in Brooklyn had me up until after the sun had risen. I crashed for a couple of hours on a futon with a couple of other people, and then was awoken by our wonderful hosts arriving with some intense breakfast takeout. The dish consisted of an egg bake with bacon, spices and I think some veggies (I was incredibly hungover, so my comprehension level wasn't at its peak), plus perfect crusty-outside, tender-inside bread, and a small helping of spiced home fries donated by another of the house guests from their plate. The egg is an essential part of a hangover cure. The other is sleep, so after quickly polishing off these morsels, I passed the hell back out.

I spent the majority of the day in various states of unconsciousness, briefly rising to do a temperature check on my hangover and to see if my other band mates had arrived yet from their various places to crash the previous night. Eventually, everyone arrived around 4 or 5 o'clock so we hugged our good friends goodbye and hit the road for Philly, just a little over 2 hours away.

Along the way, we hit a service area on the New Jersey turnpike where I broke weak and picked up a 2 piece meal from Popeye's - spicy chicken with sides of mashed potatoes and biscuit slathered in honey. I was still a little too retarded and my phone too dead to take pictures, but I'm sure you can imagine it. The chicken was a little bland and overpriced, but serviceable, but I am a complete sucker for Popeye's mashed potatoes - especially the spicy gravy - and they always have great biscuits - the texture is what makes them, completely flaky and soft. I finally felt like a human being again as we pulled into Philadelphia.

Upon arrival in Philly I realized that I was hungry again, so a couple band mates, another friend and I walked down Girard to the edge of Fishtown and used our intuition to find a little diner tucked away next to Club Oz. Since I was in Philly, I had to have a cheese steak - plain with unspecified cheese (it looked like either american or cheddar and I was too tired to tell the difference) and sauteed onions - under $5.00. It seemed a little meager in size, but the texture and flavoring were great. It was a cozy diner with smallish booths, coat racks, and other customers that looked thoroughly confused by my friends and I. Even though this sandwich looks a little small I still only finished half of it and returned to the club we were playing with the other half to give away.

Post-show we drove about 20 minutes out of the city to the home of our fiddle player's parents, which I will call the fiddler's compound from now on. We had been informed earlier in the day that they had gone grocery shopping that day specifically with us in mind, so we were all excited to get there and have a late night snack and then sink into the comfort that a house provides. There was no disappointment. We entered the door and raided the kitchen. To my delight, my late night snack at the fiddler's compound consisted of Crostini with goat cheese, plus a couple of clementines and a banana. Totally yummy. After that, it was off to grab a quick shower and hit the sack.

Food on the Road - Tour Day 3 - NYC

Day 3 NYC - 

We played a show at the C Squat on Avenue C in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on Friday the 13th. Adjacent to the squat house is a local pizza joint that advertises $1 slices. Food search ended, for sure. I noted the place then went back inside the show to drink a little from my bottle of rye whiskey and build up an appetite while watching the first couple of bands play. 


Once I was ready, I headed outside but before I reached the door of the pizza joint, I saw some Infernite friends that were out for the show. They had attempted to purchase 5 or 6 cupcakes from a local shop and had ended up with 4 boxes of them for the same price. So, on this night I ate my dessert first. It was a yellow cupcake with popcorn embedded in its fluffy white icing. I literally shoved almost the entire thing in my mouth, I was so excited. It was a little dry, but overall very satisfying. Once finished with that, I popped into the pizza joint, inhaled its familiar smell of baking pizza mixed with the fresh tomatoes, the garlic, the oregano. I knew I was in the right place. It was exactly what I hoped for: thin crust, large slice, more than enough cheese and sauce had only a hint of sweetness. What more could I look for for $1? My phone was dead at the time, so no pictures and I can't remember the name of the pizza place, but it's one storefront to the left of 155 Avenue C in Manhattan. If anyone knows the name, please, leave it in a comment. 

Once fueled by awesome, I headed back into the squat house to play my set. We rocked it out, people danced, and then I enjoyed the other two bands closing out the night: Mirrors & Wires, and What Cheer? Brigade.

In the next post, we talk about wakeup Brooklyn takeout egg bake, Jersey Turnpike service area food, and late night snacks at our fiddle players parents' place.....

Keep moving, keep eating!