Food Truck Festival 2014

This past weekend, my sister and I had a little "sister time." That's just what we call the fun activities we plan because we're sisters and we're spending time together. Aren't we a creative pair?

There was a food truck festival just a town or two over so we decided that for lunch, we'd just head over and get a good sampling of delicious food.

The festival was being held at the County College of Morris. It started at 10:00 with $5 admission (free for kids 12 and under) and free parking.

We found a spot in one of the lots slightly farther away (it was just starting to get busy). There was no real queue to speak of at the admission line so we just hopped right up to the money collector and paid our five bucks. After we paid our admission, we were stamped with a red smiley and allowed to enter the parking lot full of trucks, food, music, sunshine, and attendees.

It was a gorgeous day with low humidity; we were so lucky. Also, we were quite lucky with our timing. Even though the festival was bustling with people, it wasn't overly crowded, which was nice.

We started at La Parrilla, where the specialty was arepas. Arepas are delicious masa corn cakes that are filled with a variety of fillings. "Filled with fillings." Man, I've got such a way with words. We waited about ten minutes before we were able to approach the window and order. We got the arepa mixta, which had chorizo, carne, and pollo. The arepa itself was super crisp and the fillings were deliciously savory and well-seasoned. It wasn't quite what I was expecting because I've had arepas before and they were substantially creamier and had cheese mixed into the dough itself, but it was still delicious and satisfying.

We also got ourselves the most delicious roasted pork ever at El Lechon De Negron. This line was substantially longer than the first. We waited probably 25 to 30 minutes in this queue, but it was worth it, I'd say.

We got the pernil con arroz, which was a delicious yellow rice with peas and super tender, flavorful, shredded pork. We also got tostones, which are plantains that are smashed and then fried until crispy. And, we got the rellena papa, which was a mashed potato ball stuffed with beef. The exterior was lovely and crisp, the potatoes were so soft, and the filling was a lovely salty surprise.

We also got a smoothie from the Robeks truck. Everything was perfect and delicious.

After those three trucks, we were feeling pretty full and tired, especially because we were sitting in the blazing hot sun whilst chowing down. The lines were incredibly long and only getting longer. We had planned on getting some dessert but the ice cream truck had run out of cookies (for ice cream sandwiches) so we just headed to Yogurtland instead, ha. By the way, there was a plethora of different cuisines - hopefully our selection didn't lead you to think that it was only Latin food - but that's just what we were excited about. There was an "Eat Curds" truck that had battered & fried cheese curds, a waffle truck, a French Quarter truck, and several other yummy eats. Oh! There was a Thai truck too; I remember that.

I'll leave you with this photo of the 'Dark Side of the Moo' truck, a.k.a. the Exotic Meat Emporium. It made me laugh so hard. They're not serving up anything crazy. They've got alligator and elk. I think the weirdest one was kangaroo. We weren't super interested so we skipped this one. And it didn't seem to be v. popular but hey, kudos to them for trying to bring a little variety to the scene.

We learned a few lessons this year: we should have brought our own bottles of icy water to refresh us while waiting in the long lines, we should have brought some lawn chairs, and we should've recruited a large crew to come with us so we could all split up and grab a dish from each truck.

You live and you learn, right?

xoxo.