Yesterday, Jodi and I went to The Food Truck Festival in South Street Seaport. This festival takes place couple of times a year, always at the same place, and features close to 30 food trucks from all over the city!
We decided to go in the morning, at around 11:30am as last year we went later and it was packed! This year, we picked the correct time! Not that many people, so limited wait! Our plan was to go to different trucks and try one of their dish on the menu.
We started with Chinese Mirch.
Mirch means chili in Hindi. This truck is a fusion between chinese food and indian food. We decided to try the Tibetan Momos, that are hand-rolled pan fried dumplings. We picked the vegetarian ones, made with cabbage, potatoes, carrots and some "secret" spices.
The dumplings are served with a hot or sweet sauce. We chose the sweet as it was hot outside. The dumplings were pretty good: the shell was light and well cooked (I was surprised to see it steamed as they advertised pan fried!). The stuffing was delicious and flavorful. The only negative was that there was not enough sauce. Besides that, I really enjoyed it! The 5 dumplings costed $4.
The second truck was The Kimchi Taco Truck.
I love Korean food and was eager to try a fusion taco! What was great is that they proposed a tasting of 3 tacos for $7. Our pick was (top to bottom on the photo):
Then was the long awaited Valducci's pizza truck!
We were looking forward to get a slice from that truck since we tried it last year! It was so good! So we reordered the same slice: thin crust, pizza sauce, just a bit of cheese and olive oil.
This pizza is the proof that less is more! The crust was incredibly crispy and the sauce amazing! I think it is one of my favorite pizza in New York! I would not have liked to try other trucks, I would have gone for another slice! The slice costed $5.
Next to Valducci's was the Gorilla Cheese truck, specialized in grilled cheese.
They have standard grilled cheese as well as more elaborated ones. I decided to try a standard one and picked the Cheddar grilled cheese with white bread.
For sure there was a lot of cheese.
But, for $6, you can expect a better cheese and a better bread! I can make a better grilled cheese home for cheaper! Disappointing!
The second truck was The Kimchi Taco Truck.
- Tofu edamame falafel: tofu, edamame and chickpea blended with Asian spices with kimchi infused refried beans, cucumber kimchi, pickled daikon and pico de gallo.
- BBQ beef short ribs served with their signature marinade, topped with red cabbage, apple, pear kimchi slaw.
- Fried chicken, battered in sweet rice flour tossed in organic blue agave nectar and ginger, garlic Korean pepper sauce and served with pickled diakon, queso blanco and sesame seeds.
They put the tacos next to each other and the shells were too small for the quantity of stuffing, so it was a bit messy to eat! The tofu edamame falafel was a bit mushy: I did not like it. The BBQ short rib was pretty good: it was tender and not dry thanks to the marinade. The last one I tried was the chicken one: I would have never thought it was fried chicken! Last, the taco shell was a bit hard on some parts of the tacos.
I was a bit disappointed: I think they put too many things on the taco and you lose the main flavors.
The next truck was Nuchas truck that serves empanadas.
They offer different types of empanadas: meat, veggie or sweet. We ordered the Argentine empanada ($3): ground beef, onions, pepper, scallions, potatoes and olives.
When the empanada came, it looked like the cocas that my family cooks with sheshoukah! It really liked it although it was a bit greasy. It had nice flavors and was just a bit spicy, but not too much.
Then was the long awaited Valducci's pizza truck!
Next to Valducci's was the Gorilla Cheese truck, specialized in grilled cheese.
Then, we were on our way to leave when we saw the Red Hook Lobster Pound! Last year, I ate a fantastic lobster roll there! With all the food we ate, I was not sure I could have one. But Jodi knew how to find the good words to convince me: "If you do not get one, you will regret and keep talking about it!". I did not need more to order the $16 Connecticut lobster roll:
The bread was deliciously buttered and toasted. If you do not like butter, it is not for you! I love this place!
After that, I was full and could not even try any of the desserts trucks. This is a great festival and I am looking forward for the next one!
On a side note, it was funny to see people eating at the terrace of the restaurants next to the festival: why would you pay overpriced food when you have an incredible event like this next to you?
If you went to the Food Truck Festival, let me know what you think!
Enjoy (I did)!
