Ditch the four walls, head outside, and get your fill of those portable powerhouses known as food trucks.
Ditch the four walls, head outside, and get your fill of those portable powerhouses known as food trucks.
Episode content:
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Find episode transcript here: https://the-best-thing-i-ever-ate.simplecast.com/episodes/on-wheels-ft-jeff-mauro-sabin-lomac-and-ali-kahn
SPEAKER 1: Who doesn't love great food? It's more than just eating, it's an experience. Do we have any more?
SPEAKER 2: This is the best thing I ever ate.
SPEAKER 3: Walking the streets of any major city in America, food trucks are everywhere. You have burger, pizza, there is no limit to what is served on wheels. I heard most restaurants in America are now just putting wheels on the outside of their restaurants just to be cool. And if I'm feeling feisty, and chances are I'm getting a lobster roll. It's the quintessential decadent sandwich. This is not your typical New England swimming in mayo and celery lobster roll. This is how Chicago does a lobster roll, the angry lobster sandwich from the Happy Lobster Truck in Chicago, Illinois. I discovered the Happy Lobster truck in the parking lot of my church. I was eating this thing, and I thought I heard something. It was an angel saying, Jeff this is heaven. So they start with their spicy mayo by combining premium mayo.
SPEAKER 4: None of that light stuff. We need something that sticks to your ribs.
SPEAKER 3: Sriracha, chili sauce, and oil from the hot giardiniera. Hot giardiniera is a Chicago staple. We put it on everything. You could just eat it on its own. Next, they use the perfect amount of every spice in the spice drawer to create their house seasoning-- celery salt, paprika, black pepper, red pepper, dry mustard, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, all spice. So now it's time to build the sandwich. They take freshly steamed lobster. They fly it in daily. You're getting tail meat. You're getting claw meat. You're getting my favorite knuckle meat. Why is that your favorite? Because it's most tender. So then they douse it in more clarified butter-- their housemade seasoning, and then hot giardiniera right on top.
SPEAKER 4: You got to get giardiniera in everybody.
SPEAKER 3: Then spicy mayo comes into play.
SPEAKER 4: There you have it, the angry lobster. Come and get it before Jeff eats them all.
SPEAKER 3: You take a bite of this baby, and it is like a hot front and a cold front coming together, create a tornado of the mind. Like it's so buttery and lovely and luscious, but it's also so angry and spicy. It makes you go back in for another bite, and then another, and then another. Next thing you know, you're back up at the window on wheels ordering another angry lobster sandwich. Have you ever been cut off from a lobster truck? Now they have my photo on the inside of the truck. Do not serve more than three angry lobster sandwiches to this guy. I'm a wanted man. I'm on the list. HLT, most wanted.
SPEAKER 4: HLT.
SPEAKER 3: Happy Lobster Truck.
SPEAKER 5: I can talk food trucks all day long, not just because I host a show about food trucks. But I love food trucks. I love eating at food trucks. I like the look of food trucks. I like the feeling of when you're standing in line. Who likes to stand in line? This guy. When I think about the best dish I've ever had on wheels, it has to be the Game Over from the Yeastie Boys in Los Angeles, California. This blew my mind with flavor. This dish is so good, I wish I had one right now. I found Yeastie Boys because the owner is all over social media, just so many pictures of these bagels, and you cannot find a decent bagel in Los Angeles. And let me let you know a little secret, there isn't any, except for the Yeastie Boys food truck.
This bagel is made by a New Yorker. He said, I'm going to make the best bagel in LA if I can't find one. And he did. This bagel goes head to head with New York Bagels. Yes, I said it, it goes head to head with New York Bagels. You can write to me. You can write letters all day long. It is the best.
To make this fabulous sandwich, they start by making the cheddar bagel. They mix sugar, water, salt, barley malt syrup, molasses, high gluten flour, and active dry yeast. Now that we mixed our dough and let it sit for a little while, we're going to now cut and shape the dough into bagels. This is actually my favorite part of the whole thing. I like to do it with one hand, feel like a real G, and then it's put inside the refrigerator for 12 to 14 hours. So next, this is where a bagel becomes a bagel. It's boiled in honey water. The boiling of the bread before you bake it helps give it that chew that you know you're eating a bagel when you eat it.
And then it's baked with some cheddar on top. Who doesn't want cheese on top of their bagel?
SPEAKER 6: Yeah, I do.
SPEAKER 5: It's going to give it that golden brown, crisp outer layer. GBD, golden brown delicious. Now, it's time to make the sandwich. They scramble eggs with some crema on a griddle. This crema is like this Mexican sour cream, but has way more flavor. Then they slice open the cheddar bagel, and slather on cheddar jalapeno cream cheese. Oh yeah, that looks good. Oh, oh, slather that cream cheese. When the scrambled eggs are done, they add it right on top. And then they add the pepper bacon. Then they add a layer of freshly sliced tomatoes. They sandwich all that together, slice, and serve. Chef, can I get one Game Over, please.
SPEAKER 6: Brad, I got you coming right up.
SPEAKER 5: Yes. How do you describe the Mona Lisa? The combination of the flavors just goes so well together. That smokiness of the bacon, and the scrambled eggs, and that creamy jalapeno cheese. This is so, so amazing. I'm going to go eat this. I'm going to take it with me.
SPEAKER 7: Bring on the tortas. I was so surprised. I couldn't believe this little restaurant on wheels could give me something so delicious. There's a lot of food trucks, but there's definitely one that I think is the best thing I ever ate on wheels. The chipotle albondiga torta, or chipotle meatball torta from Corazon de torta in San Diego, California. The torta is essentially a sandwich-- putting meatballs inside of a torta. I kept asking myself, why didn't I think of this?
They start by making the meatballs. Now what I think is genius, they actually grind up chicharon until it becomes this glorious dust. And, of course, chicharon is pork crackling, that then mix into these perfect meatballs. To make this Chipotle sauce, they combine grilled onions with roasted Roma tomatoes, garlic salt and pepper, and of course, the piece de resistance, the Chipotle peppers.
SPEAKER 8: Chipotle chilies are quite spicy so be careful with them.
SPEAKER 7: Next, they sear the meatballs. Then drop those into that glorious sauce, and allow them to meld together for about 15 minutes.
SPEAKER 8: Now, it's time to get messy.
SPEAKER 7: They slice up that perfect beat of the bread, place that on a nice hot griddle, toast it up, and, well, then they add cheese because what torta doesn't need some cheese. Yes, please.
SPEAKER 8: White onion, cilantro.
SPEAKER 7: And, of course, that glorious chicharon dust. The Italians they got the Parmesan, but what do we do? We just sprinkle a little chicharon on it because why not. You have this perfectly fluffy meatball, that you've got like the sweetness, and then you've got smokiness from the Chipotle. It's just home goodness wrapped up in a perfect toasted bread. When I finish the torta, there is no feeling other than full and perfect satisfaction. What more do you want is this, go eat it.
SPEAKER 5: Very little things in this world are better than bacon and mac and cheese. The only thing that is better than bacon and mac and cheese is the fried bacon mac and cheese bites from the Bacon Truck in Boston, Massachusetts. If you find yourself in front of a bacon truck, first of all congratulate yourself because you're doing well in life. First time I eat it I was like, oh, my goodness. I called my mom, I was on the phone with her for an hour. Mom, I'm here. I'm not going to overnight you bacon, mac, and cheese bites, mom. OK. I'm overnighting your bacon, mac, and cheese, but how many do you want, mom? Just tell me how many do you want.
So they start with bacon. It is the bacon truck.
SPEAKER 9: Some people like their bacon crispy. Others like it floppy. I'm more of a flispy guy myself-- somewhere right in the middle.
SPEAKER 5: Then they strain off all of that bacon fat that you probably thought they were going to discard. No, no, no, no. They add flour and they make a roux for the mac and cheese. They're going to mix in whole milk, heavy cream, then they take elbow pasta. They mix that in with a perfectly cooked bacon. And then guess what they're going to do. Guess.
SPEAKER 10: Cheese?
SPEAKER 5: Cheese. Sharp cheddar and creamy havarti. This is insane. In the old days, creamy havarti and sharp cheddar, they weren't cool. They're rival gangs. And just dump it in. So they put the mac and cheese on a tray.
SPEAKER 9: So I'm just going to throw this in the fridge to cool overnight.
SPEAKER 5: The next day they make these little balls of heaven, and then they dredge them and batter. They know what they're doing. Throw it in the fryer, four minutes, 375. Golden brown, cooked to perfection. It's not over. We're topping this with sriracha ranch dressing, sriracha ranch? How insane is that? You take your first bite and so many taste sensations truly happening. The bacon is just crunchy. It's mixed in with just a creamy piping hot mac and cheese. People are asking you, how is it and you're looking at them, you're not even answering. You're not speaking English anymore. You're just like-- I haven't vogue since-- I was just voguing, or am I doing like what is this? Who knows. That's what this stuff makes you do.
SPEAKER 11: The original food truck is the ice cream truck. Which is part of the reason why I love this dish so much because it reminds me of my childhood. The best dish I ever ate on wheels, the carrot topped dipped cone for Mr. Dips in Brooklyn. Growing up, we would always get dipped ice cream cones. And what is better than that? But Mr. Dips says no. We're not just going to do that. We're going to give you a carrot cake ice cream cone. Yeea, I mean fine, if you insist, I'll take it. I love carrot cake. Wow. Think everything you know and love in a carrot cake turned into an ice cream cone.
SPEAKER 12: To make carrot cake ice cream, we start with the milk. Next thing we add to the milk is the dry mixture. We have some rum raisins. Next, I add the walnuts. So if you're making carrot cake ice cream, you need carrots. Here's a cinnamon paste. It's a little bit of cinnamon mixed with glucose syrup. So once this is all mixed together, goes right into our soft serve machine.
SPEAKER 11: So once the machine does all of the magic, it flows right out-- silky smooth carrot cake flavored soft serve. So let's get dipped. They immediately dip into a white chocolate mixture that has a little bit of orange food coloring. And if that's not enough, let's take a micro carrot, and shove it into the side. And then they top it with some cream cheese frosting. What is a carrot cake without cream cheese? And then for a little bit of extra texture, they put a little bit of Struzan on top. You bite into it, the carrot cake flavor hits you. Who knew that I would love carrots so much. It's freaking fantastic. Is there anything on my face? You get that tangy cream cheese frosting, that crispy struzel. Then you get a little bit of the cinnamon, the tang from the cream cheese is still there. And that with a wafer cone, I mean, come on. Yes. I'm having too much fun here.
In Wilmington where I live, I've had a lot of different food truck meals, a lot of them. But the Buffalo Baby is the game changer. Buffalo Baby CheeseSmithCo, they are doing it right. I've never had anything else on the menu. That is how good it is. It's that one item where you go back and you're like, I want to try something else, but I don't because all I want is the Buffalo Baby. So the Buffalo Baby is a Buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich. To me it's as comforting as it gets. When CheeseSmithCo popped up, it was like this explosion. This is not your run of the mill grilled cheese truck.
So they start by making the chicken breast.
SPEAKER 13: So we braised all the chicken and Buffalo sauce and butter for about four hours, and I have to pull it all apart.
SPEAKER 11: Next they make their own carrot and celery pickled slough.
SPEAKER 13: Shredded carrots, thinly sliced celery, ground mustard, black pepper, celery seed, bay leaf. And then I take some apple cider vinegar and some boiling water, and kind of let it pickle overnight.
SPEAKER 11: So the brine just gives it this nice sort of bright acidic vinegary crunch. Next, they make their own buttermilk ranch.
SPEAKER 13: I start it with just a little bit of mayo. Some sour cream, fresh dill green onions, and then parsley, vinegar, Worcestershire, paprika, ground cayenne, salt, garlic. And just to kick things up a notch, a few dashes of some hot sauce. And then last but not least, we had some buttermilk.
SPEAKER 11: Yeah, this is real deal buttermilk dressing.
SPEAKER 13: How is it?
SPEAKER 11: Time to make the sandwich. They take white country bread first on the buttery havarti.
SPEAKER 13: I want this baby nice and cheesy. Two slices of thick havarti.
SPEAKER 11: Next on deck, buffalo chicken, pickled carrot and celery slaw, buttermilk ranch, more havarti on top. That's the important part of a grilled cheese. You never do one layer of cheese. You know what I want. When I get my sandwich, and this is a big sandwich. The sandwich is literally the size of my head. And then you just go in for that bite. You got this spiciness, and this butteriness of this buffalo sauce. And then with a grilled cheese, the melty buttery havarti. And that's where the quick pickled celery and carrots come in. And I sort of earthy flavor of the bay leaf, the spiciness from the pepper. All of that gets infused into the veggies, and that's what gives it that spark. Then you just got this buttermilk ranch, which kind of cools it off. It's a game changer. This sandwich is perfect.
SPEAKER 5: Dude, I live in Austin, Texas. And there is a tremendous amount of eating to do on wheels. I really do believe some of the more innovative cooking and food happening is happening where rubber meets road. I never saw it coming where I would just literally take a spoon of avocado and barbacoa, put in my mouth, and go oh man, that is delicious. The future of barbecue is the Barbacado. For Leroy and Lewis, Texans love Mexican food. I mean, they came up with their own name for it Tex-Mex. The love is there. And I'll tell you like Leroy and Lewis are literally the definition of new school barbecue. Barbacoa is braised beef cheek.
SPEAKER 14: So the first step in making the Barbacado is we're going to trim up these beef cheeks. These are really, really nice black Angus beef cheeks.
SPEAKER 5: So they're taking this quality beef and they do what one does in Central Texas, you smoke it.
SPEAKER 14: These beef cheeks, they're going to go on for about four hours in the smoke. Really just get some smoke on them, and get some color, and let that rub set on them.
SPEAKER 5: After the meat smokes, they put it in a hotel pan and, they confit it, which means it is cooking at its own fat at a low heat. When an order comes in, they take an avocado.
SPEAKER 14: Got a quarter, a piece of it. We're going to lay it on this piece of bread, stuff in our barbacoa. Now, we're going to top it with onion, and a little bit of jalapeno salsa, queso fresco, and cilantro.
SPEAKER 5: Oh. It really is about the bite. You've got this barbacoa that's just rich and beefy and fatty. Rich, beefy, fatty. Rich, beefy, fatty. Then you've got this fatty creaminess of the avocado. This is what I'm talking about, man, fat on fat. That is how you build the perfect Barbacado toast. Then you get the salsa, my friend. Just for that tang and a little bit of that heat, then you get that salty punch from the queso fresco. It's amazing. Can you tell me there's a better thing you can eat? This is the best thing I ever ate on wheels, put it in the books.