At first, like so many times before, we chuckled at the idea of chasing a food truck down a road. The idea seemed silly; people are too busy now for that nonsense. We quickly followed that thought with memories of energetic food festivals and late-night scrambles to find the best taco.
Then, what could have been a momentary nostalgia trip morphed into pure nausea as we realized just how far this trend has gone: today, there are multiple food trucks per city and per square mile — an overabundance so great that you can spend your day in search of just one or two truck options rather than try to catch them all. Pomtoms is our attempt to document this overindulgence and decide for ourselves what’s wrong with the food truck scene and where it will eventually lead.
It’s not all bad, though. The food truck movement has produced a new generation of chefs who are breaking the shackles of Michelin-starred restaurants and starting successful businesses on the side without sacrificing their integrity or passion. There are also the food truck dwellers: your everyday folks who have to subsist on tacos, curries and other previously-out-of-reach cuisines with very creative names. They, after all, are the ones who set this whole ball rolling, and we salute them.
We also salute the spirit of entrepreneurialism that has spawned a culture of business opportunity in cities all over the globe. A food truck owner can break even within a matter of weeks due to their lower overhead costs and risk. The chefs working in these vehicles have more control over their own destinies in terms of quality control and creativity while keeping their prices relatively low to attract customers who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford upscale eateries (which some owners feel is necessary).
Five Food Trucks That Had Gone Way Too Far :
1. The Grilled Cheeserie Food Truck
“Our grilled cheeses are to die for!” “The Grilled Cheeserie is the most popular food truck on the East Coast!” Despite its unironic use of a grammatically incorrect word and its unbelievable cheesiness, this food truck somehow managed to take over Philadelphia in just a few short years. Everyday, you can see starving college students and haggard office workers lining up at the Grilled Cheeserie’s little orange palace for a bite of a grilled cheese. With options like grilled brie with caramelized apples — err, a “Grilled Appy” — and the roasted beet sandwich, we’re not surprised that this truck has become so popular.
The Grilled Cheeserie also holds monthly contests that are available to the public. As a bit of a cooking enthusiast, I’ve always found these contests very interesting. One contest invites people to submit their own recipes for grilled cheese to be made at The Grilled Cheeserie.
2. Nom Nom Truck
Yeah, you know this one already. It’s the “sister” truck to Nong’s Khao Man Gai, a Thai restaurant that has been open since before Nom Nom Truck. The nom-nom-nom truck is so overhyped that it even made a cameo appearance in an episode of Seinfeld and hasn’t let up since. I’m not really sure what exactly makes this food truck so famous, and I’d love to say that it was some outrageously creative and innovative dish but I think it’s really more of a gimmick.
3. Blue Star Donuts
Okay, I can kind of see why these donuts are so popular. They’re really cute and made of…uhhh…bacon wrapped around a donut? And then dipped in chocolate or…I don’t know! It just makes no sense! Why would anyone want to eat this?! Sheesh, it’s not even bacon flavored — it just looks gross with pink frosting on top! I think that if the food truck handed out the same thing to everyone, the people waiting in line would quickly figure out where they could get something better.
4. BriskMobile
Okay, so let’s rewind to the early days of the food truck movement. It was a simpler time; we didn’t have fancy little restaurants on wheels serving us every kind of ethnic food imaginable. Instead, we had simple trucks hawking their wares from city to city in search of the best business opportunities. Nowadays, though, we’ve gone too far with this whole idea. BriskMobile is a food truck that tries to blend together as many different food cultures as possible.
5. Taim Mobile
Taim Mobile is the American offshoot of Taim Falafel, an Israeli falafel chain that has been featured in a number of periodicals and newspapers. With locations all over Tel Aviv, it was only a matter of time before the food truck movement brought falafel to the masses. The company behind this truck follows in its mother restaurant’s footsteps by offering excellent service and quality dishes despite its small size.
