Yesterday was the first WHAT THE TRUCK?! event of the season and it was great! It was a sunny, beautiful day in Churchill Square and all the trucks were out! Twenty-Five in all so a great selection of food to try. But with over 11,000 people planning to attend, I had to have a strategy to get my food and get out of those crowds! We were meeting up with my Edmonton Foodie Group but decided to just tag team with Phil to get what we wanted and find a table.
We were well prepared - so I thought! I had thoroughly read and re-read all the menus. I had decided on the items that Phil and I wanted to try (ha! ha!). I had researched the map and the location of the trucks so I knew where I needed to go and what to get! And I had my Running Room Camelback filled with Sangria on my back so I had my hands free to just deal with my food!! Well, that plan was out the window as soon as we got there. When we arrived around 3:45 pm there were already huge lines at most trucks. So Phil went one way with his list and I went to Chedda Heads. It was a great opportunity to try this Gourmet Grilled Cheese Truck out of Red Deer, Alberta and everyone else had the same idea as well because they had a line of at least 200 people all day long! It was consistently the longest line all day. While the lines became problematic as the day went on, I was probably about 40 or 50th in line at the beginning of the event and it was well worth it to try one of their gourmet sandwiches - and they really were gourmet.
On the menu today they had three offerings on the menu:
Easy Tiger: Smoked Brisket, Bacon Fat sauteed Brussels Sprouts, Monterrey Jack, Mozzarella – $10
Hellbent (Vegetarian): Cheddar, Mozzarella, Swiss, Avocado, Sweet Chilli Heat Doritos – $9
Rearview Mirror: Cheddar, Granny Smith Apples, Bacon, Maple Syrup – $9
We went with the Rearview Mirror and it was outstanding. I loved it. I don't think I'll make a grilled cheese sandwich again without adding apples.
Next up was The Bully Food Truck. I love this truck. At the last event they were sold out of their Mac and Cheese so I had to fix that this time. Their menu today consisted of:
Alberta Twisted Bacon Style Sushi: Everyone has Seen it on the internet? This is how it is done LIKE A BOSS! House Ground AAA Alberta Beef, Lightly Seasoned, Sharp Smoked Cheddar Cheese, Fresh Spinach, Wild Rice Wrapped in Peppered Bacon, Served with house Made Tomato Jam and a Little dressed Greens – $8
Colossal Shrimp BULLY MAC: Hallelujah! 1 Butter Poached 6 cnt Shrimp, Cheesy BULLY MAC Loaded with Garlic Bistro Shrimp topped with Garlic Panko and a Lemon wedge – $10
Pork Wellington: Brined and Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder, House Made Alberta Whiskey Pork Pate, Duxcell, Shallots wrapped in Golden Puff Pastry topped with Pork Demi-glaze served with Roasted Cauliflower puree, Pomme William Potato – $12
Perogy Like No Other: Calzone Size 4 Cheese Potato and Roasted Garlic Stuffed Perogy served with creamy Beer Mustard Slaw, and our House Made Double Smoked Shoulder Ham. Classic!!!! – $10
Baileys Rice Crispy Squares – $3
Blondie Cookie Cup Cakes with Jameson Caramel and Sea Salt Crusted Milk Chocolate – $3
We started with the Colossal Shrimp Bully Mac. This is easily the best Mac and Cheese ever. Thanks so much Bully Truck. We will be back again and again for that Mac and Cheese. We also tried the Pork Wellington which was very good as well.
Next up we were off to Knosh who today was serving the following:
Chicken Tikka Pastie – Chicken tikka and potato wrapped in a traditional crust served with yogurt mint dip and chickpea salad $6.00
Jacket Potato – Baked potato topped with Irish whiskey braised pork, stout and cheddar sauce and crispy onions $6.00 (Gluten Free)
Sticky toffee bread pudding with caramel sauce $3.00
Ginger Rum Ball $2.00
We shared the Jacket Potato. Delicious as well. Loved the sauce. Wish there was more.
So here's where things start getting dicey. To get any other food items you had to line up for at least an hour. So I found a table and chairs in the shade and Phil went off into the sun to get more food. Suprisingly, when he returned I was getting HUNgry again so glad he had some food from Attilla the HUNgry. Their menu today consisted of:
DuckTots – Thai braised duck leg, shredded over tater tots, topped with hoisen aioli, lime sriracha, herbs, and peanuts.
Peacemaker Burger – Our signature HUNburger patty smothered in Thai peanut butter, strawberry sriracha jam, and crushed peanuts, on brioche.
Limping Dragon Wrap – Japanese BBQ chicken, vegetable slaw, snap peas, fruit salsa, garlic herb aioli
We had the DuckTots. They are always good. We've had them and the Peacemaker Burger (PB&J) before.
We did try to get some pretzels at Carnival Cravings right at the beginning of the event but they said they wouldn't be open for another hour?! They were offering the following:
Traditional mini donuts, gourmet mini donuts
Fresh squeezed lemonade
Hot pretzels (butter & salt, grilled cheese, cheddar jalapeno, perogy, and garlic cheese)
Cotton candy, fudge, nut brittle, ice cream novelties
The big mistake was to try and end the day with One Cool Cookie. On menu today was:
TCC: Triple chocolate cookie with black cherry ice cream
Sweet & Salty: Skor-bacon cookie with salted caramel ice cream
PB & J: peanut butter cookie with peanut butter-chocolate ice cream and a splash of strawberry jelly
Sweet Classic: chocolate chunk cookie with marshmallow ice cream
They had a very bad system and we ended lining up for over an hour and a half (and by "we" I mean "Phil"! You line up in one line to order and then you have to line up again to pick up your item. They were hand assembling each cookie ice cream sandwich which took forever. We had the Sweet & Salty. It was okay but nothing outstanding for the amount of time we lined up.
We ended at Keilan's Creamery for pistachio ice cream for the walk back to the car. I love pistachio ice cream and it's so hard to find!
All in all a great day. Crowds were huge but it wasn't terrible. And everyone except for two people that I saw honoured the no smoking in Churchill Square which made it very pleasant.
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