Food on the go!

This weekend the Charles River Food Truck Festival took place in Artesani Herter Park in Brighton, MA.


It was a beautiful day to be outside and Artesani Herter Park seemed like a great place for this festival. It provided a good mixture of sun and shade and a lovely view of the Charles River. The food truck festival we went to last year was in the parking lot of a strip mall, still great fun, but we were roasting in the sun and the ambience left a lot to be desired.

There were about 22 trucks altogether providing a wonderful assortment of food from Asian fusion to BBQ, tacos to pizza, and lots of cheese and bacon. There were also booths set up from vendors promoting their specials for free, like Dunkin Donuts handing out their new pumpkin iced coffee and IZZE  passing out new flavors of their sparkling juice (I highly recommend the pomegranate).

This is by no means a cheap day out. Parking, at the field across the street, cost $10. And with no real public transportation options you were kind of stuck if you didn't live near by or know the neighborhoods. Then the festival itself offered up wristbands for $10 ($2 of which went to the Red Cross). Each truck had two price lists, one for people w/o wristbands and a cheaper version for people with wristbands. The difference depended on the truck, but most were $2-3 cheaper.  After scouting out some of the trucks, we opted for the wristband, though I didn't keep track to see if it was actually worth it. I figured that money went to operating costs and the Red Cross, so I was ok with that.

    Red velvet whoopee pie from Whoo(pie) Wagon.

Food trucks are really popular these days and I think they are a great option for fast, (often times) gourmet foods. A festival like this is a great way to sample them and see what they are all about. There was a nice crowd in attendance but it no way felt too much. The longest line we waited in was about 7 minutes. Everyone was friendly and loved to talk about their business - this is the best chance to actually meet an owner since this tends to be a hands-on business.

They have many throughout the summer, I highly recommend checking one out. Food Truck Festivals of New England.

Trucks in attendance yesterday:

Amanda’s On Wheels

Baja Taco Truck

Bon Me

Bacon Truck, The

Chef TJ’s Grille

Cookie Monstah, The

Dining Car, The

Frozen Hoagies

Fugu

Gabi’s Smoke Shack

Happy Taco, The

Latin Spoon, The

M&M Rib’s BBQ

Mei Mei Street Kitchen

Munchies Food Truck

Paris Creperie’s “La Tour Eiffel”

Pennypackers Food Truck

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese

Sweet Tomatoes

Taco Party

Trolley Dogs

Whoo(pie) Wagon, The