Friday, February 18, 2011

Goin' on a Food Truck Hunt!!

The weather is unseasonably warm here in Northern Virginia for being middle of February.  In some places it got up 75 degrees today!! So what do you do on a Friday of a holiday weekend when the weather is this gorgeous??
Catholic University...beautiful architecture

The Basilica at Catholic University

You skip out on work, go to DC, and hunt down some food trucks! That's exactly what hubby and I did! It was soo awesome!
cool metro grafitti

like it or not, its definitely talented art

Now before I go any further, I have recently heard some grumblings about food trucks from certain people (you know who you are!) who think food served from a truck must be disgusting low-budget street crap. And I feel it is my DUTY to prove these people wrong.  There is a difference between food trucks and street food vendors.  If you go into the city and see a hot dog vendor on the street corner, you might want to think twice unless you have a reputable source to tell you otherwise.  But food trucks have come a long way, baby, in the last few years.  They actually are becoming quite a big deal in the food/restaurant business. And as such most of them are becoming quite gourmet.  There's no ordinary hot dogs and hamburgers here. Still skeptical? Read on, please.

First stop...Red Hook Lobster Pound.  If you never go to any other food truck or are skeptical about food truck cuisine and want to see what all the fuss is about, this is the place you MUST go to!!
The Lobster Pound

They are well-known in the area for their lobster rolls though they do have a few other offerings.  They ship in lobsters the night before fresh from Maine and you can order it 2 ways.  The Traditional Maine lobster roll, which has mayo, or the Connecticut style, which uses melted butter.  Most of these trucks have Twitter pages that tell you where they're going to be parked.  So right around 11 or 11:30am you'll see people start milling about on a street corner looking like they're waiting for something.

And then you see it.  Around the corner comes this little red and white truck with a picture of a lobster on it.  And the line begins to form before the truck even comes to a stop. I've never seen a line form so fast.  Within seconds, the line was already wrapped around the block to where we couldn't see the end.  Lucky for us we saw the truck coming and hopped in line right away.  We were only maybe 20 people back. By the time we left with our lobster roll, there had to be about 100 people there waiting in line!
the edge of the Lobster Pound on the left; the line already bending around the corner seconds after they parked

And let me tell you...if I had been at the back of that line, it would've totally been well worth the wait. OMG! We ordered the traditional lobster roll to split between the 2 of us.  However, I think we may have gotten the Connecticut style.  I don't know. I don't care.  Whichever kind we got was one of the most awesomest things I have ever eaten in my life!  A traditional hot dog style bun soaked with melted butter and topped with a mountain of pure unadulterated buttery lobster meat.  No extra fluff. Just lobster.  Sweet and hot and juicy.  Melted butter dribbling down our chins as we stood on the sidewalk nomming it down.  Honestly, it was some of the best lobster I have ever eaten in my life. No exaggeration, I promise. You NEED to go there and check it out! Trust me!
Gimmee that Lobstah Love!


Luscious Lobster



More food trucks to come! Stay tuned...



If you would like more proof that food trucks are on the cutting edge of cuisine, read about the reality TV show called The Great Food Truck Race, which aired on the Food Network back in August 2010.  Seven different food trucks competed to see who was the best.  These are the top three trucks...
3. Spencer on the Go (French cuisine)

2. NomNom Truck  (Vietnamese cuisine)
1. Grill'em All  (American burgers)

Check out those menus and tell me thats low-budget street crap food!

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