Bos vs. NY - Food Truck Edition

 Another beautiful fall weekend...another fantastic food festival (we have been so spoiled this month)!

This Saturday, the Greenway, which was the host of last Sunday's Boston Local Food Festival, transformed itself into yet another great space for a pop-up food festival, this time featuring the Food Truck Throwdown.

  Born from the power couple combination of  Sarah Ross, owner and founder of Kickass Cupcakes and the team behind Jet Blue, Dewey Square was transformed into a food truck extravaganza from 11-9 with some of the best food trucks from Boston and New York battling for their city's bragging rights in various categories.

 As usual, any event involving food trucks has me in a dither of excitement and I got to the Greenway nice and early so I could spend some quiet time chatting with some of the owners, managers and workers on the trucks. It was great to see some of my fave food truckies (ahem...mei mei-best vegetarian, Staff Meal- best savoury item and Bon Me- best asian), and it was especially exciting to meet some of the out-of towners!

The infamous Wafels and Dinges truck was there, with a bit of a chip on their shoulder from being one of the first food trucks in the country (Oct. 2007 marks the month and year of their first truck on the corner of Broadway and SoHo in NYC).  They did win best crew though...maybe it was the matching hats?

 I really loved the team and the artisan hand-held empanadas popping fresh out of the ovens at Nuchas.  These guys started as a cart in Times Square and after winning a contest, were awarded a food truck license and permit...which they effectively took on with zeal:)

I absolutely loved their Argentine, a special ground beef with onions, pepper and scallions...but their short rib  empanada, braised in red wine and rolled in rosemary dough took the proverbial cake.

I was also treated to a seasonal apple, cranberry and nutella dessert empanada that came straight out of their oven...what can I say? New York, I love you:)

Also of note from NY was the Munch Mobile, serving Williamsburg late night...think delicious grilled cheese renditions and burgers:)

Mike 'n' Willie's was another solid appearance with tasty tacos and a fantastic Big Bad Brisket slider (complete with crispy onions and smothered in a delicious BBQ sauce).

 Of course, I could not pass up the opportunity to swing by some of my Boston faves, Roxy's Grilled Cheese were being particularly sinful with their Mighty Rib Melt and their bacony Green Muenster (applewood bacon and homemade guacamole.) 

Oh...and they won best truck design...just fyi:)

The trio of siblings at mei mei always have something special up their sleeves, today it was a foie gras rangoon and a ginger macaron with maple bourbon buttercream (oo-er).  With their pork inspired menu, they actually ended up wining the best vegetarian item...an off the charts kale salad.  I did not go for it this time, but have had it in the past...I totally get it:)

 On the sweet side of things, my favorite by far was The Cookie Monstah Truck, fresh batch, from scratch cookies and delicious creamy ice cream (enter ice cream sandwiches).  I started with a classic chocolate chip cookie paired beautifully with a salted caramel hot chocolate and was so convinced that I dragged my friend back later on in the day...

Unfortunately, I did not get to try their famous apple crisp recipe...or their many different flavors of ice cream...but I had to leave something for another visit!

 By the time all of this had been tasted and tried, the lines were really starting to grow and my stomach had little room left for more. 

I made my way to the voting booth and cast my quarter (all proceeds go towards the food pantry of the winning city's choice).

I don't think there is much of a question as to which city I voted for...my heart is so invested with the Boston Food truck community.

That said, with nine awards, NY won 5 of them, and thus carried the cup...but the popular vote still went to Boston:)
All in all, I am happy to say that I have a much keener eye for which food trucks to look out for next time I am in NY...and given the performance of the NY 'stEATs', my cravings will surely be satisfied:)