Mobile Bliss

Friday mornings for me are always rough - especially Friday mornings that greet you with gloomy, grey skies and freezing cold rain and even more especially Fridays that you know will be followed by a weekend of intense exam cramming. Today was shaping up to be boring and insignificant.

Luckily for me, today was not insignificant! I work in a very food challenged area of the South Loop, and our usually neglected corner received a lunchtime miracle - a gleaming orange food truck parked right.across.the.street. Yes. Gourmet mac & cheese delivered straight to my front door.

The history of food trucks in Chicago has been brief - it wasn't until about a year ago that these mobile food miracles were allowed in Chicago - and today there are still some caveats - most notably that food can't actually be assembled on site and must be pre-packaged before hitting the streets. Regardless, the food truck trend has taken off, and there are several notable chefs getting in on the action.

One of the first faces to hit the scene was long time food truck advocate Matt Maroni with his "Naan-wich" filled Gaztro Wagon. I was fortunate enough to score one of his creations during the truck's maiden voyage last summer. Considering the food preperation restraints, my pre-packaged parcel of wild boar belly nestled in pillowly naan bread was quite delicious and enough to get me hooked on the mobile madness thats overtaken our streets.

Since then, I've had the pleasure of trying Phillip Foss's Meatyballs as well as Tiffany Kurtz's Flirty Cupcakes. Both have been wonderful food experiences. With the exception of today however, I've had to make quite a hike to other parts of the loop to get in on the action - so what a great surprise to learn that a truck would actually be stopping right.across.the.street.

Yes, The Southern Mac & Cheese truck - perfect for a mid-day pick me up. They were serving four options today and I was able to sample three - sundried tomato and carmelized onion with white cheddar, white truffle oil infused smoked gouda, and italian sausage, giardiniara, with mozzarella. I can assure you that it lived up to my expectations - all were well-balanced bowls of comfort. The truck sold out within an hour of being parked right.across.the.street, so hopefully word will spread about the potential profits to be had on my little corner, and I will be graced with more food truck goodness in the future.

In the meantime, I'll continue to support the Chicago food truck initiative and with warmer weather moving in, will most certainly be making many more voyages to do so.


-B

 What a beaute.

 Sundried Tomato and Carmelized Onion with White Cheddar

Italian Sausage, Giardiniera, and Mozzerella