Fat Wagon - Thai Chicken Rice Bowl

Truck: Fat Wagon
Location: 1311 Leeland, Houston Food Park
Date: April 24, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fatwagonhouston

Thai Chicken Rice Bowl - $8

Marinated chicken grilled well. Serviced over nice sticky rice with pickled carrots, basil leaves, clintro, and pickled Serrano peppers I think.  The chicken is moist and tender. The pickles give some nice acid to the dish. I guess my one complaint is I think the basil should have been shredded to spread it out some, the big leaves are a little hard to eat. Its a good size hearty dish though. Synopsis: Classic tasty rice bowl.

Casian King - Korean BBQ Poboy

Truck: Casian King
Location: 1311 Leeland, Houston Food Park
Date: 4/24/2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/casian_king

Korean BBQ Poboy - $9

Don't let the picture fool you, this is a very good looking sandwich I just managed to dump it out as I was getting ready to take the picture! The sandwich is served on a split Texas Toast kind of roll. Extra yummy and surely bad for you. Loaded down with lots of sweet sticky Korean BBQ. A sweet coleslaw provides some krunchy texture. Drizzled with a house mayo that I could not tell much about. The sandwich is a messy delite to eat, get extra napkins. This sandwich is kinda what I think the fusion food truck movement is all about, putting two things together so they are greater than the sum of their parts. Synopsis: Cajun Asian fusion at its best.

The Lunchbox - The Lunchbox Burrito

Truck: The Lunchbox
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: April 23, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lunch_food

The Lunchbox Burrito - $8

The Lunchbox has quite the eclectic menu. Bagel breakfast sandwiches, Indian fusion dishes and classic sandwiches made with bagels. The Lunchbox Burrito is made with southern Indian style chicken, potatoes, homemade chutney, and pico de gallo. I was asked how hot I wanted it and went for medium. It was plenty hot, I would imagine extra hot would ignite spontaneously. The chicken filling and potatoes was just great Indian food, I could see eating this with dosa. It was also perfect in a nice fresh and crisped tortilla. It was a wall of great flavors and textures. Synopsis: I will be getting this again.

Cheezy Rider - The Copper Penny

Truck: Cheezy Rider
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: April 3, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCheezyRider

The Copper Penny - $10

Cheezy Rider has only been in business a couple of weeks. Today was the first chance I've had to try them. No one would be shocked to find that Cheezy Rider is a grilled cheese sandwich truck. Grilled cheese works well on a truck but your menu needs to have some imagination to stand out. Cheezy Riders is interesting, including the oh so tempting Sandwich of Fate. Today I decided to go with one of the their best sellers though and opted for the Copper Penny. A five cheese blend (the menu doesn't tell what's in the blend), ham, bacon, tomatoes, and a chipotle honey mustard. It normally comes on sourdough, but today they were out and asked if Challah would be ok. I like when I get asked if a substitution is ok, not all trucks do that. The sandwich looks like its grilled on a panini press. I like the grill marks. This sandwich is much more subtle than you'd think. The Chipotle mayo is mild and doesn't overpower. The rest of the sandwich works together too. Nothing sticks out though, I'd kinda like something bold here, like some fresh herbs. I liked the sandwich and if I was craving a grilled cheese I think I'd pick this again. Synopsis: A Penny for my thought? Yes I say.

I think Cheezy Rider will have some menu revisions as they iron things out. For example the menu suggests I build my own, but none of the bread or available ingredients are listed? I'd  also like to know what's in the five cheese blend anyway?

The Toasted - The Rasta

Truck: The Toasted
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: April 3, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheToastedHTX

The Rasta - $6

This is not an intuitively delicious sandwich. A grilled sandwich with peanut butter, fried plantains, and bacon. An option is to add caramel sauce. Like I said this isn't intuitively delicious, but think about the ingredients. Bacon works great with sweet. Plantains are sweet and savory. Peanut butter is a switch hitter and has a place in both worlds. This combination just works. I could eat this any time of the day actually. The plantains are perfectly done. That's where this sandwich could fail, but both times I have had it they were spot on. This is also a case where bacon could be too much of a good thing. Here its used perfectly, just the right amount I think. Synopsis: You won't need herbal stimulants to crave this sandwich!

Quite a Stir - Maui Wowi

Truck: Quite a Stir
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: March 13, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuiteAStir

Maui Wowi - $10

I asked what was the best dish on the menu and this was the chef's favorite. It's not quite fried rice. You get your choice of beef, chicken, or tofu (I chose chicken) with bacon, pineapple, bell pepper, onion and cilantro in a citrus sauce. Your choice of vehicles are brown rice or lo-mein noodles. I went with the recommenced brown rice. I like brown rice a lot and this was good, but honestly I think the noddles would have been better with the sauce.The sauce made it a little bit soupy for a rice dish, but it would have been perfect with noodles. The chicken is grilled first and had a nice citrus marinade I think on it. The bacon added some bursts of smokiness too. I guess my only complaint here is I would have like more cilantro in it, I think more cilantro would have gone very good with the citrus sauce. I'm very partial to cilantro though so your taste may vary. Synopsis: A good hearty dish for a gloomy day when the tropics are calling!

Eatsie Boys - Frank the Pretzel

Truck: Eatsie Boys

Location: University of Houston

Date: March 12, 2015

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatsieboys

Its a rainy day at UH and I'm hungry. I strolled over to the UH Food Truck Pad (sounds like something with shag carpet and a lava lamp!), and saw that Eatsie Boys were there. I was pretty hard on them last time I tried them and decided it was time to give them a second chance.

Frank the Pretzel - $7

A chicken poblano sausage, sweet caramelized onions and Chardonnay mustard on a soft pretzel bun. Who doesn't like pretzel buns? Chicken sausage is a tricky animal. Chicken is so lean its a challenge to make a sausage that isn't dry. This one came off well though, nicely juicy and the casing had that "snap" you want on a good sausage. The poblano was diced pretty fine, but you could taste it so cudos there. The sausage also had a nice char on it I guess from finishing it on the grill. The Chardonnay mustard is a whole grain mustard, my preference in mustard. Not very hot, I'm guessing the Chardonnay is Chardonnay vinegar, I could taste a little vinegar tang to it. A good choice for a delicate flavor like this sausage. Synopsis: Well done variation on the classic hotdog.

Wokker Texas Ranger - Curry Mustard Wings

Truck: Wokker Texas Ranger
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: March 6, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WokkerTxRanger

Curry Mustard Wings - $5

Every time I go to Wokker I get impressed by something they serve. This time I wasn't planning to get anything from Wokker, but walking by their menu the Curry Mustard Wings called out to me. I'm glad I stopped. These are the best wings I've had in a long time. You get two large wings in the order, the drumette and wing. Attractively served with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts and green onions. I loved the curry mustard sauce. It has just enough heat to make it interesting and the mustard tang doesn't over power. Really well balanced. Synopsis: Best wings I've had in ages!

Taco Me Crazy - Pastor Tacos

Truck: Taco Me Crazy
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: March 6, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TacoMeCrazyTX

Pastor Tacos - $7($8?)

Call me crazy, but I tried a food truck run by a chain restaurant. Taco Me Crazy is the Cadillac Bar's entry into the food truck scene. The trouble is if I had thought about it for a second is most food trucks are a little edgy on their items. Cadillac Bar is NOT edgy on its menu, so its pretty unlikely the food is edgy here. Feeding the masses usually involves appealing to the lowest common denominator. I walked up, perused the menu and chose the Pastor Tacos with a side of Crazy Rice. Add them up on the menu and its $8 + $1.99 should be $10 right. I was told $7. I tried to point out I was getting under charged. No dice, after arguing a minute I consented to $7 charge. Should have been my first omen, if the employee doesn't care that he's under charging me, does he care about the food he's serving? The tacos come with Crazy Rice anyway, I failed to get my side of rice. Just as well. The rice was flavorless, lacking even a little salt. I guess they call it Crazy Rice because you would be crazy to order it again. Anyway on to the tacos. Pastor is supposed to be spicy marinated pork finished on the grill. Mine looked good, the rich red color looked promising. The tortillas looked good, fluffy and thick. The tortillas were actually quit good, the high spot here. The color was not a good clue to the spiciness. It was ok but had no heat to it. I'm guessing the marinade is mostly annatto paste to get the color. There wasn't anything wrong with my food other than I had the expectation of something bolder than this, that left me disappointed.  Synopsis: Call me crazy, but I don't think I will order this again.

The Toasted - Signature Bolillo

Truck: The Toasted
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: February 27, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheToastedHTX

I have to open with I hope more trucks start making it to the Houston Food Park. The site is good and I have to say I LOVE not listening to generators!

Signature Bolillo - $10

Signature Bolillo

I have to say I just like this truck, well trailer. You can make awesome food without having a giant $100k rig. Its just a much more pleasant experience ordering from someone you are on the same level with too. So on to the food. The Signature Bolillo comes on a French style baguette with your choice of meats. The meats very and I opted for the slow cooked beef. Top the sandwich with chipotle mayo and Salvadorian crema. Cilantro and I believe some grilled onions finish the sandwich. The baguette was prefect, crunchy and flaky on the outside and like a cloud on the inside. That's a big deal to me because if the bread isn't fresh like this, you have to ask yourself "how many sandwiches are they really making?". No worries here though. The beef was super flavorful and oh so tender. The chipotle mayo adds some pleasant spice and the crema makes a nice cool note. Simple, but a really good sandwich. Synopsis: Appropriately named, this could be the best thing on The Toasted menu.

Churrasco Truck - Brazilian Sausage Sandwich

Truck: Churrasco Truck
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: February 3, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChurrascoTruck

Brazilian Sausage Sandwich - $12

The sandwich is served on a large bolillo roll. Every time I've had a sandwich from Churraso Truck the bread has always been super fresh and today was no exception, the bread was crunchy and flaky on the outside and like a cloud on the inside. I expected a  grilled and split link of sausage, but it came chopped, that actually made it easier to eat. The sandwich is filled with cole slaw and mayo. I added avocado to the sandwich. Notice The sandwich comes with a fork. This isn't my first rodeo with Churasco Truck and I know that fork is a good idea, I took a few bites before trying to lift the sandwich. The Brazilian sausage reminds me of the German inspired sausage of central Texas I grew up with, coarse and peppery, just the way I like it. The Chimichuri sauce has a pleasant little kick to it. Before I knew it I had eaten the whole sandwich.  Synopsis: Another excellent sandwich from Churrasco Truck. 

Wokker Texas Ranger - Bonito Brussels Sprouts and Brisket Fries

Truck: Wokker Texas Ranger
Location: Houston Food Park, 1311 Leeland
Date: January 30, 2015
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WokkerTxRanger

Bonito Brussels Sprout - $5

Sometimes a dish surprises you with how much you like it. This is actually one of the best food truck dishes I've tried. A good size serving of Brussels sprouts, onions, bonito flakes and to my surprise sultanas. These are done on a grill or maybe a really hot wok. The Brussels sprouts get an amazing about of caramelization on them. If you've always had sprouts steamed or boiled, then you're not eating them right. Given them some heat and see what happens! I suspected they used shallots on these but it turned out to be small onions, but well caramelized too. Bonito flakes, or katsuobushi, is shaved flakes of dried and cured skipjack tuna. Sounds like it would be very strong flavored but its actually pretty mild and mainly adds umami to the mix. The sultanas, or golden raisins were unexpected and add nice pops of sweetness that counter the bitterness of the Brussels sprouts. On a side note I noticed right away that Wokkers menu had Brussels sprouts and not Brussel sprouts. That's the correct and often not used spelling, its named after the city after all. Details like that makes me think a lot of detail also goes into the food too. Synopsis: Eating something healthy is rarely this good.

Brisket Fries - $8

Curly fries loaded with chopped brisket and Cheddar cheese. The smokiness of the brisket hits you right away and it wouldn't be Texas if it wasn't mesquite smoked like this. The curly fries are a good choice here since they have more crunch and hold up without getting soggy. My last fry was actually still crispy. The curly fries also solve a problem of most loaded fries. Regular fries have no texture to hold on to the toppings, curly fries can and do and you get little nuggets of the brisket in your bites this way. Synopsis: A great version of a classic.