Last Saturday the Food Truck Festival took over Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park. 27 food truck vendors, were lined up next to 26 beer vendors, for the public to enjoy. Cover band, SourPuss, entertained the hundreds of food truck fans in attendance.
My first stop at the festival was Cheesy Street, a food truck that ran off variations of grilled cheese sandwiches. I grabbed the “Yo Mamma’s” grilled cheese and the bread pudding. The sandwich was a bit underwhelming due to its basic ingredients, there was nothing special about it but the bread pudding made up for it with a blend of milk and cinnamon that melted in my mouth.
Right behind them I stopped at Punchies Pizza, planted right next to the stage. My first impression of Punchies was spectacular. The pizza truck was painted with flames, but the built in stone, pizza oven and the creative cast of employees throwing up dough called for people to try their fare. I ordered the classic pepperoni pizza, which was amazing.
This food truck was not only know for their craft, but apparently their history as well. Dating back to 1943, when the Giordano family moved to New Mexico from Chicago to start a pizza business right here in Albuquerque, their grandchildren started mobilizing the business in order to bring their traditional homemade recipes to the community.
After trying the pizza, I found myself in front of an asian/southwestern fusion food truck, Kamikaze, which has a big following due to their burger and enchilada egg rolls. The wait was almost an hour long with the line wrapping around the vehicle. I decided to get their asian fries, which were loaded with cheese, green chile and sweet and sour sauce. The combination was a perfect, and worth the wait.
Devouring all this delicious food, I was ready to finish off with dessert. I came across With Love Waffles, a truck specializing in dessert styled waffles. I ordered the strawberry chocolate waffles, topped with three huge scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, strawberries and the main ingredient, fresh baked waffles. It was heaven in every bite, making me forget how full I was from all the food.
This was this event 5th annual festival, after my experience there I would go again.
Cade Guerrero is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted by email at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @CadeGuerrero.
