Downtown Frisco StrEATS - Food Truck Festival

Yesterday was the first ever Downtown Frisco StrEATS festival. It was the first food truck event I've ever seen North of the George Bush Turnpike. I always think the food trucks are too far away so this was a great opportunity for me to finally try some DFW food trucks! I've been so behind on the Dallas food truck scene... I'm aware of most of the trucks out there, but this would be the first time for me to actually attend an event. Excited!! :)

The forecast was sunny and warm... It got a bit TOO hot actually, but the turnout was still tremendous. The event went from 3-7PM. I arrived with some friends around 2:45PM to find parking... there were already lines at the trucks when we got there!

I immediately joined my friend at the Coolhaus truck. This was the main reason I wanted to go. I've been to the Coolhaus truck and store in LA on multiple occasions. I'm always interested to see what new concoctions and flavors they come up with.

Coolhaus Truck (Specialty Ice Cream Sandwiches)
http://eatcoolhaus.com/
I got a Potato Chip Cookies with Fried Chicken & Maple Waffle Ice Cream $5~

Learning from my messy experience in sunny LA, I asked for my cookies separate and the ice cream in a cup. haha. I'm a bit of a neat freak so I didn't want ice cream running down my arms. You can see the potato chips in the cookie and you can taste the saltiness too. My friends and I all liked the cookie. The ice cream was interesting. At first taste, I only got maple syrup flavor. But as I continued to eat, I started getting bits of waffle and what seemed to be tiny bits of chicken skin? Not sure, but I got hints of the saltiness of the chicken. I wish there was a bit more salt though, after a while the ice cream became a little too sweet for me.

My friend got the Red Velvet Cookies with Brown Butter & Candied Bacon Ice Cream $5~

I totally recommended the candied bacon ice cream. I had it in LA and loved it. You can see and taste the bits of bacon in there. The Dallas sun was brutal and the ice cream melted faster than she could eat. haha. But she liked it overall.

Overall:


Nammi Truck (Vietnamese Fusion)
http://nammitruck.com/
I've had Nammi before and thought it was pretty good. My friend got the BBQ Pork Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich on 12" baguette served with garlic mayonnaise, cucumbers, pickled daikons & carrots, jalapenos, and cilantro) $7~

This was by far the best deal of the day. For $7 the portion was massive. For me, their bread is the star. I like the texture a lot and it's not as hard and thick as some other places. So it's easier to eat without potentially scraping up your mouth! The BBQ pork had pretty good flavor, but I thought the texture was a bit soft. That was the same issue for me when I had them the first time. But all in all, a very decent Banh Mi.

Overall:


Easy Slider Truck (Gourmet Sliders)
http://www.easyslidertruck.com/
This was another truck I really wanted to try. I've heard great things about them. They all sounded so good! Each slider is $3.50~

My bf decided to get 3 sliders:

The Roadside (angus beef, Tillamook cheddar, bacon, grilled jalapenos, fried onions, truck-made BBQ sauce). All the sliders have the same meat and bread. I liked the bread but it got heavy after a while. It definitely held up the sliders very well though. I liked all the elements of this slider but I couldn't taste them. I thought there was too much BBQ sauce and overwhelmed it all. :( The meat was juicy and cooked well though.

The 7 Layer (angus beef, guacamole, salsa, Tillamook cheddar, Fritos, truck-made black bean dip).

I guess this was my favorite out of the 3, but it definitely needed the Fritos for an added crunch...without it, the textures were all pretty similar and everything gets a bit lost together.

The French Revolution (angus beef, gruyere, prosciutto, grilled onions, dijon mustard).

I would've loved this if it wasn't for the dijon. I like dijon, but there was too much of it. That's all I could taste. But I liked the texture of the grilled onions with the meat.

Another friend of mine got 2 sliders:

The Sweet & Lowdown (angus beef, bacon, goat cheese, strawberry jam). I believe he got it sans the goat cheese since I'm not a fan and I didn't taste any. This was everyone's favorite. The strawberry and bacon together in the burger was interestingly fantastic. The sweet and salty all came together in that mini burger. Since my friend bought it, I tried hard not to take a 2nd bite. :P

The Nutty Pig (angus beef, creamy peanut butter, lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon). This was the one I really wanted to try since I love peanut butter. It sounds so weird but I liked it. Peanut butter and bacon together is a great combination. the only thing is that the pb slightly overwhelmed the rest of the slider. But since I love pb so much, it didn't really bother me.

The last 2 sliders definitely got more points for them. I wasn't really feeling the first 3...

Overall:


My friends all decide to line up for the Korean tacos next. They had probably the longest line in the whole event. I was quite impressed with the amount of business they were getting. They struggled a bit to get all the orders out in a timely manner though.

Ssahm BBQ Truck (Gourmet Korean Tacos)
http://www.ssahmbbq.com/
I found out that people in the Ssahm line were all waiting for over an hour for their food. Craziness! I met a very nice couple (who seemed to be foodies) who were waiting for their order to be filled. They said after they made their order, they didn't expect to be waiting another 20-30 minutes for the food! They also said that this was by far the longest line for Ssahm out of every other food truck event they've been to. That increased my expectations a bit!

Finally my friends made it to the front of the line. We got...
Kalbi Taco (marinated short rib, sesame soy vinaigrette salad, caramelized kimchee, cilantro and onion, Korean Salsa Roja, Spicy Mayo, served on 6" corn tortillas) $3~
Daeji Taco (spicy marinated pork, sesame soy vinaigrette salad, caramelized kimchee, cilantro and onion, Korean Salsa Roja, Spicy Mayo, served on 6" corn tortillas) $3~

I'm personally not a taco fan since I don't like corn tortillas but I still gave it a try. I have to say I wasn't impressed...not because of the corn tortilla but... one, I couldn't tell the beef and pork tacos apart. They looked and tasted the same to me. The salsa roja was a bit tart and there was too much of it. That was all I could taste. :( But some of my friends liked the salsa so they liked it a lot. Personal preference I guess. However, I really enjoyed the salad on top. It was crisp, fresh and added great texture to the taco. And for some reason, the taco wasn't hot when we ate it. They were making each taco to order, so we all expected it to be hot. Weird.

Kimchee Fries (fresh hand cut potatoes, Monterey Jack & Cheddar cheese, cilantro and onion, caramelized kimchee, spicy mayo) Small for $5~

Again, too much sauce on the fries in my opinion. I liked the fries on their own, it was fried well and had good flavor. I wish there was more meat and kimchee on top though. LA Burger's K-Town Fries are still better in my book! 

Overall:


While my friends were standing in the Ssahm BBQ line, I broke away to try the vegan Zombie truck. I'm always interested to try alternative foods, healthier options, etc.

Zombie's Food Truck (Vegan)
http://www.eatatzombies.com/
I got the Seoul Survivor (Bulgogi-inspired grilled seitan with scallions, red onions, and mushrooms. served on a bolillo roll with fresh basil and sriracha-ginger mayo) $6~

Bolillo is a savory bread made in Mexico. It is a variation of baguette and the main ingredient in tortas. The bread was nothing like a baguette in my opinion, other than the shape maybe. It was soft and pillowy, not hard and crusty like a baguette. I prefer this bread better! It didn't remind me of bulgogi in any way but I actually really enjoyed the flavors. There was a spicy undertone which was quite nice. Seitan is basically wheat gluten, which is an alternative to soybean-based meat substitutes such as tofu. It is actually used in Asian cooking a lot. My mom has made it before at home. The sandwich reminded me a little of a dish my mom has made in the past in regards to the flavor. I thought it was yummy! And the price of the sandwich was definitely good for the size.

Sweet Potato & Turnip Green Mash $2~

This item is also gluten free. It was sweet from the sweet potatos, slightly tangy, and a little smokey. My friends all said it reminded them of barbeque. I didn't like the tangy element though. It was a good mix of textures with the soft mashed sweet potato vs the heartier/tougher turnip greens.

Overall:


I was sooo full after all this food. Considering the lines, I was impressed that I made it to 5 different trucks. I wish I had time to try some of the other trucks, but my stomach couldn't handle anymore. Plus it was just sooo hot! I think the sun was just beating everyone down.

The other trucks there included:
SoCal Tacos Truck (fish tacos, burritos) - http://www.eatsocaltacos.com/
The Butcher's Son Truck (brats, sausages, sliders, etc.) - http://thebutchersson.com/
Cajun Tailgators Truck - http://www.cajuntailgators.com/
Rockstar Bakeshop Truck (sweet treats, specializing in Whoopie Pies) - http://rockstarbakeshop.com/
Eat JoDawgs Truck (hot dogs, sausages, bratwursts) - http://www.eatjodawgssite.com/

I had a good time in general and I'm glad I was able to try a good amount of food. I guess I'll have to hit up the other trucks in the next food truck event. And we need a better game plan next time. It was a bad idea to all stand in the same line because we end up getting too much of the same thing so we couldn't try more variations. Next time we need to split up so we can try a bit of everything!! hehe.

The event overall seemed successful, but I hope next time they have a bigger location so the trucks can spread out a bit. The lines from the trucks were all intertwined with each other in the center of the location. It was hard to distinguish which one was which.

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~