TX Food Truck Festival... FAIL... :(

This past weekend was the TX Food Truck Festival over at Valley View Mall. It was supposed to be a massive two-day festival where trucks from Austin, Houston, and San Antonio are all joining up in Dallas. I was super excited about this. Mainly because I wanted to try food trucks that are not based in Dallas. 

There was a $5 admission where 15% was going towards The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, North Texas Chapter. For access to supposedly 30+ different trucks, I thought that was a decent price for admission. Or so I thought initially...

I was busy Friday and during the day Saturday so I planned to go with my friends on Saturday night for dinner.

My friends arrived around 7PM and I was running behind. As we were heading there, they were already texting me that many trucks are out of food...including the one I really wanted to try, Yume Burger from Austin. Boooo...

I got there and was a little upset that they were still making people pay for admission since half the trucks are already out of food. If all the proceeds were going to charity then I wouldn't be saying anything...but it wasn't. We basically paid money to stand in lines only to find out the trucks are all out of food. Plus a lot of the trucks that I thought were going to be present, were no where to be found. Since half the trucks were empty, the other's still serving had super long lines. 

It turned out that Yume Burger only had the Yume Dog left so my friends were waiting in line for that before I arrived. I think they waited 45+ minutes before ordering. I was waiting at another line so I asked them to get one for me. Yume Dog (all beef hot dog, wasabi mayo, tonkatsu sauce, nori strips, crispy onion strings) $6~

This was a pretty decent size for the price. Although according to their website it's normally only $4... I'm willing to overlook the jump in price because it was so freaking delicious! All the flavors and elements worked together. The onion strings on top added an extra crispy texture and the sauces were creamy and bold. I wish I would've gotten two! Although just one was pretty hefty. Now I'm super sad that they ran out of everything else. I really really wanted to try their food.

So while my friends were at Yume, my bf and I stood in line for the waffle truck. There was a huge line and we started hearing people talking about how they were about to run out. "They only have 18 waffles left," a customer said as he walked past us. It would've been nice if the people working the truck would tell us in line. We were at least 30 people back... If we were wasting our time, it would be nice to know. This was another truck I really wanted to try, so it was another letdown. :( 

While at the waffle truck, I sent a friend of mine to Sabor Colombiano on Wheels from San Antonio. I wasn't planning to eat at that truck but they were one of the only ones open and didn't have an insane line. However, this turned out to be one of the worst trucks to be at. It took less than 10 minutes to order, but we ended up waiting over an hour to get our food. Ugh! If I knew this I would've just waited in line at one of the other trucks...

Arepa con Carne (grilled corn flour patty topped with shredded pork) $5~ This wasn't what I expected since I've had an Arepa before (it's more like a sandwich). But it was pretty good. The corn patty was slightly crispy and the pork was yummy. The pork had a ton of flavor and with the salsa on top it added a nice kick of heat.

Empanada de Carne Casera (homemade beef turnover; fried corn flour outside, ground beef and potatoes inside) $2~ each.

This was also different than empanadas I've had in the past. The shell wasn't the pastry consistency like I've had before. I liked it though. It was crispy and the filling inside was steaming hot. It was just a bit small per piece. They also increased their prices. According to their website the empanadas are 2 for $3 ... 

During the 60+ minutes standing around waiting for the food at the Colombian truck, I decided to go stand in line with a friend at Coolhaus. She hasn't had their ice cream sandwiches yet so I told her she should definitely try it. They were running out too. The only flavors that were left were pretty normal. I really wish she could've tried some more wacky flavors. She got Dirty Mint Chip Ice Cream with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Sandwich $6~

I can't believe they increased their prices too!! At the Frisco Festival it was $5 for a sandwich. Sigh... The ice cream sandwich was good though. The ice cream had bursts of real mint flavor. It seemed different than how I've had it in the past though. There was less ice cream and the cookies seemed thicker. It was easier to hold it all together but sucks that there was less ice cream.

Overall, the event was a bust. :( All the ones I wanted to try were out of food and the lines were super long at the others. Being a two day event, you would think the trucks would be better prepared for this. Or at least have a better system of letting customers know what is out and what is still available. The event was scheduled to go until 11PM so it totally sucked that half of the food was gone by 7:30PM or so. Plus they shouldn've have charged for admission after all these trucks have run out of food. I hope they decided to donate ALL the proceeds to charity. It was really unfortunate. I was disappointed and felt bad that I suggested my friends to go. We ended up going to a restaurant for an actual dinner later...

EPIC FAIL. -__- I hope this sets an example for future events to stock up so that they have enough food for the crowds and to last the entire time. Dallas people are new to the food truck craze still so we flock to these events. Trucks definitely need to prepare more food than they normally do.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~