Good news for folks who plan to head out to the second day of the Street Eats Food Truck Festival at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale. The fourth annual event offers a great selection of trucks, and though lines are still an issue with some particularly popular trucks, wait times are generally down this year.
We spent a couple of hours eating our way around the event on Saturday and here are some of the highlights and tips we have to share for day two.
See also: Street Eats Food Truck Festival 2015 at Salt River Fields
Road Riggers
For a seafood fix that doesn't require a ridiculous wait (more on that later), head to this relatively new food truck that serves Pacific Northwest seafood with a little Southwest flair. We liked the miniature King Crab Rolls, which were available for $4 or two tokens. The fresh, sweet crab had just the right amount of spice, and was a perfect size for tasting.
Naturally Sweet
If you're looking for something cool and sweet, you don't want to skip Naturally Sweet. Not only does this truck look pretty awesome, it serves all-natural smoothies and Cartel coffee cold-brew. The sample-sized smoothie cost just $2 or one token, which seemed pretty fair. The Kale Me Crazy smoothie featured organic baby kale, mint, pineapple, mango, banana, orange juice, and organic agave nectar. Our only complaint? We wanted more.
Focoso Pizza
We've already written about how much we like the wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas made by the Focoso food truck, and we loved that unlike most of the pizza places at the event, these folks were selling pizzas by the slice. Rather than just offering full-sized pizzas in several varieties, Focoso allowed customers to pick up a slice of pizza for just a couple bucks. Slices were available in one variety at a time, though the type of slice available changed throughout the day.
See also: 23 Food and Drink Festivals in Metro Phoenix: Winter/Spring 2015
Hao Bao
As was the case in past year, Hao Bao had a pretty long line on Saturday. We weren't super thrilled by the fact that the truck didn't offer many smaller or cheaper options, but we did try the Signature Dumplings. After the wait the salty, fried dumplings were not exactly life-changing, but made a nice sharable plate with five dumplings per order.
Island Loco
The Kalua Pork Tostada served by Island Loco for just $2 was perhaps the best deal of the day. The dish was delicious, with a crisp toastada base topped with moist pork, onions, and a spicy sauce. And we didn't have to wait in line at all for the truck. Its location on the outer edge of the festival might be to blame, but just thank your lucky stars for that fact.
Mustache Pretzels
Yes, there's really a food truck that serves pretzels in the shape of mustaches. And though it seems like a complete novelty, we were happy to find the pretzels are actually pretty damn good. We thoroughly enjoyed our $2 original pretzel, served with butter and salt. We also added on a side of queso for an additional buck -- a worthwhile extra expense.
Main Lobster Lady
How badly do you want to try this truck? Because when we walked by on Saturday afternoon we spoke to a family who had waited an hour and 45 minutes to get their hands on a trio of The Main Lobster Lady's nearly $20 lobster rolls. We didn't do that this year, but did in years past and though this truck requires quite a commitment of time and money, we still dream about the lobster roll we ate last year. Yes, it's that good.
Affogato Truck
Caffeine-fiends will want to make a stop at this truck, which is basically a tiny coffee shop on wheels. If you're looking for coffee or espresso drinks, this place can do it all, and you can even watch the barista as he or she pulls your perfect shot of espresso for your drink. They also offer soft serve and affogato (because, duh), should you feel so inclined.
Rounders Ice Cream
We were excited to try out the ice cream sandwiches from this truck, but decided to double back for dessert later. Unfortunately, by the time we returned they were out of most of their flavors -- so a word to the wise, get to this truck sooner rather later if you're interested.
Gates to the Street Eat Food Truck Festival open at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Admission costs $12 and food and drink is not included. Food and drink tokens are available for $2 each, and most trucks will also accept cash.
For more information check the Street Eats Food Truck Festival website.
