Editor's Note, in the interest of full disclosure: While Chow Bella wasn't directly involved, Phoenix New Times was a sponsor of the Street Eats Food Truck festival.
From $5 parking to $4 samples (what happened to the $2 vouchers we were promised?!) Saturday's Street Eats food truck festival at Salt River Fields wound up being pricier than advertised. And with an accident on the 101 and oversold tickets, more time-consuming, too.
But also tasty, for those who persevered.
Like last fall's street truck festival on Roosevelt Row, this inaugural event featured super-long lines to get to small portions of really good food (unless you wanted to shell out $8 for a full serving) -- a lesson again in the overwhelming popularity of food trucks. Particularly when you bring in the big guns, namely Tyler Florence of the Food Network's Great Food Truck Race, and some of the trucks featured on the show. (We'll have a post up later this week with our chat with Florence.)
As for the two Chow Bella contributors who stood in line all day for a few morsels? We're both of the mind that it might be best to simply seek out our favorite trucks around town on a meal-by-meal basis. That said, it sounds to us like the Valley definitely wants more food truck festivals. No doubt Saturday can be instructive for the future.
Perhaps the biggest lesson of the day: If you are going to require cash payments, be sure to a. warn folks ahead of time and b. keep those ATMs stocked.
Find out what was worth those long lines after the jump.
