Thousands turn out for Tucson Food Truck Roundup; next one in Marana in February

Other Tucsoncitizen.com bloggers Karyn Zoldan “From Market to Tucson Market“, and Molly Thrasher “Tucson Bites” have blogged about these popular food truck events, first started up on November 14, 2010.

I attended that very first one, and stood in the MaFooCo long line for kimchi quesadillas with fellow blogger “Telling Stories” (Penelope Starr) wondering how a self-respecting Asian-American like me (who grew up in multi-cultural Hawaii eating from similar lunch wagons) could combine Korean kim chi with Mexican food…

So I stopped by tonight for a 2nd visit of the “delightful and inexpensive night of tasteful exploration” of the Tucson Food Truck Roundup, advertised as “Tucson’s Best Kept Secret” on Sunday, January 29th on the corner of Sixth Street/Seventh Avenue.

Wow — it was around sunset and there were thousands of people there at the once empty lot at the SW corner of 7th Avenue and E. 6th St, just west of Benjamin Supply. People were patiently waiting & chatting in the long lines of about 30 plus trucks/wagons, which may continue until 9 p.m. tonight.

The number of food trucks have multiplied at least five times since that first event in November where I only remember about 6 trucks/wagons in the Dinnerware parking lot. And I hear that brave & hardy customers have been willing to even stand in lines with almost freezing temperatures in December.

Participating Food Trucks and brief description:

Mafooco (Korean Tacos)
Jane’s Rolling Wok (chinese food)
Guero Loco Bubba Q (smoked meats)
Jamie’s Bitchen Kitchen (cuban sandwich)
Robdogs(variety of toppings. Soy dogs, too.)
Red Pepper Mexican Gourmet
Jones St. Bistro (Premier Appearance! modern urban cuisine)
Cyclopsicle (frozen dessert on a stick)
Luncha Libre (mexican gourmet)
Stolen Recipe BBQ (delicious smoked BBQ)
Baja Tacos (seafood oriented tacos)
Isabella’s Ice Cream (dairy and nondairy)
Street Delights (one word: pie)
Shinobu Diego’s Tacos y Burritos
Pinup Pastries (whoopie pies with a smile)
Street Kitchen (sesame chicken with zucchini tempura, edamame)
Vero Amore Neopolitan Pizza
Jake’s Donuts and Funnel Cakes
Seis Curbside (mexican nouveau cuisine)
Planet of the Crepes (sweet or savory crepes)
Animal Farm (big burgers, sandwiches)
Roasted Corn (on the cob)
Q UP! Barbeque(BBQ nachos, chicken wings)

That list above are which trucks/wagons were expected and most were there, plus these additional ones I jotted down:

German Food Station
Taqueria El Tiburyn
Hawaiian Shave Ice
Island Grill JA (click here for earlier blog on this Jamaican food lunch wagon)
Ni Hao Amigos (Mexican food)
Original Cupcake Truck
Peddler on the Path Mobile Cafe (espresso coffee & smoothies)
Hot Fudge Mini Donuts
Nathan’s Hot Dogs Expresso to the Rescue

Music on stage scheduled today were:
4:30 – 6:00 The Shawn Kebler Trio (Jazz Fusion)

6:15 – 7:45 Those Beatles Guys (Beatles Tribute)

Also on the schedule today/tonight:

`See Artists in Action: Mel Dominguez and David Tineo.
`The Art Library will be set up. Look through arts related books.
`Balloon twisting entertainment in food lines, and other buskers.
`Lots of onsite parking, and on street parking.

(Plus I noticed some crafts & jewelry being sold at tables.)

Thanks to Benjamin Plumbing Supply, the Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance, Yelp.com, juliegraphics.com, and Tucson Food Trucks.

The next Tucson Food Truck Roundup will gather February 6th, at the parking lot of the Tower Theatres in Marana, 5-9pm.
(Go to MyTowerTheatres.com for directions: Cortaro Exit/IH-10 Tower Theatres,
5755 W. Arizona Pavilions Drive, Marana, AZ.)

Contact info:
David Aguirre
Director
Dinnerware Artspace, dinnerwareartspace@gmail.com (A portion of the proceeds from these Food Truck Roundups supports Dinnerware Artspace),

Kudos to artist David for his organization of this event, bringing this growing number of food trucks together for a roundup each month. David used to write for us at Tucsoncitizen.com as “Artistic Tucson” (along with Charlie Spillar). What a large & wildly popular community event this has become!

Stand in a future food truck line (or two or three), enjoy the delicious food, art & music, and have fun in this festival like atmosphere.

Planet of the Crepes wagon

Creative Catering wins all categories at “Taste of Chocolate”

The 3rd Annual Rincon Rotary District 5500’s decadent “Taste of Chocolate” was held this afternoon at the Doubletree Hotel (445 S. Alvernon Way). And Creative Catering won all 4 categories of tasting: Chocolate Artisan, Mousse Crossing, Cocoa Loco, and Hometown Hits, as decided by Celebrity Judges:

Alex Miranda, KGUN 9
Kayna Whitworth, KOLD 13
Anne Kellogg, Tucson Lifestyle magazine
“Chris P” and “Joe Joe”, 93.7 KRQ (the “good looking guys”)
Mrs. Grant, 94.9 MIXfm

All photos below courtesy of friend Andy Reilly (except for last two photos taken by Barry Cohen).

Creative Catering's winning Cocoa Loco entry (judge's choice)

I suspect it was also Creative Catering’s wide selection of three choices of fondue dips that was so impressive– using bananas, creams puffs, angel food cake, pretzels, marshmallows, & brownie bites. Yum. They won 3 of the 4 celebrity judge’s categories last year (all except for Mousse Crossing).

Creative Catering's fondue choices - Hometown Hits winner (judge's and people's choice)

In the People’s choices (voted on by the hundreds of attendees), the winners for the same categories were:

Chocolate Artisan: Melting Pot (choco strawberries)
Mousse Crossing: Eclectic Cafe (white chocolate flan)
Cocoa Loco: Zink’s Treats (hot pepper fudge)
Hometown Hits: Creative Catering (chocolate river)

Congratulations to all the winners, and to Chair Wendy Hobbs are another successful Taste of Chocolate.

Zink Treat's winning hot pepper fudge (Cocoa Loco category, People's Choice)

Creative Catering is located at 727 E. Holaway, phone 520-690-0146, email is info@tucsoncreativecatering.com, http://www.tucsoncreativecatering.com. Owners are Bill and M.J. Essenmacher.

Most of the taste options were chocolate cakes, brownies, truffles with a few unusual choices — a chocolate crepe (Planet of the Crepes) and a chicken slider sandwich with chocolate bbq sauce – pictured below (by Culinary Design Catering). And of course the Doubletree Hotel had their famous chocolate chip cookies on their tasting table.

Culinary Design's chicken slider entry (last year winner of Cocoa Loco category of People's Choice)

Numerous raffle prizes (gift certificates from restaurants and other businesses in town) were given out, and a silent auction of beautiful jewelry and other gifts (including an exquisite Mata Ortiz pot) was also held.

Read my previous blog about this event (click here), and mark your calendar for next year’s event scheduled for April 15, 2012.

Here’s a photo taken by Barry Cohen of the winning chocolate flan entry by Eclectic Cafe:

Eclectic Cafe's winning flan entry (Mousse Crossing, people's choice)

And last but not least, a photo of the winning team at Creative Catering receiving their People’s Choice award (Hometown Hits):

Creative Catering team, overall winners

Another free & family-friendly 2nd Saturday Downtown (plus the St. Patrick’s Day parade & festival)

The March 12th 2nd Saturday Downtown event coincides with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival (click here for my previous blog). The one hour parade will begin at 5:30PM on 14th & Stone Avenue, wind through Downtown – E. Congress, Broadway and 6th Avenue – ending at Armory Park, where the festival will be. (The St. Patrick’s Day festival starts there at 3 p.m., prior to the parade, and will go on throughout the evening.)

This is the eleventh 2nd Sat. DT urban fest since the inaugural event on May 8, 2010. Website: www.2ndsaturdaysdowntown.com. It’s been almost one year of these fun- filled urban street fests, and I’ve been to almost every one. It’s wonderful to see Downtown come alive again!

For the usual event schedule, click here for the music entertainment at The Rialto Theatre, the Fox Tucson Theatre, the Scott Avenue stage, and the numerous other locales on and around E. Congress Street. Most of the events are FREE. There are lots of booths too selling delicious food (from all nations), and crafts as well. And lots of clowns, street musicians, people on stilts, human statues, etc. etc.

Food note: delicious, creative crepes will be made & sold in the Planet of the Crepes wagon on Saturday night (photo below courtesy of Jessica Kraus, owner).
She serves freshly made fruit crepes but also ones with chicken, vegetables, and other unique combinations.

Planet of the Crepes wagon

Had a mango/strawberry w/ coconut flakes crepe this past Sunday at the new European Farmers’ Market on the NE corner of Campbell/Speedway, and it was “some ono” – Hawaiian Pidgin English for yummy. (Her cute crepe wagon reminded me of the ubiquitous lunch wagons back home in Hawaii).

Photo below taken by Jeff Smith of the Zsa Zsas (McZsa Zsas?) group slated to perform at The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress, for free (along with a real leprechaun):

Enjoy another 2nd Saturday Downtown! And don’t forget to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day again (for real) on March 17.