(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

So, Chicago used to have a law against food trucks, I have no idea why. Recently, the law has been relaxed to allow food trucks as long as they don't cook the food in the truck or park it within 100 feet of a restaurant. Which basically means we still have no food trucks, because you can't throw a rock in this town without hitting somewhere to eat.

We do have a few, though. There's a cupcake truck. There's a soup and salad truck called The Lunch Machine. And there's the Southern Mac And Cheese Truck.

I have been dying to try this food truck, but it always shows up early and leaves right before I get my lunch break, so I haven't been able to. TODAY, I GOT ME SOME MACARONI AND CHEESE.

...and it's not really very good.

You guys have no idea how sad I am that the Macaroni and Cheese truck makes mac and cheese that is less delicious than the stuff I make myself at home. The pasta is fine -- I mean, it's macaroni, that's hard to mess up -- and for $9 you get a ton of mac and cheese, but they don't seem to have conceptualised "cheese sauce" properly. Maybe it's what I ordered, I don't know. I got the blue-cheese-and-bacon mac and cheese, but I was expecting some kind of white sauce base, like the add-milk-and-cheese-to-a-roux sauce I make when I make it myself. Instead it was literally macaroni stirred up with crumbled blue cheese. I like blue cheese, but it's not a mild flavour, and that's an awful lot to take in at once.

Seriously, my sadness at the mediocrity of the mac and cheese truck is epic. The problem with having a vivid imagination is that reality so rarely lives up to it.

Comments

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

What absurd regulations. One would think that food would stand less of a chance of spoiling if it could be cooked on the truck. The food trucks in New York get along fine!

Sorry about your disappointing mac and cheese.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think they're more concerned about health code violations in the truck, or possibly fire code. We're still pretty traumatised from that last big fire. :D

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

As a lifelong avoider of mac n' cheese (I ate it once when I was sick as a child and have disliked it ever since) but also as a total blue cheese fan, the idea of blue cheese mac n' cheese sounds intriguing. Gonna try to work up your own sauce? I'd love to try that one out myself; maybe a base of a milder white cheese cheese with blue cheese as a spice?

[thalia]

You might find this recipe interesting. I've tried it; it's pretty good, but I imagine it could be improved.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think doing one's own blue cheese sauce should be reasonably easy -- I don't think you'd even need to cut it, because you're adding it to milk and roux which would tone down the flavour. But yeah, if you did need to, a really mild white would probably work. Mozzarella or mild white cheddar -- I'd go with mozz, it's a bit moister.

I've totally spoiled myself for mac and cheese by learning how to cook it myself. I can't make it from the box anymore. It's just so much better home-made!

[slice254.livejournal.com]

They have food trucks in my city, but the office park I work in outlawed them.

In completely unrelated news...we've always had ducks and geese in my office park, but now we have a rooster that I saw when I was trying to take pictures of the baby geese.

Just thought everyone on the internet should know.

[stasia]

Once, on a trip through the wilds of the NorthWest, we stopped into a shopping mall/office park thing and ... found a rooster, in full blue-green-black tail and traditional coloring, waiting for Office Max to open.

I think the workmen said his name was Bert.

I have wondered about Ernie ever since...

Stasia

[calliope-jones.livejournal.com]

Do you have a recipe for regular mac & Cheese? I want to learn to make it cause that's the only thing Lil' Captain Jack will eat.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I DO INFACT.

http://copperbadge.livejournal.com/2666979.html?thread=45775075#t45775075

[marymac.livejournal.com]

literally macaroni stirred up with crumbled blue cheese

That's a fairly fundamental failure to comprehend macaroni cheese there...

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

There was a taco truck in front of the library--I had been wondering what that was about.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I am at the point now where most of the food around me isn't as good as I can make it at home – and I don't consider myself that good a cook. It is depressing, but saves my wallet!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

True. The other night I thought, I can order out...or I can spend that $20 on groceries and feed myself for a week! Hm.

[deepbluemermaid.livejournal.com]

May I please metaquote your last paragraph?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

You certainly may! :)

[guardantares.livejournal.com]

Clearly, the solution for this is for you to open up a food cart of your own anime-style and set out to conquer the food truck world with occasional breaks to wacky hijinx!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Sam doesn't need to break for wacky hijinks – wacky hijinks come to him!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lady_narcissa_/]

I agree about that mac n' cheese truck. It was okay but not worth the lines that run down the block to get it. The tamale truck is fantastic, however. And the empanada truck is pretty good.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

There's a TAMALE TRUCK?

DO WANT.

[black-rider.livejournal.com]

Do you have Callender's Grill there? They make an amazing bacon mushroom mac and cheese.

[abby1000.livejournal.com]

I only eat homemade mac n cheese. I have never had any in a restaurant as good as my Mom's or my own.

[lacylu42.livejournal.com]

Hosea Rosenberg, who won Top Chef a few seasons back, had a food truck here in Boulder that was actually in an Airstream trailer (awesome) and they did variations on grilled cheese, among other things. The one I had was sharp cheddar with pork belly and apple preserves.

And lo, it was awesome.

But they stopped doing it because the laws regarding food trucks in Boulder were so ridiculous.

Too bad food trucks mostly stick to urban areas. Us suburbanites get no love. They never come up to the hills.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Glad that Chicago is finally buying into the food truck trend! Sadface at the cheese sauce fail.

There were a stupidly large quantity of food trucks in Union Square this evening, possibly overspill from the Zagat Food Truck Frenzy of last weekend.

Oh, and I bought an ice-cream (it's 80F in May, what gives) from Anthony Bourdain and his missus (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/05/the_big_gay_ice_4.php) at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. (Ya rly.) There was one heck of a line.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

Man, I go to college in Portland and I forget that not everywhere has the glory that is the food carts. They're seriously everywhere in that city.

There's a pretty legendary burrito one, and there's one that does deep-fried mini-pies, and there's a crepe one and pizza one and one where you can get all things potato. By which I mean poutine.

Guess where I go after my college events that run until 1 in the morning? XD Poutine, fyi, is one of the best things ever when you're drunk. You do need water with it though, it's very salty.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

OH POUTINE

HOW I MISS IT. D:

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I used to laugh every time I walked past that truck because I just knew it wouldn't be as good as homemade. Sorry you tried it. I have a recipe on my LJ that's easily customizable for stuff like bacon & blue cheese.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I was excited! My homemade's okay, but not restaurant quality. I just assumed a pro truck would at least use actual sauce!

The one I have is pretty adaptable -- only reason I've never tried blue cheese is that it's usually too pricey. I might do, now, if I can ever get the taste of today's out of my mouth. :D

It was an adventure, anyway. :)

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I've heard that everything that sounds good at the mac and cheese truck is underwhelming, and the things that sound like they shouldn't work are actually good (this is why I'm terribly curious about their dessert macaroni and cheese). I'll add the blue cheese to my list of things to avoid when I finally give it a try. Though at $9, there shouldn't be types that need avoiding.

(Why yes, this is a drive-by comment from metaquotes, because I am just that into Chicago food trucks... Hi!)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Hello drive-by! :D

Yeah, $9 is steep for any mac, let alone subpar mac. Mind you, that gets you a LOT of mac and cheese -- I was starving when I got it and only managed to eat about a third of it.

[lavinialavender.livejournal.com]

When my mom hears about a new restaurant that sounds good, she gets all excited and starts to create their menu in her head. It usually features baked potato soup. And then she's very disappointed when she goes and they have none of the things on her menu. Most unreasonable.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

I'm confused and saddened by the idea of $9 food from a truck. Where I am (not a major metropolitan area, though still often expensive due to being a tourist town) the only food trucks around are taco trucks, which are wonderfully cheap.

Alas for disappointingly sub-par mac and cheese!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's this new "gourmet food truck" concept that's sweeping the nation.

Let you in on a little secret though -- my boss paid for it :D

[cat63.livejournal.com]

It sounds to me as if they were taking the name a touch too literally there!

[meganeko-mausuu.livejournal.com]

Here from metaquotes

I'm sorry what sounded so yummy was so disappointing. In my little corner of Texas, we mostly have mexican food trucks, tamales and breakfast burritos with eggs and chorizo, (I just know I'm spelling that wrong,) and cups of corn with mayo and spicy stuff on top, and the like.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

I found out that there's a cupcake truck in Albany NY. For some reason, this boggles me.

Mmmm, blue cheese and bacon mac. Now I want to make some and make it RIGHT. I smell a post for Demi-Glazed (http://www.demi-glazed.com) coming on. Because, man, stir-ins just don't cut it.