Miami Food Trucks [1/28/2012 Update]

Re:Mangia Mia (pnwchef)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:37:48 GMT

Don, thanks for seeking out these trucks and showing the best of the best. You shine a light on the undiscovered foods that most people don't get a chance to try. I think after reading your posts, their opinion of street food will have a much better perspective..............Thanks .........pnwc

Re:Mangia Mia (Greymo)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:16:58 GMT

Don, Thanks so much for posting the website for the meatball truck. I looked down through the menu and saw Arancini and thought "Wow, I have not made any in years and that will be perfect for dinner tonight with my Italian beef". They are now chilling in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked. The kids are going to love dipping them into marinara sauce. They probably won't even want the Italian beef!

Re:Mangia Mia (ALLGOOD)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:10:47 GMT

Those mac and cheese balls look amazing!

Re:Mangia Mia (UncleVic)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:56:59 GMT

Nice pics and reporting Don... Been awhile since I check out this thread and needless to say I am WOW'd...

Mangia Mia (MiamiDon)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:05:34 GMT

I spotted a food truck downtown which I'd yet to try:

I had their sandwich called the Smasher.

This is two "smashed" meatballs on garlic toast with a sprinkle of parmesan. It was really good - I love the meatballs. I'm going to track it down again and try some of the other items.

Italian Mac & Cheese Balls

The full menu is on the web site:

http://mangiamiami.com/

Re:Crepe Outdoors (MobileCuisine)

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:27:34 GMT

Here is what Anthony Bourdain had to say about Miami's food truck scene. http://tinyurl.com/74hy5fn

Crepe Outdoors (MiamiDon)

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:08:10 GMT

The former Wing Commander reinvented itself as Crepe Outdoors.

CREPE OUTDOORS

They offer several types of savory and sweet crepes.

We ordered the Allie's Comfort Food and the Lane's Creamy Comcoction the other week.

Chef Bill Cooking Crepes

Allie's Comfort Food Crepe

This was the one with the blue cheese blend and caramelized onions and bacon. It was very good, and incredibly rich! The wife enjoyed her chicken, swiss and mushroom crepe, too.

Recommended! And I want to try one of the dessert ones, too.

Re:Miami Food Trucks (MiamiDon)

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:31:56 GMT

I caught up with one of the Latin House Grill food trucks the other day (there are two now), and thought I'd share a picture of my lunch. One of the specials of the day was a trio of tacos.

They were grilled chicken, rib-eye, and coconut fried shrimp. Very tasty!

Re:Miami Food Trucks (Nancypalooza)

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:08:37 GMT

Man. I have had dinner and I have had ice cream and the back half of this page started my stomach to yowling. I am so glad you are documenting all the food truck goings on for us Don. :)

Re:Miami Food Trucks (HDtravlr1)

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:48:17 GMT

Outstanding food pictures. I can almost taste them. Almost

Re:Miami Food Trucks (CajunKing)

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:15:50 GMT

MD
Wow, I wish I was closer to Miami. Your adventures around Miami have looked wonderful.

Re:Miami Food Trucks (MiamiDon)

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:04:19 GMT

In case anyone is using this as a guide,

Wing Commander is now Crepes Outdoors (selling crepes, both sweet and savory)

Wrapidito Yum is now Subusters Yum (same food, but with a Ghost Busters theme to the art on the truck)

Re:Miami Food Trucks (ramonfernandez)

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:16:50 GMT

I like their idea that they can roll on to everywhere and just tweet so they can get their fans to that place and eat! :)

Re:July 4th 2011 Update (joerogo)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:59:15 GMT

Hey Don, I always enjoy your additions to this thread. Keep eatin!

Re:July 4th 2011 Update (ann peeples)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:35:31 GMT

Very, very impressive food trucks.I am in awe, and wish we had that kind of quality here...

Re:July 4th 2011 Update (MiamiDon)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:07:52 GMT

Not that I am aware of. The Great Food Truck Race was in town for a bit, but their emphasis is on the food service, mostly.

Re:July 4th 2011 Update (ScreamingChicken)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:02:01 GMT

Don, are there any competitions/events where the trucks are featured instead of the food? I can easily imagine that there are a few guys who have reputations as the best in the food truck paint/graphics business.

Brad

Re:July 4th 2011 Update (Ralph Melton)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:02:46 GMT

I like the stamps on the empanadas quite a lot.

August 5th 2011 Update (MiamiDon)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:23:08 GMT

There was a small food truck event at a Hyundai dealership near to my house, so we stopped by to pick up something for supper. It featured some new trucks that I had not seen before, including these two with great wrap designs:

They weren't ready to serve, but I found out that a Monster Burger is 8 oz beef, bacon, extra mozarrella cheese, onions, monster sauces, lettuce, tomatoes and crushed potato chips.

We had heard that a new pork specialties truck would be here, and found this guy:

We got the Porchetta sandwich from Pork Shop, and some Argentine empanadas from Che Grill.

Beef, Chicken and Spinach Empanadas

Porchetta Sandwich

Everything was delicious! The herb/spice/whatever blend in the porchetta, along with the roast pork, gave off an alluring aroma that grabbed me from yards away. It was served with homemade pickled cucumbers and a mustard sauce of some sort. I have to track them down and try some more items from the menu.

For dessert we had some of the Sweet Potato Pound Cake from the Pork Shop:

http://www.chegrill.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porchetta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanada
More to come.....

July 4th 2011 Update (MiamiDon)

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:39:21 GMT

I've only had one item from the Wrapidito food trailer menu, but it was so good that I have to mention them. I feel certain that the rest of the menu is worth exploring.
Wrapidito

Wrapidito Menu

I had the Mediterranean Chicken Wrap

This was just great. The crunchy almonds, sweet onions, salty feta cheese and the freshly grilled chicken went together like magic.

http://twitter.com/WrapiditoYum

Red Koi Lounge is a sushi restaurant in Coral Gables that also operates a food truck.

Red Koi Food Truck

Red Koi Menu

I was sharing with someone who is not very food-adventurous, so I stuck to some ordinary asian finger foods.

Gyoza with Ponzu Sauce

Spring Rolls with Plum Sauce

California Roll

These were all freshly-made to-order, and were good. I'd like to try the Red Koi's Tartar next time. No, I don't know what a Monkey Roll is!

Wing Commander is one of the original food "trucks" here in Miami. They have made several changes to the menu over the past year, and the last time I saw them they had followed the lead of a couple of others in offering packaged meals. I believe this is to make things easier for them when they get slammed at some of the events, but I could be wrong. Bill and Allison, the owners/operators, are as nice as can be. The "Wing Commander" theme is from Bill's time as an officer in the Air Force.

Wing Commander Trailer

Wing Commander Menu

Wing Commander Wings

The wings are hot and tasty, with several housemade sauces to choose from. I'm partial to the Caribbean, but my wife prefers the "Hot."

Chili-Cheese Chippies

"Chippies" are deep-fried, sliced potatoes. The menu at the Harley dealer event just listed them as part of a package lunch with chili and cheese, but I imagine that they will eliminate one or both toppings if you so desire. These a good - Allie's chili is quite tasty. Best eaten right away before the potatoes get too soggy.

You can mix and match any of the sauces and toppings on the sliders. Here I had mushrooms, swiss cheese and caramelized onions, I believe. Hot and juicy, and cooked to your liking.

Sliders

Chicken strips are mentioned on the menu, and these are what I was served several months ago.

Chicken Strips

I don't know whether they are still available, but we enjoyed the cinnamon chips they offered in the past. I believe that these are cut-up flour tortillas, deep-fried and tossed with cinnamon and sugar.

Cinnamon Chips

http://twitter.com/mywingcommander

Yellow Submarine is operated by two brothers from Colombia, and offers burgers, subs and hot dogs with a Colombian twist.

Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine Menu

I've had the Colombian-style hot dog, and two of the subs. I must confess that I was a little suspicious of the hot dog, because the only experience I'd had with a latin hot dog was not good, and a Cuban restaurateur told me that a lot of them are all about the toppings, and use sub-standard hot dogs. Well, that was certainly not the case here. This foot-long, all-beef beauty was tasty on it's own, and I very much enjoyed the combination of the pineapple sauce, provolone cheese, homemade mustard sauce and homemade tomato sauce covered with crumbled potato chips.

Yellow Dog

Imagine Sub
[

This was turkey breast, provalone, lettuce, tomato and onions. These were all of good quality, but what put it "over the top" was the pesto sauce and the garlic sauce. We very much enjoyed it.

New Sensation Sub

This one adds black forest ham to the Imagine Sub ingredients, and is equally as good, if not better.

http://twitter.com/yellowtwiter
http://www.yellowsubmarineonline.com/yellowsubmarineonline

Of course, after all that food we needed dessert. The Sweetness Bake Shop and Cafe operates a food truck, too.

Sugar Rush Truck

They offer a varying menu of cupcakes and little single-serving desserts. Here is a typical offering:

Sugar Rush Menu

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding with Expresso Sauce

Get it? Doughnuts and coffee?

Passionfruit Creme Brulee

Coconut Passionfruit Cupcake

These are all very good. My wife is particularly fond of the bread pudding. I discovered when I travelled to the bricks and mortar bakery that the expresso sauce is only available on the truck, to my disappointment.

http://sweetnessbakeshop.net/

http://twitter.com/sweetnessbakes

[more trucks to come.....]

Re:Miami Food Trucks (MiamiDon)

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:20:05 GMT

EdSails

Great report, Don. A couple of questions. Do you find yourself searching out these trucks in place of the conventional restaurants these days? Also, do any of them have any sort of seating, such as a picnic table set up nearby or even just chairs to sit in while you eat?

Ed, I didn't see your question back in April.

Yes, some do set up with tables and chairs. At the bigger events, I think someone rents tables and chairs, because I have seen larger numbers set up.

Yes, I do seek them out, based on my location around lunch time. A few gatherings have been within two miles of my house, so that was a no-brainer. One was at a Mercedes dealer, and the others were at a big Harley-Davidson dealer. I follow my favorites on Twitter, and have the text-to-phone function activated. The ones that know what they are doing tweet their locations for lunch and dinner. Some of them are buddies, and Tweet that other trucks are going to be at the same site. I have an iPhone, and some of the trucks have set up their Facebook pages so the postings get tweeted, too. For example, on Tuesday I was in downtown Miami for a meeting, and when I got out I checked the text message scroll that is routed though Twitter, and saw that three trucks were blocks away at Bayfront park.

Re:Miami Food Trucks (MiamiDon)

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:34:43 GMT

nycguy524

Great article Don. If we had an idea for a new food truck, is there one main company that outfits the Miami Food Truck scene? Would love to know who to contact about outfitting a new concept.

Thanks!

I believe that would be Food Carts USA.

http://www.foodcartusa.com/index.html

Re:Miami Food Trucks [3/15/2011 Update!] (Foodbme)

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:26:31 GMT

MarcusMatters

Great pictures!! I've been stalking the Miami food trucks with the iPhone app i got from They have lots of pictures in the app too, but I like yours better, maybe you can submit them to the app?

This Gentleman's comment is a perfect example of why I encourage mobile vendors, including Carts, to use Twitter, Facebook or other electronic means to promote their business and build their customer base.

Re:Miami Food Trucks (EdSails)

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:12:38 GMT

Great report, Don. A couple of questions. Do you find yourself searching out these trucks in place of the conventional restaurants these days? Also, do any of them have any sort of seating, such as a picnic table set up nearby or even just chairs to sit in while you eat?

Re:Miami Food Trucks (nycguy524)

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:53:34 GMT

Great article Don. If we had an idea for a new food truck, is there one main company that outfits the Miami Food Truck scene? Would love to know who to contact about outfitting a new concept.

Thanks!

Re:Miami Food Trucks [3/15/2011 Update!] (agnesrob)

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:26:10 GMT

Don, your food pictures are always so good. I wish I could eat them! Thanks for updating this report!

Re:Miami Food Trucks [3/15/2011 Update!] (mar52)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:25:08 GMT

Excellent! Thanks for the pictures and reviews.

Re:Miami Food Trucks [3/15/2011 Update!] (EdSails)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:56:54 GMT

wow, MiamiDon, great report and great pictures. Can you ship me a pork belly sandwich?

Re:Miami Food Trucks [3/15/2011 Update!] (MarcusMatters)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:50:39 GMT

Great pictures!! I've been stalking the Miami food trucks with the iPhone app i got from They have lots of pictures in the app too, but I like yours better, maybe you can submit them to the app?

Re:Miami Food Trucks (Nancypalooza)

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:24:59 GMT

Don, the next time you're headed out for these things if you happen to spy me crouched down in the back seat of your car, *do not be alarmed.* :)