IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Our July 22 edition includes the first installment of our food truck odyssey, which includes visits to the following:
- McNasty's Mobile Food Truck
For reviews of these food trucks, go to Dayton.com.
We told you in July about seven food-truck finds you have to try. Since then, our love affair with mobile restaurants has grown deeper, and we have seven more food trucks we endorse for your consumption:
A meat lover’s paradise
Hailing from Argentina’s vast lowlands region known as the pampa, Mariano Rios brings the land of gauchos and cattle to the Miami Valley through his mobile restaurant, La Pampa Grill.
He sources all his meats and vegetables from local farms and markets.
One evening I was enjoying a Wobbly Wheel Imperial India Pale Ale at Yellow Springs Brewery, and when a plate of grilled chicken wings with chimichurri was delivered to another customer on the patio, I jumped up and made a beeline to the parking lot, where Rios’ grill was stationed.
Deciding was the tough part: the menu included the wings, Chori-pan (a classic Argentine submarine sandwich), a Tom’s Market Flank Steak with rice and veggies, and Acorn Squash grilled and stuffed with veggies and rice.
I chose the Chori-pan, chock full of local pork sausage, grilled veggies on organic baguette bread with chimichurri made with fresh herbs. It couldn’t have been any better.
During apple-picking season, Rios will be stationed frequently at Peifer Orchards Farmer Market, located at 4590 N. US-68, heading north of Yellow Springs before you get to Young’s Jersey Dairy Farm.
WHAT: La Pampa Grill
INFO: Facebook.com/lapampgrill/ or https://marianorios.wordpress.com/
$3 can buy you happiness
The “it” flavor of ice cream? My vote goes to salted caramel chocolate-covered pretzel.
I found it at The Rolling Oasis Treats Truck. It reminds me of old-fashioned homemade vanilla ice cream, with bits of caramel with a hint of salt. What makes it outstanding, however, are pieces of chocolate-covered pretzels.
This ice cream is sort of like a miracle drug. It’s not just the combination of wonderful flavors and textures; it’s how it made me feel while I was eating it — incredibly happy and content. Think about it: Have you ever noticed that it’s physically impossible to eat ice cream and be angry at the same time?
Doing its part to help America remain the world’s highest per capita consumer of ice cream, The Rolling Oasis serves other flavors, such as butter pecan, chocolate, mint chip, chocolate peanut butter and cookies’n’cream.
The food truck also offers milkshakes and smoothies.
WHAT: The Rolling Oasis
INFO: therollingoasis@gmail.com, 937-242-1256 or 937-856-1677
Your tastebuds will love this pad thai
What’s a nation without a national dish? The Brits have fish and chips, the French have crepes, and Mexico, its mole poblano. Canada takes pride in poutine and Germany boasts about bratwurst.
For Thailand, it’s pad thai. The country’s so crazy about its national dish, two years ago the government unveiled a robot — called the e-delicious machine — to taste a pad thai dish and compare it to a pre-determined standard. The hope is to stomp out bad pad thai around the world.
The Dayton Daily News doesn’t have an e-delicious machine to test the pad thai from Thai 1 On’s food truck. We have something better, our staff. We use our highly refined culinary prowess to test what’s out there to steer you to food worth your hard-earned dollars.
The pad thai serving was the size of a mountain, loaded with rice noodles made slurpy with fish sauce, citrus and other spices.
The spice levels are lil bit, medium, hot and Thai spicy. I asked for hot and was pleased with the amount of chili pepper heat packed in every bite.
To cool off my tongue, I also order the Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice dessert for $5. It’s like a fruit cobbler, but more exotic. It won’t surprise me if I dream about this dessert, it’s so good.
WHAT: Thai 1 On
INFO: Facebook: /Thai1On
Order the barbacoa
If you see the brightly colored Latin Arepas Food Truck, we say, by all means try it out.
Latin Arepas specializes in Venezuelan, Colombian, Caribbean and Latin American Cuisine. The menu is simple: arepas, tacos, empanadas, rice bowls, and chips and salsa. The food is fresh; the prices, competitive.
An arepa is an unleavened cornmeal patty that’s grilled. Put all sorts of goodies between a pair of them, and you have an exotic sandwich.
Besides chicken and steak, the food truck offers barbacoa. If the word looks familiar, it’s because barbacoa is the forefather of barbecue. The ancient Taino people of the Caribbean and Florida invented barbacoa by cooking meat, along with onions and cilantro, in holes dug into the grounds.
So how does barbacoa taste? Quite heavenly.
WHAT: Latin Arepas Tropical Street Food
INFO: http://latinarepas.com/index.html or 937-626-4188
Nachos with an attitude
We have World War II-era soldiers’ wives to thank for the invention of nachos. The ladies went on an excursion from Fort Duncan in Texas to the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. Their outing created a situation which led to the birth of one of the greatest Tex-Mex dishes of all.
The ladies went shopping and we all know that shopping can make you hungry, so they went to a restaurant but alas, the kitchen was closed!
The maître d was undeterred and looked over the available ingredients. He cut up some tortillas and fried them up, then added shredded cheese. He heated up his concoction and added pickled jalapenos. His name: Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya.
And thus, nachos entered the world.
I consider myself an aficionada of nachos, and if you’re looking for a great food truck version, try El Meson’s Food Truck version. First of all, El Meson is one of my favorite restaurants, and its food truck is a great way to enjoy the El Meson experience on the run.
Choose beef, chicken or pork for your Macho Nachos. I went with beef. Add lettuce, queso, shredded cheese, salsa and jalapenos, and you have a hearty meal.
As a sweet ending, get an order of arepas, which are sweet corn cakes with melty cheese in the center. It’s just about to die for.
WHAT: El Meson Xpress
INFO: www.elmeson.net or 937-859-8229
The wheel deal
A precursor to the food truck was the chuckwagon, a mobile restaurant invented in 1866 to keep cowboys well-nourished with tasty meats, beans and bread on their cattle drives from Texas to New Mexico.
Fast-forward exactly 150 years and we have Wheel Be Roastin BBQ. Owner Teresa Smith has extensive experience on the local culinary scene. She worked at The Buckhorn Tavern for 29 years. She told us she has a plaque for winning Best Bartender back in the 1990s.
These days, Smith focuses on smoking and grilling meats, and whipping up loads coleslaw, au gratin potatoes and old-fashioned barbecued green beans. “I do this because it’s fun,” she told us.
We asked her if she spikes those wonderful green beans. “Maybe I should!” she laughed.
WHAT: Wheel Be Roastin BBQ
INFO: www.wheelberoastinbbq.com, teatea1@att.net or 937-307-2938
A food truck with, ahem, balls
In Germany they’d be called Kroketten. In South Korea, goroke. In Mexico, croquetas.
Just about every place on the planet has its own version of croquettes, and here in Dayton, THE place to get some is Hunger Paynes.
The food truck specializes in made-from-scratch balls of meat, bread, cheese and fresh herbs.
When I saw Reuben Croquettes on the menu, I looked no further down the menu. An order came on a bed of homemade potato chips. Four 2-ounce balls of homemade corned beef, sauerkraut, baby Swiss cheese and pumpernickel bread were slathered with luscious dressing then topped with micro radish and parsley.
Other croquette versions include Mac & Cheese, Salmon, Spicy Chipotle Arancini, Taco Beef and Korean Pork BBQ. An order of croquettes is $6 (the salmon, $7).
Hunger Payne’s also offers pretzel bites ($5-7) and several sides, including Applewood smoked bacon, pork rinds, homemade chips and loaded chips.
WHAT: Hunger Paynes
INFO: http://hungerpaynes937.com/ | | 937-984-7945
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